Hello everyone,
So, from Wednesday last week until Wednesday this week, I was in New York on Long Island. It was a great vacation I spent with family and friends. One of my best friends (Brooke) from college was celebrating her graduation the coming Saturday, so a large group of my friends stayed at her parent’s house in Glen Cove. They had a phenomenal makeover done on their backyard since last year. It is amazing what can be done in just one year. While I was in New York, we saw the Yankees beat the Orioles (6-3), the Statue of Liberty up close on Liberty Island, Ellis Island, and the Phantom of the Opera. We also spent two days in the Hamptons and my friend’s brother’s rental home, which was very close to the beach. A few of my roommates and I had a blast bodysurfing some huge ocean waves (pretty insane). Brooke’s graduation party was awesome all day/night on Saturday and everyone had a wonderful time at her house.
Before my vacation, Doug had a group of us over to his house in Ann Arbor the weekend before I left. This was a welcoming gathering partially for me, but also to celebrate Julie’s (Doug’s Executive Assistant) new job. She has been working for Doug for about a year and a half after graduating from Boston College. Unfortunately, today is her last day in the office and she has been preparing Sue (Doug’s new Executive Assistant) all this week to take over indefinitely. It was great to have Julie (since she’s not much older than me at all) here to help me get settled and comfortable with the Doug’s small staff team (which I felt like was an exclusive club in the beginning). The dinner party at Doug’s home was a lot of fun and those who know me well know that I really enjoy eating a lot of food (amazingly I’m not obese – hopefully that will never happen). Doug’s wife, Sandra, prepared a delicious meal, and I contributed (what I hear) a great tuna pasta salad – Neptune salad, while Julie, Edmund Lewis (Fisher Foundation Fellow), and Jennifer Breasbois (Phillip Fisher’s Executive Assistant and Julie’s cousin) brought some delicious homemade desserts. I was in food heaven that day. Julie and I also dominated in Bocce Ball, beating Jennifer Breasbois and Jenn Fahnestock (Fisher Foundation Grants Manager) – Game 1, as well as Edmund and Jenn’s husband – Brian in Game 2. I’m sure that’ll be one of the highlights of hanging out with Julie in the short time I’ve gotten to know her. She is really going to be missed, which is evident through all of the wonderful stories and well wishes everyone shared during dinner. Good luck to Julie as she begins her career in development (in Detroit), and I hope her career flourishes quickly – I’m sure you’ll do great things for the city Julie.
As for me, I am shaping my objectives for this internship right now and determining how I can make an impact with the Fisher Foundation effectively and efficiently since my time here is short. I will also have to switch gears sometime soon and start looking for full-time job opportunities. As I finish crafting my objectives and get more entrenched in my work for the foundation, I will have more stories and anecdotes about fundraising and development.
Until next time…
