If I Designed the World

- parks would have keyboards set up periodically throughout, so if anyone wanted to sit down and play a little song they could.  And grace the park with beautiful music.  And there'd be headphones if the music was...not so beautiful.
- there would be more girls bathrooms than boys in public places, because let's face it, girls have to go way more often, and it takes longer, to there's always a huge line.  This is necessary and should happen.
- street lamps would have clocks so everyone could know what time it was, even if they didn't have a watch or a phone.  It's just a nice to know the time sometimes.
- there would be more plugs and wifi/ethernet cords open to the public.  Just in case you've got to check for an important email or upload a document very quickly.  Not everyone has one of those fancy phones with internet and all sorts of other do-dads you know...
- pens would be the utensil of choice for writing, and provided in schools.  Kids would learn that it's okay to make a mistake, and just move on.
- everyone would get a chance to live in at least one different climate than their home one.  For example, someone from Canada could live in Egypt for a while, or someone from Florida could live in Russia.  Just to see a different kind of world.
- every field would be shoes optional, because no one should have to wear shoes in a beautiful grassy field.  Nothing feels cooler than running and skipping barefoot through a field.
- certain people would be appointed to give out delicious snacks to hungry people, or just people that want delicious snacks.  It would be totally safe, and totally delicious.
- public transportation would be available everywhere and would consist of monorails and sky cars, to make the world feel more like an amusement park.
- the whole world would have theme days, like pirate day or mismatch day, and it would be cool enough that at least 76% of the population would participate.  It would be accepted in the workplace, and only people trying to "rebel" wouldn't do it.

Tackling the Tough Question: When to Wear Socks?

Socks are a fascinating piece of clothing.  They are like little tubes of fabric that slide around your feet.  They are the clothing with the smallest surface area to be associated with warmth, comfort, snuggling, etc.  The mystery of socks is enough to confuse some people as to the appropriate occasions to wear them.  Following are several scenarios and the appropriateness of socks in each one.


WITH SNEAKERS

Totally appropriate.  When you wear sneakers you are often doing some sort of physical activity, which often involves sweating, and socks are extremely helpful in keeping your sneaks sweat-free.  Or at least they help your shoes not to stink so much.  This is probably the reason that socks were made.  Unless someone meant to make a sleeve and accidentally sewed up an end...but they were probably just made to accompany your shoes.


ON A COLD WINTERS DAY

Totally appropriate.  If socks weren't made accidentally from a sleeve, or to accompany your shoes, then they were definitely made to keep your little piggies warm on cold winter nights.  The best way to use socks in this situation is to wear those big fuzzy ones.  No-slip grip on the bottom is optional, the fuzzy part is the important part.  To add to the ambiance set by the warm, fuzzy socks, you might want to make some hot chocolate and popcorn, grab a snuggly blanket and turn on a rom-com or possible an action adventure.


ON THE BEACH

Never.  Never ever ever.  Why would you even consider socks on the beach?  Ew, ew, ew.  It's just gross.  Please don't wear sock on the beach.  ONLY exception: you're walking along the beach in sneakers or boots.  Besides that, don't even think about it.


ON VACATION

Sometimes.  It depends on the vacation.  A hiking adventure vacation warrants the use of socks.  A tropical beach vacation- no.  (For more information about socks on the beach see above.)  Use your discretion on this one- it can go either way.


WITH A DRESS

Probably not.  Unless you're super cool and can somehow pull off socks with a dress, I would recommend wearing ballet flats, sandals, heels; none of which require socks.  But if you're into rocking some converse with a dress and you've got the credibility to pull it off, then I guess you should go for it.  And I'm envious.


WITH SANDALS

Never.  'Nough said.


IN THE RAIN

Sometimes.  If you have rain boots I would suggest wearing socks with them.  And if you have colorful knee socks- even better.  Otherwise sandals sans socks is the best, 'cause sneakers with socks will leave the sneakers, socks and your feet cold and wet.


I hope this information helped clear up and sock questions that were out there.  Good luck and wear your socks well!

Just a Spoonful of Sugar...for Breakfast!

Nothing is better than a gallon of sugar for breakfast.  I could eat a candy bar first thing in the morning, and it is entirely possible that I have.  Here are some of my favorite breakfast treats:

Pop-tarts
Just finished one.  They're just so good.  My personal favorite is strawberry, but to be honest I haven't really had that many flavors.  I mean, why bother when you've already found perfection, right?  Pockets of sweetness, topped with frosting and sprinkles.  If you want to be healthy they make low-fat ones, or Fiber One pop-tarts, but come on guys, that's not really the point of pop-tarts.  Don't eat 'em for the nutrition, eat 'em for the fulfillment they bring to your life.

Sugar Cereal
This is a wide category including everything from Lucky Charms to Cap'n Crunch to Cookie Crisps (just to name a few favs).  Having my intake of sugary cereal limited to birthdays, special occasions and hotel continental breakfast buffets, I have developed a deep love and longing for those little bites of sugary goodness.  Pour them in a bowl with some cool milk or munch them up plain- either way they are totally delicious way to start the morning.  Bonus: sugar cereal also makes a great snack.

Muffins
One of my all time favorite foods, and there are so many delicious flavors.  Coffee cake (cross between coffee cake and muffin, and piled high with brown sugar), chocolate chip (simple but delicious), triple chocolate (chocolate muffin with chocolate chips, I have no clue where the third layer of chocolate is, but it sure tastes delectable), cranberry-orange nut (little bit of fruit, little bit of berry, little bit of crunch...so basically it's amazing).  I like basically every kind of muffin and eat them whenever I can.  The one complaint I have?  Why don't we just make/sell the tops of muffins?  We need more surface area people- it's the best part.  But besides that, muffins are perfection.

Waffles
My family got one of those waffle makers a few years back, and for a while there we all had waffle-mania.  We tried eating them with various and sundry toppings until we hit the jackpot- fruit and whipped cream.  Waffles with strawberries or blueberries and whipped cream is kind of how I'd imagine heaven to taste.  Another great thing about waffles is that they're so big you can eat them for breakfast and not be hungry again until dinner (or at least mid afternoon).  This is a great option to order out if you've got a sweet tooth; breakfast places make some great (and HUGE) Belgian waffles.  And never forget the whipped cream, that would be like forgetting the frosting on a cake and could be punishable by death.

Pastries
Sometimes, you just want a pastry.  They're real classic sweet tooth breakfast material.  There's also a sort of romantic notion of going into a small bakery early in the morning and grabbing some delicious, fresh treats.  My favorite bakery is Stanley's in East Islip, NY.  Everything I've ever eaten from there is totally scrumptious.  Which brings me to my favorite breakfast food of all time, which isn't even a breakfast food at all, ladies and gentlemen, let's give it up for...the black and white!  For anyone that doesn't know, a black and white is a circular cookie-cake thing, frosted half chocolate and half vanilla.  I have no clue how I ended up eating them for breakfast, but whenever my family stops by Stanley's I have to grab one.  A little warning- black and whites at the supermarket aren't really that good, so don't try it unless you can get one from a bakery.


I encourage you all to try starting your day on a good note with a sweet treat (unless you're one of those people who start gagging when they eat a lot of sugar in the morning, in which case you're exempt).  So what is you get a few cavities?  As long as you have health insurance and don't have a deadly fear of needles you should be okay.  Just give sugary breakfast a chance, and if you're anything like me you'll be hooked.

The Right Way to Write

As a child I used to hate the physical act of writing.  I don't really know why, I only know that I was bothered by it.  I used to only want to type and completely avoid pencil (or pen) to paper.  Now I write and type, and I have recognized merits of both forms.


Convenience
You can write anywhere.  I'm not sure about on the moon, but if you're on the moon then you've got other things to do I'm sure.  As long as you have paper (scrap, notebook, napkin) and a writing utensil (pen, crayon, pencil), then you can write whenever it strikes your fancy.  You can write in bed, on a park bench, on an airplane, in a restaurant, or upside down in a tree (though that would take considerable skill and I'm sure it's not as fun as it seems).  Computers are not so easy to use everywhere.  Even the smallest ones aren't as convenient to fit in a purse as a notebook, and they can be quite heavy.  However, typing is convenient in that it is much easier to get your thoughts down faster while typing, and you are less likely to forget something as you type.  Word processors also have the convenient ability to delete or add anything throughout a document, and check for spelling errors (which is very important for someone like me, who can't quite figure out how to spell convenient).


Aesthetics
As a youngin' my handwriting was big and loopy in preparation for transitioning to cursive.  I always wrote with a pencil (because it's erasable, duh) and I had pretty big handwriting.  Now I write much smaller, much straighter (I never do cursive, it still looks like how it did when I was in 3rd grade), and almost exclusively in pen (of varying colors of course).  I really like the way it looks, which makes it more fun to write.  I have always been an aesthetics person, so improving the look of my writing helped me to actually enjoy it more.  Obviously one of the great things about word processors is that you can make it look however you want.  Big, small, cursive, print- you can really do anything.  I have been known to play around with fonts for hours until I finally find the perfect one for my document.  Bonus for typing: you can make it completely legible, regardless of your penmanship.

Top- Current Handwriting
Bottom- 2nd Grade Handwriting

Physicality
Like I mentioned at the start, I used to hate the action of physically writing.  Now I love it.  Pens make it so much better.  Pens just roll across the page, and look really classy.  It is much more enjoyable to write with a pen than a pencil, and the best kind of pens are gel pens.  (Not the ones everyone used like 10 years ago, with the cotton candy colors or the glitter, but pens filled with gel ink.  Although I totally support the other kind as well.)  I also love the physical act of typing, especially on my computer because it has a nice clickety-clack keyboard.  It feels so neat for your fingers to fly over the keyboard, snapping down on keys like you're playing a piano of letters with words for music.  When my sister was younger, she used to run her fingers across the keys before hitting one, so it sounded as if she was typing at lightening speed.  I absolutely approve this technique- it's quite fun.


Success
Both writing and typing get the job done, and they're both a lot of fun.  I love being able to flip through a notebook full of writing or read something I wrote looking professional in type.  The one other writing option I can think of is to get a personal scribe...something I've never tried before...hey little sisters, I've a job for you!...

Unintentional Stealing: How Your Belongings Became Mine

There have been numerous times in my like where I've asked to "borrow" something when I really had no intention of giving it back.  Like, for example, a piece of gum from my mom (but come on, would she really want that back?), or a pencil from a friend.  But what seems to happen more often than this permanent borrowing is untintentional stealing.  There are so many things in my house that did not start out as my family's belongings.  There's the pink Nalgene I used to use, now in the possession of my sister, though originally it belonged ot an aunt who left it at our house.  (Oh yeah, just let us know if you want that back...)  
      One of my favorite unintentional stealing phenemenons is with silverware.  How we ended up with at least 15 forks from other silverware sets I'll never know, but we always used to consider those stolen ones the "special" forks.  I'm sure everyone has participated in some form of unintentional stealing.  Whether it's that DVD from your friend that you forgot to return, or you neglected to take the hotel key out of your purse when you left.  I'm also pretty sure that most people have probably been accidentally stolen from.  A sweatshirt left at a sleepover, never to be reutrned, extra dessert packed away in the wrong bag at the end of a picnic, or an identical lunchbox being taken in a case of mistaken identity.  
      Since everyone (probably) is involved in both the stealing and the losing items aspects of unintentional stealing, I say we don't try to stop it.  Maybe those belongings were meant to be with different owners; for example, I have a cute headband that's served me quite well, though it originally belonged to a friend.  I think the headband was meant to be with me but had to take a journey to get here.  It's the same principle with soul mates - they'll find you at the right time, and you were meant to be together, no matter how difficult the journey to each other was.  So accept your new (and previously used) belongings, because they were meant to belong to you.  And forget about the green hat you left at the game, because now it's found the owner with whom it was meant to be.  And previous owner of the cool headband?  Yeah, sorry, you're never getting that back...

Tips for Pretending You're Not a Tourist (When You Are...)

For some reason, I am always afraid that when I’m traveling to new and different places people will think I’m a tourist.  I’m even afraid people will think I’m a tourist in my neck of the woods.  I think this fear comes from my own judgment of tourists when they’re wandering aimlessly around my home turf, in addition to an insecurity of seeming out of place.  Anyway, because of this I never want to appear as a tourist, even if I am.  These are some helpful hints to achieve a look of non-touristdom.

1.     Walk quickly.  Even if you don’t entirely know where you’re going, walk there very fast.  Locals always have a destination in mind, and they’re not going to stop and look at the old plaque on a building that a forgotten president once touched.  Dawdling, checking maps and stopping to ask directions mark you as a tourist as quickly as wearing an “I <3 NY” shirt or taking pictures of your sister pointing at a funny street sign will.  Speaking of which, that brings me to picture-taking…

2.     Don’t take pictures of landmarks.  No local finds a landmark interesting.  Also, they are probably not interesting anyway.  Take pictures of the people you’re with if you want memories- buildings, signs, and statues won’t bring back memories like a picture of your cousin trying to fit a whole slice of pizza into his mouth.  Side note: don’t wear your camera on a strap around your neck, unless you’re like a professional photographer and it looks cool.  The old camera-on-a-neck-strap is as stereotypically “tourist” as a Hawaiian shirt.

3.     Dress like you normally do.  Well, this doesn’t apply if you wear overalls or a pencil skirt everyday- just wear average clothes.  Dressing differently for a trip (not including something like the beach) is an easy way to stand out from the crowd.  Oh, and I don’t care how convenient it is, DON’T wear the fanny pack.  (I understand the draw- I had a Barney one myself as a youngster, but they’re gone for good, and I don’t think they’re ever coming back…)

4.     Plan ahead.  This is simple.  If you’re traveling somewhere that it rains a lot, bring a sensible rain jacket, and umbrella, and perhaps some boots.  Nobody wants to be the idiot running around with a garbage bag over their head because they didn’t know about the rain everyday at 4pm.  Tourists are often confused and somewhat disoriented by the strange land they find themselves in.  Just plan ahead and you’ll alleviate that awkward moment when you can’t get your rental car out of the parking spot because the local festival closed the road for the day…

5.     Lose the accent.  Try to neutralize any obvious regional accent as much as possible.  Unless it’s a cool foreign one.  In which case, use it to make yourself look cooler.

6.     Don’t travel in a giant group.  People don’t often take 15 of their closest friends with them when they’re on their way to work, or just walking down the street.  So you shouldn’t either.  No tour groups with a guide holding a little flag, and especially no matching outfits (See #3).

7.     Buy a caffeinated drink at a local coffee shop- not a brand name one like Starbucks or Dunkin’ Donuts, or whatever, but the one you see on the coffee cups people are carrying around.  Anyone can buy a Starbucks grande mocha-frappuchino-latte, but not everyone will know about the delicious fresh-mixed chai and cranberry scones at Not Your Average Café down the road.  Also, prominently display the logo on your coffee cup as you walk around so everyone knows that you know what’s hip in the neighborhood.

Overalls in NYC...You can see why I developed this fear...

The one other suggestion I can make is not to be afraid to be a tourist.  Embrace the newness of the situation and learn from wandering aimlessly and asking questions.  Don’t worry what others think about you, and focus on the memories you’re making from every moment you’re exploring.

But that’s mostly just poppycock- nobody really wants to live life without inhibitions.  Remember, leave the “Washington DC” sweatshirt in the hotel room, don’t stop to admire a view that might seem ordinary to locals, and strut your stuff like you were born on those streets.  ‘Cause what do those locals know?  Maybe you were…

Morning Reflections of Dew Drops

"...that particular chill that comes from getting up in the early morning.  The chill that must come from one's own bloodstream, for it comes in summer as well as winter, from some part inside of you that knows it is early morning." - From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler


This morning I woke up an hour earlier that I needed to, and so proceeded to grab my camera and head outside to capture the early morning.  There was a slight chill in the air, not cold enough for a jacket, but enough to make the air feel fresh and clear.

Everything was covered in dew, from the plants, to the grass, to the glass tables on our deck.  It's like the world hasn't woken up yet to shake off the cool mist that settled down overnight.

The dew covers everything like a blanket, making everything cool and clean before the summer sun comes down and warms the droplets straight back into the air.

The only movement in the still morning came from  a few birds twittering away in the trees, and this whimsical hummingbird in our garden which I spun in a circle.

The grass is wet, which feels good when you walk on it with bare feet.  Which is really the only way you should walk on grass early in the morning during the summer.

The dewy grass left my feet wet, and perfect for making footprints on my way back inside.

At this transition point in the day the sky was light, but down on the ground it was dark.  The sun was already up, though I couldn't seem to find it, but down at earth level everything had yet to come to life.  It was cool, dewy and still.


Every once it a while it is delightful to wake up early, and take that quiet, still time to yourself.  Of course, I wouldn't suggest getting up early every day, I'm not crazy you know.  But it can be nice to walk around and enjoy the world while the dew drops rest on the grass, and before the hustle and bustle of the day begins.