I still plan on commenting on current events, traveling (if I can find time), product reviews, book reviews, and writing precious letters to my daughter. I figure I need to send something out into the cosmic void that she can someday read and look back on. I will probably even throw in a thing or two about my new year’s resolutions- there are 12 of them! Bet you can’t guess why…

I also want to feature my, ahem, creative side and will be posting different crafty DIY projects as I finish them. If you have read this far, I am forever grateful! I look forward to this journey.

- A.

You’ve probably heard all the commotion about the “pastor” from Florida and his rants about how burning the Qur’an will somehow benefit…something. I’m not really sure about this man’s rationale. Apparently he has asserted that burning a holy book is…justified…? I pause with a question because I’m simply baffled, speechless, mind-boggled (is that a word?), because I literally do not, under any circumstances, understand how this makes sense. If you do, please fill me in.

I know I am far from alone thinking that this guy is a whole lot of crazy. I guess what he thinks he’s doing is right. I guess he thinks this will somehow translate to Muslim extremists that he is not happy with them…but he has failed to think about the millions of Muslim followers who don’t wish harm to our country. To those believers who LIVE in the USA and love it here. To whom this is THEIR country also. …?

This man is so selfish in his childish acts. Every American and their mom was maddened/sickened/saddened/affected by the horrific acts of 9/11. This is not the issue. The issue at hand is this man’s indecency to the pulic. The awful way he is acting towards the situation. The sheer stupidity is must take to conceptualize such an act. It’s horrifying. I also say selfish because all he is thinking about is himself. Countless Americans have denounced him for his projected behavior (to my knowledge nothing has been done yet), and he still continues to believe that this will end in good things. Again I ask, please tell me what these good things are! Just ONE positive thing to come out of this………….

So I ask. Please “pastor” from Florida, stop this madness. Your actions, if carried through, will result in potential harm for millions of people. Think of our troops in Muslim countries. Think of their families here in the US, in your town. Think of what you’re doing to those families if something happens to their loved ones overseas. Did that cross your mind? Think of the Americans who practice Islam. Think of how you’re putting them in harms way. Think of the disgust you’re bringing on America as a whole, because you’re actions are speaking louder than the rest of ours. Even though you’re only a small group strong, it will take the rest of the country to dismiss you for your mistakes. If you want to do something positive, extend a helping hand. An open heart. From a Christian, to a pastor: You’re hurting us. You’re putting a bad name on our faith and our religion, as well as our nation and those who protect it.

Please.

Stop.

Think.

- A.

Yet, I have found the key to getting in and getting out quickly. The hardest part is finding the line to wait in because…there isn’t one! DMV appointments! They are lifesavers.

I walked in today at 9:38 only to be greeted by the backs of what seemed like an endless line of people. I approached the security guard, told him I had an appointment and he pointed me to a desk. No people waiting? No line?! This couldn’t be right…what was a DMV without a line? That was like cookies without milk. Like Wally world without the “special” people. They just went together!! To my surprise, this appointment thing was working out…then the craziest thing happened. As if in an express lane, they handed me my paper work and gave me a number. Before I was done filling out the papers, I was already being called to the desk! What is happening in my life right now?! I might make it out of here in under 30 minutes, something I’m sure has never been done before. As if today was my birthday and the quickness was my present the lady at this desk took a mere 2 minutes to quickly scan my information, give me my goods back, and pointed me towards the camera to take my picture. Then, it was all over. All done you say?!

I walked out at 9:52. Really? Yes. Only 14 minutes.

Save your precious hours next time and make an appointment! Who needs to dread going to the DMV? I almost want to go back to do all the other stuff I put off forever because of the intense hate I have for that place. Now what will I do with the rest of my day?!

Keep Squeezing,

A.

Honestly, reading these headlines plastered all over sub-mediocre magazines in the market check out line make me feel…sad. Sad for the people who write them, sad for the people who read them, and most of all sad for the people they’re written about.

Let me say now- WHO CARES if Tom Cruise is a crazy tyrant (prob not true) who doesn’t let Katie Holmes out of the house (not true) and, apparently, wants to strike up a professional dance career (true?). I don’t know Mr. & Mrs. Cruise, and I never will. I’ll never sit down with Katie and hear about her marital problems (we all have them), and I’ll never hear both sides of the story. Can’t we, the average people, put our selfish fetishes aside to let celebrities live their lives uninterupted? Granted, choosing a “celebrity” lifestyle automatically assumes that you know the paparazzi will lurk relentlessly in the shadows and anything you say or do will be held against you in the worst way. However, does this give us the right to do it? Nope. I really hope that Tom and Katie are happy, if not for themselves than for their daughter.

There are plenty of married couples out there who aren’t happy. Many have been chosen their lot in life due to bad circumstances or being pressured. There are a ton of happy married couples too- and why don’t they make the news? Because we, as humans, have the unending need to see people fail- and when they do, we feel satisfied.

And for the Rob Pattinson and Kristen Stewart thing, please people, give them a break. Are they dating? Are they engaged? They know, and their friends know, and that’s what’s important. Ok, so they are products of one of the craziest, most fanatical, tween franchises ever…but I still think they deserve their privacy. They’re not Bella and Edward. They’re not a hot mysterious vampire and an awkward high school human. They’re actors. They’re celebrities. If they’re in love- congratulations to them! If they’re not- that’s ok too. Don’t ruin a good thing people, let the movie be the movie and their personal lives stay personal.  

I think I would hate being in the limelight 24/7. I think being a celebrity would be hell. I think it would be immensely annoying to know that people love to hate you, because that’s what it seems like most of the time. I feel bad for the super famous. I wish that more people would understand that actors, musicians, rappers, etc. are just as normally human as the rest of us. We think we know them but we don’t. We have no right to know their personal information. How would you like it if everytime you met a hot guy 20 cameras followed you on your first date? Not fun. Celebrity hell.

Keep Squeezing,

A.

Picture Posted by Joe Lynch on Yahoo! Finance

 For me, the new logo less than impresses. It looks like something you’d find on a Wal-Mart brand product. Sad day. Where’s the creativity Seattle’s Best!?

I guess I’ll live with the new logo, but if you start to change your coffee I’m outta here.

Seattle, Washington. It’s a great place. Now that the northwestern state is more famous for its fictional vampire clans than its resident world wonder (the Space Needle), it is no surprise that some of my friends have traveled all the way there just to get a look at the small, very real, town of Forks instead of the booming metropolis Seattle.

If you think about it, Washington has gotten a lot more action in the media recently than I feel it has in the past. As the central focus of Stephanie Meyers’ fanatical teen melodrama, Twilight, the state is moving up the ranks of travel destinations in the hearts of American youth. I imagine a conversation goin gsomething like this:

Kid: “Parents, let’s take a trip to Washington state this year for our family vacation.”

Parents: ”Ok, would you like to go for the great camping sights? Or perhaps to see the Space Needle, or visit the amazing stretch of Pike Place Market?”

Kid: “Are those in Forks? Because I was thinking more along the lines of a tour of the Cullen house, or maybe visiting Forks High School.”

Parents: “Who are the Cullen’s and why do you want to tour their house?”

…

I had the wonderful opportunity to visit Seattle last summer and had one of the best travel experiences of my life. Of course it helped that my boyfriend proposed while we were there. Regardless, it heightened my sense of the city and I started noticing it was more popular than I had thought. My favorite prime time TV show, Grey’s Anatomy, also takes place in Seattle. Wonderful.

One thing I enjoyed more than the history of the city, the amazing views of the Pugent Sound, and the perfectly pleasant Pike Place Market, was that the people there enjoyed themselves. I saw so many original, hippy fantastic, people. I loved it! People knew what they liked and weren’t worried about who else did or didn’t like it too.

I think people could learn a lot from this place. Although I didn’t come across any vampires, werewolves, or McDreamy surgeons, I did find a home away from home while I was there. Oh, and did I mention it was a coffee lover’s paradise? Oh yes.

Keep Squeezing,

A.

Today nothing much surprises us. We’re used to seeing murder on the news and sex on TV- so why is a simple dance competition video the subject of recent controversy?

If you haven’t seen it, or heard about it, there is a YouTube video of a dance competition in which a troup of five young girls are performing a choreographed routine to Beyonce’s hit “Single Ladies.” It is a subject of recent controversy because of the, ahem, suggestive moves the girls perform- and because they’re only 7 years old.

Let me start by saying that I have been dancing for 12 years and I am by no means an expert on the subject, but I feel that I know a lot and can empathize with these girls, and perhaps, their choreographer. I understand the reasoning and thought process behind this performance. It’s for a competition, so you bring your best attributes. Dancing is performing, and people perform to entertain- and these girls are entertaining! Behind the “controversial” moves, are deep rooted dance techniques that are spot on for their age, and difficult for a lot of dancers to do. Not only is their technique amazing, but they have their facial expressions down, their attitude, and their character. These little girls look like they’re having fun! And that’s important, especially at that age and in this generation when childhood is lost long before that.  

In respose to seeing the video, my brother remarked…”They’re going to grow up to be strippers.” I really hope he doesn’t seriously think that, and neither should anyone else. What do you expect people? These girls didn’t choreograph that routine, at least I don’t think so, they are just showing off their skills. There’s nothing wrong with that! They can DANCE! Better than my brother, whose favorite and only move on the dance floor is the fist pump.

What surprises me about all of this is that people are surprised by the dance moves. How can people be surprised, when the role models these girls have in the spotlight today are Britney Spears and “Dirrty” girl Christina Aguilera? People were appalled to see the girls wearing a flashy red two-piece costume, made complete with black knee-highs and gloves. It’s a competition people! You expect them to wear unitards and animal printed sweatshirts? Our culture (American) gives them images of sex all over, and not only on TV. You can see sex everywhere, billboards on the freeway, magazine covers, and movie previews at the theatre. We can’t expect our kids of today to stay innocent if we’re not willing to cut down on our public display of everything sexual.

I think these girls are technically better than many dancers I’ve seen, and I think they were having fun with this routine. I think that we can’t hold our children to different standards than we hold ourselves. I don’t think that just because these girls have great rythm and an understanding of body movement that they are going to be hypersexual as adults. I think, once again, the media and the public have twisted something innocent into something dirty.

Keep Squeezing,

A.

I didn’t realize how out of control busy I had gotten until I got a day off. A day off from work, from school, from anything pressing to do. I purposefully abandoned cleaning the house and yardwork. I didn’t feel like going to the gym, or getting on the internet, or writing a paper that’s due next week. I wanted to sit on the couch and watch a movie. The only problem is, that was a lot easier said than done.

Somehow my life spiraled into a whirlwind of to-do lists. I carry a planner in my purse, leave notes on the whiteboard on my fridge, use 2 calendars in my office, upload appointments into my PalmPilot, and still manage to not have enough room to write down all of the things I need to get done within the week. It’s crazy. In the midst of it all, it doesn’t seem out of control. It seems like life. But once you’re free from it, you realize just how sad and pathetic it seems to be. What have I become? Someone who can’t even sit down with myself and enjoy relaxation? Pitiful.

How do you get by? That day where my calendar was free of obligations I sat down to watch TV and ended up finding that my attention span lasted no longer than 6 minutes. By then I was already thinking about something else I could be doing, relentlessly going over the next day in my head, writing out lists…lists…LISTS…like a crazy person. I honestly don’t know how I got to this point. Well, actually I do. For the past year I’ve been working, going to school full time, and planning my wedding- no easy tasks. Each tedious in their own respects and stressful beyond belief most of the time. Now that the wedding planning is over and college graduation is coming up I feel as though I need to fill my day with other things- like cleaning. Intense cleaning. And organizing, and landscaping. Perhaps I’m nesting? I don’t know. Whatever it is, it’s annoying but almost an impulse that I can’t get out of.

Sidenote: Landscaping is hard. Taking care of plants is hard. I am constantly visiting Lowe’s to buy more plants because I manage to kill all of mine. I dig the holes, pour the soil, everything like the directions on the tag says! Why don’t I have a green thumb!? Everyone else’s plants look great! Mine suck. I feel like a failure.

I don’t really know what I’m learning from this- perhaps that taking breaks are a good thing. That your calendars don’t have to be full to lead a vibrant life. That maybe too many to-do lists actually take you away from the important things…like yourself.

Keep Squeezing,

A.

Sensitivity is something that often comes attached with a negative connotation. If a man get emotional about anything, he’s too sensitive. If a woman cries about a bad remark made about her, she’s too sensitive. The key word here is too. Too much, it’s overbearing. As in, your sensitivity on this subject is more than the average amount alotted…respectively.

Unless we have some high form of self-control or the ability to be out of the house most of the day, the majority of people watch television. The average person, if you will, watches tv. They watch movies. They surf the internet. You can’t do any of these things without encountering something that pulls at the heartstrings. Whether it’s in a good way, bad way, or anything inbetween. I’m guilty of being de-sensitised. Which goes along with my point…we are constantly being encouraged to shove emotions aside. Perhaps not directly, but on another level. We all know that in the American culture, if a man cries, it is suggested that he is less masculine than a man who doesn’t- no matter what the situation (except perhaps death). A woman, although more accepted as being emotional, is still prompted to repress emotions.

Now this is not a commentary on the hypersensitive, if you will, that will cry over anything. No. I’m talking about simple, natural, instinctive emotions that we as a culture (American) are not encouraged to share. I feel like sensitivity is taboo. Feeling our emotions is taboo. Feeling. Is. Taboo. My only thought parellel with this idea is that the reason why this happens is because when we feel, one strong emotion could be fear. Feeling is scary! It can be hard, it can be unpleasant. But isn’t it necessary? Isn’t being sensitive to bad, nasty, happy, situations a good thing? How else would we learn to appreciate life?

In one respect I feel like sensitivity is encouraged- to be sensitive to others’ needs. In a world that is inherantly concerned with the self, we are reprimanded if we outwardly express this concern over that of others. Shouldn’t there be a balance? Why do we have to feel that this is a one way road? Why can’t it go both ways?

I’m learning that being sensitive, understanding, caring to myself is just as important as doing it for others. I know in the long run, that’s how it should be. You have to give yourself credit, take care of yourself. Not before others, but with others. Being sensitive to your own feelings is not something we should repress- we should embrace it! Embrace your emotions people!

Thanks and Keep Squeezing,

A.