Sweet Treats!

Almost everyone loves a good cupcake. What could be more deliciously perfect than a delightful little moist cake, decorated in a swoop of sweet frosting? Cupcakes aren't just a fun treat to eat, they are even more fun to make! Over the years, through the inspiration of my mother, the baking extraordinaire, my interest in baking just continues to sky rocket. 

There is something so entertaining about picking a challenging recipe, something you've always loved to eat but never quite thought you could successfully make- and step by step creating a delicious piece of art!  To me, baking is like an art form- nothing can quite compare to it. 

Over the past few years baking has become something that I do to clear my head, almost like a stress reliever. One of my favorite things to bake however is actually quite simple, the cupcake! 

The fun thing about cupcakes is that you can design them for absolutely any occasion! A children's birthday party or even a wedding cake! Whatever the occasion formal or informal, a sophisticated cocktail party or a summer picnic style barbecue- cupcakes can always steel the show! 

In the giant cupcake above there are a few of my favorite baking tools to use when making cupcakes!

The upper left you see a set of Williams-Sonoma Mixing Bowls in various colors, accompanied by a whisk and dish towels. This set of different sized mixing bowls is perfect when making cupcakes because you have a bowl for your sifted dry ingredients- large enough to add your wet ingredients, and alternate bowls for mixing different colored frostings!

The bottom left you see a variety of Colored Spatulas! Not only do the different colors make your kitchen accessories drawer pop, but the spatulas come in many different sizes and shapes- perfect for getting every last drop of batter out of any size mixing bowl!

In the center is the absolute best tool you could imagine for baking evenly dispersed cupcakes (and just a note this works for drop cookies too!) The Spring Release Ice Cream Scoop, which also is sold in a variety of different sizes- is perfect for filling your cupcake pans (most often muffin pans work just as well) with the right amount of batter in each spot! My mother has a drawer full of these in varying sizes, and depending on the baking pan she's using that day- she'll pick the right sized scooper to match!

In the upper right you can see a great display of the usefulness of different Piping Tips. These different tips are easy to use and create an adorable frosting design to top off your cupcake! Wilton Baking has a wonderful selection of piping tips, piping bags (to hold the frosting), and essentially all things baking! The link will bring you to one of my favorite buttercream frosting recipes, just add a few drops of your favorite color food coloring and voila! 

Lastly, the bottom right shows an adorable set of Cupcake Liners from Emerald+Ella. I stumbled upon this adorable set while skimming through Pinterest, but you can find cute cupcake liners almost anywhere! Grocery stores typically sell more plain and commercialized cupcake liners- but any food specialty store will have more of a selection to choose from! A cute cupcake liner can make all the difference in your presentation!

Next time you have an event to attend and your looking for something sweet to bring along, do a quick search in google and you'll be sure to find a sweet cupcake recipe with a design to match your occasion! 

I really like sifting through the recipes on Food Network and Martha Stewart. So many wonderful ideas to take inspiration from!

Letter Writing, A Lost Art

Ever since I can remember, letter writing and receiving mail has always been a part of my life. Starting when my younger brother Drew was old enough to understand the concept of mail, our Auntie Eileen began sending us cards on or around different holidays. Each would have a silly note inside, sometimes a $5 dollar bill- but no matter the occasion, crossing the street with mom and blindly reaching into our mailbox to pull out our letters was always exciting.

As we grew up, the sentiment attached to letter writing and sending cards stayed with me. Anytime I received a letter or a quick note in the mail, something about it was so genuine and never failed to make me smile.

Unfortunately with the rapidly progressive technological society we live in today, this art of letter writing is becoming more and more scarce, as it is 'replaced' by emailing, text messages, Facebook messages, and tweets. The genuine correspondence of taking the time to sit and handwrite a letter is almost completely shifted into technologies' "cyber" world.

I will be the first to admit that letter writing is time consuming, and it is absolutely fair to say that sending a quick email to someone is not only more expeditious, but feasible to do in most busy schedules. I am an avid user of many technologies; my iPhone is rarely not in my hand or on my person, I am constantly shooting text messages and email correspondence back and forth on the go- it is the fast paced way of our world now a days. In saying that, however, I think sometimes it is important to recognize the emotional response that is evoked when you have sent a heart felt, handwritten note to a friend or loved one.

We have become so accustomed to our mail being entirely composed of junk mail, bills, magazines, store advertisements etc. it is almost never an expectation to receive a personal piece of mail in that stack of nonsense. When you either send or receive a personal note from a friend or loved one via your mailbox, it is a much more sentimental and thoughtful gesture than were you to receive the same message in an email.

Next time your thinking of reaching out to someone and sending them a quick note- jot it down on a piece of paper, fold it up, pick up a few stamps at the post office and send it away with the mailman! I can guarantee it will be much appreciated and leave a definite smile on both the sender and receivers' face.

Above you see a variety of different stationary options, I am a lover of all stationary and it is my one of my worst shopping weaknesses, I have developed quite the collection! These are a few of my favorite designs out there right now- always remember though, most stationary stores will have an option to customize! Picking up a pack of 8 adorable note cards could be as easy as stopping by your local Target or as complex as designing your own!

Starting from the top left and moving left to right here are the links for the stationary options displayed above!

1) Vera Wang 'From the Desk of'
2) Rifle Paper Co. Monogrammed Floral
3) Minted 'Talk Bubble' Personalized
4) Kate Spade 'From Me to You'
5) Vera Wang 'Seafoam Flat'

Everyone loves receiving mail, especially when it's completely unexpected! Do your part to make sure this beautiful tradition of hand written letters remains constantly relevant in our busy lives!

Color of the Week!

Decor! This beautiful Howell Wingback Linen Chair from Anthropologie is hardwood framed, handcrafted in the USA and would definitely add a little something different to any room in your home. Depending on how spacious your master bedroom is, it could be a great window-side reading chair!

Outdoors! This classic Public-C7 Lightweight Seven-Speed Bicycle would be perfect for springtime rides throughout your neighborhood. With it's easy-shifting and curved frame this bike is not only comfortable but cute!

Florals! These peonies just pop with the vibrant orange color, but even sweeter is the Old Times Orange Marmalade jar they are sitting in! A deliciously sweet spread on just about anything!

Drinks! Whether your at a summer barbecue mixing day drinks or happen to hop into a local restaurant/bar for dinner and drinks, this recipe for a Tequila Sunrise is sure to quench your thirst!

Fashion! With this H&M Orange Figure-Fit Blazer you just can't go wrong! Pair it with a cute cream tank like the one picture above and your favorite dark wash skinny jeans and your dressed and ready for a day out and about on the town! The orange is just unexpected enough that you'll definitely draw some envious eyes!

Shoes! Of course following the blazer with an absolutely adorable pair of Orange Suede Pumps, adding a hint of color at your feet to almost any ensemble you put together is always a good idea! Orange is not normally a color most would go for, but it works well with so many bright and light hues! Mix and match and see what you can put together!

Create! Lastly we have something quite resourceful! With this tutorial you can create your very own Orange Peel Candle! A beautiful accent to a kitchen counter or living room coffee table, this creative way to craft your own orange candle is not only inexpensive but beautiful as well!

Daily Planners Quasi Life Savers!

Everyone can use a little extra structure in their life! With these four daily planners you can be sure to keep your hectic days organized, and even more importantly rest assured your not going to miss a single appointment! Holding yourself accountable for prioritizing your own time, by taking out a few minutes to write out your schedule, and be sure to put it in print when you commit to doing something not only helps you remember what you have to do, but allows you to see in front of you how busy you are and the days where you will really need to be on top of your game! Anyone with the drive and ambition to succeed is more than likely to stretch themselves a little too thin, rather than let it stress you out- avoid feeling overwhelmed and out of control by keeping track of everything you have to do in writing.

Keeping a daily planner helps me not only to focus my day, but the daily planner helps me to orchestrate my time management so that I can successfully,  and without stress- be sure to fit in a little bit of everything I not only need, but want to do. During the springtime, when my schedule is most hectic due to racing every weekend and an intensive practice routine- I can easily let my free time slip away from me, whats important to remember is that no matter how busy you are, you always make room for what is important to you.

Committing to keeping a daily planner could be the perfect way for you to keep track of all your responsibilities this spring and especially continuing on in the summer months when you'll be sure to want to take a few days here or there for some sunshine and sand :)

From left to right the links for the above planners are listed below, my favorite of these three planners is the first! I always find it very helpful when my planner not only has a place for daily planning, but weekly and monthly as well!

Tomorrow Planner by Poketo

Daily Planner Ver. 2 by Invite.L

Peach Daily Planner by Etsy

Life Planner 2012 by Erin Condren

Some other wonderful daily planners can be found at Lilly Pulitzer, MyAgenda, The Little Happy Shop, just to name a few places! 

Through the Looking Glass

"All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better."                    - Ralph Waldo Emerson

With every new day comes a whole new pile of unknowns and possible obstacles. If life didn't have the unanticipated moment of panic it would be both mundane and stagnant. Our society thinks, and acts progressively because of our innate response to obstacles set in our path, using them to learn from and adapt, rather than remain sitting ducks.

However, while our intentions might always be to take the positives out of obstacles, sometimes our emotions get the better of us before we have time to react. Before you know it our minds our spinning out of control. When this happens, one of two things can be done:

a) we can submit to the panic and run around like chickens with our heads chopped off.

or

b)  we can hit the reset button.

 In my experience, the best way to handle these situations is always b) but how do we reset when our minds have gone so out of control? Something that I started doing a long time ago, at first I think it was subconsciously and then became habit, was to go to a place where I felt like the world would just stop for a minute and I could think. When I was younger, this place was the rope swing in my front yard. Now, obviously the stresses of a preteen/early teenage girl are very pressing, but none the less spending 10 minutes outside on the swing by myself allowed me to reset, to gather control of my thoughts and think clearly.

As I got older, and eventually had my license-this place became my car. Something about driving, mindlessly listening to music and staring at the open road with no real destination or reason for the trip in the car, other than to clear my head. Sometimes I think the best way to get back on track, is to step outside of your world for a minute. Try and look at whats bothering you, without all of the outside influences, without the suggestions or interpretations and just find out for yourself what is important and how you want to handle it.

Whether your aware of it or not, I bet almost everyone inadvertently has their own place to go when  stressed or something has their mind spinning in circles. Once you find out what that place is, it becomes a lot easier to confront your problems head on, and you'll look for the time when you can escape to that special place and seek out your own clarity.

Gorgeous Florals!

Happy First Day of Spring! Now that it is officially springtime, and for the moment our New England weather is cooperating with seasonal expected temperatures and the most beautifully sunny days it's time to start thinking about your gardening! Springtime brings so much brightness to our days, new blooms on the trees, the grass returning to its vibrant shade of green, the subtle chirping of birds returns as background noise. My great grandmother, used to describe one of my favorite things about spring, the soft breeze that often appears on a pristine spring day, she would call it- "a delicious breeze." I have an affinity for every season that we experience on the East Coast, and with the coming of every new season, beyond a shadow of a doubt I at some point will utter the words "_____ is my favorite time of the year." 

Growing up, and spending my whole life on the East Coast, it is inevitable that you become so accustomed to the changing of seasons, and the way the environment around you changes with it. Your body almost expects and anticipates the coming changes before your mind can realize it's that time of year. However, when springtime comes- nothing brings smiles to so many faces like the new blooming flowers of such brilliant colors. 

A few of my all time favorite springtime bursts of floral color are pictured here! 

Tulips are a beautiful springtime flower, but make sure that you have planted the bulbs long before spring arrives to enjoy their beautiful delicacy once the season makes its permanent appearance. 

Gerber Dasies are not only my absolute all time favorite flower, but they are so vivid and rich in color. Gerber Dasies can be purchased for planting by seed or by plant, but growing a healthy gerber plant takes very particular conditions and can be quite tricky! The best time to plant these sweet stems is when the winter frost is completely gone. Instructions for planting these can be found here!

Peonies are often grown as ornamentals for their stupendously large and often fragrant cut flowers. They thrive more successfully with full blooms in the spring, when planted during mid fall, but can also have very successful growth with spring planting. Peonies are a very different type of plant and the method to growing this beautiful flower is someone tricky, for clear instructions please see this site!

Ranunculus flowers, astonishing for their many many petals and their long lasting life as cut flowers. The planting directions for the ranunculus call for a little more focus and attention than most, but definitely worth the time! Instructions are here! 

Sometimes the best way to get good information about any type of gardening your interested in embarking on, is to start at your local garden center or florist. Wilson Farm in MA is a wonderful place to stop, they have a very diverse collection of plants, flowers and trees for sale and the staff is wonderful with answering any questions you may have. If your unsure of where to go locally in your area for gardening tips and tricks- try using the Yelp search engine to sift through different establishments in your area and read reviews from previous customers to find just the place your looking for. 

Happy Gardening!

Color of the Week!

This weeks 'Color of the Week' showcases a variety of unexpected finds from multiple companies, but the majority are found on Etsy-

"the worlds handmade marketplace"

Amongst the items found on Etsy are the:
*Smile Pillow
*Yellow Party Dress
*Typography Prints
 *Yellow Chalkboard

This range of different items all found on the same site expresses very clearly how diverse the products sold through Etsy can be. Etsy's mission statement reads,

"Our mission is to empower people to change the way the global economy works. We see a world in which very-very small businesses have much-much more sway in shaping the economy, local living economies are thriving everywhere, and people value authorship and provenance as much as price and convenience. We are bringing heart to commerce and making the world more fair, more sustainable, and more fun."

The other items displayed on this weeks' color post can be found by clicking the links below! The warm sunshine was out all day today! I think more than anything sunshine can definitely chase your blues away. The exposure to vitamin D is incredibly healthy and who doesn't love temperatures that
accommodate for picnics in the park, a walk around the lake,
bbq's and some loud country tunes :)

*Kate Spade Carousel Bracelet
*Hunter Rain Boots
 *Fresh Lemon Sorbet
*Sunshine Dazzler

You Can Never Have Too Many Throw Pillows

Pier 1 along with Home Goods are possibly two of the most amazing home decor stores I have come across. Any time your looking for a little nick nack of sorts to add a little something to your home, these are the stores to check out.

One of my absolute favorite items that you can find at both of these stores are throw pillows! In living rooms and bedrooms, throw pillows can add such  dimension. One of the fun aspects about tossing a few throw pillows on the couch, or in your bedroom is that they don't all have to be identical, feel free to mix and match!

Pick different hues or shades that complement your main color scheme and go wild! I think that throw pillows are a fun and unique way to add some pop to your home decoration; especially in bedrooms when most furniture pieces fall along the same horizontal plane. A few throw pillows will not only break up that flat planed perspective, but give you the ability to branch out with some fun vibrant colors. In the living room it could be as simple as adding a small touch of color to a rather monochromatic scheme.

Next time you find yourself with a bit of downtime, swing by your nearest Peir 1 or Home Goods and take a stroll through the isles. You could be very surprised with the fun items you might find!

Color of the Week!

Style! This Talitha Blouse by Jcrew is a perfect addition to your wardrobe. This shirt can be styled for a professional day at the office, a summery afternoon at the park, or an upscale evening out. The gorgeous deep green color complements so many classic pieces.

Sun! These Green Vintage Wayfarer Sunglasses are a timeless accessory with a little pop of an unusual color that can add just the right amount of pizazz to any ensemble.

Techy! This bright and fun Apple iPhone4 Case is a really cute way to dress up your smart phone. With this whimsical green pattern you'll be sure to catch some attention!

Bejeweled! This set of Kate Spade "Happy Go Lucky Idiom Bangle" and "Bar None Huggies" earrings pair quite nicely with each other and could be the perfect touch to your next outfit!

Home Decor! With this set of green accented gold rimmed Anthropologie serving bowls, your dinner table has never looked better! The touch of gold accent along the rim of the bowl adds just the right amount of class to this loud color selection!

Sweets! Just your regular vanilla cupcake with buttercream frosting...or is it! Pick your favorite recipe for vanilla (or chocolate) cupcakes, and a delicious recipe for vanilla buttercream and whip up a dozen or two. Then, take a green Fruit Roll Up and with a peering knife, carefully cut out the shape of a four leaf clover, place this clever decoration on your cupcake and voila, the perfect St. Patty's day sweet treat!

Satchel! This unique Coach Classic Leather Madison Satchel with it's timeless shape and clean lines could be the next iconic purse to add to your collection. Pair this with a cute pair of jeans, some nude flats, a navy blazer, a white oxford, a few small gold accessories and you've got yourself a fantastic daytime look!

Whether you come from a full blown Irish background or your just a fan of the color green and the occasional mysterious leprechaun, there is some St. Patricks day celebratory fun for everyone! With these seven individually unique finds, this St. Patricks day could top the charts for you!

Just Like Grapes

"When grapes are growing wine makers purposely stress them out by depriving them of water and giving them an over abundance of sunshine, and this weeds out the weak ones and only the strongest and the best survive. Those are the grapes that makes the finest wine. The greatest love survives the harshest of conditions, surviving that turmoil is what makes a relationship strong." -Love Wedding Marriage 

This past Sunday I spent part of my morning browsing through Netflix. As most of you Netflix subscribers probably already know, the "Watch Now" section offers somewhat obscure titles, and for the most part, movies that never hit it big in theaters. I stumbled upon the movie, "Love Wedding Marriage" directed by Dermot Mulroney and starring Mandy Moore and Kellan Lutz. Netflix categorized this pick under the romantic comedy genre, I assumed following suit that it would be your typical chick flick, and being the hopeless romantic that I am- I decided to give it a shot.

 In brief- the film depicts Mandy Moore's character, a marriage counselor whose life as a newly wed to Kellan Lutz takes an unexpected detour when she realizes that her parents' marriage is headed downhill, and fast. In efforts to reconcile her parents before their upcoming 30th anniversary surprise party, Moore stops at nothing in attempts to bring her parents back together- risking her own marriage and professional life in the process. Enough about summaries though, what I was most drawn to in this movie was a single line revealed towards the end which is quoted above.

After sorting out his differences with his wife, Moore's father in the film shares with her this bit of wisdom as she finds her new marriage to be in a rough spot ever since her attention was so drastically directed towards her efforts in reconciling her parents.

I thought this unorthodox analogy was very profound, and it struck a chord with me. Often times I think we become so consumed with over analyzing we forget about the simple things. When we spend more time thinking about the state of our relationships or trying to figure out what is going on- we lose sight in the fact that they can't possibly always be perfect. Sometimes we get stressed out, sometimes one person will have more on their plate than the other- but that doesn't mean that the balance beam won't sway the other way on occasion, or that the balance is lost forever, it just means that for the moment things are a little askew. The true testament to any relationship; be it romantic or friendship, familial or professional, is how well you communicate through obstacles- and in most cases when you finally find yourselves heads above water- your relationship will have evolved into a much much closer connection.

Really it's quite simple, just like grapes, any two people in a relationship who manage to endure the more difficult times with love, even through tension and turmoil...those who come out on top and are closer than ever- are the most incredible of relationships.

Those are the lasting relationships that make for the best lifetime shared with someone.

Focus on YOU

After an 8 week rehab routine following knee surgery, I am finally cleared for full participation on my team again. Luckily, the timing worked out in such a way that I was able to get right back into the boat this week for three hour water sessions twice a day... 6 hours a day, 7 days a week of practicing can only mean one thing- Spring Training! 

We are nearing the end of our week of spring training, we've experienced weather in the teens, and weather in the 60's, but most importantly I've experienced endorphins again- and better yet, a focus. With just 7 days until our first race, the Jesuit Invitational on the Cooper River in New Jersey. 

As incredible as it has been being able to competitively train again, it has also been extremely grueling- not just on my muscles and my body- but my mentality. It is an interesting experience, coming back from injury because you have expectations of your performance based off of your prior capabilities- yet with rest your body naturally loses a certain percentage of fitness and muscular physique. As this is not my first time coming back from surgery, this did not come as a surprise to me, but having delt with it three times now, I can attest to a few helpful tips to keep your mind on track, and focused on whats truly important. 

1) You have to try as best to your ability to use your past level of performance only as motivation- and not to let it overshadow how hard your working to get back. Your fitness and skill development will be a little behind after being out of the game for such a period of time- and that is expected, so don't expect to bounce right back!

2) I started using a heart rate monitor about a year ago, and now that I have gotten accustomed to it, I wouldn't workout another day without it. While the heart rate monitor is always useful to track what training zones you are in, the calories your burning, the percentage of your workouts spent in fat burning zones vs. aerobic zones...all great information to have while training! This is especially helpful however when your training to come back from an injury- and here's why, when you are out for awhile your resting heart rate naturally becomes higher, you will notice that during workouts it will take a less intense output to reach high heart rates. As you become more and more fit- you actually see the results of your work on your wrist! Noticing that a) your heart rate is taking longer and longer to get up there, and b) your recovery time will become less and less. 

3) I find that it is really helpful to log my workouts, writing down specific details about a workout. In the sport of rowing this would either include the lineup I was in, the workout we did, how it felt (before, during, and after)- and if we were indoors erging this would include the workout, what my times and splits were, and again how I felt before, during, and after the workout. I also find that it is very useful to write down the amount of sleep you got the night before, as well as what you ate and drank that day. Once you have a couple weeks in the log book, reading back through you begin to not only see your performance level heighten, but you find patterns linking your sleeping and eating habits with your performance output. Since I workout with a heart rate monitor, I also make sure to write down the information after a training session- average heart rate, max heart rate, calories burned, time spent in aerobic zones & time spent in fat burning zones. The more information you include, the better!

I started this habit when I was rowing in High School at the Essex Rowing Club. When any athlete who rowed for Essex became fully committed and serious about succeeding with the sport- my coach would always suggest, and sometimes mandate that we keep "logbooks" of our workouts. Back then, I had a hard time seeing the patterns- but the habit stuck, and when I had my first surgery and then my first experience working back to my own standards- I found the log book not only to be extraordinarily helpful in organizing my thoughts, but my mentality was much more stable because I had legitimate evidence of my improvements. 

Coming back from an injury is never easy, and don't for a second think that emotionally you haven't been affected- because no matter how you look at it serious athletes commit a lot of time and energy to their sport- making sacrifices in their every day lives for the sheer goal of getting faster, or stronger, or better. This type of mindset is expected of an elite athlete, this type of mindset is what cuts athletes to the core when they are held back from training, but under the same lens- it's the killer motivation that we draw from overcoming our own personal obstacles that makes us unstoppable. 

Find what helps you keep focused, think about the big picture, the ultimate goal- and figure out a way to make it part of your routine. With easy tips like these to help you keep on track, your comeback could be quicker than you thought :)

We All Know It's Coming, Time to Plan Ahead!

It is important to remember that spring cleaning doesn't have to take place in just one day! Spread these tasks out over the course of a week or so and the entire job will feel a lot less daunting, or stressful! I can promise that when you finally finish- you will feel entirely accomplished without having ever suffered a single headache from thinking about the overwhelming project.

Color of the Week!

1) Kitchen Accessories! This teal KitchenAid Mixer is the perfect addition to your kitchen, of course- this timeless kitchen appliance comes in a variety of colors- but this teal would most certainly pop in just about any kitchen!

2) Jewelry! This adorable J Crew Bhati Beads Silk Planets Bracelet makes for the perfect accessory to an springtime look!

3) Home & Garden! This adorable Teal Adirondack Chair is not only a classic lawn decoration but with a tall glass of icy cold lemonade and a nice breeze it can take any spring time afternoon from great to amazing in a matter of minutes!

4) Shoes! The TOMS phenomenon has been a   success for quite some time now- and with shoes like this pair who wouldn't want to shop there! Plus every pair of shoes you buy from TOMS, a pair is donated to a child in need!

5) Notes! This is a simple Archie Grand notebook, Cate recently purchased one of these cute notebooks from JCrew, they are very affordable and have just the right amount of style that you can carry it around in any purse, anywhere you go! Exactly what I reach for when I'm jotting down a quick idea, or something I don't want to forget!

6) Swimsuit Season! If you've subscribed to the Victoria Secret email list at all than your inbox has been bombarded with this seasons swimsuit catalogue, this Belle Crochet Bandeau Top  and matching bottoms I have a feeling will be very popular this season!

7) Sweets! This beautifully created Teal Ruffle Cake is a creative and fun way to add a little pizzaz to a birthday cake, celebratory cake, or just a cake to satisfy your sweet tooth! The ruffle technique looks daunting, but with a little concentration- it's actually quite simple to do!

8) Artsy! Here you see pictured a Holga Camera, for those of you with a more artistic eye, and the ability to let go of some control- the holga style camera is just the thing for you! It is a flash-less camera that has two aperture and shutter speed settings, manual focus and endless possibilities of surprising photographs once your film is developed!

4 Ingredients & 5 Steps to a Quick and Easy Snack!

My Absolute All Time Favorite Red Sock Retires

"As I walk away from this game, I can look at the man in the mirror and be proud that I gave everything I could to this game, this organization, my teammates," -Jason Varitek

In 1997 Varitek made his entrance into the Majors signing with the Boston Red Sox, and has played for the Red Sox ever since. Tonight Varitek announced that he will be retiring from the game of baseball after 15 seasons with his Boston family.

2012 would have made his 9th year as captain of this beloved team, and with his career coming to it's end- Varitek finished his run as Boston's all-time leader in games caught with 1,488. Among some of Varitek's other achievements, the three-time All-Star caught a MLB-record four no-hitters. Varitek helped lead his team towards ending its 86-year World Series title drought in 2004 overcoming the St. Louis Cardinals, and saw victory again winning the World Series in 2007 defeating the Colorado Rockies.

This switch hitter won the Gold Glove Award at catcher and the Silver Slugger Award. Varitek is one of only two players in the history of baseball to play in the World Championship game of the Little League World Series, the College World Series, and the Major League World Series. Adding to that he is the only player to also have experience playing on the Olympic Baseball team and the World Baseball Clinic.

Varitek has always been my absolute favorite Red Sock and I will greatly miss watching him rally his team together through the season. He is a fiercely loyal teammate, and the organization will be hard pressed to find a player to fill his shoes. No player could ever replicate what Jason Varitek meant not only to his team, but his fans.

Varitek couldn't have expressed his retirement in any better way,

"The hardest thing to do is to walk away from your teammates and what they've meant to you over the years."

Posts & Tweets and Political Defeats

Now that we're in complete political campaign territory, candidates full steam ahead to November 2012, I thought it would be a good idea to stop for a second and think about the ways political campaigns have evolved.

Social media has almost always been a driving force behind political campaigning, but for a long period of time the extent of social media stopped at the newspaper. Nowadays with technological developments such as Twitter, Facebook and YouTube just to name a few- politicians have the capability of blasting their messages on a multitude of different platforms. Not only do they have the ability of widespread media exposure, but more importantly rapid and instantaneous exposure.

As most of us may recall, the election of 2008 was cause for mass analysis of the impact that the social media aspect of the Obama campaign had on the publics perspective of candidates. It is clear that within the society we live in today, social networking is an integral part of our day to day activities.

Political Campaign messages like this one from Ron Paul that attempts to slam the Newt Gingrich campaign reputation- takes advantage of information regarding the high rates of usage for sites like YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook. Ron Paul is not the only 2012 presidential hopeful using social media exposure extensively throughout their campaigns. Not only are candidates posting videos to their YouTube channels, but they are active participants on Facebook and Twitter as well as their own website management.

The following video made public on YouTube expresses in a very powerful manner, the impact of social media and the transformation of communication.

                                           
With political campaign messages coming at us from every direction, remember the internet isn't a fad- it is a fundamental shift in the way we communicate, and as they should-presidential candidates are utilizing these new media tools for exposure. As a consumer it is your job to not only receive their message, but decode it and understand it the best you can. Not all messages will reach you the exact way that is intended by he/she who produced it, but that is part of this new game of social media exposure.