I have long been a very vocal supporter of books (I realize that this is a slightly odd-sounding statement). When I say I support books, I’m talking quite literally about books, and not just reading. I’m all for encouraging people to continue reading actual, physical, paper books. To me, reading on a Kindle is the equivalent…
Read MoreMixed messages
The purpose of any advertising is fairly straightforward – to get you to do something. More often than not they want you to buy something, but ads can also try to convince you to think or feel a certain way about something. However, lately I’ve been seeing more and more ads that just slightly miss the…
Read MoreGuilty pleasures
If you’ve been around the blog lately, you’ll know that I made clear a few things I don’t like. And if you have been around the blog for a while, you’ll know there are a few things I really like. Since it’s a quiet, rainy Saturday, I figured I may as well go one step further and…
Read MoreA little Frenching
It’s been a while since I’ve been immersed in pop music. Part of it is just an age thing, part of it from living abroad, and part of it because pop music is terrible. Sometimes it’s terrible in a good way, but generally I find it to be the regular kind of terrible. But even if…
Read MoreFaking it – Vegetable pasta
Vegetables are not exactly a family favorite in my house. In fact, I routinely joke at how backwards it is that I’m perpetually trying to convince my parents to eat their vegetables. I’ve tried sprinkling broccoli with cheese, tossing green beans with Old Bay, and I even went so far as to call Brussels sprouts “miniature cabbages”…
Read MoreSuck it Trebek
When I was a teenager, I took a Driver’s Ed course offered by my local public school. It was competitive to enroll, because it was far more affordable than taking classes through a private company, but still met the state requirements to get your license. The instructor of the class was a very ornery old…
Read MoreOn qualifying interests
I’m going to start out this post with the sentence that drives some of my friends crazy – I don’t watch Game of Thrones. I’ll give you a moment to let that sink in. I gave the book series a chance before the show was even a glint in HBO’s eye. I read the first one,…
Read MoreIt’s a dirty job
Since returning to America, I’ve had the chance to watch a fair bit of daytime television. This also means that I’ve had the chance to watch a fair bit of daytime advertising. The ads (appropriately so) are demographically split pretty evenly between retired people and women, since these are the two groups most likely to…
Read MoreBaking with beer
Leave me alone for long enough, and I will start cooking things. It’s just what I do. I’ve shared a few of my recent from-scratch health-food experiments, as well as my foray into the wild world of condiments, but last week my kitchen thinking went a little outside the box. Or perhaps I should say,…
Read MoreOn a serious note
When I was in middle school, I went on a student trip to Europe. We spent three weeks touring, starting in Spain and working our way through the mountains into France, then a detour through Switzerland on our way to Germany before ending our trip in Paris. It was a transformative experience for me, instilling…
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Positively Natalie 