It's Been A While.

Well the past few weeks I haven't been in the blogging mood as I'm sure the 2-3 followers we have noticed... but this post is inspired by my friend Amanda's blog, This Is The Day. I, as well as Amanda and many of our friends, will be graduating next month. CRAZY. So I think it's time to pay tribute to the many things I personally will fondly remember and miss about being a college student in Stilly...

1. Affliction. Yep. He's my #1.
2. Pretty days on Library Lawn.
3. 20 Something runs for no reason at all.
4. D7
5. Never worrying about how to get home because when all else fails, walk. And maybe even stop to swing on the way.
6. Living in a town where the crazy locals are known by name and picking up a stranger on the street is just plain courtesy.
7. Electric beatdown
8. having amazing professors who taught me so much more than what was in our overpriced textbook. and then running into them at Stonewall.
9. Thursdays at Joes.
10. the Cricket before, after and sometimes during home football games
11. Crepe Myrtle.
12. Hogging the jukebox and shamelessly admitting whatever song we paid a dollar for.
13. the constant fear of the bike lane
14. the amazing, crazy, hilarious, different friends I've made
15. Aspen coffee
16. great, local music that never leaves Stillwater out of their show schedule
17. Red Rock
18. Driving past horses, cattle and beautiful scenery during my 4 minute drive to church
19. the stress and joy of being a writer for the O'Colly
20. putting my arms around my friends for the Alma Mater/ Fight Song... whether at games or Murphys
21. reacting to seeing our own collegiate athletes like a celebrity sighting. Zac at Joes, Obi at the movies or Moses at 20 something- ya I got excited.
22. Reaching Exit 174 and thinking I'm home.
23. Bullet
24. Boomer
25. the overwhelming display of orange at football/basketball/etc games
26. Turning my OU graduate parents into OSU fans.

I'm sure I've forgotten things here and there but comment and let me know some of your favorite memories of being at OSU!

What...A Riot

THREE THINGS:

1. The title of this post is in reference to Chelsea Handler's new book, Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang, which I just started today. I think my favorite part so far is in the book's dedication where she wrote: "To my brothers and sisters. What...a bunch of assholes." Lol. Seriously though it's really good so far if you appreciate Chelsea Handler humor. It's one-of-a-kind. My bestie Madison has actually taken to acting like Chelsea without even realizing it and is so good at it that I sometimes have to stop and tell her, "Omg that was so Chelsea." Ya we're weird but whatev.

2. I seriously cannot stop listening to Florence & the Machine. Her newest album, Lungs, is so so wonderful wonderful.
"“I want my music to sound like throwing yourself out of a tree, or off a tall building, or as if you’re being sucked down into the ocean and you can’t breathe,” says Florence Welch. “It’s something overwhelming and all-encompassing that fills you up, and you’re either going to explode with it, or you’re just going to disappear.”
What else can be said...just listen to her.

3. This week is Spring Break and I will be in Austin, Texas to spend time with a bestie and crash a few SXSW parties. Yes! Not that I am opposed to those making the trip to the beach- I'm quite the beach bum myself- but since I will actually be in Gulf Shores in May, I decided Austin would be a perfect little trip for the break. I can't wait to take loads of pictures, hear good music and drink coffee at Spiderhouse.

Ok I lied I have a fourth thing...

4. My bestie Kelsey gave me an award! Yep that's right...
Thank you Kelsey!! (her blog- Writing Left Handed)
Now I'm supposed to pass it on to other bloggers who I find worthy... so congrats to my friends Madison of Are You There Hollywood? It's Me Madison, Corey at Coreymahan.com, Sam's My Thoughts for Today, Emma's blog and Paris blog, & Kristen's My Life Abroad!

Upon receiving this award- post it on your blog, pass it on to other bloggers and then post 7 random things about yourself....

so here goes mine:
1. I wish I had freckles
2. Something about that Walmart commercial with the older man needing help with his reading really gets me.
3. My minor is French but I'm pretty terrible at it
4. I have an unnatural obsession with dogs and know it is my destiny to have the most wonderful dog in the world some day
5. I have witnessed a robbery...twice.
6. I've kept a journal since the 9th grade. It is a wonderful thing.
7. I started watching How I Met Your Mother because I thought it looked dumb and couldn't understand what all the fuss was about- now I'm hooked.

Sorry this was long post but I was in the blogging mood and now I need to go prepare for the eventful week ahead!
Happy Spring Break!

Oscar Love

Favorite Oscar moments:

Best Actor Winner Jeff Bridges
"Movies are more than entertainment; they're connecting us and music is the same way. Both music and movies are a common link for all of us." - Jeff Bridges
I honestly cannot say it enough but again, go see Crazy Heart.


The Hurt Locker taking the biggest awards of the night: Best Director, Kathryn Bigelow (FIRST FEMALE TO WIN IT) and Best Picture. It's a great movie; it deserved every award it got. Jeremy Renner is seriously wonderful and I'm looking forward to what he does next.

Best Actress Winner Sandra Bullock alongside hubby Jesse James. Her speech was my favorite; she was very humble and personally complimented each woman in her category.

I was really pleased with the results of the awards as well as the show overall and feel that all of the winners were very deserving.
After last night I plan on finally seeing Inglorious Basterds and A Single Man. But I still have no desire to see Avatar.

Now for the fashion...
I wasn't blown away with any of the dresses but I did love Maggie Gyllenhall's as well as Miley's and Vera Farmiga's:

My favorite hair/accessories/makeup were SJP & Carey Mulligan:


What did YOU think?

Credit: People Magazine, Yahoo, InStyle

PJ Work & Inspiration

So our assignment in photojournalism the past two weeks was a photo essay based on a location. I decided on The Bartlett Center for my pictures and was pretty pleased with what I got. Here are a couple of my favorites:

I definitely recommend going to see the rest of my classmate's pictures on our blog- everyone did a great job!
In addition, our class got to video chat with photographer, Allison V. Smith, whose work you can see here. I've been a huge fan of her since I first heard about her last semester so I was super excited that she took the time to speak to us. She's incredibly nice and really talented. Plus she lives in Dallas- holla. And takes a lot of pictures of dogs. Here are a couple of my favorites of hers:

©Allison V. Smith

©Allison V. Smith

In Case You Missed It...

Watch the Post-Launch Campaign Video from President Burns Hargis here.

Or you can visit the campaign Web site to learn more at www.OSUgiving.com.

Earlier today...

It's an MKA thing.

I loved too much about this not to post it.

Credit: Olsens Anonymous

The 24/7 Job

Well friends as much as I (we) wanted to make this blog mainly fun and pretty, there is an important event coming up (tomorrow, actually) that I wanted to discuss: OSU's Communications Networking Expo.

I attended this expo last year and really enjoyed it. My thoughts about it can be read on my old blog here: Time to Network.
At the time I was looking for a summer internship and being able to meet the representatives (for where I wanted to go) was a huge benefit.
This year I'm hoping to meet potential employers for a full-time position but the networking doesn't begin and end at the event tomorrow. Networking is a 24/7 necessity when looking for a job or internship. In a way, I think it's true what they say-"It's not what you know but who you know"- but once that connection gets you in the door, it's going to be what you know that keeps you there.
I feel that OSU prepared me well for whatever opportunities lie ahead. I've had amazing professors at the journalism school as well as in the foreign languages department. I'll never forget the impact they made on me and how willing each of them was to help me continue to learn and grow as a student and an individual.
A part of me is almost excited to be thrown out in the real world- yes, it'll be scary and suck a lot and I'll be poor- but honestly I'll be proud to say I'm an OSU alum and show why that makes me an asset to whoever I may work with.
So back to the point- come to the Communications Expo tomorrow in the Student Union Ballroom. It's from 1:30- 3:30 p.m. Dress nice and bring your résumé!
To see who will be there go to its Web site, here, for a full list of the Expo Participants.

Nothing Bundt Good Cake

I hope all of you had a wonderful Valentines Day!

Saturday night my bf and I made dinner instead of going out and he was in charge of the main dish while I was responsible for dessert. Now usually I probably would've pulled out some slice and bake cookies and call it a day but I decided to put a little extra effort into it and actually bake something. A chocolate bundt cake that is. I'm not much a baker or really a cook for that matter but it wasn't too bad. With a little help from my roommate and her bf, it came together pretty well. Now I've decided to share the recipe with you! Even if you don't like chocolate cake, like me, I think you will like this because it's not made with chocolate cake mix... see below:

MAMA'S CHOCOLATE CHIP CAKE

Ingredients:

1 box Duncan Hines yellow cake mix

1 cup oil (Canola or vegetable, not olive)

4 eggs

1 small box instant chocolate pudding (make sure it's the instant kind)

1 pint sour cream

1 6 oz.pkg. semi-choc. chips

Instructions:
preheat oven to 350 degrees

Grease your bundt pan with margarine (make sure you grease into the 'valleys' of the bundt pan creases otherwise the cake will stick there and not come out easily)

Combine all ingredients except chips. Layer batter with chips in your bundt pan.

Bake about 45 minutes. The top of the cake will start to 'crack' into little sections as it bakes- if those little valleys still look too cake-battery after 45 minutes of baking,

it's not quite finished. You want those areas to look fairly set. (The middle of my cake didn't finish baking all the way so I probably needed to have put it back in the oven another 5-10 min).

Let cool for 20 minutes or so and then place a plate on pan and turn upside down to dislodge cake. You may need to take a knife and gently

slide it down and around cake sides to help it dislodge when you turn it upside down.

Voila!

Enjoy!

Yep I Had To Do It

It's true...everyone does it... make a Valentine's playlist that is.

I already made mine a week ago so I decided I had to share. Since I'm not exactly "anti-love" at this time in my life and a bit more in love you could say, most of the songs are on the upbeat side but I threw in a few for those of you who may not "have a Valentine."
But either way- I hope everyone enjoys and celebrates the holiday that's meant to remind us of all the people we love in our life. Whether it's a bf, gf, your mom, dad, dog, grandma, the cutie who works at Orange Tree or your favorite bartender- spread a little love this weekend and listen to these tunes while you're at it...

1. The Very Thought of You. Billie Holiday
2. How Do You Keep Love Alive. Ryan Adams
3. You Make My Dreams Come True. Hall & Oates
4. Real Love. Regina Spektor
5. Please Forgive Me. David Gray
6. Lover's Spit. Broken Social Scene
7. That's How Strong My Love Is. Otis Redding
8. Someone Great. LCD Soundsystem
9. Be Here to Love Me. Norah Jones
10. Monster Love. Goldfrapp

Lovin' on Luna

Today's the day! The Luna Ly(n) Valentines Day Sale starts today at 5 and continues tomorrow morning at 10! Read the feature here:

"Luna Lyn(n) sale offers unique clothes, accessories at reasonable prices"

Or pick up the O'Colly...

OR just go!!

Get a little V-Day gift for your boo or for yourself!
Comment if you have any ?s about the sale or need directions...
Hope to see you there!

(click pic for Facebook event details)

Rave

I just cannot rave about this blog enough, design is mine. It is the perfect daily dose of inspiration. Just love it. Check it out.


Now, back to writing but when you get a chance hop over to the O'Colly and read about an OSU grad turned designer and business owner. Here's the story: Vintage Vision. It was super fun to write.

Have a fab Wednesday : )

Music for Your Monday Hey Hey

I stumbled upon this duo today, Phantogram, thanks to NPR Music.

Check them out:


I finished putting up my pictures from this week on OSU PJ. And I'm about to get started on my feature about the Luna Lyn(n) vintage sale, which is happening THIS WEEKEND starting Thursday evening at 5 and you can learn more about it from the Facebook event or by picking up the O'Colly this week!

Saintsations!

Check out my girl Megan standing right behind KIM! YA SAINTS!!!! So happy with last night's turnout!

Saturday Night . . .

Due to my lack of blogging ... and extreme case of slackeritis on this blog i've decided I should really get it in gear or else HfWood will probably kick me out. That being said, it's 5:15 Saturday evening and i'm left wondering what to do tonight. Should I opt for the usual dinner, possibly a movie? Or something spontaneous like a random trip to *insert town name here*, OK? The latter probably won't happen due to my poor excuse of a bank account. The weather isn't really suitable for a roadtrip either. Redbox? Bowling alley? The Harkin? What to do what to do . . .
-A

Dear John...

Warning: SPOILER ALERT

Do not read if you haven't seen the movie or read the book and you don't want to know what happens... I warned you. So for the rest of you, please continue...

This weekend every girl ran to get her ticket for the tearjerker of the year, Dear John. Many probably read the book by Nicholas Sparks, author of The Notebook and A Walk to Remember (chick flick classics) or maybe it was because it was obvious there would be multiple shirtless Channing Tatum scenes. Who knows.

Well I was among those who read the book, curious to see how much they were going to change in the film and here's what I thought:

Starting out, I like how they got to the point and jumped right into John and Savannah meeting. I think Amanda Seyfried and Channing Tatum were very, very believable as a couple. Yes, awkward at first and no they won't get any Oscar buzz but I never felt that their chemistry was forced like I've seen in other love stories. They were cute you have to admit... Although there did seem to be a little missing from the two weeks they fell in love. It made more sense in the book how they could fall in love that fast.

Moving on, Richard Jenkins, who played John's father, did a phenomenal job I think portraying an adult with autism. His fascination with coins and routine behavior shown in the film followed how it's explained in the book. Although, his fit in the car never actually happened in the book but it did bring an additional emotional aspect of his condition and it didn't bother me that it was included.

Ok but then the whole Alan was Tim's son and Tim's wife is always on "vacation" was quite a stretch. In the book, Alan is Tim's brother and Tim never marries anyone but Savannah. Psh. Moving on...

The music was really great- I loved the song Savannah sang in the movie although she never has a musical side in the book, I still enjoyed it. Here's the song, "Little House", which is available on the soundtrack you can now get on iTunes:


The rest of the music fit the story well, such as "Moon" by The Swell Season. And one of my all-time favorites from Fink, "This Is The Thing." Both are also on the soundtrack.

So to wrap up, I was pleased overall. Yeah the ending was different but I think they still did a good job telling the story and showing the reality of falling in love and that it takes a toll when you're miles away and years apart.

So...what did you think?

Peek

Here's a sneak peek of the pictures taken yesterday by Amanda:

I could not be happier with what I've seen so far! I can't wait to see the rest. I love my talented, creative friends. And I love that she incorporated one of my favorite quotes as well.

Speaking of pictures, my photojournalism class blog is back up and running. To see our work go to www.osupj.blogspot.com. It's a great class taught by Shane Bevel, whose work you can see here.

Alright, time for a much-needed break from the computer. My brain is tired.

Sunny Cold Day

The beautiful sun is deceiving today- it's freezing!
I just got done taking pictures with my good friend, Amanda, and I'm excited to see how they turn out. She picked some really good locations that I may use in the future for some of my own work. Here's Amanda's photography Web site.
She is a recent OSU grad and quite talented so check it out!


I had an article run today about OSU students that have studied abroad. I put more work into it than I expected so I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. You can read it here.

I think my favorite part about writing for the paper is all the interesting people I get to meet. One of my most memorable experiences is when this past summer I was invited to a volunteer firefighter's home to interview him and his wife. He was in recovery from second- and third-degree burns on more than 25 percent of his body due to fire that got out of control last April. You can read "Courage Under Fire" here.

I never imagined I would write for a newspaper at any point in my life but I have learned so much from doing it and will miss being a part of it after I graduate. I'm going to try to seek out as many stories as I can this semester!

It's official.

Alese is now partaking in our blog. I am so happy. Even if her post was whining about my whining. But she's right. I have failed to follow our blog rule: No Whining.

Hopefully, we will soon be blogging away almost every day and perhaps even accumulate some followers.

BLOG BLOG BLOG

Yesterday Hayley got on to me because I haven't been blogging ... soooo here I am. Blogging away. She was whiney yesterday which means she broke the foundation of this whole blog post anyway! GEEZ! That is all. Xo -A

Gray, gray Satur-day

There's nothing quite like a dreary, gray Saturday to keep you in bed til almost 1 o'clock.

Currently I am catching up on some new music and my favorite find so far is the Snow Patrol song below:
Snow Patrol- Just Say Yes
I really love those Irishmen.I also got some new Vampire Weekend, which was suggested by my music adviser, Ben.
My brother. See below:Glad I have some tunes to keep me occupied on this yucky day.

Magic Meter

Alese and I, well actually Alese, found a magic parking spot by the journalism building. It has a parking meter but no one ever checks it so we've never gotten a ticket. It's the magic meter.
Whenever we're able to park at the magic meter, it kinda feels like winning the lottery.
Sometimes, it's the small things in life.

Strong Suggestion

If you are a blogger/blog follower like myself, check out my friend Emma's blog, Emmadimes! It is delightful...

Love This

While I may not be close to walking down the aisle, I had to share this wonderful idea I came across that I will definitely be incorporating into my special day. Whenever that may be.

This bride asked each family member for a photo from their wedding, then displayed them all in mix-and-match frames.

I love it!

For more ideas go to:

Some Ideas for Your “Something Old”: glamour.com