I used to think 2007 was the most pivotal year of my life. In that year I graduated from high school, traveled to Europe, spent six weeks in Japan, and then moved to Washington, D.C. for college. Quite the radical change from the tiny little town of Leitchfield, Kentucky.

Then, of course, 2009 rolled around and I spent my first summer in D.C., started tweeting, then studied abroad in Copenhagen, Denmark for four months. I came back with a completely different perspective on the world. Then finally we made it to 2010.

I didn’t expect it this time last year, but 2010 ended up being possibly one of the most important years of my life. My perspectives on work, school, friendships and relationships all changed. I moved into a new apartment with a new roommate—my best friend—and got a cat. I started networking in D.C. and built an incredible network of friends that have absolutely changed my life in amazing, amazing ways.

So now, picking out a “most pivotal year” seems just silly. Every year of my life has been pivotal, especially the last few. I’m confident 2011 will be no different. I’m already kicking off this year with a trip to Las Vegas for the 2011 International Consumer Electronics Show. In January and February I’ll be giving workshops, guest lecturing in classes at my school, and even presenting at several exciting events. I’m starting my own independent consulting work, and in May, I’ll graduate with my B.S.B.A. in Marketing and B.A. in Public Communication from American University. Then, of course, off to the “real world”, and who knows what incredible experiences I’ll encounter there.

I’m starting 2011 with great friends, an exciting professional future, a fantastic city, incredible opportunities ahead, and God-only-knows what surprises. I’m excited.

• My first USA Today blog post is online! In it, I write about how George Friedman’s book The Next One Hundred Years has changed my perception of leadership as I enter my senior year of college. Go read it, and go “like” USA Today’s Facebook page while you’re at it–they’re doing some awesome work.
• The American University chapter of SMCEDU (Social Media Club for Education) is getting up and running, founded by yours truly. We’ve been recognized as an official student organization, signed on our faculty advisor, begun building up our faculty advisory board, and are submitting our first budget and rolling out our first advertisements in less than two weeks. Soon I’ll begin blogging on AU Professor Matt Nisbet’s blog, Age of Engagement, on the subject as well, and I couldn’t be more excited! Lots more on this topic coming soon.
• Class is moving along smoothly. My six classes this semester are keeping me busy, but haven’t become overwhelming yet (and hopefully they won’t!). It’s a refreshing change of pace from the past, since all of my courses this semester are major or minor related, with no general education courses. I feel like I’m enjoying them more, learning more and actually able to get my work done more efficiently. It’s nice.
• My computer is still dead. But being resuscitated as I type this (I hope). Finally got an Apple “genius” who seemed to know what he was talking about and it sounds like my hard drive is dying on me. It’s odd I can still access files, but he talked like there was basically something fatally corrupt about it that won’t let me boot the OS normally. He promised if replacing the hard drive didn’t fix it they wouldn’t charge me for it, so I let them go for it. Plus, they’re upgrading me to a 250 GB from a 160 GB, and I could use the extra space anyway.
• Work is still crazy, and squeezing in CEA work with TechChange work, and now my assistant editor duties at Technorati, is keeping me busy, busy, busy. I love them all though, and I wouldn’t trade these experiences for anything.

Anyway, there’s your quick update. Hoping to get some good content written up in the next day or two and keep you guys thinking over the next week.

It goes without saying (well, I’m saying it, really) that any and all entries, tweets, and other social media buzzing coming from me do not represent the views of my employer.

Now that that’s out of that way… I’m thrilled! Tomorrow I begin my marketing internship with the Consumer Electronics Association (thanks so much to @jp1113 for letting me know about the opportunity!). I’m not entirely sure what to expect, but I’m excited for the opportunity to work in a slightly different field (in other words, not PR) and I know my experiences in the past will help me out a lot as I take on new challenges and responsibilities.

As many of you know, I’ve already begun my duties as the Social Media Director for TechChange, and we’ll be launching our social media presence soon (and rest assured you’ll hear plenty about us). I think it’s safe to say it’s going to be a busy summer! But I’m excited about everything I’ve got going on and think I’ll have some opportunities to do some amazing work.

Speaking of work and interning, be sure you check out the AU Intern Blog, where I’ll be blogging periodically throughout the summer. I might also have a few other guest blogging appearances–I’ll let you know more about them as I find out more in the next few weeks!

Work today was good. I won’t delve into that much more because before too long I’m going to be writing blog posts for the American University Career Center about my internship experience, which I’ll crosspost here. After work, I attended my very first ever Social Media Club DC event, and it was fantastic! The event was held at the Consumer Electronics Association headquarters in Arlington and featured two speakers from the CEA, Megan Pollock and Joe Gizzi, as well as Frank Gruber, entrepreneur and co-founder of TECHcocktail, shinyheart and thankfulfor, among others.

But enough links and name-dropping–what did they talk about? Well, fresh back from the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, they talked about tech of course! And, naturally, how it all fits in with social media. Joe Gizzi, especially, had some really interesting things to say about the CEA’s social media strategy to build buzz and deal with attendee complaints/suggestions at the conference. He talked about software they use (namely, CoTweet) as well as how they keep track of much of their dizzying analytics (mostly Google Analytics and CoTweet). For the next few days, you can see some of the livestream from the event here on Twitter. Needless to say, it was enlightening and fun, and I’m already looking forward to the next SMC-DC event (which just so happens to be a Social Media Breakfast next Monday morning!).

Anyway, one last thing I’ll leave you with–an entry from One Day At A Time In Al-Anon. No, I’m not crazy. I just picked it up for free at the Social Justice Camp last weekend (they were giving out free books–all in the name of literacy!) because it looked like a fun thing to have on my bookshelf. It provides some inspirational little passages for each and every day of the year, and today’s seemed particularly relevant given my hectic schedule as of late. Here it is:

No matter what the problems are that we’re trying to cope with, a major source of frustration is trying to encompass too much at once. We forget that we need to deal with only one day at a time, and try to crowd too much into the waking hours of that day–or we even extend it beyond the point of weariness. We can get more out of each hour–and accomplish more–if we try to cope with only as much as is possible in that one day.

Appropriate, no? Always learning.