Highlights of the past 4 months

Wow, it's hard to believe that it was more than 4 months ago that I left Indonesia! About a year ago, when I decided to leave New York City for a little while, I never imagined that my time at home (call it being a kid again or semi-retirement) would go by so FAST! I mean, don't get me wrong, it feels like the days have just crawled by as I've been waiting for Taylor to come home (11 left!), but still I look back on my time here and can't believe it went by so quickly. Here are some highlights:

Late January - I got back from Indonesia and spent a weekend in Michigan visiting my cousin Miranda. We had a great time shopping, eating Sushi with Suton at Sansu (seriously), and just hanging out!
February 9 - Went up to Michigan to have lunch with my grandma for her birthday. My biggest regret from my time at home is that I didn't go see my grandmas more :(
February 12 - First appointment with the seamstress to have my wedding dress altered!! :) We told her the vision, decided my dress fit perfectly (hopefully the 10 lbs I've lost won't mess that up) and decided on the bustle.
February 14 - Valentine's dinner at church. My mo was my date, but it was a good time :)
February 15 - 20 - Mom was VERY sick and I think all I did was take care of her and flex my ridiculously strong immune system. Go me.
Late February - Mom and dad went to Florida for the weekend and I was very bored :(
March 5 - Second wedding dress fitting! This was the last time I saw my dress when she showed me all the awesome things she'd come up with to make it look JUST PERFECT!
March 5 - 8 - Went to Chicago to visit my friend Tracy and her husband. We hung out and had a great time and went to see the Broadway Musical Chicago.
March 13 - Deposition for my car accident lawsuit that I'm involved in. Got to hear the accusations against me straight from the horse's mouth (the chick who's suing me). Interesting, but also kind of aggravating.
March 13 - 15 - Spring Quiz Off at Miracle Camp. Got to go with my church to the church camp of my youth. I was a "Quizmaster" meaning that I read quizzes to Bible Quizzers all day. It was a great time.
March 30 - First veil appointment. Went up to East Lansing Michigan with my mom, sister and grandma to have my first veil appointment with Summer from Grace Boutique in Old Town. We decided on my wedding veil and grabbed some lunch. It was a good day.
April 9 - Mom's birthday. Went to the seamstress again to pick up her MOB dress. It looked perfect :)
April 10 - 11 - Tracy came to visit me and my mom highlighted her hair. Then, I went up to her inlaws for dinner and hung out with her for the evening.
April 11 - Potluck Easter dinner at my dad's cousin's house in Toledo. Got to hang out with some of my family that I don't get to see very often. I also won Texas Hold 'Em for the first time ever!
April 12 - 15 - Grandma Hooper came to visit and we got to do some shopping and planning for my Bridal Shower. Poor gma was sick though, and I actually caught her sickness and was in bed for the next few days!
April 18 - 20 - Went up North to my aunt Cathy and Uncle Randy's for the weekend. I got to go to my cousin Eric's birthday and to our cabin in East Jordan, MI. We even went out to Traverse City and drove out on the Peninsula in Grand Traverse Bay. I think I found some wine that we are going to serve at the wedding. It's from Peninsula Wine Cellars. They sell a delicious red and white wine called "Old School Red and "Old School White" respectively. They are so named because the tasting room is in an old schoolhouse. They also have a wine called detention, which I love :)
April 24 - 26 - I drove down to Nashville to cheer my friend Susie on in the Country Music Marathon! Had a blast with her and her dad in Music City.
May 10 - 12 - Business trip to NYC for my new job.
May 15 - 17 - Drove to Nashville AGAIN for my friend Brittany's bachelorette party. Good times were had by all :)
May 21 - 25 - Went to Chicago for Taylor's brother's fiance's bachelorette party. I also stayed for the whole weekend to babysit Tracy's dog Bailey. We had a great time and Taylor's sister stayed with me so it was fun to hang out with her.

And now I'm back in Ohio and can't believe that I move to New York City in 5 days! I am going to miss home a lot, but I'm also excited for Taylor to return. So many mixed emotions. I think I'll just focus on packing :)

10 Things I'd like to say, nice edition

So, apparently what I'm about to do is all the rage, but after reading about 10 of them, I am disheartened by how vindictive people can be. Most people say some pretty mean things when they write this. I haven't thought about it at all, but before I do, I wanted to put it out there that my plan is to put up 10 nice things I would like to say to people. I'm not telling who those people are though ;)

1. Our conversations brighten my day and I know we will always be friends (and thank God for that).
2. I forgive you
3. You will probably never know how much I appreciate you.
4. I cannot explain why we are friends after all these years, but I am so thankful for it and glad our relationship lasted through it all.
5. I am insanely jealous of how effortless you make being beautiful look.
6. I wish I was as independent as you.
   
7. I am proud of the person you are becoming, but because of our relationship I have to provide some guidance and it is this: don't ever stop trying to be a better person, especially to those you love.
8. I am so glad that I am just like you in so many ways.
9. I think about you more often than I probably should, and I breathe a prayer that you are happy, healthy, and content.
10. I know you don't understand English, but if you did, I'd tell you you bring so much sunshine into my life and I will miss you when you are gone!

Oh, and none of those are for my fiance...I think that having been apart for 10 months and conducting our relationship solely via phone, I've said everything I ever wanted to say to him (and more!).

So, should I do "mean edition" next ;)?

My first business trip :)

Hey there friends. Well, tomorrow I leave on my first ever business trip. I define a business trip as any trip in which your boss tells you to be somewhere and pays for it. In this case, my boss has asked me to come to New York (where I will be permanently starting June 1) for 2 days. So, tomorrow I'm off to start my new job (only to return Wednesday for 3 more weeks)! Wish me luck :) I'm not too nervous, but this position is something very different for me, so hopefully I can jump right in and not look like a total newbie!

In the words of Fountains of Wayne (lyrics from the song that inspired the title of my blog):

I try to focus, I'm staring at the screen, pretending like I know what all these little flashing lights mean.

Well, I'm off, until Wednesday!

Since I spent about 10 hours on this...

I made this map all by myself using PowerPoint. Enjoy! Click to enlarge.

Things they are a changin'

So many updates for you, blog readers (are there any of you even left out there?)! I've had an exciting week so let's get right to it!

First, this week I received and accepted a job offer!! I am officially hired to be a Sales Coordinator with a large Internet company. I find this very ironic since when I named this blog, I used "sales" simply because it is in the song by Fountains of Wayne that I like so much, not because I actually planned to be working in Sales!! I started working for said company on November 3 for a "three to five week" assignment and they just never let me go! And now I have a full time job working in a slightly different capacity starting June 1. The job is in New York City so for everyone who is wondering where Taylor and I will be settling down at least for the foreseeable future, there you have it. New York City! :)

Really, things could not have worked out better and I know God had a hand in it because I definitely couldn't have done it myself. The company that I will be working for really wanted me to move out there to start as soon as possible. But I was really struggling with the idea of leaving home earlier than I had planned and also unsure where I would be able to live during that time. Well, lo and behold, the company through which I am temping has a clause that I have to be a temp for at least 6 months before I can be converted to full time without my new employer having to pay a ridiculous "conversion fee." And because I took off 4 weeks to go visit Taylor, that 6-month period actually ends on Friday, May 29, making me available to start full-time June 1. Just when I was planning to move! Lovely :) And I get to start working in my new role immediately, increasing my hours but still being able to stay at home and take care of wedding plans.

So my current plan is to stay here in Ohio and do many many thing that I need to do between now and May 31. I have several trips planned, a friend's baby shower, and lots of wedding-related things to do. Then, I have a bridal shower (for me) on May 31. On June 1, my mom and I will pack up all my things and head out to NYC! I'll officially report to my office on June 2. Woo hoo! I will probably stay with friends for the first month and then Taylor and I will get an apartment starting July 1. He gets back June 7, and I cannot wait!

Only other update on my end is that Taylor and I registered today to run the New York City Half Marathon on August 16th. Watch out for running related updates!

Spring Shopping Extravaganza!

Inspired by a (very successful) ad in People Magazine, I spent some time today at Target updating my spring wardrobe. It's brilliant because they have such cute stuff for about 1/4 the cost of stores like Banana Republic and J Crew. I spent $157 and got:

1) navy jaket
2) khaki skirt
3) green cardigan
4) pink polka dot shirt
5) pink screen-print t-shirt
6) multi-colored blue blouse
7) yellow purse
8) multicolored pair of shoes

I paired these with 5 items that I already own:

a) red-orange blouse
b) white blouse
c) skinny jeans
d) green shorts
e) hot pink heels

to make the following 10 outifts

#1: 6+7+c

#2: 2+4+7+8

#3: 2+3+7+8+b

#4: 1+2+4+8

#5: 2+5+7


#6: 8+a+c
#7: 7+8+d+b

#8: 2+8+a

#9: 1+6+e

#10: 1+5+c


Not bad, huh!?

My life (at least on the internet) will never be the same

Wouldn't it be cool if you could walk away from my blog today having actually learned something? I know, what a concept! Well, I have a lesson for you today :)

So, if you've ever been to Yahoo, weather.com, or any other web site that has extra space where you see ads (almost all do), then you have been the target of the online advertising industry - an industry in which I have been working for the past 6 months and in which I'm hoping to continue working (if the stars align) for the foreseeable future. When I was hired to work for company X, a small start-up online advertising coop, I had no idea what they actually DID. All I knew was that it was my job to make sure that all of their "clients" had "models" at the right times. I had no idea what their actual product was or how those "models" worked. So, I did some research. And I think that what I found might be interesting to you, so here goes.

Let's start with the basics of the business:
The Advertisers and Agencies are the demand side of this business, the networks/exchanges and publishers are the supply side. But what is being demanded and supplied, you ask? Good question! The answer is advertising inventory, which can be loosely defined as "Advertising inventory is the supply of opportunities to display advertising in a particular medium."

What this means is, ever advertisement that you see on a web page represents one piece of advertising inventory. The publishers listed on the right in the value chain above are the producers of this inventory. By building a web page and allowing extra space where they will try to build revenue through inserting advertising, they create inventory that is then traded in the online advertising world. Pretty simple, right? Maybe not, but we'll go with it!

Big publishers (like the oft-mentioned Yahoo or Facebook) have huge sales teams that work directly with buyers (people who want to advertise on their page ie. buy their inventory such as, say, Verizon or Downy) to sell huge chunks of advertising. However, small publishers like a knitting web site can't afford to hire a sales team. This is where ad networks or exchanges come into play. Ad Networks are sales houses for publisher inventory. An ad network strikes deals with lots of publishers for their inventory and then aggregates this inventory and sells it on to advertisers and agencies. Ad networks make their money by buying selling the inventory at a higher rate (to advertisers or agencies) than they bought it for (from publishers). The company I am working for does this, and I'll explain in a moment just how they make money playing this intermediary role.

Let's glance at the other two players in this chain. Advertisers, like I mentioned, are companies who have an interest in advertising their product on the internet. They typically have a designated budget for advertising and want to place their ads in the best places for the cheapest rate. Agencies have relationships with ad networks or publishers and typically take the advertisers money (if they don't have an internal team to do this) and try to buy the best inventory that they can, then take a cut of the money spent for their services.

So, there's a lot of fancy coding, redirecting, content delivery, algorithms, and other things that I don't understand that go on behind the scenes in the online advertising world. Suffice to say that when you view a web page with an ad on it, chances are that in the 3 seconds it took the page to load, multipled ad networks (with inventory) and advertisers/agencies (who want to display their ads in this invetory) have already interacted in cyberspace to determine exactly which ad you see on the page (and how much was paid for that space).

As an ad network, my company buys the inventory in which you may be seeing said ad from publishers and sells it to advertisers at a higher rate. The trick that they use to do this (and they are one of just a few who does this) is to insert tags on users cookies (those things that watch everything you do on the internet) and use complex statistical models to determine what sites that have been visiting and where they are likely to make a purchase. They then sell this service to advertisers, ensuring them that the users (you and me) who see their ads on Facebook or Yahoo are those who are most likely to actually be interested in buying their product. Genius! The crux of the matter, then, is that Company X buys advertising inventory on a Cost Per Thousand basis, and sells it to advertisers on a Cost Per Action basis. An action typically is defined as a user actually purchasing something or at least clicking on the ad as a result of having seen it.

That may sound complex, but break it down with me. Think about it this way. My company buys 1,000 pieces of ad inventory on cnn.com. They pay $4 each, that's $4,000. Then, they sell that inventory to Coca Cola for $8 per Action. So they double their price in hopes that at least half of the views result in a click or a purchase. That's a very simple example and in reality, they would never hope to get that high of a return, but you get the idea. By doing this, Company X assumes the risk that they may not make any money if no one takes "Action" on the ad. But with their "Behavoiral targeting" - the thing where they tag users and use models to determine where they might purchase next - they are able to increase the likelihood that the users who see those 1,000 ads might actually be the people who want to buy Coca Cola.

Whew! So, there's your lesson in how it is that you come to see all those ads on the internet. It's quite interesting to think that if you spend your day on jcew.com, cnn.com, and bloomingdales.com, you might later see an ad for American Eagle because someone was "watching" you that whole time.

Happy surfing (I'll be watching)!

Taylor won't let me put this on our wedding web site :)

So, as the title indicates, Taylor won't let me put this on our wedding web site, but I have to imagine that some of you either haven't heard this story or would take the chance to hear it again, so here goes (from the perspective of Carissa, since I'm the one writing!)

Taylor and I "met" when I was a sophomore and he was a freshman at Vanderbilt. Apparently not an altogether uncommon experience for him, I spotted him at a concert for the Christian A Capella group on campus. I was immediately a fan of this mystery man and, lucky for me (and unlucky for him?), he happened to be wearing a Tenafly Track jacket with the name "Taylor" on it. How convenient. Now these were the days before Facebook made stalking...er..networking much easier, so I had to resort to the ink-and-paper version, the Vanderbilt Newcomer. It's basically headshots of the entire freshman class that is published each year. With no shame whatsoever, I combed the pages of the class of 2006 Newcomer looking for an attractive boy named Taylor. And I found him on page 3 or 4 (what luck!). Taylor Brinkman from Flower Mound, Texas. Jackpot (Talia or Brinkman if you're reading this, I'm sorry).

So, step 2, find out who knows this person. For that I employed the aptly-named-for-stalking Vanderbilt People Finder. This online database listed where students lived including dorm and floor. Lo and behold Taylor lived on Vandy 4, the same hall as some of my buddies from working at the dining hall, Nikhil and Matt Malony. So, the next day at work, I mentioned to Matt and Nikhil that I was interested in meeting their hallmate Taylor.

Oh, Tenafly?" (Matt and Nikhil)
Excuse me, Tena-who? " (Me)
Tenafly, it's his nickname, that's the town he's from. He's from New Jersey I think.
What's his last name?
Um...we have no idea, what is Tenafly's last name?
I thought he was from Texas.
Oh, that's a different Taylor, but I don't think you're talking about him

So, in case you can't follow that. Basically there were 2 Taylors who lived on Vandy 4, and I had stumbled across the "other" one (they are good friends to this day) because he happens to fall earlier in the alphabet. For those who don't know, my future last name will be Smith, so I understand why Matt and Nikhil couldn't think of it...so forgettable. I'm not sure why they assumed which Taylor I was actually stalking, but apparently their intuition was correct.

Anyway, I'm making this long story even longer, so I hope you're at least enjoying it (I'm enjoying writing it!). So that day after work, Nikhil (being the gentleman that he is) volunteered to take me on a stroll of Vandy 4, just to confirm which man I was stalking. He took me by "my" Taylor's room and there he was, sitting at the computer. Confirmed, Tenafly it was.

Later that night, Matt went in to Taylor's dorm room and gave him my screen name (don't judge me), CJL191. Taylor asked who it was and Matt answered, Carissa.

Carissa who? (Taylor)
Carissa, she said she met you at the Victory concert (Matt)
Is she cute?
Taylor, she's a good Christian woman

Seriously. That's the first description that Taylor got of me (but he did have a vague, positive memory of seeing me at said concert, so that's good). Apparently that "good Christian woman" line, which would have sent most 18-year-old men running for the hills, actually worked on Taylor and he kept my screen name. But I don't think anything would have come of it if it hadn't been for his appendix. You heard that right. Just a few days after all of this, Taylor's appendix burst and he had to have an emergency appendectomy and was bedridden for a period of days. During that period, he decided to IM this "good Christian woman" who did not beat around the bush when she told him she wanted to meet him. We agreed that I would bring him lunch since he was otherwise confined to his dorm room. And that is what I did. The first time Taylor and I "met" formally was when I arrived at his dorm room with a burger for him and some broccoli for me (apparently I was trying to give off airs of being a healthy eater).

This all happened shortly before Christmas break. I went to Italy for 2 weeks over the break and (again, being oh-so-subtle) sent him a postcard. Figuring I was in the bag, he IMed me again after break to see if I wanted to go out for a real date. And the rest is history....

Especially the part where the same day as our first date, a co-worker asked me out and I agreed to go with him on a "pre-date" just to get out the jitters. I'm so not kidding, I let this guy take me to dinner and then he dropped me off at the Vanderbilt Basketball game where I told him I was meeting "friends," but really I was meeting Taylor. But like I said, ancient history...

Bright Future in Sales....will lead to dim future in taxes :(

So, I am one of those stubborn people who refuses to pay to have my taxes done (yet). I also happen to have a complicated situation where I was a New York City who worked part of the year in New York State, most of the year in New Jersey, and about 3 weeks in Ohio (for which I paid $39 in Ohio State taxes). Therefore, I spent 4 hours Monday night and 7 hours yesterday working on my taxes. I have learned much, been required to pay a little, and become what I like to call a "taxes ninja" (this term is borrowed from my good friend Jon's description of his wife's prowess with coupons, making her a "coupon ninja").

I have learned through this process that taxes went up a lot this year, and that New York is the devil. So, when I started working for Goldman out of New Jersey, all kinds of people told me that it might save me a little $$ in taxes. Fat chance. Here's how it works. New York requires me to pay taxes on ALL money I made in a given year if I was a resident for the whole year (and for simplicity sake, I'm saying I was even though I moved to Ohio on December 9). However, I also have to pay taxes to the other states in which I worked for the amount of money I learned in those states. So, the Empire State (fully living up to it's name here) graciously gives me a "credit" for the amount paid to those states. Based on a complicated formula it ends up being either the exact amount of the taxes I was charged in those states or a percentage of my New York State tax amount proportionate to the percent of my total income that came from the other state, whichever is less (fittingly).

I know that's confusing but basically what it means is that New York requires me to pay them the difference between the lower tax rate of another state and the tax rate that they charge, therefore removing any benefit of receiving income in another state.

Nice.

But I'm an innocent taxpayer who lost her job, had her roommate go awol sticking her with the rent and (not that this affects my income) whose fiance is overseas. I should get some sort of breaks or something right? WRONG. Now, I am glad to say I don't have to pay $1,700 like I did last year, but still I am not getting a dime back overall! The Feds have elected to bestow upon me $200 and New Jersey is kind enough to return some overpayment. But don't worry, New York State has snatched that up in a jiffy plus another $100. All because New York City likes to charge it's residents ridiculous rates for rent, food, drink, utilities and THEN add on $1,600 in "New York City" tax just for good measure. Ugh. Living in Jersey is looking better and better... (I can't believe I'm saying that).

Well, there you have it, the saga of my taxes this year. Mayne next year I'll fork over the $40 per state for Turbo Tax to do it. Then again, maybe not.

What I've been up to

So, in my diligent pursuit of NOT making this a blog about my wedding, I have avoided blogging when all I have to talk about is wedding stuff. And now you can see from my 9-day absence that in fact....all I have to talk about is wedding stuff! So, I am going to cave and hopefully some of you will enjoy this, at least a little.

So I think I blogged before that my dress is in the able hands of Jane from Jane's Perfect Fit in Waterville, Ohio. The woman is a genius! So far, she has already added bra cups to the dress, giving me just the va-va-voom I need. She also added an adorable bustle which ties up with ribbons. I'll need to plan a tutorial with my MOH, lil' sis Taryn. Now, she's adding some buttons and a waistband that will really give my (very) inexpensive dress a coture look. I am so excited!

As for the rest of the planning. We are working on getting out Save-the-Dates. Otherwise referredt to as "Find-a-Dates" or "Prepare-Your-Excuse," these little buggers are going to go out in April to let people know they've got a trip to NYC on their hands, so get planning! I'll unveil our web site when it's ready, but it will have all the details about travel, lodging, registries, etc. So that's my project du jour. Well, that and making sure said Registries have all the proper gifts on them :)

Finally, my favorite part of wedding planning so far (besides picking out the dress, of course) is under way....jewelry! I chose a jewler in downtown Perrysburg and managed to negotiate a good price and my engagement ring is currently in their posession so that they can create a wax mold to make the wedding band that will fit with it. My mom gave me 14 diamonds from a pair of earrings that she doesn't wear and they will be used to make a blingy component to my ring :) I'll post a picture once I get it (probably in about a month).

Well, the time has come for me to do my chores (vacuum our stairs) and then hit the road for a very taxing day of shopping and wedding planning. Did I mention I'm still getting paid NOT to work? Not bad :)