Thursday, August 30, 2012

I'm finally here!

I'm trying really hard to write in complete, understandable sentences and not do a complete word vomit about how excited I am right now.

Because this time last week, I was living in Branson, with most of my things still in boxes.

But today? Guess where I am. Just guess.

If you guessed St. Louis, in my cute little bedroom in a cute little house that I share with two other awesome women, you'd be completely and totally correct.

I'll post pictures eventually. Right now it's still kind of a mess, and I have plans to transform it into a big girl bedroom that looks completely wonderful and feels like home. And when I do, rest assured that I will brag about it to all of the internet.

It just seems all a little surreal. I've been talking about moving back to St. Louis for more than a year, and now I'm finally here.

Great things are in store for me, friends. I can feel it.

Thursday, August 23, 2012

3 Reasons Why You Should Give Your Stuff Away

Since we last chatted, friends I did A LOT of packing. A lot. Because I have a lot of stuff.

And if you're looking around your house, feeling rather oppressed by what you see, you should do what I did.

Get rid of it!

3 Reasons Why You Should Give Your Stuff Away

1. It means you have less stuff.

I mean, think about it. We've all got stuff sitting around that's just sitting around. We don't use it. It's just taking up space. Why? Why are you letting it take up space in your life? You're better than that. You don't need it sitting on your couch, eating your food, drinking your beer, not helping you pay the bills.

What should I do with this stuff I'm not using? Well, friends, I'm glad you asked.

Donate it!

Box or bag it up and take it down to your local thrift store!

It's just taking up space in your house anyway. Take it to a thrift store, where hopefully someone who isn't a hipster will buy it, take it home and love it forever.

 2. Having a garage sale is much too much work.


Lots of people have garage sales to get rid of their unloved and unwanted stuff.



But let's be honest. That takes WAY too much effort.

You've got to price EVERYTHING. You've got to advertise for it. You've got to set everything up. You've got to talk people into buying your stuff once they get there. You even have to have a garage, I'm pretty sure. I'm exhausted just thinking about all the work that goes into a garage sale.

3. Donating your stuff feels good.

Sure, you could sell your stuff to a resale shop. Sure, everyone loves money. But is money everything? Absolutely not.

If you donate your stuff to a place like a thrift store of a not-for-profit agency like The Salvation Army or Goodwill or a church thrift store, other people will benefit from the sale of your stuff.

You want to help people, don't you? I like helping people.


Now, go and get rid of your stuff!

Monday, August 20, 2012

I'm really just avoiding all the packing I have to do.

If you're planning on moving, especially over a considerable distance like, say, across a state, here are some things you probably shouldn't do.

1. Wait until the week you're moving to start packing.

Seriously, guys. I have a ton a crap in my place. And by "crap" I mean stuff that I've been hoarding since college and haven't gotten rid of. This includes but is not limited to: old calendars, certain textbooks relating to either of my majors, certain notebooks from random classes, bills, letters, cards, etc.

I'd post you a picture of the way my room looks right now, but it would just terrify you. I don't want to give you nightmares.

2. Hang out with your roommate when you should be packing instead.

I'm not sorry for this one. It was fun. But I will mention that before you hang out with friends maybe you should have more than one box packed. Maybe.

3. Write a post on your blog when you should be packing instead.

Are you sensing a procrastination theme yet?

4. Have a bunch of clothes you don't wear.

See? Not procrastinating.

This one is a big one. I get the distinct feeling that when I go through my closet, I'm going to be throwing out a lot of clothes. Or hoarding a ton of college t-shirts. One of the two.

5. Have a tiny car.

My car is named Dana. She is small. You can read about her here. My dad is helping me move, but I will mention that it might be easier for you if you have a larger car than I do. Just saying.

Here are a couple of things that you can do if you find yourself a week away from moving and freaking out about it:

1. Find people to take your stuff. 

Have a garage sale. Donate it to a thrift store. The less stuff you have around that you don't use, the better. Just get rid of it.

2. MAKE A LIST

If you've been following along at home, you know that I think lists are pretty much the greatest organizational tool ever. If not, go read here. And here.


That's my list. It has checkboxes and everything! That's the best part about lists! Being able to cross something off when you've done it. As you can see, I've got a lot of empty checkboxes. So I'm going to stop dawdling and go do stuff.

How about it, friends? Any moving tips for me this week?

Thursday, August 16, 2012

Things I Like That I Probably Shouldn't

Today isn't Thursday. Well, that's not entirely accurate. You're reading this on Thursday. But I'm not writing it on Thursday.Today is Monday. And I'm just now realizing I probably just broke some sort of blogging rule by telling you that. Whoops. If you could see my face right now, it would be the face of someone who DOESN'T CARE.

Wow. Sorry, you guys. I'm currently in St. Louis, cheating on Starbucks (Shh! Don't tell!) and having the best latte of my life at Kaldi's. I've had WAY too much caffeine already today, which means someone probably should have taken my computer away.

The reason? Today's post is brought to you by my obnoxiousness.

 Today I'm going to talk about things I like that I probably shouldn't like at all. Now, I've already written about junk food fiction. But this will be different. This will probably be basically anything I like that's bad. This way, you won't feel so awful about the terrible things that you like. See, friends? I'm really doing this for you. You're welcome.

1. Lucky Charms cereal

I know, I know. Lucky Charms has to be the worst breakfast cereal for you ever. But it's so good, you guys. It's like eating dessert for breakfast except it's socially acceptable because it's cereal.

2. Bread

The carb thing, I know. You don't have to tell me that. But it's so good. I've definitely been known to eat a piece of bread as a snack.

By now you're probably wondering if all of these are going to be about food. Maybe. Whatever. I don't even care.

3. Speeding on the highway

See? This one isn't food.

And not speeding exactly. More like a general propensity for driving fast. I try not to, you guys. But I have a need...

A need. . . FOR SPEED.

Sorry. I couldn't help it. I like gratuitous and obnoxious movie references. Which brings me to number 4.

4. Being obnoxious

This is a big one. I love being obnoxious and annoying on purpose, for no other reason than that it brings my sick, sadistic heart a little joy. This includes, but is not limited to talking in strange voices, singing badly on purpose, singing irritating songs over and over, and talking loudly on purpose instead of on accident.

I'm going to leave it here. That's how much I like being obnoxious. I'm tempted to give you a nice, even 5 points. I even have more stuff to tell you. But I won't do it, just to prove a point. Part of me is really irritated by it, but the other part is really satisfied.

So there you go. Have a great day, friends.

Sunday, August 12, 2012

What Makes A Whovian

I've been thinking lately. Not good, I know. What have I been thinking about, you ask?

Doctor Who. A shock, I know. So it should go without saying that if you don't like Doctor Who, get out.

   Here's a picture of Nine for you to look at, while we wait for the haters to leave. Source
I couldn't NOT include Ten. Isn't he beautiful? Source


And there's Eleven. Adorable! Source

Great. Just us Whovians now? Good. Hello. How's it going? I hope you're not torturing yourselves too much with episodes like "Doomsday" or "The End of Time."

What I was thinking about specifically, was us. Whovians. What draws some to Doctor Who, but not others.

It's not merely an affinity for science fiction. It's something else.

A couple weeks ago, I implored my fellow Whovians on social media to tell me what it was they liked most about the show.

I received a plethora of answers in return. Kirsti posted this article on cracked.com in her response, which is a pretty fitting description of why people like Doctor Who. Many said the adventure, the stories, the emotions, the relationship between the Doctor and his companions.

One of my favorite answers came from Emily: "It shows the best and the worst in humanity. It's all about the underdog. Anyone can make a difference and everyone is important. Life should be valued. Sometimes the world just needs saving. It's making the tough calls."

And these are all true. We all love the adventure, the emotions, the Doctor in the TARDIS. 

But the thing is, I'm not wondering about the show. I'm wondering about us. What inside of us draws us the show, what is it about ourselves that makes us such loyal followers?

I've been thinking about it a lot, friends, which is why I haven't posted in a while.

We're dreamers. 

We dream of the far away places to which the Doctor can take us. We have restless spirits. Our hearts pine for the places we haven't been and the people we haven't met. We long to see the the world, to learn what it has to teach us.

We're romantics.

Think about it. It all sounds a quite romantic. A perfect stranger shows up and offers all of time and space to you. Which of us would honestly refuse if the madman in the blue box showed up to take us away? Which of us doesn't want to be swept off their feet and given all of time and space?

We're emotional.

We torture ourselves with repeated viewings of episodes that leave us in a crying heap on the floor. We all know those particular episodes that wreck our hearts completely. Yet we keep going back. We know the value of a good cry, we know how useful tears can be. But in addition to craving the lowest of lows, we crave the highest of highs. We rejoice when everyone can be saved, when there's a happy ending for everyone. Because when we experience these intense emotions, it is in these moments we feel alive.

We want to be important.

The Doctor has a habit of making his companions realize their own importance. They aren't important because the Doctor makes them so. They merely had it in them all along. Sometimes you need someone to remind you that you're important.

This last one is why the role of the companion is so essential to the show. We are the shopgirl who absorbs the heart of the TARDIS and saves the universe. We are the temp who is the most important woman in the universe. We are the Last Centurion. 

I think it's not merely the show we love, although it is quite brilliant. It's us. The show has captured something of ourselves and placed it in the show. It so very wonderfully shows us the things we truly want. We want adventure, we want to feel alive, we want to be important, we want the madman in the blue box to come and take us away.


Now I want to know what YOU think? Am I anywhere close to being on target, or am I overthinking again?

Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Is it really August?

I'm freaking out, you guys.

It's August now, and so I'm freaking out. Not because I start school. Are you kidding? I'm done with that for a long while.

It's because I move at the end of this month!

I'm freaking out because I'm so excited to be back in St. Louis, to start at my new store, to be closer to my parents and my friends.

But I'm also freaking because YOU GUYS. I still don't have a place to live.

I know that all of the stressing about it is completely unnecessary, that I'll find a place. But we all know how irrational and emotional I can be, so for now I'm FREAKING OUT about it.

That's all I have you guys, except this little nugget of magic I discovered this week. It's not really relevant to anything, but completely beautiful: