Yay, my birthday gift to myself arrived today! I pooled all of my birthday money together, and bought myself a necklace from Tiffany & Co. :)
I'm so happy with it, because I finally have a necklace I can wear daily (it's a choker style; dangly necklaces break out my skin), and it's so shiny!
I usually never spend my birthday monies on myself; in the past, it would just sit in the bank account, eventually going towards responsible things like rent. But this year, Mark insisted that I spend my money on overly expensive and frivolous things. I didn't need convincing, as I was lusting after Tiffany's collar necklaces for 4 years (when the heart toggle necklace was oh-so trendy). I will update with a picture of me wearing my necklace :)
Friday, January 27, 2006
Thursday, January 26, 2006
Spring cleaning
Boy, do I have a LOT of stuff. The stupid thing is, if, instead of purchasing the worthless crap that I did, I had placed the money into savings, I would probably have the downpayment to a house by now. Or at least have a bit of savings. I blame being in a "spending" environment, working in a mall. Otherwise, I wouldn't normally be there, as I hate shopping. If I had the means, I would be one of those people who would pay a personal shopper to shop for them.
Anyways, I find myself with a lot of useless stuff because I end up buying in my store just to make my sales plans, and that's really not smart. Frequently, I end up buying gifts, or want to try new things. But, I remember that I don't use synthetic products anymore because my skin doesn't like it, and so I end up having a lot of unused products still in their original shopping bag. What a waste. That and I get a lot of stuff from my mom who buys random items, hoping, I think, that one of her purchases may be something I would wear. If I ever have children, instead of buying them toys or other uselessness, I would like money to be donated into their college fund or other wealth-building account. The annual trip to Goodwill/Salvation Army ought to be fun.
I need a few more bits of furniture before my room can feel organized, but with the recent addition of a bookcase/dresser, I have a lot more open floorspace. Just one step closer to the de-clutter I need so I can concentrate on reading/writing.
Anyways, I find myself with a lot of useless stuff because I end up buying in my store just to make my sales plans, and that's really not smart. Frequently, I end up buying gifts, or want to try new things. But, I remember that I don't use synthetic products anymore because my skin doesn't like it, and so I end up having a lot of unused products still in their original shopping bag. What a waste. That and I get a lot of stuff from my mom who buys random items, hoping, I think, that one of her purchases may be something I would wear. If I ever have children, instead of buying them toys or other uselessness, I would like money to be donated into their college fund or other wealth-building account. The annual trip to Goodwill/Salvation Army ought to be fun.
I need a few more bits of furniture before my room can feel organized, but with the recent addition of a bookcase/dresser, I have a lot more open floorspace. Just one step closer to the de-clutter I need so I can concentrate on reading/writing.
Wednesday, January 25, 2006
Self-Assessments
Today I had to hand in my self-assessment at work to facilitate a quarterly coaching moment with my store manager, and ultimately, help her write my formal annual review. I'm not going to go into the whole lunacy of writing a subjective review, feeling out whether I'm an outstanding associate (1) or a failure to meet requirements (5).
It was somewhat easy writing my self-assessment since I feel more comfortable in my role as a comanager, as opposed to last year when I'd only been promoted to that role for three months. That, and I had my previous reviews in hand to help me judge where I've been and how I've improved. Of course, as I was writing my review, I started getting annoyed at my previous manager who rated me as "does not meet expectations" (4) on two items in my last year's review. How annoying was that. And the worst part was that I helped her along in that belief because I told her that I didn't feel comfortable in the whole hiring process and felt that I deserved a 4 rating, understanding that I was a part-time manager for 9 months would of the "grading period" where my only role in the hiring process was scheduing applicants for interviews, and that by the time I was promoted as a comanager, our holiday hiring was already finished. Regardless of all that, I made sure to give myself the benefit of the doubt this year, and just let the store manager come down harshly on her own inklings. Not that I'm concerned; I'm a lot more comfortable in my role and the feedback that I've gotten on my performance is solidly good, including hints that I'll be "promoted" into a higher volume store soon. We'll see.
It was somewhat easy writing my self-assessment since I feel more comfortable in my role as a comanager, as opposed to last year when I'd only been promoted to that role for three months. That, and I had my previous reviews in hand to help me judge where I've been and how I've improved. Of course, as I was writing my review, I started getting annoyed at my previous manager who rated me as "does not meet expectations" (4) on two items in my last year's review. How annoying was that. And the worst part was that I helped her along in that belief because I told her that I didn't feel comfortable in the whole hiring process and felt that I deserved a 4 rating, understanding that I was a part-time manager for 9 months would of the "grading period" where my only role in the hiring process was scheduing applicants for interviews, and that by the time I was promoted as a comanager, our holiday hiring was already finished. Regardless of all that, I made sure to give myself the benefit of the doubt this year, and just let the store manager come down harshly on her own inklings. Not that I'm concerned; I'm a lot more comfortable in my role and the feedback that I've gotten on my performance is solidly good, including hints that I'll be "promoted" into a higher volume store soon. We'll see.
Tuesday, January 24, 2006
So I'm 26...
...rather, I turned 26 last week. I was lucky enough to go back home to Long Island for a week: I didn't have much planned, all I really cared about was eating at Carmine's (Upper West Side) for my birthday dinner. With working the crazy hours of retail, the simple pleasures of sitting around and talking with family and friends, sleeping in, and watching TV are very valuable to me. Most of the time, my family kept asking if I wanted to do anything, go anywhere, etc; as if sitting around all day and hanging out at home were a waste of time. Believe me, having time to just sit and breathe and soak in the undemanding quiet presence of "home" is my contentment. It almost makes me want to be a stay at home fill-in-the-blank. Almost. [N.B. To those who filled in the above "blank" with "mom", the only thing I'm even remotely considering birthing is The Great American Novel. Speaking of which, Liv recommends that I read Thomas-Wolfe-not-to-be-confused-with-Tom-Wolfe for novel writing inspiration. Maybe I should read both...]
Although I was quite passive about the things that I did in NY, I was very adamant about eating all of my favorite foods before. So, the week can more or less be described as "the countdown of Liza's favorite foods, in no particular order." I absolutely needed to eat bagels, pizza, sushi (and other seafood), lasagna, steak, and Filipino foods, with a smattering of Chinese. And with that, a couple gallons of Bubble Tea (Black tea with tapioca) from Mark and my favorite Tea house in Chinatown, Teariffic Cafe (ludicrous name, I know), formerly, Tea and Tea. Looking back on my week, aside from some garnishes that accompanied my meals, like seaweed, I didn't eat any vegetables of substance that entire week. Hm. Good thing I have a treadmill at home to run on and a tub of spinach that I can munch on to counterbalance my decadent, near libidinous, carnivorous tendencies. Ironically, most of my co-workers think I'm a vegetarian. I really don't know where they may have gotten that silly notion. When I think of common vegetarians (those who just avoid meat rather than expert vegetarians who, surprisingly, eat vegetables, etc), I think of malnourished, sickly looking, un-muscled females, who may or may not wash their hair because it's falling out in clumps from their vitamin deficiency. I may seem vain, but I can't see myself in that group.
Alas, the one hitch in the entire week was getting confirmation from Lola's doctor that Lola did indeed have liver cancer, and has only 4-5 months to live. Fortunately, Lola is in good spirits, and seems to look forward to spending the rest of her days in the Philippines. I can't wait to visit her in Cali, but how bittersweet that will be, knowing it's the last time I'll be seeing her (Presumably. she may outlive us all. I wouldn't be surprised.)
I think the best part of my trip to the Island was that, when some vacations seem to go by too quickly, this one seemed to stretch out for a month. And that was the best birthday present I could ask for: time. That, and the Tiffany & Co. necklace that will be delivered no later than Friday. Hee hee.
Although I was quite passive about the things that I did in NY, I was very adamant about eating all of my favorite foods before. So, the week can more or less be described as "the countdown of Liza's favorite foods, in no particular order." I absolutely needed to eat bagels, pizza, sushi (and other seafood), lasagna, steak, and Filipino foods, with a smattering of Chinese. And with that, a couple gallons of Bubble Tea (Black tea with tapioca) from Mark and my favorite Tea house in Chinatown, Teariffic Cafe (ludicrous name, I know), formerly, Tea and Tea. Looking back on my week, aside from some garnishes that accompanied my meals, like seaweed, I didn't eat any vegetables of substance that entire week. Hm. Good thing I have a treadmill at home to run on and a tub of spinach that I can munch on to counterbalance my decadent, near libidinous, carnivorous tendencies. Ironically, most of my co-workers think I'm a vegetarian. I really don't know where they may have gotten that silly notion. When I think of common vegetarians (those who just avoid meat rather than expert vegetarians who, surprisingly, eat vegetables, etc), I think of malnourished, sickly looking, un-muscled females, who may or may not wash their hair because it's falling out in clumps from their vitamin deficiency. I may seem vain, but I can't see myself in that group.
Alas, the one hitch in the entire week was getting confirmation from Lola's doctor that Lola did indeed have liver cancer, and has only 4-5 months to live. Fortunately, Lola is in good spirits, and seems to look forward to spending the rest of her days in the Philippines. I can't wait to visit her in Cali, but how bittersweet that will be, knowing it's the last time I'll be seeing her (Presumably. she may outlive us all. I wouldn't be surprised.)
I think the best part of my trip to the Island was that, when some vacations seem to go by too quickly, this one seemed to stretch out for a month. And that was the best birthday present I could ask for: time. That, and the Tiffany & Co. necklace that will be delivered no later than Friday. Hee hee.
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