A Penny for Your Thoughts

I stumbled upon these questions here and they made me think a bit, and so I will leave you with your thoughts...

These questions have no right or wrong answers.

Because sometimes asking the right questions is the answer.

1. How old would you be if you didn’t know how old you are?
2. Which is worse, failing or never trying?
3. If life is so short, why do we do so many things we don’t like and like so many things we don’t do?
4. When it’s all said and done, will you have said more than you’ve done?
5. What is the one thing you’d most like to change about the world?
6. If happiness was the national currency, what kind of work would make you rich?
7. Are you doing what you believe in, or are you settling for what you are doing?
8. If the average human life span was 40 years, how would you live your life differently?
9. To what degree have you actually controlled the course your life has taken?
10. Are you more worried about doing things right, or doing the right things?
11. You’re having lunch with three people you respect and admire. They all start criticizing a close friend of yours, not knowing she is your friend. The criticism is distasteful and unjustified. What do you do?
12. If you could offer a newborn child only one piece of advice, what would it be?
13. Would you break the law to save a loved one?
14. Have you ever seen insanity where you later saw creativity?
15. What’s something you know you do differently than most people?
16. How come the things that make you happy don’t make everyone happy?
17. What one thing have you not done that you really want to do? What’s holding you back?
18. Are you holding onto something you need to let go of?
19. If you had to move to a state or country besides the one you currently live in, where would you move and why?
20. Do you push the elevator button more than once? Do you really believe it makes the elevator faster?
21. Would you rather be a worried genius or a joyful simpleton?
22. Why are you, you?
23. Have you been the kind of friend you want as a friend?
24. Which is worse, when a good friend moves away, or losing touch with a good friend who lives right near you?
25. What are you most grateful for?
26. Would you rather lose all of your old memories, or never be able to make new ones?
27. Is is possible to know the truth without challenging it first?
28. Has your greatest fear ever come true?
29. Do you remember that time 5 years ago when you were extremely upset? Does it really matter now?
30. What is your happiest childhood memory? What makes it so special?
31. At what time in your recent past have you felt most passionate and alive?
32. If not now, then when?
33. If you haven’t achieved it yet, what do you have to lose?
34. Have you ever been with someone, said nothing, and walked away feeling like you just had the best conversation ever?
35. Why do religions that support love cause so many wars?
36. Is it possible to know, without a doubt, what is good and what is evil?
37. If you just won a million dollars, would you quit your job?
38. Would you rather have less work to do, or more work you actually enjoy doing?
39. Do you feel like you’ve lived this day a hundred times before?
40. When was the last time you marched into the dark with only the soft glow of an idea you strongly believed in?
41. If you knew that everyone you know was going to die tomorrow, who would you visit today?
42. Would you be willing to reduce your life expectancy by 10 years to become extremely attractive or famous?
43. What is the difference between being alive and truly living?
44. When is it time to stop calculating risk and rewards, and just go ahead and do what you know is right?
45. If we learn from our mistakes, why are we always so afraid to make a mistake?
46. What would you do differently if you knew nobody would judge you?
47. When was the last time you noticed the sound of your own breathing?
48. What do you love? Have any of your recent actions openly expressed this love?
49. In 5 years from now, will you remember what you did yesterday? What about the day before that? Or the day before that?
50. Decisions are being made right now. The question is: Are you making them for yourself, or are you letting others make them for you?

Extreme Couponing?!?!

Seriously.

If you haven't watched or heard of this new show on TLC yet, go check it out (its on every Wednesday at 9:30 or you can just Google it, there are videos).

I agree where do you draw the line?

These people are ridiculous, they have like 10 year supplies of everything under the sun stockpiled in their houses, yet continue to buy more and more. They are so serious about couponing, they actually PAY for coupons! That's right, apparently there is a place on the internet (of course) where you can actually pay someone else to clip coupons so you can get 100 coupons for 50 cents off tomatoes for a handling charge of around seventy dollars. That just doesn't make sense to me but obviously it works, I just watched a man buy 1,100 boxes of cereal totaling $4,000 for $150. That was just one transaction of three he had that day. His total before taxes was like $5,000 and he only paid around $200! As a former grocery store cashier, I would hate these people while being extremely impressed at the same time.

I have to ask myself though, what in the hell do you do with 1,100 boxes of cereal? Apparently he gives them away to people in the community which is great but I'm not sure if the others to the same.

Personally, I would love to hire these guys to help me build my own personal grocery store right in my house, but once I have a 5 year supply of everything I could ever possibly need, I would be content with never having to go shopping again for the next 5 years, not continue to buy more and more stuff.

I find it ironic that just before Extreme Couponing came on I was watching Hording: Buried Alive. Is TLC trying to suggest something? Just because their houses aren't filled with useless shit, rotting food, 100 cats or actual shit, doesn't mean they don't have a compulsive hording problem of sorts. I mean if you have 10 YEARS worth of food and household supplies do you really need to keep buying more, even if you're only paying $5 for 150 bottles of mustard?

I understand the need for coupon clipping and savings in today's economy but you need to draw the line somewhere.

One woman did say she extreme coupons to save money so her seven children won't have to pay for college and saves $40,000 dollars a year and I think that's great, but when you already have 1,400 rolls of toilet paper stashed under your infant son's bed, take a break! Actually eat some of that food you have instead of buying more.

Face Lift

The page needed some spring it it's step to help encourage the weather to follow suit.

So check out the new colors and fonts :)

I'm Dreaming of a Spacious Kitchen

Cuz lord knows I'm not dreaming of a White Christmas anymore....

But we are finally seeing signs of spring!! :) I got to go down to North Beach with a girlfriend this weekend and try out my camera since it's finally nice enough outside to get some great outdoorsy shots (nothing beats natural lighting).

Click on the picture to go to my Flickr and see the rest of the pictures I took Saturday.

It was great to finally get out side and enjoy the fresh air without freezing my ass off.

Now back to why I started this post.

While stumbling around the internet I came across what I now think is my favorite blog ever, Sugar Derby. She has the cutest ideas and recipes that I am now dying to make.

Unfortunately being the college student that I am, not all of the supplies are readily at hand not to mention the lack of space and clean dishes available for baking.

Imagine this except for dishes covering 75% of the already small amount of counter space.

I try to bake whenever I get the chance but nothing quite as elaborate as The Ultimate Ice Cream Cake Cookie Pie. Those look absolutely delicious and I can't wait to try them out.

Of course thinking about baking makes me think about my dream kitchen that I will have in my home at some point before I die. It looks something like this:

Double ovens for lots of baking projects, a large stove top, TONS of counter space, a large bar/island and lots of cabinets (I'm also assuming a dishwashers behind the bar). It has everything I could ever need!

I would also add a wine rack instead of a cabinet on the end of the island and mini bar on the island, a bigger sink is definite; two sided and deep, with a pantry off of the kitchen and I would change the color pallet completely depending on what the rest of my house looks like.
But to truly make it my dream kitchen, it needs to over look whatever back yard I might have. I like a lot of natural light in my living space so lots of windows over looking pretty things :)

I can't wait until I can have a beautiful gathering space to host lots of parties with family and friends. I think food is sooo important when it comes to sharing good times with loves ones. Cooking is something that comes from the heart, as they say "Made with Love", and there is nothing better then sharing the fruits of your labor with the people you enjoy spending time with. I got to cook Thanksgiving for my family this year and I loved it so much I hope to do it from now on.


It's getting late and all this talk of food is making me hungry so I'm off to find a midnight snack then hit the sack (silly rhyme not intended).

Nighty night loves,
Alice

The Girl Effect: The Clock is Ticking

So my friend sent me this video and I finally got the chance to watch it. Watch it for yourself now, I'll wait :)

Tear jerker right? I know my eyes got watery, but I'm sap when it comes to these things.
Watching this video makes me wish I could put on a super hero cape and save the world. Some one needs to do it so why can't it be me? I have always felt like there are so many awful things in the world and no one seems to do much about it, but I have never felt like there was much I could do about it being one girl.
I now feel like there is a whole hell of a lot I can do about these things. I am currently getting my bachelors degree in Event Management and this is going to provide me with exactly the right opportunity to start changing the world. This is my life goal; to make a difference in this complex world of ours.

I will be planning fund raising events for the Make-A-Wish Foundation this semester for my internship and I couldn't be happier.

In the future I hope to plan more fund raising events, maybe start my own website (or use the power of Blogger); Alice vs. the World: One Girl, One Goal; Make a Difference. The website would be a hub for info on any non profit or charitable projects I am currently working on.

There are so many ways that events can be used to help under privileged and poverty stricken communities, for example South Africa hosting the 2010 FIFA World Cup did wonders for their economy because of everyone who came to see the game brings money from outside of the community and spent it in South Africa, putting more money in circulation for South Africa's economy (we learned about this in class). So if poorer countries were able to host big events they stand to benefit greatly. I hope to help them do this one day.

Until next time darlings :)
xoxoAlice

I Want Beef Jerky!

Since I have been feeling quite uninspired by the drab weather outside my window, I will provide some comic relief for the day... Kittens Inspired by Kittens :)

Life

I can't seem to get mine together lately.

As the end of my fourth semester of college slowly approaches, marking the halfway point of my college career (hopefully), I can't help but be intimidated by all of the decisions I have to make that will determine the next couple years of my life.

Finding an apartment, finding roommates, deciding if the boy and I are living together or not, hammering out my class schedule, finding study aboard programs, finding a job, and all of this things can't be determined with out confirming another. I can't go aboard if I don't have enough room in my schedule, I can't find a house without roommates and vice versa and all of these choices that will determine the next two years of college need to be decided before mid April. Yikes. Not ready for this type of adult decision making.

I don't want to plan out my life right now I'm only nineteen years old, I just want to go with the flow and see where life takes me, too much to ask I guess...