Let's play catch up..

It has been a crazy few days, with school, group meetings, GA work, family time, and Valentine's Day. So, a little recap of the last week... In my ERP class, we are split into groups and we are selling cereal within a simulation. My group did not do so well in the practice rounds, but we are confident we are going to to better in the real rounds that start tomorrow. Tomorrow morning we are meeting before class to finalize our decisions, and hopefully sell LOTS of cereal! It is a really confusing simulation, but I am looking forward to understand it better in the coming weeks.

In Strategy, we are also divided into teams and will be working on projects to be presented to Walmart Executives. This is going to be a great experience, but a lot of hard work. I'm sure I will blog more about that, once we get more involved in the project.

In my Marketing class, we have been assigned to pick a category and research the background of the history. This includes the size, how much they sell annually, how many products are in the category, and so on. Then, we are supposed to go to a mass merchandiser that carries the category and observe the category structure. We have to draw a layout or take a picture of the layout. We then have to watch at least 10 customers interact with the category and see if we can get a rough idea of the decision tree process they go through to make their purchase decisions. I am looking forward to this project because this is the type of marketing that interests me.

Other than school, I have been doing a lot of GA work. I enjoy what I am doing because I can do it out of my house from my computer. I have quite a few assignments from my GA, so I am staying busy.

Valentine's Day this past weekend was nice and relaxing. Justin and I decided to keep it pretty low key this year and went to dinner and a movie. We decided to do this since we are going on a cruise in 31 days!!!!! Woohoo, I have been counting down EVERY day! My dad's 60th birthday was Sunday(yep, Valentine's Day). I also babysat my niece and nephew for my brother and sister n law on Monday night, so they could go on a date for Valentine's Day! I had a blast with my niece and nephew and was happy I could do that for my brother and sister!

Another Snow Day!

Today classes were postponed till 10 am due to the weather that came in yesterday. Therefore, my Strategy class was canceled at 9:30. There were several people that could not make it to my 11:00 Marketing class, so the teacher decided to cancel it as well, since it is a very small class. So, I was able to get a lot of work and reading done. I worked several hours on my GA assignment and read for my marketing class. I was also able to get a lot of house work done, too. Needless to say, it was a very productive day!

Here is a pic of me and Justin when we got 6 or 7 inches last week! It was so much fun to play in the snow and go sledding!

I have really enjoyed the snow, but I am ready for some warmer weather. Baseball season opens next weekend, and I am SOOOOO excited. Baseball games are really fun to go to because you can tailgate behind the fence in the outfield. A lot of students go to the game, which makes it a lot of fun. The Hogs basketball team is also doing really well and has been exciting to watch. They play LSU tomorrow night, and they have won their past 4 games! Hopefully they can keep it going!

Spring Break Booked!

I know it is only February 3rd, but Spring Break is right around the corner. The last month has flown by, so I am hoping that this next month does as well. This will be my last spring break as a student, so I wanted to do something fun. My boyfriend and I have decided to go on a cruise! We booked it 2 days ago, and we are both so excited!

The cruise is 5 days long and leaves out of New Orleans. It will stop in Cozumel and Progreso Yucatan Mexico. While in Progreso, we are thinking about doing a tour of the Mayan Pyramids of Chitzen Itza. I was able to visit them when I was a Freshman in High School on a Spanish Club trip. They are amazing and I would love to see them again. I have been on a couple cruises with my family, and I think you get the most for your money on them. We are also really excited about leaving out of New Orleans so we can spend a couple days there. It is going to be such a great trip! 45 days and counting!

My Last Semester So Far...

So, I have only had 2 weeks of school so far, but I can tell that I am really going to enjoy this semester. As I have mentioned, I am only taking 9 hours of class. This is giving me so much more time for my GA and for job searching! On Monday and Wednesday, my only class is Enterprise Systems which has been interesting so far. We had a "draft" the other day where the class chose team captains and then the team captains had a draft after class for the rest of us. I have a great team, so I am really looking forward to the group work that we will be doing.

On Tuesday and Thursday, I have Strategic Management and Category Management. In Strategic Management, we have also been put into teams and we have had a couple assignments due already. My group in that class is also great, so I am looking forward to group work in there as well! Although I enjoy ERP and Strategy so far, I believe my favorite class is going to be Category Management. Since this class is related to my concentration, Marketing, I can relate to it the most. The class is very interactive and small, which is nice. I enjoy it because it is directly related to what I would like to do in my future career. I have also had the teacher in my undergraduate Marketing Research class a few years ago. She is very knowledgeable and a great teacher, so I am looking forward to that class the most.

This weekend I have been looking for jobs, and I may have a couple good prospects. Keeping my fingers crossed! I had a pretty relaxing weekend of staying in and catching up on some reading. Since the break, I have also been reading a lot more books for pleasure, which is so nice to finally get to do! Maybe if this semester is less stressful, I will be able to continue reading for pleasure! :)

My Wonderful 4 Day Weekend!

This weekend was full of celebrations, but now it is back to school once again. As I mentioned in my previous blog, my family had not celebrated Christmas yet because we had not been able to all get together. So, we had several reasons to get together this weekend. First of all, my dad, my boyfriend, and myself were inducted into the Harrison High School Hall of Fame for Athletics. Every year, our high school inducts 20 people into the Hall of Fame for athletics or distinguished service in the community. Myself and Justin, my boyfriend, were inducted because of our athletic achievements. My dad was inducted for his distinguished service in the community. It was a really special for all three of us to get inducted the same year. All the inductees had to give acceptance speeches and they played a 20 minute slide show of pictures from our athletic careers. Here are a few pictures from the banquet:

My dad, me, and Justin before the banquet

All the inductees from the night

Me and Justin before the banquet

Since my entire family was in town for the banquet, we also celebrated Christmas and my birthday. It was so much fun watching my nieces and nephews opening their gifts. On Sunday, which was my actual birthday, we had a big family lunch and birthday cake. I came back to Fayetteville that night, and went out to dinner with Justin and then out to Dickson St. with a couple friends. It was the perfect way to spend my birthday.Here are some pics from Sunday, out with some friends:

Austin(MBA student) and me out on my birthday!

Whitney(MBA student) and me out for my birthday!

Christmas Break Come Back!!!

The break has come to an end, which gives me mixed emotions..I am sad because I have had such a good time traveling to see my family and working on stuff in my house. I was actually really productive during the break and got a lot done that I have put off this past semester due to school. I traveled to Iowa and spent time with family during Christmas. I also went home to my parents for a couple days. Although I am sad the break is over, my "Christmas" with my family hasn't even begun. I have so many siblings, sibling in laws, nieces, and nephews, that we have not been able to have our family Christmas yet. Therefore, we are all going home this weekend to my parents to celebrate and open presents from one another. It's also my birthday this weekend :) so it will be fun to celebrate with my family.

Although I am sad that the break is over, I am excited to begin my last semester of school. I have spent time over the break applying and looking for jobs. HOPEFULLY, I will find something soon. Since I studied abroad this summer and received 6 hours of credit, I only need 9 more hours to complete my degree! This schedule will give me more time to look for jobs!

This past year has gone by SOOOO fast. I can't believe we aren't the "new kids" anymore. Seems like just yesterday we were doing the case competition that the new class will be competing in tomorrow and getting to know each other at orientation. I have had such a great experience this past year, and I am looking forward to what lies ahead!

Distractions while Studying

So, today is my last final....woohoo! This is our accounting final, and it is comprehensive over the whole semester. While studying for several hours, I seem to get distracted by reading other blogs, checking facebook, or watching funny videos. While studying for my accounting exam, I decided to take a little break and watch a few "weird news" videos from msnbc.com. There are usually crazy and funny videos from around the World. Little did I know that I would come to find a video that was not only about the University of Arkansas, but a friend of mine is the reporter on the story.

Two University of Arkansas freshmen were caught buying reptiles online and keeping them within their dorm rooms, with the intent to sell them online. The two students were fined not only for violating the "no pets" policy in the University of Arkansas dorm room, but also for the intent to sell the reptiles without a license. If you want to read more on the story, check it on msnbc.com.

Now I guess I should get back to studying. This test and a marketing research project report is all that stands in my way of Christmas Break. :)