Must-Have Monday

can't stop listening to...

can't stop eating...

completely addicted to...

a twist on my favorite obsession

i get a ton of steals from...

awesome prices and unique colors

daily must wear...

i will never buy another mascara again

i get the most compliments when i use...

smells absolutely amazing, and unlike very sexy, every girl on the planet doesn't wear it

my hair is a mess without...

amazing, especially curly hair

More to come,

Why not?

Lets get this out of the way. I planned on starting this post the way I like to start my Sunday mornings. Slowly, calmly and with a lot of thought and reflection. I however feel I must get this bit of ranting out of the way before I can do any of those things, so please forgive me.

I've told a few of my friends that I am starting a blog, and every single person immediately responds with "Why?". 99% of the things I say are sarcastic and/or exaggerated, so I've been countering with something like "Because if I'm going to rule the world, I need to develop a following" or "I'm branding myself for my future fortune and fame"

This complicates the problem more often than solves it because some do not understand how a person, particularly a 22 year old every day college student, can be a brand. Those that do understand it do not see why I would want or need to attempt such a feat.

So this is my full out explanation of why I am starting a blog, why I want to be a brand and develop a following, and why you might want to think about doing the same thing.

As i mentioned earlier I started this mostly for myself. I love to write. I have about 10 or 15 notebooks dating as far back as middle school filled with my thoughts or dreams or anything I felt worth keeping track of at the time. While I still enjoy journaling, the notebook is basically obsolete. I am much more likely to update something via laptop or blackberry, hence the ease of blogging.

While it sometimes pains me to look back at the at those notebooks, I am glad I have a self written record of my feelings. I am very big on self reflection. Too many people do not know themselves. This is one of my biggest gripes with the human race, but we won't get into that now. The point is this blog will allow me to look back one of five or ten years down the road and know, at 22, what was going on inside my head.

Reason number two. Branding. The most relevant example that comes to mind is Bethanny from Real Housewives of NYC. There were multiple episodes about her Skinny Girl cookbook, margaritas, cocktails and so on. She even had Alex design a character based off of her actual appearance that would serve as a logo for everything she produced from that point on..

Now, I do not plan of creating a signature line of drinks or products or anything else marketable, but that's the idea. I want to put my thoughts out there in hopes that people will find them interesting on a personal level, so that when I truly get the hang of this and begin putting out career oriented advice and projects, someone will already be reading it.

In an industry (who are we kidding, a world) where your image, opinion and reputation can make or break you, I think it is important to have some self documented information in cyberspace that future employers or clients can refer to and know what you're all about. Even if it's just a personal blog. I equally hope that this blog helps someone figure out how to do something better. That it be the interesting bit or new point of view of someones morning. What the blogs listed to your right are for me.

I am not naive. The only people that will probably read Six and Oh are my friends and family, perhaps a random Twitter follower, but you never know. My goal isn't necessarily to achieve the most site traffic, but hey, you never know.

Now, for my attempt at advice :)

I think blogging is great, and everyone should do it. Firstly, because we basically all already do. Myspace (if that even matters anymore), Facebook and Twitter are all basically blogs. Though you don't write the information full out the way I do here, they are all sites that document your thoughts and views. Whether we like it or not people are already forming opinions of everything we think by what we post on those pages, so I now prefer to put mine in paragraph form.

Whether you make your blog public or not is irrelevant. Maybe no one sees it, maybe you plaster the link all over town. Either way I don't think anyone was ever sorry they took time to sit back, sort through their thoughts and explore them on paper (or in this case on screen). Take it from someone who has record of what they wanted to do after school in 8th grade, you will at the very least get a good laugh out of it.

Moving on. Now that that's behind us...

Happy Sunday :)

Sunday morning is my favorite time of the week.

This is how free I normally feel when I wake up on Sundays

 There are many reasons for this, the first being secrets. If you haven't noticed, I am a blog junkie, snoop and self proclaimed expert at analyzing other human beings. This means the Post Secret blog is my guilty pleasure. The fact that they release their secrets every Sunday morning, my favorite morning, makes it even better. If you're not familiar please check it out. My previously mentioned irritation at people's lack of self reflection is somewhat soothed by this site. It is so inspiring to me that people mail out their most personal secrets so the creeps of the world, like myself, can indulge in knowing something about someone elses life. Everyone has a story, and it is my goal to hear and understand as many people's stories as I can. Post secret allows me to do that with dozens of people a little every week.

Another reason I love this morning is that it's usually my day off. It gives me some time to think, breath and now blog. Time to clean and do laundry and shop and organize and see friends. Todays agenda consists of

laundry mat

mall

car wash

total room overhaul

time with friends

I believe I can accomplish all of the above, but not unless i get moving. I will post the outcomes of the above list, and hopefully have something good to show for it.

I planned on Sundays being my day for the best posts, but after the "Why" discussion I am out of time and focus for the moment. Perhaps I'll continue later, but it may have to wait until next Sunday.

More to come,

It's the weekend.

typical morning

Upon some morning reflections over coffee with my absolute favorite coffeemate creme brulee creamer, I have decided that this is definatley it. This is the blog I will keep and maintain and nurture, hopefully for years to come. I am on a serious mission to bring more order to my life and I think routinley keeping a written log of my thoughts and comings and goings will be a big step in that direction.

That being said, time is not something I have a lot of. My usual days go something like 6am wake up, work from 8:30am until anywhere from 5pm to 12am, then passing out without taking my make up off. No explanation necessary on how exhausted I am after a 14 hour day, and even when I'm off at 5:00 pm there is ususally no energy left for coherent writing after cleaning or errands or friend time.

School will be back in session soon however which will give me a lot more time at the computer, and the aforementioned jobs do provide me with lunch breaks and down time. So that is when I will blog.

What am I doing all day at these jobs you ask? Absolutely loving life. After a lot of hard work and mistakes I have managed to get to a really good place in my life. One aspect that was never dificult for me to master or excell at however is work. I love to work. Dont get me wrong, I love money. A lot. I love to shop and eat out so working is a necessity to me. But more than that I love the sense of accomplishment and validation I get when completing a project or knowing I truley contributed to an organization. Even if that organization is just a wing joint :)

I have worked at Roosters for almost two years now. If you are not familliar it's like a Frickers or BW3's or Hooters. I love it there. My coworkers are some of my best friends and our management staff is supreme. I drive them crazy and I complain a lot more than I should, but I am so thankful to have a place I can go to make money that will work with my school and internship schedules unconditionally. Shout out to Roosters for keeping a roof over my head while I try to hustle my way through UC!

I also currently intern in the public relations office at UC's Academic Health Center. This is by far the most enjoyable place of employment I've experienced. My boss and the other employees in the office are so friendly and helpful. They are also amazing writers and I'm elated about having such awesome people in my network. The fact that they pay me to edit, update websites, and write is almost unbelievable to me. I do these things for fun anyway, so it is definatley my dream job.

ANYWAY

That is where I work. For now. Two new internships coming for the fall, but I wont get into that just yet.

I am a firm believer in the term work hard, play harder. What is it they say?

(I keep this on my windowsill)

So I do find some time for fun too. This usually consists of exploring the streets of Cincinnati with my friends, reading, trips home to Dayton or my absolute favorite and most addictive hobby: shopping.

I love to shop. I do not see it as simply buying clothes. I see it as collecting wearable art. Clothes say so much about a person, escpecially in the public relations industry. A lot of people probably dont agree with that, but I believe if I expect someone to trust me with their image, mine better be damn good. All the worlds a stage, life is a fashion show, all that. I eat it up.

But let's pull in the reigns a little. I am not rich. I do not have thousands to spend on all the georgeous pieces of art that taunt me from the store windows at Kenwood, so I improvise. I am an expert shopper. Name any item, color, style, and I will tell you where to find it and how much it's going to cost you. I know which stores have the best clearances when. I pride myself on good finds. My latest love is online shopping.

This will be my first official blog attempt to give advice. Hopefully, someone actually reads this and it helps.

Online Shopping Tips

1.Retail Me Not

AMAZING website. Retain me not is a wonderful site I pick up tons of coupons from. You can type in any brand or store, and it will provide you with online offer codes that other users have submitted. It also tells you which ones work the best, how long they last and so on. Somtimes they're a bust, but I have gotten 25% off or free shipping on more than one occassion.

2. Endless

Another fabulous find. One of my best friends Megan and I share a love for shopping. I can't remember if she told me about this site, or I her, but it's one of our favorites.

I love this site for many reasons.

a. Multiple brands. They have a wide variety of brands and price ranges so you can find what you need no matter what.

b. Multiple search options. If you are a freak of nature like myself, it can be hard to find sizes. Endless allows you to search by size, price, brand, or color, all at the same time. This is invaluable when searching for the perfect item.

c. Discounts. Almost all of the items I've purchased from endless have had free shipping, sometimes even free two day or overnight! Also invaluable to the avid online shopper.

I could go on, but just check it out for yourself.

3. Don't judge a book by its cover.

Now I have no idea what the official retail policy is on this, but I often find much better deals on the web than I do in the mall. It's also easier to brease through a website than it is scour the stores.

I have a favorites list of my favorite store's clearance sections. I check it often, and I also check frequently to see what online offer codes/discounts the store is providing. This is a GREAT time to start doing this since things always go on sale when the seasons are changing.

So there it is. My top three tips for online shopping. Here are some of my favorite shopping destinations I know have awesome clearance sections.

Metro Park
Nordstrom
Victoria's Secret
Urban Outfitters
White House Black Market

So not that you have the overview on my work situation and one of my favorite non work activities, I will close with the two themes I'm trying to integrate in my life and will undoubtedly be talking about frequently here.

The quest for global domination.

Also known as graduating and finding a job.

I will soon begin my last year of undergrad, so it's now or never. Last chance to raise my GPA and get all that I can out of the college experience, academically and socially. I must also soon begin the search for a job in the public relations world. That may be here in Cincinnati, but maybe not. I am definitely a midwest/east coast kind of girl, that thats the only limitation to my search. Chicago? New York? Maybe even somewhere a little south? This and much more will be explored in the months to come.


The quest for balance and calm.

I currently posses neither of these things. I will never be calm. I am a mile-a-minute kind of person. But instead of being the storm, I'd like to at least be more "eye of the storm". Have some sense of calm and regularity at my center. I believe this is crucial.

I hope to accomplish the above by:

-creating a budget/saving money


-making my home more beautiful and functional

My new sheets :) If I can find other things this exact color to coordinate, it will be a miracle.

-following a schedule


-keeping my car/house clean and orderly

This is obviously unacceptable.

-consistently eating healthy and working out


-balancing school, work, family, friends and me time

If I close out my college career regularly doing all of these things, I will truly be unstoppable.

If this is actually possible.... the jury is out.

More to come,

Third time's a charm?

Hello :)

I have genuinely decided I should start blogging a dozen times. I have also found myself actually setting up a blog about half a dozen times. All of those blogs have ultimately failed, and are now somewhere in the graveyards of cyberspace.



I think all of these failures are due to the fact that I have either no idea, or too many ideas, about what exactly I wanted to write about. I know I should be putting things out there (for my own sake, at least) but I can never focus on one idea or topic long enough to stick with it. I enjoy a variety of hobbies, interests and schools of thought, but none so much that I can write about them constantly. Explore them every day.


This blog will not focus on one aspect of my life or personality, but whichever focus I happen to be obsessing over at the time. I will try to leave something useful in my trails of ranting such as my favorite items, or products or services I find particularly useful or interesting. Even if it is just a good quote I’ve heard or some inspirational words, I will always try to leave something useful.


A few background things you might like to know. I am a: 22 year old, sister, daughter, waitress, intern, best friend, college senior, sorority girl, caffeine addict, writer (don’t those last two come hand in hand?), bookworm, athlete, reality tv/celebrity junkie, blackberry owner, and shopaholic. I often feel I should be able to sing or paint or compose music or something because I believe I have a tortured soul and I know I have the heart of an artist. I learned early on that words would be my life. They often lead to my downfall but even more often lead to my success. PR, marketing and journalism fascinate me. I plan to rule the world.


That about covers the basics. I’ve always found people’s descriptions of themselves comical, so if any of you know me you may get a laugh out of this as well. Who really chooses to or even can describe themselves accurately?
 
Stay tuned and you can be the judge :)


More to come,