If I don't survive the night....

I am writing this blogpost from my actual home- not my home-at-school home, but my house-where-I-grew-up home. I live up on the second floor, and the window to my room overlooks a large oak tree. Said oak tree is home to some of the most sadistic squirrels I have ever come in contact with. I'm not quite sure what they have against me, but I have been the target of their fiendish plans for far too many years.

Now I know that I may not be the world's most unbiased observer. I dislike animals in most shapes and forms (except the stuffed, cuddly kind- those are fun). But, again I stress, these squirrels are something else. They have been known to lob acorns at unsuspecting passersby. "But," you say, "it is an oak tree. Acorns fall out of oak trees. You cannot blame the squirrels." Ah, dear friend in my head, that is where you are wrong. Because, I know, acorns do not fall out of trees at angles and jet-speed-like propulsions leaving bruises on your head.

I had hoped that the squirrels would have joined the geese in migration, or at least would grant me a reprieve for the holidays but I seem to be out of luck. As I settled into my bed with a new MST3K, I was terrified to hear one of their loudest attacks as of yet. The unholy demons were not just unleashing a firestorm of acorns at my windows, they seemed to be assembling an artillery on the siding with their little skittering talons. Crouching under my most intimidating hat, I poked my head out of the curtains to peer out the window, but alas, their camoflauge was too keen, and I couldn't see a single critter.

So, fearing for my life, I moved onto the only next logical plan of action. I called my dad. This is not the first time my father has had to save me from small, woodland creatures, and I'm sure it won't be the last. He gamely laced up his boots, zipped up his coat, and ventured out into the hailstorm of acorns and squirrel-ish fury. Only to find, nothing. Nothing at all. Of course, the moment he stepped out the door, the noise stopped. So, not only am I in danger of losing my life to these squirrels tonight, my sanity is now in question.

I suppose it is up to me now. It will be a long night of terror, artillery-fire, prayer, and the darkness that dwells in the souls of men *ahem* squirrels. Wish me god-speed, faithful readers, that I may see the morn, and that it may be free of the furry communist devils (acorns from each according to his ability, acorns to each according to his need? I think not!).

Too much to do

Does this not just make you swoon? Props to Seb Lester, here for the created typography- just so gorgeous! The perfect quote for the week before finals.

The awful, awful story of the cell phone case(s)

I love my cell phone. I really do. It has been my faithful companion for about two years now, and we really get along quite well. Unfortunately, in cell phone years, it is now somewhere around 78. Which is pretty old, for a cell phone and all. Functionally, it is great- all the buttons work, it still holds the 1000+ pictures I've taken of my niece and it keeps up with my habit of sending over 10,000 texts a month (sorry, dad!). However, Verizon has decided that it is no longer a viable option for cell-phone purchasers and since it isn't available for sale, Verizon also does not sell all the fun little accessories for it either. So, when my cell's cute little pink rubber case started looking like it had been ripped apart by the rabid zombies at Kroger, drastic steps had to be taken.

I turned to Ebay. Retrospectively, this was mistake number 1. After shopping around, I chose two cute cases that I really liked- one with little pink hearts all over, and one zebra print. However, in the hustle and bustle of life, I closed my browser without making a purchase... or SO I THOUGHT.

The next day, I began receiving emails from two different "sellers" instructing me to pay for my purchases. After much confusion on my part, I realized my fatal mistake. I had not realized that by clicking the "Buy it Now" button, I had actually bought it then. Being an Amazon girl, I had assumed that I was placing said items into my little e-shopping cart, where I would then receive at least 3 prompts allowing me to confront issues such as budget, need, materialism, the value of counter-cyclical spending (shopping isn't a hobby, it's a philosophy) before actually committing to a purchase. So, I emailed the sellers, explaining to them that although their items were really quite lovely, I hadn't actually wanted to buy them, I simply misunderstood the meaning of the button I was pressing. Needless to say, I was unsuccessful. So, this week, I received in the mail two new cell phone covers and a car charger (I actually needed that- it came with the zebra case).


Now, I know what you're thinking. "Come on, Meleah. That's not so bad. I mean, sure, you didn't need two cell phone cases, but now you have a back-up!" Well, well, well (I say to you), we are just getting started in my tale of woe. When the first phone case arrived (with the cute little hearts) I immediately put it on my cell phone and showed it off excitedly to all my friends. However, after a few days, I was ready for a change, and so today I decided to shake things up a bit and put on the zebra case. Simple, right? You are mistaken. After putting on the zebra case, I realized that it would not allow me to actually use my phone. That's right- my phone now looked adorable, but was little better than an animal-printed paper weight. "But Meleah! It's so simple! Just remove the case!" But you don't understand, friends in my mind! This case somehow managed to anatomically weld itself to my phone. I pried, I squeezed, I prayed and I pleaded, but this case was not coming off. And to top it all off, I couldn't even call a friend to come help me, because the case would not allow me to use the phone. Finally, one of my freshmen (and good friends) responded to my promised reward of a candy bar and was able to remove the case, although several pieces snapped off of it in the process. What an ordeal!

So, to review the lessons learned
1. "Buy it now" actually does mean "buy it now"
2. It is possible to enter into contractual agreements on the internet, even though you can't actually sign anything (yeah, I tried this argument with a "seller." I was shot down.)
3. My father should have listened all those year that I've requested a flame thrower for Christmas (I would have gotten that case off so much more quickly)
4. When in doubt, offer a candy bar as a reward.

Punk Kitsch

So, as my faithful readers, I wanted you to be the first to hear about this new trend I've found (or at least named), punk kitsch! Taking your great-aunt's crafts and hobbies, and putting a modern trend on them.

First off, knit bombing. For those of you who haven't heard of it, knit bombing is the new, environmentally-friendly graffiti. The "bombers" knit covers for unusual items and place them spy-style in the middle of the night-- forget kleenex boxes, think tanks.

or buses

or trees

Also known as yarnbombing or guerilla knitting (my favorite!) the bombers' goal isn't so much social commentary as making the sterile, cold cityscapes a touch more homey- how cool is that??

Although my friend Amanda has been warning me for years, I apparently missed the day that ukelele's came back in style. I remember being given my great- grandfather's uke one Christmas as a cheaper alternative to the guitar I'd been asking for, but I assumed they had died out around the time of the harpsichord. However, I was wrong and they are back in full swing and cuter than ever!

This apple uke ^ is my favorite! If you go here, they also have a snail, a pear, a fish, and a cupcake!


Finally, the whole idea of punk kitsch came from my friend Missa and I's experience with rebellious meditation. We both attended a meditation seminar last night and after leaving, realized that we had both kept silent during the debriefing portion because neither of us had followed directions and had been little zen rebels instead.

According to the Rebel Buddha,

There’s something of a rebellious streak in all of us. Usually it’s dormant, but sometimes it’s provoked into expression. If nurtured and guided with wisdom and compassion, it can be a positive force that frees us from fear and ignorance. If it manifests neurotically, however, full of resentment, anger, and self-interest, then it can turn into a destructive force that harms oneself as much as it does others. When confronted with a threat to our freedom or independence and that rebellious streak surfaces, we can choose how to react and channel that energy. It can become part of a contemplative process that leads to insight. Sometimes that insight comes quickly, but it can also take years.

So, take a moment today, and let out your rebellious side. Paint your nails a crazy color, dye your hair, try a new radio station, break your routine. Get out there and shake things up! Your sanity depends on it!!

Christian Meditation

Hello folks!! This week, I have been dealing with what I believe is a fairly common problem- lots of stress! Between school, work, and organizations, I feel like my life has been running 100 miles an hour! Not to mention just general emotional stress as I attempt to stay close to my friends and family and take care of them when they need it too!

In order to reduce stress, I've been doing some research on meditation (ok, "research" may not be the best term-- I've been googling). Meditation has some fantastic health benefits- including lowering blood pressure and reducing your risk of anxiety and depression! See here. As a practicing Christian, I have also been exploring many websites about Christian meditation vs Buddhist meditation, and I think that the Christian faith is definitely compatible with many aspects of meditation.

First of all, the basics of meditation. I began at this website. Some of the information seemed like it was for people at more advanced stages of meditational skills, but I really liked the idea of the breathing meditations. In this type of meditation, you sit comfortably (but sit up so you don't fall asleep!) and focus on your breath. You don't need to change your breathing pattern, just pay close attention to the feeling of the breaths leaving your body. Some sites suggested mental imaging- picturing that you are breathing out black smoke (representative of negative emotions) and breathing in white light. In this way, you can eventually clear your mind.



Now, many websites about Christian meditation criticize Buddhist meditation for focusing on emptying the mind, rather than filling the spirit. However, I feel that it would be very difficult to allow God to fill your spirit when your mind is a complete mess (as mine has been recently). So, when I meditate, I try to empty my mind, clearing a pathway for God to reach my spirit.

Additionally, I try to choose a Christianity-centered mantra to concentrate on. For instance, sometimes when I am focusing on clearing my mind, I focus on the phrase "God is good" or "Jesus saved me." I try to keep it simple, but you can easily find a phrase that works for you! The idea of the mantra is that you begin to automatically associate this phrase with the clearing of your mind. So, when you are stressed and overwhelmed, repeating your mantra inwardly will automatically get your body into mind-clearing mode.

I plan on using meditation to help me relax, to focus more on my prayers, and to help keep my spirit open to receiving God's word, love, and blessings.

What methods do you use for stress relief? Has meditation worked for you? Let me know!

Fat Talk : (

I've spent the past few weeks reading about body image. As a college-aged woman, my body is definitely something I think about a lot. I worry about health issues, my tan lines, those persistently jiggly bits, future wrinkles, my complexion-- you name it, I worry about it.

Living on my own has helped me to learn many lessons about myself:

I cannot keep cookies in my room.
When my mom's not here to force me to eat vegetables, I don't.
Even though I feel gross after a run, the sweat is kind of the point.
I have to work hard not to compare myself to other girls.

This last point has been my most difficult. My freshman year, I moved into an all-girl's dorm and my roommate was a gorgeous, fit, tan softball player, Scooter. She was the most wonderful roommate I could have asked for, but sometimes I felt plain old frumpy next to her. I had to keep reminding myself that although I would never look just like her (she's about six inches shorter than me), I still had beautiful things about me. Trust me, it was tough.

About a year ago, I joined the Tri Delta chapter at my school. This meant that I began spending hours and hours every week with some of the most breath-takingly gorgeous girls I had seen in my life! Talk about an inferiority complex! It seemed like every single girl was tan, thin, great hair, great skin, and completely confident. I felt like a little pudgy mouse compared to all of them. However, these girls became some of my greatest supporters in finding my own beauty. My sorority sisters strive to eat healthy, not to "diet." They work out in groups so that it's more fun. And they never let another sister put herself down. In fact, Tri Delta helped to found the National Fat Talk Free Week, where girls strive not to "fat talk" themselves or allow others to do it.

I was so inspired by Fat Talk Free Week, that I decided to use it to help out the freshmen girls I was mentoring. Every day that week, I sent them a text message that I hoped would make them smile and feel beautiful. I'm pretty sure that those positives texts helped me even more than they helped them. By looking for the beauty in my students, I was able to find beauty in myself. By teaching them about virtue and character and inner beauty, I learned about those things myself.

Take some time this week to find all the things about yourself that are beautiful. Your smile, your arms, the way your eyes light up when you are with your significant other. I know you're beautiful, and I want you to know it too. Share the love to, and show your friends how beautiful they are. You'll feel better too!

gaga shoes!

Some fun things I've found this week!


Moma Propaganda has made some of the coolest social networking ad's designed as they might have been in the 1960's. The pictures are so fun and kitsch and it's so fun to see how times have changed! See a larger set here.



Speaking of social media, Gabi Gregg has been chosen as MTV's first "twitter jockey" or TJ. I think that this is a great way for MTV to fully connect to its audience, and for our generation to continue our love of digital self-expression! See her blog, "Young, Fat, and Fabulous" here. Not only is she gorgeous, her fashion advice is spot-on and she's a great advocate and supporter of plus-sized (real-sized) models. Great choice MTV!

I also LOVE these Lady Gaga-inspired heels!! So fun and tough at the same time. Unfortunately, the five-inch heel would be a bit much for my already 5'6" height. Not to mention the price tag! *sigh* Maybe someday!

The Cup is Half...?

I was recently hanging out on a philosophy website, looking for inspiration when I came across this article about pessimism vs. optimism. Being a perpetual optimist who often finds herself friends with stalwart pessimists, I found this topic really interesting. The question: Is it more rational to be optimistic or pessimistic?

I think the first idea that really needs to be explored is whether one can choose to be optimistic or pessimistic. I have had a sunny outlook for as long as I can remember. Thinking over some of my most negative-minded friends, I feel that their attitude comes naturally to them. However, I feel that over time, one could mindfully change from one to the other. To me, optimism (or pessimism for that matter) is a practiced habit. I think we can agree that if you work hard, you can put yourself into a good mood or into a bad one. If you do this for long enough periods of time, it becomes more natural. For instance, if on a bad day you put on your favorite pair of jeans, make some plans with your friends, and rock out to a great song, then you are likely to end up in a good mood. After several weeks of this behavior, changing your mood will become instinctual rather than a mental effort. I think that as this continues, you can actually make yourself into a more positive and optimistic person. Or, contrariwise, you can become more pessimistic.

Ok, so we have established that one probably can change from an optimist to a pessimist or vice versa. But that begs the question, which one is better? I think we've all heard arguments for both sides. Pessimism is "better" because if you expect the worst you will never be disappointed. Optimism is "better" because if you set yourself up for success with a positive attitude, then you are more likely to be successful (self-fulfilling prophecies and all that).

In an interesting solution to the problem, we could all end up pessimists. Bear with me here. If offered the choice to change viewpoints, I feel that the pessimist would want to remain pessimistic. In his view, changing to optimism could only have bad results and as such, would be a foolish venture. Given the same choice, I think the optimist would be likely to change to pessimism, feeling that the switch could only reap good benefits. Consequently, the entire world would become pessimistic.

Again, however, this is all silly, early-morning postulating. If I was given the choice to become a pessimist (which, as described before, I already have that option) I think I would remain an optimist. To me, life is a lot more fun when you can enter every activity sure that it won't just turn out ok, it will be great!

Your turn!
1) Are you an optimist or pessimist? Or a little bit of both? Or the ever-elusive realist?
2) Which attitude seems "better" to you and why?
3) Would you switch from being an optimist to a pessimist? Or vice-versa?

Look What I Can Do!

Operationbeautiful has deemed this week "change the way you see, not the way you look" week, and in honor of that fantastic holiday, I am going to do a body-beauty post.

This past summer, I have been really striving to love my body. It is truly not any easy thing to do. Sometimes I feel like I am fighting my body or that it has a mind of its own. On those days when my jeans don't fit right, my skin breaks out, and my joints refuse to let me walk even 100 feet, I often wish I could trade this body in for something else, something better. Ever have that feeling?

Fortunately, through some very supportive friends and family and fantastic advice from very wise people, I have come up with some ways to beat the body blues. One of these tactics I like to call my "look what I can do list." The idea is fairly simple. Just make a list of all the things your body can do. It may be tough to get started but once you get going, you'll find that you likely don't have enough paper to write it all down! Here is an excerpt from my list:

My body lets me---
breathe, sing, dance, run a 5k, eat yummy food, hug my niece, wear fun clothes, read books, take walks, smile, laugh, hula hoop, drive, plant flowers, jump on trampolines, swim, roll down hills, live on my own, make pbjs

I already feel more confident just writing all of that! The important thing here is to really focus on the positives. Yes, my body has many flaws. But also yes, my body does some pretty great things! What cool things does your body do?

Beginnings

This is my first attempt at a personal blog. I keep a blog for my university, and a funny one, but I felt the need to write one that was a little more free-spirited. Hopefully it will help me to keep my thoughts organized and maybe communicate with a few like-minded people.

My topic for today is running. I started running for the first time close to a month ago. This beginning was a huge deal for me. Physical activity has never been one of my strong points, and so the fact that I am still keeping up with this is something I am incredibly proud of. It has been such a fantastic way to exercise and I have learned a lot about myself in the process.

Running has taught me that my body loves to be challenged. When I truly push myself on a tough run in the morning, I feel fantastic the rest of the day. I am happy, excited, and my muscles are full of energy. Yes, they burn and yes, they get tight and sore, but overall my muscles love running. The person who has been helping to coach me for the 5k, Jerry, has been great. He understands that I'm a beginner, but he constantly encourages me to do my very best. Racing to the finish line with him today at the end of our 3 miles was exhilarating!

My confidence level has also shot up since I began running. It still blows my mind that I (me!) can run 3 miles, or run a 10-minute mile. It makes me feel like I have really accomplished something great. It's cliche, but with each step I take on a run, I feel like I am moving forward from who I used to be into someone brand-new, and each foot smashes down a mistake I've made, a negative though I've had, anything I'm not proud of.

I definitely plan on continuing my running and working hard to run further and faster each time. It isn't always easy- some runs just suck. I hurt, I'm tired, it's hot, and so on. But whenever I push through a tough run, the next run is typically fantastic. I'm not the fastest and I can't run the longest distance. I will probably never run the Boston Marathon, or a triathlon. But, I am a runner. And that makes me so proud.