Pope Benedict XVI tries to bring the Vatican into the Internet age…

To communicate with the youth of our times Vatican officials and Catholic bishops are now taking lessons from Facebook, Wikipedia, and Google executives. I think it’s pretty awesome that they’re catching on and making the effort, but I can also see this ending badly. Looking back at my friends and I as teenagers, we had a hard time taking religion seriously at our tiny Catholic highschool. Now I can see why, our religion teachers never leveled with us or were realistic about what we did in our spare time or what the youth of our generation were dealing with. They were way too old-fashioned for that, and we were way too smart to not ask questions and be critical (which they didn’t like).

Although Pope Benedict is getting fresh with the times, he should probably remember that it’s not always the source of communication but more so the approach. You can use Facebook and Twitter to show up on the radar as much as you want, but it’s still all about your content.

And let’s be serious: If you’re going to go anywhere near tweeting about topics as ridiculous as condoms aren’t the answer to Africa’s AIDS epidemic, you’re flat out cut.

Click here to read the article!

What do you think about this?

Shepherd’s Ooh and Aah Fashion Show in support of Youville Centre

If you give a hoot about fashion in Ottawa, then you already know about the annual Shepherd’s Ooh and Aah Fashion Show in support of the Youville Centre that took place on Thursday, October 22. I consider myself very into fashion, and can’t believe I hadn’t discovered this fashion show until this year.

First, one thing you should give a hoot about is contributing to society and helping out those who aren’t as financially fortunate or have had as many opportunities as most of us, and that’s  what this night was all about. The Youville Centre is a post-secondary institution designed for teenage at-risk moms to finish their highschool education, while their babies are taken care of at the daycare in the centre at the same time. The centre provides an opportunity for young moms to get their lives back on track and become great parents in a place where they feel safe and secure.

As I recall being in highschool was hard enough as it was, I can’t imagine having a baby in with the mix, and just that in itself makes me a huge supporter of the Youville Centre and the work that they do there.

This year the Shepherd’s fashion show brought in a whopping $42, 000 which will pay for the centre to have counselling services for the girls for another year. This is obviously a big deal.

So you might be wondering how this fashion show brought in this much money?  Well,  it clearly had some great publicity and promotion, also the show is an annual event, and there are a lot of very generous and giving people in Ottawa. But what made the show incredible? The unbelievable and beautiful clothing from Shepherd’s Fashions. If you’re not familiar with the store there are two of them in Ottawa, one in the Rideau Centre and the other in Bayshore mall. I had walked past Shepherd’s on the third floor in Rideau Centre many times but never gone in. I will admit that I wasn’t sure that the store was for women my age but more for an older clientele, but boy was I wrong. The clothes are classy, elegant, and most importantly: timeless. My breath was literally taken away by many of the outfits the models came out in, and you can bet that the second I had the opportunity I was in the store pricing things out. Marlene Shepherd (owner) has done wonders for Youville Centre, and people couldn’t praise her enough throughout the whole evening.

Another reason the show was amazing was the insanely decadent and delicious food supplied by Creative Kosher Catering. David Smith, kosher caterer and party designer, had the most beautifully displayed and fantastic tasting food I think I’ve ever seen. It also helped that he donated in-house catering parties to auction bidders, and did it by announcing it on stage while pumping up the audience dancing to Love Generation by Bob Sinclar up and down the catwalk. The audience were literally all on their feet dancing, and the atmosphere in the room was so full of love and joy it was hard not to tear up.

Lastly, the door prizes, silent auction, and live auction were absolutely incredible. Maybe I’m biased, because I totally won $500 worth of MAC makeup and couldn’t stop smiling for about three days after. After this, I thought it only appropriate to bid on a beautiful red purse in the silent auction, won the bid, and I’ve never ever gotten so many compliments on an accessory in my life.

Hands down, an amazing night! I’ve never seen more fashionable women in my life. Every woman there had their own classy and beautiful sense of fashion and I couldn’t help but stare and admire. SO if you love fashion like I do, and if you feel like giving to a good cause, keep Shepherd’s Ooh and Aah Fashion Show in support of Youville Centre on your radar!

 

Quebec City love

Le vin tue lentement. On s’en fout ou n’est pas pressé! (Something I loved written on the wall at a little French restaurant in Old Quebec!)

After a week in Quebec City with work I’ve determined two things: 1) I love wine and all food bad for me and 2) I desperately need to learn how to speak French, (I know… I should be embarrassed to have a last name like Lafleche and not speak the language). Being there I realized how beautiful the language is, and also how much my career will suffer if I don’t learn to speak it.

Living in Ottawa and working in communications (especially in government) you need to be bilingual.  I have until September  to learn how to speak French, or I’m looking for a new job.

I have no problem admitting that this terrifies me. Don’t get me wrong, I have faith in myself and when I set my mind to something I do it, but that doesn’t mean that underneath the calm and cool exterior that is Cait Lafleche (joke) there’s a 23-year-old freaking the heck out! (Let’s be honest people confidence is key, but there isn’t a person in the world who hasn’t questioned themself at one point or another).

However I’m quite aware  that I need to set my doubts aside before they completely blind me, and so begins my French learning journey. For starters I ordered French for Dummies, which is very basic and a lot of things I already know but good to have anyways. I’ve gotten all of my friends who speak the language to send me e-mails and messages throughout the day only in French, I started reading French magazines and listening to French radio, and I’ve decided to sign up for an intensive French course at Algonquin in January.

I know I can do this, not only for my career but for me. I like to challenge myself and do things that I fear I can’t (like running the Beat Beethoven 4 K race this past weekend, and kicking his butt), and learning this beautiful language is one of them.

If you have any advice or tips on learning the language, please let me know!

As for Quebec City, I was astonished at the beauty and culture. The chocolate croissants, sugar pie, duck dishes, and wine basically made me the happiest girl in the world!

 

10 funniest people on Twitter

So it’s been a while… Mainly because I’ve been away with work a lot, which I’ll tell you all about later. For now, I thought I’d do a quick update with an article I came across tonight that I enjoyed. Click here to read the 10 funniest people on Twitter! (They make me giggle!)

Short and sweet I know, but I’ll be back!

DELICIOUS!

Besides writing about and reading PR blogs, I’m also addicted to reading food blogs. I don’t know why I do it to myself, because it makes me so ridiculously hungry and envious of amazing cooks. My favorite food blog belongs to my mother, probably because I’ve had her meals many a times, and she is a phenomenal cook. Check out her blog here!

I’ve been doing some cooking as well… Which would make most people I know fall over laughing. However, I’ve been really experimenting in the kitchen and this weekend while visiting my hometown Peterborough, I cooked a meal for my grandparents who were uber impressed (and they weren’t just being nice).

I cooked stuffed peppers and an put together an awesome salad! For all you non-domestic people who get laughed at for stepping foot in a kitchen this is actually an easy thing to make.

Stuffed Peppers: Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Start with some uncooked ground beef, mash it up in a bowl and throw in a bunch of garlic (I used garlic puree, but anything you have will do), some cut up onions, cut up mushrooms, pepper, a tiny bit of beaf broth, some diced tomatoes, and about a cup of uncooked rice. Mash all together. Stuff into peppers (that you cut the middle out of). Put in big casserole dish, throw beef broth on the top ( a step I missed and the top got crunchy) as well as just randomly around the dish so the peppers have something to soak in. Add some diced tomatoes in there as well. Cover in tinfoil (another thing I missed, it took extra long to cook). Cook for about an hour.

*Eat plain yogurt with your peppers. My Turkish friend and her family use plain yogurt with most of their food, and I thought it tasted particularly awesome with stuffed peppers.

Salad: Cut up garlic and onions together (a trick I learned from a friend, instead of putting the garlic in the dressing put it right in the salad) then add tomatoes (I had an assortment of different coloured ones), add cucumber, iceberg lettuce, and then avocado. For the sauce: Mix together olive oil with freshly squeezed lemon juice, throw a dash of orange juice in for sweetness, and some pepper.

** Keep in mind I’m not domesticated so yes I will say things like “mash it” (instead of mix it)  and “throw a dash” (instead of a tablespoon). Who do you think I am? Betty friggin Crocker?

What I love about Twitter

So I said it was coming.. and after work and travel keeping me busy.. I’m finally sitting down to write about why I love Twitter.

First and foremost I love Twitter because it’s saved my butt more than a few times. For quite a while I was doing a lot of design work from home, so when my Quark expired on me with a four o’clock deadline I nearly passed out  because it was the only design program I knew (the only one I was taught in school). I knew that my boyfriend had InDesign on his computer, and that it was my only option. So I opened it up and starting designing a newsletter,  and the basics were easy and very similiar to Quark but there were many little tricks that I knew in Quark to make my design work look extra awesome (value added of course), you know those finishing touches that complete the whole project. Well, that’s where I ran into the problem. I couldn’t find the little tricks anywhere, even after google searching them. So, I logged on to Twitter, and I tweeted out to the world if anybody knew how to do them. Instantly I received replies, from some classmates, but also from a lot of people I didn’t know at all. By the end of the day I had tweeted several questions, and found all of my answers on Twitter. Twitter is the perfect resource for when you don’t know the answer to something, because guarantee someone out there will.

Another reason I love Twitter, is because I find out about all sorts of events and news happening around Ottawa.

“I love finding out things (events, news etc.) as they happen,” says fellow PR grad and avid Twitter user Nicole Reid. If you follow CBC or CNN, or basically any news outlet, you’ll see constant news updates as they’re happening. Also, it’s super beneficial for us PR and communications folk because there are constantly workshops and social gatherings being posted which really gives us an opportunity to network.

Networking! Another reason why I love Twitter. Although I’m a firm believer in face to face communications, Twitter is a great way to network  with other people in your field. When I first joined Twitter, I went through lists of people who my PR friends followed, and came across many people in my field all around the world who I now follow daily. This is perfect for finding jobs, receiving advice and tips, learning things you didn’t know and seeing different perspectives, and of course forming relationships with people in your field. This is also an excellent way to get people to check out what you’re doing, and if you have a blog it’s a great way to get people to read it and recommend it.

Finally, a guilty pleasure of mine and another reason why I love Twitter is following certain celebrities (that’s fine you can shake your head and mutter smut under your breath). Personally my favorite is following John Mayer, because his tweets are mostly his random thoughts which are usually hilarious and which really make him human and personalizes the whole celebrity thing.

So now that I’m done, what are your favorite things about Twitter?

(Follow me on Twitter!)

Taking viral marketing to the next level..

Check this out!

Apparently this is just some viral marketing campaign for the movie 2012 directed by Roland Emmerich coming out later this year. I was just sitting here watching some TV, when a commercial for this site came on. I was thinking you’ve got to be kidding me!!! A lottery for the 2012 end of the world? So I googled it and this site came up, and for a few minutes I was actually believing the site was for real, and fear started to creep up on me. However, looking into it more I soon realized that it was a viral marketing ploy… But still, I can’t imagine how many people actually believe this lottery is real. Has viral marketing gone too far? What do you think?

Summer adventures: Prince Edward Island with work!

The summer of rain..

Jobs in social media

Algonquin PR alumni really are superstars and here is a perfect example:

Kelly Rusk is pretty much a social media goddess, no lies.
Someday I’d love to have a social media job, it’s pretty much a dream job of mine at this point.