Arizona has been spoiling me since I was 8. I cant remember a summer gone by without an ice cold overly-large-sized can of Rasberry Iced Tea sitting atop my counter. My best friend, Natalie, and I were and still are suckers for the perfect iced tea, and Arizona has yet to fail. As I grew older, I moved from Rasberry to Green to Sweet, and now obviously to the world famous 'Arnold Palmer.' The perfect blend of lemonade and iced tea, with a third of the calories? REFILL PLEASE! The whole idea of having an image of this golf champ on the can is genius marketing if you ask me. Just to fill you in on a bit of history with the tea, it happened to be American professional golfer, Arnold Palmer's, fave drink (1/2 lemonade 1/2 tea)! To add to the all the fun, a play on words was produced (which every ad. rep. jumped on when they heard it.) The Arnold Palmer Tee. Get it? Got it? Good. I found this particular can at a CVS in South Pasadena, but with it being a hit now, about as much as before, they are carried just about anywhere Arizona Brand beverages are sold.
Im a sucker for a great branding scheme. Notice nowhere on the billboard does it mention the title of the HBO series 'True Blood.' Now thats some serious brand identity they got there.I have mad respect for International music. If I may dare to say, I even enjoy it better than the crap that is produced here in the US of A. One of my top 5 has got to be of LATIN origin. I care to define it more as ‘art’ than ‘songs.’ Every ballad paints its own picture and its hard not to feel your blood thickening with the addition of each new instrument. My two Latin ladies of love include Bebe and Julieta Venegas. I like to characterize the Spanish Bebe as a dark poet and the Mexican Julieta Venegas as a bubbly lover. Both create their own style significantly and leave an impression that will set your mood for the rest of your day. I find Bebe to bring me strength and fight for women’s rights, whereas Julieta plasters a permanent smile on my face. Ch-ch-check em out!
Say that three times fast.
Its vegan sushi and its here to stay.
Had an awesome dinner (because their lunch hours are hard to catch) at Shojin in LA a few months ago and to be completely honest, it does require a ‘trained’ taste. Like most vegan food, it takes getting used to, but those who are open to anything, culinary wise, would really appreciate this spot. Their presentation is impeccable and their friendly staff is more than accommodating to the ‘not so vegan’ crowd. Their dishes include but are not limited to vegan takes on original sushi recipes and some not so sushi-esque line of dishes as well. It is located in a predominantly Asian mall that consists of other Asian shops and martial arts centers. The coolest part of dining at Shojin is being able to take the escalator down to the large market located on the first floor. The grocery store carries tempeh, seitan, and miso, which are the key ingredients in most of Shojin’s plated meals. Shojin also has events every so often with music, informative facts on vegan culture and a buffet stocked with their most famous entrees and appetizers on their menu.
I cannot tell whether I’m a humanitarian or an artist. Even though at times it seems one cannot exist without the other. I tend to feel shallow about decisions I make and whether I’m thinking with my mind or my heart. I’m not sure which one is right, but what I do know is that something inside of me is scratching away, not like a desire, rather a need. For my twenty-first birthday I threw an elaborate party (stimulating my future in event planning). But for some reason, I guess it was all that scratching again, I felt guilty about spending time, money, and energy on one night honoring me. So I did the only thing I could do, fed the little creatures living beneath my skin. I asked all of my guests to donate however much pocket change they had to the Save Darfur Coalition. Today I donated five hundred dollars on behalf of my guests and I. It may not seem like much, but the creatures and I feel a little bit closer to change. 
Estimations include over 400,000 citizens dead, 4,000,000 displaced from their homes, and 4,000 villages burned. As an Armenian, I grew up learning about the 1915 genocide and how recognition is all we long for right now. Not that I disagree one bit, but I feel spending more energy trying to stop a genocide taking place in the twenty first century became more fulfilling to me. Men, women, and children yesterday, today, and tomorrow are being raped, tortured, murdered, and forced into exile. People living on the same planet, only a few thousand miles away are hungry, homeless, and absent from intimacy. To learn more and take action against the genocide, visit www.SAVEDARFUR.org. Or watch the critically acclaimed documentary by Theodore Braun entitled ‘Save Darfur Now.'
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