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Wednesday, April 28, 2010

A thousand a day...144-146

One tulip in the sunshine among some pansies

A whole lot of work finally comes down to a whole lot of rendering...

Saturday, April 24, 2010

A thousand a day...143

A little bit muddy...OK, a LOT a bit muddy. And a whole lot of happy.

A thousand a day...142

Friday, April 23, 2010
This afternoon, a group of us from SPJ took a trip to downtown Raleigh to tour of the News & Observer. We had a great time visiting the newspaper, a sweet time at dinner and an overall grand time just spending the day together.

One of the coolest parts of the tour was getting to see the printing press!


And Camille gets an honorary photo of the day for capturing this baby on our ride back to Elon. And yes, this is real life.

Thursday, April 22, 2010

A thousand a day...139-141

Wednesday, April 21, 2010 (and kind of Tuesday & Thursday)I cheated again and skipped my photo Tuesday and today because I knew I would really struggle choosing among my 344 photos from "Love's Labor's Lost" dress rehearsal! So, here are the three I painfully narrowed it down to!

Monday, April 19, 2010

A thousand a day...138

AP Style, what are you thinking!?

The news that "Web site" was just changed to "website" was the shot heard round the world (or at least heard round the Pendulum staff) this week. In the case of some people, it was the one AP Style rule easy enough to remember!

Sunday, April 18, 2010

Saturday, April 17, 2010

A thousand a day...136

When all I wanted was an uplifting fortune, I got this: "Buy things because you need them, not because they are on sale." What. The. Heck.

Elonthon: My last dance

Tonight was my final Elonthon. It's a 24-hour dance marathon Elon does every spring to raise money for Duke Children's Hospital and I have done it every year because I love it so much. My freshman year was just incredible because it was such a fun and new experience. What made this year so special was how every aspect wrapped up so perfectly for me...even down to the simple things. Waiting in line to get in to the gym, I noticed there were only three colors for T-shirts this year: red, blue and yellow. I have SO many red and blue shirts, and I was really hoping and praying to get a yellow shirt. Sure enough, my wish was granted as the girl handed me a yellow shirt. Perfect. That brings my collection to emerald green freshman year, turquoise sophomore year, lavender junior year and now yellow. Happiness.


Elonthon began the same as always - the committees and exec team run in as we cheer for them and then they all break out into the morale dance. Then, Mrs. Lindley shares her story. I knew what was coming. The shock of her story was tremendous my freshman year. The death of her son Mason, to whom Elonthon is dedicated in loving memory, was still fresh for her. When she spoke my freshman year, there were Elon students who had gotten to meet Mason when he visited Elonthon in years past. I was not one of them, but I cried my eyes out after seeing the video. This year was the same. To start the marathon with Mason's story really hits you - it makes us realize why we're there. Here's the video...have tissues nearby:



Another blessing of tonight was the change in the Lindleys' story. After showing the video, Mason's parents had a photo slideshow to share with us of all the fun times Mason had as a miracle child, something they haven't shared in years past. Mason got to meet President Bush, Marie Osmond and other amazing people, in addition to being a special guest at events - he was an honorary coach at a Chapel Hill football game and got to attend a Hooters NASCAR race (and asked where the little Hooters girls were). Seeing those photos was an incredible capstone to my Elonthon experiences.

Mason's sister Lizzie flipped the switch to turn on the ELONTHON lights at the back of the gym, just as she has in years past, the lights came up, I wiped off my tears and the dancing began. Several incredible stories were shared throughout the evening and there was so much fun and dancing!

My final special experience of tonight was when Rip_Chord came to perform. How perfect that my favorite a cappella group came during the 6-hour shift I was dancing. Serendipity. The final song they sang was their Disney Medley, one of my favorites. The medley ends with one of my good friends, Chris Beeson, singing "A Whole New World," from Aladdin. As he began to sing, he looked directly at me. I was already nervous. It was so evident that Gabby, Melissa and Rachel standing next to me turned to look at me and grin. THEN! He changed the lyrics:

I can show you the world
Shining, shimmering, splendid
Tell me, Ashley, now when did
You last let your heart decide?

Cue the melting of my heart. Everyone around me gasped and awed and made audible smiles. It was one of the neatest experiences of my life. And, of course, I flushed red and clasped my heart as my friends just started patting me on the arm. I remember Gabby saying I had waited four years for that moment. It was amazing. Chris made my entire life. It's probably tied with the time he had Rip_Chord sing Happy Birthday to me at Midnight Meals last year.

This Elonthon, like the one freshman year, will forever remain in my heart as very special for so many reasons. Everything came full circle for me. The stories touched my heart as they always do, the performances and dances were more fun than ever before, and my friends made the night simply incredible. It's these experiences that are making my senior year unforgettable.

A thousand a day...134 & 135

I cheated a little bit by using Elonthon photos for my Thursday and Friday photos of the day, but I couldn't help myself...it's Elonthon, which means there are so many great photo opps.

Gabby got to play with one of the miracle children, Noah. Today is Noah and his twin sister's birthday. They were born as triplets and lost their brother when he was only two months old. Noah and his sister were just more than 1 pound at birth and not expected to live. Born in April, they were due in August. It's a miracle that they're both happy and healthy children. He is such a ham, too! When he was on stage with his parents and sister, he was posing and winking at the audience. He loved the attention so much.


Mallory and Erin go head-to-head!

Thursday, April 15, 2010

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

A thousand a day...132

Phil Smith offers the invocation before today's Convocation for Honors.

Nicholas Kristof: The perfect final convocation

My final convocation at Elon.

The buzz around campus today was the installation of Phi Beta Kappa at Elon, but even more importantly, Nicholas Krisof spoke to us about "A Call to Action: Encouraging Young People to Join the 'World's Fight' and Take on a Cause Larger than Themselves." He is a hero in the journalism world and certainly one of my idols.

To me, he is the Anderson Cooper of print journalism - giving voice to the voiceless and taking up challenging causes to make the world a better place by telling one story and impacting one life at a time. Kristof spoke completely by memory. No notes on the podium. No prompters. Incredibly impressive. He truly spoke from the heart, which made his charge to us all the more meaningful.

The one thing that stuck out most to me was when he said talent is universal, opportunity is not. We have won the lottery of life, he told us at the end of his address. So true. It reminded me of our opening convocation freshman year when President Lambert used students in the audience to represent the number of people attending a private university compared to the number of people who are underprivileged and suffering from disease. We are such a small number in the grand scheme of things, but each one of us can make a huge difference in the world. If I've learned one thing at Elon, it's that. And today's address from Kristof affirmed it.

I've been so blessed to have heard Cooper and Kristof speak during my time at Elon. Their visits to Elon made me more passionate than ever to be the kind of journalist I have always wanted to be no matter what road I have to travel to accomplish that. 

After convocation, some of the Pendulum seniors (aka my best friends) found each other outside the gym for a family photo.

Monday, April 12, 2010

A thousand a day...131

David Koontz found a ladybug in the copy room, and knowing how much I love ladybugs, he brought it out to show me during my visit to production night tonight. It basically made my night, so Justine posed with the Pendulum ladybug so I could make them my photo of the day.


Saturday, April 10, 2010

A thousand a day...127 & 128

Friday, April 9, 2010
One of the best days of my life.



Thursday, April 8, 2010
Bark!

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

A thousand a day...125

I was walking to McEwen from the Oaks tonight and noticed how lime green these leaves were and how metallic the branches looked in the light. I liked them so much, especially since these trees weren't blooming until just this weekend.


A thousand a day...122-124

Monday, April 5, 2010
On our way back to Elon, Carolyn and I got stuck in stand-still traffic. We had only a half-hour left to get to school but were stopped for an hour. We certainly made the most of our time, though, mostly by blasting our music ("TiK ToK" and anything Lady GaGa were our favorites) with the windows down and pollen streaming in. So, while everyone else was getting out of their cars to walk window-to-window for gossip (one woman even let her dog out to do its business), we had a jam session in the Beetle. We are now champs of handling adverse situations.



Sunday, April 4, 2010 Easter!



Saturday, April 3, 2010
A sign of spring's arrival



Saturday, April 3, 2010

A thousand a day...120 &121

Friday, April 2, 2010


Thursday, April 1, 2010
Rachel being chic while working and drinking coffee outside Acorn.


Bonus photo (since I cannot go a day without taking photos of Elon's flowers)