15- Forks over Knives

Today I watched a life changing video that I hope I find the strength to live my life by. Over a week ago my parents informed me that they were going vegan, hearing this from my Midwestern, right-winged parents was quite the shock. They told me about Forks Over Knives a video on Netflix that they had watched and they encouraged me to check it out.  Finally over a week later I watched it. I have always been a fairly health conscious person, especially being born with a long list of food allergies, but I never took my health as serious as I should. 

Forks Over Knives opened my eyes to they way I should really be living my life, on a plant based diet. The documentary showed people with all sorts of health problems ranging anywhere from diabetes to cancer, who were able to turn their lives around cutting out meat and dairy. It scares me how much the food industry and even our government has forced the idea on people that in order to be healthy you must have a balanced diet filled with meat and dairy, when really the best diet is one that has neither. Protein is present in many foods, and the body needs far less than led on. 

One of the most shocking aspects of this video was the studies that showed how animal based foods actually promoted the growth of cancer in the body. One of the points made by the doctors in this video that I found inspiring and convincing was that yes going on a completely plant based diet is extreme, but not nearly as extreme as the amount of medications or surgeries that you will have to have if we continue to eat the way we do.

The decision to live a vegan lifestyle is a huge decision for me and I'm sure I will have many slip ups in the beginning,  but I know that if I want to have the best life possible this is what I have to do.

Wish me luck!

You can check out the trailer here.

14-Monday Funday

I found myself pressing the snooze button more than usual this morning, every 5 minutes for an hour to be exact. You do the math. I'm dreaming of summer days and drinks on the beach with not a care in the world, yet summer often makes me long for the fall. Funny how that works. With the term starting to wind down I am beginning to reach that point of total self destruction, no longer having any sort of motivation to finish the term with the bang that I should.
Today is one of those days where all I want to do is lay in my bed and watch Netflix, I just started Sons of Anarchy, which turned out to be the worst idea ever. Whenever I find myself falling into a Netflix slum, where I just watch episode after episode of some mindless television show I make myself watch a documentary. I find that after watching a especially good documentary I get a little more inspired to get back to the real world and be passionate about something. One that I recently watched that made me truly inspired was the documentary Art and Copy. This documentary about advertising helped me get excited about this fascinating career path that I have chosen for myself.

13- Cultivate a Better World

I find this video so powerful and I love the message it is trying to send. I am very passionate about natural farming and I struggle to eat only organic food. I find America's food industry to be a terrifying thing and have first hand experience with the hazardous effects of it.
Chipotle does a great job with this video showing how they are different than other chain restaurants out there and what they are doing to make sure they have the best ingredients possible, something a lot of people including myself want to see more of.
The use of a recognizable song and artist, Willie Nelson was a great decision and was very effective drawing at the emotions of its viewers. The cute little farm animals were also very effective, embarrassed to say I teared up a little bit. Just a little bit.

12- Pressures and Lies of the Beauty Industry

Theses powerful campaigns made by Dove show how misconstrued beauty in advertising is. 

The first Video is called Onslaught, it shows all the images that this young girl sees daily. I think this is a great campaign because it draws attention to the fact that body image disorders start at a young age and the beauty image is partial to blame.

The second video is called Evolution and it shows the change that this women goes through in order to be placed on a billboard. The amount of photo shop used on the model is ridiculous and she is barely even recognized. This fuels the issue of body image disorders in the world as well. 

11- Goodbye Balloons?

It has recently come to my attention that the world's source of helium is rapidly depleting. I discovered this  one day when a little girl came up to me while I was at work (Red Robin) and asked me for a pink balloon. When I went to fill up the empty balloon nothing came out of the helium tank, after inquiring with my manager he informed me that we were temporarily out due to the shortage. This left the girl saddened and me puzzled. It made me wonder, what would happen if the Earth ran out?
Helium is a nonrenewable resource that is either made by the sun or decay of terrestrial rock. (learn more here!) Despite my original belief, helium is more useful than to make little kids smile, it is most commonly used in MRI scanners, radiation monitors, and is even used by NASA.
All these are far more important and had me concerned that if we are soon to run out of this very useful gas forever, and haven't yet found a replacement for it, why do we continue to use it for unimportant things like floating, plastic bubbles! What if this element is the secret behind the cure for cancer, and we are wasting it on balloons?

10-Things to live by

Written by the truly inspirational Regina Brett

1. Life isn't fair, but it's still good.

2. When in doubt, just take the next small step.

3. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.

4. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.

5. Pay off your credit cards every month.

6. You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.

7. Cry with someone. It's more healing than crying alone.

8. It's OK to get angry with God. He can take it.

9. Save for retirement starting with your first paycheck.

10. When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.

11. Make peace with your past so it won't screw up the present.

12. It's OK to let your children see you cry.

13. Don't compare your life to others'. You have no idea what their journey is all about.

14. If a relationship has to be a secret, you shouldn't be in it.

15. Everything can change in the blink of an eye. But don't worry; God never blinks.

16. Life is too short for long pity parties. Get busy living, or get busy dying.

17. You can get through anything if you stay put in today.

18. A writer writes. If you want to be a writer, write.

19. It's never too late to have a happy childhood. But the second one is up to you and no one else.

20. When it comes to going after what you love in life, don't take no for an answer.

21. Burn the candles, use the nice sheets, wear the fancy lingerie. Don't save it for a special occasion. Today is special.

22. Overprepare, then go with the flow.

23. Be eccentric now. Don't wait for old age to wear purple.

24. The most important sex organ is the brain.

25. No one is in charge of your happiness except you.

26. Frame every so-called disaster with these words: "In five years, will this matter?"

27. Always choose life.

28. Forgive everyone everything.

29. What other people think of you is none of your business.

30. Time heals almost everything. Give time time.

31. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.

32. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends will. Stay in touch.

33. Believe in miracles.

34. God loves you because of who God is, not because of anything you did or didn't do.

35. Whatever doesn't kill you really does make you stronger.

36. Growing old beats the alternative - dying young.

37. Your children get only one childhood. Make it memorable.

38. Read the Psalms. They cover every human emotion.

39. Get outside every day. Miracles are waiting everywhere.

40. If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else's, we'd grab ours back.

41. Don't audit life. Show up and make the most of it now.

42. Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful.

43. All that truly matters in the end is that you loved.

44. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.

45. The best is yet to come.

46. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.

47. Take a deep breath. It calms the mind.

48. If you don't ask, you don't get.

49. Yield.

50. Life isn't tied with a bow, but it's still a gift..

9-Your Move

I've never been a fan of advertising that feels they have to put down another brand in order to sell their own, so when Audi displayed this billboard in Santa Monica, California BMW responded in what I feel  to be the perfect way. The ad agency behind BMW's bold response was Juggernaut Advertising, a small independent agency based in Santa Monica, showing small agency's can do great things. The billboard battle was even told in Art an Copy, a documentary about the world of advertising.  The billboards were placed across the street from one another  creating an immense amount of tension. Audi's rebuttal was weak and poorly executed, showing the risks of challenging another brand to a duel in ads. 

8- Give it a listen

There is something magical about this song.
It is one of those songs that you can listen to over and over and each time you find something different you like about it.  I first heard this song last year around this time and still listen to it nearly daily.
The Weeknd is a different kind of music that borders between R&B and alternative.
It is amazing how a song can change the mood of a person, it makes it so powerful. I feel that I can almost completely change my mood just by what song I listen to.

7- What I Bring to the Table

I take great pride in the work that I do and take my work very seriously. I am never late, am a quick responder with emails, and I am ready to dedicate a vast amount of time to this project. I am artistic and creative and want a team member who is looking to scramble our minds together to create something truly brilliant. I am so very excited to get working on this project and see the amazing work that we will create.