I had a really badass idea for a top...

...and then I woke up and couldn't remember how it looked when I finally found a pencil and paper.

And now I can't sleep.

Bah.

Notes

12/26 In a plane hovering over a barren looking Midwest, at 12:35 PST, I realized that I really need to look further into the writings of Thomas Pierce. It is possible that I may need to Google his bio, as well. Any man who can write the narrative of an older woman with abandonment and humility is worth praising. The structure of "Shirley Temple Three" reminded me slightly of Bradbury, but, for the life of me, I cannot remember which story my mind links it to.

Pinterest had a point in my life today.

Usually I "pin" things while wondering to myself if I will ever actually use the ideas I've taken the time to create a board for.
I don't know why, though.
I had a board with decoration ideas for my engagement party that I used. I have tried more than a few from board dedicated to beautifying myself, because there are never enough beauty rituals in life. Obviously, I need more.
I tried a recipe or two, both of which worked out well. The calorie reduced ice cream cone cakes made with cream soda were funny looking but delightful. The egg baked in an avocado has enriched my fast-but-healthy meals.
I don't know why it's such a shock to myself that I would use a Pinterest idea for my home, and yet here I am, totally impressed with myself.
Tim and I were having an extended photo shoot for our engagement photos. I, of course, made a board and we played with the different ideas. One idea was for kitchey photos in front of a chalkboard, using the board to create a goofy story about us.
To create the board, we went to home depot and bought something called chalkboard paint. It can come in basic black, or they can mix it in other colors. We went with black.

Then, we took my card board fabric cutting board that I never use anymore and painted the back of it with the chalkboard paint. The chemical fumes were overwhelming, but didn't trigger a migraine, miraculously. We took our photos but loved the board so much, we decided to hang it on the wall over the couch.

How Advertising Stole Christmas

 

Christmas has become synonymous with mass consumerism and society acts as an emotional bully in its defense. If you go along with the madness, you spend way too much money on gifts, trying to please people on a level you feel is expected. If you object to the over-consumption and over-consumerism, you're called a 'grump' or a 'Scrooge,' or, worse yet, 'the Grinch.'

I love Christmas. My decorations were up the DAY AFTER THANKSGIVING. I buy a new tree ornament each year. I listen to Christmas music pretty much all month long. Sometimes, I'll still listen on the 26th because I freaking love this holiday. I love that there's an entire month of the year when we're all supposed to be kinder to each other, when people walk around caroling, when charity is emphasized and we are encouraged to spend time thinking of others.

However, I dislike that the time spent "thinking of others," has become figuring out how to squeeze a ton of Apple products on your credit card, and how to 'get by' the month of and the month after this gift-giving misery. Can't showing up and saying, "I love you and I'm grateful for you," and then listing all the reasons be enough? Why would I need to buy something that proclaims that message when I can literally say it?

Honestly, I see it all as corporate greed marketing their version of Christmas to us that if we don't buy these things for each other, then we fail at Christmas and we've ruing everything by not buying the "right" gift. It's a supercilious amount of pressure and, frankly, it's ruining the holidays for me. Greed has become complacent with Christmas. Advertisers and commercials have damaged the spirit of the season and I feel like if consumers everywhere don't break the habit we've all fallen into, the pressure to give beyond our means may never cease and the destruction of Christmas will become irreparable.

This isn't a "keep Christ in Christmas," message. This is just asking to keep corporate greed out of it and to maybe not bully the people who see through the scummy spending propaganda thrown at us from every direction for a whole month. Maybe modern "Scrooges" are "grumpy" because they actually love Christmas and we're not the kill joys, we're just the ones who are awake. Corporations are the real Grinch.