The Adventures of Kinky Reggae: A Vagabond for Beauty

I, like everyone else, am slightly addicted to Pinterest. And I'm a sucker for those outfits from Polyvore. They are adorable. Why don't I know how to dress like that??? I need a personal stylist. The problem with these outfits is that they are all ridiculously expensive. Why can't they have stuff you can get at Target or H&M?? I think I'm going to add a goal to my list- buy an entire outfit from Polyvore. At first glance, this outfit didn't seem too expensive. The sweather is $40. And then I saw the earrings from Barney's... $29,500.

At church yesterday, we were asked to turn and talk to the person next to us about something we want to do before we die. I have a whole list of these things on my phone, and yet, in the moment, all I could come up with was, "Go to Tahiti." Which I felt really stupid saying after the girl next to me shared that she wants to start a non-profit. The sermon ended up having nothing to do with our lists. The pastor asked us what's stopping us from doing those things, and he pointed out how there's stuff we want, and stuff we REALLY want. Like, "I want to read my Bible every day." But what stops us from doing good stuff like that is what we REALLY want, which is probably to watch The Bachelor. He then gave a great talk about our sinful natures. But it got me thinking about my list of things to do before I die. There aren't a lot of noble, grand things on that list. I'm not sure why that is. Maybe because I'm already leading a fulfilled life?

The Bible talks about the importance of faith, hope, and love. In my life, I’ve focused a lot on my struggles with faith and love, but it wasn’t until a few years ago that I realized there was a lack of hope in my life. Although I didn’t see it at the time, I think I spent most of my 20’s in a state of hopelessness. Things weren’t right, but I didn’t do anything to change that. Looking back, I think this is because I didn’t have hope. I don’t think I even recognized what it felt like. Then, a few years ago, I started losing weight, and I knew what hope was. It sounds like such a silly, shallow, thing to cause such a profound emotion. But all of a sudden, I started thinking that maybe I could have the things I wanted. And now that I’ve experienced it, I think that hopeful is one of my very favorite ways to feel. Even better than the satisfaction of getting what you want. I thought I understood the phrase “our hope is in Christ.” I thought that had to do with going to heaven. A

I can't smell snow coming like Lorelei can. But I feel the same way she does about it. There's another episode (I think when she's dating Max) where she talks about how magic snow is. Every year, we get at least one snowfall that feels just like that. This year's perfect snow was on Friday night. It technically wasn't our first snowfall of the year. We got a decent amount of snow a few weeks ago, but it wasn't the good kind of snow. I don't know how to describe it, but it just wasn't right. It was wet and heavy and left a layer of ice underneath it and was really really cold. Although I did hear that a bunch of people in Wicker Park had a huge, impromptu snowball fight and was sad I didn't know about it. But it really wasn't the kind of snow that felt like magic. Friday's snow was magic. It started snowing during school, and all after-school activities were cancelled. I know it's crazy, but I love that feeling of everyone brus

1. Being surrounded by Humboldt Park on two sides, which is 207 acres, has a stable (that I don't think is still functioning) that looks like a castle, a boathouse where you can rent rowboats, and fishing piers and worm pits. There is even an audio tour you can download. (Stables) (Boathouse- pic from fineartamerica.com) 2. Fireplace with built-in shelves 3. 6-foot tall windows 4. My neighbors- an awesome mix of stay-at-home moms, hipsters, and Puerto Ricans. When I park my car at night, I notice the car in front of me. Last night, it was a car with a University of Chicago bumper sticker. Today, it was a Honda CRV with these stickers: (One of the paw prints identifies the owner as an animal foster parent. Not sure what the triangle kid is.) 5. Coco, the amazing Cuban restaurant less than two blocks away. I think plantains are my new favorite food- how did I not know what I was missing??? 6. My building is over 100 years old. The locks (inside the apartment) are all old-fashioned

One of the fun things about hanging out with people from high school is hearing their memories, especially the ones you forgot even happened. I got to hang out with lots of fun high school friends this weekend and was reminded of some stuff I'd totally forgotten about. Laura and I were talking about having PE together. I only have vague memories of PE, probably because it was so traumatic. But she said, "Don't you remember that time you talked me into walking the mile with you?" (I've never run the mile in my life, and I was constantly recruiting slackers to walk with me.) "You pulled out a Hershey bar halfway through and split it with me." So embarrassing. This is how I got the name Cookie Monster in high school. I was small, but my diet consisted almost entirely of sweets. Then Laura was like, "Do you remember the time you smoked?" "What?" I was quite indignant. "I was GOOD at school. I NEVER would have done that." "L

Already failed at my New Year's resolution and didn't even realize it right away. One thing I loved about my apartment in Pilsen was that it was 5 minutes away from Target. When I decided on my new apartment, I didn't consider things like proximity to shopping. I was pretty upset when I realized the closest Target is in Bucktown, on Elston, which is a scary diagonal street. And for some reason, Elston is one of the scariest diagonals. There's always tons of traffic and it's like, SUPER diagon. Not just a little diagonal, like Grand or Ogden. So I needed to go to Target, but was scared to drive there. Living in Phoenix greatly diminished my city driving abilities. So I kept putting it off. "Who needs hand soap?" I told myself. "Sanitizer will work just as well! And I can totally continue to survive off of these saltines and peanut butter. I just have to make it till Monday, when I'm out in the suburbs for work!" I texted Pete and told him I wa

Best Moments of 2011 When Rachel, Nina, Stephanie and I were dancing on the roof at Bar Smith and this guy tried to dance with us and we blocked him and he was like, "What, is this like, a circle that can't be broken?" Yup. When my parents came to visit and we climbed rocks at Joshua Tree and my mom tried to kick me in the Grand Canyon My 8th period Reading class Amanda telling me I had to put my arms up and embrace life on Big Thunder Mountain at Disneyland. The lumberjack/wilderness firefighter Standing in a meadow in the Maroon Bells wilderness in a dress and hiking shoes, surrounded by mountains and wildflowers and a creek, declaring that I want to build a house in that exact spot ; Holding Carmen at my good-bye dinner. Singing "Colors of the Wind" in Upper Antelope Canyon with our Navajo guide High School Musical Karaoke with Jenna Singing "Home" by Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros with Nina and Steph on our trip. Walking into my classroom

I just got back from a weekend of visiting Kelly in Minneapolis. I love this girl because even when we haven't seen each other in forever, we just pick up where we left off. Hanging out with her is comfortable and easy. Not sure how we started watching Friends, but that became a huge part of our weekend. We started watching Season 3 and couldn't stop; we watched the whole thing. It was so relaxing, and the nostalgia was fun. I started watching Friends during its first season, when I was in 7th grade. I stopped watching for a few years in high school, when I was too busy being Goth to watch TV. Anyway, I think Season 3 is one of the best. I love Chandler and Joey's shenanigans. And Ross yelling that they were on a break. And the chick and the duck. As we were watching, they made several references to being around 28 years old. It's so crazy to think that I am now older than the characters on that show. But my life is nothing like theirs. That show gave a misrepresentatio