greece baby

Well my first official business trip was to Athens, Greece for new hire training. I love my job and wonder how long they'll keep pretending it's super fun. Maybe forever?

I'm sitting in the hotel by the airport for my last night. Our Internet access has been awful, limited to 2 hours per day and very slow because everyone is on at the same time. About halfway through training some first years figured out the admin password for the instructor's Internet which lasts all day, but updating my blog during class would have been too conspicuous.
Here's a photo tour of the trip highlights-- I definitely saw less of the city than on other European adventures when I'm not being tortured in a conference room all day.

Here's a sneak peak of the trip:


My training group for the first week. There were participants from 12 countries (US, Canada, UK, Germany, Spain, Italy, France, Singapore, and clearly some others). I'm on the far right in a blue sweater and orange dress.

View of the conference rooms from above. I wish every morning I could get to work in 5 minutes by just taking the elevator downstairs.

A really darling patio restaurant one of our first nights there. The jet lag was probably killing me by this point in the night.

Opa! The fav cheer of the training attendees. I had to take one pic so I didn't feel like I was missing out on all of the fun. Licorice flavored hard liquor doesn't sound that great anyways so whatev.

Dinner at another fun place in Plaka-- our most frequented area of town. This is my new friend Kim who just moved to Portland after growing up in Chicago and attending school at Wisconsin. I'm really relieved she's cool.

fore!

I forgot how many attractive men golf. Any time of any day at any given golf course there will be men you wish were in your foursome. Or twosome if foursome sounds like a lot to handle. :)

Maybe I like the clothes the best. A nice preppy pair of Bermuda shorts paired with a polo shirt is probably my fav summer look (neck and neck with the poolside bathing suit).

Today my brother and I rented a golf cart which I've never done in the handful of times I've been golfing before. I really liked it. It was so nice to not carry that huge frickin' bag around. Of course, the break for my shoulders didn't improve my swing any. Whatev.

just call me grace

A week or so ago Shondel came to Utah for a visit and we spent Saturday on the boat.  My goal this summer had been to greatly improve my wake boarding skills because I'd made so much improvement in my snow skiing last winter.  I still suck just as much as I ever did.  Luckily I've mastered the art of enjoying activities you are not good at.

I spent many outings this summer trying to figure out if I'm goofy foot or regular.  I found photos of me in the past wake boarding with my right foot forward sometimes and my left foot forward sometimes.  I took Daniel's long board out in front of the house to figure which I preferred.  I have no preference.  Daniel thinks this is an a

nomaly.  I think it shows my natural, ambidextrous talent for water sports.

The great highlight of the day was getting up on the wake surf for the first time.  I like the wake surf because you're going so slow it doesn'

t hurt when you fall.  And I always fall and it tends to be pretty hard.  Nothing quite like a high speed, high pressure enema to end your turn behind the boat.

reg, bec, audit

That's the order I'm taking the CPA sections during August. There's another one coming (financial) in November. I spent the first month of my summer in Spain. Then I came home to my parents' house and have proceeded to do next to nothing everyday. There are intermittent activities of course, but most days consist of sleeping, exercising, and running errands. Note I left eating out on purpose as I've been on a diet and don't do much of that. I go boating too and have been working on my wake boarding and wake surfing skills (blog post to come). My goal for the summer had been to take all four sections of the CPA exam but as the summer closes and I haven't been studying I've let myself off the hook. I'm only taking three sections this summer. So I find myself tonight finished with the Reg lectures (but none of the assignments), one diagnostic exam, the exam tutorial, the handful of CPA-provided practice questions, and ready/planning to take the test tomorrow. I may throw in another practice exam in the morning. All in all I feel pretty comfortable with the material. This low level of preparation over just one week is ridiculously irresponsible. Every section I fail costs me (or really my dad) about $200 I can never recover. But in all honesty I'm taking the CPA exam about as seriously as I take everything in my life. I plan to repeat the one week cram session for the next two sections. I get my scores back in October, and, if I've managed to pass three sections of the CPA exam before beginning work, that would be HUGE. I'd be an all star for sure. If I fail I'll probably keep it pretty quiet at work and study more the next time around. I'll let you know how this works out for me. :)

let's do this

I love reading blogs. Friends, strangers, it just doesn't matter. My friend RZ got me hooked. I have intended (for quite some time now) to start my own blog once I've graduated from school and begun working. You know, real life. Well grad school is done and I'm about a month away from starting work so I guess I'm a grown up. I'm in the middle of buying a car and leasing an apartment not in Provo. I'm going to have my own bathroom and a queen bed. I think this is going to be fun.