Journalistic achievements: it's the little things

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Today, I published a photo of a high school wrestling team, and no one in the photo was indecent.

I consider this the greatest of journalistic achievements.

Because yes, there is precedent of publishing an indecent photo of high school wrestlers in my professional journalistic past...

Top Books of 2010

Around the start of the year, my friend Rhiannon asked me to make a list of my must-read books (or something to that effect) from 2010. It's taken me awhile to get around to it, but here are my favorite reads from the past year:

Waiting: True Confessions of a Waitress
By Debra Ginsberg
I picked this up at a Half Price Books in Austin shortly after moving back home to Texas. This "part memoir, part social commentary, part guide to how to behave when dining out" intrigued me because I've worked in food service through the years. When I was younger, I also loved the idea of becoming a waitress when I was old enough to work a part-time job...the closest I got were my two jobs in bakeries.

Aside from amusing anecdotes about her wide variety of waitressing jobs, I also felt like I got an excellent perspective of what it's like to be a waitress - the good and the bad. And it definitely makes me think twice how I act towards a server who may not be top-notch. People are HORRIBLE and sometimes as a customer you're just caught in the aftermath. It happens, deal with it.

Goodbye 2010, Hello 2011

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I'm kind of happy 2010 is over.

Don't get me wrong, the year gave me lots of great things: I got to see Conan O'Brien live, I traveled to Chicago to see Hanson and Rooney with my girls, I get to MEET my beloved Alton Brown, aka my Food Network Husband. Oh, and I got a real job back in print, which at the end of the day still makes me very happy.

But the whole year felt like a roller coaster ride as I worked two jobs, cut hours back at job #2 and then left completely to pursue a full-time print position...which I found just when I was about to give up. Between the exciting moments, there was lots of confusion, frustration and some crying. More than anything, I wanted to put myself back together.

And, for the most part, I feel like I have. I work for a beautiful, well-respected magazine. I have an awesome music blog that's just beginning to take off.

I'm ready for you, 2011!

You've Got Mail!

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It's just roughly one month since I began my new job as a magazine editor, and it definitely feels good to be back in print media. Since October 2008 (it took me awhile to realize what I'd essentially thrown away), a part of me has ached to return to assigning articles, selecting photography, making deadlines and approving page proofs. I love it all.

Of course, my previous print job was with a newspaper in a much smaller city where you make four right turns and run into everyone you know. (Okay, Tulsa isn't literally that small, but it's pretty close when you run in small circles, like local media.) I never seemed to keep busy for my full eight-hour days until it was deadline week - and then I was easily running 12+ hour days. One reason was the lack of e-mail. I was on every imaginable distribution list and constantly asking to be added to new ones, but in a town of a couple hundred-thousand people...there's only so much news. Esp. when you're a community publication and don't cover the nitty gritty stuff.

Because of this experience, the thing that's surprised me the most about my new job in a city of two million is the amount of e-mail I get on a daily basis. In the first week, my inbox was a flood of constant messages, leaving me feeling a bit overwhelmed. I easily go through 75-100 e-mails per day. It is for this reason I have zero desire to put my BlackBerry to work doing the exact thing I purchased it for in the first place: fielding work e-mails. It would drive me insane.

Quest for the perfect purse

Somewhere along the way, I picked up a love for faux snake-skin purses. Clutches, hand bags, totes. Black, pink, teal, blue. Doesn't matter what type size or color, I want it. (Unless it looks cheap.)

My philosophy when it comes to purses is why spend a ton when you can spend a little and change it every season? (Or even in between, if you find a bag you can't live without.)

I am on an endless quest for a teal one shaped like the classic Louis Vuitton handbag. Per my blog description, I plan to chronicle every bag I purchase and carry. Think of it like Carrie and her shoes.

This is my most recent find, discovered at a craft show two weekends ago. Might not quite be LV quality, but once I saw it, I knew I couldn't live without it. It might be a bit loud for winter - I do have a subconscious need to pair the color of my bag with the tone of the season - but I don't care. I adore it.

Close up.