Who is Ceej?

“An eclectic epicurean ironman with a zest for life who knows a Cardigan from a Pembroke!” -Wendy Buckner

“courtney throws the most amazing ugly sweater parties ever” – Mike Carim

“Fun, flirty, and ferocious. Ceej is quick with wit, easy to love and crazy about fuzzy walking footstools.” –Andy Winz

“ceej has cankles” – TGR tagger

Hi there! I’m Ceej.  Also responds to: Courtney, CJ, and Courtney Jane.  

I’m an EMT in San Francisco.  The ambulance company I work for covers the city, the Peninsula and the rest of the Bay Area.  I absolutely love my job!  I feel thankful that I get to go to work every day and help people in a tangible way.  It’s an amazing feeling.

I’m also an Ironman triathlete, obsessed skier, burgeoning ultra-runner and wannabe gourmet cook.  My nerdlove and I live on top of a big hill in San Francisco.  We recently relocated from Manhattan, though originally I hail from the New England coastline.

I am keen on living my life in with the Blazeman spirit, finding exuberance in every single day, corgis, otters, making homemade crafts, the wilderness, and hiking. I am also a feverish chowhound and have been known to spend hours poking around Chinatown in search of the very best soup dumplings.

I was born in Redbank, New Jersey on January 17, 1981. I am the youngest of three girls in a rather Catholic family. We moved to Niantic, Connecticut when I was two years old, where I was blessed to wake up with cool ocean breezes and work summers as a lifeguard on Long Island Sound.

I have always enjoyed writing and have faithfully kept a journal my entire life. By ninth grade I was crafting stories for our school newspaper and soon thereafter working as a staff sports reporter for University of New Hampshire, where I studied political science, economics and finance.

My first full-time job came immediately upon graduation in 2003 when I moved to Manhattan and lucked into a job on Park Avenue at JP Morgan. Over the next five years I bumbled my way up from trading floor assistant to analyst at a prestigious private equity firm, a job that had more cushy perks than work. While juggling dealflow and navigating 20-page Excel workbooks, I also summoned the courage to ask out a shockingly handsome and incredibly nerdy mathematician whose name was Earl and who eventually has become my lover, soul mate, and roommate, in that order.

Unable to leave well enough alone, I recently quit Wall Street and walked away from finance to pursue a career on the front lines of healthcare. As my mother put it upon hearing the news, “Well, it’s an interesting, if unorthodox and unintelligent, career move.” What can I say? I have this crazy dream of helping society, and it doesn’t involve hostile takeovers or leveraged buyouts.  Currently an EMT, I have plans to go on to become a Paramedic or ER Technician and possibly medical school.

After falling in love over cupcakes, Earl and I decided to move into a cozy apartment on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, which made up for its lack of closet space with a giant patio and stone’s throw proximity to an amazing bakery. When Earl got an offer we couldn’t refuse here in San Francisco, we made the cross-country trek, spending almost two months on the road exploring everywhere from Wisconsin to New Orleans. We cohabitate with a bitchy yet lovable cat named Lucy and also recently brought home an unfailingly cute 5-year old rescue corgi, named after a certain neurotic comic strip character, Linus van Pelt. At the time I had no idea our stubby-legged, foxed faced dogster would provide so much inspiration and fodder for this blog. I hope you enjoy reading about his- and my- exploits.

If you’d like to write to with questions, advice, or just to say “hi,” you’re very welcome. I try to respond to all emails within 24 hours.

For the curious, here are some frequently asked questions! You can read more about the Dances with Corgis here.

With a very big hug,

Ceej