Small Business Management

Good Evening?

Today's Tuesday right? I had my first day of business class yesterday. Very different from UCSD. Class size is around 30 if that. I sat in the second to the front row. My instructor seems to be a very calm, understanding, enthusiastic guy. We got our syllabus along with tons of information. You all know how the first day of class goes.

I did not want to deal with anything from the class yesterday. Which meant today I had to get my booty moving. I took the calendar to the left and marked it up a tad.

Added it all into my agenda. I try to color code things to make it easier for my brain to process. Orange = assignments due that day. Black = topics of the week along with the chapters that will be covered.

This is one thing I didn't miss. Paying an arm and a leg for textbooks. Y'all know exactly what I'm talking about! My instructor explained that they made it loose leaf to lower the price from $160 to $100. Not too bad but still. Geez . . . and I am worried it'll get bent up with some ease.

For this class we were assigned a type of business. I was handed dry cleaner. We each had to write our name on the paper next to our business. I noticed at the end that nobody had bakery. I couldn't help but ask my instructor if I could change. He said yes! Of course I would've liked hair and nail salon, but I'll take what I can get. Not really sure what this project is, but guess I'll find out next week.

I feel like the next five months give or take are going to be quite a ride. Wish me luck you guys!

ALG

Day 5 Nail Tech

Hello,

Saturday was day number 5 of school for me. We have been learning from the book the past 4 days of school, but today we got to have fun doing water marbling! This is the setup for our tables. It's so funny how we use pee pads for dogs to keep from making a huge mess everywhere. We each got orange wood sticks and nails to glue to each end.

Everyone got a cup for water and extra orange wood sticks. My instructor demonstrated how to drop the polishes into the water, create the designs, and dip the nails. You guys know that I've experienced with this technique before, but I can never get it right every time. Sometimes they look like nice flowery designs while others look like a big mess. (I know that the layout o today's post is a bit strange. The photos do not want to play nice with the text.)

Here are my finished nails. What do you think? I prefer the darker nails of course. I'm usually a fan of darker tones and designs, but as of lately I like dark way better.

-ALG

Happy Chinese New Year?

Good evenin,

Another day of school and work. It is currently 11:40 pm 2/19/15. My appetite is still a bit low. I used to get crazy excited about food, but there are a few events that can change this for me. I won't write too much about school in this post, but I've got a few points to share. In an activity we had to write about someone that inspires us. Okay, before you read this know that I am not the best writer nor is my grammar on point, etc. I just had thoughts and wrote them down on my paper.

Inspiration

My "best friend/sister" has been my biggest inspiration in life. I've known her for around five years. We have never argued. She will tell me when I'm being crazy and wheel me back in when needed. No matter what life throws at me I know she's got my back.

She is extremely outgoing. Her sense of self reminds me that it is important to be MYSELF. I often take things far too seriously and when I do she reminds me that it's not the end of the world. I need to learn from the experience and keep moving forward.

She may be thousands of miles away, but I know that I can always count on her and her words of encouragement.


You guys know who I was referring to, right? Oh and sister if you're reading this, thanks girl!

Most of my classmates chose family members, but I felt that it was my go to type of answer. Inspiration can come from nearly anything you as an individual views as intriguing, impressive, or unique. Of course this can change from person to person and day to day.

Maybe I wrote a bit more related to school than planned . . . moving onto work. Today is Chinese New Year? I mean I am half Chinese, but that does not mean I celebrate all the holidays. At work today I had at least four people tell me Happy Chinese New Year. Is it because I'm Asian? I found that interesting.

Something very special happened while I was at work today. My coworker came in just to give me a Valentine's Day gift and Starbucks! I've covered shifts for her a few times I think. I didn't mind helping one bit. She was so thankful that she said she would buy me my favorite Starbucks drink. Not necessary! I did not expect to see her standing there waiting for me. She brought me a yummyful green tea soy latte, an envelope, and this cute little guy.

I was craving chocolate before Valentine's Day, and kind of still am. Look what was in the envelope! Awesome! How did she know I was in a chocolate phase? Behind the chocolates was a cute card with a very heartwarming message. Thank you!

This year I chose not to celebrate the holiday. I did do a DIY sugar body scrub, but that's about it. Let's just say I may hate Valentine's Day now. Just throwing that out there for now. Things could change, but not anytime soon . . .

Oh and again, Happy Chinese New Year lol

ALG
 

Ch 2: Life Skills

Hey guys,

It is currently 12:47 AM. Technically not Wednesday night, but can we pretend? I had a tough time getting up this morning. Plenty of items that I could say contributed to this, but now's not quite the time to get into it all. Bottom line is I got out of bed, went to school for four hours, had a break at home, then 7 hours of work. First day of school + work.

At school today we discussed characteristics, ethics, and like the title of this here post says . . . Life Skills! We set short term, intermediate, and long term goals. I will be honest with you all and say that when I set goals I'm not often specific. Today we had to write down dates, percentages, and much more. I like to stay quite in classes. ALL classes. I don't like volunteering my answers. I almost always doubt myself or feel like I will end up being humiliated. This could be from childhood experiences, but I'll save that for another time (maybe). But in class I shared a lot. A section in our workbooks asks us to "List the people who are in your rear-view mirror that you have counted on and will continue to support your legacy." I shared the individuals I wrote down, but that's not the most significant aspect. I added that I have such few names because over the past good handful of months I have realized people changed. I can't change who they are in relation to me due to definition, but I can change the way in which I view them. This was the part that got my classmates clapping. I felt like I had just said something life changing. Well in my case it is.

My instructor posed a question. Why is the rear-view mirror smaller than your windshield. I'm sure the first thought you have is along the lines of ummm so you can see where you're driving, duh! That may be true, but I decided that the rear-view mirror is smaller because it is more important to look to the future, what's ahead of you, than to reflect on your past. The past is the past, you can't change it. Although sometimes I think we all wish we could change the past. I know if I could change the past the last 8 months would be incredibly different. This may sound like common sense, but I think everyone should take a minute to think about what this means to them and apply it to their lives.

I hope you took this to heart.

ALG

Beauty School . . . Wait What?!?

Hi guys,

Why is it that every time I write so much has changed? Well if you couldn't tell from the title, I am now attending beauty school. I have always had a bit of a passion for nails. Those of you that know me, this may not be much of a surprise. Today was actually my first day of school to help me get my Nail Technician License. I will say that it is VERY different than my UCSD days. I think I am the youngest out of the students that attended today.

I won't go into too much detail in this post. In the photo (right) you can see my Career Connections Workbook, planner, and now organized binder (the inside cover at least). Hey, I can say I started day one being well organized.

In class we went over chapter 1:history and opportunities (left). I am NOT a fan of history. You guys know that. Especially when I used to mention UCSD's lovely MMW course. Today's history was so different. When you think back to history class what comes to mind about the Egyptians? The Romans? Usually religion, trade, government, class systems right? Well I learned about the various resources individuals used to stain their nails, color their hair, add color to their cheeks and lips. That wouldn't matter in a standard history class, but I find learning that the Romans had different hair colors to signify status is far more interesting than religion. I apologize to all you history fans out there. I learned about the growth and origins of beauty and its products.


One of the first activities we did in class today was fill out a "My Promise" sheet. I already know that to some individuals this will sound silly or insignificant, but just listen. It reads:

The gift of COURAGE is the greatest gift I can give to MYSELF! Today I give myself the courage to come back to school. This gift will make all the difference in my future . . . . It will allow me to accomplish my goals. I will always have the knowledge and skills I gain from this gift. No one can take this gift away unless I ALLOW it! I can finish! I WILL FINISH!

I must finish because: This is my chance to accomplish something on my own.

When things get rough, I can motivate myself to do my best because: I know others are waiting for me to fail.

If I ever think of quitting, I'll tell myself that I MUST FINISH because: I started and need to finish.

I will fail only if I quit trying.

I'm glad that they started the class off with this. Ever since my birthday back in June things have been a constant downhill ride. When I thought things couldn't get any worse, someone would prove me wrong. I now know not to question if things could get any worse. The answer is ALWAYS yes.

The reason I found it important to share this on my blog is that I need to remind myself. Yes, it can be looked upon as a silly beauty school and not a terribly impressive achievement, but to me this is a HUGE step. It's a whole new chapter in my life. I wish I wasn't alone going into it, but I have no choice now.

I don't have the ability to see into the future (believe me if I could things would be incredibly different) but I know I will get very negative. I may even tell myself I don't think I am cut out for this, but I will remind myself to look back to this post.

I won't:
~ let others tell me I can't get my license
~ let others drag me further down
~ let the voice in my head hold me back
~ keep questions to myself in class
~ turn into someone I'm not

Sorry for the deep(ish) post you guys. Warning you now though I think this may be the first of a good amount more to come. I've missed writing posts. Even if I can count the number of readers on one hand.

Time to study for my test tomorrow and attempt to sleep.

ALG

Banana Muffins! Healthy(ish)

Hello hello!

I go through phases. These ones are specifically the healthy kick phases. I have been working out every day since the 3rd. Not tooo long but hey it's a start! Goal is 100 miles by Valentine's Day!

This morning I woke up and saw this text on my phone:

"I woke up this morning and didn't feel like going to class so I'm skipping it, and because you're asleep and can't talk me out of it I'm going back to sleep. I love you"

Schatzi is so funny. That totally made my morning! After I did a few things I made my way down to the kitchen and started on these banana muffins.

Ingredients:
 ~ 2 large eggs
 ~ 2 medium sized bananas
 ~ 1 cup Greek yogurt
 ~ 2 cups oats
 ~ 1 tsp baking powder
 ~ 1 tsp baking soda
 ~ 1/4 cup brown sugar
 ~ pinch of salt
 ~ chocolate chips

Step 1: Preheat oven to 400 F while you prep the batter. Place oats in your Bullet (food processor). Blend until it becomes a nice fine blend and place in mixing bowl.

Step 2: Measure out and add the rest of the dry ingredients to your bowl and mix together.

Step 3: Blend bananas and eggs in the Bullet. I found that blending them together makes it smoother for the batter. Also add in the yogurt.

Step 4: Add the wet to the dry and mix it well! It should look similar to the photo to the left. This is when you should fold in your chocolate chips, blueberries, strawberries, etc.

Step 5: Place into muffin cups and into your preheated oven. Set your timer at 5 minute increments. Rotate after every 5 minutes. Use a toothpick to check. If the toothpick comes out clean then they are done! I found that mine took 15 minutes total to bake through.

This was breakfast! I have been really into eating "omelettes" for breakfast. I have also been into wanting to be aware of the nutritional information accompanying the foods I am eating. If y'all are interested as well . . .

Calories                 122.0
Fat                           1.8
Carbs                       17.7
Protein                     3.1

Oh and it yields 13 muffins! Without chocolate chips they are only 99 calories each! I made 1/2 with chocolate and 1/2 without so I could share with the baby! Hopefully you guys give em a try.

Long time no post by the way

-ALG

Happy Halloween?

Boo!

Did I scare y'all?

Yeaaaa didn't think so. This Halloween doesn't feel like Halloween. It's not as devastatingly depressing as my Halloween junior year of high school, but I'd put it in that category. I started the day off trying to drag myself out of bed. How was I a morning person in college? I had my second day of work!! Yesterday I spent the second half of the day watching how the cash register is run. Man there are a heck a lot of buttons!! Today I got to input some of the customer orders all on my own! I got some pats on the shoulder and kind words of praise from my associates. As for the customers, they were super understanding and said I was doing a great job!

After work I walked around shopping for clothes for my other job. That's when I saw all the adorably dressed little ones. Isn't that one of the best parts of this holiday? Makes me smile to watch them get so excited. Remember those days?

Bought some clothes and headed home. Of course this was after I talked myself out of froyo, candy, Starbucks, and Panera hot choc with choc chip marshmallows. I know! Not a very happy drive home. Realizing I was driving home and probably not leaving home.

Few hours passed by. I watched some YouTube and Shatzi's Netflix while laying on the floor. My brother's out all night with friends and his girlfriend and my parents are out all night with a neighbor so figured I should buy myself some dinner. Too lazy to cook anything. Opted for Indian food. I think Indian food may be one of my favorites! Don't let this small portion fool you because I had another and then some . . . Of course I shared with my doggie. She LOVES the rice just like her mommy! I don't feed her any other part because of the spices.

Too lazy to walk upstairs to retrieve my iPad so I flipped on the TV. Glad I did because Halloween Wars was on. Look at these pumpkins! Granted they used other items (cake, blown/stretched sugar, candy, etc) to create these creepy crazy creations.

I didn't carve a pumpkin this year. Didn't dress up or do any cool makeup today. Didn't hand out candy. Didn't watch a scary movie. Didn't plan on spending it alone either. I am thankful that Mimi baby is here unlike junior year of high school.

Me and holidays. It only gets better, huh? One day maybe. Tell me about your Halloween! I hope you guys had loads of fun handing out candy, trick-or-treating, watching scary films, and whatever other Halloween activities you got to do!

Happy Haunting  =^..^=

ALG