wordless wednesday

voyager

i am home!

my trip to d.c. was fast and furious, and, as is typical with corporate functions, there was ZERO time for sightseeing, meeting bloggers, etc! and for that, i am sad. it's been 20 years since i had a chance to live near our nation's capital. i felt like a total stranger being shuttled through a city i no longer recognize!! instead, i found comfort in forging better friendships with the dozen or so other general managers (out of about 2,100) that i have come to know over my past seven years with hampton.

i am full of motivation, and brimming with possibilities as i leverage my strengths every day. (nothing says conference like a few choice buzzwords!)

i also had a chance to meet a new mentor of mine, marcus buckingham. he was featured recently on the today show, and matt lauer referred to marcus as the *rockstar* of corporate america . he is total rockstar material. and? i really dig what he has to say (i ASSURE you, those rumours about the restraining order against me?? TOTALLY unfounded!)

i came home with lots of fun gifts, including... a digital camera!! not exactly a cannon rebel, but it works well enough to get me back into the swing of spt!! here's a quick shot just for you guys!



i am so eager to get back into blogging, and to catch up with everyone! it was maddening to be so close to kristi and anne and others, and that i could not make it work to actually meet you guys!! maybe next time we can meet up at the cinnabon near gate E45 at national airport. let's say, around 4:54 a.m.?? totally works for me!

one of my favorite quotes from the trip: k.c. and the sunshine band rocked the party on our last night. k.c. addressed our group - some of whom are a bit younger than i am - and said, "some of you don't know who we are. well, we are your mother's n*sync!" he was waaay more entertaining than n*sync, if you ask me!

the tough part

the tough part of being a manager is that, every now and then, i am faced with having to let an employee go. this is especially difficult when the employee is someone i like a lot, and with whom i have spent countless hours trying to groom for a "better" position.

sometimes you can spend hours trying to groom someone, and they will never achieve what you were hoping for them to achieve. i never stop hoping and trying, though.

as i tossed and turned over this last night, i was overwhelmed, as always, that sometimes the path of another person's life is literally sitting in the palm of my hand. isn't that a tremendous amount of responsibility?

i know that i did everything in my power to avoid this outcome.


a feel very small in a huge universe today.

the woes of work

i try not to use up too much of the blogosphere with my trials and tribulations of being a working mom. because? i really like being a working mom. i am the type of person that feels adrift when i don't have work to do. when jack was a newborn, and i was home, i fell into the deepest depression i have ever experienced. i know part of this was due to hormones, but the other part? i don't do stay-at-home very well.

and, it's a definite bonus that i LOVE my job. i have worked very hard to get where i am, and this is the job i will most likely retire from. but, there are just. some. days.

i have spent most of my monday morning (usually a time i use to catch up on blog reading after an internet-free weekend) stripping guestrooms and helping out the housekeeping staff. see this adorable play housekeeping cart??



i wish being a housekeeper was this cute! it is HARD work to clean up after *other* people. i've developed such a respect for the people in our communities who do this thankless job day after day after day.

at least it's helping me get some extra steps in today!!

in the belly of the beast...

yesterday, at my darkest desperate time, the hotel called me from my fetal cocoon, and made me come back. back to a place that i wanted, more than anything, to run from. to hide from.

as if, to say, no, eleanor, today is not the day you give up. today is not the day you give up on me. nor will i give up on you.

crawling into that elevator shaft in my pajamas i realized, much later, lying awake trying to calm my thoughts... THAT was the moment i turned back to the hotel and said, ok. i tried to turn my back on you. but you are much stronger, and apparently wiser, than i.

so, here i am. back at work. more focused, and somehow stronger than i was before i crawled into the belly of the beast.