Social Media Guru: Lauren Conrad

Lauren Conrad, who many people might know from reality TV shows such as Laguna Beach or The Hills has taken her fame from those shows and built up a brand of her own. She now has two clothing lines, Paper Crown and Lauren Conrad for Kohl’s, has written six books, grazes the cover of magazines and runs her own Website: laurenconrad.com. This lifestyle website gives advice to women of all ages for fashion, beauty, fitness, food, home decor, crafts and even has a book club. In addition to her Website, she reaches out to her fans and followers on Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook, YouTube and even Bloglovin’. By using all these different social media platforms she an reach people in every way possible making it convenient and easy for there to be more readers.

Whenever there is a new story posted on laurenconrad.com it is promoted on all her personal social media that has millions of followers, a tactic that is sure to drive readers to the website that will then share on their social media. All of her different social media accounts have the same image and same mantra which I believe helps build the fan base she has. They are the types of accounts that will want you to read more about it leading you to the Website and soon you’ll be reading all the different stories weekly.

The beauty of social media in this case is that if you are on her Twitter, you can read a headline and if you want to read more the link is right there. If you are on her Pinterest and see the same story but want to try it later you can pin it and o back to the link. You can also do these steps in reverse. If you decide to go straight to her website and read an article you love and want to share with your friends you can by the click of one button at the end of the article.

Without social media being involved the Website would most likely not be as successful as it is. The material she posts about is an inspiration to me and I hope my blog could be as successful someday.

Top o’ the mornin’ to ya!

I hope you are reading this while wearing something green because it’s St. Patrick’s Day! You’ve probably guessed it, yes I am Irish so this is one of my favorite holidays throughout the year to celebrate.

Whether you went to a parade in your town, ate some corned beef and cabbage, drank a Guinness, listened to some Dropkick Murphy’s or are just simply wearing green I am glad you are celebrating as well.

In case you need some visuals of The Emerald Isle or would like to hear a good Irish brogue, here are a list of movies to watch.

The Departed

Leap Year

The Boondock Saints

Waking Ned Devine

P.s. I Love You

Once you’ve watched these and have your accent mastered you’re ready to meet your friends at the nearest pub and grab a green beer!

This is Troy.

I write this post from Spillin’ the Beans coffee shop in Troy, NY. This is just one of the many local thriving shops you can find downtown. This week I am on spring break and even though I wish I could be somewhere warm and tropical, it’s good to be home.

Troy is just 13 minutes away from the state capitol of Albany and located on the Hudson River. When you walk around downtown you get the feel of a smaller Brooklyn. With brownstones side by side, cobblestone streets and old architecture, it’s a beautiful place to be apart of.

Downtown Troy is made up of locally owned businesses, restaurants, cafés, bars and breweries. Every season there are events that take place to get people wanting to be apart of. The last Friday of every month is Troy Night Out, where businesses will have special hours and stay open later and have special sales.

In the spring, summer and early fall the riverfront farmers market will take place. There you can find homemade goods, fresh produce and other unique trinkets.

In the summer every Wednesday is Rockin on the River which has live cover bands, food and beer vendors. In the fall there is the Chowder Fest where you can try all kinds of chowder from local restaurants and vote for your favorite.

The first Sunday of every December is the Victorian Stroll (my favorite). Going back to Troy’s victorian age people dress up from that time. Stores have hot drinks out for people and live music and caroling goes on all leading up to the tree lighting in Monument Square.

And no matter what season it is Saturday is small business Saturday when I like to go shopping and support the local businesses rather than go to the mall with chain stores.

Every time I go back home there is a new delicious café or business that has opened that I have to try and it makes me very happy to see that Troy is building and growing as a community.

Soldiers and Sailors Monument (Monument Square)

Banana and Nutella crêpe at The Whistling Kettle with a pot of tea.

One of my favorite stores in Troy, The Botanic Studio. Here they have everything you need to get stated on building your own terrarium, or just any unique plant in addition to candles and jewelry.

Hot dogs at Famous Lunch in Troy.

Wood fired pizza at Bacchus.

These pictures show just a few of my favorite places to shop and eat at.

If you ever find yourself in the upstate area I highly recommend stopping through and exploring Troy for yourself.

Summertime Sadness

Well by now I’m sure like me, you are sick of winter. Sick of the bitter cold, ice, snow and chilling winds. Everyday my mind wanders off to summer with sunny days and hot weather. I particularly think of my past summer vacation when I went to Cape Cod, Massachusetts.

For one week in July my two friends and I stayed in Hyannis, right on the harbor, or as the locals would say hah-bah. All around us were restaurants with the freshest seafood you could find. Just a short walk up the street was the main street with all the cute little boutiques and tourist shoppes and a short drive away there were many different beaches, all beautiful.

Everyday we pretty much had the same routine: wake up, make our lunches for the beach, go to the beach, go back to the hotel and then jump in the pool to get the sand off us, shower, go eat some amazing food and then end our night by sitting around the bonfire at our hotel … and repeat.

If you go to Cape Cod and don’t like seafood then I feel bad for you. For me, it’s one of the best parts about going on vacation. Every night I would try something new but I always made sure to get a side of clam chowder, or, chowdah.

Fried clam roll with a cup of clam chowder.

Stuffed salmon with lobster filling … amazing.

Steamed clams with butter.

If you need a break from seafood … wood fired pizza with pesto, arugula, and lemon zest. To die for.

Luckily, we had perfect weather the entire week so going to the beach was a must everyday. Even though the Cape Cod waters are notorious for being cold it felt so refreshing to dive into with the hot sun beating on you. When laying out in the sun would get boring after a while I would walk up and down the length of the beach to look for seashells and other ocean critters. 

Jetty rocks along the water.

Sand dunes lead the way to the ocean.

Shopping on the main street was fun because there are very unique things that you wouldn’t be able to find anywhere else. Lots of nautical inspired clothes, jewelry and home decor were to be found everywhere which I loved. Some cool things I got to remind me of the trip was a ring shaped as a whale tail, a gorgeous blue and white tapestry, and a simple shirt that said Cape Cod.

While I’m unsure if I’ll be going back to Cape Cod this summer, wherever I am, I am hopeful that it will be warm. I hope all of you stay warm as well and keep dreaming of summer.

As Henry David Thoreau said, 

Always maintain a kind of summer, even in the middle of winter.

Hollywood’s Biggest Night

This past Sunday the stars of Hollywood put on their dresses and tuxedos to celebrate motion pictures at the 87th Academy Awards. Neil Patrick Harris hosted the show and had the audience laughing all night long. If you missed the opening musical act you can catch it here. Some big winners of the night were Eddie Redmayne for Best Actor, Julianne Moore for Best Actress and Birdman took the Oscar home for Best Picture. The rest of the winners can be found here.

There were many musical performances throughout the night by musicians such as Tim McGraw, Maroon 5, John Legend and Common, and Lady GaGa who did a tribute for The Sound of Music 50th Anniversary (my favorite moment of the night).

On the red carpet the stars were dressed to impress. For the women we saw lots of white and nude dresses trending and for the men the navy and black trend carried over from the Grammys.

One of my favorites of the night was Lupita Nyong’o in Calvin Klein Collection. More than 6,000 pearls were used to make this beautiful dress.

Jennifer Aniston wore Atelier Versace.

Kerry Washington wore one of her favorite designers, Miu Miu.

Jennifer Lopez wore Elie Saab Haute Couture. This wasn’t one of my favorites…didn’t like how the dress blended in with her skin.

Marion Cotillard wore Dior Haute Couture…while the dress was a nice concept it looked like sushi to me.

Gwyneth Paltrow wore Ralph & Russo Couture which was one of my favorites of the night! Loved the shoulder!!

And my best dressed of the night was Margot Robbie in Saint Laurent. Her amazing necklace was by Van Cleef & Arpels and belonged to the Duchess of Windsor.

Best Actor winner Eddie Redmayne (left) wore Alexander McQueen. Ansel Elgort wore a similar tuxedo by Prada (right).

Other moments that had people talking were some touching acceptance speeches. When Patricia Arquette won Best Supporting Actress for Boyhood she shed light on a very important topic going on: equal wages for women and the crowd, including Meyrl Streep and Jennifer Lopez, LOVED it.

Grame Moore who won Best Adapted Screenplay for The Imitation Game admitted during his speech that when he was only 16 he tried to kill himself. He reminded anyone who feels left out or weird to not feel like that because thats what got him where he is. “Stay weird, stay different,” he told the audience.

Another year and another Academy Awards has come and gone. It was a great show and I hope this helped fill you in incased you missed it! Until next time…

Galentine’s Day

Yes, it’s that time of year again, the time where you see any object possible morphed into a heart in every store you go into. February 14, Valentine’s Day where couples celebrate themselves and singles usually go on with their normal day. But the day before February 13, is Galentine’s Day. If you are a huge Parks and Recreations nerd like me, then you know exactly what I’m talking about.

Galentine’s Day is a day to celebrate your friendships with your best girlfriends and any important women in your life whether you are single, or taken.

Some Galentine’s Day plans could include relaxing mani – pedis, shopping until you all drop, treating yourself to that expensive item you’ve been eyeing, all going out for dinner and drinks or a even just fun night in.

The season around Valentine’s day can be depressing for some people so go call those amazing women in your life and let them know you are there for them and make some plans! It will be enjoyable for everyone and soon you might have a new tradition for the next year coming.

It’s the most wonderful time of the year!

If you know me you know that one of my favorite times of the year is award season, and it’s that time of year again! This past Sunday was the Grammys, music’s biggest night. This was a very star-studded event with musicians from every genre. The fashion, performances, and even the drama gave everyone something to talk about.

As all the stars showed up on the red carpet they were asked the covenant question: “who are you wearing?”

From Madonna, to Katy Perry, Taylor Swift, Rihanna, and of course Beyoncé they all turned heads, some for not good reasons.

Madonna chose a bold look wearing Givenchy Haute Couture, who also designed her performance look.

Taylor Swift brought a mermaid vibe to the red carpet wearing Elie Saab and killed it!

Rihanna wore Giambattista Valli Haute Couture. This look went viral with memes all over social media.

Super Bowl halftime singer Katy Perry rocked purple hair but then went back to black during her performance in the show. She wore Zuhair Murad.

Queen Bey played it safe and went with the all natural look on the carpet wearing Proenza Schouler.

Pant suits continued to be a trend for women at the Grammys as well.

Anna Kendrick wore a Band of Outsiders pant suit.

Gwen Stefani looked flawless in Versace.

Charli XCX wore Jeremy Scott for Moschino. I have to say this was not one of my favorites of the night.

Sisters (from right to left) Este Haim wore Chloé, Danielle Haim and Alana Haim both wore Stella McCartney.

The men also had a trend going: navy and black and there were a few cases of #bitchstolemylook

E! News host Ryan Seacrest and Grammy host LL Cool J had the same look going on here. So, who wore it better?

Along side his Queen, Jay Z also went with a navy suit.

Aside from the fashion, many artists rocked the stage with their performances. AC/DC opened the show for us. Others that followed were country stars Miranda Lambert and Eric Church, Kanye West took the Grammy stage for the first time in six years and performed with Rihanna and Sir Paul McCartney. Maroon 5’s Adam Levine performed with Gwen Stefani while Sam Smith performed his hit song Stay With Me with Mary J Blige. Katy Perry gave a very touching performance that went with a message to stop domestic violence. Beyoncé, John Legend, and Common closed the show giving the audience another touching performance.

The big winner of the night was Sam Smith taking home four Grammys for Best New Artist, Song of the Year, Record of the Year, and Best Pop Vocal Album. Other big winners included Beyoncé, Pharrell, and Rosanne Cash with three Grammys each. The audience was shocked when Beck won Album of the Year over Beyoncé. We experienced a little déjà vu when Kanye went up on stage to defend his friend. (It was only a joke)

All in all it was an entertaining show, lots of great memorable moments that will go down in Grammy history. Next up: Oscars..see you all then!!

Print is dead?

When I was a kid my favorite thing in the world would be to get the mail in hopes that something came for me, which wasn’t very often. But once a month, I knew I was guaranteed a brand new glossy magazine. What started as a simple Highlights subscription led to Teen Vogue and Seventeen when I got older and now, Vogue is my go to guilty pleasure. Once I got a new magazine I would skim though to see what stories I would be reading, but also making mental notes of what pictures I wanted to rip out and add to my growing collage on my wall. The second time around I would grab a pen and start marking up the pages of either quotes I liked or, new accessories I had to have. Then finally, the scissors would come out and the end result: a shredded magazine and a bigger collage. As someone who wasn’t into playing sports, or instruments I liked to be creative and this was a hobby to me. It also sparked my interest in fashion I have today and I’m certain if it weren’t for print magazines that interest would not be there.

In between the days where I didn’t have magazines to tear apart, I loved to read books, actual print books. Even today where everyone carries around their e-readers or iPads, I still choose a real book. For one, just like with magazines, I like to make notes and comments when I’m reading. Second, as someone who has worn glasses their whole life reading off a screen does not do my eyes any favors.

My favorite books to read is the Harry Potter series. No matter how old you are these books open up your imagination and make you believe anything is possible (for me anyway). Some people think that because there are the movies based off the books that they have an easy way out and can watch the movies and get the same idea. Those people are sadly, wrong. I have found that if there is a movie based off a book, the book is better. Not that the movies are necessarily bad, they just lack that extra detail the author put in the stories.

There is one problem with print I have, and if you’re a hoarder like me, you know exactly what I’m talking about. While I do enjoy watching my book shelf fill up with new titles I have yet to read I am going to run out of room eventually and I sure don’t have room for another bookshelf. I recently caved and recycled about 10 pounds worth of magazines. This however is a small problem I can look past as I’ll continue to buy print magazines and books over digital copies.

Welcome!

Hello! Hola! Ciao! Hallo! Wherever you may be reading this from, I am glad you ended up here. My name is Maura Christie and I am a Communications major at Niagara University. When I’m not at school, I reside in Troy, New York. If you stick with me through this blog you will get to read and see what it’s like to be a student here at NU and live in western New York (part of the time). Stay tuned!