California Girl at Heart

It has always been one of my life goals to live in several places before I settle/start a family. I wanted to follow that mantra: "Live once in New York, but leave before it makes you hard. Live in California once, but leave before it makes you soft."

Now, having visited both places, I decided that I only want to live in California, and I don't care if it makes me soft!

One of my best friends lives in NYC, so I get to visit basically whenever I want (thanks Wendz!) Thus, I feel I've gotten a taste of the New York experience, and I can safely say I won't be disappointed if I never get to live there. It's a fun and exciting place for sure, but generally too noisy, smelly, financial, and chaotic for my taste. Plus, everyone wears black and eats bran, and I just can't handle that.

I also recently visited Miami, and had an unforgettably amazing time. I initially added it to my list of places to live one day, but then snapped back to reality and realized it's too trendy, muggy, and even pretentious for me to like in real life.

But THENNNN... I visited Los Angeles.... and completely fell in love <3.

First off, the weather is absolutely perfect, but that is no secret. Warm, dry, breezy, sunny. They even party outside. Partying outside is now my new favorite thing. And where else can you do it, practically year 'round?

Secondly, I have honestly never felt so comfortable in a "strange" place. I was there for only 2 and a half days, but I made friends that I am still in touch with, and would actually call up if I need a place to stay or someone to hang out with. And the best part of it all is that they were all completely different people. Almost everywhere else I've been has had strict divides between social groups... certain groups of people just don't hang out with other groups of people. I know I have a certain stereotypical image, and that drives some people away. I hate that, because like all kinds of people and want to be friends with everyone. DC's culture is particularly political and judgmental. In LA, however, people who normally would never be friendly to me would talk to me like we'd been friends all along. Girls who you'd think would be competitive and bitchy were super sweet... and hey, maybe it was superficial, but they did a great job of acting the part, and I can appreciate at least that much. :)

Thirdly, Rodeo Drive > 5th Avenue.

Fourthly, the guys are confident, beautiful, and comparatively less predatorial. They are confident enough to approach you and talk to you, but down to earth and chill enough to set you at ease, give you some space, and not give you the creeps. They play fewer games and are considerably more straightforward. I never meet normal boys in DC. During my weekend in LA, I met at least 5 that I would have gone out with in a heartbeat.

Fifthly, you can't beat California style! I love the loose fitting clothes, the denim, the flip flops, the wavy loose hair or the messy ponytails... everything is just so much less..stuffy.

Sixthly, everyone is SO relaxed. Even rush hour had fewer honkers.

Finally, everyone is happy to call LA home... and it shows. :)

The only downsides... It is definitely a place where people go to make it big and make connections. This of course is partially where my Perk #2-- Friendly People-- likely comes from (in addition to the constant sunshine). But it could also get really exhausting in the long run... and perhaps even more damaging in terms of friendships (where almost everyone has an agenda!)

Plus, LAX security lines are a b*tch. But hey, if you are only there for a year or two, who cares!

So, who wants to go with me?!

Poor Britney

Has Lynne Spears learned nothing?! Why is she STILL selling out her kids with that ridiculous new book? If my mom wrote a book about me and told everyone my secrets, I'd be so upset. Seriously, who tells the world when their daughter lost their virginity? Ewww. 

I Knew This Would Happen!!!

I'm about to get on my feminist soap box again, folks. 

John McCain recently selected his VP running mate, Alaska governor Sarah Palin, a woman who (despite your political leanings, you must admit) has accomplished a great deal and established herself in the political community (my sister even studied her in her left-leaning Psych of Women class.) 

And yet, already, Sarah has been plastered all over tabloid magazines and trashy blogs as if she was Lindsay or Britney. I know that all the candidates have made appearances in these publications, but to my knowledge, few have been accompanied by such cheap sensational headlines like "Mother of Five: New Embarrassing Surprises," or "Sarah Palin: Babies, Lies, and Scandal." Not to mention the casual and lascivious remarks about her boobs, her "sexy" factor in general, or even the college photos of her looking like "white trash." (She looks like a normal college kid in a tee shirt to me!!!) The news about her daughter's teen pregnancy, and now her own apparent shotgun wedding, are more expected in a presidential race of course, but nevertheless still loaded with sexist implications.

First, this proves the point that attractive women will never be taken seriously and viewed as human, rather than a sex symbol, a bitch, or a trainwreck. Hillary Clinton knew this enough to minimize her own femininity, even going so far as to turn down a cover shot for the classy and iconic Vogue Magazine in an effort to distance herself from anything typically feminine. Palin was a smiley beauty queen. Let's face it... she's doomed.

Second, anything from a woman's past WILL haunt her more than anything from a man's past. People are scandalized by pictures of Palin basically wearing jammies in her college dorm room... wait till they find a picture of her in her swimsuit on spring break... OMG!!! I have a hard time thinking of any intelligent, upstanding girl from my generation who will successfully run for president unless she has avoided ever being photographed in a bikini, or even, say, a pink sundress. Why does a female leader have to look and act like a man? 

Not to mention, premarital affairs and pregnancy are death sentences, making a woman "trashy" and "loose." But of course, our male presidents and wannabe-presidents never had such indiscretions *insert sarcasm here*. And if they did, luckily for them they didn't have uteruses to broadcast this to the world. Women always bear the brunt and win the "slut" title, even though it takes two to tango. It's a shame that women have to de-feminize in order to keep a man respecting her... and to help him keep his pants on.

I think the fact that Palin has accomplished so much without the privilege of having done everything perfectly, without the elitism and the wealth, and with the burdens of young pregnancy, disabled children, etc, makes her even more impressive. The fact that she also practices what she preaches and actually lives by her standards instead of just forcing them on everyone else (whether you agree with her beliefs or not), is a positive attribute I can give to very few politicians at all. She doesn't even try to cover it up. (And I give Obama, who was the product of a teen pregnancy himself, major props for standing up for her and her family, and for pointing out that those types of issues do not reflect your parenting or presidential capability.)

Sadly, many men and women still associate females with sex, emotion, vulnerability, and scandal.  And they usually pay the higher price for all of the above than men do, whether it's reputation, babies, career--you name it.  CNN recently published an article about the culture's obsession with female "trainwrecks," and how we love to watch women go down... especially publicly.  Unfortunately, I feed into it too, reading the blogs and magazines that make their money off of women in trouble. But all it does is keep us in this rut where we will never be taken seriously as leaders, as professionals, or even as mothers. Everyone is seriously waiting for these women to fail, and hoping it happens in the most titillating way possible.

So far, it seems that Sarah Palin is their next victim.