Nicole Wiese:
CLASS OF 1991
Carl Sandburg High SchoolClass of 1991
Orland park, IL
Moraine Valley Community CollegeClass of 1993
Palos hills, IL
Nicole's Story
After graduating from Carl Sandburg HS a year early in 1990, I declined a full academic scholarship from a private university (dumbest thing I've ever done in my life, but no regrets - otherwise I wouldn't be here now!) and completed three semesters at Moraine Valley CC before dropping out of school to work full time.
Shortly thereafter I acquired my broker's license while working for a commodities futures brokerage in downtown Chicago. I bought a condo in Tinley Park in 1991 and married my high school sweetheart in 1995. We moved to Phoenix in 1997 and split up in 1999. I focused on my career after the divorce.
I am currently the Operations Manager at an Executive Recruiting firm for the semiconductor industry. I've worked for SBT since 1998 and it's really great to change people's lives the way we do.
I married my best friend in 2003, a wonderful guy who works in sales for a software company. Dan grew up in Schaumburg, IL, but we met here in Phoenix. He makes me laugh every day and I can't wait to spend the rest of my life with him!
In early 2007 we moved into our dream home (mountain views & a sparkling, palm tree-lined swimming pool) in North Phoenix. I designed the landscaping myself with an informal Mediterranean theme (lots of agaves, palms & citrus trees with rosemary, lavenders and aloes). Our best friends (Bopeeps!) moved in right down the street from us!
I love gardening and spend much of my free time outside in the yard. I built a French garden for veggies & herbs that I raid frequently for fresh ingredients to cook with. I have nine citrus trees, including lemons, limes, oranges, mandarins & grapefruit. When it's too hot to garden in the summer, I dip myself in sunscreen & lounge on a floatie in the pool!
I love to cook and bake and hope to go to culinary school someday, just for fun! I love creating my own healthy recipes and watch the Food Network for inspiration. I also love to try new wines with the dishes I make, whether it's my own concoction or something that was inspired by one of my favorite shows. Giada, Ina, Emeril, Tyler Florence, Ellie Krieger, Bobby Flay, Alton Brown & Rachael Ray are all amazing! Iron Chef & Ace of Cakes rock! We watch a lot of Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives - Guy is hilarious! I want to be a contestant on "The Next Food Network Star" someday!
We travel frequently, taking weekend road trips each summer to Rocky Point (Puerto Penasco) Mexico to sit on the beach, enjoy the ocean breeze & drink Dos Equis in the hot sun. This June we're going down there during Circus Mexicus to see Roger Clyne & the Peacemakers (a popular local band that totally rocks)!
We try to visit our families in Chicago every other year (went for Christmas & New Year's in 2008 - not as cold as I thought it would be!) and like to take long weekends in Las Vegas and California. I also want to go to the Gilroy, CA garlic festival in July one of these years (mmmmm...garlic)! We take day trips to hike in beautiful (and cooler) places like Sedona & Flagstaff during the summer heat.
We went to Kauai in April 2008 (eleven days of pure paradise - that island is crazy with chickens!) and stayed on Kalapaki Beach (best beach on the island - forget Poipu)! We visited Denver in May for my uncle's wedding and a family reunion (the Coors Brewery tour in Golden was tons of fun - and free beer!)
In 2006 we stayed at the JW Marriott on Oahu for a week (the North Shore is awesome - we also liked Waikiki). We also drove to Las Cruces, NM for a weekend getaway & plan to go back one of these years in October for the annual Chuckwagon Cookoff that takes place near there. We went to Chicago in June to visit family and got lots of mosquito bites!
In January 2005 we did a Western Caribbean cruise, but every place we visited on the cruise (New Orleans, Grand Cayman, Cozumel & Costa Maya) was hit by a big hurricane later that year - yikes! ...Expand for more
My nephew was born while we were in New Orleans - what a little sweetie!
We want to fly to Vancouver one of these years and rent a convertible to drive down the coast all the way to San Diego, with side trips in Sonoma and Napa (ah, wine country!) and Redwood National Park.
We might get to go to Brazil next year to visit a client of Dan's - Rio, here we come! I also want to see Macchu Picchu in Peru, Santiago in Chile, Buenos Aires, Argentina and Montevideo, Uruguay. We want to cruise the Panama Canal & Alaska, explore the Greek & Mediterranean Isles (Santorini and Crete) and check out Australia and New Zealand someday. I can't wait!!!
Dan's 19-year old daughter - who is also named Nicole (!), a wonderfully smart and beautiful young woman, now attends college in Sacramento, so there are sure to be a few trips up there every year. She grew up in Las Vegas, so we also visit there her while she's staying with her mom & step-dad, who have done an excellent job of raising her, and are also very cool people. We usually spend Thanksgiving or Christmas there, too.
We are big Washington Redskins (Sean Taylor RIP), Chicago White Sox & Arizona Diamondbacks fans. We went to Game One of the World Series here in Phoenix in 2001 (Yankees go home!) and love attending Spring Training games here in the Valley every March. We also like to watch the Suns (ugh!) and Celtics (number 17 in '08!!!) in the playoffs (and Finals, when they make it)!
Our retirement gift to ourselves will be going to a major league baseball game in every stadium around the country the first summer we retire. It should be the mother of all road trips!
Since I know an incredible amount of trivial and otherwise useless information, a personal goal of mine is to become a contestant on Jeopardy! and win lots of money. I want to beat Ken Jennings' record of most consecutive wins (hahaha)!
I swim, do yoga, walk, hike & rollerblade to keep in shape. I also like to eat, which makes staying in shape a challenge, but so far, so good!
Dan & I both read constantly & often share good novels with each other. My all-time favorite author is Robert A. Heinlein (I've read everything he's published, even posthumously), but I also make time for Michael Crichton (RIP), Dean Koontz, Stephen King, Clive Cussler, and of course any and all of the classic sci-fi authors, Arthur C. Clarke, Isaac Asimov, et. al.
We pay close attention to politics (local and national) and current events and love to debate the issues that affect us as Americans in our everday lives. We feel that being informed is the least we can do before we vote, which is a huge responsibility (apparently many Obama voters didn't feel that same obligation).
Since I used to be very liberal, I can see both sides of many issues, but I think conservatives are right on the money (pun intended) in the real world on most issues (especially fiscal issues), but that Bush and the Republican congress missed a great opportunity by turning their backs on conservative ideals and spending like liberals when they were in power. I believe that many liberals simply don't understand (or care) how the world really works, but put their faith in the government to solve every problem, which creates new (and even bigger) problems and is the most wasteful and expensive way to get anything (or most of the time, nothing) accomplished.
We also love to save and invest - our goal is to be financially independent & retire in 15 years. The only things we really spend money on are the house and travel, since we're not big consumers of material crap. Most of the rest of what we earn gets invested or pays down our mortgage. We have two Hondas that are paid off and we'll drive both into the ground before we buy another car. Once we retire, we will adopt a couple of sweet woofers (probably a rescued greyhound for me & a beagle for Dan) and travel all over the world!
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