anticipatin'

I read an article a couple weeks ago about appreciating things more and one of the writer's suggestions was to build anticipation by talking up an event before hand, preparing in advance, etc. If this theory proves true, I am going to have the BEST bachelorette party evah. But the funny thing is that the anticipation had been building more by not talking about it.

See, my maid of honor Tait (of Ode to a Taiter fame) and Brian and a myriad of other bridesmaids and friendys have been scheming to keep my bachelorette a secret from me for some months now. At first I didn't know where or when it would be or any details of what we might be doing. Then someone accidentally let it slip that it would be in New York City, which gave me just enough tantalizing detail to get even more excited. But I still don't know when it is, exactly who will be there and what is planned. Every conversation with Tait or Brian has become a tease of half-hints and false trails and the suspense is killing me, but it an awesome way.

Eventually I got another little tidbit - Brian booked me a 9 a.m. bus to NYC on a Friday. Which Friday remains unknown. At first he threatened to wake me up at four in the morning with a bullhorn. But since I don't exactly fancy having scramble to pack and rush out the door to make my bus (and because I threatened to kill him), he sweetly relented and promised to tell me Thursday night.

And then today I got my first official clue-slash-packing aid. Cue excitement ramping up even more (as well as the wondering - would they have planned to give me clues for a week? Two weeks?!?). I will have to wait until Thursday to find out for sure, but if the mystery bachelorette is finally upon us, I am reaaaaddyyyyyy to parrrtyyyyyyyyyyyy.

hello, I am a slut

And so are all my friends, apparently. After all, since almost every female I know is on some kind of birth control – whether it be for health issues that give them extremely painful and miserable periods, irregular and unpredictable periods, or yes, to be able to have sex without getting pregnant – we must all be sluts.

What decade are we in? The last time I checked it was 2012. The TWENTY-FIRST century, y'all.

So can somebody tell me WHY THE HELL women are suddenly being attacked for taking a stand for themselves, their sexuality and their HEALTH?

Here's the thing. I get that birth control is (generally) not a life-saving drug that women absolutely must take to survive. So if you want to argue that one institution or another (be it the government or employers or health care or whoever) shouldn't have to pay to make it affordable for women, that's fine. But then you better be prepared to accept my argument that they shouldn't pay for any other - not ONE single other - medication that isn't 100% lifesaving. I'm betting that is an argument you won't like.

I can't with this thing too much or it will just turn into a rant. But if you want to read more about this issue, I sincerely encourage you to check out the links below, particularly the first by Donna Ladd, editor-in-chief of the Jackson Free Press in Mississippi.

Living in Hell

Birth control as election issue? Why?

Rush Limbaugh calls woman on birth control 'slut,' but she shows class

Rush Limbaugh Doubles Down on Sandra Fluke, Offering 'As Much Aspirin to Put Between Her Knees As She Wants'

And of course, Jon Stewart's take on the whole thing, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Gross

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
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He makes several good points, as always, but the best is, "To the people who are upset about their hard-earned tax money going to something they don't like... Welcome to the f***ing club. Everyone pays for sh** they don't want to all the time. Reimburse me for the Iraq war and oil subsidies and diaphragms are on me!"

It is the 19th Amendment that gives women the right to vote. Which means that 18 other amendments were put forth and ratified before the government seriously considered, "Hey, maybe we should extend this basic right to the other fully HALF of our population - to the ones that give us half of our genes, who carry us for nine months inside their bodies, who nurture and raise and teach us. Maybe we should let all people whom these laws affect have a voice in approving or denying them." YOU THINK?!

But, however late to the party it may have been, it is also the 19th Amendment that gives us the power to keep this shit out of the White House. All the ladies out there - all the sluts out there - let's stand up and show what we think of this issue.

February's 29

So far I am loving my photo a day project. I'm already excited to compare the first month to the last and see the differences. New home, new city, new state, new pet (hopefully), new job (SERIOUSLY hopefully), new lifestyle... Plus we have a tentative plan to visit my parents over Brian's Christmas break, so it will be fun to compare that as well (the first six photos of January were taken in Utah visiting them). Their kittens will be so much bigger by that point!

Full confession time, two of these photos are NOT in the correct spot for their day. In January I managed to take a photo every day, but this month I forgot twice, so I pulled photos from days where I took several. The OCD part of me is twitching but I'm determined to not get crazy about this project.

It's also interesting to see the month (or two months) as a whole. I can immediately pick out trends and things I like or dislike. For one thing, there are hardly any people. Brian makes an appearance or two (which is just about all he will put up with anyway), and there are bits of me but nothing of my face. I'm kind of okay with that, because I feel like these photos are really taken from my point of view and show the things I notice and look at throughout the month. I do wish there was more variety. Part of this is because of the whole unemployment thing – I spend a ton of time in the apartment, and when I do leave I tend to do the same things (errands, jogging, groceries)... but even when we were in New York City for Brian's birthday spending time with some of our best friends, I didn't really remember to take more than still life-esque photos. Imma work on that for the next couple months.

There's also hardly any green, both because the instagram filters tend to play up every color except green and because I live in a concrete jungle where it is still (technically) winter so there's no grass or leaves on the trees. Guess I'll just have to wear my favorite coat every day until it gets too warm!