TresSugar

Dear Poll: Do You Tend to Get Nostalgic?

DearSugar — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 07:00:00 -0700

I have about a dozen shoeboxes jammed in the farthest corners of my closet just stuffed to the brim with old letters, cards, ticket stubs, and other random things that carry serious sentimental value for me. Every time I move, I carefully pack up all these boxes and place them lovingly in my new closet, where they sit for the most part untouched. Every once in a while though, when I'm feeling down or just contemplative, I open up the boxes and let the nostalgic feeling wash over me - it's like a trip down memory lane!

Now I know everyone collects things that matter to them over the years, but tell me, do you often find yourself longing for the past?

Source

Are You Sentimental?

DearSugar — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 11:00:00 -0800

Being the sentimental person that I am, I'm a total saver when it comes to anything special. I collect business cards of restaurants I've been to with friends, napkins from weddings, menus from great first dates, and place cards form dinner parties I've attended. I savor love letters, old photos of my parents when they were my age, and I even have a piece of the ratty, old blanket I used to snuggle with as a child. I have my very first driver's license, my high-school report cards, and a postcard from my third-grade pen pal.

I also have things that don't fit in the scrapbook like my grandmother's engagement ring, the first hat I ever knit, shells from the beach, and a mix tape my first boyfriend ever made. All these things help to tell stories and spark old memories I want to hold onto forever.

So I was wondering if you were sentimental, too? If so, what kinds of things have you held onto?

Source

Do Tell: Sentimental Rings and Things

DearSugar — Tue, 06 Mar 2007 03:01:00 -0800

I own a locket that my great grandmother gave me before she passed away. It's one of my most treasured possessions, and I'm reminded of her every time I wear it. I also have an unusual, Chinese turquoise pendant I bought for myself on my 30th birthday; I feel very connected to it and to what it represents for me.

Whether or not it's a family heirloom, jewelry often carries or accumulates great symbolic importance. Do tell us which pieces feel sentimental, invaluable or meaningful to you, and please tell us why!

Source

Say What? Nicole Kidman Knows Life's All About Relationships

TresSugar — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 08:30:03 -0800

“I think that we’re in the world to connect. Because that’s what you’re left with. You’re not left with your house or awards or money, you’re left with the people that you built relationships with.”

- Nicole Kidman tells Ladies' Home Journal that despite all her success, it's the special relationships in her life that are important to her. Right in time for Thanksgiving, this sort of sentiment reminds us to appreciate the things that really matter.

Stranger Than Fiction: Car Crashes Into Couple's Bedroom

TresSugar — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 12:30:00 -0700

Imagine if you will, sleeping soundly in your bed with your boyfriend. Maybe you're spooning, maybe he's snoring, you're dreaming of kittens ice-skating...whatever.

Suddenly, a car crashes through your bedroom. Motor fluid sprays in your now-awake faces as you both struggle to get out from under the weight of the car, which now lies on top of you.

Well, that's exactly what happened to two Nevada college students last week when a drunk driver, thinking he was headed into the home his ex-girlfriend now shares with a new boyfriend, drove instead into their bedroom at 4 a.m.

Only Trent Wood's lower body was pinned by the car, but his screaming girlfriend Kristin Palmer's entire body was pinned. In less than an hour, thanks to neighbors who called 911, emergency workers removed the car from the couple. Wood says he was ecstatic he and his girlfriend only suffered minor scrapes and burns, and not paralysis as he feared.

He told a reporter, "When you experience something like that there's no limits anymore, you can try to do whatever you want to do. We feel like we have more of a purpose, like we were meant to live." I bet the drunk driver, who is up sh*t creek without a paddle (or car), has the opposite sentiment.

Get Benjamins For Your Bling by Selling Your Breakup Jewelry

TresSugar — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 06:00:00 -0700

Did you just wash that man right out of your hair? Are you simply not the sentimental type? Well, if your ex doesn't take back the jewelry he gave you (he'd have to pry it out of your cold, dead hands, right?), then you should go to Outofyourlife.com and sell them your breakup jewelry! Those sassy talking dogs in the following ad might be onto something. Do you keep, give away, or sell your "breakup jewelry"?

Are You a Worrier?

TresSugar — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 11:00:00 -0700

In the latest issue of Vanity Fair, Spanish beauty Penelope Cruz opens up about work and worrying. She says:

I've always been a worrier. Since I was a little girl I've always felt that if I had a moment of peace I'd wonder: Are you sure you can afford to feel like this?

I can totally relate to this sentiment. As I've gotten older I've tried to remember that while a healthy level of anxiety can help me keep my priorities straight, needless worries can sabotage moments of pleasure and peace. What about you?

Have You Ever Exacted Revenge After a Heartbreak?

TresSugar — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 16:42:43 -0700

In an amazing choreographed sequence on last night's episode of Glee, Mercedes tells her fellow glee club pal, the flamboyantly gay Kurt, that they need to make it official that they're dating. Instead of setting the record ~~straight~~ gay, Kurt says he's in love with another girl in their group. Mercedes's response? To bust the windows of his car.

I love the Jazmine Sullivan song "Bust Your Windows." There's something hilariously incongruous about the out-of-control sentiment and Jazmine's calm singing and the almost retro tune it's embedded in. Love makes people do crazy things.

Discriminating Carrie Prejean Sues For Religious Discrimination

TresSugar — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 11:00:00 -0700

Before she infamously said anything about gay (or opposite) marriage, beauty queen Carrie Prejean claims that Miss California pageant officials told her to stop mentioning God. In a move that is keeping her name in the headlines, the dethroned Miss California is now suing pageant officials for religious discrimination.

Carrie claims she was fired as Miss California because she voiced her faith-based opinion that gay marriage should not be legal. Apparently, Carrie sees nothing ironic about using her religious beliefs as rationale for voicing antigay sentiments, and then claiming to be a victim of discrimination herself.

The lawsuit names director Keith Lewis and Shanna Moaklar as defendants, and also claims that the pair improperly revealed that they paid for Carrie's breast implants. Shanna's attorney had some strong things to say about the suit. He countered, "Ms. Prejean's unfortunate and bigoted statements are responsible for any public humiliation or damages to her reputation that she has claimed to have suffered." As for whether she was fired for her religion, officials cite her unwillingness to make appearances as the basis for her dethroning.

Regardless of whether you agree with Carrie, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 does prohibit employers from discriminating against individuals because of their religion in hiring or firing. Do you think Carrie has a case?

A&E's Obsessed Explores Extreme Hoarding

TresSugar — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 10:35:00 -0700

Do you have a slight problem with being messy? This week's A&E’s Obsessed, in its exploration of the obsessive compulsive disorder extreme hoarding, will have you cleaning up your apartment or desk and feeling for poor Russ, who can't stop buying things and also can't bear to throw anything away. "I get attached to things," he says, "because I don't have people to care about."

As a result, Russ's apartment is packed to the gills with furniture, mattresses, antiques, and tchotchkes that literally keep him from getting past his front door. In fact, he admits he's slept in front of it before because he couldn't get past his junk. He sometimes even sleeps outside, where he says there's at least fresh air and no feeling of claustrophobia. To find about Russ and extreme hoarding, read more

Why would someone accumulate so much stuff that his home becomes uninhabitable and unfit for guests? According to Russ's cognitive behavioral therapist, a hoarder cannot distinguish the level of an object's importance with respect to other objects. Everything is important, everything imbued with sentimental value, everything may be something the hoarder will need in the future.

In Russ's case, losing his mother was the trigger for his hoarding. "When I touch or hold a keepsake," he says, "it's like being held nearby her." But we're not just talking about photos of his mother or things she owned. Russ struggles with his therapist to throw away a dime store Santa figurine because it's wearing a purple scarf - his mother's favorite color.

Lucky for Russ, he has a great therapist and the true desire to let go of these objects and their relation to his losses so that he can clear the way for a new life.