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Here are the final images of my waste consumption collection.

The waste that I’ve consumed kept piling up, which made me realize the dramatic impact that waste has on the environment. These images are just a small look at the waste that I’ve consumed in the past 30 days (I didn’t even look at my waste consumption until about the second week of this project). If I’ve consumed this much waste in just 30 days, then just think about how much waste is consumed by 10 people in 30 days, 100 people in 30 days, 1,000 people in 30 days. The waste continues to pile up, which means that landfills have an extensive amount of trash that cannot decompose and that cannot be reused. If we change the packaging of products, whether that be the shapes or the materials of the packaging, there would be a substantial effect on the amount of waste that is consumed throughout the country and throughout the world. As we read in one of our readings, researchers are working to create material packaging replacements through the use of mushrooms, kelp, milk, and tomato peels. These replacements would positively impact the environment and would create a positive form of waster. Currently, there is little being done to minimize our waste consumption, but something needs to be done immediately.

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Day 30

02.14.18

The last day of our blog! Today, I wore a pair of american eagle jeans, a Francesca’s sweater, and a pair of Target wedge boots. I also wore my new Valentine’s day socks that my mom brought me over the weekend. I have to at least try to participate in Valentine’s Day. The socks say my heart pops for you with a bunch of pieces of popcorn all over it - she knows me so well.

Since both my roommate and I are single this Valentine’s Day, we ordered in Toppers pizza and drank white wine as we watched Netflix together. My friend Beau came over to join us (since he’s single too). In other terms of food, I ate some chocolate that my mom brought me. It actually happens to be in the shape of a guy in heart boxers. The chocolate’s called “My Perfect Man” and it couldn’t be more correct. I also drank another cup of green tea and I had a peanut butter sandwich for lunch.

Valentine’s Day is a major part of our culture. Billions of cards are sent and millions of chocolate boxes are purchased (I got these statistics for my splurchase paper). So many people contribute to this worldwide phenomena each year, whether it be by showing love to your family, your friends, or your significant other. Companies create specific products just for this holiday. These special edition products allow the companies to profit off of Valentine’s Day. At this time of year, people are more likely to purchase the Valentine’s version of products. This is because the consumer gets to actively participate in the culture of Valentine’s Day, which ultimately makes them a specific member of a community and of society.

Lastly, I wanted to focus on what this project has taught me. This blog has shown me a visual representation of what I have consumed and what I have experienced in the last 30 days. It has shown me patterns of my consumption that I would never have thought about before, or maybe that I never would have even realized. It also made me think about my own consumption and how I can connect it to larger themes (Culture, society, and economy). It showed me how my own personal behaviors can impact the world around me.

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Day 29

02.13.18

Today I am wearing a forever 21 sweatshirt, a pair of lulu lemon leggings, and fuzzy socks. I am also wearing my pair of black adidas. I’m finally feeling a little better - still tired and congested, but I think the sickness is finally ending. And thankfully it’s ending so soon because my roommates have been trying to avoid me the past couple of days since I haven’t been 100%, and because they don’t want to get sick themselves.

Today I ate a bowl of chili and a bowl of popcorn. The final day to eat popcorn and the final day to eat meat without restrictions. Starting tomorrow I can’t eat meat every Friday until Easter (or tomorrow since it’s Ash Wednesday). I also drank another cup of green tea, still trying to make myself feel better. I haven’t been drinking enough plain water, so I really need to work on that.

A new show is starting today that’s based off of the Bachelor. This one is called the Bachelor Winter Games, stemming off of the Olympics. This show also stems from the show’s current popularity in society. As I learned in my mass communication class last semester, shows and movies do better in society’s markets when they are a part of a series. This is because people like to find things that they already know they enjoy. And with the development of more items that connect to an already established series, people are more likely to start participating (or watching in this situation). As a society, we are creatures of habit. We find things that we like - foods, music, television shows, etc. and we stick to them. We typically don’t waiver from our original interests

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Day 28

02.12.18

Today I wore a U of M sweatshirt and a pair of lulu lemon leggings. I also wore a pair of fuzzy socks and my pair of crocs. I still wasn’t feeling well, so I tried as little as possible in what I chose to wear. My goal for the day was just to wake up, make it through classes, and then go to bed as soon as possible. Once I got home from classes, I changed into pajama shorts and wrapped myself up in a blanket to watch the Bachelor.

For food, I ate a bag of vegetables (full of broccoli, cauliflower, water chestnuts, and carrots) and a bowl of popcorn. I have to eat popcorn while I still can, because starting tomorrow, I have to give it up until Easter. I eat popcorn basically every day of my life, so this is going to be difficult for me (especially since I just stocked up on kernels at the grocery store). I also drank two cups of hot green tea because it made me feel a little better. I’ve also started consuming vitamins because I can tell that I’m severely lacking some vitamins and nutrients. When I saw Joe last week, he let me try the new vitamins he bought. He bought them primarily because the packaging design was aesthetically pleasing. I went to Target to buy the same brand for the same exact reason (and because they tasted good).

I’ve been thinking back to Saturday’s fashion show. There was so much diversity within the show, whether that be because of the topics of the lines or the ethnicity of the models. Either way, there were a variety of different communities that were exhibited in such a short period of time. It made me think back to today’s society and why we don’t typically see so much diversity on television, in movies, or anywhere else for that matter. I believe it’s because these different groups of people are silenced within society. We don’t experience their stories because no one is there to listen. America silences the Black Lives Matter movement, women are told that feminism doesn’t exist, movies are white-washed. Society doesn’t provide for diversity, and something needs to change immediately

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Day 27

02.11.18

Today, for most of the day, I wore a U of M sweatshirt and a pair of pineapple pajama shorts. I woke up not feeling well, so I tried my hardest to stay in bed all day. I forgot that I had my frat meeting (for APX - my design frat on campus), so I had to make myself more presentable. So, then I changed out of my pineapple pajama shorts and swapped them out for a pair of lulu lemon leggings. The meeting was hard to get through, because I felt sick and because there wasn’t much that we had to discuss this week.

For food, I ate a bowl of homemade chili and a bowl of popcorn. I also drank some hot green tea in order to make my throat feel better. It worked for a little while, but not long enough. All I really wanted to eat was a bowl of my mom’s chicken noodle soup. Should’ve made that instead of chili.

I remembered today that Lent is starting soon. I was raised Catholic and although I disagree with a lot of the things that they stand for, my religion is still important to me. Because of this realization, though, I had to think about what I was giving up for Lent. In the past, I’ve given up netflix, snacks, etc. This year though, I decided to give up popcorn (especially after I’ve seen how much I consume of it after writing all of these blog posts). Lent also requires that I don’t eat meat for every Friday until Easter, so I’m also giving that up.

I find it incredibly interesting how we have so many different religions and beliefs within our culture. Just to name a few, we have Lutherans, Baptists, Catholics, Hindus, Buddhists, etc. Each religion has a different set of beliefs that people use as a basis for their everyday lives. These beliefs influence their decisions, their thoughts, their meals. Religion has a large impact on society, and recently it seems, religion is becoming less popular. I think this is because society is becoming more and more liberal as time passes

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Day 26

02.10.18

Today I wore a black Target shirt, a pair of black leggings, and a pair of light brown boots. I was volunteering with Joe Hammer for the apparel design fashion show, so we were asked to wear all black, so they’d be able to tell us apart for everyone else. The fashion show was amazing and showcased so much diversity that seems to be lacking in everyday culture. There was one line that focused primarily on creating plus sized designs. Another focused on asian culture. There was even a line that showcased black lives matter movement that started with a video showing different news stories. Many of the designers even wore black lives matter t-shirts while they came on stage after their lines walked through.

The talent at the fashion show was unbelievable. Apparel designers have to visualize a design in 3D, and then make the piece come to life. Joe and I were basically drooling over the variety of different designs. After seeing the collections, we wanted to immediately go shopping and step up our own looks. It felt amazing to be surrounded by that much talent in one room.

For food, I finished off my leftover vegetable stir fry from Big Bowl for lunch. Then, I ate a Valentine’s chocolate covered rice krispie that my mom brought to me over the weekend. For dinner, I ate a bowl of homemade chili. After that, I ate a bowl of popcorn and had a Reese’s peanut butter heart.

I also spent time with friends, which left me feeling extremely happy. After the fashion show, I came back to my apartment to find that my roommates invited some of our friends over to just hang out. My friends Beau, Steven, and Mark came over where we listened to music and talked. Beau goes to St. Thomas so I don’t get to see him as much as I would like, so I’m always extremely happy when I get to see him. 

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Day 25

02.09.18

Today I wore a black and white Forever 21 sweater, a pair of lulu lemon leggings, a pair of fuzzy socks, and my sorel winter boots. For food, I ate at Big Bowl and ordered in Pizza Luce. My mom came to the cities, so she took me to Big Bowl where I made my own stir fry full of broccoli, cauliflower, pineapple, and a ton of other vegetables. They used a kung pao sauce with peanuts and it was amazing. Then, for dinner, my roommate convinced me to share takeout from Pizza Luce with her. My half of the pizza had cheddar cheese and pineapple. I find it really funny that there’s such a huge debate over pineapple on pizza - because I love it. If it wasn’t for my roommate’s peer pressure though, I definitely wouldn’t have gotten pizza because I’m really trying to start eating healthier.

I also went to the mall today to go swimsuit shopping because I’m going to florida for spring break. It made me think about the brands that we use to identify ourselves with, similar to the article we read in class a few weeks ago. Out of the hundred or so stores at the mall of america, I only shop at a select few (American Eagle, Pac Sun, Forever 21, Garage, and Victoria’s Secret). I don’t ever walk into a different store, because these are the stores that I use to identify myself with and the stores that sell clothes that fit my personal brand. I could venture past these stores, but I always stick with the same ones.

I also consumed a great day with great friends. We’ve recently started hanging out more with the apartment that lives above us. We were friends last year, but as the school year went on, we all sort of distanced ourselves from each other. But now, with the start of the second semester, we’ve all become really close again and we hangout in each other’s apartments all the time. So because of this, I was able to spend hours with them tonight, which led me feeling extremely fulfilled and happy. I find it extremely interesting about who we choose to spend our time with. We can’t choose our family, but we can choose our friends - and who we choose to spend our time with helps to shape our lives. Each friend impacts you in one way or another. From meeting my friends last year, they’ve introduced me to so many different things and have helped me grow in more ways than I can even imagine. Some people choose friends that are bad influences, some people choose good influences. People surround themselves with funny people, sweet people, caring people, etc. and they all impact our lives in one way or another - and we have 100% control over this choice, which I find incredibly insane.

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Day 24

02.08.18

Today I wore a pair of lulu lemon leggings, a Brandy Melville long sleeve t-shirt (bought at Pac Sun), and a pair of black adidas. In terms of food, I started of the day by eating a variety of sugar cookies. In my food science class, we had to cook sugar cookies using a variety of different pan materials: glass, light pan, dark pan, microwave. The dark pan cookies were extremely overcooked, the glass cookies were extremely undercooked and the microwave cookies were overcooked only in the center. In order to finish our experiment, we had to taste each cookie and compare the different textures, tastes, and appearances. Then, I ate a bowl of chili and a bowl of popcorn. 

Tonight I also went to the Walker Art Museum with my roommate, Lindsay. It’s free to see the different galleries on Thursday nights, so we took a bus there in order to check it out. Since it’s so cold outside, we didn’t go and explore the sculpture garden, but we’ve done that before so it wasn’t really a big deal. My favorite part of the Walker is their mini putt putt course where each hole is designed by a different artist. I’ve played the course in the past and it’s incredibly cool. My favorite hole was made as a pool table where you had to hit the ball into one of the pockets using the end of your golf club like a pool stick.

I also listened to music with my roommates in our apartment while we were doing homework. My roommate has a speaker that we can talk to and tell it to play certain things. Because of this, we put it out in the living room and call out the names of whatever we want to listen to. My roommates like music that’s more pop and rap related - and sometimes even country (especially if our friend Beau is over). Typically, I like to listen to music that’s more alternative or modern rock related. But when I’m with my roommates, I choose not to consume my favorite types of music because I want to listen to whatever everyone else wants to listen to. When it comes to listening to music with other people, I always try to avoid dj-ing because my music taste can be really different compared to what others like. 

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Day 23

02.07.18

Today I wore a forever 21 sweater ($15), a pair of lulu lemon leggings ($98), and a pair of black adidas ($50). In terms of food, I consumed chili for both lunch and dinner. After going to the grocery store yesterday, I mixed all of the vegetables and meat together so I would have it all ready for the rest of the week. It made a lot (thank gosh), so I’ll be able to live off of it for at least a week. I also ate a bowl of popcorn while I watched tv. Oh, and my roommate’s boyfriend bought me a pint of Ben and Jerry’s chocolate ice cream yesterday, so I also finished that off. I always buy pints of ice cream instead of entire containers because I always try to eat less of it, but it’s so much more expensive so I think I need to change that...

I also went to Bordertown again with my roommate, Lindsay. Again, I got a chai tea latte... I think I’m obsessed. Lindsay ordered a brown sugar mocha - I might have to change my order next time though because it tasted so good. We met up after classes and discussed our day (& boys). The meeting was short lived though because we both had a bunch of homework and work to do, so we walked back to our apartment together.

Lastly, I bought a plane ticket today! All of my roommates, as well as a few other friends, are flying to Florida for Spring Break. My roommate, Kenzie, has relatives that live in Naples, so we’re flying into Fort Meyers and then driving down to stay at their house. This is the third trip that I’ll be taking with my roommates. Last spring break we went to Chicago together and then over the summer we went to Poland. I’m so excited to go to florida and escape the cold weather. The idea of spring break always seems so weird to me though. When did it become the social norm to pay a ton of money to travel to far away places. How did our culture normalize this? Because people take trips all year long, but it seems almost like a requirement to take a spring break trip. If you don’t go anywhere, you see everyones vacay pictures and you feel down in the dumps. 

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This is my splurchase item. I really love Reese’s and it reminds me of when my mom would surprise us with gifts and chocolates whenever we woke up on Valentine’s Day. I went down the Valentine’s day aisle to see all the pink and red products when this caught my eye. I love Valentine’s day culture as well - the country goes gaga for love sometimes and I find it so interesting. The Reese’s cost about $4, so I used my $2 bill as a coupon

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Day 22

02.06.18

Today I wore a pair of American Eagle Jeans ($50), a forever 21 t-shirt ($10), and a pair of black adidas ($50). In terms of food, I ate a bowl of popcorn, a bowl of frozen veggies and a piece of bread due to the fact that I didn’t have any groceries. I don’t have my own car, which makes it really difficult for me to buy my own groceries. Like I’ve said in a previous post, there aren’t any nearby grocery stores that offer affordable food for the college campus. Because of this, I’ve had to recently rely on my roommate (who has a car) to bring me to the store. Thankfully, later tonight she was able to bring me to Cub which is about a 7 minute drive away from my apartment.

My grocery trip included buying as many food items as possible so I can last until next month without having to go to the store again. I bought ingredients for chili and ingredients for sloppy joes. I also bought oatmeal, cereal, cheese, oil, canned soup, etc. Unfortunately, I did not buy fresh vegetables or fresh fruit because they’re much too expensive for me to purchase. I love eating vegetables -  peppers, lettuce, avocados, apples, grapes literally anything. I never thought that I would miss dining hall food, but when I was living in the dorms, I always had access to vegetables and fruit for every meal of the day. Now I just have to suffer instead.

This relates to America’s obesity problem. Fast food and processed foods are extremely cheap in comparison to fresh fruits and vegetables, and especially when in comparison to organic products. Because of this, americans go towards the cheaper options, in order to live an affordable lifestyle. This ultimately results the rise of obesity, because people don’t have proper access to healthy food options. 

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Day 21

02.05.18

Today I wore a Target sweater ($30), a pair of lulu lemon leggings ($98), a pair of Marshalls socks ($5), a Panic! at the Disco band t-shirt ($30), and a pair of black adidas ($50). In terms of food, I consumed a bowl of popcorn, a couple chicken strips, and a bowl of frozen vegetables. I also went to Bordertown coffee with Joe after class. I order a chai tea latte, my absolute favorite drink. We always end up going to get coffee together when we need to catch up - which we definitely needed to do after our incredibly busy weekends.

Going off of the Bordertown adventure above, I’ve realized that I don’t drink coffee on my own time. I’ve even purchased bags or K-cups of coffee so I can drink some at home, but I never do. Instead, I consume coffee primarily in social settings. Whenever I have a group project or whenever I want to meet up with a friend, we end up going to a coffee shop. I only go into starbucks and buy a frappe if my friends suggest going. I only order coffee at restaurants if I’m there with friends. Coffee is one thing that I enjoy, but because I use it as a way to socialize with my friends and loved ones. This form of consumption is based off of other people rather than off of myself.

I also finished my first screen print today! After a couple of weeks of classes, I finally am able to move on to the next project. I learned a lot from the first project, like what to change for next time and what to do differently. I love working with the different colors of ink to create something that’s visually interesting and different from things that I normally do.

Lastly, I watched the Bachelor tonight, except this time none of my roommates were home to watch it with me. I still enjoy watching the show without them, but it’s definitely not as fun. We always debate about who’s going home and freak out about how crazy some of the girls are. It’s not as entertaining to have to keep that all in for myself. Shows like this, along with other shows that I watch with my roommates, are just not the same alone.

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Day 20

02.04.18

Super Bowl Sunday! In terms of food, I consumed a lot today. My friends and I had a large container of Raising Cane’s chicken strips sent to us in honor of our super bowl party. We also had queso, tortilla chips, cake, brownies, candy, and vodka gummy bears. My friends had a large group of people over to watch the game, so we all contributed some sort of food. The party had a lot of people that I didn’t know. I ended up talking to this really cool guy for a while and we talked mostly about music and art. If I’m being honest, I don’t think I even caught one minute of the game itself because I was too busy talking to him..

Today I wore a U of M sweatshirt and a pair of lulu lemon leggings. I really wanted to wear my Vikings jersey because I’m still salty that we didn’t make the Super Bowl. I also wore fuzzy socks and my pink crocs. I used to be so against crocs because of how ugly I thought they were, but popular culture and the fact that they’re extremely comfortable finally won me over - still a little embarrassing though. Later that night, I wore a pair of Forever 21 pajama shorts (they’re a super bright purple with watermelon slices all over) and I stayed in my U of M sweatshirt.

Back to the whole super bowl thing. I find it so interesting how the entire country comes together for one day to watch one game that is a major part of our popular culture. Some watch for the commercials, others watch for the game itself, and some people just come together to join friends and eat good food. I wanted to watch for both the commercials and the game, but I guess that didn’t happen this year. It’s crazy how much money is spent on advertisements during this period of only a couple of hours. Products are being thrown in the viewer’s faces for the entire period of the game, whether it be in the commercials, in the signs on the stadium, or even seen during the halftime show.

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Again, I ate a can of vegetable soup, so above is an image of the can that I consumed as a source of waste consumption. Next, is a picture of the containers that my Cane’s came in. All of the food and sauce was eaten, but the actual containers were another source of waste consumption. Over the weekend, I had a beer, so the green bottle is another form of waste that I consumed. And lastly, my waste consumption comes in a different form than usual. I ordered a bowl of soup over the weekend, but it was not very appetizing, so the pictured image shows the leftover food that I did not consume.

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Day 19

02.03.18

Today I started off the day by wearing a U of M sweatshirt ($30) and a pair of lulu lemon leggings ($98). When it got to be later though, I had a party to go to so I wore a Forever 21 maroon skirt ($10), a black tank bodysuit ($30), and a pair of Target wedges ($15). The party was called Fratsby, so everyone was supposed to dress up like they were from the roaring twenties in the era of The Great Gatsby. Unfortunately, I don’t own a flapper dress or beads, otherwise I would have tried to play the part.

In terms of food, I consumed a bowl of Yes! vegetable soup ($3), a bowl of popcorn, and a bag of frozen quinoa ($4) I also consumed Raspberry Burnett’s, which cost me about $15 for the entire handle. My roommate’s boyfriend also made me long island iced tea, so I consumed that as well. After coming home after the party, I drunkenly consumed a bowl of pasta covered in marble jack cheese and a cupcake. 

Earlier that day, my roommate promised to take me grocery shopping. Unfortunately, on campus, there aren’t any nearby grocery stores and I don’t own a car myself. College students are struggling because there are no nearby sources of groceries. The only option that we have is ordering out or purchasing food at the tiny Target in Dinkytown (which is also extremely overpriced). The college tried to help by providing a food pantry that provided access to groceries, but it was only available for a few specific days. Our society doesn’t care about the access that we receive to affordable groceries. If they actually cared, some sort of grocery store would be established

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Day 18

02.02.18

Today, I woke up and went to work. When I got there, the run sheet wasn’t on  my desk as it usually is, which makes things a lot more difficult for me. Instead, I had to search multiple different sources and I had to talk to a variety of different people in order to find out what advertisements needed to be in Monday’s issue. I’m usually in and out of work in about 30 minutes tops (most of my work is done from home), but today I was there for about an hour and a half. I’m not complaining, because again, I was able to earn more money, which I definitely need. It’s just annoying because there seems to be some sort of advertising issue every time I have to go into the office

I also witnessed a lot of exciting events that are happening around the city thanks to the super bowl being in town. My friends and I had other plans, but they fell through. If I would have known sooner, I would have gone downtown to see all of the Super Bowl activities myself - especially since it’s a once in a lifetime opportunity, but we didn’t know until it was too late. So instead, I witnessed all of the fun and exciting activities over social media. I saw the puppy bowl, ice sculptures, concerts, etc. The entire city is getting swept up in the super bowl culture. Even people who aren’t football or sports fans are now joining the fun and are hopping on the super bowl bandwagon (and I don’t blame them, because it’s so exciting that this is happening in our city). The Super Bowl culture brings feelings of excitement and energy to the city, and it’s been really exciting being able to witness it all firsthand.

Today I wore a pair of Nordstrom leggings ($30), a forever 21 sweater ($30), and a Hollister t-shirt ($20). I also wore a pair of Marshalls fuzzy socks ($12). In terms of food, I had a bowl of Yes! vegetable soup ($3), a bowl of brown sugar oatmeal, and a plate of potstickers. My roommate and I also decided to make chocolate chip cookies, so we went to target to buy ingredients: brown sugar ($3), semisweet chocolate chips ($3), butter ($2), and eggs ($1). They were all the Target brand because that’s what was the cheapest. We had all of the other ingredients, so we came home and found a recipe off of pinterest. At target I also bought a bunch of other groceries which includes: a cheese pizza ($3), a bag of cheese ($3), 2 boxes of pasta ($2), a bag of chicken strips ($6), and a box of cake mix ($2 - for my roommate’s mom’s birthday).

Based off of the food I bought today, I find it so unfortunate that unhealthy food is so much cheaper than fresh fruits and vegetables. I want so badly to be able to buy fresh fruits like strawberries and apples or to buy fresh vegetables like peppers or avocados, but they are just too expensive for me to afford. Instead, I have to buy frozen fruits and vegetables, which just isn’t the same. I find it so interesting how companies that create such unhealthy foods are making so much money just because it’s cheaper and easier to make than the fresh alternatives. Because I’m a poor college student, I have to budget and save my money - and the fresh options are not always a possibility. The economy thrives off of fast food restaurants and unhealthy corporations because they know people will continue to buy it.