Hectic

I keep on drafting out blog posts in the attempt that one might accurately portray my mindset right now. In fact, this post was drafted last week and I've since then been unable to get myself to posting it. Time to take care of it.

I'm amazed that it's already November, I'm distracted by lofty daydreams (see what I did there?), I'm stuck between being highly motivated and not motivated at all, and I'm simultaneously excited for and dreading the following 24 days. I've experienced an inspiring and emotional lecture by PostSecret creator Frank Warren, I laughed my ass off at Jon Stewart's comedic performance at Cornell, I've been frustrated by the NCAA's ruling that's kept RIT's star goalie benched, and I've nervously registered for my first 5-mile race. I'm looking forward to getting a new cell phone (one that works!), I'm excited that it's the holiday season (and the music that comes with it!), I'm sad to be ending my dream internship, and I'm dreading the departure of my boyfriend on yet another co-op.

So... I'm all over the place. I'm confused about how time is flying by so quickly, I'm worried about being lonely during winter quarter, I'm totally excited to tackle a new running achievement, I'm eager to spend all my time in the kitchen cooking comfort dishes and seasonal sweets, and I'm getting distracted by my future. My time at Partners + Napier is coming to an end, something I have been dreading since the end of my first week on the job. This has been the most valuable experience throughout my journey to a professional career. After spending a couple weeks here, I was confident in my decision to pursue Account Services. My time in the office has proven to be exciting, busy, stressful, educational, insightful, and truly fun. I am so incredibly grateful that this opportunity came my way.

With the close of fall quarter comes Rochester's infamous cold weather. We've had some snippets of snow, though it's nothing compared to the serious whomping Pennsylvania, southern New York, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and the rest of the northeastern seaboard experienced last weekend. "Snowtober" hit with a strong force, making us Rochesterians able to, for the first time, gloat about our lack of snow. With November comes brisker mornings and tardiness to work, as I'm not yet in the habit of building in that extra time to scrape the ice off my car. Time to get used to it, since we won't feel the warmth of the sun for about another 5-6 months.

With the cold weather, however, comes my favorite holidays - Thanksgiving and Christmas. I bought some decorations for the apartment over the weekend and am now wondering when it is appropriate for me to hang them all up. I'm forcing myself to be patient, but all I really want to do is jumpstart my Christmas cheer. Hope everyone has a wonderful Monday!

Welcoming Fall

It's officially fall in Rochester. The clouds are moving in and threatening to stay until March while the winds are picking up ominously. It's not all bad, though... the leaves are changing and I'm having no problem welcoming the change in temperature. This weekend felt like October, for sure. Rainy and cold, with highs reaching the upper 40s on Saturday. Josh and I were planning on going apple picking after our trip to the Public Market, but the uncomfortable cold made sure that didn't happen. Not too much to complain about, however - we opted to snuggle up and watch a movie at home instead.

What really made it feel like fall, though, was the return of RIT Hockey! The exhibition game against Brock University was Saturday night, and I couldn't wait to get back into the Corner Crew. The excitement and energy in Ritter arena was contagious. We cheered on our Tigers as they skated to a nice 4-0 victory over Brock :) Great way to start the season! The official start of the season is next weekend against Niagara, so we'll get to see how they play against our own conference then.

My co-op has continued to be fantastic, and I keep learning more and more everyday. It's getting to the point where I don't want to leave and go back to school... on one hand, school is a nice, safe haven but I am a bit sick of classes. I guess this is the form my senioritis is taking. I've found my dream job and I don't want to have to leave.

I received my first paycheck last week, and it's helped reiterate my desire to travel next summer... each time my bank account goes up, I see my chances of affording my trip get a little bit more realistic. With Oktoberfest taking place in Munich right now, I have such desire to get myself over there and experience new things. Who knows what will happen come May, but for now, I've got my eye on this.

Checking In

Apologies, guys. I was all gung-ho about my blog and self marketing this summer and then I managed to disappear. Well... LOTS has changed. I am still working on my website and professional blog, however they're not quite ready for public viewing. One of these days I'll get them there. The website requires more creative work than I'm used to while the blog just requires me to be a bit more frequent in my posting. I suppose I underestimated how much time I'd have to work on such things once Honors Orientation picked up in August. (Orientation was a blast by the way - such great new freshmen in the Program... sad to say it was my last Orientation! *tear*).

Speaking of Orientation, I received BIG news while learning how to belay rock climbers with the Honors freshmen. I am now officially a BrandCamp intern at Partners + Napier! I'm two weeks in and it has already proven to be an incredible experience. I'm actually sad that it has to end in 9 weeks. The people are amazing and the work that I've been given has been challenging and relevant. When I used skills that I learned in my various marketing classes at RIT for the first time, I was ecstatic! As it was last winter with my co-op at Martino Flynn, my life is now completely centered on advertising. I can't get enough and I'm constantly eager to learn more. Even in my first two weeks here, I am confident that Account Leadership is what I want to do once I have that coveted college degree in hand. It's a great feeling.

Besides my love of my new internship, life in Rochester has been great recently. The weather is cooling down again, promising snowfall within a few weeks. (I'm betting on the first flakes falling mid to late October). Luckily, I had my fair share of summer weather and I'm willing to welcome the cooler autumn air into the area. I'm not quite ready for snow yet, seeing as this past winter seemed like it would never end. Soon enough, though. Once I'm surrounded by crunching leaves, warm chai lattes and hot cocoa, and pumpkins for a bit, I'll be much more in the mood.

It feels so strange to come full circle with this blog. It feels like just yesterday I was complaining of the never ending cold, yet here I am again welcoming it.

Happy Fall!

Repurposing

This summer has been all about self-marketing. I've spent a lot of time on the computer at work, which gives me a lot of opportunity to stay up to date on all things Twitter - essentially, all things marketing, advertising, and social media. Luckily, this led to my finally purchasing a domain name.

Out of all those things I pushed off until summer because I'd "have more time", this is one of the few I'm following through with. And I'm super excited to really get into it. I'm hoping to include my resume, a collection of work I've done, and information of how to get in contact with me - including linking my Twitter feed and this blog. However, this blog has traditionally been a personal blog, not a professional one. That's why I've created a second blog (with my frequently-used moniker, kriserick) for professional use. Hopefully I don't find myself spread too thin in the social media realm, but social media is such a huge part of marketing and advertising these days, it's important I prove my aptitude.

More information (and links!) to come once I finalize both my blog and main website. Stay cool!

Predictable?

It's time for an all-too-expected post about how badly I want to explore the world. I'm coming up on my last year in college and am planning a galvanizing foray into Europe as a celebration. One last hurrah before I attempt to enter the working world. Although I'm a year out, I can't help but daydream about my plans. It sure doesn't help that I keep making pseudo-plans with various friends about where we will go. England, of course... London, Manchester. Then Dublin, or Glasgow. Then Bruges. Off to Paris, naturally, followed by Strasbourg and Marseille. Follow that up with Berlin, Goettingen, Marburg. Munich is a must. Then Prague, Budapest, Vienna, and Dubrovnik. Go back east a bit to Barcalona, Madrid, and Lisbon. Back west to Venice, Florence, Pisa, Tuscany in general. Keep going south... Rome, Pompeii, the Almalfi Coast. Hop around some Mediterranean islands, visit Athens and Crete.

Of course it's ambitious. Of course it will cost an unfortunately absurd amount of money. Yet ever since I left Europe just shy of one year ago, I've been itching to go back ever since. And what a perfect opportunity to do so (and perhaps my only opportunity for some time). To pass the time and help with planning, I've been perusing travel blogs (perhaps a bad idea for my Wanderlust). Here are some of my favorites:

I just discovered Fathom. It's an awesome collection of travel ideas and blog posts for everyone's traveling desires. I haven't gotten very far in it yet, but I can guarantee I'll be immersed in the website for quite a while. Check it out here: Fathom

I've recently started following this guy on Twitter and I just discovered his blog today. Andrew Evans works for National Geographic and has, what I can only presume to be, the dang coolest job in the whole entire world. He goes on trips and blogs and tweets all over the place, which is perfect for someone like me who is forced to live vicariously through those who have the means to travel ALL THE TIME. Or in this case, gets paid to travel ALL THE TIME. Check out his blog here: Digital Nomad or follow him on Twitter @WheresAndrew.

I'd say I've got 11 months to go until travel time. Wish me luck in my money saving endeavors!

Settled

Whoa, apologies for my complete lack of blogging. Life just kept getting in the way of my blogging intentions. Let me elaborate: in the past month, I've enjoyed some time at home, moved all of my stuff into the new apartment, spent half a week in Brattleboro, VT enjoying the Strolling of the Heifers weekend while eating inordinate amounts of Thai food, finally got to Rochester, unpacked everything, started work again, celebrated Josh's 21st birthday, visited my best friend in Washington D.C., and cooked a lot.

Despite the crazy rush to get things done, I'm feeling great. Josh and I have been greatly enjoying our CSA produce, and we even wake up at 6 a.m. on Saturday mornings to beat the rush to the Rochester Public Market (well, attempt to beat the rush). Each weekend, our refrigerator is bursting with leafy greens and delicious veggies. Our fruit basket and surrounding countertop is covered in apples, peaches, plums, mangoes, bananas, strawberries, and fresh bread. Sometimes even a pineapple makes it's way into our apartment. While we can control what we purchase at the Public Market, the CSA continues to be a surprise each week. Since our first CSA pick up two weeks ago, I've since learned how to cook bok choy, turnips, and kale (which I absolutely love!) This week we're destined to receive some swiss chard, so that will be a whole new adventure! Each evening I plan out dinner and try to have it ready for when Josh gets home. Although he feels guilty for being so busy while I'm left to do the cooking, cleaning, and shopping, I really can't complain about about the food. I love the cooking I get to do (and sometimes baking!) and I look forward to it every night.

Veggie lasagna for Josh's birthday :)

Tie-dye cupcakes for Josh!

Basil-garlic pasta, roasted kale, fresh salads, and garlic bread

Our haul from the Public Market two weeks ago :)

Healthy blueberry-banana bread - sweetened with honey and full of oats!

Bok choy attempt #1 - pretty successful, but I've gotten better since then

Roasting some kale with salt, pepper, and garlic - perfect combo!

It's great being back in Rochester (and, more importantly, with Josh!) for the summer. I do miss being home, though, so it'll be great to enjoy some time there next weekend for the 4th of July. Time is, as always, absolutely flying by. Not sure when it became almost July, but I'm just going to ignore the fact that I start my senior year of college in 2 months and simply enjoy the beautiful summer and delicious food!

Focus

It still hasn't really sank in that RIT's spring quarter is over. It went by crazy fast, especially these past couple weeks. Trying to finish up all my projects and final exams while simultaneously packing up everything I own made it insane. But now I'm at home in New Jersey and I'm spending my time well: relaxing by the pool and hanging with my parents. It's been nice not spending an inordinate amount of time on my computer, as was my habit throughout the quarter. I've spent my time in a more productive manner, such as going on runs with my dad or finding nifty new things for my apartment with my mom. I've also revisited some of my more dormant hobbies - art (specifically, painting) and baking (french macarons!).

You really can't beat this life sometimes. This morning, I woke up to a crystal clear blue sky. I ran just shy of two miles around my neighborhood to the sounds of Panic! At The Disco's Vices & Virtues. Perfect start to the day. I followed it up with a breakfast of homemade apple oatmeal and homemade banana bread (with a glass of grapefruit juice, of course). You really can't deny that enjoying a wholesome breakfast out in a backyard of blooming flora (the welcoming, crystal waters of a swimming pool included) is the way to go. Sure, I've got some crazy great things to look forward to in the coming weeks, but I am just sitting back and enjoying the moment.

So many simple things to enjoy. The bright blue sky, the green grass, the pink, orange, and white of the freshly planted zinnias, the warmth of the sun, the feeling of a cool breeze on this hot day, and the soothing sounds of the birds chipring. Two days until move in. Seven until I see Josh again and leave for Vermont (and, ultimately, Rochester). But... focusing on now.

Almost There.

Homestretch! Week 10 is over and I'm mentally preparing myself for finals week and a ridiculous crunch of studying, packing, and finishing final projects. It's crazy to think that it's almost all over... good bye spring quarter, hello relaxing summer :)

Well today's the day. Josh is up here for the weekend and as of this morning, our lease is officially signed. We're all set to move in on the 28th! Now if only I could get all of my things together and ready to move by then. I'm still searching for some last minute things we need for the apartment (namely, slipcovers to hide unsightly couches) but for the most part I think we're all set. Just have to find the time to not fail my marketing final, finish up a typography design that I am really screwing up, present on a group project for web, and organize all of my things. Crazy to think that the chapter of my junior year in college is closing. In a year's time, I'll be graduating. HOW did that happen? It's scary to think of finishing up school and needing to find a real job. Daunting... but it's a necessary and exciting next step.

Despite the current rain, Rochester has been beautiful the past week. Sunshine and warmer weather. Hoping it's a sign of good things to come... although I'm sure it will be uncomfortably warm soon enough. Some of the plants Josh and I planted have sprouted! We have some zinnias coming up along with peas, basil, and thyme. The rosemary and oregano aren't quite there yet. I'm so excited though! Looking forward to some fresh herbs for delicious summer cooking!

One more week. Let's see if I can pull this off.

Time for a Detox

I'm realizing how much time my various Internet activities have been taking up recently - I feel like I have no time for the little things: drawing, reading, trying out some new crafts, etc. I feel busy, but it's all hitting me now that I'm just investing so much time into Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Netflix, and everything else that I lose all of my time. I'm honestly considering an Internet detox period. I definitely can't go cold turkey, but I'm thinking maybe a week of minimized computer usage. After the quarter ends, of course... only 15 more days until classes and finals are over!

Summer's coming up rapidly (and Rochester is starting to think about warming up, finally), which means I'll have lots of time for some new past times: more drawing, painting, friendship bracelet making, pilates, and possibly meditation! Even more reason to ditch the computer and play out in the sun. Summer marks a new page - Josh will finally be back in Rochester after 6 looong months! I remember starting this blog right around the time he left for his internship... time sure flies (thankfully)!

Goals for this summer: successfully grow my own herbs, cook new dishes each week with veggies from the CSA, go to the public market every weekend, go for runs around my neighborhood at least four times a week, have super fun times in the Honors office, make art (drawings, paintings, jewelry, crafts!), keep up the healthy eating and exercising, and enjoy my time with Josh ♥!

Let's finish this up, spring quarter.

P.S. I found a super delicious recipe for apple oatmeal the other day. I'll be making it for the third time on Friday.... highly recommended! http://ohsheglows.com/2011/01/24/apple-pie-oatmeal/

Distracted

Guess this is what happens when you're incredibly distracted by a slew of social media sites, busy trying to keep up with 16 credit hours and 16 hours of work weekly, and working on finding a beneficial internship experience. The blog gets cast to the wayside. Nonetheless, I'm back.

Spring is supposedly on it's way. It was peeking it's head out for a bit two weekends ago, but the ol' snow monster came rearing its ugly head again yesterday. I'm remaining optimistic, however. It's mid-April... spring has got to come soon... right?

So spring might be coming. That's been a common theme for the past two months on this blog. Shocking. One of these days, though... it'll come. It's week 7 here at RIT. Not sure how time has passed so quickly, but I'm not complaining. 3 more weeks of classes, 1 week of finals, then relaxation in various places ensues. I'm a mere 38 days away from moving into my new apartment with Josh - something I'm incredibly excited to do. Instead of being able to decorate one room in my apartment... I can decorate it all! This refers back to my need for more money in my last post...

I'm in a rut when it comes to the gym. I was sick most of last week which caused my great gym habits to utterly disappear. Now I'm back in tiptop shape but completely lacking motivation to go to the gym. Bad news. One of these days I'll get back into it... I swear.

So after a productive morning of scheduling my fall classes, sending out resumes and cover letters, keeping up to date on social media, and completely ignoring my need to go to the gym, I actually have to go to work and class. Let's tackle these last few weeks!

More.

I need more time, more money, more warmth, and more ingredients. More, more, more. After spending a wonderful Saturday evening cooking with my love, I'm back on one of my need-to-cook-everything kicks. This weekend, we made fresh field green salad with homemade parmesan-rosemary croutons, roasted asparagus with garlic and shallots, crushed red skin potatoes, and penne alla vodka. It was delicious (despite my aversion to fresh tomatoes - an aversion, I should add, I would love to get over).

Now summer is *almost* in the near future, and I'm getting antsy. I need warmth, space, and time to cook to my heart's desire. I stumbled upon this blog this afternoon and it's just taunting me with the beautiful photos of fresh ingredients and worldly travel. Check it out: http://yummysupper.blogspot.com/

I'm on an Asian kick right now. Asian food, Asian styles... Chinese, Japanese, Thai, Indian - I'm all over the place. Despite my deep desire to, I really shouldn't let myself go apartment shopping just yet, but oh do I want to. Josh should prepare himself for some Asian influences all over our apartment 0:)

That reminds me of my need for money. What I'm most excited to shop for? Spices. Ever girl's dream, of course. Once summer comes, I'm cracking open my piggy bank and going on a spice run. Sure, conventional spices will be represented, but I just discovered an Asian market AND Indian grocery this past weekend. I'm thinking I'll fill that gap that Wegmans can't seem to fill quite right ;)

Stay warm!

The Chase

Postponing my homework to watch last week's episode of America's Next Great Restaurant on Hulu proved to be beneficial: stumbled upon this gem as the video loaded.


Always a fan of some interesting spins on advertising. This one definitely caught my attention, and even got me to hunt it down on YouTube and rewatch all two minutes of it. Not too shabby for an advertisement. Kudos to Intel.

It's been a while...

This past month has been a bit crazy, ergo my absolute lack of blogging. From a snowstorm forcing me back up to Rochester earlier than expected, to a week in sunny, beautiful California, to the start of Spring quarter at RIT... things have been super busy. I'm two weeks into the quarter now and I'm not digging the return of my homework responsibilities.

Given the fact that I've been MIA, I can't honestly cover all of my musings from the past month here. I'll make a solid attempt as summarizing as best I can.

1. Southern California is gorgeous. I'll speak specifically for San Diego when I say I want to live there someday. Los Angeles has a fun vibe, but there are just too many people vying for their 15 minutes of fame. And smog. But I can't deny the appeal of waking up on a winter day and looking out my window at beach and palm trees.

2. I'm done with snow, I hate snow, make it stop.

3. My boyfriend is the most wonderful guy on the planet for flying up to Rochester to surprise me last weekend :) ♥

4. I'm very excited for this summer - warmth, sun, great job, delicious fresh veggies, and my new apartment! Deposit was made last weekend, just waiting on getting assigned a unit now. Could not be any more excited to ambush Pier 1 Imports and decorate!

5. RIT Hockey is kickass. RIT Men's play tonight for the Atlantic Hockey Association Championship title while the RIT Women play at the same time for the NCAA DIII National Championship. It's a big deal. GO TIGERS! This is the one thing I'll miss once Rochester begins to thaw out.

Spring is teasing Rochester, as usual. Yesterday was a beautiful sunny day in the mid-50s. Today is cloudy with a high of 37. One of these days Spring will trump the oppressing winter vibe here, and I'm eagerly waiting for that to happen.

Cheers!

Life is good!

What could be better than exploring new ideas, feeling an array of motivation for a variety of new things, and reading about what little things make people happy, all after enjoying a delicious dinner with great wine?

Nothing.

Today was good. I'm feeling so optimistic. I slept in, walked around Princeton with my mom, shopped at a cute hippie store and bought myself a Ganesha figure, enjoyed Mexican Hot Chocolate from Small World Coffee ♥, and then made completely delicious 100% homemade lasagna with my parents. At Small World, I stumbled upon something completely uplifting, inspiring, and utterly hilarious: their 100 Reasons to be Happy card catalog. It's not always the big things that make us happy - in fact, it's rarely the big things that make us happy - it's all about the little things. It's all about morning snuggles. Or your cat crawling into your warm lap to sleep. Maybe even the fact that Ben & Jerry's exists. These happy little moments don't get the attention they deserve.

I'm so ready for spring quarter to begin. I'm ready to welcome it and its challenges, both academically and emotionally. I've never felt so prepared. I'm ready to live in the moment and appreciate the little things. Time to lose the stress, the worries. Nothing else shoud matter when you have morning snuggles, a warm cat, and Ben & Jerry.

Ganesha is the elephant headed god of Hindu myth, son of Shiva and Parvati. He is the remover of obstacles and represents abundance. He is the patron of business people and scholars as he brings success and prosperity. One hand is held up in the posture of allaying fear.

Cheers!

Changes.

Well I've slowed down on blogging, I suppose. Though I'll blame a busy past week for that - ending my internship, driving home, a wonderful Valentine's, and a celebratory 21st birthday. It's tough work, I swear. Being able to relax is a beautiful thing, but I'm eager to get things started again. I'll be traveling to California over RIT's official Spring Break for a trip with Honors Saunders College of Business and then diving straight into classes (which I miss, strangely enough). I've got to be honest though, I'm looking forward to have a mere five minute commute, days during which I change activities every couple of hours, and a gym just a brief walk away.

I've got such motivation to build upon my new year's resolutions (which, I should add, I have not yet given up on) and no ability to do anything about it for another 17 days. It's frustrating. But, I've reignited my desire to cook by stumbling upon Love & Olive Oil. Not only does a lot of the food sound amazing, but the website is designed beautifully... so don't be surprised if my blog changes design a bit within the next couple days. I'm feeling a need to switch to some lighter colors (perhaps to entice Spring to come a little quicker... I'm not ready to deal with another three months of Rochester Winter). Spring and summer will bring some great things, including delicious ingredients. I'm dying for some fresh fruits and veggies... and the warmth. I'm looking forward to strolling through the Rochester Public Market on an early Saturday morning before the everything heats up for the day.

I'm in one of those moods where things need to change. It might just be the layout of something on my computer or my style... or my eating habits. Whatever it might be, I need something fresh. Something to spice up life again. Fight off the monotonous winter. Maybe a new project, more work, new food endeavors... It's probably why I spent a half hour this evening rereading my blog from over the summer, Europäische Reisen. I'm missing Europe more than I have in a while. Perhaps I should blame it on the fact that I got myself some Hofbräu Original beer (the one and only time I've had it is in the most famous Biergarten in Munich... brings back some strong memories). I'll also blame it on the fact that one of my closest friends is having an amazing time studying abroad in Spain while a couple of my other friends are dispersed throughout Europe. Hopefully California will help quell my desire to move my feet.

Enjoy the welcome warm weather! ♥

Home Stretch.

One more week. That's it. Then I'm done with my co-op at Martino Flynn. It's been an incredible experience with the Greenhouse Internship... it's kind of like I've been working as an account executive for a mini ad agency for the past 2.5 months. I worked with clients, ran campaigns, worked with a team of creative and PR professionals, and got things done. I went into this not knowing what I wanted to do with my soon-to-be college degree, and I'm coming out of it with solid expectations. I'm looking forward to applying what I've picked up here to my spring classes - Marketing Metrics and Research, Typography, and Web Foundations. It should be an interesting (and totally awesome) combination.

I'm just going to take the advertising theme and run with it. Super Bowl anyone? I didn't care about the game, but I watched intently enough. Was rooting for the Steelers, but ah well... at least they made a game of it. But of course, my real agenda for the night was to review the infamous ads. I was pleased with the evening, overall... there were about 20 too many car commercials (despite that, Chrysler's 2 minute spot was impressive, but Audi's luxury-prison spot was a bit more entertaining). I personally think Doritos won the night, while PepsiMax fell horribly flat (how ironic that PepsiCo owns Doritos).

Seriously... hilarious:







...and awfully cliché and trite.




And the winner for most ridiculous idea ever...




With the exception of the always awful GoDaddy.com commercials, I'd say it was a mostly positive night in the world of Super Bowl advertising.

As stated in a previous post, I have a lot to look forward to... my 21st birthday, going home for a couple weeks, seeing Joshua Radin in concert ♥, going to San Diego over Spring Break with Honors Business, and the start of Spring quarter (yes, only an RIT student who's been on co-op for all of winter could honestly say they're looking forward to Spring quarter right now). Plus the second-to-last regular season home hockey game of the year... against none other than Canisius. The next month will certainly be a good one. For now, however, I'll work through this last week by watching old Bones episodes and rereading the Harry Potter series (yep, RIT and my boyfriend have brought out my inner nerd that remained suppressed all throughout high school).

Cheers!

Is it Spring yet??

Being plagued by frigid subzero temperatures, vicious Rochester wind, and blinding snow-reflected sun is pushing me to the edge. Of course, I still love snow, but I'm ready to move on. Time for some nice sun, green grass, iced drinks, and warm lazy days. Too bad that's not coming for another 3 months, minimum. I'm in the midst of planning my class schedule for spring quarter - I'm ready to be back on campus and back at my job. Co-oping has been an AWESOME experience, no doubt, and I'm looking forward to doing it again next year... but RIT has some charm that isn't too noticeable until you leave.

Well, time for some shameless promotion plugs - on my co-op I have been designing a promotion campaign for the Little Theatre in downtown Rochester. It's been a crazy experience (drowning in work, cutting deadlines too close, seeing awesome results). We've been planning a College Night for all area students to come and get some sweet deals while watching awesome films. The event is tomorrow, running from 6pm-close. The entire intern team and I are expecting a great turn out, so it'll definitely be an incredible experience. Our team was even featured in Rochester's local newspaper, the Democrat & Chronicle: http://www.democratandchronicle.com/article/20110124/GROUP01/110123011/College-night-coming-to-The-Little!

Speaking of advertising... the Super Bowl's coming up. Which means I might watch football for the first time this season. Apparently the Black Eyed Peas are performing the renowned half time show... something I'm not entirely excited about. Looks like the commercials will, again, steal the majority of my attention. No complaints there... though, if I see another tasteless GoDaddy.com commercial, I might just punch a wall. Or just lose some faith in advertising. Despite my doubts in some commercials, judging by the posted links by AdAge and AdFreak on Twitter about certain AFC/NFC Championship commercials, it seems like there should be a pretty solid line up for Super Bowl Sunday.

Stay warm!

Another One Down

Time keeps on moving too fast around here. I'm about to embark on week seven of my ten week co-op... which means I'll be sitting back in an RIT lecture hall in no time. I've been working on my schedule for the spring quarter, but that's proving to be difficult thanks to a few classes that I shouldn't let myself put off any longer. I suppose it's bittersweet... my absence from RIT's campus has certainly made my weekly returns more welcome, but I'm not sure I'm ready to move on from helpful real-world experience and work-free nights and weekends.

Yet again, I'm fresh off another wonderful weekend. Josh came up to visit and we had a great, hockey-filled couple of days. Friday's game was an easy win, 4-1, over Bentley... Saturday turned out to be a bit tougher. Who knew Bentley actually had a tough defense AND offense? Either that or we were seriously slacking. Thanks to a savior third period, we managed to tie it up 3-3 for the final. It was great to watch my Tigers light it up in that last period though. I can always count on an exciting time at Ritter Arena!

I've got some good things to look forward to in the coming months... the culmination of a lot of my work on co-op is next week, more Tiger hockey in the coming weeks, my 21st birthday, seeing Joshua Radin in concert with my boy, coming home for a nice break, the Super Bowl (an aspiring advertiser's addiction), the start of a new quarter, and more. 2011 has been treating me well so far, and I can only hope that that's a good indication for the year as a whole.

Back at It.

And so starts another work week after a gloriously relaxing weekend. I spent my time trying to figure out the art of baking bread (I made four loaves, but that art is yet to be discovered), watching old Bones episodes and movies, and of course, cooking. I dabbled in reading my gigantic travel book (which may have caused me to have an odd but awesome dream about scuba diving in New Zealand) and I was actually slightly productive on top of it all.

I've been surprisingly good at keeping to my resolution so far (whoo, one week in!) and have been cooking freshly made meals almost every night since I got back to Rochester.  My roommate and I got up at the crack of dawn on Saturday morning to trek over to the Rochester Public Market (a godsend, really) to get some cheap veggies for the week. I got zucchini, squash, peppers, broccoli, grapefruit, celery, and potatoes for a fraction of the Wegmans equivalent.  Here are some of the week's highlights:

 Steak, pan-fried potatoes, and oven-roasted asparagus

Rotini, spinach, sausage, and tomato-basil sauce

Oven-roasted veggies & potatoes, brown rice, and homemade bread

I've found cooking to be very relaxing so I'm looking forward to pursuing it a lot further.  Maybe I'll have to catch up on some Top Chef All Stars (guilty pleasure, much?) to inspire some more culinary creativity.

Things to look forward to this week: RIT Tiger Hockey this weekend, Josh coming up to visit, *hopefully* winding down the work for a ginormous project at Martino Flynn, and trying out some new recipes!

Hello, 2011!

It's January! I'm back in Rochester (solo, yet again *sigh*) and ready to tackle the new year.  Sort of.  I'll admit I was reluctant to return, considering the warmth of being home and the wonderful company of my parents and boyfriend.  Of course, I didn't want to leave those comforts - but I had to.  The continuation of my co-op awaits!  I arrived back in the ROC this afternoon, welcomed warmly by big fluffy flakes of snow falling on the airport runway.  Some unpacking and grocery shopping later, I am back in the swing of things.

My new year's resolution: eat healthier.  I've made a delicious menu for the week (which caused me to pay top dollar for about twelve different kinds of veggies... but I'm thinking it was well worth it).  Tonight's meal was pretty simple... roasted beets with olive oil and rosemary, broiled asparagus with shallots, and brown rice!

Tomorrow I head back to Martino Flynn to tackle some more advertising! Whoot! I had a wonderful break and, like all RIT students, I am not exactly ready to just jump back into things, but it'll be good to get immersed in it all again.

Make 2011 count!