I remember learning about the death of Osama bin Laden hours after it had occurred…hours. The headline was splashed across my Twitter newsfeed and my Facebook friends triumphantly broke the news that our nations number one enemy had finally bit the dust. Within weeks the people of America knew exactly how the death of bin Laden had gone down, saw pictures of President Obama’s reaction and experienced 12.4 million tweets per hour. Later, we would even discover that a simple man who owns a coffee shop in Pakistan unknowingly live-tweeted the assassination of bin Laden. UNBELIEVABLE.

One of the tweets from Sohaib Athar (@ReallyVirtual) describing events leading to bin Laden's death.

Egyptians "freed" by Facebook.

Now let’s rewind back to December 7, 1941. Here’s a quick timeline of the events for those of you not familiar:

• 7:00 am: Blips appear on the radar screens of army privates on the island of Oahu.
• 7:55 am: The first wave of Japanese planes reach Pearl Harbor to initiate the first raid, lasting 30 minutes (The U.S.S. Arizona is one of the first to be hit)
• 8:25 am: The second wave strikes…by this time the harbor and shore are covered by smoke and sever damage has been done.
• 9:30 am: Japanese forces withdraw and the attack is over.

What follows in the day after Pearl Harbor would throw America into war for over three years in a battle against the axis powers. But here’s the interesting thing: virtually no one on the mainland U.S. would hear of the attacks until FDR’s infamous speech over 24 hours later. Even after learning of the attacks on their homeland, the American people would have no clue how severe and debilitating the Pearl Harbor raid was. FDR wouldn’t release the total number of deaths or paint a detailed picture of the premeditated violence that occurred on the island of Oahu. Today, the public would be outraged at such a thing.

The scene of FDR's Pearl Harbor address

To our technology-saturated society today, we are completely baffled by the idea of not knowing something instantly. We get our news from Twitter feeds and Facebook statuses. We can argue, support and voice opinions by fluttering our fingers across the keyboard and simply clicking “post”. The more I think about this process, the more intimidating it becomes. The importance of our voices is obvious; ABC just released a list of the top ten tweets of 2011 and even more important is the revolution started by the Egyptian people with the help of Facebook. Freedom is speech is something our country takes immense pride in and I never think that freedom should be removed. But after comparing the past to the present, I just have to ask: What kind of power is social media giving to us?

Once the leaves are off the trees and the grey skies settle in over Cleveland, I always find myself falling victim to the only thing that seems to give me a little color during the winter season: the tanning bed. Yes, I was that girl. I was never the oompa loompa that walked across campus (I know you’ve seen that girl) but I wasn’t about to look like Casper AFTER Halloween. So I would go out and drop 40 bucks a month…yes, 40. DAMN. What was I thinking? Sure, in high school, tanning was good for prom or homecoming…and it was even better then because my dear mother paid for it. But now I’m stuck on my own and I finally came to my senses and realized two things: 1) My broke ass can’t afford to fork out over $40 a month just to bronze up. 2) I’m too busy to give up over a half hour of my day driving to and from the salon.

One of my good friends, Abbey (follow her @abbeyeveryday), was always so ademant about skipping out on the tanning bed. I admit, I brushed her encouragements off at the time. Sorry, Abs! I was young and dumb and now I realize you were wise beyond your years.

Over the past few weeks, as I dreaded the thought of how pale I would look in family pictures over the holidays, I stumbled across my own little miracle. Okay, that’s overkill, but seriously. I spent NINE BUCKS ($9!!!!) on a bottle of sunless tanner at the drug store. At first I was skeptical, but it’s actually been incredible. I’ll be sure to post some pics as my tan develops to prove that it works. But in all seriousness folks, I am a reformed girl–sunless tanner is my new best friend.

• On January 8, 2011 Gabby was was critically wounded by a gunshot wound to the head during an event near Tucson
• Reportedly an assassination attempt on Giffords, the shooting left 13 wounded and 6 dead…including a 6 year-old girl and a federal judge
• Since the shooting, Giffords has undergone serious physical and mental therapy

No matter what party you’re affiliated with, you can’t help but want to know more about the situation that has befallen one of America’s own senators. The bullet that entered the left side of Gabby’s head left her with a “word-finding issue” according to her speech therapist and a right side that was immobilized. Most of us might give up at that point, thinking that a full recovery was a lost cause. Not Giffords.

With the help of her incredibly faithful husband, Mark Kelly, Gabby has made a miraculous recovery. The strength of their relationship is obvious in the special as you watch Mark sit by her side while she was in a coma, at every therapy session and by her side in her first ever television interview since the shooting. He was with her through the grueling therapeutic process…a process that included music therapy, physical hardships and heartbreaking mental breakdowns. Through it all, Mark wore the wedding band that is inscribed with “You’re the closest to heaven that I’ve ever been” around his neck.

Today, Gabby still hasn’t fully recovered but she is well on her way. Saying full sentences and finally walking on her own at home with Mark are two huge steps in the recovery process that can be long and daunting. Surprisingly, Gabby has maintained her humorous and charismatic personality. She pokes fun at her husband and sings songs to remember the words that had been escaping her for months on end. Her life has been changed forever, but she experiences no anger simply saying, “Life. That’s life.”

Live yours.

Anyyyywayss….does anyone remember that feeling you got as a kid when the holidays rolled around? A warm house, cold weather and red & green lights were the perfect ingredients to the grand old feeling of Christmas joy. Lately I’ve been looking back in nostalgia on how I felt as a young kid at Christmas-time. I keep reverting back to me, circa 1997, a sweet little seven year-old who didn’t have a care in the world. Cliche, right? But let’s face it…we all felt that way. Today (at only 21), I’m finding that it’s becoming harder and harder to enjoy the holidays like I used to. Of course, as an unruly teenager who didn’t want to spend more than three days with her family, I didn’t really enjoy Christmas break, per se. But these days, it’s different.

I sadly admit that I’m going through a phase of homesickness. At 21 years old…pathetic. This is the last year I’ll have an actual Christmas break, the last year that I’ll go home to my parent’s house for the holidays and the last year I won’t be a full-time student. It’s scary as hell and makes me want to drink heavily. But obviously that’s not an option. This time of year has really started to make me realize what is ahead for me: a career, my own apartment and the creation of new traditions for myself. Even though most of the emotions I’m feeling are those of fear, I know that I can do a few things (that don’t involve multiple bottles of wine and kleenex) to fill the absence of that nostalgic feeling.

The tree in Rockefeller Center...*sigh*

1) Like I said before, I can create my own traditions. I can start doing this right now! New traditions can be formed with friends, coworkers, and my own family. For the past couple of years, my closest friends and I have spent the first weekend of our winter break at Kalahari, a resort in Sandusky, Ohio. We get a suite, some drinks and have a great time together.

2) As cheesy as it sounds, deck the freakin’ halls. Christmas decorations always provide some movement of the spirit. As soon as I move into my own place, decorating it whether it’s Christmas or not, is something I look forward to. For now, I’ve already strung some lights in my apartment at school and you better believe there will be a mini Christmas tree set up somewhere within the next couple of weeks. There’s just something about those lights…

3) Take the time for family. I may not being living in the house I grew up in anymore (tear) but I can’t neglect the family that raised me there. As hard as it may be not to get caught up in my job and life up here in CLE, I have to focus myself around my roots…especially during the holiday season. I have to remember that it’s okay to take a few days off to go home and be with the people that love me the most again. There’s nothing that screams Christmas like baking cookies and drinking peppermint schnapps with the Purvis family.

I think I’ve yacked on long enough and I’m pretty sure class was over about five minutes ago, so I’ll wrap it up. Hopefully those of you who are at that same “in-between” point like me can appreciate what I’ve said. If all else fails, fire up iTunes and listen to some Buble. After all, the best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear…

i actually bought the pieces for this outfit...so proud of myself!

YES.

I love both of these options because of the obvious: 1) The first is comfy AND cute. PERFECT. 2) The second is perfect for work, but I can see wearing it to happy hour!

Using the boards to throw together outfits is just one option…Pinterest has become my stomping grounds for gift ideas, recipes and vacation spots. I’ve planned entire parties (from decor to dining) with individual boards. Being the slightly unorganized and frantic person that I am, Pinterest has become my safe place for organizing wants, needs and everything in between. With that, I’ll leave you with a hilarious pin from the “everything in between” category. I digress.

This is hysterical...am I right? Or am I right?

Check out more of my boards here!

NYPD in the houusee

Because East 9th Street is closed for the next few weeks, my commute to work downtown is  s  l  o  w  e  r  than ever. Now normally, I would complain about the sluggish traffic into downtown, but since it’s a result of filming I am A-OK with it. The filming gives me and my coworkers an excuse to get out our office (located a few blocks from set) during lunch and attempt to stalk the celebs who are in downtown CLE. Upon arrival, we found that Cleveland had been given a slice of New York…NYPD cars were parked on the street and fake NYC storefronts had been constructed over the buildings at the corner of E. 9th and Euclid Avenue. We left moments before explosions rocked the area, sending extras running for their lives from taxis in flames and falling debris. I’m not surprised that I was the impatient one who got sick of waiting for something to blow up.

The view from the corner of Euclid Ave./E. 9th!

the beautiful square in stuttgart...kinda looks like public square, right?

The next series of scenes filmed in Cleveland will transform Public Square into Stuttgart, Germany. I threw in some pictures below of the city’s downtown square-which is absolutely breathtaking. Other filming sessions have occured at the Space Power Facility at Sandusky, Ohio’s NASA Plum Brook Station, the Chevrolet powertrain plant in Parma and the Detroit-Superior bridge.

Cleveland media has done an awesome job of covering the filmings downtown, so check out cleveland.com’s page dedicated to the Avengers filming. To follow the action on Twitter, search #AvengersCLE to see what Cleveland tweeps are up to on set! And if you’re in downtown Cleveland over these next couple of weeks be on the lookout for celeb sightings…and let me know if you see Mark Ruffalo anywhere.

Anyways…yesterday, I resisted the urge to grab the remote when I saw a bing! spot featuring Krochet Kids international, an organization that was started by three best friends who started crocheting their own hats in high school. Sounds like an odd hobby for 18 year-old boys, right? That’s what I thought at first…but as I looked more into their story, I found that this hobby has helped them to change parts of the world that need it the most. You can see the spot that brought me to tears (I know, I know…pathetic) below!

[http://www.youtube.com/krochetkids]

Kohl, Travis and Stewart have started an incredible organization that began in one of the most underserved areas of the world: Uganda. In this impoverished African country, Krochet Kids employees teach women to crochet so that they can continue on to provide for their families and ultimately rise above poverty. Today, the Krochet Kids family in Uganda is at 87 women. The coolest part (to me, at least) about these creations is the fact that each item is signed by the woman who made it. You literally know the name of the person you helped by purchasing the hat. I think that creates an authentic connection that not many other charitable organizations can offer. The hats and accesories created by the women in Uganda are being sold at retailers in the US…stores like Nordstrom and local boutiques feature the Krochet Kids creations. (Check out the retailer locator on KK’s website.) You can also purchase merchandise on the organization’s site.

Recently, the non-profit organization decided to extends its reach to Lima, Peru. Their extension to Lima is fascinating to me because I spent 3 weeks in the country on a trip my senior year. Children and women are submissive and are without the opportunity to provide for themselves. Krochet Kids can help to change this, and I hope that some day I can return to Peru and see the change they’ve begun to make. For now, though, I’ll just head to the Nordstrom in Beachwood to see what they have to offer. (updates to follow!)

Expanding their efforts even more, Krochet Kids has also joined forces with internationally recognized brand Volcom. Volcom outfits extreme athletes worldwide but has now begun this collaboration with KK in order to continue to provide the anti-poverty programs in Northern Uganda. You can see designs from the awesome collab line on Volcom’s online store.

This organization isn’t just three guys stringing yarn together for themselves…it’s hundreds of women working towards breaking the trend of poverty in their own countries-all with a vision of hope in mind.

I reeeeally want this laptop case!

To learn more about Krochet Kids international, check out their website.

A couple weeks ago, I had the opportunity to join @tribetalk (follow him on Twitter, he’s awesome!) and some fellow Cleveland interns in the Social Suite at Progressive Field. The Indians are leading the way for social media in baseball with this suite, which allows local bloggers to tweet live from the game and interact with one another while doing it. There is an application process, but the requirements are pretty simple: own and operate a blog and have Facebook and Twitter accounts. To be honest, I think I annoyed my tweeps with all the updates from the game. But I tossed Twitter etiquette out the window and gave them a pseudo play-by-play of the game, which unfortunately was not won by our Indians.

My experience in the Social Suite taught me a lot about social media and about doing whatever it takes to keep the people you work with and for happy. The Indians provide a HUGE service to the social media savvy Tribe fans that want to spread the word about how great the organization at Jacob’s (ehm, Progressive?) Field is. They take advantage of free advertising by placing the power of their brand in the hands of some of those most well-known bloggers in Northeast Ohio, leaving fans feeling empowered and confident that they play a role in the Cleveland Indians’ organization. After my awesome experience, I’m hoping I can take another trip to the Social Suite but for now…GO TRIBE!

So I started looking up some simple circuit workouts to start out my transformation. I included cardio, lifting and TONS of stretching into my daily workouts. The first few time it was hell getting myself up off the couch to go to the gym but once I started getting the endorphin kick, I looked forward to my workouts after a day at the office. It’s only been a week and I’m already feeling happier and healthier!

With my new-found confidence, I decided to challenge myself with a long run on Saturday morning. Imagine 85 degrees plus humidity and absolutely no shade on the course…yeah, I was stupid. I took my dog, Guinness, along for the ride just in case I needed him to play Lassie and rescue me for fear I collapsed. (It was a serious concern of mine.) The route I chose to run was one that I used to do every week in high school-when I ran cross country. Mistake #2. Apparently I forget that a) I’m not longer a 16 year-old that runs a 6-minute mile and b) I haven’t run over 2 miles in about a year.

Off we went, Guinness trotting at my side and me wheezing halfway into the route. There are 4 huge hills during this run and by the time I was approaching the last one, my wonderful dog had sprinted to the top and was patiently awaiting my arrival. I eventually made it home and just about dropped dead, but I’m proud of myself for pushing past the point when I thought I couldn’t keep going. They always say that’s where you find your strength…so remember, keep pushing! If you need more inspiration, check out my Pinterest (sign up for an account if you already haven’t) workout board.