Viral Marketing

So I've been talking a whole lot about this obnoxious campaigns class that has been taking up a ton of my time (not to mention that fact that it's made me ridiculously far behind in my other classes and I've even missed assignments...). Well, here is a little YouTube video that we created for some viral marketing. It's just a teeny-tiny part of the campaign, but I thought it would be fun for you to see what I've been working on lately.

Oh, and for those of you who don't know me in "real life," I'm the moron at the very end. Enjoy!

its about the simple things in life...

I have been one giant ball of stress this past week, and yesterday was exceptionally awful. My Campaigns class is proving to be a ton of work, and I've been doing an average of 10 hours of homework each week lately. I was dreaming about it last night and suddenly woke up at 3:45am freaking out about a little mistake I made. Cue the exhaustion.

Anyway, Joanna over at Smitten (one of my beloved Glamour blogs) wants everyone to stop and think about their 5 Simple Pleasures, and I think that now would be a good time for me take a moment to breathe and think about what makes me calm.

My 5 Simple Pleasures

1. Snuggling on the couch with a big blankie and watching a movie

2. Going for a walk

3. A nice, long, hot shower

4. Spooning!

5. Drinking a yummy chai tea latte

What are some of your simple pleasures?

breaking blogging rules

I know this probably falls under the category of things you aren't supposed to blog about because it can come back to bite you, but I need to get this off my chest.

I have this professor who I absolutely can not stand. We're creating a campaign for a competition that has been organized by a group outside of the school. Sounds like a ton of work but a great learning experience, right? Well, sort of.

A ton of work? Oh, yes. Am I learning anything? No, unless you count learning how to be stressed out and angry all the time. She hasn't lectured us a single time, led us in the completely wrong direction for our project (which meant tons of backtracking and extra work), and misses class more than any of us! She's a hypocrite and never has anything nice to say.

Oh, and her misleading us almost meant a lot of money out of our own pockets. I'm a poor college kid, I need all the money I have. I don't need to be throwing it away for no good reason.

Yesterday's class was no better. I spent hours beforehand working with my classmates on a video. We come to class, and she bitches about everything. If she had come to class on Monday, she would have known all the work we've been doing. Then she starts to nit-pick our work to pieces.

"I'm just your tour guide. I'm not going to spoon-feed you." This is just code for "I will not be responsible for any of the major mistakes I've made. I will not lecture or teach you." How crap is that? What am I paying her to do?

When I get angry, I'm not the very best at hiding it. In class Wednesday, she was talking to another student and I was playing with the detailing on the bottom of my shirt. She instantly freaked out and yelled at me for texting. Quite offended, I said, "No, actually, I'm just playing with my shirt. Don't you think I know better, especially in a class of nine students?" She didn't like that.

Prior to this incident, I had been speaking up about my differing opinion about how we had created some of our ads. She wanted to cut something that I thought was quite important. Eventually, we came to a compromise, but not before she said, "Olivia, you can argue with me all day if you want, but this is how it's going to be!"

I'm paying for this education and dammit, I want it to be a good one.

She sent me a very short email yesterday asking to meet with me, no excuses. I guess this has happened with another student in the class, and he told me that she's going to pull me into her office and one by one, tell me every little thing she thinks I'm doing wrong.

I'm going to have to take some Zanax or something before the meeting because I'm worried that all the stuff I've said now will come out. I know better than to ruin my grade over behaving badly, but I just want to scream in her face and tell her that I think she's an awful professor.

Any tips for how to hold it together in a stressful and angering situation???

Luck is...

That's What Je Said has found her perfect job, but it was quite the journey for her. Along the way, her roomie gave her some advice: "Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity." What an amazing thing to say. I might have to write this up and hang in on my wall as my own personal mantra. I'm always so busy being scared about what's going to happen once I graduate and whether I have any chance of finding a job, and somehow this little phrase is super comforting.

crafts and photographs

After taking photos of a recent little project, I noticed some nice summer photos that hadn't made their way off of my camera yet! The weather is already starting to get chilly here and I'm about ready to start wearing my mittens. These pics however, were taken back when the sun was warm and I was wearing flip flops!

This is an old, abandoned building near the railroad tracks in my town. I loved the red against the faded yellow. Very pretty!

Ah, the train tracks.

I just love the sound of the train tumbling on by...

My kitty with a very inappropriate plaything - an empty beer can. *sigh*

My project! This very large, very boring white wall has been driving me nutty lately so I needed a quick and cheap fix for it: I hung some string and used wooden clothes pins to attach photos I'd taken and edited to look kinda funky. Hard to see here, but it only cost me $5!

Lastly, a painting I had made months ago but never shared. It was super easy but made me feel like quite the shnazzy artist!

Oh, and want to hear something completely nuts? I just read this article on Digg about a guy who was pre-approved for a credit card... with a 79.9% APR!!! Okay, I think that's crossing the line into screwing people who are desperate. Not cool.

Well, that's all folks. I really should be working on my math homework but blogging and hot cider sounding much more appealing! :)

texting is a no-no

Warning, this video is a little graphic. I swear though, you'll think twice before texting and driving ever again.

This video was made to show to 18 year olds in Britain to shock them into understanding why such behavior is so dangerous.

i HEART lists

Blog Goggles and Glamour are both making lists... and we know how much I love those! So I've decided that I'm going to copycat them both and make two lists of my own!

My Makeover-My-Life List

1. No more unproductive fights. They are a waste of energy and don't solve anything. So I am telling myself not to fight unless I am going to be a big girl and try to solve whatever issue is at hand.

2. Clean. I can't focus on anything (namely homework) if my surroundings are a pit. Now I will do my very best to keep things tidy-ish all the time so that it doesn't look like a bomb exploded in my apartment most of the time. And that means I have to start doing the dishes more frequently.

3. Stop procrastinating. Okay, I will admit that this one is a little bit unrealistic, but I wanted to put it on the list anyway. I will try my best to stop procrastinating. Example: tonight, I had an assignment due at midnight for an online class. I got out of work at 9:30 and still had 2/3 of the chapter to read. Yeah, not my proudest moment. I wrote my response about what I had read. Ugh.

4. Eat better and exercise - for the health benefits. Ignoring the rant I went on a few posts ago, I need to be healthy. Example: for lunch today, I went to Arby's and had not one but two ham melts and an order of curly fries... and I washed it down with a Mountain Dew. Oh my gawd, this is not good. Not good at all. Also, still convincing the BF to go halvesies on an exercise bike.

5. Have a cute winter wardrobe. Winter is blah, and I really don't like bundling up. However, I know that it is possible to still look cute, even with eight layers on. So I am determined to look good and therefore feel good this winter!

My Big Dreams List

1. Travel to interesting places. Top on my list: India, Japan, China, and Italy.

2. Graduate from college! I am almost there and I swear I will finish and hopefully still have my sanity in tact!

3. Be comfortable in my career. I know this isn't something that will happen immediately, and I understand that it may be awhile until I find something that works well for me. I am, however, determined to find something that fits me just right!

4. Buy a house! I am addicted to House Hunters and Hidden Potential, so I daydream about about buying a home all the time. The Boyfriend and I are always talking about our dream home with an awesome master suite and a movie theater room and a hot tub. Someday!

5. Publish a book. I love writing, and it would be an awesome accomplishment if I could work on something long enough to actually create a book that others would enjoy.

stairs are fun!

my distorted image of beauty

(photo from Glamour)

There’s been a lot of talk lately about supermodels not needing to be superthin to be beautiful. Glamour has decided to include all sorts of body types in its pages. Women all over the world are excited about this new phenomena and are recreating what it means to be beautiful.

Okay, I am about to be completely honest in the worst way possible. I swear I am making a point, and it’s not to offend people.

I am not excited about this “big is beautiful” perspective. I saw the picture of Lizzie Miller in the September issue of Glamour, and my first thought was, “Why would she do that? Why would she want everyone to see her roll? That’s gross.” I realize that these thoughts are wrong, wrong, wrong. But I can’t seem to keep myself from thinking them.

Is it true what they say about girls reading too many magazines and creating unrealistic expectations about their body? I’ve read about that and I’ve always blown it off as psychological mumbo-jumbo. The media can’t really affect a person that deeply, can it? I’m starting to realize that I might be exactly that young woman who now thinks that only thin women are beautiful because of the images she’s been exposed to.

Back in middle school and my first year of high school, I made it a secret goal of mine to not weigh over 99 pounds. I wouldn’t eat breakfast by telling my mom I wasn’t hungry in the morning. I’d take my bag lunch to school, maybe eat the piece of fruit or a few pretzels if anything at all, and throw the rest away. Dinner came around, and I’d push things around on my plate to make it look like I ate more than I did.

This routine became exhausting, and I decided that it had to stop. So my sophomore or junior year, I started eating like a normal person and gained quite a bit of weight which I am reminded of by the white and purple stretch marks that cover my inner thighs. However, I was never a big girl. I’ve always been petite and vow to never let that change. Being thin is surprisingly important to me.

I’d like to say that the obsessive thoughts about my appearance have left me as I’ve matured, but that isn’t true. I’m currently begging my boyfriend to split the cost of a new exercise bike so that I can lose the bit of pudge that’s made its way to my tummy. I constantly think to myself, “Should I be eating that? It’s going to go straight to my tummy.” There’s nothing wrong with being healthy or wanting to exercise, I get that, but when my main goal is to lose that bit of pudge, it’s for all the wrong reasons.

My hope is that when these normal size women start entering the pages of magazines or walk the runway, my irrational thinking will start to fade. I know deep down that this thinking of mine is bad, so I am hopeful that being exposed to other types of women will give me a more realistic perspective about women’s bodies – and my own.

Chanel and yumminess

I only have a few minutes to spare since I'm a busy bee these days, but two important little tidbits:

Karl Lagerfeld decided to put a few fake tattoos on the Chanel models in a recent runway show... as a tattoo lover myself and a diehard Chanel fan, I think I might pass out from the awesomeness.

(See all the looks here, at Glamour!)

Next, I have been super busy and kind of cranky these days, so I am vowing to change my eating habits in an effort to boost my mood. When I eat better, I feel better about myself in general, and I usually have more energy. I'll keep you posted about the changes I make in my diet in the coming week. :)

This. Is. Epic.

My sister is a junior this year, and as is tradition at many high schools, Homecoming Week is filled with days of naughtiness and mischievous behavior. This includes toilet papering houses (my parents' house was done FIVE times), hazing the underclassmen, and much more.

A recent tradition has been to toilet paper the house of one of the science teachers. As a creative and mischievous man himself, he plots with another teacher and a handful of friends to get back at the students this year.

SEVENTEEN cars packed full of students park in a lot nearby his house. Dozens of juniors and seniors erupt from the vehicles with more toilet paper than you can imagine. Armed with homemade SYRUP GUNS, the teachers fight back. Oh, and yes the cops were called, and no, they haven't seen anything like this:

Not enough time to watch all 9 minutes? After learning about the handmade weaponry, move ahead to about 3:30 to see them in action!

Mad Men

I just started watching MadMen, so when I saw this Mad Men meets Sesame Street video, I just couldn't help myself!

(video found here)

when did we get this way?

The weather has been getting quite a bit chilly lately! Last night, the Boyfriend and I went to my little sister's Homecoming Powderpuff game and bonfire. Thank goodness for the huge bonfire, because I think I would have froze to death! I'm in denial, however, that its time to bust out the mittens just quite yet (although I do have a love affair with cozy mittens) so when I saw this dress, I knew it was the perfect thing for the summer-to-fall transition: it's edgy but fabulous!

(dress from Glamour.com)

Warning: I am about to vent a whole lot, so brace yourself.

1. Two nights ago, the BF and one of our mutual friends thought it would be a good idea to get me wasted since I don't really drink much these days. A bottle and a half of wine later, we suddenly somehow find ourselves discussing a recent argument between me and the BF. Our friend willingly played the role of the therapist as we re-argued everything. I ended up crying and smoking a cigarette outside with our friend as the BF sat inside and stewed angrily. I finished the second bottle of wine and followed it up with three shots of vodka before tucking myself into bed. We woke up the next morning and pretended like nothing happened.

When the hell did we become so dysfunctional?

2. The BF applied for a promotion at work recently, and we've been crossing our fingers that he'd get it. It'd be great for his career and we could really use the extra money these days. Except for seniority, we really thought he would be perfect for the position. He got a letter of denial today.

3. I have an appointment for a tattoo in a few days. It's with an amazing artist who I worked with before, and therefore I know that he will be very upset if I cancel last minute. The problem is, I don't know what I really want to get, and I really can't afford it either. Now what?

4. School is taking over my life. Well, one class in particular. We're doing that competition for GM and I swear, it's consuming me. Checking my Facebook isn't even fun anymore since my message inbox is filled with messages about this stupid class.

5. I am so irresponsible. I have to do volunteer work for one of my other classes, and I planned to meet with a teacher at an elementary school today to discuss what I'll be working on. Guess who forgot? Yup, me. Way to make a good first impression, right? I suck.

So there you have it. I'm cranky. Someone wanna buy that dress for me to make me feel better? :)