TEAM B’S 2018 HIGHLIGHTS – AND 2019 GOALS

To close out last year, we shared some of our favorite travel, culinary, professional and personal adventures – as well as our goals for 2018. So how’d we do when it came to checking items off our bucket lists this year? Read on for highlights from some of our team members, and learn more about the adventures we hope to take on in 2019!

Chelsea, Senior Account Executive

Biggest adventure(s) this year: 2018 was a crazy, beautiful whirlwind. I earned my Certified Beer Server designation through the Cicerone® Certification Program, trained for and survived my first half-marathon – had to find a way to burn off all the beer I was “studying” – and checked a few things off my Colorado bucket list, including dog sledding in Breckenridge, hiking the Manitou Incline, and solo-tripping it to Greeley for more beer (I’m WeldWerks’ biggest fangirl). We spent most weekends this year on the usual hiking, camping and fishing excursions with the pups. Outside of the state, I taco-toured my way through Phoenix on a girls’ weekend, celebrated the Fourth of July on the beach in Coronado, road tripped to Lake of the Ozarks for a bachelorette party, dined at my first Michelin-starred restaurant in New York City and hunkered down in a cabin in The Tetons on a snowy holiday getaway. Whew!

Goals for 2019: More travel, please! I’m excited to explore more of the Rocky Mountains, with trips already planned for Santa Fe and Whitefish, Montana. I also have several flight alerts set for Dublin, Rome and Paris. I would love to get back to Europe and take my husband with me – he visited me in London in 2012 and we’d like to experience more of the continent together. We have our sights set further south, on Buenos Aires, Bariloche and Santiago, in the spring of 2020.

I’m also looking forward to continuing my beer education and pursuing my Certified Cicerone designation in 2019. I’d like to run a few more half-marathons, climb a few more mountains and really immerse myself in my yoga practice this year. I’m the best me when I’m moving!

Catie, Senior Account Executive

 

Biggest adventure(s) this year: I earned my Level I Certified Wine Sommelier title, then quickly put it to good use during a trip to the Champagne region of France. One of my favorite memories is sipping espresso outside a café in Hautvillers, a picturesque village (and the resting place of Dom Perignon!). Another highlight from that trip was wandering through Paris to find a tiny, nondescript cocktail bar to which our waiter had scribbled directions on a piece of paper. The cocktails were delicious, but the company (my bestie, Morgan) made the experience even better.

Goals for 2019: I’m planning a trip to London, Amsterdam and Stockholm next spring. I’ll be in Amsterdam for peak tulip season! On a completely different note, I’d also like to do more running. I used to hate—correction: loathe—running, but it’s really grown on me in the last year, and I’m working on tackling longer distance runs. I will probably need it after eating my face off in Europe for two weeks!

Meg, Account Supervisor

Biggest adventure(s) this year: This year I’ve been able to check several adventures off my bucket list. After planning dozens of trips for journalists on behalf of our client, Experience Sonoma Valley, California, Merideth and I took a fun personal trip to the Valley, and joined a few (more!) wine clubs together. Further developing my knowledge and love of wine, I became a Certified Level I Sommelier after that trip, and then followed it with another to Italy shortly after with my husband. Sipping wine in the Chianti Classico region, hiking the trails of Cinque Terre and being amongst the first into the Sistine Chapel before it officially opened to the public were highlights! Finally – also in the theme of food and wine – after five years living in Chicago, I finally experienced Alinea. My bestie and I had the dinner of a lifetime brought to us by Chef Grant Achatz, checking another one of the World’s Top 50 Best Restaurants off my list.

Goals for 2019: Next year I will turn 30, and to celebrate, I want to plan a memorable trip to a destination I have yet to explore. I am all ears for suggestions – from Latin America to under-the-radar U.S. towns! Professionally, I’d like to continue growing roots within the Denver PR scene, meeting more and more of the fantastic local journalists that I’ve been working with since moving here.

Jordan, Principal Partner

Biggest adventure(s) this year: I aimed to visit at least three new countries in 2018, and by year’s end, I will have knocked out seven! In 2019, I was lucky enough to check out Scotland, Ireland, Panama, Croatia, Montenegro, Greece – and soon, I’ll add Thailand to that list. I made some progress in regard to my goal to explore the world from home by cooking my way through Mark Bittman’s “The Best Recipes in the World” cookbook; while I didn’t make one new recipe per week as originally hoped, I did check off a couple a month, and the Bitt himself re-grammed one of them, so it feels like a win. To top it off, I taught myself (and a few dozen other people) to successfully saber champagne bottles open, which has proven to be a very useful party trick.

Goals for 2019: I’m going to double down on some of 2018’s goals, and push for at least three new countries in 2019 – but also, a new continent or two. I’m thinking Portugal, Morocco, Argentina and/or South Africa. I’m also going to keep cooking my way through Bittman’s book, which continues to be both a fun and delicious endeavor!

Morgan, Manager, Influencers & Partnerships

Biggest adventure(s) this year: This year, my colleague (and dear friend), Catie, and I explored Paris together, and the experience was très magnifique. Think cocktails at a French speakeasy, drinking champagne in Champagne, hidden book stores in Versailles and endless macarons. Other highlights of my year include explorations around Colorado—my favorite being a trip to Maroon Bells during a peak leaf-peeping weekend—many trips to New Mexico to visit family, a weekend in Austin to celebrate my sister’s wedding and a couple of trips to Charleston that ultimately ended in The Holy City becoming my soon-to-be new home (don’t worry, I’m still with B)!

Goals for 2019: This year will be hard to top, but I have a feeling 2019 is going to be a doozy (in the best way!). My main goal will be to explore every corner of my new city, starting with getting my hands on as many biscuits and pieces of fried chicken as I can handle. I’m also a new dog momma, so I plan to spend every weekend I can at the beach with my fiancé and our pup. Additionally, I hope to expand my photography skills (which have been majorly neglected over the last year), focusing on food; so, if you need me, I’ll be the one making a mess in the kitchen.

Carlee, Intern

Biggest adventure(s) this year: 2018 may have been my biggest year of adventure yet, as I spent the spring semester of my junior year living in Sevilla, Spain. After completing my Spanish degree, I spent the summer backpacking through Italy and France, where I consumed my bodyweight in the world’s best pasta, charcuterie, pizza and wine. Upon returning, I was fortunate enough to find an internship position at BPR, where I’ve been able to further feed my appetite for travel – and learn more about the PR industry. This internship has helped guide my future career goals, showing me the industry in which I hope to work post-graduation!

Goals for 2019: My ultimate goal for 2019 is to find a full-time job in PR, and with that, determine where I’ll live after graduation – because as of now, my ideas change depending on the day! I hope to enjoy my remaining time in Boulder with friends, making the most of our last semester of college. I’ve also organized a solo trip to Thailand and Bali for January 2019, in hopes of reflecting on my future goals while satisfying my travel obsession!

Carson, Assistant Account Executive

Biggest adventure(s) this year: Moving to Denver in 2017 was a whirlwind. At the end of last year, I was only able to navigate the 10 blocks surrounding my apartment without the assistance of Google Maps. In 2018, that changed, and I finally feel as though I’ve found my bearings. This year has been a year of many tiny adventures, but adventures that have turned Colorado not only into a place where I live, but a home. We’ve been on trips all throughout the state, visiting Colorado Springs, Dillon, Granby, Estes Park, Boulder, Fort Collins and more – we even spent Thanksgiving in Breckenridge! That said, joining the team at BPR has been my favorite and most treasured adventure to-date. I have grown personally and professionally in my time here – it’s allowed me to embrace my passions, find friends in my co-workers and develop strong, meaningful relationships with clients.

Goals for 2019: I’m looking forward to traveling in 2019 – hopefully abroad! I’ve never been to Europe, and in 2019, I’d love to fly across the pond. Additionally, I hope to take my love and interest in wine and wine regions a step further and join my colleagues by earning my Level I Sommelier certification.

Sam, Assistant Manager, Social Media & Influencers

Biggest adventure(s) this year: I’m so thankful that this past year held a ton of many amazing reunions with friends I haven’t seen in forever, both in Colorado and around the world. The highlight was definitely meeting up in Lisbon with my best friend, Luci, who lives in Munich. Portugal has been on my bucket list for so long, and traveling there was the perfect excuse for Luci to finally meet my then boyfriend (and now fiancé) in person. In March 2018, I also celebrated becoming a yoga teacher, a goal I’ve had for myself ever since taking up yoga six years ago!

Goals for 2019: I turn 30 this year, and I’m itching to celebrate with a whirlwind trip to Asia – I’ve never been! I’m also excited to continue teaching weekly yoga classes and gain more experience as a yoga teacher. Since so many friends visited me this year, I want to return the favor with visits to New York, Chicago and San Diego in 2019. Somewhere along the way, I’d like to take my fiancé Jerome to Cape May, New Jersey, where I spent summers as a kid – and we should probably start some wedding planning, too!

Sarah, Account Executive

Biggest adventure(s) this year: Technically speaking, I became an aunt to an angel baby, Ben, in 2017 (he was born on the morning of New Year’s Eve), but I wasn’t able to meet him until 2018 – a whole 12 days later. So, 2018 “officially” made me an aunt, and watching that little guy grow has been one of my very favorite life experiences. He brings a whole lot of joy into my world. Besides my little monkey man nephew, I got to see howler monkeys up close and personal on a drive to Cambutal, Los Santos, Panama, where I had – far-and-away – my all-time favorite adventure of 2018: Surfing with a BPR client, Sansara Surf & Yoga Resort. I couldn’t name a better adrenaline rush if I tried. And, after my first trip to NYC with another BPR client, I met* (*read: alarmed) Gail Simmons at the airport in Denver, and later, received a personal note from her in the mail. Sure, it’s no Cambutal wave, but I’m still pinching myself that it happened, and that I got up the nerve to say hello to a foodie celebrity.

Goals for 2019: Outside of several trips to Portland to visit my sister, brother-in-law and nephew, and a few work trips, I didn’t take the vacation that I had hoped for in 2018, so that’s still very much on my list. I’ve had Thailand on my radar for some time, and have recently been turned on to New Zealand, but I’ll most likely stay stateside and explore another city through its food and bevvies – looking at you, Asheville, N.C. And after a “Great British Baking Show” black hole, I’m determined to become a baker in 2019; my sister and I are taking the quest on together, planning to (slowly) work our way through Mary Berry’s “Baking Bible” (à la “Julie & Julia”).

Chandler, Intern

Biggest adventure(s) this year: 2018 was a great year! Between road trips to Lake Shasta, California and the Sasquatch Music Festival in Washington, I would have to say that my biggest adventure of 2018 was graduating college. Soon after, I said goodbye to Oregon and moved back to the Colorado sunshine. The summer was filled with quick trips to Utah and Oklahoma for weddings, Rockies games and Red Rocks.

Goals for 2019: I’m looking forward to traveling a lot in 2019! After a trip to Aspen for the Winter X Games in January, I am hoping to make another trip across the pond this year. It has been two years too long since I have been out of the country, and Amsterdam and Budapest are at the top of my list.

Merideth, Director of Social & Digital Media 

Biggest adventure(s) this year: While my biggest adventure in 2018 was definitely welcoming our second daughter in October, I spent the months leading up to her birth trying to travel as much as possible. In early February, Meg, our husbands and I enjoyed a weekend in Sonoma Valley, which was followed by another trip to California to attend Social Media Marketing World in San Diego in March, and a trip to the other coast for a friend’s 30^th birthday celebration in April. In May, our family spent a week in D.C. for a good friend’s wedding, followed by a trip to my family’s distillery in Kentucky in July. In September, my first daughter and I enjoyed one last trip with just the two of us to visit her grandparents in Boston.

Goals for 2019: In 2019, I’d like to complete my Level I Sommelier certification, as well as take a SEO or website coding class.

BrieAnn, Principal Partner

Biggest adventure(s) this year: On September 11 of this year, I became a mom! Watching my new little bambino grow and taking care of him the whole way through has been my biggest adventure of the year – if not my life! Although I was pregnant for the majority of 2018, I was still able to fit in some memorable adventures in the snow and sun including skiing in Colorado, swimming with turtles and dolphins in Maui and enjoying some delicious meals and Broadway shows in the Big Apple.

Goals for 2019: I have three big ones – the first is to take our first international trip with the baby in tow; Italy and Switzerland are in contention! I’d also like to explore wine country in Oregon’s Willamette Valley, and finally, learn to read Tarot!