SUBSTANCE

Letter: To All Presidential Candidates

| Megan

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Dear Presidential Candidates,

Really?!?

Seriously?!!?

Are you kidding?!!!?

Are you a part of reality? Are you Americans? Are you The People? If you are part of us, then why are you so deluded, delusional, egotistical, bombastic, self-aggrandizing, so God-awfully fruit cake, just. plain. NUTS? This is the best that your disparate parties have to offer?

Each and every one of you believe that you are not only capable of being the “leader of the free world”, but qualified to act as Commander-in-Chief and the figurehead of foreign relations for the United States? This letter is not directed at ANY of you individually, but rather an open letter to ALL of you collectively.

I’ll be frank, as a member of the voting public I am appalled at your political peacocking. As someone who considers themselves a conscientious and informed part of the electorate, I am stunned, dismayed, aghast at the reality television lens I believe you have brought into Presidential elections. Indeed, you have left me breathless with your performances.

I mean breathless in the context of being gut punched– repeatedly.

Have any of you spent any amount of time looking in a mirror recently? Or any time watching any of your debates or public forums? I’m not talking about staring in the mirror while memorizing prepared speeches, or practicing pretend smiles. I mean have any of you spent time with a board certified therapist recently?

How has our pool of Presidential candidates come to this?

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Listen, I understand that this RACE this push to put yourself in power is CRAZY. So crazy, in fact, that no rational human being with even a lick of sense will participate in that which we call the race to the Presidential Election.

It really does take super-human strength to flip-flop according to your audience, to criticize and corrosively condemn every other candidate constantly, to talk and talk and talk and pander for an entire DAY-after-day and then wake up and do it all again.

Does it injure your integrity or your sense of soul to climb in bed with corporate sponsors and business affiliates who have little to no care for the wishes or future of this country? Does it hurt to support special interest so aggressively that you forgot that there are not just hundreds, not thousands, but MILLIONS of Americans who are forgotten, underserved, or even negatively impacted by your glad handing big business like they are individual constituents? Yes, those are questions.

How does it feel to have let the BIGGEST, BARREL MOUTHED, BILLIONAIRE Bull into the China Shop since that Mavericky Pit Bull who wore lipstick eight years ago, let alone the fact that she is now his personal spokesperson? Does it pain your good sense to hear that racist, sexist, alarmist, narcissistic, even mildly murderous (according to some latest remarks in Iowa) candidate call you out on stage?

I guess after reviewing this letter I don’t have many comments, only questions. Questions that root in my very pride to be American.

One of the most simple, straightforward articles I’ve read so far comes from NPR called Meet The Candidates In 100 Words And 60 Seconds.

In that vein, I’ve complied my own very simple, very straightforward list of all of the candidates that I’ve affectionately titled Meet The Candidates In Under 5 Words. With a total read-time of 17 seconds, it’s worth it.

BERNIE– TOO OLD, TOO SOCIALIST

TRUMP– BOMBASTIC VITRIOLIST, and frankly NUCKING FUTS

HILLARY– BOUGHT IN, and BOUGHT OUT

CRUZ– BEHOLDEN TO CHRISTIAN GUN-TOTING ZELOTS

O’MALLEY– MOB BOSS

CHRISTIE– WAFFLING RED TO BLUE

BUSH– THREE IS MORE THAN TWO, NOT BETTER

PAUL– LIBERTARIANISM KILLS

RUBIO– IMMIGRATION POLICIES AGAINST THE GRAIN

FIORINA– FEMALE IN THE RED FRAY

CARSON– ZERO EXPERIENCE, ZERO FOREIGN POLICY ACUMEN

HUCKABEE– MAKING TEA WITH THE BEST

 

In the words of one of my dearest friends, Michelle. A woman whose intelligence and political acumen are unsurpassed, a woman whose letter was infinitely more concise and clear than mine, “Dear Candidates, you all suck!”

Sincerely,

Megan

Looking Forward, Glancing Back

| Megan

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2015! What a year! 2016. What an opportunity.

It always takes me time to sink in to a New Year before I am ready to look either forward or back. Before I am ready to sum up what the past year meant to me or taught me, and what I have my sights set on in this new 365 days.

I’ve never felt this practice set me back or behind. Last year my resolution was simply based in one word– LOVE. I felt as though I needed to love more and better.

I am still unpacking and evaluating my progress. This pursuit for understanding and acting in true LOVE will almost certainly take a lifetime, so I’m not going to prognosticate or pontificate on the subject now– give me 30 to 50 more years and we’ll talk!

I can say that I was so lightened, enlightened, uplifted, and LOVED by my little family this year. I felt as though I came to better understand what it meant to love my children and my husband, and I felt that my understanding allowed me to realize that for as much LOVE as we send into the world, we often receive a return on that love that fills us ten fold.

One of the other goals I hit hard in 2015 was Refined + Rugged. I didn’t begin my blog until February (in keeping with surveying my field of life and looking at what I wanted and needed). I am so pleased with this little space of the internet. I can’t believe how far it has come!

I remember the beginning when every step seemed agonizing due to my low level of Information Technology knowledge. I still have a LONG way to go in terms of making this site more interactive, user friendly, and adding in some of those fancy widgets I’ve always dreamed of using (like a little bottom bar of my shopping picks, etc.).

But I am not sitting idle. I am working out kinks here and there every day. I am producing better and better content, working on my photography skills (that might take a class!!!), and hopefully continuing to refine my writing and my voice here on this page I call my own.

Though the page is mine, it would be little more than a grainy closet log, boring travel diary, personal recipe reminder, and staid workout recorder without my husband. My husband takes nearly all of the style photos for Refined + Rugged, and he continually inspires and supports me in this endeavor.

This page also wouldn’t be anything without YOU! Thank you for the support, care, enthusiasm, interest, conversation, positive comments, and encouragement. It means the WORLD! I am so grateful for YOU my friends and readers for your engagement and involvement.

In this past week-and-a-half as the New Year has begun I have written down a couple of personal goals:

Yes to LOVE, Yes to Speaking Kindly

No to SHOPPING until March

Yes to Gratitude, and Yes to Letter Writing

No to Eating Out

Yes to continuing in Family Dinner, and Yes to Moderation in Treats

Yes to Working Out and Biking and Being Active Daily

Yes to tackling an understanding of Budgeting and Personal Finance

Yes to Writing and Creating and Blogging with purpose

There you have it. In as streamlined a way as I can state it for now. The great thing about resolutions and goals is that there is no reason you cannot morph and change them as you see fit, as you journey further in to your new year.

Do you all make goals and resolutions each year? If so, why? If not, why not? If so, how have you seen progress, success, or improvement in yourself in the areas you’ve resolved to improve?

I hope you go roaring into Monday like you mean it! Whether you have personal goals to tackle or not, I hop you feel loved, enlightened, and uplifted! Let’s do this!!!

XX, Megan

Three Tens: A Christmas Spin

| Megan

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I couldn’t resist sharing my Christmas Cycling Workout with all of you beautiful people. Plus, I’ve had several readers and friends let me know that they’ve repeatedly used some of my other Spin Workouts in a pinch.

Including one friend who pulled up Refined + Rugged on her iPhone and used my Thanksgiving ride as a workout for herself and a  group of friends one fine winter gym day! I couldn’t be more pleased.

Ride on!

This workout is broken into 3 BIG, HEAVY 10 minute hill climbs. The purpose here is definitely not speed. I’ve been reading a lot about indoor training for the outdoor season and it is simply a fact that you don’t need to KILL yourself all through the off-season to see results when the weather clears and you’re back outside.

In fact, putting in some long, low, and slow base miles can really insure that you will be ready for action when race season arrives, and keep you in stellar shape through the winter.

Ride on!

For this ride you will begin with very little resistance. You should add gear after your warm-up, and again before you do the 30 seconds on, 30 seconds off stands.

Then all you need to do is pick one, big, fat, hard gear (resistance level 8 or even 9 if we are referencing resistance levels 1-10. 1 being the least resistance, and 10 being the greatest.)

Once you hit that first hill, HOLD your heavy resistance through the 10 minutes. Plus at minute 4  you will stand for 1 minute, then saddle down for a seated PUSH for 1 minute, stand again for 1 minute, and then finish off the last 3 minutes of your slog, I mean climb.

3 Big 10s Profile

Warm-up 3 minute upper body stretch/spin out your legs

3 minutes of 30 seconds on, 30 seconds off pick-ups

3 minutes of 30 second stand, 30 seconds seated.

10 minute Heavy Resistance climb.

  • Stand at 4 minutes for 1 minute, then seated PUSH (like sprint but I can’t say sprint on a resistance that heavy!!!) for 1 minute, then stand for 1 more minute. Finish off your climb for the final 3 minutes.

Flush for 2 minutes.

10 minute Heavy Resistance climb.

  • Stand at 4 minutes for 1 minute, then seated PUSH (like sprint but I can’t say sprint on a resistance that heavy!!!) for 1 minute, then stand for 1 more minute. Finish off your climb for the final 3 minutes.

Flush for 2 minutes.

10 minute Heavy Resistance climb.

  • Stand after 4 minutes for 1 minute, then seated PUSH (like sprint but I can’t say sprint on a resistance that heavy!!!) for 1 minute, then stand for 1 more minute. Finish off your climb for the final 3 minutes.

Cool down! Way to RIDE!

XX, Megan

(Playlist begins with your warm-up song “Christmas is All Around”, by Billy Mack. Your first big hill begins with “Christmas Eve / Sarajevo 24/24”, by Trans-Siberian Orchestra.

*As a musical connoisseur, and someone who believes that music is both an ART and a WORK, I purchase ALL of the music that I listen to and play. I strongly urge you to do the same. I post these playlists so that you can get an idea of the music that rolls along with a great workout, but you can download that music for yourself and give the artist a hand up by purchasing their music!

Brotherly Love: Compassion, Mercy, Goodwill

| Megan

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This Holiday season has been a time of warmth and wonderfulness for myself and my family. We are so blessed. So very, very blessed. In the most simple and most important ways.

But I do not believe that God shows His love through means– through comfort, money, objects, and material goods– through MORE. No I am not more loved than my sisters and brothers. So how do I find myself in such bounteous circumstances?

One of the answers to this question lies at the heart of the misconceived idea that if someone is more comfortable, more gifted in physical substance, more rich it means that they are better than the other humans around them. (This can be applied to talent, skill, and intelligence as well, but I find most often most looked at are our physical commodities.)

It also leads to the false conception that to be given MUCH in terms of physical substance– money, food, clothing, comfort– must mean that the particular human in question is more good.

That their more, their much must mean that they are not simply more superior to those around them in their accumulation of wealth, power, and stuff. Their bounty must mean that they are more right, more golden, more loved than their fellow men.

This simply cannot be true.

In fact, are there not good and wonderful humans who live without? Who struggle to find and provide these physical comforts for themselves and their families all the days of their lives. Because they are without, are they evil? Defective? Wrong? The underbelly? No.

Not in the least. The truth then, is that their lack of comfort, means, and MORE does not correlate to their goodness, rightness, or to God’s love for them in any way.

Just as someone with MORE is not more loved by God, the individual with material means may in fact be evil, defective, hateful, cruel, and all-around bad regardless of their physical comfort and station.

The other insidious fallacy centers around the idea that because someone finds themselves in abject circumstances they have somehow been more prepared or are more equipped to deal with hardship. The idea that being hungry, cold, heartsick, or just plain sick and homeless is easier for one individual than it is for another is a vicious untruth.

What has prepared them to be okay with going hungry, with lacking the means for proper medical care, with the literal cold that someone on the street faces without shelter? Nothing.

These trials, these hardships are not endured more easily by one than another. They are struggles that could cause any human to buckle, to bend under the too-heavy burden. And it is not our place to discuss the merits of attitude in dire situations such as these.

If you don’t believe that there are those in our country who really have lived and spent time on the streets without a home, without shelter, have a listen: https://storycorps.org/embed/46901/

So how do we address the have and the have nots honestly. Herein lies our OPPORTUNITY. It is given to those who have been given MORE to give MORE. We are the hands that reach out with abundance to those who are in need.

For example, I received this text from a good friend just last night, “It is that time of year when we ask our friends if they know of anyone struggling at Christmas– needing help putting presents under the tree for the little ones. If you know of a family in need, please let us know. We would like to help, no questions asked. :)”

As my family gathered around our Thanksgiving table and my Uncle Floyd offered the Thanksgiving prayer, I could not have been more grateful. I could not have felt more whole and filled and loved.

My little family of four, we are happy, we are healthy, we really are warm in a well-heated home, with food in our bellies and clothes on our back. My children have access to good educational opportunities. We have access to well trained doctors and medicine when needed.

We have a secure job and happen to live next to some of the most wonderful neighbors in the world, people who are no longer just neighbors, but true friends.

We have a beautiful group of friends and family who we are perhaps more distant from geographically, but who we feel supported, and loved, and uplifted by them despite the distance.

We have a supportive surrounding community with qualified teachers and coaches, activities and sports of every description. We live at the feet of the mountains that boast the greatest snow on earth. (Come on snow! 😉

But this season I cannot wrest the feeling, the urge, the desire to share not simply the blessings I have but more specifically the LOVE that surrounds me– more powerfully, meaningfully, and deeply with others.

I must take the opportunity to share my bounty with others. One of those ways is to physically give of your time and substance generously and without question as my friend has chosen to do. Yes.

And are there other ways to share and show God’s love this season? To offer real LOVE to the human family we are a part of?

How do we do that? I mentioned in my Thanksgiving Prayer, that often the world seems– looks, and feels, and is portrayed– as if all of humanity is in schism. As if all the world, all of humanity is so very deeply divided, broken, fractured into countless pieces of hatred and false judgement. The very opposite of this love I have felt, and seek and search after.

I have a faith, I have a religion, I have a history and a culture. I am made of so many diverse pieces of past and present. We all are. But how do we so easily forget that, if we choose, we may all sit down at the table of HUMANITY. We may all sit down at the proverbial table of Brotherly Love.

Sitting down at this table does not erase our good pieces, the pieces of us that comprise the whole. It does not magically wipe away religion, politics, gender, race, culture, history, and other differences. Hopefully we will learn to sit around the table with diversities so great and far reaching and look into one another’s eyes with honest care.

I recently came across a quote from Vincent van Gogh who said, “I feel that there is nothing truly more artistic than to love people.” May we practice the art of love. May we feel it towards our neighbors.

May we pray to feel love for our enemies. May we have the faith in our shared humanity enough to sit down at that great table, the table of shared existence, shared being, shared life. The table of brotherly love, compassion, goodwill, mercy, kindness.

To start, we must open our hearts.

XX, Megan

 

Fa-la-la-la-la Christmas Cards

| Megan

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So I’ve already blown the surprise out on our family pictures this year, here. Thank you again to Aubreigh Parks for the wonderful snaps! You can learn more about scheduling your own family photo session here.

*Spoiler alert: I’m about to do the same with our family Christmas cards. Blow any anticipation you had of receiving one of these babies away like Autumn’s dried leaves.*

One really great eventuality of these kinds of family photo sessions (read: the reason we take family photos every year) is that we can then turn them into cards to send to our nearest and dearest.

I’m sure there are plenty of Family Photo Card poo-pooers out there. I mean, a good friend of mine has already begun publicly denouncing his hearing of Christmas music!

It’s December 4th, buddy, you’ve only got… practically an entire month to go. Good luck with your Scroogity Christmas tune distaste. All I am saying is that there are those who think all of this sending cards mumbo-jumbo is for the birds. Well you have your opinion, and I’ll have mine.

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This year we chose to have our cards printed through Artifact Uprising, and we could not be more pleased with the results. You can read the story behind Artifact Uprising here.

I was so touched by their simple desire, not only to CAPTURE life in photo, but their concern with how we keep those memories or hold on to those moments after that picture has been taken. How will we conjure up those sweet snap shots on dead cell phones, or dinosaur computers, they ask?

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This is it friends. Instead of leaving behind old cell phones and eventually un-charable computers we’ll be leaving behind pictures. Printed photos. Physical documents of some of the most special, priceless, beloved moments captured and then inked.

If you hurry, you’ll still be able to get standard shipping on most photo cards, photo books, and prints at Artifact Uprising. They also have awesome options for turning your photos in wall art.

Enough waxing on about photos, letters, and other printed paraphernalia. I’ve got letters to write, and stamp, and send. Now if I could just get my hands on a book of those adorable Peanuts Forever stamps!

Have a beautiful weekend, friends.

XX, Megan

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P.S. Just in case you thought I really wrote my Cards surrounded by springs of Blue Spruce, the actually madness of my table is below. Complete with a dying floral arrangement.

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