My Breakfast at Tiffany's MBA Grad Party!

This weekend my incredible cousin threw me a spectacular graduation party!

This past December, I completed my Masters program and earned my Masters in Business Administration from Chapman University.  (Cross #7 off my list!)  It took me 2 and a half years while working full time, planning a wedding then being a newlywed, maintaining some kind of running/workout schedule, raising two puppies, and losing my Grammie and my Mom.  When I think about it, I don't know how I did it!  I do know that I couldn't have done it without the support of my family and friends, especially after losing Mom.  She knew I was graduating in December, and that makes me happy.  She would be SO PROUD!  Thank you Mom and Dad for giving me the gift of education, the greatest gift of all.  I love you both!!

My cousin is so amazing that she offered to throw me a graduation party, and not only was it any kind of grad party, but it was a *Breakfast at Tiffany's* themed party!!!!  Audrey Hepburn is my idol, and Breakfast at Tiffany's and Roman Holiday are two of my all-time favorite movies.  Needless to say, I was elated about this idea, and I was going to dress up as Holly Golightly (I even have a replica tiara from the movie...told ya...I love Audrey!)

My cousin wouldn't tell me anything more than the theme, so I was blown away to show up on Saturday to the most incredible {Tiffany-blue} decorated party ever!  There were blue and white balloons, Tiffany-blue tulle around the table, the coffee table wrapped like a giant Tiffany's box, pearls flowing out of Tiffany-blue vases on every table, crystals, and the most exquisite cake I've ever seen that my cousin herself made (she is so dang talented)!  And on top of all that, my cousin's daughter painted me a beautiful canvas of Audrey as Holly Golightly in Breakfast at Tiffany's!

Here are some picture collages from the spectacular evening:

Thank you to my cousins for throwing me the most spectacular and memorable grad party!!  I love you so much!!

Goodbye 2012, Cheers 2013!

This year has definitely been the most difficult year of my life so far. My mom passed away somewhat unexpectedly in March, and its a pain I can't even explain. Somehow, though, I was able to channel all my sadness, grief, anger, and confusion into raising awareness and funds for research for the Aplastic Anemia and Myelodysplastic Syndrome International Foundation. Within a month of my mom's passing, we had raised $17,000. I still can't believe it. My fundraising efforts still continue as I fight in memory of mom and all those affected by MDS.

After my mom passed, I felt like time stood still. I can't believe it's the end of the year. But, my mom was always the most positive person I've ever known, and that positivity is something she instilled in me.

Despite the loss of my mom, a lot of positive things happened this year and I know in my heart she would be very happy and proud:

1. We raised $17K for AA&MDS International Foundation
2. My husband and I brought home two adorable puppies, a chocolate lab and a great dane...they light up our lives :)
3. I had the honor of being in two weddings: 1. one of my best friends in NYC, and 2. my brother in law and my now Sis :)
4. My brother in law and his wife are pregnant!
5. I am training for my first marathon (LA 2013) and running for MDS in memory of Mom
6. I got my first tattoo
7. I completed my first triathlon
8. I graduated from Chapman University with my Masters in business Administration (MBA)
9. My husband and I traveled to Italy for our 1st wedding anniversary and fell in love with the beautiful country
10. We spent more time with family and friends, and appreciating the little things in life.

This year has been a very trying year for my family, but with the darkness there was some light.  I am grateful for all the wonderful things that happened and are happening.  I pray for a happy and healthy 2013 with many many more happy and wonderful things to come!

Cheers to 2013!!!

Thankful

November is a month to give thanks, and I am blessed to have to so many things to be thankful for. Because there are 30 days in November, I am going to list 30 things that I am thankful for, even though there are plenty more :)
I am thankful for:

1. My health, both physical and mental

2. My loving husband, my soul mate, my best friend. I love you baby

3. Our sweet kitty

4. Our handsome chocolate lab

5. Our beautiful baby great dane, soon to be our gentle giant

6. My incredibly strong, caring, and goofy dad

7. My big brother and his family who live far away but luckily I get to talk to and skype with frequently

8. Technology that allows me to communicate with my big brother in real time so the 2,000 miles between us seemingly doesn’t exist.

9. My little bro who isn’t so little, and can always make me laugh

10. My marvelous extended family

11. Living so close to all my family and that we get to see each other multiple times a week

12. A house to call home

13. A career that I love

14. My car to take me where I need to go

15. My education, thank you Mom and Dad for the gift of knowledge

16. Great friends who are there for me no matter what

17. My fantastic parents-in-law who are two of the kindest people I know

18. The ability to pay my bills on time

19. Sunsets, I’m a sucker for sunsets

20. Seeing the sunrise every morning because it reminds me I’m alive on this day and to make it count

21. Where I live (5 minutes from the beach, 1½ hours from the mountains and desert)

22. Movies

23. Food and my favorite drink, water

24. My love for cooking and being able to do so

25. My community

26. Having traveled around the world to the places I’ve been to (with many more places on our travel list)

27. This blog to share my thoughts

28. My readers on this blog

29. Music

And last but definitely not least,

30. My Mom, who was and will always be my mentor, my idol, and my best friend. I miss you every single day. I love you to heaven and back.

I am thankful.

Three Things Thursday!

1.  MBA Update:  I started my last semester of grad school this week.  I'm taking two FUN classes:  International Marketing and Consumer Behavior so I'm certain this semester will fly by.  We have some very creative projects as well as some exciting and topical case studies.  Come December, I will have earned my MBA!

2.  Triathlon?  It's less than a month until my first triathlon and I have a confession - I haven't swam once.  I've been cycling a lot, and running here and there, but I haven't gotten one swim in.  Cest la vie!  I signed up to do this just for fun {not for time or competition}, so I'm going to do it just for fun.  I may be the very last finisher, but I'll finish :)  I have my first ocean swim on deck for this weekend.  Cheers to Labor Day weekend ocean swims!

Okay, okay, so this won't be me AT ALL, but it's a cool picture!

3.  Rugby loves to swim {maybe he can swim my part of the triathlon for me??}!  This past weekend we took Rugby swimming for the first time.  He was so great and he loved it!  I can't wait to take him swimming again! 

Hubby and Rugby in the pool :)

Happy Thursday everyone!

Happy Friday!!

Happy Friday!!!

1.  Last night I finished my spring semester of grad school!!  I am beyond stoked!!  Only 4 more classes to go and I’ll be an MBA!
2.  Tomorrow I’m throwing my future Sis a bridal shower!  I’ve been planning it for months and I’m so so so excited!  She’s going to love it and we are going to have a blast!!
3.  Four years ago today I graduated from college!  Since then I’ve started my career, begun earning my MBA, run 8 half marathons (something I never thought I’d do), married the love of my life, bought a house, have two adorable kitties, and so much more. I am so blessed. It’s amazing how quickly time flies when you’re having fun :)
4.  I have a few workouts planned this weekend including some running, biking, and maybe I’ll even get a swim in!  Triathlon training begins July 1, but why not start now for fun?!  This week I didn’t get many workouts in with work + finals + studying + research paper + final presentations, so I'm making up for it.

5.  And just because they're so dang adorable, I'm going to leave you with some pictures of our boys, Tantalum (silver baby) and Bagheera (brown baby) lounging around and playing with their feather <3

Have a wonderful weekend!!

February Challenges!

Happy February!!


I'm excited about today for a couple reasons:
1.  Today is the start of my mile-a-day in February!  I've pledged to run at least one mile every day!  I kicked it off this morning with a 10:13 mile at sunrise.  I felt great!
2.  The #FEBphotoaday challenge begins today!

And here is my day 1 photo from my run this morning:

Day 1:  Your View Today - taken on my sunrise run this morning

3.  I start my spring semester of grad school tonight with my Capstone Course!  I'm so pumped, because I love my classes this semester and it's my last spring semester of my MBA program (I graduate in December, yay!)


Are you partaking in any fun challenges this month?

Happy New Year!!!

Happy New Year!!!

2011 was an amazing year!  So much happened this year!!  I can't list everything, but here are some highlights:

• Flew to Walt DisneyWorld in Florida with my hubby
• Ran the DisneyWorld 1/2 Marathon (hubby's first 1/2!)
• Bought a house and made it our home
• Ran four 5Ks
• Ran the Disneyland 1/2 marathon (CA) without training (oops!)
• Completed Disney's Coast 2 Coast Challenge
• Completed 2 semesters of my MBA program with flying colors
• Celebrated our engagement with lots of festivities (Engagement party, 3 bridal showers, bachelorette party, rehearsal dinner)
• Gained a guardian angel.  I love you Grammie and miss you every day.
• Visited five states (CA, FL, MT, NV, NY)
• Danced with my daddy at my wedding
• Married the love of my life <3
• Honeymooned in Costa Rica (post and pics to come soon!)
• Welcomed two beautiful kitties into our family
• Celebrated our 1st Christmas as husband and wife :)

Two thousand and eleven was a memorable year.  The year started out tough with the loss of my Grammie, but she was with us every step of the way in all of our celebrations this year!  We had much to celebrate, and I just want to say thank you to my wonderful family and fantastic friends...you guys helped make this year what it was.  Cheers to 2012 being just as fantastic!!!!

MBA --> MIA!

I know I have been MIA lately and for that I apologize. Life has become so busy especially because the spring semester of my MBA program is coming to a close, which means I have been chin deep in papers and projects, and of course, studying for finals! This is the last week of classes and next week are finals. I can’t wait until May 19th when my last final is done!! After which I will have 12 days of free evenings before my summer classes commence. (I’ve elected to take classes year round so that I may complete my program in 2 years, since I work full time and take evening classes.) It definitely is a lot to juggle-work, classes, study group meetings, review sessions on weekends, planning a wedding which has been the best!, trying to stay involved with the Board I sit on, and of course trying to fit in “me” time to run and workout).  But I am having fun and all those long days/nights will totally pay off!


Unfortunately running has been put on the back burner.


Lots of this....



Leads to this :(

I’m running once a week (compared to a year ago when I was running 4-5 times a week), but I am working out with a personal trainer twice a week so it kind of makes up for it. I definitely see an increase in my strength and endurance, and I notice that when I do run, I can run further more easily. Hooray for strength training! I will incorporate more running into my routine, but it is challenging when I wake up before 5am, work all day, go from work straight to class and don’t get home until 11pm (sometimes later).  I'll get the hang of it :)

How do you find a balance between all the aspects in your life?

My MBA program begins + back in the running saddle!

Last night I had my first class of my MBA program at Chapman University.  Well, first class of the semester.  Last Saturday I had a 1-unit class on Competitive Advantage.  But last night was the official kick off to my MBA program, and it began last night with Accounting!  It was so much fun!  I'm sure not many people think accounting is "fun," but I was a Finance and Econ double major in undergrad, so numbers are kind of my thing...I love finance, and accounting is the language of finance and business for that matter.

So we stared with a guessing game of poker chips (betting real $) that my Prof so eloquently related to accounting...things like prices are determined by perceived odds and risk aversion, information is valuable but only if it can be used to guide decisions, and asymmetric information and conflicting incentives reduce value (otherwise known as agency costs).


Now I won't sit here and bore you with an accounting lesson.  I will however tell you this:  I LOVE GRAD SCHOOL!!!  Given my limited experience in the program thus far, it is significantly different than undergrad in my opinion for several reasons.  Here are my key takeaways thus far and why I love it!


1.  I love to learn.  Yep.  I love to learn.  And grad school is 100% catered to my career, which is a career in business.  So I know I will absolutely love what will expand my knowledge to help me advance in my career.


2.  The Profs treat you like a peer, not like they're "babysitting" you.  In undergrad, there was a lot more hand-holding and more hounding the students.  In grad school, the Profs treat you like an adult, because, well, we ARE adults.  We are all working adults who have chosen to pursue a higher degree to better ourselves in our career path.  If we miss a class due to a business trip or a personal thing, they understand...life happens.  The Profs know that and respect that, and thus treat you more like an equal while teaching.


3.  The Profs @ Chapman WANT you to succeed.  It's apparent in only having 3 Profs thus far (my Sat class was broken into two sections with 2 Profs since it was a 9 hour day), that they really are there to teach the material.  And they teach it not through lectures, but through real case studies, and even media like TV (Daily Show with John Stewart on newspapers going out of business and the Godfather when Don Corleone is approached by the Turk to get into the drug business, or expand his market, and why he declined).  They don't sit and lecture, instead they present us engaging material that we all analyze and discuss.  Pretty cool.


4.  My fellow students rock!  I've met some pretty cool people who I will be spending the next two years of my life with (my program is two years, year round).  They're smart, ambitious, and we each have different skill sets which will benefit us all when we begin our study groups.  Yes, we already formed our study group-there are 6 of us and we picked our day of the week and times to meet, with locations to be determined...we like the idea given to us by a soon-to-be grad of meeting at various happy hours!  Great idea!


5.  It's FUN!  I have wanted to get my Masters in Business since I was 7 years old.  Did I know what that meant then?  No way.  But my parents had theirs and I wanted it.  Plus I was always keen on math, and as I got older the facets of the business world riveted me.  Career path:  FOUND.  And here I am, pursuing my career, while beginning the road to earn my Masters in Business :)  And I am having a blast!!!!

News flash on the running front:  I am officially back in the running saddle!

On my way home from work I stopped at the bay to get my run in.  I took the last two weeks off due to my foot injury, and had been training for the Long Beach 1/2 marathon primarily on the bike.  But this week I decided to get back into my training plan week 4, which means I got to run 3 miles today!  I was so ready for it!  I planned on stopping half way to do some core work and pushups.  I ended up doing the following after running the first 1.5 miles:
4 sets of 25 sit-ups
3 sets of 25 bicycle crunches
3 sets of supermans* held for 15 seconds
3 sets of 15 pushups
Then I ran the 1.5 miles back along the marina and felt an extra bounce in my step!  I wasn't wearing my Garmin but I think I was running about a 10:30min/mile pace.  It was a great workout and I'm very happy :)


*For anyone who doesn't know what a superman is, here is a picture:

And I just want to give a shout out to someone who is always there for me cheering me on at races, encouraging me to do my best, nursing me back to health when I'm injured (his massages rock!), and for supporting me through everything, including my decision to go back to school.  Sean O., I love you so much and you are the absolute best boyfriend in the world.  I love you :-D

xoxo