What it Feels Like to Blog About Yourself

May 01, 2015 by Sara Woznicki in Life In Your 20's, life lessons, Makeup Sales, Sara's Column, Social Media, Tweets and Mascara, Work, Young Professionalism

When I first started my original blog, Tweets and Mascara, I very narrowly focused on social media and selling makeup (hence the name). I didn't tell anyone I knew about the fact that I had a blog. I blogged just for the few strangers that stumbled upon my site from time to time. That type of blogging was easy.

But then I started to write about myself. Transitioning out of college and into a new full-time job in a different city is really challenging, and I thought if I could just voice the struggle of making ends meet, maybe someone would read it and feel less alone. Maybe I could help someone through the transition because they would know that there's really green pastures ahead.

Birthday Thoughts

April 30, 2015 by Cazey Williams in Cazey's Column, Humor, Life In Your 20's, life lessons, Social Media

My birthday was Tuesday. If you forgot, I'm still accepting prepaid Visas and maybe even Facebook posts if you follow Facebook's suggestion and get me a Target gift card - or does Facebook even do that anymore? Oh well. You can still do it; the suggestion is right here.

My birthday sparked several thoughts, including can I still claim to be in my early twenties at 24? Or is this my mid-twenties? Say it ain’t so!

A Snapchat War

April 09, 2015 by Cazey Williams in Cazey's Column, Humor, Life In Your 20's, Social Media

Yesterday I discussed Snapchat's latest update and how Snapchat has ignited friendship wars in the past. Everyone wants to be their best friend's top Snapchat user - or maybe that's just me. But relationships have ended over this sort of thing.

Thankfully, I'm single, so that's never happened to me. And Snapchat is just an inane app for sending selfies, so why do I care who my friends' top Snappers are - as long as I'm in the top spot? That's right, folks: Ever since discovering Snapchat in January 2013, I have managed to maintain a monopoly over many of my friend's top spot. It wasn't hard; all I had to do was Snapchat pictures whenever I bought iced coffee, battled through grad school projects late at night, or heard a great song on the radio. I don't worry about my friends' top spot because I know I have dominion.

Snapchat Best Friends, or the New MySpace Top 8

April 08, 2015 by Cazey Williams in Cazey's Column, Humor, Life In Your 20's, Social Media

Assuming your phone automatically updates your apps, millennial friendship dynamics shifted on Monday while you were Facebooking. That is, Snapchat released a new version - one which allows users to identify their mutual besties, six degrees of separation, and who is the Judas of your best friends (who you snap all the time and they don't reciprocate).

In case you don't use Snapchat, it's an app that allows friends to send self-deleting photos and messages to one another. Snapchat used to be just in good fun (and maybe sexting) before they allowed friends to see who their friends' top Snappers were. You could click on a person's name and see the top three people who they snapped with.

No big deal, right?

Confession: I Ran a Secret Society's Twitter That I Wasn't In

March 18, 2015 by Cazey Williams in Cazey's Column, Humor, Social Media

At my undergrad, we had a secret society that recognized members of our campus every semester. Let's call it ZZZ. As is the case with most secret societies, ZZZ membership was secret.

My junior year of college, I decided to make ZZZ a Twitter account. No, I was not part of the secret society. I just realized they lacked social media presence, so why not give back?

Our first tweet (our being just me representing this secret society I had no affiliation with) was, "We're watching you." Someone retweeted it. Fool.

We then tweeted, "Congratulations to the people we recognized today!" I had to feign a bit of legitimacy. Then I went on a following spree.

Swipe Right With Your Credit Card? You Can Now Pay for Tinder

March 12, 2015 by Sara Woznicki in Cazey's Column, Dating, Humor, Leisure, Life In Your 20's, life lessons, Sara's Column, Social Media

We're surprised it's not trending on Facebook yet, but Tinder - the grimier of today's dating apps - has launched a subscription service. As in, you will need to pay to swipe right if you want certain perks. You know, because you've met so many gems on Tinder that a subscription will totally be worth it.

What does this mean for us American twenty-somethings?

Six Types of People the Dress Introduced You To

February 28, 2015 by Cazey Williams in Cazey's Column, Humor, Life In Your 20's, Social Media

On Thursday night, I read a Buzzfeed article about a dress, went out for ice cream, and returned an hour later to social media overtaken by color confusion like an African virus. Seriously, who didn't either post or like a status about this phenomenon? Personally, I posted two statuses.

Anyway, I noticed six different types of people emerge:

The Hills Are Alive with the Sound of Bandwagoners

February 27, 2015 by astoldoverbrunch in Guest Post, Life In Your 20's, Social Media

By Carlisle SargentOur guest blogger this week is Carlisle Sargent, currently living undercover as a jaded graduate student in South Carolina. She is a cofounder of the esteemed audio startup, Goat Rodeo, as well as a lover of good design and giving bad advice. Play with her here. If you are interested in guest blogging, email us at AsToldOverBrunch@gmail.com.

I remember this moment clearly. At the grungy claptrap my best friends and I rented in college, we hosted many parties. I was often in charge of the playlist because I am exceptionally selective about the music that I dance to. On this particular night, at this particular party, my brother was hanging out in the living room with some of his wide-eyed freshman friends. I walked in and fiddled with the music until I found something I liked. After a few minutes, I heard my brother yell.

“Carlie, woah, this beat. This is GAGA?!”

The song I chose was "Scheiße," the 7th track from Lady Gaga’s album Born This Way. And yes, at about thirty seconds in, a laser-blasted-super-synthy-strut-your-sh*t-club-going-up-on-a-Tuesday dance beat is dropped, and it is dirty. Although I was happy that my brother, a musical genius in his own right, could appreciate one of the lesser-known Gaga hits, I was bummed. How are people continually surprised that this woman makes incredible music?

Stop the Thought Crimes: Use Words, Not Emojis

February 20, 2015 by Sara Woznicki in Life In Your 20's, life lessons, Sara's Column, Social Media, Tweets and Mascara

**Originally posted on WriteHere**

George Orwell’s novel 1984 is becoming a reality, but it's not the government deeming self-expression a thought crime. We’re doing it to ourselves. For those of you who haven’t read 1984 (or for those who were supposed to read it in high school and never did), the basic premise of the book is that the government is working to control people’s thoughts through Newspeak, where they eliminate words so that people cannot rebel.

When the government takes away words, it lessens people’s ability to object to their totalitarian ways, and hinders people from being able to give a deeper context to their thoughts. Without words, people lose their ability to think on their own accord because they can't articulate anything other than what the government wishes. It’s mind control.

Five More Facebook Friends Who I Don't Know

February 05, 2015 by Cazey Williams in Cazey's Column, Humor, Life In Your 20's, Social Media

Previously I wrote about five friends I have on Facebook who I don't really know. In compiling that list, I realized there are more than five, so here are five more.

Ace: He is a recent friend, and he added me. He’s either the cousin or brother of my middle school crush’s best friend. I’m not sure why I accepted, but he seems harmless and aforementioned middle school’s crush best friend is in his profile picture. He now sits on my list of suggested friends to chat, which won’t be happening.

Dwayne: In high school my best friend and I went shopping at Macy’s because I needed a suit. Our salesman was only, you know, a decade older, so why not hit on my friend and tell us your pot stories and how well-connected your family is (meanwhile, you’re working in Macy’s…)? Maybe you’ll get me to buy the suit. Young and impressionable, my friend and I became Facebook friends with Dwayne. I think the add happened while we were standing together in the men’s section of Macy’s. He never did hook us up with pot.