Urban Cowgirl

Hey Y'all,

What would my last night be in Cincinnati without a good ol' bull ride?! 

It took me a second to get up there but once I did, it was all I could do to hang on. 

Sometimes in life you just have to grab the bull by the horns...and then cling on with all of your body as it whips you around in every which way. I believe I'm literally gripping with my toes here, but I managed to ride for over a minute like this. 

I'm coming home!

Hello Friends, Family, and Fun Fans,  

Please forgive my absence.  I found that I typically updated my blog while sitting in the airport. Once I stopped taking my laptop to the airport, I stopped blogging. All of the requests for new postings and downright demands have been much appreciated. I promise to be more diligent. 

Since I last left you, I have:

* passed my next CPCU exam (woohoo!)

* tried Grater's Ice Cream ( a Cincinnati must)

* survived King's Island in the rain 

* racked up 10,000 frequent flyer miles

* went on a sales ride-along to Atlantic City

* adjusted claims in Willow Grove, PA

* started the Harry Potter series

* marched 2 very cold, cold parades

* ran my 100th mile in Cincinnati

* gave a kick-ass presentation

* made cookies and survived near death experience with a hand-mixer

* ran the Berbee Derbee and made darn good time doin' it.

* enjoyed a couple of Katy Perry songs

* read several business-esque books (i'm grown up now)

* filled my handy-dandy notebook

* celebrated endings and beginnings with friends

* finished my rotation in Cincinnati

True to my standard style, I've kept myself busy. I've met good people in Cincinnati, and I'll be sad to leave them. They are great friends and coworkers and have been essential to my enjoyment of Cincinnati. 

To say I learned a lot would merely be cliche and understated. I'm excited to be done and take the next step in my program.   

The short of the long of it is: I'm coming home. I can't help but start to hear Bing Crosby... Because I'll be home for Christmas. I'm looking forward to quality time with the family and friends. For those of you I won't get to meet up with, you'll be in my thoughts!

Merry Christmas!

Zippppeeeee!!!

What better way to spend time at home than to do something CRAZY!! A couple of months ago (time flies) Tracy asked if I had ever heard of a canopy tour? Ummm, no. Well, it's a also referred to as zip-lining and basically you strap up and zip on a rope from tree to tree. So Tracy and I got a group together and signed up to zip! This is the real reason why Aaron came into town, and rightly so!Holy cow did we have a good time. We had seven zips from tree to tree and we had several challenges along the way. Not to mention, you know me, I can't do anything the "normal" way. Tracy and I decided to dress likes dorks for this fun adventure. Enter exhibit A, The Tights. These earned me the nickname, Pancies, from the guides that helped us throughout the tour. I say, Whatever, they made me faster as I flew through the air.

Such challenges can be seen here. TVal and I decided to tackle this fun ropes course together. We made quite the pair, me in my tights, her in her awesome tall black socks. She had tights too, but we won't go there. :p

Another challenge at the end of the day landed us tangled in a heap at the bottom of a wall. Too funny.
There was one Indiana Jones bridge that we were supposed to walk across, knowing full well that we were likely to fall. It's ok to fall because you're all strapped up. Tracy challenged me to run this silly bridge, and man did this klutz take a tumble! I was hanging practically upside down, with my legs above my head, and somehow, I needed to find my way to a standing position on this bridge. The guide said he wished he had a video camera to put it on You Tube. According to him it was a five-star fall.

Between the trees we zipped around as Superman, the Deadman, or Crazy do-whatever-you-want Man. Weeeeeee! One of my favorite challenges was walking a tight-rope. Of course, I didn't walk it. I decided to relive my Basic Training days and sloth-crawl my way across this rope. While I might have survived and made it across, my legs certainly did not. I would post pictures of the amazing bruises that I have, but I decided to keep you all from thinking that somebody on the east coast is beating me. They are on the path to recovery, and the discoloring was well-worth the great time we had.

When it comes to flying from Cincinnati to Madison to Cincinnati to Philadelphia to Cincinnati, I'm pretty sure I just prefer flying from tree to tree.

Cali meets Madtown in Princeton

One of the best things about my last week in Princeton was that Aaron visited! Aaron is a great friend of mine from UW-Madison. He's originally from California, but WI has adopted him. It was a lot of fun having my Jersey/Pennsyvania friends meet a small sample of my friends from Wisconsin.

Aaron survived traffic through New York on a Friday afternoon; what a guy! He joined the craziness that was the Boot N Bowl, and the real reason he made the trek (other than to see me, of course :p) was to go zip lining...coming soon to a blog near you.

Saturday we hit up PJ's Pancake cafe for awesome breakfast food and milkshakes. Yes, breakfast food and milkshakes. After all, it was noon by the time we got to doing anything after the Boot N Bowl.

Breakfast led to great people watching, coffee drinking and Princeton University visiting. I haven't spent much time venturing around the campus, so having Aaron there made it a must. This picture was taken outside of Nassau Hall which is comparable to Bascom Hall. Aaron and I both wondered why more people weren't taking up the grass space in front of this awesome building like so many of the half naked bodies that populate Bascom Hill on a sunny WI day.

We scooted off to go zip lining with the PA friends, which by the way, was an AWESOME time, and we ended the evening with a horrible Badger/Penn State game. Unfortunately, we were in PA watching the game; their fans were obviously in good spirits. The good part of the evening was another stellar meal at Chickies and Pete's. yumm....

For the millionth time since I've been on the east coast, I became homesick on Sunday morning when I had to say good bye to Aaron to head back to Cinci. For a time, however brief, it was nice to have a piece of Wisconsin with me at my new home in NJ.

Boot N Bowl!

After a long week at work... Presentation Skills training with a creepster facilitator, several meetings, a day or reading, and a day of classroom training, the work Gang and I headed out to the Boot n Bowl.

This is a time honored tradition in which we drink beer (figures), eat food, and then attempt bowling.

I'm well aware that I'm a bad bowler sober. Throw some beer in the mix and instantly I become a rockstar!! That or I just like to dance a lot, and my skills are skewed by mad moves on the non-existent dance floor.

Madison Lovin'

Going back to Madison always means, friends, drinks, and most of all FOOD. Saturday night in Madtown... where do I begin?

Friday night I was able to hang out with Ali and Leigh Ann over tasty pasta at Tutto Pasta. My need for girl-talk was fulfilled and was followed up with the oh-so-girlie, Sex and the City movie with Leigh Ann at the dorm.

Saturday night Val, Brad, Richard and I started with sushi. The new Muramoto is off the hook. Cocktails; amazing. Sushi; delicious. Good company; priceless.
Lauren, bonehad Lauren, thought that Nattspiel had dessert. To my credit, they used to have dessert... We found out that they didn't AFTER we ordered drinks. Oh well, guess we just had to get dessert from Opus!

Once more, absolutely full, Val and I ventured on. This time we met up with Joanne and her posse. We spent the rest of the evening drinkin', boogeyin' and chattin' it up at Maduro. I was so happy to meet up with so many good friends.

However, I must say, the evening got a little hairy during a run in with the terminator...

Family Fun

I went home last weekend! I had a recruiting adventure at UW-Madison to try and convince students to go through the same program that I'm currently in. 

While there, I was fortunate enough to see all of my family. Most of us headed up to Dad n Gail's camper trailer on Castle Rock Lake. What a beautiful fall day! The sun was shining, the lake was calm, and the famdamily got in the boat and went for a cruise. 

We decided to hit up Splash for some good burgers and beers. Some of us could have had problems eating due to the new addition to our family, Pedro. Pedro is the stache that has found his way to my bro's face. Lance, eww. 

With our bellies full, we toodled our way back across the lake. I was ready for naptime, but Leigh Ann, Lance, Pedro, and myself needed to get back to Madison for more shenanigans.  

Sun, colors, food, beer, lake, family; this was a day to miss Wisconsin. 

X Gonna Give it to Ya

A couple of coworkers of mine invited me to a Xavier football game. So, as a typical, loyal, hardcore WI fan, I had to go out and get all of the appropriate gear.

Even though it was a Monday night, it felt like Badger Saturday or Packer Sunday. I was ready for some football.

I showed up for the game, ate my popcorn, and cheered like the good little fan that I am.

The Xavier Musketeers, an inter-mural, college football team swept their opponent which, sadly, WI sports have not been doing a good job of lately.

Annuoncing Teddy Baer K5 Winners!!

I like to run, I like to run!! You all know this. Well, I found a race in Cincinnati called the Teddy Bear 5K to support children with dyslexia. I coaxed Matthew into racing it with me, and I began to train up.

I've had a goal for awhile now to get faster. I ran a 5K for Thanksgiving last year and came in roughly around 32:00. I knew it wouldn't be hard to beat that (I was coming back from surgery), but I wanted to shatter the time.

Matthew entered the 200-219 lbs category to stand a chance at winning. The skinny, lanky boys are simply too fast. I wanted to run in the clydesdale category 220+, but decided to just enter my age division. :p

Within the first quarter mile, I knew the course was going to suck. The first half was all uphill and the second half was all downhill. By the time you got to the half way point, you just took off downhill, not minding your shins, and barreled toward the finish line. I came across at about 26:45...cutting about 5:30 off my pace from before!

I knew that I finished about 10th place and that I was the third woman to come across the finish line. What I didn't know was that I won my age division; woohoo!!! Also, Matthew won his weight division. We got these nifty medals, even though we really wanted the first place trophies. (They were huge!)

Night on the (shady) town at the Ballet

Friday night, I decided to check out some of the Cincinnati art scene. The ballet had a new show, New Works, that sounded decent enough. I talked my friend, Bryce, into getting some dinner before the show at a restaurant that I found through Google. 

Approaching the restaurant "area", I'm cursing that I didn't stop and get gas when I left the hotel. I spent too much time picking out an appropriate dress for bar food meets the ballet. Not only am I leery about stopping for gas, but I'm also deciding to lock my doors at this point. The red gas light comes on. Eeek! Bryce calls, "The restaurant no longer exists." Shoot! I pick Bryce up from his "corner" and we drive around for 45 minutes trying to find any restaurant at all, let alone a quality restaurant. Luckily, Bryce was with me to get some gas; I wasn't feeling too good about my choice of outfit in this neighborhood. 

We found a restaurant, scarfed some food quickly, and I rushed off to the ballet. Bryce swore that he would be able to walk back to his car unaccompanied. I was already late for the ballet, and he didn't want me to miss anymore of the show. I didn't want him to get mugged walking back to his truck. 

Alas, I went running into the ballet, just as they were shutting the door. I made it! And needless to say, the show was nothing less than amazing. They did six modern ballet pieces. One of my favorites was set to New Orleans' brass band music. (Gretchen, you could have appreciated this for a few reasons. ;) ) 

The best one, in my opinion, had the stage set with three pieces of fabric running the length of the bottom of the stage in front and three more set up high in the back. The piece was set to violin music and the dancers  danced as if they were the bow playing the violin. Some of you know my inability to describe things well, so if I at all described this intriguingly, you would have been in awe to actually see it "in motion." I was taken back to say the least. 

Mom and Frank drive 600 miles for the Brewers to blow it

Mom and Frank came this weekend! We had tickets to see the Brewers play the Cincinnati Reds at the Great American Stadium. The Brewers were favored to win, but unfortunately they sucked it up and gave the Reds the game. The upside was that because the Reds scored 7 HOME RUNS on us, we got to see a lot of fireworks. 

It was a great weekend to have company; Cincinnati was hosting their annual Oktoberfest! It's supposedly only second to the Munich's Oktoberfest. So 

the three of us made our way downtown for beer and tasty German food. 

After hitting up 5th st and the street fair that was Oktoberfest, I decided that they also needed to experience the Hofbrau Haus. Being only a mile away, we decided to walk. What felt like 17 miles later, we made it. Ordering more German fried goodness and beer, I learned a valuable lesson: 34 ounces is A LOT of beer...

 Yes, we know I have a big head, and as you can see, this beer is bigger than my head. Proudly, none went to waste. However after eating all kinds of food, drinking all kinds of beer, none of us was in any mood to walk back downtown again. We took a cab. 

Now we were on a mission. Mom needed to have black forrest cherry cheese cake. Oktoberfest was starting to ramp up! As we approached Mom's cheesecake stand, I decided I needed to get my money's worth out of my souvenir mug and I filled up again! 

Mom got her goodies and I got mine. 

We had a great weekend, despite the Brewers playing horrible baseball. It's just too bad that Mom couldn't get Frank to leave his lederhosen at home!

New place, new people, new fun!

The first week at my rotation in Cincinnati was spent in the marketing department. I had a great project and it felt good to have something hands on that I could contribute to. On Friday, marking the end of my marketing rotation we headed to Buffalo Wild Wings for Happy Hour!! Well, happy hour turned into happy night. We spent the duration of the night drinking good beer, talking about music and boneless wings versus boneful wings. 

For some reason, Friday night rolled right into Saturday morning which happened to be the annual company golf outing. What better way to meet people! I signed up to volunteer with setup, take-down and food prep. Five minutes before the shot-gun start, the head honcho arranging everything asked me if I knew how to golf. "Well...I've golfed all of about 4 times." This was enough for him. There was a team of two that needed to be "evened out." What I didn't know was that this meant that one of the guys golfed pro for about 10 years and the other guy just golfs on various leagues about 3 times a week. 

Lucky for me, the Gods of Golf decided to grace me with their presence. I tore up the course (not literally) and our team ended about 7 under par. woohoo! Sadly, my skin wasn't in as good of hands as my golf clubs. Considering I thought I would be inside all day, I was not properly sun screened. I fried. Lobster red fried. But the golf luck was enough to cut the burn. 

But the fun can't stop there! Several of us decided to head to downtown Cincinnati for some drinks and the Ohio State game. Before making it downtown, we stopped off at Matthew's place and managed to catch a good view of the city from his awesome condo rooftop. Yes, the black ghost like figure is me. 

From rooftop to dance floor. We made it into the famous Lodge Bar for a good 80's band with a side of a hip hop spinner. We danced til they closed!

Just because the bar is closing doesn't mean it's time to go to bed. It was necessary that we played wii bowling into the wii  (haha) hours of the morning. Matthew needed to perfect his strike for our United Way campaign bowling tournament. 

Sunday was the day for sleeping. And sleeping is what I did. 

Nasty in the Nati

So I made it to Cincinnati! It's been a WHIRLWIND of excitement around here.... Last weekend, I was studying at Panera and out of nowhere, the power went out. I figured I couldn't study in the dark and decided to make my way to Target. Outside, there were some strong winds, but I thought nothing of it. 

Ten miles away, at Target, the power was out too. And whatdya know, it just happened to be out at my hotel and just about everywhere within an hour of Cincinnati. The winds were blowing at approximately 70 miles an hour, enough for a CAT 1 hurricane, and the city of Cincinnati went into blackout mode. 

At 5:30, about 6 hours after the power went out, a cop came by the hotel for the third time. He said that 10-12 inches of rain was going to hit in about half an hour. He also said that when (not if) the storm hit, we were supposed to sit in our bathtubs, with the door slightly cracked open to keep the windows from bursting. I was like, "Heh?" I'm thinking, there is no way I can sit in my bathtub for 4 hours with no lights, no cell phone, nobody to keep me company. Also, I was one of two guests at the hotel, and the other one was taking off. I can't sit in a hotel all by myself!!! 

I asked the cop if there was any other possibility. He mentioned that randomly Newport, Kentucky was spared from the power outage and if I could get there in 20 minutes (it's 30 miles away) to get there. I was gone. 

At this point, I had been in Cincinnati all of 3 days and I was lucky enough to have one coworker's number in my phone and even more lucky that he lived in Newport. Also, he happened to be extremely generous and allowed me to come over to wait out the storm. So instead of sitting in my dark bathroom by myself, with no outside contact, scared out of my wits, I played wii, ate chili, and watched football. 

The kicker of it all is that my power was out for 4 DAYS!! My friend, Matthew, was unbelievably kind enough to let me crash for the duration of all the nasty in the Nati. 

That really makes me somebody!

YAY! 

My life is about exams. I learn, I study, I test. Test after test after test. For the first module of my program for my job, I read about 4 hours a day and sat in a class the rest of the day. On top of that, our boss would give regular exams to track our progress. Beyond all of that, there are professional exams that we have to take for two reasons: to stay in the program and to achieve our professional credentials. 

I'm currently working towards my CPCU, Chartered Property and Casualty Underwriter, designation. At the same time, I'm hoping to get some actuarial exams under my belt. Like I said, lots of tests. 

I mentioned in my last entry that I had just taken a professional exam (for my CPCU), and I got word on Sunday that I passed!! Woohoo!! 1 down, 20 or so to go...

Along with work, I leave on Monday for Cincinnati. This will be the second module in my program where I attempt to apply what I learned from module 1. I'm really looking forward to the hands on training and I have only heard good things about the company. 

Boskey (Melissa) just finished her rotation and informed our boss that we should probably have business cards to look more professional when we go out to other companies. So lo and behold! I have business cards now! In the words of The Jerk, "My name in print! That really makes me somebody! Things are going to start happening to me now!"

Shenanigans with T and B Val

So far, I have been very lucky to make good friends in my short time on the east coast. Of those good friends are Tracy and Brian Valentine. Recently married and recently nicknamed T-Val and B-Val.  They call me L-Dub, short for Lauren, that cool chick from Wisconsin that hangs out with all the time. 

A couple of weeks ago, we went to the Paramore and Jack's Mannequin concert. 

It was an out-door concert in downtown Philly, and what a beautiful night to be outside listening to good music! Because we are hip, happenin' and hot, we were picked to be poster people for Philadelphia. Ok, maybe it's not quite like that but here we are anyway. http://www.digphilly.com/photos/main.php?cmd=imageview&var1=08_15_08+Paramore%2Fparamore55.jpg

  

We had a great time singing and shakin' it and trying

 REALLY hard not to bump into "silly" people that were taking pictures with new iPhones. 

I swear, we were not obnoxious...at all. 

 Over the last week or so, the Vals and I have been getting ready to sadly part ways for a few months. T-Val is gearin' up to go to work at our parent company in Munich, Germany. No, I'm not jealous. Really. After all, I'm going to Cincinnati, OH for 3 months. That's got to be just as exciting as a beautiful, European country that I would give my first born in order to go back to.

 So in an effort to make the most of our last week together, we have been making dinners for each other, shopping (we weren't good at this), drinking good beer and roasting marshmallows. 

Tracy and Brian had a cook out this week with lots of fun games to include: beer pong,

washers, and the crazy beer-bottle-on-a-poll-with-a-frisbee game. Once it was dark, we got cookin' with gas and cranked up the fire. T-Val and I got a craving for Schmores, yes schmores, not s'mores, and the lot of us began to debate whether or not mallows and beer go together. I say, Absolutely. 

Among other debates, it was decided that Brett Favre will always be the best quarterback EVER, no matter what shade of green he wears. Good night. 

The rest of the week involved me getting through a professional exam (hopefully news of passing will be coming to a blog near you), and amazing cheese fries at this great restaurant in Philly called Chickie's and Pete's Cafe. If any of you should choose to visit, I promise, we will indulge in this goodness. 

 

As you can see here, I might be all the way on the Crazy East Coast, but instantly be close to home by ordering a good WI beer. 

They had Leine's on tap!! Also, they had three specialty beers in which they mix Berry Weiss with each Honey Weiss, Sunset Wheat, and Leine's Original. As a beer snob, I was very hesitant, and even put out a disclaimer that we don't roll that way in WI, but I gave it a whirl. It wasn't bad, but the WI way is better...naturally. 

Well, the adventures of L-Dub, T and B-Val will surely continue. However, sadly, they will be put on a temporary hold for Ohio Shenanigans. Till then, T and B- Val, Peas. 

Turtle got beat up, east coast bully style

After about an hour of sleep, and a headache that is just shy of migraindom, I head off to work. As you  might imagine, the morning is not off to a good start. About two minutes into my drive, I also realize that I have left razzledazzleberrybaby (my phone) at home. Ugggghhh. 

I pull up to a yield sign, looking back and to the left, with traffic as heavy as it is, it's obvious that I will not be getting on the main

 drag for awhile. My car, Turtle, was affectionately named for his shape; however being on the east coast and not having a lot of get-up-and-go, his name has a dual purpose. 

Well, the vehicle behind me must have thought that I was going to go in the two foot space that opened up and started to pull forward. Because I was not moving forward at all, he slammed into me and beat up Turtle.  

Needless to say, this did not help my headache at all. 

I like to run. In pretty places. With nature and stuff and junk.

Today my camera risked life, limb, and sweat to come along on the run with me. I wanted everyone to be able to see the place that routinely kicks my butt. 

You all know that the first thing I do in a new place, is to find a place to run. When I moved here, before I unpacked a box, I went for a run. To meet people, I joined a run group. And the run group brought me here. It's been love ever since. 

There is a five mile loop that takes me through the heart of downtown Princeton, Princeton University and this cool nature preserve. 

This trail can take me all the way to Trenton, NJ (about 10 miles south) or all the way up into NY (about 40 miles north). I don't think I will ever run that far. Who knows; I get bored. 

The part of the trail that I run, there is a river to the left and woods to the right. It also has a hidden path that you have to search out and be lucky to find. As you can see here, if you blink you miss it. What you you're looking at is a little hill into the woods on the right side of the trail. 

From there, you come to a second river...that you have to cross in order to continue on the trail. You cross by way of the fallen tree; no joke. Hope the river isn't high. 
You run through the woods for a ways, twisting and turning, jumping logs and fallen trees. Eventually, you begin to think you're Indiana Jones as you come to the next obstacle, a suspended foot bridge that crosses the second river again at a different bend. 

If you want to keep running, you're gonna have to cross the bridge! And as you can see it is not very wide, and I will tell you from experience, it swings and it bounces. However, the river that is on both sides of it is beautiful. 

There are fish in the river and the current isn't very strong. I love this run, and I will be sad to leave it when I go to Cincinnati. But you know I will find some other trail to write to y'all about and I'm sure I'll be equally excited about that trail as I am about this trail. Want to come run with me? Shout out to Val, Becca, and Vance; you guys would love this place. Ah, the life of a runner. We are always happy if we are running. 

Birthday in the Cittaaaayy!!

Hello family, friends, and other random readers that happen to glance!

The birthday this year was an awesome one. At 12:00:01, the phone calls started with a beautiful rendition of Happy Birthday on the sax from Richard. From then on, I fully believe I was conspired against because the calls came on

 the hour along with the texts and the emails. I LOVED them all! 

Strolling into work, I'm confident that you could see my cube from space.

 Sarah decked out my cube with all kinds of balloons and streamers and more balloons and candy and balloons. It was incredible. Not to mention, there was a beautiful pink tiara just for me, and wouldn't you know, I too was head to toe pink already. 

Boskey (a.k.a. Melissa) was kind enough to bring me coffee, which I fully needed after my night of answering birthday wishes. She also brought me Munchkins. What the heck are Munchkins, my midwestern friends might ask??? They are doughnut holes. I sent Boskey into shock when she found out I had no idea what they were. Scrumptious, delicious, doughnut holes. Yummy. 

After work, we scidaddled home quickly to get beauti-fied and dolled up for a night in Philly. It took Boskey and I awhile to navigate in the city, but eventually, after 4 loops passed the restaurant we made it. 

However before dinner, we had to run to Urban Outfitters (clothing store) to return this hideous shirt that I bought on a whim on a lonely Saturday night...yikes! Lonely Lady Buyers Beware. Anyhow, we ran in, stood in line, and arrived at the counter. He asked me how much I paid for it, to which I honestly replied, "$25" and he proceeded to explain that the prices paid on line are different than paid in the store, and he needed a code to rectify the situation. After two more minutes, he hung and decided to give it to me for "full price" which I thought would be the $25 that I paid for it, but NO. He 

gave me $48 back...the original full price. YAY Happy Birthday to ME!

We hit up Maggianos for dinner. After two appetizers, two salads, two pastas, two meats, two desserts, and wine that floweth plenty, they rolled us out of the restaurant. There is only one other time I have been as full as I was that night, and I it took me several hours to feel right again. 

Post-food coma, we headed to the IMax where we enjoyed The Dark Knight. I loved it the first time I saw it, I loved it the second time I saw it (Jumbo-tron style with the Christian Bale's

head being approximately 14 feet tall at times), and I will love it the next time I see it. Good birthday movie choice. 

At 3am, I finally made it to bed. After 45 facebook messages, 37 text messages, 15 phone calls, balloons, and flowers, I was exhausted, but I know that I am loved.