Resolved

Breaking the six-month seal at the beginning of the new year makes me feel a little cliche, but there it is. And as you know me to be as big a fan of lists as I am of impassioned declarations of resolve, I’m sure you’re not surprised to see that the subject of this post is… Resolutions for the new year:

Number One: No job is worth me getting fat. So today I started what I hope will be a new trend and left the office at 6:30 to attend my first of what I hope will be many ballet classes. Even though my body was stiff and my turnout was atrocious – enough to attract the attention of the otherwise lovely ballet mistress presiding over our adult beginner class – there was something so uniquely exhilarating about getting my body to (occasionally) cooperate and move in time to the music. Especially when said music was being played on the piano. By a person. Who improvised and adjusted to the rhythm of the class. It felt good even though by the end of the class my legs were so tired and wobbly I could barely lift them into a jete for our floor exercise – and instead wove and lumbered across the diagonal at a lurching pace. Even though I will definitely FEEL this tomorrow. And the day after. It’s still an awesome kind of hurt.

Number Two: As I said to my doctor – by way of explaining why I might by so neurotic and paranoid as to think that my mild sore throat was caused by a cancerous growth and not (in actuality) by a seasonal viral infection and persistent post nasal drip – I am an aspiring ex-smoker. Which is all a very long way of saying – and not very well – that this year I resolve to quit smoking. But please no fanfare. Really, it’s about damn time.

So more exercise. More sleep. More reading. More blogging. And a little less of the things that are slowly doing me in. Like the fracking candy they keep putting out on the table behind me at work. And those delicious cigarettes I had shipped all the way from Indonesia. I’ve even started to cut back on the underground cocktail hounding and at-home mixology experiments. But trust me when I say I had enough fancy cocktails in the month of December to last me a very long while.

I must have done something good…

The screen was super tiny but the crowds at Vicky Christina Barcelona didn't seem to mind.

What a week. My first in New York. And so many beautiful moments to recount. Let’s start at the beginning:

1. Bumped to business class on my flight from Chicago. Leg room and pre-takeoff beverage service is the first of many reasons to make me feel that New York City is quietly welcoming me back.
2. My sublet for the month of July is beautifully decorated and perfectly situated in the East Village, with a lovely roommate who is the most delightful company.
3. I walk everywhere. My calves get a tan.
4. Ninth Street Espresso becomes my morning coffee ritual – it is right across the street from my apartment.
5. First day on the job am greeted by a GIANT welcome basket of vodka, gins and liqueurs from my team. My bar. She is officially stocked.
6. So good to be back at Diageo. Feels like coming home, especially at Thursday’s social hour where each team is dressed like the ingredients in a Pimm’s cup. Even finance – who rocks matching pastel polos and tennis rackets for a Wimbledon theme. Friday we break early and rejoin for an afternoon of cheap sangria and bay-seasoned fries on the Frying Pan, a ramshackle ship at Chelsea Piers.
7. The welcome wagon arranges a bevy of activities – a Philharmonic concert in Central Park, a screening of Vicky Christina Barcelona on the pier, brunches and dinners and cocktails with new friends and old.
8. My lovely roomie (who is boutique manager at an ultra high-end chocolate shop) brings me a delicious cake for my birthday. The palm-sized cake has been made in France with almond flour and tastes like a souffle. I eat it for my birthday breakfast.
9. Birthday afternoon yoga is a mental (and physical) cleanse, the perfect way to reset for a new year
10. Walking home from yoga I stumble upon a little arts fair on 9th Street, where I buy myself a beautifully hand-made necklace from a young jewelry designer – for $20. Happy birthday to me!

Feeling great because I’m looking forward to the evening’s festivities – a venue hop thru my new neighborhood, with stops for gourmet pizze, classic cocktails and a dance party in a garden. Cards from mom and dad and grandma and lots of calls and texts and Facebook messages from faraway friends. I am feeling very blessed indeed…

Countdown to NYC

 

a mouth-gasm waiting to happen

Earlier this week, I learned that I’ll be needed in New York a whole lot sooner than expected (July 13 to be exact) and so my days have become a blur of preparations for the move.

Yesterday, I spent the afternoon shopping the boutiques on and around Division in Wicker Park. I made successful acquisitions at Habit, Mulberry & Me and Le Dress, which means I also put quite a dent in my new work wardrobe budget.

But the highlight of my day was definitely the mid-afternoon break for lunch at Birchwood Kitchen, where I enjoyed a baguette shmeared with goat cheese, piled high with wafer thin slices of crisp pickled beets and dressed with a sweet walnut pesto and arugula.

 

 

One of many abandoned warehouses I pass on my walk from the Ashland stop on the Green line to the office on Carroll at Damen

Spent last night sorting through twenty-one binders full of old course notes and cases, papers and exams, setting aside what will be recycled (I’m looking at you, Macro final, you too, Managing the Workplace midterm) and filing away the bits I want to save in labeled binders. It’s almost obscene, the physical space that these tomes occupy.

More walking around planned this afternoon – headed to Home Depot for boxes and packing tape, then to FedEx Office to print, sign and fax back my moving quote. The photo on the left was taken on my bi-weekly walk through the industrial district in which the start up I’ve been working with is located. This is one of many abandoned building I pass along the way.

Getting lost to get found

 

Mural on a West Loop side street

I’ve spent the last week or so blissfully unoccupied (or mostly so) – wandering the city on foot, visiting new neighborhoods and enjoying the sights in between. Chicago in the summer is an entirely different universe, blazing hot but breezy and bright. And, despite the herds of tourists that crowd the streets of my neighborhood morning and night, I am enjoying it immensely. The mural to the right was taken on a side street just outside the annual “Taste of Randolph,” the final destination for my 6 mile stroll through Chicago’s Little Italy and Greektown.

 

I’ve also started working a couple of days a week with a local startup. They are launching a new beverage in the Lakeview Whole Foods this week, so it is officially “crunch time” as we strive to pull everything together to get ready for the launch. I’m helping out with the marketing, which for now means developing a communications plan and a production schedule for the printed materials they’ll use for in-store sampling, and then managing the production. It’s been a while since I’ve been this hands-on and tactical, but I’m enjoying it. Nice to know that your efforts have a real impact.

Negative messages about Starbucks adorn the napkins at my local Caribou Coffee.

Speaking of marketing, I’ve have coffee on the brain this week, so this napkin at my local Caribou Coffee caught my attention. Direct attack on Starbucks, but will it backfire? Time-constrained consumers may only take away the negative message and come to think of “burnt and bitter” when they think of Caribou Coffee.

Life Begins…

Graduation. The end cap to my MBA. It hardly seems real. I have bid adieu to the kind friends and family who were here to celebrate the occasion and am filling my week as near to full as possible with last lunches, dinners and drinks with friends who will soon be departing for distant places. I am restless. I am irritable. I am not quite myself without the relentless pace of a thousand to-do’s looming large in the background of my conscience. I am reading again. For fun. Walking places because it’s another way to fill the time.

Time to pack away my school books and course notes, sort through the detritus of my academic career and save the bits that matter. Time to wrap up loose ends that have been left hanging. That overdue doctor’s appointment. My unfiled state tax returns. The mending pile. The seat cushions lacking screws. Used books to sell online. Letters to write. And over all of this hangs an impenetrable fug, a mood as gray and lackluster as the day outside. A general feeling of uselessness. And uncertainty.

This too shall pass I am sure. After all, tomorrow is another day…

Hot Times Living in the City

So I’m finally here. Finals behind me. Goodbyes said for the summer, bags packed, transported across state lines, and unpacked again into this charming walk up apartment in Brooklyn. I spent Sunday exploring my new neighborhood on foot, walked over to Park Slope and perused the boutiques. I grabbed coffee from the gourmet grocer, got caught in the rain and had to stop a while in a lovely French bakery (where I enjoyed a delicious almond pastry), ate Cuban-inspired cuisine in a hipster outpost. I even bought myself a pretty new frock to abet the nagging feeling of being improperly equipped for the fabulousness of the city scene. It hangs in my closet now like a promise of the fun to be had here in New York. A symbol for my anticipation of the good times to come.

This morning I woke early to catch the subway to Grand Central, where I boarded a north-bound train to CT for our first official day of training at Diageo. Eight hours of presentations on marketing, finance, and the Diageo Way, which is refreshingly fun and consumer-oriented, with a healthy emphasis on corporate social responsibility. 

The highlight of my day at company headquarters was our culminating event at the bar on the 7th floor (and not for obvious reasons). We received a lesson on mastering the perfect pour (Tom Cruise, eat your heart out) and learned how to mix a sublime margarita (hint: no mix, just fresh limes and agave nectar).

The other MBA interns are bright, sociable and fun – a really excellent group of people. I’m excited to be sharing my summer with them.

Tomorrow, we’re in the Manhattan office for a day-long seminar on the Diageo Way of Building Brands, my first indoctrination to the process and the culture that has made the company so successful.

It still seems a bit unreal. To be posting this from a seat near a window facing the street in my cozy little Brooklyn home. But here I am. More to share I am sure as the week progresses. Until then…

Stop and Smell the Flowers

I recently sent my cousin a description of some flowers growing along the walk to school. And now she wants a photo. One thing I’ve noticed is that the foliage changes pretty quickly. If you don’t stop and look around every once in a while, you just might miss something.

…like the tulips, which have finally peaked and are just beginning to shed their petals. I will miss their color. But am ready to give up the uncertainty of Spring for the finality of summer’s heat.

I’m also posting a photo of yesterday’s breakfast… the last bite of it at least. A ginger infused creme caramel. It was delicious. One of my favorite things about dinner parties is the leftovers.

Signs of Spring

Snapped this pic on the walk to school last week. The leaves? They are coming back in shrubberies all over the city. Gladness. The trees? Still bare, but budding with fuzzy fronds of deep fuschia, a miracle sight against the blue skies of April. In the week since this photo was taken, temps have risen to no-jacket-and-I’m-fine levels, and the buds have burst into tiny, glistening, full-formed leaves. Beautiful spring. I think she is here to stay. I’ve even been sleeping with the window open at night, the better to here the sounds of the buzzing city.

More on school, life, et al later. For now just wanted to share a bit of the scenery with you.

April Snowstorms Bring May ___ ?

Snow planned for Chicago tonight and tomorrow. Major disappointment. And unbelievable for being so late in the season. April? Really? I’m surprised at you… If April showers bring May flowers, I wonder what April snowstorms will bring.

Also wanted to share this pic of Wednesday night’s dinner when (for once) dinner was something more than a sandwich I’d picked up on the way home or leftovers eaten standing over the sink. The end result was lovely – pinto bean burritos in whole wheat tortillas, balsamic cured red onions and vine ripe tomato (all with a liberal sprinkling of “hippie dust”). But it started out looking more like this.

I couldn’t resist the photo opp. The refried beans nearly slithered out of the can. Yum!

Tonight housewarming party for classmate and then birthday bash at some upscale club. Seeing as I was at TAP this morning at 8 a.m., a nap may be in order. Or snuggle time with my coursepacks. Or maybe zone out with a movie (Inconvenient Truth, which I still haven’t seen probably because I’m afraid to know how my life choices are ruining the environment) and my mending pile. The party never stops…

A (Not So) Short List

Because it’s been so long since I’ve written, I feel a certain sense of inertia must be overcome to successfully post a new topic. As such I’ve decided to sum up the month-plus I’ve missed by giving you a (not so) short list of the highlights. (I’ll save the stories for another time.)

1. Winter is over.
I have officially survived my second quarter here, with a little more to show for it than the last. I have a job for the summer at a reputable firm in New York. Not sure what my assignment will be as yet, but I know I’ll be working on one of their “Global Priority” brands. I asked for a project related to innovation, but the criteria being used to determine assignments could be as reductive as matching each intern to their favorite brand (when asked in my interview, my response was Tanqueray… nothing like a little cold gin and cucumber). The quarter also ended well for me academically, with a more than solid showing for my transcript.

2. It is Spring.
Tender buds are near bursting on tree limbs, a panoply of green has erupted from the soil and the birds have resumed their song. Though the conditions today (stygian skies and blustery breezes) and yesterday (same with spitting rain) have been slightly less balmy than I’ve grown to expect from April, they still present a welcome respite from snow and slush, boots and mittens, ski caps and sweaters. I wore my first short sleeves in months to school today. The city itself is also reborn. This weekend its citizens, long weary of their involuntary hibernation, flooded the streets and parks in search of sun and fun. Sidewalk cafes have reopened and the few who brave the still chill air to enjoy them do so with beatific smiles.

3. I’m a writer.
I am rediscovering my love of writing and taking it into the public sphere. Since the end of the Autumn term, I’ve been writing for ChiBus and have enjoyed the opportunity to publish under that masthead. I’m writing a regular feature on marketing and have also had the opportunity to cover some of our front-page worthy events (like an interview with Pepsico CEO Emeritus Steve Reinemund). Of all the things I’m doing with my student activities time, I find this to be the most rewarding as it allows me to flex my expressive muscles on a bi-weekly basis.

4. My classes this quarter rock!
Nearly done fulfilling my breadth requirements, I’ve elected this quarter to immerse myself in my chosen field with not one, but two marketing courses. The first, Consumer Behavior, examines the socio-psychological forces driving consumer purchase patterns. The second, Data-Driven Marketing, is a quantitative approach (linear regression analysis) to understanding the correlation between market conditions, pricing decisions and sales data. (Drool.) This? Is what I came to Chicago for. My third class is Negotiations, which is by far the most challenging. But I need it. And expect to take a lot from the experience.

5. I am enjoying my fair city.
Maybe it’s the weather or maybe it’s my schedule this quarter, but I feel like I have had more opportunities to get out and explore Chicago since we got back from Spring Break. Last night, I joined the French MBA Club at La Sardine for a French feast tres authentique. Tomorrow night I am attending an open table event at Tango Sur hosted by the newly formed GSB Epicurean Club. And I’m dancing again. I discovered a free ballet class sponsored by a U of C student organization, which I’ll try to attend every Friday, and last weekend I experienced my first (of what I hope will be many) salsa lessons with a local instructor. And as if that weren’t enough, this Sunday I’m getting my culture fix at Webster’s Wine Bar with a 2nd Story event. Bliss.

So that’s it. For now. But life these days is rife with adventure, so expect more soon!

I may also start posting my published items from ChiBus. You can call it shameless self-promotion, but this ain’t no publicity stunt. I’m just trying to keep it real (and in real-time) for the folks tuning in from afar.

Lata!