Happy Friday, cupcakes...

10 lbs.

I just read on a friend's blog that her baby, now 2 months old, just weighed in at 10 lbs.

I was more than 10 lbs. Well...when. I. was. BORN.

See that baby, yes, the one who appears cross-eyed. New. Born. And huge.



Big baby.



Giant baby.



Ok, well this puts it in a little more perspective...



Ok, so maybe 10 lbs. isn't too bad. But every time I see a chubby infant, my "Awww!" factor reaches new heights.



P.S.-Lucy, this one's for you!

internship sentiments

My final report assessing my internship this summer is due on Friday. As I sit here in Starbucks writing it, something very odd happened. In between "this was such valuable experience" and "I couldn't be happier about my choice", the words "I'm kind of the office bitch" bubbled up out of my brain and onto my keyboard. A few seconds later I glanced at my screen, horrified, and quickly deleted the words. This isn't the first time my fingers have typed something subconsciously--but I'm glad I caught this one...not sure how my supervisor at Auburn would feel about that particular sentiment.


(nobody's an office bia like this guy)

The funny thing is, I really did enjoy my internship--but I think being trained my whole life to believe that an intern is supposed to do the boss's laundry and agree with everything they say had an effect on my outlook. Suddenly, when I had to scan something or stuff an envelop, I was thinking of myself as the "office bitch". If I had looked around for a second, I would have seen every other employee periodically doing the same thing.

So here's a word out to all you future interns (and to myself 2 months ago): Everybody has do to the dirty work...so the first time you start to feel sorry for yourself while walking to check the mail on your boss's bidding, get over it. Everyone's been there, and it builds a little character ;)

can't steal MY joy

Where to start on this whirlwind of a week...

My internship at Panorama Public Relations is fabulous. I'm learning so much about PR, and getting to work with clients like Belk (fashion PR!!), American Behavioral and Bayou La Batre. I feel like such a big girl getting up early everyday and dressing the part of a successful PR professional...did I mention I'm simply dressing the part? I think I've got a long way to go before the rest comes true.

Me and Caroline went to Birmingham Museum of Art's "Art on the Rocks" together. Got our picture taken for myscoop.com's best dressed feature, had some classy hors'deourves, and listened to Erin McCarley rock out.

Other than having my car broken into and having a stolen iPod and GPS weighing on my shoulders (oh and did I mention the $1,400 worth of car damage?), Birmingham has be pretty good to me.

Now time to make friends. Okay. I'll get right on that.

Nobody ever told me how striking the difference is between making friends in college and making friends post-grad.

College: no effort, friends come to me.
Post-grad: big-time effort to make friends while spontaneously trying to shake the impulse to blow the whole thing off because I've already got friends. But guess what? They live somewhere else.

So in the meantime it's just me and my virtually-friendless-Birmingham-self, my smashed car, awesome job and my unwillingness to let anything steal my joy.

pardon the nostalgia

My room is empty. My apartment is empty. My heart is empty? Nah...that's a little dramatic. But I am equally welcoming and running from the new season of life that is closing in upon me.

I'm going to miss this



And this



And this



And them



You'll have to excuse my nostalgia lately...leaving a place as special as Auburn does it to you. Next stop: BIRMINGHAM!

Hoarding: Buried Alive

This show makes me want to do nothing but clean for the rest of my life.



The thing is--every time it comes on TV it's like a car wreck...you just can't look away.

The Tea Rose

I know it seems like this blog has become my outlet for book criticism, but I have to publicly express my love for this book--The Tea Rose. If you haven't read it, you should. End of story. I've just finished reading it for the second time (I read it for the first time last year), and I can't wait to move on the the sequel--The Winter Rose.

through the years

I've had some pretty rad friends. Friends I've known since freshman year, but it feels like I've known them forever. Friends I've met along the way in college who've become so dear to me.

Me and Steph--football game '06:


Me and Steph--football game '09:


THEN: me and cam, single baby!


NOW: me and cam, she's married! (and i'm still single...)


My DDD pledge class at our first rush:


My DDD pledge class at our final chapter meeting:


My Young Life team when I got placed as a freshman:


My Young Life team at our last outing as a team--senior year


Me and Jords then:


Me and Jords now:


Then:


Now:


Me and Linds moving in sophomore year:


My 21st!


My tridelt girls then:


My tridelt girls now:


College is a time that truly convinced me that it really isn't about where you are, but all about the people you're with.

guess who just went LIVE!

That's right folks.

www.megenheslip.com

It exists.

I created this Web site in one of my PR courses (it's still not totally done, but I just couldn't wait!)

Go ahead, peruse the pages...look through my resume/portfolio...offer me a job...
:)

cameron freshwater

Cameron is married. MARRIED! Here's a few pictures to enjoy :)

this is going to be a rant

A rant of small and insignificant proportions:

Last night I got a flat tire. I managed to make it to the tire service at Walmart, but they were closed so I left my car at Walmart overnight so they could get to it in the morning. My lovely friend Stephanie came and picked me up.

It felt really strange waiting for a ride in front of Walmart...

Well this morning I had to go BACK to Walmart when they opened at 7 a.m. so I could tell them the situation and give them my key so they could begin patching the tire. Kaylan brought me (don't I have sweet friends?). They tell me it will take about an hour to fix, so Kaylan brings me back to the apartment because I have to meet with a teacher on campus at 8:15.

Here is where my rant begins.

When it comes to the Tiger Transit bus system at Auburn, I am asked to do two things:

1.) To omit needless gasoline emissions into the environment by actually riding the Transit.
2.) To use the TransLoc Visualization System--a Web page that shows exactly where the transit is located so I know when to leave my apartment to catch the bus.

I ask the bus system at Auburn to do ONE thing:

Give me a ride to campus so I won't be late.

Well today I planned on riding the transit (a step up from walking 25 minutes to campus). I checked the TransLoc, and when the bus got mildly close I left my apartment to walked to the bus stop.

As I'm crossing the street I see the bus. Five feet away from the bus stop the driver came to an incomplete stop, looked me in the eye, and I knew: she wasn't going to stop for me. I immediately began frantically waving my hands in the air, and the driver, still looking at me, shakes her head at me. I threw up my hands as she zoomed past me, confused and angry.

Then I sat down under a tree and cried for a few seconds, got over myself, got back up again, and walked to campus. I'm not really sure why I cried. That part was weird. Bottom line--I was late to my appointment with the teacher.

So, Tiger Transit, I have one question:

Why am I paying tuition for a service that leaves its students stranded in the road?

my friends are getting hitched

It's true. One by one, my list of friends whose last name will be changing within the next year is getting larger.

First there's CAMERON, who will be getting hitched April 10. Whew! A few of the other bridesmaides and I threw her a shower a few weekends ago.





I'm really getting into this shower/wedding/bachelorette party planning thing...it's right up my alley.

Most recently--my dear friend KATHRYN is engaged!



Not to mention...


BRITTANY


LAUREN


HOLLY


LAURA


HEATHER


KATIE


KAYLAN (roomie!!!)


JORDON


Photos graciously provided by: Facebook

Let's just say I have some exciting things in store over the next year as these weddings happen...and I couldn't be more excited!

these are a few of my favorite things

As if the book wasn't good enough...



Not they're coming out with a MOVIE!!!



I am beyond excited. I started reading the book summer of 2008 while I was in Italy, and the whole experience of reading it just made me feel warm and fuzzy. Who doesn't like that in a book? And now I get to ask myself the same question, but in the context of the movie. Besides, I love doing all of the activities described just in the title: eating, praying and loving. So if the title did that much for me, imagine what a wonderful book it is through and through. Hurry up and read it before the movie comes out! Or not, that's just the way I like doing things ;)

try love instead

Can't stop thinking about this video! Kind of a refreshing take on why to wear your seat belt. These days it seems marketers try and implement fear to get people to change their behavior. I prefer this approach.

I did something kind of crazy...

I've decided that I want to try and train for the Disney World Marathon in 2011. MARATHON. As in 26.2 miles. I got such a sudden surge of wanting to do this that I looked up a training schedule and punched it into my calendar. Of course I am still going to run the Nashville Half in April, but a week after that I'm going to start marathon training. Right now, when I refer to said marathon, we'll put quotations around it because it is so remote and hypothetical. "Marathon". That's better.

Did I say 26.2 miles? Well, right now I can barely think past 3 miles (hazard of taking a break from running for several months...) Luckily this "marathon" would take place January 9, 2011. And it sounds like fun. Running through all of the Disney Parks and seeing all the characters and all the rides! You pretty much HAVE to be trained to run a marathon if you ever want to do this in one day. And, well, I suppose I do.

I'll keep you posted on the "marathon". But for now (and the next 11 weeks) I'll be focusing on the half marathon in April!

consequences

So as you know, yesterday I mistakenly went running in my hiking tennis shoes, not my running tennis shoes. And today I am paying the consequences. What might those be, you ask?

Here's the deal. When I run, I do something called over-pronation. In english, over-pronating basically means that my foot rolls too far inward when my stride hits the ground, and doesn't correct itself quickly enough.

This Web site says: Because the foot over-pronates, it doesn’t roll back to the neutral position quickly enough as you begin to push off for your next step. This misaligned foot-fall affects the position of the lower leg, the knee, thigh and hip so that the force of your foot-fall is not absorbed in the best possible way. Some parts of your body like your lower back may bear more strain than it should, leading to back pain.

Looks something like this:



No thank you. Luckily, my running shoes are awesome and I am saved from the pain over-pronation causes in my life (except when I wear the wrong shoes). These babies have never let me down.



In and of themselves they help correct over-pronation, but in addition I have shoe inserts that correct the problem even more.



I swear, with all of this gear on my feet, you might think I look like this when I run down the street.



Even though my foot gear is intense...I'm not quite as bad off as this puppy. So without my foot casts (as I like to refer to my running shoes since they so comprehensively protect my feet) on yesterday, I am in a world of pain. Myyyyy kneeeeesssss huuurrrrtttt. And my back. And my body in general.

It's all starting to make sense to me now why I decided to blog about running--I have an outlet for all of my complaining! :)

hiking shoes

I was planning on running this morning, but it was cold. Many things don't happen because I am cold. Such as: getting out of bed, cleaning my room and moving (in general).

It warmed up a little later today, so I went straight from AK's Coffee where I was doing my homework to the park to go for a run. I suppose since I thought I was going to run this morning, I had myself convinced that I was wearing proper running attire. Here was my problem: I realized about a mile into my run that I wasn't wearing my running shoes--I was wearing these. Solomons were made to hike in, not go running. FYI, running in anything but running shoes is like riding a scooter to school vs. driving. It's much less comfortable and a lot slower.

I had a choice--I could suck it up, or I could stop and walk shamefully back to my car. I'm hard core. I ran in hiking shoes today. ;)

lost

I realized today that I never really mentioned the half-marathon last year on my blog while I was training. Only here, the day that I announced I was doing it. After that, the subject disappears from my blog; one might think it never even happened.

The reason I think this is so weird is because of how consuming training can be...how is it that I had enough other things going on at the same time as training that I barely even mentioned it? I guess this is me, making up for it.

After running last year's race, I had a little problem.

Obviously when you are running, you don't carry a cell phone with you. So after crossing the finish line, recovering for a minute and eating a banana or two, I realized I may never find my family in the sea of 20,000 people around me.

Big problem.

I was sweaty and gross, so asking a spectator to borrow their cell phone was a little embarrassing, but I got it over with and figured out where my family was waiting for me. Or so I thought. I went to the spot I thought they were, waited a few minutes. Still no family. After repeating the process of asking innocent people if a really sweaty girl could borrow their phone, I FINALLY found them. Keep in mind I had just run 13.1 miles so my legs felt a little like jelly.

This year, we're planning ahead.

got it!

My life isn't always that interesting. Actually, it's pretty mediocre most of the time--not that I'm complaining! I promised I would be a consistent blogger this year, but then I asked myself: what am I going to blog about all the time??!!!

Well...ummmm....uhhhh....??

Ok, I've got it. Last year I trained for the Nashville Country Music Half-Marathon. 13.1 miles. And I did it. But it wasn't the actual marathon that was so interesting--it was the training. You learn so many little things about yourself when you train for something like a marathon.

This is what I'm going to do--document my training for the Nashville half this year. The race is April 24th.

My mission: 13.1 miles
Time frame: 13.1 weeks

This may not sound too exciting right now, but I promise to share all of the nitty gritty--the highs, the lows, the weird things and the brick walls...and much more I'm sure I will discover and share with you.

Keep your eyes out for my friend Jamie, she's running it with me!

2010--the year of blogging?

I haven't been too consistent in blogging over the last 6 months. And when a lot of my friends have such witty and interesting blogs, it's been a lot more fun for me to just read theirs rather than update my own. I've had school and YoungLife...and...and...ok, enough excuses.

But it's 2010 and I'm BACK!

Right now, here is the run-down of my life--

--Christmas break is over, but I'm getting a bit of an extended break thanks to snow!
--I didn't apply for a single internship in 2009...my new years resolution, perhaps?
--Speaking of internship, I have no idea where I'll be next summer and beyond. Kind of exciting, kind of scary.
--My school schedule isn't looking like the joke of a last semester I've always imagined...more like 15 hours of legit, 4000 level classes.
--I'm training for the Country Music Half Marathon in Nashville, the same one I did last year. Hopefully my dear friend Jamie will be joining me! Hopefully I will be joining me. I realize my last sentence made no sense at all, (welcome to my world) but what I meant was that I hope I follow through and do this thing.

I'm not going to go crazy over the details, this semester is all about enjoying Auburn and being with my friends. Seniors '10!!