Food for Thought-K

            In a country ravaged by obesity, obsessed with fitness, and plagued by teenage girls’ low self-esteem, food is so much more than just nutrition in America.   Food is the best friend, the worst enemy, the prize and the competition all in one package.  People associate feelings, memories, and people with a certain dish.  We gather together as families for it, bond with significant others while eating it, and eat it when you feel like you’re all alone.  It’s hard to believe something so simple can mean so many different things to different people. 

            Like any teenage girls, I have spent high school and my first year of college in a love hate relationship with food.  I love to eat it and hate that I can’t eat endless amounts without becoming another number in the obesity statistics thrown around America.  I make poor, emotionally driven choices to indulge in ice cream and avoid spinach like it’s my job.  I grab a chocolate bar on a bad day and bake when I’m excited.  The idea that for some people, being thin means avoiding the endorphins that come from eating really great comfort food is a totally foreign concept to me. 

Courtesy of www.verybestbaking.com

            Call me crazy, but food is a sign that the people around you care enough about you to keep you alive.  Cooking your best friend’s favorite meal isn’t just a sign you care about their mood, but also shows you care about their health and wellbeing. Yes, it’s true that today the rich are thin and can afford healthier food, but it is a natural instinct to want someone who looks healthy and sturdy.  No one looks frailer than a sad teenage girls, and a batch of stick-to-your-ribs chocolate chip cookies will fix that right up!  Soon, the healthy, happy glow is back in her face and she’s ready to fight the bear of the problem that made her sad to begin with.

            For most of the US, food is not something people worry about for physical health.  Instead, we have replaced it with a medicine for emotional health.  J.K. Rowling had it right.  When Dementors suck your soul out a little, chocolate immediately warms you up and brings some happiness back into you.  Sometimes, life sucks, and you just need to cheer up and a hug is great, but just not getting it done.  It may be how we’re raised, but I’m just fine living in a world where people are happy when they are eating things they love and feel better when people they care about take care of them.  

Courtesy http://harrypotter.wikia.com/

            It gets me pretty annoyed when people say obesity is caused by emotional connections with food.  Yes, some people eat their feelings an over indulge, causing them to be bigger than America’s ideal.  The real problem in our country is the quality of the food available to the less fortunate.  Soup kitchens and food banks are amazing, but fast food chains that offer $5 fat-fests are what’s killing the children today.  Instead of offering healthy, inexpensive food in open settings, people grab their kids and take them to an inexpensive fast food place where vegetables are thin and hidden between layers of cheese on a burger.  The meat is cooked beyond recognition.  Even the healthier options are doused in dressing or dips or bacon bit toppings. 

            We should be teaching our kids to eat their vegetables first and eat produce that tastes like produce.  We should be encouraging people to use food to feel good, but teach them that a little goes a long way.  We should be learning how to cook healthy foods for ourselves in schools, because our health is as important as calculus when we get to the real world.  I love food, but I love myself, too.  It’s important to me that I take care of myself and I occasionally slip healthy things in.  As I’ve grown, I’ve learned to love the freshness of an apple and the density of whole wheat bread versus the squishiness of white.  Not everything has to be healthy, but not everything can be unhealthy either.  

            Throwing around words like “real” and “fresh” and “all natural” have fooled the United States into believing it’s okay to chow down on fast food for three meals a day.  And then, at the other end of the spectrum are the people who will sacrifice taste and joy in food for tight muscles and a flat stomach.  Both situations create voids in life.  We just need to find the happy medium.  Have our (fruit) cake and eat it, too.

Wake Me Up Before September Ends -K

            For those of us who cherish fashion in any way,  the dread of going back to school is overcome by one thing: the excitement of the September Issue.  When I was younger, I would flip through page after page of advertisements dividing my thoughts between wondering where the articles went and amazement at the beauty of the clothes on the pages I was flipping through.  My mom and I would pour over Vogue and Elle, occasionally she’d stop and point out her favorite clothes and shoes.  The older I got the more I understood her fascination, and the more I recognized the names in the pages.  Last year, I even fell in love for the first time with a pair of high heels.  They were part of the military chic taking over Aldo shoes and I had to wit until September to get them and I adore them to this day.

Photo Courtesy of aldoshoes.com

            To honor the pinnacle of the fashion year, I’m giving my two cents on the trends I’m seeing and where I’m see my dream pieces. 

            First, I’ll start with the more realistic (at least for me), and this fall that is the Banana Republic Mad Men collection.  Mad Men is the kind of show you could watch on mute just to see the clothes.  When so many guys in my generation can’t wait to get out of their tie and break free of “boring” suits, the handsome gents from Mad Men dress like, well, men.  Aside from that, the women on the show display their personalities in the no nonsense cut that Banana Republic has nailed.  The prices may be steeper than BR’s usual prices, but they are way less expensive than well maintained vintage and is slightly updated with modern flair like pocketed dresses.  If only I had a job where I could show these pieces off….

            Next on the love list is the “it” colors for this season. Dark teal, plum, and silver: are you kidding me!?  I admit, I’m very biased, these colors compliment my skin tone well and I’m not looking beyond that, but the richness of the colors instantly bring images of awesome color blocking and cool knit combinations into my mind.  Granted, I’m not so crazy about taupe as a neutral, but I can deal. 

            Part of why this fall is going to be so rocking is the refusal of all fall trends to be bulky.  Instead of the usual heavy knits (though I do love them!), this fall is flaunting even more of those beautiful sheer polka dots and lace that can be layered and paired up with some of the more heavy duty material.  I’m jealous of the beautiful sheer polka dots, since let’s be real: no one can pull them off in real life, but that doesn’t mean I won’t be on the lookout for awesome lace detailing with enough bulk to keep me warm back at school!

            A trend I’m absolutely not loving, no matter how cool it looks on the runway?  Tribal prints!  Though I admit many runway shows are not ready-to-wear, I at least see potential in the trends they inspire.  To me, no one is able to blend prints and crazy colors as well as the designers who make them.  Calling out Missoni for Target on this one!  The clothes look absolutely rockin’ in the ads, but you can be I am not going to look as chic and put together if I try and slap on a pair of crazy patterned slacks.  I appreciate what the brand is, and some of the purses would stand out from the crowd just enough, but I am going to shy away from any print that has more colors than I can name on the color wheel. 

            Fashion is a person experience, and I appreciate that some people think Vogue and Elle are not pinnacles of style, and I will agree wholeheartedly.  You could not open a fashion magazine a day in your life and still understand dress beautifully, ignoring trends completely.  What I find so inspiring about the thousand or so pages I’ve flipped through this year is not the trends themselves, but the work everyone has put forth in the hopes that women will see their art and want to take it home and wear it.   Fashion is all about women inspiring designers inspiring women.  Magazines are just a medium through which a cycle of fashion feeding can occur.  If you haven’t yet, be sure to check out the documentary about Anna Wintor (aptly titled The September Issue).  If that can’t make you appreciate the hard work poured into these pages, nothing will.

In Defense of Female Friendship- K

            Fourteen years ago, my mother introduced me to a curly haired fellow kindergartener, and the rest, as they say, is history.  Aside from family, A is the most long term relationship I have ever been in.  When we were younger, we sold lemonade on the corner and as we got older, we went on double dates.  We’ve certainly had ups and downs, but we are family now, and I can’t imagine the kind of love/hate competitive fremenyship seen on all my summer guilty pleasure TV.

The world paints the female friendship as one of jealousy, secrets, and the occasional slumber party bonding night.  Girls in the media are constantly worried about their best friends stealing their boyfriend, or talking behind each other’s back when one gets a little moody.  The picture that’s painted here is ugly and a madly skewed.  Instead of the constant mean girls fighting and dramatic fights over a badly phrased couple of words, women should be writing women who love their friends unconditionally, no matter what boys flick through life.

            On TV, gossip and shopping replace most meaningful conversation and just hanging out.  I admit, I shop and gossip with my friends. I do it more than I probably should.  But last night, I was sitting with A, making wall art for our dorm rooms and realized that friendship is about arts and crafts time at 19 years old and flipping through old magazines and not talking about anything in particular. After 14 years of friendship, we still miss each other after a week and talk on the phone when we’re apart. 

            To me, that’s what friendship should be.  TV should show girls calling their best friend and laughing about nothing.  So often, romantic relationships take center stage in the media.  People fall in love, get married, and have babies.  Love is what motivates us to grow up and be better people, according to television.  I can’t dispute the power of a cute text from a boy I like to make my day a little brighter.  I presume the majority of the world feels the same  (replacing the text sender with the gender/sexual orientation appropriate word). 

            Other people must know the truth that the media isn’t telling us about girl friendships.  Today, it’s all mean girls and cyber bullying on the news.  Every girl seems to be a victim of being friends with girls who are petty and driven by competition for popularity.  I know what friendship really should be, though.  Friendship is Rory and Lorelai and Rory and Lane, who may fight and fade in and out of friendship, but they realize friendship is more than that.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GF-VMHzMhI4&feature=related

(Note that finding this link sent me on a Gilmore Girls youtube clip marathon.)

            Gilmore Girls is the prime example of friendship over men.  Rory, after all, doesn’t even end up with anyone, which she can only really do because her friendships with her mother, Paris, and Lane have given her the support she needs to realize she is better than settling her career aspirations to get married.  Best friends are long term.  There is a reason people say they want to marry the person who becomes their best friends.  

Strong female leads (and women in general) create strong friendships that work beyond reason.  There are no better examples (to me) than Brennan and Angela from “Bones”.  One is an artist and moved by emotion, while one is a scientist and moved by rationality.  Despite this, they work.  They are close without being the same person and loving the same men.  Like every combination, they play off of each other and make their counterpart stronger.

I would like to make a call to all of the women out there who are out there just as annoyed as I am about how we are portrayed in television.  I am asking to stop giving people stuff to write episodes about.  I want women to demand shows where women hang out with people the like.   In real life, mean girls exist, and girls have to deal with them.  Unlike TV, we don’t give them the power whenever they want.  Finally, I want to cheer for friendships and enjoy seeing scenes between girls as much as I want to rewatch scenes of relationships.

What's up? -K

So I spent last week at the beach, meaning I have had NO time to make anything.  Because of this, I have decided to flip this blog because it’s my blog and I’ll write what I want.

Entertainment is something we all adore, and given my unemployment this summer, it’s something I’ve been contemplating quite a bit these last few weeks.  During the school year, relaxation and spending times with friends are of course some of the best parts of my day and week.  I enjoy the downtime and love getting time out from doing all that super fun homework.  In the summer, however, it’s so much about the relaxation that I have started to take the usual kinds of entertainment for granted.  I’ve thought so much about the goods and bads of all of these things I thought I’d share them with the blogosphere.

First is the ever-important Internet.  I love the Internet.  After all, where can you find such funny, inspiring, informative things all at the drag and click of a mouse pad?  Nowhere, that’s where!  I have tons of sites to check on, laugh at, and enjoy daily.  The past week without Internet taught me something important about myself, though.  I am terribly dependant on my Internet routine.  I get up in the morning and check a few sites, check Hulu for my guilty pleasure TV shows (more on that later) and maybe Stumble on a few things.  Then I feel like I can start my day.  At the end of the day, I hop on Netflix, get on Skype, and check my sites again.  Usually, in the middle I am on FaceBook sometime.  I’ve grown dependant and a little obsessed.  So Internet goal for the rest of the summer? Cutting down.

Next is television, the easiest way of being entertained.  My TV has hundreds of channels to surf through, and even if nothing is on there are onDemand shows at my fingertips.  There is always something to watch.  I am incredibly spoiled in that respect.  Who doesn’t love spending the day catching up on terribly insane TV?  I don’t know of anyone who doesn’t like to veg out a little.  After a week of slow days, on the other hand, I start to feel kind of dull and dirty.  My clothes feel overly heavy and everything just sits.  I’m not an exercise girl, but even I wanted to go out on a jog or something to get over the repetition of the commercial breaks. That beings said, I’m keeping my TV night routine.  I still love summer reruns!

Okay, so the two obvious boredom busters are discussed, now it’s time to get to my favorite: reading.  I choose purses based on their book fitting ability, and the summer has always been a good time to fly through the stuff I don’t get to read at school.  This summer, I’ve stepped out of the cheesedoodle books (all fluff, no content) into more intense and adult novels.  Summer is the perfect time to lose yourself in another era.  Unfortunately, reading is so lonely!  You rarely get to chat about books, unless you are in a book club, and so it’s not the way to spend a summer.  Lucky me, I’m on the quarter system, so once everyone leaves and it is just me, I don’t have to feel guilty about blowing friends off for a good read!

I’ve been so pumped this summer to spend some time at home with my family and myself detoxing from a crazy (and crazy fun) year at college.  I am loving how I get to do what I want all day.  On the other hand, summer is all about stretching your boundaries and what you don’t get to do while you’re busy working at school.  The eternal battle is between just relaxing and making memories at home.  There are a million other ways to have fun in the summer (hanging outside, with friends, minigolf, shopping), but these three ways seem to be my go to answers to the question: What do I do now?

The Necklaces-K

If I had thought ahead, I would have taken a million pictures of the process of my making the necklaces.  That is, if I had thought ahead.  But I probably would have had way less fun and not changed techniques so much between necklaces.  On A’s necklace (the blue one), I tried to make it girly using bows and matching colors.  I wanted to counteract the industrialness of the nuts and chain I used in the necklace.  With my necklace, it was more about the pop of color than the way the ribbons look. 

            That being said, I had a blast with my first DIY project!  I went to the local craft store (not the fabric store) and looked around for what must have been half an hour trying to find stuff to make the necklaces.  The nuts and chains are from a brand called Industrial Chic (examples of their stuff is here: http://www.michaels.com/Industrial-Chic%E2%84%A2/products-beads-collections-industrialchic,default,sc.html, but I would recommend looking at your store for more options) , and the ribbon is just a yard each of four different colors.  The width doesn’t really matter, if your fingers are nibble enough.  I decided what I wanted to do and played around with different ways to do it.  Trust me, I know it’s vague, but the best way to make things your own is to realize what you want on your jewelry.  I didn’t have a plan, which made things harder when it came time for my own necklace.

            The whole price tag for the two necklaces was less than $20.  At most stores, a similar necklace would be upwards of $25.  Sure, there are some frayed ribbons, but if it unravels, it only costs $0.70 to replace and you know exactly how to fix it! The necklaces took under an hour to make, although I was sitting in front of the TV tinkering with them for a total of three hours.  Although I love the feel and look of DIY stuff, I didn’t want random frayed ribbon edges hanging out.  In the end, I turned A’s ends into bows and tucked my ends into other parts of the necklace.  It took awhile to figure out, but in the end it looked much cleaner.

            Of course, the best part of any DIY (or so I assume, as this was my first real one) is taking your piece out for a spin.  A and I wore them the same day, at a barbeque her family threw, so I was lucky enough to see them both in action.  Because of the strong colors, I would recommend wearing the cool, but neutral outfit. A rocks out a black and white jumper (jealous!) and I bounced around in a black ballerina-esque dress.  If you have more chill colors, wear more out there clothes, but I like statement pieces to shine (especially when I put so much work into them!!). 

            I am going to attempt to be slightly more adventurous in my next foray into DIY.  I am going to accent an old school sweater I have into something I might actually wear now.  I love the shape and size of the sweater, but with the super fantastic school initials and the dull navy blue color, I can’t seem to find anything to wear it.  I have a slight idea what I plan to do with it, but am open to suggestions, if anyone has any.  So they say a picture is worth a thousand words, and I have two for you here.  These are the necklaces.  Again, A’s is the blue and mine is the purple and green.  Enjoy and have fun making your own!

DIM- K

            This month, I chose to Do-It-Myself.  This should come as a surprise to anyone who has ever seen me attempt to make craft like things.  I can appreciate crafts and hand made objects, but my ability to create such objects myself, even when presented with step by step, no frills, so-easy-a-kindergartener-could-do-it instructions. 

            In order to begin my quest into craftdom, I visited my local library.  And then I paid a visit to the bookstore, then two craft stores in my town.  None of these three places had what I needed (not that I could quite put my finger on what I needed…).  I wanted a book that wasn’t kitschy, wasn’t filled with over complex or kindergarten material, and could help me in my quest for summer projects.  I couldn’t find a single book that fit that description to a T.  Perhaps I was being overly picky, but hey, I’m a new comer, I don’t need a specialized book on collage or jewelry (as cool as that may be). 

            I got home and continued my search on the world wide web.  Since most of the thing I plan on making will probably be from much cooler, more specific DIY blogs and websites, I’ll spare the details here (but I’ll link the site if you are interested in making some of the stuff for yourself).  I won’t tell you HOW to make it, but I can sure let you know what I did to make it more personal.

            The idea of DIY is that not only is it kind of a cool thought.  Taking something that used to be one thing and transforming it into a pillow, a blanket, or a corkboard is pretty awesome.  Things with past lives are so much more interesting to look at and think about.  Think about vintage jewelry and clothes.  Those pieces have seen so much, it’s amazing to think about stories they lived through. DIY is kind of like that.  Taking pictures, old clothes, and random baubles and giving them a new life and function gives the thing you are making (and maybe gifting) more depth.

            I plan on fully appreciating everything I make this month.  In high school, I left my last (mandatory) art class to the second semester of my senior year.  I was never the biggest person for creating.  Hopefully the things I make this month will inspire me to take stuff I don’t use or wear anymore and breath some life into them.

So what am I going to make this month?  Good question.  I will strive for 3 items, and we’ll see how well I do.  Item one will be made out of my old tee shirts.  I’ve always thought of making a blanket or quilt out of them, but I’m not sure I have enough shirts for it.  In my web travels, I’m sure I’ll find plenty of things to do with old, soft cloth that’ll give my dorm room a little oomph.  My second item will (I think) be some kind of clothing piece.  I could try some cool ideas for tie-dying ad revamping, and it’s always fun to get kind of messy.  I’m going to try and push to make something I might actually WEAR.  No random tee shirt I never take out of my drawer.  If I’m not excited to put it on, it is not worth the time and effort I am taking into making it.  The last thing I want to make is a cool piece of jewelry.  I accidentally left almost all of my jewelry at school (I think) and desperately need something to spruce up my summer outfits.  That should be simple, considering the number of jewelry making books available in every nook of the craft stores. 

So now I’ve outlined the month, and I have to search for cool things to do myself to keep me busy and my mom (Hi, Mom!) from going crazy with me just hanging around the house all day.  If anyone knows of any crafty things, feel free to send them my way in the comment section!

You Know What They Say About All Good Things -K

Harry Potter was my childhood.  When I think of the books, movies, and toys I needed (not just wanted), most of them are Harry Potter related.   I waited in line for the last book, and I’ve gotten tickets for both of the book 7 movies.  It is nearly impossible to believe that the era is almost at an end.  My kids, my grandkids even, might know what the series is.  They might read them, just like we’ve read C. S. Lewis and they might even like them.  But after this weekend, the magic and energy every Harry Potter fan experienced will be gone.

            Call me dramatic if you will, but I have been caught up in the phenomenon.  I collected the collectables, I played the board games, and I even read the websites.  Nothing was enough.  I could not get enough of the new material.  Going into the movie this weekend, even though I know what happens, it becomes real up on the screen.  I knew kids who thought Hogwarts would send them an owl on their 11^th birthday.  Those kids have grown up.  They are in high school (hopefully not watching Twilight) and though they might still be fans, they stopped thinking one day they’d be learning from Professor Flitwick.

            For just a night, I want to believe magic is real and that Hagrid exists.  Evil can be defeated by a 17 year old boy and his awesome friends.  For a night, we should be those kids who were so excited we stayed up all night with a flashlight under the covers reading those books (no? Just me? Really? Moving on then…).  Harry Potter was new, and fun, and as I got older, so did the characters and they grew up just like me.  J.K. Rowling made me want to read and know all the little details that made those books so interesting and intricate. 

            I am obsessed, but not like I used to be.  Staying on the phone for hours just quizzing friends on the smallest details (Hermione’s eye color?) was the height of my day when I was younger.  I haven’t been so excited about that kind of stuff in years.  I haven’t wanted to stay up all night to read, or known about a book weeks before you could even pre-order it.  Was it the book, or was it just how kids are and as you grow up, things like that fade away? 

            I don’t want my excitement to fade away with my years.  The depressing thought that I might never be as excited for a movie as I am for this movie is astounding.  I was bouncing up and down the day the first movie came out and haven’t missed out on an opening weekend since.  The anticipation right when the lights dim, the deep breath everyone takes when the lightning bolt like name pops up on the screen- I can’t imagine never wanting to see a movie so much that I hold my breath beforehand.

            I hope everyone has something in their lives that has been so exciting and obsessive as Harry Potter has been for so many people.  The idea might be silly (a book series making me so excited), but sometimes it’s the light and fluffy things that give you the biggest rush.  Beating the Angry Birds level and seeing a new movie with an actress you really love can be the most fun part of the day. 

Everyone needs to go into this weekend believing in the magic of a group of people so excited by a story, so inspired that they’ve spent 11 years of their lives watching and reading.  They should appreciate the people who spent years and years of their lives trying to figure out what was going on in J.K. Rowling’s head.  This weekend, the last movie comes out and Harry Potter will slowly fade away into another amazing series, but to our generation, it wasn’t just a series.  For many of us, it was the first chapter book we read by ourselves, our first brush with magic, and the first time we were left wanting more. 

Day in the Life of a Beauty Product Addict -K

Now, as you may have gathered these past two weeks, I am a fan of the beauty product.  Walking into my bathroom is akin to stepping into Target and Sephora’s lovechild.  The view from my bed contains three types of lotion (all used for different things).  To the casual observer, this may sound like I am an unattractive girl attempting to overcompensate for my failings.  Truth is, I’m a fan of my looks.  I just feel a hundred times better with soft elbows and smooth legs. 

            That being said, I am absolutely an addict.  I could spend 8 hours in a makeup store debating between red lipsticks and colored eyeliner.  Just to prove to myself (and my lovely boyfriend) that everything serves a defined purpose, I’m going to document my day, start to finish, in terms of what I use and why I love to use it. 

The day starts at 10 AM.  I brush my teeth and wash/tone/moisturize my face.  To be honest, it’s the least favorite part of my day.  I hate washing my face (I turn the color of a tomato), so generally I do smaller tasks in the middle.  I put in my contacts and such to prepare for the real challenge: the make up.  Six days a week (at most) I wear make up out and about. 

Make up is the one part of an outfit that can always be daring.  On any given day, a woman has to make the decision- eyes or lips, sharp or soft, fun or natural.  All of those decisions factor into one face that shows the world what you are.  And nothing shows your mood or the ways you are different day to day more than your makeup.  One day, my lipstick may be a “trying to seem French and cultured” red, and next day it’s a “I’m going for the timeless look” coral.  If I’m working, blue eyeliner adds a splash of personality in my otherwise black attire.  Having a huge make up collection gives me a million things to do with my face, which to me is the coolest idea ever.

Throughout the day, I’m splashing on lotion and chap stick like there is no tomorrow.  Every time I pass my bathroom or rifle through my purse, I smear a little on myself.  By now, it’s more of a habit than anything else.  Nothing else to do? I’m probably a little dry on my shoulders…

Now comes the huge deal: the shower.  Body scrub, a loofa, soap, exfoliator for my face, and shampoo and conditioner make for a quick but busy shower.  I absolutely love the feeling of scrubbing myself raw to let new skin show, don’t you?  I don’t do it frequently enough to do any harm, just enough to constantly feel clean and new.  At night, washing my face is a hundred times better.  I feel so ready to dive into bed and curl up with my smooth (and covered in body butter) legs.  The feeling of ending the day just as I started it (only with softer skin), winds down the day.

Seeing my schedule laid out like this makes me rethink defining myself as an addict.  I don’t spend hours in front of the mirror fixing every little hair into the right place.  I can’t stand the feeling of caked on makeup.  I refuse to buy any moisturizer that claims to “do” something.  In that sense, I’m not an addict.

I realize this seems to be an odd follow up to last week.  It might even seem contradictory.  To me, it compliments it perfectly (let’s be real, of course I’m going to say that).  I just think people need to do what makes them feel better.  If it’s makeup (my case) or wearing sweats or even dressing up in a meat dress, being comfortable in your skin is what’s important.  I’m comfortable in lotiony skin.  What about you?

Lovin Me Some Tattoos -A

Tattoos.  People get them for all sorts of reasons.  To remember a loved one, to declare their love for someone, as a result of a drunken night; the opinions on them vary between each person.  My cousin is a tattoo artist, so he is always telling my family and I about the wide range of art that people ask him to permanently draw on their bodies.  I was chatting with my friend’s mom and she was telling me about the tattoo that her oldest daughter wants to get across her entire back: a rainbow fairy dipping her foot into a waterfall.  She was trying to figure out a way to hide her daughter’s money so that she has no way of affording such a tattoo. 

            Here’s the thing with tattoos: it’s permanent.  You will have it until you die.  People with tattoos tend to be stereotyped, and if you honestly don’t wonder about a tattoo every time you see one, you’re lying.  If you see a guy at the pool, let’s call him Tito, with tattoos covering his chest, arms, and legs, everyone assumes him to be a certain type of dude who drinks and smokes and probably doesn’t run with a great crowd.  But what if we looked closer at his tattoos?  Let’s set up a scenario:

We walk near Tito, sketchily pick a table near his so we can look at him with our sunglasses on so he doesn’t see us staring, and we start reading everything he has put on his body.  This is what we see: a bible passage on his shoulders, the face of Jesus on his forearm, a cross with a crown of thorns on his leg, and his children’s names across his chest over his heart. 

Now if you started a conversation with an untattooed man, he probably wouldn’t introduce himself by saying “Hi, I’m Dave.  I have three kids that mean the world to me, my grandfather, who I was incredibly close to, died on February 6, 2007, and I’m Methodist.”   These are things you wouldn’t ever find out about a person on your first meeting.  So instead, Tito found a way to express his beliefs and virtues via body art.  Who are we to say that tattoos shouldn’t be a perfectly acceptable way to express your religion or beliefs or important parts of your life? 

            This brings me to my point: why must religions or beliefs be expressed in a specific manner laid out by someone hundreds of years ago?  The world is changing, and in order to keep the world actively and happily engaged, I think acceptable ways of communicating faith needs to evolve. 

Example: I have Jewish friends who only go to synagogue to please their parents.  When they’re at temple, they don’t pay attention or necessarily take anything to heart.  The culture surrounding the Jewish religion engages and gives them faith more so than reciting the Torah.  Then, we have the rapper Matisyahu, a thiry-one-year-old Jewish artist with a full beard and Yarmulkes, who sold hundreds of tickets at University of Maryland to both Jewish and non-Jewish students.  

Imagine, if there were more rappers than just Matisyahu engaging the Jewish youth of today, how much faith would spread.   I was at a church service today, and it was instantly more interesting from the get-go because there was an electric guitar and tambourine accompanying the opening hymn.  So why is it that, if music is the way that people express themselves best and spread the word, religion is so stuck on classic music?

            I was on a boat with my friend’s family the other day and her mom wanted to make sure we were sailing towards the sunset at dusk, because, in her own words, “she felt closest to God at sunset.”  So why can’t we have services in the location where we feel closest to God?  The Catholic Church doesn’t marry anywhere but inside of a church, but why should couples have to choose between getting married in a place where they feel close to God and where someone tells them they should feel close to God?  What if that particular church has no meaning, but under a sunset is where you have made memories, and prayed, and had thought-provoking talks with people you care about?  It would make sense that they should be able to get married wherever they choose.

            After making a super short thought incredibly long, I just wanted to share the current thoughts that were running through my head while I sit on a lifeguard stand (I’m a lifeguard) and watch people play in the pool for hours at a time. 

Peace ‘n’ blessin’s,

A

Just remember this...- K

Supermodels sneeze.  Every time I notice a small imperfection (or a big one, let’s be real) in what I look like, I remember that little tidbit.  Sneezing is in no way sexy or elegant.  It’s pretty gross, actually.  And yet everyone, even porn stars and the Queen of England, sneeze at some point. 

It may seem trivial to remind myself that everyone gets a little sniffly sometimes, but remembering that anyone can have a moment where their picture would look as ugly as it gets helps keep things in perspective.  These days, supermodels are hailed as pinnacles of beauty, put on a pedestal to be emulated.  I sure buy into it.  I’m the first person to admit I wish I could look like they do in the clothes they wear.  Celebrities make it look so easy: they glide down the red carpet like it’s nobody’s business.  Imagining them sneeze jerks me back to reality.  I can look at myself in the mirror and remember they have personal trainers to work out with and that their job is to look fabulous in what they wear.  If I had a stylist, a huge fashion budget, and my own yoga instructor, I might be able to be that way, too.  Instead, I’m a full time student with a moderate beauty budget and no closet space. 

Every girl should have her own little reminders to keep her grounded in the reality of the situation.  My roommate and I wrote, “We’re beautiful” on sticky notes and stuck them to the mirror in our room.  I forgot it was even there most of the time, but after 5 minutes of fussing with my makeup, it was nice to catch a glimpse and take a step back.  Fashion and beauty have become this imagined need for perfection in our appearances.  Sure, it rocks when my jeans fit just right and the shirt hits at the right place on my arm.  Everyday, though, my lipstick doesn’t need to be perfect and I can wear flats when my feet hurt.

It’s hardly fair to blame the media for the way we expect ourselves to look.   Sure, magazines take already beautiful women and Photoshop them into extreme beauty robots.  Maybe it would be refreshing to see an ad where the model’s knees look like actual knees.  I might even appreciate a girl who has whispy hairs on her ponytail.  At some point, though, we have to accept that you will notice the sweat on a woman’s forehead, or the pit stains on her shirt.  Advertising is all about getting the customer to believe your product will make them a superhero. 

Sadly, this leaves the blame on us.  Sure, we’ve been fed these ideas since we were mere babies in our strollers, but as anyone who has been fed cafeteria food knows, you don’t always eat what’s in front of you.  We all have to stop comparing ourselves to people who don’t exist (or who do and are paid to be beautiful).  We should celebrate fashion as art and celebrities as entertainment.  They don’t need to be role models for a perfect lifestyle.

I imagine you are shaking your head right now, rolling your eyes and thinking that you like yourself just fine and think it’s weird to put sticky notes up to boost your confidence.  That’s fine, too.  I applaud you, in fact.  I want to learn your secrets.  I love getting compliments, as I’m sure everyone does.  Even if the compliments are from me, who cares?  The key is to give yourself a little confidence boost.  Tiny (and big) imperfections fade into the background when you feel like you look great.  No one is going to notice if your eyeliner is not exactly even as long as you don’t rub at your eyes all day.

The average person is lucky.  When you have a runny nose, your mom, your roommate, and maybe the person next to you in a quiet room will notice.  If you were a celebrity, someone would probably photograph it and post it online.

Top 5 Underestimated Beauty Products -K

1.     Lip liner- Until recently (read- this past week), I’d never even tried to use lip liner. I had pictures in my mind of dark red lip liner with lighter red lipstick and I shuddered.  I didn’t need a pencil to draw on a lip shape! My lipstick was awesome enough on it’s own.  Then, I bought a value pack of lip products that came with a light pink lip liner and, never one to back down from a beauty product challenge, I tried it on.  Although I would never put it on under lipstick, under lip gloss it definitely solidifies the color just right. For the past few days, I’ve been experimenting left and right and love it more every day.

2.     Primers- Again, the behind the scenes make up has proven essential.  I should point out, I have pale skin that breaks out every couple weeks.  This means most of the time light powder is all I use.  By 5 o’clock, though, I find myself looking in the mirror wondering why I even bother with makeup in the first place.  Enter my primers.  All of the major make up lines have them, but until I used one, I rolled my eyes.  Now, every time I need that extra coverage to stick, I dab some of the lovely clear stuff onto my chin and voila! My makeup sticks (and even looks natural.  Plus it feels like silk against your face, and when I have a little too much make up on, something clean feeling keeps me from messing with my face all day...

3.     Mascara- This product shouldn’t really make the list, as plenty of people in the world understand the importance of mascara, but it’s my blog entry so here you go.  I am an eyeliner girl, and to keep my eyes from looking unnaturally dark, I usually skip the mascara.  Dark, fairly long lashes grant me that luxury.  But really, ladies, think of the time we could all be saving by skipping the eyeliner and going straight for the lashes! No more minutes spent evening out our eyes! No more bottom lid, top lid, inner lid debates! Just slash on a hint of purple mascara (DARK purple) and those hazel eyes are transformed to green without anyone knowing it’s not natural.  

4.     Sleep- This “product” is underestimated by others, but treasured by me.  In high school, I had a bedtime.  I could have ignored it and stayed up in my room awake all night studying or texting, but I usually stuck pretty close to it in order to get my 8 hours of shuteye.  In college, especially I always gave myself the chunk of time I needed to feel well rested the next day.  This translated to very few mornings and even fewer nights where I skipped my skincare routine.  I am not a morning person (just ask my mom), and my 9 o’clock classes last year might as well have been set for 6 the way I acted getting out of bed, but I was never too tired to skip brushing my teeth (ew) or washing my face).  I’m sure sleep also does something to how your skin works, but to me it means the energy to treat it how it should be treated.

5.     Blush- Be honest, if you’re one of those people who likes to keep their beauty routine short, sweet, and to the point- you skip the blush, don’t you?  You think- it’s not that important.  Maybe you run on a little for special occasions, but what’s the point?  Blush is awesome.  Done the wrong way, sure, it can look faker than one of those creepy porcelain dolls, but done the right way, you’ll probably look more natural than if you only had on foundation.  Do yourself a favor and try it for a week.  

Bonus material: Five Overrated Beauty Products (That I Still Use)

1.   Cover up- Nothing makes a pimple more noticeable than coating it with 8 layers of makeup.  Give your skin a break! Maybe your skin will thank you by getting rid of the nasty blemish.  Or maybe it will continue to be angry and red. Why risk it?

2.   Gel- Unless you use it perfectly, it looks crunchy and oily.  And yet I still have at least 2 kinds in my bathroom.  They have such promise!

3.   Under Eye fixers- I have one of these in my purse, and yet I still don’t know if I believe they actually do anything.  Even if they don’t, the little bit of massage my dark circles get at least make me feel better.

4.   Those Evil Pore Strips- Ouch. I’ve heard these are actually bad for your skin, but ever since I saw them on TV, I’ve been absolutely addicted.

5.   Bronzer- Okay, I’m biased. I don’t tan.  But I feel like bronzers run such a fine line of making your tan look unnatural, I’m sticking it on the list.  Feel free to prove me wrong.

What Do They Say?

In our case, they say a lot.  Instead of sticking with one theme for the rest of the blog, we plan on mixing things up.  K’s going to start with beauty, while A plans to kick her leg of the trip off with some philosophic musings.  Let’s be real though, there’s only so much two college students can say about either of those topics before we start getting bored: this is the age of 30 second commercials and 140 tweets, after all.  Instead, next month, we’re going to pick something new and talk about whatever we pick next.