Coldplay found love

When stopping by the BBC Radio 1's Live Lounge to promote their new album - Mylo Zyloto - last week, Coldplay surprised the crowd by playing a song that was not on their latest album. In fact, it wasn't on any of their albums at all.

Likely due to their recent teaming up with Rihanna for one of their newest jams - Princess of China, Coldplay decided to perform their own acoustic take on Rihanna's No. 1 hit song, We Found Love.

Needless to say, I was impressed! Check it out.

If I had a million dollars...

All of these gorgeous clothes would be mine!

Okay, okay. Of course I wouldn't just buy clothes with a million dollars. I'd travel, donate time and money to organizations I believed in and pay my parents back for my college education. Still, a few fabulous outfits here and there wouldn't hurt. ;)

Check out Nasty Gal for more great looks. Happy shopping!

The bucket list project

Everyone talks about bucket lists - the important list of things you're planning to do before you die. Most bucket lists are full of wild ambitions like writing a book, skydiving, an African safari, kissing your true love under the Eiffel Tower, or even more mild to-do's like seeing the Grand Canyon, making sushi or running a marathon.

Regardless, I've been thinking. How keen are we on really crossing those items off? As a 24-year-old, "before you die" seems like a long amount of time. Why rush it, right?

Wrong. The other night, I talked with my parents about bucket lists, and realized how much we're always saying, "I want to do this," "I want to do that," but never actually making plans. "Before you die" is a long time - but how eager are you going to be to take an African safari when you're 80?

And so, the bucket list project was created. My mission (and my parents!) to put my bucket list into action. Here are my action items this year:

1. Go to Vegas with my friends - In 5 years, we very well may be married with kids, well past our party days. Thus, the time is now.

2. Run a marathon - I've always wanted to, but never had the dedication to do so. Staying committed to training will help me live well and accomplish something I can really be proud of.

3. Learn piano - I dabble here and there, but could never play a full song from sheet music. I'd love to one day sit down and play and sing for my kids, and that means I've got to get started.

4. Write something about my grandfather - Whether a blog post or short article I can submit as a freelance piece, my 93-year-old WWII veteran grandfather has a fantastic life story that I've always wanted to share with the world. I've really been lagging on this one, since he isn't getting any younger. Stay tuned.

What items from your bucket list can you check off this year? Whether it's something big like a trip to England or small like learning to cook like Julia Childs, now is the time. "The way you live your days is the way you live your life," and that's up to you to decide. 


Happy bucket list-ing!

Crossing the line

Public relations professionals and the media have a very unique, love-hate relationship. There's a fine line between a PR pro's motives and the media's desire to give their audience quality content they'll want to come back to. If the media just ran with every PR pitch sent their way, what would the state of journalism be today?

But every day, members of the media get hundreds of emails and phone calls from PR professionals looking to get their client featured in their publication or program. Journalists are the public's gatekeepers to information. And nowadays, that includes bloggers as well. 

As a PR pro, this presents quite a challenge - how can you make your pitch stand out from the rest? What extra steps can you take to  get a mutually beneficial end result - making your client happy AND assisting a journalist on a story?

Well, I can tell you that is surely doesn't involve calling someone a f****** b****. 

This week, a PR 'pro' (I use that term loosely) sent a blogger known as The Bloggess a pitch that clearly wasn't a fit for her blog or readers. The pitch was an obvious email blast, a classic tactic used by PR pro's on a time crunch who don't do their homework. At my agency, this is a definite no-no (and rarely results in a quality client placement). 

And in this case, the blast also resulted in an unhappy blogger. Clearly annoyed by the PR rep's lack of any knowledge about her blog, The Bloggess sent him a feisty note back, giving him a slap on the wrist and letting him know he wasted her time. In my mind, this was well warranted. It happens to the best of us PR pros from time to time -- you apologize, you thank them for their time and you make a note not to pitch them again. Media have the right to turn down your pitch, especially if the fault is yours.

But this PR rep felt a little differently. So he hit reply all and called the blogger a f****** b****. 

Was hitting reply all a mistake? Maybe. (Seriously? Can you not operate an email inbox?) But regardless, he messed up. Big time. So what did he do next? Justify himself even further. What's more, he called PR people the "livelihood of journalists business." 

And he's supposed to be the VP of Brand Link Communications. If you haven't yet, you must read The Bloggess' full post here.

As I learned from a media relations seminar I attended with a panel of key Chicago media this year, researching the outlet you're pitching prior to pitching is vital to (1) establishing a mutually beneficial relationship with the media contact and (2) seeing any success with your public relations campaign. 

Dear Mr. Brank Link VP, journalists are the PR person's key to success - not the other way around.  

Pitching 101: do a little research before you hit send. Sorry, Brand Link - you deserve the bad press on this one.

For more bad pitches, check out the Bad Pitch Blog.

Twenty four

It's kind of hard for me to believe it, but my twenty-fourth birthday is here. It seems like just yesterday I was wearing a sparking pink "21" crown and taking my first legal shot at the bar, or even obsessing over turning 22 - my last college birthday. 

But here I am, two years later, two years older.

Twenty-four is such a weird age. Those older than you think you're still so young, but those younger than you finally look at you like you're old. Me? I feel stuck somewhere in between - proud of all I've accomplished thus far, but still gazing far off into the future with growing ambitions. 

And another year closer to thirty. (What us twenty-somethings consider the absolute end of your youth.)

At the office, I feel so young. Too young. I want only to be perceived as older, more mature and more experienced. While with my friends, I feel too old. I have a bedtime, serious responsibilities and professional obligations. I have a serious love for Microsoft Excel (the things you can do with spreadsheets!) and use the phrase, "TBD" wherever I can.

I'm at the in-between phase. A young professional stuck in between two lives. But in the end, I realize I'm right where I want to be. 

So what does twenty-four mean to me? Twenty-four means I'm just a year and a half out of college with a career I can be proud of. I have a wonderfully supportive family, a strong group of friends I love like sisters and a boyfriend I can't imagine life without. So I guess, as much as I can be depressed about losing more of my youth, I'm really just thankful.