Ch-ch-ch-changes

Two weeks from today, I'll be changing jobs to work in the digital department at Fast Company.

For those of you who don't know, Fast Company is a magazine and website that's "charting the evolution of business through a unique focus on the most creative individuals sparking change in the marketplace."

If that's not clear -- this might help: When I interviewed, I was told that the magazine was started because there was no Rolling Stone for people in business (and you can only imagine how much my ears perked up at that statement). Usually we only see celebrities and musicians on the cover of magazines and the people in corporate offices don't get the recognition they deserve for creating new ideas, innovative technologies and solutions to global problems. Fast Company sees people, such as the CEO of Nike, as a different kind of "rock star" and wants to give these individuals a platform that shows off their talents and what they are doing to change their industry and the world.

Although I'm sad to be leaving RollingStone.com (it was an incredible experience and I honestly can't believe I had the chance to work for such an iconic brand with such such good people), I think Fast Company will be a great next-step for me. I believe that their web strategy is extremely forward-thinking and I'm very excited to be continuing my career with a team of smart and driven people.

Animal Haven Update

I've been going into Animal Haven a couple times now, and I am already a really big fan of the place. The people are very nice and motivated. The animals are adorable and very well taken care-of and I'm really happy that I get to be surrounded by such loving dogs for a few hours each week.

On Monday I spent a couple hours of my Columbus holiday volunteering, I didn't know what I would be helping out with that day, and I was ecstatic when I was placed on "Puppy Duty." A staff member brought me upstairs and I literally yelped with delight when I walked into to find a pen of SIX puppies, all about two months old.

The puppies were brought up to Animal Haven from down south - they weren't sure if they were all from the same litter, but they all seemed like best friends. I thought I was in heaven, but was very quickly put into my place when I realized that my sole purpose that day was to clean up puppy poop and pee. Since the animals were all in one pen, it was important that someone was there to clean up after them so that their space wasn't dirty for when potential adoptive parents came to check them out -- and so that the puppies didn't stumble into their own waste and get themselves smelly and dirty.

In between mopping up a ton of messes (honestly, these dogs went to the bathroom 20 times each), I did get to spend some one-on-one time with a few of the pups. I fell instantly in love with a small little white and tan girl named Christine. She was so sweet and soft and licked my cheek when I held her.

After two hours of play time, lunch time and clean-up time, the puppies FINALLY fell asleep. The picture above happened when they all passed out.

I'd say it was a day well spent.

A Baking Mishap

Photo by Emily Murphy

Over the weekend I was in Green Bay, WI with a bunch of friends to attend the Packers v. Lions game at Lambeau Field. This annual event was marked by another occasion -- my best friend's little sister's 20th birthday.

I've known Anna since she was a a little kid -- we always joke that she's "four years old," but it turns out that she's actually an adult no longer in her teens. She is a beautiful, fun and smart girl and watching her grow up has been a pleasure. (I know I sound like I'm a mom right now and I'm embarrassed, but I'm also tearing up at the idea of Anna being so old!)

So, for her birthday, I decided I would make her a cake. Not just any cake, but my mom's special chocolate cake recipe. I had just made this same cake on Thursday of the same week for my co-worker who recently departed to a bigger and better job, and it came out great. Fluffy, moist -- and best of all, it looked beautiful. I iced it well, shaved dark chocolate on the top. It wasn't too difficult, but looked like a million bucks.

So I set out to make the same cake for Anna, and the picture above was the finished product. I don't know what I did wrong or how one cake could look so beautiful and same cake made two days later could look like a pile of dirt, but it happened. The funny thing was, however, the second cake still tasted delicious, even though it didn't look like it would. So we served it right up for dessert after dinner. Very classy.

I guess what I'm trying to say is, don't substitute skim milk for whole milk when a recipe calls for "milk." Cake simply needs a little fat to hold everything together.