Whenever I think about the holly jolly holiday season and my family's impending gift exchange, I am reminded of the families affected by the horrific shooting last Friday at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. The parents of twenty little boys and girls had done their holiday shopping for little frilly white socks and Power Ranger pajamas and had made their holiday plans - vacations, staycations, volunteer work, family time over board games and sports games and hot cocoa with sprinkles. And all of that was snatched away in mere minutes. I want to express my deepest sympathy and sorry for the losses of these bright younglings and the brave women who died trying to protect their charges. My thoughts and prayers are with their families and friends.

I want my blog to touch not just on the vapid shoes-and-purses consumerism that I struggle with, and the smart monetary choices young 20-something-year-olds should make that I will attempt to learn and implement. I don't want my blog to be merely a compilation of event and product reviews or a journal where I document my year in recovery from shopping. I also want my blog to touch on different types of consumerism and current events, and be a place where I can share my opinions and commentary of society at large.

After the Newton tragedy, I'd like to write a short opinion piece on the connection between the media and consumerism of weapons and other objects associated with violence. The struggle for gun control over the last decade or so, and where I'd like to see us go from here. This is going to take some time and research, because I don't want to just throw out my opinions without sources and hard evidence. So be patient. It's coming. Long story short, though, as a daughter and a sister and as a woman who hopes to be a mother one day with children of my own to protect, I strongly believe that our society's infatuation with guns and violence needs to be rethought. An armed nation is not a civilized one, especially when our children are being killed in schools with legal weapons.

With a heavy heart,
Shawna