"Like a Prayer"

Just like every other girl who's ever gone to an 80's-themed dance party in college, Madonna's "Like a Prayer" immediately becomes your dance anthem. And for some reason, 97.1 WASH FM likes to play it. A lot. So if you see me driving up Wisconsin Avenue to work in my sexy (not) Honda Civic with my window rolled all the way down, I'm probably jammin' to this tune. Below are some photos documenting my fun 80's times at Dartmouth. Because everyone dressed like this back then.

I remember buying that shirt at some random store near my grandma's house in New York. It's a man's shirt, but it was probably less than $10, and I knew exactly where I'd wear it, so I bought it. And I knew those silly scrunchies my mom had would come in handy some day!

 My sister visited me for one of the big weekends at school, and I wanted to show her a good time. I told her ahead of time to bring 80's stuff, but I let her borrow the shoes and earrings to complete the ensemble.

I also bought this dress in New York, somewhere near Union Square. I think it was around $40, which was a little steep seeing as I was just an intern barely making anything during that entire spring. But how could I leave a dress with a zipper running down the front?! I had to have it. It had to be mine!

My sorority sisters and I love this party, so we always liked to go together. The dress I'm wearing was actually a bequest from one of my fellow Thetas. "Put it on, wear it out!"

Notice that the pink tights and black leg warmers have made a second appearance here...And I'm wearing the big heart earrings my sister wore...Reduce, reuse, recycle!

 Again with the heart earrings. And this time I paid homage to Top Gun with my aviator sunglasses (another bequest). And my friend Forrest here broke out the pink jacket. LOVE IT!


Yep, those 80's dance parties at Sigma Nu are some of my favorite college memories. I'm so glad I documented them!

Disney's "Pocahontas"

Just like any other American girl, I love Disney Princess movies. But rather than talk about all of them here, I'll just go one by one (come on, I've still got about 200 blog posts to write!).

I recently saw that Pocahontas was on Netflix, so naturally I had to stop whatever I was doing and immediately watch it. There are many reasons I love this movie: I like the story, Mel Gibson does a great job as the voice of John Smith, and it's just a pretty film to watch. But the #1 reason I like Pocahontas is the soundtrack. Of course that goes for many Disney films, so I'll break it down for you.

I like how the songs in this film aren't about love (I hear enough of those on the radio, thank you very much). Songs like "Steady as the Beating Drum" and "Just Around the River Bend" are songs about how to lead to your life. Are you steady and stable, resisting change because you know what works for you? Or are you always waiting for what's next, seeking out new and different experiences? From my previous blog posts I'm sure you can peg me into one category (ahem). "Listen with Your Heart" is about being true to yourself, doing what feels right; that will lead you to your destiny. I frequently contemplate my life choices, what my future holds for me, etc., and songs like this are a fun way to ponder these serious thoughts.

Many of the songs are quite political. "Mine, Mine, Mine" is about the Europeans' greed for gold in the New World (love the play-on-words, as "mine" can be the possessive or the verb). "Colors of the Wind" (arguably the most famous song of the movie) exemplifies the parallels between the two cultures and their view of Nature (yes, Nature with a capital N). I took a class in college called "Wilderness, Culture and Environmental Conservation," and it was easily the best course I ever took. We read about how the Native Americans adapted to Nature, and while using its resources, continued to respect Mother Earth. Europeans on the other hand were of the "Judeo-Christian" ethic. Genesis in the Bible pretty much says that God created Earth for mankind to procreate and prosper; they believed the land was theirs and could do what they wanted with (or to) it. "Savages" continues with the dichotomy of the two cultures. The Europeans saw the Native Americans as wild beasts to be tamed (or hunted); the Native Americas saw the Europeans as unnatural, like machines, even stating "I wonder if they even bleed."

This difference in cultures is both a blessing and a curse for the human race. While it's fascinating to learn about other societies (i.e. Anthropology, and I'm not talking about the store), and discover their worldviews and how they celebrate humanity, the fact that we are different scares us. This is especially true in America: we fear Muslims, we fear Communists, we fear illegal immigrants. I'm not saying these fears aren't valid. But I think it's fair to say that these differences between us are what lead to war and death, and I believe will be the cause for human annihilation (if global warming doesn't get to us first. But that's for another post...).

Sorry for the tangent. But it's it amazing how an innocent Disney movie can bring to the forefront such deep, political, and serious issues?

"I wish you all the best"

If I hear this one more time from a guy who doesn't want to see me anymore, I'm going to punch him in the face.

Really, you wish me all the best? Let's be real here. You clearly don't like me anymore. You never want to see me again. And yet you're telling me you hope everything goes great for me and that my life will be awesome without you? Give me a break. I certainly don't wish you the best. Now I'm not saying I hope you die or rot in Hell for eternity. But if you twisted your ankle, or your current girl friend cheated on you, I wouldn't feel sorry for you. So let's cut the BS and be honest. Why don't you just say,

"Look, I know we've been going out for a while, but I'm a quitter and I'm done. And there's this other chick who's sluttier than you, so I know I can get some from her. So....yeah. Buh-bye."

I'm going to think you're an a**hole either way, but at least the latter statement is the truth.

TWITTER

I just realized that I have never blogged about how much I love Twitter! I deleted my Facebook account after I graduated from college (time to move on and grow up!), but I missed sharing my thoughts, ideas, and photos online. Twitter to the rescue! It's so easy to use, as long as you can be concise enough to fit your message into 140 characters. That takes practice, but after a while you get the hang of it and become used to being short 'n' sweet! I also really like the "re-tweet" action. I read so many tweets that are funny or political or trendy that I wish I had written; by re-tweeting it, I can show that 1. I support the message and 2. I want to share it with my followers. And of course I mainly look at tweets that include photos; I can't help but click that little photo icon! I don't miss Facebook at all since Twitter has all of the same things I loved about the former: sharing your status, "liking" others' messages, and looking at photos.

I love how fast Twitter is! Not only are the messages short, but my feed is always changing, so I can tweet once every minute and still know that most people aren't seeing all of my tweets. There's no way to overwhelm the news feed because there's so much turn-over. And since it's in real-time, I enjoy live-tweeting, whether I'm at a concert, other event, or watching a TV show (ahem, "Ready for Love"). Then other people who are doing the same thing at that same time can share the experience with me!

Plus, shorter messages means less reading.  Read your Facebook post is like homework!

Starting off as friends

I don't believe in starting out a romantic relationship as friends. Now, I'm not saying that if you did meet your special someone as friends that your relationship is invalid. That's just not the road I choose to take.

For one, I think that chemistry should be there from the get-go. Yes, the chemistry you have for a friend can blossom into romance. But I think that if a man wants you, he should be physically attracted to you as soon as he meets you; ideally, you think he's pretty cute, too. I concede that the mental chemistry can take a couple dates, but if it's not there after a little while, I'm not patient enough to wait for it to come around. That "spark" should be there right away. That's the feeling that makes you want to date someone!

Starting off as friends can make you feel safe and secure, something you should want in a relationship. You already know each other, you've met each other's friends, there's less mystery and doubt. BUT say you're friends, you eventually start dating, and then you break up. Now, not only have you lost your boyfriend, but most likely it's going to be an awkward friendship, too. Quite frankly, if I have a great friendship with a guy, I'm not going to mess that up by sleeping with him. I've always said I'd rather have a friend for a lifetime than a lover for a night.

It's like Harry says in When Harry Met Sally: "Men and women can't be friends. The sex thing gets in the way." I can't agree more. While I do have a couple of male friends, I guarantee that they think I'm cute, and if I wanted to kiss them they'd be more than open to it. But they're stuck in the friend-zone with me.

Gelato

I have never been a fan of gelato. Now I don't mean I don't like the taste. I think gelato is delicious, and I'll admit that if I had a personal gelato shop of my own, I'd eat a scoop of pistachio gelato every day.

BUT it's just so expensive! I went to Dolcezza the other day in Bethesda for the first time. The gelato shop has been there for some time (it's actually very cute, with periwinkle walls and pristine white accents of fancy chairs and pretty mirrors), but I've always walked past it because of the cost. I'd rather buy a whole half-gallon of ice cream than a teensy cup of gelato. But since I had never been in before, I figured I should try it. And you know what? It was even MORE expensive than I expected!!! The smallest cup available was over 5 dollars. FIVE DOLLARS for less than two scoops of gelato. Are you kidding me?!?! And was it worth it? No. Yes, it was yummy, but I could have had at least a pint of Ben & Jerry's ice cream for the same price, if not a s**t ton of Breyers.

Clearly I will NEVER go back. And, yes, I'm going to write a scathing Yelp review, too.

"My Wish for You"

Since I'm going to see Rascal Flatts in concert at the Delaware State Fair this weekend, it only seems appropriate that I should blog about one of their songs. Granted, I love a lot of their songs (hence why I'm seeing them live for the second time), but for this post, we'll just focus on "My Wish," written by Jeffrey Steele and Steve Robson. I can't just pick one stanza that I like, so listen to the whole song with the link below!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGB7IWklW3s

This song is a little confusing because I'm not sure who's supposed to be saying these words to the listener. Is it the men of Rascal Flatts? Is it a family member, or an ex? Or is it God? 

But that doesn't really matter. I simply like that this song speaks about going after your dreams, achieving what makes you happy, and being a good person by forgiving others and lending them a helping hand when they need it. There's just absolutely nothing negative about this song! Every word makes me feel good. It makes me think of my parents, because I know that they would say those words to me: they've always wanted what was best for me, and have always encouraged me to do what's best for me. And in return for such good advice, I hope that I can do right by them now and in the future, too.