See you in the sandbox, or on my vacation in Florida. 

     You could say my vacation was not all that relaxing if you look at it in bullet points:

• my boyfriend didn't have a phone the whole vacation
• it was cloudy the whole time we were in Florida
• we were caught in hurricane Debra
• we were stuck in an airport for 2 days waiting for flights
• my luggage was sent to Chicago without me
• while waiting on stand-by my boyfriend and I were separated and I sat in an airport for an extra 2 hours while he made his way to Chicago

     Yes, actually there were many stressful situations for this short 3 days we had planned. But I learned something important, even though we were stuck in the airport for 2 days waiting to catch a flight and I had to wear the same clothing for 24 hours, anything in life can be viewed as stressful, and honestly I have been more stressed running to Starbucks before. 

     I admit it, when I tell stories I word them in such a way that the stress level is enhanced, and when I do that I stress myself out even more. So I don't want my vacation tale to stress me out more, so using positive bullet points, here is how my trip really went:

• I bought 2 round trip tickets for only $160 to Florida!
• we took a stroll on a cool overcast day alone the white sandy beaches of Florida
• I learned that palm branches are ridiculously big & there are more deaths every year from coconuts hitting people on the heads than from shark attacks
• we saw a manatee in the harbor from our balcony 
• I experienced a hurricane for the first time

I feel refreshed, satisfied, and I can't wait for my next vacation to bring some crazy tales to share. 

Hailey

See you in the sandbox

“See you in the sandbox”

     I am secretly very competitive, like most of us. I have read some interesting books lately including, “How to work with difficult people,” “Reinventing your self,” & “Saying no to negativity...” And in this reading marathon I just went through, I came to the conclusion that competitive motivation can be harmful. 

Friendly competitions can be fun and spark motivation, but as soon as your self-motivation becomes other person competitive, that is when you loose the meaning of your purpose. Especially working with others closely, competition can ruin relationships, and lead to foggy brains and mistakes. 

     In high school I ran in track, the 1600 mostly. I was competitive, but never placed in the top three, except this one time when there were only three runners and I got 2nd place...so I ran to beet my own records. Every race I would lower my goal mile time by a few seconds, and every race my time got better. My personal best kept improving, that is what is most important. 

-Hailey Schultz

59 days

"From the eyes of a newbie 59 days"

     All life’s experiences lead to something, and most times I don't know what that something is until years later. I have worked for the last 59 days without a day off. Today is not only my 25th birthday, but also a 21 hour work day, and tomorrow starts my 10 day vacation that I have been dreaming about for the last two months. Although I am exhausted and relieved, I still have a feeling of guilt for taking days off. I have an obsession with working and reaping the rewards. 
     This past year has been one of the most pivotal points in my life and was jam-packed with experiences. To end my 24th year of life I cannot wait for my first trip to Florida and first paid vacation. I have much to celebrate. This coming year I want my focus to be "quality of life," these 15 hour days, and juggling two jobs will have to be cut down. I learned just recently that your body can handle only so much, and I finally know my limit. 

     Now in my 25th year of life I feel like a grown up. This past year has been a journey and I am glad I have a blog to show for it. “From the eyes of a newbie” I am very blessed, but now 10 months into my job, and settled into my new city, my blog will morph with my place in life:

“See you in the sandbox”

-Hailey Schultz

Top 10 things people underutilize in Indesign

From the eyes of a newbie & the top 10 things people underutilized in Indesign . . . 

1. Scripting
2. Linking
3. Character Styles 
4. Alignment tools
5. Using excel to help you in Indesign
6. Em, En dashes
7. Master pages
8. Step and repeat
9. Find/ change
10. Keyboard shortcuts

Guilty.

Hailey

time savers

From the eyes of a newbie trying to save time

Ways I try to save time . . . 
1. When I need to take my dog out I grab the garbage, put on my running shoes, put a tank-top on to get a little sun, and I have already accomplished 4 things in 30 minutes: dog walk, tan, garbage out, 30 min work out.

2. Watching a movie: I watch it on my lap top so that the movie is mobile so I can eat dinner, paint my nails, do the dishes, fold and put away clothes, while having the movie play right next to me at all times. 

3. When I need groceries: I do all of my out and about errands, filling my gas tank, Target stop, drop off rent . . . yada yada but the biggest time saver if you live in a busy area, do your errands Monday or Tuesday nights, no one is out ever!

4. When I get a phone call: I clean, everything! Organize, put shoes away, dust . . . you will be amazed how much you get done!

I am a Queen at multitasking. I love working really hard for a short amount of time, and then when you really need a break, like me this weekend, you just lay in bed for hours watching movie after movie, eating brownies in bed in a clean apartment, and all of your errands have been finished, and your mind is clear. 

Hope everyone has a great week! 

Hailey

Look out your window

From the eyes of a newbie looking out the window.

    Looked out a window and this is what I saw.

Neutral like Switzerland

From the eyes of a newbie being neutral

     In my college years I always thought I knew best, I was learning so much in such a short amount of time I felt like I was the most knowledgeable person that I knew. Of course failing calculus, twice, was a small wake up call that this was in fact not the case. I have only been out of college for a year, but even so when I speak to those in college right now I see myself. I was on a plane earlier today and overheard a conversation going on between two college students and wondered what everyone around them thought. 

     Ironically these students were discussing design, mostly filming but they touched on graphic design, and after listening to their conversation they are in for a huge surprise when they get their first job. I think arrogance is something people struggle with their whole lives. And at this point in my life I need to stay neutral. I am still learning too much to have the answers. I am not always right, in fact, most of the people around me know better than I do. 

     Design is tricky, sometimes there are right and wrong answers, but most of the time what I do is debatable. But before you take chances you have to build a trust with people. I believe one of the best ways to build trust is to listen. 

     Whenever I am listening it is really hard to not chime in. I want to give my opinion, make their idea better, but I need to learn to be neutral, let people have their opinion and keep it. They need to find ways to improve their idea, and not be offended by my intervening. My plan is to be like Switzerland, hold a lot of important information, listen to everyone, but stay neutral with all of those around me to build trust. 

Hailey