Summer is in the air.

I cannot wait to...

•  be done with school& set fire to all of my books
•  to go home& cause some serious trouble!
  
• do cannon balls in BigJer's pool
• hug mah mamma& daddddiio
• drive the passs-at with the windows down, music up!

You know what makes a sun shining Saturday miserable? Sitting inside and writing one of four 10-12 page research papers.

Help. My brain has been sizzled.

Has anything changed?

2006:

2009:

Brilliant.

Wine followed by mixed drinks on the roof top with the best company of all time.

A day to celebrate . . . .

Miss Andrea Bresette.

Happy 23rd burttday, pretty.

Simply unfair.

"WASHINGTON - The nation's largest food and beverage companies spent about $1.6 billion in 2006 marketing their products - especially carbonated drinks - to children, according to a Federal Trade Commission report obtained by the Associated Press."

(July 28, 2008 ; The Associated Press.)

All I'm wondering is who are the people that work for these companies or are on the advertising teams that are just allowing this to happen? Directly advertising to (helpless) little kids is just unfair.  Running advertisements with their unhealthy products on stations such as Nickelodeon simply to ensure sales is wrong.  In 2005 88% of advertisements placed on Nickelodeon were for nutritionally poor products and of those, 79% were unhealthy products such as sugary cereals, candy, sugary drinks, fast food.  No wonder there are 22 million (approximately) children under the age of FIVE years old who are overweight.  

Thankfully, there are over 15 companies such as Dannon and Nestle to sign up against junk food ads for children.  They will only place ads that meet nutritional standards on children's stations or just ads directed towards children.  Thankfully these companies, CocaCola, ConAgra Foods, General Mills, Kellogg, Kraft Foods, and Burger King are all taking the hard step in the right direction.

Hills, Sarah. "Self regulation of junk food ads in the spotlight again as pressure mounts". 2008.

 

Your ears will thank me.

Postcards from Italy ; Beirut.

( http://thesartorialist.blogspot.com/ )

Fashion gets such a bad wrap, as being something that is mindless and superficial, but I don't care what anyone says a person with personal style carries themselves in a certain way and you can tell they feel great from the hairs on their heads to the tips of their toes.  Of course walking into a store and buying the outfits off of a mannequin is far from personal style but to be able to find one of a kind pieces and wrap them up together to be your style is actually remarkable. (in my opinion.) I dunno these people just look outstanding to me.  

On the other hand..it's just clothes, pieces of material sewn together..who cares, right? Then why do we all get dressed in the morning..?

Wishful thinking.

I hope my next life path looks a little something like this.

Surprises.

Although I hate to admit it, surprises make my heart smile and today I had quite the surprise in the library.

Thank you.

Time to snip my hairs.

Graduation.

My big seester graduated this past weekend and although I am proud of her I simply cannot believe it.  Mainly, because I am just one year behind her and next year at this time I will be wearing a cap and gown, holding a diploma. Growing up is a weird, weird thing and I cannot seem to grasp the concept.  

She's graduated and now, at twenty-two years old, is expected to be "grown up" and she is supposed to be prepared for the "real world" simply because she has a piece of paper with her name on it validating this.  What makes her ready? Four years at a credible University? Over $100,000 spent on a higher education? I'm not sure. But I know that speaking with her for more than five minutes even four years ago, without this piece of paper, could have told you she is capable of changing the world and capable of molding young minds into something beautiful and filling their minds with knowledge.  I know that my sister will be a brilliant teacher I just find it odd that she needed four years of writing papers, taking exams, midterms, finals, sitting in lectures, etc to prove this to the rest of the world.  

I'm excited to see my sister grow up even more in these years to come and I'm excited to see where she will go with her new piece of paper.

Summertime.

Soon my best friend will be back in the city and soon it will be summer.

I've been anxiously awaiting the arrival of both of these events and I am really needing them to be here now. I miss Lisa so much and I cannot even explain how wonderful my days are when they are spent with Leeza Gibbons. I hope we will conquer the city on bicycles and go on aimless adventures and find new nooks and take wonderful photographs and giggle and lounge and lay in the grass amongst the sunshine and find new vintage stores and buy endless amounts of things we do not need and smile and hold hands and skip down the street and go to the harbor and laugh some more and go to our favorite same places and have good conversations before bed and maybe drink some alcoholic beverages which will lead to even better conversations and just be the best of friends. Ah. It could go on forever. I cannot wait for my lady!

'We tend to forget that happiness doesn't come as a result of getting something we don't have, but rather of recognizing and appreciating what we do have.'

A few things that make me smile..

Andrea Bresette; in general.

Anytime Ashley Faber is doing just this and then immediately smiling.

Sharing giggles over drinks with DP.

BAH.

This set of beautiful best friends.

&Miss Kalin Franks being back in Chicago (*for one hot second.)