Graduation!!

Journalism friends.

It's hard to believe how fast the last 4 and a half years flew by. Before I knew it I was ordering my cap and gown and finishing up my last semester of undergrad. I remember so clearly preparing to move from Scotia to Lincoln to start my college career. It was a huge step but I felt at home at UNL right away.

My roomie and I bright and early graduation day morning!

UNL did not want me to leave without a bang, they made me work extremely hard my last semester! But that made graduation day that much more special. It reminded me of how hard I had worked throughout the four and a years to receive my bachelors degree. School has never came easy for me, I've always had to study hard and put in extra hours to ensure a good grade.

With my good friend and co worker Katie!

Graduation day was wonderful. My entire family came, along with one of my best friends Geneice Wilcher and my boyfriend and his mom. I was even able to spot them out of the enormous crowd that filled the Bob Devaney Center in Lincoln. I was lucky enough to have a great number of my friends graduating at the same time as me. This made the day even more special.

With my brother, his wife, mom and sister!

Graduation didn't last quite as long as I was expecting. Since UNL is an extremely large school, graduation has the reputation to last quite a long time. But it was done in about an hour and a half. I graduated with the college of education and human sciences. But as a textile and clothing design & journalism and mass communications major with an emphasis on advertising, I have a very close link to the journalism college that I will be joining full force to get my masters degree.

My boyfriend/best friend.

Speaking of getting my masters degree; I couldn't exactly relate with a majority of my classmates because I'm not done with school or the University of Nebraska- Lincoln. I start right away in the spring semester in January. I'll be a full time student for the next year and a half completing my masters degree. I'll be studying Marketing, Communication and Advertising to receive my MCA. I've thoroughly enjoyed studying journalism and advertising, but am excited to further explore marketing and communications studies. I'll continue to work at our school newspaper, the Daily Nebraskan, and focus on successfully finishing my large load of school work.

My great friend Geneice!

After graduation we headed out to eat at my favorite restaurant in Lincoln: Sho Gun! Sushi and yummy food prepared right in fun of us with my family made for a fun time! Thanks to my mom for taking us all out to eat!

My mentor, biggest supporter, greatest mom ever!

Well graduation day was spectacular! Thanks to my friends, family and other supporters for all of the encouragement over the years! I did it!!

Happy Holidays,

Belinda

Tis The Season

It's my favorite time of year! Minus the snow that is! I love the cheer in the air, the giving all around and the gathering of families. I love the hot chocolate and chai tea, the warm clothes with gloves and scarfs, and the racing inside from the cold weather. Another love is decorating for Christmas. This year I got my very own Christmas tree! I thoroughly enjoyed decorating it with browns and golds. There's something about having a Christmas tree all lit up that just puts you in an automatic good mood! The one thing I can't say I absolutly love about this time of year is finals week.

Although graduation is approaching in a couple weeks, December 18th to be exact, finals weeks has kept me busy with my nose stuck in a book at the library. I enjoy school, but can't say I enjoy the late nights of studying, stressing and preparing that the end of a semester brings. I'm a huge organizer so I've never had to pull all-nighters. But this year there was no getting around it. Five hour energies became my best friend. And I must say, they do work! I had to put them to the test a lot last week.

O'Neil Advertising agency with our professor Ruth Brown.

Celebrating after a successful campaign!

We had a huge presentation for my capstone advertising campaigns class and this required late nights rehearsing. And when I say late, I mean late. We rehearsed until 1:30AM Wednesday night. This was a huge presentation because we presented in front of UNL faculty and the actual client that we were pitching our campaign to. Luckily our hard work paid off and we ended up winning over the client! This was a huge accomplishment. It was a whole semester packed with work, but the group I was working with made it a lot of fun.

I'd love to say the studying will end soon, but unfortunately it will not. I have one more week to go, and then in January I start graduate school. Other than school consuming my life, I had a great sushi date with Geneice Wilcher, Miss Nebraska 2007, and Haley Herold, Miss Nebraska 2011. Haley is on the road to success! She is so down to earth, and not to mention motivated! She has a great chance to do amazing things at Miss USA this year. I am so excited to help her in any way that I can and most of all to watch her compete! P.S. Her walk is fierce on stage! Miss USA class of 2011 better watch out!

Geneice and I.

By the way, have I mentioned how much my puppy Harley loves the bathtub!?! He has a slight obsession to say the least. He is in and out of the bathtub daily. Last week when I was taking a shower, he thought it would be a good idea to jump in with me! And what do you know? He's in the shower with me and I can't get him out. So, I finished up and he proceeded to hang out in there for awhile. I finally decided to fill the tub up with water and see if this would satisfy his needs. And it did, for an hour and a half in fact. He played in the tub like a little kid does with their toys. Complete craziness. I feel I have a dog with OCD, my mom suggested looking into a dog psychiatrist, I might have to do this! haha!

There will be much more to come, but I better hit the books!

Lots of love,

Belinda