Desiderata

Sometimes there's nothing better than a solid Sunday morning sleep in. 

Today I was diagnosed with atopic dermatitis (eczema), which is a genetic disease that effects my skin. I'm really sad that this is an issue I'll have to deal with for the rest of my life, but at least now I know what's going on and I'm not just itching without reason. It's an incurable disease, but the symptoms are fairly easy to prevent or eliminate by changing a few things in my life. For one, I'll have to drink a lot more water. This is a condition that is all about dry skin, so the more hydrated I am on the inside, the better. Another treatment is to over-moisturize with creams and emollients, not regular lotions which contain lipids and water. The doctor gave me a few prescription strength creams to use for now and then he recommended switching to something gentle by Cetaphil or Aveeno. Luckily, another preventative measure is to take short, lukewarm showers! Yay, dream come true. As many of you know, I don't like showers, so this is actually an ea...

Come along with me to my little corner of the world  Dream a little dream in my little corner of the world  You'll soon forget that there's any other place Tonight, my love, we'll share a sweet embrace   And if you care to stay in my little corner of the world  We could hide away in my little corner of the world  I always knew that I'd find someone like you  So welcome to my little corner of the world  And if you care to stay in our little corner of the world  We could hide away in our little corner of the world  We always knew that we'd find someone like you  So welcome to our little corner of the world --Yo La Tengo

Ahhh, the first day of spring. I love it. This morning I woke up at 7:30, bleary-eyed, but determined to keep up this early morning thing. After wandering around my apartment for a few minutes, I opened up the paneled blinds that look out onto our patio. It was a gorgeous day! I decided in a split-second that I was going to run to the ocean and get myself an iced coffee and a green juice. I started running, but my lady-body hurt so badly I simply couldn't continue. I felt a little angry at my boobs for a while, but took a deep breath and decided to change my perspective. It was still a beautiful, bright morning and I was already outside. I had brought my Kindle with me so I read Game of Thrones as I walked all the way to the beach. When I got there I loved how busy it was in the morning down on Ocean Ave. People were already well into their days, and there was an exciting energy all around. Spring fever? Actually, it wasn't until I got to work that I real...

This morning I read a few great chapters from  A Storm of Swords . I love how George R.R. Martin handles complex topics like faith, religion and loyalty. Each chapter is named after a character and told in third person limited perspective. Because of the dire circumstances in The Seven Kingdoms, the passages frequently focus on their relationships to faith. Whether they worship the old gods or the new, the Lord of Light or the Nameless Other of Darkness, each character and their respective peoples' theologies are informed by where they were raised, what they were taught, as well as their present circumstances. With so many variables, it's impossible that everyone would share the same beliefs. Ser Davos is first and foremost a knight, which means loyalty to king and country prevails over all else. He was raised to pray to the old gods and even under great pressure from the priestess Melissandre, he sticks to his beliefs and counters her sermons with personal strength and sp...

Being 25 is so strange. Things are changing in big ways, and I'm hyper-aware of it all. Days don't go by in the lazy-hazy way they did when I was in college or high school. Things seemed to magically take care of themselves and all I had to do was study, get good grades and show up to my part time job. I lived in a dreamworld back then, where songs were heartbreaks and anthems and I survived on a diet of coffee and popcorn. I didn't question much and lived pretty comfortably in a constant  state of nebulousness. The most difficult thing I had to figure out was if I wanted to study Brit Lit or World Art, and did I want to do so at the Coffee Bean or Starbucks???! These were real dilemmas. Of course, I do remember college being stressful at times: balancing work, studies and play, but there was a cloud of innocence that seemed to blanket everything, and allowed me to dwell in a deliciously whimsical state of mind. As I'm entering into true adulthood, I feel like ever...

My last post inspired some of my friends to join me in eliminating social media from our daily routines. It certainly wasn't my intention to have everyone up-and-leave Facebook and Insta, but it's nice to have people doing this with me. Solidarity, sister. I just got back from spending my first weekend without any social media interaction in Orange County, and I have to say--I absolutely LOVED it. I spent long hours talking with my mom one on one into the wee hours of the night. I went on a hike/run with my sister and nephew the next morning. The weather was bright, clear and I got terribly sunburned. After a glorious shower, I played soccer golf with my entire family and my dad's staff. My dad's company sponsored the tournament, which was a fundraising event for Pure Game (which teaches non-competitive soccer to at-risk youths). After several margaritas, doing handstands in the grass and the satisfaction of coming in 4th out of 36 teams, I went to Shane's dad...

I'm unplugging from social media for a bit. I'll keep Facebook Messenger to talk in our friend groups, because it seems impossible to get everyone on a different service, but I will not be on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, etc. for an indefinite amount of time. I thought about keeping it a secret, but unfortunately, I need more accountability... Because I sit at a desk all day, it is SO easy for me to get stuck on these sites. Whether it's on my phone or on the computer, I find that I am wasting so much time on these platforms. When I wake up, the first thing I do is reach for my phone to browse through Facebook and Instagram. Just wanna see what people were doing and thinking and eating while I was sleeping ... There's something wrong about that. When I wake up, what if I went straight outside and felt the sunshine, or made coffee, or read a book? The habit of immediately turning to social media kind of sickens me, and simply put, it's not the way I want t...