The one I’m most proud of is the second place award my department received for Best Online Coverage for Breaking News with The Daily Astorian. Here’s a link to our coverage for the award: Astoria Downtown Fire.

Read all about the awards for each publication

• The Daily Astorian
• Blue Mountain Eagle
• East Oregonian

Here’s the breakdown by publication of awards.

Capital Press

FIRST PLACE: Target Audience

SECOND PLACE: Graphics

THIRD PLACE: Writing, Graphics

East Oreognian

FIRST PLACE: General Excellence, Best Special Section or Issue, Best Editorial Page, Best Feature Story: General, Best Feature Story: Personality, Best Local Column, Best Sports Story, Best Page One Design, Best Feature Photo, Best News Photo, Best Sports Photo

SECOND PLACE: Best Coverage of Business and Economic Issues, Best Educational Coverage, Best Feature Story: Personality, Best Spot News Coverage, Best Writing, Best Feature Photo

THIRD PLACE: Best Editorial, Best Local Column, Best Writing, Best Feature Photo, Best Photo Essay

Blue Mountain Eagle

FIRST PLACE: Best Special Section or Issue, Best Editorial,Best Enterprise Reporting

SECOND PLACE: General Excellence, Best Editorial Page,Best Enterprise Reporting

THIRD PLACE: Best Spot News Coverage

Daily Astorian

FIRST PLACE: Best Editorial, Best Educational Coverage,Best Lifestyle Coverage, Best Spot News Coverage, Best Writing, Best Photo Essay

SECOND PLACE: Best Special Section or Issue, Best Editorial, Best Headline Writing, Best News Photo, Best Sports Photo, Best online coverage of breaking news

THIRD PLACE: General Excellence, Best Special Section or Issue, Best Coverage of Business and Economic Issues, Best Editorial Page, Best Enterprise Reporting, Best Feature Story: General, Best Feature Story: Personality, Best Lifestyle Coverage, Best Sports Story, Best News Photo, Best Sports Photo

Weddings seem to be surrounded by bling and romance. The last one I attended, which just happened to be my brother’s, had a reception on the sweet side.

My new sister-in-law did an amazing job organizing and planning the whole event. A few months back she contacted me to see if I could help with designing candy tags for the candy buffet she was planning on having at her reception. I was excited about helping out and thought it was an unusual, but cool idea to have at the reception.

The new sis happen to find the idea online at a blog and luckily they provided some example templates in the exact colors of the wedding. We added our own twists and ended up making not only the candy tags, but the table cards for seating arrangements, share photo cards, marriage prayer/advice sign, bridesmaid bouquet vase signs, date cards and thank you cards.

Above are photos from the reception and some of the sheets of designs I made. I thought they added a nice touch of sophistication and bling to the event.

I consider myself lucky growing up. Born and raised in the same small town in eastern Oregon. Didn’t move until I was 22. And even went to college in this town.

I had friends come and go in my life because their families moved. There wasn’t a military base nearby, so didn’t see a huge flux of kids in and out of my life.

The real lucky part was the summer between my third- and fourth-grade year. My maternal grandparents decided to take a car trip around the majority of the United States to visit family and friends. Little did I know that this was the last real adventure with my grandfather who passed away from cancer about year later.

We started in Oregon and drove south through Nevada and along the southern boarder of the US to Florida where we spent a few days at Disney World, NASA and Bush Gardens. Then traveled through the Carolinas and the midwest up to Chicago where my grandparent grew up. Then back to Oregon. All along the way seeing great historical spot of America and catching a few Major League baseball games.

This past year has been another busy traveling spurt in my life. A few trips to California, a trip to Florida  (which I had visited before) and last week for my brother’s wedding in Ohio, where I knocked off another five states (Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia and Michigan) on the list. It only took just over 6,400 miles to do this.

Now that I’m close to visiting all 50 states, I see potential to creating some great memories with my son. Just as we did with the trip to the midwest. It was his first airplane ride. Time to start planning a trip to the New England states and Alaska, then my journey will be complete.

Enticed? We hope so. We hope enough to write the next chapter. That’s where the fun begins. We are inviting our readers of Coast Weekend, an arts and entertainment publication that covers the north Oregon and southwest Washington coasts, to put their creative juices to work, pen to paper, fingers to keyboard and help take this story on great adventure.

This is the second time we’ve done a serial novel in Coast Weekend. When I was editor in 1998, we stuck to the lines of just “Murder in Astoria.” It was a great success last time and we hope and even bigger one this time.

We have two ways for you to engage with the first chapter:

• Read the first chapter
• Listen to the first chapter

Here is all the fine print on the contest and good luck!

Write the next chapter in our mystery romance novel. Use the existing characters and plot, and be creative introducing new people, dialog, action and story lines. Don’t try to make it too complicated or too clever – remember, other writers are going to continue where you leave off! And please keep your chapter to fewer than 1,000 words.

The one requirement for Chapter 2 is that the setting must include the Capt. George Flavel House Museum.

Submit your chapter by July 15, 2011 by e-mailing it to kstrecker@coastweekend.com or by uploading it through the link below. Only digital submissions will be accepted. Chapters will be judged on creativity, voice and use of local entities.

The contest will run monthly through June 2012 in Coast Weekend. The writer of each winning chapter will receive a gift card to Coming Attractions theaters.

At the conclusion of the novel, the judges will choose three grand prize winners to receive a romantic dinner and overnight stay for two at a local resort – the Shelburne Inn and Restaurant in Seaview, Wash.; the Cannery Pier Hotel and Bridgewater Bistro in Astoria; or the Stephanie Inn and Dining Room in Cannon Beach.

Prizes will also be awarded for writers submitting the Best Love Scene, Best Action Scene, Best Characterization and Best Descriptive Passage.

Employees of the East Oregonian Publishing Company and their families are welcome to enter the contest, but are not eligible to receive any prizes.

Contestants retain copyright to their own work and agree that by entering, they are the owner of the work and are not submitting the work of others. Contestants, you agree that East Oregonian Publishing Company may publish your submission(s) for local promotion of the contest and its winners, to identify you as the text’s creator, and for use in any of the East Oregonian Publishing Company’s publications, websites or promotional materials.

One of the things that I love about summer is the weather is a little warmer and the days seem longer. One of the other things is kicking back in a lawn chair and soaking up a great book.

This summer, I have a project – a Jane Austen Project. I have a handful of books that I recently added to my collection. All related to Jane Austen and most fall into the spinoff category. Most of the books are shown above in the photo.

Here’s my summer reading list:

• A Jane Austen Education
• Dancing with Mr. Darcy
• The Phantom of Pemberley
• My Jane Austen Summer
• Jane and the Damned
• Lost in Austen
• Darcy’s Story
• Bespelling Jane Austen
• Pride & Prejudice Paper Dolls
• The Jane Austen Cookbook
• Tea with Jane Austen
• Sense & Sensibility Marvel Comic Series
• The Wicked Wit of Jane Austen

For more Jane Austen spinoff books, check out this Good Reads book shelf: http://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/jane-austen-spin-offs

That’s my Jane Austen summer.

I love photography, always have. Started out using film cameras as a kid and even took a few classes on film developing. But as digital cameras took hold, it made it easy to take hundreds of pictures and experiment more.

I waited on buy a digital SLR, but jumped in with one of the Canon Rebels a couple of years ago. Yes, I already am saving to upgrade to one that shots HD video. Then came the camera on my iPhone. It wasn’t until I got the iPhone 4, that I ditched my point-and-shoot Canon.

I always carry my cell phone and it’s easier to just carry one device than many. The quality isn’t the greatest, but for 4×6 prints and sharing on the web, it’s perfect. Along with the mobile camera, there has been a host of photography apps available.

My new love is Instagram and Hipstamatic. Both allow you to create photos with the flare and look of retro photographs. I know can recreate those washed-out, light burst photos of that of the 70s that I love in old family albums.

I prefer Instagram over Hipstamatic because of the ease of use. The different looks are easy to apply and the photos are easy to share on multiple sites and it saves a copy to your photo so you can send them to your local 1-hour photo to make up some prints. You can even follow friends and other Instagram users, like photos and leave comments.

Above are photos I took using both apps. The ones with cream-colored borders are from Hipstamatic and the others are from Instagram.

Here are stories and resources to learn more about these great photo apps:

• Techcrunch: What photo sharing app should you use
• NYTimes: Instagram: A Stream of Postcards, Shot by Phone
• Techcrunch: At 5 million users, it’s hard not to view Instagram through a rose-colored filter
• Instagr.am
• Hipstamatic

From the road below, following the Columbia River along the Gorge, you would never know that tucked high on the cliffs above is a place with breath taking views. Off an exit on Interstate 84 at Corbett, you climb a winding road up the face of the cliff, only to find yourself in the country side once you reach the top. A couple of miles to the east, past the country store and down another small road along the cliffs, the Vista House and all the beauty the Gorge can afford awaits.

View Larger Map

I try to stop at the house whenever I can and I’m not in a hurry in my travels between western and eastern Oregon. It was one such day last Friday that I took the time out of my schedule and drove to the top. It was a beautiful evening and you could see for an eternity. The photos above are from this stop. To view more photos, see my Intersect gallery.

Sitting pretty like a crown on one’s head, but in this case on top of Crown Point, the Vista House offers a scene unlike that of any you see while traveling along I-84. It sits some 733 miles above the interstate. Construction was finalized in 1918 . It was said that it was built to inspire the traveler along Highway 30. The structure is 44 feet in diameter and 55 feet in height.

Learn more about the Vista House:

• Friends of Vista House

This was a great poem that was floating around on Facebook the night of the announcement that Osama bin Ladan had been captured and killed.

This morning’s intermittent sunshine made for scenic snowscapes as I commuted from Long Beach, Wa., to Astoria, Or. At the same time it also made for treacherous icy roads. Several vehicles were along side the road, one spun a 360 right in front of me and speeds were at an all-time low of 20 mph the entire trip. There is a prospect of more snow throughout the day. Can’t wait for the commute home.

All photos by Crindalyn Lyster.

When I’m not feeling well or just in a funk, I usually turn to Jane Austen. I’ve been a fan of her’s for years and have read each of her novels over and over again.

In the past few years, the spin-offs created from her novels have been many – both in written form and movies. The latest zombie craze even spurred spin-offs of Pride & Prejudice. Tonight, I’m in one of those funks, all I feel like is curling up on the couch and watching a movie. No doubt, this will evolve into a marathon of Jane Austen movies and spin-offs like it always does.

Here are my top favorite spin-offs. I highly suggest checking them out:

1. Bride & Prejudice (2004): Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice gets a Bollywood treatment. Fun, lively and good music.
2. Lost in Austen (2008 TV mini-series turned movie): Amanda, an ardent Jane Austen fan, lives in present day London with her boyfriend Michael, until she finds she’s swapped places with Austen’s fictional creation Elizabeth Bennet. A fresh modern take on the world of Jane Austen – Wickem isn’t as bad as you thought!
3. Bridget Jones’ Diary (2001): A British woman is determined to improve herself while she looks for love in a year in which she keeps a personal diary. Originally a book by a rave Jane Aussten fan, the character of Darcy was fashioned after Collin Firth’s role in the BBC TV adaptation of Pride & Prejudice – just marvelous that they actually got him to play the roll in this movie!

For more Jane Austen movie spin-offs visit here.

Amazon has a whole section dedicated to Jane Austen movies – here.