WHAT HAPPENED?

WED NOV. 15 | 2012

A month without blogging? What happened to you Melissa?
Well, life happened and it surely does not slow down for any one.  There have been lots of changes professionally, personally and generally. From your best friends getting married to landing a full-time job, post graduate life isn't so bad, right? First and foremost, here are some quick updates to cushion my apology for being such a lame and uninteresting blogger >>

THE JOB(S)
About a month and a half ago I started working for a mortgage banking company as a Loan Processor. Like any full-time position, there are dull moments, moments when I want to pull my hair out, moments when I feel really secure and moments when I feel like I don't know what the heck I am doing! More so on the latter. It has absolutely nothing to do what I initially wanted to do professionally, but has created some wonderful opportunities for me. It is definitely a challenge, but who doesn't love those?

Even though I help process loans in the day, by night/weekends, I am a graphic designer & content developer part time! In college I interned with a wonderful business, Yoga G33k Health Promotions (YGHP), founded by Courtney Pearce, and in September she officially hired me. THIS my friends, is my absolute dream job. I get to work with the most inspiring, creative and down-to-earth person I have ever met and express myself creatively through my work. It may be just part-time right now, but my heart is in it one hundred percent. We have some big plans in the works and I can't wait to share it with the world soon enough!

ETC, ETC
Other than work, I have taken a few small road trips, become a god mother, spent some time with family/friends and started creating my post-graduate life. Moving back to Raleigh was never in the plan, but that's the funny thing about life, plans change. At first I was really bummed out I was back in the town I called home through most of my life, but Raleigh is quite a different city in your twenties. I plan to explore more of this city and find all its hidden gems! It's not where you are, it's who you're with ;)

I have some great posts in the works, but if I suck at blogging, feel free to follow me via Twitter & Instagram! I am trying to stay connected to the blogging world but forgive me if I start to slack again. I need to start finding that "extra hour" as my blog advocates.

*Photo (c) Melissa Vega
Taken in Washington D.C. during a weekend trip for my Dad's marathon.

BACK FROM VACATION

June 7, 2012

I can't believe it has been a little over a month since I last blogged. My sincerest apologies! Between the last month of my undergrad, graduation, New York City and Thailand, I just couldn't keep up with what life was handing to me. No worries though, I have every intention of sharing my photos and experiences of my last month...just spare me some patience and I'll get right to it :)

In a nutshell, I just came back from my two week excursion to Thailand! We went all over including Bangkok, Chiang Mai and Cha Am. I met some of the most incredible people and I can't wait to share all the details soon.

Just hold on tight and the blogging world of the 25th Hour will be back shortly.
Right after I recover from some major jet lag.

*Photo was taken at Cha Am Beach, Thailand last week.

I'M ALIVE. I PROMISE.

Say hello to Alexis!
She is probably the cutest little nine year old...ever. I had the pleasure of taking her pictures along with her older brother Jalen (equally as cute) a few weeks ago. That's what I've been doing during my blog hiatus... lots of photo taking along with a lot of other things. College has seriously worn me out. I still just have a few more weeks left. Come on Melissa, you can do this. It is absolute crunch time but all I want to go is start my life, after college.

I just wanted to check in with you all and say that I miss you dearly. Here's a little preview of the photo shoot we had and just to let you know, I have loads more to share that I absolutely can't wait to! The focus on the blog will be shifting a little bit, if you couldn't tell by the changes.

AND LOOK!
I'm so fancy and got my OWN domain name! It's like I'm officially an adult.
www.the-25thhour.com

If we have swapped buttons or you have a link to my blog on your site, kindly switch over to the new name :) I will make buttons soon, but not sure if I'll be doing the button swap thing...at least not right now. The 25th hour is still a work in progress, but I promise I will be back soon.

Sending you lots of love, patience, good health and incredible joy.

COFFEE & COOKIES

A combination you just can't beat!

I love those lemon girl scout cookies. My favorite used to be tagalongs, oh excuse me, "peanut butter patties", but now they're just too sweet. Or am I just getting old? Is there such thing as too sweet? By the way, does anyone know the story behind the name change? Is it a regional thing? (I think that's what I heard)

Well in other news -

+ I have officially jumped on the Hunger Games bandwagon! *applause* *applause* *whoo-hoos* I know, I know, finally right? I've forgotten what's it like to read for fun and get lost in another world. Absolutely brilliant. It's pretty crazy the parallels I've made between District 12 and actual coal company towns in the Appalachia (I'm taking a Sociology course about Appalachian Communities). I sound like such a nerd!

+ I would like to personally thank Spring Break for the ten pounds I gained and I'm not even exaggerating. Oh God, let's hope I'm exaggerating. I can't help but love my mom's Filipino cooking and frozen yogurt dates with my younger sister. Oh, right, and I definitely opened up the Tolberone chocolate in the pantry. Oops. I did take a Zumba class this week! Cancels at least the frozen yogurt...right?

+ I also will be going to Washington DC this weekend to watch my Daddy run a marathon! He is trying to run a marathon in every state...and then in every continent. I wonder where I get my ambition from? ;) I finally get to watch him run one! I've lost track of how many he's ran, but let's just say he's planning to run one in Beijing in May! Very proud daughter over here.

I hope everyone has a lovely weekend up ahead! Mid March already??
SLOW DOWN WORLD.
Well, actually, wait until I graduate in May and then you can slow down again.

Life right now >>>

via

College life!
I am 2/5 done with my last week of final exams & presentations.
I'll be back soon, with a bang.
I promise.

To my fellow college friends, good luck.
To the rest of the world have a wonderful week!

Quickie from the traveler

(c) Melissa Vega
Taken in 2009 Detroit Airport to my connecting flight to the Philippines.

Greetings from the Philippines!

Just wanted to send some love from across the world and give you all a few updates so that you feel like I haven't completely fallen off the face of the Earth!

So far I got to spend some time in the little town of Concord, NH and then past several days in Manila. Filled up my days with quality family time, good-plate-licking authentic Filipino food, shopping (of course), TRAFFIC, pollution and pictures. Silly me forgot my camera cord, so all the photos from my trip will have to be postponed 'til I get back! Then I will flood your eyes with visual aid of my vacation.

I hope everyone is having a wonderful summer thus far.
It'll be the first week of school the day I get back (time is FLY-ing!)
I will be in route to Tacloban and Bato, Leyte. Small provinces of the Philippines. We'll be taking an early one-hour flight to the islands. It's the province, therefore, my time on the internet is much more limited than it already has been, but I'm hoping to have some peace and quiet to actually study for the GRE and re-lax a little :] Manila gets a little hectic and crowded. Also, my Dad is donating twenty-some laptops to elementary schools in the province (reason for our trip) in honor of my grandmother. So, we'll be busy with that and of course the annual Lunang Festival!

As for the blog -
I am currently in the process of some "reconstruction" so please don't mind some unfinished projects on the layout, etc. I am in the process of working on -
> buttons
> sharing links with other bloggers
> traveling section of the blog
> minor reconstructive designs
Oh, and I changed the name to simply, melissa ashley.. What do you think?

See you all later and safe travels to all

Preview of my Quote Book

      A few years ago, some of my good friends bought me that "Life isn't about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself" book pictured to the left. Ever since they bought me it, I have created it into my official "quote book." A little place to find some inspiration or to inspire others. I have been currently working on it every now and then updating it with quotes, poems or any other such nonsense that I found appropriate.
         On my bucket list, one of my goals is to finish my first quote book. Who knows, I'll hopefully continue to make them, but let me finish one first :) Anyway, I'm about 75% done. This has been one of my favorite ongoing projects. I like some pages more than others, and some I just want to rip out forever! But that's the fun of it all I guess. To the right is a little preview of my quote book. Every now and then I'll post more pages and quotes. This isn't one of my favorite pages, but for some reason I scanned it on computer a couple years ago and I'm too lazy to scan another page...so you all get this page. If no one caught the reference, it's from "Perks of Being a Wallflower." On the right page, it got cut off but it was the beginning of one my favorite Andy Warhol quotes, "I think everybody should like everybody." I'll be sure to continually scan some more quotes from the book that I think all of you should enjoy.
        In other parts of my life, I have of course stayed pretty busy. I currently am helping my friends start a band. Well, they already created the band, but I've been dubbed as "Band Manager" which entails a lot of work and responsibility, but I have thoroughly been enjoying it. It's definitely a new kind of industry I am not used to, but I am ready to challenge myself. We are truly working hard to make this as successful as possible and I am in with all hands and feet. When we get more settled with recordings, our website and social media, don't worry, you'll get a blog post about it :) For now, just look out for us! We're coming and we're going to change the industry. I get to live my "dream" of being in a band, by just being their manager ;)

Ps. I am planning on updating the banner soon and add more aesthetically pleasing things to the blog soon.

If you all have some favorite quotes, let me know! I would gladly love to add them to my collection!

OBSESSED 003: TOM'S EYEWEAR

Yes!
Tom's shoes have expanded into eyewear, with of course, the One for One Movement in mind.
Now a new pair of shades can give sight. Literally.
For less than a pair of designer shades.

Check it out at: http://www.toms.com/eyewear/

If i wasn't trying to visit every crevass in the world right now, I would buy a pair.
It is definitely on the list.
If you have some money saved up and you were thinking about those RayBans...
forget about it! Buy Toms!

As for my personal update: My internships are really well. I can't stress how blessed I feel for these opportunities. The past few days have been nothing short of wonderful. Got to see one of my favorite bands (Mumford & Sons) with a handful of my favorite people. I will definitely update and expand on that later when I don't have 46,754 things to do on my to-do list. Oops. That's what happens when I disappear from the work place for two days.

Things are good.
And they just keep getting better.

With bangs and a bow

bows, bows, bows.
What can I say? I'm obsessed!
I've recently bought this lavender bow from Benny Peacock on Etsy. Considering I've recently decided to quit my part-time job to focus on my internships, I need to step away from the paypal account linked to etsy...seriously. I had good intentions for this bow though. Hopefully (if it goes well with my outfit), I will wear it for my Aunt's wedding coming up in a couple of weeks!

Aside from bows, things have been going really well!
My internships have been such a great experience thus far. Just on the first day I was able to write two press releases for the Summer Dance Series and Appalachian's Actors Series. (I've linked the stories!) They are short, simple press releases but I can't believe they've been published on the web! Other than that, I've been able to work with everyone in the department shadowing photo shoots, editing/proofing, writing and doing what public relations people do. I'm excited for the weeks to come! I recently went home for a couple days and nothing can explain the feeling of being home. There is just so much love.

Since I won't be waiting tables anymore (at least this summer) I need to find some creative ways of saving money in order for all these plans for the upcoming year can happen! Any ideas? I'll just eat ramen...but that still doesn't leave enough money for my plans! I'm not too worried. What's the point of making money when you can't even spend it?

I have much to look forward to this summer, and hopefully I can do it all within a budget!
COUNTDOWN!

7 days til Mumford and Sons (and Asheville)
17 days til my Aunt's wedding
20 days til my roadtrip to FL with my cousin (this includes Harry Potter world and adventures!)
37 days til MusicFest 'N Sugar Grove music festival
43 days til Harry Potter!
69 days til the Philippines
93 days til my 21st birthday

Hopefully in between those days I can get my life back to being organized and leave time for the things that I love doing - friends, family, travel, art and some r&r.

I vow to not take this long for another blog post.

Oh, did I mention I cut my bangs?

SUPER UPDATE

Because my old habits of procrastinating have been revamped through this blog, I owe it to myself & to my ..."readers" (I say this, because really...who needs this blog?), or I should say, my imaginary audience, for an extreme update of my, trying-to-be-interesting-life.

Anyway -
Last Thursday I was reunited with my TRUE home - Raleigh! Boone is truly where my life is currently - my responsibilities, job, studies and my room, but Raleigh is always so refreshing when I visit. I was able to spend some quality time with my globe trotting best friends. My friend Renee, a fellow blogger, and I visited and spent a few hours (& I am not exaggerating) at one of our favorite restaurants in Raleigh - Lemongrass. Apparently, they have been there for eight years, but we've only discovered them a couple years ago thanks to a coupon. Who doesn't love a locally owned Asian cuisine restaurant? Great conversation. Great food. Great company.

I also treated my mom & younger sister out for a belated Mother's Day dinner at her favorite restaurant - PF Changs. Basically, I worked on Mother's Day in order to pay for our meal haha. If you haven't heard of PF Changs, it is a Chinese bistro chain restaurant that has one of the best lettuce wraps I have ever had, among other things. Here's some snapshots!

Other than that, I got to spend some quality best friend moments with everyone back home, which was very much needed. Many of the people that I love the most in my life I was finally reunited with & it felt great. I miss everyone already. Everything just makes senses when I'm home. But alas, Boone is another home away from Boone that I feel bittersweet to back reunited with.


Some Boone moments from last week include:

- Celebrating one my roommate's 21st birthday! This included dining at Cha Da Thai - local Boone Thai cuisine (Yes, a lot of Asian food last week...haha), a night full of laughter and my other roommate & I even made her breakfast in bed! Yummy blueberry pancakes with fresh strawberries + blueberries.

My beautiful roommates & I with our GREEN backyard!

Along with celebrating her birthday, we had to visit beansTalk because we found out they are closing down their Boone location and moving to Concord, NC. SAD, SAD DAY. BeansTalk to my friends and I is such a landmark for Boone, it's weird to think about Boone without it. It encompasses our past few years in college and it'll be hard to see it go :( It's rumored to having disputes with their landlord and unable to stay at their current location. So, here's a little tribute to beansTalk! Their officially closing day is this Saturday, May 21. So, if you're in Boone, support them and enjoy their last day here.

AND WHAT'S THIS? ZOMBIES IN BOONE?!?!

 

It's true! There are officially zombies in Boone. Keep your brains and organs safe!

Now that I'm back in Boone, I must prepare myself for all these summer plans! 

- My internship officially starts this upcoming Monday. Where did May go?

- I need to start more things for the MusicFest 'N Sugar Grove

- Start my account on MINT to organize my finances (Thanks Renee!)

- Find a hair piece for my Aunt's wedding in June! (Which I am also the asst. wedding coordinator for)

- Some minor grocery shopping

- FIND MY APRON, I work in .... 2 hours.

& continue cleaning out my room.

Oh, and write a lovely hand-written letter to my one of my good friends :)

We've kept up this tradition for a few years now! Yay!

Because I didn't do music video Monday, here's some links to FREE music that I've been enjoying the past week. Thank you Amazon!

1,000 Ships - Rachel Platten

Love You Strongly - Amy Stroup

Enjoy!

Told you it was a super update.

Music[video] Monday 002 + Update

This week the music video I chose is Sufjan Steven's "For the Widows in Paradise, For the Fatherless in Ypsilanti"
Sufjan is one of my favorite artists & I'm still getting to know his music.
This music video is the acoustic version of his song, but if are not aware of Sufjan Stevens, I promise you'll fall in love with him as much as I did.
This is one song I could listen to over and over and over and over again.
Especially, on vinyl.

UPDATE:

So in the past couple weeks, my life has gotten exponentially busy...in a very resume building, putting money in my savings account, planning naps throughout the day kind of busy. After getting my acceptance for an internship at Appalachian State's University Department of Communications with one of my favorite professors, I was also offered a position as a press intern for Musicfest 'N Sugar Grove. Along with helping with distributing the press releases and making contacts, I am responsible for their social media, including their Twitter account, Facebook, etc. My manager at Primo's also asked me to admin their facebook page, along with my doubled shifts this week (thank you Graduation and Mother's Day) Hahaha One of my other professors also asked me to help facilitate a focus group in May for a few days! So exciting things are happening but my summer will be busy, busy, busy.

Spring semester officially ends this Wednesday!
I just have to get through a week of working and then it's off to Raleigh I go.
To enjoy a little break before I go hard core on these public relations opportunities.
I'm excited to see my friends from their study abroad programs, celebrate their arrival, internships and life! Family and friends are what I need the most & I look forward to being in the same city as them for once!

I'll explain more about Musicfest 'N Sugar Grove in another blog, but for now, you should follow us on Twitter and Facebook!