A New Adventure

This morning I am sitting at my new kitchen table in an apartment cluttered with half-empty boxes. It is New Year's Eve, and Daniel and I are going to be experiencing this day both for the first time together and for the first time in our new town, Oakton, VA. We aren't really sure what we are going to do tonight, but it will probably include splurging on a nice meal and walking around the beautifully-lit streets of Washington D.C.

Last night we took the metro into town, walked around DC, and looked at the Christmas tree in front of the White House. The huge tree was surrounded by model towns and trains driving all around it. Surrounding this were mini trees representing all of the states.




This is the first New Year that we actually get to have a completely fresh start; we are newlyweds living in a new town in a new apartment, starting new jobs, finding a new church and new friends, etc.... I hope to add new hobbies, consistent blogging, new work-out schedules, and new healthy eating habits to that list too.

I feel so, so blessed. We were able to have a wonderful Christmas season with both of our families in the middle of my graduation, packing, and moving. My family graciously offered to make the long drive to DC with us to help drag our stuff in a Uhaul and to keep us company; this ended up being so fun and helpful! We are living in a nice, cozy apartment in a very nice area of town at a very reasonable rate for the DC area. I am starting a job with a great company in which I'll be able to continue learning and developing my business skills. Daniel gets to put much more focus on his thesis, writing about a topic that fascinates him (the Just War Tradition), and he gets to do freelance web design on the side, a new skill that he has picked up and really enjoys.

I hope to be writing more in the New Year so that we can keep our friends and family in Texas and around the world updated! We love you all.

Library Love!

Much like many other lovers of reading, my dream is to have a beautiful room dedicated to my books when I finally settle down into a house. I want this room to be a place of adventure and learning (for fun, not school).... a place of escape from the busyness of life. I decided to look at some of my options (in order to avoid studying for accounting). What do you think?


I love the spiral staircase in this one... and the puppy!












This is and always has been my ultimate dream library!

Flowers and Recipes

My sweet husband brought me home flowers on a stressful day. :)



I'm so blessed.

On another note, I'm really enjoying my new hobby- cooking. I have made Garlic and Lemon Roast Chicken, Tomato Basil soup, Lemon and Garlic Shrimp (well, this one was mostly Daniel's project), and a delicious yellow cake. They were all so good!

http://www.food.com/recipe/garlic-lemon-roast-chicken-thighs-12249
http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/tomato-basil-soup-10000000231617/
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Davids-Yellow-Cake/Detail.aspx

On our meal schedule for this weeks, it looks like we will be trying Cobb Salad, Poppyseed Chicken, Bacon Lettuce Avocado and Tomato Wraps, and a Chicken soup recipe I learned last year in Peru. So fun!

Life is so fun!

I am learning that I'm not very good at keeping up with a blog. But I hope to get into the habit soon.

The most exciting news that I have is that I am now Mrs. Daniel Abernathy. We are very happy newlyweds. :) The wedding was perfect--nothing went wrong at all! It was exactly what I envisioned, and it would not have been that way without our wonderful friends and family who were there to support and encourage us.

For our honeymoon, we traveled to Ocho Rios, Jamaica to a the Sandal's Grande Riviera resort. Despite small misunderstandings with the staff there, it was an amazing place for a honeymoon. We spent lots of time swimming, eating great food, and reading on the beach. We did some snorkeling too! Lots of fun.

After the honeymoon and a few days in Aledo with our families, we moved into our new apartment in Waco. We were expecting a tiny little place since our complex is intended for single graduate students, but we were happily surprised! It is a great size for starting out as newlyweds. After a full week of trying to get the place in shape, the living room and kitchen look great. Our bedroom and bathroom have some work, but we hope to tackle those rooms today.

In the meantime, Daniel has resumed working for Harris Media and working on his thesis, and I have started graduate classes and my graduate assistant job. It is difficult getting back into the real world after living in a dream world of weddings and resorts, but it is also fun to figure out a routine as a married couple.

I'm not really sure what this blog will look like yet, but right now, I picture that it will just bring little glimpses into the life of a newlywed!

Daniel and I are really excited to see what God has in store for our lives. Life is so fun!

Update

Hello everyone!

Sorry for the lack of blogging. I'm not very motivated to write a blog when I get home from a thirteen hour work day.... So I just thought I'd write during some down time at work today.

Things have been hard lately. Last week, I went to the ER for a bad ear infection. Thankfully, they put me on some intense painkillers; however, there was no way I could go into work on the meds. I ended up not going into work for two days. I spent those days just sleeping, reading, and watching TV. The rest and relaxation was good, but I was very ready to get out of the house by the middle of day two.

Yesterday afternoon my dad called me at work to tell me that my great-grandmother, Memo, had passed away. This hit me really hard, so I had to leave work right away. Fortunately, I am blessed to be on a wonderful team who had absolutely no problem with me leaving even though we had a huge deadline today. I will be going home to Texas Friday morning through Sunday morning to be with family and to go to the funeral.

I have mixed feelings. Everyone else in my family had a chance to talk to Memo since we found out about the cancer, so I'm sad to have missed that opportunity. On the other hand, I had one of the best conversations I have ever had with you during our family Christmas celebration. That conversation will always be glued in my mind. We talked about her childhood, how she met her husband, and my wedding planning. She was so excited for our wedding. Ellen told me that she had said that one of the first things she thought of upon hearing the news of her sickness was that she was sad to not be able to come to our wedding. This is heart-breaking but special at the same time.

I will miss Memo so much. She is in heaven with the Lord and with her husband she has missed for twenty years. She is happier than she has ever been right now.

Please be praying for our family.

My last day of the internship is April 15th which is just around the corner. I'll try to update this blog at least a few more times before the end.

Thanks for reading.

My Weekend as a Workaholic

I have put in a lot of hours at work the past couple of days, but it's okay because I really enjoy it. :) The people I work with are so helpful by making sure I actually understand everything that is going on "behind the scenes" of what I am working on.

Yesterday I spent nearly the whole day completing the project I talked about for Thursday. It was mostly a lot of formatting and researching legal documents. It was my first time to eat lunch at my desk because I had a lot to finish.

Today was my first day in the office on a weekend. I did not get the memo that Saturdays at the office you can wear jeans, so I was definitely over-dressed. It was funny to see everyone dressed so casually in the office, but I'll remember that for next time. I finished up the project from Thursday and helped a couple people out with extensions again. I left at a decent hour to do a load of laundry and start packing for my trip to Memphis tomorrow.

I can't believe I'm going on my first business trip as an intern! I'm really looking forward to it even if it will be a lot of ours. It will be a great experience for sure.

Tonight my mom and I talked about addressing wedding invitations, and it brought be back to thinking about other things besides work. I am getting married in just over two months! I can't believe it. God has blessed me with so much excitement in my life right now. I need to remember to thank Him everyday for what He has done for me.

(Written Yesterday)

I wrote this yesterday, but then the Internet went down:

Hello!

The last few days have been quite eventful. Tuesday I had work and left early to go to the hockey game with the other interns. Once I got there, it was a really neat experience. But on the way there.... Let's just say the Metro system and I (when I am separated from my group) don't mix very well. It was quite comical, and I learned a lot about the metro both going to the game and coming back from the game....

Anyways, the game was awesome! Before the game, all of us EY people had vouchers for a meal in a club room. It was a lot of fun to talk to a lot of the interns and eat a good meal. The Capitals played the New York Islanders. We had really good seats, right up near the ice. The Capitals were losing 0-1 almost the whole game, but in the last fifty seconds they scored and went into overtime. And then in overtime, they scored and won! I had never been to a hockey game before, and I really enjoyed all of the excitement and "flashy-ness" of it. It reminded me of a college basketball game. I hope to go again someday!

Yesterday was just another day at the office. We wrapped up a lot of the preliminary tax information-gathering for one of my clients, and it is about time to actually start working on the tax returns for it. I also helped out another senior on his project by updating the partner demographics of one of his companies in our tax return system, GoSystems.

Today I helped different people out with little projects. Since I am going to Memphis next week to work on a major client's provision, a lot of my big projects are winding down in order to clear out my schedule. The most eventful type of work I did today was do some research in the SEC filings online to find sources for the senior manager to use to compile some legal documents.

I'm loving life as a Big Four intern! The people are great, and the work is interesting. I'm also very surprised at the flexibility in the office.

Thanks for reading!

The Beginning of a Busy Week

Today went really well. I was able to complete several projects and begin a few new ones. Mostly my focus today was learning the different procedures in different states for e-filing extensions. I enjoyed lunch with a few of the staff and I had dinner with some of the same people. I didn't leave the office until nine, so I was pretty tired driving home after a long day.

Tomorrow all of the interns are going to a Capitals hockey game. We have box seats and will be served dinner, so I'm looking forward to having a good time. Most of the audit interns complete their internship at the end of this week, so it will be get to get to know some of them more before they leave.

God is doing fun things here! It looks like this is where I may be working during my first few years in the real world, but we will see if that really is His plan. :)

The Road Trip and the First Week at the McLean Office

Dad and I had a really fun road trip up to the DC area. We spent the car ride talking and listening to music, and when we ran out of things to talk about, Dad listened to his book-on-tape, and I read my new book. Friday night, we stopped at a McDonald's to find a hotel, so we used Hotwire and got a good deal on La Quinta.

Saturday, we stopped in Nashville for fun. First, we went to the Parthenon in Centennial Park. I had been to the outside of it before (during a spring break road trip), but Dad and I went into the museum inside for the first time. It was really interesting. Inside, there is a 42-foot statue of Athena! After the museum, we went to the Pancake Pantry for some good breakfast food for lunch. I love that place! Then that evening we stayed at a really nice Hampton Inn in Dublin, Virginia.

Sunday, we finished off the trip with a stop at Dennys for lunch. When we arrived in McLean, we checked into the hotel and then drove around the city. We found my office building and started to try to get familiar with the roads. Then we made our way into Springfield because we were meeting the Whitts, the wonderful family that I am staying with, for dinner at Outback Steakhouse.


February 21st- First Day at McLean Office
My first day in the McLean office was really interesting. I spent the morning going through local orientation with a few other people. I was the only intern starting—the others were beginning full-time in different areas with the firm. We did a group office tour, and then I got to meet my peer advisor, Cydni. She is really great and will be helping me learn about and keep up with everything about the office.
That afternoon I found my cubicle (my very own!!), set up, and began my first project: formatting spreadsheets and marking up documents. This may sound dry and bland, but I actually enjoyed it because it was my first exposure to work on a real-world (and well-known!) client.

I left right around 5:30 because I knew that Dad was waiting for me to go eat at Cheesecake Factory (my favorite!!).

February 22nd- Day 2

Day two at the McLean office started off with an intern breakfast. This was my first time to meet many of the interns—it was fun to see people in my same position and to learn about where they came from and why they chose to come to the DC area for their internship. After breakfast, I met with my Resource Manager to discuss my schedule and how they schedule work at the office. Currently, I am scheduled on two big clients. The rest of the day, I spent finishing up the project from the day before and starting a few new ones.

That evening, I drove to the Whitts house for the first time on my own. The roads here are a little crazy because of all the construction going on in the area. But I made it with the help of my handy GPS!

February 23rd

Wednesday was my first day to experience a drive on 495 to the office. Now, the office is only 15 miles from where I am staying, however, it takes me approximately 1 hours and 15 minutes to get there each morning due to the traffic. I'll just have to get used to it!

This day was my first full day working at the office. I really enjoyed the work and the people. EY really is a fantastic place to work. They are extremely flexible. I am allowed to get there whenever I want and leave whenever I want as long as the work gets finished. It looks like I’m going to usually get there around 8:30 and then leave around 8:00 or 9:00 in the evening. Today, I spent three hours on the phone with the senior of one of my projects learning how to create depreciation addition detail spreadsheets. The people here really do care; they do all that they can to make sure you learn what you need to learn and are comfortable with what you are doing.

February 24th
Today I did more work on the depreciation spreadsheets and also learned how to do extension forms. Also, during a project meeting, I learned that I get to travel to Memphis next week to work on a project at a major client’s headquarters! I’m very excited for this opportunity—it is not often that interns get to go on business trips.  We leave next Sunday evening and will return that next Friday evening.
For lunch today, I ate with the group of staff that just started with the firm last year, so it was neat to hear from them about their experiences during the first year.

February 25th
Everything felt different today, and I couldn’t figure out why. Then I realized it was Friday! I forgot that people in the work world get excited for weekends too. I was honestly a little sad to see the weekend come because I didn’t know what I would do with my time off (I had not been asked to work the weekend), and I had really enjoyed the work so far. Friday I spent the day learning how to e-file extensions in different states. It is interesting to me how different states have different rules and methods for doing this. I didn’t stay very late today because the office surprisingly cleared out pretty well by 6:00.

February 26th
Saturday was a fun, relaxing day. I went into DC with Kaitlin and her mom to look at apartments for Kaitlin. It was really fun to just go into the city and look around at all the fun places. The rest of the day, I organized my room here and went to the grocery store. It seems that the common grocery store here is Giant. I had never heard of it before, so it was interesting trying out something new. Also, I was easily convinced to pick up a couple boxes of Girl Scout cookies on my way out, so that was a treat. :)

February 27th
This morning I went to church with the Whitts. Today is Kaitlin's birthday, so I joined the family for birthday lunch and then a fun excursion into Georgetown (my new dream place to live!). Tonight we had a birthday dinner too, and I think we are about to have ice cream cake! I am just getting spoiled here. God has really blessed me with a wonderful and kind family to stay with here. I could not ask for a better situation.

Tomorrow I get back to work, and I can't wait! Hopefully, I'll be better at keeping up from here on out.

Training in Dallas

I know I'm already behind, but I'm going to try to catch up. Right now, I'll post about my week of training in Dallas:

First of all, I had the exciting opportunity to stay in the fancy W Hotel in Dallas during this week. It was so fun to stay there and experience a week of life in "ritzy" Dallas. The first evening there I just settled in and explored the hotel.

February 15th- Welcome to EY Training (Day 1)
My first day of WTEY training started with a big breakfast and time to get to know the other interns. Once that finished, we started going through the material. We learned about the strategy, values, and code of conduct for EY. We also briefly touched on the history of the company. In the afternoon we did some role play exercises to learn about how to respond as an intern in various situations. Later, we received our work laptops and learned about how to connect to the EY network and about the security risks and tools. Then we started getting comfortable with the email software, Lotus Notes, and other programs. Finally we learned how to connect outside of the office.

February 16th- Welcome to EY Training (Day 2)
During the second and final day of WTEY, we dove right back into the technical aspects of the internship. We learned about how to update our time and our expenses and about how to access various self-help resources.

February 17th- Tax Training (Day 1)
Today we started getting into the details of the EY tax department. We learned about the tax service framework of the company. It was very interesting to hear a partner of the firm speak about all of the different global service lines, sub-service lines, specialty practices, and global core services. We also learned the details of EYU—the way the EY develops its people. EYU has three components: experiences, coaching, and learning, and we began to gain an understanding of each component and how each affects the diversified career path in tax. At EY, employees (while they are considered a staff or senior) must have a minimum of 600 hours in at least four of seven practice areas, each of which sounds very interesting and unique to me. I look forward to being able to try different areas of tax before being wedged into a specific area.

Our next topic of the day was the career progression of the firm: staff, senior, manager, senior manager, and partner. Then we discussed how to dress at the firm and how to request feedback during the internship.
During the afternoon, we discussed technology and knowledge tools, tax research, and tax quality and risk management.

February 18th- Tax Training (Day 2)
The second day of tax training was completely dedicated to compliance reporting tools. We learned how to use the Analyze Workbook and GoSystems, both of which help to put together tax returns for clients.

It was sad to say goodbye to some of the interns that I had grown to know during the week, but I am now on the road to D.C.! I am so excited to get started on my engagements and to learn all there is for me to learn about EY, tax, and the business world.

Time to Grow Up!

Hello everyone! It has been so long since I have blogged, but I am going to be starting it up again now (or at least I'm going to try to!). I just finished a graduate school minimester at Baylor, and tomorrow I start training in Dallas for my Ernst & Young internship. On Friday, my dad and I will begin our drive up to the Washington D.C. area! I will be interning in their McLean, Virginia office.

I am really looking forward to this internship. I have heard all about the accounting internships and recruitment process since the first day of my first accounting class during my second semester at Baylor. I have looked forward to the opportunity ever since then, and it is finally here! One year ago, I did all the fun recruiting events and the office visits, and last June is when I made my decision to accept the offer from Ernst & Young. Now it will be my turn to tell others what my experience was like as an intern at a Big Four accounting firm!

Another big event on my mind is my wedding on May 15th! Most of the bigger tasks are finished, but when I get back, we'll have less than a month to throw together all the little details. I can't wait, and I cannot believe it is three months and one day away!

Needless to say, I have a lot of growing up to do this year. I will experience my first real job in the corporate world, and I'll become a married woman. :) Thank you, Lord, for giving me such an exciting and unbelievably blessed life. May I use all you have given me for Your glory.