Where Art Thou, Modest Clothing?

Modesty? Bueller? Bueller? No? Okay, then.

For the past couple of weeks I've been keeping my eye out on any new modest clothing that I can get to update my dwindling wardrobe options. What I found was that the clothes were either good but terribly expensive or truly unwearable. Most of the time, they were just really bad. Even if I were to do layers, and I would, the clothes were too fitted or not salvageable at all. Deep V-necks and plunging necklines, shirts emphasizing the bust by either fit or embellishments... and this was in the juniors section which aimed for 12 to 19 year-olds. By the way, don't get me started on the short skirts or the jeans with butt patting. Say with me "false advertisement." I would often head to the missus sections and while the sections were a bit better, they were still too mature or still too "hip" and "modern" for my tastes and my age. I tried to go to as many stores as possible but didn't have any luck. I came close at Kohl's where I found a dress that wasn't too bad but the neckline was lower than I would've liked so I passed. Every time I go into a new store and have the same experience I am reminded of the quote from Pride and Prejudice in which Elizabeth Bennet says, "The more I see of the world, the more am I dissatisfied with it." Substitute the word "world" with "fashion" and you have my sentiments on the matter.

Of course, I did find some cute clothes that were modest but they were terribly expensive. I mean, I understand it's because they use more and higher quality fabrics but, goodness, are they trying to make us pay (literally) just because we want to dress modestly? As someone who comes from a family that's mostly lived paycheck to paycheck, I can't afford to buy a shirt or a skirt that's $75 per item. Dresses are even more expensive as well. If I could sew, or had the time to learn, I would try to make my own clothing but I can't so I'm pretty much stuck. I have been advised to check out thrift stores but, unfortunately, most of them are just as expensive as clothing found in the mall or are very well worn and nearly falling apart. Oh, Los Angeles... you are a serious challenge to my wardrobe choices.

Recently I asked Clare from The Catholic Young Woman to give my wardrobe a sort-of makeover since her style is closest to mine. Hopefully one day we'll be able to, while we're not too far away from each other, because I admire both her fashion sense as well as her beliefs when it comes to modesty and what it means to be a respectable young woman. :) If and when that day comes, I hope to document it because it's going to be quite the departure from what I normally wear now: which is usually jeans and t-shirt.(side note: I highly suggest you check out her blog; it's one of my favorites. :D)

Before anyone suggests getting my clothes online from modest retailers, let me just say that it's not that easy for me at the moment. I have finally gotten out of my awkward, lanky stage (uber late bloomer, what can I say?) so I want to try to figure out what works for my body type before I risk buying online. As I often repeat to my mom when she says "who cares?" when something's a little tighter on me than I would like, "I care and I'm pretty sure my future husband (whoever he may be) wouldn't want me to dress in such a way that would draw attention from other men. Furthermore, I wouldn't disrespect God by unintentionally giving men sinful thoughts." I've seen the looks and have heard the comments one gets from disgusting pervs who like to let their eyes wander. *shudders* When this happens to me I usually say "May God forgive you for what you've just said to me." I know that we can't change men and that they will still say their disgusting comments but any way I can help stop drawing attention to myself I will try. So until I can figure what I can and can't wear, I'm sticking to shopping in actual stores.

Anyway, I feel like I could ramble on and on on the subject but I won't. I will say, however, that it makes me happy to see that more women are starting to challenge the industry (however slowly) when it comes to fashion. My generation still seems to be a little behind (I'm surprised how difficult it's getting for a 20-something year old young woman to find something decent to wear), I hope that someday there will be a remedy.

If anyone knows of any stores (that aren't expensive) in the L.A. area or anywhere in Southern California that cater to women seeking to dress feminine yet modest, please let me know 'cause I have not found a single place yet. :D

Alright, I think that's all for now... if I don't want to start a rant. lol.

As always, thanks for reading and God Bless!

I Need Vaccines From Aborted Babies...?!

All day yesterday I was stressed out (to the point of a panic attack at 1:30 a.m. this morning) by the Health Center at my new school via an email asking me to get three shots that were missing -- for Hepatitis A and B. I got the first round when I was younger (and have the immunization record for one dose of each) but records are missing so we can't be 100% sure that they were completed. In the email I was told that they were mandatory before the start of school which stressed me out because the semester starts in two weeks and there's no way I can a) afford to pay for the vaccines out of pocket and b) the chance of my getting a last minute appointment with my doctor is slim to none. The usual wait is a month and a half to three months before I can be seen (oh, the joys of going to a county hospital). There's also the little fact that if I were to get the two rounds of Hep B vaccines I supposedly need, I won't be able to take them one after the other and would need to wait months. Palm, meet my face.

Now, I should say that my mom has sworn that I have all my shots done. I also remember the last round of vaccines being given at 18 and have no immunization records for them either. I tried calling and going to the clinic where I would've gotten them but they were no help. That gives me two options: taking the vaccines I supposedly haven't gotten (if I truly haven't) or trying to fight the school on the requirements.

Option one is the one I am most uncomfortable with, to be honest. It's not my intense dislike of needles and vaccines, or my constant worrying over the side effects of said vaccines because I tend to have a reaction to many medications... it's the fact that one of the vaccines, Hep A, is made with tissue from aborted babies! A few years ago, a U.S. Coast Guard officer refused to get the the vaccine on moral grounds and I would to! I know a few vaccines that I've already gotten also contain cells from aborted babies but these were given when I was still too young to know any better and therefore had no objections. My love of children makes me very pro-life and knowing that a vaccine contains things I am morally against makes me think and automatically reject it. Of course the Church does not right out condemn or approve of such vaccines but I can't on good conscience allow them to give me the vaccine. I did my research on the website of the web (and found interesting information) as well as the National Catholic Bioethics Center. Of course there is an argument that it is needed to help keep everyone and myself healthy but I am in either of the "at-risk" groups for either vaccine. Enter option two.

Option two has me fighting the school, and I do have a legit fight in case they try to force me to drop my classes this semester. First, I am not a nursing student. I'm a traditional undergrad student, albeit a transfer student, and according to the requirements they asked two months ago neither vaccine (nor the TB test which I got anyway) was mandatory. Furthermore, it said the Hep B vaccine was required for those 18 or younger which I certainly am not. Hep A vaccine is listed as recommended but not required as well. So why the email saying that I HAD to get them before the semester started and that it was mandatory? Why say one thing months before the semester starts and then say "oops, nevermind, you need this too..." two weeks before we can do anything about it? As I said, my mother swears I had all my vaccines done, and I should or else how would've I gone through school without them completed? I would ask for a blood titer to show that I either have or have not the immunity to either disease but I have a feeling it's going to take an absolute miracle for me to convince them of that and/or letting them drop this requirement. Any suggestions or thoughts are more than welcomed because I'm being pulled in all directions with this.

I'm going to try to not worry about it but it's kind of hard because I'm naturally a worrywart (something I am constantly working on). Prayers are more than welcomed. I will keep y'all updated. :)

*EDIT AT 2:37 P.M. PST: Received an email from the school nurse that I can take a blood titer on campus during the start of semester for a low cost. Now fingers are crossed that I have immunity so I don't have to take the vaccines. :D Thanks for prayers!*

That's it for now. :) Hope everyone has a great weekend!

As always, thanks for reading and God Bless.

Tag! You're It! -- Catholic Devotions Edition

This a nice change from the usual things I get tagged in that I don't necessarily continue. lol. Fr. Austin Murphy tagged me so and I decided to keep the ball rolling. But, be warned Fr. Austin, I may someday return they favor on Facebook when they have those "tag the person who's..." things. lol.

Anyway, I have to list my 5 favorite devotions. While it is difficult (as I love most, if not all) I have narrowed it down to these 5:

- Prayer Before the Blessed Sacrament
- The Rosary
- Divine Mercy
- Stations of the Cross
- Scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel (Brown Scapular)

And now I'm going to tag 5 (not so random) people. :D So, Clare, Delaney, Angelica, Tim (when he has time; prayers to his little boy), and Joe -- tag! You're it! :D

New School. New Semester. New Challenges.

I officially have two and a half weeks of vacation left before I return to school, only it'll be a new school. It'll be my first semester at one of the four Catholic colleges/universities within the L.A. Archdiocese. On one hand I am terribly excited as I have wanted to study at a Catholic school for ages. I used to beg my parents to enroll me in one when I was a little girl, before I knew just how expensive they can be. As I mentioned in a post a few weeks ago, I am lucky and blessed enough to have received a huge scholarships and grants that will pay for my tuition so all I have to worry about is textbooks. I said it once and I'll say it again: it literally pays to be an academic nerd. lol. I am also excited about the classes I will get to take as well. I am only taking 5 but the five are:

- Intro to the New Testament
- Intro to Catholicism
- Intro to Christian Ethics
- Western Literary Heritage
- Intermediate Algebra *gag, shudder*

Can you tell that I am not looking forward to math? Math is my Achilles heel and I have to re-take the algebra class because my math professor last Fall decided to fail almost everyone in the class. Well, technically I didn't fail. I got a D but I should've received a B if not an A because I was acing everything and I firmly believe I passed the final. I won't go into a rant about this but I will say I smell a rat and it's coming from my former math professor's direction. I have people as witnesses to the fact that I understood the material. Anyway, except for math, I am exceedingly giddy about my course schedule. Since I am a double major (Religious Studies and English) I get to focus on my major requirements now that I am done with my general ed requirements.

One of the upsides of going to a Catholic college is that the reading list for my Lit class includes Dante's Divine Comedy, the Bible, Virgil's Aeneid, Homer's The Iliad, and Ovid's Metamorphosis. Since I had 6 and a half hours (yes, hours!) between two of my classes a couple of times a week, I will be able to read as well as spend some time praying in the chapel on campus. They also have a Campus Ministry which, as a Religious Studies major, I will be involved in. I would've gone to daily Mass, too, if it didn't start at the same time as my first course of the day. While all of this, and the fact that I get to keep my promises to both St. Jude Thaddeus and Bl. Pier Giorgio Frassati, is making me very happy there are a couple of things that will be challenging for me.

The first seems like a minor challenge to me: sleeping schedule. I am used to going to bed after midnight and as late as 2:30 a.m. I will no longer be able to do that since my first class is at 8 in the morning. It would be no big deal if I did not have to deal with the traffic on both the freeway as well as the street. Since I will probably spend about an hour to an hour and a half trying to get to campus (even though it should only take me 10-15 minutes to get there), I will have to get up at 6 in the morning in order to have breakfast and get ready very quickly. I know how to shave some time off my morning routine (opting to wear my glasses instead of the contact lenses, nixing make-up - which is what I do now anyway, etc.) but I still have to get up early. Again, this will be no big deal - just minor sleeping time adjustments - but I have bigger challenges.

I knew what I was getting myself into when I accepted my place at this college. I knew that I was going to step into a more liberal college experience than I would've loved. While they have improved on some of the more cringe worthy things I would've spoken up against (such as the cancellation of the V-Monologues performances), I know there are some things I will not agree with. It's a Catholic college, shouldn't it actual act like one? What I didn't know, but was recently warned about, was just how much of the "cafeteria Catholic" ideology was going to be pushed onto me. As I don't know a single soul that attends the school, I didn't know just how bad it is supposed to be. Take a second to imagine someone who wins a brand new car and then finds out that there are many broken parts that they can't replace or fixed so they must do with what they have. That's the best way I can describe how I feel about the whole thing. While I hate conflict (I run away from drama), I may just have to speak up. The thing is that I don't know just how much I can speak up against without getting kicked out.

I have a thing about speaking up against elders or people in authority - I can't do it without feeling guilty. I will stand up to professors once in a while but I always feel guilty at the end. I feel like I'm being disrespectful but I do it because I would feel even worse if I didn't say anything. I have immense respect for those whose vocation is the religious life... so what do I do if I encounter a Sister who supports the ordination of women or anything that I feel strongly about? Where am I going to draw the line? I think I was naive to think I would mainly deal with apathetic classmates. Having faculty that would try to ingrain in me things I, as a faithful Roman Catholic, do not agree with will be a huge challenge for me. I keep reading the new book of the letters Bl. Pier Giorgio Frassati wrote in which we can read just how brave he was speaking up against something that was against the Church's teachings because it's so inspiring. I am going to use it as a source of courage and encouragement because I am definitely going to need it. By the way, any prayers you guys might want to send my way would be greatly appreciated. :D

Okay, I think that's enough over-analyzed for today. lol. :D I hope to write an entry dedicated to patron saints of students as well as prayers and novenas to them before the semester starts so all my fellow students are prepared to tackle school. :D

Hope everyone reading is having a great week thus far.

As always, thanks for reading and God Bless.

More Articles, and Novels, and Writing! Oh My!

This will be quick, I promise.

Well, I was waiting to announce this but I can't hold it off anymore... A lot of people have been asking me where they can get their copy of the latest Envoy Magazine issue so they can read my article. Well, if you've asked me that I will say that maybe you should get the actual subscription (either digital or paper edition) because I will have more articles coming out in the publication. That's right, I am getting my own column. :D I've known about this since late January but I didn't want to say anything until I was getting ready to write the second article. :) I feel truly blessed to be writing for them regularly. I won't write things I will mention in the blog so y'all get new things to read. Can't say what I'm thinking about for the next one but I'm already excited. :D That's one piece of news that I'm terribly excited for.

Update on the novel: if feels like I've been writing the novel for years now, doesn't it? It's not the case. The novel I originally started writing in 2007-2008 is not the same one I'm working on right now. I ended up scrapping that one and I started all over. The current one, which is almost done, was started last year. I'm editing at the moment and it's getting to the point where I'm a little sad that I'm almost done. This novel has been my baby for so long. The good thing is that I am ready to start the second novel (in a planned trilogy) and already have part of it written. I don't know when it will be published or who will end up publishing it... if I don't just do it myself. I think I may, in the near future -- like possibly September, ask for a beta reader or two so if anyone is interested please let me know. I would ask my friends but everyone's busy with school and/or work so I need to ask you lovely blog readers. :)

I have been trying to update the blog more but I'm either wrapped up in my novel (I have been known to spend an entire day just writing) or doing something else if I have writer's block. It is my last three weeks before I start the new semester at my new college. I will try to post at least three times a week until then because I don't know how infrequent my blogging will be after August 23rd. I may just give up Twitter and just blog and keep my Facebook account because I always end up tweeting a lot on twitter and neglecting this blog in the process. I have a lot to write but not enough hours in the day to write everything I want. I am also considering writing blogs in advance and scheduling them to get published on different days. We'll see how it goes with my 5 courses (possibly 6) this semester and the blogging. :)

Okay, I just got rid of my writer's block (thank to my friend, Dave, who was kind enough to read the part I was stuck on) so I am going to spend the rest of my day re-writing one of the last chapters in the novel. :)

I hope everyone is doing well and is having a good start of week. :D

As always, thanks for reading and God Bless. :D