30 DAYS OF HAPPY - DAYS 3 & 4

Or should I say POSTS 3 & 4 :-). I'm rolling 2 days into one. Allow me, I beg. LOL

So in the space of a day, I've flown from Mexico to Cali safely, and had a fantastic day celebrating my momma's birthday with her, along with my aunt. Gosh, California is beautiful! We had high tea at a small quirly little tea house in San Juan Capistrano, watched the sun set over Laguna Beach and had the most DELECTABLE dinner at The Loft @ the Montage Resort in Laguna. Blissful day y'all.

So, I'm grateful and happy for journey mercies, for another year of my mom's life, for nature's wonders, and for good food.

Be happy!

30 DAYS OF HAPPY - DAY 2

So, what am I happy about today? Well, in addition to the fact that I'm alive and healthy, today I am happy because I have the BEST HUSBAND IN THE WORLD.

Oh what was that? Husband, you ask? LOL. Yes. One of the great things that's happened since I last blogged is that I got engaged, and then of course got married. More details on that at a later date.

Today's happy post is dedicated to my Mr. Fab - the man who has woken me up EVERY morning since we met, no matter where in the world we have been and in fact, most of the time, (and as I write) we have been HUNDREDS OF MILES apart. 2 years after getting married and 4 years after we became "official", I am still giddy when I think about him and all the joy he's brought into my life. He inspires my happy in one way or another every single day and God truly hit it out of the park when He blessed me with my husband. I love you my darling - infinitely.

That's my happy post for the day! I hope y'all are getting your happy on too. :-)

30 DAYS OF HAPPY - I'M BACK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

OMG! It has been ages since I last blogged - 2 years, 9 months, and 24 days to be exact! June 26, 2008 was my last blog before I got swallowed up into the business of business school and so much has happened since then! I'll have to update you at a later date. :-)

It feels good to be doing this again. :-). I have totally forgotten my HTML tricks, and shortcuts so I'll have to pick that up again. And obviously a lot has changed in the world of blogging so I need to catch up! LOL

So what inspired me to come back? My sister, Ms. Minx! I've been telling myself since graduating from school that I need to get back to blogging but it didn't happen until I found myself challenging my sister to a 30 days of Happy blogging extravaganza. She blogs periodically and I found many of her posts to be kinda sad even though she has so much to be thankful for and happy about! She is FABULOUSITY in a size zero package and she needs to remember that.

Even though I hadn't blogged in ages, I often come back to my blog to claim a little happy because it's chock full of fantastic memories and LOVE. Not just from things that happened to me, but I'm reminded of the friendships that I made, and the things I've learned about myself and others. So I challenged her to blog happy things so she can look back on them and be reminded of the good things especially when she needs a pick me up. She posted her first happy blog today and now, I'm inspired to start my 30 days of happy!!!! And really, that's the power of happy. It energizes, it strengthens and it inspires! Now, I ain't saying it'll be 30 consecutive days, LOL, but I'll do it.

So, today, I'm happy that my sister is blogging happy things. And I'm happy that I'm back to blogging. If you're interested in joining us, leave a comment and I'll make sure I stop by your page to get inspired by your happy.

Be HAPPY y'all!

Ms. May

Gone Too Long......

I know. But for good reason. Who knew that getting into school wasn't the hardest part?!!!!!. Anyway, I'm busy getting ready to move to Chicago. Tomorrow is my last day at work, and then it's full speed ahead till August. Everyone keeps asking me if I'm excited yet, and my typical answer is NO! But really, it comes and goes. I'm usually stressed, anxious, worried - you know, all of those kind of feelings - more consistently than I'm excited. But God is working everything out and I know it'll all be worth it in the end. It has to be! I do get excited when I think about going to Greece before school starts. Yep - GREECE! I'll be there in August with a bunch of classmates for a week, right before school starts. So Vicky (if you still read my blog, LOL), you need to give me info about all the hot spots.

Moving on, I don't know if anyone else is like me but I keep EVERYTHING and I'm anal about writing everything down. As a result, I have little pieces of paper with everything from phone numbers to cool quotes that I've heard lying around everywhere, including at work. Anyway, in cleaning out my office I found a piece of paper that I wrote on when I decided to start this blog with everything from possible blog titles, to how I would describe myself - you know, all that kinda stuff. I won't embarrass myself by revealing some of the cheesy things I came up with. Ok, maybe I will. LOL. No one can say I'm not smart now I'm going to b-school right? LOL. Here goes:

• In My Mind
• The Voice
• I am Ms. May.....Hear me Roar! (My personal fave....LOL)
• MayowitaRica....Chica Nigeriana (You don't wanna know...LOL)

Goodness! What was I thinking? Aren't you glad I didn't go with any of those? Anyhoo, the point of this whole story besides letting you in on the fact that I'm a hoarder and have the potential to turn into that crazy woman feature on Oprah who hoarded so much stuff that they were able to fill two warehouses with her stuff(extra long sentence I know), is that I found this cool quote by William Faulkner. He said, "Don't bother just to be better than your contemporaries or predecessors. Try to be better than yourself." Now this can be interpreted in a couple of different ways but I choose to believe that he means that we should always strive to be a better version of ourselves. We're always competing to be better, stronger, richer, prettier, than the next person when really all we have to do is just focus on improving ourselves and all the other stuff will come.

The quote really hit home with me especially because I feel like I've been in competition with others and even myself over the last year when in fact as I look back, I've really improved and grown as a person. I think it became my focus as time passed but I wonder how much better things would be if that was a truly conscious focus from the beginning. My two cents. I won't tell you about some of the other stuff I found - I think I've put myself out there enough today. LOL. Maybe one day I'll share, once we get to be really close friends and I'm sure you won't tell anyone at all about what I'm really like. LOL.

To turn the focus onto things or people other than myself, I am extremely proud of some female friends and family who are inspiring me everyday as they start their various entrepreneurial ventures. I've supported them by buying from them, now I'd like to share their information with you so you can support them too cos I know you will.

• My good friend Wande, who is also the latest and hottest mommy in town recently launched her online boutique, called Ladyee Boutique for "smart, educated, cultured, well-rounded ladies who know what they want and are going out to get it". If this is you, you better hurry up and head over there for fashions from Black Halo, Egoist, Jully Kang and much more and she's having a grand opening sale as well. You won't be disappointed and trust that you'll get an amazing customer service experience as well. Please support this growing business!!!!!
• Another friend Yuwa has started an accessories business as well. You can check her stuff out here. Anyone who knows Yuwa, knows that she is a style MAVEN! Check her out for gorgeous purses and jewelry. If you live in the Baltimore area especially, check her out and support o!
• Last but certainly not least, I have to big up my mother, who has been a lifelong entrepreneur and example to me. She recently started an online travel business and needs our support. I know we're doing less air travel these days but when you do decide to book a trip, please visit this website. It's very simple and many flights are even less than travelocity/expedia/orbitz and co. Check it out and support my mommy!!!!

Ayt y'all. Who knows when next I'll have the time to write again so I won't make promises. Till whenever that is, be safe, do something fun, do something to help another person, love and be loved, and most of all, pray and have faith. Or simply put (I don't know who said it first but it wasn't me) - "Be good to yourself and to others". Peace!!!!

Times flies..............

When you're busy! I have no idea where the time has gone. I know everyone is busy, but when I tell you that I have been busier than ever before of late, it does not even come close to describing how busy I've been. Anyway, I'll stop rambling and get to the point.

I'm going to Kellogg. Yes, I think many of you already knew that but I don't think I officially said it. That far? Yes! Do you know how cold it gets? Yes, I'm already bracing myself! Didn't their financial aid offer suck? Yes, it absolutely did! And you're still going? Yes, I absolutely am! Why? Because after all my soul searching, I decided to follow my heart and that's where it led me. The admit weekend only solidified my decision so now I have no doubt that it'll be one of the most challenging AND the most rewarding experiences of my life to date. There's just something about that place. It's the same way I felt about where I completed undergrad and I was very successful there so why change the formula now I say. I'll spare you on how much I'm disliking the process of getting prepared to move and how expensive this whole thing has been and is going to be...........ARRRRGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHH, but I am looking forward to my last day at work in just over a month. Then I can focus on packing and stuff, instead of travelling the world like so many of my b-school counterparts. Yay!!!!!!

Did you catch that sarcasm? No? Oh well, guess I'm not too good at that. LOL. I keep reminding myself that one of the reasons I'm going to b-school is to improve my earning potential. Shoot, it better improve, exponentially, cos yo, I'ma hurt somebody if it doesn't! Another word of advice to those who are getting a headstart on the b-school process; START SAVING NOW! It is not a joke. Okay, now that I've gotten all that out, I will say that I know it will be worth the investment and that I really won't trade where I stand and my experience for anything. Through it all, God has taught me many leassons and proven faithful so I'm not worried. Really. It'll be ALL good. My current anchor when I'm feeling a little doubtful; "Seek your happiness in the Lord and He shall grant you the desires of your heart." - Psalms 37:4. That joint is my friend right now! LOL.

For those of you who have left comments about questions regarding the b-school process, I've added an email link so you can send me messages. Disclaimer #1: I am not an expert but will try my best to share as much about the process as I can. Disclaimer #2: Please give me time to respond to emails if you do contact me because did I mention, I am indescribably busy? LOL. Disclaimer #3: Closely related to #1 - you best believe I'll be as honest as I can if you ask me questions so please do not take personally whatever I say that you may deem unnecessary or mean. That is not the point. I may add more disclaimers as time goes.

So, gotta go. So much to do and so little time. I hope you are all doing well. Miss you guys - I really do. Not only do I have zero time to write, I barely read anymore. Take good care and I'll holla!

P.S: Uzo (Betty Boop) sweetie, I'll email you back soon. I promise!!!!!!

YEAH BOYEEEEEE!

As much as I detest Flavor Flav, I had to borrow his line. Or maybe Sally Fields' line is better - "they like me, they really like me". LOL. I heard from Chicago GSB, the last one on the list and I made it, WITH SCHOLARSHIP. God is good......all the time.

I must, yet again, reminisce on how gruelling the b-school application was and it feels so good to be where I am with 4 offers in hand and some very serious considerations to make. I'm just letting it marinate for a bit. I think I'm pretty sure about where I'm going but some folks are making it hard y'all. I'll keep you posted.

If I'm any example to anyone - hard work, lots of faith and a little bit of humility can go a long way. Peace y'all!

ANOTHER UPDATE

So! I got my first "ding", which is what they call being denied in the b-school world. Cornell denied my application to their program. I think I should start at the beginning for this one. Cornell was a late consideration for me. I had decided where I was going to apply, but when I learned more about their dual degree MBA/Master's in Industrial and Labor Relations(MILR) program in late October, I got so excited about it because it would mean a very tailored curriculum that specifically addressed my goals and coming out with two degrees in two and a half years. I then went to a Forte foundation program and met a few Johnson School folks, was put in touch with a couple of students in the program and I was sold. I got so incredibly excited. Mind you, this is the only school on my list that I didn't visit since it was so last minute but I did my due diligence in other ways by researching the program, talking to alums and current students, and so on. So sight unseen though, Cornell became my first choice program. Additionally, because it's a dual degree, I had to complete 2 separate applications - one to the Johnson School, the other to the ILR School. I submitted both applications on December 16th and began to wait. And wait. And wait. I knew the ILR School wouldn't make a decision until April at the latest but because the MBA process is a multi-step one, I expected periodical updates from Johnson.

I want to try to remain as "hater-free" as possible, but unlike the other schools who carried out their processes in a timely manner, the Johnson School didn't. My application only went under review on March 3rd, two days from the decision deadline - since December 16, or to be fair, since the submission deadline of January 9!!!!!!!!! During the wait, the admission office was not very good about communicating with applicants about the process except to say they saw a significant increase in applications and were doing their best to manage the process. Many other schools had the same problem but the process was not sacrificed because of that. Needless to say, I was very disappointed with the whole thing and was not in the least surprised when I logged into my online account and saw a deny yesterday. Keep in mind that I was not officially notified of this decision - and haven't been yet. They should have sent me a message to check my status, but I haven't received one yet. I just took it upon myself to check it. Ironically, I got an email from the ILR School this morning saying that I've been admitted to their program with a full scholarship and a stipend! but obviously I won't be going since the Johnson School said no. Maybe I can defer it though so that I could get that degree in a couple of years - who knows?

I've asked myself why I was denied especially because I think my Cornell essays were passionate. Maybe I just couldn't get that across in the 400 words they required. Or maybe it was obvious that I hadn't visited because I believe my visits to the other schools were key when I was writing my essays. Who knows? What I do know is that this b-school application process can really be a crap shoot most of the time. I have spent a significant amount of time on the BusinessWeek b-school forums, my new addiction to tell you all the truth, and I see the amazing stats of people with perfect GMAT scores, amazing work experience, and who seem to have decent writing skills, denied from both top 5 programs and even sometimes top 30 schools who should be snapping those kinds of students up. Or at least, you would think so. So, there is an element of luck required, as well as lots of divine intervention I believe. That being said, the sting of the deny decision was very mild because I have been blessed enough to be admitted to three other programs, and one of them is a top 5 program, which is ranked higher than Cornell is. I believe that God works in the most marvellous of ways because more and more signs are pointing in the direction of Kellogg and the Chicago area and that was the last place I was considering when I started the process. It was my friend Michael who convinced me to check it out and I fell in love on my visit.

To Cornell - I'm sorry that you'll be missing out on the experience that is Ms. May! LOL. But I still think you're a great program with the potential to be a top 10 before too long. Hopefully next year, you'll do better with the process than you did this year.

I would also like to take this opportunity to offer my help to anyone who reads my blog that may be interested in b-school, and getting into a top program. Please reach out and I'll be happy to share my resources and give my two cents. Michael did the same for me - in fact, we connected through blogging - and I would like to pay the kindness forward. So my first piece of advice even though you haven't asked yet is to start early, at least one and a half to two years before you would like to enroll. Holla if you want to know more. Stay up y'all and since the weekend is almost here, make it a good one!

Ms. May