Muffy Toe

1. Whistling to the oldies. Usually Lynne is getting back from a morning walk when I'm coming downstairs for work, but since it's been FIFTY DEGREES in the mornings, she works out on her equipment in the basement to tunes like "Dancing Queen" and "Like a Prayer" and occassionally you can hear her whistling along.

2. Intern-y duties. I'm so glad I got the internship I did because I have a much smaller number of these mundane jobs than the other poor interns (ie, I don't have to do any mass data entry or envelope stuffing). But I've learned to love some of the little jobs I do have. Taking photos of all 50 banners in the park (there's a corporate logo on each) was actually a lovely part of my day because it meant getting to walk around outside on a BEAUTIFUL day. And 10 minutes of stamping parking passes = 10 minutes of daydreaming.

3. Evenings. Usually coming home means the beginning of a long evening of homework. I logged 55 hours at work last week, but summer = beautifully lazy evenings.

4. Meetings. I can see why people hate meetings; but I like them. They break up the workday and pull you out of your world usually into a larger picture. And, I might just add, that at the last Ravinia development team meeting we were served fruit, cheesecake, chocolate fondue and mock champagne.

5. Tan/non-white. It might not exactly be tan, but it's not that sickly pale either. My job does let me be outside quite a bit *(which I love) and my skin just looks healthier.

6. Baths. Never time for this in grad school.

7. Christina, my boss. She's only 2 years older than I and we get along so well - lots of chatting and going to lunch and talking about churches and family and such. We have the same sense of humor and sarcasm in the office and we both show each other a lot of grace (well, she shows most of it). The poor thing hasn't been sleeping well. Probably because she's pretty sure her boyfriend is going to propose tomorrow night in some very public way at the park (before/during/after the James Taylor concert). She's been such a loveable wreck all week that I'm going to force him to give her that ring sometime this weekend if he doesn't do it tomorrow.

8. Airborne. Finally I'm a believer. I seriously think that stuff made me get over a very serious cold in under 48 hours. Also, I drank about 10 gallons of water and got a ridiculous amount of sleep every night. Mom, I know you're proud.

9. The Houston Chronicle. This lovely newspaper is paying my boyfriend to come visit me in Chicago. Granted, he has to write an article worthy of being printed in the travel section of the paper's print edition, but still. Free airfare, free tickets to Lyle Lovett at Ravinia, and a whole long weekend together in Chicago.

10. Music. I'm so excited that tomorrow is the first of many concerts. And I hope I'm not too worn out to stay and listen...

Forgive me if this is poorly written. More newsy items later.
Love to you all.
mich

I just completed my first week working at Ravinia. I'm part of the development department and work under the manager of corporate relations. Basically I'm responsible for taking care of Ravinia's corporate donors that fall in the $3,000 - $15,000 range of giving. I'm their first point of contact and will spend most of my time hosting them on site, planning their special events (dinners and lawn parties), managing any ticket/parking requests, and writing/submitting formal reports that detail the benefits and visibility Ravinia gave each sponsor. Not a super-glamorous or difficult job, but tons of fun. I've already met 7 or 8 of my sponors and they're all in love with Ravinia and fun to work with. The Ravinia staff is smaller than I thought it would be and very young. I adore my boss and the office atmosphere in general. My job is a perfect mix of desk-work and non-desk-work. :)

More than the specific experience I'm getting in corporate relations, I'm just loving that I can get aquainted with this organization - seeing the way it's structured, eavesdropping on the conversations directors have, and learning the ends and outs of music festivals. Ravinia is perhaps one of the "blackest" NPOs in the country and it's fun and rare to be in such a fluid organization; I'm soaking it up.

This week was rather tedious for the entire department because everyone was working on the donors' benefits mailing. Mailings are perhaps the worst part of NPOs and we're all glad the week is over. But it was a nice way to ease myself into the job - learning the names of the 44 companies I'll be working with, finding my way around the park, and memorizing all the numbers that identify the CR department (on the stamp machine, color printer, copy machine, FedEx envelopes, plus my phone numbers, the address, all the important dates and passwords and codes... soooo many little things to memorize!)

I find such a senseless joy in the little things about my job: having a badge that gets me in everywhere (including backstage), taking shortcuts through the kitchen where I have to dodge cooks and trays of food ready to go out, knowing the executive Chef Ben, and using the code to get in the secret gate. Since we work closely with everyone in operations, I'm having lots of fun meeting all kinds of people. I got my email, desk phone, and work cell all figured out now, and I did a very unprofesisonal squeal of delight when someone dropped my season-long pass off at my desk. (It admits me PLUS A GUEST to EVERY concert this season - so that's an open invitation to you all... seriously....) :)

My living situation is great. I'm renting a furnished room in the home of a recently retired woman who lives just blocks from Ravinia. The house is large and in a beautiful neighborhood, and I basically have the whole upstairs to myself. Lynne is laid-back and spunky. She's very cultured - there's always newspapers laying around, PBS on the TV, opera on the stereo, and sly comments about politics. She winks at me when she talks and accidentally calls me "Lisa" (her new daughter-in-law's name, but also my first name which makes it all right).

In other news, I've (almost) given up coffee on weekdays, but had a lovely coffee on this 50 degree Sunday afternoon. The caffeine is going to keep me up later than I'd like, so I'm going to try to wind myself down a bit.

More later. Hope to see you all in Chicago soon! ;)