Here are a few tips to keep in mind when filling out applications for jobs so that when other people review your applications, they are not tempted to rip up your applications and use it as kindling to light your car on fire because of your stupidity…

1. Unless your handwriting is exceptionally legible, type the application if that is an option. 

2. If you chose to hand-write the application, then do not write in cursive, even if your penmanship is exceptionally legible (which, as stated above, is the only time in which you can hand-write the application).

3. If it asks for your middle name, write it down.

4. If it asks for your salutation (Mr., Ms., Mrs., Dr., etc…), GIVE IT!  They are not asking this question for you to leave blank, so that they can play a game and try to figure out what to address you by.  Sidenote: This is especially important for those of you who have gender neutral names.  If your came is Cameron, Chandler, Taylor, Logan, Austin, Rhett… and you do not specify whether you are a man or woman, do not be offended if you are a man and get something addressed to a Mrs. So and So…  It is not the other person’s fault.  It is yours.

5. Do not leave your Driver’s Licence Number or Social Security Number blank.  There are 387,420,489 potential SSNs and I refuse to to figure yours out.  I can take a pretty good stab at the salutations thing, but not guessing the 9 digits that would take you an even less number of seconds to write on the application.

6. If you are applying for a commission, and the application asks you what commission you are applying for… go crazy. Write down the commission you are applying for.  Also- here is a hint… make sure you know what the name of the commission actually is.  If “county” is part of the commission title, do not write “country”.  Do not make up commissions. Write down the entire title of the commission.  Do not switch words around in the title of the commission.  If the application reviewer wanted to play Word Scramble, they would.  Your application is not the place to force them against their will to play.

7. When filling out the address line, do not leave parts out of it.  The application asks for your street number, street name, street ending (st., rd., ave., etc.), zip code, city and state for a reason.  If the person who was reviewing the application didn’t want part of that, they wouldn’t ask it.  They are not qualified to do background checks, so do not force them to Google you, look you up on whitepages.com, or call the number that you wrote down on your application (which at this rate, probably isn’t even yours, and it’s the crazy lady who lives down the street’s uncle’s brother’s number), and find out the information that you should have just written down.

8. Spell your name right. (This is more for the people who get other people to fill out an application for them.  If your secretary is filling out your app., make sure she knows how to spell your name.  If she doesn’t, here is a free little nugget of advice- she shouldn’t be your secretary.  

So this has nothing to do with bananas, but it does have to do with food. Also- about the phone bit… I am at the office, just a little bored b/c I am at the front desk answering phones, except here’s the bad news.. the phone’s aren’t ringing. But b/c of the bad news, there is good news to follow.. I HAVE TIME TO WRITE A BLOG! #winning

Anyway, I was just looking online (I can’t get on Facebook at work/ I would feel unprofessional if I did, so I read articles featured on msn.com and msnbc.com), and I came across this article that gave some really yummy healthy alternatives to cooking and I thought I’d share some of them with you.

1. Substitute butter for avocado. Like, in cookie recipies. You just switch out half of the butter for mashed avocado. It tastes the same (apparently), it makes them chewier and softer, and it takes out the saturated fats and gives you healthy ones. The only thing is, it makes the cookies a little green, but if Dr. Suess made green eggs and ham, then we can make green cookies.

2. Sustitute rice for cauliflower! Who knew! You just but it in a food processor or grate it into rice sized pieces (aka: miniscule) and sautee it with a little olive oil. Boom. Faster, and better.

3. Substitute pasta noodles in lasagna for vegetables. Yeh, just slice zuchinni really thin, or eggplant, or both. Leave in the cheese and the meat, take out the noodles. This is very gluten-free friendly, so if you are gluten intolerant… hint, hint.

4. Substitute enriched flour or shortenting for beans… hmmmmm. Where have I heard this from before, JENNIFER MOORE? Haha, its true. If you but black beans in your brownines instead of flour, its better for you b/c it increases the fiber content? Personally I eat Fiber One bars if I want to consume fiber, not brownies, but if a serving of brownines has 3 grams of fiber, and you are supposed to have 6 a day, then I’m all for trying it. (sidenote: Last year for my birthday, Jeenifer made me brownies, and told me AFTER I started eating them, that they had black beans in them, not flour.)

P.S.- This may or may not be the first of a string of emails from the front desk. They will obviously not all apply to food, but just the findings of articles I read or what is happening in the office

So… things that have happened lately:

Internship:

Last week, I got to go with the governor to a bill signing. For those of you who didn’t hear, the official state vegetable is now the collard.  Surprisingly, we didn’t have a state vegetable before last week.  We do however have a state hospitality drink (sweet tea), and a state snack (boiled peanuts).  Also last week, I wrote a constituent letter regarding the SC film industry incentive policy.  That was fun.  This week, it’s just sorting papers and mastering Excel so far, but I’m sure things will pick up. This is my first full day by myself so it’s been pretty busy.

Babysitting:

So, I babysit on M,W,F when I am not at the governor’s office. I like babysitting, and the boy I am babysitting for is a very mature 10 year old, so we have fun and have good conversation.  Yesterday, we were sitting on the sofa reading when the doorbell rang.  Neither of us were expecting anyone so we made a quick decision to not answer the door.  Then we heard some rattling around and a big thud.  I was scared, and so was he, but we weren’t panicing yet. I thought that someone had simply dropped something by the dorr and then walked away, but then we heard rustling in the trees outside of the living room.  That’s when we both got really nervous.  I shut all of the curtains in the den so that, if whoever it was came around to the back of the house, they couldn’t see in.  Then i silently motioned for Jackson to come upstairs with me, and we tiptoed up the stairs into their playroom.  From the window up there, we looked outside and saw that it was a Terminex man, but I have legitimately never been so scared in my life.  It was terrifying. Jacksoin was visibly shaking and I was having heart palpatations. Not a fun day.  But then we read some more, watched his second grade play (Bebop with Aesop), and went to Stronghold.

House:

My house has literally become a toll house. Everyone stops in on their way to somewhere.  Last weekend it was my roommate Page who was in Columbia for a night, then it was my friends Carie and Kathy.  Tomorrow it’s JR.  This weekend there is a possibility of Tyler. Obvisouly I love it though becuase I get to see everyone.  I am just waiting for my friend Daniel Kashoven to stop in.  He is curently biking across America, and Columbia (well, Batesburg-Leesville) is one of his sstops!! I just wish I was still in Clemson, though. I miss it so much.

So this is officially my first day working in the Governor’s office. It’s the most big girl job I’ve had ever.  So far, so good. I got here, got my very first job ID made, got my very own parking spot in the parking garage, and then sat at my first, very own, desk. And sat at my desk. And continued to sit at my desk.  Then it was Sheila’s lunch break. That means, I got to go to the front desk and answer the phone while she was gone for an hour.  That was pretty cool becuase I actually got to do something.  While I was out there, I saw my sister’s old math teacher from Crayton, which was neat. Her daughter is one of my friends, so it was fun seeing a familiar face in a new office.  After a few interesting phone calls, and a chat with Kevin (the security guy), I got to go on my very first lunch break.  It sounds lame, but I was excited. And then it actually happened and it was as lame as it sounds. I had 5 Guys with my cousin, ate faster than the good Lord ever intended for anyone to eat (I couldn’t risk being late back from my first break), and made it back with minnutes to spare.  When I got back, I went and saw my “boss” Katherine, and the girls I worked with over Christmas break. They all work in the same room.  So, they gave me some things to do to keep me busy and occupied for a while.  It took me 20 minutes.  So here I am, all junk e-mails deleted from the past few months, all important e-mails archived, all papers on the wall memorized, Leigh’s papers filed numerically, stomach full, and hind-quarters practically asleep from sitting for so long.  2.5 more hours until I go home from my very first real work day from my very first big girl job.

Things you might want to know:

SC’s unemployment rate has decreased from 10.7% to 9.8% since Haley was elected.

Over 800 jobs have been made for South Carolinians since January.

over $400,000,00 in investments have been announced since January.

There is a new copier in the office.

There is a man named Tim who has called here everyday for the past 5 years. I talked to him today. His update- the gas prices are going to go up to $5/ gallon.

Just tidbits of information from my first big girl job.

 Ok… so I feel like everyone has a bucket list in college except for me.  I mean, I have a mental one, but not a written down one. I always find myself saying that I want to do things or saying things are on my bucket list, but then I think about it and I’m like… what bucket list. But no more. This is the official bucket list: (Note: I, being the person to pen the aforementioned bucket list, reserve the right to change, tweak, or add any thing to the list. I can not take anything off. If there is a line through the list, this means I have already done it.)

1. Graduate from Clemson

2. Go to the Monsoon Room

3. Play the bells in Tillman

4. Go to italy

5. Go to Greece

6. Sign the “Book”

7. Break into a building on campus

8. Learn how to play golf

9. Learn how to play volleyball

10. Go to every stadium in the ACC

11. Learn to play an instrument

12. Make a cookbook

13. Make a cheesecake

14. Get published

15. Watch all of the Harry Potter movies in one day

16. Read the whole Bible, every verse, from start to finish

17. Make a dress

18. Live in a big city

19. Go on a mission trip

2 Smileys:

1. :)

2. ;)

I didn’t really get this…