It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas

For weeks, I've been planning that today would be the day I decorated for Christmas. John documented the entire process. I, literally, rolled out of bed and got started. So, even through I'm still recovering from yesterday's 17 hour car ride and look like complete poo, I'm sharing the pics here with you, loyal reader. (Imagine if you were married to me, you too could be treated to this sight each morning.)

A trip to the attic yields all my accumulated Christmas booty. Yea, decorations! John said we have too much. I disagree. Only 2 medium tubs, 1 large tub and 2 trees. Not enough if you ask me.

First things first, I switch out my fall wreath for my winter one.

Hey, look! Non-frog decorations! I have a few of those.

The giant frog tree goes up, next. Hoppy Holidays!

Then we take a break to dance.

The OSU tree is crazier than ever this year, thanks to a Crazy Days sale at the Alumni Center.

I headed out into the cold and wet on my own to hang lights on the house. John was "working" something about a book deadline, blah blah. So you won't see any pics of me on the roof.

It got incredibly cold as the day went on, so we called it quits after 10 strands, but the front of the house looks pretty awesome if you ask me. (blame a very slow low light shutter speed for the blurriness.)

5 Ways to Procrastinate

A work-related writing assignment that I really was not feeling inspired this post.

1. Go for walk. At work it seems I always need to jump up to check on something when I not into whatever task is at hand. Of course, I may just notice it more when I'm procrastinating. In general I tend to pace around a lot as I work.
2. Do something else that really needs to be done. Because as long as you are being productive, it doesn't count as procrastinating, right?
3. Clean. Does anyone else do this? It's like I'm punishing myself for not doing the task at hand.
4. Be genuinely distracted and forget what you're doing. Oh, shiny!
   
5. Blog! and speaking of blogging this is part of the second go-around of the 30-day blogging challenge.
   

100th Post!

Happy 100th post to me. To celebrate here are 100 things about me.
1. My favorite color is yellow.
2. Orange is a very close second favorite.
3. I love the Harry Potter books.
4. I've worked as a grocery checker
5. I've worked as a nursery attendant
6. I've worked as a camp counselor
7. I've worked at a library for the last 14 years
8. I've worked in PR for 10 years
9. I'm accredited in PR
10. I am often accused of being perky
11. I'm a natural redhead
12. I enjoy being the center of attention
13. I don't enjoy spending extended periods of time with other people who need to be the center of attention.
14. I have two sisters who look just like me.
15. I've been happily married for 4 years, 4 months and some change.
16. I have a bachelor's degree in environmental science
17. I have a master's degree in mass communications
18. My master's thesis was a discussion of PR ethics in government communications.
19. I think it sounds more impressive than it is.
20. I'm a home owner
21. I named my house "Little Blue" the day I saw it.
22. I was born in Germany.
23. Next summer I'm visiting Egypt.
24. I would not even consider eating a pickle for $500,000.
25. My husband thinks I'm an excellent cook.
26. I'm growing my hair out for locks for love.
27. I have a dog named Boogie Woogie.
28. I almost always have my toes painted.
29.I took ballet lessons for over 10 years.
30. I took belly dancing lessons for almost 2 years.
31. I graduated from Westmoore High School in 1995.
32. I'm now on the WHS Alumni Association Board.
33. My husband calls me "Boo"
34. I love gummi anything
35. I've send the Red Hot Chili Peppers in concert 3 times
36. The next concert I'll see is Billy Joel/Eton John
37. I have season tickets for Cowboy Wrestling
38. I came in 3rd in an Iron Kids Triathlon when I was 12.
39. I collect all things frog
40. I have an entire xmas tree decorated in frogs
41. I wear mascara every single day.
42. I once went 2 and a half months without shaving my legs.
43. I still shaved my armpits, though, because that's just gross.
44. I'm a certified Irish Whiskey Taster.
45. My husband keeps me in fresh flowers.
46. Coming up with 100 things takes a long time.
47. Maybe I was just kidding about the whole 100 things.
48. Does anyone really want to read 100 things anyway?
49. No probably not.
50. How about 50 things to celebrate my 100th post. Yeah, I think that sound good.

This Week I Love: Thanksgiving

Need I say more? While Thanksgiving is not my absolute favorite holiday, it's pretty darn good. I means what not to love about a holiday that is basically food-based. I think every holiday should have a food component.

My favorite Thanksgiving dish is green bean casserole. As my sister Sarah said as a toddler, "Bean Beans!!"

What's your Thanksgiving fave?

Internship Best Practices

Over at the PRSSA blog they summarized the newly released PRSA Internship Guidelines. I can't wait to read through the complete report. (How dorky is that?)

Based on the summary PRSSA provided, it looks like really good stuff. From my own personal experience, I think these are some of the most important things to get from an internship. We'll see if my thoughts line up with the PRSA report.

1. Build a mentoring relationship. You should leave an internship with at least one relationship that will continue to foster your professional development after the internship is over. This means you have someone you can call for advice as well as a reference.

2. Do real work. I hear what I consider horror stories about interns doing noting but fetching coffee and filing. An internship is certainly going to be a time to pay some dues, but you should be doing professional-level work as well. Yes, you'll run errands and wash some dishes, but you'll also participate in planning meetings and write stories for the annual report.

3. Be treated like a professional to learn how to be a professional. When you are held to professional standards, you learn to meet those standards. So even though you probably are the lowest paid employee in the office, you should be treated like everyone else. This can mean you get some pretty critical feedback. You'll prove you're a professional, if you learn from it.

The Time I Met Neil deGrasse Tyson

Neil deGrasse Tyson of NOVA/Origins fame was our 2009 speaker for the Cobb dinner. One of the perks of my job is when we bring in these "super famous" people, I get to act as the media escort. When they are nice and fun and motivated to fulfill their contracts, this is a really fun job. When they are rude, stuck up and generally don't seem to care if they get the other half of the speaking fee I'm holding onto until after the event, this can make for a miserable evening.

In case you're wondering, Neil probably falls somewhere in the middle for me. Not the best (I love you Ken Burns!), but certainly no where near the worst.

Emily and Dad got to come this year! I was so excited for my family to get to see one of the biggest events I coordinate each year.

I like when the authors come prepared for the book signing. I always have backup pens ready for them, but I'm impressed when they bring their own. Neil had an arsenal of various colors and inks.

Here I'm trying to explain to Neil why he needs to follow people on Twitter. I don't think he was impressed with my explaination of two-way commincation tools.

Here's my awesome team that worked hundreds of hours (yes, really) to make sure this was a great night for our 232 guests.

At the end of the night, Neil took us outside for a private tour of the night sky. There was a very impressive laser involved, but it's hard to explain without sounding dirty.

Petroglyph National Monument, Here I Come