hold me closer.

TinyDancer - Marco demark ft Casey barnes
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fabulous. just fabulous.

news news news.

There are SO many crazy things going on in the world. Most of those will not be covered here, but I would love to talk to you about them in real life, if you wish. Anyways, here's my rendition of news time. (slash what I would click through to read if I was looking at some silly girls blog.)

Minneapolis/St. Paul has been announced the fourth smartest city by The Daily Beast. See here. (I posted this on my twitter - twitter.com/janaetime - last week, but I thought everyone should know.) And while we're loving on MSP, let's take a quick look at the fact that MSP is #2 in the city that makes up the largest percentage of commuting by bike. Portland is #1!
Globalization is officially taking over the entire world, even the super old-fashioned and pompous of the art world. A McDonald's is to open at the Louvre in Paris. Read more here.

A justice of the peace in Louisiana would not grant an interracial couple a marriage license last Thursday. His reason? "I just don't believe in mixing the races that way." Story here.

Disney stores are getting a new look. The brand wants to be even more of an "inhabitable text" (something that you not only see, read, etc, but can also experience - i.e. theme parks). They are now redecorating their stores in order to make them all into a theme park. I've been doing a little research on Disney lately in one of my classes, and the fact that they are putting more money into their brand at a time when others are cutting back is actually incredibly typical for Disney, and one of the main reasons why they are so successful. I can elaborate more later, if anyone wants me too. News piece here.

This one is just because I'm proud of my friend and the budding journalist she is. MK's story on programs for breast cancer survivors is here.

This is a little bit more topical and of-the-moment than the others, but a Wisconsin man has officially enlisted into the army because he lost his job, meaning he lost his health care coverage, and his wife has ovarian cancer. This was the only job he could get that would have health care coverage to support his wife. The trade-off is that he will no longer be around. Story here.

More real-life talk soon. I'm dying to share everything from the recent community service trip I helped lead!

quick update!

So many things to finish today and tomorrow morning before I leave to help lead a high school pay it forward tour tomorrow! There are now three high schools combining students in order to make their way through a couple fabulous cities and states, doing service, and a couple of college tours. (HS tours have different activities than the college trips and always try to include at least one tour of a college!)

It has been such an interesting few days. Yesterday I actually sat down and did homework for the entire day. ENTIRE day. I came to work, sat at my desk, and my boss just let me do my thing. I'm going to bring in treats next week as a big thank you to her for not only letting me keep my job, but realizing the times when I need a little quiet, concentrated time to finish some homework. Then, today, I had one of the craziest hour-long breaks between my 8am and 11am classes. It was 100% college, 100% relaxing, and 100% needed. Ever since, though, I've been scrambling to finish projects and things I need to hand in so I can leave tomorrow not worrying about anything! I cannot believe that this week signals the middle of the semester. Wow.

Ok, I still need to write a research paper proposal, hand that in, make a quick stop at home, head on down to Bloomington for a dinner, and then come back to the city, pick up a couple of friends and head off to a 2-hour training tonight! Whoo!

I'm believing this banner:
seen here.

Hope you are having a happy day!

ah!

please note how no one uses the escalator anymore. so cool! this is sponsored by volkswagen sweden and i saw it here.

goals for today:
-homework.
-homework.
-homework.
-research for future homework.
-homework.
-call friends back.

if i finish all of that, i get rewarded with the new episode of the office that i missed on thursday. i've heard that it is a really good one!

true true.

love.

Virginia - Chris Merritt

pity post.

I've been sick.
I've been missing home.
I've been missing London.
I've been missing phone calls.
I've been missing friends.
I've been tired.
I've been canceling plans.
I've been doing other things than blogging.
I've been realizing I can't do it all. Sometimes the many balls you juggle need to drop.

Sorry. I blame it on the first one.

pretty tunes.

Moth's Wings by Passion Pit (sorry for the silly vid.)

Also, head over to the blog A Beautiful Mess for a fabulous autumn mix!

happy listening!
xoxo.

some of the cutest engagement photos.

that I have ever seen are of my brother, Brian, and his fiance, Barb. (of course, I am a little biased.) Click here for a sneak peek at them!All photos were taken by studio lb.

crazy eyes.

I've been talking about how I'm going to post pictures of my room for quite awhile now, yet never have. This is primarily due to the fact that I haven't been using my camera. However, it also has something to do with me only blogging at work (shhhh...don't tell! it's a nice little de-stresser before I do things I don't want to do) and very, very rarely being online while at home...which is mostly due to the fact that I am only home to sleep. But! The background wall of the photo above is the color of 2 of my walls, just in case you were wondering.
This has been a rough week. Sometimes they just end up like that. I haven't been home for a whole night since last week Tuesday, and won't until maybe next Tuesday. It's been fun, but its also super wearing on a girl, especially a girl who has been neglecting her studies. I'm trying to schedule and conduct interviews for articles that are due around other meetings, classes, work, etc. etc. I'm complaining. But, my boss of 2.5 years did tell me on Tuesday that she had never seen me look so rough. That was the nicest way anyone could have ever put it. I was a mess. Goal of a nap after work, before friendtime tonight!

(p.s. photo of a girl in a red flannel shirt because I want one SO bad! I don't care how many lumberjack comments may ensue because of this.)
Also, this photo makes me really happy. I'm envisioning myself as the girl on the left, my mother as the one on the right, and K (my sister) as the chick sleeping behind us. Thankfully, I aged much better than K. And good lord, those glasses are fly.
AND one last treat. This is from a maxi pad ad in the '70s. I wish they still had stuff like this flying around. I'm going to tell my friends in advertising to bring it back.

hope you are all having a really good, productive week! happy October and happy birthday to Hanna! :)

(p.s. Beth, I promise Wild photos soon!)