Hello Kylie.

Recently I found out that Kylie Borgen stalks my blog posts. It's flattering, really.


   Today in Media Programming we talked to Sandy Ordinez via Skype conference call. Sandy works for OurBlook.com which is a philanthropic site that takes a topic, has experts blog on it, then combines all the blogs into one online book. Blook. 

    I was the first in the class to ask Sandy a question in which she told me that I asked a great question! Thanks Sandy, I love confidence boosters! After a few more questions were asked, I realized that Kylie, Ashley, Kelsey and everyone else also had a "great question!" Darn. So maybe mine wasn't so great after all, but here is what I asked:


What would you say OurBlook.com's key mission is?


Answer: To provide the journalism world with authoritative information and to give journalism and communication students access to tools and skills they need because STUDENTS ARE THE FUTURE; therefore, the more educated the student, the better the industry.  


I am the future. My classmates are the future. Isn't that scary? 
Anyway, our class is creating a PR campaign for OurBlook.com to implement at the end of the semester. We are doing everything from press releases to social media to competitions. This is a big project, but I am excited to see what our group can come up with. Watch out Sandy, you're going to get blown away!

The Capstone Course

   This semester I am taking Media Programming. This is the final class in my major requirements and it combines all the skills I have learned in my past classes and requires multiple projects to implement everything I have learned. My teacher kept referring to it as a "capstone" course. "Since this is a capstone course..." and so on. I kept wondering what I had agreed to. It reminded me of "Princeton Review course" or some kind of extra effort honors course that I accidently got myself into. I felt ignorant that I didn't know what the word meant. I guess my not-so-hot verbal GRE score was an accurate reflection of my vocabulary. The last time she referred to the course as "capstone," I looked at Ashley Dunn next to me and whispered "what in the world is capstone?" She just smiled and shrugged. We were both clueless. Finally, I raised my hand and asked. Dr. Moody just laughed and said it only means that it's a class that combines all the classes you have already taken. I already knew that, just not the term. 

A capstone is actually the stone placed on top of the pyramid. Makes sense, right? This is taken from the dollar. The "eye of the capstone."

When I left the class I was walking to Social Dance (my next class- don't be jealous) and right outside the building there was this truck...

I am not sure what capstone means in their case, but it looks like the word will be with me for a while.

   One of my assignments in this class is to keep up this blog! Cool, right? I also have to "tweet" on my Twitter four times a week. I have to create a Twitter Party. I have to work on a Facebook crisis. I have to be social media savvy. Life is awesome. There's a catch. I have to blog and tweet about public relations trends. This will help me get familiar with what is going on in my career world. I am aware this is a personal blog, so I am going to mix my personal life with the public relations trends I discover. It will be real. It will be fun. It will be real fun. 

   In other news, I got a great internship at Hillcrest Baptist Hospital! I will be working in their marketing/communications department. The department covers everything from marketing to media to public relations. I will be able to get my hands on a little of everything. I have a meeting in the morning with the department to go over my semester assignments. I am very excited and will keep everyone updated on what I get to do! I know you are all dying to hear it.

   Back to business- In class we discussed terms that we might not know. For those of you who don't know what Twitter is, (shout out to Grammie) it is a social networking site where you basically post something that is 140 characters or less. You can say anything from "I am taking the dog on a walk" to "Today President Obama played basketball with each of his delegates and won by a huge margin. Go get em' Pres!" It's your thought. Say whatever you want. It's a "status update" for those who are on Facebook. I also learned Twitter lingo. A hash tag (#) is just a tool for tracking topics. My tweet could say "At the beach, soaking up the sun, watching surfers and drinking a lemonade #lovelife." The "#lovelife" will go to a separate site where other people have tagged one of their posts to "#lovelife."  (Grammie, are you confused yet? Letters are easier, I know.) I also learned about Twitter Parties. I create a Party and invite people then we all get online at the same time and talk to each other. Sounds like a party to me! I don't know how this is a great tool for the career world- but feel free to let me know if you think it is.

For those who aren't sure what public pelations is and only know that I am majoring in it (shout out to Mom)... Public Relations is the art of creating an understanding for , or goodwill on behalf of someone or something. Public relations basically creates an image. It places importance on people, cooperative problem-solving and building strong relationships. It leaves room for challenges, creativity and has a high level of importance in society. Most people don't realize public relations when they see it, but watch out, it's surrounding you!

Are You Smart Enough For Graduate School?

I have had the GRE scheduled for August 6 since May. Since May, I have not studied for this precious graduate school entrance exam. I have been planning on pushing it back until the end of September. When I went to reschedule it online at 1:30 a.m. Tuesday morning, I found out that I was an hour and a half too late to reschedule. It had to be done Monday by midnight. So, surprise! I am taking the GRE on Friday. That's right, 2 study days away. Except I am babysitting on Thursday, so correction: 1 study day away. I just did a set of 10 verbal questions. Here is my first one:




Choose one entry for each blank from the corresponding column of choices.


1. The Objectivist mantra, "A is A," is of course a (i)________ with which no logical person could disagree. The problem is that those who cite this axiom invariably proceed to substitute in different concepts for the first A and the second, in a feat of verbal (ii)________ worthy of a stage magician, and then proceed as if the interchangeability of these concepts is indisputable.


    (i)                   
filigree
tautology
quandary


    (ii)
peregrination
prestidigitation
peroration




Am I an idiot or does this sound like hog wash to you too? Looks like my 4 hour test on Friday is going to be a BLAST!
((disclaimer: I actually got this question right. A pure genius guess.))

Too Early for Fall? Oh Well.

Oh, I have so much to catch up on! Are you ready for this quick 2 week recap? Let's go!


Last weekend we had a girls weekend in Dallas. The ultimate mission was to take Mary Katherine, Kristen and Hannah to Sprinkles Cupcakes since they had never been. We met up with Courtney Novak who lives in Dallas and she was our tour guide for the day. Mrs. Novak welcomed us into her home for dinner after a long day and we had such a delightful trip! LOVED it.

Courtney, Kristen, Me, Hannah and MK @ the Novak residence

                                      

@ Sprinkles Cupcakes

The rest of the week had a few highlights also. Hannah and I had a tendency to spend late nights on the couch watching movies and The Kardashians while working on scrapbook projects. We just laugh at how pathetic we are. One night we watched Revolutionary Road...BIG MISTAKE. I really hope marriage isn't like it is portrayed in the movie. We just started laughing afterward. I am not sure if we were laughing because we were so nervous about our future, shocked, or depressed. Either way, we quickly turned on an episode of Sex and the City for relief. I also watched The Other Boleyn Girl and Where The Heart Is this week. Of course, the Boyeln girl gets beheaded so that was pretty depressing and did you realize that the end of Where The Heart Is is filmed in the quad on Baylor's campus?! Go check it out, it's awesome. Oh, and did I mention I should have been studying for the GRE? oops.

In other news this week, I ran out of kitchen trash bags. Because I couldn't seem to remember to get a new box of them, I became very environmentally friendly. I would only make food and do things that would cause minimal trash. For instance, if you make a sandwich you typically have no trash! The bread loaf still had a lot left, and I just used some peanut butter and honey. You can't drink anything out of a bottle either, that causes trash, so you can only use glasses. A real problem came when I made spaghetti for Hannah and I one night. We ended up using the tiny HEB bag that the meat came in for our trash bag. I even dreamed that my neighbor came over and offered me trash bags. Too bad that didn't happen. Come on neighbs!  

HIGHLIGHT-- After having a brand new washer and dryer dropped in my living room by my landlords for a week and a half... I finally got it installed!! The guy hooked it up backward though, so my cold is really hot, and hot is really cold...but that's ok. No complaining here!

So this weekend my little sister and Mom came up to Waco. We drove to Canton, TX on Saturday morning to have our first Trade Days experience. We woke up at 7 a.m. and didn't go to bed until we were finished decorating at 2 a.m. the next morning. I was so proud of my mom, she worked so hard WAY past her bed time! I ended up bringing home a dining room hutch, a shelf for my room and an antique fireplace mantle for my room. To get this all home we had to lay down all the back seats and Hannah, my little sister, sat on the console in the front seat for the two hour trip back. What a great sport! We also decorated the house for fall already. A little early, but I won't have time or mom here to help me during school. Want to see pictures? I bet you do!

fireplace fall decor

My new hutch-- the back is made out of an old wooden teal door!

close up in the hutch cabinet 

the dining room is ready for fall too

the new shelf in my room

new mantle in my room

didn't you want another view?

That's all for now.

OH DID I MENTION KYLE COMES HOME NEXT WEEK? VICTORY!

"Unwanted Babies", Best Friends, Hips, Bachelors and Boyfriends...

Well, I found out people actually read my blog. I didn't post anything for a week and got 4 e-mails and a few comments from friends asking why I hadn't updated anything. I was surprised, but it's all about supply and demand, so here are a few highlights from my last week:
I feel like I have become an honorary member to the "mom's club" at the country club in Waco. I babysit 2 precious kids every Thursday and then randomly throughout the week. Katie is 6 and Jackson is 4 and they are the most entertaining part of my summer. We have become regulars at the country club pool and have lots of fun conversations in our many car rides like: why some girls are pregnant without being married, why I am old but don't have a baby in my tummy, how it's possible to have a baby in your tummy when you don't want it there, what to do with a baby in your tummy that you don't want, why I live with another girl at my apartment, why boys go potty standing up but girls sit down, why Kyle doesn't live with me, and my personal favorite...why do I "get" to wear a bra and Katie doesn't, even though we are both girls? These are very thought provoking questions and my simple answers usually just lead to more tough questions. They are smart kids and I am constantly fumbling over words to try and give them a good answer without too much information! We have lots of fun together. Their mom always acts excited when I say that I will come keep them, she should know by now that I will never say no.

Jackson's tiger face paint @ Kid's Day

Katie @ Kid's Day

Jackson and Katie @ the children's museum

This weekend I got to see my best friend, Rachel, for the first time all summer! She has been a camp counselor in Colorado and drove up to Waco on Saturday morning and we drove together to the lake house in New Braunfels. We spent Saturday floating the Comal River and Sunday we skied/wakeboarded on Canyon Lake. It was Rachel's first time to get up on the skis and she was a pro. We had a great time catching up. There were lots of laughs and memories made!

our grasshopper friend we found on the front porch

on our way to Gruene for dinner

Rachel on the skis

My face of determination

ZUMBA. If you don't know what I am talking about, go YouTube Zumba so you know what you are missing out on. I hate working out, I really really do, but I have recently become a Zumba addict. I go to Zumba class Monday-Thursday for an hour each day. It is by far one of the best times of my week! It is an awesome work out and so much fun. A bunch of my friends go with me and we get to shake our hips and break out some crazy dance moves all while sweating our tails off! It's true, our hips don't lie.

Bachelorette-- Chris or Roberto? I am so torn. Chris cracks me up and is so sweet. Roberto is smokin' and really genuine. I'm glad I am not making the decision, I would feel bad cutting either of them.


I get to see Kyle almost everyday on Skype. Skype changes lives, seriously. What if we had to do this the old fashion way where we just wrote letters back and forth? Romantic, maybe. Practical, heck no. Annoying, definitely. I get to see his face every single day. I am a lucky girl! We are going to have a Skype movie date soon, where we will both watch a movie on my computer, even though we are across the world. Precious, I know.


I am still working on Crazy Love, slowly, but surely.
I have had a song stuck in my head all day and I think the lyrics are so beautiful...


What do I Know of Holy by Addison Road


I made You promises a thousand times
I tried to hear from Heaven
But I talked the whole time
I think I made You too small
I never feared You at all No
If You touched my face would I know You?
Looked into my eyes could I behold You?

What do I know of You
Who spoke me into motion?
Where have I even stood
But the shore along Your ocean?
Are You fire? Are You fury?
Are You sacred? Are You beautiful?
What do I know? What do I know of Holy?

I guess I thought that I had figured You out
I knew all the stories and I learned to talk about
How You were mighty to save
Those were only empty words on a page
Then I caught a glimpse of who You might be
The slightest hint of You brought me down to my knees

What do I know of You
Who spoke me into motion?
Where have I even stood
But the shore along Your ocean?
Are You fire? Are You fury?
Are You sacred? Are You beautiful?
What do I know? What do I know of Holy?

Please Don't Spit Me Out...

  Death has been on my mind the past few days. Dying always seems so morbid and sad, but should it not be a celebration for Christians? I was thinking about what would happen if I died today. Who would be there? What would they say? Would anyone think about me 10, 20, 30 years later? Then, I realized something. It wouldn't matter. If I even knew all those details, I wouldn't care. I would be gone and in a new place. So then my mind wandered into that new place. I have done a lot of reading and something that always amazes me is the Bema Seat in Heaven. If I understand correctly, someone feel free to correct me if I don't, there first a throne of judgement in heaven where your salvation is determined, "do you claim Jesus as your Lord..." and so on, but then there is a judgement seat, "bema seat", for those who have been saved. It is on this seat that God examines what you have done for His kingdom during your time on Earth. Anyone scared? I am. I will be trembling knowing that I am being judged by something so great that words cannot describe Him. There is one thing I am sure of, I fear God. I've got that part down. I am still working on the love part, but I know I will never fully comprehend it. So I die, make it to Heaven, make it past the throne...or do I? In Revelations 3:15 it says  

   "I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the       other! So, because you are lukewarm- neither cold nor hot- I am going to spit you out of      my mouth."

  Um hello, it's life examination time. Am I lukewarm? I would like to think I am not, but there are places where I can definitely say that I am. That is scary.

  I am currently reading Crazy Love by Francis Chan. In the book, he gives a great example of lukewarm. He talks about wanting to join the Marines, the commercials are just so catchy.."the few, the proud, the Marines." (That's good PR folk making that happen!) But in every commercial the Marines are running..and running..and running. I hate running. Francis Chan hates running too. Would we ask the Marine's if they would lighten the running and give us an alternative work out plan so we can be more comfortable? Of course not! They would spit us out too! In the same manner, God says "Take up your cross and follow me." We would be foolish to ask for an easier path, more comfortable shoes, or a lighter cross. I can imagine the conversation between Jesus and I... 

"Hey Jesus, can we slow down a bit? I'm about to pass out from all this hiking." 

"Haha you fool, your years on Earth are numbered. You better start sprinting."

"Oh gosh, I think the Marines would have been easier."

                                                  Guatemala-June 2010

I'm Not Quite Sure...

   Well I am not sure about a lot of things, including the purpose of this blog.
   I spend so much time looking at everyone else's life online that I should probably spend the time jotting down my own. I am not sure anyone will read this, but that's ok. It's a way for family and friends to see what I have been up to and a way for me to keep track of my life.
   As of now, I am in the summer before my senior year of college. It is supposed to be exciting. After all, I love Baylor and this has become my home. But I have come to the harsh reality that I will soon be kicked out of school and on my own in the real world. Unless I can find my way to graduate school, which is a strong possibility. I am a journalism major right now, and would like to continue that path, focusing on public relations. I will be taking the GRE (the graduate school entrance exam) on August 6, but have not cracked open a book to study. Instead, I have spent every waking moment with friends and my computer. The biggest problem is that there haven't been many waking moments! I tend to sleep in quite a bit during the summer months. 

Kyle and me

lake with Hannah and Emily

                            

the fam going to see Wicked

   My sister, Megan, came into town today to hang out with me for the next few days. We went to lunch after church then decided to come home and take a nap. It is 6 p.m. and she is still asleep. I got to exchange a few e-mails with my sweet boyfriend, Kyle, today too. He is in Europe studying abroad until August 10, but his train broke down today and so he was given free WiFi during the wait. Hearing from him always makes my day, even if it did interrupt my nap! 
   Classic lesson learned today: For the past week I have been getting really bad allergies when I am in my bed. Weird, right? Today they were so bad I had to go downstairs so I could breathe. Finally, I noticed a Ziploc bag on the shelf of my nightstand that I had put there about a week ago. Kyle bought me Gerber dasies, my favorite flowers, for my birthday and I had put them in a bag to try and keep them for scrapbooking. I guess they weren't dry or something because the bag was wet and covered with mold. I threw them in the trash outside and wahlah! I can breathe again! The life of a college kid... you should hear all the mold stories I have...
   My stories are endless. I will be writing many of them on here, mostly for my own entertainment, but I hope if you get stuck reading this that you will enjoy them also.