My week of being a Noogler

***Blogging while waiting for Kyle to pick me up at the airport (because he forgot to set his alarm for my 1am arrival).***

ATTN: New life adventure starting! After a year and a half of being a contract/temp employee at Google, I was converted to a FULL TIME Googler. It has been an incredible journey and I cannot wait to see what kinds of opportunities this will bring! I will be on the same team, in the same role - just with the added “perks”.I got to fly out to the motherland: Mountain View, CA for Noogler orientation. (Noogler = New Googler). Everyone I met was so welcoming, friendly and incredible. Riding Google bikes from building to building on main campus was definitely one of my favorite parts.
I took the 30 minute car ride to San Bruno to visit the You Tube offices (when in Cali, right?). SO.MUCH.FUN. Disneyland for adults.
I spent the rest of the week with my teammates and those who I work closely with (and have only seen through a computer screen) at Tech Corners - Sunnyvale.
On Wednesday, Google threw a movie night on their soccer field. We drank beers, watched Jurassic Park (the original) and had a blast!

My favorite desk! Carol's Candy Shop!

Jorgen! The coolest dude in Cali!

My Noogler graduation. :)

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If you are reading this blog post just for the cool Google photos, you can stop reading now. This is the part where I divulge “what I discovered about myself".  (I have to get wiser as I get older, right?)

On my way to CA, I started reading The Year of Yes by Shonda Rhimes. (You know - the woman who made Thursday night a thing?) And there was a part that REALLY stood out to me and couldn’t have come at a better time.

She talks about how all these amazing women she encounters (tv writers, famous actresses, show runners, CEOs, etc) have a hard time being told they are awesome. They usually get embarrassed, negate the compliment or shy away. Before this was highlighted to me (Thanks Shonda), I was doing the same thing. Whenever someone congratulated me or complemented me on converting I would reply with my “go-to” phrase and timidly say “Thank you, I’m so lucky and so excited”. I have never been one to boldly and proudly say “THANK YOU, I really deserve this because I’ve worked my ass off to get here”. I think that it is really hard for a lot of women to own up to their accomplishments, to take a compliment and not duck their head down when being praised. We are scared of how others will perceive us - arrogant, cocky or conceited. Shonda goes on a rant about Badassery: An amazing new word that everyone should add to their vocabulary.

I work at Google and that is badass.