Truth one: I’ve always been a big bow kinda girl. 

I try my very hardest to keep a smile on my face throughout the day, and I guess you could say my “big bow” past has a little to do with that. From middle school through my freshman year of college, I spent my evenings (and Saturdays and Sunday afternoons) being tossed around and knocking out countless triple toe-backs (thanks for that Jamie). Truth be told, I didn’t even own a t-shirt until I got to college. Cheerleading seems to be the perfect metaphor of who I still am today: determined to brighten those around me and a little stubborn when it comes to sticking the landing.

Truth two: I wanted to be a fashion designer. 

As a child, I made my own barbie clothes. I was determined to head to The Parsons New School for Design in NYC and live out my days in a magazine. While I’m certainly far from that aspiration today, I’m still a big fan of anything DIY-able. You’re certain to find my Dad and I in the garage designing something on the weekends. My most recent interest involves anything where I can get my hands on learning how to use a saw.

Truth three: I’m my family’s number one fan.

I’m the oldest of four and couldn’t be more proud of it. I’m so thankful to be surrounded by two wonderful parents, three fantastic siblings and cousins that I can’t even begin to count on two hands (my Dad is one of five children and my Mom is one of seven). The memories you make with the people with whom you share DNA simply cannot be put into words. Experiences like skydiving for the first time with a cousin from Colorado, simply because a “family tradition” of the exercise was started the morning of another’s wedding, become more than just memories and I am beyond blessed to have that.

Truth four: I can’t go to sleep without matching pajamas. 

I have this irrational (or maybe terribly rational) fear that if something were to happen during the night and I had to run outside, I would hate for anyone to catch me in hideous pajamas. It’s silly and slightly embarrassing. There’s nothing more to it than that.

Truth five: There is no better date night than movie night. 

I’m certain my Mom passed along this one to me, but I don’t think I’ve ever met a movie night I didn’t like. Between my family and boyfriend, I make it to the theater at least three times a months and movie theater popcorn + Sour Patch Kids are always worth the splurge. It doesn’t stop there either. I still buy DVDs and if it’s raining and a weekend, my sister and I are probably watching Sweet Home Alabama. TV movies always seem like some special treat that can’t be planned, and the commercials are just part of the fun to get things done in between.

So there you have it, thanks Lauren for inviting me to participate in this one. And now, to pass the challenge along to a few of my favorites: Jessica, Drew, Kelly and Abby, you’re up next.

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Lessons from 4th Graders

Whether you are leading to inspire, leading to drive action, or leading to drive people crazy, well, that’s the part you control.

Chick-fil-A’s annual leadership conference, Leadercast is hands down one of my favorite annual events. As I wasn’t able to attend this year, I found myself eagerly following along via Twitter. The Tweets alone shared a powerful message: Simply Lead. Simply Lead was the theme for this year’s event, and the funny thing is, each time I read the tagline, I found myself reading it as “Lead Simply,” a small tweak, but one that I couldn’t help but stop to think about a little further.

I tweeted my little conundrum and received this in reply from a colleague.

I think he hit the nail on the head and lead to even more thoughts rolling around in my head.

 Simply Lead.

A recent conversation with another colleague of mine lead to a conversation around leadership, roles and the growth for the future. As we discussed paths, she shared with me sentiments that I’m not sure I’d ever really, truly accepted: you are leading right now. There will always be someone watching, a conversation somewhere taking place and an opportunity unfolding, it is how you define yourself in those small moments that build leadership skills. In a nutshell, if you want to hold the keys to becoming a leader in your organization: simply lead.

 Lead Simply. 

To simply lead is only part of the equation. If taking the reigns and helping to calm the chaos is the starting line, defining the route to the finish must be the next 26.2 miles. Leadership is, for a lack of a better word, leading me to two things: humility and patience. Humility is the action required to take a step back and serve those around us.  If we expect to better ourselves, we must first tend to the needs of others. As for patience, success and triumph aren’t a matter of winning the lottery, they are the result of dedication, hard work and the flexibility to alter as we go. If we expect to lead simply, we cannot expect the journey to follow the straight line of a guidebook or some pre-determined path up the corporate ladder. Becoming a leader is a team effort in order for each of us to become successful. In other words, it’s going to take a village.

It’s quite funny how a day long leadership conference can be boiled down into two words and leave such a stunning impact. I think those guys are on to something.

*Disclaimer: While Chick-fil-A is a client of mine, all thoughts and opinions in this post are my own. However, I am just as flattered and enamored by those chicken guys outside of the office each and every day.

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Connected, but alone Leading by Following The Pilgrims and the Romanians

Last week, on an otherwise bea-u-ti-ful run through Central Park during a quick business trip to NYC, it hit me, the dreaded, often whispered about pain just to the side of the kneecap, also known as runner’s knee. Until this point, my running career has been largely injury free. I’ve learned how to better take care of my body, train properly and as a result i’ve made it hundreds of miles without too many setbacks.

How could one *not* want to run here?

Then, around mile two, as I floated past Strawberry Fields, someone took a sledgehammer to the outside of my knee, and that all too well known searing pain found its way up my leg. Runner’s knee had finally caught up with me and reared its ugly head.

The cure? (thanks to futile Google searches in hopes of some forgotten treatment), ice. And ibuprofen. And REST. Oh the rest, we’re just not quite on the same page, rest and I.

The good news? Another likely culprit of this little setback is a lack of strength training. While I’d like to tell you that my bottom half is rock solid muscle, it’s not, running does many things for me, and building the right types of muscle is just not one of them. I’ve known for some time that I should be spending more time strengthening my hips, quads and hamstrings, and now I have the perfect excuse.

If an injury is the excuse, The Nike Training Club app is the solution. I’m not much of a gym fan, so in-living room workouts work well for me. The app provides some fantastic workouts for as few as 15 minutes, all targeted to various body parts and brought to you by Nike athletes. Combine this with AirPlay over the Apple TV and it’s almost as if I have a personal trainer in the room with me.

Here are a few of my favorite low-impact exercises so far (all courteous of the ever so lovely Gabby Douglas, who can also be found within the app):

Side planks with leg lifts:

Side leg circles: 

Straight leg flutters:

So there you have it,  this is the look of my next week and beyond. With a little help from Gabby and others, I’m hoping to be back outside in no time. In the meantime, I’ll be here with my phone and a bag a frozen peas on my leg.

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Becoming a Hill Seeker Thinking of Boston Running Lessons: Balancing Passion with Not-So-Common Sense

The last three years have taken me on a journey to learn to balance, given me more opportunities to step up to the plate at work than I could have ever imagined and have quickly proven that as I may have thought on that day three years ago, life does not end after graduation. While three years isn’t quite a life changing milestone, major life event or whatnot, I’m simply going to stick to the pattern I’ve made out of the last few years (you can read more on that here and here), and share what’s changed in the last 1,095 days.

Here are a few tid-bits I’ve picked up in my ageless 24-year old wisdom:

 1. Own technology, don’t let it own you.

How crazy is it to think that just three years ago most of us didn’t even own a smartphone? I myself didn’t make that leap until summer after I graduated college. It’s difficult to even imagine that during my four years in school I not only didn’t have a tiny little computer in my pocket, but I also didn’t even take one in my backpack. I left my laptop at home and took notebooks full of scratch. To think, I would go a WHOLE DAY without checking email, Facebook or Twitter and that was completely normal? Don’t even get me started on what it would be like in college pre-computer days though, that might just blow my mind.

The class of 2017 (yes, that’s a thing now) doesn’t know a world without smartphones. So here’s my challenge to you: control it. Yes, be sure to Instagram the leaves as they change on North Campus come October, but be sure to sit down under an actual Oak tree and enjoy them as well.

 2. Own a blazer

And other nice things. I’m the queen of bargain hunting when it comes to clothes. It wasn’t until my 24th birthday that I spent more than $50 on a single piece of clothing (and I still cringed). But if there is one thing my mother (and work) has taught me, it is that you can’t have too many great staple items in your closet. This might seem trivial, but the old adage of “dress the part” does ring true.

Working at a relatively laid back agency, there is no official “dress code,” but don’t let that fool you. I can assure you, your boss isn’t wearing mini skirts better fit for a night downtown. My rule: if you would have been called out for wearing it in high school, or wouldn’t be seen wearing it in church, it goes back in the closet.

 3. Put effort into defining your own path

Yes, you are in your twenties. No you will not have the next five years figured out, but if you don’t at least start to think about them, don’t count on someone else to do it for you. I’m a big believer in doing what makes you happy, but it’s also important to realize there may be some bumps in getting there. Simple hand written to-do lists are my thing (everyone has their own method), keep the day-to-day tasks listed, but also to make sure at least a portion of that is going to something larger than a deliverable.

Have you explored new ways to display that powerpoint slide you’ve created six times (slideshare is my BFF)? Have you taken a look at what your client’s competitors are up to this week? Have you asked someone who doesn’t work on your business day-to-day to take a look at your work lately? Seek opportunities to grow and improve, don’t expect them to land on your desk with a pretty ribbon wrapped around them.

1,095 days in, the real world isn’t nearly as daunting as it seemed just a short time ago. I’ve now had the opportunity to see friends start jobs, leave jobs, get married, start having little ones and the most exciting part of all? We’re not alone. It’s a big world out there, but an incredibly exhilarating one. Embrace each and every moment, it only gets better from here.

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Good Days and Bad Days: Perspective Defining Busy: One Year Later 6 Ways to Rock Life as an Intern

I repeat, not a single stinking hill. And boy, was I looking forward to it. Living in Atlanta, I’m not certain in the entirety of my short time as a runner have I ever experienced such a thing for more than a mile or two.

At the starting line I was all smiles.

By mile five I turned to my new running buddy I made at the starting lane to describe just how great this was. I mean, I could breathe!

By mile 10, I hit a wall.

Thanks to the amazing support of my pace group, I didn’t miss much of a beat, but boy did those last three miles kick my butt…and it was flat, and cool, and the air was clear, how could this be happening?

It wasn’t until I ventured out a run once I got home that the common thread hit me.

Those hills? The ones I whined about and said good riddance to? I just might have a love affair with ‘em. In fact, I’m sure I do.

But why? Because on a muggy afternoon run through Atlanta, it hit me, life happens on the hills.

I’m a stronger runner because I can conquer the hills. And those same hills that drag me to my core as I’m fighting up them? They carry me graciously back down to earth once I’ve reached the top.

Progress isn’t possible without a little pressure. Good might come from complacency, but in my limited experience, great most certainly does not.

During my first few weeks at Engauge (and in a “real” job period), we were getting ready to pitch a big new client. As I was new to the team and without a ton of client commitments, I jumped in to help with the simple stuff: research, note taking, I was all for any and all of it. On the night before the pitch, we celebrated moving to a new office space with a company party.

As I got ready to head out for the evening around 10pm, I checked in with my boss to see if there was anything left to do. His request, “by the way, be sure to wear something nice tomorrow, you’re going to come with us to pitch.”

Excuse me? Here I was, 22, serving as the note taker and you wanted me to do what? Big hill.

I don’t think I have ever been so nervous to walk into a room in my life.

The best part about the hill is that there is no true preparation. Sure, you can run drills, practice speeches, or put on a really fancy pair of sneakers (or pencil skirt), but when you take a look from the bottom, there it is, ready or not.

I think I ended up presenting one slide that day. It was the first of many “big kid” meetings I’ve had the opportunity to dive into here at Engauge, but still one of my favorites.

It was an opportunity to dive in head first with confidence none my own, but forced to embrace the trust and fervor of everyone around me. And just as those hills will always kick my butt on the way up, they most definitely send me smiling on the way back down and leave me eager to climb my way back to the start.

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Race Recap: Nike Women’s Half Marathon DC Thinking of Boston Learning the Art of Doing Nothing

So let’s start with the good stuff. Here’s the sweet man who handed me a blue beauty of a box.

Now let’s take a few steps back, pre starting line (all puns 100% intended and accounted for).

What does one do when they hear about such a race? Sign up for it with three of your best girlfriends of course. I was joined this weekend my three of my closest college friends, the kind who live in different cities, yet still manage to find the time for trips like this (seriously, one lucky girl right here). Three of the four of us were half marathon veterans (one now training for a tri and another setting her sights on a fall marathon) and my sweet roommate who conquered her first half marathon with awesome success.

We got to the city early Friday morning, dropped off our bags and proceeded to play tourist for the remainder of the day. There are some cities where you want to try to blend in (ahem, NYC) and there are others where you feel free to flaunt your star spangled, I’m new here flag, and boy did we make our nation’s capital proud.

A few highlights for you viewing pleasure (because no one wants to read about this kind of fun).

1. A stop at the Lincoln Memorial

2. Could you ask for anything more beautiful than this weather? I also had no clue DC had so much green space, I was in love.

3. Another stop to visit the Vietnam Memorial, absolutely breathtaking and even more special as Michelle found her Grandfather’s name.

4. The White House (well the back of it). As we were admiring Bo’s backyard, we were quickly ushered off of the sidewalk. We naturally stuck around on the other side of the street waiting for something super exciting to happen (like for Michelle to make an appearance). Sadly, it turned out to be not as cool, likely a diplomat (which yes, is still pretty cool). I am glad I opted not to take thirty minutes of video footage during this time as some of my fellow tourists did. I did however take plenty of photos.

Motorcade + snipers on the roof. Check.

My “something big is happening” face.

So now that we have covered off on the tourist end of this post, back to the race part (I know this is getting long, bear with me, there are more photos to come, I promise).

On Saturday morning we headed up to Georgetown to take in more strolling and to head to race packet pickup. The line was LONG. It moved rather quickly, so that was certainly a plus. It was also along the river where there were various sporting events taking place, so that helped pass the time. After running much larger races, (cue Atlanta’s 60K Peachtree Road Race) I was a bit surprised they didn’t have this part down to a science, but we were in no rush.

Excited faces for this thing becoming real.

As fate had it, we walked into the expo just as Kate’s Tweet was appearing on the live Tweet wall…thanks for the positivity running powers.

There was also a pretty neat “Why do you run” signing wall among other interactive elements and plenty of fun stops like free makeup and hair prep (not sure you need that race day, but the pre-race pampering was pretty cool).

Finally, we LOVED the giant “We Run DC” sign just outside the Expotique. It was a bit of a race to sneak in for a photo, but of course we tackled that.

This pretty much brings us up to race day, or close enough as we spent the remainder of the day with pizza and an early bed time.

Race morning, we made our way to the starting line and I said my goodbyes to my sweet friends in our awesome #RunforBoston shirts, compliments of my talented  frieds (DIY FTW), as I was planning to run in a separate start wave.

After arriving in my corral, I was blown away by the view and the red carpet. The speeches and appearances by some of running’s leading ladies were just icing on the cake. I made a new friend at the starting line (as I was planning to run alone) and ended up sharing stories for the first five miles (seriously, runners could not be a better group of people).

The no humidity, no hills thing was rather fun, living in Atlanta I can’t say I’ve EVER run in such conditions. To top it off, with various marching bands from different backgrounds along the course, the entertainment was endless and fantastic.

By mile six, I was feeling great and decided to take it easy and enjoy the day. I told myself going into the day that I wasn’t here to set a PR and try to kill myself, and I’m happy to stay I stuck to that.

I ended up finding a new buddy in the 1:50 pace group leader who was FILLED with motivation, including mile marker group chants and encouragement for all. I stuck with the group pretty much the entire back half of the race, which was great. It did cause for things to get a little bottlenecked, which reminded me of little sheep following a Shepard.

It was a little like this madness.

When we hit mile 11, I saw the capitol. Knowing we started and ended there, my brain thought “sweet, finish line”. Oh no. Not the finish line. As I saw ladies running past me in the opposite direction, I was ready to call it quits. Done, this was it, I was protesting.

This pretty much sums up miles 11-13.

But alas, that didn’t happen. I kept running, AROUND the capitol and back in the other direction  At mile 13, I thanked my running motivator, to which his response was “only 400 meters to go, sprint it!” Gotta love that kind of dedication. So I did. Coming in just under 1:50, not a PR, but pretty darn close and feeling great. I could have held a conversation the entire time! Probably because of these antics I’ve been sporting lately, file it under crazy.

And waiting for me at the finish line, these beauties. Success.

Seriously, could you ask for anything prettier? I’m in love.

Oh and I’m also in love with these three.

So there you go. DC, conquered. Cheers to a great weekend, great memories and an amazing weekend. Thanks Nike, we shall see you in San Fan (fingers crossed).

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Thinking of Boston The Butterflies, Bees and Broken Glass: Great Urban Race 2013 I’ve hit a whole new level of {running} crazy

Engauge volunteers with a group called Everybody Wins here in Atlanta. The premise is simple, read to an elementary school student once per week over lunch. Today, I started my third year in the program with a new mentee.

As we picked out books, a friend of hers came by and said “See, I told you it would happen!” we picked out a book, sat down and another friend came by to give her a hug and tell her how excited she was that she finally had a mentor. I asked her why they were so excited and she shared that she had been waiting to be able to join Everybody Wins for several months and that they were so happy that her waiting paid off.

Just hearing that made my day and my hour more than worth it.

Can you imagine if we all went through our days sharing the spirit and support those fourth graders shared with each other? What if we spent our time building each other up instead of complaining or trying to one up one another?

I think those 10-year-olds are on to something.

PS: If you have an hour on your hands each week, check out Everybody Wins. They have schools across the city and are always in need of new readers.

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Running Lessons: Balancing Passion with Not-So-Common Sense From dial up to dialed in Setting a date

It took a few years, but I kept running because it became my escape. I kept running to not think about deadlines, commitments or what was due.

A few years later, I fell in love with running thanks to the community. I fell in love because there is nothing better than an hour on the trails with a running buddy. I often joke that the conversations that take place during those runs rival what I’d imagine most people talk about at a bar past 2 a.m.

Today, the running community faced a tragedy that I’m certain not a single one of those runners in Boston anticipated as they laced up at the starting line this morning. My heart aches for those runners, but even more so for the community who surrounds them.

Every runner knows as wonderful as the personal time, the endorphins and the medals are, it’s the community that keeps you coming back for more. It’s the moms, the dads, the husbands, the wives and the best friends who will get out of bed at the crack of dawn, carry obnoxious signs for miles and lug all of the extra bags and goodies to the finish line, only to see us trot by for half of a second. It’s their enthusiasm and dedication that make every mile worth the journey, whether that be for three miles or 26.2. While thinking and praying for Boston tonight, I’m certainly hugging all of my personal cheerleaders, and the reasons I run, a little tighter.

“The reason we race isn’t so much to beat each other… but to be with each other.”

- Christopher McDougall, Born to Run

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Leading by Following I’ve hit a whole new level of {running} crazy Today was a big day

Couldn’t sleep, terrible dreams, woke up every 20 minutes butterflies. And for what? An awesome day of exploring where I knew I wasn’t going to die (fingers crossed, they had made me throw up while eating squid and unhand-cuff myself at a mob museum in the past), making friends with strangers would be incredibly easy and I was going to partake in taking obsessive amounts of photos and video…long story short, I’m a big wimp.

The good news, we survived.

The better news, we placed 11th.

The best news, we get to plan a trip for the National Championships this November in Puerto Rico. 

As excited as I was to be finish and be rid of my nerves, the Great Urban Race isn’t your typical run as fast as you can for X amount of miles and cross the finish line race, as they say it best, GUR is a wild urban adventure and the stories that go along with it are the best part.

After winning tickets to compete last minute in 2012, P and I wound up falling in love with this race concept and followed it to the National Championships in Las Vegas last November (you can read all about those adventures here and here).

In 2013, we came prepared. No more of the single smartphone, map-less planning for us.

We arrived at the starting line with a map ready to go and were lucky enough to have one of our best friends join us as photographer / navigator extraordinaire. We also met up with some dear friends who were crucial in helping to solve the clues and keeping us all going.

We split the clues 50 / 50 between our two teams and less than 30 minutes after the starting horn, we were off and running with a plan and most of the clues solved. The worst part was over, phew.

I’ll spare you the play-by-play of the next hour and a half, but here are some of the highest points:

1. We got to walk on broken glass. How cool is that? And despite what it looks like, it didn’t hurt one bit (I was pleasantly surprised).

2. The photo tic-tac-toe clue is always a favorite. This year we opted for: take a photo with a stranger with a tattoo (how cool is she?), take a video giving a stranger a high five and Tweet a photo of all teammates “Smizing” (apparently a Tyra Banks thing? I don’t think we mastered that one).

Our tattoo friend. How great is her hair?

“Simizing”  Tyra wouldn’t approve.

3. The next clue took us to a “secret” prohibition bar in Edgewood that is actually buried behind a bookcase in a pizza joint named Vesuvius. So. Cool. We put our googling to the test to answer questions like “What Minnesota republican was the major voice behind he National Prohibition Act in 1919?” in record time.

4. We dug up our best “every good boy deserves fudge” knowledge to decipher music notes to give us a phrase, and then act like them in a photo. We were bees if you can’t tell from our stellar impressions.

Our best bee impressions.

In all, it was another fantastic day and took me to more parts of the city I haven’t explored on my own (which is secretly my FAVORITE part about this race). A huge, huge thanks to all of the stop locations for their incredible generosity and pure southern hospitality (check out a list of our favorite places below).

Now, just as we were a year ago, we are counting down the days to Nationals  where we will be in the hunt for the $10,000 (or more likely, another great adventure to share). Until next time masterminds.

It’s not all fun and games: sometimes they make you think TOO hard.

Our tops picks for the 2013 race locations (aka, go check out these places Atlanta):

• Vesuvius Pizzeria: look for the bookcase in the back hallway. Have a great time.
• iwi fresh Garden Day Spa: these ladies make their own amazing body scrubs. They smell SO good.
• Joystick Gamebar: old school arcade games and drinks, could you ask for more?
• Cafe 458:  not only was the staff super sweet, all of the proceeds, including tips, go to support programs and services that aid the homeless.

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Here comes the sun (fingers crossed) Running Lessons: Balancing Passion with Not-So-Common Sense 2012: A Year in Review

In a family of six, my parents had their hands full with sporting events, friends and homework, therefore making spending time around the dinner table no easy task. However, it was rare that there was a night that went by that we didn’t eat as a family, even if that meant eating in shifts from time to time.

We didn’t have smart phones, personal laptops, iPads and email to interrupt our family time. To say the landscape has changed is an understatement. However, dinner at the Dennihy house hasn’t changed one bit. Sure, the phones are kept in sperate rooms (as opposed to pulling the wall phone off the hook as my Dad seemed to do nightly to keep people from interrupting), but creating genuine personal time is much more of a conscious effort.

A dear friend of mine and I have had endless conversations around technology in our lives over the years, and as we both work in the digital marketing space, avoiding it is impossible. She has been urging me to watch the Ted talk “Connected, but Alone” for just as many years. I finally sat down to watch the talk and I cannot say I was surprised by my love for it.

As we watch technology evolve, it makes our lives so much more simple on so many levels. Connections are now a click, a tweet or a post away. We can have simultaneous conversations with 10 people over a group text all while sending an email and capturing a photo for Instagram. Facebook is in talks to release a PHONE for crying out loud. In short, technology is incredible.

Then why is communicating itself harder than ever before?

Because communication is more than a string of words. Communication leads to relationships, which lead to the betterment of ourselves, which is no surprise, hard work.

In Sherry’s words, “we expect more from technology and less from each other.”

If we want to become more connected, we have to expect more from each other and let technology guide us in getting there – not serve as the sole route.

Is texting a friend easier than spending thirty minutes on the phone each week? Sure is. Do I expect to remain friends without decline over the next decade by sending text messages? Better not put all of my marbles in that bucket.

Now get to work, I owe some people some phone calls / dinner dates / afternoon runs.

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Rewiring Success The Pilgrims and the Romanians Unplugged