I’m engaged!

Posted on
1

Brian proposed on Saturday, December 18th, 2010. It was an amazingly simple and uncomplicated proposal. It was everything I would have imagined it to be.

He told me a week in advance that we were going to do a “pre-Christmas” event before we head off to Las Vegas to see our families. I didn’t think anything of it.

For our first event, we went to the ice skating rink. Mind you – the entire week and weekend we had a massive snow and rain storm. Sadly, it was way too cold and miserable to ice skate. Instead, we went to the local coffee shop and had hot chocolate with mini marshmallows. After that, we drove around looking at Christmas lights.

For dinner, we went to Adele’s – the classiest joint in Carson. We ate a delicious dinner. Brian then proceeded to ask me if I wanted to go see a movie and I said yes, but we had to go drop off our leftovers first.

When I got to our front door, there was a red rose laying on the ground. I was a bit surprised but didn’t think anything of it. When I opened the door, there were roses leading up to our kitchen table and I was like…”ooo roses! Thanks.” I was totally oblivious.

On the kitchen table there was a gift box and a small sign that read “Open me!” I tore open the box and there was another box inside. I couldn’t seem to get it open and Brian took it from me, opened it with ease, and inside of it there was a ring box. It didn’t hit me that he was proposing until he got on his knee and when he did, I was completely shocked. He said:

Megan, since the first day I met you, I knew you were the one for me. You are perfect in every way. Will you marry me?

I was at a loss for words. I stuttered out a “YE….YE…” and then it finally came out…”OF COURSE!” He was still on his knee so the only thing I thought to do was to tackle him. After tons of kisses and tears, he popped open a bottle of champagne, and of course, we finished it off soon after.

The proposal was absolutely amazing. We were in the comfort of our own home and each other’s arms.

Surprise, Surprise

Posted on
2

I spent last night in Carson City and I was a bit surprised….it was FUN!

I’m staying true to my last post. Carson City as a whole is just okay, but certain events make this city fun.

I went to Fridays at 3rd. Gator Beat was the headliner. They were great! I saw my aunt and uncle there and they are huge fans of this band. They have seen them 10 times in the past 10 years. I guess they perform in Mammoth a lot.

Have a listen!

Here’s a pic of what a usual Friday at 3rd looks like:

It definitely wasn’t as busy as the above picture, but it was still a blast.

There was even somebody behind the backstage that brought their exotic birds. All of the birds were pretty nice, but there was one feisty green macaw that snapped, barked, and laughed at everyone. He was also a head-banging rocker. He danced to Gator Beat all night. He was quite the entertainer.

There was also a girl that brought a hoolahoop to the show. She was really good at keeping the hoop up while dancing the night away. She asked if I wanted to give it a try and of course I said yes. I’m not a master hoolahooper like she was, but I must admit, I was pretty dang good. Ha.

Anyway…good night. Music, drinks, birds, and hoolapoops. A great mixture of entertainment.

I’ll be at the next one, for sure.

My Thoughts on Carson City

Posted on
5

Many of my friends ask me, “How do you like living in Carson City?”

I take a deep breath and exhale, “It’s ooookkkaaaayy.”

Okay is exactly the way I would describe Carson City. It’s not exciting. It’s not boring. It’s just okay.

Carson City is the capital of Nevada. Yes, everyone, Las Vegas is NOT the capital.

Carson is a cute, little quaint town 30 minutes outside of Reno and about 25 minutes from the most gorgeous place in Nevada, Lake Tahoe. Reno and Tahoe have so much to offer. Reno entertains the college/outdoorsy crowd. It has bars on every corner of the street, nightclubs, shopping, the Truckee River, big events like the The Great Reno Balloon Race and Hot August Nights, and it’s known for its art and culture. It has almost everything you could possibly want and need. Check out what Reno has to offer. Tahoe has the lake. That’s all it needs.  And, Carson…well…it’s in the middle of Reno and Tahoe.

Honestly, Carson is not a dead city, it’s just kind of lame.

1. Have you seen its mall? You probably have but just didn’t realize it. It has nothing important in there, just a few antique stores. The only good things that come out of that place are Charley’s Grilled Sub and Paul Schat’s Bakery.

2. They have a bar/lounge called Plan:b. Really? Really?…Really? Naming a bar after a form of birth control? Doesn’t seem right.

3. Not enough young people. Every inch of this town is covered with old people or politicians. One or the other. I know there must be young people out there. Please stop hiding! I want to make some Carson friends.

4. No entertainment, whatsoever. When my boyfriend and I want to have a date night, we go to dinner and a movie each time. There’s not a lot of options out there. I guess we’ll have to be creative, but I wish Carson made it a little easier.

5. The speed limit throughout the entire town is 25mph. Kill me! My Jetta and I love to drive fast!

I did say that Carson City is okay. So here are things they should be proud of:

1. The food. It’s been nothing but amazing here. The Basil, Kim Lee’s Japanese Restaurant, Floral Vineyard and Khristopher’s Cafe, Lily’s China Bistro, La Taqueria La Salsa, Lady Tamales, and more. Yum! The food keeps me going!

2. Comma Coffee

3. The Capitol building. It’s beautiful.

4. Trader Joes!

5. Easy to get around town.

6. Close to Tahoe.

The only things that Carson needs are a cool hang-out for mid-20-year-olds, good shopping, more younger people and a frozen yogurt place.

So…there you have it. Carson City in a nutshell.

RENOvate Creative at 2010 National Student Advertising Competition

Posted on
Reply

Being on the University of Nevada, Reno’s AAF National Student Advertising Competition team – RENOvate Creative has been one of the most stressful (want to pull out my hair kind of stress), to the most rewarding and memorable experience I have had in my life. It tested my ability to think beyond what I thought I was capable of. It tested my ability to work with such a diverse, talented group of people. And, it’s even tested my own fear of public speaking. This class and the people in it has shown me how I can overcome any fear or weakness. It has taught me more than ever that with determination, commitment, practice, and CREATIVITY, you can solve any challenge that presents itself.

Here are the details of the case we worked on:

Client: State Farm Insurance

Case: Change perceptions of 18-25 year olds about State Farm Insurance.

Our Campaign: Live ON. With reliable State Farm agents, you are able to live your life the way you want to.

Successful: We think so.

Competition was fierce. In districts at San Jose State, we competed against schools such as UC Berkeley, University San Francisco, and Chico State. We won first place. Such a great win for such a long semester of endless nights of work. Read a story on our win!

We went to Orlando for nationals. Even though we didn’t win big, we felt confident that we had done the best that we could have done…we still felt like rockstars!

Here we are right before our presentation: (We presented at 8am Florida time….5am Nevada time.)

I feel like the luckiest gal because of all my teammates. They were absolutely amazing! Shout out to all you guys. I will miss you all so much! We’ll be seeing each other soon. Reunion is in call…SanFran, maybe?

Live ON RENOvate!

Inherited Space by Katy Govan

Posted on
4

Katy Govan, a MFA student at the University of Nevada, Reno, created her MFA exhibition, Inherited Space, in the Sheppard Fine Arts Gallery. Her exhibition was open April 19 – April 30.

After reading a biography of Katy, I learned that she is focusing on the field of book arts. During my spring semester in 2009, I took the class “Book Arts” with Bob Blesse. It was an amazing class. Learning how to create a book from scratch was a tedious, yet rewarding task. Sculpting your design, cutting your fingers in the process, sculpting again, then setting the typography, rolling the ink, testing the design, and then going back to fine tuning everything gets old after a while. It takes a certain person to continue the process and master it. Katy has.

Her books were perfectly crafted. Not just for the looks of it all, but also to tell a story. Her worked presented the ideas of personal past memories, inheritance and loss.

Along with the numerous books, she set up the gallery as if it was her own home, a home filled with family inheritances. She had an eclectic collection of figurines on bookshelves, side tables, magazine racks, and more. I can’t remember all the objects…my memory is failing me. However, I did notice a Beanie Baby. I collected over 300 Beanie Babies when I was younger, and now, they’re in a closet, locked up for no one to see. Since they’re not worth anything anymore, my children (whenever I have them) will most likely inherit them so that they can be put into better use than as closet stuffers.

Wild tangent. Back to the books.

The one book display that I found the most interesting was the secret book display. She created a display of at least two hundred pieces of paper folded up into little squares, creating tiny one page booklets. The directions said to pick out a booklet and write a secret on it, and then put it back in the bunch. If you picked up one that already had a secret on it, you could read it, then put it back. I thought this was a clever interactive piece. It invites the viewer to recall their memories/secrets and to share them in an anonymous way.

Each of her books, from what I recall, had something connected to it that was from her home memories. I felt she was trying to get across the message that you can make new memories while reinventing or remembering the past.

Here are some of her book designs that I pulled from the Internet:

Great job, Katy! The exhibition was perfectly executed and the books were beautiful. Knowing how long it takes to perfect a book gives me that much more appreciation of your art. I look forward to seeing more of your books in the near future.