What are Your True Colors?

DEAR
     Curious:
             Have you ever been surprised at how others describe your personality? I know I have, especially when people say that I am graceful. Since when did dropping things left and right connotate being graceful?

             In any case, it's fascinating to take a personality test to see your basic traits, so I've got a simple one here for you today! It's quick, easy, and you learn quite a bit about yourself! Take a look, and discover your true colors:

             To start, grab a pen and paper, then compare all four boxes in the row. Once you have a sense of the basic idea that each box represents, score each one from 1 to 4 depending on how well it describes you. 4: very well, 3: pretty well, 2: somewhat, 1: only slightly. Do this for all five rows, writing everything down so you can keep track!

Row One

Row Two

Row Three

Row Four

Row Five

             After you've written down the numbers for each row, look back at the colors of each box, and tally up the numbers you've paired with them: all orange boxes, all gold boxes, all green, and all blue. I ended with this: Blue: 18, Green: 12, Orange: 12, and Gold: 8. 

           After you have your tally, you can read these color guides to see your personality results! Everyone is a mixture of all colors, but we will all have a certain color that defines our personality more than the others. For me, it's blue! 

    

               So what color are you? Was it what you expected? 

With A Colourful Flourish,

Joélle.

The Poor College Student's Gourmet Meal

DEAR
     Poor college students:
         How are ya! I'll just dive into the point, here: you know when you are a "poor [insert noun here-- student, artist, musician, etc.]" and it's hard to make good meals on a really malnourished budget? Well, fear no more, for I, good reader, have the power of.... not-so-unhealthy-ramen.

          That's right! Step one: feeling hungry? Only have ramen packets in your pantry? Never fear! Simply stick that bad boy in a bowl, add 2 cups of water, and microwave for 2 minutes.

          Step two: while you're waiting the eternity that is two minutes, chop up anything resembling veggies from the dusty corners of your fridge: I managed to find a red pepper, green onion, and carrots.

          Step three: check the darkness at the back of your fridge-- do you see anything resembling protein? Grab that sucker and chop it up: leftover chicken your mom gave you and you forgot about, fish... anything.

          Step four: dump all the chopped food into your bowl of ramen and microwave for another minute. When it comes out, it should need just a dash of pepper, and there you go! Yum! 

With A Grain Of Salt,

Joélle.

It's a Beautiful Life

DEAR
     Wonderers:
            When you think of beautiful, what immediately comes to mind? If you just thought of pretty girls, you have got to get a life. Seriously. When I imagine beauty in its purest form, my mind fills with sunlight and moonlight. These natural forms of light make anything they wash over look so different: bright, beautiful, and oftentimes unearthly.

         In photography, there are two main rules, in just two words- light and composition. You can take a photograph of a simple piece of grass, and there's nothing special about it; you're thinking of deleting it. But if you take a picture of that same piece of grass with dramatic lighting, the entire composition looks totally different. That scraggly little bit of grass is suddenly beautiful, smooth, and glowing- and why? Because you waited until the sun was hitting it just right. Here's an example from a few photos I took:

            This makes me think of life in general. If we took things that seem drab, boring, and even sad or hopeless, couldn't we just shed a little light on them? Finding even the tiniest bit of something to be optimistic about makes life a whole lot brighter. Just wait until you see the light.  And If you can't, maybe it just need time to move in after the shadows. :D

With Leaves In My Hair,

Joélle.