30 Days of Photos - Day 3

Day Three - A picture of the cast of your favorite show

Fringe - such a great show!!

30 Days of Photos - Day 2

Day Two - A picture of yourself and someone you've been close with for awhile

Ever since the Backstreet Boys united us sophomore year at Ball State, Michele's been one of my best friends...and living in different states hasn't changed our friendship at all!  

30 Days of Photos - Day 1

I saw this on a friend's Facebook and thought it might be a good way to keep me motivated to update this blog.

Day One - A picture of yourself with fifteen facts

1. I love hiking and climbing mountains. I've summited two 14ers since I've been in Colorado (including Mt. Belford, where the above photo was taken).

2. I love to cook.  One of the things I am most excited about in my new apartment is the lovely kitchen!

3. Authentic Mexican food and margaritas are basically a guaranteed way to cheer me up if I'm having a bad day.

4. I love traveling!  I have a bucket list of places to go all around the world.

5. I cannot wait to get a dog, but I'm not a fan of large dogs...I'm hoping to keep the family puggle tradition alive.

6. Over the seven months I have been in Colorado, my respect for amateur athletes has grown so much...it isn't really possible to put the amount into words. 

7. I'm more than a little obsessed with Starbucks. 

8. If I'm drinking, it's probably wine (or the aforementioned margaritas).  Cheap wine is fine because I rarely notice the difference.

9. I'm alcohol intolerant, so I don't drink that often and when I do, I need to take allergy medicine about an hour before or else I get sick.

10. I form a strong opinion on most things and I love getting in friendly debates about them.  

11. I'm a tree-hugger, pro-choice, pro-immigration, pro-same sex marriage, strongly opposed to Don't Ask Don't Tell...basically, I'm a liberal and quite proud of it.  I'm educated about it, though, and I know there are flaws in every ideology.

12. I'm pretty much always cold.

13. I like to stay active...some of my hobbies include speedskating, hiking, cycling (in the gym for now since I'm bike-less) and going on walks.

14. I was inspired by the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games to apply for internships with the US Olympic Committee.  I got hired eventually by the digital media department.  Coming out to work for the USOC was one of the best decisions I've ever made.

15. I'm one independent study away from a masters degree in political science.  Although I have no intention of working in politics (I used to want to...I clearly changed my mind), I'll have the degree!

Transition

I'm changing this blog a bit.  I haven't updated in awhile, but now that I'm moving out to Colorado for good, it'll be a good way to keep in touch with family about what's going on in my life.

I have two days left at the USOC.  It's been a fantastic, life-changing experience.  I've made amazing friends and professional connections.  I've discovered a passion for two things I didn't really recognize before: amateur sports and digital media.  I finally know what I want to do with my life.

So, to get to that next part of my life, I'm starting a new job on Monday.  I'm going to be an assistant media planner/buyer at Vladimir Jones, an advertising agency in Colorado Springs.  The company sounds fantastic and they really seem to have their stuff together.  It'll be a great chance for me to learn about all kinds of marketing venues while actually working with real clients.

This weekend, I'm going to be moving into a new apartment at Boulder Crescent, right downtown.  I'll be able to walk to work!  It's exciting!

I'm looking forward to some new experiences and sticking around Colorado...after all, I've still got quite a few 14ers to conquer!

Quick Update

Yes, yes, I know...I'm terrible at updating this.  I say that every time I update.  Oh well.

Life has been busy!  The summer class of interns has pretty much gone...the only people left are the people whose internships were extended (there are about six of us).  New interns have started rolling in, too.  Last night, I did the Incline with a group of new interns.  I got my new personal best (43 minutes! Only three minutes to my goal!) and had a chance to chat with some of them.  I wasn't really around much this weekend, so it was the first real opportunity I got to talk to some of them!  I did have to laugh, though, because a couple of them seem a little intimidated by the fact that I hang out with a lot of athletes.  I remember being intimidated by athletes when I first got here, so it's just sort of funny seeing it from where I am now...now, I don't really even think about the fact that they're athletes--to me, they're just my friends!

I'm only working two days this week, then I'm heading back to Indiana for a few days.  Since I didn't plan on staying here until cold weather hit initially, I didn't bring much as far as winter clothes with me.  However, since I'll be here til December now, I have to go get some!  I did buy some wintery stuff at the Warehouse Sale (an AMAZING sale they have at the OTC post-Olympic Games...they sell all of the Olympic apparel for next to nothing...needless to say, I bought quite a lot and now have an extensive collection of official Vancouver clothing), but I still need my coats and boots.  Yay boot season!

And now, I'm back to work...so I'll leave you with some photos of my random things I've done over the past few weeks.

Intern ladies at the Modern Pentathlon Nationals reception

Me at Coors Brewery in Golden, Colo.

Celebrating Seth's 29th birthday (although no Seth in this picture)!

Mountain Climbing Fool

This weekend, I attempted to cross two 14ers off of my list, Mt. Belford and Mt. Oxford.  Kim, another intern, and I camped in Buena Vista, Colorado, on Friday night and were up at 4:15am to head to the trailhead.  It was a TOUGH hike!  It was quite steep...especially when we had to climb to Mt. Belford a second time (the only way to get back from Mt. Oxford to the trail is to go back over Mt. Belford).  We didn't summit Mt. Oxford because of weather, but we did get halfway to the summit of it.  We conquered Mt. Belford from both sides, though!  Here are some photos!

Some guys at the top had made signs, so we asked to use it for our summit photo.

Just contemplating life on the summit

There were waterfalls all along the below tree line portion of the trail.

Jordan Malone and Sho Kashima Article

I wanted to share an article I wrote with you all!  I got the chance to interview Jordan Malone, one of my favorite short track speedskaters, a few weeks ago about a really awesome project he took on to help Sho Kashima, a moguls skiier who was injured right before Vancouver, pay off his medical bills.  I'm pretty excited about finally getting to post the article...so check it out here: http://bit.ly/dk8XmF