Learning to like Charleston

Well, I've officially been in Charleston for seven weeks, and I still don't really love it. But I'm trying to learn to like it. My family (dad & sister) came to visit me this weekend, and I took the opportunity to actually get out, see some sights and learn some history.

-The Charleston Open Air Market (not my picture)
This is the front of it, and you go in what looks like a tunnel, and it's four blocks of crafts, goods, food0- it's great local shopping. There's no shortage of palmetto weavers, plus tons of other cute things. My family is into yard sales, craft fairs, art fairs, flea markets, and that sort of thing, and this definitely fit the bill for something we enjoy. This is also where I got Jamie's birthday gift- a beer bottle turned into a candle.

Then, about a three-ish block distance from the open air mark, is the famous King Street shopping. The closest thing I can compare it to, to my Philly friends is South Street, because there's a bunch of boutiques and food places, but there are also higher end stores, too. Everything from F21 to Brook's Brothers, from Gap to Lacoste. I. Love. Shopping. So yeah, This was a good find for me.

-Folly Beach - OKay, this isn't a new find really, it's the beach my husband and I go to all the time. Up until now it's been the one place here that I don't freaking hate. It's a small beach, not really very touristy, and just a few small beach shops, but I like it. a lot. A good beach to really enjoy both the ocean and the sand. I'm not a HUGE beach person, but I'm learning to love it, and I'm glad I have a not very large, tourist filled beach to learn on.. Also, it is a FANTASTIC sand castle beach, which we learned a couple weeks ago.





-The Charleston History And Homes Tour - The website describes this as the "Definitive tour of historic Charleston" We had a fantastic guide who gave us a history of Charleston from colonization through the Civil War and then to present day, we saw some historic churches, and learned a lot about the local architecture,  walked down the Bay, learned about Fort Sumter, and then took a tour of an old Mansion, the Edmonston-Alston house,. right off the bay. He also gave some prices of the historic houses- holy crap, there are some expensive properties down here. It was a really great tour, with a really informative guide, and not too expensive, $24 a person for a 2+hr tour, plus free admission to the Edmonston-Alston house, which is usually $12, and another hour tour.

It was really just beautiful, which is something I haven't really thought about Charleston since I've been here. It was nice to see that, since I'm used to Philadelphia and it's beautiful history. Also, I'm a huge history nerd, so hearing about the Civil war from the southern side was an interesting change to my Yankee perspective.

So yeah, Philadelphia is still the place that has my heart, but I definitely got a good, fun view of the city this weekend.

Some things I've done lately

So, I just did pretty much the coolest thing ever- I made a handwriting out of my own font!. I can see it as I type, but unfortunately, you don't have it installed so you can't :( However, it will be my signature so you can see it there! It was so freaking easy too- just go to myscriptfont.com and print out the template, and then fill it out, reupload and install the font. Probably took me 15 minutes tops. I wish I would have had this two months ago, definitely would have made all of my thank you notes after my wedding and all that sooo much easier. Especially since I printed them all out anyway. Or addressing invitations! Damn, I'm so upset about not having this pre-wedding. But at least I have it now. Oh- and if you plan to do this, find a character you won't use (I picked a bracket, since I figured I wouldn't need brackets AND parenthesis) and make it something cute. My brackets - { & } are a heart and a smiley face! So, yeah, the heart in the signature is my handwriting too! Also, my ampersand, @ symbol, etc, are all unique too. You should totes do this! 

Another thing I did lately was this: My husband gets these protein supplements and stuff like that, and they all come in these cute red bottles, which happened to match my red and chrome kitchen pretty well.. Since I needed something to put sugar and flour in, I started saving his empty ones, printed some labels on sticker paper and voila! There's also a smaller size for baking soda, baking powder & whatnot, and a bigger huge size that I'm thinking I might turn into a cookie jar.  I'm pretty proud of these, especially because husband already had sticker paper from something he did, so this was free! 

Lastly, I did this for my fridge- It's just some cute stationary (from my sorority) inside of a picture frame with some magnets hot glued to the back. Instant dry erase board! Literally could not be easier. This would be cute with lined paper for a teacher, or blank sheet music for a musician- endless possibilities :) If I was still a collegiate sorority member, I'd definitely go to the dollar store and grab a whole bunch of cheap cute frames to put these in bid day bags. Maybe I'll make a couple for the the chapter I've started working wit as an advisor? hmmm. 

Well, now that this is apparently a craft dump post, here's what's next: I have an almost empty jar candle from a Bath & Body Works sale that I'm going to turn into a makeup brush holder, and I also need to come up with some way to display all of the birthdays in my family. Just being married and all that, I instantly gained like, 15 more birthdays I need to be responsible for remembering, what with my husband being one of FIVE and all of that. So yeah, those are my next projects. Feels good to be crafty again, for sure. 

omg it's so cuteeeeeee! (seriously, do this!)

Bein' a Lady

I'm having a weird couple days where I hate being a woman. No, not that. The world is sort of a weird place right now. 

Laci Green, a prominent sex positive vlogger on youtube, has been scared off of the internet because of stalkers on tumblr. Because of a comment that she made in 2009, in which she casually used a specific slur, she has had multiple death threats and pictures of her apartment sent to her. Did I mention she APOLOGIZED for the slur and also acknowledged how wrong it was, and that she's learned over the last three years that the word is inappropriate? 

Oh, also, I should mention, I don't particularly like Laci Green. I've subscribed to her channel for a while, and I find her sort of.. offputting? She's very dedicated to providing a safe space for sexuality, but she hasn't quite figured out gender, and she has a habit of being insensitive to people who don't share her exact views. She has good videos and not so good videos, and I definitely feel like she misses the point a lot. But she doesn't deserve death threats! Like, how is that even a logical move? How do you go from "I don't like that word you used, can we have a discussion about how we use words" to "I found your apartment and I'm going to kill you." 

?!

Some of the arguments from people who are supporting her stalkers are also so baffling to me. It's a lot of "she's a white cis girl who needs to check her privilege," which, okay. But again, how do we go from "check your privilege" to "I'm going to fucking kill you." Please, someone help me here?

The other thing, is this Daniel Tosh thing. I know that's from some girl's tumblr and it's a sketchy source and stuff, but he tweeted that there is truth to it, so, yeah, Daniel Tosh basically told an audience that a girl should be raped for standing up and saying rape jokes aren't funny.

I don't have as much to say about this, because it's pretty apparent to anyone who isn't also a Big Bang Theory fan that Daniel Tosh is so unfunny it's sick, but I just. Fuck man, being a woman lately is not a good deal.

I couldn't convince Chris to not watch Tosh.0 tonight, so I decided to count misogynistic comments. After 5 minutes of disgust, I put headphones in, so I don't have a count for you. There was a count at 5 minutes. So, there's that. 

Things That Are Good

There isn't too much really going on in my life to blog about, but I'm determined to keep up with this. So, in an attempt to blog with nothing to blog about: things that I'm pretty happy about right now.

1. Camp Rock is on tv and Chris is watching it with me. He isn't happy about it, but he's doing it.
2. I'm going to meet some of the Charleston Alumnae Chapter tomorrow. I miss being an active Phi Mu so badly, and that's not just from the move, but since I've graduate college, and it's time to make a change. I emailed the local alum chapter last week, and they're having a monthly business meeting tomorrow, so I'm going. One of the sisters emailed me today that the local collegiate chapter has some openings on their advisory council, so I might get involved with that, depending on how tomorrow goes.
3. Starbucks isn't terrible. The people are pretty nice, and most of the customers have the southern politeness that people in Malvern didn't, so that makes the job less awful. Plus, I'm only working part time, so there's that.
4. I'm 61 books into my 100 book challenge. Looks like I'll be exceeding my goal again this year. I'll probably end up hitting 120-130 if I keep on the way I'm going. I'm currently reading Fahrenheit 451 because it's the Nerdfighter Summer Book Club book, and so far I'm liking it. I love dystopian novels so much.
5. Did I mention Camp Rock is on?


The only thing currently stressing me out is that I left my car at a shop today to get the air checked out, and they haven't called me back? If I were home this wouldn't be an issue because I'd know who had my car, but I just randomly picked a garage close to me instead of a place my family has used for years, and I'm a little nervous. I want my car!

Also- here's a question I have: how does one go about finding blogs to follow/other bloggers?

Do Books Beat iPad Apps?

No, that isn't a question I need you to answer for me. That is, in all seriousness, a question posed by the USA Today Books twitter account.

My response: "Is that a real question?"

I would not have even read this article if it weren't for the fact that it was part of an interview with John Green, one of my favorite authors, about the upcoming Nerdfighter Summer Book Club and the book of choice, Fahrenheit 451. So, I read this article, and yes, USA Today genuinely wants a response to whether or not books are better than iPad apps. I don't even think I need to argue that point- anyone who is reading my blog probably appreciates books more than apps- if that is untrue, I sincerely hope you found me on accident and aren't actually like, a friend?

Thankfully most of the responses were eloquently worded- "duh." But now I have to wonder. Because Green did mention that there is talk in the publishing world about how there is a push to make books more like apps- quick and flashy and ... applike? Is this a thing that I have to worry about? Don't get me wrong- I have (and love) a kindle fire, and a smartphone with a kindle app, and I frequently read on those devices, but the books are still the same as the hardcover versions. Is my future going to be books that are completely flashy and require an iPad or kindle to read? I'm envisioning links and video embedded in every new "book," and if I'm being honest, that sounds just.. gimmicky. (Tiny Book of Tiny Stories, anyone?)

I don't know, man. The future scares me.

Also, is anyone else amused by the fact that every single article mentioning either Green Brother has to define Nerdfighter?