The Pursuits of Price: December 2011

12.28.2011

Pursuit one hundred & two: Commitment

photo courtesy of Pinterest

To whatever pursuits you have for this upcoming year, I wish you nothing but the best! This year my focus will be on commitment. I recently read a great blog post from a co-worker of mine who is currently pursuing getting one of her books published. Her words about commitment and what her priest emphasized in a recent sermon touched me. Throughout life we all have goals and pursuits that we would like to tackle. Some are harder than others to achieve. But it is with an actual deep commitment to these tasks or experiences that we all get something done and move forward and grow as individuals in life.

To us and our commitments in 2012! How ever big or small they may be... let's kick butt!

Following my pursuits,

Price

12.27.2011

Pursuit one hundred & one: HAPPY FRIDAY

Have a fun & safe New Year's Eve weekend!

Following my pursuits,

Price

12.22.2011

Pursuit one hundred: The Half Marathon Itch

Hey pals,

Today marks my 100th post on The Pursuits of Price! Virtual party horn blowing and confetti falling from the sky for all!

So for the past several months the little itch inside of me to pursue running a half marathon in the upcoming year has started to become a reality. After seeing countless friends, relatives, and people four times my age accomplish the feat of running half marathons, and even marathons, I have been inspired to achieve this new goal of mine.

Two years ago, I was probably in the best shape of my life. I exercised regularly, and watched what I ate. After some time I probably became a little too obsessed with being "healthy" and skinny. No longer was working out fun, and I was definitely not seeing the important part of life... actually living, eating food (all kinds in moderation), drinking (in moderation), and socializing with people (not the gym). I ended up letting working out hit the wayside, so I could refocus on what was important... living, enjoying myself, family, friends, and actually making memories.

While I was in my tiptop shape, my mom and I ran the Knoxville Covenant Health 5K in Knoxville, Tennessee. Prior to signing up for this race, I would have never thought that my mom and I would have made the memory of running a 5k together. It was grrreeat (as Tony the Tiger would say)! My mom and I had prepped for weeks. Weekly recaps of where we had run, how far we had gone, and even what "running outfits" we were going to wear on race day were regular conversation topics that my mom and I had together. My mom and dad came up to Knoxville one chilly winter weekend for the big race day.

On the morning of the race my dad became the unofficial "official" photographer of the event for us. He captured us starting the race (the picture is really blurry, but actually ended up turning out very artsy- ha), each of us at different points during the race, and my mom barreling in towards the finish line.

I finished a bit earlier than my mom, so I had the opportunity to see her running through the finish line on the jumbotron in Neyland, Stadium. One word...Priceless!

I hope to make another race memory like this again with my mom, and maybe even the BF.

For the past couple of weeks I have been reading up on running half marathons, and how to properly train for one. Most of the free training schedules that I have found online are for a twelve-week training regime. Besides making up a plan specific to my schedule, I am curious if any of you readers out there have suggestions on how to train?

Shape.com's training schedule

HalfMarathons.Net's training schedule

Ultimately I want to have fun with this goal and be realistic.

P.S. I discovered RunKeeper.com. It has an awesome free app that you can download to your smart phone. The app syncs to your online profile on the RunKeeper website and saves all of the routes that you have run (GPS tracker fun woot woot), your mileage, calories burned, etc. A sweet little lady even talks to you every mile down and gives you the low down on how you are doing. Maybe I am late to the ball game on this type of app and online site... but I think it is great!

What are some of your pursuits that you know you will have to put some effort into, but know that you are fully capable of doing at the same time?

Following my pursuits,

Price

12.21.2011

Pursuit ninety nine: Armas Paintings

As of late I cannot get artist Michelle Armas' work out of my mind. Abstract, whimsical, and fun all wrapped into one. I can picture one of her pieces over my (future) couch. Dreaming about some day is always fun!

She is quite the blogger too...

Armas Design

Following my pursuits,

Price

Pursuit ninety eight: HAPPY FRIDAY

Following my pursuits,

Price

Pursuit ninety seven: HAPPY HOLIDAYS

I have had a great week in Memphis with family and friends. Relaxing and celebrating the good times with the people you care about most is a great way to rejuvenate the soul! Happy holidays!

P.S. Red Stamp has amazing cards and a great FREE app...you should check it out!

Following my pursuits,

Price

Pursuit ninety six: VCTV - Cracking the Social Recruiting Code

During a recent episode of VMware Careers TV (VCTV), Will Staney and I sat down to discuss the ways in which individuals can utilize social media in order to make real connections and ultimately stand out from the crowd during a job hunt. This was an exciting interview for me as Will has some great pointers in this area. Check out his blog post on the topic here.

Watch live streaming video from vmwarecareers at livestream.com

This was my first live interview, which was really fun, but it sure is funny seeing yourself on camera.

Following my pursuits,

Price

12.20.2011

Pursuit ninety five: Smith Hits Up Photoshop

Following my pursuits,

Price

12.15.2011

Pursuit ninety four: HAPPY FRIDAY

Following my pursuits,

Price

12.11.2011

Pursuit ninety three: Learning From the Pursuit of Another ~ Ebony Jones

My name is Ebony Jones and I attended the University of Tennessee, Knoxville with the lovely Price Smith. I do not blog often, but hopefully I can offer some sense of encouragement especially to recent college graduates.

Beginning in October of 2010 I made up my mind that I wanted to leave Tennessee and relocate to the freezing city of Chicago. Everyone always assumed that I wanted to live in New York, where the people aren’t the friendliest and there is no work-life balance. Nope, that was not my idea of the perfect life after college. So, after that was clear and graduation in May came closer and closer throughout the 2011 school year, everyone always managed to ask in candid conversations, “when are you moving to Chicago?”. This became a regularly asked question that drove me completely insane!! I think every college graduate can agree with me when I say the worst questions are, “So what do you plan to do after graduation?” or “What are you doing now?”. Those are definitely personal questions that should only be asked in intimate settings among close friends!

I realized these questions were not going to stop, and that I should really start pursuing this goal of mine to move to Chicago. I began with visiting the city to make some professional contacts by attending an American Advertising Federation career fair. It worked! I met a great lady in human resources, Katie, from OMD media agency who I definitely connected with. I maintained contact with Katie over the course of the 2011 school year, upon graduation, and throughout the summer. Katie then invited me back to visit Chicago for an initial interview and multiple interviews following that. I actually visited Chicago a total of THREE TIMES within FIVE WEEKS and interviewed with three different accounts. Needless to say I gained a large number of miles on Southwest Airlines during that time. Also, while interviewing at OMD I continued to practice interviewing at agencies in Nashville while still staying focused on Chicago. I won’t take you through all of the details of receiving my offer letter because you would start nodding off from boredom, but it was an exciting time in my life.

The interview process was not as glamorous as it sounds; I experienced a lot of disappointments during the three-month period. I was rejected by two accounts that I interviewed for at OMD and also by a number of others from different agencies across the United States. It was a very hard time, but a good time for me to learn about myself and pursing my goals. Now I live in Chicago with a totally different task of making new friends, living in a brand new city along with it being my first time supporting myself. I’m learning about the “work place” and how to continue to make stepping-stones in your career. There’s so much that goes into it! With that said, I must say that I’m very proud of myself, but not because I have a job in Chicago. I’m proud because there were many times that I told myself that this would not happen and that my goal was too big, but it happened!

There are so many recent graduates with stories similar to mine, and others who are still working on securing a job. Not that I’m an expert, but I have five tips of personal advice for recent graduates who looking for jobs months later after graduation.

1. Do not be afraid of the questions “What are you doing now?” or “What’s next?” Try to think of an answer similar to “I’m exploring the endless possibilities I have.” Haha, right? I think this is a great answer to make yourself laugh and others around you.

2. Please note to yourself that you’re not the only one without immediate success of finding a job because you’re not! Also, just because you are looking for a job does not make you a failure.

3. Find a buddy who has similar goals! I had a friend who was looking for jobs like myself and wanted to move to a bigger city. This really can help as you all can use each other for encouragement and advice.

4. Plan as if you know your offer letter is coming tomorrow! My biggest mistake was that I knew I wanted to move to Chicago, but I didn’t exactly have my finances in order. Luckily, I had parents to support me. Also, do the fun stuff of picking out apartments and decorating ideas - it will keep your spirits up :)

5. Have a goal, stick with it, but know that having a job is not everything! I know you’re thinking this girl is crazy. The reality is that six months after having a job you could absolutely hate it! So put your best foot forward with finding one, but do not put all your emotions into securing one where you miss the time to reflect on a graduating as a great achievement and spending time with the people you love while you can!

Good luck to all graduates pursuing their goals!

Ebony