DIY Glitter Flats

I’ve been swooning over these glitter flats by Steve Madden for a while now, but even at their sale price of $50, they don’t fit into my budget (I have student loans to pay here people). So what’s my solution to this must-have shoe dilemma? Make my own!

DIY Long Jean Shorts

I’ve been seeing a lot of girls wearing longer jean shorts around this summer (a trend I am happy to support). I noticed my sister sporting some the other day when we went out on the boat, and I fell in love. I’ve never been a fan of short-shorts, and capris have never looked good on me (they make my short legs look even stumpier – not attractive).  So when I saw this new “in-between” trend, I knew I had to give it a try.

"Change comes like a little wind that ruffles the curtains at dawn..." - Steinbeck

So, it’s quite obvious that I have been struggling to keep up on my blog since graduation. Transitioning from “student” to “adult” is a lot harder than it seems, and can quite honestly be a bit overwhelming. Between chasing down job opportunities, paying the bills and rearranging my sleep schedule to not include Fridays as a weekend, I feel like I lost myself and sight of what I wanted out of life for a while. Because of this, my inspiration to write died; I couldn’t focus on one topic long enough to formulate any semblance of an educated post and I didn’t want to write for the sake of writing, so I just let it fall by the wayside.

Facebook Security: When "Private" Becomes Public

There has been a lot of negative buzz lately about Facebook changing their security settings and thus making users “private” information more vulnerable to the prying eyes of the public. I did some research and here is what I have found out about the newest changes to the website’s security: 

Entry-Level Public Relations?

The elusive entry-level PR position; hard to even find posted by companies and when they actually are, they’re even harder to score an interview for. These past couple months of job searching on my part have left me at times doubtful and a little depressed, and at other times mildly irritated. The responses I have gotten from these so-called “entry level” positions (or lack there of) make me wonder if they actually even exist or if my cover letters are hopelessly floating around in the cyber abyss.

Twitter: the Newest Member of the Jury?

Twitter, for me personally, has been a great source of information, a networking tool and has unleashed an immeasurable supply of thought-provoking concepts via my contacts and the chats that I participate in.

Because of my love for writing and my background in journalism, I always try to participate in the weekly Monday night #journchat moderated by @PRsarahevans. Last night’s chat posed a topic that really made me think as well as wonder what others thought about the possibility as well.  The question, originated by @sarah_millar read: “Should reporters be allowed to live-tweet from courtrooms? Bloggers?”

New Year. New Beginnings.

I love the holidays – the lights, the music, family, the general shared feeling of merriment. The one thing I despise about this time of year, however, is the incessant want to make resolutions for the New Year. Maybe it’s because I’ve never been good at resolutions in general – I always wait until zero hour to choose something to change about myself, the choice is always something vague and hard to gauge, and within a month I have usually given up or at least lost motivation.

Blame Facebook

If you have yet to fall victim to the social phenomena known as Facebook, you're a dying breed. Quite literally everyone I know is logging on these days. My sister's cat even has its own page and I think it might have more "friends" than I do. Seriously.

The Social Media Revolution and Public Relations

In our PR Central and PRSSA meetings tonight we had the privilege to hear recent Central Michigan graduate Rachel Esterline, Social Media Specialist for AGP & Associates, Inc. and founder of the Great Lakes Bay Region Social Media Club, talk about how important of a tool social media is becoming to run a successful campaign for any kind of client. Whether it be starting a Facebook page or opening a Twitter account, clients need to become involved in the conversation.

One Last Semester...!

I can’t believe the whole summer has passed without an update to my blog! Scratch that…I can’t believe the entire has gone by, period. An update is definitely in order!

2010 Jock Rock

This past semester I've been working with a team through the student run public relations firm on campus, PR Central, to help promote the 2010 Jock Rock. We have been involved in every aspect of setting up the promotion of this event, including getting plugs on radio shows, advertisements on the campus television station, placement in the calendar of events that are featured in campus dining halls, and much more.

Photography from last semester

I've uploaded all of the photography from my projects last semester to Photobucket. I figured it would just be easier to have everything stored online instead of trying to keep all of my disks organized. If you get bored, feel free to check them out at my Photobucket account.

New Year, New Adventures!

Alright, it was a winter break full of non-stop, much needed work, but it's back to the educational world with the new semester. I am taking some of my pretty intense senior level courses right now and I have also been hired as a consultant for the student run firm here on campus PR Central. I will be working with a team of four and with our client Student-Athlete Advisory Committee to promote their annual spring event Jock Rock. I'm really excited for this chance to gain some hands-on experience, help out a program on campus, and to add some pieces to my portfolio. I will make sure to keep this blog updated about my work on the project and I will upload any pieces I worked on.

Chase Nelson - Fall 2009 Photojournalism Photo Story

These were the photos I turned in for my final assignment in Photojournalism. We were required to find a subject and create a photo story over a two month period, shooting no less than 250 images, but turn in only 5-7 of the photos that we thought best told the story. We had to turn in all of the images we shot so our professor could determine how much effort we put into the project, but the 5-7 photos is what we were graded on, along with the captions and copy block that we created.

Photography Assignment 4

I couldn't find the edited versions of these photos that I turned in to my professor, but these are the originals of the two photos I turned in for my fourth photography assignment.

Photographic Design Elements

I didn't write this article at all. The text and photos were provided to me and I had to knock out the background of the two girls in the lower right side of the page and place it within the text, along with the team photo, to create a visually appealing design. This was all done in class for a quiz. The only reason my name is on the byline is because that's how the professor asked us to turn it in for a grade. I had a lot of fun with this and I'm looking forward to working with these concepts some more for our next project.

TOM'S Shoes Work

This is the flier I created to promote the DVD viewing TOM'S Shoes at CMU was putting on to raise awareness about the mission of TOMS Shoes. I think it turned out okay. I have signed up to do promotional stuff for the group for the rest of the year, so hopefully this will let me create some pretty nifty things that I can post on here.

Final Movie Poster Design

This is what I turned in for my final draft on Tuesday. The prof actually ended up choosing it as one of his favorites! I'm so excited that he liked it! Check it out and tell me what you think!

Photography Assignment #3

Here are some of the photos I took from my "Event" assignment. They have yet to even be turned in to my professor so you get to see them first! The event was called "The National Save A Life Tour" - a high impact alcohol awareness program put on my Resident Life at Central Michigan University.

Photography Assignment #2

Here are some of my favorite photos from my second assignment. It was a two-part requirement of "candid" portraits and "posed" portraits. Because I made a personal promise to Jen that my professor would be the only one to see her photo, I am only posting the "candid" images I made. I will not got back on my work Jen!