Oh no...

Tuesday afternoon, I proposed to the AS Senate for a new Web Editor position to be added to The Chimes. (go to The Chimes link to read the senate story). Rebecca and Michelle, the current web editors accompanied me to share their perspecitve on the matter and to help answer questions at the meeting. I was a little nervous before hand, but felt confident once I was in the room.

I walked in, Michelle and Rebecca behind me and someone made the comment of "she has a whole entourage." That's right, people, we travel in packs. Anyways, the meeting went well. They were impressed by my "entourage" of Michelle and Rebecca and were extremely excited about a few of my comments regarding the readership of the online Chimes and also were delighted when I handed them a newsletter I made about the ACP conference. Michelle and Rebecca spoke eloquently as well. I was a little shaky when I was talking, but I don't think anyone noticed. So overall, the meeting went great!

We stepped out of the conference room and Michelle, Rebecca and I all smiled and laughed saying we completely sold them on the idea. Then Rebecca looked down at my chest with wide eyes and said, "Do you have hives?" I looked at Rebecca confused and then looked at my chest and exclaimed "oh no," with an upset groan. Yes, people, I broke out in hives. My chest was bright red with dots all over. I guess I was more nervous than I thought. I just hope none of the senators noticed...

I'll let you know the outcome of the senate's decision regarding the position next tuesday..and if anyone asks how my hives are.

Wind through a Child's Eyes

The wind whisked my arms and legs into a spin.
The strong current over bearing my limbs.
My thoughts caught up with the leaves a whirl,
My arms wrapped tighter as my lips said brrr!
The toes in my shoes pointed as I twirled,
The wind propelling my spins around.
My knitted scarf blew into the air,
My hands reached out now without a care.
The sidewalk felt hard beneath my feet,
The concrete cold as my pointed toes reached.
My body felt warm with my puff jacket on,
My legs continued in a song.
The path led me up to my house so warm,
The doors opened wide with my mother’s arms.

A little whimsical and nostalgic poetry always makes me smile.

blogging

I love blogging! It is so much fun to have one and to read others. My best friend Cristina has recently chosen to enter the freelance photography world. (She has a great eye for it!) While doing this, she has come across some great photography blogs. I spent an hour last night looking through them. I will probably add a few to my links at the right. So definitely check them out!

In lieu of discussion of photography blogs, here is another glimpse from London. This is my favorite photo of Big Ben taken on the trip. The sky is so vibrant. Unfortunately, it isn't at best quality because it has to fit on here, but you can imagine.

signs of winter

Southern California lacks winter...at least winters below 68 degrees. Some tree leaves turn to a golden brown and burnt auburn, however, most will continue in their green merriment through the fall and winter season. The signs of a Southern California winter are different. Tonight, I was greeted by one - the Santa Ana winds. I stepped out of the car door before entering my house and was caught in a brisk wind storm swirling the palm trees and few fallen leaves. The wind hit my face and I smiled knowing the season was beginning to fall into winter.

friendsgiving

Friday night, Southside - my close girlfriends from the past 4 years of college - joined efforts and had Thanksgiving dinner together at our house.

The details:
>14 girls (Southside minus Caitlyn and Kolbey)
>Our house
>All the Thanksgiving trimmings
>4 pies
>7 bottles of Sparkling cider
>A whole lot of thankfulness and laughter

Here's a peek at the night.


JoAnna carving the Turkey.


Erin, Amy and I waiting for dinner to finish cooking.


Megan, Carrie, Sara at the table. Megan is recently engaged!


At the dinner table. Look at the yummy food! We are great chefs!


Girls at dinner.


After dinner, we attempted to get a photo of all of us. It worked after a few tries!


We cleared our plates...especially the dessert plates.


After the night was over, those of us left finished the sparkling cider in wine glasses and watched Friends. How appropriate!

Thankyou girls for a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner! I love you all!

Thankful

The Chimes staff is a blessing this year. The whole staff has amazed me in their work ethic, flexibility, and journalistic skills. Not to mention, their ability to have fun! I love hanging out with each and every one of them, especially the girls. :) I am so thankful to have such a splended and witty staff who works hard and knows when to play!

These are the people who make The Chimes arrive every Thursday.

Having fun.

I think this was a "candid" shot.

All photos were taken at our yearbook photo session by Kara Paone. She is a pretty awesome photographer. And Alex, the yearbook editor-in-chief is pretty cool for letting us have/use the photos.

sigh of creativity

This has little relevance to my post, except it reminds me of Fall. I am extremely excited for Thanksgiving break next week.

I have the creative bug. This past week I have been editing other people's writing, answering design questions, and browsing photography sites. Although, these little things were fun, I want to spend an hour scrapbooking, sewing, painting, writing stories..anything creative of my own. In class, I spent an hour drawing a design and attempted to write a poem based on what I drew. That convinced me I needed to alot some time to be crafty. Thanksgiving break is dedicated to creativity.

Sweet dreams.

photo was taken in Kensington Palace Gardens in London, England.

World Traveler

is what my friends are calling me. Two days after crossing the pond home, I left for Washington, D.C. along with 5 girls from The Chimes staff for the ACP conference. "ACP?," you ask. ACP stands for Associated Collegiate Press. Each Fall, in conjuction with the College Media Association, a conference located at a journalism capitol in the United States is generated. This year the locale became D.C.

The six of us girls headed out Wednesday evening around 7 and arrived in the political capitol of the U.S. at 8:20 the next morning. After checking into our hotel, we walked to the conference hotel a few blocks away. The weather, although a bit chilly compared to California, was great in the high 50s. Simple registration, a few scans of the conference program, and we were on our way to sessions.

Three days later, we had attended approximately 3-5 sessions a day, had our newspaper print edition critiqued, our online edition critiqued, taken "field trips" and expanded our knowledge of the current trends in journalism as well as inspired to improve our newspaper.

Pictures and stories to follow...

Cont. UK Travel

So it's been almost three weeks since I came home from England and I figured I should post the remainder of day's tourism travels I had in the great UK.

Day 7
Free tour through New London Tours with most of us visitors from the states and Joel, Miah, and Melissa. This was extremely informative and fun. After, we had coffee at Cafe Nero before spending an hour or two at the National Gallery. That night we saw Mary Poppins at the theatre. Absolutely amazing!

Day 8
The musical Chicago during the day, then went back to Roehampton for a night in with Miss Liss.

Day 9
Day trip to Canterbury and cathedral. The cathredal was worth the trip! I'll post photos later. Tacos for dinner. :)

Day 10
We left for Heathrow in the morning. I had never seen a busier airport! We arrived in the states in the afternoon extremely exhausted. :)

More tales to come in further detail...