Cleveland Rocks & Trying on Old Clothes

Whew, the past few days have been a whirlwind for Karl and me! On Wednesday evening when Karl finished his night class we hit the road. Destination: Cleveland, Ohio, which is approximately six and a half hours from Bloomington. We arrived in Cleveland at 2:30 a.m. and got about four hours of sleep before the alarm went off to force us to work out. Karl worked out at Crossfit Cleveland, which you can read about on his blog. As for me, I just settled for a run on the treadmill in the Renaissance Cleveland Hotel workout room.

Why were we in Cleveland, you might ask? For the seventh annual Sport Marketing Association conference. I presented a research study at the conference along with two of my colleagues, Dr. Galen Clavio from Indiana University and Dr. Coyte Cooper from the University of North Carolina. The three of us completed our Ph.D.'s from Indiana the same year. It was nice to see a lot of colleagues with IU connections (former Ph.D. students who are now at other institutions, fellow IU faculty members, current Ph.D. students, etc.) as well as some of my friends who are professors at other schools, whom I've gotten to know through going to so many of these conferences!

Hanging out at the conference with fellow faculty member Galen Clavio and one of the IU doctoral students, Ty Martin.

Following two days of conference presentations, and once again coming to the realization that Cleveland is not that exciting of a city (this was the second time I've been to a conference there), Karl and I drove back to Bloomington today (Friday). As soon as we got home we had to immediately change into Halloween costumes and head off to a Halloween party for his work at the Upland Brewery. Instead of going as Daphne from Scooby Doo again, I decided to switch things up. The party was originally supposed to be an 80s party, though no one really adhered to that guideline. Nonetheless, I got decked out in an OLD gymnastics team warmup suit that I wore in 1992. Yes, I was 12 then. Yes, I was about nine inches shorter and 50-60 pounds lighter then too! Regardless, I was able to get the outfit on and it looked awesome (in a late 80s - early 90s jazzercise sort of way). I also found price tags on the warmup suit and figured out that my dad tried to sell it at a garage sale last year! I'm sure glad no one wanted it. :) Anyway, combine the rockin' warmup suit with some retro adidas shoes, bright yellow sweat band, side ponytail, scrunchies, bright pink makeup, and how can I forget the 1991 World Gymnastics Championships t-shirt, and I was one hot 80s mama. ;) Karl went as Bjorn Borg the tennis player again, and once again looked fantastic.

Karl and me at the President's Challenge party.

President's Challenge employees (and a few spouses) at the Halloween party.

Tomorrow, on the REAL Halloween night, I think I'm going back to the Daphne costume. Right now all I need is some SLEEP though! That drive to/from Cleveland wore me out! More updates to come later this weekend! :)