when this is all over, i'm going to need a nap

i'm going to have to try really hard while writing this to not sound like i'm bragging (or humblebragging, which is slightly different and much funnier) so bear with me.

i've had a pretty amazing week this week, professionally speaking. 

after about seven months at the radio station going from intern to producer and learning all kinds of things i never thought i'd know, i'm having my first all by myself on-air shift this saturday morning from 8am-10am.to say this came out of nowhere wouldn't be entirely accurate but it was very much a zero t0 60 thing over the course of this week.

sure, i talk during the morning show but morning radio and being a disc jockey are totally different animals. i'm nervous and excited but mostly, i'm just surprised. 
when i got into journalism in college, i really fell in love with public relations especially since it meant i could still write. i never thought radio would be a career path, even after i first took the internship, and while most people wouldn't disagree that i could make a career out of talking, it's still scary to think about changing paths, even so slightly. 
at the same time, i'm very excited and so thankful to everyone who has helped teach me and so lucky for this opportunity. so please listen (in tennessee on 107.5, in mississippi on 96.1 and elsewhere on the website link above)!

moving on.

i drink tons of coffee every week to the point where i think i might be comprised of at least 20% pure caffeine. hey, we all have flaws. but this week i had an exceptionally great cup of coffee because it was with Suzanne from the East Memphis Moms blog. I saw on twitter (follow me @raquelhinson) that she was looking for guest bloggers and after a few emails, we met to talk and she was awesome! Her youngest and reed are the same age so there's also a possible play date in reed's future. it was really nice, she was beyond encouraging and seemed really excited to have me write for her blog. she also did a mom spotlight on me which was very flattering, so thanks Suzanne. 

all moms in the Memphis area: follow this blog, like it on facebook and then take advantage of all the cool stuff around town she finds for us to do with our kiddos!

and my last bit of cool news is that i'll be hosting this little party at Gould's in Collierville:

alright, i'm done. i promise. happy thursday all. 

I'd Like to Thank the Academy

Check you calendars people, it's time for the 83rd Annual Academy Awards. I am live-blogging the event, or as live as being thirty minutes behind on the dvr gets.

I achieved my goal of seeing all 10 Best Picture nominees so I feel very well informed going into tonight's Oscar telecast. 


The awards ceremony is being hosted by Anne Hathaway and James Franco, two of my favorite actors, but not necessarily my first pick for Oscars hosts. Generally, awards show hosts are comedians or comic actors. But they are definitely trying and while I wasn't really into Anne's rendition of "On My Own" I did feel that James nailed it with the cross-dressing Charlie Sheen joke.


The moving full orchestra busting out the Star Wars theme and "Tonight, Tonight" from West Side Story was one of my favorite parts of the show, thanks Oscar directors for that one. And I loved how Jeff Bridges & Sandra Bullock personally addressed each of the Best Actress nominees like they were calling coffee orders at Starbucks. Do they do that every year and I'm only paying this much attention because of the blog?

I realize that most people who blog about the Oscars will talk about the red carpet fashion but let's be honest, that's just not my thing.

this post is undoubtedly going to be long because I am including the entire list of award winners in the order in which they were won, even the ones that people always forget about the minute the winner walks off stage.

And the Oscar goes to... Achievement in Art Direction
Alice in Wonderland

Achievement in Cinematography
Wally Pfister- Inception

Best Supporting Actress
Melissa Leo- The Fighter

Best Animated Feature Film
Toy Story 3


Best Animated Short Film

The Lost Thing


Best Adapted Screenplay
Aaron Sorkin- The Social Network

Best Original Screenplay

David Seidler- The King's Speech


Best Foreign Film

In a Better World (Denmark)

Best Supporting Actor
Christian Bale- The Fighter

Best Original Score
Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross- The Social Network


Achievement in Sound Mixing
Lora Hirshberg, Gary A. Rizzo & Ed Novick- Inception


Achievement in Sound Editing
Richard King- Inception

Achievement in Make-Up

Rick Baker & Dave Elsey- The Wolfman

Achievement in Costume Design
Colleen Atwood- Alice in Wonderland

Best Documentary Short Subject
Strangers No More


Best Live Action Short Film
God Of Love


Best Documentary Feature Film
Inside Job


Achievement in Visual Effects
Paul Franklin, Chris Corbould, Andrew Lockley & Peter Bebb- Inception


Achievement in Film Editing
Angus Wall & Kirk Baxter- The Social Network


Best Original Song
"We Belong Together" from Toy Story 3

Best Director
Tom Hooper- The King's Speech

Best Actress
Natalie Portman- Black Swan


Best Actor

Colin Firth- The King's Speech

 Best Picture

The King's Speech

In case I have a few readers who are mathematically challenged, Inception & The King's Speech tied with 4 Oscars, followed by The Social Network with 3 awards and The Fighter, Toy Story 3 & Alice in Wonderland which each picked up 2 Oscars. 

And in case you're competitive like I am, check out how many of my Oscar predictions came true (it was 5 out of 9) on this blog post.

For those of you who watched the Academy Awards telecast, the Six Degrees (or less) of Kevin Bacon from James Franco to Scarlett Johansson and Matthew McConaughey are as follows:


James Franco was in Eat, Pray, Love with Julia Roberts who was in Valentine's Day with Bradley Cooper who was in He's Just Not That Into You with Scarlett Johansson.

James Franco was in Date Night with Mila Kunis who appears in Family Guy with Matthew McConaughey.

And hey, it's my fiftieth (that's 50th) blog post and I'm so happy to dedicate it to the Academy Awards. Thanks to all my friends and followers who read this thing and make me feel like a writer for a little while :)

An Award and a New Name!

It just wouldn't be awards season without my blog getting an award. While I've never claimed to personally be stylish, apparently my friend Robyn at Espadrilles, Lamps and Lava Cakes thinks my writing, at the very least, is stylish.

This is particularly exciting since I've felt a little less than inspired about blogging lately, though Robyn & I have talked about that together and we blame the cold weather. Anyexcuses, the requirements for this award are listing 7 random facts about yourself, and then pass the award on to a few favorite bloggers. And away we go:

1.I've been working on being more natural (but just shy of hippie natural) by not coloring my hair and ditching makeup for moisturizer & chapstick. Personally, I think I've been looking pretty good.

2. Currently, my favorite ethnic foods are Indian & Greek.

3.If I'm at home, I'm in my jammies. Right now, it's sweat pants, a t-shirt and a cotton cardigan.

4.) I have never eaten a steak (me neither, Robyn!)

5. Today, Reed & I are having sushi with my dear old friends Hannah & Alison and I'm pretty thrilled to catch up with them.  

6. I feel very content with my life right now. Would it be better if I was done with school and had a real big girl job? Maybe. But I'm at a place where I have wonderful friends, Reed & Adam fulfill my life in a way I didn't think would be possible and I'm working hard towards my goals.

7. I've very quickly fallen in love with my new internship. I think radio might be a possible career path.

Fascinating for all of you, I have no doubt. I nominate the following others for the Stylish Blogging Award:

1. Bekah at Matters of Merry Making

2. Chandler at Chandler Pritchett

3. Amanda at Because I Said So

I Have an Emergency!

It's noon on a Saturday. Reed is napping, Adam is at work and I'm lazy which means I'm on the laptop being less than productive by way of Google. And then I saw THIS.

So now I need a new name for my blog. It's not like I thought it was the most original name but I checked her archives and she's been blogging for much longer AND she has more kids, so I think she has rights to the blog title.

Suggestions from followers and GO!

And for reading and thinking for me, you get some gratuitous adorableness from little man reed :)

In his Thomas the Tank Engine big boy undies :)

Silly baby.

it's the first day of school. senior year redux.

It's that time of year again, people.

As summer the season lingers with a few more weeks of heat and humidity, in all practicality, summer is over.
Vacations are over, bathing suits have been retired and the smell of number 2 pencils and notebook paper is in the air.

As much as I actually love school, this fall I'm a little impatient with the fact that I'm still in college. A lot of my friends have graduated and I have that left behind feeling and, I'll tell ya, I'm not a fan. But rather than give in to the self-pity (I mean, I got an adorable child and the chance to try out a few majors out of the deal!) I've decided to look at this second senior year in the positive light that many of my classmates have:

I'm taking a victory lap.

  Now that we're past all the pessimism, here are the things i really love about school:

I love my planner for school. I like having my day, my schedule planned out so nicely.

Writing papers. It may sound crazy but I much prefer a nice essay or research paper over taking a test.

Being back on campus. As much as I love talking to reed,
sometimes it's very very nice to talk about something other than Thomas, how he absolutely
has to have his shoes on and the benefits of being upside down.

Now speaking of school, I have another class soon. Adios.

And the award goes to...

i'm so excited, my infant blog was given an award! granted, it's from a friend of mine that I've known since the sixth grade. Hi Amanda, thanks dear :)

As everyone who has ever seen or read Spiderman knows, with great power comes great responsibility and that means there are rules that come with accepting this award, according to Amanda's blog:

Numero Uno: Thank the Person Who Gave You the Award.

thanks for indulging my blog Amanda, I can't wait to see you when you get back to Memphis!

Numero Dos: Share Seven Things About Yourself.

I want to write non-fiction books for a living.

My favorite color is green.

I love birthdays.

I'm addicted to coffee.

And the ghirardelli brownies that Ellie makes :)

I've always wanted to try stand-up comedy (but I think I'm a different kind of funny).

I want reed to grow up on the east coast, but still a little bit in the south.

Numero Tres- Pass the Award Along to 15 Other Bloggers Who You've Recently Discovered and You Think Are Fantastic.

Okay Amanda cheated on this too and I'm new to the blogging world so I'm going to pick as many as I can:

The Broke-Ass Bride

Your's Truly (Sending the award back to my girl Amanda)
Rauwolf Family

Buckadore

Chicago Girl...by way of Memphis

Life in South Carolina 

The Beans

I Love Memphis
Etsy Wedding

and lastly: Contact the Bloggers and Tell Them About the Award!

And now I'm off to help my dear friend Nathan move a couch...I wonder if he has any idea that the little upper body strength that I have comes from lifting a thirty pound toddler exclusively with my left arm?