Life Lesson: When Its Time to Change Its Time to Rearrange

WOW!  What a difference a couple weeks can make.  Let me give you a little recap of what has happened since my last post.  Ready, set go.

1. My parent's sold my childhood home in Ohio and will be moving to South Carolina in 3 weeks.
2. I signed a lease on a new apartment and will be moving in 2 days
3. I am leaving my job at the Center tomorrow
4. I am starting a new job on Monday

Apparently when I change things up, I really change things up.  I all of these things are amazing and good and exciting but cause a lot of stress and crazy times. I am looking forward to two weeks from now when I am settled into my new apartment and job.  While the timing is insane, everything is changing for the better.  I love my new place, I am excited about my new job and my parents deserve this move. 

After I survive the next few weeks I will check back in.  Until then, wish me luck!

Life Lesson: An Office is Not Good on Beautiful Days

I miss being able to beg a professor to have class outside on a gorgeous day.  Better yet, I miss being able to skip a class and lay out on a green lawn.  Being confined to a cubical is not all that fun on an amazingly warm and sunny day.  I am taking my lunch outside and soaking in as much sunshine as I can in about a half hour.  I guess it will have to do me if I want to have money to live, which I do. I am just having a little pity party for myself as I stare out the window across the hall and see the sun. The end.

Life Lesson: From Hater to Celebrator

I have never really like Valentines Day, well except for that one year when my parents got me a purple sparkly purse that I loved to death until it broke a week later.  Beyond that, VD has never gotten much love from me.  Until this year..........

I realize that being farther away from the people I am used to seeing on a regular basis has made me a bit more sappy.  Some might even say a lot more sappy.  But in any case, I have come to appreciate more the ability to tell the people I care about how much I care about them face-to-face.  I also appreciate the ability to have a day when I can go over the top (beyond my normal self) to tell the people I am far away from how I feel. 

I am a firm believer in the idea that when you care about someone you tell them often, but how great is it that there is a special day when you can go above and beyond and show them just how much they mean to you.  Even if it is just teasing your friend Abby about buying her flowers and having them delivered to her office just to show how much her friendship means to you. Valentines Day is the day that makes that joke acceptable and extra funny. 

And for those folks out there who aren't all into telling the people you care about just how much you care and on a regular basis, Valentines Day is a great day for them to go with the flow and let it all out.  All in all, I have gone from being a Valentine's Day hater to celebrator and all it took was a move to Louisville, Kentucky. Who'da thunk?

Life Lesson: The Non-Negotiables

I used to think people needed to fulfill a long list of requirements to be a part of my life. This has changed.  My standards have not lowered, but I have narrowed it down to what I feel is truly important.  Ready for this? You have to be a good person and be passionate about something.  That's it, folks. 

Seems broad, huh?  Well it is, but people are too complex to be shoved into a smaller box.  There are too many amazing people in this world who may not match up to all the criteria of a longer list.  I believe everyone in your life has something to teach you and something to share with you.  If you only allow people who fit into your perfect mold into your life then you are actually the one missing out.  You are missing out on incredible people and incredible experinces.

I am still very careful with who I let into my confidence and allow to see the real me, but at the core you have to be a good person and be passionate about something to be considered to get to that level.

Life Lesson: Sleeping with Wet Hair = No Bueno

Basically, I slept with wet hair and my ceiling fan on and woke up with a running nose and scratchy throat. Cool.

Life Lesson: Sometimes You Just Need to Sit Down

My MO is go, go go. This is the way it has always been.  I was that girl in college who would take too many classes, get too little sleep, be in too many organizations and then still sign up for more.  This part of me made the move to Louisville, too.  I took on the motto of never saying no. If someone asked me to do something I did it.  I saw it as a way to try new things and make new friends.  Now, here I am 7 months later having tried a lot and with a lot of friends and I really just need to sit down for a hot sec. 

In the past month I have literally had one evening at home where I sat and did nothing.  I by no means want to be a couch potato, but I have grown to understand the importance of taking time to breathe and just be.  The simple pleasure of sitting in cozy clothes and watching a movie is one not to be taken for granted. 

I don't make new years resolutions because I think you should do something when you want to do it, not just because it is a new year, but to each his own.  In any case, I am deciding now, and coincidentally it is the beginning of the year, that I will take more time to just be. To sit still, sit back and look at the life that I am leading. 

Life Lesson: The Friend Date

I am not 100% sure if I came up with the concept of "the friend date" or if my ever witty friend Brittney, but nonetheless, it is a one of the best things EVER.  So basically here is how it works: you meet a new person, you get their number and then you meet for drinks and/or dinner depending on comfort level at first meeting.  This could be a man, woman or whatever.  Just someone new you are interested in getting to know.


When you move to a new town and do not know anyone it is like you have to go on a first date with everyone you meet.  You have to decide if your interests are similar enough, if you can get along with each other, etc. before you decide if you can be friends or not.  You worry about your hair, your clothes, do you have something in your teeth, do you like the same music.  All the things that come along with a regular date and maybe even more important.  Because lets face it, you are not just choosing someone to smooch on, you are choosing the people you will tell about the person you smooched on.  Bros before hoes, chicks before...well you know. Important stuff here, guys. I would say I have gone on about 25 friend dates in the almost seven months I have been in the Ville.  Some good, some bad and some ugly.  Believe you me, there are so really good stories that come out of friend dates just like romantic dates.


I have made several great friends through the friend dating process and no longer have to go on "friend dates" with them.  There are some folks though that require multiple friend dates.  I really need to come up with a cut off point.  How many friend dates are enough to determine if you can be friends?  Where is the line drawn between those you have good enough dates to be really good friends or just acquaintances?  My answer to these questions: 5 1/2 and sushi. 


I have been on about 6 friend dates with a person I met at a social function.  This young woman is very nice and we had a lot in common.  We decided to meet for a lunch friend date.  This turned into 2 lunches and so on.  I could never quite make the jump though to considering this person my friend. Something always just seemed to not fit quite right.  And then one fateful Thursday I discovered what it was...sushi.  I do not care for sushi.  The dater was aware of this, but told me we would go someplace where there was something else to eat besides sushi.  We get there and there isn't.  I am stuck then in a tiny restaurant with not time to go anywhere else and starving and having to chow down on some sushi.  It. was. awful.


Now, I understand that I should be open to new foods and I try to be, but it is the principle of the matter.  A dinner friend date? Sure, lets grab some sushi and I will give it a go.  A lunch friend date? No, I don't have time to not enjoy my lunch when I have to be back at work.


This is just one of the many friend date experiences I have had and because of all the other great experiences I have had, I am a big supporter of a friend date.  Just word to the wise, when a friend on a date says they do not care for something....listen. The end.

Life Lesson: Breaking Up Isn't So Hard to Do

Best life decisions I have made in the past six months:
1. Move to a new city on my own without knowing a single soul
2. Break up with my college boyfriend

Yep, this just got real, kids.  The second decision may sound harsh, but it is the truth.  I spent two and a half years with a boy I met in college who we will call Sam (names have been changed to protect the innocent). Sam was nice and kind, but did not have the drive and zest for life that I do.  I kept putting off ending things with Sam in hopes that one day he would turn into the man that I wanted and needed.  I used to say that when we started dating he was wearing sweat pants and after about two years was wearing jeans and I was just waiting for the khaki pants to be put on, his "big boy pants." Unfortunately, it became quite apparent that those pants were not going to fit him.

At first the thought of moving on from Sam was terrifying to me. I tried to convince myself for a long time that I could live the life Sam wanted in a small town with no aspirations for something more.  I tried to convince myself that Sam could one day live the life I wanted in a city with room to grow.  I tried to convince myself that the way Sam treated me would improve.  I tried to convince myself that he would one day realize that he was lucky to have me and would appreciate me. I tried to convince myself of all of these things, but in February  I stopped trying to convince myself and started to live for myself and myself only. I realized in trying to hold on to something for the sake of not hurting Sam that I was actually hurting myself. At that point I no longer factored Sam into my decision making.  I actually took him completely out of it. I decided to bide my time until I felt I was ready to let go of this part of my life.

So if you are a math whiz you are realizing that the decision I made did not come in February 2011 because that is longer than six months.  You are correct.  One of the worst things I did was not end things with Sam sooner.  I held on until June 2011.  I was afraid of ruining the end of the school year and wanted to try and enjoy the time that I had even though our relationship was completely dysfunctional. 

It took me one week of being on my own in Louisville to break up with Sam.  Things came to a head when Sam told me my decision to move was selfish and inconsiderate. I knew at that point that there was never going to be a change of heart for Sam.  He would never understand why I needed to move somewhere on my own.  I needed to prove to myself that I could and go on an adventure. I had to bite the bullet and tell Sam the one thing I knew would hurt him most in the world.  I had to tell him I was no longer in love with him and hadn't been for quite a while.  And that was that.

Sad story, huh?  Then why is the title of this post, "breaking up isn't that hard to do"? Because in my case it wasn't hard. Of course I did not want to hurt Sam, but I also had been grieving about losing this relationship for about six months.  I had moved past it in my head and all of my hurt came mostly before we actually broke up.  I detached myself from him in order to protect myself.  When we finally did break up I was able to see the reasons why it was for the best immediately.  I cried for one day and that was it.  All of my other crying came while I was still in the relationship. Looking back, I think I ended the relationship at exactly the right time.  It was a great springing step into my new life.  A complete fresh start.

Wisdom to share:
1. When you love someone you want their happiness to come first, but not when it means sacrificing your own.
2. Everything happens for a reason and at the right time. 
3. There is a big difference between loving someone and being IN love with someone
4. Be true to you


Not all of my posts will be this intense....promise!

New Beginnings

Ok folks, let's get a little better acquainted.  You may be looking over my previous blog posts and thinking "what is this?" Well, let me explain.  I originally created this blog for my social media class at Ohio Northern University during my final quarter in school.  I stopped blogging as soon as the class was over, but realized today at lunch with my new friend Laura that blogging needs to come back into my life. Why, you may ask? We will get to that in a second.

You now might be thinking, "okay, then why leave the old posts up, why not delete them and start over?" Valid question, grasshopper.  There is also a valid answer. I think they set the perfect stage for what this blog is all about, my journey into big girl life.  There are over 30 posts about academic subjects that were written as I was closing one chapter of my life and preparing to start a new one. It all flows together and shows the transition that my life has made.

Now, why blogging?  Well, again, valid question.  I think it is important to take time to reflect on your life and not simply go through the motions.  I think about all the different experiences I have had and new opportunities that have come my way since I moved and set out on my own and I do not want to simply let them rest without fully appreciating them for what they were.  I have learned so much already in 6 months and I think in order to hold onto this knowledge and continue to grow I need to share it and really make myself think.  It is so easy to just float along through life, but I am not a floater.  I am a thinker and a doer. So, this blog is more for me than anyone else, but if it helps you along the way, makes you laugh, cry or feel any sort of emotion, then it will make it 100 times more worth it for me to write it.  So, here we go!  Please let me know what you think.  Give me feedback and share your life lessons too!

Peace Out

Its finally here, week 10 of my very last quarter at ONU.  This week is filled with various awards banquets, end of the year parties and various other commitments.  Along with all of this comes a sense of finality.  The last time I will be heading to a 10 am class, my last University Singers rehearsal and my last Thursday night dinner creation. I've had a great experience at ONU, but I feel completely prepared to head into the real world on my own.  Bring it on!

I Got a Job!

As it comes down to the final weeks before graduation, I am proud to say that I have a job! Woohoo!  After sending out at least 75 job applications, I got the call on Tuesday from the Kentucky Center for the Performing Arts.  I was so determined to know what I was going to be doing after May 22 that I set a goal for myself of one application a day.  This turned into about five a day.  I got a call from the Kentucky Center three weeks ago for a phone interview the next week, then they called me down to Louisville the following week for an in person interview and then offered me the position a week later.  I will be working as an event services coordinator doing contract writing, bookings and other odds and ends.  I am so excited and happy that I have a path set out after graduation.  Now, I just need to find an apartment, but that the fun part!

Think Before You Act

In the book The New Influencers, Gillin talks about a point that I felt was very important.  He says that strategy needs to drive technology.  I think all too often the reverse order happens.  All too quickly organizations and companies are looking to jump onto the newest and most hip technology in order to reach their customers, but sometimes this will not fit the bill. Think about a company like the Walking Company.  This is a shoe chain  that is mainly directed at middle-aged people.  Therefore, if this company was to jump on the twitter bandwagon to try to get recognition they would probably fail.  While some middle-aged people are on twitter, most are not.  The message of tweets from the Walking Company would be completely lost.  Instead, the Walking Company should look at different forms of social media to reach their customers.  Perhaps a class reunion website would be a better place to advertise.

Another topic that Gillin discusses is del.icio.us.  He says that this is the most powerful search engine site.  Having never really taken the time to explore this site, I decided to give it a go. It seems very navigable to me and like it would be a very helpful tool for social media experts.  The key to this site is tagging.  I understand now the importance of tagging in the social media world.  If you want to get noticed by important figures in the social media world, you need to tag properly so that they can track you down quickly on a site like del.icio.us.  While, I probably don't think this site is the most powerful search engine for me, I can see why it is so important to social media as a whole.

Twitter Mania

In the wake of the announcement that Osama Bin Ladin was dead twitter and facebook exploded!  I was not at home when the news broke but my roommate texted me to give me a heads up.  Can I say now how glad I am that I have a smart phone?  I immediately turned on the CNN app as well as my mobile twitter app.  Twitter was having at least 20 new posts every 10 seconds it seemed.  I was getting all the latest information, including a tracking of how long it would be until the President spoke.  Facebook was just as lively.  People first were simply declaring the information, then came the jokes and the puns.  It was an entertaining as well as a history making night for social media.  So, how did you hear the news?  Were you watching your TV at home when the news casters broke into regular programming, or were you on twitter or facebook?  There is no denying that social media has completely changed the way we view our world and the way we relate to it.

Twitter Assignment

The two people I chose to follow were Gretchen Rossi and Geoff Living. I felt these two people were very different in their reasons for using twitter as well as they type of person that would follow them. Gretchen is from the Real Housewives of Orange County and uses her twitter as a self-promotion tool, as well as a social tool. Mr. Living uses twitter as a self-promotional tool, social tool, but also as an informational tool. For example, this tweet from him "SF Chronicle video prompts White House threat http://t.co/pMh476p censorship from @whitehouse." This is a way of him connecting with his followers and letting them know about issues he feels are important.  On the contrast, Gretchen tweets "Just finished dinner with friends, On way to Blackfin now! Look forward to meeting everyone!"  This is her using twitter as a social tool. Gretchen tweeted 16 times on April 27, while Geoff tweeted almost 40 times on the same day.  Gretchen does not use hashtags much, Geoff does not use them often, but more than Gretchen does.  Geoff posts more links then hashtags.  I feel like both of these people are using twitter to connect with their followers and promote themselves, but Mr. Living uses it as an awareness tool, as well.

The two companies I chose to follow were St. Jude, a nonprofit, and Sharpie, a for profit company.  Both organizations use hashtags fairly frequently. In addition, both companies use twitter as a way to promote their products, and pretty much only for that purpose.  Sharpie played into pop culture more, by connecting many tweets to the royal wedding and ways the British could use sharpies.  St. Jude simply promotes their organization and gives hints of ways to donate to the organization.  Sharpie typically tweets under 10 times a day, while St. Jude only tweets about one or two times per day.  Both organizations use twitter in my opinion.  There is only so much that can be said about childhood cancer a day or a marker. 

Make a Plan

According to The New Rules of Marketing & PR, the most important thing your company can do when creating a marketing and PR plan is to focus on the buyers.  In the world we live in with so much access to our clients, there is no excuse for not doing your very best to satisfy the needs and wants of your clients. While your product may be great, there is nothing for you to benefit from unless your clients are getting what they want.

I think a great example of this concept if Ohio Northern. Who are the clients of this organization?  Parents and students, right?  Do you think ONU does a good job of satisfying the needs and wants of the clients?  Yes ONU has a beautiful campus and a great reputation for an excellent education, but would that matter to a parent if they really want their child to be safe on campus?  No.  It is important for the University to focus on the different and unique desires of each student and their family when marketing ONU to them.  ONU was marketed to me as a great place to continue the legacy of my family members who had also gone here.  This was important to me, but this would not have mattered to another student who was the first person in their family to go to college.

Each customer is unique, and while not every customer's needs and wants can be completely satisfied, it is part of the job of a PR professional to make a marketing plan that will create a sense of satisfaction for a customer.

Why I Love the Freed Center

As indicated by my last post, I am mildly excited for the royal wedding happening on Friday.  I have been looking forward to this for months now!  I hear my mom talk about how she got up early to watch Princess Diana get married, and I want to have a memory like that of my own.  So, here is the plan.  I am going to get up at 5 a.m. on Friday morning and make some waffles with chocolate chips for my roommate and I.  They will look similar to a famous British desert, but will hopefully taste better.  We are going to sip tea while wearing borrowed hats from the Freed Center.  I walked into the costume shop and asked Cathy if I could borrow a fancy hat and she pointed me in the right direction.  Without the Freed Center's help my royal wedding viewing would not be complete.  You cannot watch a royal wedding with a bare head.  There must be a hat on it.  I am so excited for the whole event.

Royal Wedding Overload? No Such Thing!

Every entertainment television show, every morning news show, every news network, every talk show and every single show in between has the Royal Wedding fever.  As the nuptials of Prince William and Kate Middleton are fast approaching, it seems as though the world is coming together to speculate and watch.  Everything from what Kate will be wearing to how the Prince and new Princess will travel from Westminster Abbey to Buckingham Palace is being analyzed by news corespondents. And every possible trinket imaginable is available to be purchased as a memento, including Kate and William condoms, tea sets and clocks.  Some people may say that this is overkill, but not me.  I think if the world is able to come together and celebrate something as beautiful as a wedding for a young man who has lived a somewhat sad life, then let all the hoopla come along too.  With all the negative and sad things happening in the world today, if our attention is focused on something as surface level as the designer of a wedding gown, then I say more power to the news editor who is putting that story on the air.  I know that I will be up at 5 am on Friday morning anxiously awaiting the results of all of these speculations.  Friday, April 29 will be a day that the world remembers, just like the day Prince Charles and Diana got married.

Do I Smell a Fraud?

Greg Mortenson is the author of the bestselling book Three Cups of Tea.  And earlier this year a one-man show of the book was presented at the Freed Center for the Performing Arts. After a report on 60 Minutes this past Sunday, it is possible that the amazing stories shared in the novel are a lie.  Investigations are being launched into whether or not this man and his story is telling the truth.  In addition, questions are being raised about where the money he earns goes and if his charity is benefiting at all from his speaking engagements and book sales.  This all seems very reminiscent of the scandal that accompanied the novel Million Little Pieces and its author, James Frey.  Only time and more investigation will tell the truth about the newest novel under suspicion.  Click here to see the 60 Minutes story.

Visual CV and this week's reading

Here is the link to my visual cv. I have to say, creating this was much more fun then I thought it would be.

During class on Monday, we were assigned to groups to look at different sections in Engaged.  My group was assigned to part 6.  I was excited about this, because I think that part has some really useful information and some fun facts, as well.  What fun facts you ask?  Well, did you know that Whole Foods has over 50 different twitter accounts?  Each section of their store has it's own account.  For example, cheese from Whole Foods a twitter account.  What an awesome marketing strategy!
Another part of section six that was interesting to me was the section on hashtags.  As a new twitter user, this information was helpful to me.  I have not completely grasped the concepts of hashtags and when to use them, but this section in the book certainly helped.
One of the most important things this section talks about is the movement from CRM (customer relationship management), to SCRM (social customer relationship management).  As companies become more and more accessible, it is more important for these mew types of relationships to be managed properly.  Instead of just managing relationships, now companies have the ability to listen to and engage their customers.  This is something that can be very helpful to a growing company if it is done correctly. This section of the book was very helpful.

Duck and Cover

Well, I guess there is a first for everything.  Finally spring quarter of my senior brings about a tornado warning in the middle of the night.  Granted, I have experienced my fair share of tornado scares while growing up in Northwest Ohio, the start of tornado alley, but until last night I had never experienced one while at ONU.  There was a tornado scare this past summer in Ada, but I was not around for it.  Last night at approximately 12:30 p.m. I hear the wind start to pick up and my walls start shaking from the thunder.  I guess that is what you get for living on the third floor in the room with the outside facing wall.  Then, that screeching siren sounds and I know what that means.  I go to wake up my roommate and we discuss for a couple minutes what to do.  There is no basement in the campus apartments, so we call a friend who lives on the first floor.  We head to her room only to discover the rest of the people in our building lining the hallways of Stadium View East first floor.  The sirens are continuing to go off and it is starting to get annoying.  I continue to watch the news and once we discover that everything is all clear, I head back up to go to bed. Just a little excitement in the tiny town of Ada on a Tuesday night. One thing that really surprised me though was the number of people who were absolutely terrified.  I actually think storms are fun and exciting as long as no one is getting hurt.  But the number of people I have talked to today who were unable to sleep because they were too scared was astounding.  I guess it is a good thing that a tornado warning has not come to Ada in my four years before now.