Today is Beautiful...

It is that moment of the year when we reflect on what we are thankful for. So I will ask the question you that you have probably been asking to other and have probably been asked like a trillion times today. What are you thankful for? I am thankful for my family, my friends. I am thankful my sister had such an amazing opportunity this week in NYC and I am thankful for the time I have had to spend with my other sister. I am thankful my dad is home this year and that my mother is having a mother daughter getaway and that my brother is working hard. I am thankful for the people I go to school with and the family I have established here in Columbia, I am also thankful for my friends back home which I can't wait to see in 21 days. As we look at the feasts we make ourselves and  enjoy this evening. Think of those who can't be so lucky. During this week with my sister, Amanda, we came across some pretty obvious homeless people sitting on the side walk downtown. As we passed by they asked if we had an spare change, when we said sorry we didn't they said, "Oh that's fine, I hope you both have a very Happy Thanksgiving and Happy Holidays." They were very sweet and today I found this video and it made me think... how lucky am I to be thankful for what I have.

Be thankful that we can give, be thankful we don't have to beg, be thankful we for our environment, but most of all be thankful that we can see. That we can see the beauty of the day and of life, and be thankful that we can see the evils of it too so we can learn. But in all just be thankful. 

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!!

DW

The One Cent Wonders

I am officially on Thanksgiving Break. As most people headed home to spend turkey day around a table with their families, I stayed in my room and cleaned. Yesterday my baby sister Amanda flew in from Alabama to stay with me for the week. So after Meghan left at noon on Friday mission Danielle Cleans Room. Meghan adores cleaning so I  haven't really cleaned that much this year. And I swear that after I informed her she didn't need to clean because I would take care of it, the mess multiplied. I began cleaning at around 3 in the afternoon and didn't finish till close to really late that night. Of course this long cleaning time includes my procrastination moments (those are more frequent than I truly care to admit). Since  had done laundry for quite a while I started there, I began searching through my gold patterned box where I keep all my coins for quarters. Have you ever been amazed how quickly coins collect? You have that one place where you stick all your spare change, whether it be a jar, a piggy bank, maybe even the bottom of your purse. And you are surprised when one day you realize that the bottom of it is lined with pennies, dimes, nickels, and the occasional token for the splurge at the arcade. Well this is the case with my gold patterned box.

It amazed me as I removed the lid to this box just how many coins had accumulated over the course of a quite a while. When it comes to coin collecting we become robots, we find a coin laying around pick it up and place it in our place for coins, we don't realize how many we actually pick up till we actually take the time to look. I decided to stack them all and after I started looking a bit like Scrooge, I noticed that pennies out numbered the other coins by a significant amount. 

The penny is an interesting coin. CHALLENGE: go to the place where you keep your coins and grab a  handful of pennies. Look at the design, the little letter, honest Abe's head. Pay close attention to the year. As I did this with my own collection I noticed a surplus of 2000's and up and a lot from the 1980's. To me it is surprising how something that was created before I was even a thought in my parents head can end up in my hand. After I set down a penny from 1987 the next coin in my hand was a 1992 coin. Now in case you don't know, that was the year I was born. It was created the same time I was and was sent out into the world before I was. This one penny has probably been to more places then I will ever be able to go. But somehow we both ended up at Stephens. Somehow all these coins have traveled through time and have ended up in my gold patterned box. Pennies are like mini time capsules created in one moment and will still be the same in future generations. When I looked through penny after penny I finally found my oldest penny.....

Incase you can't tell, its from 1945. I don't know if I am just easily amused and find this way too fascinating but this on little tiny bit of copper has been working since 1945 and now is owned by some 19 year old in Missouri. Just think the amount of people who have held this since the time of its creation. They are never changing in a very changing world. As we change our view on religion it has kept a strong and sturdy stance. When people question the government the currency believes in one single quality, liberty. A penny is a constant reminder that we make to much of a fuss over everything. And every once in a while we need to have that reminder. Pennies are relicts from the past that are a constant reminder of a time that none of us will see. next time you notice that small penny laying on the sidewalk, don't allow our history and values to be walked on allow it to live on by picking it up and appreciating it. 

I have been told that my blog can be cheesy or philosophical in nature. But this is just a penny for your thought! hahahahahahahahahhahahahahahaaaaaaa

DW

Change is a Hairy Situation

Well it has been quite a week here at the Steve. Many things are beginning to change and it has cause a lot of tension particles to float in the air. Change no matter how big or small is a frightening thing. Since this week brought many changes for us it is natural that we sought out to change other things. While walking through the aisles of our local Walmart, we found ourselves in with all the hair care products. (I had coupons for some free products it was nifty.) When I looked back I noticed that Meghan was staring at the hair dye. She had been wondering for a while how she would look as a brunette. After going back and fourth on colors we made our way to check out. Neither of us could really believe that we were actually going to dye her hair. It was just a Wednesday night and instead of doing homework we were dying Meghan's hair. She seemed soooo excited. She asked if I would help her dye it, and probably far too enthusiastic I happily agreed. Meghan by the way is my uber awesome roommate (really couldn't ask for anyone better). So here was our Wednesday night:

Meghan had pretty much platinum blond hair. It was really pretty (as you can see) but she felt it was time for a change.

So she looked through many different colors and brands of hair dye and she finally decide she wanted to some funky name of brown, it had to do with honey brown or something like that. It was only said to last about a month that way if she didn't like it or if I messed up really bad she would only be funny lookin' for like a month. no big deal. Well with hair dye box in hand we were ready for an evening. 

Since I am obsessed with pictures I thought I would fully document our evening of giggles and giant smiles and share it on here. Of course before any big change there must be a before picture. Now the pic of Meghan above is a good testament to her color she had her hair cut since then so this is a more accurate pic of what her hair was like before the transformation.

Don't mind me I was really hyper through this whole thing and one of the things I didn't tell meghan till after was that I had never dyed someone hair before this so I was really nervous too. As I read the directions they included nifty plastic gloves. My "i'm too easily amused" senses start tingling and played with the gloves for awhile.

Then it was time to get down to business!!

Like I stated before I had never really dyed anyones hair before so wasn't quite sure where to begin I mean how hard was emptying a tube of color into a bottle was. Apparently pretty difficult for me to figure out. 

hahaha  Just kidding... I did finally get it!

So we finally went into the bathroom and began Meghan's transformation. As I added the dye the blonde slowly went away and was replaced by a dark brown. A lot darker than we were expecting. As layers of pure blonde changed into a full head of rich dark color it was weird to think meghan wasn't going to be a blonde anymore. It was definitly something that was going to take some getting use to.

After carefully following the directions we applied the dye waited the 10 minutes and then she had to shower. So that meant I had to wait! I don't like waiting

After the entire process was complete the only thing left to do was for Meghan to blow dry her hair. 

It was already a new awesome look for her. after she got done blowdrying it, her hair was more red than brown but it was still awesome and there was no more blonde which means I DID IT RIGHT!!!!

It was more red than she wanted but it was amazing how a simple change to someones hair can make them look older and change someones self of self. 

She has since gone in and had it made darker since she wanted brown and not red. (the beautician said it is common that when blondes go from blonde to brown they usually hit some reddish tones. SO IT WASNT MY FAULT). But Meghan seems pleased overall. 

Change is interesting in the sense sometimes you want it sometimes its just inevitable. But change is simply what we as people make it. Meghan could have simply taken the hair color as it was, but she wasn't satisfied so she changed and worked it till she was happy. In the long run change isn't always in our control but if we take it on ourselves to work it and morph it into our own understand we will be better able to process it and find the happiness with in it. Change is completely defined by our reaction. We can get mad and stay mad and realize that change is going to be harder, or we can get mad get over and move with a positive grace realizing that if we simply stay in a room with closed doors we will never understand the opportunity that awaits us. Meghan is a beautiful brunette now, and still is the best roommate I could ask for. 

DW