Muzzys Take Manhattan

When I made my list of things I wanted to accomplish in the next year, traveling to new and old places made it to the top. I love to travel and I have many friends in many fun places so I really wanted to take advantage of their hospitality.

I started the year off by visiting Phil in San Francisco, a new city with an old friend. I had a fabulous time in the city and visiting wine country. I decided this year I wanted to visit both coasts so when cousin Lucy invited the Muzzy cousins to stay at her Manhattan apartment over the summer, I couldn’t wait to make the trip. Unfortunately the Muzzy cousin trip turned into Niki and the Maryland sisters, but that wouldn’t stop us from having a good time.

Saturday we saw much of the city by foot. We love to walk, so we did. I have no idea how far we walked, but I do know that we spent five to six hours walking that day. We only stopped walking to sit down and paddle kayaks on the Hudson River. What an incredible way to spend the beautiful day.

That night we enjoyed great food, great drinks and great friends (both Lucy’s and mine!). We tasted delicious pizza at Number 28 and enjoyed the view from two different rooftop bars. I especially enjoyed the time Lucy, Rachel and I spent preparing for our big night out. It reminded me of college the way we kept changing dresses and shoes and purses until we came up with the perfect trio of outfits. I loved the girl time and we ended with a stunning result:
















I made it my mission to not only spend as much time as possible catching up with my cousins and seeing the city, but to also see as many college friends as possible. And I think I did pretty well. I celebrated Jessica’s birthday dinner with her Saturday night.






Sunday afternoon I went to brunch with Annie and Kim and then we walked around Central Park.








Sunday night Hannah, Steve and I stuffed ourselves with sushi.










Monday morning I met Jessica again for breakfast.










And then I met Adam for lunch and cupcake Monday afternoon.










I really appreciated being able to catch up with so many friends from Northwestern. I loved my years at NU and spending time with those friends takes me back to those great times. Unfortunately, I made lots of close friends over my tenure at Northwestern. This made it very difficult for me to keep up with everyone and even more difficult to choose who I wanted to keep contact with. I really wanted to keep track of everyone (thank goodness for Facebook!), but living in South Dakota made that so difficult. Now that I’m back in Chicago I feel so much more connected to my college years and college friends. It does help that I have college friends right here in the city!

I also appreciated the opportunity to spend time with my cousins Lucy and Rachel. Because they lived in Maryland and I lived in Minnesota, growing up we only saw each other at large family gatherings and never had much time to talk to each other. Turns out we have a lot in common and I’m glad we were able to finally connect after all these years. As much as I wanted all of the cousins to make the trip, in the end I was glad it was just the three of us.

Traveling to new places, meeting new people and reconnecting with old friends have all helped me focus in on what I want out of life and what path I want to take. The more I do it, the more I realize just how important it is. I can't wait to take the next trip! Vegas here I come.

I did it!

I did it, I really did it. After 15 months of searching and planning and writing and gambling, I finally achieved my dream: a full-time job and an apartment in the city.

I decided in June of 2008 that living in small-town South Dakota just wasn’t cutting it for me anymore. I enjoyed small town life, but I felt like my life was missing something. So I started the job search, had a few interviews and finally accepted an internship.

I know I was a little crazy to leave a nice full-time job that I enjoyed for a temporary internship. But after spending nearly a year looking for a job and not having much luck, I was ready to give it a shot. Now I feel like I won the jackpot!

You see, it turns out, I LOVE working in public relations and especially love the firm atmosphere. I enjoy working with the media, I enjoy getting paid to spend one to three hours reading the news every day and I love seeing a story that I pitched show up in the news (which happens quite often). I’m excited to grow my skills and some day work directly with the clients and I can’t wait to learn more about the business side of PR. I want to know how to find new business, win new business and then develop a communication strategy for the new business, as well as learn how to keep current clients happy.

I feel extremely lucky that I’m going to be able to do that at Hill & Knowlton and even luckier to know that in four short months I developed enough contacts in the Chicago public relations world to have the opportunity to interview at two other firms. At this point in my career, I know my current position of assistant account executive on the H&K public affairs team is the best one for me.

Now that I have a full-time job with benefits and a steady paycheck, I can complete the last piece of the city-life puzzle: move into the city! And I think I won the jackpot in living arrangements, too.

I am a social person and really enjoy living with my family in the suburbs because I’m always in the middle of the action. I decided that living with roommates would be a better fit for me than living alone, but I really didn’t want to find a roommate on Craig’s list. Again, lady luck was on my side and one of my coworkers told me about three people who were looking for a fourth roommate.

They have a beautiful four-bedroom apartment in Lincoln Park (my neighborhood of choice), just steps from the Fullerton el stop (super convenient commute!). The apartment has hard wood floors, 10-foot ceilings, central air, dishwasher and in unit washer/dryer. And, the roommates are super sweet and looking for someone to be part of their “family.” I couldn’t ask for a better scenario and it turned out, I met all their criteria, too!

So now I’m in transition, trying to figure out when and how to move my stuff into my new apartment. I’m also still in shock. I don’t have to look for a job anymore. I don’t have to look for an apartment anymore. I can just relax and enjoy living my dream that I’ve been working towards for 15 long months. And as cheesy as that may sound, that thought always makes me smile.