Ode to a bagel

Oh, sweet delicious bagel, chocolate chip and toasted, yummy cream cheese filling made from real cows. No processed gross-ness. Oh, how you are so tasty.

My new favorite place in Holden - The Bagel Inn. Dear sweet baby Jesus it is sooo good. Mom and I went there today for lunch, and seriously I have never had a better bagel. EVER. Mom has a french toast bagel with apricot cream cheese, which was equally as disturbingly awesome.

I also don't think I've ever eaten something quite so fast. I finished both halves of this gooey deliciousness before Mom even finished her first half... Yikes, I'm a Fatty McFatterstein... but it was so good that I don't even care. :)

In other food-related news, I bought a Spaghetti-Os t-shirt today. Just because. :)
I know. Epic, right? Love it. They are totally my favorite canned food. Favorite food, maybe (second only to those bagels, of course). Gah, even just writing this is making me hungry again.

Okay, okay, now for some seriousness, kind of.

I interviewed a really awesome lady yesterday, named Denyse, who started painting these really adorable, funky paintings of Rutland and some of the surrounding towns. They're uber cute - you can see them on her website (http://www.objectdar.com/). She's having her first showing this Saturday, August 6 from 3-5 p.m. at the Mountainside Market in Princeton, MA. If anyone's in this area, you should totally check it out because she's a sweetheart and her art is soooo cute and unique.

I'm also revisiting the puppy playhouse - NEADS, which provides service dogs for for disabled people. I'm going back there to talk to some of the managers and such again for an article. Should be pretty cool. I hope I get to pet some pups again. :)

I'm almost finished with my internship - just a few more days of work and it'll all be finished, and then I have the lovely task of sending all of my work in to the internship people at school. YAY. :P

I know it's kind of weird to say, but I absolutely cannot wait to go back to school. I looove Oswego and I cannot wait to be there again! :)

nothing, nothing, and more nothing

Hoooooo... So there's really not that much happening, yet again.

Work isn't bad. Sam and I got to go play with some puppies last week at NEADS in Sterling, where they train service dogs. We're gonna write a few stories about them (hopefully) so we're going back on Thursday to interview some people again. It should be pretty cool. I hope there are puppies again. They're friggin cute :)

I'm also meeting with a girl named Denyse on Sunday to see her artwork. She does these really pretty watercolor pictures - check some out here: http://www.objectdar.com/

Other than that, I'm almost done with this internship. I've finished the required number of articles and briefs and photos, and I wrote both required papers, too. Yay! All I need is a few more hours, so by the end of this week I should be golden. Which is good, because the application to study abroad in London finally came up so I need to get to work on that!

In other news, I've been reading a lot. This isn't anything new - anyone who knows me knows that I read pretty much a book every day... maybe every few days. I just finished The Help and Water for Elephants. Ahhhhh they were both incredible. Especially Water for Elephants. Seriously, if you haven't read that yet, do it now. It's one of those books that you literally can't put down and once you're finished, you'll wish you had read it slower to make it last longer. It's ridiculously good, and I just wanted to sit there and hold it when I finished reading. AH. <3

Read it. Now.

Florida

Hola. So I know it's been a long time since I posted, but I've been super busy.

I just spent ten days in Florida visiting my grandma and sister. My grandma has been very sick for a while, so it was good to see her. I won't go into personal details.

It was very pretty there, and ridiculously warm. I spent a lot of time in my grandma's pool, and we went to the beach a few times, too. It was almost too warm to swim - like bath water.

I went to see my sister Keleigh, too, who I haven't seen in months. It was great to see her and her boyfriend and their puppy Archer. He's a cutie. If you don't pay enough attention to him, he'll lay down in front of you on his back and just wag his tail until you finally notice him. Weirdo! But super adorable.

We also saw burrowing owls at Kel's house - these little teeny owls that live in the ground. They were soooo friggin cute and little :) One started squawking at me when I squatted down to get a picture of him. I think I scared him but it was still wicked cute. Their houses were like right in the neighborhood where people lived - you can see a house in this picture. It was weird - I've never seen something like that before.

Ohmygod I can't believe I forgot to mention this

Rich bought me tickets to see the Broadway tour of Lion King in Syracuse this September!!!

I cannot believe that I forgot to write that before, but I had to add it in now. I'm so so so excited! I've always wanted to see it, ever since I saw Beauty and the Beast in Rochester in 5th grade. Ahhhhhhh Lion King! :)

Rich surprised me with the tickets - he kept telling me he had a surprise but I didn't believe him, and then when he got here he told me the surprise was in his duffel bag. I unzipped it and there was a big black t-shirt on top with the Lion King face, and I thought the shirt was the surprise. I would have been happy with just that! But then he said, "Oh yeah, it comes with two tickets."

AHHHHH. I literally threw myself at him, I was so excited. It probably hurt. (Sorry, Rich!) :)

Anyway, I am so so excited and I had to share that. It's not just the fact that I get to go see it that's making me feel like it's Christmas, it's that I was totally surprised and got something really special from someone really special. AND we get to go together. :) So happy.

Fourth of July festvities, and new paint

I know, I know, I haven't blogged in a long time. It's actually been pretty busy around here lately, and no, I'm not just saying that.

I spent Tuesday in the Worcester office of The Landmark, editing and such, which was pretty cool despite the fact that it was a super slow day and the highlight was watching everyone in the office looking out the windows to make sure their cars wouldn't get ticketed.

Wednesday I went into the office again (in Holden this time) and did my usual stalking of people and places I could possibly write about. My editor gave me a story about a 13 year old boy in Rutland who races RC cars and has national sponsorship now. I tried to get in touch with him but so far no luck, which means I'm over deadline. Ruh roh.

I talked to the kid's grandmother, though, which is another story in itself. I don't want to say much because I don't know who reads this, but let me say this: ten cats.

This weekend, though, was by far the best of the summer so far. Rich, my boyfriend, came to visit me! Yay! His family went to the Cape for a few days and dropped him off here on their way home so we had about 3 days together. We went to Walden Pond and putted around in a little canoe, went on a real date (yay!) to dinner at one of my favorite places, O'Connor's in Worcester. If any of you live near here, you should check it out. Delicioso.

We went to see the new Pirates movie, too, which didn't disappoint. It was very good. And I bought a huge thing of popcorn so we got bloated and happy (me more than Rich...I like my popcorn) :)

Rich had to leave yesterday, which is very sad. :( It's lonely here now.

To keep busy I finished peeling all of the wallpaper out of my room in between working on that article and my internship paper. I feel like I have a lot of stuff left to do with all of that, and with my research work. Gahh. I don't know what to do - I really hope I can finish it all.

I painted my room, too, so now it's two different shades of blue, a far cry from the bright pinky-orange of the wallpaper, which made it look like the whole room was on fire whenever I turned my light on. Now it's nice and calming.

Anyway, Happy Fourth of July. Go watch some fireworks and eat a hot dog for me.

This is what happens when it's warm out and I don't want to be productive

So the last few days have been pretty good, but also kind of uneventful. It's been nice outside, which means I don't want to do much of anything. Ugghhh.

Saturday was spent on the couch reading Harry Potter (for the 100th time, or so, because I'm a nerd) and then attempting to do some research work.

Sunday, my family went up to Maine for the day, just because we could. Dad bought a Jeep Wrangler so we all like riding around in it. It was warm out, and a very good day for a road trip. Then I did a few hours of research... fun.

Today, I went to visit a friend, Sarah, and we got ice cream (I had peppermint...YUM) and then went back to her apartment so I could give her a henna tattoo on her foot. Then we looked at her wedding albums, which was very very fun. I love looking at pictures like that. I also mailed in some of the research work I've been doing, so I suppose you could say today was semi-productive. Sort of.

Tomorrow I get to go into the Worcester office of The Landmark to see the production process and do a little copy-editing. I know for you non-journalism people that must sound soooo exciting, but I actually really like editing things. I know, weird. But true.

Hopefully it'll be fun - although I still don't know how to get there... my editor hasn't sent me directions yet. Uh oh... Cross your fingers!

The picture, p.s., is a flower growing outside in my front yard. Can you tell it's summer? :)

Front page! And other news...

Sam and I made the front page of the Landmark this week! Our story about Marilyn Hyson, the woman who lost her memory, is front and center! Check it out online or get a copy: http://www.thelandmark.com/ I think it's pretty cool! :)

We wrote our karate piece today and handed everything in. We're both going back in for a bit on Friday, so that'll be good, too.

Today I went to a retirement party for a woman who lives in Paxton and worked as a school nurse in both Paxton and Holden. She spent 21 years as a school nurse - pretty cool. I got to talk to her husband before it started, and I have to say they are quite possibly the cutest couple I've met. He bought her roses (with a story behind the number and color) and they've been together 47 years. Gahh. He cried when he gave her the flowers. So so cute.

Not much else is going on now - just writing up the retirement story and sending it in along with the pictures I took. Tomorrow I'm gonna do a little more research and try to get in touch with people for the next stories. We'll see what happens, because so far this hasn't been the greatest week for stories actually panning out. Cross your fingers!

I'm watching Grey's anatomy while I write this and the article... my guilty pleasure. It's raining here, so I can't go outside or do much, but I'm trying to stay busy. I'm also going to a tattoo place tomorrow night because I'm meeting with the artist to talk about me working for him as the henna girl. Yay! It'll be really awesome if this works out, because I love doing henna tattoos and I love tattoo places, too, so... AHH! :)

I think my muscles are falling off

So yesterday Sam and I got to go to our first ever karate class at Grimm's Family Martial Arts in Holden. We're writing a piece about it tomorrow, and it should hopefully be published next week. I think it'll be pretty cool, since karate itself was awesome!

We learned some blocks and kicks and stuff - super fun! And we are now officially white belts! Haha... It was great. I'm sore today, though. I've been trying to run again the last few days and doing some ab stuff, so that plus karate last night means my back hurts and I just want to lay in bed for a few hours... but I'm up and being productive today!

Tomorrow is an office day, so I'll go in and write with Sam for a while, then go out to a retirement thing to take pictures - which apparently is not a surprise after all :( I was kind of excited about that... but I guess it'll still be pretty cool.

Nothing else is really going on - just work, work, eat, run, work, eat. So fun. I do want to show you what happened earlier, though, when I went in my room to scan some things to my computer: Bella, my mini dachshund, decided it would be fun to climb up in my bed and make a nest. So cute. Just look at this:

:)

Learning how to punch more accurately? Yes, please.

So I had two articles in the paper this week. Yay! And I'm working on three more right now, with the help of my fellow intern at the Landmark, Sam. We covered a small senior center event on Friday afternoon, took some pictures, y'know, the usual stuff. Then one lady got up and told us all about how she lost her memory once and has been gaining it back for 40 years. Wow. So we went up to her at the end and she agreed to let us help tell her story. We're writing it together right now, through email. I think it'll come out really interesting at the end - this woman's had a crazy life.

Sam and I are also going to a martial arts school tomorrow night to get some info about their programs and take a sample course. We get to learn the basics of how to kick butt, and then write about it. Awesome. :) We're both really excited about this - I feel like a little kid. I get to learn how to punch things and kick. Woooooop :)

I can't tell you about the third story yet, because I'm covering a secret surprise party for someone so I don't want to say anything just in case. Shhhhhh. I'll tell you about it after I cover it and take pretty pretty pictures and things like that. I think it's going to be really cute, though. ;)

Nothing else is happening here, really. I spent my day lounging around and walking outside in the sun. I also did some cleaning (finally) just so I could feel sort of accomplished. But that's it... so exciting, I know.

Middle schools smell like braces and low self-esteem

I spent last night at Chocksett Middle School in Sterling, MA, at their International Night. I took a bunch of pictures and sent them to my editor this morning, so cross your fingers that they'll end up in the paper.

It was an interesting night... For one thing, most of the little middle schoolers weren't actually so little. I was wearing heels and I still felt short :(

It was super hot in there, too, and I swear to God it smelled like braces. Maybe that was only a flashback to my middle school years, but I could smell the rubber bands the orthodontist makes you wear to move your teeth along faster. Ugh. Not a good flashback. I'd rather not remember middle school... Not only was I the girl with braces and frizzy hair, but I had a back brace, too. Hoorah for scoliosis! Needless to say, middle school passed in a haze of self-loathing.

So now we move on to other things.

I burned my hand last night, very badly. We got a new microwave and I was trying to heat up a mug of water. I did it all the time with the old microwave, and if I left the mug in for two minutes the water would come out perfect. I only put this one in for a minute and a half, and when I reached in to grab it - BAM. Ouch. I dropped it all over the floor and the mug cracked and now I have what might be second degree burns on my right hand. It hurts to move my hand too much, and I have to hold it a weird way to type. I can't stretch it out. :(

Any ideas on how to treat burns? I've been looking online and I don't know what to do. Can I put lotion or anything on it? Gahhhh.

Here we go, another week

Happy Monday!

So I finished another article, about the new summer art program for kids in 5-8th grade in Sterling. Hopefully it will be in the paper soon, but I don't know if it will be this week, because my supervisor just got back from his honeymoon so I can imagine the number of emails and things he has to look through now. I don't know if he's edited it yet. He hasn't answered any of my emails, so I'm not getting my hopes up yet.

Tuesday, tomorrow, I'm going back to the middle school in Sterling again for their International Night. I'm going to take a bunch of pictures and hopefully some will also end up in the paper or at least online. Wish me luck!

In other news, I think I had a 24 hour bug or something, because last night I started to feel really crappy before bed, and then I woke up at 2:45 and got sick :( ew. I really hate throwing up so it was a night full of gagging and crying and shivering and ginger ale.

I feel better now, though, so that means back to work with article searching and fun things like that. I also really need to actually start writing my paper for the internship credit, about social media and newspapers. I was productive this morning, though, and I did some coding for my research job with a professor on campus. I got two hours of work done, so that was good. I got to watch a bunch of old Sarah Palin interviews and laugh... I found this picture of her on the Huffington Post. Isn't it scary?

I'm getting hungry now, so I'm gonna go eat something and then get back to work looking for article ideas and things like that. Any suggestions?

Why are phones so unreliable?

I'm working on a new story today - I found a program in Sterling MA that's new, an arts program for children.

The problem is getting in touch with the two women who run it. There is no contact info on the website, so I tried the town clerk... but that didn't work.

So then she patched me through to someone else, who suggested calling the middle school, where I've been disconnected three times already. I know the women work there, though, so at least I'm close. But the secretaries probably think I'm nuts because I keep calling asking for the same people and then I either get cut off or transferred to the wrong room. Yayyyy.

I really hope this works out, because it's getting annoying.

In other news... I ran again today and so far have been able to resist the cupcake temptation. But probably not for long. I want sugar.

I'll let you know if I finally get in touch with these women... cross your fingers!



image c/o google images

I wrote a story today... yayyy

So yesterday I got to interview two men who are running a RAD (Rape Aggression Defense) program in Sterling, MA. It's pretty cool, because it's only $50 to go to the class and they teach you basic defense techniques.

The guys were super nice and seem genuinely excited about teaching women how to defend themselves. I'd really like to try it out, so I think I'm going to go to the class once it starts - I want to learn to kick some butt! If anyone wants to join me...

I finished up that article, so now it's time to start hunting around for a new topic. I'm not sure what to look for yet, but I guess I'll figure it out.

I also need to work on my paper for this internship credit stuff - I have to write an eight page paper about the effects of social media on newspapers. I have most of my sources already, it's just a matter of organizing everything and then actually writing it... but I have zero motivation. It's super hot outside today, so I pretty much have no motivation to do anything.

Although - I did go for a run this morning, because it was kind of nice out when I got up. I felt so proud of myself, but then I ate a cupcake :( I'm so weak. But I mean, come on, who could resist these beauties?

Ugh, okay, time to get back to work, so I will post again later!

NCCWSL continued - with photos!!

I added this picture in because I just love this quote... Okay, moving on:


Day Three:
Day Three was spent mostly in workshops about leadership and women's rights - there was pretty much a conference for any interest.

Here are the ones I went to:
-CEO of Your Life: Leading with an Entrepreneurial Spirit
-Media, Stereotypes, and Powerful Women
-Ditch Your Inner Perfectionist: Chutzpah Served Sisterhood Style
-Hey Shorty! Ending Gender-Based Violence in Schools and on the Streets

They were all very interesting, but my favorite was definitely the Chutzpah one. It was all about how to stop being a perfectionist and realizing when you are stretching yourself too thin - when you need to relax and take time for you - and how to stop worrying about making everything perfect.

After all of the workshops, the buses came back to take us into D.C. again for a dinner on our own and some sightseeing. I went with a few girls - Katy, Jill, Jasmine, and Donna. They were all super nice, and we got dinner together at an Irish place, and then walked to the Capitol building, where we ran into the U.S. Army Band, and then to the Washington monument. It started to get late and we were all getting pretty tired, so we headed back to the buses and drove back to campus for the night.

Day Four:
The last morning of the conference, I got breakfast with Olivia, Lilian, and Megan (which was in itself an ordeal, because we couldn't find anywhere that was open and ended up walking back and forth across campus for over half an hour - but it was worth it when we found food!). Then we went to the closing speeches, which were pretty cool, and then it was all over! We all split up and made our way home. I managed to find my way around the airport all by myself and got home safely! :)

So that was my NCCWSL trip - it was great, and I met some wonderful women!

NCCWSL: Days One and Two --With Pictures!!!

Alright, so I finally found that silly cord, and got all of my pictures onto my computer from the NCCWSL conference. (Ps, people said it like "nick-whistle," which I found pretty cool).

Here we go - my D.C. and Maryland experience, with photos.

Day One:
The first night I got to Maryland was pretty laid back. We all got together in one of the dorms on the University of Maryland campus and had a little "getting-to-know-you" kind of night. We hung out, shared stories, and had little ice-breaker games. It was nice, and I met some cool girls. Then I went with three girls - Mara, Randy and Ericka (all from Minnesota) to wander around town in search of noodles. Seriously. We went to Noodles & Co. and talked for a while. Then I passed out back in my dorm room with Cruz, my roommate, also from Oswego.

Day Two:
We got up super early, with a ton of groaning and grumbling, and caught the bus to the Newseum in downtown D.C. One sleepy bus ride later, and we met up in a room in the ground floor for a little talk about the First Amendment, and then they let us walk around for about two hours. Cruz and I tried to see everything, but there was just sooooo much. We started on the top floor, on the terrace that has a spectacular view of the Capitol building and Pennsylvania Ave. Next, we saw the Hurricane Katrina exhibit - all front pages documenting the hurricane and its aftermath. It was pretty powerful - except for the middle schoolers running around it and trying to find their home states' papers... lots of screeching and pushing - so we kept walking.

The exhibits I was most excited to see were the 9/11 and Pulitzer Prize winning photos. We ended up seeing both, which was great. The 9/11 exhibit was very very powerful, with an antenna from one of the towers in the middle. It was all twisted and broken, and that against the front pages of papers showing the towers on fire was just... well, you get it.

The Pulitzer photos still remain my favorite, though. I could have spent all day just walking around and looking at them all. Ahhhh.
I wish I could have just stayed in there. Seriously, I want all of them in my house. I even tried to get the book the Newseum sells of copies of all of the photos but it was too expensive :(

When we got back to the campus, we went to opening speeches and things like that. They were all pretty interesting, and I met even more cool ladies. Then it was time for the Women of Distinction Awards ceremony and reception.
Connie Chung, Lisa Jackson, Marsha Guenzler-Stevens, Natalie Randolph, and Swanee Hunt were the winners this year, so we got to hear them all give really great speeches.

Then we had a little meet-and-greet with these fabulous women, so I got to talk to/shake hands with Connie Chung! Ahhhh, so cool. It was a great moment. I got a little shunted back and forth when I was trying to go up to her - because 500 college women in high heels all determined to touch Connie Chung can be a little vicious. But eventually I got up to her and my new friend Katy from NH and Alabama was kind enough to take a few pictures for me.

NCCWSL part one

I just got back last night from the University of Maryland, where I got to spend four days hanging out with awesome and powerful women :)

NCCWSL is the National Conference for College Women Student Leaders. It's an annual conference with workshops and speeches and things, so it was pretty cool.

I can't find the cord for my camera so I can't upload any pictures yet, but I promise I will! Especially because (this was the highlight of my trip) I got to meet Connie Chung! AHHH. It was super cool - I took a picture with her and got to talk to her for a second. It literally was only a second because there were over 500 college women at this conference and only one Connie Chung to go around.

We also went into D.C. twice - once to visit the Newseum, which rocked, and once at night for dinner and a little sight-seeing. It really was a fun time, and I met a ton of nice ladies from all over the country. We had every single state represented, and even some international students. Very cool.

I want to wait until I can upload pictures to go into a lot of detail, because I think some of the pictures will speak for themselves. So I promise to keep looking for that elusive cord and I will upload very very soon!

Patience is a Virtue... That I Do Not Possess

The worst thing about journalism - waiting for people to call you back.

I literally have no patience. It's kind of a problem... considering this is what I want to do with my life. When people don't call back, I get myself all nervous and start worrying that I won't be able to write the story.

I'm waiting right now for a source to call. You can guess how I'm feeling, right?

Anyway, moving on, I'm in the process of working on one story, researching ideas for other stories, and getting ready for my trip tomorrow!

I'm going to Washington, D.C. for a few days for a conference. (That sounds so grown up! 'I'm going to a conference...') It's the National Conference for College Women Student Leaders. Kind of a mouthful, I know. There's going to be a bunch of workshops and speeches and things, so it should be interesting.

On Thursday I get to visit the Newseum for the first time, which should be pretty cool, too. http://www.newseum.org/

Incidentally, my editor here at The Landmark said some of his work is there, in the community journalism section, I believe. I'll try to look for it.

I'm most excited for the photography, of course. I'm kind of a photo nerd, and supposedly there's a big exhibit of Pulitzer-winning photos. It's going to be a huge photogasm, and I can't wait!

I won't be posting while I'm there, even though I've just started. I can't bring my computer, and I'm going to be crazy busy, but I'm absolutely going to post the second I get back!

Numero Uno

Okay, so here it goes -my first post of the summer.
I'm writing to keep track of what I've done and what's going on at my summer internship site - The Landmark newspaper in Holden, MA, a weekly community-focused paper.

Holden's a small town in Western Massachusetts - right next to Worcester. The paper I'm working for covers Holden, Paxton, Princeton, Rutland and Sterling. That's a pretty big swatch, actually.

Anyway, this is the start of week three of my working there. Week one was sort of uneventful, as I came in just to discuss what I like to write about and what I hope to get out of it - pretty basic stuff, really. I'm working in the office Thursdays and Fridays and then writing and interviewing during the week.

I covered an event last Tuesday - my first article for them this summer - at an elementary school. It was called the "Wind Beneath Their Wings" award night, and it was to honor people who made a difference in the lives of children with special needs. I have to say, it was pretty cool. I met my competition, too - a guy named Danny who works for The Daily Holden. Far from it being awkward, however, he actually helped me out. He was really nice, so I greatly appreciated that.

Anyway, that's all the basic stuff for now - This will get more interesting as we go on. Check out the paper on Thursday to read more about the ceremony I covered.