Rough week

Hi my friends,

A couple of you know that I came back from my Puerto Rico vacation to a very stressful, frustrating and disheartening situation at work. We had just completed budget reforecasts for the 3rd and 4th quarters before I left in early July. While I was away, our sales forecasts were way down and we had to cut expenses. Long story short, we cut everywhere we could, but in the end we had to let go of three employees this week. Two of them were in my departments. One of them, our editorial assistant, has worked with me for eight years and she's pregnant! I know that people are losing their jobs everywhere and that many folks have been affected by our global economic crisis, but when it hits close to home, it's even more difficult to digest. As a director, my role is to try and stay strong and focused for my employees. To "keep calm and carry on." But it's not easy, especially when tough decisions need to be made and when morale is so low. I just hope we can get through these tough times and remain profitable and that these employees all find positions elsewhere since I know the job market is very weak right now.

On a separate note, Jorge (my step dad) started chemotherapy and he's doing well. The first week was rough for him, but he's back at work. His second round of chemo will be this coming week. Thank you all for the well wishes and please keep him in your prayers so that he can beat this! We are all very positive and things are looking good so far.

Although I have been working long hours, I've been trying to de-stress by checking out the blogs, creative galleries and working on a mini album for my BFF. I have also been editing my Puerto Rico pictures (LOTS to go through!). I'll leave you with a few more pics of our trip, including a photo of us trying Snuba...







xoxo,
Vanessa