The Engagement

By now most of you should know that I got my Christmas wish. After almost seven years of dating Dave, he finally asked me to marry him. And it was perfect.

Dave had asked me a for a while to go to dinner with him in Ann Arbor once I was back from my trip with my parents to Hawaii for our first of the month celebration. I figured something may be up but then when we were in Hawaii my parents gave me the talk about why Dave and I weren't married, and when we would get married. I figured that meant Dave didn't ask them, which meant that I wasn't getting engaged. But Dave was smarter than that. He knew if he asked me parents before our trip they would give away the surprise.

So we got back on Sunday and Dave apparently tried to call my sister to get me out of the house so he could talk to my parents before we went to dinner. However, my sister was asleep since we didn't' get as much sleep as we should have on the plane and didn't answer his numerous calls. Finally, Dave gave up on calling and just came over to my house unannounced an hour early. Of course I wasn't ready to go yet (I thought I had an hour to get dressed). While I was getting ready he tried to talk to my dad. However, my dad was asleep, but Dave woke him up and asked for his permission to marry me while I was getting ready (he only had about 10 minutes as I was trying to be fast). My dad, still waking up, mumbled something like "that would be nice", and then called my mom who was out shopping. My mom came home and almost ruined the surprise. When my dad told her to come home right away because Dave was over she knew what was up and bought a cake to celebrate, not realizing Dave hadn't asked me yet. My dad stashed the cake in the laundry room and my parents sent us on our way to Ann Arbor.

The whole car ride to Ann Arbor Dave talked about waiting till he was 30 to get married and how we couldn't get married because what would we do with our kitchen items (with logic like that how could one argue)? So I'm sitting in the car trying not to be disappointed because I thought my proposal would never come.

We go to dinner at the Earle, one of our favorite restaurant. The meal was perfect. Dave got the duck, which tasted awesome, and I got the whitefish, which was good (but not as good as the duck). We split a bottle of wine and had a great time! Dave was really adamant about going for a walk on the diag even though it was freezing outside. I figured since it was so important to him I would go, especially since we had no idea when we would be back on campus again.

We drove by the diag, parked and walked to the center (not a short walk in the cold). As we stood close to the "M" Dave asked me how long we had been dating (a tradition on the first of the month). I said we had been dating 80 months, and he asked what percentage of a lifetime that was. After I said a little less than 10% Dave said "I want to spend the rest with you", got down on his knee and asked me to marry him. It was a perfect evening, and I could not have asked for a better Christmas.

We think our wedding will be August 2008, which means a lot of planning in a short time. Plus I know have motivation to lose the additional weight I have gained from mono and more to get to my goal before August. It is really exciting to have things fall into place, and I can't even convey how happy I am to have the perfect Christmas this year :-)

Hawaii

I hope everyone had a great Christmas. Mine was wonderful, but more about that later. Before Christmas, I went to Hawaii with my parents. It was awesome, a great time. We left on a Saturday afternoon and I never realized just how far away Hawaii is. It was a really long flight. We arrived late Saturday night Hawaii time. We were staying in Kona, on the big island. Our hotel room was awesome. My mom rented what i believe are timeshares for some people. We were essentially staying in a two bedroom apartment. Below are some pictures from our apartment.

The gorgeous view from the balcony of our apartment

It was great to have a kitchen where we could cook meals

We spent Sunday going to an information session about Hawaii, just looking around, and going for a run. The area around our hotel was awesome and my sister and I ran almost every day. It was easy to get motivated to run with such a wonderful view.

On Monday we took a trip to Volcano National Park. It was about a two hour drive, and along the way we saw the black sand beach which was pretty cool as well. It was super windy at the black sand beach though. Volcano National Park was really neat, but we couldn't see any active volcanoes as there were none in the park at the time.


My family and me outside of a crater at Volcano National Park

A picture outside the museum at Volcano National Park, it was a great view and the picture doesn't quite do it justice.


The black sand beach. It was so windy it was difficult to get good pictures.

On Tuesday we went to the coffee plantations and then on a snorkeling excursion. We went to Captain Cooks Monument and snorkeled around there. It was a gorgeous view, but we haven't gotten the pictures developed from that camera yet (we used an underwater camera). It is so cool in Hawaii to have the mix of tropical paradise, rich history and volcanoes.

On Wednesday we just hung around the apartment, went into the city, went out for lunch and just took a relaxed day, which was nice since we were getting tired with our busy days.

Thursday we went to the Macadamia Nut farm, then to Hapuna beach, which was absolutely gorgeous, and then we went on an airplane ride of the island. It was so cool. We got to see lava flowing, we got to see the awesome waterfall, mountain and valley regions that you can't see by foot since it is all private land. It was a good perspective on the island overall.

My sister and I at Hapuna beach

Us with our captain outside the airplane

On Friday we decided we would just spend the day at the beach and then go to a Luau. We tried to go to a different beach first and the views were gorgeous, but it was super crowded and we decided we liked Hapuna best so we drove back to Hapuna. The Luau was a lot of fun, a ton of food, and some great ocean views. The show at the end was pretty cool as well.

The first beach we tried to go to. It was so pretty but really small and a lot of rocks.

Another view of Hapuna Beach

The Luau, we had a wonderful view right on the ocean.

The Luau dancers.

On Saturday we just packed up, went for a run, and enjoyed some of the ocean views from our apartment as we had to leave at noon for the airport. It was a long trip home, we didn't arrive until 10AM on Sunday, but it was definitely worth it. After being to a ton of tropical islands, Hawaii has to be one of my favorites. I love the mix of views, and all the things there are to see there. The rest of the holidays have been great as well, but I will post about those later!

I hate decisions

So the time has almost come for me to make a decision. Of course the time has also come for me to study ops strategy for my final Monday, but that is secondary (I am a master of avoidance).

I'm not going to put in company names, just in case, but now i have the question of who do i work for? The company I worked for this summer, the company that will let me fly around the world, or the company I worked for before school? I would say the company before school is pretty much out, seeing as the jobs they are offering would be a major step down. So then we have the summer job versus the other one. How do I decide?

The money is probably equal for both once I consider bonuses (higher at the summer job) and free travel. I originally thought the potential for advancement was higher at the summer job, but things are changing there. They used to represent this great arbitrage opportunity. This company that was a great Fortune 500 company but only had 5-10 top tier MBA grads in their marketing organization, and really values a top tier MBA education (justified or not). They couldn't get the top grads because of the location and the non "sexy" quality of their business. But if I started there this year I would be in a starting class of 12, probably 6 of which would be Kellogg grads. Minneapolis is getting a lot of attention as a good place to live (if you want to talk about great marketing, the Minneapolis Travelers Association, or whatever it is called, has done an awesome job), and the "sexy" marketing jobs are harder to get now as companies aren't really hiring. So I no longer have my great advancement opportunity. I would have to deal with all the politics in order to advance, and I hate company politics. But I would have a great class of people to start with too and the people there are awesome. After dealing with a lot of marketing people and recruiting at a lot of marketing organizations, I will say that the marketing people at my summer employer are probably some of the best. They are real people, they aren't conceited, fake, and superficial like most other marketing organizations. They are mostly intelligent, real people, which is awesome. I would work in St Paul, and it would be nice to work in a city. Unfortunately, I would also be working on B to B cleaning supplies. Not very exciting.

And then there is the other opportunity. I would work in an industry that I personally find fascinating. I would get the chance to fly all over the world for free. If I wanted to go to Amsterdam for a weekend I would find an open flight and go. I don't know if i have talked about this in this blog but one of my major goals is to travel more (and Joplin, Cedar Rapids and Grand Rapids doesn't count). This job would make that possible. Plus the job is more exciting. the people seem nice, and the marketing role at this company plays more to my skills. I think I would still advance okay in the company, which is also important to me. The job isn't nearly as stable, but i figure I am an interviewing pro by now and i have contacts all over the Twin Cities. How can I beat that?

And then there is my long time employer. I'm not sure what to do about them. I'm pretty sure i wasn't going to get the marketing job with them to start. And if I went into ops or R&D i wouldn't ever. But I really do love the company. The people are awesome and the product is something I am passionate about. But the job would be a major reduction in position, and not the role i want. Plus the company isn't really known for its open attitude towards cross functional moves (even though it claims it is all for it that is a lie).

I think overall I am leaning towards the employer I have never worked for. The travel benefits are awesome, the compensation is fair (after some negotiation), and the work life balance seems good most of the time. The risk is high, but I am young, without a family. This would be the time to take a risk. It's somewhat scary, but I think this could be an exciting opportunity. Hopefully it all works out, we will see.

To anyone who has read my rambling this far, I don't know whether to be impressed with your stamina or saddened by the time you have wasted reading this ;-)

One month later...

And things are pretty much the same. I'm still waiting to hear from companies, still feeling sick, although this time it is a cold. Oh well, at least the quarter is almost done.

I've spent a lot of this past month in a plane and not a lot in class. But the recruiting is done, and I'm just waiting to hear back. All I have left to do now for this quarter is a final in ops strat (which means i need to learn ops strat) and a final group marketing plan for marketing strat. It will feel good to be done.

I also have been doing some fun stuff in the past weeks. I went to a friend's wedding in Michigan in early November. The wedding was a lot of fun. Him and his wife are Greek and there was a live band and plenty of Greek dancing. Dave and I learned to Greek dance, which was exciting.

Speaking of Dave, we took a holiday over Thanksgiving and went to Jamaica. It was a great trip, we spent a lot of time on the beach, got to try out a few restaurants in Jamaica and felt very relaxed coming back. Unfortunately we took no pictures. After that we spent Thanksgiving day and weekend in Michigan. It was great to see everyone but it was a really hectic trip.

I spent last weekend in Minnesota as I was there on a recruiting trip. It snowed a lot and i got to go to poker and make a few dinners so it was a fun time overall. I will be back in Minnesota from Jan 2-6 before school starts up here.

It is kind of exciting to think that in a little over a week the quarter will be done, I'll be on a trip to Hawaii with the parents. and I will have decided where I will be next year. I'm excited but also overwhelmed by all that needs to be done...

The things we take for granted...

This week made me realize that there is nothing i should take for granted. I have had a ton of homework to do and honestly business school work isn't that hard. However, this week has made me realize that when you can't think for more than 15 minutes without become tired, work is hard. I also didn't realize how lucky I am to normally have a decent amount of energy and be able to run around. It sucks being tired all the time, but then again it could be worse.

Enough of that, one to the fun stuff. This weekend was a lot of fun. Dave came into town Thursday night and we went to Pete miller's for dinner and then stopped off at Thirsty Thursday for a very short while since I got tired. We spent most of the days he was here just sitting around. But on Friday night we took a cooking class which was okay (I don't think it was very educational for either of us but it was fun). On Saturday we went out to dinner with some friends and then went to GloBall, the Kellogg version of Prom. It was in the Museum of Contemporary Art. I realized I just don't understand Contemporary Art. We ended up leaving early because I was tired. We just hung out at the apartment today and then I drove Dave to the airport.

This week will be crazy. I leave on Tuesday for Hershey 2nd round, get back Wednesday night. Then I interview with Cargill on campus on Thursday morning and leave straight for Omaha and Conagra second rounds. I fly through Chicago to Michigan for a friends wedding, go straight from Michigan to Minnesota on Sunday night to do Target second rounds on Sunday and then come back Monday night to actually go to a couple classes. And then we leave for Jamaica on Friday. It is all a bit crazy, I can't wait for recruiting to be done. Oh, by the way, I heard back from the General and it wasn't bad news but not good news either. I told them we would just wait till I was done recruiting on campus and then discuss my future further. Right now I am just a bit stressed with all the craziness. Between Mono and recruiting this semester's grades will be very ugly...

Talk about bad timing...

Just found out the reason I have been feeling under the weather. I have mono, how much does that suck?

Fun times...

As most of you know, I spent most of last week in Minnesota. I got in on Tuesday night and then interviewed with General Mills on Wednesday. I think the interview went okay.

Thursday was a fun day. I met with some people at General Mills and then Krista and I went to the mall to shop at Victoria Secret. Fun times for sure. After that we went out for sushi and then to poker. I had a great time at poker, it was just great to see everyone!

The week just got better as the days continued. On Friday Dave took the day off and we went to Lake Rebbecca for a bike ride and then had Katie and Ed over for dinner. We plays a couple games of Rummikub, Katie won one, and I won one. And then we played a couple games of Euchre. Ed and I won one and Dave and Katie won one. We decided we had to have an early night due to the long day ahead of us on Saturday.

Saturday was an awesome day! We started of the day early in the morning for our 5K. Ever since I started running at the beginning of the summer I have said I wanted to be able to finish a 5K. My initial goal was to do it by next May but I decided I wanted to try it earlier. I ended up finishing without stopping which was an awesome feeling. My time was pretty slow, 37 minutes, but I did not really care about that. Next year I can work on time. However, I would never have been able to finish were it not for Katie and Dave running with me and motivating me all summer, and during the race. Its amazing what one can get done with the support of friends! Krista and Karma also joined us for the race but Karma was not cooperating with the running so they had to leave early. Ed came to cheer us on, which was awesome and then Ed, Katie, Dave and I went to lunch after. Below is a picture of us at our run:


Overall it was a fun time had by all.

The night kept on getting better. Paul and Ashley were getting married and we went to the wedding. It was in this really cool house and the wedding was great! The ceremony was awesome, short but very sweet. Ashley looked beautiful. We had a wonderful time dancing, Katie is an awesome dance partner! It was probably one of the best times i have had at a wedding. We went back to Rob and Katie's after, and had a great time. Below is a picture of Dave and I dancing at the wedding:



The fun continued on Sunday as we went to Nic and Krista's for a bit and then went to Granite City.

It was so awesome seeing everyone this weekend! I will definitely post pictures soon of the weekend!

Maize Maze!!!

Yesterday was perhaps the most fun I have had at Kellogg in a really long time. And no, the Keg was not involved. I started off the day getting a massage. Then I worked on some homework (not exciting) and went to a fun dance class at the EAC. Then I went to the corn maize. There is this huge corn maize a little over an hour away from us. The weather was perfect for going out and it was so much fun! We walked around the maze, lead by Daniel and Clint who must have been boys scouts in another life because they were great leaders. We walked around and got our punches, and then proceeded to beat out the little kids to go down the slide they had. Fun times.

They also had campfires going so we made some smores, had some caramel apples and apple cider. Fun times. Keri and I went down the slide one more time, this time with the potato sacks. It was so much fun, i would highly recommend it. Unfortunately noone brought their cameras so sadly I have no pictures to show.

On another positive note, the Wolverine's are actually doing okay these days. Hopefully they can beat out Ohio State in a few weeks, but first they have to win against Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan State. Go Blue!

Requiem for a Dream?

So tonight I made dinner and had some friends over. We were going to maybe go out after. But we decided to watch a movie first and we watched Requiem for a Dream. Has anyone seen it? Some people rave about it, but I thought it was perhaps the most depressing movie I have ever seen. We couldn't even go out after, everyone ended up going home and I just sat around depressed. I would not recommend it but I would love to hear from one of the people who have seen it and actually liked it.

Another update

In other news I will be interviewing with the General October 24th, so I will be in Minneapolis Oct 23 late night- October 28th. Fun times...

5K anyone?

Anyone want to run a 5K in the Twin Cities on Saturday october 27th? I'm not sure if I would be able to finish one with my knee acting up, or if anyone even really reads this blog anymore, but if you are interested send me an e-mail. Here's a link to the info on the 5K.
http://www.active.com/event_detail.cfm?CHECKSSO=1&EVENT_ID=1462440&RESET=0

Finally something new ;-)

Wohoo, just booked tickets for the first half of Thanksgiving. We are going to Jamaica, I'm so excited!!

Nothing Exciting

I've been having a fun time at school so far, I think. I even have managed to get enjoyment out of some aspect of most of my classes. I'm really excited for the possible chance to work on an Ops Strategy project for General Mills. We needed a project for our class and I e-mailed people yesterday night and I already have one project proposal in, pretty impressive work by our ops group. If I did the same with some other functions in General Mills it would have taken me weeks to get a response!
Las weekend was okay. I was in Michigan for my mom's birthday which was a lot of fun, and then I went to Dave's grandfather's funeral, which was very sad. It was so great to see how much he meant to his family though, and the service was very moving. I just hope Dave's grandmother cam be okay, I'd have to imagine after spending over 50 years with someone it would be near impossible to deal with them being gone.
I've been trying to work out but knee has not been cooperating. I hate being injured. I have tried running and it just doesn't work, my knee starts throbbing with pain. I'm thinking maybe if I take an ibuprofen before I go I can do it better. I'm really afraid all the work I did over the summer will be lost if I don't keep up with things. I've been taking dance and using the elliptical upstairs quite a bit. It is so awesome having the elliptical in the same building. It means that even if I only have an hour total I can go upstairs, use the elliptical and then be ready to go (by ready to go I mean my usual 15 minutes late) to wherever I need to.
I'm really looking foward to this weekend. I get to go to back to Minnesota and see Dave and everyone else. And our bachelorette party time should be a lot of fun, I can't wait!

Back in the swing of things

It is funny how it seems that some things never change. No matter what I say, I always end up at the Keg late at night. Fun times.

Classes are going okay. I have two really good classes, one easy class, and one class I dread going two. I am taking Marketing Strategy, an awesome class I am so happy I bid for. The professor is awesome and actually makes me happy about marketing. I'm also taking Managerial Leadership. It is taught by the former CEO of Baxter, and he is awesome. Its a Wednesday night class and I always leave it feeling better than when I came in. Someday I hope I can inspire people the way he does, definitely worth over 1/3 of my bid points for the year.

The other two classes are just okay, Spreadsheet modelling (easy so far) and Ops Strategy (not easy and not good). I've learned the professor can really make all the difference.

Last weekend I hung out in Rockford, Il. It was kind of sad, I ended up not going to the Michigan-northwestern game, something I was looking forward to for a while. But it was worth it to see all our friends from college and just have a great relaxed weekend.

This weekend I go to Michigan for mom parent's birthday and other things. Next weekend I'm back in Minnesota.

An update

Things are going okay in Evanston. The apartment is getting set up, I almost have my room set up, and then I get to get to work on the living room. Leslie is organizing a conference for next week so we won't get working on that till then.
I have had a pretty good time here, I've been trying to stay busy, which isn't a problem. On a bad note, i heard back from General Mills and I will not be working in marketing next year. I still need to do some soul searching and figure out what i really want to do. I'm not really sure marketing is right for me. And I need to do this by this Friday since that is when first resumes are due. It is crazy! I can't wait for this all to be done.
After I got the rejection call on Friday I ended up going out with some friends on Friday night. It was a crazy night. There are moments I don't totally remember. One of my friends informed me of parts of the night I didn't know about. I ended up going to bed at 8 AM. It was a fun night but one I won't be repeating. Its funny how getting home at 2 AM seems like a tame night in comparison.
I had a dinner party over at my apartment tonight which was fun but will involve a ton of cleaning. Its okay, it was worth it though. I then went to a couple of bars, and realized again that the Keg is not a sober hangout.

Lessons learned

So if there is a one thing I've learned in the past two days since I've been back its that Nevins and the Keg (especially the Keg) is not that fun when you are totally sober. Good lesson to learn early. I have had a fun two days back so far. Dave left on Sunday and then I spent the day cleaning up a bit. I went to Target and dinner with my friend Daniel, and then hung out with Leslie for a while. Then i got convinced to go to Nevins. It is so weird being back. You have the fake hugs, the obligatory "how was your summer" question, and lots of fake smiles. It gets old quick. I wish we were two weeks in, then that would all be done.
Yesterday was a busy day. I woke up, went for a run, had a mattress delivered, went to lunch, went to class, went to new student convocation, went to the gym, then to dance class, then picked up dinner and then went to Nevins followed by the Keg. A lot for one day. Class was pretty good. Its a Crisis Management class, which is okay. Not great but okay, at least the professor is engaging.
I had my bedroom furniture delivered today which was exciting. Now I'm going to unpack and hopefully get rid of more boxes!

Back in Evanston for real

After a long couple of days I am finally in my apartment. Its a pretty nice apartment overall. We have no furniture yet, and there are a ton of boxes (I think i have too much crap) but the apartment itself is nice. And we get a wonderful view of the parking garage next to us. I guess that is the only reason we could actually afford this place, so it is fine. I have a dishwasher, and laundry in unit, what else could I ask for!
Plus I lied when I said I had no furniture, I do have a futon. I slept on it last night and it was pretty comfortable considering it was the cheapest futon i could find last year. I'm still moving in. Yesterday, dave and i spent most of the day moving in and then going to Target and dinner. Today, Dave leaves at noon ;-(. Afterwards I will go back to Target and continue to attack the boxes. Once I have furniture I will post pictures of my new apartment ;-)
Later tonight I will hopefully be able to make the Turkey getogether and then it is back to classes tomorrow.

Back in Evanston... almost

Well I am sort of back in Evanston. After a fun night of poker, Dave and I left Mn at about 3 PM since he and I both had things to take care of. So. we didn't get to Evanston until about 11 PM due to traffic and a longer dinner (we couldn't pass up the German haus). We decided since we would be tired we would just stay in a hotel for tonight (especially since i don't have bedroom furniture yet) and then move in tomorrow. Should be fun!
The drive over was okay. I decided to play pick the random CD and just opened my CD case and picked one without looking, so it was fun getting a variety i usually don't get. It made the drive more interesting.
Tomorrow we move in and i get to see my new apartment, I'm so excited!

Thank you!

Thanks to all of my wonderful Minnesota friends for an awesome summer! I have had so much fun playing tennis, learning to run, playing games (even if not as frequently as I would like), bike riding, cooking dinner, playing volleyball, dancing, playing poker and just hanging out. I'll miss you all when I get back to Evanston, you guys are so awesome!

Fun times ( well mostly)...

I have had a great time in my weeks off of work. It makes me sad to think of leaving. Last week I can't even remember what I did. But i know it involved a labor day party, lots of tennis, running, biking, and hanging out.
Then came Thursday night and my General Mills Fast Track weekend. I interviewed for the marketing job, and I'm waiting to hear back. Considering my interview was Friday and it is Wednesday today I'm not thinking good things. I'm just waiting for the rejection call/ e-mail. I'm not excited for that, I think I may be screening my phone calls for a bit.
This week has been a blast though. On Monday Ed and I went for a bike ride around the lake Calhoun, Harriet, and Lake of the Isles. I even got to see the Rose Garden and Peace Garden which was awesome. We played some tennis and then we came back to Dave's and made dumplings. It was a team effort from Dave, Ed, Paul, Ashley and me, and Rob and Katie helped us eat them. Afterwards we played a game of poker. Fun times.
On Tuesday Ed, Matt and I played tennis. Then Ed and I went to the MIA, which was awesome. I'm learning more and more about the wonderful things the Twin Cities has to offer. We had Nick, Bob and Ed over for dinner and we played a fun game of Bohnanza. Nick won the first game and I won the second. Apparently I'm really bad at judging how far ahead I really am because i thought I was losing the entire second game and i beat everyone by quite a bit. And on the first game I only lost by one coin. Both Monday and Tuesday night ended with a late night run.
Today I had a busy day. I woke up, went for a 50 minute run (I am improving thanks to Katie kicking my butt) and then met Dave for lunch downtown. I then spent he rest of the day cleaning and making dinner. We played some tennis, went to Bacos volleyball and then had the Bacos team over for a lasagna dinner (I had to do it before i left). We even continued a time honored Bacos tradition and had a plate of cheesy bacon fries before we left Alleygators, thanks to Karin. We hung out afterwards and then Ed and I played a game of Omaha. Of course, being the better Omaha player, I won ;-). (Had to put that in there for Ed's benefit).
Tomorrow will be a busy day. I need to make one more trip to LA Weight loss, one last trip to Discover Strength, lunch with Dave and Ed and hopefully others, look over someone's B-school essay, clean and pack, and make poker. I guess it is bed time to make sure i can get that all done.
I'm so sad I will be leaving Minnesota. It had really been an awesome summer, and I'm sad to see it go. I am looking forward to some parts of school but this summer has exceeded expectations. Plus i have met most of my goals, to get in better shape, to start running, and to have at least one job offer. I just hope GMI gets back to me soon, so I can get my rejection and move on.

Appalachian state?

I'm stunned, just don't know what to say... Oh well, I guess there's still a whole season left...

Almost there...

One more day left at Ecolab. Yay! And my presentation went pretty well, it feels good to be done pretty much. Tomorrow I just show up, go to Yalcin's presentation, and then leave. If you want to hang out in the upcoming weeks, call me!
Otherwise things are going okay. I had a fun weekend in Michigan. I got to hang out with my sister and my parents which was exciting. We also went to Dave's cousin's wedding and did lots of dancing. We even got a chance to practice our swing dancing. So awesome!
I even did another long run, 38 minutes! I'm improving! I wanted to run today but I'm sick and I feel tired so I'll just do it tomorrow.
Time to get ready for hip hop workshop. I even convinced more people to join. How exciting!

A new Milestone

As I have blogged about before, Katie and I started running this summer. Well, sometime we run together and sometimes we run separately. When we run separately we usually send each other e-mails about how long we ran. So a few weeks ago, I finally passed the 10 minute mark (of running straight without stopping) and I had to send her an e-mail to brag. Not to be outdone, she ran over 30 minutes (I believe 33- sorry Katie if I short changed you) and had to send me a bragging e-mail. That (and the fact that I ate a 1/2 a huge popover for lunch at the River Room today) motivated me to finally surpass the 30 minute mark! I managed to go 32 minutes without stopping! Even though it was more of a jog than a run, and it isn't much for most people, for me it is a pretty big step and I just had to blog about it :-). Now it is time for me to take a shower and get ready for poker. Hopefully today will be a lucky day! Tomorrow is presentation time!

The end is near...

Only two more days until my presentation and I'm not freaking out yet. I'm so excited. Once the presentation is done the internship is essentially done, and I get a few days off. Next week I will party, so be prepared. I expect all of you to come to poker with your A game...

I've been trying to work out more often lately. Yesterday was my first break day in a while, and ironically I felt more sore today than i have any other day. Today we played tennis with Ed and Paul, which was fun. I wish I could be a little better so I wasn't constantly holding them back. I'm going to try to play tennis and/or run tomorrow. Then on Friday, once I'm done with my presentation, we get to go to Minneapolis for Dave's cousin's wedding for the weekend. Not that exciting, but I am excited to see my family.

Next week I go to work Monday and Tuesday then I am done. I'll probably make dinner on a few of the nights left and hopefully convince Dave that we should have a fun labor day weekend rather than a working labor day weekend. Then I need to buckle down and get ready for my G-Mills interview.

I always feel busy as of late, but in a good way. I'm hoping that I can leave Minneapolis this summer knowing that I will come back, but we will see. I'll have to get lucky twice for that to happen, once with Ecolab and once with GMills. Alright, I do believe it is bedtime. I'm trying to get back into the blogging phase so that I am ready once school starts. I also need to start taking more pictures to make this blog interesting.

Almost done

Things are actually going really well here. My internship is pretty boring but it is almost done, which makes things better. I give my final presentation on Friday and I work until Wednesday of next week. Then I get to be done! I can't wait, the end is near!

Although the one sad point of being done will be that I am closer to moving back to Evanston. I don't know how I feel about that. I am happy to be seeing my Kellogg friends and I miss them but I will miss Minnesota and my Minnesota friends. I have such awesome friends here. And I have to miss my awesome hip hop classes and my awesome hip hop class partner ;-). Plus I will miss my dinner parties, just randomly having people over, playing games, and all the fun things i get to do while here. But I get to go to my new very cool apartment in Evanston, spend more nights at the Keg (not sure if that is a good thing) spend lots of time on the lake, and get to start interesting classes.

Otherwise things here are good overall. I have actually been able to spend time with Dave, hang out with friends, do okay at work, lose some more weight, and continue running. This weekend we are going to a wedding in Michigan and then we will be hosting our annual Labor Day Party (which I think we missed last year since I was starting school). Should be fun...

An update

So its been mentioned that i have been ignoring this blog. I figured most who read this usually see me enough that they don't need a blog. But who knows, maybe there are people out there who read this who don't see me weekly.

So what has happened in the past month? Not much. I've had plenty of dinner parties (I miss them so much), played lots of sports, went to dance class (thanks Katie), played lots of board games (thanks to Nick and Karin) and spent a lot of time alone in Minnesota. Although that isn't a fair statement since I have had my wonderful friends around me, even though Dave has been travelling a lot.

I've also decided that rather than focus on the parts of my life that I'm not happy with, I'm going to change what I can, and just let the other stuff sort itself out. I joined LA Weight loss three weeks ago, and I'm already 9.6 (yes that .6 makes a difference ;-) pounds down. I know that at the begining the rate of weight loss is greatest, but I'm still happy. That was the highlight of my week probably. Although winning at Puerto Rico came close. I'm trying to continue the workout and the runs to get into better shape that way. And I'm going to work extra hard to be ready for my General Mills interview, and try to continue to work hard at my job to get the internship offer.

Beyond that, life is scary and exciting. In the next few months I have a lot of decisions to make and i don't know how I will make them. I need to decide where I will live, who I will work for, and so much more that is not blog appropriate material. I have probably avoided blogging because those are decisions I want to avoid but they occupy my thoughts every moment of every day. But like I said, my goals are to improve the things I can, make the best decisions for me, and let all else fall in place.

Tomorrow is Bob's birthday party. Next week Dave will actually be here. Although I will say, the past few weeks have been fun even though I have missed him-- I have had a great time with all my friends here.

Fun times

Overall it was a fun weekend. On Friday I got home from work late and made dinner. While I was making dinner NIck and Karin called so we had them over to join us and to play a game of Puerto Rico. I hadn't played for a while so it was fun. THen Dave and I went to pick up Dave's parents from the airport.
On Saturday we were woken up at 6:45 AM by Dave's dad beginning work on the house! I stayed asleep but Dave woke up to start work. Dave's mom and I hung around the house most of the day, and Katie came over for a run, which was fun. Then came the highlight of the weekend, girl's night. We went to the Melting Pot for dessert (so good) then went back to Karin's house. We played a few fun games, and suddenly it was 3AM. I was going to spend the night but then Andrea offered a ride home and I took her up on it so that i could join the Sunday morning festivities.
We went to church and then to Pracna's for lunch, which was also very good. We also went for a walk on the riverfront, and saw the new park put up by Excel Energy. The rest of the day was spent running errands, but overall it was a fun weekend, now i just need to be work motivated, not as easy!

Tired

If I could use one word to sum up my feelings about being in Minnesota tired would be it. I thought school was busy but it has nothing on this. I wake up, go to work, come back from work, go to my nightly activity, come back and go to bed.

I will eventually get used to it.

And I am slightly annoyed. Not at anyone but just at a situation. I came back to Mn so i could have my boyfriend back but he travels so much i never see him. I think i spent more time with him when I was in Evanston.

Alright, rant done. On the other hand I am having a great time in Minnesota with all my friends. I think I just need to learn to prioritize otherwise it becomes Thursday night and i get too tired for poker, my old favorite activity.

Back to cleaning. Nothing really interesting to report. And no new pictures. I will have to start taking more pictures soon...

One more thing

Forgot to mention one more thing that is taking up my time. Katie and I have started running too. Hopefully we can get Karin to join too. Right now it is a pretty sad sight. I huff and puff while we do 60 seconds of running and 90 seconds of walking, which is sadly an improvement from where we started. Hopefully by the end of the summer I will be in better running shape and will have lost my Kellogg weight (then i get to start on the General Mills weight and go from there)...

Busy Busy

So I am back in Minnesota and the posts will probably slow down a bit as things are really busy and there just isn't much time. Work is going okay, I am beginning to figure things out. Katie and I have started dance lessons which are a lot of fun, I have really enjoyed those so far. And volleyball, poker, etc has also picked up. My days are pretty busy and I am trying to make sure I still have time to spend with Dave after it all so it is a balancing act. I could post so much more right now, I will try to update more later...

M&Ms wedding

So our friends Mario and Marta got married last Saturday in Michigan and Dave and I along with some friends from school went to visit. It was a beautiful wedding and Marta was a gorgeous bride. The wedding ceremony was in this really pretty chapel. It was a Catholic wedding but without the Eucharist. which meant it was nice and short too. My friend Shree and I had told Mario and Marta that we would wear Sari's to their wedding. Since we both wanted to dance, we wore them to the ceremony only.
There were a few hours in between the wedding and the reception so we hung out with our college friends at Dave's place. It was so awesome seeing them all. We got lots of time to catch up while at Dave place. We then head over to the reception hall. Both Mario and Marta are Italian, and it was obvious once we got to the wedding. There was a huge table set up with appetizers. We were about to go get some but then we saw the meal menu and realized that we would be sorry, because there was just so much food. The food itself was awesome. It was funny, the wedding hall would not serve shots (it was an open bar) but the family of the bride brought in some of their own liquor and got the bartenders to serve us shots on ice. It is definitely difficult doing a shot when it is on ice, and things taste a little different, but it was funny to see everyone doing those. There was lots of dancing and I think a good time was had by all. You can see pictures of the night below.

Me in my Sari with Dave. The Sari didn't really show up great in any pictures. It was gold with lots of sparkles on it.

The entire Jokers crew

Marta with the girls, isn't she a beautiful bride?

Back in Mn

So the crazy week has continued. After a fun Thirsty Thursday last week, i flew to Michigan for a friend's wedding. I had a great time, and I got to see all my college friends, which was awesome. I will post pictures (I used my camera again!) from the event when I am back on my own computer (it has been lost in my car- more on that in a second). The wedding was alot of fun, but i realized half way through that my week had caught up to me and that i was sick :-(. Sunday was no fun, as I spent most of it in bed and then on the worst flight ever (flying when congested= bad idea).
I got back to Chicago with plans of finishing up my final and turning it in by the 9 AM time (which I did) and then cleaning up my apartment so i could leave by Tuesday. But I was feeling so crappy that I ended up not cleaning up at all on Monday. I slept early, woke up early on Tuesday and spent all of TUesday packing. I still wasn't done by the end of the day so i did the same thing Wednesday and then drove back Wednesday night. I'm still tired.
However, I do get to go to poker today, which I can't wait for! I also have a whole list of other things i need to do, and I'm a day short since i got here a day later.
My drive over was uneventful. I listened to lots of CDs and had a lot of time to think, not always a good thing. I was feeling depressed at one point, and then i put an old miz CD made by JC, which just made me feel better. Then I was feeling tired, and I put in another one made by him, a dance mix. I bet I looked pretty ridiculous to anyone who could see me dancing away in the car seat to wide range of dance music. Anyway, I'll have to thank JC again for the great mix CDs! The night was capped off with some Justin Timberlake, to keep me awake through Minnesota, gotta love JT! Now its time to start working on my list. Can't wait for poker!

Almost Done

So this week was crazy. You all might be amazed to hear this but I actually had to do school work. I got back from a great Minnesota trip (and a fun Memorial Day Party- thanks Karin!) on Monday night. On Tuesday I spent all day preparing for my NPI presentation. Then on Wednesday I woke up early, spent all day at the NPI fair, went straight to a Fin-D meeting, then to a Marketing Chanels meeting, then to dinner, then back to Jacobs for another FIn-D meeting that went until 6 AM. Yes that is right, 6 AM. I was so tired on Thursday. HOwever, we turned in our Fin-D final case then i had to give a presentation for Marketing Channels on only 2 hours of sleep. I was barely coherant.
Afterwards, our Fin-D prof took us to the Keg for beers and i went to dinner with some people. Then i went home, took a nap and then went back out for the final MMM Thirsty Thursday. Below are some pictures.

My New Product Innovation group

The MMMs play flip cup

Allie, Amit (my future MBC co-chair) and me

The MMM girls who were out (we had 1/3 of us show up!)

It was a fun night. Now I am in Michigan for my good friends Mario and Marta's wedding. It should be fun, hopefully I will take more pictures (Karin- are you proud of me actually using my camera?)

And my birthday continues...

Nick, Karin and Dave came to visit this weekend and i got to celebrate my birthday even more. Nick and Karin gave me the best present ever. I have been bugging Karin for a DVD of all of her pictures so i could make a scrapbook. However, Karin knowing me well, knew that that scrapbook would take years for me to get to (I will finish my Europe one eventually) so she made me the best scrapbook ever! It was awesome seeing them. Then we went out for Chicago style pizza which was good. We hung out at my "apartment" and played games after. Fun times.
Nick and Karin left on Saturday and then Dave and I spent the day together. We went to look at apartments for next year (i dragged him along) and then we went to Kellogg sports day which was fun. Afterwards we went to dinner at Dixie kitchen... good stuff.
On Sunday Dave and I went for a run, hung out for a bit, and then went to dinner with Nick and Karin who came back in town.
On Monday my birthday continued when i got my birthday present from Dave and my sister. I got the Fluidity bar which I was so excited about. I have already used it twice. So great, i love it! Plus i went to the NRA (national RESTAURANT Association) show and was surprised when i ran into Geoff. Unfortunately i only got to say a quick hello but it was still a good surprise.
Today i had tons of group meetings then went to Bar Louis for dollar burgers and drinks.
I still don't know where i will live this summer, where i will live next year or how things will be in general next year. And the Red Wings lost. The week has definitely began to go downhill. I hate uncertainty...

Anyone watch Grey's?

So I don't know about everyone else, but when I spend an hour of my night watching a TV show every week, I expect to get something out of it. I expect to be somewhat uplifted, or be given hope, or find out something interesting and new. Since Grey's isn't exactly the show that is going to teach me something new and exciting, I expect to at least leave the show with some hope, or feeling a little uplifted. I was really disappointed by this season's finale. Last season's finale wasn't exactly uplifting, it was really sad, but it didn't make me depressed. This season didn't even have a light at the end of the tunnel, there was no hope in it, just sadness. I don't know how to explain it, but i think truly great show writing can have bad things happen but can still inspire you. I think last season's Grey's had that but this season finale just fell flat. So now I sit depressed, and annoyed that i spent 1 hour and 15 minutes of my Thursday night watching that show. I am sure most disagree with me, maybe I am just in a weird mood tonight. Sorry for the random post. Hopefully the Pistons and the Wing can pull out the win tonight and the night won't be a total loss.

Happy Birthday to me!

I had a great two day birthday celebration! My awesome friends at Kellogg took me out to dinner at Tapas Barcelona on Tuesday night and then to Nevins and then the Keg. It was an awesome night, and i had a great time. I of course forgot my camera but once the pictures get sent out I will post. Dinner was great. Nevins was a lot of fun too, although i think i had a few to many SoCo and limes. And following that up with a Jagger bomb was a bad idea. We then went to Keg where i danced off the alcohol. At 2 AM we were just not ready for the night to be over so we went to someones apartment. Overall fun times.
Today was more low key. I had lots of group meetings and then i went to dinner and dessert. I got to go to my favorite Thai place and then I had a piece of birthday cake at the only place besides BK Lounge open after 10 PM on a weeknight. The entire coffee shop sang to me, somewhat embarrassing.
Overall, it was a great birthday and i realized i have awesome friends. I will post pictures (assuming they aren't too embarrassing) once they get sent out! Thanks to all for the birthday wishes!

One week, so much done

This past week was possibly the busiest week ever, some of it business most of it not so much. On Monday night I went to watch a hockey game that some of my friends were playing it, it was lots of fun, and they ended up winning in a shootout which was awesome to see!
Then Tuesday was Daniel's birthday. Before going out for his birthday I had lunch with my future Ecolab boss who was in town. It was good to meet him. I found out I will be spending lots of time in Dallas, which should be fun.
For Danieal's birthday we went to see a Cubs game and then went out downtown after. The Cubs game lasted 15 innings. It was so long. And our goal to get Daniel drunk was failing miserably since they stopped serving after the seventh inning. Half ourgroup had left after the seventh inning since the Cubs were winning and they wanted to save room at the bar. By the time we got to the bar 2 hours later, and totaly sober, half the people had left. It was still a fun time, and we even didn't end up going out too late, which was an added bonus.
Wednesday was a busy meeting day, not lots of fun. Then on Thursday I had the crepe dinner I won at Charity Auction ball, which was lots of fun. Afterwards I thought I would stop off at a friends birthday party for just one drink. Well one drink turned into Nevins and the Keg, not what i planned. But at least it was earlier than 3 AM when I got home.
On Friday i spent all day making nametags for Manufacturing Buisiness Conference and then prepping for Charity Casino night, two events i was logistics chair for. I ended up going to bed at 1 AM becuase i was getting things together.
Saturday was also a busy day. I woke up early to be at MBC by 7AM. I worked the conference and then went home a bit early to prep for Casino Night. Igot things together then waited for the buses and pizza for Casino Night. I was so tired after it all. Casino Night was fun for most, but i don't think it is ever fun for the Logistics Chair.
Today was spent catching up and working on Fin-D. Can't wait for this weekend to see Dave, Karin and Nick. Tuesday will be fun too, as I will be celebrating my birthday a day early with dinner and then Nevins.

A fun Saturday

So it was a fun day. I started of the day just hanging out in my apartment by myself (something i actually enjoy doing) then i studied with my friend Daniel. I went to dance and then Daniel, a new friend Chris, Chinelo and I went to dinner. We then went to watch Special K, the Kellogg theater show. Afterwards we went to Nevins then the Keg. After a few rounds of flip cup and some fun dancing, we went to BK lounge. A few new revelations. If I never need a new guy, i can always get the Evanston Townies, some really classy guys. I can also always get really old creepy guys, apparently i can get the best. Thankfully Daniel and other friends were there to save me.
Fun times, now i just need to go to bed...

I should not be in school i May

I realized that I have mentally checked out of school for this quarter. Too bad there are still four weeks left, and they will be busy. Next weekend is Manufacturing Business Conference and Charity Casino Night, both of which I am logistics chair for. The weekend after Karin and Nick are coming to visit on Friday (yay!) and then I think I have plans on Saturday already. The weekend after Dave is coming (I haven't seen him for a few weeks now so it will be nice) and we are going to get my stuff moved. The week after that we have to go to Michigan for a wedding and then I am done. The summer will be busy too, with proving myself in a 12 week internship. I don't think there will really be a break in things until December.
My goals for this week are to get motivated to do schoolwork so my teammates don't hate me for being useless and avoiding too many long nights at the bar (I think Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday might be overdoing it ;-) ).

What am I in school for again?

So the past two days have been pretty busy. Now some of you would think that means i have been busy with school work. Fair assumption. However, not the case. I started my own dance marathon on Tuesday. The dance studio closes May 5 for a month long break and i have 8 classes i needed to use this week. So on Tuesday I took 4 classes. Today I took one at the studio and one that i had won from Charity Auction Ball. And tomorrow I will take two more. Which means i should only have one left, which I will take on Saturday. Fun times. My body hurts, i feel old.

To make matters worse on Monday night I was up late "studying" with the Turkey ladies. And then last night someone convinced me to go out until 4 AM. It was fun but I feel it tonight. The best part of the night though was wrestling the phone away from a guy who was bothering one of my friends by hitting him with my purse and then grabbing the phone. Fun times. Tonight will be an early night, time for recovery before a long weekend.

Three Chefs and a cook are victorious!

So we had an Iron Chef competition today, and my team, three chefs and a cook, was victorious! Now I don't know whether it was becuase all the other teams were really bad or because we were good. Our secret ingredients-- SPam and Peanut Btter. Lets just say i hadn't tasted spam before today, very interesting indead. Overall, it was good, lots of fun, but so much work to do to make up for all the lost time!

Ouch

So usually my Tuesday schedule involves going to jazz class from 930-11 in the morning and then going to real class from 3-930. Well i got back from jazz and i felt kind of depressed and not really in the mood to go to class. Plus I had another appointment that was from 5-7 so i was going to miss part of my two classes anyway. Then i looked at the schedule for class (these are five week classes and today was the last day) and realized that I really didn't want to go, they didn't sound very interesting. Just a course wrap up and extra topics i didn't care about. I realized that i was an adult and i shouldn't force myself to go to class. Plus, one professor requested that if we were going to be late to class we shouldn't come so i was going to have to skip one anyway. So i had three options, go to the one class i could go to, go out with everyone else (Tuesday is a big going out night since Wednesdays i no classes for Kellogg), or else go to hip hop class at Giordano's. Well i decided to go to hip hop figuring it would put me in a better mood. Well while it has put me in a better mood it has also made me hurt. A lot. 3.5 hours of dance plus one hour of weights and elliptical in a day is a lot. But the natural endorphins from working out has made me feel better. I guess until i wake up really sore tomorrow. Oh well.

Nothing else really new. I am busy planning logistics for MBC and Charity Casino Night. And every night this week and weekend is already booked. I am doing an Iron Chef competition on Sunday, that should be fun. I think next year i am not going to be as involved and just go to events. Much more fun...

Happy Birthday to Karin

I had a great weekend in Minnesota to celebrate karin's birthday. I will be sad to leave school but i can't wait for this summer. I realized this weekend how much I miss my Minnesota friends. I guess Minnesota really is home for me, at least for now, we will see how this summer goes once i figure out what to do with my life.
Although there is so much left to do before i leave. I have to figure otu not only where I am living this summer but next year as well. So i got back yesterday at midnight and realized that there was still a ton of work to do on my Fin-D paper due tomorrow. My friend Pete and I were up till 4 AM working on it. So two nights of being up till 5 AM made me useless today, i even skipped my workout class for the first time in weeks. So tired, i need to sleep.

A fun weekend

So this weekend was quite an interesting one. On Friday night I went out to dinner at this Mexican place in Evanston where they had the best margaritas ever with a couple of friends. I got back from dinner and was just hanging out at home and Skyped a friend to see if she wanted to go out for coffee and talk for a bit. I ended up being out for coffee until a little after 2 AM. But it was good, it was nice to have a late night that didn't center around alcohol.
However, that brings me to Saturday night. I started off the day with two workout classes, a Cardio Boxing one (my arms still hurt) and then Hip Hop (so much fun). I even got one of my friends, kari to come to class which was really nice. Then I came back and went downtown to have dinner with my mom and sister who were both in town. It was really cool too because one of my family friends came in town who I hadn't seen a while and then i hung out with him at dinner too.
Later in the night, i went to bar downtown for a few of my friend's birthday parties. There were over 150 Kellogg people in the bar, so it was definitely interesting. I randomly saw a guy who I went to high school with who i haven't seen since i graduated so it was just a night for reunions.
Here is a picture of us at the first bar


The first bar was getting crowded so we switched bars and went to this really crazy kind of creepy other club. I got my ass grabbed about five times on my way to the bathroom, and we basically decided to leave right after we got in. We then went to this bar that was deserted but had a live band. Here's a picture of me and the Turkeys at that bar.

We waited to get on stage for a song and then went to bar #4 to close out the night. The final bar was a lot of fun. Great music and dancing. Unfortunately someone told me that i couldn't keep up with them in their drinking abilities and i had to prove them wrong. Lets just say five SoCo and Lime shots in a little over an hour is a BAD idea. I then got convinced to go out for "tacos" afterwards. Well tacos turned into this place called the wiener house. It was interested for sure. There were these very large African American women who were serving the food and if anyone ordered a "Chocolate milkshake" (for $12) they got flashed by these women, which was not a pretty sight.
My friend Becky and I decided that we really had to use the bathroom and went across the street to the 7-11. We went inside and the guy said the bathroom was only for employees. We ended up flirting with him so that he would let us in the bathroom. Ultimately I played the Indian card (since he was Indian) to get into the bathroom. At this point it was about 4 AM and we took a cab back to Evanston. However, there were 6 of us in this cab, me Becky and four very drunk guys. It was an interesting cab ride back, but still fun.
I went out on Sunday with my mom downtown and went to lunch at an Indian place and shopping on Michigan Ave. Lots of fun.
Now this week is going to be super super crazy so I am going to start getting to work on all the things i have to do. Cant wait for this weekend and Karin's birthday party!

Being good tonight

So I almost got roped into what would be another long night at Nevins and the Keg, but I resisted (partly due to the fact that my eyes would not stay open). I went out to dinner with Daniel and then we went to Nevins for a beer. MMMs always do "Thirsty Thursday" and we were going to wait and then hang out with the MMMs when the showed up. However, after one beer we both looked at each other and decided we would be better off going home. It was so nice to have a low key night tonight. And although I am still tired from my partying as of late, I think tonight will be a good night to make up for lost sleep.

What was I thinking?

So tonight was the Turkey potluck. And it was a lot of fun. The potluck started at 8 but i had dance at 8 so I went to the potluck late at 9:15. I just got back to my apartment after a fun night of wine drinking. Although I know I will be in trouble tomorrow (a little too much wine) it was a great time! Lots of wine and a girls favorite game, never have I ever. Especially since i realized in comparison to most people at business school I am pretty pure. I am amazed I can still type right now since I lost count of wine glasses after glass number 8...

Famous last words

Oh, I need to learn to never say I shoudl not go out late at night. I got roped into another night ending at the Keg. And let me just say, the saying, beer then liquor you'll get sicker, so true. Although it was a fun night with LOTS of dancing, even though there were only 10 of us on the floor i think i represented Kellogg well.

All that jazz

So continuing with the dance class theme of my blog as of late (I guess with all the coursework that is the only interesting thing going on right now) I went my weekly jazz class this morning. Usually the class is a good workout but the dance routine at the end is really boring. Today, we did the choreography to all that jazz that was originally choreographed by Fosse. It was so much fun. And it got me thinking that it is interesting that something that was choreographed so long ago could still be fun to watch and fun to dance to, that is really talent.

Tonight should be fun. I skipped my 3:15 class today because the topics seemed kind of boring and so i only have my 6:30-9:30 class. Then I am hanging out with a bunch of Turkeys at Merle's and then maybe going out after. Should be fun. Although, i have to be careful because i think i am getting a cold, so i need to be careful to not overdo it.

Alright this was a pretty pointless post, I need to get back to work, or maybe more appropriately I need to get something done today.

Ouch

I took a new dance class today. It was called Latin Pulse, and it was a mix of a dance class and a workout. And I hurt. I haven't felt this sore after a dance class since Katie and I took our hip hop class this summer (something to look forward to again). I guess maybe three days ina row of dance had something to do with that. Overall it was a pretty awesome class and i think i will make it a Thursday staple, I would highly recommend it to anyone who is ever in Evanston. Although for the first time in a while i was the oldest person in the class, including the instructor. Such a weird feeling, to go from feeling really young in class to really old in dance class.
In other news I will be in Michigan this weekend to see the family and my sister, should be fun!

A fun weekend

So after a crazy Thursday night, the weekend just continued on. On Friday night I threw a dinner party over at one of my friend's places (we both wanted to do it but he didn't feel comfortable cooking and i couldn't fit 12 people at my place, so we came up with the paerfect solution. It was my perfect night. Lasagna, good company and cards, what else could a girl ask for? However, it was also a late night, the second in a row. So due to that i decided that i was going to take it easy on Saturday. Well, aparently I was just fooling myself. After going out to dinner I got roped into going out to a club downtown. Apprently there was a big party going on for 4 Kellogg people. The club was probably 90% Kellogg and it was a lot of fun. Although, I realized that for me the club scene just doesn't do it. Everyone gets drunk and starts hooking up and i just watch. Good gossip but it gets old. It was still fun and I met some cool people there, who probably won't remember me since they were so drunk.
Today is my day of work, although waking up at 11 was probably not the best for that. And writing this entry probably doesn't add to my productivity. Oh well, four things to do today: laundry, cleaning, working out and homework... fun times!

MMM night out

So a little while ago I remember writing a post about Charity Auction Ball. I don't remember if I mentioned that all the MM girls (all 9 of us) decide to auction off a night with us. The MMM guys, being really nice, each put in $5 and bid $250 and won the night.
We decided to go out with them tonight. We went to Nevins, a local bar. I kept on getting my beer refilled and i lost count of how much i drank. I think i had more than i planned. Oh well, it was a fun night and a sweet thing for the guys to do. We started at Nevins, did a bit of karaoke and then ended at where else but the Keg. Overall a fun night was had by all. Here is a picture of the MMM girls tonight.

Ah Classes

So classes started on Monday and I realized this semester is going to be hell. My one class, Financial Decisions is going to be super busy. We have to write up 12 cases in the 10 week period. So far my group has spent 5 hours on the last two days on the first case and we haven't even written it up yet. But i think overall it will be a good class, and I will learn alot.

My marketing channel strategy class is also going to be interesting, but busy. I think the class will be good but I don't really know my group that well so it might be very interesting. The professor seems to be great though, so far i like all my professors, which is great.

My new product innovation course is another interesting one but i don't know how i feel about the topic we have to innovate around- residential sustainability. I know this sounds awful, but while i agree it is a good cause, it just doesn't interest me.

I have two mini courses I am taking. One is on Enterprise Risk, and so far it seems okay. The old dean of the school is teaching it so i thought it might be a good class, but i don't know yet. We only have project due and it is to make up a sample case, which could be interesting.

The other mini course i have it Innovation Effectiveness and so far i love the class (which is good because it is the second part of a six hour block of classes). The way that we learn about innovating is so different than anything I have ever done at General Mills. The prof claims that the companies he consults with have a 50-80% effectiveness rate on new product introduction. He defines success as meting ROI targets, so that is a pretty awesome rate. But I don't know if i totally agree with all he has taught so far but it is kind of cool to learn how to do something that i used to work so closely on in a totally different way.

Anyway, classes are going well but things are picking up. Between classes, the Manufacturing Business Conference, and Casino Night it will be a busy quarter. I think once May 12 (the night of both MBC and Charity Casino) is done I will feel a little better. And plus my two mini courses will be done by May 2 so I will have more time on my hands. Tonight I am going out to dinner with an old friend from Grosse Pointe, i can't wait!

Europe!

So rather than think about classes starting tomorrow i am practicing avoidance and thinking about summer of 2008. My parent's 30th wedding anniversary is in Feb '08 and to celebrate my sister and I are taking them to Europe. We are trying to decide what we want to do. We have already narrowed it down to two options:
1) Tour of Southern Italy
2) Mediterranean Cruise
My parents have never been to Europe (well besides London and maybe Paris briefly) and we want to show them around. When my sister and I went, we both loved Italy so that is why we would do the tour of Italy. My parents want something very well planned which is why we would do a booked tour a cruise. There are advantages and disadvantages to both options. With the cruise you get to see more places, but you really don't get to see anywhere in depth. You have a short amount of time (I think in some cases 1/2 a day) in most cities. We would be able to see Spain, Greece and Italy which would be pretty cool. However, with a cruise you don't really get to enjoy the local cuisine (a big plus in Europe) and you don't get to really explore places since you are in each place for such a short time.
With a tour you are in places for longer and you get to explore the local cuisine. However you get to see fewer places. Also, you are stuck with people you don't really know, although i guess you could meet some cool people that way too. We are also trying to get some family friends to join for the tour. Like i said, positives and negative points to both. For me personally it doesn't matter what we do because I will probably spend at least two weeks afterwards visiting Europe and i can see what i want to see, I just want what's best for my parents.
Dave is planning on coming once the family trip is done and my friend Athena might join too and take me Greece. It would be awesome to see Greece with her since she has family there and can actually speak the language. And it will be really nice to have at least a week with Dave in Europe since for all the travelling we have done together we have never really travelled alone.
Anyway, I am getting pretty excited planning this trip and I have spent the past few days looking up tours etc. I don't know how i feel about the whole tour thing, if it is was up to me, i would just go to Europe, book hotels, travel by rail and do my own thing, but i know my parents would like the tour. Anyway, what are your thoughts, tour or cruise?

The past two weeks...

I realized I haven't' posted for a while, but i have seen most of the people who read this.

I had a wonderful break, and classes are quickly approaching... so sad. I took my last final exactly two weeks ago. To celebrate being done i went to friends house and had a fun night of games and wine. It was a little too much fun since he had to walk to me home since i couldn't drive but it was a good time. Before i left for Michigan i had a dinner party in my small apartment (it is possible to fit five people in here) and then left for Michigan.

I visited my parents house for two days and then we went on a family trip to the Bahamas. It was a great time, I wish i had pictures to show you. My sister and I spent lots of time hanging out on the beach, and we worked out every day. I wish she lived close by, I do miss her ;-). We saw old family friends while we were there so it was really nice. Unfortunately i forgot the #1 rule of laying out in the sun-- do not wear sunglasses. I have a really interesting tan, hopefully it will fade soon.
I left the Bahamas on Monday and flew straight to Minnesota to see Dave. I had a great four days in Minnesota, i didn't want to leave. I got in kind of late on Monday night so Dave and I just ate a late dinner and hung out. I spent Tuesday during the day running errands since Dave had to go to work. Later in the day we went over to Nick and Karin's and started a game of TP before heading off the Granite City. We went to Granite City and met up with a few other people and had a fun time there. Although there were certain people who had some really lame excuses for not showing up...
Dave and i hung out on Wednesday during the day since he took the day off. We went to see a movie (Zodiac) during the day and we were the only people in the theater. We then went out to dinner to celebrate our six year anniversary. We went to Jax Cafe, I would highly recommend it. Probably in my top five places to eat in Minneapolis. Reminded me of my favorite Ann Arbor restaurant, the Earl.
Thursday was a lot of fun too. I woke up early and started cleaning and cooking since we were hosting poker for that night and I was determined to have a St. Patrick's Day poker, even if it was late (St. Patrick's Day isn't a big holiday in the Bahamas so i never got to celebrate it). Dave spent most of the day packing and running errands. I went out to lunch with a couple of people who i used to work with, which was fun, it was great to see them. Then I came back home and prepped for poker some more. Poker night was great. I think i saw almost everyone who i wanted to see while in Minneapolis, i just missed out on a few people from work. I can't wait to be back in the summer and get to hang out with everyone for longer. I really like the friends i have met at Kellogg and i did miss them, but its different with my Minneapolis friends, it feels like I am home there. I didn't do great at poker but i didn't really care. However, I did win the third game of Omaha (forget it was against just Paul and I don't think either of us cared who won, i can still say i won a game).
So overall I had a really fun spring break but it now back to reality. I got back to Evanston last night and i was too tired to plan anything. Then i was on a "lets get things done" kick today so I didn't plan the Saturday night i was going to have. Its okay, I am sure there will be plenty of fun Saturday nights this quarter. I did go to dance class though today which was awesome. I can't wait to go to classes with Katie this summer, it will be great to have someone to go with again. And i look forward to our fun Borders session :-).
Right now i just feel kind of sad and overwhelmed. I miss Dave, I miss break and i don't want to start classes. And i have so much to do before summer. I am logistics chair for two events (Charity Casino Night and the Manufacturing Business Conference) both happening on May 12 (coincidentally a day after Minnesota's 150th birthday). I need to figure out where i am staying this summer. I need to call all the people i have been behind on calling the past month. Oh and in there i need to take classes since it will be the toughest workload and my most interesting classes this quarter. Fun stuff. I promise to post pictures soon from the Bahamas when my mom posts them!