iridescentindigo: random

Showing posts with label random. Show all posts

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

This made my heart happy today

via

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Some Silly Things

How cool is this colorscope? I was rhubarb and beet because I couldn't decide!

One of these things is not like the other...

Who wants to send their kid to this school?

via

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

A Bit of Inspiration

Source: Uploaded by user via Rebecca on Pinterest

Today Connie inspired me.

She's choosing happiness in the face of overwhelming stress and turbulence.

Last week, I found myself in the depths of winter dreariness and I kept trying to readjust my focus and regain perspective.

It is so encouraging to see that other people do the same; that I'm not the only one who has days where I have to actively choose happiness.

On a lighter note, that dose of vitamin D I got from my time in the sunshine this weekend started my week in a very cheerful place!

Last night, I got to spend time with my housemate who I've been neglecting recently with all of my travels. We shared a bottle of wine over dinner and caught up on our lives and loves.

Source: istockphoto.com via Rebecca on Pinterest

Good girlfriends are definitely one of the most valuable things in this world. You know the ones who don't mince their words, hold a mirror up to you and make you look, and get what you're trying to say without any explanation? Those are the girls to keep in your life.

I heard a funny thing the other day from a guy - apparently, if a girl doesn't have girlfriends, it is the number one giveaway that you should run the other direction because she is either crazy or mean.

I don't know that it's always true.

Some girls are shy or are surrounded with crazy girls in which case, the lack of girlfriends is proof of sanity.

I suppose though, as a general rule, it's probably pretty on point.

What do you think?

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

What Are You Wearing?

Source: parisapartment.wordpress.com via Ashley@ on Pinterest

Confession: I am a sucker for marketing. If someone packaged it prettily, or put nice words onto it, I likely have it or want it. Retail therapy too easily becomes my "go-to" when I'm feeling particularly crummy. Not to mention, it feels fabulous to wear a great outfit. If enough of your wardrobe is relatively new, you're never bored with it.

I've tried going cold turkey, and it does not work. I won't get anything for a couple months and then I'll go on a shopping spree. As such, I'm going to work on a new approach: moderation. We'll see how it goes. Coupled with this new approach, I'm going to focus on improving my character.

It is so easy to fall into the trap of believing that my external appearance is the only thing that determines my beauty.

Yes, having a put together appearance can be very valuable and I would never discourage anyone from developing their own personal style.

The tricky part becomes keeping sight of what is important.

Your image becomes worthless when people discover ugliness within you.

I often find that when people ask me whether my friends are good looking, I have trouble answering them. When you get to know someone, and love who they are, it's hard to tell if they are physically attractive or not. They become beautiful to you because of who they are, not how they look.

I hope to refocus my efforts as the new year approaches. I want to get back on track and focus on behavior that is compassionate, kind, humble, gentle and patient.

What are the qualities that you find most beautiful?

Do you get caught up with your physical appearance?

If you don't, what distracts you from the things that are important in life?

Money? Popularity? Strength? Intelligence?

Sunday, October 9, 2011

Let's Get Personal

My best friend told me to be more personal and honest here, so I'm going to take a stab at it.

Why is the comfortable and familiar such a draw? Even if you don't want those things for your life, why is it tempting to settle rather than finding what you want and need? I haven't settled and I'm not going to. It's hard though.

It is hard to walk away from what you know.

It is hard to walk away from reliability.

It is hard to keep walking forward, not knowing what your next step will be, not knowing if the path is going to be clear.

I guess that's what faith is about.

Thank God, stubbornness comes naturally to me. I told my friend that I'm bad at being personal in public and maybe it was the WASP in me. Don't air dirty laundry in public and all of that. So here's to the Irish catholic side of me, embracing a stubborn approach to life. I'm going to stubbornly pursue my path whether it's clear or not. I'm also going to acknowledge that it's okay to be vulnerable and humble and not have all of the answers once in a while.

Thanks, Bree.

When I find a thought that I want to focus on, whether it be a quote or a song lyric or a verse or just something someone said, I write it on a post it. I've scattered these sticky notes around my house, and they typically stay wherever I put them until the stickiness has worn away. This particular one was said to me by my friend Sabryna this summer. It's been on a post it in my car ever since.

Friday, October 7, 2011

Saturday Mornings

What does your ideal Saturday morning look like?

Do you pull a pillow over your head and stay tucked under the covers as long as possible, trying not to wake up?

Do you wake up with the sun and grab a warm drink on your way to do chores?

Do you enjoy the quiet before everyone else gets up and starts moving around?

Are you one of those people that curls up on the couch and watches cartoons or whatever you can find?

Do you make a huge elaborate brunch?

Do you read a book?

Once, I lived in a house of 10,

Yes, 10 girls.

The best part of Saturday mornings was stumbling sleepily into a room and crawling into bed with whoever hadn't gotten up yet. Pretty soon, there were at least half of us curled up in whatever unclaimed space we could find. All of us recounted our evenings, laughed a lot, woke up slowly, and tried to find motivation to go to brunch.

What will you be doing this Saturday morning?

Thursday, September 22, 2011

You Are Who Your Friends Are, Or Are They Who You Are?

You are who your friends are.

Bad friends corrupt good morals.

Growing up, these are the mantras we were forced to repeat and abide by. We were encouraged to pick good friends and to stay away from bad apples. When you think about it though, if everyone says that to their kids, who is the bad kid? Which kid ruins the others? Where does the individual fit into this picture? Here is an interesting excerpt from an article on how people choose their friends:

"When you have opportunity to choose your friends, you will tend to choose people who are similar to you; there's a lot of evidence that we like similar others," says Chris Crandall, psychology professor at the University of Kansas.

However, we don't always have the option to find our perfect match. When they looked at people on large campuses, the friend groups tended to be more homogenous. On small campuses, where the options were not as plenty, groups tended to be more diverse.

"Two differences did stand out, though. On larger campuses, people tended to be friends with those who held many of the same beliefs; in other words, they BFF'd themselves. And on small campuses, people had more diverse friends but rated those friendships as closer."

Maybe the goal shouldn't be to avoid the "bad apples". Rather, we should select friends who can offer alternative perspectives and challenge our thought processes.

The best thing about my college experience was the people I met and the friends I made. We all came from different backgrounds and had different ideals and values, but we created a culture that enabled open dialogue and debate.

Some say that college is an artificial experience. Living with your peers with minimal accountability and responsibility isn't "real life." Although it may not have been "real life", we really lived. And, consequently, we entered real life with real friends.

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

10 Things About Life in a Relatively Big Family

Okay, so there are actually 11 things, but 10 sounded better.

I'm not one of 8 or 9 kids, but I am the oldest of 4. And I have a bajillion cousins. So I feel qualified to speak to the topic of growing up in a big family.

Colleen being silly

1) To this day I cannot eat slowly. If you didn't eat frantically or make some ridiculous modification (such as mustard and ketchup on your fries at once to deter any potential food snatchers), your siblings got more of the best food.

2) Germ-phobia is a luxury. Every drink, lip gloss, and yes, on awful occasions tooth brushes are likely to be shared at some point.

Colleen & Suzannie at the Landing

3) If you can make someone laugh you will escape all sorts of trouble. ~~Once~~ Okay, more than once, I tripped my sister and made her cry. This one time, I was desperate to make her laugh before my parents heard. I knew they were a bit cranky that day and I'd really be in for it. My solution was to make a complete spectacle of myself by singing the song from Titanic. So there I was in our basement, dancing on the cement floor in socks going, "Near, Farrrrrrrrrrrr" at the top of my lungs. To really spice it up, I decided to add a dramatic leap sideways. Unfortunately, being the picture of grace and elegance at all times, I landed on a doll house rocking chair and managed to break my arm and my foot. Moral of the story: even if she doesn't laugh, if you try hard enough, sometimes you still might not get in trouble.

4) There will likely always be dollhouses or some other small toys littered around your house. Even if you guys are grownups.

Suzannie in NYC

5) You don't own anything. Even the things you think you own, the things you bought with your money, are not yours. Nothing is sacred. It will be "borrowed". No matter what you do. Learn to share, quickly.

6) The only way to shut up a car of screaming children is to make them sing, loudly. You can make any song fun and lively, even John Denver songs.

Elisabeth & Dad

7) The waiting room is actually a very interesting spot for people watching.You will never go to the doctor or dentist unless there are appointments available for at least half of your siblings.

8) It is possible to hate someone with your whole being and then laugh so hard you cry with that same person in less than 5 minutes.

The 4 of us

9) Spending any extended amount of time alone will result in anxiety.

10) Years after you've moved out, you will find yourself hiding your favorite things for no apparent reason.

And finally, there will never be a family photo that pleases everyone.

Do you have any fun facts about life in a large family?

Thursday, September 15, 2011

Cranky Pants

What causes someone to wake up on the wrong side of the bed? To reset an alarm at least five times before getting out of bed. To stand in the shower for at least ten minutes before realizing you have yet to wash your hair and oh man, you might be running out of time.

What makes the day feel a little bit gray, even though you can see the sun and the clouds aren't too thick? What makes you angry at traffic even if you are in no rush to get where you are going?

When I coached swim team with my best friend, we spent the summer staying out until the wee morning hours and then showing up for early morning practices.

Now, naturally, the morning and I do not get along well. If it were up to me, we would rarely meet.

So, there were mornings where I was just a teensy bit snappy. So snappy in fact that the head coach had to separate the two of us because we would bicker so much. He would run practice as we were relegated to separate sides of the pool.

One morning, my mood was just as black as can be. Bree was not in the mood to be separated, so she ran up behind me, poked me in the bum and yelled

'craaaaaaaaaannnnnnnnnkkkkkkkkkkkkkkyyyyyyyyyy pannnnnnnnnttttttttttssssssss'

,,,in the most absurd voice.

Needless to say, this was SO annoying to me. I had completely reached my breaking point. Here I was, and I had a choice to make. I could freak out and make a ridiculous scene, or I could laugh.

Meanwhile, she continued with her little dance, and poked me repeatedly yelling 'cranky pants, cranky pants, Rebecca is a cranky pants'.

So, I laughed. And laughed and laughed and laughed.

Sometimes laughter is the only way to change the course of your day. That and maybe a meatball sub or some Ben & Jerrys...or both.

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Muddy Chesapeake

Source: mddnr.chesapeakebay.net via Rebecca on Pinterest

Wow, the rains have really affected our Bay...the news is flooded (~~no pun intended~~) (pun definitely intended) with images of debris floating in clusters on and off shore. Check out that mud coming down from PA.

Thursday, September 8, 2011

As much as I'd like to visit the Gulf of Mexico...

I'd love to visit the Gulf of Mexico sometime soon...I envision my visit to be full of pretty beaches, warm sunny weather and beautiful clear water.

Instead, the Gulf has come to me, and as it turns out, it's not the nicest of visitors.

My friend Mandi sent me this pic from the road in front of her house. Can you believe there is this much rain?!

I mean seriously, Maryland, get your act together. First an earthquake, then a hurricane and now flooding? What is going on these days?!

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Why Are We So Catty?

The Washington Post published a photo series on a community of widows in Afghanistan. Once a woman is widowed in Afghanistan, it becomes difficult for her to function in the community. Not only does she struggle to provide for her family, as careers for women are not generally available or accepted, but she faces gossip and slander from other women.

“Other women get worried you might try to marry their husbands. They talk behind your back. It’s Afghanistan, it’s full of negativity. We feel more comfortable when we’re around other widows.”

Andrea Bruce / for The Washington Post

Even a world away from us here, women manage to pick other women apart. What is it about us that chooses to tear down and criticize rather than encourage and build up?

In the US, this shows up in various scenarios. When girls hook up with guys we call them sluts, but when guys do the same thing they get a slap on the back. When guys are successful in business they get applauded for being leaders, but women are torn apart for sleeping their way to the top, or becoming men, or being bitchy. This isn't always the case, and there are plenty of exceptions, but it is prevalent.

Then, we look in Afghanistan, and the same attitudes exist. When women are widowed, other women worry they will try to steal their husbands. What makes us so catty and insecure? More importantly, how do we change this? How do we do what these widows have done, banding together to survive? Building and creating with each other's help rather than cutting people down when they succeed.

Thursday, August 11, 2011

A Recycled Home

I stumbled on this story in the New York Times a while back. Today, I rediscovered it and thought I'd share.

Michael Stravato for The New York Times

Dan Phillips of Phoenix Commotion rescues odds and ends and repurposes them as building materials. He creates low income housing and requires construction participation from the future tenants. What a great alternative to Section 8 housing which typically is uniform in construction and isolated from mainstream society. His company is for-profit which hopefully will motivate others to take up similar causes. The best part of his homes aside from their funky designs? They are energy efficient.

My only regret is he is in Texas rather than Maryland!