Birdbrained for Bird Bags

I am sure many of you have heard about the imminent worldly transition from plastic to recycled bags in shopping centers. Well, if you haven’t, many stores and places are no longer giving out free plastic bags in an effort to reduce harmful plastic waste, so they are trying to make people switch to recycled grocery bags. Many people are upset about this transition, like my mother, because she likes to use the bags for trash bags, and in a way that is recycling. But then there are people like me, that want to make the complete change. We are truly killing our planet. Everything from the water we drink, to the air we breath is contaminated, and in order to fix this mess we need to take action NOW, and as a whole. And that is why I am trying to reduce my carbon footprint, and I am starting to use recycled bags. I purchased a couple of recycled bags for shopping, and I plan on using them in an effort to change my mindset. And I say my mindset because obviously I am not naïve that my change is not going to make a big impact in the world, but at least I will know that I am living a little greener. I know that many people in this world, all over, will continue to habitually contaminate the world, which is deeply unfortunate for our future generations. At least, I will try to live a little lighter.

Plus, they are super cute. ;)

This Is The Day!

So there are a few things in my life that I obsess over, well some might say otherwise, but the top thing that I do boil over for is tea, and owls, and editing, and cooking, and… But tea, that is something that is direly needed on an everyday basis, because like many coffee drinkers I have been faced with an addiction. Horrid headaches and hot tempered ways become of me without my tea. Despite my need, I love tea. And over the summer I was thinking about how amazing it would be to have a tea shop of my own. There are plenty of coffee shops, but none of tea! How upsetting, I thought to myself. But then, as I was strolling down The Blvd in Lancaster, CA, my dream came true. There is a tea shop called Molly Kate’s Gifts and Tea Room moving into The Blvd. In the background of my mind “This Is The Day”, by The The, consumed my mind, or maybe the speakers among the bushes of The Blvd. But my life surly has changed. Haha. The shop owner is very sweet, and apparently she had another shop in the Valley, but now is moving her shop to The Blvd. Their grand opening plans to be on September 1st, and trust me, I’ll be there. For more information on this splendid shop contact 661-816-8683, or sales@mollykates.com.

Senseless Shoe Spender!

I’ve been on and off my diet, like always. But I have lost ten pounds. I have found that every other day of being “good” with my diet really does have an impact, although I feel I can do better. This is not only a matter of looking better, but of feeling better. Having this extra weight makes me feel horrible physically, as well as mentally. There is this constant weight on my being, and my mind. I never can seem to escape it. I wake up feeling horrible for eating too much the night previously. Sickly. And then I try to think about why I ate, when I wasn’t even hungry. I didn’t even remember how it tasted, just that I ate. Well that’s no good. How can I scarf down food without even being able to recall why I ate it, or even how it tasted. That makes no sense. It is like spending money on a pair of shoes that are three sizes too small. Never done that, but maybe they were really cute to the person that inevitably has. Well I’m no longer going to be a senseless shoe spender! I pride myself in being very logical, and I will not be spending money on any pair of small shoes.

Oh, I’ve also been running. I have increased my running speed. Well, at least now I can say that I am running. I read an article on MSN about how running can be a great way to lose weight, duh. Although it was an interesting process, or more so, progression, that it depicted. Basically, you start by walking, then speed walking, and then intervals of walking and running for a couple of minutes, and then full on running. I can proudly say that I am now at the walking and running intervals. Soon I hope to be like those crazy hamsters next to me on the dreadful running contraptions.

On a final note, I have gotten a new book, Despair, by Valdimir Nabokov. I absolutely loved the last book of his that I read, Invitation to a Beheading. A man contemplating his own murder. Books seem so typical now, romance, girly stuff, murders, but Nabokov is really thought provoking.

Well, I’m off to read.

The Cure to My Fever

I had a fever without it. And this sweltering fever produced a sweet sweat that continuously slid down the back of my neck. It was caused by none other than a fascination. Not just any fascination, but the musical sort. It was my cure. It was The Cure. I was obsessed with The Cure, a primarily 80’s band, and when I listened to their music the nap of my neck cooled with content. The Cure was the cure to my craving. Thus, when I heard about a book that inspired one of their songs I was immediately hooked. I had to find out how they were able to pull inspiration from a book, so I investigated. What I found was rather interesting, and by this I mean that the book was interesting. The song in discussion is called, Charlotte Sometimes, as well as the book, which is written by Penelope Farmer. I never understood the song at first, although after reading the children’s book I fully understood the lyrics. I do mind you that if you choose to look into this book the beginning and middle are rather long, but the end is a shocker, and the book in whole is pretty short. My jaw literally dropped though, and I think that was definitely worth the wait. Without giving more information than the synopsis of the book does, it is essentially about a school girl that travels back in time, simultaneously trading places with another girl in the past. It is a very interesting idea, and the story presents the idea of identity, and absorbs the reader with some mind boggling inquiries. My fever has subsided after finding out what the mystery of Charlotte entails, but The Cure will continuously sizzle.

Editing Myself: My three step plan

I felt lost. And time, well that went along with my mind. Last Thursday I was sitting in my room, after having just woke from an uncomfortably warm nap, and thought that I had a partially full week ahead of me. Alas, to my surprise it was a myth, a tale, a sad, sad, story. For it was not Tuesday, but Thursday. I jumped up in a frantic state, and started to think about what I had to do. But there was nothing I had to do. Absolutely nothing. My heart was still pounding, but not because of the idea of losing time on things I had to do, but rather because there was nothing to do. I sat there for calm myself, watching the dust reach its decided destination, and started to think of what I could do. I thought about the stuff I told myself I was going to do. You see, I told myself that I was going to create a three step plan. That plan consisted of three things, and well, I think I should follow through with this plan. My plan revolves around me, sorry for sounding coincided, however it is a self improvement plan. My plan consists of improving three things, my skin, weight, and teeth.

At first I thought I could improve my pale, sensitive, and easily prone to disaster, skin by tanning, although I really don’t think that is the best thing to do. I’ve had extreme difficulty with my skin since I was a preteen. In the words of my mother, “it is a constant battle!”. Well yes, I guess it will be. Acne. Blah. What a word. It has improved drastically, but not with some serious fighting. I have used everything, from proactive to Accutane, and all those in between. I feel kind of stuck. So my improvement plan is limited at the moment to my regular skincare medication, something the doctor prescribed, which maintains it. So I’ll continue with this treatment, but I might have to get out the big guns in a bit, whatever those might be.

Now, the weight. That heaviness that I feel all day, not only physically, but mentally. I think about it constantly, and the strain it has on me. Horrible. I have three months, and I have hired a personal trainer, we’ll call her E, and I’ve reinstated my gym membership, I plan on getting my extra weight off, and not only for the general public, but for myself. I want to feel better. I have went to the gym practically every day for the last few weeks, and plan on going tomorrow as well. I know all there is to know about the health and fitness since I was practically raised in a gym, mother being a fitness fanatic and all, although I’ve never wanted to implement my knowledge, but I think now is a great time to get moving since I have the time, and really should get healthy. I need to focus on my eating. I eat way too much.

Finally, I am planning on fixing my teeth. There isn’t too much wrong with them, except for some spacing, but I have always wanted that fixed, so I might as well do it. My family has never had the financial means in order to fix the spacing, so since I am an adult I can pay for it myself. I plan on making a consultation with my dentist soon. I might get metal braces. Yes, metal. But it will be worth it in the long run because I will have what I want.

I know that looks are not everything, but I work hard at work and school, and I feel I do well. I do not see why I shouldn’t work hard at my appearance as well. I should strive to be my best in every aspect. So here I go!

Better Bottles: My love for bobble bottles

Okay, so I have been trying to exercise every day for for my summer break in an attempt to lose weight, and on this horribly tiring journey I have discovered something wondrous. This ruby in the rough is otherwise known as a Bobble Bottle. And the grand thing about this water bottle is that it has a filtration system within the bottle itself. Or in other words, it cleans the water as you drink it! How neat of an idea. Now, I did find this bottle before working out, and bought one for my boyfriend because I thought it was neat. But I never tried it myself, until now that is. It is BPA free, and the filtration system works for about two months, and then you have to replace the filtering part, which is the cap basically. That means that you don’t have to buy a new bottle, just the lid. That brings me to my next point, and that is that this bottle saves you from using so many plastic water bottles that can ruin the environment. But wait, that’s not all! The water tastes great. It can take my nasty work water, and make it taste great. I didn’t believe it at first, although it is true. Just try one for yourself. I’m going to continue using mine in order to facilitate my weight lose, but it will definitely take more than a cool water bottle.

Finding My Lost Love

Yes, I have found my lost love. That love is otherwise known as literature. It is so easy to take advantage of mindless activities, such as television and video games. Of course one can learn from these activities, but in my case they are for entertainment and comfort. I used to read. I used to read a lot, but with my hectic schedule I just found it easier to listen to television rather than think. It reminds me of Fahrenheit 451, and I’ve done away with the books in my world, and there are only walls of television that direct my very being (By the way, I saw Ray Bradbury at a Marie Callender’s.). Well, I won’t let that happen any longer because literature in my life has been revived, and now it is thriving. However, this would have not been the case if it were not for my current critical thinking course. My critical thinking class has enacted this chain reaction, and it was all because of the heavy workload.

I have never had such an intense work load, but that being said, I learned so much, and gained an important habit. This is the first course I have taken at my college that has actually challenged my thinking, or should I say critical thinking. It has expanded my way of thinking due to all the reading and writing. Every week I would dedicate many hours to reading alone. And I think that the reading was probably the biggest challenge for me in this class, but it has actually increased my reading pace. Normally, every week I, along with my classmates, would have to read at least 50 pages. And this is solid text. Reading a lot intimidated me at first. Since I am not a fast reader I was worried that I might not be able to keep up with the readings. I would come home from work, and be tired, and the last thing I would want to do is sit down with a book. I just wanted to sit down, and drown out my thoughts with television. I wanted to stare at a brightly lit television, and just listen to the electricity hum. But instead, I sat down, and read. At first, it felt like I was reading the same page forever. I would distract myself by thinking about my day, or mark the time on how long it took me to read a single page. However, after doing this week after week, I found that I was starting to enjoy it. I thought, “If I have to read this, then why not enjoy it and actually critically think about what I am reading”. So I started scratching at the text with my pencil, and looking up words I didn’t know. I was seriously into reading the class text. Another thing I would do was preview all the texts, and read the most interesting ones first. It was like a treat. I love desert most of all, so why not start with it? I started to actually appreciate reading again, and that’s when it hit me. I missed reading! I had been so busy with school and work that I forgot how great it was to indulge in literature. Not only did I rediscover my love for reading, but I increased my reading pace in the process.

This summer I actually have a list of books that I intend on reading. Firstly, I am going to read Charlotte Sometimes, which is an interesting book that The Cure was inspired by, secondly, Jane Eyre, and thirdly, Pride and Prejudice. It will certainly be nice to read for pleasure again since I will have the time. In fact, I am going to be reporting on my reviews of the books on this blog over the summer. For too long I have neglected and dismissed my love for literature. I have lost my love once, but I’m not going to lose literature again.