"that idea is perfect.  People who love, realize the act of love, but always imperfectly; what is perfect is the idea of love."

pockets full of stones

"They're drinking the kool-aid,

passing it off as tea"

"(500) Days Of Summer... told almost entirely through Tom's perspective, was "actually very misunderstood," she says. "I can't tell you how many guys, and girls, are like, ‘You did him wrong!' What, she's a bitch because she didn't want to date that guy? So? Are we bitches because we have our own opinions? If that makes me a bitch, or that makes women bitches, then maybe we're all bitches."

le week-end

nevermind

"i came to drown a sorrow

it seems they've learned to swim"

Political/Protest Music: Hip-Hop

48 straight hours of women's studies has me feeling a little militant...

"in our very flesh, (r)evolution"

Do It Anyway

People are often unreasonable, irrational and self-centered.
        Forgive them anyway.
If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives.
        Be kind anyway.
If you are successful, you will win some unfaithful friends and some genuine enemies.
        Succeed anyway.
If you are honest and sincere, people may deceive you.
        Be honest and sincere anyway.
What you spend years creating, others could destroy overnight.
        Create anyway.
If you find serenity and happiness, some may be jealous.
        Be happy anyway.
The good you do today, will often be forgotten.
        Do good anyway.
Give the best you have, and it may never be enough;
        Give your best anyway.
In the final analysis, it is between you and God.
        It was never between you and them anyway. 

-Mother Teresa-

"Some days she tried.  Some days she gave up.  In large part because of the society in which she lived, when she died it all came to about the same.  Nothing much."

C. MacKinnon

Bitchface

[kris atomic]

Music Mondays

[Regulas Arcturus Black]

Music Mondays: Birthday Week Edition

it's on

Feminist Coming Out Day

Check out this giveaway, at the Dainty Squid!

Music Mondays

Music Mondays

simplifysimplifysimplify

1. Don’t try to read other people’s minds.  Don’t make other people try to read yours.  Communicate.
2. Be polite, but don’t try to be friends with everyone around you.  Instead, spend time nurturing your relationships with the people who matter most to you.
3. Live below your means.  Don’t buy stuff you don’t need.  Always sleep on big purchases.  Create a budget and savings plan and stick to both of them.
4. Get enough sleep every night.  An exhausted mind is rarely productive.
5.  Get up 30 minutes earlier so you don’t have to rush around like a mad man. 
6. Get off your high horse, talk it out, shake hands or hug, and move on.
7. Don’t waste your time on jealously.  The only person you’re competing against is yourself.
8. Surround yourself with people who fill your gaps.  Let them do the stuff they’re better at so you can do the stuff you’re better at.
9. Get rid of stuff you don’t use.
10. Ask someone if you aren’t sure.
11. Don’t try to please everyone.  Just do what you know is right.
12. Always be honest with yourself and others.
13. Say “I love you” to your loved ones as often as possible.
14. Single-task.  Do one thing at a time and give it all you got.
15. Finish one project before you start another.
16. Be yourself.
17. Stay out of other people’s drama.  And don’t needlessly create your own.
18. Smile often, even to complete strangers.
19. If you hate doing it, stop it.
20. Treat everyone with the same level of respect you would give to your grandfather and the same level of patience you would have with your baby brother.
21. Apologize when you should.
22. Write things down.
23. Be curious.  Don’t be scared to learn something new.
24. Explore new ideas and opportunities often.
25. Don’t be shy.  Network with people.  Meet new people.
26. Don’t worry too much about what other people think about you.
27. Spend time with nice people who are smart, driven, and likeminded.
28. Let go of things you can’t change.  Concentrate on things you can.
29. Find hard work you actually enjoy doing.
30. Realize that the harder you work, the luckier you will become.
31. Follow your heart.  Don’t waste your life fulfilling someone else’s dreams and desires.
32. Set priorities for yourself and act accordingly.
33. Take it slow and add up all your small victories.
34. However good or bad a situation is now, it will change.  Accept this simple fact.
35. Excel at what you do.  Otherwise you’ll just frustrate yourself.
36. Mature, but don’t grow up too fast.
37. Realize that you’re never quite as right as you think you are.
38. Build something or do something that makes you proud.
39. Make mistakes, learn from them, laugh about them, and move along.
    
    [stumbled upon]

Wisconsin Budget Repair Bill Protest from Matt Wisniewski on Vimeo.

Weekend Project:

Inspiration

[via creature comforts]

Happy Valentine's day!

Music Mondays

britthermann

silent snow secret snow

[we heart it]

Unresolved Issues

TIOL pt 2

Red Hair in Two Steps

I get bored with my hair very easily.  After chopping my hair off two summers ago I haven't been able to go three months without changing either the length or the color of my hair.  I have hair A.D.D! 

So a few weeks ago I got the idea in my head to go red.  The brown I got over thanksgiving break (!!! i can't believe I went that long without a touch up.  my roots were out of control!) had faded and I was up for something new

 

I colored the base a deep "chocolate cherry" red (the top two pictures) and then added lighter highlights all over too keep it from getting too dark and to give it some dimension (the bottom two pictures). 

I'm happy with how it turned out, and I really love the red color--way more than blonde or brunette.  Who know, maybe I found a hair color I can be happy with for more than three months at a time?

ps. i can't wait until i can use my camera again. this webcam business is wearing thin

every time i make another post-graduation plan, seattle gets farther and farther away

[photo by Nubby Twiglet]

If I die before I wake I know the Lord my soul won't take

Music Mondays

 

hijirik

[via Miss Indie]

Real Happiness

Day 1: I "meditated" for fifteen minutes.  I use quotes because as hard as I tried to focus on breathing little thoughts (to do lists, plans for the rest of the day, completely random bullshit) kept popping into my head.  Salzberg says not to berate yourself when this happens, so I just re-focused my attention on breathing.  Not thinking about anything else actually required a lot of focus and energy.  The one time I didn't want to multitask, it was all i could do! But by the end of the fifteen minutes I was feeling very relaxed and was bummed when my alarm went off.  (that's right, i set a meditation alarm.  i have things to do!)

Day 2: much the same as day one.  it takes a lot of energy to empty my mind and then keep it that way.  I can usually focus on just my breathing for 5 minutes but after that a stray thought, worry or plan will sneak in and then it's like the floodgate open and it takes me another five minutes to get back to focusing on my breathing.  But those five minutes of nothing are pure bliss.

Day 3: I didn't meditate today but I did ask my Aunt who is waaay into meditation (Like, go-to-an-ashram-in-india-for-three-weeks-and-meditate-EATPRAYLOVE-style into meditation) for pointers.  She suggested a mantra because when she focuses solely on breathing she ends up trying to control her breath (which is what I was doing!)  So I think I'll give a mantra a try.

Day 4:   Mantra option 1: "I am present now"
                Mantra option 2: "keep breathing, keep loving"

 

okay maybe not this one...

Ten Items or Less

Knitting

 Sorry the quality is so terrible! I'm using my web-cam while my camera is out of commission!

pattern: Paper Sensei

Follow Revolution She Wrote on Twitter!

Music Mondays

Ten Items or Less (yes, I'm cheating)

I had never heard of the Six or Less Items experiment until Jezebel posted an article about it and was somewhat intrigued but didn't really see the purpose of it.  Then I started unpacking from New York.  Omigod.  I packed so much unnecessary stuff for just 3 days.  It was kind of embarrassing.  Packing to go home for break was the same story.  I packed so much clothing and ended up not wearing a lot of it.  I just feel like my wardrobe and the time I spend thinking about clothes has gotten a little out of control. I decided to simplify simplify simplify and give a project limiting my choice of clothing a shot.  However, I had to make some modifications in order for it to fit my life. 

For the month of February I will be limiting my wardrobe to ten items.  I can't do just six--between not having time for laundry and fear of wearing out my favorite/most utilitarian items of clothing, I just can't.  Also, technically the same item in different colors is supposed to count as separate items, but I have a skirt from Forever 21 in black/gray and navy/red and I'm counting it as one item.  Deal with it.

My goals for the project are:

• simplify my closet.  Get rid of clothes I do not wear or need
• dress more creatively.  I don't wear half of my jewelry because I am lazy (accessories don't count as part of the 10 items)  maybe by the fourth time I wear a shirt in two weeks I'll be inspired to spice it up
• ease up on my compulsive shopping.  spend money (and time!) on more important things.  a "shopping diet" if you will
• focus less on consuming
• I've always admired the somewhat European concept of having a small wardrobe filled with well made classics that you wear all the time.  This is a step towards that

So here is what I will be wearing for the next 30 days: 

I'm going to try to take pictures and document the whole process, but we will see how this goes.

wish me luck!

a more extreme version: http://www.theuniformproject.com/

inthelightofthesun

[Liza Donnelly via The New Yorker]

i can't pick just one image...

so here's the link

http://fuckyeah1990s.tumblr.com/

New York Part 2

... Is coming.  I have oodles of pictures on my camera (and not just from New York) but in packing for college, left the necessary cable at home, like a dummy.  And of course I didn't realize this until after I returned from Christmas break.  So...photos from that camera and that trip will have to wait.  But while you wait, here's a photodump of a different nature:

 

Pleasebestill

New York Part 1