Category: Work

Some days are just awful



There’s really no way around it. Today, my real job was rough, some people were rude and I felt completely useless and unappreciated. Everyone has bad days. Today was one of those days for me. So, after work I decided to make a crappy boxed strawberry cake and listen to Both Sides Now by Joni Mitchell on repeat and feel my feelings.
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I hope you had a good day. If not, try baking to this – it might help.

xoxo,
Adora

The 5 keys to working remotely successfully



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Today I start working my job remotely from Texas. I’m going to miss all my coworker back in Florida so much. Especially Briana and Nell. To prepare for this change though, I’ve spent a lot of time talking with people who work from home to get their advice on how to stay sane and productive. Their advice has already been invaluable so I wanted to share with you the top 5 pieces of advice that they gave to me.

1. Wake up and get ready. – Get ready like you normally would if you were going into the office. Put make up and deodorant on, even if you won’t see anyone all day.

2. Separate the two parts of your life. – Go for a walk, leave and get coffee, have some routine that you keep everyday to tell your body that your day is ending and/or beginning.

3. Don’t eat meals at your computer. – Leave the screen behind and actually use your lunch break to eat lunch. The work will still be there in an hour.

4. Business on top. – Some of my advisors have to video chat into meetings like I will. They say, no need for a full on work outfit, just a business top. Just don’t forget and stand up during the conference call.

5. Stick to your start/quit times. – In the tech field especially, work is never actually finished. Your work computer in your house could lead to you working 10+ hours a day if you don’t try your best to stick to your schedule the way you would in the office.

Well, I hope you all find these tips as helpful as I did. Anyway, wish me luck!

xoxo,
Adora

Goodbyes and See you Laters



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Today is my last day in the main office of my wonderful organization. They’re so awesome, that they’ve agreed to let me work remotely so I can keep working for the causes I’m passionate about (ending poverty world wide). All of Technology Services (a.k.a. the tech nerds) went out to lunch to wish me a final farewell for now. Goodbyes are hard, even when you know you’ll see them all again, but the time has come. Tomorrow morning Josh and I are leaving with the u-haul he’s packing while I sit around having lunch with my coworkers.

xoxo,
Adora

Kelly



Sometimes days in the office are rough. The clock crawls by, the coffee runs out, and the computer monitors give me a headache. But on those days I try to remember that my job is to make life better for little girls like Kelly, pictured above, who lives in abject poverty in Nicaragua. Remembering that what I do directly affects this little girl and thousands like her keeps me going.

“Far and away the best prize that life offers is the chance to work hard at work worth doing.”
– Theodore Roosevelt –

xo.
Brie


Brie and I work for the same NGO and I can’t help but share this. She’s so right, this keeps me motivated at work every day.
xoxo,
Adora

Four Years



Today marks my four year anniversary at Cross International. My first job after college has been a great fit for nearly 1500 days and counting.

However, realizing that I’ve been at this job longer than I was in high school and just as long as I was in college has kind of left me like this:

It just feels weird that this is now the longest relationship in my personal history. Me and my job, 4-ever. Maybe I should carve that in a tree.
xoxo,
Adora

Grown up things



Briana April and I work at the same company, we’re also very close friends outside of the office. But when I call her at the office to talk about projects at work we both are in business mode and have very polite business conversations. The other day after such a phone call she emailed me and said “whenever we finish a phone conversation and say thank you to each other all formal like, I picture us like this” and sent me a link to this photo:
I couldn’t agree more.
xoxo,
Adora