First Time for Everything

I cannot express the excitement I hold working for Yazdani Family Dentistry.  It was a short two and a half weeks ago when I started in this position as a marketing director.  I've now had the opportunity to travel to Atlanta, GA for a marketing technique workshop that I learned so much from.  Not only did I learn more about marketing, but also about the joys of flying and navigating myself through an airport for the first time.

Let me tell you, when you don't know what to expect or know where to go, things can get a little hairy.  For a first experience though it was a great one and one I will never forget.  It started off with trying to get my dog settled and into her crate before leaving.  The plan was to have my friend +Robyn Poore pick up Rose when she was done work.  I think Rose knew something was up because she would not go in her crate for the life of her and she loves that thing!  I did everything I could from bribery to downright blackmail. Even if she didn't understand my threats, she understood that I was not going to work and that I was going to be leaving her as she noticed she had her own bags packed.  Poor thing, she knows how to play with my heart strings.  It's hard to let your baby go when you're leaving the country, but damn it! I wasn't missing my flight.

Robyn dropped me off at the airport and gave me some detailed instructions on where to go and what I could expect.  Needless to say, I will still a little nervous.  I wasn't so much nervous about the idea of flying, I was nervous because what if I got on the wrong flight, or didn't make it through security.  The most random ideas were going through my mind.  I got to the Air Canada desk and spoke to the agent.  He was quite surprised that it was my first time flying (I'm guessing because of my age, but then again who knows!) He was super helpful and offered me window seating instead of aisle seating which was very exciting to me as I wanted to see the action first hand. Knowing me though, I would have just leaned over some complete strangers lap to see what was going on out of pure excitement :) He gave me very detailed instructions on where to go.  I used the term "first time flyer" quite often and noticed to my benefit that it helped a lot.  Everyone was so informative.  I get to security and I asked the guy a million and one questions on if I have to take my shoes off, where I have to put them, do I need to take my sweater off too? Will my jewelry set off the scanners etc. I think he got a kick out of it but he answered them all calmly and professionally. Picture this, I am in line waiting to go through the security check and I'm waiting on the guy in front of me.  I watch carefully what he does and I mimic what he does so that I look like a pro.  He goes through no problem so I figure I got this! Piece of cake.  I go through the scanner and all goes well.  Then the guy that I mimic gets stopped and security asks to go through the contents of his bag because something questionable came up in the scanner.  HAHA the thoughts that went through my head were priceless.  I immediately think of the movies and am half anticipating a S.W.A.T. team to show up with guns and approach it like its a BOMB. By the way, the thought did cross my mind to yell this at one point or another.

I had a 3.5 hour lay over in Toronto and really what is there to do?

I Facebooked my friends, people watched, scoped out my gates, charged the phone and of course ate some food.  Count on Swiss Chalet to quench that craving though, it was a great lunch spent solo.  Flying surprisingly makes you hungry, or is it that I love food too much?  

Once I got on my plane headed for Atlanta, I knew the real excitement was about to begin.  Its a freaking huge airport! Thank god for the detailed instructions Dr. Yazdani left for me because I am not sure I would have made it to my destination.  There were signs indicating where I should be going, but I swear I was seeing double.  There were two signs and they both were saying the same thing only they were pointing in opposite directions. Maybe I was tired, but I managed to figure it out.

I had to go left, then right, then down an escalator and take a train and stay on it for six stops then go right then up an escalator and go outside and cross the street.  Take an elevator up so the Skytrain.  This thing was kind of cool :) I would say the easiest part of the entire trip haha

Once I arrived, I was in heaven.  Not only did I get to stay in the Marriott hotel, it was all paid for! One lucky girl I am.  The room was beautiful.  Once I walked in I was in awe.  I literally dropped my bags on the floor and did a backwards fall on to the bed.  I could have passed out right then and there!

I met up with Dr. Yazdani and the team for some dinner before hitting the hay for the big day!

Not only did I learn a lot, I never went hungry.  The food they serve there is to die for!  It started off with breakfast, then a break, then lunch, then a break, then one more break and they finished it off with wine and beer for after the seminar! All for free! Can you believe it! I was mentally exhausted by the end of it and could not for the life of me think of eating another bite.  I know right, me not want to eat food? Pfft, ya right! But I simply could not fathom the idea of it.

After the seminar, I had to take full advantage of the nice weather.  The sun was shining, there wasn't any snow on the ground and I had two hours to kill before our dinner reservation.  I maybe wanted to rub it in everyone's faces a little bit that it was so nice out and everyone back home was stuck in the middle of a winter wonderland...oops ;)

Unfortunately, as I quickly realized, the Marriott is the nicest thing that was around.  I took a walk and tried to make the most of it but really, there isn't anything that was nice enough to really look at.  It was kind of sad to be honest, how poor it really is.  Buildings were abandoned or taken over by the bank.  Even the dirt looked dirty. But still, I enjoyed the fresh air and the exercise.

On the way home, I was less stressed about traveling as Dr. Yazdani and I travelled back together.  I had to commit to memory what I had to do though because I am on my own when I go back for the Marketing Masters Program in February.  We were up super early and I was amazed at how quiet an airport can be at 6:00 in the morning.  It was a peaceful trip home :) 

I was quite happy when I finally got home but was NOT happy about how cold it was.  Everyone kept telling me how it was more mild then when I was away.  Its truly amazing how quickly your body adapts to warmer weather.  I couldn't shake the cold all day.  All I wanted was to curl up into a ball with my little pup and fall into dream land.  

Thank you to +Audrey Poore for taking care of my little rascal while I was away.  I think she enjoyed her time because she slept from 4:00PM until 7:00AM the next morning.  Snoring and all :) 

Reaching for the stars

When you put your mind to it, you can accomplish anything. 

Starting a new year always makes me reflect on the previous.  2013 had its ups and downs for me, sometimes it felt like more downs than ups but I learned a lot from it all.  Never give up because you never know whats around the corner.  For those of you who have followed my progress, you know that I went from job to job and seemed to be all over the place.  I encountered people who were all wrong for me but at the same time each person that came into my life and stayed and those that didn't make the cut have all taught me something.  They all brought something positive into my life that I can still cherish and hold dear to me.  I realized that it's very important to hold on to the good and look for the positive outlook in every situation instead of letting it bring you down.  That's one hard task to do on a regular basis.  

In December, I scored the job of my dreams.  I became a marketing director for Yazdani Family Dentistry in Kemptville.  I started in January and am loving it all so far.  Only three weeks in and already he is sending me to Atlanta for training :) In February and June, I get to go back for a Marketing Masters program.  I can't express how excited I am to be involved in such a great working environment.  I was losing hope for awhile that I wouldn't be able to find a job in the field I wanted.  I felt the longer I waited to get it, the more outdated I was becoming.  Dr. Yazdani is definitely making sure that I stay up-to-date.  In just a few short weeks I already know that I am going to love working here.  The staff are super friendly, everyone is easy going and willing to take the time to explain things that I don't know about.  They even invited me out to their Christmas party in December just so I could get to know the team.  How awesome is that :) 

I must say, I am particularly excited for this trip to Atlanta this weekend as I have never really been outside of the country except for one trip to Disney Land.  I've never flown before and I get to for the first time this weekend.  I am a little scared to be honest but I love adventure.  Let's just hope I make it to Atlanta and don't end up somewhere else...but then again, I don't think I would mind that so much either. It's like a mini vacation even though I have to work.  

Stay tuned and I'll let everyone know how it all went.  

This could get interesting...

Time Flies

It's amazing what can happen in two months.

Now that I've had time to find some clarity, everything seems to be falling into place.  It honestly feels like 4-5 months have passed since I've sat down to write.  When I started this blog, the intent was to write about my experiences on becoming an entrepreneur with bookkeeping and social media.  To depict the obstacles and challenges that I would come across or even talk about my random canoe races at the beginning of Spring.  What I have learned is that life gets in the way of everything. Its up to us to not allow it to distract us from what the ultimate goal is.  Ultimately, I wanted to find better employment.  I wanted to be happy when I went to work and not dread the idea of it. Now, I'm working for EZ HVAC as a bookkeeper and I just got a job as a manager at Za Za Za Pizza, its "pizza with pizazz" haha I'm looking forward to seeing how this all plays out in the end. I always hated the first day at a new job..but I'm really looking forward to it this time. The uniform is different also.  I get to wear jeans, Converse shoes and a funky tie.

This should be interesting!

Even though the original idea was to be self employed, I still get to do everything I originally planned on doing anyway.  Win, Win!

A Closed Chapter, A Lesson Learned

Well, that was quite the ride if I do say so myself.  Sometimes life throws you random curve balls and you have no choice but to take them in stride. That being said, I am now on my own and ready to take on this thing we call life. My problem with all this though, is that I knew where I was heading 3 weeks ago. Now that my whole life has been turned upside down (both a curse and a blessing in disguise) I now get to choose a completely different path to walk on.  Im not only stuck at a fork in the road, no, instead my fork has a million and one paths I could take.  Which one is the one for me is the question?

I have a lot of soul searching to do that is for sure, but one thing I do know is that I get to move into my own little apartment in July! That is quite exciting. Something can be said about new beginnings, they sometimes are quite refreshing.  After being in a relationship for 4.5 years, you pick up your partners characteristics and mannerisms. Although I love him for everything I've gained, I find myself now wondering who I really am.  Its  time to start putting the missing puzzle pieces in the right spots in my life.  Im excited to get started on my new routine, whatever it may end up being and make something of myself.  Im dreaming big here people, like really big.  Im not quite sure what that dream is just yet, or how exactly Im going to get there, but its going to happen. I can feel it :)

I am Woman! Hear me ROAR!

Torn

After some time of serious thinking, pondering, crying, screaming, pulling my hair out and pretty much just sulking; I have realized I am not 100% happy with my career choice.  Don't get me wrong here, I do love being self employed; however, not like this!

Bookkeeping in all honesty is quite boring to me.  When I quit my job as a bookkeeper I immediately went into damage control by deciding "I can do this on my own, eff you ex boss!" and I know that I can do it.  But it doesn't peak my interest enough to stay motivated and BE on top of it all. As a matter of fact, I found myself withdrawing as much as possible from doing it.  So that being said, I realized that bookkeeping isn't for me.

So what do I do now? Well, I went from having five jobs and no time for me, to having two jobs and peace of mind.  But I am very restless.  I started throwing around ideas of getting into Real Estate (which I am still considering).  But now, I have been looking on Job Bank and am finding opportunities to get back into marketing - my love!  I recently applied for 3 marketing positions and am waiting to hear back.  If that doesn't work out for me, I think I may just consider a career in Real Estate.  The idea of selling houses isn't the best in my mind just yet, however, I am looking forward to being self employed and being able to manage my own little business that I get to market and advertise the way I see fit.  The reward will be in the work itself.

I am quite a personable individual and am trying to find my place in this world.  I think once this summer is over with, Ill finally have a better idea of where life is taking me.  I need some sort of stability and routine (as much as we all dread it).  I am realizing more and more that indecisiveness gets you nowhere.  It's time I take a stand and finally decide what Lisa Leduc is all about and where she is heading in life.

Stay tuned and Ill keep you posted on my chosen career path as I slowly dig my way through this fog in my head and find myself an answer. :)

Raisin River Canoe Race 2013

Fun was had by all this year for the 41st Annual Raisin River Canoe Race.  The water levels were up in our favour creating fun rapids to paddle through.  With water levels up it wasn't so hard on us to get to the finish line. The dam however was closed due to the water levels as it could be potentially dangerous if anyone capsized.  Regardless, everyone had fun including the spectators.  Let me begin by telling you the adventure I had while being in the race.

This year was my second year participating.  After last year being my first time, I was super eager to try again this year.  Everyone thought I was crazy especially since Mother Nature kept pounding us with snow.  Originally the race was scheduled to run April 7th, but as we all know we got a huge amount of snow/ice rain  as a one last "hurrah" before Spring decides to kick into high gear.  So, Sunday that just passed was our big day.

Last year +Robyn Poore and I were at the front of the line waiting to register and be boat #1 until some guy from behind us pushed his way through and left us with boat #2.  (This wasn't a huge deal it was more or less the principle of the matter, you don't push through lines! Come on people!) In any case, this year we were determined to be boat #1 and we were.  We did see that guy from the previous year, and me being me of course had to rub it in a little and shout "WOOO we are #1" haha.  I was excited to be the #1 boat because realistically it was going to be the only #1 we were going to get this year. I think he caught on as to why I was trying to rub it in :) Im not too worried about it though.

We were all waiting in the yard at St. Andrew's school waiting to launch our boats into the water and begin the long 35KM journey ahead of us.  Let me tell you something about nerves.  No matter how much you empty your bladder before a big race like that....it seems like once you reach the point of no return your bladder plays tricks on you and makes you believe that you have to find a washroom immediately.

We had a decent start to the race this year.  We were able to keep the boat straight and we followed the mantra "slow and steady wins the race". We didn't want to burn out too quickly as we had several ways to go still.  At one point though I managed to lose my paddle and I thought for sure that our race was done.  Luckily, the other participants are really nice and one guy through back my paddle to me.  Thank you anonymous racer for not being a total douche and helping a fellow racer out :) Its nice to see community coming together for a common goal....winning a race! haha  Right after losing my paddle though we came up to a large tree....on the most part the branches had been quite forgiving and bendable.  You would duck one way or another to get out of the way.  One tree didn't like me so much and as I tried to dodge and lift it out of my way, it decided not to move at all and throw me backwards onto my back in my boat leaving my feet dangling in the air.  Tree branch 1; Lisa 0.

We eventually came up to our first set of rapids and my heart started to pound.  I didn't realize that the entire time we navigated ourselves through it that I was holding my breathe.  It was my first time going through any rapids like that.  I felt like Christopher Columbus sailing the Ocean blue.  You could feel the boat lift straight up with each wave and crash back down.  Your whole stomach is doing somersaults, your heart is beating like crazy and your adrenaline is rushing through your whole body.  What a rush I tell you.  Robyn and I were both determined not to capsize.  Although most made it through the first set of rapids, some unfortuantely fell in.  Let me tell you something, when I lost my paddle earlier in the race, I was using my hands to paddle and within a minute I lost mobility in my fingers.  I can't imagine being completely submerged in that ice cold water.  Mother Nature decided she was going to play devils advocate by throwing everything at us.  We paddled through wind, snow, rain, sleet and hail.  What a ride I tell ya!

As we moved along the river, it was nice to see our families go bridge to bridge to cheer us on.  It was also a way for them to keep an eye on us incase we did capsize.  I found that because we were a female boat, the spectators would really cheer for us to keep on going.  Its a nice feeling. Makes you feel important and famous :)

As we pulled up to the dam we were slightly disappointed as we remembered we weren't allowed to shoot it.  It would have been a lot of fun but lets be safe rather than sorry.  Besides, I had to work the next day and really, I wasn't interested in getting soaked to the bone.  When we finally got out of the canoe, we had a brief moment of realization that we were half way done.  It was a relief to know that we were half way there. Portaging a canoe with jello arms and legs is very difficult.  My partner +Robyn Poore's mother met us at the dam and walked with us as we portaged.  Robyn felt like she was in a marathon because her mother handed her a coffee to sip on for warmth and rejuvenation.  It was fun to have the right away crossing the street as people cheered you on and shouted out words of encouragement to us.

As we set up our boat to launch back into the water, we were heading right into rapids.  We had to take a moment to catch our breathe before we jumped right back into it.  Its a little nerve wrecking when you have to jump right into it instead of having the time to prepare and set yourself up for it.  There was a chance that we would capsize if we weren't careful enough but we managed to persevere. GO TEAM!

As we rounded up the final KM's of the race we were eager to be finished.  We were absolutely exhausted because the rapids really demanded all of your attention, strength and focus to remain upright in your boats.  One of the biggest rapids of the race as well as the biggest I had ever rode through was right at the end.  It honestly looked like a big hole/whirlpool mixed with a wall of water/wave that we were heading right for.  In my head I knew we weren't going to make it.  Thankfully Robyn had the best idea to hang back for a moment to watch how the guys in front of us were going to maneuvre through the obstacle then make a hard left turn to get to shore to finally finish the race.  Im not sure how we found the strength to get through it but we paddle as hard as we could using every last ounce of strength and stamina we had left and made it to shore finishing the race.  I was super impressed with our team since last year we both fell in the water right at the finish line.  Once we brought our boat to shore and collected our finisher medals, we watched some of the other participants paddle their way to the finish line.  I saw how most capsized right at the end.  The poor souls.  What a heart break that would be.  It made me realize how lucky we were to have been able to get to  the finish line mostly dry.  When everything was all said and done, Robyn and I placed 77th overall out of 153 boats and placed 6th place for women's rec.

This was one of the best experiences of my life.  It really is quite rewarding when you get to the finish line.  You think back to the endurance it takes to make it to the end of that race.  You also get a really big sense of accomplishment. I highly recommend this race to all you outdoor enthusiasts and adventure seekers out there.  You wont be disappointed.  We will definitely be in it again next year and I hope to see you guys out there too.

Confessions of a Procrastinator

It has been at least a month since my last post.  To all my faithful readers, I apologize.  I had a lot going on and in the end I let my blog slip.  I can say however, that I have completed one of my five jobs.  Its quite liberating to feel this way.  My contract for the fashion log has ended. It is all said and done and I can say I am a little happy to have it over with.  I didn't mind working on it, but straight data entry kills my brain at times.  It feels like a small weight has been lifted off my shoulders.  I can now breathe a little easier, I don't feel as distracted nor am I constantly thinking to myself " I have to get this done".

My jobs now consist of my desk job at Parson Refrigeration where I answer phones and dispatch service calls (I don't know how people do it in call centres, the sound of a phone ringing now bothers me), I also enter the maintenance contracts and create some of the service invoices. I am a server at Summerhays Grill which I enjoy simply because I get paid to socialize.  How great is that! Serving is my money maker right now, I mean making up to $30/hr for bringing people food, refilling their drinks and chatting their ears off seems like a pretty good gig to me.  I'm still working on my own company with the bookkeeping services but I'm noticing that working at Parsons and Summerhays while doing this is cutting into my time in getting it up and running sooner rather than later.  What's stopping you might ask? I have a couple of big bills I have to pay off first.  So let's get the formalities out of the way and then I can really start to pave my way into success.  I am still working on the logistics of my business but I find I have the time to dream it up right now and organize myself and my thoughts on where I want to go with this.  I have many ideas, and limited time to make it happen. haha

Time management was one of my skill sets I realized I needed to pay attention to. Although I have put processes in place to ensure I get things done, there still isn't enough time in a day to accomplish everything I need to.  I'm realizing its a common problem for most entrepreneurs, mothers, families, etc.

All professional things aside, I enrolled in the Raisin River Canoe Race again this year. I entered into it last year with my best friend +Robyn Poore and we placed 4th in women's rec.  We missed out on 3rd place by 10 minutes!! Can you believe it!?! Our first time out and we almost make 3rd place. The water levels were low, the water flat, and this out of shape body of mine endured the whole 4 hours it took us to finish the race.  This year our goal is to make top 3 and hopefully not tip into the iceburg water.  With all this precipitation this year, I know we will be moving a lot faster.  If we fall in, we may as well call it a day since the water levels will be up and there will be no chance of us catching our canoe and climbing back in.  I just hope that we can manage to steer that boat and cross the finish line.  We start in St. Andrews and finish in Williamstown. You should come out and cheer us on from bridge to bridge.  I could use the support! and who knows, if I fall in, I give you permission to laugh - I will be!