Why didn’t you tell me I’d develop a case of deployment brain? When my friend was six months pregnant, she woke up, dressed and drove to work on a Saturday morning. She thought it was a Friday. When she arrived at her office the parking lot was empty.Click here to read the full story.
“Pregnancy brain,” she said, when my forehead creased in confusion.
At the time I didn’t understand this kind of brain blip. I wasn’t married or even dating my husband. . . . .
Showing posts with label Aimee Cirucci. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Aimee Cirucci. Show all posts
Monday, August 5, 2013
Aimee [Cirucci] Lorge Writes On 'Deployment Brain'
The incredible Aimee [Cirucci] Lorge tells a funny, heartfelt real-life story at spousebuzz.com:
Tuesday, May 8, 2012
Love Springs Eternal: A Glorious Wedding!
Sometimes, both the bride AND the groom wear white.
At least that's what happens in a full military wedding when the groom is part of the US Navy.
Here are some more photos from this past weekend's wedding of Aimee Cirucci and Lt. Matt Lorge.
The entire day was aglow with the magic of love. And yes, a wedding like this does renew one's faith in the magic of amore!
Sunday, May 6, 2012
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Aimee Cirucci Offers PR Expertise
Aimee Cirucci's web site has been completely redesigned and you owe it to yourself to visit the site pronto.
Aimee offers public relations and writing services including:
- Public relations strategy and planning
Press release and newsletter writing and editing
Media relations services
Website content creation
Speech writing and scripting
Social media consulting and planning
A graduate of Wake Forest University (BA) and Temple University (MS in Communication Management) Aimee is also an award-winning freelance writer specializing in personal essays and creative non-fiction. For more on that visit the writing section section of her site.
Aimee's diverse public relations and marketing experience includes agency, non-profit and corporate work with a focus on social media. She has successfully a promoted a wide range of companies and spokespeople in the following industries: transportation, engineering, financial services, consumer products and high tech.
Saturday, January 9, 2010
We Welcome The World
France. England. Germany, Japan. Czech Republic. Canada. Croatia. Belgium. Philippines. India. Jordan. Poland. Sweden. United Arab Emirates.These are just some of the nations represented by our recent visitors to this blog.
Yes, we welcome people from every continent -- from every part of the world!
Is it any wonder that we have attracted more than 100,000 visitors and nearly a quarter of a million page views?
And now we're also featuring the writing and reporting of Aimee Cirucci.
Aimee is an exceptionally gifted writer, accomplished communications scholar and professional. Plus, she's also a prolific essayist and commentator who has seen her work published in numerous books, magazines and e-zines. She speaks for a whole new generation with a fresh view of the current scene.
Welcome, Aimee.
And welcome, everyone from every part of the world!
You participation and your comments are generously appreciated.
Monday, January 4, 2010
Welcome Aimee Cirucci!
For two years all of the posts here have been mine.But with the dawn of 2010, we welcome a new writer who joins the staff - Aimee Cirucci.
Aimee Cirucci is a Philadelphia-area educator, writer, and communications professional.
She teaches public relations writing to undergraduates in the Strategic and Organizational Communications program at Temple University where she has received her MS in Communications. She is also the Web Communications Coordinator for K'Nex Brands.
A graduate of Wake Forest University, Aimee advises select public relations clients on a freelance basis.
As a freelance writer Aimee often focuses on women, family, and relationships.
Her articles and personal essays have appeared on numerous websites including: Absolute Write, Identity Theory, The Imperfect Parent, The Savvy Gal, Sister Divas Magazine, and Women’s Web.
Aimee spent seven years practicing public relations and marketing in Washington DC where her work appeared in national trade publications and newsletters. She has also provided pro bono writing and media relations services to the American Red Cross.
You can find Aimee's first contribution to this site directly below this announcement.
As you might imagine, we've known Aimee for a long time and we're big fans of hers and delighted to have her on board.
Go, Aimee!
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Aimee Cirucci Featured Nationally!
From Rachel Zupek at Career Builder:
For many workers, finding a balance between personal and professional commitments is a constant battle. In a March 2009 CareerBuilder survey of more than 8,000 workers, only 13 percent said they were very satisfied with their work/life balance. Fifteen percent said they were dissatisfied.
Between work, family, friends and all of life's little extras, it often seems there are just not enough hours in the day. So what happens when you add to going to school in the equation? Today's economy has many people returning to school in lieu of working full time, while others have chosen to enhance their education to make themselves more marketable to employers.
In the same CareerBuilder survey, 21 percent of workers said they were going to school to make themselves more viable for employers. Of that group, 7 percent go to school full time, 3 percent attend part time and 5 percent take classes online.
Have you toyed with the idea of going back to school, but didn't think you could? Here are 10 stories from workers who thought they didn't have time for school and how they made it work.
Aimee Cirucci, writer/editor/public relations specialist
After seven years working in various marketing communications jobs, I quit my job, sold my home and, at age 29, moved back in with my parents for six months while I found work and made my dream of going back to school for a graduate degree a reality. I wish I hadn't let seven years pass thinking this wasn't possible. I am currently finishing up an MS in communication management. I received a teaching assistantship that covered one year of my education and discovered a deep love of university teaching. I applied and was accepted to the Ph.D. program and will likely begin in 2010. I really do think that if you leap, a net will appear -- for me it has completely been the case. The hard part is just getting the courage to take that leap. . . .
For many workers, finding a balance between personal and professional commitments is a constant battle. In a March 2009 CareerBuilder survey of more than 8,000 workers, only 13 percent said they were very satisfied with their work/life balance. Fifteen percent said they were dissatisfied.
Between work, family, friends and all of life's little extras, it often seems there are just not enough hours in the day. So what happens when you add to going to school in the equation? Today's economy has many people returning to school in lieu of working full time, while others have chosen to enhance their education to make themselves more marketable to employers.
In the same CareerBuilder survey, 21 percent of workers said they were going to school to make themselves more viable for employers. Of that group, 7 percent go to school full time, 3 percent attend part time and 5 percent take classes online.
Have you toyed with the idea of going back to school, but didn't think you could? Here are 10 stories from workers who thought they didn't have time for school and how they made it work.
Aimee Cirucci, writer/editor/public relations specialist
After seven years working in various marketing communications jobs, I quit my job, sold my home and, at age 29, moved back in with my parents for six months while I found work and made my dream of going back to school for a graduate degree a reality. I wish I hadn't let seven years pass thinking this wasn't possible. I am currently finishing up an MS in communication management. I received a teaching assistantship that covered one year of my education and discovered a deep love of university teaching. I applied and was accepted to the Ph.D. program and will likely begin in 2010. I really do think that if you leap, a net will appear -- for me it has completely been the case. The hard part is just getting the courage to take that leap. . . .
Monday, August 17, 2009
A Picture Perfect Wedding
Over the weekend we journeyed to a picturesque village in the sky for the wedding of Kristi Lee Lake and Charles Spencer Cooper at All Souls Church in Tannersville, New York.A beautiful reception followed at the classic Onteora Club Field House high in the Catskill Mountains.
Kristi is best friends with Aimee Cirucci. The two of them (pictured) attended Wake Forest University together. She is also the daughter of our friends Don and Doris Lake of Frederick, Maryland.
Both Kristi and Charles live on Capital Hill and work in Washington. Charles is a key Republican staffer on the House side and Kristi works for a pharmaceutical company.
Kristi and Charles (pictured) are a wonderful couple and they were joined for a joyful weekend in Tannersville surrounded by many dear friends and family members.
The weather was perfect and the weekend proceeded without a hitch.
The views and the colors from every angle were stunning.
Kristi and Charles are now off to Bella Italia for their honeymoon.
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Libraries Open New Doors
From Aimee Cirucci at Associated Content:
I don't know when I stopped reading, but I'll never forget when I started again. I was 25, a few years out of college and living in the suburbs of Washington, DC.
A voracious reader as a child and young adult, somewhere between a trying high school experience and a terrific college tenure, I simply stopped turning the pages. Hobbies, like loves, come and go, one minute you're scrap-booking with reckless abandon, the next you're wondering what you ever saw in all those stickers and stamps. Reading was like that for me. Sure, I hadn't stopped all together, I read just enough to get by in my classes, and later in my job, but reading for pleasure had gone the way of '80s hair bands.
People who have religious conversations often speak of an indescribable but powerful pull and that was the sensation I had when I felt the urge to read again. I was knee deep in the post college malaise of an office job that left me unfulfilled and a paycheck that just covered my newly acquired mortgage, doing everything expected of me, but painfully aware that something was missing.
Though I felt drawn to reading it wasn't until two collapsed lungs forced me to give up my long-distance running habit that I acted on the impulse. I had extra time on my hands and a yearning I was unable to quench with movies, television, friends, and Oprah-type self-improvement strategies. It was then that I discovered the Arlington, VA Library. Tentative at first, like a visitor returning to a place I used to know, I ordered a card over the Internet and slipped in one day after work to get my bearings. I left that day with ten or twelve books. An ex-pat from the library for so many years, when I returned it was as if I had never left. Sure the technology had changed - self check out machines, no more card catalogue of my youth - but the visceral experience had not, the smell of the books, the excitement and potential they presented, the feel of the spines running underneath my fingertips as I picked, pondered, and pulled them from here and there.
My old love returned with a vengeance. I found the excitement my office job denied me, I found friends when I was lonely, travel when I didn't have the money, and stories that utterly absorbed me. And the library itself became my hangout, it was my Cheers, my after work wind down place and the one spot that always relaxed me. I went even when I didn't need books. I went for the silence, the smiling faces, the stolen moments to sort out my life. And slowly I did. Idiscovered audio books and found they were the perfect anecdote for the congested capitol-area traffic. I began recommending books to friends and keeping a log of those I read every year. That first year I read fourteen books and felt utterly victorious! Who would guess that within two years I'd be reading an average of seventy?
I discovered favorite authors - Jennifer Weiner, Marian Keyes, Anne Lamott, Abigail Thomas - visited their websites and went to see them speak. I started to read publishing industry blogs, track new releases and unsurprisingly, to write myself.
It is no exaggeration to say that the simple act of stepping into the library changed my life. Eventually I quit that office job and felt strong enough to search for my own adventures. I moved from Arlington and joined the large and vibrant Philadelphia Free Public Library and subtly and seamlessly, like the plot of any good novel, my life came together. Before I knew it my profession and my passion were bedmates. The more I read, the more I wrote, and the more I saw my words in print. I felt most successful when I sold my first essay to a print anthology. Part of my payment included a free copy of the book. As you might imagine, I gave it away. For me the real thrill was checking it out of the library.
I don't know when I stopped reading, but I'll never forget when I started again. I was 25, a few years out of college and living in the suburbs of Washington, DC.
A voracious reader as a child and young adult, somewhere between a trying high school experience and a terrific college tenure, I simply stopped turning the pages. Hobbies, like loves, come and go, one minute you're scrap-booking with reckless abandon, the next you're wondering what you ever saw in all those stickers and stamps. Reading was like that for me. Sure, I hadn't stopped all together, I read just enough to get by in my classes, and later in my job, but reading for pleasure had gone the way of '80s hair bands.
People who have religious conversations often speak of an indescribable but powerful pull and that was the sensation I had when I felt the urge to read again. I was knee deep in the post college malaise of an office job that left me unfulfilled and a paycheck that just covered my newly acquired mortgage, doing everything expected of me, but painfully aware that something was missing.
Though I felt drawn to reading it wasn't until two collapsed lungs forced me to give up my long-distance running habit that I acted on the impulse. I had extra time on my hands and a yearning I was unable to quench with movies, television, friends, and Oprah-type self-improvement strategies. It was then that I discovered the Arlington, VA Library. Tentative at first, like a visitor returning to a place I used to know, I ordered a card over the Internet and slipped in one day after work to get my bearings. I left that day with ten or twelve books. An ex-pat from the library for so many years, when I returned it was as if I had never left. Sure the technology had changed - self check out machines, no more card catalogue of my youth - but the visceral experience had not, the smell of the books, the excitement and potential they presented, the feel of the spines running underneath my fingertips as I picked, pondered, and pulled them from here and there.
My old love returned with a vengeance. I found the excitement my office job denied me, I found friends when I was lonely, travel when I didn't have the money, and stories that utterly absorbed me. And the library itself became my hangout, it was my Cheers, my after work wind down place and the one spot that always relaxed me. I went even when I didn't need books. I went for the silence, the smiling faces, the stolen moments to sort out my life. And slowly I did. Idiscovered audio books and found they were the perfect anecdote for the congested capitol-area traffic. I began recommending books to friends and keeping a log of those I read every year. That first year I read fourteen books and felt utterly victorious! Who would guess that within two years I'd be reading an average of seventy?
I discovered favorite authors - Jennifer Weiner, Marian Keyes, Anne Lamott, Abigail Thomas - visited their websites and went to see them speak. I started to read publishing industry blogs, track new releases and unsurprisingly, to write myself.
It is no exaggeration to say that the simple act of stepping into the library changed my life. Eventually I quit that office job and felt strong enough to search for my own adventures. I moved from Arlington and joined the large and vibrant Philadelphia Free Public Library and subtly and seamlessly, like the plot of any good novel, my life came together. Before I knew it my profession and my passion were bedmates. The more I read, the more I wrote, and the more I saw my words in print. I felt most successful when I sold my first essay to a print anthology. Part of my payment included a free copy of the book. As you might imagine, I gave it away. For me the real thrill was checking it out of the library.
Friday, February 27, 2009
Doing The 'Scary' Thing
From Aimee Cirucci:I have always loved the phrase,
“do the scary thing,” the idea that when faced with two choices you should choose the one that most frightens you. Unfortunately I found it difficult in practice. If anyone was born to be a stable and reliable company girl it was me; my mother worked as a third grade teacher for more than thirty years, and my father wrapped up his career at the Philadelphia Bar Association after twenty-seven formidable ones. I appreciated security and stability and seemed destined to work my way up at a large corporate behemoth enjoying nice benefits and a burgeoning retirement fund even if not my work.
Almost immediately I was disillusioned. The office politics, power trips of middle managers and emphasis on perks like corporate cell phones and parking spaces made the whole thing feel silly and trivial, hardly worth the expensive suit I bought for it.
So when college graduation came, unlike those who decided to teach English in Bali, bound off for the Peace Corps or pursue acting careers, I chose the least frightening option and got myself a “professional” job. Almost immediately I was disillusioned.
Almost immediately I was disillusioned. The office politics, power trips of middle managers and emphasis on perks like corporate cell phones and parking spaces made the whole thing feel silly and trivial, hardly worth the expensive suit I bought for it.
So when college graduation came, unlike those who decided to teach English in Bali, bound off for the Peace Corps or pursue acting careers, I chose the least frightening option and got myself a “professional” job. Almost immediately I was disillusioned.
To read the rest of Aimee's latest published work in Sasee click here.
Thursday, November 27, 2008
The Ciruccis Are Thankful
Thanksgiving has given Adam Cirucci and Aimee Cirucci a great deal to be thankful for.
Adam Cirucci, the redoubtable legislative assistant to Pennsylvania State Senator Andy Dinniman has done a remarkable job helping to steer Senator Dinniman to a significant re-election victory earlier this month. Since Adam is responsible for much of the Senator's community and media relations, his work in crafting the Senator's messages and outreach has proved vital.
You can sample some of Adam's fine work here and here and here.
And don't forget to check out Senator Dinniman's beautifully designed and written newsletter here.
I can attest to the fact that it's not easy to be a PR pro but Adam already has a leg up on some of the best of them. Of course, he has valuable experience as an award-winning journalist and has also published quite a few pieces of fiction and commentary.
As for the prolific Aimee Cirucci, she reports that "Fall produced a wonderful harvest of writing opportunities."
Aimee has a piece in the upcoming book Six-Word Memoirs on Love and Heartbreak publishing on January 6th from Harper and already mentioned in the NY Post.
Her essay called "Video Killed the Love Story" will be published in What Was I Thinking?: 58 Bad Boyfriend Stories releasing on February 3rd from St. Martin's Press (it is also her first hardcover anthology).
Her first printed magazine article called "Leaving My Job, Finding Myself" will appear in the January issue of Sasee a Southern lifestyle magazine for women.
Her article "The Story of You" recently appeared on BettyConfidential and sparked enough interest that she'll be speaking further about it on Real Life, Even Better a blog talk radio show hosted by Michele Gentile, date is TBA.
Her writing appeared for the first time in both WritersWeekly and Chicken Soup for the Soul earlier this Fall.
And finally, she has started providing articles for Associated Content which offers a comprehensive multimedia library on almost every topic, her first piece is available here. Aimee's website and Facebook page are always updated as articles appear and she tweets about books, writing, publishing, and anything else that crosses her mind on twitter.
Adam Cirucci, the redoubtable legislative assistant to Pennsylvania State Senator Andy Dinniman has done a remarkable job helping to steer Senator Dinniman to a significant re-election victory earlier this month. Since Adam is responsible for much of the Senator's community and media relations, his work in crafting the Senator's messages and outreach has proved vital.
You can sample some of Adam's fine work here and here and here.
And don't forget to check out Senator Dinniman's beautifully designed and written newsletter here.
I can attest to the fact that it's not easy to be a PR pro but Adam already has a leg up on some of the best of them. Of course, he has valuable experience as an award-winning journalist and has also published quite a few pieces of fiction and commentary.
As for the prolific Aimee Cirucci, she reports that "Fall produced a wonderful harvest of writing opportunities."
Aimee has a piece in the upcoming book Six-Word Memoirs on Love and Heartbreak publishing on January 6th from Harper and already mentioned in the NY Post.
Her essay called "Video Killed the Love Story" will be published in What Was I Thinking?: 58 Bad Boyfriend Stories releasing on February 3rd from St. Martin's Press (it is also her first hardcover anthology).
Her first printed magazine article called "Leaving My Job, Finding Myself" will appear in the January issue of Sasee a Southern lifestyle magazine for women.
Her article "The Story of You" recently appeared on BettyConfidential and sparked enough interest that she'll be speaking further about it on Real Life, Even Better a blog talk radio show hosted by Michele Gentile, date is TBA.
Her writing appeared for the first time in both WritersWeekly and Chicken Soup for the Soul earlier this Fall.
And finally, she has started providing articles for Associated Content which offers a comprehensive multimedia library on almost every topic, her first piece is available here. Aimee's website and Facebook page are always updated as articles appear and she tweets about books, writing, publishing, and anything else that crosses her mind on twitter.
Saturday, August 30, 2008
Goosebump Time
From Aimee Cirucci:
Yesterday, for the first time in my life I was given the opportunity to vote for a woman on a national presidential ticket.
I was too young to vote for Geraldine Ferraro in 1984 and this year I watched the systematic destruction of Hillary Clinton by a Democratic party which preached inclusively but failed to practice it. I was told by the media, my friends, the Obama campaign and pundits everywhere that if I wanted to be a part of history I'd have to vote for a first-term senator from Illinois.
Yesterday, all that changed.
I found myself goosebumped and riveted to the self-described hockey mom from Alaska. No one could be further outside the Beltway. She makes Obama look slick, coiffed and calculating (which he is).
No one further destroys the myth that middle aged women are frumpy, bitchy, and past their prime. This woman is formidable. Her presence on the ticket is ground breaking and important. The Obama campaign's quickly dashed off response to her choice reeked of sexism and immaturity. If this is a sign of things to come it's not going to be pretty.
Somehow I think she can handle it.
Yesterday, for the first time in my life I was given the opportunity to vote for a woman on a national presidential ticket.
I was too young to vote for Geraldine Ferraro in 1984 and this year I watched the systematic destruction of Hillary Clinton by a Democratic party which preached inclusively but failed to practice it. I was told by the media, my friends, the Obama campaign and pundits everywhere that if I wanted to be a part of history I'd have to vote for a first-term senator from Illinois.
Yesterday, all that changed.
I found myself goosebumped and riveted to the self-described hockey mom from Alaska. No one could be further outside the Beltway. She makes Obama look slick, coiffed and calculating (which he is).
No one further destroys the myth that middle aged women are frumpy, bitchy, and past their prime. This woman is formidable. Her presence on the ticket is ground breaking and important. The Obama campaign's quickly dashed off response to her choice reeked of sexism and immaturity. If this is a sign of things to come it's not going to be pretty.
Somehow I think she can handle it.
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