My (Kinda) Graduation

Break Week
(April 30- June 6)

Well blogosphere, it's my semester break this week and, sadly, the only 'time off' I'll be getting between school and starting work full-time. Fortunately, I have some exciting things to occupy me.

On Monday I head in to work (my boss has graciously allowed me to swap my Friday of work for Monday so I can participate in my graduation ceremony). The big event on my calendar today: a makeshift National Craisins^® Day in response to National Raisin Day. In an effort to take over the 'holiday' we hand out samples to employees with coupons for them to pass on to friends, initiate a "Make the Swap" contest online and even hand out freshly baked Oatmeal Craisins^® White Chocolate Chunk cookies and milk. Yum!

Besides all the fun activity surrounding the event, I also get some great exposure to new systems including our financial management program and the accruals process for budgeting. I make sure to pay extra close attention because pretty soon I will be tasked with managing the foods budget.

I round out my day with some more deep-dives into Nielsen data and what it tells me about dried cranberry consumption in our key accounts across the United States.

That night, after days of anxiously checking Northeastern's Blackboard system, I am pleased to see that Spring Semester grades are up. Amazingly, I somehow manage to get the highest GPA of my MBA career, and during my most stressful semester at that! Phew! This will have to buffer me for my Summer I term...ugh.

Tuesday I head into work again (it's been kind of nice to work three days in row - it almost feels like I'm full time!). It's a long day but a rewarding one. With my mounting responsibilities and trying to learn all the ropes, my day runs more than 10 hours. Included are some calls with prospective vendors who want to do sampling events for  Craisins^®, editing some Facebook and Twitter posts, reviewing the budget, a new foods product meeting and more! Phew!

As a nice break I get to have lunch with my Ocean Spray 'buddy' in the cafeteria. We catch up on our weekend activities and what's happening in the world of cranberry Foods and Beverage.

After a day of powering through tons of projects, I am happy to say my Tuesday ends with five days of break, free from school and work. I remind myself to savor it since it's the only semblance of a vacation I'm getting before the real world hits.

But, true to form, my grandiose ideas of sleeping in and watching TV all day are quickly brought back to reality. I spend the first day of my 'break' on Wednesday running errands to get ready for my parents arrival and graduation. I go to the doctor, get a haircut, get my nails done and pick up my cap and gown (which involved me entering the Cabot Recreation Center for the first time!)

Waiting to hear my number; it's nice to know that some things never change, regardless of what state you're in.

On Thursday I'm up early to head to the Boston Registry of Motor Vehicles (RMV) to officially surrender my California drivers license and become a Massachusetts state resident. As I sit in the waiting room listening for my number to be called I get a little sad that I'm renouncing my California-ness. While I've lived in other states before, I never officially became a of resident of anywhere except the Golden State. At least I get a new drivers license photo.

After I finish up at the RMV I clean my apartment, stop by CVS for some last minute items and get ready to pick up my Mom and Stepfather from Boston Logan Airport at 2:00 pm.

Mom and Stepfather at Faneuil Hall

After I manage my first drive to the airport in my new ride, my Mom, Stepfather and I somehow manage to make it to the historic Faneuil Hall/Quincy Market area for a late lunch at Union Oyster House. It's supposedly the first restaurant in America (founded in 1826) and my Mom was dying to go after seeing it featured on the Food Network. But, I have to say, while the chowder was good, the rest of our meal was lackluster at best, and the service was pretty poor (even at 3:00 in the afternoon). Oh well, it was fun and we follow it up with a tour around the powerful Holocaust Memorial, Faneuil Hall and Quincy Market before I take them to see my tiny studio home of the past two years, and drop them at their hotel.

I then head to meet my Dad, who flew in a couple of hours earlier. I join him at Lucca Back Bay (not my fave, but it's conveniently located) for drinks at the bar, dinner for him and dessert for me. It was so fun to catch up! I then proceed to show him my new car and my apartment, which has undergone some decorating improvements since he last saw it on moving day September 2010. 

After that I bid my Dad goodnight and hit the hay. I have to be awake to pick Nick up from the airport by 7:00 am tomorrow morning; not to mention it's Graduation day!

Friday is the big day! The day I (kinda) graduate from the Northeastern MBA program. I say 'kinda' because as I know all too well, I still have two classes to complete during Summer I, while working full-time. I am anything but 'done' with the program. Nonetheless, I am a huge fan of formalities, ceremonies and other such fanfare so I'm  going to try my best to pretend away (if only for today).

I start my graduation day very early (like, out of the house at 6:00 am early) so that I can pick Nick up from the airport. I'm so grateful for him to have flown out to Boston just for the weekend to see me walk. After I grab him from Boston Logan (man, having a car makes this process so much easier!) we go home and crash for a couple hours.

At around 10:30am Nick and I head to The Colonnade Hotel, where my Dad is staying, for graduation breakfast at Brasserie Jo with the whole family. I have been wanting to go here for quite some time so I'm happy to have an excuse. Since it's a French restaurant I feel it only fitting to order up some breakfast crepes!

After we wrap up, I head back to the apartment to primp before my graduation ceremony. I have to report to our MBA station outside of Matthews Arena by 2:00 pm.

Hanging out in the graduation tent before entering Matthews Arena

Of course, we really didn't need to get there until probably an hour later but it was still nice to mingle with all the graduates outside of Matthews Arena and say goodbye to many people who are leaving the area for great job opportunities in other states/countries.

The ceremony itself was nice and brief. David Ferriero, the 10th Archivist of the United States, gave our commencement address. The whole process was done before 5:30 pm.

After the ceremony lets out, I participate in some obligatory photos in front of Dodge Hall before heading into the Graduate Business School reception party. It was so fun to introduce my family and boyfriend to everyone who has been so influential during the program and who have helped me so much, career-wise.

It wouldn't be a blog post without some pictures of food!

By 6:30 pm, I bid my Northeastern colleagues adieu and head to my graduation dinner at Sibling Rivalry (my favorite!). I loved being able to share a great restaurant with my family and liked it even more given the fact that it lasted well into the night. 

Saturday I'm up relatively early again. I grab a Dunkin Donuts breakfast with Nick before we meander over to Fenway Park for my first ever Red Sox game! My father was generous enough to buy the whole family tickets to see the Sox play against the Orioles. While the Sox lost, I had an amazing time eating ball park fare,buying an obligatory Red Sox baseball cap and enjoying all of the fans.

Look at that snazzy Sox cap!

After the game, my Mom and Stepdad head over to Harvard University to check it out (though I think Northeastern is FAR more interesting) and I show my Dad my future Fenway apartment.

We then walk back to the Colonnade where I get a lovely graduation gift and see the mini confetti cannons that were intended for my graduation ceremony (that didn't arrive in time). You see, my Dad owns a company that manufactures confetti and confetti cannons for large-scale events like concerts, sporting events, etc. and he was going to shoot them off during my ceremony. Alas, they will have to be reserved for another time.

At around 7:00 pm we head to Newbury Street to meet my Mom and Stepdad at Cafeteria where we spend a good while drinking Sangria and enjoying 'Tray Chic' comfort food.

We then wander over to the Trader Joe's to show my Sepdad (a Trader Joe's employee for the past 40+ years) the smallest store in the country. It was such a blast to see how excited he was to explore the store and chat up all of the employees.

Sunday I get to sleep in. My parents both left early today but said I was off the hook to drive them to the airport. I spend the majority of the day running some errands with Nick, grabbing a movie at the Fenway theater (we saw The Five-Year Engagement) and grab lunch at Temptations Cafe before I'm forced to drive him to the airport. After he leaves I'm left with nothing but homework, homework and more homework for my first week of Summer semester.



*The views expressed in this blog are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Northeastern University, Ocean Spray Cranberries, either entity's staff or affiliates.

The End of Spring Semester

Sixteenth Week of Class
(April 23- 29)

Monday morning I head to campus to *gulp* buy my books for Summer I (I really can't stand to face it yet!), then plug along at my final presentation for Brand & Advertising Management that my team is giving to our client: Henniker Brewing Company. After working independently for the morning, I meet several of my group mates at 2:00 pm to practice, finalize the paper, and edit our PowerPoint presentation. We work right up until the presentation at 7:30 pm. In fact, I have to break away for a minute to grab our guests from the parking structure while the rest of my team keeps editing our slides (talk about cutting it close!).

Fortunately, I think our presentation goes quite well and we are the only team whose company actually attended the presentations. Our client loved our ideas and even gave us some sweet Henniker Brewing branded clocks!

Tuesday I head to Lakeville for the fourth week of work. On my 'To Do' list for today: writing a promotional piece for our Ocean Spray intranet in support of our National Craisins^® Day celebration! It was actually super fun to write (even if it was just a couple of paragraphs) and reminded me of the the good ol' days of reporting for newspapers.

I also get trained on our financial management system as pretty soon I'll be taking over tracking of the foods budget (Yikes!). Fortunately, I get a one-on-one session with our resident expert and I'm starting to feel a little more confident.

The rest of the day is spent knee-deep in Nielsen data pulls and meetings for a new foods product.

After work I head to campus for my final Entrepreneurial Finance class! Tonight, we get our hefty business plans back. After much nervous anticipation, I am thrilled to see an A- scrawled across the back page. I'm actually quite proud of the assignment because I did it completely on my own (well, with the help of some tutors, but still!).

When class lets out at 8:30 pm, a group of students heads across the street to Conor Larkin's for celebratory drinks! Several of the part-time students in our little gathering completed their last class as soon as we stepped out of Entrepreneurial Finance. Many of them have been juggling full-time work, a part-time MBA and family for the past 4+ years! Wow...and I thought I was busy!

Wednesday I get up to run some errands (including some indulgent personal beautification in the form of a manicure) before dragging myself to the library to complete my last deliverable of the semester: a new product development process audit. Let me just say, you know it's been a crazy semester when you and your teammate can't even fit in starting a final paper, 15-pages long, worth 35% of your grade, until three days before it's due. My teammate and I can't even be mad at ourselves because we literally have been running around like mad women since day one. I spend the next 5+ hours locked in Snell Library plugging away at my portion of the paper. I am happy to say that just two days after starting our new product audit, we somehow manage to hit submit on it tonight! I can't believe I'm done! What a semester. Honestly, how did I survive?

Thursday is a glorious day. I sleep in way later than I will admit, run some errands, meet my friend for celebratory and good-bye cupcakes at Crumbs in the Financial District, buy a graduation dress (shouldn't have but I love it!) and work on the blog, all before my last 'class' of the semester. I say 'class' sarcastically because my last New Product Development class is held at Conor Larkins (apparently my new haunt). My friend and I drop by for half an hour and enjoy a plate of nachos with our professor and classmates over beer to wrap up the semester.

Sweet Cheeks BBQ!

After the last class of spring what else is there to do but celebrate with delicious BBQ at Sweet Cheeks! I take my classmate (a Sweet Cheeks virgin) and we indulge in more BBQ pork belly, pulled chicken, broccoli cheddar casserole, baked beans and biscuits than anyone could ask for. What a way to end the semester.

Friday I'm up early to head to work. My day is busy helping to wrap up final touches for Monday's Craisins^® celebration (including finalizing oatmeal Craisins^® chocolate chunk cookies and milk!). I also spend considerable time trying to perfect my large Nielsen data pull to analyze Craisins^® trends. I update the data to incorporate the newest time period available. I also try to analyze trends across more than a dozen different stores that sell our product. It's great practice for me!

I also get my first training at how to code invoices to track against our marketing budgets. I can't believe I'll be in charge of tracking the Craisins^® and sauce budget once I start full time. I, of course, take copious notes and probably ask way too many questions.

With all these numbers, data pulls and more, I don't leave the office until most everyone is already gone.

Extremely necessary...

Saturday morning I get up not for a homework session at the library, but for brunch with a friend (did I mention how happy I am that the semester is over?). Our restaurant of choice is Towne Stove and Spirits. I order up some of the most amazing blackberry scones ever with devonshire cream. Other items for our brunch include the most delectable lemon chiffon pancakes (I'm in love) and some requisite brunch mimosas. Funny how much I enjoyed this restaurant considering I thought it was a sporting goods store for the majority of my MBA program (whoops!).

After brunch my friend and I go window shopping (when was the last time that happened!?). I then follow up a morning of food with coffee with another friend (a former MBA classmate who graduated last year). I haven't seen her in ages so we decide to meet at Trident Booksellers and Cafe. This bookstore actually has a pretty stellar cafe menu, but today iced coffee, coffee cake and catching up are what are on the table for me.

After a couple of hours, I bid my coffee compatriot adieu and meet up with my friend from this morning. Thus commences an evening of On Demand movies, New York Pizza delivery and celebratory vino. Man, I could get used to this whole 'weekends free' thing.

Sunday is down to business - errands wise. I start out by picking up the last of my Summer I textbooks (ugh!), along with some Northeastern University apparel (I'm getting all nostalgic as graduation approaches). I then go grocery shopping, do some laundry and wrap up my evening by cooking a legitimate meal and working on the blog. What a lovely weekend!

*The views expressed in this blog are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Northeastern University, Ocean Spray Cranberries, Inc., either entity's staff, subsidiaries or affiliates.

Marathon Monday and How I Became a True Bostonian

Marathon Monday!

Fifteenth Week of Class
(April 16 - 22)

Monday is a holiday exclusive to Massachusetts: Patriot's Day (also known as Marathon Monday). I love this day off not only because, well, it's a day off, but because the city comes alive with the 25,000 marathon runners making their way from Hopkinton to the finish line in front of the Prudential Center. I simply adore watching the power of human motivation as these runners suffer through 26.2 miles of agony. Standing on the sidelines and watching them is enough of a workout for me.

After I get my fill of these super fit athletes I  head home for a small respite before meeting up with several of my classmates for dinner at Basho Japanese Brasserie in Fenway. It was quite good (particularly the steamed pork buns and shishito peppers) and I really enjoy that I have the time on this Boston holiday to go out and socialize with my classmates (I've been a verifiable recluse the past month or so).

The Ocean Spray truck was at work today!

Tuesday marks my third week at work! I spend the day continuing my research on different types of printing methods for some of our Craisins® packaging. Who would have thought that my new job at Ocean Spray Cranberries would make me an expert on the differences between Roto Gravure and HD Flexo printing processes?

Further along my adventures in printing technology I begin looking at the cost differences of the two methods and how each measures up in regards to Craisins^® packaging. I even get to meet some new people in procurement to discuss the options and look over tons of printing samples (fun!). 

After work I head to Entrepreneurial Finance. Fortunately, there are no more assignments due for the rest of the semester, so I just enjoy our class discussion while nibbling on Ocean Spray's new Cherry Juice Infused Craisins® with my classmates.

When I get home, I start the final edit of our Six Flags innovation paper (you might recall that our presentation was last week, but the paper is due tomorrow). The task, which I anticipated might take an hour, ended up taking triple that! Ugh! It's quite late by the time I pass it along to the rest of my group and then hit the hay.

Wednesday I'm up early for my 9:30 am meeting with the Director of Enterprise Solutions and Delivery for Northeastern University. Even though my last Mastering Business Intelligence class was on Saturday my final field report on Northeastern's IT system is due tomorrow. Fortunately, this session with the Director is actually quite fun! I actually get to go inside the Christian Science Center tower, up to the 23rd floor where Northeastern has offices. Not only is the meeting super helpful for my assignment, and the Director very generous with his time, but the view from his office is stunning!

After the session, I head right to campus to finish up my edits on the field assignment while it's all still fresh in my mind. Then, it's off to Reprographics to print and bind the final version of our Six Flags innovation paper (coming in at a whopping 30+ pages!).  After I have the sucker in my possession I head to to my final Innovation and Enterprise Growth class where I watch the last three groups present their innovation portfolios for companies such as The Ritz Carlton Hotel and Research in Motion.

When class lets out it's right to Snell Library to get cranking on my portion  of our Brand & Advertising project for Henniker Brewing Company. I'm meeting my group at 6:30 pm tonight for a powerhouse working session but need to fine tune my sections beforehand.

Once I meet with my team, I'm already tired, but alas, we spend another three hours (until 9:30 pm) finalizing the paper.

Thursday is a day dedicated to my Brand & Advertising final project. I take over a table in the library with one of my teammates from early morning until our New Product Development class at 5:20 pm that night. We are busy all day designing a mock Facebook page, Twitter account, logos, tap handles and more. I definitely make use of my Adobe InDesign talents today! In fact, I only take a couple of breaks from the project to work on my case readings for New Product Development and for a meeting with the Director of Program and Student Services of the Graduate College of Business.

My meeting with the Director was a last-ditch effort to try and petition for a Summer II class to count towards my Marketing concentration. You see, with work starting full time in just a couple of weeks, and two classes left in my MBA program, I was trying to spread out my course load across  both summer terms, so I would only have to take one at a time. Alas, the meeting does not go well and I am left with no other choice than to take a full course load during Summer I (class Monday through Thursday!), while working full time and commuting two hours a day.


I'm not going to lie, when I heard the final decision I was so upset I just tried not to cry in front of the Director. I was so overwhelmed and exhausted from the semester that I just didn't know what to do. I left the office only to run into some staff from admissions and, without even meaning to, just started to tear up in front of them. I just don't know how much more work I can take at this point.

With the stress of a full course load and full-time work weighing on my shoulders (not to mention the financial implications of paying for another class with such short notice and telling my new boss about my change of plans) I have to head right back into the lion's den and work on my Brand & Advertising project for the next several hours and still go to class tonight. I also resign and sign up for my second summer course: Marketing in the Service Sector, and send the professor an e-mail informing him of my situation (I already have to miss the second class for a work event). I guess on the bright side, I will now be graduating at the end of June, instead of August (hey, I gotta grasp onto something positive).

This view during lunch is exactly what I needed to de-stress

Friday is another day at the bog (well, near the bog). On the itinerary for today? I continue to work on my large Nielsen data pull for Craisins® research, attend some exciting new product meetings, and get my very first 1:1 session for work. You see, Ocean Spray has this great on-boarding process for new employees which includes more than a dozen one-on-one meetings with key staff across several different departments. Today I get to meet with the Director of Global Insights. The meeting is super informative and the Director gives me a lovely overview of her department and how my role will interact with Global Insights.

I guess this makes me an official Bostonian

After this long week I am happy to join my friend after work at Flour Bakery in the South End. I even find a parking spot right in front of the cafe! We spend the next hour or so catching up and indulging in sweets (OK, maybe it was just me that ate a massive cupcake).

I offer to drive my friend home in my new ride but as we approach my car and its 'primo' parking spot what do I find? A parking ticket! I have never gotten a ticket in my life and now, the first time I park on the street in Boston, I get that awful orange piece of paper. It's all I can do to laugh at my continued bad luck this week.

After dropping off my friend I rush home to clean up before Nick arrives for the weekend.

Saturday morning Nick and I get up for brunch at The Breakfast Club in Allston. It's quite cute with an 80s theme and my shaved sirloin eggs Benedict with spicy hollandaise is just what I needed. We even snag complimentary coffee mugs in honor of the restaurant's 10th anniversary.

After we get our fill of breakfast goodies, Nick and I head to my new apartment in Fenway for a tour. I arranged to be let in so Nick and I can take some measurements for furniture, etc. Lucky for us, the current tenant had done the same thing and remembered many of the dimensions off the top of his head.

The apartment visit is followed  by an afternoon showing of The Hunger Games and then dinner and drinks at recently-opened Yard House in Fenway. I was pleasantly surprised with the drink selection (more than 130 beers on tap!) and the variety of food at the restaurant. I order up a trio of tacos ranging from Korean BBQ beef to Baja Fish. Yummy!

Duck Confit Hash n' Eggs at Stella

Sunday it's time for another brunch outing; this time to Stella in the South End. I must say, for all its hype, I was a bit underwhelmed with their duck confit hash n' eggs. Nonetheless, I enjoy my last meal with the BF before he heads back to Montreal and I head back to my books.


*The views expressed in this blog are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Northeastern University, Ocean Spray Cranberries, either entity's staff or affiliates.