Baby !
8-18-09 Leah Avery Skaggs, 9lbs. 11oz.
She is so precious!!
Didn’t want to give her up!!
Me, Ashlee, and baby Leah 
Best friends since we were 11.
Little feets and toes!!
More tiny toes.
Searching…
For a good book. I really, really need something to read. Most of the people I know have their heads wrapped up in the Twilight series, but I’m not falling for that. While those books really MIGHT be good… I am so tired of junior high fiction it’s not even funny.
I have my eyes set on a couple of memoirs… I just can’t make up my mind. Sadly there are NO great bookstores in this town, and even when I find one it’s like walking into a shoe store. There are so many to choose from, and if you could you would buy the whole store. Shoes and books. Now I’m thinking about shopping. Great. Why does everything lead to shoes and shopping?
This video gets a little over the top… Let’s get some Shoes. I love it. Ha!
Juice and Cookies.
Oh, you work for the Red Cross? So…you like, donate a lot of blood and try to finagle other people into giving blood too… right?
No… and to tell you the truth the last blood drive I attended was in the gymnasium of my high school six years ago… And I wasn’t able to even give blood. But here I am, slaving away behind this little Red Cross and the last thing on my mind is blood services.
When most (uneducated) people first think of “intern,” they think of the 20-something coffee fetcher/answering machine. Fortunately, the only grande skim double-shot vanilla latte with whip I’ve had to order, was my own. In fact, my fellow employees bought ME bagels on my first day. How sweet. And I’ve only had to take over secretarial work when our secretary Ann religiously takes her mid-morning and post lunch smoke breaks.
This internship has its flaws, don’t get me wrong… but I really can’t complain. Every day I am working my ass off on at least 2-3 projects and there is always something new to be doing. I might be stressed, but I’m never bored. This is why:
News releases, features, fact sheets, brochures, newsletters, invitation and business card designs, public service announcements, bios, photography, web write-ups, meetings, public affairs courses… and on top of that I am now a certified field producer for public access television. I’ve also met and spoke with some pretty influential figures in this city… Navy Commanders, newspaper editors, and retired CEOs of colossal companies like Proctor and Gamble…to name a few… Networking is number one, ya know?
I’m not sure what sparked me to write about my internship… Maybe it’s the fact that I am sitting here at my desk and I feel like a stack of work is smothering me. I only have two weeks left and I feel like the “boss” has thrown every little think possible in my direction. Did he really just ask me to be the head producer for the video production of Rockin’ for a Reason?
Sometimes I do wish I was sitting at the refreshment tables serving blood donors juice and cookies.
Editor’s Shot.
Newspaper’s end of the year party… I didn’t realize until now that everyone taking the shot was an editor. Maybe that was the purpose of the shot, I don’t know. But I do know we all had the same reaction… priceless Kodak moment.
Left to right Mo-Sports Editor, Megan-Opinions Editor, Megan-A&E Editor, James-Editor-in-Chief, Dan-News Editor, Me & Kelsey-Copy Editors
Moon sailing on the water.
Due to lack of good direction, I fell in with thieves.
And took to drinking as religion and landed on my knees.
I was born in a coal mine, you were born by the sea.
Ahhh… Tuesday mornings. Something I used to dread… but am strangely looking forward to more and more. Bold coffee on crisp mornings –just me and the freeway for a couple of hours while I tread through some of Michigan’s deepest forests to reach Traverse City.
It’s during these times that I either a) sing through an entire Mason Jennings album or b) have heart-to-hearts with my inner self. Today was a (b) day.
Today, we (my inner self and I) went through a list of moments that create little orgasmic bursts of happiness inside my head. And in no particular order, first is shopping. There is nothing better than the instant satisfaction of a clearance item you can’t live without. Especially if it is that 3-layered multi-color, crisscross back strap-summer dress that you snagged for $4… Or what about the yellow gator purse that was a jaw-dropping $10?
I shop to dig for the bargains. I refuse to pay $100 for a pair of jeans or $50 for a shirt to brand me like the rest. So not cool in so many ways. And to add, no one enjoys a guilty shopping spree.
Road Trips.
I’m talking trips by car or train to new and foreign lands. I have seen more in the past four years than most people see in their lifetime. Which is really kind of sad… I enjoy the little trips from Big Rapids to Chicago, the 12 hour train adventures from Toledo to D.C. or the 50-some hour car rides from Holland to Vegas.
I’ve driven through deserts and mountains, swam in the Pacific and the Atlantic, experienced the nitty gritty of dirty cities in New York and California and witnessed the hillbilly ways of Mexicans living in the slums of New Mexico and Arizona… It’s SO hard to fit my feelings on these trips into 5×7 photos and roadside souvenirs. Rest stops or landmarks, I love EVERYTHING about road trips.
A good concert…
I mean, a GREAT concert. Music has somehow found a way to fit itself into my life since I was out of the womb. My father is a guitar player and my “tootmate” is a drummer. It’s no wonder the two of them have thrown the bass in my face.
It’s too bad I’ve had to welcome the instrument with tied up hands and in the past year or so have only learned a handful of songs. Either way, playing or watching, the art of music fascinates me. In my case, concerts are most likely the cause for road trips, ah yes! I’ve had n o s e b l e e d seats and front row crushedagainstthemetalbar seats. The feeling of being wrapped up in a mass of strange, sweaty bodies singing at the top of their lungs with Dave Grohl, while you’re screaming at Pat Smear to kick you back the bra at his feet, is priceless.
Painting.
Dad is a musician, mom is an artist. I’ve really got to start giving my parents more credit! Anyway, for a little over a year I’ve been dabbling in paint. When I find the time I love relaxing to sweet tunes in front of a white canvas. The best part about painting is the fact that you’re not THINKING about what you want to see on the canvas, you are FEELING it.
Every piece I’ve finished has come from my fingertips and not my mind… you just lose control and it’s a feeling everyone needs to experience. I am no Picasso. Poetry and fiction was my chosen art… I look at a pencil the way my dad does a guitar, or my mom does an artist’s brush.
Wow… It’s going to take me days to finish this list…
I want to ride my bicycle…bicycle…
His and Hers. Took the bikes for an evening stroll and tried to catch a sunset. Instead we got a few interesting shadows….
What to do…
This summer is going by WAY too fast! And it’s at the point where I feel like I should be gearing up for school in the fall… oh, but wait. No more school for me, yet. I think it’s flown by because my schedule is literally overflowing. I’ve got about 90 more hours left of my internship to complete and I think I’ve decided not to take the job offer in the fall as their Americorps/PR person. I know it would be a great opportunity but I’m not ready to narrow down. At the beginning of July I started a little part-time work as a cashier at Meijer, which is nice for the checkbook–ok, so checkbooks are so 90s, but you get the idea. Anywayyyy….On my first day I was called into the head cashier’s office and told I would be promoted to a service coordinator position after 2-3 weeks of cashier training. Soooo…since I’ve added this to my resume I’m still not ready to narrow down my options.
When I first started getting into public relations I was so set on working for a large PR firm or even a little boutique office in the city. Not so much anymore. I guess I’ve just decided that the best work is done from within. That’s why I get so passionate about a company when I start working for them. Internally, employees see so much more going on inside the company than the account executives at PR firms do. I also feel that when you’re tied to a company that you love working for you put more passion into the work that you do for them. That’s just my opinion I guess.
Aside from choosing a post-college “real job” I’m still battling with the ideas of graduate school. I think it’s all going to fall in place so right now I’m just trying to enjoy life.
