hello new york.

so the verdict is in and next quarter i'm going to: NEW YORK.

i have to say, i'm more excited about this than the past two. mostly because i pretty much knew for sure i would get brazil and london, but this one had a lot of steep competition. i'm also relieved because most people haven't heard yet. we were one of the first teams. so thank good.

i also have to say, i'm ready to come home for a little. traveling around is exciting and all, and ive heard so many times how people are jealous, but honestly it wears on you. i'm ready to be done and settle down in one city and actually have a home to go to, not some flat with bunk beds and 9 other roommates. thank goodness NY has its own housing. at least i know that is already set and secured. all i have to do is get there early so i can get my own room. not to mention, the housing is free. i dont think too many people in their life have a chance to live in NY for free. so i'm definitely excited about that. plus i have a friend who lives in astoria, where the house is, and she loves it. i'm driving up to PA so i'll have my car there, which even if i don't use it, makes me feel a little more at home and in control of my life.

the internship is at Y&R. i have two friends who already work there so that's good. i can't wait. it's on madison avenue. i guess i'll get a real taste of what it's like to live and work in NY, which is good in case i decide to stay there post-graduation. another thing i'm so excited about is having so many friends living in the philly/NY area. it'll be nice to finally have people around that i know.

so on that note, i'm going to celebrate tonight by seeing Wicked. supposedly one of the best shows on broadway right now. i'm going by myself, working on my independent womanhood. i can't wait. i'm actually pretty excited about going by myself. all is well in the london world. three weeks of the internship left, sab will be here in two weeks. and i'll be home in PA for two weeks before heading to NY.

cheers. :)

ads of the world.

some of my work got picked to be on ads of the world. check it out.

The campaign is for goobers peanut butter and jelly.

Classic Pairs:
Lucy and Desi
Lennon and Yoko Ono
JFK and Jackie Onassas
Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers

advertising is harsh. at least a few comments are good, and they got picked.

cabin fever set it.

so yet another glorious week has come and gone in the queen's country. [proof is in the pay phones.] we are entering our 7th week this week and only have about a month left, which is crazy. so things are really starting to pick up. last weekend we spent fri, sat and sun in the office everyday until at least 11pm. so i began to feel a little stir crazy and realized i only have a month left and i really havent done that much so far here. so this week, while we did our work. we had to get out.

[we are going crazy spending too much time in the basement]
tuesday night devon and i went to see quidam, the cirque du soleil show. it was absolutely amazing. it was its final week and london and we happened to catch it. its just absolutely mind boggling what these people are capable of doing. the music, the acrobats, the entire show was just amazing.


and no, there are zero saftey nets and harnesses. a large part of the show was acts done very high in the air with the performers on ropes, hoops, etc.
this is the view of the shrine outside the theatre.
this is royal albert hall where the show was.

luckily, we were in the cheap seats very high up, so everything was right in front of us.
then on friday, a bunch of us from school went to see avenue q. the puppet show for adults. the show is about everything from internet porn to racism and it is so so good. the soundtrack is amazingly hilarious, so if you get a chance check it out.


then for valentines day, devon bought my rose petal tea and soap. everyone decided to go to an anti-valentines day comedy show at barcode [a gay bar]. it was absolutely hilarious and we had the best time. then we all went out to drown our sorrows of being single.


devon and i also went to camden market on saturday morning. it is by far the best open air market i've ever been too. it's located on the camden locks so its also beautiful. the range of stuff is astonishing and its huge. you need about 8hrs to really go through and look at absolutely everything. i forgot my camera that day, but i'm sure ill be back. we had some mulled wine and called it a day. amazing week. glad i finally did many of the things i wanted to do including simple things like walking through hyde park. i'm even more in love with london and unfortunately i'm an addict. sorry dad, but i've taken theatre crack and i'm addicted. london is definitely the place to go for theatre. you can get decent seats for cheap. hopefully before i leave i want to see wicked, the lion king and phantom of the opera. so we'll see. i'm giving up drinking and spending all of my money on theatre. [ha if only that were true.] amazing week. hopefully the next will be just as good.

oh advertising.

weekend rendezvous in paris.

so i went to visit alyssa in paris this weekend and it was absolutely amazing. not only was is so nice to be around a good friend and someone whose known me for longer than a month, paris is all its cracked up to be. its an absolutely beautiful and amazing city. i took about 170 pictures while i was there. but here are a few of them:

escargot and wine for my first meal in paris. not bad.
the eiffel tower twinkling every night on the hour. absolutely amazing from far away, absolutely amazing from the top.

one of the best things about paris is how local everything is. alyssa lived beside a bakery, a crepe place, a fruit stand, wine shop, and cheese shop. the camanbert was to die for.
this is why i want to live in paris. baguettes, cheese, and croissants.
the hotel de ville. beautiful building at night.
we took a touristy boat cruise up and down the siene. it was beautiful seeing paris from the perspective of the river, and a fast way to see most of the sights.
picture off the back of the boat.
we went to the louvre and saw the mona lisa.
notre dame. unfortunately we didnt go in, but its size and detail are so impressive.
of course we drank plenty of wine the entire weekend. but when it was freezing out side we had vin chaud. [hot wine.]
in front of the main triangle outside of the louvre.
the back part of the louvre. just the outside of the building is absolutely amazing. not to mention the fact that it houses 35,000 pieces of artwork.
but then london decided to get the most snow its had in a decade. paris had a few inches as well. this in turn, led to me being stranded and spending an extra day in paris.
BBC just kept reporting about "The snow came and the UK stopped"
See all of the pictures on my facebook albums:
Album 1
Album 2
Album 3

so paris is the new love of my life although i have to say i'm glad to be back in London. i will definitely be visiting paris again though, and hopefully at a warmer time of year.

ninja obsession.

so devon and i are slightly obsessed with ninjas. my obsession is recent, perhaps its because he's asian. the world will never know. but because of this video from the onion, i love them even more.



Ninja Parade Slips Through Town Unnoticed Once Again

i mean honestly, who doesn't want to be a ninja?

i've been here for three weeks already?

we've successfully completed week three. i can't believe i've been here for three weeks, but i think back to things i did in the first week, and they feel like they were years ago. next week we have to start making decisions about next QA and i feel like i'm just starting to get settled here. anyway, the week was amazing. busy, but amazing.

all of us went to vapiano for dinner. [minus martha and mafe, the m's have something against us.] it's this amazing restaraunt that makes fresh pizza pasta and other italian food right before you. the have fresh basil plants in the middle of every table that you can just pick leaves from and put in your pasta. behind is us where they grow them.
then friday night we decided it was time for some fun. so all of us, [minus devon and mafe. we just can't seem to get the whole group.] went to koko club. it's a club in an old theatre. its absolutely amazing. although i have to say, those steep inclines are very dangerous with drunk people, i wouldnt be surprised to hear something falls at least once a weekend.

this friday they had a live band. british rock of sorts. but they also had other music playing in other rooms. the place is absolutely huge.

my favorite part was the gigantic disco ball. it doesnt look that big is this picture, but it was HUGE.
yesterday devon and i went on an inspiration walk. it was a beautiful day. this is in SOHO square. i think he knows this guy or something.
then we made our way to the national portrait gallery where theyre currently having the annie leibovitz exhibition. very cool gallery.

this is my favorite piece. it was a submission for a photo contest.
then we hit up china town. with today being the chinese new year, it was very happening. we are going to go have chinese food for dinner to celebrate, but china town is a sweet part of london. [minus the smell of dried fish.]


These are just some of the pictures.
You can see all of the pictures from Week 3 here.

still in love with the city. still don't want to come home. next weekend i'm off to paris, so we'll see how i feel about that.

the things that most excite me.

this picture encompasses the two things i'm the happiest about right now and the two things i wish i was in the US for right now. i mean, how could the steelers not win the superbowl. obama has a steelers jersey.

advertising and pop culture.

so like i posted before, saatchi just released a new t-mobile spot inwhich they created a stunt in liverpool station. well that stunt/ad has hit mainstream blogs all over the place, giving the company, the agency, and the commercial tons of free media.

one of the blogs is the highly acclaimed Perezhilton.com


another being The Cool Hunter.
while some may argue the ads originality with flashmobs and recent things being similar, such as dancing prisoners, i think it's a great example of how pop culture and advertising can influence one another. next time i'm in liverpool station, i won't be surprised to see a group of people dancing.

i have to admit that while we had no part in the ad, being at the agency through this is very exciting. being at the launch, seeing it live on tv, talking to the creatives and planners who made it, and now seeing it hit mainstream is all very cool. kind of ignites a renewed sense of excitement and purpose of why i'm here.

london hair cut.

so since its been about 4 months since i had my hair cut. it was about time. ive been so blah ever since i got to london. so i decided [after doing research for a hair company for a class] to make an appointment at the toni&guy academy.

5 pounds got me any hair cut i wanted. all they needed was 2-3 hours of my day. so this morning i went. my london hair cut looks very similar to my miami haircut, however this one has a lot of little differences that make it so much better.



cheers.