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This post gave me a harder time than the last project.  I spend a lot of time over analyzing the topics that we're supposed to be portraying.  I didn't struggle much with choosing the items that I would save over others; that was the easiest part of this assignment.

Postcard - This was a postcard from my friend from Germany.  It's nearly 3 years old and I still keep it in sight to remind me of the friendship and the bond between us.  She's actually the reason I started learning German.  All of my frustrations and confusions with the language fade when I remember spending time with her and how she struggled just as much with her English.  Lasting Friendship.

Headphones - I feel like every human being is impacted somehow by music, so it may be cheesy that I too would save my phone/iPod but it is a very important item.  Music is how I wake up in the mornings, how I walk to class, how I drive; it literally is incorporated into every part of my life.  I find myself whistling and humming when I don't have my headphones in simply because I'm constantly caught up in music.  Habitual Addiction.

Necklace - This is a token of a ministry that I have taken part of over the course of two summers.  I spent 12 days biking 250 miles in Ohio and then in Michigan.  It reminds me of all the heat, humidity and headwinds of those rides.  But it also reminds me of the people that I met and how I still keep in touch with every single person from those trips.  How many late nights I spent talking to those people and how many laughs we shared.  Strong Connection.

Bracelet - It's fairly simple as to why I would save this.  When I joined my sorority last year I had expectations; every single one of them was surpassed.  I have never known a more loving and accepting organization and a source of so much knowledge and growth.  This bracelet reminds me to always think about my sisters first and to love them unconditionally.  I carry them with me everyday and they lift me up continuously.  Sisterhood.

Bobblehead - This is obviously my most prized possession!  I won this autographed Gordon Gee bobblehead last year at BuckeyeThon.  I literally am in love with it, partly because Gordon Gee is the best and mostly because it reminds me of the night I won it.  17 hours of standing and dancing to help raise money for cancer research.  Every thought of it makes me smile with pride for the Buckeye community's commitment and support of this amazing philanthropy.  It was probably the experience that has most defined my life, especially my time at Ohio State.  Philanthropic Dedication.

The hardest part of this assignment was deciding how I wanted to lay out the pictures.  I played only a little with the size of the objects, pulling Gordon Gee and my bracelet a little larger to show their importance.  I also overlapped the images to show that they all are linked in a way.  I discovered that a lot of the things I chose were items that linked me to someone else or something else and they overlapped in that way.  I also decided to leave the background blank.  I wanted to keep the idea simple:  that all of these items have meanings and memories that have shaped me.  I wanted their shape to be clear and I didn't want to outshine their meanings with too much clutter and glitz.  It might seem a little boring but it is my way of showing the most important things to me and my dedication to them.