I teared up when I first saw this. I'm so glad Chloe will have a sibling! My sister is about 10 weeks along and her due date is in early September.
I can't help but have a couple selfish thoughts which I feel really guilty for though. First, I think I'm going to London in the Fall so I probably won't be there when the baby is born or meet it until December.
Secondly, I wish I lived closer or that I could still fly home. Seeing this video made me so home sick. I miss my family and it kills me that I can't be a bigger part of Chloe's life. Up until the time Chloe was like 3.5 I was always around. I won't have that with this kid.
Also I always imagined myself living wherever I wanted and hoped to live in California or out West somewhere for at least a little while, but now I feel even more conflicted. I want to be close to my family. Does that mean I have to move back to at least the Boston area when I graduate college? I guess I don't have to worry about that yet, and I should just enjoy the baby growing process.
I cannot even describe this weekend. It was the best and definitely one to remember - Phamous Philadelphians Party, silly shenanigans at a Jersey Shore party, embarrassing moments caught in glorious myspace-esque pictures, a record breaking snow storm (thank you snow gods! you know me too well), getting to and from the party in that snow storm, waking up to a snowed-in world and the BEST FORT EVER, spending days in the fort with some of my all time favorite people, food, more fort time, sunny birthday, family dinner, delicious vegan cake (thank you Caitlin!) and more fort time.
It was bizarre and fantastic. It was not how I would have imagined my 20th birthday because it was wayyyy better. Haha All of the pictures as a whole are an excellent story of the weekend. Fort Nam was so weird. It was like going into a time warp. At least five of us would be stuffed in there for hours at a time before we thought to leave. Once outside I would question my time spent in there. It was like an alternate universe where I was also drunk because even though I wasn't Nam made us all a little insane. Perfection.
And if you think any of this is weird... listen to this song
20 has been good to me so far. Thank you everyone. I love you.
I got an internship at the Philadelphia Daily News! And I've already gotten a couple good size clips I feel kind of grown up going to work at the office, and even though I don't have to dress up that much I still kind of do.
This is how I want to dress, but I tone it down most days. (By tone it down, I mean pull my skirt down haha)
I'm only taking four classes though, three days a week. Part of me doesn't like it because I see less people my own age. I think this is just exaggerated by my fear of growing up and working in an office where I don't get to meet that many new people... or maybe it's just my fear of growing up.
My birthday is less than a week away, and I'm going to be 20! YIKES! That is so old, but still very exciting. And I literally cannot wait for my birthday party!
I made these vegan cupcakes for my friend's birthday. They didn't look too bad, but they didn't taste too good. Oh well, it was an early vegan baking experiment.
A year ago I decided I wanted to become vegetarian. I didn't really know that much about it, but I had never been a big meat eater. At school I got grossed out by the mystery meat they used, and I did kind of considered the ethics of killing another animal to eat it. To be honest though I wasn't that passionate about it. I just knew that it wouldn't be too hard for me to give up meat and I wanted to try it.
I told myself after one year, I would decide if I wanted to stick with it. At times I seriously thought that I wouldn't. It's been a year and all of the sudden - I'm not really sure why or how - I started researching it more. Now I think I want to be mostly vegan.
I am really grateful for the support of my family and most of my friends, but still people tell me I'm crazy (probably true) and ask me over and over again why I would even consider it.
Here are some of my reasons:
Farming is a HUGE industry in the US, and much of it is done with factory farming type methods. Animals are mass produced, pumped with chemicals, raised in tiny crates, subjected to pain and then brutally killed all so that we can eat them, when in most cases we would not starve if we didn't eat them.
Mama cows are baby and milk machines. They are bred for the sole purpose of getting pregnant only to have their babies immediately taken away - how can anyone say that any mother creature doesn't mind having her baby ripped away from her? ... Well maybe like sea horses or something are an exception. Plus the cows are made to produce way more whey than natural, which causes pain. Then they are not milked by nice farmers but by big machines that cause painful sores that get infected and bleed/puss into the milk.
Egg laying chickens are a whole other story that is equally, if not more, depressing.
Then such large scale farming has an incredible environmental impact. Raising all these animals uses SO much fresh water. According to ChooseVeg.com, over half of all water used in the United States goes to livestock production.
A Cornell University study estimated that the US could feed 800 million people with all of the grain used to feed livestock
And then if you do it all right, there are health benefits to not eating meat.
I'm not saying that meat is a useless source of food. A lot of people do depend on it. I don't even think I have an issue with meat and animal products from 'free range' animals, but when I have vegan alternatives available why support farming that causes animals so much pain?
I'm not preaching veganism like a born again religious fanatic. This is a purely personal decision. I'm trying it, and we'll see what happens. I'm not trying to sway other people and I don't care if my friends want to sleep on piles of pork but I'm writing all of this because so many people have been asking me why I'm doing it.
After all this, I'm still not promising I can be 100% vegan. I figure if I'm mostly vegan I can make a contribution without being too much of a burden on friends and family. If I go to someone's house I'm not going to demand that their parents make me a vegan meal. I won't eat meat, but I think I can make an exception for a piece of bread once in a while that has an egg and some milk in it.
I know regular farming has a big, often negative impact on the environment, so I have to consider that too. There is so much to consider it's kind of overwhelming, but I'm going to try this.
(sorry my camera is dead and the charger is at school)
Last night was Annie Fish's birthday so we threw an 'Under the Sea' themed party. We go all out on our theme parties, thanks mostly to Ben. Normally the parties are small and everyone who comes is basically who we always hang out with. Last night though the front door was like the mystery door.
Every time you opened it there was no telling who was going to be standing there. At one point I opened the door wrapped in seaweed (green streamers) with like drag makeup on to find four guys, only one of which I've talked to since high school and who were always too cool for everyone, standing there. I don't think they were ready for our bubble machine, strobe lights, and streamer covered walls/ceiling, and some of them couldn't handle it.
The ones who did stay ended up being a lot of fun. We danced around and played a ton of good music. I even made a new best friend just for playing Home by Edward Sharpe.
It's weird to think about how high school is definitely behind us now. I don't know. It was kind of a random, towny night but it was fun. I'm ready to go back to school but I know that when I come home I have towny, Amesbubble to fall back on.
The beautiful bicycle I got for Christmas! It's a Raleigh and it is PERFECT.
If I could find it online, I would post Snow Aorta by Javelin. If you can find Javelin I recommend them.
I had originally wanted just like a crummy city bike so I wouldn't have to worry about it, but this bicycle is my glorious. We think it's from the late 70s - early 80s, and it looks like it was hardly ever ridden. It is brown with sparkly paint! It has the cutest seat and little bag. I love the frame, and it has little details that make it super classy. This is far from crummy, and I'll definitely worry about it, but it is beautiful and I can't wait to ride it in the city!
Memory Tapes - Bicycle
Memory Tapes was supposed to play in Philly on 1/10/10 but had to reschedule the show. The date hasn't been settled on yet, but check http://www.r5productions.com/ for more info.
