Summer Vibes

August 25, 2019

I have lived in Washington, DC for about 3 years now, and worked at Eagle Hill Consulting as an Associate for more than half that time! I am still growing professionally, loving my client and team, and working in an ideal location. I’m really excited to engage in the change management portion of the project now that a major deliverable that I led got final approval to be rolled out to our customers. I’m happy that my strength as a writer has been utilized on the project thus far and am eager to apply the Prosci change management training I engaged in a few months ago. I am improving my project management and solution development skills, as well as learning to own my decisions and take constructive criticism better.

In addition to my project work, I also serve as a Family Facilitator and a member of Goal Team 1. As a Family Facilitator, I coordinate quarterly events for Eagle Hillers in my family to build relationships with other colleagues and access leadership. As a member of Goal Team 1, I lead the knowledge sharing sessions for my Account Lead to better understand the background, structure, and challenges of the client space for potential business development opportunities. I am also learning how to use Salesforce by creating biweekly reports of the federal portfolio’s contract opportunities. In recognition of my hard work, my Account Lead gave me a spot award toward ClassPass — which is awesome because I love doing group fitness classes!

It’s been about half a year since my obsession with finding free fitness classes started and I’m proud to say I’m still going strong! A large contributor to my success is the Golden Triangle BID TriFit 2019 free Yoga, Body Sculpt, and Pilates classes offered at Farragut Square every Tuesday-Thursday from 5:30-6:30pm for the entire summer until September 26. Please feel free to join me anytime! We should take advantage of the beautiful weather and free outdoor fitness classes while they last.

Furthermore, I have signed up to multiple listservs that notify its subscribers of free fitness classes offered in DC, such as Active Life DC, DC Sweat Meet Ups, Outdoor Voices, and Fitbit Local DC! Another observation — once you try a complimentary class at a fitness studio, they subscribe you to their email newsletters, which will randomly offer free pop-up classes in collaboration with sponsoring business partners. If you sign up for the event, not only will you receive a free workout, but also free food and cool swag! I love meeting other fitness fanatics at these events who enjoy working out as much as I do and receiving all the goodies that come with it.

While fitness classes help me maintain a physically healthy body, traveling provides me with the mental rejuvenation I need to continue doing great work at my job. I visited Europe with my sister for two and a half weeks in July; we got to bond and even created a hashtag to document our travels together: #HeSistersTravel! We are avid Pokemon Go! players, so it was super exciting that our travel dates aligned with GO Fest in Dortmund, Germany. It was awesome to be able to catch rare Pokemon and make new friends from around the world!

Out of all the cities we explored, Amsterdam had the friendliest people, most English speakers, and a culturally international vibe. Berlin was full of history, art murals, and bear statues. Munich was the chillest city, with the best food festivals and beer. Zürich was by far one of the most expensive places I have ever visited; they have every luxury brand you could imagine. Paris had the best food — from eclairs to duck confit to macarons to pigeon — that I consumed while in Europe. I also got to see some amazing art pieces — from Leonardo de Vinci’s Mona Lisa to Monet’s Water Lilies to Vincent Van Gogh’s Self Portrait! Overall, the most memorable part of this trip was watching fireworks alongside a music and light show on the Eiffel Tower on Bastille Day in Paris — absolutely stunning! Below are some photos highlighting the best parts of my trip to the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, and France:

Amsterdam, Netherlands

(left) “Wake Me Up When I’m Famous” sign! (middle) Smiling in front of the many canals and bridges! (right) My sister and I posing in front of Vincent Van Gogh’s Sunflowers painting.

Dortmund, Germany

My sister and I at GO Fest — isn’t the Pikachu hat the cutest?! #matchingshirts

Berlin, Germany

(left) Me posing in front of the Holocaust Memorial. (middle) One of the many bear statues, which serve as a symbol of Berlin. (right) Beautiful murals @East Side Gallery.

Munich, Germany

(left) Smiling in front of Munich’s oldest church: St. Peter’s! (middle) Tollwood Summer (Food) Festival! #sustainableliving (right) Posing in front of Olympiapark.

Zürich, Switzerland

(left) My sister and I hiked to the top of Uetliberg in the fog and rain. #nature (right) Keepin’ it neutral.

Paris, France

(left) Palace of Versailles! (middle) My sister and I posing in front of the Eiffel Tower. (right) Musée d’Orsay — turn back the time (and take me back to Paris)!

(left) Leonardo de Vinci’s infamous Mona Lisa inside of the Louvre! (middle) Monet’s Water Lilies! (right) Vincent Van Gogh’s Self Portrait.

(left) Burrata and Asian Pear gazpacho! (middle) Pigeon—it tastes like quail! (right) Pork medallions with a vegetable medley.

(left) Trout with eggplant and shishito peppers. (middle) Roasted pork with burning sage, carrots, peas, and turnips. (right) Duck confit with potatoes!

(left) Ham and Egg crepe with seaweed butter! #fancy (middle) Lemon Yuzu & Lychee Rose Eclairs! #delicious (right) The world-famous Ladurée Macarons!

To everyone reading this, I want to say thanks! Thank you for teaching me how to further my solution development skills by thinking of mitigation strategies to resolve potential risks beyond the immediate next step. Thank you for supporting my fitness goals by attending various work-out classes with me (shout-out to my work-out buddy Mary!). Thank you for giving me recommendations on places to eat, things to do, and sights to see in new cities that I travel to. I’m so blessed to have all of your support and I can’t wait to see what this Fall brings! ❤