Juno, my favorite non-blizzard

As part of a committee I sit on in the media & advertising industry, I was scheduled on a Sunday evening flight to New York for a 36-hour trip to attend meetings at Time Warner Center in Columbus Circle. It’s no surprise that I love New York City, and was not only excited to travel there but honored that my job was financing my trip out there. This insinuated and required that I would add value to the meetings in-person and share a report afterward as part of my client service role.

Seeing friends I know out there would only be an added bonus. Traveling on business can be a grueling experience where you have little control over your schedule, flights and time – but I had faith that in the off-hours I could stay awake an extra hour or two to grab a meal with friends. 

Sunday morning, an influx of travel alerts about Winter Storm Juno flooded the news, terrifying the Northeast and cancelling trips everywhere. While I was walking out the door with packed bags Sunday morning, my department head texted and emailed me to consider the risks and potential weather delays of traveling. A tough decision to make, I decided to move forward – vigorously threw three extra outfits and extra contacts in my bag and took an Uber to O’Hare.

Immediately after arriving, Tuesday’s agenda was cancelled, and shortly after – so was my flight. Thankfully, the trip’s purpose of Monday’s session remained true so there was reason for me to be there, but the next few days were not in my control. I could work remotely on Tuesday, and would fly out eventually. Flights opened during the Monday session, and with the most amazing teamwork exhibited, a colleague re-booked my flight for the first available flight on Wednesday.

View of NYC from my hotel, Le Parker Meridien

The storm itself was underwhelming. Only about six inches of snow fell in Manhattan, and I would go as far as to say NYC public transit shut down prematurely (but cautiously). While I was working remotely, so were my friends since their offices shut down - so we got to enjoy our first snow day of adulthood together! What a week it was, and now I can't wait to go back. 

Museum free days

One of my 2015 goals is to hit up more of Chicago's museums. While summer was focused on festivals and fall still allows for outdoor activities, it's the perfect time of year to explore indoor locations and venture over places that aren't walkable in your neighborhood.

In an immediate effort to make progress, some friends and I went to the Adler Planetarium on MLK Day. I missed this field trip as a child and had never been there, so it was fun to check the exhibits out and specifically - learn about the planets. Adler was very kid-friendly and the deep information was difficult to focus on, but I'm happy I went once. I even got to try on an Oculus Rift headset!

Me, Blaine, Morgan, Harriet and Stacey at the Adler

On Tuesdays, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Streeterville is free for Illinois residents so that was my next stop. Meredith, Hannah and I visited after work to explore its present exhibits. Anne Collier's was one of the most detailed, who is an artist known for a variety of trends in her work. This ranged from colored post-it note, to cameras, to records and then to body parts.

One of Anne Collier's pieces at the MCA

I'm looking forward to exploring the Museum of Science & Industry and Museum of Mexican Art next! 

Birthdays are the best

Even companies have entered the birthday marketing game - which I noticed when waking up to three emails wishing me a Happy Birthday none of whom are actual people!

Birthdays in the corporate world aren't boring, after all! My friends at work on both of my teams threw a surprise party with champagne, Sweet Mandy B's cupcakes, hummus + chips, bricks of cheese and baklava!

Who knew that candles with colored flames are a thing? 

Request your LinkedIn Archive

Still unbeknownst to how this happened, I got on the distribution list for iBlog magazine and read through it on the train this past week.

The most valuable piece I came across in this month's issue focused on the importance of social networking and networking online. The article shared that LinkedIn lets you request an archive of your data in Excel form, and guarantees to send you this information within 72 hours of requesting it.

Here's how:
1. Go to your Privacy & Settings section (on the far right under the Account/Settings link)
2. Click on the Account tab not he bottom left side
3. Click on the "Request an archive of your data" link your network.

I tested it out and within 24 hours, received a .zip file of nearly 12 .csv Excel files with various groupings of data: all of my connections, email addresses, skills, search queries, ads I've clicked on, my ad targeting profile and more. It can't hurt to have an Excel file of all your LinkedIn contacts. Think of all the filtering and pivoting you can do by company, school and more! (Nerd alert). Overall, nothing was incredible or fascinating about the archive, but it helps me feel like I own the information I share eon the Internet. Check yours out!

December quotes

Last quote list of 2014! Enjoy. 

"And you're back just in time for the holiday party!" -Meredith, on someone coming back to the company

"Actually, I'm going to Mexico because...white girl problems." -Jake

"And they told me we had to re-submit the PDF application because it was submitted on a Mac. It's the INTERNET people." -Jake, on technical issues 

“I actually love sitting around an airport waiting to fly.” -Meredith

“We just went to Trader Joe’s, hashtag New York - the groceries are being delivered between 8 pm and midnight so we might not even be able to make cookies tonight.” -Becca, on #NewYorkproblems 

“My husband’s cat is named Batman and yes, she is a girl.” -Sarah

“Go out, hang out, know where the Uber app is on your phone, don’t lose your phone.” -our CEO at the holiday party 

“He asked for my last name so clearly his Facebook stalking skills are not up to par.” -Stacey

#OnlyinAdvertising quote of the day: “Why is your desk chair different than everyone else’s” “Because I spilled wine on mine, so I stole one from a conference room”  -Kathryn’s coworker

“Maybe we'll get free food at the Greek diner since the guy has a crush on you.” -Kira

“Except he's five ft tall and has grandchildren.” -Thea Stephanie

“They can't afford to live but they can have a baby.” -Thea Stephanie, on people in her neighborhood 

“The Lindbergh trial was held here- that's the only notable thing about this town.” -Thea Stephanie, on Flemington

“Who goes on a date on a Thursday night? It's a school night!” -Thea Stephanie

“Who uses Kelvin?” -Alex, Kathryn and Maria on Instagram filters

“I've been trying to limit my Instagram following, 783 is too many.” -Kathryn

“I just don't want a dog. Until the kids are of an age where they can walk the dog.” -Laura

“The only good thing about flying with you is you can watch my bags while I go to the bathroom.” -Maria

"Is that your sister or girlfriend? -Woman at a bar
"It’s East Tennessee it’s either one or both." -Andrew

"And dating is not fun, especially when you're on your third Kuma's burger." -on dating around

“Space Jam! I only have this on VHS!” -George, on his white elephant gift 

“Other people that are actually working on the 23^rd - do you have a family? Do they love you?” -Jon