People Happier in Small Towns

On the way to work I was listening to Cosmo Radio. They were talking about some study that said women in smaller towns and cities were happier and less materialistic then women in large cities. Now I could go and google this article but when I tried, it pulled up stuff from January of last year and I'm not writing a research paper on it so we're going off my memory here.

Basically the gist of what I got was that women in large cities felt more threatened by all the strangers and how totally cool they were. Basically the women were more depressed because they felt like they always had to be on - looking cute, perfectly dressed, coifed, etc. Women in small towns and cities grew up with everyone and saw the same people and felt less pressure and were happier.

Wake Up With Taylor is in NYC and they were all agreeing that it was totally true and they wouldn't leave their apartment with a pimple because they might run into some fashionista. And then they told some story that made everyone else in the country sound like complete slobs that sat around in sweats eating chocolate and watching Grey's. One of them had gone to some small town somewhere and went to a party where all the girls were in sweats and she felt out of place and the other girls were mean to her.

First this makes me angry again because Wake Up With Taylor can be so anti-anywhere but NYC which I hate. I've been to NYC multiple times - its ok but its by no means my favorite city and if someone said I could never go back I wouldn't even care. NYC is not the capital of the world its residents make it out to be. And sure when I walk around NYC I want to look cute (same as home) but I'm not wasting money on designer clothes I can't afford to do it and if some random on the subway thinks I look like crap it's not going to break my heart.

I don't for a second believe that anywhere in the USA is it acceptable to go to a party in grubby sweats you would clean the house in. That's a. gross and b. come on even girls in small town USA want to look cute.

The thing is with the story they might be right. I don't view the women walking around downtown as a threat or want to kill and starve myself because someone happens to be cuter and thinner and better dressed than I am. I like fashion and make-up and looking good but it's for me. I buy things that look good on me and if someone else likes them that's even better.

I think a lot of it comes down to self-esteem. I'm perfectly comfortable buying my jeans from Old Navy. They look great, feel great and they aren't three hundred dollars. I don't really care if you buy Seven jeans or whatever the cool thing is these days. If you want to shell out a couple of hundred dollars on some designers jeans that is your own initative.

Do I look at other women's clothes and think damn I love that shirt, skirt, pants, shoes. Yes. Who doesn't look at something someone else has and be like wow that's really cool? I look at designer shoes the same way I would look at a fantastic painting. Jimmy Choo's are beautiful but not in my price range.

Maybe I'm in my own little bubble but I don't feel a competition to be better than my friends or strangers. I don't base my happiness of being better than them.

I do want to add there may be more pressure in bigger cities but I think a lot of it comes down to your own personal self esteem and if you're going to let it bother you that someone else might be better dressed and doesn't have a pimple.

So my question is, do you feel a pressure to dress up for other people? Let's be honest here and really talk about it. And does this pressure make you unhappy?

Jersey Shore

So have you seen the new MTV show? It's called The Jersey Shore (website and episodes here). First off, let me explain for anyone who has never been to or does not live in NJ. I'm not from there but I lived there for almost four years and the people on this show are a NJ stereotype. They are what you typically think of when you say NJ: turnpike, factories, loud-mouth, trashy, big hair, I could go on but you know... The thing is most people are not like that (I never really met anyone like that). The people on The Jersey Shore aren't even from NJ their bio's say NY and RI (and one NJ girl).

I like the show though. Its so deliciously entertaining - like a train wreck you can't look away. It's kind of like the Bravo Housewife TV shows - I'm sure most women in the OC, NY, NJ and Atlanta don't act like those women either. Part of it is probably show and part of it is a select group of people acting the way they normally would. TV shows need outgoing, loud mouth personalities. They aren't going to film a bunch of kids sitting around drinking soda and playing board games.

The reason I'm mad about this isn't even really about the show (although there are a lot of people mad about it read here)... they were talking about it on Cosmo Radio - Wake Up With Taylor this morning. Taylor said the Jersey shore (the beach not the show) was and I quote "like gift wrapping a poop". I don't know what beaches Taylor has been to but the beaches I went to are nice (nicer than a lot of other beaches, certainly nicer than some VA Beaches I've been to). The cast of the Jersey shore are living in Seaside Heights. Which is probably not one of the classier beaches in NJ. Taylor and the crew had valid points about the cast - they are too tan, they dress slutty... I'm not arguing with that. I'm arguing with the fact that NJ people aren't all like that and the NJ Shore (the beach) is not a poop!

Second, this brings me on a side note that Wake Up With Taylor has been annoying me a lot recently (I use to love it they were so honest and funny) now they are excuse me for saying typical NYC people - snotty, self-centered and name/label droppers. "Oh my boyfriend went to such and such school... its posh." I don't really care. I don't know you're boyfriend and even if I did that is just super annoying. She also makes fun of NJ a lot - I know its one of those states like WV that its socially acceptable to make fun of... its just not that funny. It's like your mother jokes - we get it my mom's fat (not really). I get it Taylor, you and your friends are too cool for NJ - but I can guarantee you are probably one of those annoying people that camp out in a summer house on the shore and think you own the whole town. The show just isn't as good as it once was and I've been kind of hoping Cosmo will cancel it and put Cocktails with Patrick on twice a day.

Anyway... back on topic The Jersey Shore - so I think you should check it out. It's super trashy and the people are annoying but it's super funny. It's like Spencer on The Hills - I can't stand him but I can't look away either. I take it with stride - this is for entertainment not representative of NJ, the shore, Italian-Americans, etc. As I keep watching I'll post more on the subject.

Photo from MTV.com