It has been a whirl wind of a week for me work-wise. Like I mentioned previously at some point, I’m the Marketing & Events coordinator for the Montgomery County Humane Society. Yesterday MCHS had our Bark & Wine event at this really awesome restaurant called Redwood in Bethesda. I’m super relieved because.. it went awesome! I still get so nervous about these kinds of events, and let me tell you why.

I got my B.S. in Animal Sciences, specifically Animal Care and Management. That means I spent four years working with horses, sticking my hand inside cows, learning the ins & outs of pasture management, memorizing the Estrous Cycle…. to name a few things. I had no idea where I wanted my degree to take me, but I’d been interested in animal welfare since I interned at MCHS my senior year in high school. I really never thought I’d end up back there though.

I hooked back up with my old MCHS boss during my senior year of college after realizing animal welfare was truly the path I wanted to pursue. I ended up back there as an intern again (except this time having a few more responsibilities). Funny thing about it, though, was that instead of working with animals like I’d spent four years – and a few dollars – learning, I was doing a whole lot of working with people. Long story short, my boss had a baby and guess who got her position post-graduation! So awesome (and beyond words lucky), right? Except I found myself smack in the middle of a field I knew very little about: marketing, event planning, PR, outreach, communications… you name it, I probably didn’t take a class on it.

The good thing was that during my senior year I became actively involved on the exec board for Relay For Life (cancer sucks!) which taught me solid people, communication, and PR skills… phew. The other good thing is that luckily event planning is merely being able to 1. establish your ducks 2. collect them all 3. line them all up in a row – i.e. you have to be able to multitask, organize, and plan ahead. All of the skills studying for science classes makes you acquire!

So it turns out I apparently have enough brains to not completely screw this position up, and actually enjoy it most of the time. I get to do really cool things, including taking adoptable animals on the news, creating new marketing campaigns, and (oh, minor) being completely in charge of our annual gala, The Love Ball. That part is absolutely terrifying. But it’s okay! Because I have an awesome committee to help me and great coworkers that offer their support any time I need. It’s overwhelming, challenging, and absolutely thrilling to be a part of such an incredible event. I am learning enormous amounts. Who gets to say that right out of college they’re running a gala? Seriously, I am so lucky. It just takes a lot to remember that A. there is a light at the end of the tunnel past this event and B. someone trusted my abilities enough that they put me in this position in the first place, so I should also trust myself.

You guys will probably hear a little bit about my crazy journey to the Love Ball between now and October 22 as I try to navigate the real world and throw in some fostering here and there.  For now, I’ll leave you with some shelter puppy pics, and some Bark & Wine pics!

I am absolutely in love with this husky that came in as a stray yesterday. Hopefully his owner will come pick him up!

Luckily these little buggers were on their way to rescue. They were only with us temporarily while they waited for their next transport. So.Freaking.Cute.

Success!! That is a patio full of appetizer eating, drink sipping, and pooch loving humans with their best four-legged friends.

My college roommates still help me out at events. I LOVE them.

Another job perk: getting to know local “celebs”. Aly Jacobs is from the MIX107.3 morning show and the more we work together, the better friends we become. She’s great.

I was in charge of the camera, and this is one of the best shots I got.

So yep, this is my job…. wearing cute heels, playing with dogs, and advertising happy hours. Okay, I promise it’s not that easy and straight forward. But I seriously love it and could not think of a better place for me – as long as I actually survive Love Ball. Yikes.

P.S. Don’t worry, Z is still in the picture! I’ll be back to chat about her soon. She is with her other fostermom right now and boy do I miss her. Lucky for me I get her for the weekend.