Updates

It has been pretty crazy busy around here lately.  I realized the other day that is has been a while since my last post...again.  At the beginning of May, I had a business trip to visit my team located in Mexico.

The city, Queretaro, is a very pretty city and is quite old.  It is a large city, too with over 1 million people in it.

I didn't take a lot of pictures while there, but did take a few.  The photo below is of the hillside above the city.  We were driving back to work from lunch and passed by some areas that were yet to be developed.  They had some rain the week before, so things were greener than normal as the area is typically very desert-like.


This is one of the areas in downtown Queretaro.  The city has lots of little plazas where people can congregate and just relax.


I thought this fountain was cute with the dogs on it.  I have no idea what it was for...but it looked cute.




One of the nights we went out to dinner was a local steak restaurant.  They brought over this huge platter of pieces of meat that we could pick out.  Since we were still full from lunch, we just ordered three of the steaks (the two bottom on the right, and the one on the left) and shared them.


Steaks all cooked.... yum!


And you can't go to Mexico without a few souvenirs.  :c)  I picked up some Don Julio (very good tequila) and mezcal, which is similar to tequila but distilled differently.  It has a smoky taste to it and is a lot stronger than the tequila.  I personally prefer the Don Julio... could drink that stuff all day.  The mezcal.... I have to be in the right mood for it.


I also picked up a traditional doll that is specific only to Queretaro.  I got this for my 6 (almost 7) year old niece.  Its a cute doll and was pretty easy to find...even in the non-tourist areas.



On a more local note, summer has arrived in upstate NY.  When I got back from my trip, it was just as warm in NY as it was in Mexico.  We haven't had a lot of rain though, so at this point, most people's yards are brown and crunchy.  I've only been watering the delicate garden plants (i.e. new this year).  The rest can fend for themselves.

I'll share some updated pictures of the garden soon.



Happy Crafting!
~Sarah at upstateNYCreations

Time....

....is the one thing I wish I had more of lately.  That and maybe some extra energy! :c)

Its been another hectic two weeks here in upstate NY.  Just after I posted last time (about 2 weeks ago), I ended up picking up a nasty cold.  I spent 4 days straight not doing anything but drinking tea, reading and sleeping.  I'm still fighting off a cough from the cold, but it seems to be getting better.

Work has also been crazy the past few weeks.  Its the time of year that we have to do appraisals.  Originally, we didn't need to get them done until the end of April, so we (myself and two other managers) had plenty of time to get things written up and then to hold the meetings with the individuals.  Then on March 10th, HR told us that we needed to have EVERYTHING done by the end of March!  So I have 30 reviews that I had to write up and then schedule meetings and I only had about 2 weeks to do it.

Sadly, the reviews have not been going well.  The prior managers were very generous with the appraisals and the average for the group was 4.7 out of 5.... not really an average.  So this year the manager of the group decided he wanted to "fix" it...so all the ratings are lower.  We have some very unhappy people now simply because the number changed.  The text of the appraisals still say they're doing a good job, but people like to focus on that number.

Needless to say, its been stressful trying to get through these reviews.  I have 4 days (counting today) left of reviews and I'll be done by lunchtime on Friday.  Friday afternoon can't come fast enough at this stage!

I'm hoping that I can get back to some quilting soon.  Due to dealing with the reviews, I have been neglecting my quilting in the evenings.  In fact, I don't really get anything done in the evening but try to relax so that I can sleep at night.

I have some projects in the works.  Not that I needed another project, but I bought this applique quilt kit from Quilting by the Bay.  It looks really cute and I needed something that was fun and not too terribly difficult to piece.  All the appliques are fused, so it should come together rather quickly.  Plus, the overall design has some really great opportunities to do some custom quilting on it.

I also have some smaller projects in mind and a few finishes that I'm almost done with.  I have some binding to sew onto a few things and then they are done.

Hope everyone is enjoying the start of spring.  Its been cold here in NY still, but we have spurts of spring every now and then.  Hopefully the 50-degree weather later this week will help get rid of the 6+ inches of snow we still have on the ground.


Happy Crafting!
~Sarah at upstateNYCreations

What Do I Do....?

Karen at Quilts....etc. asked me earlier this week what I do that has caused me to travel so much lately.  I realized I haven't actually said what I do for work...just that it definitely keeps me busy. ;-)

So the company I work for makes steam turbines that generate power. This is what an entire turbine assembly looks like:

The team I run specifically deals with the internal workings of the turbine similar to the parts shown below:

When I first started with the company, I was an engineer designing components.  Over the years, I have moved through the ranks and am now the manager of 35 individuals who create the drawings necessary to make the parts.

Our company has two main sites now, one of which is located in Mexico.  My travel last week was to go to Mexico to meet both the engineers that I used to work with and the designers who work for me now. 

I don't normally have a lot of traveling, but it seems like the past month I've done nothing but travel.  The first trip was for a training course and the second was to meet the folks in Mexico.  Of the past 4 weeks, I've spent 2 weeks traveling and 2 weeks home.  I don't have any more business travel for the rest of the year, so I'm glad to be able to stay home for a while!

I'll probably have some additional trips in the future to Mexico, but I had a good trip the first time, so I don't see any problems in the future for traveling to Mexico again.  Just don't drink the water!  :-)

Happy Crafting!
~Sarah at upstateNYCreations

Back from Travel

Phew!  It feels good to be back home!  I'm ready to be done with travel for at least this year.

I spent all of last week in Mexico for work.  I have a small set of designers who work for me and are located in central Mexico, in the city of Queretaro.  I had a great time on the trip and it was wonderful meeting everyone.  I had talked and worked with many of them for several years, but this was my first opportunity to meet them in person.

Somehow we were able to squeeze in 5 days of work in only 3 days of being in the office.  It was tiring!

I have a handful of pictures on my phone that I will share once I download them.  This is just a quick post to say that I'm back and should be able to get back to some posts this week.  :-)
 
Happy Crafting!
~Sarah at upstateNYCreations

Traveling.....Again!

Next week is likely to be another light blogging/commenting week.  If you don't hear back from me on any comments, don't take it personally, I'm just not able to respond immediately. :-)

After just getting back from a training class for work, I've had two weeks to:

1. Get caught up from being out of the office
2. Get ahead because I'm going to be out of the office.

Yuck!

So next week, I'm traveling to visit our designers and engineers who are located in Mexico.  Thankfully, the actual business is located in the middle of the country (about 3 hours northwest of Mexico City), so it should be alright from a security standpoint.  We are flying into Mexico City and then driving 3 hours to the business location.  On the way back, we actually stay one night in Mexico City, but its in the airport, so it should be fine.

I'm sure it will be a good trip and hopefully we won't have any problems.  I'm a little nervous since I haven't been there before, but I'm sure it will be good to meet everyone that I've only talked with on the phone.

I'm going to try to schedule a few posts this weekend, so at least the blog won't be completely stagnant!  :-)

Happy Crafting!
~Sarah at upstateNYCreations

Another Crazy Week

The upcoming week is going to be yet another crazy week.  It amazes me how things just seem to get a bit messier each week instead of becoming less hectic.

Two weeks ago, my company announced a bunch of layoffs that will be taking effect over the next 6-8 weeks.  There were more people affected that I thought would be, and its been difficult moving towards a new "normal".  No only am I trying to help and comfort those affected, but I'm also trying to figure out how we move forward in my teams when I've lost a lot of our engineering support and will be losing more resources.

Last week, one of my technical leaders was out of the office to provide training for other individuals.  As such, the week was a little extra busy as I was covering for that individual as well as having a lot more meetings to determine how the business wants to move forward.

This week, I'm off on training.  This particular training involves traveling about 3 hours from home, staying in a hotel (which always throws me off) and having to go through copious amounts of "networking" events.  I'm not a very social person, so these network events always make me extra nervous and stressed.  I get along with people in smaller settings, but having to do a 5-minute chat with 30 people... not my cup of tea.

Thankfully, I got to the hotel fairly early this afternoon (around 4pm), so I was able to check my work emails, get some dinner and have some relaxing time this evening.  I brought a wool felt project with me that doesn't require a lot of thought.  All the pieces are glue basted in place, so its just mindlessly sewing the edges down by hand.

I will however miss the hubby and the flannel sheets that we just put on the bed at home!  :-)  Plus since its supposed to be cool at night this week, the hubby had brought in a bunch of wood so he could have fires at night.  I'm going to miss those this week.  It will be over before I know and I'll be back home...at least until my next trip.  :-)


Happy Crafting!
~Sarah at upstateNYCreations

Definitely Ready...

... for a management position.

Last night, my husband came to me and asked me if I could help him figure out how to remove the plastic trim around our recessed lighting so we can paint the ceiling in the room where we're putting a coffered ceiling.

Here's how it went down...

Me: Did you look on Google to see how to do it?
Him: No.  Why would Google have that? How do I search for it?
Me:  Google has everything.

Less than 5 minutes later, I found a site that said how to remove the trim.

Me: Here's how to remove the trim (read directions from site)
Him: OK. So I do this (he proceeded to do what I told him to do and was able to remove the trim)
Me: I fixed it!
Him: What do you mean you fixed it?  I did all the work.
Me: That's why I'm on the management track.  I tell you how to do the work and then when its successfully completed, I take credit for it!

We had a good laugh about it and anyone who has worked for a large company can probably relate!

I hope to have some more quilt-related things on here later this week when I actually get some sewing done. ;-)


Happy Crafting!
~Sarah at upstateNYCreations

Possible Purchase

I've been debating about making a particular purchase lately.

For those of you who don't know, I'm an avid tea drinker.  I take an insulated thermos of tea with me to work every day...sometimes two of them.  A few years ago, in an effort to save money, my company got rid of our water coolers that provided both cold and hot water.  When we had those coolers, I could easily make some tea at work using the hot water (no microwaved water for this tea weenie).  However, now that we don't have those, I'm back to bringing thermoses of tea.

Hello Amazon!  Since I have bought tea and tea accessories off Amazon, the company sent me an email a while ago regarding a programmable tea maker.  Here's a link to the item.  Its made by Breville and not only does it boil water at a touch of button, but it has an infuser that automatically lowers into the water, steeps for the desired amount of time and automatically retracts to stop the brewing process.

Can we say... Totally Awesome!!!

The only not-awesome part..... the price.  Its currently listed at $240, which seems like an awful lot of money to be able to make yummy tea at work.

I think the next time I get an award at work, I may splurge and get this.  I really enjoy my tea and would love to just be able to make it at work at any point during the day.

Happy Crafting!
~Sarah at upstateNYCreations

Working from Home

One of the good things about the company I work for is that I have the ability to work from home.  This comes in handy particularly this time of year when the snow/ice can make driving to work difficult.

Lately, its been bitterly cold here in upstate NY.  On last Friday (January 25th), the temperature when I started the fireplace up in the morning was -4F outside.  I was definitely glad I was working from home and not having to go outside.

So while I was busy working and making sure the fireplace was nice and happy, this is what my cat, Ellie, was doing.

Looks pretty comfy, huh?  I was sorely tempted to join her.

This next picture is a little wonky.  I was trying to get a picture of her face (hard to do with a black cat) without waking her up.  She just started waking up when I snapped the picture.

Despite the desire to take a nap, I was able to get a fair amount of work done on Friday because I didn't have the constant interruptions that I get when I'm in the office.  I think I'm going to have to make a habit of this on Fridays.  :-)

Happy Crafting!
~Sarah at upstateNYCreations