5.22.2014

The Photoshop Craze

(Warning: This is a rant post. There's probably some grammar and spelling errors...)

If you think I'm going to write about how unethical, terrible, and negatively influential excessive photoshopping is, you're wrong. This post is not about the Photoshopping everything craze, it's about the sharing videos of how people photoshop everything craze.

I am a big big fan of Tina Fey and her book Bossypants, and I agree with her," Do I worry about overly retouched photos giving women unrealistic expectations and body image issues? I do. I think that we will soon see a rise in anorexia in women over seventy. Because only people over seventy are fooled by Photoshop."

I just saw another link on my FB feed to a site filled with celebrity before and after Photoshop photos. Who cares? Kristen Stewart's waist is actually three inches bigger? No way! That matters to me! In my opinion, if we all know that pictures are photoshopped, then what's the harm? We all know that people dye their hair, and we don't get upset because our hair is less yellow than theirs (again, I'm a big Bossypants fan).

Maybe I'm just sick of seeing articles, lists, photos, and videos fill up the internet with the evils of Photoshop. Is it possible that we watch these because we like to compare ourselves to more realistic images of beautiful people rather than unrealistic ones? Comparing is comparing. Is it really better to give ourselves uglier things to compare ourselves to so we feel better? I don't think so. I think it's just as damaging. Our generation already has inflated egos, and I don't believe we should rely on comparisons to increase injured self-image.

A healthy self-image comes from within. It comes from loving ourselves inside and out, and not caring about the little things. Not caring about the little zit. The little gush. The big zit. The lottle gush. Maybe this is the Yogi within me, but we should focus on serving others and finding peace within ourselves. When we do that, slowly our self-image woes disappear. Self-deprecation, low self-esteem and low self-image don't magically go away, and we probably all have those kinds of thoughts, but there's a better way to fight those feelings than seeking out the truth behind photoshopped images.

Also, Photoshop can be pretty cool! See?



5.16.2014

College Plans-Short

I'm finally really getting into my major. If you examine that sentence, you'll see that I have a bit to go. In twoish years I will have a BA in English and a BA in Theatre (if all goes according to plan). After that, I'll be on my way to *drum roll* MORE SCHOOL! My plan is to keep on schooling it up until I get my doctorate in...something...English related...

Often times, students stop being students after getting their bachelor's degrees.There's nothing wrong with that, but quite frankly, an associate's degree is the new high school degree. SO, a bachelor's degree is the new associates. By the time, I've gotten my doctorate, it'll probably be the new master's and another degree will have been invented. In any case, I will be Dr. Rios, and I like the way that sounds.


5.13.2014

Purple Hair 2

I wrote my last post mainly so that the "Share the Real" post wasn't the first thing you see when you come to my blog. I hate that picture. I hate it. I understand that writing another post to push that one down the screen defeats the purpose of the "Share the Real" post, but at least I can admit it. However, my last post lacked substance. It was the only thing I could think of at the time, and I wanted to show off my new hair.
However, there is something to purple hair. There is a real reason I dyed my hair purple. So, this is Purple Hair 2, the post on purple hair that actually has something to it.

My style, if you call that, is unique. Mostly because I like to dress a certain way, but I try to avoid getting labeled. I'm not a girly girl. I'm not a punk. I'm not a tomboy. I'm not a sophisticated lady. I'm just Nikole and I dress different all the time because I like it. However, there are things I like to remain consistent with my style.

1. White Skin.
My skin is so white, it's practically translucent. I've tanned before and I liked it at the time, but Taylor just loves my pasty, pale, white skin. I used to really hate it. I mean, I'm so white that my skin is barely different than my wedding dress. But now, I see beauty in it, and I don't really want to change it. And white skin offers a pallet for all sorts of fun looks. I guess, every skin color does, but I like my skin pallet being super white. So, I won't tan on purpose, and I'll dye my hair crazy to see the contrast against my skin.


2. Feathers
My nickname used to be Quail in high school. No matter what kind of outfit I'm sporting on any given day, feathers can, and should, be included. I don't wear feathers every day, and thinking about it, I'd like to wear them more often, but the fact remains that they go with everything. And I love them.

3. Inconsistency 
Yes, it is the surprise ending to this post that we all knew was coming.One of my style consistencies is that I like inconsistency. I get bored. I get bored with my clothes, my shoes, my jewelry, and my hair. I don't think I should stick with any style just because people think that I should. All of those quizzes online that tell you what your style is are weird. Why do you have to have a style? Why can't we all just wear what we think looks good and that we are comfortable in? Why is purple hair so weird when completely changing our hair to blonde, brown, or red isn't? Why can't I love black jeans and dark makeup one day, and then a floral dress the next? I can, and do, love glitter and purple and Tim Burton AND black lipstick. I think everyone has different tastes like that. I think that we just pretend we don't so that we can have an identifier. Belonging to something feels good, but we don't admit it. We like being girly or dark or whatever. We love it, but we pretend we don't. We pretend we're unique by loving everything we think the group we identify with loves. It's odd and confusing and I don't do that.

I belong to group inconsistency, and I love whatever the heck I want to.

5.12.2014

Purple Hair

I dye my hair all the time. My natural color of hair is mousy and boring, and I like to feel, well, not mousy and boring. The first time I dyed my hair "crazy" and liked it was three years ago. My friends and I all decided to get a splash of red in our hair.Oh, and I wanted the red to be against black so it would stick out more. Almost everyone I talked to asked if I regretted the decision. After all, "dying your hair back from black is so hard!" Well. I don't care about dying my hair back to dull blond. So, no. I don't regret it.

Since then, I've tried a lot of different colors. I love them all.

Anyway, here's my latest change:
Before
After
I kind of miss my blonde streak and the more naturalish look, but I change my hair so often for a reason. I love looking different and changing. I'll change it again. And again. And again.

But for now, I love my purple hair.

5.09.2014

Share the Real

Two of my favorite bloggers (Brielle and Kylee)  wrote about "sharing the real" on their blogs today. And two is a lot, because as you can tell from my follower count and my lack of commenting, I don't read as many blogs as I want to. Sharing the real, however, is something that I used to really really struggle with. My friends had blogs that were beautiful and their lives were so fun and great! It's when I realized how fake some of these people were online, that I decided to not be that way...as much.


“Which is the true nightmare, the horrific dream that you have in your sleep or the dissatisfied reality that awaits you when you awake?” 
-Justin Alcala
Why are we so afraid of reality? Why can't we accept what is real? Is it bad that we don't..?

I've stopped writing as often and stopped caring as much about what I write and how it might make others mad. But even then, I never put unflattering pictures on here. I mean, gosh, I never thought about it, but as far as y'all can tell, I'm pretty cute! So here it is. This is the picture that caused my husband to nickname me Princess Plumpy. This picture has been hidden in the deep recess of Facebook. When I found this picture after years of pretending it never happened, I thought for sure that I had set it on fire with pure mind power. Unfortunately, that would mean setting the internet on fire, and I don't really know how to do that.

As I scoured to find this picture, I thought to myself: I can't believe I'm doing this.  I even deleted the previous paragraph, but then ctrl-z'd it back into existence. I'm not telling you which one is me. Okay fine, I'm the one with the bad dye job.

By the way, my friends are great.
I wore those pants a lot. Like every day. I was trying to be modest. I wasn't completely invested in the LDS church back then, and wearing modest clothes was made easier only because of my insecurities with my body. So, I took my favorite pants, and hacked them off at the knees. Look! Shorts. Oh boy. The purple shirt was a hand-me-down from a girl that was going on a mission to Germany. I had dyed my hair for the first time for a play I was in, but the deep red on stage wasn't the red I got in the sunlight. And that face... *sigh* that is my sexy face.

To be honest, I don't know if I have a crazy pretend life on here, but I always clean my apartment before taking pictures, and cover my zits before selfies. I untag myself in unflattering picture on Facebook, and I keep my toot jokes to myself when it comes to twitter. So, to my few followers (less on bloglovin'..less on Facebook...and even less on twitter), let's stop pretending that  our social media us is real, because it's not. I'm not saying it's the worst in the world to be fake online. Quite frankly, I don't really know. But let's at least accept that it is  fake. Okay? And let's realize that we don't have to be that way.

The Best F Words

5.06.2014

Nature Nerds

Taylor and I are turning into the N&N Squad this summer. That's right! We are going to be nature nerds. We're already nerds, so we're halfway there! Logan is so pretty in the summer, and both of us used to do so stuff outside all the time. I used to hike bridal veil falls almost daily and Taylor used to swim in creeks (cricks) and stuff all the time.There's no reason we can't be like that now! If anyone is from Logan, or anywhere in Idaho or Utah, let us know of any hikes, nature trails or rivers that we should visit.


Hopefully this goal won't fizzle, because we really enjoy it. Plus, we play this game called "Senior Pictures" where we take senior pictures of each other. Okay, we need to come up with more creative names for our games.



This isn't a "Senior Pictures" pic. It's more like a candid sexy one.

5.04.2014

Star Wars vs Audrey: What to Celebrate

May the fourth be with you? Or would you rather take after Google and celebrate the 85th birthday of Audrey Hepburn?

And that's what I have to say about that. 

5.01.2014

#Selfie and Why I Don't Hate It

1950: Remember the conical bra? I don't really, because I wasn't born yet when they were "in."

1960: Lava lamps, on the other hand, are still around.  They're not as popular or cool as they were in the '60s, but whatever. 
1970: Disco will never die! Kinda...
1980: . . .
1990: Remember the pants we all wore in the 90's? Yeah. Thanks mom.
2000: I definitely was a part of the stripey hair fad. Back when highlights didn't have to blend in.

Now: #Selfie

If you haven't guessed by now, and I'm sure you have, I'm trying to show that things fade in and out. Personally, I like to be involved with fads! I want to be the mom that's like, "Yeah. I had one of those cone bras. I rocked it." But I understand why others don't. Fads can be completely ridiculous to amazing to dangerous. And yes, selfies are 100% egotistical and a narcissistic, but you know what?

"I took so many stupid selfies. Wanna see?"
(laughs) "Yeah mom! Oh my goodness! Look at all these? There's so many of them! Man, what a weird time!"

So, that's that. BOOM!