Second Semester and ASU Basketball

So it begins again. It is now time for our second semester of school and get right back into the swing of things. I’m not going to lie, this semester is looking pretty tough for me. I have all tourism classes and all are 300 and 400 level. Looking at the syllabi for these classes, I have a lot of group projects and a lot of term papers. Intense semester? I think so. I know I can do it and I’m sure I’ll be able to survive but it’s going to be pretty rough! I’m also taking my first online class ever and not by choice either. It’s only offered online, so we’ll see how that goes as well. Even though I’m a little nervous for this semester, I’m really looking forward to learning more about the Tourism industry. So far I really like what I’m getting in my lectures, just not looking forward to the huge papers down the road. Anyways, this is my schedule for Spring 2010.

TDM 325- Tourism Accommodations
TDM 345- Meeting and Convention Planning
TDM 350- Tourism Marketing (Online)
TDM 458- International Tourism
TDM 480- Nature-based Tourism

Like I said, all tourism and all 300 and 400 level classes. Other than my grueling schedule, I got to have another awesome experience here at ASU. I went to our men’s basketball game for the first time. It was on Saturday night and we were playing our rivals, U of A. Just like the football games, students and alumni were gathered together to cheer on our Sun Devils. The energy was high and since we were facing our rival team, the desire to win was overwhelming. Unfortunately, we lost, but my friends and I still had an amazing time. If you haven’t been to a game yet, you should soon! Try going to both the men’s and women’s games. The season is almost over so go out there and support your ASU Sun Devils! Hope everyone is having a great second semester and have an Awesome Day!!!



Lonni Summers

Support for Haiti

As many of you know, there was a devastating earthquake that hit Haiti on Tuesday. Many are badly injured and desperately need medical attention, shelter, food, and clean water. One of our very own ASU students, Christa Brelsford, was in Haiti as a student volunteer and was injured during the earthquake. Thankfully she is recovering in a hospital in Miami. Unfortunately most of the people in Haiti do not have access to good medical care and are in need of our help. Donating whatever you can will be greatly appreciated. These are a few organizations that are taking donations to aid people in Haiti.

American Red Cross

UNICEF

The Salvation Army

World Vision

Operations USA

CARE

I found out about these organizations through the email we received from Michael Crow, our ASU President. I’m sure there are more organizations that are aiding the people in Haiti that you can donate money to. Just be sure to do your research and be sure that the “organization” isn’t a shame and claiming to be something it’s not. Remember, any amount of money donated can help more than you know.



Lonni Summers

Honey and Acne

Today, I have decided to blog about something not related to tourism, ASU, or anything school related. I actually want to share my excitement over a new beauty tip I just discovered that can be used for guys and girls. We all get breakouts here and there and I know it’s not fun. I have recently been breaking out a lot which is weird because I never really ever had that problem before. I decided to look up a few ways to treat breakouts/acne. I don’t like using a lot of chemicals and I find that when I do my skin doesn’t like it very much, so I started researching natural ways to help my skin. That’s when I came across honey. At first I thought it was impossible! I mean, putting honey on my skin will help my breakout? You’re kidding, right? Yet, the more I researched, the more I found people raving about the results they were having, so I thought “What the heck! I’ll give it a try”.

I decided to just a do a plain honey mask. What you will need is pure honey. Make sure you have PURE honey and it doesn’t have any additives like corn syrup or anything else because those ingredients are not good for your skin. You can find pure honey at your grocery store or if you’re lucky like me, you might have some in your kitchen already.

Directions

1. Take about a tablespoon of honey and put it in a microwave safe container. Heat the honey up for about 6 seconds or less. Do Not overheat the honey because this stuff will boil and you don’t want to put that on your face. You just want the honey to get to a liquid consistency so it’s easier to spread on your face.

2. For girls, pull back your hair so it is out of your face. Next put some of the warm honey on your fingertips and starting with the affected area on the face (the area of the face with the acne) gently massage the honey into the skin.

3. Once you’ve cover the affected area, take more honey and start massaging it all over the rest of your face. You want to keep massaging the honey into the skin for about 3 to 5 minutes and after that, leave the honey on for about 15 to 20 minutes.

4. After the time is up, wash your face off with warm water. You don’t have to use soap; the warm water should do the trick just fine. Pat your face dry with a clean towel, and you’re done!

This treatment was great for my skin! I was really skeptical at first but after trying it, I love it. I instantly noticed reduced swelling and redness from my breakouts and the honey left my face feeling soft and moisturized. Now this treatment doesn’t completely get rid of your acne right away but it does help. Even if you don’t breakout or have any acne try doing this mask anyways. The warm honey feels really nice when you apply it and when you wash it off it leaves you face feeling amazing, so just try it! Have an Incredible Day!!!


Lonni Summers

Snow, Snow, Snow, and Oh Yeah, Sledding!

On December 30th through the 31st, my friends and I decided to take a trip up to Flagstaff to play in the snow. It turned out to be a couple’s trip because my best friend Reyna and her boyfriend Sean went with me and my boyfriend Andy. We loaded up our boxy Honda Element with a cooler full of food, snack food, water, and Capri Suns, crammed a couple of plastic sleds and a giant pink inflatable tube (which is actually suppose to be used for water, not snow), and we all piled into the car and headed out of the Valley. It was about a two and half hour ride up to Flagstaff so we entertained ourselves with a hodgepodge of music from all of our iPods and there was a lot of karaoke style singing going on in that car!


We finally made it up to Flagstaff and of course it started snowing, which was a little scary because Sean our driver has never driven in snow before, but he learned quickly! We made a quick stop at Target to get a few clothing items (I needed a belt and Sean needed a jacket. Who doesn’t bring a jacket to the snow?! Haha!) then we went and checked into our hotel. After resting for about an hour we all got ready and headed out to go ice skating! It was an indoor rink and we only paid six bucks to for skate rentals and admission. We all skated for about an hour then went to grab some dinner. We ate at the Beaver Street Brewery and the food was pretty good. After a long day, we all went back to the room to get some shut eye and wake up early the next morning for sledding.

The next day we woke up to a non snowing day and the sun was bright and shining. It was the perfect day to hit the hills and go sledding! After nourishing ourselves with the complementary breakfast from the hotel, we checked out, grabbed our belongings, and drove to the snow play area. We went to Crowley Pit Snow Play Area which was free of charge and plenty of big hills for us big kids! We grabbed our sleds, blew up the pink tube, and charged up the hills. There was a good amount of people there but it definitely not over crowded so there was plenty of room for everyone. We all took turns going down in various ways, front ways, head first, sideways, and every other way. After awhile, Andy and I decided to try going down a hill and then hitting a snow ramp while going down. At the time, it seemed like a good idea. He went first and ended up hitting the end of the ramp. When it was my turn, he told me to start to my right then start leaning left as I went down the hill, he said I should be able to hit the ramp right in the middle. Following my boyfriend’s directions, I actually did hit the ramp dead on the middle, BUT what I wasn’t ready for was hitting it at full speed, getting some serious air, freaking out, letting go of my sled, and totally wiping out. Mind you, all of that happened within like 7 seconds. After landing right on my butt and knocking all the air out of me, you would think I would be in tears. Well, I was but I also couldn’t stop laughing. I was in pain, cold, wet, and all bruised up but it was by far one of the funniest things I’ve ever done! I could not stop laughing despite the pain I was feeling on my behind. Andy came rushing down the hill to see if I was alright only to find me laughing, crying, and saying ow. He chuckled at my silliness and continued to help me up and brush the snow off of me. After that incident, we called our friends over and of course boys being boys, Sean and Andy decided to make the ramp bigger and better and try it out again. On my second run I was so scared but thankfully I didn’t eat it like last time, my friend Reyna… well not so lucky. She kind of hurt herself, so we decided that we had enough sledding for the day.

Completely exhausted, we got lunch, climbed back into the Honda Element and drove back down to the Valley. The trip was so much fun and full of memories that I will always keep. If you haven’t made it up North yet, GO NOW! Break is almost over and my advice to all of you is to do some sort of snow activity. Even if it’s just for the day, it’s so worth it! I added some pictures of our fun filled trip at the bottom. School is just around the corner but I hope everyone is having a fun break. Have a Wonderful Day!!!



Lonni Summers

A Night on the Town

Saturday nights for me usually consists of hanging out with friends, getting dinner, or maybe going out to see a movie. On January 2nd, my Saturday night was a little more exciting than usual. For a Christmas present I bought my boyfriend and I tickets to go see the Phoenix Suns play. I decided to turn his entire Christmas present into an all day event we could both enjoy.

We started our day around 3pm, and since he has never ever been on the light rail, we drove to the Apache and Dorsey Park and Ride stop and hopped on the light rail! Another bonus that came with riding the light rail on that particular day was the fact that my boyfriend didn’t have to pay for a light rail pass. To our benefit, the Metro light rail and the US Airways Center teamed up to create a special deal for light rail riders. It’s called Ride Rail Events. From October 1st till September 30th, 2010 if you purchase tickets to any event taking place in the US Airways Center, you are able to ride the light rail absolutely free. The time frame for this offer is four hours prior to the event and all the way till the end of the transit day. You just have to make sure to keep your event ticket with you at all times and must show this ticket to a fare inspector if asked. I really liked this, especially for Saturday night’s game because not only did we save money on gas, but my boyfriend and I did not have to spend time looking for a spot to park and also we didn’t have to pay any parking fees. If anyone is going to an event at the US Airways Center I highly recommend taking advantage of this deal!

After getting onto the light rail we rode it all the way to McDowell & Central where we hopped off to get dinner at The Old Spaghetti Factory. If you enjoy Italian food, I definitely recommend giving this place a shot. It is so awesome! This restaurant offers “complete meals” which means you get fresh baked bread, soup or salad, and a scoop of ice cream. This is all included in the price of your main course. It was my first time eating there, and the food was great. We ordered the Spinach Artichoke and Shrimp dip as an appetizer, then for the main course I ordered the Eggplant Parmigiana and my boyfriend got the Chicken Penne. Both dishes were so tasty and the prices were very reasonable. Also, not only was the food great the restaurant itself was so cool. It is decorated in all antiques and there is even a streetcar in the center of the restaurant that you can dine in! This place was so much fun and I highly suggest checking it out. Take a look at their website and their menu www.osf.com.

After dinner we got back on to the light rail and head towards the US Airways Center to watch the Phoenix Suns! The arena was bustling with people and the energy was high. Everyone was looking forward to a great game. Our seats were in the upper level and I was a little worried that the seats wouldn’t be that good but fortunately to my surprise they weren’t bad at all! In fact, they were great! We watched a very exciting game but in the end we lost, which put a slight damper on the rest of our night but it was nothing a little ice cream at Golden Spoon couldn’t cure! (They have really great frozen yogurt there and their portions are huge! Give them a try! http://www.goldenspoon.com/)

This was a great night on the town and I had a blast with my special someone. If any of these things sounded fun or interesting go ahead and check out the websites and for the Suns game schedule and ticket info go to www.nba.com/suns/. I hope everyone had a great New Years and have an Awesome Day!


Lonni Summers