M|m: One Awesome Wizard

Things That Must Go (Thank You for the blog title, Kerry, Bill and Gina)

I figured my last post could do with some sort of nemesis or "anti-post." And...it just makes for an easy way to vocalize things I'm not liking. aka: complain.

Number 1 today is this song by Maroon 5. It's bad enough that the music at work is left on stations I normally wouldn't listen to, let alone that I have to hear this song multiple times and have it stuck in my head for HOURS.

The heat! Holy cow, it's hard to sleep at night when it's 80 degrees inside. And forget making anything with the oven or stove.

People who leave their blinker on forever. It blinks by your speedometer and makes a noise so you know it's still on. Pay attention people.

Bug bites...all over my legs.

Stuff I'm Enjoying

How cool would this room be?
Forget it being a kid's room, I'd probably love that as my own bedroom.

I've wanted these shoes in turquoise since I saw them at the beginning of the summer season. Unfortunately, I was too cheap to pay full price. Luckily, I saw them today and they were on sale. yay!

Netflix made me so happy recently. I've loved this show, but for some reason could never remember to watch it, and then realized I was too behind to start again once I actually found out what time new episodes were on. And que instant watch on netflix. I am currently caught up on the last two seasons.

My current make-up love - lip stains. I still love the usual glosses and lipsticks, but what I've run into is that I don't wear them to work since the dust from my job tends to stick to my lips if I do. Gross, I know. Enter lip stains.

Someone buy me this couch. Pretty please?

Wonder how easy this dress would really be...

M|m: Hunger Crisis in Horn of Africa

fam·ine

noun

1. Extreme and general scarcity of food, as in a country or large geographical area.

2. Any extreme and general scarcity.

3. Extreme hunger; starvation.

"This is worse than 1992," said Lul Mohamed, Banadir’s head of pediatrics, referring to Somalia’s last famine. 
"Back then, at least we had some help."
Photo: Tyler Hicks/The New York Times

A child at a hospital in Mogadishu. A few years ago, the Shabab started banning immunizations, deeming them a Western plot to kill Somali children, and this has made matters even worse as tens of thousands of malnourished, immunity-suppressed people flee the drought-stricken areas and converge on the filthy, crowded camps in Mogadishu. It’s not only starvation that kills people during famine, but also opportunistic, highly contagious diseases like cholera, measles and typhoid.
Photo: Tyler Hicks/The New York Times

Sometimes I avoid watching or keeping up on world news because it can have such a depressing factor. And although it is embarrassing to admit, it is more often easier to have ignorance than it is to look a problem in the eye and have the motivation to do something about it. I think one of the largest reasons I have a hard time doing something is because I don't really know where to start. Problems like world hunger are so large and daunting that it seems almost impossible. Usually the thought comes to mind that even though I may donate money to a cause, even my entire life's savings wouldn't be able to make a dent in how many suffering people need it. (Enter depressing thoughts all over again.) But I constantly remind myself that no matter how small, every little bit helps. I also like to think that if everyone had a cynical mind and never contributed simply because they thought their contributions wouldn't matter, this world would be an even worse place. 

Last week I decided to make a channel stop on the television and watch Anderson Cooper on CNN. He was in Africa covering the famine. It's awful to think of what the people there are having to go through. 

"What is happening in the Horn of Africa is the most severe humanitarian emergency in the world today and the worst that East Africa has seen in several decades,"

-U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton,  
"U.N. far short of dollars to deal with Africa famine" By Nima Elbagir and Moni Basu, CNN

Many of them travel for a month or more on foot in order to make it to the areas where relief and aid are set up only to find that there isn't much relief to be had. People are gathering in such large quantities and so often, that the relief efforts cannot keep up. Although famine is about lack of food, it isn't the only devastation met by the people in East Africa. Famine causes a ripple effect of problems. 

"What happens during famine is that people die of epidemic diseases like measles and malaria ... and if we can't support health activities then we will lose a lot of lives unnecessarily."

-Mark Bowden, U.N. Coordinator for Somalia, 
"U.N. far short of dollars to deal with Africa famine" By Nima Elbagir and Moni Basu, CNN

After reading various articles, I wanted to see what can be done to help. I came across this article, "You have the power to end hunger" which gave me some inspiration, if you will. It led me to more articles and resources that show ways to get involved in a fight against world hunger. One of them is actually to play a game. Not too hard right? For every correct answer, rice is donated through the World Food Programme to help end hunger.

Visit http://freerice.com/ to play. It's free to play and just a few minutes wracking your brain for correct answers helps someone find food. 

You can also read this article which gives many options on quick, easy ways to help. 

i.e. donate through text, phone call, or foundation websites. 

For more information on how to get involved beyond donating, visit the World Hunger Programme's website.

Each person makes a difference. 

M|m: Laundry