Five o'clock somewhere

Aren't beer commercials the funniest? I'm going to be 21 in a few days. Technically, I'll be "legal." Allowed to drink, go to clubs, gamble... and all that jazz. It is crazy to me how much pressure I've been getting from people. People saying I should go drinking and have a good time. It seems like it's the thing to do.

I don't mean to sound like a goody-goody, but I really think there are other ways to have fun. I don't need to go drinking just because I'm allowed to. I would like to remember all my fun experiences. I don't want to worry that I'll do something totally stupid and I won't even remember it. Even social drinking. Why do I have to? It is totally okay to just not drink. Isn't it?? I'm not saying that everyone should have my same opinion. Just know that it's okay to not do what everybody else is doing.

I got called to take pictures of an accident recently. A Ford Focus was going well above the speed limit and veered into oncoming traffic. The Ford smashed into another car and one teenage passenger flew through the windshield. The 27 year-old driver and the other teen survived with serious injuries, and the driver in the other vehicle was uninjured. The one teen was rushed to the hospital. A heartbeat was detected for a short time, but then it stopped. The teen was killed. Had the driver been sober, this ugly incident wouldn't have happened.

Those funny commercials sure make alcohol look good, don't they? They don't show people puking their guts out. They don't show people acting like complete idiots. They don't show people flying through windshields or getting in car wrecks.

I just can't figure out why people think drinking is cool. There is no social mandate that says we must all drink alcohol at the age of 21. If you don't want to, you don't have to. Don't be stupid. Enough said.

Material girl

"Look at this stuff. Isn't it neat? Wouldn't you think my collection's complete?" Ariel the mermaid was just beginning her collection of interesting things. For some people, "things" can go a little overboard.

My mom recently got me hooked on a show called "Clean House." The Clean House team goes to insanely cluttered homes like this one to make the owners sell some of their most prized possessions. The proceeds are matched (up to a thousand dollars) and the money goes to make the house clean and beautiful. In the last few episodes, I watched as people hugged their Harley Davidson T-shirt collection, their giant cigarette-shaped lamp, their presents from last Christmas and their late Uncle Bob's broken jukebox. Even when the outcome of selling their "foolishness" benefits their future living space, home-owners are almost always reluctant to part with their precious things.

Things. Sayings and Bible verses seem to flood into my head. "You can't take it with you." "Old things pass away." Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." I keep wondering what I would really do if the Clean House team came to my home. Would they be prying my precious things from my hands--begging me to sell so that I'd have a great space to live in by the end of the show? If Ariel's statue of Prince Eric was not destroyed, would she have gone after the real thing?

Tune in next Wednesday at 10/9c on the Style channel to see another transformation.