chimesblog

So I promised big news last week and I was so busy I never delivered.

The big news is that I got a new job! I’m leaving Drake and heading to Iowa State University.

[goodbye spike, hello cy*]

Besides the obvious commute change (as in NO MORE COMMUTING) there’s another major change: I will probably not be designing so much.

My new job is Communications Specialist II for Student Recruiting in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. I’ll be doing social media, a bit of writing, a bit of design, student recruitment (so some travel) but mostly I’ll be in charge of the first-year student experience. So I’ll be planning events programming for first-year students to keep them engaged with not only ISU but specifically the college.

So are you freaking out? I’m kind of freaking out. I just realized last week I don’t get to pick paper anymore. Or print vendors.

Calm down. I’m planning to enroll in the College of Design MFA in Graphic Design program while I’m there. It’s not my TOP pick for MFA programs *cough cough* MCAD *cough cough* Yale *cough cough* … but it will be free. And really, I want to teach college students. So what matters is that I HAVE the degree. Not where it’s from. It’s not a BAD program either.  So I’ll be getting my design in as well as honing some other important skills.

*I realize that this is the OLD Cy ISU athletics logo … but I reallllly hate all the new athletics logos. Which is funny because I always bitch about Drake constituents that feel the same way about old marching spike that I do about old cy.

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Tuesday was my boss’s last day at Drake. *insert super sad face here*

She’s also pregnant — WITH TWINS! So we had a combination going-away-baby-shower party for her. I made chocolate covered strawberries. YUM.

One thing I learned from this round of chocolate covered strawberries (I’ve had less pretty ones created from previous batches):

BE CAREFUL WITH CHOCOLATE.  As in don’t overheat it.  Do 30 seconds at a time in the microwave in a glass bowl.  And when it looks like it needs about 30 more seconds, instead, stir it for 30-60 seconds to melt the remainder. BINGO. Perfect chocolate.  I also used a spatula to drizzle white chocolate over the top. White chocolate is even more picky, so be careful or it will get lumpy and clumpy.

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It’s Drake Relays time!

That means … I’m really busy.

But seriously. It means streetpainting, Beautiful Bulldogs and lots of races. I’m not running in the Drake Half Marathon this year — no way am I going to top shaving off 20 minutes from my PR —  but I am going to go check out some of the fun events this week. And you should too!

Here are some of my favorite photos from Drake’s flickr galleries.

The winner of the Beautiful Bulldog Contest was Lucy Brown! (the ! is part of her  name) and she is suuuuuper adorable. And probably pretty slobbery.

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Oh boy.

In case you didn’t know, I hate the fair. It is absolutely NOT super-magical. Honestly, if I didn’t have to go for work, I wouldn’t go.  And I really should play state fair bingo when I do go (after my shift) because it would make the day so much more exciting.

Regardless: it’s over.

Well, my day there is anyway — the fair is still here for a few more days … blech.

First off, I must mention that I parked in front of the Slaughter residence. Yes. That is an epic last name. I wonder if they have a son around my age …

I got there and ran my shift at the Drake Day at the Fair tent. Check out the cool pix on our facebook! That was a lot of fun. My shift was slow, but we had a few awesome alums come through that made it totally worth while. Our theme this year was “Capture your love for Drake” and we were handing out pennants with a contest for the best fair photos with the pennant.  What a cool idea. Yay Drake!

I also worked at the VI building earlier that day and met a lady who graduated from Drake in 1930!  NINETEEN THIRTY.  She was amazing. She was an art teacher and a counselor for years. She also apparently has a golf cart with a bulldog on it that she wants to paint blue. Not just any blue, DRAKE BLUE. How cool!

Also, let me just say, I hate temporary tattoos. Most of my day was spent putting these on kids. Every time I put one on a kid, I felt like his mom was going to kill me. I had this one kid that asked for it on his FOREHEAD.  Seriously? I put another kid’s on the back of his neck. Honestly, he was out of room everywhere else. These kids went around to every station and got temporary tattoos. I’m sure to the delight of their parents.

Regardless. Adorable photo op!

Between my two shifts, I kind of geeked out over the quilts. I’m more of a fabric-a-holic than anything and the quilts at the fair never pique my interest as far as fabrics go, but damn. There is a lot of stitchery that goes into those quilts!

This one had a few fabrics I like and was a cute pattern.

Seriously. Look at that stitching!

All I have to say for this one is: wow. Those are a LOT of little tiny squares. This was a huge quilt. It didn’t even get an honorable mention. Really? Really.  I want to find out who did this so I can make him/her a ribbon because this is amazing.  Not as beautiful as some of the other quilts, but super amazing nonetheless. Can you imagine how much time and effort went into this? Seriously. CRAZY.

Oh oh oh oh oh oh oh. Wait.  I almost finished my post here, but then I realized I didn’t mention food. You can’t blog about the Iowa State Fair without food, right? Yeah. Okay, so I’m a health nut. I found the ONE thing that probably won’t kill me (and it was cheap too!). I had an apple with caramel and peanuts. OM. NOM. and only 2 bucks! That’s cheap for fair food.

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