My last week was spent studying for my first college exams, being worn out from driving home at one a.m. from seeing Jenny Lewis play in Fayetteville, bike rides, & lots of quick lunches that consisted of opening up a can of beans(something i actually very much enjoy.) So, by time Thursday came, i was excited to be done with the exhausting part of the week. Marianne, Keesha, Nick & i went to the pizza place Meg works at for a free meal, and noticed some stuff in the dumpster behind the salvation army next door...which lead to us climbing into dumpsters & jumping on top of old matresses stacked seven high to uncover tons of beautiful old suitcases & the perfect chair that i've been looking for for my bedroom. 

Needless to say, it was exciting. & probably illegal.

Nick & I stayed up that night as his house making muffins & crafting.

Friday after classes & smoothies with Nick, I drove home to eat sushi with my mom & visit for the weekend.

We woke up early on Saturday to meet Meg out at the farmer's market. 

I spent merely 11 dollars on five large apples, two sweet potatoes, a clove a garlic, about 5 big bundles of basil, and a half pound bag of purple hull peas. it was so exciting. i made some homemade pesto when i got home with all the basil i bought. 

we met up with my dad at boulevard for lunch & spent some much needed time together.

 i miss the days when it was easy for the four of us to be together for a day.

For dinner tonight, Nick & I made turkey meatballs with organic homemade spaghetti sauce on the whole wheat pasta i bought at the farmers market in Columbia, with an organic french baguette and my homemade basil pesto. : ) 

It feels immensely better cooking dinner at home with him than going out to a restaurant. 

sweet sleep to all.

she said sing, sing, sing, sing melodies to the universe in motion.

Columbia was beautiful, but seeing my best friend was even more so! 

Honestly, my favorite part of the whole weekend was probably going to the Farmer's Market/eating at Cafe Berlin on Saturday morning. 

As much as i love our farmer's market in LR, the one in Columbia is AMAZING. Instead of just having the basics(fruits & veggies & a few preserves) they also have the real raw cheeses, raw honey, grassfed meats, honey ice cream, & homemade pastas.

i bought some whole wheat linguine pasta to make sometime soon.

it smells so fresh & delicious.

Natalie & Luke presented their gifts from the Earth.

Also at the market was this beautiful lady with her two adorable children playing music. 

We had brunch at Cafe Berlin where Natalie & i ate the most delicious veggie burgers i've ever tasted. It was on a homemade whole wheat bun & i could definitely go for another right now.

We walked around downtown all day, eating greek food and going in local shops, and went back to the Love Nest for the party...which, unfortunately, was a little whack for various reasons, but fun, nonetheless! I wish i could have spent more time just chilling with Nat, but next time for sure! At least we were able to enjoy our yogurt & granola breakfasts together. : )

The ride back was enjoyable & now i am home working on studying for my Anthropology exam.

Oh, & i must mention, my boyfriend is opening up for Bassnectar, one of the biggest DJ's in the world right now, who also happens to be one of Nick's biggest influences. I am so happy for him. This is a HUGE step!

it's all that you can do on this side of the blue

affluenza, n. 1. The bloated, sluggish and unfulfilled feeling that results from efforts to keep up with the Joneses.

 2. An epidemic of stress, overwork waste and indebtedness caused by the pursuit of the American Dream

 3. An unsustainable addiction to economic growth. 

When you think about America, it is evident that people are finding themselves more and more unhappy with the lives they are leading because they spend so much of their time and money thinking about money and what they can consume with it. Americans are turning into money and power hungry forces of mass destruction. We are buying things we do not need and will probably not even want in a year.  If, perhaps, people focused on humanity, on their actual lives, and not on the things they think control it, they will find they are content with what they have. Even the things we need have turned into things we want. We NEED food, but we WANT to contribute to the fast food chains every morning, afternoon, and evening...which is where obesity enters the picture. Americans consume, consume, consume food, products, devices, and then wonder why they have become fat, broke, and depressed. Although I have grown up in a severely materialistic generation, my viewpoints, the older i have gotten, have become a mirror image of the views of my grandparents generation. 

I firmly believe that in order to live a happier life, one must lead a simpler life. 

I have been making an effort to be less of an unnecessary consumer. In all honesty, it IS hard to be that way in the world we live in. However, it is all about mindset. When you go shopping, think about what you are buying & where it came from(who made it/what it is made out of, etc) & ask yourself if it really is worth it.

I often wish we could live the way the maasi live. Simple, yet fulfilling lives. Women there dedicate their whole  lives to merely being human, caring for their babies, breast-feeding(how it should always be) and living off the Earth. I realize it isn't practical in our society anymore, and not a single person in our country could say that it would be an absolute  breeze to live that way. 

I walked into the backyard today after school and saw about twenty feet away from me, a two beach-ball sized piles of mushrooms. They were so beautiful! Mushrooms are really such mystical organisms.

Tomorrow, I am embarking on a weekend journey to visit my best friend who i love & miss more than i can say! I am excited for pretty people at the Love Nest & exploring the beauty of Columbia again.

 It's an inspiring place.

i'm anxious for life. so electrically ecstatic for life & it's happening right now.

& it's beautiful.

i saw a lot of old friends tonight-some i've known for years & other not so long, but long enough to consider "old friends.: everyone else laughed & drank & joked, but i couldn't help but just sit there & think about how incredible our presence is here...how we all come together for these gatherings, after being absent from eachothers lives for months & months, to talk about higher beings, the fact that no one is going to remember us in 200 years(i mean, do YOU know the name of your great great great great great grandfather with out prior research on the subject? no? exactly.) and about how i "have his mother's hands." 

it was a fulfilling night.

beautiful basil, in honor of my rant that follows:

we discussed the processes that are involved in making the food we consume yesterday in anthropology. campbell showed us a film, "the future of food"- a documentary about genetically modified food and how our congress, although given the chance to consider it, has bypassed every bill that has tried to make it to where our food is labeled that it is genetically modified, & exactly what in it IS GMed. We, as humans, as people of the Earth, people who are supposed to eat what is grown from the Earth, are being denied the right to know what is being put into our bodies. the sad thing is, as much as we try to research & eat things that are SAID to not be GMed, we can't fully do so. Americans could not survive because the food industries rely so heavily on this process of changing food to "better improve shelf life," for instance...a ridiculous reason when you think about our bodies as sacred temples that we only get one of.

 So much of what is grown/consumed is being injected with antibiotics & hormones(even infant formula) & we, including the growing children of our country, are completely & totally unaware. that is why young girls are going through puberty as early as eight years old now. not to mention Monsanto, a major farming company, has record of suing small farmers for allegedly "stealing their seeds," bringing these independent farmers who have been harvesting their own UNgenetically modified seeds for the past fifty years to have to shut down whatever business they have. 

 it's a sad reality, but it IS just that.

i'm pretending i don't live in a zoo.

I woke up, wide awake, at 6:45 this morning.  That always feels so good to me.

As much as i loved the days of 14 when i would sleep in until 1 p.m. every summer day, & as much as i love to sleep, i have this feeling i will end up being an early-riser just like my mom the older i get. Which is fine by me, i hate feeling like i've wasted my day sleeping when i could be out enjoying the beauty in everything.

After writing, i did some yoga & went on a long walk where i passed by the a lot of miserable, tired-eyed eight & ninth graders who reminded me of how happy i am to be done with the dreaded mundaneness of high school. 

I am excited for Drawing class today, 'cause as long as we don't get a sudden torrential downpour, we'll be drawing outside!

So, my mom tagged me to do this:

1. Where were you 10 years ago

Ten years ago i was starting the fourth grade at a school that I hated, namely for lack of friends & the like--not to mention my dorky red glasses that managed to cover half my face(i wouldn't trade how i was for anything though...teasing & all.) I was probably catching frogs & listening to the spice girls with my best friend Morgan.

2. What is on today's To Do List?

I have already walked & yoga-ed & at a delicious bowl of cereal. I have drawing class at 10:50, lunch & then Anthropology at 2:40. It is possible, also, that i might be going home tonight.

3. What would you do if you were a billionaire?

First & foremost, i'd pay my mom & dad back for the money they spent to fix my car when i wrecked it two months ago. I would set some aside for savings, pay off my grandma's Jag for her, buy my mom & dad the trip to australia they have always wanted take, donate money to legit causes, travel to a third world country like i've always want to do to photograph other humans and learn about how they live, & then think "what the hell do i do with all this money?''

4. Name 5 places you have lived:

1)Shreveport, Louisiana

2)Jacksonville, Arkansas

3)Little Rock AFB

4)Cabot, Arkansas

5)Austin, Arkansas

5. Name 3 of your bad habits:

1)  eating a night time--the usual time for me to crave cereal or other things i shouldn't eat late at night

2) forgetting to take medications when i've been prescribed them

3) not talking to friends who've moved away enough-with the exception of Natalie, of course.

6. What are your favorite snacks?

a spoon full of peanut butter, dried bananas, granola, & fruit.

sunday beauty!

Ooooh my the weather is so absolutely more fantastic now than i was saying it was a week ago! I am just relishing in this autumn beauuuty & it's so exciting.

I went home yesterday for my cousins baby shower & to eat dinner & hang out with my lovely parents. My mom made amazing BLT's with avocado dill spread. Oh, it was so hearty & good. I miss eating at home...a lot.

I drove home after the storms(temporarily) passed. We saw a few funnel clouds & i beat the rain home, luckily.  It rained & poured for hours...my favorite way to sleep! It was so peaceful.

When i woke up this morning...it was about 70 degrees outside & felt amazing. So, i turned off the air & opened the windows. There's such a different feeling to feeling fresh air flow through your house than artificial air conditioning.

              

Nick & I had breakfast at Something Brewing this morning, went on a bike ride, hung out with some friends on the front porch, & made chicken parmesan sandwiches & salads for dinner. Nick made the salad's with field greens & spinach, feta cheese, & blush wine vinaigrette. They were so delicious I am so glad that he shares the same taste in food as me. I am so thankful he isn't careless about what he puts in his body like a lot of young people are. It was such a nice day...exactly what i wish every sunday could be like.

muffin maaaan.

i just woke up from a very relaxing nap where it rained & poured & now i feel 23849023 times better. today was extremely looong. i woke up feeling pretty nasty & saw the on-campus doctor who told me i had a sinus infection & the like--so now i'm loaded up on antibiotics & getting better finally.

the other night, nick & i made blueberry muffins from my organic kitchen cookbook my mom bought me & they turned out delicious!

I made Nick pose & he said, "this better not end up on facebook or flickr."

but he doesn't know i have a blog, ha!