Office Supplies

I have revamped this blog to try to motivate myself to update it more. I find that typically I am the type of person who is drawn to FLASHY things. Something that pops and will catch my eye. When I am feeling unmotivated or uninterested, I try to find a way to get myself excited again! In most cases, one thing more than anything else will get me excited to sit down and get to business:

OFFICE SUPPLIES!

Yeah, that's right. My guilty pleasure is office supplies. Give me a nice blue BIC pen, and a crisp new pad of paper. Give me a set of drawers next to me containing pens, pencils, paper, printer ink, and plastic sleeves for papers that need to be protected and inserted in to a binder. Sit me down next to a book shelf full of books such as Just Don't Fall by Josh Sundquist and The Exceptional Presenter by Timothy J. Koegel. And what will I sit upon? A nice, comfortable, sturdy office chair that makes me think, "Alright, Amanda. It's time to get down to business," every time I sit down in it.

Call me a nerd, but every bit of this is true. I do genuinely get excited to sit down in my office chair, surrounded by my tools to get work done. Don't get me wrong, I love working outside in the fresh air and great outdoors, but there are definitely tasks which are more suited to get done sitting at a desk. This is a semi-new found love. When I came home from college I realized I needed a place to sit down and do my thinking and hard work. It was probably triggered by something I learned in my freshman seminar class. A guest speaker came in one day to talk to us about healthy habits. One of them was to never to work in your bed. Associate your bed with sleep, otherwise when you lay down to settle in for the night you will be confused and restless.

I have taken that same idea and applied it to my desk and my work space. When I have serious work to do, I know where I need to be. When I need to FOCUS on the task at hand, I know that when I sit down in my chair I am sitting down to get something accomplished. When I pick up my pen and paper, I know I am doing something productive. When I reach for a book, my brain prepares itself to be motivated and/or inspired.

I suppose this type of thinking could be associated to a lot of aspects of our daily lives. Dieting is hard? Train your brain to know sitting down to the kitchen table means it is time to eat, and perhaps you won't associate more things with being hungry. Have trouble sitting down and getting focused on a project? Designate a certain space as your "work space" and your brain and body will understand what it means when you sit there. Are you feeling stressed? Find a space that is relaxing, peaceful, and triggers positive emotions.

Taking the time to set these areas have really helped me in my day to day life. I have found that I am happier, more productive, and have an overall better quality of life. I hope you guys can take these things and put them to good use!

Until next we meet
Respectfully,
me

Yeah! Woohoo!

Well today was a beautiful day! And with beautiful days come blog inspiration, so here I am blogosphere! Today's blog comes to you in two parts, and an unrelated p.s. =]

Part I: My Job!
So I am currently home from college half a semester sooner than I should be. Why? Because I have a really great opportunity! My major requires us to do a 5 month internship our freshman year. So when the rest of the college returns from Spring Break, we start working! I am back where I was last summer, Northeast Nursery. It's good to be back there with familiar faces and it's nice to be in a hard day's work, Monday through Friday, 8 am until 4 pm. The thing I love most about my job is the encouragement I almost always receive from my bosses. I have 3 people who are my supervisors, and every day before I leave they each thank me for my hard work and tell me I did a good job. This really makes it a great experience. They ask me what I want out of my experience working for them and take what I have to say into consideration, and they always teach me things every chance they get. I really respect how dedicated they are to helping out their employees and their leadership skills are some that I look to incorporate into my own style of leading in order to be an effective role model. I think more employers could benefit from forming these kinds of relationships with their employees. It just makes coming into work every day a bit more pleasant, and I know I personally put in the extra effort knowing it doesn't unnoticed. Apart from that, my job is great because I get to work outside all day! Days like Monday and Tuesday are certainly no easy task when we get enough rain to flood the entire area bad enough to call in National Guard support, but beautiful warm bright sunny days like today make it ALL worthwhile!

Part II: The 30 Day Challenge!
I thought this up today while moving grasses because... well... when you're doing a project like moving grass it's hard not to let your mind wander just a little bit. Anyways... I am hereby setting a challenge for myself! This challenge is to help me get in shape, but I would assume you can alter the details a little to help any aspect of your life. My challenge is for the month of April, (hence 30 day challenge), I am going to do push ups, crunches, and reverse crunches every day starting today. I will start today with 15 of each, and increase by 1 every other day. Which means on Saturday I will do 16 of each, Monday 17, and so on until April 30th. By the end of this, I hope to be seeing some progress, and hopefully by then it will be such a habit I will be able to continue doing this kind of routine to stay in good shape. So wish me luck, and keep me motivated!

Unrelated p.s.!
I am interested in applying for Ag. Ambassador. Don't know enough about the program to decide just yet, but it is something I am looking in to. I e-mailed someone today about receiving more information, and hopefully soon I will know. Anyone reading have an opinion on this they'd like to share? I'd appreciate it. =]

Until next we meet,
Respectfully,
me

Insomnia

The last time I fell asleep before 2 am must have been while I was still out at UMass. That would mean for the past week and a half, I have been an insomniac. Now this is partly because the Massachusetts FFA State Convention was this past week and being a state officer I was required to pass up on sleep to ensure a successful convention for our members. All in all, I would say we were succesful in doing that. It ran smoothly with only minor bumps and obstacles.
This year I decided to re-run for an officer position once again. Wednesday morning rolled in, and just as I remember the exact moment I was elected, I will always remember the exact moment the last name was announced and I cried in front of almost 400 people because I was not chosen to serve another year.
Yes, I cried. I cried like a little baby. I was ushered out a side door into a kitchen and comforted by a state staff member, my former chapter advisor, my cousin who is a member, and my best friend who is a member. I probably stayed in that kitchen crying and too ashamed to leave for a good 10 minutes. I was hurt, and confused, and angry... and most of all I was embarassed.
However, I knew I faced a choice. I could turn bitter and angry, or I could walk back out with my head held high remembering all the amazing things this organization has done for me. I chose the later. I was hugged by so many people when I walked out of that kitchen. The very people who chose not to slate me came up to me crying. The new team gave me loving hugs, also crying, and telling me how much I deserve a position. My advisor gave me a huge hug and made it very clear to me this in no way meant I did a bad job. I got that from everyone. And what did I say to every single person? "I'm not done. Don't feel bad for me." I told every single person that in 362 days I would be back to try again, and that is exactly what I plan on doing. I stayed while the new team trained and laughed with them and had fun with them and made the best of the little time I had left with this group of people. I only hope they have stopped feeling bad for me and are ready to do all the amazing things I know they are capable of.
I started out last year saying, "If I can leave knowing I influenced even just one member, I will be happy." This statement holds true. Am I sad? Yes. More sad than I have ever been in my entire life if I can be perfectly honest on here. I have truly never felt so low.
BUT! That statement. That statement that I started the year off with... Well... Among the hugs and teary eyed people trying to console me after my upset were two young ladies from my chapter. They gave me big hugs, and through a mess of tears I tried to tell them how much they mean to me. I wasn't able to convey that message well enough and I am stopping by their high school tomorrow to explain it better, but these two young ladies have made this year the most fulfilling year of my life! I was told numerous times by them that they did not have a role model until they met me. I was told numerous times they want to be like me someday. Words can not descrive the way that makes me feel! Did I get re-elected? No. But I did impact at least these two young ladies in the year I did get to serve. And for them, I am staying strong and positive. I want to show them and teach them not only to be kind in victory, by gracious in defeat. You are only a failure when you give up and stop trying. I want them to take this one last lesson from me. And I want them to know as much as I have impacted them, they have impacted me.
As far as this next year goes... well my college has a chapter which is currently inactive, and I plan on changing that. I have been doing research and making preparations to return in the fall and make the UMass a strong chapter in the MA FFA Association. And then when convention time rolls around, you better believe there will be an application with my name on it! Why? I'm sure people will ask me that. Because if you're running for State Office, there should be two reasons: The FFA still has something to offer you, and you still have something to offer the members. I'm not done being molded, and I'm not done sharing the things that I have learned with the members. I will not stop. I will not give up. I have not failed. This is not the end, it is merely a crossroad. I can use this year to make myself an even stronger individual by remaining positive, or I can accept defeat and turn my back on an organization which has never turned it's back on me. Well I'm not about to become a bitter and angry person. I love the FFA. I will continue loving the FFA. And I will accept all obstacles God sets before me knowing He has a plan for me, and I am on a path that will lead to happiness.

Still smiling,
respectfully,
me

Beautiful Day

I know, I updated this recently. But today was just a very good day that I would like to share with the blogosphere!

Have you ever had one of those days where you wake up, feel refreshed, notice that it is sunny and warm after a long winter of frozen fingers and toes, and you are just so great full to be alive? Well that was how my lovely day began. I woke up and saw out my window that it was nice and sunny. I have a weather gadget right on the desktop of my laptop and saw that it was already around 50 degrees outside! Classes ran smooth, but I couldn't help but look out the window every now and then anticipating my afternoon outdoors! My Monday schedule has me done with classes at 12:05, at which time my roommate, two of my best friends, and my myself went out into the fresh air and decided right away to go out and study on the hill that 3 of us live on. It is a very nice and open grassy hill that looks out over campus. So I printed off a study guide and grabbed some blank flash cards while one of my friends grabbed some blankets, and we spent about two hours laying in the sun, studying, and taking a few breaks to climb tress. Now anyone who knows me understands that tree climbing has been my all time favorite hobby since I was old enough to know a tree was able to be climbed on, so this was very exciting in itself! After a while we decided to take a walk in to town because it was beautiful out and we had a few errands to run. I don't care how old you are, when you are a girl there is nothing more thrilling than walking around town and visiting all the small shops with cute shoes! And that is precisely what we did. Laughing and joking around and just enjoying each others company ALL afternoon! I ended my lovely day with a nice warm shower. And okay... it was probably just a little longer than usual.

I have good reason for the extra long shower though! You see, the shower is where I end up doing all my deep thinking. Honestly it's the only time of day I don't have anything to distract me from taking a little time to gather my thoughts and clear my mind. Today, all I could think of was "Next week is the MA FFA State Convention!" I can't believe it! The year went by incredibly fast. Before I became an officer, everyone was quick to tell me things like "It is a lot of fun!", "It is very rewarding!", and "It is a lot of work!" However, no one ever warned me about how many flips your stomach does realizing your year of service is coming to an end. I remember almost a year ago now exactly where I was. I remember the nom com process, I remember the nerves, and I very vividly remember waiting as the nom com read their report. Edwin was to the left of me, Alex Eastman to the right. Regina was sitting behind me. She held my right hand as Edwin held my left, and I have never felt so naseus! And then... I heard it. It was a blur, but I remember it. "Executive Committee," said David Rivera. I thought, "Yes! Okay, they picked an Executive Committee... good sign..." and then... "Megan Comeua and Amanda Gioacchini" YES! A flood of relief and fear and joy and EVERYTHING just flooded through my body as I hugged Edwin and saw Regina smile at me and jumped up all at once! And then Kelley ushered me up to the stage where I would stand, crying, waiting for the rest of my team to join me. It is something I will never EVER forget.

The rest of this year has been a similar flood of different emotions, but always that sense of pride and joy. The love for my team and this organization. The overwhelming sense of, "I'm doing something incredible right now." This year has been filled with so many great moments. I have learned more than I thought humanly possible. I just can't believe that in a little over a week... it's done. I am re-running, because I have the privelage of that option. Maybe I will get elected, maybe not. I know nom com will do what they think is best, and I have 100% confidence in them. Either way I know I will be fine. But also, whatever they decide, I know I will never ever get back the moments I had with THIS team. THIS team is done. Our year is over. We did everything to the best of our ability and I pray to God in the members eyes we have succeeded in giving them everything they desire and more. My head is still a mess of thoughts and memories and worries and anticipations, and my heart is growing heavy dreading saying goodbye to my team. But that time is almost here. And just like my beautiful day, this year has brought me such a sense of unwavering joy. A year I can look back on and think, "Thank God I am blessed with these moments that I can cherrish forever."

Until next we meet,
Respectuflly,
me

Smelling Like A Cow Brought Me Joy

My name is Amanda, and I am a proud Plant Science kid. I majored in arboriculture in high school, I am majoring in General Horticulture for college, I work in a wholesale nursery, and I plan on running my own greenhouse crop production facility some day. What business do I have playing with dairy cattle all day?!

Well that is exactly what I did with this fine Thursday. I was one of the two State Officers at the Dairy Judging and Showmanship CDE. Now I had a brief experience with cows my freshman year of high school where we were required to take an introductory course in all possible majors (Animal, Plant, and Environmental). Aside from that, however, I do not spend much time around any sort of animal. Well... besides my dog, Noah. This year though I had my first real experience with livestock at the Livestock Judging CDE. It was the first CDE I went to as a State Officer, and I quickly got put in to the pig pen to keep them moving so the students could see them. I did the same with goats, sheep, and yes... cows! I am scared of cows. Let's just get that right out of the way. I am scared of cows and horses and pretty much MOST animals. Sorry! But I digress... back to TODAY!

Today I spent my day pretty much just keeping time and watching all the competitors do their thing. Not having to handle any of the cows, but walking around in their pies and getting nice and smelly. This lead me to two realizations: the smell of cows brings me some kind of strange joy, and I want to learn how to show an animal.

So let's talk about the smell. Yes, they stink. They totally stink. And I went home stinking to high Heaven myself. I sort of forgot and wore my jacket to dinner this evening, and it was enough to make my friends a little grossed out. But I have to admit, that smell brought me some kind of wierd sense of pride. I felt like, "I worked today. I worked hard and got dirty doing it." I felt that same pride this past summer on my lunch breaks. I used to go to Wendy's in my gross work clothes covered in mud from working in the nursery yard. While in line I got all kinds of dirty looks from nicely dressed, great-smelling men and women who have fancy jobs that require them to stay clean. NO THANKS! I loved the fact that I was covered in dirt, sweat, and Lord knows what plant matter. I really had to work hard and build up that grime! And that is how I feel when I come home smelling like animals. I felt that way back in high school, and that same sense of pride was triggered again today. I'm sorry if I'm not looking very classy, and trust me I appreciate wearing nice clothes and going to fancy events... but bless your heart if you think I'll be working any sort of coushy job where I don't get to play in the mud!

And now on to wanting to show an animal. Well, not too much to explain here. It's a recent discovery. I don't care too much what animal. I suppose something kind of small since I am so tiny and don't want to feel like I'm in danger, but honestly it doesn't matter much. Watching the members show the Jerseys today... I'm not sure. It set something off in my mind. They all seamed to be VERY proud of what they were doing. Also, I love personal experiences. Opportunities to be the best I can be all on my own, not relying on a team to pick up my slack. That is why I loved Cross Country running. It was just me. It's a rush, and I really want to get in to it. If anyone who reads this has any suggestions for me about doing this, PLEASE do not hesitate to give me some input.

If this seams all disjointed and confusing and not very well written, I apologize. I was up at 7:15 and it is now 11:45 and this is the first time today I have actually sat down to stop and rest.

Until next we meet,
Respectfully,
me

"Wow! You're short!"

I'm getting back into the swing of this frequent blogging thing. Alright! Let's just go ahead and jump right in to this, shall we?

I think one of my absolutely LEAST favorite things of all time to hear someone say to me is, "Wow! You're short!" ...HOLY COW! I DIDN'T GO TO BED LIKE THIS?! WHAT HAPPENED?!... Ladies and gentlemen, there has never been a time in my over 19 years on this fine earth that I have even been considered average-sized. Why in the world some people feel the need to point out my size (or lack thereof I suppose), I will never ever understand. I'm never really sure how to respond to that statement. Usually it's just a "Yup..." Sometimes I ignore it and pretend like I just didn't hear them. Other times I try to freak them out by saying, "Wait, what?!" and looking down at myself and quickly becoming very shocked and upset by the fact that I'm so small.

In all honesty, I very rarely have a problem with the way I look, especially when it comes to my size. It makes buying clothes a little difficult. I have to ask for help reaching the top shelf. But that doesn't bother me one bit. The only thing that grinds my gears is when people point it out in a - to be perfectly frank - ignorant way. That includes making terrible jokes that I've heard 1,000,000 times, and that classic "Wow! You're short!" Here is my policy folks. Don't say "Oh wow" when I answer how tall I am (because yes, EVERYONE asks this question), don't make a crappy joke I've undoubtedly heard many times before, and do NOT - I repeat do NOT under any circumstance refer to me as "little lady." *GAG!* If you're going to make a joke, just be clever. Don't always assume I need help. If I do, I am not too proud to ask for it. I had the option a long time ago to take shots or hormones that would make me grow about 3-5 more inches, but I didn't see the point. God made me the way I am for a reason, and I'm happy with it.

I genuinely like how I am though. It makes me stand out. It makes me memorable. The best compliment you can give me is to tell me that my small stature doesn't hold me back at all. I always get told that what I lack in size, I make up for in personality. I like to think that's true. I try my best not to let myself get lost in the crowd (figuratively and literally) because of my size. I still want to be known and respected. Call it a Napoleon Complex, but I don't care how small I am. I am smart, I am driven, and I try my best to be fun.

So sorry for this little rant, but I just want people who read this to know:
-Yes, I'm short.
-No, I'm not at all self-conscious about it.
-I can do anything anyone else can, it just may take a little longer and be a little less convenient.

And just because I know anyone who reads this is now wondering... I am 4 feet 10 inches tall, and I have remained that height since 6th grade. I weigh 95 lbs, and I have not gone up or down more than 3 lbs since 6th grade as well. (Yes, that means I've never weighed in the 3 digits). And yes, I eat like a pig. 17 year old boys marvel at my ability to shove an entire pizza into this body. So it's not for lack of trying, I'm just tiny and it seams like nothings going to ever change that. =]

Til next we meet,
Respectfully,
me

Stress!

Yes, folks. Stress! We all feel it, and we all have our own ways of dealing with it. So today, for your reading pleasure, I am going to share with you some of my favorite ways to cope with stress.

First of all, stress isn't necessarily a bad thing. "Stress is the body's reaction to a change that requires a physical, mental or emotional adjustment or response" So basically, stress is our reaction to a situation around us that requires a response. It's our bodies way of saying, "Hey, get up and do something about this!" Sure, it typically has a negative connotation, but really feeling stressed can be a good thing! "I am stressed out about this test!" Well... study! Go to the library! Make flash cards! This stress may force you to study which will get you that A you want. See what I mean?

Now I personally am feeling stress because the MA State Convention is coming up in March, and we have tons of work to do. In addition to that my semester ends mid-March, the week before convention to be exact. Being a short semester, it's going to be rough trying to stay on top of everything that's being thrown at us so quickly. And to add one more thing to my list, I'm trying to earn all A's this semester. Not an easy task in general, but when I have all of my FFA responsiblities to focus on as well... well let's just say I'm feeling STRESS!

So how am I dealing with all of this? I'm glad you asked!

1) I study! As simple as that sounds, I am actually working really hard to study at least a little bit every day. I have found a great way to help me focus on this is to set rewards for myself. For example, a guilty pleasure of mine is watching Tyra Banks. So yesterday, I told myself if I studied from the time I got out of class, I could stop to watch the show, relax, and eat dinner with my friends.
2) I go to the gym! I actually have some sort of chemical thing going on in my brain where when I get stressed out, my brain tells my body to create WAY too much adrenaline. Don't ask me what it's called, because I could barely follow my doctor when she explained it. But basically, if I don't work off all that extra adrenaline, that's when my stress turns into anxiety and that's no good. So I go to the gym. I run around the track, or use one of those fancy bike machines, or really anything to work up a sweat and get my blood pumping. It channels all that energy into something productive and beneficial, and when I'm done I always feel like I am more focused on whatever task is at hand.
3) I make lists! I have calendars and planners every where. I write lists on scrap paper for the most mundane tasks. But it's helps me so much to plan every minute of every day. Okay, maybe I throw in a little spontenatity here and there because it's fun... but for the most part I find it beneficial to write down what I need to complete each day, and schedule my time so I can work on it all. Once again, it keeps my focused which is very important when it comes to dealing with stress.
4) I sleep! I try for at least 8 hours every night. Yeah, that doesn't always happen. But man oh man, I need my beauty rest or else I'm a big ol' grump that doesn't want to deal with anyone or anything! If I'm well rested, I can pay attention more to what I need to get done, and I will do a better job because I'll have enough energy to give it 100%.
5) I eat healthy! Well... I try to at least. I'm a college kid, what can I say? But for the most part, I try to take in a lot of protein, a lot of water, a lot of fruit, and a lot of carbohydrates. The healthier I am, the better. More time and more energy, and to be honest I just feel better and happier.
6) I spend time with loved ones! Having encouraging people around you helps so much. A simple "Hang in there, you can do it," can give me that boost of energy to do anything! When other people believe in you, it helps you feel confident about what you're doing. A support system is great to have when things get tough.
7) I remind myself I am blessed! Last but not least, and this may sound silly, but every single day before I go to bed I remind myself why I'm blessed. I ask myself "Why was today AWESOME?!" and it puts things in perspective. Am I busy? Yes. Is it hard? Yes. Could it be worse? YES! God has given me so many amazing things in my life, and I will not take them for granted. I will work hard, because I know my life is ultimately great, and the more I put into it, the more I will get out of it. So if something is rubbing me the wrong way and I start to feel like it's going to affect everything I need to get done, I stop and say, "Is this really worth getting bent out of shape?" and usually the answer is no.

I hope this helps anyone reading. I know we all have things on our plate that don't always seam easy to handle, but try some of these things or come up with your own ways of dealing with stress. Whatever you do, DON'T GIVE UP!

I'd like to leave you with a quote I think of when I start to get stressed out over something.
"In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life: It. Goes. On." ~ Robert Frost.

Til next we meet,
Respectfully,
me