Lily Allen's HIM

Love it.

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Travel Wish: St Petersburg, Russia

I've always wanted to visit Russia. Maybe its because it seems so ominous. Russia. USSR. The Soviet Union. Or maybe its just that it has so many names? But, I have really always wanted to get one of these..

Matryoshka Dolls
(aka Russian "nesting dolls")

and see all of this..

The Church of our Savior on Spilled Blood

Armenian Church

St. Isaac's Cathedral
known as the 3rd largest dome in the world

Winter Palace

Petrodvorets

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shopping totally burns calories.. right?

the past week-ish has been fun. i went to lagoon with amanda, i love going with amanda! we have so much fun, and yes we rode the catapult again (see last year's post here, to understand, we look much more frightened last year!).

lagoon with amanda '09 pics:

worked a lot (translated to the not so fun part) and i have inventory tonight - ugh...

but the best part is all the shopping and fun things i've been able to buy..

i bought a new camera! the one i've been coveting for forever and ever and ever and ever.. its the sony cybershot d320, with 12.1 MP. yeah, its awesome, i love it. and its my favorite color, which is just an added super bonus.


i spent $90 dollars at ulta, and got myself a whole new makeup set. i love it. i bought this cool black organizer set that holds tons of difeferent colors of ulta eyeshadows, and then the bottom layer has bronzers, lip stuff, and eye liners. then i had to get the free gift, so i bought the $17.50 worth of ulta stuff (the organizer didn't count), and then got the free ulta fall gift! (complete with the awesome purple bag, i'll see if i can find a picture to show ya'll). i was excited.

free gift from Ulta, fall 09

and today i bought the necklace at my work that i have wanted for ages. its gold, so then i could never decide if i really wanted it, cuz i'm not really a gold person.. but i love it, and its fun, so i got it. yay me.

my white purse also broke :( so what did i do? bought a new one! haha. i bought a cute turquoise-ish blue roxy purse from macy's. for 20 bucks!

so what's left on the buying to-do list? well, i still have to buy a few more school books before school starts on wednesday. (speaking of which, could i order just a few more weeks of summer instead? thanks). and i really want to buy a laptop. but i'm not really sure what kind to get. i kind of want the product (red) edition of the dell inspiron laptops.. but then .... i can't decide, and i don't feel like i know enough about laptops, to make a for sure, yes yes, decision, so any feedback or advice would be super appreciated. i'm a mac girl, what can i say? i just don't have the $1,000 dollars to spend on a mac book. damn.

.. OH and a car! nicole seriously needs some new wheels. cheap ones though, so that goes the same with advice, or "car leads" .. let me know.

sigh.. i guess shopping IS a good way to end the summer, and get back to the crazy hectic school life - with an added internship to spice things up this time around, i might just fall off the blogosphere, except that's what that laptop is for, time between classes + a laptop = blogging. right? never homework. ick. bad word.

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Thoreau

I just bought a new book mark that says:

"Go confidently in the direction of your dreams"
- Henry David Thoreau

I love it. I think that that Thoreau was a pretty good guy.

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Travel Wish: Hawaii

A friend of mine just posted her pictures on Facebook of Hawaii. I am SO JEALOUS! I have always thought that I would eventually make it to Hawaii, but after looking at her pictures, I definitely want to bump it up on my to do list!

And, besides, I need an updated picture of me in a Hula Skirt, right? My Grandma used to goto Hawaii quite often when I was little, and she got me this Hawaiian outfit on one of her trips. The picture is from Halloween 1987. I haven't really changed much, right?

Here is what I would HAVE to do in Hawaii..

Swim with Sea Turtles!

See the white Sandy beaches..


.. and the black sand beaches



I love Waterfalls, and rumor is Hawaii has some of the best

Sunset from Haleakala, Maui
Visit the Awesome Volcanos that make Hawaii, Hawaii

Visit the Polynesian Cultural Center

Take Surfing Lessons!

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Penguins at the Edge

Poor Penguins..

It makes me sad that the world is getting so hot, and so fast, and the animals are the ones that are suffering first. :( and THEN there are people that are crazy enough to not believe Global Warming even exists.. or is even influenced at all by man. Drrr, I want to say ummm.. Look at the poor penguins (and polar bears, and wolves, etc etc etc), and tell THEM that the world hasn't changed, and that they aren't suffering. K? Thanks. See the World Wildlife Fund's magazine, Defenders Magazine, article about the Penguins' problems below:
(to see the full article click here)

Defenders Magazine

Summer 2009

Penguins at the Edge

Global warming and other perils are pushing some of these birds to the brink

by Yva Momatiuk and John Eastcott

© Yva Momatiuk & John Eastcott/Minden Pictures

We slip into a small bay off the western coast of the Antarctic Peninsula, the great tongue of dark rock and glistening ice that ends about 670 miles south of Cape Horn, and drop anchor just as it starts to rain. Big drops slick the decks of Golden Fleece, the sailboat on which we have taken several long journeys to Antarctica and surrounding islands in search of animals inhabiting this immense polar wilderness.

During a lull in the storm, we motor in a dinghy to a rocky island and land near a colony of Adélie penguins, elegant in their jet-black "jackets," snowy chests and white feathers encircling their eyes. Only small Adélies and their larger cousins, the emperor penguins, live in the parts of Antarctica where the ocean freezes.

We crouch on a wet rock to watch. All around us, adults returning from fishing forays slide in the deep red guano muck, trying to feed their ravenous brown chicks. The usually fuzzy chicks are wet and covered in mud. Many carcasses of youngsters are trampled into the goo. Soon, the rain is back.

Persistently wet summers are new to the peninsula, as are the stretches of balmy, clear days that alternate with the rainy periods. The average annual temperature here is now about 5 degrees F warmer than just 50 years ago. This unusual weather signals what we already know: Our planet's climate is changing fast. Although natural climate variations are normal, the current warming is the first driven by human activity. And it is happening so fast that some animals are struggling to cope and facing massive declines or extinction. The most vulnerable species are those with narrow ranges, especially sea-ice dependent animals living near the poles.

Among the best-known of those sea-ice dependent critters are emperor penguins, the charismatic birds that have lately taken a star turn on movie screens. Besides emperors and Adélies, there are 15 to 17 other penguin species (depending which scientist you ask) scattered around the Southern Hemisphere. All of them are flightless and rely on their exceptional swimming and diving skills to catch mostly small fish, squid and krill.

Among the scientists who study these birds is David Ainley, an ecologist with the California-based consulting firm H.T. Harvey & Associates, who has been researching penguin populations on Antarctica's Ross Island for 40 years. Lately, Ainley and his colleagues have been looking at the ways these penguins cope with environmental change. Techniques as varied as satellite telemetry, microchips, "penguin cams" and bones help them predict how the birds may adapt. "The Adélies are one of the world's best-studied wild birds," Ainley says. "They are the bellwethers of environmental change."

A case in point: the dead Adélie chicks we see during our onshore foray. When the chicks are too big to be brooded by their parents, but have not yet grown their water-repelling feathers, rains can soak them to the skin. If the temperature then drops below freezing, the drenched chicks die of hypothermia. Another hazard to rearing young is snow. The rising temperatures that bring more rain to the western peninsula also result in more snowfalls, since warm air holds more moisture. Adult penguins mired in snow during breeding season still try to incubate their eggs, which are too wet and cold to hatch. Despite these hardships, the penguins are hardwired to nest in the same location each year, and may stick to it until the colony is gone.

Many Adélie penguin colonies have already disappeared in the western Antarctic Peninsula region. The colony on Litchfield Island vanished recently, and the number of Adélie breeding pairs on nearby Biscoe Island has declined from 2,800 to less than 1,000.

The reasons for these declines go beyond soaked chicks and frozen eggs. Mainly, the pack-ice-dependent penguins are running out of pack-ice. In addition, the changing weather is affecting krill, an important penguin prey. These shrimplike crustaceans are so abundant in Antarctic waters that their collective weight is estimated to exceed 500 million tons, roughly twice the weight of all humans on the planet. This bounty sustains not only many penguins, but also seals, whales, squid and fish. Krill, however, depend on sea ice the way cows rely on meadows: These creatures graze on nutritious algae growing underneath icebergs and ice floes. The retreat of sea ice in the western Antarctic Peninsula region makes these "ice meadows" less available, depleting krill numbers.

Climate change has been affecting the movement and location of sea ice, which we watch and hear each day aboard the Golden Fleece. We see large floes carrying reclining crabeater, Weddell and leopard seals. We circle icebergs with their transient populations of gentoo, Adélie and chinstrap penguins. The glacial ice flows in thick rivers from the alpine ridges of the peninsula, breaks into huge slabs and towers, and crashes into the Southern Ocean. Its chunks rub against our boat's hull when we slide into our bunks at night. Come morning, it is often gone, blown away by the wind.

As the sea ice breaks apart and drifts, it can create obstacles for penguins when they attempt to walk from breeding colonies to the sea for feeding. For example, in 2000, the world's largest known iceberg, 150 nautical miles long and known as B-15, calved off the Ross Ice Shelf. Breaking apart and grounding, it prevented much of the ice in the western Ross Sea from disappearing, as it normally does each summer.

"For five years, broken ice slabs piled against the shore all summer, interfering with penguins' access to open water," says Ainley. "The ice made it difficult for clumsy emperor penguins to get to sea or return to feed their chicks. More agile Adélies fared better, but the birds of some colonies expended much energy to reach the open water where they dive to feed. The colony on Cape Royds on Ross Island quickly decreased from 4,000 breeding pairs to 1,800 breeding pairs, with few chicks produced between 2001 and 2005."

As the sea ice retreats and disappears, the penguins that depend on it are disappearing as well. Dee Boersma, a conservation biologist and renowned penguin expert from the University of Washington, visited the French base in East Antarctica, the site of the emperor colony featured in "March of the Penguins." She came in 2006, only a year after the film was made. "I went to observe the colony," she says, "but when our ship anchored on December 20, I saw no sea ice and no colony."

Boersma learned that a few months before her arrival the remaining emperor parents, whose colony already had shrunk by half since 1974, had to leave their usual nesting site and march their half-grown chicks more than three miles to more stable ice. But this ice was destroyed by a powerful storm blowing the floes and the chicks out to sea, and most likely causing the reproductive failure of the entire colony.

A few penguins may benefit from the warming conditions on and around Antarctica. For example, gentoos, stocky penguins with white stripes extending like bonnets across the top of their heads, are now spreading southward with the retreating sea ice. Bill Fraser, an ecologist and president of the Montana-based nonprofit Polar Oceans Research Group, has been studying the birds nesting in Arthur Harbor on mountainous Anvers Island in the western Antarctic Peninsula since 1974. During this time, the ice-dependent Adélies have greatly declined, while gentoos increased.

"This used to be a polar environment," Fraser says. "Now the subantarctic ecosystem is sweeping in and replacing the polar system. When I was a student, we were told about climate change but also that we would not live long enough to see it. The change we witness today is beyond anyone's wildest imagination."

And the mounting challenges posed by climate change are not the only ones threatening penguins. Boersma has studied Magellanic penguins, medium-sized birds with two black bands between the head and the breast, at Punta Tombo, Argentina, for 25 years, documenting the decline of their large population by 22 percent since 1987. Every year, Punta Tombo birds and other temperate penguin species die by tens of thousands in oil spills and fishing nets, get run over by drivers near their breeding colonies on land, starve due to commercial overfishing, and must swim farther from their nests to find food.

Because of the many perils facing penguins, the Bush administration last December proposed adding six temperate-zone species—yellow-eyed, white-flippered, Fiordland crested, erect-crested, Humboldt and southern rockhopper—to the threatened species list, and one—the African—to the endangered species list. It declined, however, to propose listing three other penguin species—including the emperor.

While extending Endangered Species Act protection to penguins is an important step, it won't directly reduce the peril to these birds. The root causes of the problems facing penguins—and other wild creatures—are simple, says Boersma, but people are reluctant to address them. "There is a huge elephant in the room, but no one is talking about it," she says. "We produce too many children. We consume too much. But politicians do not get re-elected if they approach this subject."

"We are out of balance with our environment and need fundamental changes to improve it," Boersma adds. "We need more protected marine areas, a smaller carbon footprint on land, and less production and consumption. If we can't manage ourselves, both people and penguins will suffer."

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You'll Thank Me Later

I have been to Lagoon quite a few times this Summer, because I love Roller coasters, and that's what I do. However, I remember a not so happy ride that I had once on a Roller coaster. It went something like this:

My family and I were at a Lagoon Day one Summery Saturday, with my Mom's work. I was probably 9 or 10. I loved this one Roller coaster, the Colossus, which is a very fast roller coaster, complete with a super high initial climb, and thrilling drop that leads into a double loop-di-loop. No, the Colossus is not made for sissies. But I always loved it. I had never rode it without my parents hands over my hand, holding my hand tight as I grimaced on the way up. I hated that ride up.

Well, on this day, my mom's friend from work took me on the Colossus. No big deal, at least so I thought. She made me put my hands up in the air! And wouldn't let me put them down. I hated it (and her)! It was awful. I did not have fun, I did not enjoy, and I certainly did not thank her for it later.

Fast forward to the present day, and I love roller coasters, and you will hardly ever see me with my hands down on the coasters. But will you ever see me force anyone to go on one? No. Will you ever see me make a child ride it, or make them put their hands up when they don't want to? Hell No.

So, as you can imagine, this summer as I have seen countless parents FORCE their children to ride big scary rides, (even Wicked), it makes me sad. And very angry. I hate the adage of You'll Thank Me for it Later.. uhhhh, what if I won't? I still remember my traumatizing experience with my mom's friend, and how scared I was. It doesn't matter that I love the Colossus now. Ugh. It drives me nuts.

But this practice goes further than roller coasters. Do you think its right to force your kids to do something that they don't want to do, even if you think they'll regret not doing it later? I firmly believe its not okay to force them to do anything (if you can control it: some things are out of a parent's control). I want to have my child's trust, so that they know they can tell me how they feel about something, and I'll support them, no matter what.

.. and if they regret it later, I can help them deal with that.

What's your opinion?

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Always afraid of The Birds..

Today would be Alfred Hitchcock's 110th birthday.

Happy Birthday Alfred!

You did so well at scaring the crap out of people with your magical suspense!

Eek. I remember when my cousin Ryan and I watched The Birds at my Grandma's house, while we were having a sleepover there, and it was so scary! And Psycho.. such a classic.

Did you know that Hitchcock usually presented his own movies to the audiences, as part of the trailer? Telling them about his upcoming pictures, what they were about, and then a teaser trailer would follow. Awesome.

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Fall TV

I'm so excited for Fall TV! The CW is starting a lot of their shows in September, which is awesome , and makes me super excited.

So here are some bulleted TV-ness:

• I thought Grey's Anatomy was all decided and out: Katie/Izzie was coming back, T.R./George was not.. And this seems to fully confirm it. But what are they going to do about Ellen Pompeo's pregnant-ness?
  

• American Idol: Paula's gone. Yahoooz. I was sick of listening to her babble that just kept going and going and going, and didn't have a point. AND her clapping and dancing! Ugh! Now they have announced that some guests judges will basically replace Paula. Some confirmed guest judges are Katy Perry and Victoria Beckham: That'll be fun!

• Fringe: The season finale was so good! I almost forgot what it was about and then I heard that they have decided to have two alternative universes this year. One where Peter's father is in one universe, and then Peter and all of us are in 'this universe.' BUT I have decided that I would like a ticket to the other Universe! John Lennon is still alive on that side! I wonder how much a plane ticket to over there would be....
  (pssssst.. I know I can't really do it, but if I could, wouldn't that be awesome?!)

• Jay Leno: this premiers September 14th, with Rihanna's first appearance after the Chris Brown crap, she'll be on Jay with Kanye and Jay Z. Will I be watchin'? You better believe it.

• Vampire Diaries: Have you seen the preview for this? It looks kinda good.. and kinda laughable. It looks like a cheesy weekly version of Twilight - as if Twilight wasn't already cheesy enough.. But, I have to admit, I will probably watch the first episode. I can't embed the video for the Trailer, but the link is here.

These are the Premieres I'm looking forward to.. (is it sad that I get this excited? oops)
For the premiere calendar from TV guide click here.

• Sept 8: 90210 / Melrose Place (man this feels like deja vu..)
• Sept 10: Vampire Diaries / Supernatural
• Sept 14: One Tree Hill / Gossip Girl / Jay Leno
• Sept 16: The Beautiful Life (complete with drama from Mischa Barton, and produced by Ashton Kutcher)
• Sept 17: Fringe / SNL Weekend Update Thursday
• Sept 21: House / Heroes
  
• Sept 24: Grey's Anatomy
• Sept 27: The Amazing Race
  

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Travel Wish: Travel with Ascend

For years , yes years, I have wanted to go on a Humanitarian Expedition vacation. The Ascend Humanitarian Alliance, which is the same place that I volunteered with at their Gala last September, has a really awesome program, and I really, really, really would like to venture on to an experience with them.

Go on a humanitarian expedition to a developing country that brings together volunteers desiring to empower those in need to save their children and ascend out of poverty. ASCEND expeditions offer opportunities for personal growth through Service Learning: a means of educating oneself through the experience of providing a service to someone in need. Participants can expect a life changing experience as they open their hearts and minds to appreciate a different culture and serve those in need. Expedition participants will generally have five to six days of service work, although expedition formats vary.

Currently, ASCEND is taking expedition groups to Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Ethiopia, and Mozambique. Service activities are designed to assist local staff and volunteers by addressing priorities in one or multiple solution areas including education, enterprise, health, and simple technologies

Quoted information, as well as photo insert source can be found here at the Ascend website.

I would really want to go on the Expedition to Mozambique. Mostly because I have a HUGE thing for Africa, and would love to help the African people. Plus, Mozambique would allow me to flex a little of my French muscles. However, I would really be okay with going to any of the places with Ascend. I really hope to get an Internship with the nonprofit in January - for Spring semester, here at their headquarters in Utah, and then go on an Expedition after.

One of these days..

* I plan on applying for an Internship position with Ascend in January 2010, and many times after you do an Internship with them, they give you a small scholarship amount to go towards doing an expedition with them. So hopefully this travel wish won't stay a wish for too long.. *

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Live United

Yes, I am a new Intern for The United Way of Utah County.

Am I excited?

Yes I am.

It's an unpaid internship, with the Help Me Grow program. Basically assisting parents over the phone, and hooking them up with different services for their family. For free. How cool is that? I have always really loved The United Way. I used to donate $50 a paycheck when I worked at the library! Yes, indeed if I did that now I would have to walk. everywhere . I love The United Way, and am super excited to get involved with them. I hope that perhaps it will not only be a great learning experience, but a great networking experience, so that it can help me be the awesome Social Worker that I know I can be. MMMMMM hmmmmmm.


Also YAY ME for checking off one of my School Goals.. (listed on the right side panel), which reads 2009/2010 Land awesome Internship(s)* :: insert giant check mark here, cause I succeeded that one.


* I plan to apply for the Ascend Internship in January, which would be an equally awesome Internship, where I would learn so much. I'm excited to be successful, tee~hee :: wink ::

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Caught in the Middle

Last week, when I heard that there were American hikers under Iranian custody, I got nervous. I'm still nervous. Isn't it sad the way that in these big International problems, somehow private citizens always get caught in the middle? I vote for former President Bill Clinton to go over and talk to Ahmadinejad about these hikers and getting them released. It worked with Kim Jong Il right? Speaking of which, the footage of Laura Ling and Euna Lee coming home, and seeing their families after so long, made me sob. Little Hana Lee would not let go of her mom. Good job Bill! I knew when I heard he was going to North Korea that he would be bringing the journalists home. (If you don't know what I'm talking about, click here for a slide show).

The following is the Huffington Post's article, released this morning, that the United States' government has confirmed that Iran does have the American's in custody. As if Iran/American relations couldn't get any more complicated..

.. Here's sending good vibes and prayers to Shane Bauer, Sarah Shourd and Joshua Fattal.

Your reaklquest is being processed..

Hikers In Iranian Custody, Government Confirms

| 08/ 9/09 09:36 AM |

WASHINGTON — The White House says Iran has confirmed it has three American hikers in custody.

The Americans strayed into Iran while hiking in the mountains of Kurdish territory in neighboring Iraq.

President Barack Obama's national security adviser, James Jones, said that as of Sunday morning, the Iranian government has confirmed it has them in custody.

U.S. and Kurdish officials say the Americans accidentally entered Iran across the poorly marked border on July 31.

Reports from Iran have said Tehran was looking into whether the three were spying for the United States. But until Jones' comment, there had not been any official Iranian government confirmation that the three were in custody.

Jones spoke on NBC's "Meet the Press."

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Because they use small hangers.

I am now transferring to the Kids Department at the Rack.

I have had a lot of anger and bad feelings towards going to work the past few months, and it kept getting worse. So, when the Kids Department had an opening, I jumped on it.

Did it give me more hours? Maybe 2, per week. Maybe.
Was that worth it to me? I did it for my sanity, not the hours.

The sad part is that I am fine when I work with certain people in Accessories, but others completely ruin it for everyone else.
Here are some perks about Kids:

• a very up front , able to communicate, Manager
• every shift is by myself - which is good and bad. but I am just excited to not have to rely on anyone else. :: sigh of relief ::
• semi-permanent schedule (hardly ever gets revised and revised and revised )
  
• the department almost always makes the sales goal = never really had hours cut
  (other departments have had their hours cut at least twice)
• cute little people clothes, that I really do enjoy organizing and everything - from clear back when I worked at Mervyn's in High School - and no, I will publish how long ago that really was.

So, that. is that. Hopefully. Its better. and not worse. I'm really trying to just stay with Nordstrom, and so I can just keep going to school. The last thing I need to do is to throw some crazy new work schedule, with new people, and new everything, into my busy life and eff up my school schedule. Because, I must remember: School is why I work there. School is why I keep going there.. so I can do something different!

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Happy Birthday Mister President

Happy 48th Birthday President Obama!

You are my hero. 'Nough said.

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My Motivations..

.. to Work Out : 72 Million people are Obese in the United States!
Ew! I really don't want to be one of them!!



.. to go to School: RETAIL BLOWS!
I'd much rather just shop!



.. to do Yoga: I want to be flexible like Elastigirl





.. to go to Work even if I hate it: So I can travel and fulfill all my travel wishes

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