Yep, so my last post in January was about my trip to St. Martini in November. In step with my delayed posting, guess what I did over New Years?!?! I went to the Rosebowl baby! I know, sports and I go together about as good as Charlie Sheen and detox, but I can’t turn down a party (Mr. Sheen and I have that in common). I also secretly wish I went to Madison, ever since my first visit to the picturesquely beautiful campus last fall.
After a day with Amanda at Costco and $250 later, I was fully prepared for a tailgate for 10, and then some… these are our leftovers. I hopped in the Expo, picked up Kevin (promptly having him take the helm) and hit the road to LA. One glorious nap, and a lifetime of traffic later, we arrived at my brother’s apartment.
With a four hour reminder of why I will never live in LA, we hit the streets for New Years. A big score of the night were these sweet glasses from the bathroom attendant, minus the lenses. I’d also like to give a shout out the to the DJ who promptly began the NYE countdown at 12:02 am.
New Years Day came bright and early. Once we reached base camp, section J of the UCLA golf course, the real showdown began - between me and my hangover. Luckily I was able to win the battle and had the opportunity to experience a real college football game, tailgate, crowd surfing and all. This experience was previously lost on me during my four years of college hopping, but that’s a story for another time. Ok so this is the first time ever, in my mind at least, that USC wasn’t in the Rose Bowl ;).
Wisconsin lost but I still had a blast. Although I may not be a huge sports fan, or sports fan in general, I love how excited Kevin, and all the Wisconsin fans were. The sea of red says it all.
Going to the Rose Bowl was something I never would’ve done if it wasn’t for Kevin. To me that’s one of the best parts of life, new experiences brought to me by the different influences in my life. When was the last time you experienced something new thanks to a friend?
Carib, Creole BBQ and Beach was how I spent my six days in St. Marteen and it beat out any Thanksgiving feast I may have been missing. After winning two free American Airlines tickets, the tough part was deciding where to go. One long Saturday resulted in St. Martini, the “Culinary Capital of the Carribean” heavily inspired by the NYTimes article, St Martin in 36 hours. I expected nothing less then six blissful days laying on the beach and eating some gourmet food, while staying at a four star resort of course.
The highlights were:
- Mullet Bay Beach - where we spent the majority of our vacay enjoying the Carib, Creole and BBQ, and occasional waves. Much preferred over popular Orient Beach which was much too windy for my liking.
- Pain Et Chocoloate - nuff said! This pastry shop on the French side of St. Martin immediately took me back to Paris the only place where enjoying chocolate before 11 am is the norm, almost enough to lure me to stay on the French side if I ever go back.
- Loterie Farm - while it was difficult to tear ourselves away from the perfection that is Mullet Bay we managed to go on an adventure in a tree house known as Loterie Farm. The zip lines were an exhilarating break from a rather lazy holiday and were followed by a delish lunch in the tree house restaurant where I tried my first, and only, Guavaberry cocktail, St. Martin rum.
- Room upgrade, it is my belief to never settle while on vacation. If traveling to St. Maarten do not stay in Phillipsburg! We learned the hard way spending our first night in a mosquito infested room dining on Dominos at Sonesta Great Bay . Luckily we were able to upgrade to the Sonesta Resort on Maho Beach the next day! If this were a work email there would be a sub bullet for grabbing a bottle of red something from the French wine shop and relaxing on our balcony, oh to be able to go outside like normal non-Chicago people.
- Airplanes #nerd alert! While Kevin enjoyed this much more than I did it was still very cool. St. Maarten is home to a world famous airport where planes come in so close to the ground you can touch them. Not so much but it certainly looks close.
TIPS: A few things I wish I would’ve known when planning, the island is bigger than it seems and there’s traffic! Stay on a side and in an area where you can easily get to everything you could want. Despite being next to the airport, the Sonesta at Maho Beach is a fab resort and you can’t even hear the planes. Don’t pay for internet, just go to the cafe next door - they’re everywhere and make great lattes. Most importantly:
Don’t plan, just relax!
What’s your favorite beach getaway?
There are a few good perks to working in PR. Last night after spending the day at the a conference I got to take a group of bloggers for some Core Fusion Yoga at Exhale Spa. I’ve been trying a lot of different workouts lately, due to budgetary reasons, and of all the ones I tried this is not for me.
I only recently became a fan of yoga after getting my $30 unlimited pass to Bikram Yoga a few weeks ago. It was the first time I took a yoga class that challenged me and I LOVED it. The combination of strength building AND relaxation was a perfect combination I didn’t know existed. My adrenaline craving self naturally turns to action sports for that ultimate physical challenge and I always thought that breathing, meditation, relaxation stuff was for, ahem, pansies. Boy was I wrong. I still am not completely sold on that mind-altering-clarity-that’ll-change-your-life-and-simultaneously-cure-all-your-ailments-forever attitude. However, the relaxation and clarity I get is a breath of fresh air in my busy life, pun intended. It may just be the excess oxygen to the brain, I know now why oxygen bars were such a fad, but I love it.
Unfortunately in the class I tried the Core Power Fusion Yoga combines all of the stretching and muscle building of yoga without the relaxation bit. The upbeat music was nice but the instructor with the microphone resulted in way to much noise. I couldn’t focus on my poses and was constantly distracted by the “if your not flexible its fine” encouragement.
In my search for the right combination of exercise to incorporate into my work-life, mental-physical-emotional balance (life is all a balancing act, right?) this one was not for me. It may have just been the wrong instructor for me but are there any core power fusion fans out there? What about it do you love?
It finally happened… I finally got a job and can retire from being a professional intern! So this is how it went down:
- Midpoint Review - Nerded it up and created a PowerPoint detailing my experience and qualifications for an analyst position, was told during my review I had been working at an analyst level and there was the possibility of a full time position. More information was to come early Feb.
- 1 Month Later - Anticipation building, wake up everyday wondering if I will get more information.
- 2 Weeks Later - I was told the paperwork has been submitted but I wouldn’t know anything official for two weeks. The longest week of my life commences.
- 1 Week Later (also known as the best day in my life) - Surprise, the hiring paperwork came through early. The second I was told, I screamed and jumped up and down, literally. Everyone outside of my boss’ office was staring through the window wondering what happened.
I can now say I have officially retired from being a professional intern and instead am an Analyst at Zocalo Group! This is also marks some changes in my blog. I originally created this blog to show potential employers I was polished, professional and social media savvy. Now I will use this blog intermix my interests in social media and career management with my personal life. As is probably noticeable from this post, I will have a much more relaxed writing style. This is in part an effort to get myself to post more (no more of that OMG about to hit post is everything PERFECT feeling) and allow my writing to reflect my personal life. Caution: my laid back attitude stemming from growing up in SoCal and the slang terms that accompany it, most notably stoked, gnarly and chill, will likely appear.
CONGRATULATIONS TO ME!!
While it’s been tough to find a job graduating in today’s economy, I have had several opportunities to engage with senior leadership during my search ranging from CMO’s, PR and Marketing Directors and CEO’s. These opportunities collectively resulted great career advice but it was somewhat fragmented. Reviewing the past companies I have worked for it’s easy to see why - although they are all under the umbrella of marketing they are in various practices. Paul Rand, CEO & founder of Zocalo Group, was able to bring this advice together as it applies to the current state of the industry and offer his advice based on his projection for the future of the industry.
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