hilarious.

quote of the moment. [emo, i know.]

"I believe that everything happens for a reason, people change so that you can learn to let go, things go wrong so that you appreciate them when they're right, you believe lies so you eventually learn to trust no one but yourself, and sometimes good things fall apart so better things can fall together."
-Marilyn Monroe

my crest [s].

the crest i created at www.scionspeak.com [thanks tara.] it says many things about me. goodluck decoding the brass knuckles, butterfly, five point crown, angel wing and alley cat. but it says alot and was fun to create. very successful advertising.

in light of this fun experiment i thought i should post my real family crest.
something i thought was interesting when i was researching my crest and coat of arms was our family motto.
"Forti et Fordeli nihil difficile"
"Nothing is difficult for the Brave and Faithful."
this explains so much about my personality now...

welcome to the new miami ad school.

so apparently the new line for miami ad school is 'the school of pop culture engineering.' a very crispin inspired move no doubt. kind of a cool concept and probably a necessary move considering the term 'portfolio school or advertising school' is becoming out dated. case in point, vcu: adcenter changing it's name to vcu: brand center.

either way, it's another example of what i love about miami ad school. it's constantly changing with the times. advertising changes everyday and an advertising school that doesn't, just doesn't make sense.

so thank you to kat from crispin for this preview of the new tag, and bring on the crispin mentality. i will surely need it in light of the brief they sent us for TIR next week entitled 'the hardest brief ever.' i seriously can't wait. because no matter how stressed i get, or pissy i seem to be because i'm stressed, i love this shit. i thrive off it.

Happy Earth Day.

here are just a few insightful ecards to celebrate earth day.

so carpe diem this earth day and do your part. whether that maybe planting a tree, or recycling your beer bottles. because every little bit helps.

the eve of PA primaries.

in light of the PA primaries tomorrow, i believe another quick post is in order. also considering i'm two glasses of wine deep, it seems like a good idea.

for anyone following the democratic race, you know how crucial the pennsylvania race is tomorrow. and while i may be registered a republican at home, and an independent in florida, shh dont tell the government, i really wish i could vote in tomorrows democratic primary. i was so pro-hilary for awhile but after really reading up on policies, listening to debates, and being a total nerd who loves CNN, i'm really an obama fan. either way, we're about to create history. which is so amazing in itself.

anyway, i've never been prouder to be a pennsylvanian. perhaps if i were alive when we held the first continental convention, but i wasn't. and obama was just on the daily show with john stewart. a very insightful show. however, john stewart brought up how there has been so much publicity and that the candidates have been there for six weeks and obama's response was 'the people of pennsylvania deserve the attention.' that's right. and don't you forget obama. even though i may never live in the state again, it's where i was born and raised and many people underestimate it's potential.

anyway, we'll see how tomorrow's vote turns out. i just want to end on the amazing note that john stewart just asked obama if his secret plan was to become president and enslave the white people.

i heart john stewart. goodnight.

future a.d.? probably not.

holy intense beginning of the quarter. so much has happened in the past two weeks and i can't even believe that we are heading into week 3 of our third quarter already. wasn't it yesterday that i moved to miami beach? oh wait that was six months ago.

they weren't kidding when they said they get you in your third quarter. between TIR and ad concepts and all the writing we have to do for writing for radio, i definitely have my work cut out for me this quarter and I'm feeling it already. however, i've also come to the realization that a lot of this is my own fault. i like to give everything 100% of my effort and a recent apiphany [and slight mental break down] showed me that sometimes it just isn't possible. and this is where the art of prioritizing comes in. i have to just focus on what is important and what i feel is the best in terms of book pieces and learning/experience.

because while this school is all about coming out with an amazing book, it is about the experiences and things you learn as well. and there's more to it than just advertising. it's time management. it's people skills and how to work with a partner and deal if you just don't mesh. how to get makeshift props because you are too poor to finance the real deal. and these are just a few of the many, many examples.

but that's the biggest lesson i've learned. give it your all, but only where it counts. because it's physically impossible to give every project as much energy as i would like.

on a completely different note, i would like to profess my new found love of flash. sources will reveal that going into this quarter a was less than enthusiastic about having flash and even considered switching out of it. however, the more i use it and the more i play with it, the more i'm in love. [a far cry from numerous posts ago when i professed my hatred for illustrator. the building blocks of flash.] there's just something so inspiring and exciting about putting little dots into boxes aka keyframes, hitting Apple+Return and seeing the whole thing come to life. while the thought of switching to interactive art direction crossed my mind, i think i'll stick with words. because while i may eventually master the program [a feat i am far from at this point] i'm still much better at articulating things than picking a color scheme. so i think i'll just go with a well-rounded copywriter title. either way, i have lots of fun things in mind i want to create. and it all started with a little grey mouse eating some purple swiss cheese. [a masterpiece you will unfortunately not be able to view because i didn't save it.]

believe.

John Mayer - Belief lyrics

i feel pretty. oh so pretty. i feel pretty and witty and gaaaay.

so nicole introduced me to the wonders of a site called 'we feel fine.' i'm fascinating. it compiles how everyone is feeling in a certain geographic area by compiling phrases that begin with 'i feel.' so we are doing a little experiment to see if it really works or if it's all a hoax. either way, i'm obsessed.

philosophy of life for the week. possibly the quarter.

a whole new stalkernet.

so thanks to good ole nat and his ability to cause severe a.d.d among all of his students, i know have a new obsession with google earth. during flash yesterday, [a class i most certainly should be paying attention in] i downloaded it and did a search for my house in pennsylvania. i knew i lived in the middle of know where, but seeing the mass amounts of tree and open land all around really drive that point home. here's a picture of my glorious little house in the middle of nowhere surrounded by acres and acres of trees and farm land.

there she is. the home of the beef. and note my ONE neighbor and how close we are. someone didn't plan things out very proportionally. anyway, if anyone is interested in a trip to PA any time soon, as you can see my backyard makes a great football field and beef loves when i mow one out of it.

on the flip side, i'm sure we all had stalkernets in college where you could find out waaay to much about people. and now with facebook, myspace etc you can learn a person's whole life story before ever meeting them. so i just wanted to thank google for taking stalking to a whole new level and in conclusion, i've decided google has officially succeeded in taking over the world. literally.

the youth fair among all youth fairs.

so i have this little resource tap at work who gives me lots of little insights into miami living. she's too cute and is always like, you have to go here, you have to go there. and they always turn out to be these amazing little gems that noone knows about. well i have to say mrs. alina jones, you've pulled through once more.

she told me about the miami-dade county youth fair. like true country girl fashion i LOVE youth fairs. and luckily, christy comes from the glorious state of wisconsin where they too indulge in this gloriousness. so i convinced her to go with my last night with our sights set on some amazing fair food. what we found was soo much more.

this youth fair put miff co to shame. even grange fair could compare. it just kept going and going and going. they have hundreds of rides including a real rollercoaster, 'doppellooping.' which we happened to schmooze the little teen carnies into letting us ride in the front and it was amazing. i was so impressed for it being a fair ride.

then there was the food. ohhhh the food. first and foremost they had these stands everywhere with roast corn on open fire grills and it couldve been the most amazing sweet corn i've eaten. then christy and i divided and conquered. first pulled pork sandwich, then chili cheese fries, the corn, then milkshakes, then hot sausage sandwich, and finally onto a funnel cake. we probably ate about a weeks worth of fair food in two hours. good thing we rode the rollercoaster early.

this didn't even scratch the surface. there was a mardi gras parade. numerous live shows from ice skating, shark shows, acrobatics, and the 4-H exhibits. it was just a truly amazing fair.

and while this fair was much more multicultural than the county fairs at home with the arepas and massive amounts of meat piled everywhere, it really reminded me, and made me miss home.

diversity is key.

i've always considered myself a diverse person based on a few things including the range of activities i enjoy from making mud pies and kayaking to fashion shows and sipping champagne. well apparently miami ad school has the same theory considering i have flash this quarter as a copywriter. i'd love to see the look on every other copywriters face who spent the last quarter kicking and screaming through illustrator when they now see they have to take flash. but hey, maybe i just got lucky in being scheduled to take it.

either way. i think it's good and bad. miami ad school has two main selling points, at least to myself. number one obviously the quarter away experience and number two the ever-evolving curriculum to stay up to date and ahead of the industry in terms of ideas and techniques. most people tend to overlook this and just think, 'well no copywriters i know have ever taken flash.' exactly. so while my first instinct was to drop the class instantly, while those other copywriters and i have our books laying on a CD's desk, when the work is good across the board, theyre going to look at my resume and see that i have a knowledge of flash and that is something that will definitely stand out, or at least make them stop and think, 'why does a copywriter know flash?' so while i may never actually use it, although i have big plans for some fun side projects to kill many valuable hours of my time, it's definitely on thing that would give any copywriter an edge up. because that's what this business is all about. and i think this is a good example of how the school is trying to stay up to date and ahead of the game. because flash is the next big thing according to most of the professionals at the recent portfolio reviews.

so while i'm still undecided about switching out, i'll probably keep it. because i believe if you are really good in one thing, then dabble in a few others it's better than 100% focusing on one thing, but then only being good for one thing.

and to keep up with my new diverse theory of life, my morning television viewing was as follows:
curious george. [the cartoon.]
veggie tales. [in spanish.]
then cnn.

because you have to keep life interesting.

i'm going soft in my old age.

it's sad but true. i've gone soft. and i'm officially in love with a dog. recently beef, my 450lb trucker of a father, got a 2lb dog and named her snuggles. my first thought, why in the hell is a 450lb trucker naming anything snuggles? and second, great i have to deal with this little shit when i go home for easter.

i was in for a huge surprise. it was love at first sight. meet snuggles. [she is in fact quite snuggly.]
although sab and i made many valiant attempts to change her name, beef wasn't having it. and snuggles wasn't having the foot of snow we woke up to on saturday morning.
i attempted to convince him to let me bring her back to south beach so i could join to army of fembots with their miniature dogs. i even pulled the 'my apartment has a doggie day spa.' but no dice.

now don't get me wrong, this doesn't mean i've begun liking animals or dogs, just this dog. and i am in fact quite in love.

so meet beef and snuggles. because a pictures worth a thousand words.

top o' the morning to ya.

ohh st.patricks day. one of the greatest holidays that has cinco de mayo syndrome [celebrated more in the US than the country of origination]

what a great day to be irish. everyone's irish on st.patricks day. and for those who are actually irish and have proof, like oh say an apostrophe and two capital letters in their last name [ahem O'Keefe] have you ever noticed they are extremely arrogant about it? [i'm self-admittedly one of those assholes.] i've never noticed a holiday where people are so arrogant about actually being of that heritage. this may however, have something to do with the mass amounts of killians red, guiness, irish carbombs, and green beer that we as americans use to celebrate the holiday.

i miss the days at home with my irish family and our massive st. patricks day party. complete with lamb stew, corned beef and cabbage of course, scones, and other traditional irish food. then we all sit around and get hammered. oh the good ole days.

but once again this year i can not celebrate my favorite holiday. [a favorite among many who like to drink way too much and dress extremely ridiculous. those who just like green everything. or slutty girls who like to abuse the phrase 'kiss me i'm irish.'] for the first time, i'm not a bartender on st. patricks day and thought, yesss i will finally be able to celebrate. thank you david barton gym for killing those hopes and dreams and making me work from 5pm-midnight tonight. and thank you also andrew speyer for not showing up twice to our one on ones so they are rescheduled for 9am tomorrow morning. so much for luck o' the irish.

so this is for you davidbarton and intro to strategy:
but i just hung my final piece of work on the board for the quarter and i have to say, i definitely had the luck o' the irish on my side this quarter. i can't believe it's over already and i'm excited to see what the next quarter brings, because all and all i'd have to say this was a successful one.

so on that note, happy st. patricks day, enjoy this one for me and kiss me baby, I'M IRISH!