Parisian Fashion

List of things to wear:

• lots of black and grey- skinny jeans specifically. Don't see much blue denim.
• close fitting leather jackets - biker style this season specifically
• BOOTS - tall flat ones, short booties, tall with killer heels. Just bring on the boots!
• scarves - wrapped oh-so-skillfully!
• less is more makeup - think lip and cheek stains, glossy lashes, sheer foundation
• perfectly cut blazer - in black, of course
• slouchier dresses with fantastic belts

Found from: http://www.elementsofstyleblog.com/2009/01/fashion-friday-french-factor.html

Paris!!

I'll be flying out to Paris, France on September 23rd! Cannot wait for this adventure. I'll be taking two weeks of intensive language learning (from 9am-1pm everyday) for two weeks and then will be starting an internship on October 11th with an art gallery production company. During all of this, I will also be taking some directed studies courses through the Eastern Washington University in order to receive financial aid and get course credit.

More news coming soon!

Building My Portfolio

Because I'm interested in getting back to my creative side, I have decided to start doing some photo shoots. I think that Wednesday was a success! Here are some of the results below:

Summer

So I don't know how this happened, but this is how my summer has shaped up to be:
I've been pushing myself to try things completely out of my comfort zone and somehow landed myself with an internship for a government campaign. Making phone calls, walking door-to-door, parading down the street... all things I would normally never do. I'm also helping with some event planning in this area - such as getting school boards to meet at their town hall when we have the candidate or some of his family coming to visit the area.
I've also joined a softball league on Monday nights. Have I ever played before? No. But I was being asked to be on the team near the last part of my spring semester and was only recently able to start playing (at the beginning of the summer). I don't blog much, so this "new" information is a little late.
I took up bar tending at work. I think it has to do with the fact that our only female bartender is leaving in about a month or so and they finally decided that maybe we should have another girl bartender. So, in a way I'm getting a promotion, but it really only means more work. I'm not complaining though. I like learning new things and need another challenge.
In my effort to get into shape, I've also been trying Gillian Michaels' Yoga meltdown video, which I enjoy a lot! The only downside is that my back/core isn't in that great of shape yet so my back was sore for a couple of days. I've also been trying to run more, but finding the energy and time to do so is hard sometimes... but definitely doable. My favorite quote of Gillian's in the video so far is 'get comfortable with feeling uncomfortable'.
I still need to get to a Twins Game at the new stadium, play some tennis, go swimming, and make some canoeing trips. Luckily, I'll be hitting up canoeing in the next couple of weeks and then I'll be taking off for LA next month. Can't wait!!

Running Up an Appetite

I have to say that I have not run 6 miles in a long, long time and finally did it today! There was a little bit of walking, but mostly running. My friend, A, from work and I went to lake H and ran a couple of laps. So much fun haha! I never liked running before this spring, actually, and now I'm really getting into it. Who would'a thought?!

Le Grand Noir

My favorite wine brand right now is Le Grand Noir. Amazing wine from France at a very nice price! All of it is good :)

A bit of this and a bit of that

Only have two more classes to take next fall and I am done! I will be taking social psychology and my senior seminar. These next three weeks are going to be tough and need to get myself organized (and motivated) for it.

I have been working on deciding what I want to do next (career-wise) and concluded that I just need to try some things and eliminate what I do not want to be doing.

What I know I do not want:

• desk job (I would love to have an office, but I do not want to be stuck there all day)

What I know I do want:

• flexible schedule
• work with a lot of people

First thing is first though and that will be internships/starting jobs. I already updated my resume and am planning on looking into the following things: event planning for hotels and working for a half-way house (wither working with juvenile delinquents or other types of situations). Event planning sounds like a lot of fun and something that I would enjoy.

Process-of-elimination, here I come!

Short Update

My arms are sore from doing various push ups and then working yesterday... pretty sure that's the reason.
Currently listening to Ryan Bingham - awesome artist!

knowing from within, stranger if coming from within as strange...

"The only way of knowing a socially constructed world is knowing it from within. We can never stand outside it. A relation in which sociological phenomena are objectified and presented as external to and indepent of the observer is itself a special social practice also known from within. The relation of observer and object of obersevation, of sociologist to "subject," is a specialized social relationship. Even to be a stranger is to enter a world constituted from within as strange. The strangeness itself is the mode in which it is experienced" (Dorothy Smith, The Conceptual Practices of Power).

This is the type of stuff I'm reading right now.

Currently Listening To...

I've been trying to work on my music education a little bit because I've realized that I'd gotten into the habit of liking whatever my friends were enjoying and not really coming up with my own taste of music. Obviously, people tell you about artists and you listen and then decide if you like the music or not. To be honest, I'm not picky when it comes to music. I love a lot of it. I pretty much like whatever my friends like too because there is so much out there. I went to a show last Sunday that featured some local artists including: The Daredevil Christopher Wright, We are the Willows, and the Laarks. All great music groups! The DCW is my friend, M's brother's band. They're great and I would highly recommend checking them out. So.. to go along with the title of this posting, I'm currently listening to:
- Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros (entire album)
- The Daredevil Christopher Wright (both albums)
- The Noisettes ('Never Forget You')
- Lady Antebellum (I'm always listening to some country or other haha - I do like their top song right now)
- Akon's "Oh Africa" song fearturing Keri Hilson
- Matisyahu (his Light album has a couple of really good ones including "One Day" and "We Will Walk")

So, do you have some other musicians I should check out?

School Back in Session!

"When we say that 'we are always participating in something larger than ourselves,' it's important to remember that we is not a homogeneous term. There are multiple we's in social life and it's an important part of sociological practice to see how that fact affects what happens" (Johnson, The Forest and the Trees, 35).

Classes started on Tuesday the 19th. I'm hoping to graduate next fall with only four more classes to complete after these (fingers crossed)! I'm enrolled in: Research Methods; Theory; Sociology of Law; and Race, Class, and Gender Studies (all sociology courses.)

For my theory class, my professor is grading us on blog entries (on the course website) concerning classic theorists and reading we will be completing. I'm hoping that it will also encourage me to work on this blog as well... and I think it will.

Happy New Year again everyone!

P.S. I'm trying a new look as well. Can't figure out the text though.. I would like the title to be on the left of the picture, but I don't have any photo programs on my computer. Luckily, not too many people read this anyways haha!

Movie Soundtracks

So, I could be wrong on this... but, I've been wondering who performed all those catchy tunes in a lot of movies lately, or a few years ago really, and I've come up with an answer: U2. I will come up with evidence eventually and let you know.

Happy New Year!!

I worked New Years Eve and will be working again tonight. Happy January 2010 everyone!!

On a different note, here are some caffeine side effects that I found interesting (found from testcountry.org):

Five Negative Side Effects of Caffeine

Caffeine is good because it gives you a popping burst of energy and can keep you on your toes – at least for a couple of hours. That is because caffeine blocks adenosine, which is a chemical in the body that tells it to shut down when tired.

However, keeping the adenosine in the body continuously blocked is not something to be desired. After the initial caffeine high, the bad things that caffeine is known for sets in.

Some of the negative side effects that caffeine has, which you may not be aware of, are:

1. Panic attacks. Caffeine keeps us up because it triggers the fight-or-flight mechanism in our bodies. But after heavy doses of caffeine and after many hours of it being in our system, the fight-or-flight instinct gets reduced to panic attacks. Your hands become shaky, your skin sweaty, and you always expect bad things to happen to you.

2. Addiction. Caffeine is addictive. Once we get into the habit of getting our caffeine fix, our body begins to crave the boost that we get from it. If we fail to get the dose of caffeine that our body has adapted to, we become irritable, tired, and even depressed.

3. Dehydration. One would think that since coffee is liquid, it can hydrate you. Actually, the caffeine in coffee and any other foodstuffs that has it is linked with dehydration. That is mainly because of caffeine’s diuretic properties.

4. PMS. Women who drink a lot of coffee and eat a lot of chocolates tend to experience pre-menstrual syndrome more acutely than women who do not. The headaches, the bloated feeling and the belly cramps become keener with the added consumption of caffeine.

5. Emotional fatigue. Caffeine wakes up the body, but what it fails to do is to tell the body when to stop moving and simply rest. The body needs rest and when the body does not get it, it can lead not just to physical tiredness but also emotional fatigue.

But Caffeine Is Not Totally Bad

So far we have talked about the bad side effects that you can get from caffeine. But caffeine is not that bad at all. We can also gain some good side effects from caffeine, too.

1. Alertness. Caffeine keeps our minds alert, even for just an hour or two. Regular consumption of caffeine can keep our minds more active and increase our brain power.

2. Parkinson’s disease. Studies have shown that it is highly possible for caffeine to prevent the occurrence of Parkinson’s disease. The purported reason is that caffeine keeps the dopamine in the system active. Dopamine is the chemical that activates the pleasure centers in the brain.

3. Heart disease. Caffeine is said to prevent heart disease – as long as you do not already have it in the first place. That is because caffeine is an antioxidant, and antioxidants prevent heart ailments and some forms of cancer.

4. Diabetes. Caffeine triggers the production of adrenaline and cortisol – two substances associated with the body’s fight-or-flight response. When these chemicals are released into the system, they cause the liver to burn up more sugar. However, this works only with the caffeinated foodstuffs that are not sweetened.

5. Stamina. Again, this has something to do with the fight-or-flight response. Consuming caffeine before workout or doing any athletic activity slows down the adenosine that causes muscle fatigue. This makes you move faster and endure more.

Caffeine is good for the body, but it is also bad if the intake is too much. Too much is defined as more than 300mg of caffeine every day. In order to measure and monitor the amount of caffeine you are taking in daily and to reduce the negative side effects of caffeine, do some caffeine testing with your food