HELLO 2015

It’s a pretty calm New Year’s Eve in the Huber/Roush house. The Boy is working on his interview prep and I’m working on the blog. Our plan is to be in bed by 9pm since we have to be up and on the road by 4am tomorrow – party animals!

Throughout the year, I felt like this day would never get here. Now that it’s December 31^st, I feel like this year has flown by, especially these last two weeks.

I graduated from Duquesne University with my MBA this month and I consider that one of my biggest accomplishments for 2014 (and pretty much ever so far!). I had lots of visitors in Pittsburgh that weekend to help me celebrate. I can’t even begin to describe the feeling of walking across that stage and getting my diploma! I was SO happy. Grad school is hard and figuring out how to wear that graduation hood on is even harder! But I am so glad I did it. I’m looking forward to the opportunities that lie ahead and can’t wait to use all of the skills and knowledge I gained over the past two years.

 On December 30^th, I turned the big 2-7. I think this means that I am officially in my late 20s now (or my late 80s according to my New Year’s Eve plans). 26 was a good year, but I’m really looking forward to 27. There are a few things I want to accomplish in 2015. It seems like a good year to get married, run a marathon, move a few times…and maybe a few other things in between!

 I hope everybody had an exciting (and safe) New Year’s Eve. 

4 Down, 2 To Go

April was as busy, stressful month for us…especially the last two weeks.

For the girl à It was the end of the hardest semester of the MBA program yet. This semester was rough. I think part of it was that I really didn’t enjoy any of my classes. So far, I’ve had interesting classes with excellent professors. I think I picked the three worst classes and took them all in the same semester. Two of the classes were required and one was an elective. The fact that I wasn’t interested in the material left me with zero motivation when it came to studying on the weekends. I had one final project and two final exams and I was a happy girl when I walked out of that last exam last Tuesday.

Instagram @kimberlymhuber

Speaking of the boy à Justin defended his dissertation proposal on the 23^rd. This is a crazy important step in his dissertation process. I’m not going to pretend to completely understand it, but basically he had two hours to get in front of his dissertation committee and explain what he is studying. He had to explain all three of his papers, why his research questions are significant, and how he plans to answer those questions. He spent a lot of late nights in the office working on it and even had to pull a few all-nighters. He presented for two hours…and he passed! He is now officially, officially ABD :)

With everything going on, we stayed in our separate worlds for the entire month of April (except for Easter Weekend). Justin made the trek to Pittsburgh after my last final and we celebrated with a run, pizza, and beer…three of my favorite things! We did a 5 mile loop of downtown right after work and then headed straight to Gennaros for a deep dish pizza.

The summer semester doesn’t start for me until May 12^th. I have enjoyed every free minute and am not not ready to start back on Monday!

Who else is taking classes over the summer?

What’s your quick fix for when you’re feeling stressed out?

New Year, Same Goals

I've written about goals in the past: fitness goals, educational goals, blogging goals, and New Year’s resolutions. Since it’s January, I figured there is no better time to talk about some of my goals for 2014. As I was thinking about it this morning, I realized that my goals haven’t really changed from last year. A lot of them are long-term goals that are continuing into 2014. The good thing is that I can look back and see the process from where I was in January of 2013. I feel like I’m one step closer on my journey to accomplish all of my goals. Here are some of the goals & milestones I’m working on this year:

Career: I once had a mentor who told me you should never do the same thing for more than two years. I've been in the same role at my company since February 2011. We are quickly approaching the three year mark, but I’m cutting myself some slack since during that three year period, I transferred to our Pittsburgh office (which was definitely a change!). I've been talking to my boss about where I want to focus on my career and I’m hoping that I can make some changes in 2014. It’s time for a new project, a new challenge, and a new opportunity.

Education: I just started semester 4 of 6 in the MBA program at Duquesne University. I’m on track to graduate this December and my goal is to finish strong. “Christmas Break” (can you call it that if you still have to work 5 days a week?) could not have come at a better time. I was feeling a bit burnt out at the end of last semester, but felt refreshed when classes started last week. One of my goals for education this year is to find a better balance of school work, work, and a personal life…I really struggled with this one last year, so send me some helpful hints!

Health: I am a pretty healthy person in general, but there are definitely some areas I can work on. Eating healthy is the biggest area where there is room for improvement. My goals for 2014 are to shop healthier, cook more, and stop snacking as much in the evening (or maybe just to snack healthier in the evening), and drink more water. I started using MyFitnessPal.com to log everything I’m eating. It's awesome because I can access my log from the computer, my phone, and my iPad to keep track during the day. It has definitely been eye opening these last two weeks!

Fitness: Continuing on from eating healthy is the fitness goal. Moving to Pittsburgh and starting grad school put a huge damper on my running in 2013. This year, I've already signed up for a 10K and a half marathon in the Spring. Knowing what my work/school schedule looks like, I had to set a realistic plan of running three days a week. It’s tough reminding myself that I’m training not to PR these races, but to keep myself in shape slowly build back up to where I was at in 2012.

A couple that sweats together........eats lots of FroYo together

Those are just a few of the big ones for this year. I’m pretty excited to see what all this year brings. 

What are your goals for 2014?

Back At It

This week marked the start of the Fall Semester and for some crazy reason I decided to take 3 classes again (actually, it’s not a crazy reason – I want to graduate ASAP!). I survived taking 3 classes in the summer, but that was just 8 weeks. Luckily, this is the last semester I have to take 3 classes…only 13 weeks to go.

I’m really excited about this semester. What am I taking? Well, I’m glad you asked!  

Marketing Management

Did someone say marketing plans? I do this for a living…if I fail the class, I’m in trouble :)

Consumer Behavior

Individual consumer? I shop all. of. the. time. I wonder if we can get extra credit for shopping? That would be a really good excuse to shop every day now through December…

Public Affairs Management

I don't have a witty comment for this one...help me out people!

I have a few goals for Fall Semester, outside of the classroom.

The first goal is to keep up with my workouts. Since I started grad school in January, it’s been a struggle to fit in runs between work, class, and sleep. This semester I have a plan. It’s in writing – in pen, even – so I have to stick to it. I only have class 3 days a week, which means I should definitely be running or doing some workout on the other 4 days. I’ll do my best to post recaps on the blog (see goal 2) so that you all can keep me accountable!

The second goal is to keep up with the blog. I barely blogged at all during the spring and summer semesters. I’m going to blame it on the whole “move to a new city, attempt to survive 14 hour work/class days” thing. Blogging is a good outlet/stress reliever for me so I am going to try to make time to write during the week.

The third goal is to keep my apartment from looking like it is constantly in battle with a tornado. Last semester it was shoes, clothes, books, papers EVERYWHERE. This is the least likely of the three goals that I will actually achieve because, let’s be honest, if I have to pick, running and blogging trump cleaning any day. 

Now, for all of my readers: YOUR GOAL is to help meet achieve all of my goals! Hold me responsible when I skip workouts, calm me down when I get stressed out, and remind me to do laundry every once in a while....seriously...that last one is important!

Any readers out there working on their MBA or other graduate degree?

What's your best tip for staying organized?