Book of the Month Club

The best little blue box you’ll ever get…

In the world of auto-ship subscriptions, one never knows which ones are worth while. When a close friend of mine mentioned she was getting a new book in the mail every month I was interested and intrigued to see what a book subscription could be like.

As a recent law school grad I have had no time to read for fun since my workload consists of me reading 8-12 hours a day anyway. However, book of the month club makes it easy to go back to reading for fun.

As a kid I loved books and reading, as I went through my education I slowly fell away from the world of books and reading for fun. Now, as I enter my early adult years, this book subscription has been a way for me to enter into new worlds each month and explore new books that I would never have picked up off the shelf myself, AND the step of actually finding a bookstore is no longer necessary and I have no excuses but to read my ever growing pile of books.

Every title I’ve gotten from Book of the Month Club so far has been excellent, easy reading generally and fun light reads for any occasion.

Who is this for?

Everyone! If you like reading for fun and want new titles delivered to you monthly this subscription is perfect for you. This subscription is perfect for people who want to read more and find new titles that may not be released to the public yet!

Titles range from romance novels to historical fiction and everything in between. There is also the option to skip a month at any time if a title doesn’t grab your interest.

What does it entail?

For a set price, you get one book every month and can add two extras in your box monthly for an extra charge. Every monthly selection comes with a book mark and the cover art on each title thus far has been beautiful and I can’t wait to display my new titles.

To sign up, click this link! https://www.mybotm.com/w4e5vpz5k53r3sor 

If you enjoyed this blog, look for book reviews of “Other People’s Houses” and more coming in the next few days.

China: Law School Adventures

The most interesting thing I’ve done with my life recently is venture to China with a few of my law school classmates for a two week study tour of Xi’an and Beijing.

Last summer I had the once in a life-time experience of studying law at Cambridge and I had gone back to a meeting to talk about my experiences to new students who were considering going to Cambridge this summer. I discussed my time with them but I also learned about this incredible opportunity to go to China and earn up to 3 credits of law school credit while doing so.

My first thoughts were “no way, I could never afford that…but wouldn’t that be the coolest experience, like ever?”. I still (of course) put my name on the information sheet anyway, but the more I learned about it the more I realized that I could totally make this work (all we paid for was airfare and credit hours to the university) so it really wasn’t that expensive, and plus I got 2 credit hours out of the way for the next year and memories to last a lifetime.

Here I am in front of the university in Xi’an, this was the law school building and where we had our lectures from Chinese law professors. We learned about Chinese Company Law, Chinese Civil Law, Chinese Constitutional and Administrative Law, Chinese Civil Procedure Law, and Chinese contemporary economy. We also had a session where former Chancellor and current law professor Harvey Pearlman had a comparative session on US and Chinese law. Overall, the classes were crazy interesting and really a great opportunity to learn about another country’s legal landscape.

The coolest part of this trip was the opportunity to see the Chinese court. We toured Xi’an Intermediate People’s Court and got the chance to converse with judges in the court (pictured here in the light blue shirts). This was by far a highlight of the trip and of my law school career. It was an amazing opportunity for cultural exchange and conversation, even though there was a language barrier the conversations we had are something I will remember forever.

One of the highlights of this trip was the food and the cultural experiences. My top favorites being the fish spa, the delicious yogurt from the street market, dumplings and the hot pot dinner we did.

There is always something fun about a challenge, we had a VERY short amount of time to climb to the top of the Wild Goose Pagoda in Xi’an, and we accepted the challenge and ran up to the top. Worth it.

Seeing the terra cotta warriors was also a highlight of the trip. For sure a must see if you get to Xi’an, downright amazing are the only words to describe this. Something you’ve gotta see for yourself to completely understand how amazing it is. Definitely a must see world heritage site.

Food: My favorite European Desserts and Treats

While studying abroad I found quite a few snacks and sweets that just seemed to taste better “across the pond”.  I’ve found and compiled photos of my very favorite treats I had while studying abroad.

Cadbury dairy milk caramel eggs. Yes, they make them in the U.S. but they are nothing like what they have in the U.K. I snagged one of these little eggs of yumminess every chance I got while I was living in London.

Walkers Salt & Vinegar crisps. Yes, crisps not chips. For some reason Walkers tastes 100x better than Lay’s and Salt &Vinegar is way easier to find overseas than it is in the United States, so weird. Loved grabbing a bag of these from our little corner shop and snacking on them during my afternoon classes!

Caramel nibbles, Galaxy counters and Areo lamb. I bought this assortment of goodies for my own ‘Easter Basket’. Caramel nibbles are my all time favorite snack and if I could eat a bag of these every day without health consequences I would… LOL. Galaxy counters are also little circles of deliciousness and the lamb was just so cute!

This tasty milkshake was found in a cafe on the Isle of Skye in Scotland, both happy looking and delicious it hit the spot and helped us power up for the afternoon of traveling, no idea what is stuck in there but the whole thing was fantastic.

Koko chocolates in Kinsale, Ireland. Some of the best handmade chocolates I’ve ever had! Not pictured were chocolate ‘shots’, basically a cup of warm chocolate. Best thing ever.

This blog probably wasn’t too informative, but I just thought I’d share my favorite sweets I had while abroad, nothing to fabulous but pretty delicious. Also not pictured, one of my favorites, Tolberone bars have become one of my favorites from abroad that taste almost as good here in the U.S.

The Creative Process: Concept Sketch Final Project

 

For my final project in my concept sketch development class we were assigned to design a logo for a company that was to be a brew bistro that was located in an old garage. We had to include all aspects of the business in our logo design. This is my thought process and sketches that went into my final design.

My thought bubbles that helped me figure out what direction I wanted to take the logo exactly. This helped me narrow down ideas and get rid of foolish choices that wouldn’t make sense. What follows is some of my favorite logos that I sketched. I also found that after going through the correct problem solving steps when I sat down at the computer to put it all together it came together in no time! I wish I would have had this class from the beginning so I could have used this method my entire four years of undergrad.

 

This is the final product that I came up with. I like that it connects all the dots that need to be connected and I find it to be clean and creative. The chef hat represents the bistro part of the business, the key on the end of the “s” represents the fact that the business was “started” in a garage, and the wheat represents the growing brewery that the company is hoping to have. Overall, I am very pleased with how the creative process went and I am proud of my end product.

Social Media Reflection: A Semester in Review

The end of another semester (my final undergraduate semester) is coming to a close. In my social media class I learned more than I had ever hoped to learn and more. From learning analytics I’d never even heard of to learning what content marketing meant, I’ve found a new way to use social media. I’ve learned about the best times to post on social media and even about new social media platforms I’d never used before. I learned to use Google+ and I’ve found that the audience that is reached there is completely different than the audiences I already reach on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. I made a successful LinkedIn account and have used it to network with people from grade school, high school, college, study abroad and more. I am excited that I can use this new tool to make connections and help me with my job hunt. I loved that we learned to use tools like Klout, Kred, and TweetReach. I’ve been monitoring all those sources all semester and I’m proud of how my scores have grown.

My Klout score is currently a 59, but it has been teetering on the verge of 60 and 61 some days. I am proud to say that I use social media well and reach a lot of different people with my posts. Using Klout helped me realize how influential I can be if I post correctly.

Kred still kind of confuses me. I’m still unsure if I’m doing well. However my score has increased a LOT over the semester! Almost up to 630 when I started out in the low 600s at the beginning of the semester. However I do use this to figure out if I’ve been posting enough content across all of my platforms to make an impression, so maybe I do know how this stuff works!

My tweet reach might be the most impressive stat that has changed. At the beginning of the semester my tweets were only reaching about 200 people, look at me now!

Our visit to the humane society was something I appreciated a lot. Not only did we get a chance to see some adorable animals, but I also learned a lot about how to run social media effectively.

Making a social media analysis and then using the analysis to form a plan might be one of the most realistic projects I’ve ever done in school. I hope that I get to use my plan that I made or at least get the chance to do the same thing one day when I have a job! I think that this ability to analyze as well as formulate a plan is the most important skill I learned in this class.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this class. I’ve learned a lot about social media (including that MySpace is back). I’ve also gained appreciation for those who run large social media- it takes a lot of time and energy to get multiple accounts on different platforms to have a similar look and feel as well as share content on a regular basis and answer back any questions or concerns. I cannot imagine the amount of notifications some of those Facebook and Twitter pages receive for larger companies, or even just the humane society! I found this class interesting and I can see myself using the skills I learned in this class in a professional situation. I think that this class was a great way to round out my degree and makes me a more useful job candidate.

 

Ode to the Beach

There is nothing better than sitting on the beach and thinking about life. I find that while I am on vacation I’m often stressed and always trying to decide what to do next to take advantage of every second I’m there. When I’m at the beach it is a different situation. There is nothing more peaceful than sitting back in a beach chair, closing your eyes and taking a deep breath of salty air and listening to the waves crash against the sand.

The beach is a place for serenity. It is a place to make memories. A place to eat sand. A place to run away from siblings and friends chasing you with gross dead sea creatures. A place to learn about nature. A place to watch sea turtles lay their eggs or to watch baby turtles make their first march to the ocean. I’ve encountered many interesting people while at the beach, but the nice thing about the beach is that no matter how much money you have a beat up piggly wiggly shirt is acceptable to wear. I’ve dreamed about my goals while sitting in a beach chair. As a child I pretended to ride my bike alongside wild horses as motivation to keep biking to our final destination. I’ve gotten to swim up close with dolphins in the wild. I’ve seen the dolphins fish.

The beach gives me a sense of a connection to nature. The moment you step off the boardwalk and onto the sand you are no longer on the earth, it is as if you have traveled to a different planet. The air tastes different, the ocean sounds are overwhelming and the atmosphere is peaceful. The beach holds a special place in my heart and I always long to go sit on the sand whenever I’m stressed or need to get away. Here’s to the beach, always the best spot for serenity. Always the best spot to collect your thoughts. Always a good place to take a nap.