Author: jspruston

With so many party themes to choose from these days planning something tailored to your particular tastes has never been easier. This year COVID restrictions were starting to ease up around my birthday so I decided to throw myself a party to celebrate my birthday and reconnect with friends. I set out to plan the perfect get together. A Hawaiian Luau was at the top of mind until I stumbled upon ideas for a Caesar Bar. As a self proclaimed Caesar connoisseur this was right up my alley!

The best part of building a Caesar bar is that while there is a traditional Caesar recipe the possibilities are endless. I wanted to ensure I had all my guests covered by offering a variety of items from Olives to Candied Bacon….MMM….bacon! I tasked my daughter, Sophie with creating the menu board.

As my guests started to arrive I gave a brief tutorial on how they could mix and match ingredients from the Caesar bar….

…to make their perfect drink!

Watch the planning unfold here and remember, please drink responsibly! Cheers!

My infographic is describing The Story Spine , a storytelling method which our class learned about in Module 2 of this course. For those of you just like me wondering what an infographic is, here’s the definition from our pal Google:

infographic [ˌinfōˈɡrafik] NOUN

a visual image such as a chart or diagram used to represent information or data.”a good infographic is worth a thousand words” · “complicated scientific information can be made more accessible by using infographics”

My infographic on The Story Spine is below. I created it using a free template on Canva, well free if I remember to cancel my 30 day trial within 30 days or they will charge my MasterCard 🙂

It put things so simply by breaking down the structure of a story and it’s function. The Story Spine is; Once upon a time….Every day…..But, one day…Because of that….Because of that….Because of that….Until Finally…. And, ever since then….

Consider your favorite story, if you trim the fat and filler you’ll find that what you’re left with are the bones of the story, the spine. I did this in my first class blog using a favorite story of mine, National Lampoons Christmas Vacation.

I liked using this tool and will look for occasions to use it again in the future!

The End.

For this assignment we were tasked with playing around with the practice of live-tweet storytelling. To say that I was intimated would be an understatement, after all only two days have passed since I set up my twitter account. What I learnt, you can tell a story about anything from watching paint dry, a trip to the grocery store, or in this particular case the trials and tribulations of finding balance between work and play.

By using basic principles such as Educational Tutorials. 2016. “How to Write a Great Short Story – The 8-Point Story Arc.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0HEqI3pJIM [New Tab] anyone can master the art of storytelling.

“The number one rule of thumb is to write the way you talk.”

The take away for me was cited in Goldschein, Eric. 2019. Social Media Today. “The Non-Writer’s Guide to Writing Better Social Media Copy.” https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/the-non-writers-guide-to-writing-better-social-media-copy/551143/ [New Tab] “The number one rule of thumb is to write the way you talk.” Brilliant. Mind blown.

So here goes, to set the stage, my sister and five month old niece who live with me are on away on holidays, my kids are visiting their Nana, I’ve been invited to my friends cabin for the weekend to enjoy some down time and while I’m excited to go, I couldn’t be less prepared when the time comes.

I've been looking forward to this weekend for sometime now. Friends have invited me to their cabin at Perch Lake, Saskatchewan #EXSM3989 pic.twitter.com/TJuKNo70Oa

— Jocelyn Spruston (@JocelynSpruston) July 10, 2021

One of my favorite stories is the classic holiday movie, National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation. It’s just not Christmas until I’ve watched it! On the topic, there’s only 175 days until Christmas – sorry not sorry!

As Ashely Fell discusses https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSi0kmqOBu4 “A good story is one that you can identify with.” Clark Griswold and I are one in the same. He’s a hard working, family man. I’m a hard working, family woman. He loves Christmas. I love Christmas. He wants to plan the perfect family gathering just like I try to do for my family year after year. He loses his shit when he’s not appreciated, drinks too much and plots to seek revenge on his boss… I think we all get the point that I’m trying to make – I can relate to all things Clark Griswold.

The movie National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation was released December 1, 1989. The idea behind the movie was a short story written by John Hughes for the National Lampoon that was loosely based on his own childhood experience, Christmas 59. What I find fascinating is that this movie has only grown in popularity over the past 3 decades. With memorable one liners 41 ‘Christmas Vacation’ Quotes Every National Lampoon’s Fan Knows (housebeautiful.com) being referenced over the holidays on clothing and gifts this story is as Christmas as Santa Claus is!

To outline the story using the Story Spine Back to the Story Spine (aerogrammestudio.com)

Once upon a time there was a hard working, family man named Clark Griswold.

Every day, he fantasized about how he was going to spend his annual Christmas bonus. This year, he was going to surprise his family with a swimming pool.

But one day, a package was dropped off by courier, it was his bonus – a 1 year membership to the jelly of the month club.

Because of that, Clarke had a temper tantrum and went off on a rant about what he’d like as a last minute Christmas gift, his boss, Mr. Frank Shirley brought to him.

Because of that, Eddie left the Christmas festivities to grant Clark’s Christmas wish.

Because of that, the police were called to the Griswold house about a kidnapping.

Until finally, Mrs. Frank Shirley explained to the police that it was all a misunderstanding.

And ever since then, Bonus cheques were reinstated

The End.