Wow, yes, I know it has been a while. Lauren has already gotten on me about how she needs something to read at work, so hopefully this will keep her occupied! And to my loyal followers, I am promising to do better with the blog in the next couple of weeks. It should actually be quite entertaining. I am getting ready to start my travel season here at DePaul which means I will be out on the road for three weeks talking with prospective students and their families. There is no doubt in my mind that I will have some great stories to share after interacting with teenagers for the next three weeks.
So, what have I been doing these past two weeks that made me completely neglect this blog? Full-time job. Who knew it would take up so much time? Don't get me wrong - I was not 100% satisfied with working part-time so this is a much better situation. I can afford rent and groceries so that's a huge plus. Just from day one though, it has definitely not been a 9-5 job. It actually works out great because Matt's schedule is getting ready to pick up so we both are staying extra busy with work. Its a huge plus that my co-workers are amazing since we are all stuck with each other for over 8 hours a day. So, basically, it has been gym, work, hot yoga and bedtime.
Yes, hot yoga. AMAZING. A co-worker (Sarah) and I signed up for hot yoga through Living Social a couple weeks back and have been doing it twice a week ever since. We are not doing that insane hot yoga where it takes place in a room at 105 degrees plus 40% humidity. No way is that healthy. We are doing yoga in a 95 degree room. Its basically like doing yoga outside in Virginia during the summer. And I used to go running in that weather, so it was nothing terrifying for me. We have gone 4 times and I have loved it each time. Its so relaxing but surprisingly challenging at the same time. Apparently most people who do yoga are flexible. I missed the memo on that one. When we are told to hold our position in downward dog or pigeon for more than 30 seconds, my body starts to violently shake. My hamstrings get angry with me. But, once the yoga instructor has us lay on our backs and breathe deeply, I am all over that. One time I am pretty sure I dozed off. My body did that dramatic twitch thing that it does right when you are about to fall asleep.
Last night's yoga did stress me out a little bit, which is a contradiction to the whole point of the class. Long story short, but I let a friend borrow my yoga mat for beach yoga and she returned it to me full of sand. Excellent. Thank you for that. So, I had forgotten all about it when I showed up for class with sand trailing behind me. Not only was my mat covered on both sides with sand, but then I had to lay on it the whole class. I had sand in places that I didn't know I could get sand in by the time I left. On top of that, the yoga instructor could not sit still. She kept walking around the room while we were doing all the positions. So, naturally, now I panicking because she is going to walk right through my sandpit and then I am that girl who showed up with a nasty yoga mat and got sand everywhere in a hot yoga studio. As expected, she stopped coming over to my mat after a while. I guess she was tired of getting sand all over her every time she had to readjust me. You actually thought I did every position correctly? You did read the kayaking blog, right?
As far as work goes, I am knee deep in travel logistics. I am in the middle of planning my trips to Cincinnati, DC and then Baltimore/Philly. It is definitely more of a process here than it was Macon. I know hindsight is 20-20, but I wish I would have fully appreciated the amount of flexibility that my director gave us when it came to travel. Here, we have to have things double and triple checked before we can get anything done. Which is why I am writing this blog at this time of day. I am waiting for my trip to DC to get approved.
And now the latest adventure: Lauren's bachelorette weekend! I apologize to those of you back home who I was unable to see this past weekend. I was literally home from Friday to Sunday with only about 4 hours in the entire trip being dedicated to being home with my parents and Courtney. But, totally worth the whirlwind trip! We had an amazing time in Richmond and hopefully Lauren loved it! I know it was no trip to Vegas but we all have bills to pay. And I would like to have the money to pay those bills. I will tell you that we ended the weekend with a trip to Godfrey's Drag-Show brunch where the world's number one Reba McIntire impersonator made an appearance. It was pretty impressive. I mean, these "men" looked JUST LIKE WOMEN. Well, I mean, completely over-done, football-sized women. But still. Dad and Courtney were just thankful that they did not have to witness this debacle, but I think it was a perfect way to finish off the weekend. Mrs. Foley even got a picture with one of them. Its on my friend Dani's phone if anyone wants any incriminating evidence.
After a completely exhausting day yesterday trying to recover from the weekend, I am back in the office getting ready to leave for a college fair 3 hours away. Dunkin Donuts coffee is screaming my name and my Tom Tom better be ready for the trip today. I did print out hard copies of the directions since Tom Tom usually has other plans for me. I am not sure if I want to fully trust him on my first college fair visit of the travel season.
Stay tuned for travel season updates. Like I said - there are bound to be some great stories from the road. Hopefully they will keep me laughing so that I won't cry thinking about how the Red Sox are performing the largest choke job in the regular season...ever...
I will also let you know when I can perform downward dog without body shakes.
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
Kayaking - 1, Amanda - 0
If paddle boarding was an example of my self-proclaimed athleticism, then kayaking was a blatant example of my awkwardness and complete lack of coordination. So begins the story of my first kayaking experience through Living Social...
I should have known it was going to be a rough one when I got stuck in traffic for 30 minutes just trying to get to the event. We were supposed to be there by 5:00 to great the guests who actually BOUGHT the adventure, but 5:00 comes and goes and I was stuck in my car on North Ave where apparently, its normal to do construction during rush-hour. When I finally showed up, I was THE last Living Social worker to arrive. Excellent.
The next 30-40 minutes were fine - just checked in the customers and directed them to the "cubbies" where they could put all their stuff that they didn't want to take with them on the river. Most of the guests asked the typical question of what was the likelihood that they would get wet. I pulled some stuff out my behind since I have never kayaked before and simply said "it just depends - if its windy out there, we might hit some waves that get us a little wet." Sounded good to me and apparently it was a good enough answer for the guests. Mind you, I have never in my life been kayaking. But then, one young lady asked me "so, what are the chances of capsizing?" Um, excuse me? There is a chance I could CAPSIZE out there? I mean, I am a good swimmer, but I am definitely one of those people that if I get pulled under water in an unnatural way, there is a good chance I will panic.
I am not sure I was able to convince her as easily as the other guests since I had a deer-in-headlights look on my face. Instead, I awkwardly laughed and told her I am pretty sure there is a very small chance that that actually will happen. Then I walked away. No way was I going to continue conversation with her and allow her to sense that I had no idea what I was talking about AND was panicking.
So finally, we wrapped up the check-in and headed down to the river (Chicago River) for our brief lesson in kayaking. We got the basics - how to steer, how to slow down if we were going to crash into someone or something - you know, the important things. It was just me and one other Living Social worker (Morgan) manning the group of 34 guests. We did have 2 people from Kayak Chicago, the company Living Social works with for both paddle boarding and then this ridiculous adventure. The first thing we did was go through the instructions on land. Everyone climbed into a kayak that was on land and we walked through the different paddling techniques. Lucky for me, there was no kayak for me at the point, so I had REMEMBER what the Kayak Chicago guy said for when I was actually in the kayak and had a paddle. Great start.
After about 10 minutes of instruction, we headed down to the dock where, one by one, we hoped into our kayaks and started out on our hour and a half kayaking adventure down the Chicago River. I was the last person to get into mine, thinking that it would just be best if I rounded out the back of the group and let Morgan round out the front. What I DIDN'T calculate was the fact that I might not be that good at kayaking and that by rounding out the back, I would actually be in dead-last struggling to keep up.
As we started to kayak down the river, I tried to find a rhythm. I mean, how hard can it be? Paddle on one side, then paddle on the other. Piece of cake. Fail. Big time. I couldn't find a good balance between each stroke, couldn't find a good place to put my hands on the paddle, and because of that, I was splashing water into my kayak on every paddle. I did manage to get ahead of at least 3 of the 34 people. Once my ego kicked in, I refused to be dead last, not matter how awkward I looked trying to stay ahead of the others.
Kayakers look so smooth going down the river. Each paddle looks like its done with ease and there is never any splash coming up from the water. And then there is me. Not only was I slashing water into my kayak the entire 4-mile paddle, I was also splashing water on the kayaks around me (that's WHEN I was actually close enough to other people). On top of that, I kept hitting the paddle on the size of the kayak. We all know how loud heavy plastic on heavy plastic sounds. I was making that noise all night long. I would get a couple of good strokes in then BANG! BANG! Paddle, meet kayak.
Then, instead of gracefully placing the paddle back into the water, every stroke sounded like someone dropping a brick into the water. KERPLUNK! KERPLUNK! So, imagine that PLUS the sound of the paddle hitting the side of the kayak. The only thing I was missing for the whole imagine to be complete was a nose plug and a bathing cap.
I finally caught my stride with about 15 minutes left in the paddle. But before then, I made a decision that got me through the hour and a half trip. I decided that there was NO way all those people who were ahead of me for the fist half of the paddle were going to beat me back. Ok, well, some of them were because they were SO far ahead of me. But, I knew that at least half of them were going to be exhausted on the paddle back. I mean, its a serious upper body workout and some of the people on this trip looked like they had not done a push-up in years. No judgment - I just used this as motivation.
So, for the last half of the trip back, I was determined not to coast like so many of the guests were doing. I was going to paddle the entire way back, no matter how uncoordinated I looked or how wet I got. I was going to beat the majority of the people back whether they liked it or not. I crossed the finish line well ahead of the majority of our group and did a fist pump in my head when I didn't fall out of my kayak when I was getting out of it on the dock. That was probably the biggest accomplishment of the night because if anyone was going to fall out, it WAS going to be me. I'm sure nobody would have been surprised after seeing me kayak like I was a 3-year old girl playing splash in the bathtub.
The night ended with a cookout, a bonfire and games of cornhole right by the river. Guests enjoyed cheeseburgers, beer and chips before heading home. One thing that was amazing about the adventure was the fact that we followed the river into downtown Chicago just as the sun was setting and all the buildings were starting the light up. It was breathtaking. I wish I had my camera, but then I remembered I was sitting in 5 inches of water that I paddled into my kayak, so it was probably a good thing I didn't bring it. Again, one of those moments where I couldn't believe I was living in Chicago and getting to take part in all of these experiences.
So, just when I surprised myself with my ability to stand-up on a paddle board, I also surprised myself with my complete inability to kayak gracefully. I can officially cross that off my bucket list. I am pretty sure it was NEVER on my bucket list, but now, I can say I have done it. Been there, done that. I'll take a paddle board and strut my "athleticism" any day over revealing my true lack of coordination. If only someone had a video camera, it would have made an excellent youtube video.
Until next time, much love. Live Socially!
I should have known it was going to be a rough one when I got stuck in traffic for 30 minutes just trying to get to the event. We were supposed to be there by 5:00 to great the guests who actually BOUGHT the adventure, but 5:00 comes and goes and I was stuck in my car on North Ave where apparently, its normal to do construction during rush-hour. When I finally showed up, I was THE last Living Social worker to arrive. Excellent.
The next 30-40 minutes were fine - just checked in the customers and directed them to the "cubbies" where they could put all their stuff that they didn't want to take with them on the river. Most of the guests asked the typical question of what was the likelihood that they would get wet. I pulled some stuff out my behind since I have never kayaked before and simply said "it just depends - if its windy out there, we might hit some waves that get us a little wet." Sounded good to me and apparently it was a good enough answer for the guests. Mind you, I have never in my life been kayaking. But then, one young lady asked me "so, what are the chances of capsizing?" Um, excuse me? There is a chance I could CAPSIZE out there? I mean, I am a good swimmer, but I am definitely one of those people that if I get pulled under water in an unnatural way, there is a good chance I will panic.
I am not sure I was able to convince her as easily as the other guests since I had a deer-in-headlights look on my face. Instead, I awkwardly laughed and told her I am pretty sure there is a very small chance that that actually will happen. Then I walked away. No way was I going to continue conversation with her and allow her to sense that I had no idea what I was talking about AND was panicking.
So finally, we wrapped up the check-in and headed down to the river (Chicago River) for our brief lesson in kayaking. We got the basics - how to steer, how to slow down if we were going to crash into someone or something - you know, the important things. It was just me and one other Living Social worker (Morgan) manning the group of 34 guests. We did have 2 people from Kayak Chicago, the company Living Social works with for both paddle boarding and then this ridiculous adventure. The first thing we did was go through the instructions on land. Everyone climbed into a kayak that was on land and we walked through the different paddling techniques. Lucky for me, there was no kayak for me at the point, so I had REMEMBER what the Kayak Chicago guy said for when I was actually in the kayak and had a paddle. Great start.
After about 10 minutes of instruction, we headed down to the dock where, one by one, we hoped into our kayaks and started out on our hour and a half kayaking adventure down the Chicago River. I was the last person to get into mine, thinking that it would just be best if I rounded out the back of the group and let Morgan round out the front. What I DIDN'T calculate was the fact that I might not be that good at kayaking and that by rounding out the back, I would actually be in dead-last struggling to keep up.
As we started to kayak down the river, I tried to find a rhythm. I mean, how hard can it be? Paddle on one side, then paddle on the other. Piece of cake. Fail. Big time. I couldn't find a good balance between each stroke, couldn't find a good place to put my hands on the paddle, and because of that, I was splashing water into my kayak on every paddle. I did manage to get ahead of at least 3 of the 34 people. Once my ego kicked in, I refused to be dead last, not matter how awkward I looked trying to stay ahead of the others.
Kayakers look so smooth going down the river. Each paddle looks like its done with ease and there is never any splash coming up from the water. And then there is me. Not only was I slashing water into my kayak the entire 4-mile paddle, I was also splashing water on the kayaks around me (that's WHEN I was actually close enough to other people). On top of that, I kept hitting the paddle on the size of the kayak. We all know how loud heavy plastic on heavy plastic sounds. I was making that noise all night long. I would get a couple of good strokes in then BANG! BANG! Paddle, meet kayak.
Then, instead of gracefully placing the paddle back into the water, every stroke sounded like someone dropping a brick into the water. KERPLUNK! KERPLUNK! So, imagine that PLUS the sound of the paddle hitting the side of the kayak. The only thing I was missing for the whole imagine to be complete was a nose plug and a bathing cap.
I finally caught my stride with about 15 minutes left in the paddle. But before then, I made a decision that got me through the hour and a half trip. I decided that there was NO way all those people who were ahead of me for the fist half of the paddle were going to beat me back. Ok, well, some of them were because they were SO far ahead of me. But, I knew that at least half of them were going to be exhausted on the paddle back. I mean, its a serious upper body workout and some of the people on this trip looked like they had not done a push-up in years. No judgment - I just used this as motivation.
So, for the last half of the trip back, I was determined not to coast like so many of the guests were doing. I was going to paddle the entire way back, no matter how uncoordinated I looked or how wet I got. I was going to beat the majority of the people back whether they liked it or not. I crossed the finish line well ahead of the majority of our group and did a fist pump in my head when I didn't fall out of my kayak when I was getting out of it on the dock. That was probably the biggest accomplishment of the night because if anyone was going to fall out, it WAS going to be me. I'm sure nobody would have been surprised after seeing me kayak like I was a 3-year old girl playing splash in the bathtub.
The night ended with a cookout, a bonfire and games of cornhole right by the river. Guests enjoyed cheeseburgers, beer and chips before heading home. One thing that was amazing about the adventure was the fact that we followed the river into downtown Chicago just as the sun was setting and all the buildings were starting the light up. It was breathtaking. I wish I had my camera, but then I remembered I was sitting in 5 inches of water that I paddled into my kayak, so it was probably a good thing I didn't bring it. Again, one of those moments where I couldn't believe I was living in Chicago and getting to take part in all of these experiences.
So, just when I surprised myself with my ability to stand-up on a paddle board, I also surprised myself with my complete inability to kayak gracefully. I can officially cross that off my bucket list. I am pretty sure it was NEVER on my bucket list, but now, I can say I have done it. Been there, done that. I'll take a paddle board and strut my "athleticism" any day over revealing my true lack of coordination. If only someone had a video camera, it would have made an excellent youtube video.
Until next time, much love. Live Socially!
Friday, September 2, 2011
DePaul Invasion: Watch out Ohio!
I have been on cloud 9 since Wednesday. For those of you who I have not been able to tell yet, I found out Wednesday afternoon that my admission counselor position at DePaul University will go FULL-TIME on Septmeber 12!!! I just want to say a quick thank you to everyone who kept their fingers crossed for me and kept me in your prayers. I cannot tell you how excited I am to join this staff full-time. As I have mentioned in the past, my co-workers are amazing and I am finally ready to be BUSY! There is only so much time I can spend bothering my other co-workers because I have half as much work to do as they do before they kick me out of their offices.
Part-time has been great in terms of having random days off. For example, on Wednesday, I spent the day walking around Lincoln Park and spending too much money at TJ Maxx and Bed Bath and Beyond. My intention for the day was to come home with a new shower curtain. I DID come home with a shower curtain, so that was successful. I also came home with new perfume, new sunglasses, a new collage picture frame and a new decortative wall-hanging for the bedroom. Those stores are just dangerous. I mean, where else can you find Calvin Klein sunglasses and perfume for 50% off the original price? And they put that stuff right at the top of the escalator so you have no choice but to walk by it. I think they have talked to the Ikea people...
About an hour after I got home, I got the phone call from staffing offering me the full-time position. The lady on the other end of the phone call got a little carried away talking about the great benefits DePaul offers to its employees. I wanted to just remind her that I was already working part-time at DePaul and that she could just offer me the job and stop trying to convince me to take the job by reciting the benefits manual. Finally, she got to the point where she asked if I would accept the job and I felt like a kid in a candy shop. I said yes and immediately called mom and dad to let them know that their daughter was FINALLY contributing full-time to society. I also don't have to be such a Frugal Fran all the time and don't have to hear Matt laugh at me when I complain about having to buy a $20 shower curtain. Still a Baller on a Budget, but with a little more wiggle room :)
Best part about the job: I get my own office! This will be the first time EVER that I have my own office. At Macon, four of us shared the attic upstairs in our office (which was an old, three-story house). Don't get me wrong - we had some very fun times. Sometimes work got put on hold because of it the casual atmosphere, but when four people are making phone calls at one time, it just gets weird. And currently at DePaul, I am in a cubicle next to the student interns. So, I feel like a real professional being able to move into my own office for the first time. Matt's not the only big-timer now, thank you very much. I have MY name on MY door too.
I start traveling next month and I will be visiting the exciting state of Ohio for about 5 days. But the following weeks I will actually be heading back down to Northern Virginia and DC! Our travel manager swears she didn't plan it that way, but I am not complaining. They will be quick trips though, filled with college fairs and high school visits. It will just be nice to start out my travel season in areas that I am familiar with (other than Ohio). But right now, its just a waiting game. I sill have to work part-time next week but only from 1-5 every day. It will be a nice way to transition into being back in the office full-time and catch up on some much needed sleep after dragging my butt out of bed for 6:30 AM workouts. My body does not approve of those, by the way.
I celebrated with my friend Tracy (the academic advisor for the men's basketball team here) on Wednesday night. She treated me to dinner, drinks and desserts. I think those are my three favorite words in the world that start with D...nothing says classy like a cheese pizza, sangria and cookie dough ice cream. For those of you who are thinking that Matt is a total skeeze for not taking me out to celebrate, he was actually at a work dinner with the entire staff that night. So, it was date night for Tracy and me. Matt and I are celebrating next Friday night at restuarant downtown that he went to when he came up for his interview in April. All I remember him telling me about this place was that they serve mashed potatoes with pieces of lobster in them and they have a butter cake for dessert. Yes, I WILL have both plus my entree.
But this weekend is reserved for not only enjoying the last official weekend of summer, but spending time with GREAT friends from Virginia. I am over the moon about seeing Scott and Amanda Day - Scott is the Sports Information Director at VCU and Amanda is his lovely wife who has so bravely left their 2 month-old baby boy Connor at home to make this trip. VCU Field Hockey is playing at Northwestern and Scott was able to get Amanda on the trip. Not sure what the plan is for tonight, but tomorrow I hope to show them around the Lincoln Park area and find a good place where the guys can watch college football and Amanda and I can catch up.
In the meantime, I hope everyone has a fabulous Labor Day weekend. I know my parents probably have something fun planned with neighbors and friends, and I hope everyone else enjoys the last official weekend of summer. I know, I know - you all will still have about a month and a half left of summer weather. I will be living vicariously through you all when it suddenly turns cold here. I have heard fall is amazing in Chicago (the one month that it lasts), so hopefully I can enjoy it.
Happy Labor Day weekend - enjoy the time spent with loved ones!
Part-time has been great in terms of having random days off. For example, on Wednesday, I spent the day walking around Lincoln Park and spending too much money at TJ Maxx and Bed Bath and Beyond. My intention for the day was to come home with a new shower curtain. I DID come home with a shower curtain, so that was successful. I also came home with new perfume, new sunglasses, a new collage picture frame and a new decortative wall-hanging for the bedroom. Those stores are just dangerous. I mean, where else can you find Calvin Klein sunglasses and perfume for 50% off the original price? And they put that stuff right at the top of the escalator so you have no choice but to walk by it. I think they have talked to the Ikea people...
About an hour after I got home, I got the phone call from staffing offering me the full-time position. The lady on the other end of the phone call got a little carried away talking about the great benefits DePaul offers to its employees. I wanted to just remind her that I was already working part-time at DePaul and that she could just offer me the job and stop trying to convince me to take the job by reciting the benefits manual. Finally, she got to the point where she asked if I would accept the job and I felt like a kid in a candy shop. I said yes and immediately called mom and dad to let them know that their daughter was FINALLY contributing full-time to society. I also don't have to be such a Frugal Fran all the time and don't have to hear Matt laugh at me when I complain about having to buy a $20 shower curtain. Still a Baller on a Budget, but with a little more wiggle room :)
Best part about the job: I get my own office! This will be the first time EVER that I have my own office. At Macon, four of us shared the attic upstairs in our office (which was an old, three-story house). Don't get me wrong - we had some very fun times. Sometimes work got put on hold because of it the casual atmosphere, but when four people are making phone calls at one time, it just gets weird. And currently at DePaul, I am in a cubicle next to the student interns. So, I feel like a real professional being able to move into my own office for the first time. Matt's not the only big-timer now, thank you very much. I have MY name on MY door too.
I start traveling next month and I will be visiting the exciting state of Ohio for about 5 days. But the following weeks I will actually be heading back down to Northern Virginia and DC! Our travel manager swears she didn't plan it that way, but I am not complaining. They will be quick trips though, filled with college fairs and high school visits. It will just be nice to start out my travel season in areas that I am familiar with (other than Ohio). But right now, its just a waiting game. I sill have to work part-time next week but only from 1-5 every day. It will be a nice way to transition into being back in the office full-time and catch up on some much needed sleep after dragging my butt out of bed for 6:30 AM workouts. My body does not approve of those, by the way.
I celebrated with my friend Tracy (the academic advisor for the men's basketball team here) on Wednesday night. She treated me to dinner, drinks and desserts. I think those are my three favorite words in the world that start with D...nothing says classy like a cheese pizza, sangria and cookie dough ice cream. For those of you who are thinking that Matt is a total skeeze for not taking me out to celebrate, he was actually at a work dinner with the entire staff that night. So, it was date night for Tracy and me. Matt and I are celebrating next Friday night at restuarant downtown that he went to when he came up for his interview in April. All I remember him telling me about this place was that they serve mashed potatoes with pieces of lobster in them and they have a butter cake for dessert. Yes, I WILL have both plus my entree.
But this weekend is reserved for not only enjoying the last official weekend of summer, but spending time with GREAT friends from Virginia. I am over the moon about seeing Scott and Amanda Day - Scott is the Sports Information Director at VCU and Amanda is his lovely wife who has so bravely left their 2 month-old baby boy Connor at home to make this trip. VCU Field Hockey is playing at Northwestern and Scott was able to get Amanda on the trip. Not sure what the plan is for tonight, but tomorrow I hope to show them around the Lincoln Park area and find a good place where the guys can watch college football and Amanda and I can catch up.
In the meantime, I hope everyone has a fabulous Labor Day weekend. I know my parents probably have something fun planned with neighbors and friends, and I hope everyone else enjoys the last official weekend of summer. I know, I know - you all will still have about a month and a half left of summer weather. I will be living vicariously through you all when it suddenly turns cold here. I have heard fall is amazing in Chicago (the one month that it lasts), so hopefully I can enjoy it.
Happy Labor Day weekend - enjoy the time spent with loved ones!
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