I Miss This....

Silly car rides with the sisters :)

Showing Off is Fun :D

Here's another ad I made recently.  What say you? (<- LOTR, anyone?)

P.S. Funny quote about advertising: "Advertising: the science of arresting the human intelligence long enough to get money from it."

P.S.

What do you think of the new background?

In Arizona, shade trees are your best friends.

(And occasionally the basis of small civil wars over parking.)

This past weekend I went to Arizona.  Yup, I and some friends drove to and back from Arizona, with some partying in between, all in 3 short days.  How much of that trip then was driving?  Almost a full day.  BUT!  It was worth it!  I promise.

David (my brother), Vinny (my friend), and Courtney (Vinny's friend) left good ol' Provo around 5am this past Friday and drove... and drove... and drove....... and drove.... until we finally made it to Mesa.  I have some funny pictures of that drive that I haven't uploaded yet, but let's just say they are the result of us being in a small space, pretzels, and too much time.

We went to Arizona to visit our friend Tito (remember him?).  Since I saw him last in D.C., he graduated Army training and, as it was his birthday this past weekend, the time was ripe for a party.  We also saw his sister Natalie and Nicole, who had flown out from California for the same reasons as us.

We got to Arizona around 3-4pm on Friday... so after giving our hugs and saying our hellos, we crashed.  It was lovely.  Especially since Arizona was approximately one million degrees outside, so we got to bask in the air conditioning.  Tito's party, put on by his sister Natalie, was at 9:30pm that night.  After we all got prettified, we danced the night away with about 300 guests.  I drained my camera's batteries taking pictures of pretzels, so the only picture I can find of the party doesn't even have most of us in it.  But that's okay-- it wasn't my party:

Tito and Natalie

They had an actual DJ in Tito's living room and they served delicious make-your-own snow cone type things, with awesome flavors like birthday cake.  (Really.  It was delicious.  Who would have thunk?)

Saturday was just one of those perfect days that usually happens in the middle of summer, but the universe was confused because Arizona was hot and sunny, so it let us relax away.  Us girls made the boys pancakes for breakfast, then we all went swimming in Tito's pool (which was quite the experience since all of us girls had left our swimming suits at Natalie's house... so we might have played Sharks and Minnows in our pajamas).

Elder Cook was giving a fireside in the area that night, so we got to go and hear his uplifting words.  Highlights included stories of him and Elder Holland as companions in the mission field.  Who knew?

That night, we all just hung out and played cards, watched a movie, went swimming, and talked/laughed.  Can I just say I love being with old friends?

Sunday consisted of breakfast, church, and good-byes.  We had to leave right after sacrament meeting so that we could get back to Provo in time.

(Pictures taken after church)

Cute siblings.

Re-creation of California photo-op.

In order: Courtney, Vinny, Nicole, Tito, Natalie, David, me, Tito's roommate.

We're pretty attractive :P

The drive back to Provo was pretty uneventful, except we, of course, hit traffic when we were literally 10 minutes from home.  So we got home at 1:45am instead of 1am.  Oh well.  Who needs to sleep?

I highly recommend last minute/crazy/super awesome road trips with your friends!  Because.... why not?

Zzzzzzzzzzz.....

Am I allowed to be tired?  It's only Thursday afternoon.  I have been BUSY, though.  (Can't you tell how busy I am through my use of capitalized letters?)

Anyways, I had this really great idea to take 17.5 credits this year, while working 20 hours a week and participating in the advertising club.  AND I just decided to take a road trip with friends to Arizona this weekend.  What?!

"McKenna!" you are saying.  "You are crazy!!!!"

I totally agree.

But, it's a fun/good/busy sort of crazy.  I am of the opinion that life should be interesting, and, let's be honest, how interesting can it get on a couch with a jar of peanut butter and MTV?  So, hello staying-on-campus-13-hours-a-day!!!  Woot woot.

Funny is as funny does.

Okay, so I know you're probably getting tired of advertising.  I promise that I'll share all about my exciting (aka way too busy) life soon.

Until then, laugh at these funny ads that I recently shared with my creative concepts class:

'Cuz I Know You're Interested

Here is the mock-up I did of my print idea for super glue:

Version 1

Alternative tag line ideas:

-Why do you think we named it SUPER glue?

-Super glue can't fly or shoot laser beams but, man, is it strong!

-Ka-pow! Super glue attack.

Okay, I totally know those are super (no pun intended) rough.  I wrote them all in about 5 minutes this morning.  And haven't really put more thought into them since.  They're really just there to give you a glimpse of my ideas and to help me brainstorm :)

Version 2

This was my professor's favorite tag line ("Superglue: Saving lives since the 70s.").  He also suggested moving the superglue to the far right.

What are your thoughts?

Stay Foolish!

So, taking a break from my catch-up blogging, I have some stuff from one of my advertising classes I would like to share.

First, for my concepts class, we had to do something we had never done before.  You can read all about it here (on my class's blog), but let me just give you this hint: fast, dangerous, rebel-status.  Yup.  You know it :P

Second, today in my class we had to share some rough sketches of print ads for Superglue.  We had brainstormed in the class before (along the lines of: "Come up with 10 ideas in 5 minutes for a Superglue print ad.  Go!"), after which I went home, thought some more, and then sketched out ideas.  Sorry for the less-than-great quality of the pictures (my camera is dying a slow and agonizing death) but here are some of my favorites:

An elephant, barbell, piano, bus, and whale superglued to the ceiling.

Tag line: It's that strong.

(You can kind of see the previous picture through this one... oh well!)

It says, around the picture of a crazy older woman with pursed lips:

"Superglue... has the strength of your cheek-pinching aunt."

This one is more visual.  It's just Superglue with Arnold Swarchenegger's body and head.

Tag line: It's that strong.  (← Maybe.  I'm still working on this part...)

This was the idea I shared with the entire class.  It has pictures of Superman, the Hulk, Superglue, and the Thing in a row.

Tag line: It's that strong.  (Okay, so I actually only thought of the one tag line...)

Anyways, I don't know how interesting this is to other people, but it's important to me and this is my blog, so you all get to see my homework :P  I had a lot of fun doing it and I'll probably keep you updated as I continue to polish the concept.

Shadowing in NYC at Ogilvy

Talk about a dream come true!!

My sister-in-law's brother-in-law works at Ogilvy, a major advertising firm.  (This is an example of his work.)  Because he's awesome, he got permission for me to come in and shadow a BYU graduate for a day.  So, the day before I flew out to Provo, my family drove into the city (basically just for me) and, after traipsing around in the rain, dropped me off at the agency.  It was SO COOL to go to an actual firm, ask all the questions I wanted, meet tons of people, and see lots and lots of projects.  I know I'm just starting my program, but I am so excited to be part of this world!

Tanglewood & Norman

Before I left, my family took a day-trip into Massachussetts.

We went here:

to see this man's:

work:

and we went here:

to hear this man:

and this orchestra:

play this:

(Mozart)

(Mendelssohn)

Favorite moment?  My eighteen year old brother claiming that he listened to way more classical music than anyone else in the house.  Um... what?!

Bridal Shower for a Best Friend

This (look up) is one of my best friends in the entire world.  Also known as Rachel.  Rachel got engaged to a boy named John this past summer.  So, our friend Sarah and I threw her a surprise bridal shower to celebrate.

We decided to theme it "Period Romance."  We didn't go over the top with that or anything, but I incorporated it wherever I could... like the invitation, for instance.  I found this website called Paperless Post that has really cute themes with envelopes that you can open online:

The actual party had lots of food (DUH. Would you expect anything less from me?).  Please notice the cute little flower cupcakes my mom and I made and frosted by hand.  (Tutorial here.)  Click on any of the pictures to see them larger.

You're drooling now, huh?  Okay, maybe that's me with saliva on the keyboard.  But I was there and the food was DELICIOUS!!  Our lovely and talented host, Leslie, made those delectable looking chicken salad puffs and cream puffs.  Sigh....  Everything was bite sized and scrumdiddlyumptious.

My hometown's historical society let me borrow this giant tea service (who else would have 30 cups/plates etc. of a matching set?  Not Mormons, that's for sure :P)

(Quick plug-in for the society:) One of my favorite individuals, Donnie, runs the society with his wife.  They put on awesome events like a historical ball, May Day tea, and Shakespeare readings in the barn.  Go history!

Now back to the bridal shower:

SURPRISE!!!

Rachel thought it was actually a birthday party for her mom.  (Thus the giant present in the picture before this one.)  Boy, did she get that wrong :P

We had tons of friends and family there to celebrate.

We played this fun game just before John left where they each had one of each of their shoes.  (Make sense?  I tried to simplify that...)  A question would be read, like "Who uses the most movie quotes in everyday conversation?" and they, not seeing each other, would each raise the shoe of who they thought did that.  It's quite funny and it was a really good, quick way to get to know them as a couple.  They are very sweet :)

In keeping with our theme, we decided to make a scrapbook (period romances happened in the PAST) of pictures, memories, and Jane Austen quotes for Rachel.  I WISH I had thought to take a picture of the finished product, but... I didn't.  Sad day.  We all created a beautiful, unique album for Rachel that she can treasure and remember her roots and this day with.

Present time!

We definitely made the bride-to-be blush, as is our duty.

Friends.

Love.

Rachel and John get married in October, so expect to see some of their wedding pictures from me (I AM a bridesmaid, after all)!

(Touches unseen: fresh flowers, a complete collection of Jane Austen, and doilies doilies doilies.)