Uruguay!

For spring break my junior year in high school, my Dad and Stepmom took one of my best friends and I to Uruguay for a week! It was so much fun! It was my first trip to South America and I absolutely loved it. Unlike most South American countries, Spanish is the main language in Uruguay and luckily I speak enough Spanish to get by. Uruguay is filled with historic architecture and monuments that date back several centuries. We spent 2 nights in Montevideo, the capital, and 5 nights in Punta del Este, a popular vacation place for natives and foreigners. The beaches are beautiful, although the sand is a bit rough compared to most beaches. The weather is ideal; cool but not cold. And the people are so friendly! In South America, it is a custom to spend 2 hours at each meal. You talk with friends and family, enjoy wine and several courses of amazing food! Typically, people don't eat dinner until 9:30 pm, so if you're a 7:00 pm dinner person, South America may not be your cup of tea. But I found it to be enchanting and inviting and I am looking foward to my next visit!

Hot Coffee Below!

Folgers coffee took a shot at guerrilla advertising...and it worked! A print ad of a cup of Folgers coffee was placed over manhole covers all around New York City. My favorite part is that holes were poked so that steam could come from under the streets, which created the illusion that the coffee was hot! I LOVE IT! This was done almost a year ago, but I think this is such a creative method for guerrilla advertising, or advertising in general really.

The Boulevard

Herds of SMU students crowded around tents, barbecuing and listening to music, counting down the time until they can stampede into the stadium to cheer on our fellow mustangs. This scenario is also know as game day on the boulevard. It is an SMU tradition, and a great one at that.
I love how SMU is a small enough community so that the entire student body, or a good portion of it, can come together and share America’s oldest pastime, football. I love watching everyone move into the stadium, pumped up and ready to cheer for the mustangs. I love how so many people wear red and blue. Not only is it a great time to spend with friends, but it’s a great time to meet new people. I had been on the boulevard before I came to SMU with my brother, but its so much more fun when you are a student. Hanging out on the boulevard and going to the football games is my favorite experience at SMU so far!

Just for Fun

I know we've all seen it, but this is one of my favorite videos so I had to put it up.

Excessive Training?

If you were a parent and your child came to you expressing her aspirations to swim the English Channel, what would you do to help her? The answer was pretty simple for a Chinese father: bind her hands and feet and make her swim for 3 hours! WHAT??! Huang Li's father promises that he stays close to her side and would never put her life in jeopardy, but that sounds more like torture than training to me. Apparently, Huang Li's swim is the 2nd time she has gathered media attention in recent months. Last summer, 8-year old Huang ran 2,212 miles in 55 days. Her father followed behind her on a motor scooter clocking and recording every mile. I am not a parent and I am not anyone to judge a parent, but this just sounds crazy! Isn't there some other more traditional way of training that does not involve binding hands and feet? I can't imagine my father tying me up and making me swim for hours, even if it was my idea and was supposed to help me achieve my goal. She's 8-years old; Can she really be responsible for her father's training techniques?

My "Other" Family

I am big believer in the idea that you have family all around you. Family is not strictly biological in my opinion. This is a picture of my wonderful God-Parents and me at SMU Family Weekend. My Dad told me a couple of weeks in advance that he was not going to be able to come into town and I was devastated. Not only did I want him to meet all of my friends and their parents, I wanted everyone to meet him! He is such a huge part of me and has made me the person I am today and I really wanted my friends to see that. But just as I thought it would be just my brother's and I, my Godmother called. Her words,"You know we're your people and we are here when you need us." Not only was I not expecting that, I hadn't really thought of it. After careful consideration as to whether or not that would hurt my Dad's feelings, I decided to invite them. It turned out to be the best decision! We had an absolute blast and everyone loved meeting them. My Godmother and my Mom were best friends and my Godmother has always reminded me of the way my Mother would expect me to act, present myself, treat others etc. All of the little things Mom's remind you from time-to-time. She loved getting to meet all of my friends and see all of the things we do during the day and at night. My Godfather had a great time too, but I don't think it was as sentimental for him. I mean, he is a guy. But for my Godmother, she honored to be "standing-in" on behalf of my Mom and I know my Mom was looking down smiling, so happy that she was there to share that special and fun weekend with me! It is so important to surround yourself with people who love you and who bring out the best in you. You need people to fall back on sometimes and this past weekend really made me realize how important it is to have people like that in your life.

Man Down!

Talk about guerrilla advertising! This was placed in different places around Toronto, Canada to promote the Canadian Red Cross. Their message: Know What to Do! If I were to come across this at the mall or at a movie theatre, I would definately be caught off-guard. There is a man lying on the floor, or so you think, and someone needs to help him. Why isn't anyone helping him? Why can't I help him? I'm guessing that Downtown Partners out of Toronto hopes that the people who come in contact with this ad will go through the same series of questions. All ultimately ending up at the same conclusion: learn what to do in case something like this really happens. It is a great way to get into people's heads about the importance of knowing how to save lives. A regular print ad would simply be flipped through, this puts it in your face making it hard to resist...the goal of advertising! I have never seen something like this done before, although I'm sure it has, so it seems very creative to me. The element of suprise is definately there because its presented in an unexpected fashion. Downtown Partners should be proud!