Justice aka Revenge

I never write on here anymore, because I don't really feel a need to any more... as strange as that sounds. But right now, I feel more compelled than ever to write.

On a night when millions of americans are in the streets chanting U-S-A and celebrating the death of Osama Bin Laden, I feel remorseful. I've of course made jokes tonight and quoted team america and watched wide eyed at Obama's speech but over all I feel very uncomfortable. Facebook is filled with statuses of excitement and joy and satisfaction and I feel so torn. To celebrate the death of any person seems unbelievably wrong yet I know that killing him had to be done... there is no other way to stop someone who simply uses terror and death for power. I know that it isn't morally wrong to be celebrating- people are feeling that justice has been served.... but for religious extremists, they are thinking the same thing when we are harmed... justice. Why do we have to use death as a means of feeling like a chapter is closed or that justice has been served? If humans are ever going to get a long and stop the endless cycle of killing maybe the whole concept of justice needs to be thrown out, two wrongs certainly don't make a right. But then again, I can't bring myself to call the killing of bin laden wrong but I also can't bring myself to call the mass celebration of death as right...

9/11 was a horrible day but it's over now and we have to move on and stop trying to seek justice. Trying to stay safe is one thing but seeking something that is simply just a nicer name for revenge fails to help humans and will ultimately separate us all once more.

It is not human nature to do these things, we are an under determined species- these things have been taught. We need to stop teaching the myth that revenge or justice will bring happiness.

New!

Please check out my new blog... my new experiment!

http://reusedrecylcedreloved.blogspot.com/

Follow it and love it please! : )

Anthropologie's Valentines Gift to Me

Anthropologie has just released their new wedding line today: BHLDN

It's dreamy and perfect and I've been awaiting it anxiously. The shoes are incredible and the eyelet medley sheathe gown is picturesque!

Look and Love

http://www.bhldn.com/index.cfm

Happy Valentines Day!

Epic Poem versus Love

Well I'm procrastinating... there is nothing I'd rather do right now that not do my paper on Gilgamesh. Don't get me wrong, I love Sumer and Gilgamesh... what's not to love about an Epic poem which focuses on death and corpses being eaten by bugs? Okay, so there is far more to it than than that. But really, it's not what I'd like to be thinking about right now. So I'm going to instead write about something fantastically indulgently happy.

Valentines Day.

Now, I know that valentines day is kind of a taboo phrase. When said out loud it evokes eye rolls or eye glitzes. There are always the people who love it and the people who would rather bite their arms off than give into this corporate created greeting card holiday. Now I've never really been on either of those sides, I love holidays but valentines day has never really meant much to me. But this year I realized something... this year I will actually be in the same country as my boyfriend on a day that is all about indulging yourself in love. So needless to say, I got a little excited when I realized this.

I've decided that this year, I will celebrate and I will indulge and evoke eye rolls and I will enjoy it all while wearing a fabulous outfit. I mean hey, when is there a better time to put on a silk blouse and some sky high wedges? No other day, I say! But I also decided I wouldn't go over board and just jump into the deep end. No thoughtless presents and store written cards, just a nice night out with someone I love.

I've decided valentines day is all about balance. Enjoying a day devoted to love is such a well, lovely idea. Be it with friends you love or an actual lover or just indulging yourself because you love yourself! But it's important to balance it and not let all the heart shaped pillows in target go to your head, even though they are incredibly appealingly cute!

So buy yourself a new top from you're favorite shop! Meet your best friends for drinks and chocolate covered strawberries! Take your petite amie for a nice night out and give her an excuse to pull out the heels! Just do things you love, on a day dedicated to love.

So Happy Early Valentines Day, may it be filled with love.

It's a wonderful life

Last December I took some time and followed my very own Yorkshire man back to his city, I spent my first Christmas away from home. I ate more than any one person should eat. I got actually "piss" drunk for the first time in my life. I felt more homesick than I've ever felt in my life. I lit my dress on fire in a fire place. Again, I drank more alcohol than I've ever consumed before. I pet a donkey. I realized just how loud growing up in America has made me compared to everyone else, seriously, it's embarrassing. I watched wayyy to much top gear and come dine with me. And I had an amazing time even though I cried... often and hard.

But, hey, that's just me. I cry. Anyways... there is a point to this! I've been a bit of free spirit these past few years. I've floated around university programs... arts and anthropology and writing and so on and finally found humanities but hadn't really known how to hone that down and create a life I wanted to live... a life that will inspire. Since I realized that my life long dream of having no consequences and travelling the world until my hair grows grey would probably be not a great idea... I started wanting to find something I felt ready to devote too. While on my English Christmas Extravaganza, the badger's family took us two to London for a few hours one day. We stopped by the V&A and I saw an exhibit which included clips from The Rite of Spring... my favorite ballet because of what an important role it plays in human history. Walking through the V&A is something else, literally. The fact that people get to spend their time working there surrounded by some of the greatest human accomplishments just blows my tiny American cultured mind. I cannot help but feel things when I'm in a place like that, literally you can feel the past there.

So when I cam back to the good ol' USA to continue my university work I finally choose a "focus." Museum Studies. This is pretty big for me, I never make decisions like this. So wish me luck on my new adventure! I hope to one day be able to surround myself with some of the greatest achievements of human kind, on a daily basis.

I hope that anyone who stumbles into reading this has led and is living a life in which inspiration is around them. Let it surround you. Let it envelope you. Let it arouse you. But most importantly, share it with those around you. Let's inspire each other.

And even though you will probably never read this, I'd like to give an incredibly important thank you to the Badgers for inviting me and having me during a very special time of the year. I regret that I was so incredibly shy, but it's only because I worry about my obnoxiously American cultured self around people of other less loud cultures. So thank you : )

Am I an animal? Part 1

Well it's supposed to snow in Flagstaff tonight and tomorrow, so clearly I am sitting here checking the weather every ten minutes, waiting for the snow to fall, and hoping for a text from my university tomorrow saying "class cancelled" aka... SNOW DAY.

Snow day, two of the greatest words invented. The definition of snow day is: A day in which leaving the house except to build a snow man will be putting yourself into danger so one must only eat popcorn and nutella and canned soup( the only things in my pantry right now) drink lots of tea and snuggle up to a book one is really looking forward to reading. That's my daydream for tomorrow, not what is actually going to happen. I am actually going to have to put on all the clothes I own and march through sleet and snow across campus to my classes. But what's important here really, is that one of my classes is actually helping me change.

Woah, change? Can people really change? Wait, can I really evolve myself in the course of 3 months? The answer is yes, I've done it in a week. It all started last Monday.

Monday evenings I have class called HUM 373, aka Nature and Values. I am the only humanities major in a class which all environmental studies majors are required to take. We were having an in class discussion after our grey haired lanky man of a professor wearing his plaid shirt read us the syllabus, and it was all about why aren't we changing. Everyone knows the ozone layer is depleting the Hopi tribe has said we have already gone so far we can't turn back and a British guy who knows what he is talking about has stated that after this century we are probably done, kaput, peace out planet Earth. So why aren't we changing when change is a part of our culture already?

We threw around ideas, and then I came to a conclusion on a whim said it out loud and everyone went, yeah. I am an animal. You, me, the badger, my best friend, my dog, my sister, all every single one of us, animals. But no one looks at it that way. Because we think we are above it. Because we live in our cultures we think we are not apart of nature.

We believe that we can own anything, we don't think of ourselves as a part of the land we live on, we think of ourselves as owning it. It part of our culture, we own our animals and land and we are certainly not animals, we are humans. But it's also part of our culture to change.

We are amazing animals, but we are animals. So try and think about that... try and think about ways you and I could change, do you want to change?

Should we really own our ideas?

It's not secret, we all want to be unique. People may try to blend in and go with the flow but everyone wants to feel special and original and unique, especially when it comes to our thoughts and ideas.

No matter what we look like, we will always be dissatisfied with something. It doesn't matter what we weigh, if our hair is turning grey, how we dress or anything, we will always be dissatisfied. But with our ideas and thoughts it's different. How good does it feel to have that ah-hah moment when you realize something? How fast does your heart beat when you realize the answer to the question you've been pondering all day? How perfect is that moment when realization knocks you over when you least expect it? It's electrifying, that feeling of I've figured something out! The moment when for one second your idea has solved the riddle of life, and you did it all on your own! God, there is nothing like it!

To all of a sudden come to a conclusion on something you spend hours and days and months and years pondering makes a person feel important and special and original, if only for a minute. I love that feeling. That's how I feel when I write a blog post, I feel for just a tiny second that my original ideas are more important to my survival in life than anything else!

But then it hits me, I'm human, of course I'm having these thoughts. How can my thoughts be truly original when people all over the world are probably thinking the same things and coming to the same conclusions at the same time! This was an ah-hah moment I had last night, and it was tragic. I felt cut down and completely lacking in intelligence and originality. Thoughts that I spend hours and months and years thinking about felt.... like they belonged to someone else.

But then came another moment, an ever more important ah-hah than the original thought I had in the first place! Thank God people are having the same thoughts as me! If my thoughts really are about what I think is best for me and those around me and humanity, I want , no I need other people to be thinking the same things!

It's great that we have ah-hah moments, but it's even better that we as humans can think and feel the same things as other people around us and even contribute to others around us! For a blog that's all about the living, whether they be the living past, future, or present, that has to be something I realize.

Ideas these days can be patented and protected, but really, ideas are meant to be shared. That's the beauty of our minds, our sixth sense if you will. The beauty that our minds can give us more happiness and truth than any other sense we have.

We have to share our ideas so that other's can experience that wonderful ah-hah moment, so that humanity can help each other.

Square.

It turns out, I am more of a square than I thought, and I am okay with that. Finally.

My brain works at the pace of lightening, not in a good way but in a I think really fast and make decisions really fast, way. My mind is immediately always drawn to something dramatic and drastic, I guess because I actually think with emotions instead of logic.

In just over a week I was supposed to be jetting off on the experience of a lifetime, a year long working holiday in New Zealand. I made the decision to go in such a snap because well, I thought it was adventurous and bold and the only thing available. I was excited and jittery and a bit nervous until about two months before hand. Then panic set in... I am halfway through my degree, I'm pretty broke, I still get homesick and I have to sleep with the hall light on. Am I really ready to jet off to a tiny island where I know no one?

It was more than cold feet, it was my brain kicking in and over riding my crazy wild dreamy emotions. I'll be honest, it's one of the first times!

It wasn't the right time to go, and it will be one day, but it isn't now. I need to finish my degree, after all I do love learning. I need to have more security and stability for a bit, after all I've never stayed in any one place very long. And I need to realize it's okay to be a bit of a square sometimes.

I will always be adventurous and crave travelling, but sometimes I just need to calm down and have adventures right where I am. I don't have to always be so bold and daring to lead an exciting life. In fact, my new plans are are far more exciting to me and feel so right.

It's okay to be a square.

Matchy Matchy.

If there is one thing that drives me crazy, it's the matchy matchy thing. Lavender bags with lavender tissue with lavender ribbon. Red sheets under a red duvet piled with red pillows. A blob of one color. I can't stand it. I like things to of course have consistency in some ways, similar hues and such, but I hate it when things are exactly the same.

When any two things match perfectly, they become the same thing... well in my eyes at least. I simply can't separate where one thing ends, and another begins. When things go well together though, they're separate and recognizable while sharing some sort of flow. In the past week I've had to explain to the badger that I just can't handle that much of one color, and it really got me to thinking about matchy mathcyness and how it relates to people.

When two people are the same, when they match too much, they become some sort of entity that can't be seen as separate. I mean, let's be honest, the song is Ebony and Ivory, not Ebony and Ebony. Or as Ella put it, you say tomato I say tomato. Distinctoin and separation between people can make for some magical harmonies. To be the same person, well it simply doesn't make music.

I would never want to be that entity with someone. I have best friends, I have people who I am unimaginably close too, but I am so obviously still a singular person. I flow with people, but luckily, I don't simply match.

Although I am coupled with someone, and was given the nickname kadger in the past week, I know I don't match that person. A look through our itunes could sure tell you that, no seriously. But even more so, we both manage to remain singular in our passions and preferences in so many things, we are lucky enough to really share a common bond while remaining so different and distinct. It's obvious we flow, but luckily, we don't simply match.

Chain Judger

Today I had a wonderful talk with someone I used to be very close to. It was nice to just lie there sprawled across the bed chatting, it was comfortable, it felt so... naturally normal. But some of the things I heard shocked me, and made me down right frustrated.

Now, this blog is all about the way I view my life, the lives I see, and life in general. I put out my opinions, but I do recognize other opinions, and I try my very hardest not to judge people based on their different opinions. But sometimes, I just want to judge.

I want to judge, because someone else judged, and it's this big nasty chain of judging each other. It all started when someone judged someone I feel close to for this person's very personal choices. I won't get into details, but yes, in a nut shell... it was ridiculous.

It made me think about how judging really is a chain. If someone judges me, I feel the need to make a snap decision about them and judge them right back. When someone judges someone I know, the exact same thing happens. It's like that song, she only smokes when she drinks... well I only judge when I'm judged... and that's simply pathetic; yet so simply human.

I hate the idea that I'm putting on my judgy pants in haste when I don't fully know why that person made the judgement. I may not agree with it, but what if the person is so emotionally connected to the situation, and no one else sees that. I need to take off my judgy pants and realize... I'll never fully understand another person's perspective... because I don't have the ability to ride the magic school bus into someone's brain.

Chain Judging must be stopped, but it has to start with myself. My judgy pants are off.

Ugly Katie.

There are things that each of us dislike about ourselves. From a little extra fat on the inside of our thighs or the way we crack under pressure or the way we look in a mirror. We find in ourselves the worst faults, worse than anyone else could see in us.

As a person who has struggled with self image issues in her past, and like everyone else always has little woes, I know what it feels like to completely loath yourself for something. We are many of us guilty of finding our ugly selves more often than we find our beautiful selves.

Ugly Katie stares back at me some mornings in the mirror, and to shake her off takes quite a bit of work. She's controlling, emotional, unattractive looking, and when I see her my stomach drops. Some days Ugly Katie never goes away, somedays we all just feel Ugly.

The thing we all have to realize is, we have to constantly keep ourselves in check. Constantly make sure we are being the best person we can be, helping out the global community just by loving those around us. But to love those around us, we honestly have to love ourselves. Because when I am Ugly Katie, I think the world thinks of me as Ugly Katie, and that really makes it hard to love them back. To see those around us with clarity we must view ourselves with some sense of it as well. We are to biased to make such harsh and rash judgements upon ourselves because we are to eager to jump to negative conclusions.

I mean we are always all going to have Ugly days. Days where it seems impossible to not cry or scream at someone; and more importantly it seems impossible to feel beautiful( and I don't necessarily mean physical beauty) and love ourself. But the only way to feel beautiful is to learn to fight through the Ugly days. To learn to combat your inner Ugliness with love and appreciate yourself and those around you.

If we ever want to fully love those around us and ourselves we can't let the Ugly version of ourselves take us over, we have to fight for our beauty everyday. We have to fight to be the version of ourself that makes us happiest. And while we will always want to loose 5 pounds or become better at being a lover or make the people around us happier, we also have to always know how to kick that negative feelings and combat the ugly.

It's up to yourself to decide how to fight off your personal Ugly. But I'll have you know, once you fight it off life can really be beautiful.

No amount of praise from people will change the way we view ourselves, it's up to me to not be Ugly Katie.

I will survive... and so will you.

I like the past.

I like vintage, I like believing in ghosts, I like history, I like museums filled with toaster ovens and bicycles and things that were once new that now seem so fragile. I like listening to elderly discuss life back in a different time. I like period movies and crinoline petticoats and old worn horse shoes. I like the past, I really do.

As a person who lives " in the future" so often and is always looking for something new, I find myself drawn constantly into the past. History has always been something so intriguing to me. It's like learning about a whole new world, yet it all happened right here. And yes, feel free to burst into a chorus of Aladin's whole new world as you are reading this, I know I did...

Anyways, Right here, where I am sitting now, was a completely different place in a different time. It's insanity really. It's mind blowing. I can spend hours walking around museums filled with trinkets and treasures and just think about the people who used to hold them dear. It's impossible to walk through museums without thinking about the child who once rode that shiny new bike or the 1950's wife who made toast for her family every morning through her modern new toaster oven. It's impossible not to think about the people behind all the items from the past.

I have this locket that belonged to a family member of mine from ages ago. It's etched with vines and a cross hatch pattern and it's made from a delicate worn down gold. The hinge is broken, and sadly, in such a frail state it can't be fixed. I've always wanted to wear that locket since it was given to me. It's funny though to think that when my great great great grandmother was wearing that locket, she had no idea that I one day would treasure it so, or that she in a way would live on through it. I obviously never knew her, but I imagine her every time I look at it.

We all think that when we die we stop being known completely, that life just moves on and we are never going to be remembered again. But while life goes on, the past always finds a way to pop out, it's always here. I now have my own locket, something I've wanted badly for ever. My sister gave me the simple silver heart with KAS etched across it for Christmas last year. I've never taken it off since, but one day I will.

One day I will get to be the person who passes down a treasure of mine to be someone else's. It may be out dated and the hinge may be ruined, but it will be a beautiful reminder that the past still does live on. The people who once lived aren't dead really, they survive through the most ordinary objects and become constant memories that everything we are right now, will one day be the past.

We are so afraid of growing old, so afraid of being people of the past; I admit it, I am. But the most remarkable thing is that we are truly lucky in that way, one day I will get to be the great great great grandmother who lives on through my beloved locket. I love the past, and although I hate the idea of wrinkles and fake teeth, I feel honored that one day I will be a person of the past living on through the entirety of the future.

The silver may be scratched and writing illegible but one day generations after me someone will imagine who I was, who the girl wearing this locket really was. And that's how we live on, and that's absolutely lovely.

What a symmetrical face you have my dear!

The first time I met Mr. Badger I immediately noticed two things. A. He had a white man afro and B. beyond his hair he was incredibly attractive ( Sorry love, but you know I never liked that fro of yours). The second thing I noticed was that he smiled and laughed a lot, I was just super drawn to him and wanted to be a part of the fun. I didn't know why immediately, but I knew I wanted to talk to him more. On a night out I found myself maneuvering my way around people just to "happen to sit by him".... although he claims it was him who tried to sit by me... either way, we ended up talking. And the rest, well, it just sort of all happened.

The point of me regurgitating this story is that the reason we are attracted to people really amazes me. Now Mr. Badger studies biology. He believes in science. I study the people around me, and I half believe science but with my whole heart believe in feelings. Science tells us that the colors we wear, and the higher our voices, and the wider our hips, the more likely a man is to love us. And for women, science tells us we are more attracted to big dilated pupils and big other things. Well mostly Cosmopolitan tells us that last one, but you get what I'm saying. I think we are just naturally drawn to some people because of a feeling. I can't explain it, it makes no sense, and I'll face it.... it sounds like "new age" nonsense, I know. But it's just a feeling. And no, I don't center my chakra daily... but I have been told I have a violet aura. Yeah I'm pretty fantastic. Okay, anyways...

Whenever I meet someone for the first time I always get a feeling about them. It's body language, it's eye contact, it's humor, it's everything. But I usually either feel drawn to the person, or just want to stay away. And of course, when I'm first attracted to someone it's due to their looks, that's normal I'm pretty sure. But as time goes one, the more I get to know a person, my view of their outside really changes. I've met people I found unattractive physically who I grew to find attractive, and vice versa, just from getting to know them. Does this ever happen to you? I mean maybe I'm crazy, but I swear that happens to me.

Science also tells us that the more symmetrical the face the more beautiful the person. But I know plenty of people with odd looking faces that I feel are stunning because of that. And I know plenty of famous actors and models and performers have unique looking features and are viewed as beautiful in society. I guess that more has to do with popularity though and the way it changes how we view people...which is a completely different factor for a whole different day.

So here is my question, why are we attracted to certain people? Why did I get the feeling I wanted to know Mr. Badger more when I barely knew him at all? What is it about people that automatically makes us think, I've got to be near them. It's a question that I can only answer with an answer that will appease myself. And it might lack complete and utter sense to you, but to me, it all boils down to a feeling.

But that's just me. I've never really liked science much.

American woman, please don't stay away from me

I currently feel like shit.

I feel ignored, and ridiculous, and all other awful feeling things a girl can feel sometimes. So I'm going to write about a woman who wouldn't let herself get down over this, because I am not letting someone else make me feel this bad, and golly am I'm tired of crying.

I want to write about someone who is an inspiration to me, a woman who wouldn't just sit by and cry over someone either, yes ladies and gents, Judy Garland is her name, and American women are the game. From Somewhere Over the Rainbow to A Star is Born, Judy Garland is stellar. I can honestly say I know every word in Meet Me in St. Louis, and I admit that proudly. She dealt with her drug addiction, multiple failing relationships, and hundreds of husbands, all the while remaining as lovely as ever. She was a true American Woman.

The characters she choose to play were all ideal. They were innocent ingenues, but stuck up for things they knew were right. They couldn't be contained by society yet they still maintained their own moral codes. They had huge hearts and amounts of courage to match. They went through heart ache and pulled through to the end. They were ideal American Women.

I recently read an interesting article in the financial times titles American Ideal. It discussed how everyone all over the world knew about these American women and their outrageous acts in the 1920's. They could do what they want, they weren't just stay at home women anymore. They were out partying and smoking and drinking gin and playing poker... while still wearing heels, a dress, and smelling wonderful, so scandalous. They were sassy alright, but they were delicate flowers at the same time. It's a balance and partnership of characteristics that made them so appealing. It's the perfect equation for a woman of intelligence and intrigue and freedom at the same time, it's so damn American. It's all about freedom and the ideals of not being contained, while still maintaing the womanly image. It's one of the most endearing things to see in other women I think, and I hope to have some of these qualities myself.

I think the most inspiring women are those like Judy Garland. The opinionated, stubborn women who still maintain a grace about them. They are free and fun and loving, but they won't be taken for granted... and they have the confidence to do what they want. I hope that I too can be an ideal American woman in this life, free and soft, but strong and courageous.

And to all those American woman out there, you are truly awe inspiring, just like Ms. Garland.

An ode to the perfect summer hat.

It's no lie that my skin is as white as snow... and it's sickening. When summer roles around it's all about sunscreen and hats for me, and hopefully a bit of tan will come my way without turning me into a wrinkly old woman. But finding the perfect hat is sickening as well, seeing as I look like a complete oaf in half of them out there. But this summer, I found it.

Now, this obviously isn't a fashion blog. But I admit I do spend a fair bit of my time browsing lookbook and reading Elle & Vogue & Nylon & Lucky. Sometimes I just find myself completely captivated by the art of fashion.

I hope we can all agree without getting into the "what is art" argument, that fashion is an art form, right? It's expression, it's beauty,and honestly it's rare in a world filled with people walking around purely in outfits put together and mass produced out of stores like top shop or forever 21... not that I don't shop at those stores as well. But fashion isn't supposed to be about everyone looking exactly the same. Everyone wearing shoes, shorts, shirts, bags, headbands, all from one store. No... it's art! That means it's creativity, it's new, it's experimenting, it's pushing the boundaries sometimes. Let's face it, fashion isn't about comfort, it's about so much more, just like any other art form. Do you really think the first ballerina's to perform Le Scare Du Printemps( The rite of Spring) felt comfort when mass chaos broke out just due to the choreography... not they were pushing the limits. They knew people wouldn't like it, it wasn't comfortable for them, but they were creating art.

The thing is , it is far easier to wear our Gap sweater with our Nordstrom jeans and Steve Madden flats, because that's what the magazines or stores have put together for us... but that my friends, is not fashion to me. That's simply tracing a drawing someone else put their passion and imagination into. So this summer, I am trying out some new things, trying to push my own boundaries. I refuse to plagiarize.

I've found a hat I wouldn't normally pick out for me, and it turned out to look quite groovy on me I think! So try something new, maybe even check out your local thrift stores and just start creating... if you feel inclined to do so. Like other forms of art, fashion doesn't have to be for everyone. But it is for me, and I feel quite passionate about it.

And passion, is what creates world changing art. And just like in life, pushing the boundaries for something you are passionate about isn't going to feel safe, but that doesn't mean it isn't right.

And to think, all this flew out of my mouth... or my fingers I suppose... because of a hat.

Oh Arizona...

As fantastic as Arizona is, it's got some MAJOR political issues... have a look at John Stewart's hilarious comments on our ridiculous new law.

http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/mon-april-26-2010/law---border

Hit the road Jack

It's 5:50 am, and I'm leaving my house for work. I get into my car, back out of the drive way, and without evening hesitating find myself on the 202 and then transferring on to highway 60. It takes no thought, which is perfect for an early morning commute.

The funny thing is though, if I were awake enough to even notice what was around me, I'd see a highway that was used for movie filming( The Kingdom), I'd see mountains that have famous folklore's and a rich historical connection to the old west. I'd see where John Wayne or Elvis movies where filmed, a city where people flock to for fashion centers, spas, and nightlife... just a whole valley booming with excitement and culture. But I don't see that, because I live here. To me it's just the highway that gets me from A to B, it's the mountains that sit behind my house that I hike at, it's no big deal, it's just the valley. I mean, the Grand Canyon was an hour away from where I went to school, so we went whenever we wanted... it's no big deal to me.

But it is a big deal! People travel from all over the world to see Arizona, yet it's all just a few hours away from me. I've seen loads of it, and I love to explore it, but like everyone else... I take it for granted. I personally have the travel bug. I want to go everywhere, experience everything, and meet everyone. What I sometimes forget is, it shouldn't cost a $ 1,000 plane ticket to travel. I can travel five minutes away from my house and experience something great, if only I am open to it.

Now I definitely try to be open to it. I convince friends to go on spur of the moment drives to Jerome or Sedona or just somewhere new... but why we don't we all do this more? We spend saturdays packed in student houses or dorms all on our heavily used macbooks stumbling on pictures of what looks like the most enchanting place ever. The truth is though, a place that enchanting is probably just a few miles away. Everywhere we are, everywhere we go, there is something to see, something to experience, and someone new to meet. So in reality, to travel, all we need to do is open our eyes and step outside.

It's up to us experience all the world has to offer!

Come on, let's travel.

Goodbye is the new Hello

A few weeks ago, after spending twelve not so perfect, yet perfect days with mr. badger, he had to leave me. It was uncomfortable and unnatural to let go of him as we stood there, arms wrapped around each other at his gate. As I walked out of the airport, everyone staring at me while I was sobbing pretty obnoxiously, I thought how much I hated saying goodbye. Yes, Hate. To my love, to friends, to family, to people I barely know, saying goodbye is one of those things that just feels so against human nature and wrong.

But the truth is, saying goodbye is part of life, it is natural. People come in and out of our lives when we need them or when they need us, so naturally most people don't stay in our lives forever. I know this all to well, being the child of an air force father. I've moved from country to country, town to town, home to home, almost every other year for my entire life. I love that I had that growing up, but sometimes I'm jealous of the people who have known their friends or mates for almost twenty years. I never had that, but I hope to someday.

I understand why we have to say goodbye, but I can't be the only person who finds it to be the worst feeling in the world, right? I've found the only way to cope with the saying goodbye blues, are to think about the hello's. Because every time we have to let go of someone in our lives, we get the chance to meet another person who can affect us or change us or help us or let us help them, and that is truly lovely. So, although I have had to say goodbye to my fair share of boyfriends or best friends, I have met ones now that were well worth the goodbyes I had to go through.

Sometimes, getting through a goodbye is actually a way of finding yourself a new hello. And maybe that next hello, will be the one that stays around forever.

PofV

This post is inspired by Mr. Badger, and his photography.

Whenever I "stumbleupon" a picture, or am looking for the right one to describe my words, I always find some awe inspiring page that makes me wish myself away to another place. The clouds are darkened, the grass is deepened with dew, the sun shines through the decaying and crumbled stone walls creating a shadow on the ground that holds as much beauty as the well worn building above, and I think... oh my god... I have got to get there. I immediately search for where it was taken and day dream myself to greece or brazil or wherever this picture was taken. Yes, the power of photography. Now, sadly, as much as I love art, I can only draw stick figures and my pictures are usually crooked and consist of a point-and-click-in-haste method. I don't have that gift, I wish I did.

I do however love to look at these photographs. And when I go some place new or some place old and find myself idolizing it, I write. I write songs, I write essays, I write short stories, I just write. I also tend to sing, but that's a whole different addiction of mine. It's so funny how looking at a picture and writing about a picture are so similar. It's all about point of view.

If the photographer or writer changes the angle, or alters the mood it can completely produce a different story. Those well worn stone walls now project a frightening shadow that creeps into our souls. The building is no longer antique, just simply fragmented. The clouds are foreboding and shout stay away. Contrasting views of photographers or writers or painters or sculptresses or any kind of artist can change our minds about anything we see.

Point of View is in the eye of the artist, or any of artists' senses for that matter. It turns out point of view may just be one of the most powerful things in this world.

P.S.- If you would like to see a handsome man's handsome point of view, http://callumbadger.tumblr.com/ is a place you could find it.

The Stench

There's something about the smell of a human that can turn a mother bird from loving to abandoning in a snap. That first whiff of you on her chick will make her never come back.

It's interesting the stenches that can be left on us, or our lives, just from brief encounters with people. There are always those people that make us feel great, the ones that help us stay positive, the ones who we strive to be better around. But there are also those people who only have negative affects on our lives. It may not be life changing, or ground moving, but something slight. These people leave sour odors behind on us, and people around us may be able to pick up on them, but it's doubtful. Only someone as close to us, like a mother to a chick, would be able to smell the stench these negative nancy's have left behind on us.

It's usually the people who use us in their plots for attention, or need us and use us without realizing it, that leave the stench behind. And for all of us out there who can't say no to helping people with their problems, well, we just smell sometimes. From jealous schemers to those who are utterly depressed, it's easy for a person to get used in this life time. And, c'est la vie, that's just the way things go, but every time we are used, we gain a slight smell that someone else left behind.

I can of course, like everyone else, think of people who have used me, and people I have used. When I was about 12 I had a friend I mainly played with because she had insanely radical nintendo 64 games, not because I really liked her... yeah, we've all done it, maybe without even realizing it. But the worst cases, the worst smells, odors, and stenches, they are caused by people who know they are using us. The people who call us at 3 am time and time after again just so we can sort out their problems. The people who rely on us for things that no one should have to be relied on for. And the people who play on our own characteristics to get what they want out of us. These are the people who leave behind the worst stench, and if you haven't been used by one yet, trust me, you probably will be.

It's slight, but the stench is there. And even though we know it's wrong to pick up the baby duck or goose, sometimes we do it anyways. But, we have to remember that doing what we want has an affect on that duck, just as it is does on people.

Let's not leave stenches, let's not cause baby birds to be abandoned either.