My Momma so great...

So, today is mother's day and that means that my family is having brunch somewhere in Cleveland with the extended family. I, will be studying, because I have two exams tomorrow! Boo! Anyway, being super far away meant that I had a hard time getting my act together to send anything "good" for a gift. Enter: reading other blogs online for ideas...

I came across this women's blog that is a blogging community that takes contributions daily from a variety of socially, economically, and personally aware women. They had this great article about why donations are a worthwhile gift.

After a little more research, I came across Karing for Kids which is a non-profit that is creating a Mother-Child Clinic in Nepal. It is partially funded by the Mountain Fund (which I've been aware of for years) and it seemed to fit the criteria for something that I wanted to give to and was applicable to my mother's ideals.

So, Happy Mother's Day to you and to the Children and Mothers who haven't had it as easy as I.

UNIQLO... a unique ending to first year

I actually have spent the past four hours working on the background information for our company's PRIME project.

But in my (extensive, exhausting, and somewhat frustrating) research, I did come across one of the more entertaining branding and marketing items online. In an over-saturated world of marketing messages, this allows you to simply play with the brand.

You get to create a musical loop that integrates strange sounds ("Da", "U", etc.) with dancing pictures of people from around the world wearing their clothing...

Kinda cool!




Next week, 40 of my classmates and I will travel to Japan to show off our ideas based on their project requests. We'll see how our ideas are received by the business people and I'll have another culture experience in Asia!

Being Green in LA: Not a color Californians are used to

So, I really should upload my speech on cutting down on meat consumption because the environmental impact, but I'll refrain (mostly because I need to study for my exam, so this will be a super short post) but I did see that other people are trying to make an effort to make this city more environmentally considerate.

An the awesome part, is that they admit that it doesn't happen easily... its a pain in the ass and generally and an inconvenient way of life.

As the resident hippie of USC (read: the only girl who owns chacos...), I try to do some things that are more sustainable, but I realize more and more that the school isn't so sustainable and this town even less so. I tend to drive around with recyclables in the back of my car for a week, because I can only recycle #1 plastics!

But, It'll get there.

The almost perfect commute

After reading an article on the worst cities for commuting I realized that my plan for trying to create a fabulous bike commute is probably a good idea. It seems that LA traffic is as horrible as it always seemed, but amazingly this city of cars isn't as bad as a few cities in Florida. This is related to the "the urban sprawl" factor, and that there are business centers all over the damn place. So, to circumvent the stupidity that is driving around here, I've decided to bike.

And its pretty solid! I can take 4th street bike boulevard across town, and then I have to figure out someway south. Right now, I either do hoover, or vermont, but then from Hoover&Olympic there is a bike lane.

I'll upload the map in a bit, but its pretty fun!

... Just not that into you

I've come to the conclusion that hunting for an internship (or a job) is kind of like dating. So much so that love songs (and break-up songs) explain as much about the job search as they do how you feel when you are with and without a significant other... Over the next couple of posts, I'm going to delve into my own job-relationship search and its parallelism to my single life.

"The good times are killing me" - Modest Mouse
In essence, you have been in a long-term relationship that isn't gonna make it. You've been committed for a little while, but your eye is wandering a bit. The joy that you've had isn't enough to be sustainable and "the talk" showed that you just do not need each other as much as you thought. Enter, Grad School... single, sexy, and exciting. A new city, interesting people, activities and plans to make you forget about what you left behind. Now, though, you are a free woman (or man) and you are ready to find something new and exciting to be with. Yes, you are having a lot of fun, but you harbor a little bit of jealousy towards those that are in those committed relationships and know that you need to find something new.

"I am human and I need to be loved. Just like everybody does" - The Smiths
You can't stay single forever but it is a lot harder to get back in the game than you remembered. You see all the people around you--the flirters, the crushes, and serial monogamists--and you wonder why you are still single. You have a great past, you are fun to talk to, and you have a lot going on... why hasn't someone snatched you up?

Sometimes your need for love means thinking about crawling back and asking for a little bit of forgiveness. I reached a point earlier this year when I was ready to return to my old relationship -- my job at backcountry. The company was pretty good to me, they treated me right and we had a fun relationship. Though there were ups and downs and I didn't always feel totally appreciated, it was definitely comfortable and safe. However, you know that it isn't right! There were valid reasons for parting ways, and no matter how many times you think it might have been "the one," its not going to be any better, and you will just want to leave again. During the internship/job search, you sometimes forget how much you appreciate comfort and safety, but all you really need is a little crush to take your mind off of it...

Cougar-In-Training

One of my favorite bars in Park City was "The Spur" (Motto: western-patterned furniture and old photos isn't politically incorrect when they are cowGIRLS and native americans).

One of the biggest reasons that I went there (besides the decent live music and bartenders who liked me) was because I got to learn from the Cougars who frequented this watering hole to hunt ski-town prey. Its quintessential animal watching: complete with mating rituals & stalking.

Though its an all-too-well-known term these days and one of humor for many, Cougar ends up as a derogatory term. I think this in bad, because I appreciate learning from these masters of the dating world and do think that my dating record shows that I'm in training to be one.

In fact, I read an article which talked about how a woman became an this accidental cougar and though my initial animal instinct was to shake my head at how she is single "at her age," I was also wondering how I can be as successful at dating as she seems to be.

Stuff

I love stuff as much or more than the next person. I mean, I worked at an outdoor company; I own more jackets than a normal person in LA should have. However, as much as I love my stuff, I am worried that my having too much will mean that we won't have much of anything in a few years. So, someone sent me the story of stuff and it shows in very significant detail the impact of our desire for stuff.

While watching this 20 minutes e-cast, I realize how inextricably linked this is to the world is flat which focuses on how we have leveled the playing field for globalization through commerce and competition.

Only 1% of the 'stuff' we buy is still used six months after its purchase. So, how do we change our love for stuff? How do we change our perception of our need for obsolescence? How do we reduce our stuff? If recycling isn't everything, what should I do?

I don't necessarily have the answers for this question, but as we head closer to Christmas and its over-consumption of food and stuff, just think about what you are buying, using, and giving, and how it can change for new year. How you can be more sustainable and more green in your giving, doing and celebrating.