Today was great. I feel like you must be getting tired of hearing me say how awesome life is at McCormick. So, please forgive my redundancy...but it really is awesome. I arrived earlier than usual and, thanks to Breanne's recommendation, went in through the back employee entrance where my favorite security guard gladly opened the door for me. No security alarm-mishaps today. (I think I'll be holding on to that one for a while...)
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| Cathy's Kitchen! |
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| The Party Kitchen... Pre-Party-ing |
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| Those stickers that come on bananas...all stuck to one of the cabinets |
At around 7:30 JoAnne arrived to start prepping for Descriptive Panel , so I jumped in and put myself to work. Descriptive Panel is fun because it's non-stop action from 8 until almost 1. It was especially awesome today because JoAnne let me write on the official charts! So these charts are the charts that she uses to note the changes to the products after light or heat tests. They use them at each interval of the process, to say if the product has faded or if the aroma is weaker or if the consistency is thinner...pretty much any change from the control needs to be written down....and I was lucky enough to be able to do that! JoAnne even helped me describe the changes in the products so I would understand exactly what I was writing.
I helped out with panel until it was time for our presentation at 10:30. Remember how we gave the run-through to JoAnne, AuBrei, and Steph yesterday? That was great practice for the big presentation today. 8 people, all of whom we'd worked with during the past two weeks, came to hear what we had to say. And, weirdly enough, I found that I was kind of nervous. I wasn't nervous the day before, but I really wanted to do well for the important people coming today.
We held our meeting in the conference room attached to Cathy's Kitchen (see the first picture). And although I was nervous at first, it went fabulously! It was, in truth, unlike any presentation I have ever given before. At various points throughout the presentation, our audience would start talking to each other about the information we'd presented. They would start throwing ideas around or asking so-and-so about this trend or that trend, or what data does McCormick have about this or that. They're extremely creative people and they were so enthusiastic about everything they were hearing.
They also really enjoyed the goodies we'd made for them. All in all, I felt very proud of our accomplishments. Everyone congratulated us and appreciated the time we'd spent pulling everything together. It was such a wonderful feeling, but I sure was exhausted after all of that adrenaline coursing through me during the presentation!
The two of us congratulated ourselves and returned to the kitchen to help with the end of the Descriptive Panel. During some of the down time while we were waiting to switch out the samples, I measured butter (flashback to a week 1 activity for me) and washed dishes (so many dishes!). There were so many bowls that needed to dry, Steph had to perch them all rather precariously against each other so they would fit on the counter.
It was a really quiet day in the offices today. We were super busy, but there weren't a whole lot of other people milling around. Amanda (I know...introducing a new name on the last day...sorry about that) popped in to say that we could taste a wedding cake she was practicing on. Apparently she's making the wedding cake for Cathy's daughter and they had a tasting yesterday, but had lots of leftovers. Leftovers? Not a problem.
The cake was a butter cake with a raspberry and cream filling. It was light and not sickeningly sweet. I took a piece home with me, too. I mean, honestly, it was just gonna sit in the fridge all weekend so why not?!?
As if that wasn't enough to make me happy, Steph made a pasta salad with pretty much everything we had left over in the fridge from the week.
I'm a big pasta salad lover. And it seemed only appropriate that I would be fed lunch on my last day, as I had pretty much every other day of this adventure. What can I say? I've been pretty spoiled for these two weeks.
After we cleaned up from Descriptive Panel and ate lunch, Breanne packed up for the weekend. She gave me a copy of Memoirs of a Geisha before she left, which was totally sweet and thoughtful! Last week I'd mentioned that I'd never read it and she said that if I was studying Japanese, I had to read it. You have to believe me when I say that Breanne is great. I couldn't have ended up with a better intern-buddy.
It was sad watching her go, but we've promised to keep in touch, so I hope that we will make that happen. Then I made sure everything was good to go before I said goodbye to JoAnne, AuBrei, Steph, and Nancy.
It didn't really feel final as I walked away from 211 Schilling Circle today. I don't know what it is, but I seem to be subconsciously refusing to believe that it is over. This part of my life has come to a close and there is no way to go back. It's scary when you think of it like that. But I know that this isn't all bad. Actually, it's mostly good. I mean, I've had a whirlwind, exciting two weeks. It was more than I ever could have expected, and opened my eyes to all of the possibilities in the world. I made friends and formed relationships with people I didn't know before. I dove into the opportunities presented to me, and did everything to the absolute fullest.
Before I arrived at McCormick, I had wondered if I had chosen the right place. I had pondered what might have happened if I'd gone somewhere else. But now, I wouldn't have wanted it any other way.
Tonight I say goodnight for the last time from Spiceland. My adventures here may have come to an end, but my adventures in the real world have only just begun. Who knows where I'll end up next?
Til then.
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