Celebrate!

Today it was back to the Core, after a long two week break. I think we were all trying to get into the swing of things today, I know I was! Not used to being out the door and ready to take notes at 8:15 in the morning anymore. Hopefully, tomorrow will be better and I won't be rushing in minutes before the professor starts again (Sorry Cattani!)

After class today, my team headed to Chow Bar to celebrate the end of case comp. We had hoped it would be a victory lunch, but we were all happy to be done and could celebrate our A- finish. After catching up and having some Chinese (had to incorporate where we thought Eaton should go!) we concluded our "team meeting".

I headed home where I wrote some emails, brainstormed and decompressed. Charlton and I made quick turkey sandwiches (thankfully our last!) and then headed to school for various election activities. Me to Marketing Club, Kelley Women faculty auction debrief meeting and Kelley Women's presidential elections; Charlton to work on his Asian MBA slate. It wasn't until 10:30 we left the Godfrey Center, giving me just enough time to catch up on my emails, vote and throw my hat into the ring for Kelley Women VP elections. The next few weeks look like they will be interesting!

So tomorrow is the last final push before the end of the semester. That meant this weekend was filled with all the week's readings and some shopping trips. Lots of things are crossed off the to-do list, however, more things than have been crossed off have been added. There is light at the end of the tunnel...December 19th!

Trip in Pictures

Treks

Happy Thanksgiving!

Got back into Bloomington yesterday afternoon after a couple crazy travel days trekking. It's great to be home!

Charlton's dad is here visiting us from Cleveland and to help us celebrate Thanksgiving here in the apartment. This is only the second Thanksgiving away from my family, so it should be interesting to be away from so many of the people I am thankful for. I plan on calling them all today or trying to skype so hopefully it won't be too bad.

We have had an amazing year, full of once in a lifetime experiences and have met some lifelong friends. We are truly blessed and I am thankful for all we have (including that turkey that is ready to go in the oven!)

Happy Turkey Day everyone!

I'm back!

Just walked in and are in the midst of catching up on my emails, mail and getting some snacks. What a whirlwind trip! Good to be home though.

Homeward bound!

After a crazy few days of traveling its time for me to head to Bloomington. I shared a cab with my friend, and got here hours before my flight. They have an earlier flight to Indianapolis and I think it is worth the $50 price tag to get home and spend a little more time with Charlton's dad who is visiting us from Cleveland. I will get to check in a few minutes so hopefully it works out, otherwise I will get to know the La Guardia airport pretty well.

New York, NY

I got into the city a little early, at 10:25, and hoped into a cab. It was awesome to see the city all lit up before me and reminded me a little of SATC with me dressed up in the back. I had no problems getting to the Roosevelt and took a quick shower and climbed straight into bed as we had another big day ahead.

First thing in the morning we headed down the block to find a little something for breakfast as we knew we would be getting treats at our first company visit. I settled on a yogurt parfait and a coffee and was ready to hit the town. Up first, Dylan's Candybar, where Kelley alum Maggy Siegel is the COO. She opened up the store for us and gave us a personal tour of the 3 floors of candy. It was a blast! We even got a sneak peek of the back room where all the inventory is kept and then we headed to the cafe for some treats (I got pumpkin ice cream) and some question and answer time with Maggy. It was a great experience and gave us a little different perspective of retail than Target and Wal-Mart who come to campus.

We had a little free time before our next visit and a few of my classmates and I went to Loehmann's nd then to Feline's. I ended up not getting anything but a proscuitto sandwisch from the Bed Bath and Beyond cafe.

Then it was time to head to Macys.com's offices. We were able to meet with HOUR and the merchandise, planning, creative and IT team. It was a really neat perspective on retail, and was great to see the differences between a brick and motar store and an e-tailer.

When we finished up there we were on our own, I headed back to the hotel with some of my classmates and changed into "something more comfortable" and then headed off to get some dinner. We walked to Serendipity, and were greeted with an hour long wait! We found a cute Italian place across the street and had an AMAZING dinner of pasta and salad. We hustled out of there to make our reservation at Serendipity, and proceeded to gorge ourselves on Frrrozen Hot Chocolate and a "Can't Say No" sundae. Everything was good but we needed at least 2-3 other people to help us eat everything. With full bellies, we headed back to the hotel making sure to look at all the holiday windows at Bloomingdale's before calling it a night

M-I-C-K-E-Y...

The flight to Orlando was great, got lots of reading done and picked up a Martha along the way. I got to ride the Magical Express to Coronado Springs to meet up with my Kelley girls for dinner. I was already smiling ear to ear and we weren't even in the park, I was already that excited!

We got up early on Monday for Magic hours and headed to Animal Kingdom before our meeting with Corporate. It was my first time in that park, and it was awesome, like a cross between our trip to Thailand mixed with the Wild Animal Park. We rode Everest (so much fun!), the Dinosaur ride, and the Kilamanjaro Safari. Then after a quick french toast breakfast we headed back to the hotel to get ready for our meeting.

Dressed in our business casual, we headed to the Maingate offices. There we met with the Parks merchandising team and were welcomed with our own pair of ears. We had a wonderful meeting and were able to learn a lot about the process from sample to production, I also got a few sneak peeks into the collection for next year.

Then it was time for me to head out, grabbed my bags and said goodbye to the girls and headed to the Orlando airport to make my way to New York.

My bags are packed and I am ready to go...

On the first of what seems like many treks. I left Bloomington at 1 and I will be headed to Orlando shortly. I have my first company visit outside of CMA week tomorrow and 2 more scheduled for Tuesday. Wish me luck!

Time to Breathe

Yesterday was the first day I had in awhile where I didn't have anything to do, and was it great! I got coffee with a girlfrind and spent 2 much needed hours catching up. Other than that Addie got a bath and I dusted the apartment. We finished off our lazy day shopping at Sam's Club and getting a fabuluous dinner at Samira before catching up on Project Runway. Its funny how my weekends used to look like this and how much you really take decompressing for granted. If nothing else b-school has made me appreciate these little pauses a lot more.

What is it REALLY like...

to be a marketer? That was the question of the day yesterday. Our CMA day had a panel of 6 recent alums who talked candidly about their jobs and the cultures of their company so we could get a better sense of what we can expect during our internships. Then we had 4 break-out sessions with them to work on some cases that they have had to work on. It was a lot of fun and they ranged from how do we evaluate what is important to the customer nutritionally to how do we set up our planogram. It was nice after being bogged down with our case competition to be reminded why we are here.

We finished up at about 3, I vegged for a bit and then headed to the grocery store to pick up our turkey. Then it was time for my first "Ladies Club" dinner. We went to Cafe Django, an Asian fusion restaurant. It was pretty good and it was fun for all of us to celebrate the holiday.

It's weird not having to go to school today, or not having to do research. I have a feeling today will be filled with a lot of cleaning, packing and working on my exam for CMA. But what an improvement over case comp! Yay for Thanksgiving break!

What happened outside of the breakroom...

Case Comp in Pictures

So after a week of living and breathing buses, hybrid drive trains, and Chinese infrastructure, I am done! My team made it to the second round and ended up 3rd or 4th in our cohort. While, not the win my teammates were hoping for (no team has ever won orientation case comp and then won the 1st year one) we were able to work through the problem well and spend hours and hours together and not kill each other. I thought our idea was fairly innovative and we were able to explain the story well, so while a loss it really wasn't.

And on the personal side, to be able to speak in front of a room of 70+ for 3 and a half minutes with no notes and just rolling with it...is a huge improvement for me. It really is amazing how much I have grown in the last three months.

There was a lot of stuff going on after, I decided to retreat home and watch a little Martha in my pj's (was glad to get out of my suit!) and finally relaxed. I then had a fantastic dinner at Malibu grill with some friends and called it a night...but not before doing some research for today's CMA day at Kroger.

The Countdown Begins

It's almost the end of case comp, my team is waiting in a breakout room for the drawing of our presentation time. I will be presenting in a room like this in just a few hours. We have run through the presentation and Q&A twice more this morning. I am ready to go! Let's go Green 2!

Again?!

We advanced to the next round, we are still waiting to hear when we will present to the execs and our cohort. The slides can't be changed so all I have to do is practice, practice, practice.

I am definitely taking the afternoon and early evening off. It's Charlton's birthday so I am taking him out and a few friends are joining (shh, he doesn't know yet) us for sushi. Should be fun, then it will be back to work!

Round One...FIGHT!

Sorry for the Street Fighter reference, but going into case comp it always feels like you are about to enter the ring. Your judges can be small and mighty like a Chun-Li or they can be big and scary like a Blanka as a judge. We thought we had drawn a Blanca, with our critical thinking professor, but it wasn't as bad as we had anticipated. The team presented well and we fielded the questions with little issue. So now we wait...We have another hour before we find out if we advance to Round 2 tomorrow. *crosses fingers*

Run over by a bus...

After 4 days of camping out in a breakout room at Kelley that's what I feel like. Not that I have over done it, or put in crazy long hours (although today's 12 hour day was the exception, normally we have been doing 8-9 hours a day) I am just done. Ready to put the case behind us and venture out of the breakout rooms. My team has worked really well together, and our second year mentor has been great as he has checked up on us consistently to make sure we weren't killing each other. It's always good to know that someone else wants you to succeed.

We finished up around lunchtime today with getting all of our data in our finished powerpoint, and the rest of the day was practice, practice, practice. My teammate's wife brought us dinner (yummy quiche, thanks!) and we finally left the Godfrey Center at 9:30ish.

When I got home, I was in desperate need of some non-bus time and watched Martha Stewart's pie show. After talking to my brother and finishing the last load of laundry it was time to hop in the shower and blow dry my hair, a girl has to look good for her presentation.

I have to be at school at 7:45 tomorrow, ready to get the first round over with and find out if I can relax on Thursday or if I have to bring my A game again...wish me luck!

This what I call team work! Go green!

What day is it!?

After what seems like an eternity working on case comp, all the days have run together and I can't keep them straight anymore. Charlton said something along the lines of "the Browns are on Monday Night Football tonight" and I swear I must have looked at him like he was crazy, Monday already! Where did the weekend go? We have to be ready to roll with our presentation on Wednesday morning so that means it has to be done tomorrow night before our practice time at 7. eep! I have to finish our entry method slide tonight and then I will most likely spend the bulk of tomorrow working on what I will actually say with my team tomorrow. This has gone by so fast.

In other news, I have finally booked my trip home for Christmas. I am really excited as it will be the first time I will see my sister and her family since August. I am in definite need of some girl time and a few hugs from my niece...especially after case comp!

round and round, round and round, round and round...

Today was another marathon day of working on our case, 8:30-5:45. We got a lot done, and have a direction that may work for us. I did a lot more research when I got home (thank goodness for the Wells Library Staff and their IM tool!)

Going to turn in early tonight, as I think everything is catching up with me. Here’s to some dreams not about buses!

Case Comp, Mock Interviews and Trivia, Oh My!

So the last few days have been pretty uneventful school-wise as we were gearing up for today and the rest of case comp throughout next week. We had the presentation of the case last night and then were sent out to go pull everything together for the presentation Weds.

However, we took the evening off and went the the International Business Society’s Mexican Business Cultural Dinner at El Norteno. It was a great session, very informative, and the food was good.

Then it was time to get to work, at least a little and watch the case brief and do a little preliminary research. Today and the rest of the week will be interesting to say the least.

At least we get to let off a little steam from today with the trivia night being thrown by MBAA, I have a feeling I will need to!

**In other news, we found a stray cat on Tuesday night and brought him so he wouldn’t have to weather the elements. We took him to the shelter yesterday and they were not optimistic about his future. We are both pretty shook up about it, never a good time for that kind of stuff**

My home for 16 hours each week

It’s that time of year where we all reflect on what we are thankful for and appreciate in our lives. In a year that has brought me more changes, adventures and challenges I can think of so many people who have helped me through, and each one of their contributions means more to me than I can say.

One year ago, I was just a girl with big dreams hoping to leave the world of engineering behind for something bigger, something better…something more me. And here I am, a marketing major at the 15th ranked MBA program in the nation, exploring all the opportunities I never thought I could obtain. Giving myself goosebumps just thinking about it!

When ModCloth, posted about their Thanksgiving Thank-A-Thon blog contest I had to post to thank all the people who helped me get here and allow me to live my dream, there isn’t a day that I don’t think of you all!

Here they are in no particular order (and don’t hate me if I left you off, you know I didn’t do it on purpose!):

• Charlton; for pushing me to constantly improve myself and be always be a better version of myself
• My family; for being supportive through application processes, my traveling, watching my pets, helping me pack and dealing with my venting
• My co-workers; for always being positive and being the ones who would dance with me in the halls to celebrate all my little victories
• Elizabeth (the Brownie troop leader I assisted); for being one of my biggest cheerleaders and encouraging me to no end
• Rebecca (my career coach); for making my happiness a priority and helping me realize the power of today
• Selena & Emily (QC’ers); for being my sounding board
• My new Kelley family; for making this easy, having never left my home they made this my new one. They are my bestest friends and I don’t know what I would do without them. (that goes for all the alums too, they truly bend over backwards to help!)

And now that I have seriously made myself teary, time for a little pick me up and some goofy things I am thankful for:

• Splenda
• Coffee Break Mondays
• Addie, even if she makes me get up early to walk her
• Google Reader
• My Le Creuset
• Mad Men
• Casey, because he is the world’s greatest cat
• McDonald’s salads

Although I am sure to people outside of the MBA program, my life everyday looks a lot like Taz tearing through a scene, today seemed to be the epitome of it.

Classes started late for me today, so I dropped Charlton off and grabbed my dry cleaning from NAWMBA so I would be ready for the case comp this week. Then I read and wrote some emails before jumping right into the econ case on Brazil. When my brain couldn’t take in any more information on inflation and interest rates we escaped from 1050 to go play the “beer game” simulation for ops.

Everyone had a role in a 4 stage supply chain of a beer manufacturer. I ended up with the Distributor role, and after 6 simulated weeks thought I was doing fantastically, and then a monster order came in and killed my inventory. I had such a huge backlog by the end of the session I had to actually use a calculator to get my numbers! Although, we didn’t end up in last place so we weaseled out of having to tidy, but as we didn’t win no cash prize for us! And what better way to understand the bullwhip effect than to see it happen in person, over pocket change instead of in the real world when you have customers screaming at you.

I had just enough time for a quick bite to eat before I had 3 informational interviews with second years regarding their internship searches and their roles in Kelley Women. Finally at about 4:45 I got to head home and prep for another informational interview. By the time 7 rolled around I had to unbury myself from all the emails I got over the day and try to get a handle on whats ahead. Still getting there, is it really only Monday?

After my meeting with the SBA director, it was home for a walk with Addie and some more reading. Then at 6ish, I headed off to Scholar’s Inn for the Kelley Women Leadership Info Meeting. They set it up like round tables and all the current executive members sat at their own table and we moved around to learn more information. I had already decided what I planned to run for, but it was great to get some more information and some ideas on what to do going forward. I came home and set up loads of meeting with the chairs below the position, a current MBAA officer and the MBA office to find out more about how the role interfaces with them. Should be helpful in showcasing my interest and allowing me to show how I understand the role and goals for it going forward. It’s going to be a busy, but good week.

Where else do you go when you have a meeting? I think the epitome of “let’s get coffee” is Starbucks, although I didn’t have any coffee! Yesterday afternoon I met with the director of the Student Business Ambassadors, the undergraduate organization I will be mentoring. We had a great meeting, and have some good ideas to improve the organization forward. I am can’t to help them out and make their ideas come to life! I am really looking forward to working with them.

Welcome to Kelley! Saturday was another packed day of activities for our prospies. They had breakfast, panels, lunch with the 1st & 2nd years, more panels and closing dinner with keynote speaker Maggy Siegel.

As I was not hosting any visitors, I spent my morning walking Addie and reading for class. I got a ton done and then headed to campus for the lunch and the 2 last panels with recent Kelley alums. While a lot of the discussion was directed to the prospies, as a current student it was a great reminder of why I love it here and what a wonderful place this is. Also got to get a little bit of the lowdown on studying abroad next year; is Switzerland or France in my future!? A girl can hope!

But the weekend wasn’t all coming up roses…I took a spill down the stairs on the way to lunch and hit a car while trying to take my friend from San Diego to the book store (smooth one!) Will have to see how much the damage comes out to be and how its going to hit my grad student level bank account, ugh! But at least no major bruising from the fall, unless you count my ego.

But to really celebrate the completion of another class…it was time for Women’s Weekend! First up, was a wonderful cocktail party at Tallent. We had a wonderful turnout of second and first years who could mingle with all the great Kelley prospectives. Then it was off to the Bluebird for the highlight of our week, the Faculty Auction! Most of our professors donated events and experiences, ranging from dinner, wine tastings, laser tag, basketball and even 10 hours of cabana boy duties. We had a great turnout and I was able to get in on a couple events: Superbowl party with our future statistic modeling professor, BBQ with one of the accounting professors, dinner with the director of student services and a knitting lesson with my buddy. Can’t wait to collect on all my prizes, will be a great way to celebrate the end of the core!

Although I can’t wait until the spring to watch my fellow first years dominate my Accounting professor and his team of professors at Assembly Hall. Go Class of ‘11!

Because in the CMA we don’t let a Friday go to waste, we had another Academy Day. We had some awesome second years come and mock interview for us, then we broke into teams and practiced some of our CARs (mine need so much work!) Then we got to liven it up a little and discuss holistic and integrated marketing strategies. It was a great discussion and my academy members had some great observations and insights! I love being able to hear from a Brand Manager and people who were in Creative tell me how their companies deconstructed an ad, it provides so much perspective. Today, we evaluated the Ford Fusion and Pedigree dog food. I love Pedigree’s campaign and get teary eyed watching their ads…can we say building brand equity!?

So another final has come and gone. Although, I don’t think I did as well as I would have liked I have pretty much come to terms with it. Sort of a zen approach to the final. No need to work myself up on something I can’t do anything about now. I did study and http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=994694090181350300felt some of the questions I was prepared for and then there were the curve balls…but really there are more pressing matters! Can’t get hung up on Quant anymore, it’s OVER!

Yesterday I had the honor of acting as the Green cohort’s CEO for Lincoln Electric! It was fun to actually get to challenge my classmates and challenge them to think about LE’s potential expansion issues. It wasn’t as easy as one would think, they brought up a lot of great points. I love how much we end up pushing ourselves to be better and evaluate choices differently. Still think I have a long way to go before I will be making choices like this though!

Other than that, yesterday was a pretty straightforward day. Had class until lunch time, did 2+ weeks worth of laundry (eep!), studied for Quant and attended a Women’s Weekend logistics meeting.

Today in a nutshell:

• Class from 8:15 - 12:30
• Lunch of lukewarm tomato soup from the cafe downstairs
• Another session of accounting from 1:00-2:00
• Get home at 3:30
• Have a snack while watching Martha Stewart and reading Smartbrief
• Research the company for my Slam Session
• Read for Quant
• Have a Lean Cuisine at my desk while reading more Quant at 6:00
• Head to my Slam Session at 7:00
• Slam Session 7:30-8:30
• Grocery Shopping 8:45-9:20
• Read for Quant while having some snacks 9:30-10:00
• Research internship opportunities 10:00-present

Don’t feel like I got anything done either! Now its time to hit the sack and try to get a little more sleep after I get in a few more pages of Quant.

Women's Weekend

This weekend is the first ever Kelley Women's Weekend! An opportunity for the current Kelley Women to showcase the school and what makes Kelley special to about 30 prospectives. We have some great alumni visiting and a lot of great sessions planned for the attendees, should be a fantastic event!

This week has been hard for me to get motivated. I just feel really behind, and can’t seem to get that little push to get me though it. I feel like I have major Attention Deficit Disorder, and find it hard to focus on the littlest things. Am I burnt out? Just tired from the conference? Who knows! Just have to dig deep and push through the last day of classes before the Quant final. Wish me luck!

Dream Internship

Posts like this get a fire lit under me, I feel so behind. Hope I can land the “dream” one myself in January and don’t have to grasp for straws in the spring.

Congratulations are in order! The Kelley Case Competition team took home 2nd at NAWMBA, a great way for us to end the conference!

Saturday was full of more great presentations and opportunities to meet other MBA students. And not to mention the case comp, where we got to see our team present their solution to creating a NAWMBA global leadership retreat. They did a fantastic job. Then we all went to the closing ceremony, and then all went our separate ways to celebrate Halloween.

I spent mine in Disneyland with one of my Kelley buddies and then went trick-or-treating at Sephora. Was a great night.

We left really early on Sunday, but I was able to get in a visit with my parents which should tide me over until winter break.

All in all a great experience and a wonderful weekend.

Class coming to life

We have been talking a lot about game theory, pricing and competition in class and this article really hits it on the head. Better yet it discusses companies we have been evaluating in class and to top it off throw in a little econ with the restricted supply. I love seeing how what we learn plays out in real life.

I wish it were that easy! This week marks the start of the real prep outside the classroom to the conference room. I have my first mock interview (on my own tomorrow) and then Academy Slam session on Friday. ugh! Really need to get pumped about this, just hard to focus on me when there is so much other stuff going on.

Today was jam packed with class, emails, CARs, and then review sessions and professional development seminar. Throw in some time working on our Operations simulation and some ad creation and tool analysis of our marketing case and you have my day in a nutshell.

And its only Monday! Gotta work in some studying time, and some more interview prep…Friday can’t get here soon enough