On Confidence

Posted on March 29, 2012 3 Comments

After a triathlon in 2010

As many of you know, I am an avid athlete. These days, I’m mostly a runner, but I also do triathlons.  On Sunday, I had my best 8K ever at Chicago’s Shamrock Shuffle; I finished the course, about five miles, in 45 minutes. That’s a full two minutes faster than last year and seven minutes faster than the first time I did the race in 2008. Pretty exciting!

Now I’m starting to train for my second Olympic distance triathlon, happening in June. I selected a flexible training plan that looked like it would fit well with my work schedule – each sport, two days per week. It’s the same plan I used for last year’s Olympic tri, which I finished in about 3 hours, 17 minutes.

But as I’m working through the plan, I notice that my “base level” of fitness this year is better than it was last year. In fact, my times have been dropping in the past year –  in 2011 I set new “personal records” in every distance I attempted. … I must clarify, none of these times qualify as actually being fast, I’m usually a solid middle-of-the-packer for my runs and a back-of-the-packer for triathlons (my bike and swim times are really slow). And yet, this year I’m not attempting any new distances and I’m not doing any tougher training than I did last year.

Why?  Read more

Share
Category: Life

Posting from the Road

Posted on March 23, 2012 3 Comments

Hi everyone. This week has been a total blogging FAIL. I’ve been at a work conference in beautiful Palm Springs, California (which is most certainly NOT a budget travel destination), and time has been so tight all week that I haven’t been able to do one measly post! I really thought I would have more time, so I didn’t create any articles ahead of the trip. I don’t get back to Chicago until Saturday night and then I have a race on Sunday morning, but after that I promise to put up some new stuff. I’m sorry for the lapse – I just honestly expected more free time than we’ve had so far.

The conference itself, the American Association of Medical College’s professional development conference for communicators (otherwise known as the GIA group) is fabulous; I’m learning a lot and meeting new peers, feeling inspired about my work and passionate about the cause. I’ve said this many times before, but I feel very lucky to have stumbled into a career that I truly love. Ten years after graduating from Bradley University, I still enjoy the vast majority of my working days and for that I’m very grateful. If you’re a student thinking about a career in communications, marketing, or public relations, feel free to post questions about the field here and I’ll be happy to answer them either in the comments or in a future post.

Share
Category: Career

Budget Travel Friday: St. Patty’s Day Edition

Posted on March 16, 2012 2 Comments

Today’s photo inspiration is a bit unusual, because rather than celebrating one destination, I’m posting a few St. Patty’s Day-related photos. The first is from Ireland, which we visited on a budget in 2007. Ireland was rather expensive because the exchange rate to the Euro was terrible when we visited. That said, if you go when the exchange rate is good, there is plenty too see and do and the hotels and B&Bs we stayed in were cheap.

Dingle, Ireland, 2007

Read more

Share
Category: Life
   Tags:

Building a Budget in Five Easy Steps

Posted on March 13, 2012 1 Comment

How to Build a Budget

A colleague recently said, “I signed up for Mint.com to learn how to budget. I linked up all my other accounts. Now what?”

Good question.

Signing up for a free secure personal finance site like Mint.com or Personal Capital is a great first step to build a budget. Once your accounts are synched though, there are a few more steps you need to take in order to build your budget.

  1. Give it a month. The first step in building a budget is tracking, so for about a month, you’ll need to spend like you normally do. Some sites might provide a back log that tells you what you spent the previous months, but I’ve found that the sites don’t automatically put everything in the right categories, like fitness, home, auto, or gifts. You have to go in and update the information every once in a while, which is difficult to do when you haven’t been paying attention the last month.  Read more
Share
Category: Money
   Tags:

Budget Travel Friday: Miami and the Keys

Posted on March 9, 2012 4 Comments

Today’s photo inspiration comes from Miami:

The lighthouse at Key Biscayne

Most people think about clubs, restaurants, and expensive drinks when they think of Miami. I think about the nearby Keys, ocean kayaking (we even kayaked with dolphins once), people watching on South Beach, long walks in warm weather, and yes, fabulous food! Read more

Share
Category: Life
   Tags:
« More Recent — Older posts »

  • Sponsors