So I just scrolled through 99 photos of "celebs" on the red carpet at tonight's Grammys. Really? The chick who is opposed to intentionally keeping up with celeb gossip spent 5 minutes doing such nonsense? Guilty as charged. And is now writing about it? Unh hunh, right here. My internal monologue included, "Wow, I thought he was dead" and "Didn't your grandmother tell you not to wear horizontal anything" and "You couldn't put on a suit for the Grammys at least? I hope that's not your real hair..." and "That dress is awesome! Nice taste!" and "What are YOU doing there?" and "Who is that?!" and "Oooh snazzy, good work!" and "There are how many of you in that band?!" and so on.
So given the marketing potential an event like this has, along with what it means for musicians and the industry overall, take a couple of seconds and scroll through. It's educational in some ways!
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Corner View : My Favorite Hangout
Oh how I wish I could post photos of me in Hawaii (where I lived before DC), the redneck county fair I used to attend annually, the homes of my friends I love to visit, or any of my other favorite places. However, grad school has taken over my life... yep, quite literally, and I don't get to any of those places often, if at all these days. Fortunately, there's the regular distraction of a sweet little fluffball running through our feet under the desks. Rufus makes us turn "off" now and again and just enjoy laughing and playing and the simplicity of it all. Until there's a vacation or escape to a favorite hangout, here are photos of what have become the common perches of this particular student!
The classroom
My desk, where I'm chugging away at a paper
The classroom
My desk, where I'm chugging away at a paper
Our pup's first snow earlier this month. Notice it's
on his nose, with which he dug so he could throw it into the air!
on his nose, with which he dug so he could throw it into the air!
To see favorite hangouts around the world, check out:
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Corner View : What We Are Wearing
Today's CV topic is "Your Style."
Personally, I'm more a fan of classics and usually avoid trends. One reason for this is my fear of my children looking back at photos of me, the way I did my parents, saying, "What were you thinking!" Being trendy can also get pretty expensive. I have recently become a fan of nice jeans, I'll admit. I used to be opposed to spending more than ~$20 on a pair, but I've realized that if you wear them all the time, they end up being worth more, as you'll get your $80+ worth out of them. You don't have to launder them as often, they fit better, they last longer, and if you get the right pair, they'll stay hip for a while. If you'd told me a few years ago that I would ever say that, I most certainly would have cringed! I also really love fun belts and bracelets-- they can jazz up any ole' outfit.
Trends of today include those awful "skinny" pants that don't look good on anyone, regardless of how thin, or with any pair of shoes, short or tall or what:
Personally, I'm more a fan of classics and usually avoid trends. One reason for this is my fear of my children looking back at photos of me, the way I did my parents, saying, "What were you thinking!" Being trendy can also get pretty expensive. I have recently become a fan of nice jeans, I'll admit. I used to be opposed to spending more than ~$20 on a pair, but I've realized that if you wear them all the time, they end up being worth more, as you'll get your $80+ worth out of them. You don't have to launder them as often, they fit better, they last longer, and if you get the right pair, they'll stay hip for a while. If you'd told me a few years ago that I would ever say that, I most certainly would have cringed! I also really love fun belts and bracelets-- they can jazz up any ole' outfit.
Trends of today include those awful "skinny" pants that don't look good on anyone, regardless of how thin, or with any pair of shoes, short or tall or what:
Sweater dresses are in-- those are fine. Leggings with oversized shirts are also in-- those are not fine. I just can't comprehend people wearing unflattering clothes in the name of being fashionably hip. It's entirely too temporary... just look at those old photos for confirmation :o)
To check out what other people are wearing around the world, visit:
To check out what other people are wearing around the world, visit:
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Chow down on chowda
I'd been wanting to make a corn chowder of some sort (hence this entry's title). Along the way, I tried a few other soups and various recipes. Here's my take on how or if I would redo them!
Italian Sausage Soup
Pretty good! It looked a little watery at first, but didn't taste that way. I used a spicy italian sausage which gave a pretty good amount of kick. Italian sausage grosses me out overall, but here it was fine. If I had this one to do over, I would go with a mild Italian sausage or maybe ground turkey.
Lemon Herb Chicken
I made this for a serving of 6 and it was ridiculously tasty and easy! I used lemon on each side as it instructs, but a Cajun seasoning on one side, and light salt and pepper on the other. Though the comments say the oregano didn't add much, I thought it made the final product look the way an herbed meat should.
Linguini with Broccoli and Red Peppers
Delicious! I didn't let the peppers get very soft because that's when the nutrients are gone and I just prefer them a little crispy. I cooked them in a stovetop grill pan so that may have helped. My broccoli was 1lb with the stems and extra stuff on it, so think about that when you weigh it. While the final product was delicious, I would definitely add more broccoli (at least another half pound) and maybe do two small red peppers rather than one medium to large sized one. Consider adding a little olive oil or other lubricant to the noodles; one pound is a lot to scoop through if cheese is holding it together.
Broccoli Cheese Soup
The processed cheese part of this is a little funky to me, so perhaps a block of your favorite cheddar or something else would be fine. The amount of broccoli and onions in this one was sufficient, even for me! I would use less chicken stock and a thicker-than-skim milk. The garlic powder is a really nice touch. I didn't see any difference after I added the cornstarch mixture. This was quite tasty and even though I made a double recipe so it would last longer, my husband ate double servings!
Chicken Pot Pie
We all know the toaster oven kind of pot pies we've had with delicious crusts but kind of funky veggies. We bought two ready-made crusts (see my previous note about being in finals); (I think of my sister-in-law telling me her story about avoiding pie crusts like the plague if they have trans fats here; ours was Pillsbury and had none, but also didn't have the dough for a lid) and two bags of different frozen vegetables. The result was pretty tasty, especially if you don't have much time! I'm not sure that going with fresh vegetables would be worth the trouble.
Cheesy Potato and Corn Chowder
The package of gravy mix we bought was- oops!- .75oz rather than 2.5. My husband thought the soup was too watery, so perhaps that's why (and also possibly because I used skim for the milk, as it's all we buy). Had we had a half pound of ham to add, I probably would've done that for protein's sake. As usual, I put double the celery, onions, and potatoes than the recipe called for because I like my soups hearty. I also added some true Creole seasoning (don't believe restaurants when they tell you it's Cajun or Creole seasoning if they aren't in Cajun country- this stuff is the real deal!) We didn't peel the potatoes-- the skin is the nutrients of 'em! It wasn't my greatest chowder, but it was pretty good overall and got better as the flavors made friends in the fridge.
Slow Cooker Cranberry Roast
Holy smokes- this was THE easiest tasty thing I've made in a while. I didn't make the gravy; there was plenty of juice in the crock pot after cooking, so I would just spoon that onto the brown rice served with the roast. Though the recipe didn't call for it, I browned the meat before slow cooking it because I find it looks more appetizing that way. I'm picky about cranberry flavor, but this was perfect-- the tiniest bit sweet, looked like a rich gravy, and after our first bites my husband and I looked at each other and said, "Wow." The meat was a little fatty, but because I would shred it as I prepared it over rice it was easy to toss out the white parts.
"The Most Delicious Soup" from my friend Becky.
The original recipe is here, but hers is:
Italian Sausage Soup
Pretty good! It looked a little watery at first, but didn't taste that way. I used a spicy italian sausage which gave a pretty good amount of kick. Italian sausage grosses me out overall, but here it was fine. If I had this one to do over, I would go with a mild Italian sausage or maybe ground turkey.
Lemon Herb Chicken
I made this for a serving of 6 and it was ridiculously tasty and easy! I used lemon on each side as it instructs, but a Cajun seasoning on one side, and light salt and pepper on the other. Though the comments say the oregano didn't add much, I thought it made the final product look the way an herbed meat should.
Linguini with Broccoli and Red Peppers
Delicious! I didn't let the peppers get very soft because that's when the nutrients are gone and I just prefer them a little crispy. I cooked them in a stovetop grill pan so that may have helped. My broccoli was 1lb with the stems and extra stuff on it, so think about that when you weigh it. While the final product was delicious, I would definitely add more broccoli (at least another half pound) and maybe do two small red peppers rather than one medium to large sized one. Consider adding a little olive oil or other lubricant to the noodles; one pound is a lot to scoop through if cheese is holding it together.
Broccoli Cheese Soup
The processed cheese part of this is a little funky to me, so perhaps a block of your favorite cheddar or something else would be fine. The amount of broccoli and onions in this one was sufficient, even for me! I would use less chicken stock and a thicker-than-skim milk. The garlic powder is a really nice touch. I didn't see any difference after I added the cornstarch mixture. This was quite tasty and even though I made a double recipe so it would last longer, my husband ate double servings!
Chicken Pot Pie
We all know the toaster oven kind of pot pies we've had with delicious crusts but kind of funky veggies. We bought two ready-made crusts (see my previous note about being in finals); (I think of my sister-in-law telling me her story about avoiding pie crusts like the plague if they have trans fats here; ours was Pillsbury and had none, but also didn't have the dough for a lid) and two bags of different frozen vegetables. The result was pretty tasty, especially if you don't have much time! I'm not sure that going with fresh vegetables would be worth the trouble.
Cheesy Potato and Corn Chowder
The package of gravy mix we bought was- oops!- .75oz rather than 2.5. My husband thought the soup was too watery, so perhaps that's why (and also possibly because I used skim for the milk, as it's all we buy). Had we had a half pound of ham to add, I probably would've done that for protein's sake. As usual, I put double the celery, onions, and potatoes than the recipe called for because I like my soups hearty. I also added some true Creole seasoning (don't believe restaurants when they tell you it's Cajun or Creole seasoning if they aren't in Cajun country- this stuff is the real deal!) We didn't peel the potatoes-- the skin is the nutrients of 'em! It wasn't my greatest chowder, but it was pretty good overall and got better as the flavors made friends in the fridge.
Slow Cooker Cranberry Roast
Holy smokes- this was THE easiest tasty thing I've made in a while. I didn't make the gravy; there was plenty of juice in the crock pot after cooking, so I would just spoon that onto the brown rice served with the roast. Though the recipe didn't call for it, I browned the meat before slow cooking it because I find it looks more appetizing that way. I'm picky about cranberry flavor, but this was perfect-- the tiniest bit sweet, looked like a rich gravy, and after our first bites my husband and I looked at each other and said, "Wow." The meat was a little fatty, but because I would shred it as I prepared it over rice it was easy to toss out the white parts.
"The Most Delicious Soup" from my friend Becky.
The original recipe is here, but hers is:
- Pull all the meat off a grocery store rotisserie chicken and chop up. Throw away the leftover chicken parts and put the chopped chicken back into the leftover broth in the container and set aside.
- Chop up 1/2 cup onion. Chop up 1/2 cup celery. Chop up 1/2 cup carrot.
- Toss in a pot with 1 Tbsp. Olive Oil and cook over medium heat for about 8 - 10 min. until tender. Stirring frequently.
- Pour in one can of Petite Diced Tomatoes. Throw in 1 Bay Leaf. Pour in two 32 oz. cartons of chicken broth. Season with some sea salt and pepper.
- Bring to a boil. Pour in 1 cup of Pastini pasta (the little tiny dot pastas). Reduce heat, cover and cook for 15 minutes.
- After 15 minutes, throw in all the chopped up chicken and leftover broth. Throw in about a cup - 2 cups of chopped/pulled apart greens (I use kale, but swiss chard or mustard greens work too).
- Serve once the greens are tender. Top with Romano cheese and cracked pepper.
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Corner View : Holiday
CV is back!
My camera acted up when we visited South Louisiana for a couple of weeks, so the only photos to capture our adventures were of our swamp walk. Here's my favorite one.
We ate plenty of good local dishes (and by good, I don't mean good for you...), visited with dozens of friends and family members, and even though we met in 2005, it was my husband's and my first Christmas together and second New Year's Eve together ever! Woohoo!
We also were awaiting the arrival of our nephew. He "held out longer than a first-round draft pick," as my brother-in-law put it, and joined the family on January 9th at 9lb 8oz and 21.5" long. At that size, he may well be a first-round draft pick; My sis-in-law is clearly a trooper! Here he is at just a few hours old:
My camera acted up when we visited South Louisiana for a couple of weeks, so the only photos to capture our adventures were of our swamp walk. Here's my favorite one.
We ate plenty of good local dishes (and by good, I don't mean good for you...), visited with dozens of friends and family members, and even though we met in 2005, it was my husband's and my first Christmas together and second New Year's Eve together ever! Woohoo!
We also were awaiting the arrival of our nephew. He "held out longer than a first-round draft pick," as my brother-in-law put it, and joined the family on January 9th at 9lb 8oz and 21.5" long. At that size, he may well be a first-round draft pick; My sis-in-law is clearly a trooper! Here he is at just a few hours old:
Hope your holidays were fabulous! To see how others around the world celebrate, check out:
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Solving existential questions
Greetings! My apologies for the gap since my last post; I was taking finals and traveling home to celebrate the holidays. I've had some thoughts since then that have developed since the original seeds that burdened my brain, which seem appropriate as the inaugural post for 2010. Let me know what you think!
I recently drafted a blog about the minor existential crisis I was having. I never got to publishing it because, as was part of the mini-crisis, it seemed unfinished and questions unanswered. Ever since leaving undergrad, I've missed marketing classes more than any other. I love little known facts- be they useful or just interesting- as well as understanding sociological pieces about people that affect their decision-making. Statistics are actually useful, regardless of how good I am at it. These and other little things that interest me come together in the field of marketing. My career management class required us to do an interview with someone in our field of interest. A friend from undergrad now works for Gap, Inc. in San Francisco as a buyer for women's accessories at Banana Republic. He obliged my request for this informational interview, and as so many in marketing think his job is so cool, I had plenty to get him to explain. One of the questions that turned out to be most relevant was what about his job he loves most. "You know," he said, "when I see a woman walking down the street, and the bag she's carrying is one I tweaked something on, or the scarf she's wearing is one I changed the color on, she didn't need it, but she bought it because of something I did." Working for a company like this one in the marketing department is so sexy to so many, but I couldn't help but think that while my friend's job is enjoyable and exciting to him and would probably be nice in the short term, if I look back at 65 and feel as though I've sold a lot of stuff to people that they didn't need, I'm pretty sure I'll feel unsatisfied. I have no doubt that he is talented with a multitude of transferable skills, but I want to go about it differently. Armed with this insight, I decided to do something with more long-term value to me. But if working for a company like this is the dream of so many marketers, and I know I want to do marketing, how do I get there? What exactly can I do with my life? Severe confusion and doubt set in.
I'm sure this is something that most people ponder at some point in life. I'm in graduate school because I thought I knew. I really like strategy, I think I'd like to couple it with marketing. I'd like for it to be with a company/product that has intrinsic value (Leukemia and Lymphoma Society need marketing, too... that kind of thing) but non-profit also doesn't always have the feel I want, so I'm not sure that's the route for me, either. How do I iron everything out? My husband thinks I should do organizational behavior, but my school doesn't have a focus in that. HR? Too much paperwork of the stuff I don't enjoy, though I would enjoy the people element. I need quantifiable results, probably. I really enjoyed the volunteer stuff I did with the Army as liaison between the chain of command and families of deployed Soldiers. But a career in the Army? Something about that doesn't sound appealing (or is that my aversion to the organization after my husband's 15 months in the Sandbox?) immediately, anyway.
While I'm still in a bit of limbo on how to plod along with my career, all in one sort-of banner day, many things I'd been working on pieced together. A case my group of 8 had been working on, living, breathing for several weeks was presented, and we rocked it. Our argument was, "Korea's spectacular economic progress since the end of the Korean War has been due to an enlightened government industrial policy." Having spent a significant amount of time in this little country, I really got into the prep of this presentation, though it got quite hairy at times. The class voted and our team won, along with a higher grade on both the presentation and the paper. After this presentation, I had lunch with the dean. My program is very small as compared to many others even in the same town. My husband regularly comes home and tells me what happened at his school that day or what the administration said, and I can't help but think that our folks are doing the same thing, but that we know nothing about it. I brought this up at the meeting, and it resulted in him agreeing to create a blog. This is quite exciting to me because I will actually read it and love knowing what's going on and feel as if the administration wants us in the loop on things that will make our degree more valuable even after we've graduated... but I also think it is a wonderful selling point for future students! The dean himself writes about what is going on behind the scenes of the school? He even includes links to relevant topics, photos, et cetera. Cool! And as if that weren't enough, that afternoon I had an interview with a prominent paper for a spring internship in their strategy department. I may not want to work for a newspaper long-term, but there's undoubtedly good experience to be gained in an industry fighting for relevance. I liked the people I interviewed with, it sounds as though the work could be extremely interesting, and the head of the department all but told me she thought I was a good fit and should join their team! (The HR specialist later called with the formal offer). So my existential crisis is somewhat subdued. I certainly don't have all the answers yet, and I know my questions will continue to grow, but confusions may be narrowing for the time being.
If any of you have tips on how to progress through this, what decisions you went through to get your education, and how you figured out this is where you want to be, I'd love to hear them!
I recently drafted a blog about the minor existential crisis I was having. I never got to publishing it because, as was part of the mini-crisis, it seemed unfinished and questions unanswered. Ever since leaving undergrad, I've missed marketing classes more than any other. I love little known facts- be they useful or just interesting- as well as understanding sociological pieces about people that affect their decision-making. Statistics are actually useful, regardless of how good I am at it. These and other little things that interest me come together in the field of marketing. My career management class required us to do an interview with someone in our field of interest. A friend from undergrad now works for Gap, Inc. in San Francisco as a buyer for women's accessories at Banana Republic. He obliged my request for this informational interview, and as so many in marketing think his job is so cool, I had plenty to get him to explain. One of the questions that turned out to be most relevant was what about his job he loves most. "You know," he said, "when I see a woman walking down the street, and the bag she's carrying is one I tweaked something on, or the scarf she's wearing is one I changed the color on, she didn't need it, but she bought it because of something I did." Working for a company like this one in the marketing department is so sexy to so many, but I couldn't help but think that while my friend's job is enjoyable and exciting to him and would probably be nice in the short term, if I look back at 65 and feel as though I've sold a lot of stuff to people that they didn't need, I'm pretty sure I'll feel unsatisfied. I have no doubt that he is talented with a multitude of transferable skills, but I want to go about it differently. Armed with this insight, I decided to do something with more long-term value to me. But if working for a company like this is the dream of so many marketers, and I know I want to do marketing, how do I get there? What exactly can I do with my life? Severe confusion and doubt set in.
I'm sure this is something that most people ponder at some point in life. I'm in graduate school because I thought I knew. I really like strategy, I think I'd like to couple it with marketing. I'd like for it to be with a company/product that has intrinsic value (Leukemia and Lymphoma Society need marketing, too... that kind of thing) but non-profit also doesn't always have the feel I want, so I'm not sure that's the route for me, either. How do I iron everything out? My husband thinks I should do organizational behavior, but my school doesn't have a focus in that. HR? Too much paperwork of the stuff I don't enjoy, though I would enjoy the people element. I need quantifiable results, probably. I really enjoyed the volunteer stuff I did with the Army as liaison between the chain of command and families of deployed Soldiers. But a career in the Army? Something about that doesn't sound appealing (or is that my aversion to the organization after my husband's 15 months in the Sandbox?) immediately, anyway.
While I'm still in a bit of limbo on how to plod along with my career, all in one sort-of banner day, many things I'd been working on pieced together. A case my group of 8 had been working on, living, breathing for several weeks was presented, and we rocked it. Our argument was, "Korea's spectacular economic progress since the end of the Korean War has been due to an enlightened government industrial policy." Having spent a significant amount of time in this little country, I really got into the prep of this presentation, though it got quite hairy at times. The class voted and our team won, along with a higher grade on both the presentation and the paper. After this presentation, I had lunch with the dean. My program is very small as compared to many others even in the same town. My husband regularly comes home and tells me what happened at his school that day or what the administration said, and I can't help but think that our folks are doing the same thing, but that we know nothing about it. I brought this up at the meeting, and it resulted in him agreeing to create a blog. This is quite exciting to me because I will actually read it and love knowing what's going on and feel as if the administration wants us in the loop on things that will make our degree more valuable even after we've graduated... but I also think it is a wonderful selling point for future students! The dean himself writes about what is going on behind the scenes of the school? He even includes links to relevant topics, photos, et cetera. Cool! And as if that weren't enough, that afternoon I had an interview with a prominent paper for a spring internship in their strategy department. I may not want to work for a newspaper long-term, but there's undoubtedly good experience to be gained in an industry fighting for relevance. I liked the people I interviewed with, it sounds as though the work could be extremely interesting, and the head of the department all but told me she thought I was a good fit and should join their team! (The HR specialist later called with the formal offer). So my existential crisis is somewhat subdued. I certainly don't have all the answers yet, and I know my questions will continue to grow, but confusions may be narrowing for the time being.
If any of you have tips on how to progress through this, what decisions you went through to get your education, and how you figured out this is where you want to be, I'd love to hear them!
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