Summer's Ending ...

It's been a little while since I've had the time to post on here, but as you can tell by the title, the end of summer is upon us. When I began this summer, I didn't have the highest expectations. To be honest, I had no way of being able to know all the incredible things I would go on to experience. So to fill y'all in, here are the things I did this summer and what I learned from them: 

Work

Your girl here managed to juggle work, an internship and volunteering. I ended up dropping the Nordstrom position pretty quickly so that I'd be able to accept positions that more practically lent themselves to my long-term goals. If there's one important thing I learned from that, it's that life is too short to let a good opportunity slip away.

This summer, those opportunities came in the form of a promotions assistant position at iHeartRadio and a creative services internship at CW11- KSTW. 

I learned a lot of things about myself in those roles. For example, I LOVE having coworkers who I can talk to. At both positions, I found I produced much better work and had way better days when I worked with people who I could bounce ideas off of or joke around with to pass the time when things slowed down. Also, when I worked with people who genuinely cared about what they were doing- whether they were trying to get their foot in the door with radio, or were counting on promotional videos we produced to be included on their reel.

At iHeartRadio, I realized how much fun it can be to interact with people. Getting to talk to listeners of the different radio stations and see them get excited about things made each shift I worked seem to fly by. 

The best advice I received about this job was to make every interaction the best it possibly can be. You want to imagine that the booth you're working at has your name on it. You want the people who walk away from it to say to their friends that they had a great time at "Aubrey's Booth" (or whatever your name is). I think this applies to a lot of things in life. Treat everything you do like it's branded with your name. It doesn't matter what company you work for or who you represent, you want to make every interaction as positive as possible. The other day, someone I work with told me that I have the ability to get people excited about nothing and that has to be the best feedback I've ever received. 

At CW11- KSTW, I learned a lot about trial and error. Some good ideas just don't make good scripts, and even though it sucks throwing out something you worked on, it's best to just learn how to bounce back quickly. I think the act of writing so much about a relatively narrow topic (CW TV shows) made me learn how to think of more ideas and write much quicker. By the end of my internship, I was able to come up with ideas and turn them into blog post and scripts in a matter of hours. I also got the other intern to admit that I have a great sense of humor, which was a highlight.

DJ-assisting at KEXP also introduced me to another aspect of the music industry. I learned about the importance of preparation and being able to quickly think on your feet when things don't work out. While a lot of things can be improvised, it's always easier to at least have the majority of a playlist predetermined.

Appearance

Like I always tell people, I'm lucky I got hot in college because it forced me to develop a good personality and sense of humor in high school. I think I really started to come into my own this summer though. I focused on staying body-posi and wearing what makes me happy. As of right now, it's unclear how I'll manage to fit all my new clothes in my suitcase to take back to D.C., but I'm sure I'll find a way to make it work.

After years of struggling with body image, I found myself happy with the way I looked for the first time I can remember. I've really focused on hydrating and staying active this summer. Even though I haven't ran as much as I'd hoped to, I've opted for walking and public transportation whenever possible (save the planet yo). A really awesome habit that I've gotten into is going on walks. After meals, or when I'm just bored, I slip my headphones in and do a few laps around the park up the street from me. I've also gotten back into the habit of stretching when I'm sitting around, which is something I can't recommend highly enough. Life is tiresome and your body carries you through it, so it's important to show it some love by stretching out sore muscles.

During the school year, I was dealing with lots of health issues, and it felt great to spend some time healing and getting better this summer. I think it's easy to get wrapped up in the fast pace of the world, but sometimes it feels good to slow down and take the time to heal before moving forward.  I'll have more on this in another post, but for now, just know know things are really good.

ALSO: If you haven't already seen all my instagram posts of my new tattoo, I got a new tattoo!!! I always said I'd get some super meaningful ink one day, and this one is it. Honestly, I couldn't be happier with the work that was done. I had Marco over at Hidden Hand in Fremont, Seattle do it and it's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen and perfectly encompuses all the different elements that I wanted!

Personal Projects

I finally got around to podcasting! I've been meaning to get into it for a while now, so I'm super excited to be branching into having my own podcast now. After months of deliberation, the title will be Blondetourage and it'll mostly just be me and my friends/sister talking about life and things going on. I promise I'm kinda funny so people should all definitely listen to it! The first couple episodes are really short, but I'll be starting a new tab on this website for it so be sure to check it out!

Going forward: Fall 2017 and onward

I go back to Washington, D.C. to begin my senior year in ten days. It's weird to think that I'm almost done with college and this stage of my life is ending, but I'm so excited to finally be in the "real world." Nothing is solidified for post-graduation yet, but I know I want to try to get a position on-air for a radio station. Right now, I'm looking into small towns across the East Coast and West Coast (sorry people in the middle area but I need to be in a state with ocean-access). 

Something I'm super psyched about that's coming up is BMOC, which is my sorority's annual fall philanthropy event. This fall, I will be co-chairing the event with my roommate/best friend Ali and I'm just thrilled to be able to give back to Children's Miracle Network Hospitals, which has given me so much in the past. This means I'm getting ready to spend the next month and a half freaking out over finding sponsors and people to donate, as well as coordinating a pageant. I'm sure everything will be amazing though!

I never thought I'd be at this point in my life at age 19 and that I'd already have achieved so much before my 20th birthday, but the world is an amazing place full of incredible opportunity and I can't wait to explore them all. Hopefully y'all stick around for the next leg of this journey and all the legs that come after (even though it might be weird if I have more than two legs). Enjoy your summers, soak up some sun and eat ice cream for me! 

xx,

​Aubz