The New Job

I started my new job yesterday as a CSR at C3.

Like I have a thousand times before I got ready for my first day. Not knowing what to expect.

I put on my business casual clothes. Made myself a lunch and headed out the door.

Ten minutes later I was being welcomed into the parking lot by a security guard and waved to my parking spot by attendants... this was certainly new.

I've never had assigned parking or had a job that required security around the premises.

I checked myself quickly in my car mirror. My hair was actually really cute today. That doesn't happen as often as I'd like. Then I decided it was time to go inside.

I entered through the break room. Now first you have to know what I was expecting based on previous jobs. I was expecting to have to introduce myself to a receptionist, wait around until someone told me where to go, lots of boring stuff all around... etc etc... this was definitely not the case.

Upon walking through the door I was hit by the scene of people laughing, a table FILLED with donuts and fruit snacks, and balloons everywhere, and I was greeted by the site manager herself, who remembered my name from orientation. (I was impressed by her memory)

Needless to say it was a warm welcome to C3.

Then we had to sign in and all 250 new and first employees were ushered into 5 separate training rooms to begin learning. Not working. Learning. They recognized that you can't expect much out of your employees if you don't give them the knowledge to perform at their best first.

So I spent my 8 hours in a room with 50 other people learning about this new company, and each other. We played games, ate far too many snacks, and pretty much just started to grow as a new community.

We then got a visit from the CEO and the founders of C3... how often on your first day do you meet the really important people of a company? Shake their hands? Does this really happen anywhere else?

I haven't seen it.

We played diversity bingo, I learned that if I wanted to I could be moved anywhere in the world, Sweden, China, Utah... the list goes on and on... and I am totally OK with the idea of traveling, it's on my list after all.

I also realized I won't be chasing after children, I won't be out in the sun, I won't be taking orders and throwing together a sandwich.

I'll be helping people figure out how to afford their medicine. I'll be talking to people who may not have anyone else to talk to. I'll be one phone call away from making a difference. I think that is pretty cool.

And... since I'll be sitting at a desk... I can totally invest in some cute shoes... which only adds to my excitement.

I've never really had a job where I could buy myself shoes that may have a little heel on them... or anything fancy really... My collection of cute tennis comes from years of having to be extremely mobile while watching children.

The most exciting part would have to be, that for the first time in my employment history... I feel like I have a grown up job. Not something I'll work at through college, not something to do to make some summer money... a real, grown up, "You mean something to this company" job.

And THAT feels really good.

Upcycling: The t-shirt rug!

I've been doing a lot of decorating lately. 

I love moving for this exact reason. 

A new room has so many possibilities. 

New walls, new windows, new floors... everything is like a blank canvas to me.

Let me start from the ground up.

Literally.

My new house has all hardwood and tile floors. While this is wonderful and a breeze to clean up... My feet have been missing the feel of something soft beneath them. 

Also, I recently met a very friendly man at the Thursday Farmers Market who sells Moroccan rugs. 

He had so many stories and was truly a pleasure to talk to. 

He also gave me a book that he wrote about travelling in Morocco and how they make they're rugs. From the treatment of the wool to the actual weaving process and the people who do it all. 

I found it very inspirational... 

and so I have opted to weaving myself a rug.

I currently can't afford rent... much less a trip to Morocco, so I opted to upcyle some old t-shirts.

Donated to me by some lovely friends and my mom.

I think the result is fantastic.

A bunch of old t-shirts that would have been thrown out

are now a super soft rug for my super comfy chair.

I couldn't believe how simple this rug was to make.

Here's what you do:

• Gather supplies.

 You will need:

A hula hoop

I borrowed mine from a friend, we are also starting to learn hoop dancing

...pretty awesome...

anyway, you can also buy them just about anywhere for less than $5

a pair of scissors

and a bunch of old t-shirts

(I used about 14 shirts total

mine were mostly on the smaller side though, so you might be able to use less)

That's all.

(really!)

Now let's weave!

Grab the biggest stretchiest shirt in the color you've chosen and cut it into eight 2 inch strips. 

I know my picture only shows six... please disregard that fact =) 

 You are going to cut straight across leaving the sides together. 

This will form 8 fabric loops.

Stretch your loops over your hula hoop.

You'll end up with your hoop looking like this:

 16 evenly spaced spokes.

In order to achieve proper under over weaving you have to have an odd number of spokes.

In order to do this 

squeeze two of the spokes together and then space the others accordingly. 

These two spokes made into one will be your starting point.

•  

Using the same method of cutting as shown above 

cut strips/loops of the first color you will be weaving with. 

Connect each loop  by putting loop one through loop two and then the opposite end of loop one through itself and pull tight.

Here is the closest thing I can find on how to do it

pretend the wood is loop 2 =)
- and you only need to wrap it around once, we're not mountain climbing here - 

 

Using this same knotting method tie your first color onto the spoke you doubled up.

•  

Start weaving under, over, under, over, under each spoke.

Continue this for about four inches across.

At about four inches, you should separate each side of your loops to make double the spokes.

 On your doubled up spoke you'll leave one of them together and separate the other to keep the odd number of spokes. 

You can see this in the upper right hand corner of the photograph above.

•  

Continue cutting, knotting and weaving until you reach about 3 inches away from the hula hoop.

I could have done a few more layers, but I wanted mine a bit smaller.

Once you have finished weaving. 

Cut your last loop and tie it to the spoke.

• 
  

To finish off your rug cut the edge of each spoke and tie in a secure knot.

Sorry about my severe whiteness washing out this photo...

You can choose to leave the loose ends out

as I did 

or you can tuck them in to your finished rug for a cleaner look.

Here is my finished rug.

Enjoy!

Beaver House!

Hey Guys! I haven't been writing a lot lately, so let me catch you up on my life. The short version is that in the past week (ish) I have moved into a new house and partied in Vegas, gotten a new job and found many new projects I want to be working on.

So lets start at the beginning:

The New House!

It took from 8am to 10 or 11 pm to move all of our stuff into our new home.

That is more than 4 trips back and forth from old house to new.

All the smiling people

 I <3 Them!

The "Library"

(before)

 A HUGE MESS

The "Library"

(after)

 Creative center? Heck yes =)

 

Super Comfortable Living Room

*Paintings by me included*

The Dining Room!

Yes, that is a grown up dining room table!

And there is soooo much more, four bedrooms, three bathrooms, a backyard...

I'm sure you'll be seeing a lot of it as I take more and more photos around the house. 

For now

everything else...

is still in "unpacking" mode

=)