Let's all be logical here

I really like logic. Logic puzzles have always been some of my favorite things to do. I also tend to be logical  in my views, opinions, and decisions. Recently, it has come to my attention that this is not as normal as I thought. I have decided to share my views on being logical and being illogical. 

I will admit that there are times when being illogical and even unreasonable are exactly what you need to do. I have done this before. I once was freaking out and some of my roommates were telling me things that I already knew. It was really bothering me, since I hate being told things I already know; I find it pointless. I finally told one of my roommates that I wanted to be irrational. She sat down with me and we came up with increasingly more irrational scenarios. I ended up laughing and everything was fine. 

I have come up with a list of reasons I find appropriate for illogical thinking.

1. When you are incredibly stressed and need a break from the world.
2. When you're pregnant or have some other type of hormone craziness going on.
3. When you're brainstorming.
4. When nothing seems to be working and you just need the world to revolve around you for a minute. (Unless you're a pessimist and you never think anything is working. Then you just need to cheer up.)

I have also come up with a list of reasons people tend to be illogical when I don't think it's appropriate.

1. Money issues. I have never understood why people are illogical about money. I completely understand the urge to buy new clothes or a new gadget or whatever your weakness is, but I don't understand why anyone would buy something when they don't have enough money for food or rent. It's completely illogical. It's also illogical to think you have to spend money as soon as you make it. Save up for things. Save up for emergencies! Have emergency funds! Follow a budget. I just don't understand illogical money use.
2. Relationships. I'm talking about all types of relationships, not just romantic ones. If you tell someone not to get you a present, you can't logically get mad when you don't get a present. If being super close friends with someone is causing you more stress than joy, it's only logical to distance yourself from that person. 
3. Cleaning. I just don't understand not being clean. I'm not perfect at keeping my apartment clean. I will never say I am, but I do try to pick up after myself. It's logical to do that. If I borrow something, I pick it up. I don't understand how it makes any sense to use someone else's thing and then expect that person to clean it up. It's only logical to pick things up as soon as you are done with them. 

Logical thinking can relieve a lot of stress. I'm going to share a story where logical thinking helped me make one of the best and hardest decisions of my life. It is about my wonderful fiance! I decided in late October that I wanted to decide once and for all whether I was going to marry Jeremiah or not. I knew that marrying him would not be a bad thing, so I decided to identify exactly what was holding me back. After thinking about it, I was able to identify two distinct reasons why I couldn't decide. The first I quickly resolved by deciding it was a stupid reason. I realize that this might seem weird to many, but there are just some things that we think matter, but, when all things are considered, they just don't. The other reason was a problem I have had my entire life and it's not really a problem. It was my age, but I have always felt too young. I still feel like I'm too young to be living on my own, working, going to school, supporting myself, etc. Really, I'm perfectly capable of it. So that reason was also put in the "doesn't matter" pile. After that, I had absolutely no problem with marrying Jeremiah and all the stress I felt about our relationship vanished. I'm so glad I worked through that, because he is an even better fiance than he was a boyfriend and I have no doubt that he will be an even better husband. 

Logical thinking has also helped me with my money. I'm not rich by any means, and I can't have all of the luxuries I grew up with, but I can live comfortably. It's not because I make tons of money; it's because I think before I spend. I completely understand wanting new things. My weakness is music and clothes. Since I'm currently saving everything for my wedding, I have had to ban myself from music stores. I went in one a few weeks ago and it was incredibly hard to leave one of the books I found. I still feel like I need it, but logic tells me that I will live, so I must not give in and go buy it. While I can find cute clothes and not feel like I need them in my life, I also tend to want new clothes more when I know I can't have them. When I get this feeling, I have to ask myself if I am naked. Since I am not naked, I do not need new clothes. Logic dictates this.

Logic can be used in any situation and a better outcome will come of it. I give a 95 percent guarantee. That 5 percent is only there for those people that just insist that everything is bad all the time and nothing good will ever happen. Logic will help you in school. It will help you in your career. Logic is your friend. It will never abandon you and it will make your life better. 

Really, I just don't understand being illogical. It's illogical to be illogical. I don't know how the comments about my logic were meant to be taken, but they haven't sounded like compliments. However, I will take them as compliments. I wish the world were logical. I really think everyone would get along so much better if logic was used more often. I've noticed that illogical people are easily offended and are hard to be around (only because it's hard to be logical around illogical people, which makes thinking before you speak more important and twice as hard). I challenge everyone to think logically before making a decision. Decisions made from an illogical state of mind will very rarely end in success. 

Style is the definition of you

I got engaged recently and, like many engaged women, I've been looking at wedding dresses. Even before I got engaged, I knew I'd have a hard time finding a wedding dress. I'm not a huge fan of trains, but I don't think column dresses are so great for a wedding. I rarely like lace, I don't like wedding dress beading, and I am not a fan of shininess on dresses. I will not wear a dress that has bows or flowers on it. I want a long sleeved dress and I want it simple yet stylized. Clearly, I'm not an easy woman to shop for.

Why blog about my laments in regards to wedding dresses? Because I've been thinking about my style. I love my style. It is me and no one else. Sure, I wear things that other women would wear and I may even have some pieces of clothing that aren't particularly unique, but that's not what's important. What's important is what I tell people with my clothes, hair, make up, etc.

It's very important to me that I never look like a slob. I want to show people that I'm well put together and can think for myself. I don't ever want to look matronly but I refuse to show more than I deem appropriate (which isn't very much). I want people to look at me and know that I can get the job done. What job? I don't know, but I want people to think I do and that I can do it. I have anxiety about not dressing appropriately for occasions and I live by the rule that it's better to be over dressed than under dressed.

I think it's very important for everyone to care about their personal style. I don't think everyone needs to be a fashionista or even fashion forward. However, your clothes will say something about you whether you want them to or not. There are two serious style issues that I wish to address.

First, there are people who will never dress their age. I see this a lot in Utah and, as my friends can attest, it drives me nuts! One of the things that bugs me the most about living in Utah is the fashion of mothers and daughters. (Note: This is not every single family, and it's not only in Utah. There's just an unusually large population with this problem in Utah.) It's quite hard to tell the difference between many mothers, daughters, and, sometimes, grandmothers (shudder) from looking at clothes and hair in Utah. If the daughter dresses her age, the mother dresses the daughter's age as well. If the mother dresses her age, the daughter dresses the mother's age. I am a huge fan of age appropriate clothing.

When you are a teenager, you have a fundamental right to dress like a teenager. While it doesn't look very good, you can experiment with layering and wearing sweats with Uggs. Teenage years are a time for you to find your style. Experiment with clothes, figure out what looks good on you, what you like and what you don't like.

Mothers, middle-aged women, grandmothers, male equivelants of these labels, please let the teenagers be the teenagers. You can be stylish and still look like the mature person that you are. High fashion is there for you, if that's what you're interested in! There are plenty of clothing lines directed at you that are fashionable, fresh, beautiful, anything you're looking for in your clothing. You don't need to dress like a teenager to look young.

The other problem is people who refuse to admit that clothes define them. This is a delusional lie. Clothes will always say something about you. Clothes don't have to define you. Notice the title of my post. Style is your definition. Do you see the difference there? You have the control. When you decide that clothes don't matter and just throw on anything, people will see that you don't care. That's a horrible first impression. It's important to understand that style does not mean fashionable. If you, for some reason, are against fashion, then wear classics or something, but don't stop caring. That's a horrible practice. You don't have to be as obsessed with clothes and design as I am, but you should care about what you look like. Don't look like a hobo.

Now about wedding dresses, I want my style to show on my wedding. I may get lucky and find a dress that I love. However, I have planned for this and know how to make patterns. Dress designing, here I come!

I like looking at hair styles

I feel like writing about hair styles today. I suck at hair styles. I can wear my hair messy, in a little, tiny ponytail (this is for when I clean, mostly), or straight. I can do itty bitty braids and big braids, but I can't french braid or do anything fancy in any way with braids. I'm pretty good at figuring out what to do with bangs, though.

I may not be the best at hair styles but at least I can tell what will look good. I compensate for my dismal styling skills by getting interesting cuts that compliment my face. I will not do any style that I can't make look well done. Occasionally I will wet my hair several times in the course of an hour because I tried something and it didn't work. I will be going through some styles and sharing my opinion about them.

Ratted hair

I understand that some people like big hair. I get that. Sometimes it's nice to show off your volume. I also understand that straightening thin hair usually makes it go really flat, so you might want to do something to make your hair have life again. Here's my problem with ratted hair. I hate it when girls rat their hair into a square or triangle. It doesn't look good. It looks like you slept in a box.

When you rat your hair, if you rat your hair, control yourself. This isn't the 80's. If you end up with corners on your head, brush it out and start over. If you have a ring around your head but nothing on the top (this is what I identify as triangle-shaped ratting), brush it out and start over. If you can get your hair to rat into the shape of your head, good job.

Alternatives to ratting: Blow dry your hair upside down. When I do this, I end up looking like a lion (I have a lot of hair...), but this can really help with volume if you don't have crazy thick hair and a lot of it. Another thing you can do is blow dry your hair with a brush. Pull your hair up and out while blow drying it and you'll have a little more volume. If you do have thin hair, I suggest not straightening it. I straighten my hair to contain it. When it's not straightened, it can stick up way too high for my liking. However, if you have thin hair, straightening your hair can take the life out of it. If you have thin, curly hair, try blowing it straight. It won't be stick straight (which I think is ok in nearly every instance), but it will have more volume.

Buns

I've seen some interesting buns on campus. My least favorite by far is the bun on the very top of the head, which I've mentioned before. Mostly my problem with this type of bun is that it's become a lazy bun. Lazy buns flop around and having a loop of hair flopping around on the top of your head just isn't cool. Just stop. Put your lazy buns back on the back of your head where they're meant to be. Now, when I say "top of head," I don't mean the crown. I'm talking about the spot where you'd balance a book. The very top of your head.

That's really the only type of bun that I don't like. I'm just going to list some of my favorites that I've seen recently.

I saw a girl yesterday who had made a bow out of her hair. I thought that was amazing. I could never do that...especially to myself. It was very sweet. It's a very casual bun, so I wouldn't suggest it for a formal event, but it complimented her red and mustard gathered, high-waist skirt and mustard cardigan so well. She just looked like a sweet person who is ready to help in any way she can.

I also love what I refer to as "donut buns." I don't know what they are actually called, but they remind me of donuts. They're on the crown of the head and the hair is rolled out into a tube-like shape around the center of what I assume is a ponytail. I have a friend who is very good at these. I think they are very classy.

Last, but not least, I love buns that are at the neck and extend all along the hair line. I've never seen two of the same and most have some type of braid involved. They look very sweet and nice. I love when a girl puts a bow in one. It just adds to the cuteness.

Braids

The last thing I want to mention is braids. I love braids. I always have. When I was little I always loved it when my aunt came over and she would french-braid my hair.

One type of braid that always intrigues me is a fishtail braid. I've watch tutorials and looked at picture instructions and I still can't figure it out. These braids are just so cool! Plus, they're rarely stiff, which is good.

I am also intrigued by braids that go up the back of the head and into buns. I can't figure out how girls can fight gravity to do this. Maybe they braid it with their heads upside down? I don't know. Girls who do this, keep it up. It looks awesome.

I also love any type of braid that doesn't end up super stiff. This could be a ring around the head, braided bangs that are pulled back, french braids of most type. They're just great and I love to look at them.

I do not love stiff braids. Braids that get braided together were cool in elementary school, but now it looks juvenile. Also, I think people should keep braids down to two or under on one head. I've seen two different people who had three french braids. I don't know why they did this, but it seriously looked like their hair was an octopus. I expected them to turn around and have 5 more braids around the rest of their head. I was told once that some girls do this to make their hair wavy. Here's my thought to that. If you are braiding your hair like that to make it wavy, don't venture outside like that. It's the same concept as curlers. You stay inside until your curlers are done, you should stay inside until your weird braids are done.

To all you girls (and boys) that can do cool things with hair, I give you props. You have a talent and a gift. You shouldn't let that go to waste.

What makes it a classic?

Do you know what songs that came out in the last five years will be classics? I don't. I have no idea because there are so many one-hit-wonders nowadays. When I think of classics, I think of the best songs by amazing groups from the '60s, '70s, and '80s. Mostly the '60s and '70s. I've just barely gotten into '80s metal. I was once told that the children of my age group won't listen to the music of the '60s and '70s. I really hope that's not so. While I do love some current bands (Nightwish, Kamelot, Rhapsody, Death Cab for Cutie, Green Day, Apocalyptica, and Blue October, just to name a few), the truly remarkable songs, in my opinion, came from the '60s and '70s.

While I whole-heartedly disagree when some one says creativity is dead and everything that can be done has been done, I do not think popular musicians are as daring as they used to be. Music today is meant to be catchy. Real instruments don't even have to be used for a song to reach the top of the charts. The groups/"artists" that reach the top of the charts often don't write their own music or lyrics, let alone both (kudos to Taylor Swift, even if I don't like her music). If you want to find the real talent in modern musicians, you basically have to search for it. A lot of these groups don't want to get radio play (Dream Theater, anyone?) so I suggest Pandora for your music finding needs.

The '60s and '70s were all about experimenting. Concept albums, an amazing amount of sub-genres, and different ways to play instruments were created at a rate in this time that has never been matched since. I feel nostalgic today (not that I lived then, but I didn't even realize people made music after the '70s until I was 12ish, so this is the music of my childhood) so I've decided to pick a favorite song or two from each of my favorite groups and talk about it.

The Beatles are always a good group to start with. They'll be the hardest pick, mostly because the different types of songs they made, depending on who wrote it. So I've settled on three.

1. Oh! Darling is just a wonderful song. I love very blues-inspired rock 'n' roll. I also love the way Paul McCartney's voice sounds. He wanted it to sound like this song had been sung every night in a club for weeks, so he recorded it in the mornings so his voice would be gravely. The mix of the voice and melody just portrays longing. John Lennon claims he could have sung it better, but I'm not sure. It's pretty perfect the way it is.
2. Fixing a Hole This song sounds like a harpsichord! It's so cool! I just love the instrumentation of this song. The guitar entrances are at such amazing times! I'm very excited about this song, obviously. It's so simple but so great. I never ever skip this song when it comes up on my mp3 player, even if I'm in a metal mood. 
3. Blackbird Who doesn't like this song? It's simple, acoustic, and beautiful. It's one of the few songs I love more for the lyrics than the music. I just feel peaceful when I listen to it. It also uses dynamics so well! I miss dynamics in music...no one uses them anymore...at least on the radio. Also, I think the bird chirps are used very wisely.

Next up is Cream! My favorite Cream song is White Room. I love the juxtaposition of singing and guitar styles. The melody is very simple and kind of repetitive, but it works with the guitar so well. And don't forget about the drums! The drums just tie the whole song together. I love it.

Deep Purple was hard to pick a favorite. I love Deep Purple, but I've decided on one. Woman From Tokyo is just so fun! I wish more people knew about this song. There are so many details. I love how the hi-hat and bass line up so perfectly during the bridge. I love when the guitar comes out during the verses for just a little bit. Also, there's a false end. I love false ends. It makes the rest of the song seem like a treat.

The Eagles (I'm just going down my artist list, can you tell?) was easy. Desperado is a perfect song. Piano, ballad, strings, a beautiful voice, what more do you want? It's peaceful and sweet and touching. The mood of the song is spot on.

Jimi Hendrix was really hard. I am always amazed at his guitar playing; it doesn't matter how many times I've listened to the song or what song it is. I have decided that All Along the Watchtower is my favorite. Not only is the guitar part awesome, it flows the best in my opinion. It makes me happy to listen to this song.

There is is no doubt in my mind that the best Led Zeppelin song is Stairway to Heaven. This song is just a masterpiece. I don't care that it's eight minutes long (I often listen to songs that are up to 20 minutes, anyway). I love how the feel of the song changes about half way through, but it still has the same theme. I love hearing talent and I can definitely hear talent in this song. Also, the lyrics are just so intriguing.

The Mamas and the Papas turned out to be difficult. I'm trying to mostly pick songs that are originals by the band and most of my favorites by this group are remakes. I finally settled on Monday, Monday. I realize this is not the song this group is well known for, but I really love this song. I love the chorus. And the harmony. And the instrumentation. It just makes me smile every time I hear it.

I know a lot of people think The Monkees were a made up band, but they weren't. They just ended up being highly commercialized. Since this is the case, I have also picked a song by them. It is...I'm a Believer. Is anyone surprised? I didn't think so. I love this song. It's so much better than the remake. It's just so much fun! I love fun songs.

Simon and Garfunkel was really hard. I had to pick two for them. Really, I've never heard a song by them that I didn't absolutely love.

1. The Boxer was always one of my favorites growing up. I always asked my dad to play me "the ly la ly song." It's just so simple and soulful and beautiful. Plus, it reminds me of my dad and his guitar.
2. Homeward Bound was another of my favorites growing up. It's so pretty and you can hear the emotion in the melody. Also, reminds me of my dad again. I'm not sure why only Simon and Garfunkel songs remind me of my dad, but they do.

I decided to pick the song that makes me smile the most for Three Dog Night. I ended up picking The Show Must Go On. I don't know a single person who can't help but smile while listening to this song. It starts with the circus song! And then it gets serious. And then it's the circus again! Plus, Danny Hutton just has an amazing voice

The Who was another easy band. I love Pinball Wizard. I love the original and I love Elton John's version. It's just a great song. I love the sound of the song. I love the singing, the instrumentation, the structure, and basically everything else that has to do with this song. Also, Tommy was a forerunner to some amazing albums. It was the first successful rock opera. I understand that many young music listeners may not understand the awesomeness of a rock opera, but they are just awesome. They may have become extremely unpopular when the album was ruined by mp3s, but I love the bands that still do them, even Green Day (though American Idiot is not that great of a rock opera).

These are just the band I know well enough to make an educated decision on. Other bands that deserve mention for being awesome are The Rolling Stones, Black Sabbath, and Pink Floyd. Bands from the '80s worth looking into are Metallica, Iron Maiden, and U2. Earlier rock 'n' roll stars worth mentioning are Chuck Berry, Buddy Holly, and, of course, Elvis Presley. If anyone is interested in the great country stars, I highly suggest Johnny Cash and Waylon Jennings. I didn't include any of  my country favorites because I decided to focus on rock music. If I didn't focus on one rather large genre, this list would never end.

In defense of the photoshopped

I'm currently in a media and society class. This week we talked about photoshopping pictures. One of the topics of discussions was, "Is photoshopping racist?" This kind of really annoyed me. The examples used were two pictures of OJ Simpson, one on Newsweek and one on Time Magazine, and two pictures of Gabourey Sidibe, one on Elle and one from google images. The picture of OJ Simpson was his mugshot. On Time, the photo was altered to cast a shadow over his face, removing most of the highlights. It also blurred out the edges of everything and darkened the background. Apparently people thought this was racist because Time was trying to make Simpson look more dangerous by making him darker. The opposite was true for the photos of Sidibe. The picture on Elle was considerably lighter than her actual skin color. This, apparently, was racist because it's saying you have to be white to be beautiful.

I'm going to start with my problem with the OJ Simpson pictures. First off, Simpson's mugshot was very red. On the Newsweek cover, it completely washed out the title and headlines, which were also red. Time, which is NOT a breaking news magazine, would be more concerned with the lay out of its cover. Secondly, casting a figure in a shadow is not racist. It is mysterious. Time probably wanted to have a more suspenseful cover. I ask you, if a white man had been cast in shadow, whould that also be racist? No, it would not. So why is a black man cast in shadow racist? Darker skin was not the intent of this photo. The intent was the shadow. A shadow that would have the same effect on a white or black person.

My main issue with picking on photoshopping pictures is actually with Gabourey Sidibe's photo on Elle. In my class, a lot of people were saying the lightening of her skin was saying you can't be beautiful with very dark skin. I completely disagree. Elle is a fashion and beauty magazine. You will never see an extremely dark-skinned person shown with her actual skin tone on the cover of a magazine like that. It's not because dark skin isn't beautiful. It is. However, extremely dark skin hides necessary lines in faces when being photographed. Look at this from the editor of a beauty magazine's point of view. (Note: I am not an editor of a beauty magazine. I just happen to know about design and art. Plus I'm very interested in fashion and beauty so I pay attention to these things.) Sidibe has beautiful eye brows. Women might want to shape their eyebrows like her. How can they if they cannot see her eyebrows in the magazine? Sidibe's face is very nicely shaped, with the shape of her check bones, nose, lips, and chin filling out that shape in a very beautiful and charming way. If her photo had been left untouched, the darkness of her skin would have flattened her face out. Did her skin have to be lightened as much as it was? Probably not. Did it have to be lightened in order to show off the natural beauty that is in the shape of her face? Yes. Real life and photographs are different. Untouched photographs of almost anyone are not going to sell magazines simply because things that naturally occur when mixing skin and cameras will flatten faces, make faces look oily, create a skin tone that is not accurate, etc.

The camera also adds ten pounds. I'm not joking. You can look super skinny in real life one day, but a picture of you will look averagely skinny. Can you blame editors of photos for taking cellulite out of pictures? Is there an easier way to shed those ten pounds? This photoshopping can go overboard very easily in feature articles. However, in advertisements, I don't think this does go overboard. Advertisements are meant to sell a product, not a person. If the height of the model's shoulders will distract from the product, then it is perfectly ok to move them. Some people just have weird proportions. In an advertisement, anything that is proportionatly off will detract from the product. Model's are photoshopped into a "perfect" person in order to detract as little as possible from the product.

This is often criticized as making the standard of beauty unreasonable. While I can see the reasoning behind this argument, I disagree. I will bet you anything that young girls compared themselves to eachother before the camera was even invented. Girls and women have always compared themselves. There has always been someone prettier, someone you could never hope to even compare to in beauty. All photoshopping in magazines has made following celebrities even more seperated that it already was.

Now, I am not a parent, so I am taking a guess here, but I think self image is rooted in the home. While the teenaged years are rough, I believe the poor body image common in these years can be grown out of based what was taught in the home. Parents have more affect on their children than it seems like anyone cares to admit. If the parents of a young woman don't tell her how pretty she is, how her eyes sparkle when she smiles, then that young woman will never believe it when she's a woman and a man is telling it to her. If parents don't teach young girls not to compare themselves to other girls because everyone has their own qualities that make them beautiful, that girl will never stop comparing herself to others even after she is a grown woman.

I'm begging you, consume media responisbly. There will always be something to take offense at if you don't. Understand the type of media you are consuming. Understand the messages the magazines you subscribe to are trying to send. Before you accuse a magazine of being racist or setting a bad example for the yound and impressionable, think of what that magazine is trying to do. Society can't be blamed for all of the problems in the world.

Fashion at BYU

It's the start of another school year. As many of my friends know, I tend to rant about fashion I see at school. BYU tends to get more rants from me than other places because of the honor code. I have pretty strong feelings about the honor code. I've heard a lot of complaints about it. I have one response to these people. If you don't like the honor code, go to another school. The honor code is part of BYU and you signed it to come here. Part of the honor code includes groom and dress.

Now that I've said that, I have a list of top ten good things I've seen in the last 3 weeks! I also have a list of 10 bad things I've seen.

The good:
10. Classic maternity shirts. BYU is also fairly unique in the amount of pregnant women there are on campus. I've always thought it was a silly idea to buy trendy maternity shirts. If you do that, you'll have to buy new shirts every time you get pregnant. If there is ever a time to buy classic clothing, it's when you're pregnant.
9. Shrugs and blazers over sleeveless shirts. There are a lot of really cute sleeveless shirts out there. I won't argue this. I think the best way to wear these shirts modestly is with a blazer. Occasionally, a cardigan or shrug is the best way to go. Generally, blazers look sharper. I love seeing the women on campus make their outfits modest this way.
8. Women in button up blouses. I've always loved this look. It's classic and it generally looks good. A classic button up blouse is a staple of every woman's wardrobe. These shirts are so great because they look good with jeans, slacks, or skirts. I think one of the most flattering outfits is a button up blouse tucked into a high-waisted pencil skirt.
7. "Nerdy" tees. I love superhero-themed t-shirts. I also love t-shirts with things from Big Bang Theory, How I Met Your Mother, Star Wars, Star Trek, Pokemon, and Questionable Content. There's an unusually large amount of these types of t-shirts on campus. I don't know if the people wearing them just thought it was funny/cute/awesome or if they actually know what they're wearing, but I think it's awesome how many of these I see.
6. Beater-style tank tops under lace backs. I think shirts with a triangle cut out in the back covered in lace are really cute. I don't think it's OK to wear these types of shirts with a camisole. The back is too low. A lot of girls on campus wear these shirts with beaters. I think this is great! The back is high enough and you still get the look of see-through lace without being immodest.
5. Layered bobs. I love short hair. There are a lot of girls that look the same on campus. The average BYU girl's hair is long, to about the middle of her back, with "beachy waves." I don't like this style. The "waves" look like really bad hat hair. I love seeing girls around campus with short hair. There is a girl in one of my classes that has the cutest layered bob. I love seeing what she does with it every Monday and Wednesday.
4. Men wearing their pants high enough. I've always hated slouchy pants. While there are still guys that wear slouchy pants on campus, there are way more men that wear their pants at an appropriate level. It's wonderful!
3. Intricate braids. I've never been able to braid my own hair. I can barely braid other people's hair. Perhaps that's why I enjoy seeing women around campus with very intricate braids. I'm often impressed by others' hair skills.
2. Matching necklines to make things modest. I've always said, if you're going to layer shirts you have to match your necklines. Because of this, I've often told girls to avoid one shoulder shirts. This week, I saw a girl wearing a one shoulder shirt that actually looked good! She matched up the neckline so that the point of the v-neck t-shirt was at the exact spot the one-shouldered blouse crossed the neck line. It was really cute!
1. Men in shirts and ties. Perhaps it's because of the prestige of BYU's business school or maybe it's just a large amount of guys returning from missions that aren't used to normal clothes yet, but there is a very large amount of men wearing white shirts and ties on campus. It's amazing.

The Bad:
10. Wearing ear warmers as headbands. I am a huge fan of using clothes as they are intended. You don't wear pants as shirts or socks as gloves. Ear warmers were meant to keep your ears warm. Once you go inside, they should come off, just like the rest of your winter clothes. Also, it's not winter yet.
9. Over-sized glasses. Very few people can pull these off. My problem with these over-sized, black, thick-rimmed glasses is mostly with noses. If you have a very small bridge or a very small nose (think of Asian noses), these glasses make your face look flat. I actually think these glasses make people with small noses look like muppets. If you have a large nose, these glasses make your nose look HUGE! There is a very small number of people with the right sized and angled nose for these glasses to look good.
8. Knotting shirts in the front. Just tuck your shirt in! Good grief! Knots in the front of your shirt are NOT flattering AT ALL. Also, if it's a big one, which I see a lot, it kind of looks like a weirdly placed third boob.
7. See through shirts. Just because a shirt has sleeves doesn't mean it's modest, by honor code and LDS terms. If you want to wear a see through shirt, you have to wear a t-shirt under it.
6. Skirts that are blatantly too short. It's one thing to have a skirt that's too short when you're sitting but not when you're standing. If your skirt doesn't reach your knees when you're standing, get a new skirt. That is obviously not up to honor code standards.
5. Wearing out-of-season clothes. My favorite clothes are sweaters. I LOVE sweaters. That does not mean it's appropriate to wear sweaters in the summer. My sweaters aren't even appropriate for fall; they're much too thick. When you wear clothes out of season, you look like you live under a rock and have no idea what the weather is.
4. Wearing too many clothes. You look like you're suffocating. There was a girl in one of my classes this week that wore a lace, empire-waist vest and a scarf. The scarf was cute, the vest was cute, but they were not cute together. Sometimes, you just have to pick one or the other. It's the way of life. There are a lot of people I see that wear way too many clothes. I want to rip something off of them in a completely platonic way!
3. Men cuffing their pants. First off, if you're going to cuff your pants make sure they're the same height. Secondly, make sure your socks match. Black jeans with navy socks and blue shoes is the worst idea ever! Also, men don't have pretty ankles. Cuffing your pants either makes your bony, chicken leg ankles look skinnier or makes your ankles look like kankles.
2. Wearing sleeveless blouses over t-shirts. See number 9 of "The good." This looks tacky.
1. Buns on the top of heads. I'm sorry, but you look like a tee with a baseball ready to go on your head. If you wouldn't wear a pony tail there, don't wear a bun there. Especially a loose bun! What is the point? I thought loose buns were what you did when your hair got in the way. Let me tell you something, having a bun flopping around on the top of your head looks ridiculous and your hair is definitely not out of the way. Can you tell that this is my biggest fashion pet peeve? I'm aware that top-of-head buns are being used on the runways. Those buns are tight, stylized, and obviously meant to be there. When you just knot your hair on the top of your head in a couple second it looks like you weren't paying attention to your hair placement and missed.

Put your behind in your past

Yesterday I had a conversation with a friend about loving yourself for who you are. Once again I had too many thoughts to say in one conversation so I'm going to put them all up on the internet! That's what the internet is for, right?

Way too many people use "love yourself for who you are" as an excuse. I think the meaning of this has been twisted by society. There has been such a focus on condemning models and celebrities for giving us a skewed idea of beauty and it drives me nuts. As I told a friend once, models are picked because they wear the clothes well. A fashion designer doesn't want everybody looking at the model, they want everybody looking at the clothes. The fashion industry knows this. The designers that design for people shaped like a model rarely go far. Girls like me have a hard time finding clothes that fit, not because clothes are designed for models, but because the average girl has considerably less curviness to their bodies. If clothes were produced for girls shaped like me more girls would complain about how they fit. Instead of hearing girls complain about how they can't wear button down shirts or they have to wear baggier shirts to fit their hips, we'd be hearing more girls complaining about how they can't fill up the tops of shirts, how everything is baggy and will only fit them around the waist.

Why does this matter? Because I want it to be somewhere on the internet that says you can love yourself for who you are and still want to look better without it being unhealthy. "Love yourself for who you are" doesn't mean accept the hand that has been given you. I truly believe it means love your personality and body type.

I feel I can use myself as an example of loving yourself for who you are because I have struggled with this and come out on top. I love myself for who I am. I don't wish I had another body, but I work hard to make sure my body looks as good as it can. The biggest thing I struggled with was my skin. I was born with skin that is prone to acne and boils. I had skin that hurt for a long time. Over the counter acne treatments would help for a little while but none of them lasted. If I had decided to "love myself for who I am" as it is understood by many people today, I would still struggle with this constantly. It has not gotten better as I've gotten older and in fact has gotten worse. I decided it was worth it to take the extra time to take an antibiotic and my skin has cleared up considerably.

This might not be the best example because that is skin and this is normally aimed at weight. I would like to point out that I started the antibiotics because of comfort, not looks. When you're a healthy weight you feel better. I have never heard someone say "I wish I was fat again." When it comes to looks, love what you have and work so you can love what you don't love. I'm not saying get plastic surgery or something. I'm saying if you're over weight, work to be a healthy weight. If you are a healthy weight and you don't like the shape of your body, find flattering clothes. Remember that no one can wear every style, not even hour glass shapes (for girls) or extremely v-shapes (for guys). I'm hour glass shaped and many people seem to think hour glass shaped girls can wear anything. This is false. I cannot wear shirts that are baggy and then come in around the hips or most empire waist things. I also look horrible in yellow. I don't know why cause my skin tone should look good in yellow... I know this, so I don't wear those types of shirts no matter how much I like the shirt/dress. Clothes really can help body image.

The same thing goes for other features you may or may not like. For example, I love my eyes and lips but I hate my nose. How do I not fret about my nose? I accentuate my eyes and avoid makeup styles and glasses that might bring attention to my nose.

Now that I've spent so much time on physical appearance, it's time to say what I think that phrase really means. I don't think it's supposed to be about our bodies. I think it's supposed to be about out personalities. I don't think I'm alone when I say I could spend hours listing my faults. Everyone has them, no one has exactly the same faults as anyone else. I think "love yourself for who you are" means to love yourself even though you have faults. Again, this doesn't mean you shouldn't work on yourself. I just think it means love yourself while you strive to make yourself a better person. There is no reason you should hate yourself. You might hate things that you've done, but that should never keep you from loving yourself. Rafiki said this better than I ever could.

Rafiki was teaching Simba to love himself for who he is. That's really what The Lion King means to me. Simba still has his faults at the end of the movie, but he doesn't hate himself anymore.