Game Of Thrones Season 3 Cast and Show

ABOUT THE SHOW

"Based on the bestselling fantasy book series by George R.R. Martin, Game of Thrones is an epic story of treachery and nobility set on the continent of Westeros, where summers and winters can last years, and only the lust for power is eternal. ...

"As Blackwater Bay cools [after the end of http://gameofthrones4.blogspot.com/Season 2], the victors consolidate their power and rebuild King's Landing. But new challengers for the Iron Throne rise from the most unexpected places. Characters old and new must navigate the demands of family, honor, ambition, love and – above all – survival, as the Westeros civil war rages into autumn. ...

As season three begins, the Lannisters hold absolute dominion over King's Landing after repelling Stannis Baratheon's forces. Yet Robb Stark, King in the North, still controls much of the South as well, and has yet to lose a battle. In the Far North, Mance Rayder has united the wildlings into the largest army Westeros has ever seen. Only the Night's Watch stands between him and the Seven Kingdoms, but nobody knows what happened to its Lord Commander and the force he led beyond the Wall. Across the Narrow Sea, Daenerys Targaryen – reunited with her three growing dragons – ventures into Slaver's Bay in search of ships to take her home and allies to conquer it."

http://gameofthrones4.blogspot.com/

ABOUT THE CAST

Returning series regulars on Gameof thrones this season include: Emmy and Golden Globe winner Peter Dinklage (Tyrion Lannister), Michelle Fairley (Catelyn Stark), Lena Headey (Cersei Lannister), Emilia Clarke (Daenerys Targaryen), Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Jaime Lannister), Aidan Gillen (Petyr "Littlefinger" Baelish), Iain Glen (Jorah Mormont), Kit Harington (Jon Snow), Richard Madden (Robb Stark), Charles Dance (Tywin Lannister), Maisie Williams (Arya Stark), Isaac Hempstead Wright (Bran Stark), Sophie Turner (Sansa Stark) and Jack Gleeson (Joffrey Baratheon).

Additional returning series regulars this season include: Alfie Allen (Theon Greyjoy), Jerome Flynn (Bronn), Rory McCann (Sandor "The Hound" Clegane), Conleth Hill (Varys), John Bradley (Samwell Tarly), Gwendoline Christie (Brienne of Tarth), James Cosmo (Commander Jeor Mormont), Stephen Dillane (Stannis Baratheon), Carice van Houten (Melisandre), Liam Cunningham (Davos Seaworth), Sibel Kekilli (Shae), Rose Leslie (Ygritte) and Natalie Dormer (Margaery Tyrell).

http://gameofthrones4.blogspot.com/

Game Of Thrones Season 3

Game Of Thrones - Feel like you know nothing, Jon Snow? That will soon change! HBO has been teasing out little details on Game of Thrones Season 3, and today they released intel on the premiere, which will air on Sunday, March 31.
"VALAR DOHAERIS"

Debut: Sunday, March 31 (9:00-10:00 p.m. ET/PT)
Synopsis: "Jon is brought before Mance Rayder, the King Beyond the Wall, while the Night's Watch survivors retreat south. In King's Landing, Tyrion asks for his reward. Littlefinger offers Sansa a way out. Cersei hosts a dinner for the royal family. Daenerys sails into Slaver's Bay."
Credit: Helen Sloan/HBO
Please visit http://gameofthrones4.blogspot.com/

Nostalgic for a Time We Never Knew

Justin Timberlake

Emmy Rossum just had an album come out called "Sentimental Journey" with American standards on it. Justin Timberlake came out with an album of music that reflects the style of the 1960s and soul. The Fall 2013 Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week featured silhouettes akin to the high fashion of the 1940s and 1950s. Are we looking back and being nostalgic for a time we never knew?

Whenever I listen to Ella Fitzgerald or Louis Armstrong I feel like I'm transported back to a romantic time. Hollywood was full of "old" glamour, there was a standard of etiquette that everyone had, and it seems like it was simpler than current times. I know it's just a feeling, and that there were problems and scandals back then, but it's fascinating that people in their mid to late 20s are wanting to bring that feeling along into the 21st century.

And the way fashion is going right now, the younger girls are headed back to the 80s, but the business ladies and more dressed up women have silhouettes straight out of the 50s. I love it! As someone in their mid-20s who does not want to have all of their skin showing, it's refreshing to see necklines higher and hemlines longer.

I think that we are getting to the point where technology is continuing and the world is going faster and faster, and there are some of us who are tired of it. At 24, I'm exhausted! Just this morning Apple said they're going to be coming out next year with a ring that will be a remote for the new Apple TV. Reports earlier in the week mentioned that the new iPhone could come out as early as this summer (didn't we just get the iPhone 5?!). It feels like we never slow down. I would love to go back to a time in which men were romantic, children were polite, and hemlines were closer to our knees.

Until I figure out how to build a time machine, I think I'll just put on the "Sentimental Journey" album and let "These Foolish Things" pass.

Emmy Rossum

"Be the change you wish to see in the world." --Gandhi

Rerun: Is Having Sex With Teachers Okay?

Sarah Jones as a BenGal

Sarah Jones, of Northern Kentucky, is a former Ben-Gal cheerleader-turned-teacher facing two criminal charges: having sex with a 17-year-old student and wrongful use of electronic means to coerce a minor into engaging in sexual activity. Each one of these charges could come with up to five years in prison. This is the Huffington Post's story on the case in early August. Jones has maintained since her resignation in November that she is not guilty, and was actually blaming some of the high school girls for what happened. Two weeks ago, however, the court deemed it appropriate to include text messages and emails in the evidence used in the case. The extremely public trial was set to begin later this week, but this morning we woke up to the news that Sarah Jones is going to accept a plea bargain later today. On GMA this morning, one of their legal analysts said that the bargain will almost certainly reduce her punishment to maybe a month in jail, or even just parole!

It is absolutely incredible to me that a teacher who had sex with her student might only get a month in jail. Granted, her teaching career is over, so that's a rather large punishment, but only a month in jail?! That is nothing, compared to what that student is going to go through. We don't know his story because he is a minor, but it's not too hard to figure out: He has a crush on her, ends up flirting with her a little bit, she sees it as a thrill to be able to manipulate the student, while he thinks he's in charge of the situation; and then it goes too far.

This student has no idea what his life is going to be like now: How is he going to trust anyone again? She was married, but still had sex with him. Why should he ever trust that a woman who tells him that she loves him isn't cheating on him behind his back? Or why should he trust that the school he sends his kids to someday will keep them safe? It's the school's responsibility to keep the students safe, and his school's administration did not keep him safe. At least he can trust the fact that she will not be teaching ever again and will never do this to another student.

One that I find extraordinary is the reaction of the public to this case. Comments on some of the stories I was looking at this morning included, "I want to give that guy a high-five for that. She's hot. Who really wants to make a big deal over some teen getting some from an NFL cheerleader. Someone is jealous" and "All she will get will be a slap on the wrist...I'd gladly slap her, but not on the wrist." WHAT?! Is it just me, or is our society incredibly skewed when it comes to this kind of stuff? If it were a man having sex with a female student, he would be absolutely abhorred by the general public. Because this teacher is apparently "hot," though, this student is actually having people giving him props for having sex with her, and no one seems to care a whole lot that she was an authority figure who took advantage of her position. This is a problem that really needs to be addressed! Teachers are people who parents entrust their children's well-being to, and if parents can't be sure that teachers are not taking advantage of their children, the public education system is definitely going to lose credibility. The fact that I wrote an article similar to this one a month ago means that there is an absolutely huge problem in our schools. How can this be happening so much? And how many teachers are committing heinous acts like this and haven't been caught yet? And when they do get caught, are they getting prosecuted?

Students, please report anything you're seeing or hearing in regards to this topic. Teachers who commit crimes need to be taken down. They are supposedly pillars of our society, and if they are running around being inappropriate with students, they need to be taken out of that position. Let's stop this, please. All of us need to work together to make this something that is not okay. If you, personally, do not want to get involved, then use the anonymous tip lines. They are anonymous. Get these teachers out of our schools. Keep our kids safe.

UPDATE: Sarah Jones was charged with a misdemeanor around 9:45am EDT. A misdemeanor. That's it. Wow.

"Be the change you wish to see in the world." --Gandhi

Reds Opening Day!

Reds hat I knitted.

Yesterday was Opening Day for the Cincinnati Reds! Since I moved to the Cincinnati area last summer, I decided that this season I should at least try to watch baseball and learn the game. I am a newbie baseball fan so I thought it would be fun to have a slightly comedic take on the games. I'll keep writing about my journey to become a baseball fan through the Reds' season. The only baseball experience I've ever had was a Cubs game back in 2002, a Twins game in 2011, and a few Louisville Bats games. I had fun at them, but didn't understand the game.

New Vocabulary (I'll be sharing three new items I've learned each post.)
bullpen - the place where pitchers warm up
ERA - Earned Run Average: "mean of earned runs given up by a pitcher per nine innings pitched."
K - Used for a strike-out; started by Henry Chadwick, a newspaper journalist for the word "struck" since "S" was already taken. A forward K is used when the batter swings to strike out. A backwards K is used when he lets the ball pass and it was in the strike zone.

Yesterday I sat down to watch the game around 3:45pm. All of the Los Angeles Angels were introduced (I saw "Angels in the Outfield" last year for the first time!). And then all of the Cincinnati Reds were introduced, from the manager to the coaches to the players to the eighth graders who hope someday to be in the Major League!

I was shocked when one of our players got hit with the ball! Choo is a new player with the Reds this year and he has a lot of potential (they said). But the pitcher for the Angels hit him in the ankle! He walked to first. I was just surprised that that was allowed--I'm used to watching basketball where fouls are called all the time.

I sat through and watched the first inning. It was scoreless and I was getting irritated because nothing was happening! I left the game on while I went to do some dishes. Because I went to the kitchen, I missed the first home run of the game! One to nothing for the bad guys. ;-)

I came back to watch after 5pm and Choo made it to home plate! One to one! But on the same play one of our good guys, Ludwick, slid into third base and dislocated his shoulder. It looked very painful. Someone came in to substitute for him...a "pinch runner" I think? He didn't really do too well.

I was taking notes through the game and this is a direct quote from my notes: "I don't know why the players chew so much gum, but it's disgusting. We do not want to see that." When my fiancé got home, he explained to me that chewing tobacco is a part of baseball culture, but they aren't allowed to use it during a game. He said that they chew sunflower seeds or gum during a game but they will use chewing tobacco during practice or something. Gross! They were all spitting so much during the game--I was seriously disgusted.

The game went on and on and on...for a while I thought it would be over maybe three or three and a half hours after it started. But it was tied so it got "extra innings." Four extra innings later, the Angels went up 3-1. And we lost. It was a rather anticlimactic way to end a five hour game--they barely showed the teams shaking hands and focused on one or two players instead of doing the football or basketball thing of showing the whole stadium. It was just over.

I think baseball is something I could learn to really like, but last night's game was kind of a tragic beginning to my being a Reds fan. I hope the next few games are more entertaining. My fiancé said that there are tons of statistics involved in being a baseball fan. I like stats, but there has to be entertainment in the games for me to stay hooked. ;-)

Hopefully we'll do better on Wednesday (definitely won't
be watching--it's too late) or Thursday (will probably watch that game) when we play the Angels again. In the meantime, I've downloaded the MLB Baseball app, will work on learning what all the abbreviations mean, and will learn some more players on "my" team, the Reds.

"It's not whether you get knocked down, it's whether you get back up." --Vince Lombardi

Louisville Cardinals: A True CardNation

One of my friends and me in the
Cardinal Marching Band--in 2007!

I am a HUGE Louisville Cardinals fan! I'm a UofL alum and I watch all of our football and men's basketball games (I don't watch ALL of the women's games, but our women's basketball team beat #1 BAYLOR last night!!!). Our men's basketball team is currently the favorite to win the NCAA Tournament. We played Duke in the Elite Eight yesterday.

With about six and a half minutes left in the first half, Kevin Ware suffered the worst sports injury I've ever seen. He had jumped up to block a shot and when he came down, the lower part of his right leg just shattered. The entire UofL bench (in front of whom the injury happened) turned away in horror. Siva, Behanan, and Blackshear were just sitting on the court, sickened after having seen the injury. Half the team and Coach Petino were in tears. And Ware, with a bone sticking out of his leg, was yelling to the team huddled on the court that he wanted to talk to them. He told them over and over, "I'll be okay, just win the game." And they did. By 22 points.

I have never seen a team pull together the way the Cardinals did. The visceral reaction to Ware's injury and the 17-2 run they had in the second half to pull away from Duke showed that this group of young men is special. They are so much more than just a basketball team. The love and commitment those guys showed for each other was absolutely phenomenal.

I am amazed at the strides medical technology has had! Joe Theismann had a just-as-horrifying injury that ended his career back in 1985 (he said that he was watching the game yesterday and felt a "shiver" when Ware had his injury). Michael Bush suffered a very similar injury while he was playing at Louisville and two years later, made his NFL debut (Bush tweeted yesterday after Ware's injury, "I just cried."). Kevin Ware had surgery last night and is expected to be back in a year. He'll probably redshirt for the 2013-2014 season and be back better than ever in 2014-2015.

I think the takeaway from yesterday's game is that bad things happen but if you have taken care to surround yourself with the right people in your life, everyone can get through the hardship. It wasn't just the team, either. CardNation came together on Twitter and Facebook--within minutes of the injury, #KevinWare, #Ware, and #WinForWare were trending globally. That means a lot. Made me a very proud alum.

And I'm not going to jinx my team by making crazy predictions or anything, but even though we didn't cut down the nets yesterday (we are waiting until only one team can cut down the nets, not four teams), I think getting Ware back home to Atlanta has made it possible for us to cut a net down for Ware at some point in the future. ;-)

You're on notice, Wichita State.

"Be the change you wish to see in the world." --Gandhi

Patriots: Better Off Without Welker

A clipping from the Roundup Record-Tribune about Mac Bledsoe's 1999 visit.

Author's Note: This is my first article for a new sports writing gig I got, so that's why I have the different tag-line at the end. Enjoy!

I have loved the New England Patriots since Bledsoe's time. I was 10 when Drew's dad, Mac, came to my school in Roundup, Montana and gave a motivational speech. What he said resonated with me and I had been wanting to have an NFL team of my own (my best friend was a 49ers fan, so I had been a 49ers fan by default--and who didn't love Jerry Rice?!), so the New England Patriots became my team!

I was devastated when Tom Brady took over for Bledsoe in 2001. I "knew" that this kid couldn't be as good as Bledsoe and I knew where my loyalties were. But then I realized, as Brady started looking better and better through the season, that I was a Patriots fan, not a Bledsoe fan. Even though players come and go, and we get attached to them, at the end of the day, we are fans of our teams, not the players. Now, over a decade later, I am still sad to see some of my favorite players go, but love my Patriots more than ever!

Wes Welker had his first season with New England during my first semester at college. I was amazed by his talent and he easily became a top 3 favorite of mine (always behind Brady, and behind Deion Branch when he was on the team). Welker brought our team to a new level and the games were impressive to watch.

As the seasons passed and Welker continued to perform at an incredibly high level, I was a happy camper. When Welker dropped a perfect pass from Brady in the last 10 seconds of Super Bowl XLVI, I was unhappy. And then Welker decided to start contract negotiations. That made me even more unhappy. Here is an excerpt of an article I wrote about him back in September 2012:

"Wes Welker is a prime example of a player I love who was in contract negotiations this summer and, frankly, disgusted me. He wanted $11.42M this year with a long-term contract because he felt he was worth that much to the Patriots organization. He is now on a one year contract, making about $9.5M this year, and I'm pretty sure that yesterday in the season opener he got a total of 14 yards (Fourteen?!?!! Is this a high school stat???) and let a perfect pass bounce off his helmet."

In the 2012 season Welker went on to have 118 receptions for 1,354 yards; down from his 2011 season stats: 122 receptions for 1,569 yards. Although these are decent stats, I was disappointed in his season and was, to be honest, more interested in the on-again, off-again relationship Deion Branch (like me, a Louisville Cardinal alum) was having with the team.

I heard through the grapevine that Welker was renegotiating his contract with the Patriots for the 2013 season. I was furious! Why should my team spend more money to keep someone who tends to drop big passes when it really matters (e.g. 2012 AFC Championship game) instead of paying him what he's worth and getting some new guys who could start learning from the vets?!

Then, on March 13, 2013, Welker signed with the Broncos for $12 million over two years. And I said, "Good riddance." Honestly. I figure if he's spending more energy off the field trying to get a bigger paycheck than making big plays on the field, we don't need him. We are a team and if he doesn't feel like putting the team ahead of his millions of dollars, we can do better.

I've been spending the last couple of weeks getting over my anger at Wes Welker and scoping out the Patriots' prospects in the upcoming NFL draft. And then yesterday I came across this interview with Welker on the Broncos' website. Take a look here.

Wes Welker apparently told John Elway "how much [he] wanted to win" and that he "wanted to be part of a winning team." Are you kidding me?! The Broncos haven't been a winning team since Elway's time and, while I respect the hell out of Peyton Manning, he's 37 years old! In my estimate, they've got one shot to make the Broncos a championship caliber team: the 2013 season. Welker just left a winning team to go to a team that might have the possibility of winning. Maybe. It's ridiculous.

Then Welker had the gaul to say that the biggest thing he learned at New England was "always putting the team first in everything you do." Please. If he actually believed in putting the team first, he wouldn't be in Denver. How is this interview not raising red flags for Elway? It's incredibly obvious that Welker follows the money and doesn't care about "the team." I can guarantee you that I wouldn't put him on my team if I had one--who's to say he wouldn't leave after one season if someone else offered him more money?!

So, for all you New England fans mourning the loss of Welker, let him go. Frame your #83 jerseys and hang them up. Look back at Welker's time with us as a good era, but just let it slip into the history books. I mourned Bledsoe's leaving for months and (no offense to Drew) we got someone better. We're going to get a better receiver who doesn't only play well, but really knows and respects the value of being a Patriot.

"It's not whether you get knocked down, it's whether you get back up." --Vince Lombardi

Be the Change You Wish to See

I've noticed something about our society: we LOVE a good cause and we get all fired up about it. And then we move on to the next cause without following through on the previous one.

Yesterday, 9% (100/1130--yes, I went through and counted) of my Facebook friends changed their profile photos to the red Human Rights Campaign logo. On Twitter, you can see real-time trends on a map here: http://trendsmap.com. It's very cool. Right now #MarriageEquality is trending in California, Minnesota, and New York.


But if you check out this infographic from HootSuite.com, you see the Top 10 Twitter Trends of 2012. The Olympics was the top trend of 2012--do you remember who won your "favorite" events? Maybe. We don't pay attention to Olympic sports for three years and eleven months out of the year and then we live and breathe Olympics. The election we can all still remember. Justin Bieber? Well, I don't pay attention to him! But look #4: Hurricane Sandy. We ALL came together for that. We could donate to the Red Cross, there was the 12/12/12 concert, there were all the hashtags sending the victims love and support...but do you still think about those victims? They're still recovering and we're not even paying attention anymore. Do you remember anyone who won an MTV Music Award? I don't. James Holmes was eighth in the World News category. Do you know who that is without "Aurora" being in the same sentence? In July were you incensed about his actions and were talking about the Aurora tragedy non-stop? After the Sandy Hook tragedy did you start talking about gun control again? Are you still talking about gun control, or is gay marriage (or anti gay marriage) now your "cause"?











And check out these other graphics from 2011 and 2010. Look at numbers 6, 8, and 10 in the 2011 Trending News category. Do you remember the Egyptian, Brazilian, or English riots? I don't. I went back and looked up the Egyptian riots and it jogged my memory--I was really upset about them. Do you remember the Libyan conflict? I do--I cried and wrote a letter to Obama when we shot missiles at Libya. But I never followed up with him. The earthquake in Japan was in 2011. Remember that? I made so many cookies and cupcakes for bake sales for them! They are still recovering from that disaster. How often do you think about it? I guess I did for the first time in almost 2 years on their 2 year anniversary earlier this month. But back then, I wanted to help and I made it my top priority.

In 2010, the Gulf Oil Spill was the top trend on Twitter (It's already been three years?!). Remember how fired up we all got about oil companies making sure they were keeping the environment clean? When's the last time that hit the news? Do you even think about it anymore? I barely ever do. The World Cup was also in 2010. Who won? I remember watching it and being incredibly into it--I even refashioned a Brasil jersey for myself to wear! And the earthquake in Haiti--how many bake sales did we all have? How much did we all donate? Do we know now how Haitians are doing? Nope.

My point with these graphics and pulling out "big" stories is that what means so much to us right now ends up becoming just another statistic on a graph somewhere. Unless we choose one thing and make it our mission, how effective are we being? I write every day about current events, but is anything changing? After Sandy Hook I wrote about gun control. The entire country felt like it was moving toward stricter gun control. One hundred days after Sandy Hook, nothing's happened and the window of opportunity for change is closing fast. After the BP oil spill in 2010, we had a window to regulate oil companies more. That window is definitely shut. After the earthquake in Japan we had a window to talk about nuclear energy--it's shut.

We must take the opportunities we have to make change. Yesterday the Supreme Court talked about how they're concerned that this gay marriage case is even in the federal court, because it's "younger than cell phones or the Internet." But this is our window. Look at these big issue windows in just the last three years that we have allowed to close without seizing the opportunity that's at hand. 

I love watching the news. I love making noise about the news and what we need to do to change it. But what will it take to really make change and not just make noise? This is a time for us--we are on the cusp of change: gay marriage rights, gun control, education policies, and so much more. If we become silent because an event falls too far back in our memories, change and progress will never happen. It is up to us to keep the conversation going. It is up to us to bring about the change we all so crave.

"Be the change you wish to see in the world." --Gandhi

Hot Topic: Gay Marriage

As many of you know, I'm getting married this summer. I am so excited! My fiancé and I have been together for almost two and a half years. When he proposed last summer, I said "yes" with no cares in the world. I was so happy and so excited to get married a year later! I'm doing a lot of DIY stuff for the wedding and having a blast doing it!

But what if I wasn't allowed to get married? What if I was in love with someone I wanted to spend the rest of my life with, but I didn't get to be married? What if that proposal had been bittersweet because I knew it meant years of being treated like a second-class citizen even though I was living with the love of my life?

Unfortunately, the questions I just asked are what happens to our gay and lesbian friends, family, and neighbors every day. They don't have the right to get married in our country. Only in nine states and the District of Columbia is gay marriage legal.

Why? Because right-wing conservative Christians think that gay marriage is a sin and shouldn't be allowed.

Okay. Everyone is entitled to his or her own opinions--until they restrict someone else's rights. Who do these evangelical "Christians" think they are? Why do they think that their hate is God's will? Did Jesus say, "Hate your neighbor and take their rights away if they're different"? I'm no biblical scholar, but even I know that Jesus said, "Love your neighbor." So is it Christ-like of these so-called "Christians" (meaning "follower of Christ") to decide that certain people shouldn't be allowed to have the same legal recognition of their love that straight people have? (Oh--and by the way, our country isn't Christian: it has the separation of church and state, so "Christian" values don't really have a place in this discussion, do they?)

Conservatives who are against gay marriage tout "traditional values" as the reason that gay marriage is an abomination. Guess what? I believe in traditional values 100%. I believe that if a couple decides to have a family, it should be the center of their lives; the "home base," if you will. I believe that families should love each other and make sure that every member of that family has what they need. I believe that having a married set of parents is important for a family--it provides stability. And I believe that having a family is a right.

I am already a rather moderate person, and getting more conservative by the day. I am personally fiscally conservative, I don't like Hollywood making "Spring Break" movies showing our girls that it's "normal" to be slutty and drunk in high school, and I'm not very compromising when it comes to how seriously I take family values. But even though I'm probably the most conservative in my entire family, I don't believe that it is my right to tell someone else that they cannot have the same rights I have.

Why should I get to be legally recognized for being in the best relationship of my life but someone else shouldn't be? I didn't do anything to earn that right and they didn't do anything to lose that right--so why should I get it and they shouldn't? It's not my right to make a decision about their rights for them.

Last week Ohio senator Rob Portman changed his mind on the gay marriage issue because his son is gay. While I am thrilled that he changed his stance, the fact that it is taking a family member being gay to convince conservative leaders that gay people should have rights is kind of amazing. But it worked for him and it worked for Cheney. So here is my challenge for all of you who think that gay people shouldn't be allowed to get married:

• Think of the person in your life that you love the most. 
• Think about how upset you would be if they weren't allowed to be legally married.
• Get on board.

Now, if your empathetic side isn't quite up to snuff, try this challenge instead:

• Think about yourself.
• If you're married, think about all the great things that you have because you're married.
• All those things were just taken away from you.
• You are a second-class citizen. 
• You are not allowed to get married to the person you love, because it's illegal.
• You are never going to have the same rights as everyone else.
• You are second rate.
• You are not equal.
• You do not have the same job opportunities as "normal" people.
• You will never make as much money as "normal" people.
• You have to fight to be heard every day.
• And you--YOU--are not equal to ME because you are different. 
• YOU are less than me.

I didn't like writing that--it felt mean and hateful. And it was. I hope it got under your skin a little bit. That is what the gay and lesbian community faces every day. It is hate and it is wrong. Get on board.

Today and tomorrow the Supreme Court of the United States is going to be discussing gay marriage rights in the U.S. This is a civil rights issue, just like race discrimination is. If it were left up to the states to decide whether or not to have in their state constitutions that African Americans, Native Americans, Latino Americans, or any other non-white American could not be discriminated against, how do you think that would work out? We need to have gay rights recognized as federal law, not on a state-by-state basis. 

I don't have any tolerance for discrimination. I just don't. People are people. Love is love. Equality is equality. None of that should be based on where you're from, what you look like, who you love, and what you want in life. I hope and pray that we will get equality in this country sooner than later. I am so ashamed to even have to say that in 2013 as an American. We must have equality.

From the Human Rights Campaign.

"Be the change you wish to see in the world." --Gandhi

5 Ways to Exercise--At Home!

I have always loved a good workout! I've been active my entire life. Growing up in country, I hiked, biked, and ran all the time. I started organized track and field in fourth grade and ran all the way through high school. I did ballet and ballroom dance through college for exercise, too. I much prefer to be outside than working out in a gym. But lately, it's been super cold and gross outside. Here are 5 ways to get a good workout in your living room!

My cat, Dorian, loves yoga!

1. Yoga. I've been doing yoga for over a year, now--and I've never taken a class! Do I have the "perfect" form? Probably not, but I've learned what works for my body and how to listen to what my body needs, so it's worked really well for me. Here are a couple sites I used to get started:

• http://yoga.about.com/
• http://www.yogajournal.com

2. Barre Technique. If you have ever been to a ballet class, you have probably started at the barre. So take it to your workout! It sounds easy, but it is a workout. Make sure you have a mirror and you use correct posture and technique, or you could really hurt yourself. Here's a good site to get you going, but if you don't have an experienced ballet instructor who can check your posture and positions, it might not be a good idea to try it on your own.

• http://dance.about.com/

3. Exercise Ball. This thing is not only great for a workout, but sit on it while you watch TV--your abs and obliques might feel a little sore the next morning! An exercise ball is really good for a variety of exercises. You can target certain areas and also do a full body workout. Here's the most complete list of exercises to try:

• http://www.ball-exercises.com

4. Dance with the Stars. I competed in ballroom a few years ago and loved it! Dancing with the Stars is huge right now and these DVDs are pretty fun. They aren't completely accurate when it comes to "correct" ballroom steps, so don't get good at them and think you know how to dance, but they are really fun to do!

5. Do Housework. Sounds silly, but a few weeks ago, this study came out. In 1965 women did 25.7 hours of housework and in 2010 women only did 13.3 hours of housework. Women in 2010 were, on average, 22 pounds heavier than women were in 1965. So get up off the couch and run a vacuum around your house!

Hope you're staying warm and staying active!

"Be the change you wish to see in the world." --Gandhi

March Madness: Crochet Edition

At the beginning of the NCAA Tournament I always make sure I watch all the games closely and research every team's stats when I'm not watching the games. I want to make sure that I know as much about the teams who I've picked to win in my bracket, so I can have an informed perspective on all the games. But, after last night's upsets, my bracket is all sorts of screwed up--March Madness has truly arrived! So I'm still watching all the games, but not as closely as I had been, and I'm not doing as much research as I had been doing before last night. 

I love messing around with yarn. I learned how to crochet a month or so ago and have figured out how to make things without patterns. I knit, crochet, or sew a lot while I watch TV. Since I still have somewhere around...45 games left in the NCAA Tournament, I came up with a fun idea: crocheted team logos!

Notre Dame, Louisville, and Cincinnati.

I am a University of Louisville alumnus, so my first try at making something had to be a CardinalBird! I think if I did it again, I would do the beak differently and change the "eyebrow" a little bit because it doesn't look angry enough. 

Louisville Cardinals

I know I've got a lot of people up here in Northern Kentucky and Ohio who are University of Cincinnati fans and, while Louisville fans don't generally like UC, I thought I'd indulge the Bearcat fans a little bit! Also, I'm aware that the claws are off a little bit--if I ever do this again, I'll shift them to the left.

Cincinnati Bearcats

Finally, I needed another team's logo to try, because I didn't want to only post two logos (seemed a little bit pointless) so I thought back to one of the most memorable games of the season: the 5 overtime Louisville vs. Notre Dame game. We lost. Then I thought back to one of the games that felt amazing to win: the Louisville vs. Notre Dame Big East Tournament semi-final. We won! Notre Dame seemed fitting. I like this shamrock--it's cute!

Notre Dame Fighting Irish

If you want to see what your team's logo looks like when it's crocheted, let me know and I'll see what I can do. Also, if anyone wants any of these, please contact me. I can do whatever you want to them to turn them into something useful--I don't want these other logos in my Cardinal household after the Tournament. ;-) 

Hope your team is doing well and you are celebrating in creative ways--like crocheting!

"Be the change you wish to see in the world." --Gandhi

Smart Women Staying at Home

This morning on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" there was a segment about women staying at home vs. women in the work force. I would suggest watching it before reading my article.

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

I started college with the goal of graduating with my music education degree, moving to Chicago by myself, teaching inner-city middle school music, and changing the world. I am smart, I am passionate about my beliefs and values, and I am a very quick learner. I had no doubt in the world that I couldn't do what I wanted to do. There hadn't ever been anything I wanted that I didn't work for and get for myself. All I knew was success at the highest level.

Three and a half years through my undergrad, I was still going strong. I was taking graduate level education research classes for fun, I had started competitive ballroom dance to expand my understanding of music and make me a better future educator, and I still had every intention of moving to Chicago and changing education in urban schools.

And then I fell in love. Hard. It wasn't "I love you until we graduate and I leave" like my previous relationships had been. It was "I love you forever." The guy I fell in love with I'd known for 4 years, so it wasn't a "whirlwind romance" or anything crazy like that. But within two months of being with him, I wanted to get married, have kids, and be a stay-at-home mom. I had never seriously thought that in my life. When you're young you think, "Someday I want to get married," and that thought had crossed my mind, but it was never really a part of my plan. Ever.

I went through a crisis: suddenly I, this powerhouse woman who was raised to go after her dreams and test boundaries, was wanting to be domestic?! Why was I presenting my research at state conferences when I wouldn't use it? Why did I hate cleaning the kitchen, but wanted to be a stay-at-home mom? Why had I never changed a diaper and only ever babysat anyone once in my life, but now I wanted kids??

I talked to my boyfriend about it and he was fine with the change in my plan (he didn't really want to move to Chicago, anyway!). Both of us had been raised by very present parents (my mom didn't go back to work until I was 10) and he was thrilled that I wanted to stay at home with our kids!

But I wasn't. How could someone who was on a full scholarship to college and didn't ever touch IQ tests because she was scared of the results being too high (teeny bit arrogant--sorry!) stay at home with kids? How on earth could that possibly be fulfilling for me?! At the same time, having kids and reading to them and playing with them and cleaning up their puke and all the other bodily fluids was suddenly what I wanted more than anything. (Even now as I'm writing this, that last sentence brought tears to my eyes because having a baby or two and getting to be with them is still my greatest hope.)

I started to realize that it was possible for me to have both: a career and a family. I would just teach for a few years after graduation so we could save up some money and then when we decided to have a baby I could quit for a few years so I could stay at home. Once the kids were in elementary school, I could go back to work. Seemed like a pretty good plan; and then I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia.

That was a year ago. I've since gotten engaged to the aforementioned man (He was so amazing to propose to someone with a diagnosis like mine!). We are still planning on having kids, but now we might have to wait longer because I can't teach. I don't have a job (For those of you who saw my post about getting a job last week...she never called me back. Very unhappy about that.) so we are living on one salary, not living on one salary while saving the other salary. I don't even know if I physically can have kids. Fibro patients statistically have more trouble getting pregnant than healthy women. Also, I'm in so much pain at 110 pounds that I don't know what putting another 40 or 50 on would do to me. And then when I have the kid, taking care of them 24/7 might prove to be too much for my stress levels, which means my pain levels would go up and I would be essentially non-contributing to anything. Those will all be bridges to cross in the future.

*Takes deep breath*

So. Like one of the women on the panel this morning said, "Feminism is getting to choose what we want and telling people what we need." I have actually realized in the last year that I like baking, sewing, knitting, designing, and everything else I backed away from because I thought it was too "girly." Even though I had already made the decision that I was going to be a stay-at-home mom when we have kids and now I know I would love it, I feel like my "choice" was made for me a little prematurely.

Joanna Coles, editor-in-chief of Cosmopolitan, asked today on the panel, "Is there something innate in women that makes us anxious that we can't do it all?" For those of us who have the world at our fingertips and all we have to do it step into it to succeed, yes. Yes, I am anxious that I'm not doing enough in relation to the amount of intellect that I have. But I am doing what I know how to do: succeed. It might not seem like it, because I'm not bringing in a six-figure salary like she is, but progress is success, and I am progressing.

My decision to stay at home with my kids and then my fibromyalgia diagnosis has made my "job" right now very complicated. My job is to find a way to feel fulfilled and contribute to our little family, while not physically shutting down. I'm not getting to contribute financially very much right now, but I'm using the skills I have to build an empire that will be profitable in the next few years. ChickOpinion wasn't in existence seven months ago. Now, I've got over 500 Twitter followers and 60 articles published on an outside website. I have people asking me for help with their writing. I share lesson plan ideas and educators with more degrees than I do love them. And I give women like me hope. Women who had it all...and, through no fault of their own, lost it. We will succeed, because I will settle for nothing less.

So for me, I will be a stay-at-home mom. This is a choice I have made. But I will also be the founder and CEO of my own company (ChickOpinion) and nonprofit (in the works) by the time I'm 30. It might not make millions of dollars and put me on the "30 Under 30 to Watch" list, but it will be immensely fulfilling for me and I will get to read to my kids every day. I will get to see my children take their first steps while helping thousands of women who feel as lost as I did a year ago learn to thrive. How can I see any of my future as a negative? It's everything I could possibly want--and it's the best of both worlds.

"Be the change you wish to see in the world." --Gandhi

Spring Knitting/Crocheting Patterns

Happy First Day of Spring!!! Has spring sprung where you are, yet? It definitely hasn't here! Our high today is only 37 degrees. Brr!

It's cold, so we have to still wear "winter wear." But it's spring, so we want to wear bright, fun colors! I decided that I would share some of my favorite patterns of things to make to keep you warm, but still be fun and cute for spring!

The middle flower.

1. Crocheted Flower Scarf. This is actually a triangle pattern, but I only did the flower in the middle. I'm going to make a bunch of them and join them together as a scarf! This way, if you wrap it around a few times it will keep you warm, but you can still use it when it gets a little warmer because it's so thin.

Fun starburst scarf!

2. Crocheted Starburst Granny Square Scarf. I love this starburst pattern--it's really easy and I just made a few squares and put them together! Make it in crazy bright colors and it'll really pop. 

Don't have time to make it? Pick your own colors and buy it here.









3. Knitted Fun Fur Scarf. This one is very easy:
Pair a regular yarn (mine is orange) with a fun fur (blue).
Optional: Add any other yarn or fiber you want to knit in (I used a string of multi-colored puffballs.). -->
Grab your size 10 needles.
Cast on as many stitches as you want your scarf to be wide. I think this one is 20 stitches wide.
Knit.
Keep knitting until your scarf is as long as you want it to be.
Cast off.
Sew in ends.
Wear with a fabulous attitude!

Who doesn't love fun fur?!

Not in the mood to make it? Buy it here.

It's hard for knitters and crocheters to get excited about spring because we usually can't wear or use what we make--it's too hot! But this year, we've got it in the bag. It's freezing outside and people are looking forward to spring.

So grab your coffee, yarn, and put in a good movie. Happy knitting/crocheting on this chilly spring day!

"Be the change you wish to see in the world." --Gandhi

Graphs and Stats: Twitter

I am obsessed with social media. I blog, tweet, +1, like, pin, and promote everything. Last week I shared this photo of my phone's social media folder. -->

The first thing I do when I wake up at 5:30am is turn my phone on (I sleep with it off so that my brain doesn't get fried by whatever is going in my phone lol), get my new notifications (from everything), and check Twitter.

I blog every morning while I watch the morning news. During that time I'm on Twitter, Facebook, and Google+.

Throughout the day, my phone is with me constantly. I respond to tweets, comments, +1s, messages, repins, and conversations as soon as I get them.

I tweet while I watch live shows like Good Morning Tri-State, Good Morning America, Early Start, Starting Point with Soledad O'Brien, Live with Kelly and Michael, The Lead with Jake Tapper, Piers Morgan Live, and ABC World News. More often than not, I get tweeted by the anchors or the PR of the show!

Last night I was on Twitter during the season premiere of Dancing with the Stars. I don't watch the show (I had to quit when I started ballroom a few years ago--their technique makes me want to die) but Twitter was blowing up during last night's episode. It got me thinking about Twitter and I started Googling stuff about Twitter this morning.

While I was researching I found twitaholic.com. I decided to see my Twitter statistics and found this very interesting stat:

I am the top ranked Twitter user in Northern Kentucky. Me. This blew my mind! 

I realized that my social media networking "strategy" is: tweet. So I started digging for more Twitter stats and found this amazing report from October 2012 by beevolve.com. 

The average user has 208 followers. I have 446 followers. The graph below (from the aforementioned report) shows that I have more followers than over 87% of Twitter users. 

I am, however, below target when it comes to how many followers I have (446) in relation to how many tweets I've tweeted (4,922).

According to our next amazing graph from this beautifully done report, I am in the top 4% when it comes to how many people I follow (1,148).

The other graph I found interesting shows that I'm going about website thing all wrong. Family and technology are the top two categories to talk about on twitter. For women (obviously more of my target audience), the top three categories are family, arts, and entertainment. Maybe I should have named my site "FamilyChick" or "ArtsyChick" or something instead pushing the envelope by trying to have too many opinions.

So, why does finding this out do anything except waste three hours of my morning? It means that now I can have a more targeted approach to Twitter, and so can you! One of my biggest "problems" is that I talk about current issues instead of family, music, and TV. Am I going to start peppering in some more fluff? Sure! Will I start watching Dancing with the Stars to up my ratings? Well, that's a harder question. ;-)

"Be the change you wish to see in the world." --Gandhi

7 Relationship Tips

You know, there are a lot of things this morning that I have "opinions" about this morning: the premiere of "Dancing with the Stars" (Season 16??? Are we bored yet?), Sarah Palin's speech at CPAC (Why is her juvenile mockery so appealing to people? Putting someone down doesn't make you a leader.), March Madness (My alma mater, Louisville, is the #1 overall seed in the NCAA tournament! Kentucky was snubbed and didn't even make the NCAA tournament!), the Jodi Arias trial (Fascinating!), and the Carnival Cruise line (Why are people still going on these boats??). While those are all fun things to talk about, instead of being snarky and provocative, I would like to take today to talk about love.

For the last two weeks my fiancé, Josh, has been working 12 to 16 hours a day at school. He was the music director for the musical "Oklahoma!" It was fantastic! His kids did a wonderful job and I couldn't be more proud of them or him!

The musical ran from Thursday through Saturday. Our weekly date night is Friday night. Obviously this last week, Friday was completely out: Josh was at school until 10:15pm, I was at home cleaning and watching the Big East tournament semifinals, and we were both exhausted by the time we saw each other. We decided to go to Saturday morning brunch as our date. It was so much fun! We went to IHOP (I know there are political problems with this company--I love their pancakes and I am not going to take a political stand on everything.) and spent literally three hours just talking. It was so great! We talked about his school stuff, neuroscience, ADHD, seeing potential in yourself, and us. Getting to have that weekly time with each other makes it so much easier to be best friends, not just lovers. We are so incredibly lucky to be more in love than almost any other couple we've met!

We got home and cleaned our apartment because our families were coming to the musical on Saturday night. Josh cleaned the kitchen while I did the bathroom and then we blitzed the living room together. The chemistry we have when it comes to getting things done is so good. We know what needs to be done, we know what the other can handle, and we work together to make it happen.

I know that no relationship is perfect, and ours isn't without its flaws; but it is so good! While a lot of what we have does come naturally, we do work at our relationship. Here are the seven most important things I can tell you about being in a successful relationship:

1. Love the quirks. If your significant other's quirks bother you more than make you laugh, that could be a problem. One of Josh's biggest quirks is destroying a made bed just by looking at it. Last night I went to sleep laughing because I had put the bed back together before I brushed my teeth, and it was completely untucked by the time I came back! We were laughing so hard and it sounds silly to anyone else, but if I didn't love him and everything about him, I could have gotten really upset. Obviously, you will get irritated with some of the quirks, but make sure the endearing qualities outweigh the irritating qualities, or you could have some problems on your hands.

2. Have a weekly date. I saw something a couple of weeks ago about how a couple never had a date because they make their kids their priority. Now, obviously, we don't have kids yet so that's not super-relevant, but even when we do have kids, we will still have a weekly time for just us. We have had a weekly date every week since we started dating. They're usually on Friday night but, like last week, sometimes we move our dates around a little bit. Sometimes we are so exhausted by Friday that we just stay in and watch a movie and get Chinese food. Set that time aside for yourselves, though. It makes such a difference. I mean, we spend a lot of time together, but "Date Night" is different than just a night at home. Make it special, make it about you, and make it something you both want to do.

3. Talk with each other. Josh kind of goes nuts sometimes because I talk so much. He also is a bit of a talker. ;-) But we talk about pretty much everything. We know each other's goals, pet peeves, pasts, dislikes, passions, and hopes. I cannot stress enough, just like everyone who has ever said anything about relationships: communication is the key. We barely ever fight. Really! I know that for those of you who  know us, you might be surprised by that because we both have...rather strong personalities, shall I say! But we are always fine tuning our relationship, instead of waiting until something breaks and then fixing it. Some people say, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." I say, "If you are in consistent communication, it won't break." Ha--that's a horrible saying, but you get the message.

4. Be honest. If you are in a truly great relationship, the other person will not write you off if you screw up. You will work through it and move on. So, just be honest with your partner. This is my biggest one. I have trust issues (I know how cliche that sounds, but it's true.) because of things that happened to me a long time ago, not because of anything Josh did. However, if he were ever untruthful to me and then I found out about it, it would probably mess with my head for months. I am a little bit too honest with Josh; he has told me multiple times that he doesn't need to hear every detail of my day. But because of where my head is, I don't ever want to lie to him, even by accident. Josh doesn't tell me every detail of his days, and I'm fine with that. But I know he's honest with me and doesn't hide things or lie to me or anything. If you can't say that about your relationship, that might be the place to start working.

5. Cut your partner some slack. Now, I just want to be clear: I am not as good as this one as Josh is. He is the most patient person I've ever met in my entire life. But I'm learning, and the more flexible I am, the better our relationship gets. Josh cuts me slack all the time because of my fibromyalgia--I don't get as much as I want to done and he is so patient with me. On Saturday when we got home from IHOP, Josh needed 20 minutes for a cat nap before he started cleaning. I let him do his thing and I started cleaning the bathroom while he just relaxed for a while. And then he cleaned the entire kitchen. The "old me" would have been harping and harping and harping at him to clean right when we walked in the door and it would have been a very unhappy experience. Instead, I let him be an adult and make his own decisions, because I knew that he understood what needed to be done. And he was happy about that. And I was, too. :-) It really makes a difference, trust me.

6. Work on yourself. This one can seem counter-intuitive, because talking about a "relationship" makes you think about what you can do for or with the other person. But you cannot have a great relationship with anyone else unless you consistently and constantly work on your relationship with yourself. This is something that I have a very hard time with because I would rather spend all day doing things to make Josh happy than figure out why I'm feeling insecure about something. But if I just ignore that little pinprick going on in the back of my mind, it will manifest itself in crazy ways. You must be honest with both of you: your partner and yourself.

7. Show appreciation for each other. To really show appreciation for your partner, ask them how they feel appreciated. That might sound really silly, but it's not. I feel appreciated when Josh verbally says, "Thank you for..." or "I love the way you..." Josh feels appreciated when I do something like doing the dishes or having the house decently in order. This was a disconnect for us for a long time because I would say things to him like, "Thank you for working so hard" or "I love how dedicated you are to your job" because that's how I feel appreciated. He would do things like go to the store and pick up a few things or fill my car with gas. I appreciated those things, but didn't feel like I was being appreciated, if that makes sense. We actually talked about it a few months ago and realized that we were "appreciating" the other person the way we want to be appreciated. So now, I'm making an effort to do the dishes or something and he is making the effort to verbally acknowledge what I do. We both feel a lot more appreciated. :-)

I hope these tips help some people and I hope that those of you in great relationships just nodded for the last five minutes while you were reading them. :-) There are thousands more tips, of course, but these are just the ones I had at the front of my mind today.

"Be the change you wish to be in the world." --Gandhi