Thanksgiving 2011's Good Eats

I feel like I blinked, and Thanksgiving is already over. Heck, November is already over too. I was just putting away all my Halloween decorations, and now it's time to get down to business with Christmas shopping.

I was excited for this year's Thanksgiving too - for the first time ever, I was allowed to play a small part in making the turkey. Actually, I can't even say making since I only did about a third of the work - more like, I got to help flavor the turkey, courtesy of my Food Network husband's brining recipe:

Social media vacation

weheartit.com

I'm a bit of a media junkie. It comes with the territory when you work in the media industry - it's an unspoken job requirement to have a 'nose for news.' I remember sitting at the dinner table growing up, asking my dad the most random questions like "How is mustard made?" because I wanted needed to know. I've always wanted to be in the know. I've always been interested in learning how the world works and why people live their lives the way they do.

So when major news happens, you can pretty much guarantee I'll be glued to a television or computer screen, anxious to know the latest details. The only thing I clearly remember about the week following Sept. 11, 2001 is racing home every day after school and flipping on the news - the TV didn't go off until I had to go to bed. When Hurricane Ike hit Houston while I lived in Oklahoma, I was glued to cable news coverage and live streams of local newscasts online.

Needless to say, social media is kind of a dream come true for someone like me. Constant streams of information about any topic I could possible desire to be updated on? Yes, please!

Once a Girl Scout, always a Girl Scout

Katie Couric at the Girl Scout National Convention.

Fulfilling, gratifying and inspiring only scratch the surface on what this past weekend was like for me. Starting last Thursday at noon, I spent three straight days at the George R. Brown Convention Center (it felt like I was living there, seriously) volunteering at the Girl Scouts' 52nd National Convention - and it was the best experience I've had in a long time.

I'm a lifelong Girl Scout. I joined at age five. I became a lifetime member the year I graduated from high school. I've worked for my home Council multiple times - two summers as a counselor, one year in their communications department. I never considered myself a gung-ho Girl Scout growing up because I didn't earn every last award or want to go camping constantly...but looking back, I guess I am. I really love the organization and the leadership it teaches girls, and I will tell anyone who will listen that Girl Scouting is awesome.

A love letter...

weheartit.com

Dear blogging,

I miss you. A lot. I hate that we don't spend time together anymore, and I'm a big enough person to admit it's completely my fault.

See, I've been writing - seriously writing - for years. Well over a decade, in fact. It started in high school when my creative writing teacher got me addicted to writing in journals. Fifth period became my favorite part of the day, where I'd spend the 48 minute class pouring my soul onto paper...a practice that would usually bleed over into sixth period pre-calculus and probably didn't do my steady-B-that-could-have-been-an-A-if-I-just-applied-myself any favors since I spent most of my time making sense of the thoughts in my head rather than sense of the numbers that didn't compute.

Things I Love Thursday

I remember a time when I used to be blog every day. It was a necessary part of my to-do list, just like eating, brushing my teeth or sleeping for 10 hours. Oh college, some days I miss you...

Things I Love Thursday

• Reading. More specifically, reading about social media. I ordered "Socialnomics" by Erik Equalman from Amazon a few weeks ago. This is one of the few books that's held my attention this summer. It's all about how social media has integrated into our businesses and lives. Very interesting stuff. It's making me want a social media job. I also got "The Facebook Effect" and the Social Media Bible, which is more of a resource guide.