Friday, November 26, 2010

Chapter Six

Minnesota. Wisconsin. West Virginia. Kentucky. Maryland... North Carolina.

After two amazing years in Baltimore, I am very excited to share that I have been given the opportunity to take on a new adventure in Raleigh, North Carolina. Through the month of December, I am heading back to the south.

Although there are several, each city that I have lived in has taught me many things and that remains true for Baltimore. Baltimore is where I began my career in public relations and fell in love with social media marketing. Baltimore taught me to work hard, stay honest and to be independent and confident in my decisions. I learned how to open my heart to the possibility of love and to celebrate every friendship I developed along the way.

I am humbled by the people that I have had the pleasure of meeting. I can't put into words how grateful I am for each of these relationships. Those who have been my colleagues and guided me through the start of my career, you are all incredible and I wouldn't have this opportunity to continue to grow without you. Thank you.

Those of you who I met outside of the office, your graciousness has been influential and more than appreciated. Thank you to all of you for joining me on this journey - for the big laughs, the silly tears and the many, many happy hours.

Fortunately, with this new opportunity and the jam living in the city, I will still be in Baltimore often. I look forward to keeping in touch while I am back in the south (you had to know this was coming eventually!) as well as continuing these friendships during visits.

It should also be known that a flight to Raleigh is inexpensive, takes 45 minutes and I love visitors.

Thursday, November 18, 2010

THANKSgiving

Hard to believe that we're already only a week away from Thanksgiving. As I've shared with you before, the jam's Thanksgiving tradition is to talk with each other about the three things we're most thankful for this year. As someone who likes to plan ahead, and rehearse things before the big day, I spent a lot of time narrowing down to only three things I am most thankful for this year.

First and foremost (and quite predictable for those of you who know me) I am more than thankful for my incredible family. Mostly for accepting and embracing my (many) imperfections.

Dock is always there with the right thing to say, the best advice and a constant reminder that life is hard and worry is wasted imagination. As a mentor in my professional career, he understands that I am still learning and is there to provide advice and constructive criticism that I couldn't find anywhere else.

Dizzle is by far the most kind woman I have ever met. When it comes to my personal life there is no one who is more supportive and honest. I can truly tell you that my mother is my best friend. This year personally has been full of change, broken hearts and confusion - without her to talk to, I would be a hot mess.

The bub is the best thing that's ever happened to me, and I am so excited that Thanksgiving is bringing him home. There is no one I admire more for his incredible sense of humor and generous heart.

Secondly, I am so grateful that this year has provided me the opportunity to learn about public relations and social media marketing. By becoming a part of this world I have met brilliant professionals and mentors who I hope to learn from for a long time. I blogged earlier in the year about the relationships I have made through Twitter, and reflecting on this post, the people I have met through the social networking sites are some of my closest friends, and people I rely on to teach me every day.

Since I'm only allotted three things to share, lastly I am incredibly grateful for the people I have met this year. For the faves who are always there with a glass of wine when things get tough. For the boy who taught me that taking things slowly allows a real relationship to develop and that despite any heart break I've had in the past, I am more than capable of moving forward. For the #WP and their brilliance and encouragement, and understanding for my love of tequila. To all of you, you know who you are, I am incredibly fortunate to have you in my life and I look forward to another year together.

Monday, November 15, 2010

Monday's in Social Media

I'm never surprised to hear that something new is happening in Social Media Marketing. However, today was a fairly exciting and busy day in that very world. (My favorite!)

The front page of this morning's LA Times introduced us to “Path” – a mobile app that allows us to communicate with 50 of our closest friends, and later this afternoon, Facebook announced via livestream that they are integrating an email address to its platform.

To learn more, check out the following articles:

Path

FB.com

I am looking forward to when Path becomes available for Blackberry users.

As for Facebook providing me with an email address, I doubt it is something I will use often, but I think we all knew this was inevitable.