Uncategorized – Page 23 – Blonde Rosie Blog

sometimes I get to play in the sand at work

Published on October 27, 2015December 21, 2015 by blonde rosie1 Comment

After a month of planning inside my warm office at my desk it was time to get this project started. My office put me in charge of organizing the volunteers for the sand dune grass planting on our beach. We had to plant 10,000 sand dune grasses in two weeks bit did not have the man power to do it within our office. So I made up some cute flyers and did some marketing work to get the word out. Within days we had dozens up people calling and signing up to help.

Below is a press release I wrote up to submit to a local newspaper. I know it may not seem like much but dunes are a big reason why our beaches and town survived Hurricane Sandy. While our town did get some damage and we lost our pier, without those dunes we would have been under water.

Even in the off season the boardwalk is busy with people in the morning. Joggers and walkers getting their morning exercise, people walking their dogs, and people who just want to see the sunrise. People come to the beach and boardwalk for many reasons in the off season even if it is not ideal swimming and sun bathing weather. The week of October 20th there was something unusual happening on the beach which caught people’s attention. There were around twenty people kneeling on the beach with others carrying flags and umbrella poles every day. It was definitely a scene that caused many people to walk by and ask questions.

The town was organizing a sand dune grass planting project to help rebuild the sand dunes that were destroyed from Hurricane Sandy. We can credit the sand dune grass for protecting our town and minimizing the damage that occurred in town.

This project took more than a year to plan with many dedicated employees and volunteers needed to make it happen. Signs went up in town and residents came together to help. In one week over 120 volunteers came to the beach to plant 10,000 dune grass plants. Volunteers worked hard never complaining about the cold weather or the sand in their shoes. They kept the optimism and energy going to keep planting. Teams of volunteers worked for three hour shifts each morning, planting 100 feet or more per day. * Names, town and my job were removed from article for privacy.

two letters, one word

Published on October 16, 2015October 16, 2015 by blonde rosie1 Comment

Since we were little children we are discouraged from using the word “no”. The word has this negativity it brings with it. Our parents tell us not to say it, we are afraid to say no to friends afraid they will not like us anymore. In school when we are drowning in school work we cannot just say no to a teacher when they give us another assignment. We just suffer and push through it.

But now we are in the working world. The real world. To be honest, the real world has more rules and restrictions than ever. My 10pm bedtime is a strict rule that is rarely broken. We now work in offices that have a chain of people in charge of us. Sometimes even my fellow employees who have been there longer have more say in what I do even though we may have the same title. My job title as an Administrator means I work for a lot of people in an office. From mail duty, logging in checks and finances, ordering supplies from Staples, etc.

People stop by my desk often and throw something onto my desk. I do the graphics and advertising fir the office so I have to switch from my creative mind making posters to logging in 40+ checks from donations received that day.

So when I was given a task that was outside of my job description I simply said no. Well, I said no in a very nice way. After a few minutes of going back and forth the other person backed down once they realized I was not going to go out of my way to get their work done. They wanted something done a certain way, and I was not going to volunteer or take time out of my workday to get it done. At first I thought I would get in trouble or feel bad after saying no. But that was not the case. I felt strong and powerful. This job is teaching me a lot, but I didn’t realize I would learn what I was capable of.

I think we should all make an effort to say no more often. It is a scary word at first, but it finally gives us some control of our lives. I encourage everyone to say NO more often. We can get our work done but just because we start at the bottom does not mean we are a doormat and people can walk all over us.

making my life beautiful with a few trips to homegoods

Published on October 2, 2015December 21, 2015 by blonde rosie2 Comments

A dream my whole life has been to be a professional closet organizer and decorator. My Pinterest account has more pins in my house board than any other. During the summer each day it became more and more obvious that I was not going to have to buy new a new comforter or decoration for a room at school. Deciding to stay home at my parents house was the option that made most sense. And I like my parents so why would I want to move out after living away in Philadelphia for four years?

To make living at home a bit easier and getting some alone time outside of the house and away from my office I have made weekly trips to Homegoods, TJ Maxx and Goodwill to pick up cute little house things to spruce up my room. My room is actually huge. Like obnoxiously big. It is the third floor of our house, it was a Sweet Sixteen present from my parents so I could have my own apartment. I have my big master bedroom, a guest room, full bath and an awkward loft space that I made into an office.

It always starts with one purchase and an entire room gets redesigned. My guest room got a whole new life when I moved home from college and it became the room that everything from college went into. It made me so anxious whenever I looked into it because you literally could not walk in the door. For graduation I got presents that came in cute boxes and I wanted to find a way to show them off. One trip to Target and I came back with a blue lamp that matched my Philadelphia bedroom theme. I had so many decorations from that room that did not match my Paris themed bedroom so I decided to use my beach blue themed decor in the new guest room. The room color was already perfect for my vision. After spending a few nights moving furniture and pulling my back out everything was in its place.

Below are some pictures of the finished room. The room renovation was very inexpensive because I already had the furniture, it just needed some little decor to update the room.

This bookshelf has to be my favorite part of the room. I had all of these magazines that i have collected over the years and after hours of organizing them it makes the bookshelf so pretty! I finally have a spot for everything! The boxes just add cute touches and I can show them off for others to see. A Tiffany box is so much more than just a box!

This piece of furniture has been in my family since before I was born. It was lugged around from house to house by my parents and became mine when I was born in my baby room. It was originally little girl pink and decided to paint it grey to match the theme.

PS After looking for curtains for forever I found these for $10 at The Christmas Tree Store. Never thought I would be so excited about curtains!

The comforter was from college that I got for $10 at Goodwill. The pillow was from Target in the clearance section for $7 along with the grey Jersey cotton sheets underneath also from Target. I am not allowed in Target anymore because I also got the lamp there as well when it was on clearance. If you don’t go to Target clearance section first, you are doing it wrong!

I think the space just looks so clean and finished and I love when guests come to stay because the room is so pretty and welcoming.

Currently now redesigning the bathroom because I went to Homegoods and fell in love with a grey floor carpet and I decided the whole room needed to be redone. Covered in grey paint at the moment from painting this morning. More pictures will be posted when it is all finished!

the one thing in my life that knows exactly what I want

Published on October 2, 2015 by blonde rosieLeave a comment

Okay new show obsession! The last two weeks I have been binge watching Ally McBeal on Netflix and addicted is not a strong enough word for it. It is so nice to find a show that makes me laugh but also has a strong female character that has some real world problems that we all face. If you need a show, five seasons is not enough of Ally!