I’m no longer unemployed: a post by Chelsea 2

After almost giving up all hope, I’m pretty positive I’ve found the best fit job for me.

As many of you know, I graduated from Purdue in December with a Bachelor of Arts in Public Relations and Strategic Communication. I was pretty nervous to move to the middle of nowhere and attempt to find a job doing what I love — being a strategic communicator and helping others do the same! I interviewed in St. Louis, but the distance for both of the Chelsea’s, to and from work, would not be feasible. 

After a lot of prayer, discussions with one another, and a new open mind, we decided we would stay put in the smallish town where we are. Like I told Chels and my mom, I felt like it was one of those moments in my life where God was talking to me, letting things fall into place, and directing me to stay here. 

I’m blessed I listened because within the next week, a friend I met at Crossfit (who is in the marketing business in town) directed me to a potential job opportunity at a local advertising/marketing/PR firm. After reading what they were looking for, I was convinced I was the perfect person and could definitely excel. I interviewed with the owner and [now] my boss, then went into the office to talk with another employee who is a large piece of the business. 

To be honest with you, I’ve had serious anxiety about the outcome all week. I kept waiting for that phone call. I was preparing what I would say in response to a rejection. I was preparing myself to keep on this lonely road of nowhere job searching. BUT. Last night, Chels and I were getting ready to go to meet all of the General Mills people for Thursday night dinner club when I got a phone call. I was so nervous and he kept talking and talking and asking questions when he finally said, “with that being said, we would love to bring you on board.” 

Welcome to Reed Promotional Media (RPM)

And I swear I could hear angels singing. I’m so excited to finally start my life! 

Considering what I will be doing — basically everything! My “official” title is Account and Interactive Marketing Coordinator. I’ll be doing some administration tasks, client account managing, PR, and I’ll be developing the social media department from the ground up. Pretty exciting stuff — and it’s all right up my alley. I cannot explain how blessed I feel and how excited I am to finally utilize my talents and dive into my passion. 

Today, I will be going in to start shadowing and learning everything I need to know! Next week, I’m hitting the ground running. 

I want to say a sincere thank you to everyone who has been praying for me these last couple months. Thank you, thank you, thank you for your support and generosity. 

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.“ — Jeremiah 29:11

Welcome to our new home!

We fell in love with this place!

As many of you know, we just found an awesome new apartment! It’s in part of an old house in town. We fell in love with it the moment we saw it. This week, we’ll be moving all of our small stuff, then this weekend, we’ll get a U-Haul (yes, I’ve always wanted to U-Haul, look it up if you don’t know the joke) and move all of the large furniture. We plan to be sleeping in our new place on Saturday! We have lots of room for fun, activities, and visiting so we hope all of our friends and family can visit us in our new place! Here’s the tour…

Entry way/half bath/laundry room

Beautiful kitchen

Living room/main hallway

Guest room/office

Our room

Bathroom

Sunroom/game room/workout room

More living room Misc. pictures of us loving it! 

Thanks for taking the tour!

We hope all of you will have a chance to come see it!

Super Bowl: An American Holiday

This post might be a little different from the Super Bowl post one would expect. This is an analysis of how society and media portrays the Super Bowl and why this could be an issue. This is a call to action and challenge to think about issues beyond the big game this weekend. Don’t get us wrong, please enjoy the game. This is just a post of opinion and critical analysis surrounding an American tradition. 

The importance of Super Bowl Sunday

As Americans, we place such value on Super Bowl Sunday. People spend weeks preparing for the big event. We make special food, plan parties, and wait in anticipation for one football game to commence. Churches cancel Sunday night services, Sunday night family meals are rescheduled, and some employers even close work on the Monday after Super Bowl.

Lets think about this

All of this for a football game?

This truly shows how much value we, as Americans, and our society places on football, but not only football, but athletics as a whole. We take one football game and declare this a “holiday” for the entire country. For weeks ahead of the big event, news and media is overflowing with information about the Super Bowl. From what to eat during the event to scandals such as “Inflategate” we are bombarded with information, whether we want to learn about it or not.

To be honest, there are so many more important things the news could be discussing. Maybe foreign affair crises going on overseas? Maybe the anniversary of the tragedy of the Holocaust? Maybe the increase in terrorism in this world?

Agenda Setting Theory

In 1972, communication/political scholars McCombs and Shaw, introduced the agenda setting theory. This theory suggests whatever the news views as important, the public views as important. In other words, media chooses what to report on. Every day, we watch the news and hear about issues within our world. As viewers, we view these issues as important because they must be important if the news is reporting on them, right?

Maybe not.

Media reflects what they want to. They filter information and mold it into whatever they deem necessary.

*click on “agenda” to view official research article*

Here’s the issue

Today, being the beginning of “Super Bowl Weekend,” the news is full of reports about the Super Bowl. But, we challenge you to consider the other events happening around our country and world today. Should football really be the focus of our attention as a society? Capitalism has truly impacted the importance of issues on our society.

We challenge you to enjoy the game, but never lose sight of what’s beyond the final score, the commercials, the tailgate.

Taste the rainbow

Last night, we ate a rainbow salad

• kale (green)
• red cabbage (purple)
• broccoli (green)
• red peppers (red)
• cucumbers (green)
• carrots (orange)
• dressing: mix of olive oil, honey, lemon, ginger, and cayenne pepper

We don’t usually eat vegetarian meals

but it’s really great to incorporate all colors into your diet and this salad was a great way to do that.

Color benefits according to the CDC

Red: Increase heart and circulatory health, improve memory, support urinary tract health, and decrease the risk of certain types of cancers.

Orange: High in antioxidants such as vitamin C, carotenoids, and bioflavonoids. Linked to skin and eye health, increased immunity, decreased risk of cancer, and a healthy heart.

Green: Lower risk of some cancers, improved eye health, rejuvenated musculature and bone, and strong teeth.

Purple: Promote bone health, and have been shown to lower the risk of some cancers, improve memory, and increase urinary-tract health. The main benefit of blue and purple foods is increased circulation and microcirculation.

If you’re more of a carnivore like us, you can add a protein source to the salad as well. Incorporating a lean meat would work perfectly. Or if you’re a vegetarian, add some legumes or hard boiled eggs!

Befriending your juicer

Here’s the deal

We bought a juicer last summer after watching the popular Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead documentary on Netflix. To be honest, we’d been wanting to try juicing long before we watched the show, but after watching, it definitely solidified our choice to invest in a juicer. There are many brands and models on the market now, but we have probably the second highest quality juicer from the Breville brand. We decided to purchase the Breville juicer not only because this is the juicer used in the documentary, but mostly because it was on sale at Bed Bath and Beyond and we got a free copy of the documentary on DVD with it!

Why do we like to juice?

Well, after a long, excited, fun filled weekend (like we had this past weekend), sometimes it’s nice and refreshing to detox after one too many treat meals or beverages. Juicing allows you to add multiple nutritious vegetable and fruit sources into a tasty drink without any added unnecessary fillers, sweeteners, or artificial ingredients.

Our favorite juice blend

Our favorite juice blend to mix up consists of:

• 1 lemon (or inch piece of ginger)
• 1 cucumber
• 2 stalks of celery (or more if you’re more of a fan than we are)
• a handful or 2 of spinach
• 4-5 stalks of kale (depending on the size of your bunch)
• 1 granny smith apple

We love this blend because it’s filled with detoxifying and vitamin-packed ingredients.

Basically, shove all of your ingredients into the juicer and it will separate the fibers and produce the juice into the container that comes with your juicer. All of the ingredients above will only make about barely one of these containers, but by adding more of each of the ingredients, you can produce more juice. We recommend storing your juice in the refrigerator for a while after you make your juice so it will be chilled when you drink it. We usually make juice in bulk and store it in a pitcher to drink as we please!

Juicing benefits

(From Reboot with Joe – from Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead)

 “Making fresh juice a part of a well-balanced, plant-based diet is an important tool for achieving good health.

Juicing offers many life-enhancing health benefits including a faster, more efficient way to absorb immune boosting nutrients naturally found in fruits and vegetables.  It provides a way to access digestive enzymes typically locked away in the fiber matrix of whole fruits and vegetables.  Most commercial juices are processed and lacking in nutrition while freshly juiced fruits and vegetables are loaded with an abundance of vitamins, minerals and phytonutrients.

Drinking fresh juice can help us adopt healthier eating patterns.  For those of us who do not traditionally consume many fruits and vegetables, incorporating fresh juice can be a fun and different approach to increasing consumption of these important plant foods for improved health and wellness and reaching your weight loss goals.

How does it work? Juicing removes the insoluble fiber from vegetables and fruits. While fiber is an established, important part of an overall healthy diet, removing the insoluble fiber allows for increased absorption of specific health promoting phytonutrients including enzymes, while the soluble fiber persists into the juice.  By removing the fibers and consuming fruits and vegetables in liquid form, we are providing a nutrient delivery system to our bodies that allows individuals who would otherwise have difficulty consuming whole vegetables, the opportunity to reap the numerous benefits vegetables have to offer.”

We’re not health experts and we definitely do not have degrees in nutrition, but we do believe in consuming wholesome foods to nourish our bodies to be the best we can be. This is not a professional opinion. 

California Inspired Baja Fish Tacos

 The story

Last summer, we traveled to San Diego for my cousin’s wedding. During the trip, we hit up the Mission Beach/La Jolla area. We were walking up and down the shoreline and noticed this awesome fish taco shack on the corner of the street. We were hungry for a snack, so we decided to check it out. It ended up being one of the best decisions ever because we discovered the joy of California Baja fish tacos! They were so fresh and unique! Ever since that trip, we decided to attempt to bring the Pacific flavors to us by trying out our own taco recipe. After multiple attempts at the perfect recipe, we think we found the method that’s the closest to what we found in Cali.

What you’re going to need

Yield: 4 servings of 3 tacos each

For the fish:
1 lb Tilapia, or other white, mild fish
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 tsp cajun seasoning
cracked black pepper, to taste
half of a lemon

For the toppings:
half of a small head of cabbage
2-3 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
1 tsp sugar
3 roma tomatoes
1 medium onion
4 cloves of garlic
half of a green bell pepper
1 jalapeño
2 limes
2 avocados
a handful of fresh cilantro
12 corn tortillas

For the sauce:
3 Tbsp mayonaise
cracked black pepper, to taste
a squeeze of the lime

What you’re going to do

First, prepare cabbage slaw by thinly slicing the half a head of cabbage into small strips. Combine the apple cider vinegar and sugar, pour over cabbage and gently toss to coat. Leave this to marinade in the fridge until taco assembly time.

Next, drizzle fish with olive oil and sprinkle with cajun seasoning, black pepper, and squeeze the lemon over top. Allow fish to marinate for about 20 minutes. Meanwhile, prep the pico de gallo and guacamole.

Dice roma tomatoes, onion, bell pepper, and jalapeño. Mince garlic and lightly chop cilantro. For the pico, combine the tomatoes, half of the diced onion, the bell pepper, half of the jalapeño, half of the garlic, and half of the cilantro. Squeeze half of a lime over top and season with salt and pepper, to taste.

For the guac, cut and de-pit the avocados. Reserve one pit to keep guacamole from turning brown. Spoon the avocado meat into a bowl, mash it, and combine with remaining onion, garlic, jalapeño, and cilantro. Give a squeeze of lime over top and add salt and pepper, to taste.

To cook the fish, heat a pan over medium heat, add a little olive oil. Once the pan is hot, toss filets into the pan and cook 2-3 minutes on each side until you can flake the fish with a fork.

Heat corn tortillas in the oven or in a pan until warm while the fish is cooking.

Taco assembly time: lay out tortillas, spread a thin strip of taco sauce in the center of the tortilla. Cut a strip of fish to lay in the center of the taco. Top fish with a small handful of cabbage slaw. Add a spoon of pico and a couple dollops of guac to the top. Finish off with a squeeze of lime and enjoy. Wala!