Junk day's of Summer

    Today I saw a sign in the window at The Container Store that read, "Everything has it's place Sale." I quickly made sense of what exactly they were advertising, and decided I was 100% against it! Everything does not have it's place!! If everything has it's place then what goes in the junk drawer? As I pondered the idea of no junk drawer, my mind went in rewind to my childhood summers spent at Grandma Jewels house.
    There was not much to do at Grandma Jewels house. Our daily routine consisted of eating breakfast which consisted of a "button egg" on a plain rice cake. After breakfast it was time to hit the boob tube for some Nickelodeon action. Once Eureka's castle and The Gnomes were over, it was time to go outside. From there we would pick avocados and pull weeds. Grandma Jewel came from Wyoming where she learned what it was like to work hard! Therefore my brother Brian and I could not get through a day at Grandma Jewel's without doing some kind of chore.
    I'll never forget the day Brian and I were out on her patio spinning her beloved Brandy around in circles on the ottoman. (Brandy was a Pomeranian who often fell victim to our shenanigans.) We could feel Grandma near as we were spinning Brandy to complete oblivion. So Brian quickly stopped the spinning and simply layed on his side with his head in his hand. That's when Grandma Jewel said it..."If you have time to lean, you have time to clean!" We quickly scurried outside and proceeded to rake and pull weeds. Once that task was finished, Grandma would find something more masculine for my brother to do, and I was free to go.
    With Brandy now hiding from me, and nothing else to get into, I made my way to the Junk drawer to create my weekly creation of rubber bands, film cans, and some other odds and ends that probably had it's "place" somewhere at some point, but has now become a piece of junk. Being that every household I had ever been in at this point in my life had a junk drawer. I was able to do a comparison, and made a decision that Grandma Jewel had the coolest junk drawer ever! She had things that your typical junk drawer will never see! So many gadgets, and doo-dads, it was a never ending drawer of exploration. She had Rubber bands of all different colors and sizes. Zip ties and bread twist's, even those old mason jar lids that came in handy when playing air hockey atop the dining room table.
    By the time I was done with a junk drawer creation it was time for lunch. As Grandma Jewel separated the meatballs from the spaghettio can to make sure Brian and I got equal parts of processed meatballs, I would show Brian my latest junk drawer masterpiece. He was never impressed, so as we ate our sodium Brian would suggest creations of his own. One particular day he came up with the idea to cut the ends off the film canisters and make binoculars. We did that using the rubber bands, bottle caps and of course the film canisters. The bottle caps were to act as dials and the bands held the two canisters together. We then took them outside and pretended that we could see for miles!!
    I look back at it now and smile, it was a wonder what a little junk will do! So if you would like a little wonder over organized clutter, then please "SAY NO" to the "Everything has it's place sale" and let junk simply be junk! Without the junk drawer everything would have it's place, and that would just be weird.

Peace, Love & Junk
Elisabeth

Love language

    No matter where you come from, how old you are, what your social status, or gender. No matter your ethnicity or orientation, you either love, or are loved by someone. As the Beatles sang in 1967 "all you need is love." When we are in love, we truly believe, all we need is love. Nothing else matters in the universe when your heart is engulfed with true love.
    The cause? Well, the cause is endless. It could be, your first love, the love of a pet, love for your mother, father, brother sister or the girl next door. It could be your love for your grandma, or your grandpa, or simply your love for who they are, or have been. It could be the love of your first born child or the second or the third. Like I said the cause is endless; but with this cause there is no cure. We can't make it go away, even with time love sticks to the deepest darkest depths of the blood pumping chambers of our hearts. Because after all, love cant just appear out of nowhere. It is symbolic that love is produced by a living throbbing organ, and not just any organ the most crucial organ next to the brain.
    Love is universal, it is not taught or forced upon. It comes from within your soul. But the problem with love is, we all have different ideologies when it comes to exactly what love is. We may not speak the same love language as the ones we love. Like dialect, there are many love languages. I have to remind myself of this concept daily. Just because I speak English, does not mean I can expect the next person to speak English as well. The same goes for love. So next time, you feel the one you love may not love you back, just remember we all speak different love languages. The beauty of this barrier, is taking the time to learn what is foreign to you.
    We should try to apply this theory in our lives as much as possible, for this barrier is not permanent it just needs a little LOVE.

Peace & LOVE
Elisabeth

Not tomorrow, today

Went to the Zoo today, heard a quote that stuck with me. It was said by one of the trainers during the SOAR night time show, which is a show that features free flying birds from all over the planet. The show was created not only to entertain, but to inform the public on the rapid loss of our rain-forests which are home to many of these endangered birds. The quote was said by one of the trainers during the production, I believe her name was Carrie. Carrie reminded the viewers that "we did not inherit this planet from out parents, we are simply borrowing it from our children." Simple words, attached to such a serious message. I took that quote very seriously as we all should. We do not know what tomorrow holds, but we can do things each day that make sure tomorrow will come. For our loved ones and all the beautiful animals we share this planet with. It can be as simple as recycling, cutting 5 minutes off your shower time, letting your hair air dry, or riding your bike to work. These simple tasks may seem very small, but they add up. You may think you are just 1 person, how much of a difference can you make? Just think for a moment and realize, your not the only one with that mind set, but if you just take the time to practice one of these simple behaviors, you are no longer the problem, you are now the answer.

Peace, Love, and Conservation!
Elisabeth

Click here
Above is a link, to learn more about what the San Diego Zoo is doing to aid in conservation efforts.

Superficial Society

I would like to start this blog with an apology. I would like to apologize to my boyfriend for putting his internship on blast. You see, my boyfriend Nick just recently started an internship at a very reputable radio broadcasting company 2 days ago. My boyfriend is a very talented web/graphic designer, and he has been brought on at the radio broadcasting studio (actual company name will remain nameless) to help a handful of radio shows keep their website's updated during the duration of the show, create graphics that appeal to their listeners and or perform maintenance on their popular websites as needed. Sounds great for a Web design and interactive media major right? Well as a marketing student I am very interested in what exactly they are putting on their websites because after all, e-commerce is the best marketing tool of the twenty first century. I asked in eagerness when Nick called to say he was on his way home , just what exciting and creative new marketing tactics he soaked up while he was there. But as my pulse was on the rise, it quickly made a U-turn. Turns out my boyfriend had spent the last 4 hours making a gallery of female celebrities with either "real" or "fake" breasts. My excitement quickly came to a low simmer as I asked, "What?"..."You mean, a gallery of boobs?...really?" He said "I know, when my supervisor was giving me the assignment, I said, great, my girlfriend is going to love this." Unfortunately for Nick, he was right. I "loved" it so much, I went on a rant about how sad it is that a radio station is using boobs to get their listeners to visit their website. It made me think, who exactly is their target market? Who would visit a website just to look at a gallery of boobs? Oh I know who! Teenage boys and perverted men right? Okay, okay I know this could be wrong, to each their own right? But come on! There has got to be a subject that appeals to a bigger mass of people than BOOBS!! (deep breath) So this was my rant yesterday evening and I had to take it upon myself to take a deep breath and move on, I could not let these silly radio station websites upset me. After all they are very popular radio stations, they must know what they are doing right? (deep breath) Day two of the internship comes to an end and I get the "I am on my way home" phone call once again. "So, how was your day at work today?" I ask through my teeth, trying to focus on happy images of puppy dogs and rainbows, to keep myself from thinking negative thoughts about yesterdays rant. Nick replies with," It was alright, I actually got to help someone put up links so people could submit their info for the "Hot mom's" contest." (long pause) again, with the same question as the day before, "what?" (puppy dogs and rainbows quickly exiting my brain.) "Yeah, they are having a "hot mom's contest, its so dumb, you have to submit a picture and fill out a form and the "hot moms" will be entered to win $1,000" Nick replied, now aware that a rant is on its way, I am sure. This time I just kept quiet as the negative thoughts came back. There were so many things running through my head...first the boobs, now this...how superficial...who are they trying to reach?...what about the ugly mom's?...as I drove home, I was baffled by the marketing tactics I had recently learned. I mean, I am a marketing student, I know SEX sells, but "hot mom's?" really!!! Last time I checked marketing was supposed to reach as many people as possible and or reach the target market in which the product is intended for. So again, teenage boys, and perverted men? I find it hard to believe that a radio station wants to keep its listener population narrowed down to just teenage boys and men. As Nick arrived home, he found me in the kitchen writing down the words "superficial society" I looked up at him with a grin on my face and he asked " whats so funny" I said, "nothing, your internship just gave me great material for my blog tonight." He replied with " Oh I know, it's so lame, nobody was submitting applications" Then the rant began...I don't need to go into detail, because I already did in the body of this blog, but basically it all came down to me apologizing to Nick for the rant. After all, he did not ask for these assignments, he is just doing his job. Poor Nick, he knows how passionate I am about the media making woman feel like they are inadequate, either by seeing a 100 pound bronze model plastered on a billboard wearing near to nothing advertising Vodka, or my favorite Victoria's Secret commercial that make me wonder, "are they advertising to me?...because I am pretty sure, that commercial just made me feel like the fattest ugliest girl in town." Bottom line, I know that I am an exception, and that there is a percentage of women my age that would buy into the "hot mom's" contest, or even indulge in some "real boobs, fake boobs" gallery on their coffee break. But I would just like to believe that as a society we have more to offer than this superficial madness. No good comes out of "boob" gallery's or "hot mom" contests, but I guess in the end, not everything has to have a real purpose, it's just wishful thinking on my behalf.

Peace & Love
Elisabeth

Peace for Sale

So this piece has been a long time coming. I told myself I would finish it before I went back to school on the 12th. Mission accomplished. I took my inspiration for this piece from the helplessness I feel in my heart when it comes to the War. I do not have any political power. You can say my right to vote is "power" but at the end of the day all it is, is a way to keep me content. I still feel helpless, powerless, and un-informed, so I reach for a statement, I reach for a T-shirt with a Peace sign on it, a painting that reads..."Make Art not War," or a piece of jewelery that symbolizes my passion for Peace & Love...whatever the statement may be, its all I have got. I am only one patriotic and concerned civilian looking for a way to settle my uncertainty by capitalizing on something so tragic in U.S. history by purchasing my "statements." I call it "selling peace" We cant have real Peace, so we settle for the material kind. With that thought, this painting was born.

It reads: PEACE FOR SALE, and "tagged" over the top of that in Arabic it reads: "The cost is your life"

Take what you want from it, and then take a little more...

Peace & Love
Elisabeth

First thing is first

So this is it, I am not a great writer, but a great thinker. I have been meaning to do this for a long time, but never got around to it. I had some time to think today on my passenger seat ride home from Fresno. What was I doing in Fresno? I was visiting my best friend and her amazing family. My boyfriend and I made a last minute decision to drive up to Fresno to help my friend and her family make the big move out of the home they were renting for almost 3 years, and into their very 1st purchased home! Both Nick and I were so happy to have been a part of the big transition. Aside from visiting my good friends, and playing with fireworks being legal in Fresno. I was also excited to celebrate my favorite holiday. I have always loved the 4th of July, and the reason has never changed. I am simply, proud to be an American. I do not take my freedom for granted and I think the 4th of July is a healthy reminder for the people that do. It is that very reason that I started this blog. I love provoking thought, and appreciate the little "reminders" in life. We are all human and often get a little on the selfish side, so days like the 4th are a great way to remember, it's not "all about me"

Peace & Love
Elisabeth