Jenny's blog: July 2009 Archives

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July 30, 2009

I'm not ready!

What?? Only a day and a half left?? Nooooo I'm not ready to go home yet!

There are places to go, sights to see, shopping to do! There are brunches to eat! There is more running to be done (because I was supposed to do it this summer). I'm running out of time :(

Atleast I'm going out with a bang, though. Last night I got to stay at Le Parker Meridian because Joy's flight from LA got cancelled. What a beautiful hotel! It has phenomenal views of Central Park out of the room windows (or atleast from the 39th floor) and everything about it is the perfect tongue-in-cheek combination of France and New York. I wish I could have stayed there the whole summer haha!

This morning, after waking up so refreshed and taking the best shower ever (perhaps I'm being dramatic, but it's leaps and bounds better than the dorm room shower), I left early for work and took a pit stop at the Today show! It was like my favorite mornings at home: coffee and Matt Lauer (except it's coffee from Dean & Deluca and Matt Lauer was right in front of me!) I probably didn't get on TV since I didn't get an enthusiastic email from Dad, but it's ok. My minute in the spotlight could come tonight...

...at the Julie & Julia red carpet screening in NY! I get to help escort the CEO of Le Cordon Bleu, Mr. Andre Cointreau (yes, that kind of Cointreau), down the red carpet and help grab celebrities to take photos with him. We're helping with the PR for Le Cordon Bleu. We all know I'm totally more excited about seeing Food Network stars (fingers crossed!) than movie stars, but I would love to see Meryl Streep (aka Mary's Mom). Time to get gussied up one last time before heading back to Livonia...oh, what a change it will be...

Posted by jenmmart at 10:19 AM | Comments (0)

July 13, 2009

More pictures

St. Patrick's Cathedral

Proof!

The Apple Store

Inside the Apple store/underground

Central Park

Boathouse Restaurant at Central Park

Our turtle friend!

The three-story ferris wheel inside Toys R Us

Posted by jenmmart at 07:34 PM | Comments (0)

July 12, 2009

Strat 425 Entry 2

I wrote this a few days ago and forgot to post it...it's my second journal entry for my Strategy class...

At a PR firm, networking isn’t just a good business-person practice; it’s an essential part of the job. My supervisor has a list of media contacts to which she wants to reach out and get to know. Having a personal relationship with an Editor at Town & Country magazine, for example, puts our company and our clients at the top-of-mind for upcoming stories that are applicable. It also makes the Editor’s job easier to have a go-to PR firm for stories and information. Through my summer internship, I’ve found that expanding and utilizing your network benefits both parties. This has become particularly clear during my experience at my sorority’s summer convention (it’s connected, trust me).

To begin with, the way I found my internship in the first place was through creative networking. I searched for alumnae from my sorority who worked in the New York area (my geographical target for the summer) at a Marketing/PR firm. My boss fit the criteria and I emailed her asking to talk about her company and what she does there, not realizing she was the founder and the director. Part of the reason she offered me an internship without PR experience was because we had something in common and she thought my tactics were ambitious and resourceful.

When I went to the biannual convention for my sorority, many collegiate and alumnae attendees naturally asked what I was doing this summer. Everyone was impressed and excited that the sorority network worked out so well for me. I told my story to a woman who works for headquarters and she took down the names and email addresses of both me and my boss to get more information about our story and the company. The best part is that my boss is currently working to expand our company and trying to get publicity for ourselves as a reputable PR firm, instead of only focusing on publicity for our clients. By sharing my story, as well as telling how she’s helped other alumnae, we will get the name of our small company out to thousands of people connected to our sorority, as well as their circles and networks. So by networking through my sorority to get an internship, I’ve also managed to find a new outlet to get publicity for my company.

Posted by jenmmart at 10:48 PM | Comments (0)

What a great weekend

Truly, it was amazing! I went shopping Saturday morning and found some great accessories, then went to Grand Central to meet up with Liz. We had another day filled with walking around (about 9 miles again!) and taking in some sights. We went to Rockefeller Center, the Apple store, Central Park, and FAO Schwartz. At the end of the day, we met up with Jillyn for dinner and margaritas :)

Today I went down to Times Square in the morning and tried to get a lottery ticket to Avenue Q's 2 pm show. I didn't get one, so I walked around Times Square for a little then went to Bryant Park and read for a few hours. I went back to try again for the 7 pm show of Avenue Q, and even though I didn't win a first row ticket, I still got to go because they had a great deal on tickets for that night ($31.50!). My seat was the second row of the balcony, but the balcony was SUPER close to the front of the theater (which had no orchestra in front of the stage and that helped). So my view was absolutely AMAZING and so was the show!! I have a picture of the stage on my phone that hopefully I'll be able to put up soon.

I'm so exhausted from this weekend but I really enjoyed it. I'll probably go to bed soon because I have work bright and early tomorrow...and I want to try to get there early and leave early so I can get to the ticket office to buy broadway tickets for when mom and dad get here. Yay for three broadway shows in two months!!

Posted by jenmmart at 10:39 PM | Comments (0)

July 10, 2009

Dropping Hints...

At two different points today, Nicole and Andrea have mentioned the idea of "when I come back" after graduation. I have to admit, I love hearing that from them! Not that it's a straight-up full-time offer, but it's good to know that they're thinking about it. My "mid-point" review is going to be next week (not really mid-point because I'll only have 2 1/2 weeks left) and I'm looking forward to hearing their feedback so far. Since the company is still growing and maturing, I'm not even sure they'd be at a point to make full-time offers 9 months in advance. But I guess I can see myself coming back here for a few years... :) [[don't get mad yet, Mom and Dad!]]

Back to work!

Posted by jenmmart at 03:17 PM | Comments (0)

July 05, 2009

Fourth of July Weekend (with Liz!!)

Ahh this has been such a great weekend! Liz came out on Friday afternoon from Connecticut to visit and she just went home - I had a great time hanging out with her and showing her around New York as much as possible.

On Friday, I picked her up from Grand Central and after we dropped her stuff off and grabbed lunch by my dorm, we walked alllll over the place! We went down to the new High Line, which is a park on the lower west side that used to be an elevated railroad track. Now it's a mix between railroad and park, which looks really cool. It has great views of the Hudson and it goes right under the Standard hotel. Then we walked around and found Chelsea Market, which has awesome food stores and is where the Food Network Offices are!!! I asked a security guard about them and he said you need an appointment and that nobody was in on Friday. Sad. Then I took Liz down to Chelsea Piers and we walked around, saw the huge driving range on the water, and sat at the Pier. When Jillyn was free, we met up with her for a drink on Fifth Ave, then went to dinner with Jeff and Adriana, who was in town to see her Dad. We went to John's Pizza on Bleeker St., which had amazingggg pizza. After dinner, we got dessert from the dessert truck, walked Adriana back to her subway, then took Liz to see Times Square at night. We came back so late and had been walking since about noon! Of course I checked - it was about 9 miles of walking!

Saturday, the 4th of July, we woke up late and met Jillyn for Brunch at Essex. It was a delicious brunch, not to mention the endless Mimosas (it was supposed to be three but it was slow so they just kept filing them up). Then Jillyn showed Liz Public, the restaurant she works at, and we went back to Jillyn's apartment to relax on the roof. Liz and I decided to try getting close to the fireworks on the Hudson so we walked West...it was crazyyy busy and we couldn't get any closer than 10th ave. But we ended up meeting Jeff and watched from the street, which was still a pretty good view of three of the four fireworks barges.

Finally, today we woke up late again, had brunch with Jillyn at the Grey Dog Cafe, then went shopping up Fifth Avenue (and by shopping, I mean I watched them shop haha). And then I took Liz home :(

Besides spending far too much, it was a great weekend! The three days was just enough time, I suppose I'm ready to go back to work tomorrow...

More Pictures:

You can kind of see the elevated high line here

A better view; the mix of railroad tracks and park

The Standard hotel as it rises above the park

Seating at the High Line Park

FOOD NETWORK! LOVE YOU!

The four-tier driving range at Chelsea Piers

Posted by jenmmart at 06:03 PM | Comments (0)

Pi Phi Convention

Last weekend I went to Pi Phi Convention in Texas outside of Dallas. It was amazing to see SO many pi phis from every generation. There were over 130 chapters represented and tons of alumnae came. Being there with so many people who clearly love and appreciate pi phi renewed my feelings for it. Our sorority is more than the parties, the greek activities, and the drama; it's a network of amazing women who do great things and live the same values. I got to talk with a lot of girls from our Region, from Michigan, and from all over who are fabulous and hopefully we'll keep in touch. Also, I met Sis Mullins, who was attending her 25th (I think) convention...she's been coming every year since she was President of her chapter. She's such an inspiration and is just so full of love for life. Convention made me realize that Pi Phi for Life isn't just programming that we do, but the best way to keep pi phi an important part of your life forever. Convention made me really want to stay involved with pi phi after graduation! Convention 2011 at Disney World, here I come!!

Here are some choice pictures:

The river in the atrium of the Gaylord Resort...SO beautiful!