University of Delaware Tailgate in the Burgh

Posted in Blue Hens in the Burgh by

UD Pittsburgh Alumni Club BoardWhen I graduated from the University of Delaware in 2012 and moved back to Pittsburgh without a job, I thought I was leaving everything behind. My friends and classmates I’d met at UD were mostly from the east coast, as well as my professors and potential job contacts. I’d had work experience affiliated with the university and I’d become familiar with the area and the companies. I’d consulted with a staff member at Career Services and I perused the job boards on their website many times, and it seemed that they had the most connections in east coast cities.

When I moved back home, I felt lost. I was working as a waitress, attempting to reconnect with a few high school friends, and struggling to search for a job on my own. I thought I had lost my network.

But by a miraculous stroke of luck or fate, I came across the UD Pittsburgh Alumni Blue Hen City. Just a few months after meeting a few fellow alumni, I felt like I’d found my home again.

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Just Jump

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There was a brief moment when I could have turned back. It was only a moment and then it was gone. Once I was on the other side of the railing, the only thing left to do was jump.

I don’t consider myself a risk-taker or a daredevil or even a thrill-seeker. But there are some things in this world that I believe just have to be experienced. When life is so short and the world is so big and time is so precious, there are some experiences that are worth everything. And so I went bungee jumping.

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What You Don’t Know, As You Head Off to College

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AbbyandMeg

This past weekend, my family gathered to celebrate my cousin Abby’s graduation from high school. Aunts and uncles and cousins came together from all over Pittsburgh, Baltimore and Philadelphia to celebrate the twelfth cousin of the family to graduate and head off to college.

As the newest inductee into the high school graduate club, my cousin doesn’t know yet what she is in for. She’s about to start her next chapter in life at the University of Dayton in Ohio. She doesn’t even know yet how good it’s going to be. She doesn’t understand the college memes or the post-grad-problems or the Buzzfeed lists. She can’t yet fathom how much trouble she’ll get into. She doesn’t know which girls will become her best friends or which boys will break her heart. She can’t know that yet, but she will.

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Living the City Life

Posted in Apartment Living by

pittsburgh skyline

I used to be afraid of the city before I lived here. It was fear of the unknown, really. I didn’t actually know anything about Pittsburgh. All I knew was that the roads were terribly confusing and that traffic could be atrocious when there was a Steelers or Pens game, which were the only real reasons to go into the city anyway.

I imagined that cities were full of cruel and terrible people who jump out, steal your money, rape women, pillage and plunder. It only took a few off-handed stories for me to form this stereotype in my mind.

But despite this, cities had always fascinated me. From Pens and Pirates games to my abbreviated tour of New York City, I had always thought that the urban lifestyle looked so glamorous and romantic. People who lived in cities seem to live totally different kinds of lives that I will never grasp. Skyscrapers, cars, traffic, taxis, outdoor cafes, rooftop bars, apartments, buses and trains– there’s so much going on and so much movement. Everyone just walks everywhere, always somewhere to go, someplace to be. People run to catch buses, they push strollers across intersections, they walk with rolling baskets to carry groceries, they meet for lunch or coffee or drinks. They are busy with their own lives, but they’re all part of this big, urban machine.

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Twenty Something

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twenty something

I turned 24 last week. Somehow I do not feel older at all. I expected to feel 24 and I don’t.

There are significant birthdays, that bring with them significant milestones in your life. And then there are the years in between. When you’re 13, you are a teenager, when you’re 16, you can drive, when you’re 18 you can vote, when you’re 21 you can drink.

With my birthday at the end of May, some of the in-between years still held certain milestones. The end of each year of my life was the end of a school year – a major transition period. When I turned 14 in May of 2004, I had finished middle school, got my braces off and got contacts – talk about transformation! When I turned 22, I graduated college. The very day of my 22nd birthday, I packed up my house in Delaware and moved back in with my parents.

These big events are what make you feel older. They are what give you the feeling that it’s the end of one thing and the beginning of something new. They make you step up, take responsibility, or do something different.

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I Gave Up Facebook for 46 Days

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Give Up FacebookI have been on Facebook for almost nine years. But on March 5th, I decided to take a short break. I gave up Facebook for Lent– 46 total days, from Ash Wednesday to Easter Sunday.

It was more than just giving up a social media platform though. It was a conscious decision to avoid what had become a daily, almost hourly, rote habit, wasting a colossal amount of time and energy. I wanted to know what I could discover if I could only take my eyes off the screen.

I gave up endlessly scrolling through my news feed and clicking through photos and watching crappy cell-phone videos and posting useless status updates. I gave up what I considered to be the drama that comes with having your entire life on display for so many years that you don’t even remember what it was like to have a secret or a memory that only you know or a precious photo that no one else has seen.

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Discovering the Digital Library

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librarymagic

When I was younger, the library was a place full of magic. The endless rows of books held so many stories and tales and lives and characters that I couldn’t consume fast enough. The warm quiet of the building was a welcome respite from the chaos of a large family. I could wander through the stacks for hours, skimming titles and reading covers. I gathered books in my arms to check out while I perused, until I had so many that my muscles shook and books were tumbling off the pile.

I would check out five or six books at a time, piling them next to my bed. When I was younger, all I needed was a book and cozy nook to curl up for hours, lost in a whole new world.

I loved the smell of old library books. I loved the way the pages were a little yellow and the plastic cover crinkled when you opened it up. I loved the books with water-warped pages because I could imagine the reader sitting on the beach, not realizing how close the waves had crept up until they were upon her. I especially loved the books with a comment card paper-clipped to the back cover, where previous readers wrote their thoughts and noted their surprise or sadness or anguish over characters. I would sometimes choose a book based on these comments alone. I felt like I had a connection with the other anonymous readers – like we were, in some small way, the same, because we had both shared this book’s great adventure.

Then technology came and changed it all.

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Back in the Gym

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me_swimmingI am an athlete. Regardless of whether I’m on any sort of team, regardless of whether I’ve practiced recently, and regardless of the fact that I haven’t been in a pool in months, I will always call myself an athlete. I have the mentality that comes from twelve years of swimming. It’s the attitude and the drive and the determination that can only come from practicing six days a week, two, three, four, or five hours a day for half of your life.

So when I stopped working out for about six months straight, I started going crazy. Not at first- at first I enjoyed myself and my free time. I had just moved in to my new apartment, I was living in a new place, trying new things, hanging out with my boyfriend, meeting new people. I was starting a new job, which was stressful. I thought I was too busy to go to a gym after work, because after working all day, then cooking and eating dinner and cleaning up afterwords, when would I have time to unwind if I tried to throw a workout in the mix?

So for six months, I chose to relax. Looking back, I probably watched too much dumb TV and drank too much wine. But I enjoyed it for a time. I slowly started to feel sluggish though. I felt winded going up two flights of stairs. I felt slow and tired and saggy, if you will. My weight was the same, I generally looked the same as I always had, but I felt terrible about myself.

So starting in January, I bit the financial bullet and joined a gym. I made sure it was a gym I could walk to, that was open at the times when I needed it to be open. And I signed up for three months of personal training.

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Some Updates in the Works

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writing

If you are looking for Measure with Coffee Spoons, you are in the right place.

I have been blogging less frequently lately, even though I said that my goal this year is to change that. My goal is to work on this blog, write more, and hopefully create something that is meaningful to myself and my readers.

In thinking about these goals, I decided it was time for a change on my blog. Not just a new post category or a new header photo or a new widget, but a real change. I bought took a big step and bought my domain name – measurewithcoffeespoons.com. I changed the theme – I wanted a more mature look that’s easier to read and navigate. I actually did a total overhaul of my post categories, so there are fewer and they’re more inclusive.

I’m not completely satisfied with the look just yet. You may still see some more changes, and don’t be surprised if you see a whole new theme. I’m still figuring out what I want and the best way to get it.

And in the end, this blog change seems to reflect my life in some ways.

I started this blog right out of college, wanting a place to showcase myself and my talents. I really just wanted to write and have someone read it. Now, I want to write and I want people to be able to find it. I want people to come across my website and want to read older posts. I want them to browse through photos and read the stories and get a feel for the whole picture, not just one post at a time. I’m hoping that whatever I finally decide on achieves this and really shows my growth as a writer and a professional.

Stay tuned!

An Evening of Arts for Autism

Posted in News & Events by
Evening of Arts For Autism was held at the Kelly-Strayhorn Theater

Evening of Arts For Autism was held at the Kelly-Strayhorn Theater

Last night, I was honored and privileged to attend the Evening of Arts for Autism at Kelly-Strayhorn Theater in Pittsburgh. This event truly brought my experiences with the Joey Travolta Film Camp and Arts for Autism full-circle, and I have never seen this amount of hard work, joy, patience, and hope in any group of people, multiplying with each gathering. Continue reading →