As I said in my last post, I went away to Long Island, NY to attend an Indian Wedding. I had a lovely time and truly enjoyed seeing a wedding from a different culture. They are all about bright colors, fine dining and partying like royalty. 

An Indian wedding back in the village use to be 7 days long pre-wedding with the big day takes place at the end with a 20-40 minute ceremony in their Temple. The reason for this is they have several customs (traditions) that take place between families. I found a website can give you a little more insight on the different customs that take place. The customs vary a little depending on what region you are from in India.

This particular wedding lasted for five days and over three hundred people attended. The amazing part is that friends and family came from all over the world to attend this event. I met people from England, India, Africa, Canada and States. Seeing all of this really made me think about how the American wedding has really lost its culture. Most weddings have been expedited and changed from the original traditions from years ago. I am sure everyone would love to see pictures; However due to privacy there will be only a few I can post.

I am back in town and working on getting caught up on my homework due to the fact that I did not get it all done before I left. My teachers have been helpful and allowing me to turn assignments in late (of course with penalty), but my theory is better late than never.

Do you have any experiences like this?  Let me know, I'd love to hear them.
 

Oh' my, the Holidays are here and there is so much to do and little time to do it. Funny I mention this after posting about time management. I am going out of town for a week starting on Wednesday and will not be back until next Tuesday. If you can only imagine what the last two weeks of my life have been like.

Work… making sure I am caught up and have helped everyone who may need it. School…making sure that not only is this weeks work done and turned in on time, but get myself caught up for next weeks school work… "Ugh" Packing… I am going to New York and had to prepare myself for the cold weather; therefore I had to buy appropriate clothes because in Florida we do not need lots of warm clothing.

Normally in the past when I have traveled I was able to do homework while I was gone. However this time I am going to attend an Indian Wedding and I will be extremely busy for five days. Yea...that is right five days of tradition and celebration. I am pretty excited actually and can not wait to experience a wedding of a different culture. However this leaves me very stressed due to we are coming to the end of fall semester and classes are getting harder and packed full of assignments. I truly have had a lot of difficulty getting my homework done and preparing myself for the week to follow.

When traveling and you want to be able to do school work, I have learned that Courtyard by Marriott is designed for business travelers and have Wi-FI throughout their hotels. This has always worked for me in the past and I highly recommend checking them out next time you travel.

The other important key to traveling is when in school try to plan your trips during our 2 week breaks in between semesters. I know this is not always the easiest thing to do and you can not help it sometimes, but do it when you can. Some people have so much trouble planning vacation and school that they decide not to take vacation, but this is not good because we all need a break here and there. It refreshes us and makes us stronger. Of course I am going to attend a wedding so I had no choice as to when it could take place.

I know that things are going to get difficult as the holidays get near…I just need to learn to pace myself and practice that time management that I seem to focus on so much.

Any suggestions?  Let me know.

Otherwise, I hope everyone has a Wonderful Holiday…Please enjoy your friends and family through these times of Thanks and Joy.

For those of you that had been reading my previous blog may have noticed that I disappeared for a little while. I first would like to apologize and let you know that I am back and ready to blog.

Now as to why I had disappeared is not the most uplifting, but I wanted to tell you all about it and point out a few things. I lost my father unexpectedly at the end of October.  On a Friday morning I received a phone call from my brother telling me that my father had died. This is something you never want to hear when picking up the phone, but it is life. Can we ever really prepare ourselves for this…I think not. My father lived alone so there was no one at home to help him at his time of need. My father died just after midnight of a heart attack. He was 63 and living life like a champ, so we thought any how.

The last few weeks I have been a complete wreck emotionally. My father was very dear to me and I loved him with all of my heart. I have lost a grandma and a great grandma in the past, but nothing is like loosing a parent. We go through life thinking that our parents are immortal and that they will always be here with us. When in reality we know this is not true.

I have my days that I get by and I have those days where I think about how I am never going to be able to talk with him again. I am never going to hear his words of wisdom or his joke of the day and I am never going to here him say “I love you sissy”. This really hurts and scares me to death. My friends have been wonderful while they have been trying to comfort me, but I know time is the only thing that is going to get me through this. I will never get over my fathers death, but I know he would want me to move on and that is what I have to do…one step at a time though.

With all of this craziness in my life I fell behind in school. My teachers were very understanding and helpful to me. They gave me a little time to grieve and then I had to turn in my homework late. I truly appreciated everything they did for me. In our busy lives we never know when something is going to happen. Therefore it is important to always try and stay ahead of the game. This way when something does happen you don’t get put so far behind.
 
Have you or anyone you know lost a parent before?

I would love to hear your story because you can truly relate and understand how I am feeling.

I am currently in school to get my Business Management degree with focus on Marketing and Sales. I chose this major because I have been in management for the last seven years and I really enjoy it. However I do not just want to be in management, I want to focus on marketing and sales. I am pretty good when it comes to meeting and talking with people. This is a key quality to have in order for you to succeed.

My current job is in marketing and I really love it. While I have only been doing this for a couple of months, I have really been able to pick it up and run with it. I work for a Finance company that provides loans to individuals buying automobiles. Basically my job consists of representing a hundred and thirty dealers in the surrounding Central Florida area.

In today’s day and age there are several lending companies for dealers to use; therefore it is my responsibility to build enough rapor with the dealers so they will want to use my lending company instead of my competitors. This is easy for me because I love the small talk and that is really what is about. Well that along with knowing what you’re marketing (product knowledge). If  I get asked a question about my companies programs, I better have an answer or be able to get one quickly. The other key to a successful marketer is to know your competition. You should always know what you are up against. Check out this site for 12 or so steps…to a Successful Marketer.  
 
It is very important to have as many tools as necessary to help you market you business well. For example: a tool I use is called the Auto Count which provides you with all the dealers who financed car. It tells you the number of cars they sold new and used, it tells you what lending company they used and how many loans went to each company. This is a great tool for me because when I go into a dealer and they say they did not do loans that would fit my programs, I can come back with “...well according to the Auto Count you did 4 deals with my competitor bank”. This shows them that you are doing your homework and that there is no messing around with you.

Do you use any tools like this with your job?

I am half way through the semester and things have been really tough. I am not going to sit here and write posts saying that school and work go well together because that is not true. However if you have the dedication to stick it out, it will all be worth it in the end.

The thing that you have to remember is your normal day to day duties do not disappear. The key is to figure out how to fit them in with your new challenges of school work. The key phrase here is time management, I am sure you have all had this phrase thrown at you several times. The questions for you to ask yourself is have you actually tried it. I found a great website that has some really helpful tips; learning to better utilize your time makes life so much easier. There are a lot of really great tips, so try them out and see what works for you.

I am still learning to juggle school and work. Over the last few semesters I have learned that right about the time you get use to your classes, they are over and new ones are starting. This in turn brings all new challenges. One of the things that work for me is learning how to group the right classes together. What I mean by this is to not take classes at the same time that consist of all writing. This semester I am taking a Computer class and English Composition class. If you are not sure of what a class consist of you can always ask your Student Coordinator. They will generally know if a class does a lot of writing or not or if is a difficult class or relatively easy one. The next thing I do is work an easy class with a hard class. This always helps and lowers my stress levels too.    

The older we get the faster times seems to fly by us. I never have enough time in my day, but I am really trying to figure out how to work the scheduling system and master it. If you have any helpful tips I can give a try please comment my blog and let me know what works for you.  

What do you do for time management?