Thursday, December 9, 2010

"Out of clutter, find simplicity. From discord, find harmony. In the middle of difficulty, lies opportunity."
-Albert Einstein

And it's that time of year. With so much coming in, something has to go. But remember to think of the mental clutter when purging to start the New Year with that fresh, shiny, invigorated feeling!
 

Friday, November 26, 2010

dolce far niente

dolce far niente

or

'it is sweet doing nothing'

Of course the Italians have a common phrase for it.

And Americans, as a general rule, don't do enough of it.

My goal? Practice.

I love new bedding!

Your chance to win a Free Luxurious Organic Cotton Bedding Package from Gaiam.com.

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Thursday, September 16, 2010

Gotta Love Facebook Contests!

Today starts in the most fabulous way!

I get a notice through facebook that I have won a contest (random drawing from all users who "like" this product page). I didn't even know I was IN a contest!

$180 worth of Cleanwell products! Yay! I SO very love their stuff. I'm looking forward to the package arriving.

more to come about this....

find out about Cleanwell at www.cleanwell.com

Monday, June 21, 2010

Silver and Gold

There's an old saying about friends: Make new friends but keep the old, one is silver, the other gold.

Once upon a time, I believed that YaYas were the ladies with whom one had grown up.

I've learned over the last few years, and especially in the last few weeks, that a woman's YaYas can come along at any time, at any age, and can even come and go. They can also be long distance or nearby.

Sometimes, you can know them before you ever even meet them.

The key, the key is that they are there for you, and you for them.

To all my YaYas - near and far, old and new

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Vegan Cheese

I don't understand the point of Vegan Cheese.

It isn't cheese. Not in texture, appearance, or taste.  It's usually made of Soy (GMO, anyone?)

If it doesn't look like cheese, act like cheese or taste like cheese? What is the point.

Eat cheese or don't cheese.

Me, I'm reading labels a little better next time, cuz ts cheese topped eggplant parm is, well, NOT cheese topped.

Yuck

Monday, April 19, 2010

Sharing the love

My friend Michelle got an article about her in Greenopolis!

Sunday, April 18, 2010

Earth Week 2010

This week marks the 40th anniversary of Earth Week.

Earth Week provides us an opportunity to expand our own knowledge while also sharing our existing knowledge with others. And so, in that spirit, what do you do differently for Earth Week? Or, if you are already living a "green"life, what are some examples of what you do?

For me I do the following on a regular basis: (I do others, but you can count on these happening daily in my house)
  • Carry my own water bottle every where (and I do mean everywhere, in the unlikely event you've run into me and I DON'T have it, I either left in a super rush or have lost/broken it since leaving home. I even bring it with me when I travel on airplanes. Just keep it empty until past security. I bring a stainless coffee cup in my suitcase, too).
  • Recycle. I've even been known to stuff items in my bag to bring home for recycling.
  • Garden. I try. I fail often, but I keep trying. I'm determined to one day grow my own vegetables and not have to buy them  at the grocery. If I manage to get the herbs to survive this year, that will be a happy baby step for me.
  • Farmers Market - I go when I can. I live in Michigan so it's a four to five month window for me, but I take what I can get.
  • Shop Local. I'm on a tight budget, but I will buy a locally made product whenever possible.
  • Reduce the amount of plastic in my home. This is hard. I have a five year old. He's past the age where his interest can be engaged by the wooden toys (which keep being painted with lead based paint, anyway). And an increasing amount of food comes in plastic these days. Much to my dismay. I work full time or I'd make more of my food from total scratch.
  • Reduce my family's meat intake.Honestly, they haven't missed it and my budget has been much happier. So has my stomach, my heart, etc I feel better in general.Though I haven't quite adjusted to the different taste of organic meat. (For those of you well ahead of me and eating only organic meat, you've forgotten how much different it tastes than some of those big name devil brands.)
  • Chemical Free (or as close as possible) health and beauty products - hair care, toothpaste, soap, etc. I make what little I know how to make and buy from reputable companies the rest of the time. I tried supporting locally for this, but then I read the labels ... BOO! Why go to the hassle of making it just to dump in petroleum products! 
  • I've shortened my showers. Not much, I love my showers, but I'm working on it. 
  • "If it's yellow, let it mellow..." We can only do it in one of our three bathrooms, but my son and I make an effort to use THAT bathroom as often as possible.
  • Coffee Press. My newest indulgence - and it helps the planet, too! No more bleached filters (even unbleached requires trees!) No junk in my coffee for composting. Less waste.  And truly, the coffee tastes SOOOO much better.
  • Air dry a good portion of my laundered clothes. I live in one of those crazy places where you are not allowed to hang your clothes outside. And I have a small laundry room, but I hang what I can. 
  • Roll Over. Yes, the stupid Cottonelle challenge taught me something. As a roll under person, it's really hard for me to put the toilet paper over the top, but I read on the package that it saves toilet paper because you use less. I thought, why not try it. At least in my house, it works. The roll keeps rolling when you have the paper feed underneath. So yep, I've twitched .. I mean, switched.
  • Sleep timer on the TV. I grew up with noise, lots of noise. So when I moved out and went to college, I needed noise. I filled the gap with TV. I sleep with the TV on, but rather than let it run all night, I set the sleep timer. Plus, you don't sleep well if there is noise during your REM sleep periods. Your brain doesn't turn off because the noise keeps it engaged. 
  • Bring my own bags.
  • Rarely print,  but when I do need to print, I use recycled paper. 
  • Share. I share my knowledge with someone every day. A snippet here, reminder there. Just a little something. The best way to learn is to teach.
So ... where can I do improve?
  • Well, at work (I work from a home office) I have three laptops running every day. Two work laptops and one personal. I will start turning my personal machine off at the start of the work day and I can put one of the two work machines to sleep when I'm working on the other one.
  • Shorten the showers. I relish my shower time, it's my only alone time when I'm not working. But I really need to spend my alone time doing FOR me. Like meditation, yoga, or working out.
  • Exercise, It may sound silly, but when I exercise I want better food. I want to do better in all of it. I want to be a better me. 
  • Listen. Look for new ideas. 
  • Eat more raw food. Raw food uses no energy to prepare. And it tastes so much better. 
  • Bring my own produce bags. I HATE HATE HATE those plastic bags for the veggies. I need to get some of those mesh bags. I want want want! 
  • Buy LESS STUFF. 
  • Learn to sew. I'm learning to sew (again). I'm terrible at it and I have little patience for it, but I am giving it a try.  The reality is that I'm a slob. I can ruin a perfectly good top on the third time out of the closet. Why not learn to find a way to use that fabric? I've made two items so far and have lot's of other ideas to go! Upcycle, baby!
There is so much more I want to do. But I want to hear from y'all. what do you do that you don't see here? What's your favorite tips to share? I want to hear from you! 


    Tuesday, April 13, 2010

    Work Out Club

    First Rule of Work Out Club? Tell EVERYONE about Workout Club

    So what is workout club? Every Tuesday and Thursday I get together with some girlfriends to work out - take a walk, lift weights, do yoga, whatever suits you (or the weather) that day. 

    What's so unique about this, you ask ... well - first of all, my girlfriends and I live in different states.

    We were having trouble sticking to our commitments to ourselves so we committed to each other! We trust each other enough to trust each other and we have enough honor to not cheat the commitment.

    So every Tuesday and Thursday at 1:00 pm eastern we set our IM messages to DND, park our phones,and simply walk away. We've got two under our belts, for now. With a plan for many many more...

    Who is in the club?

    Saturday, April 10, 2010

    My endeavor was mildly successful. I haven't completed it because I bent my sewing machine needle, but here is what it looked like when it was all pinned up pre-sewing.


    It rolls up to hold cutlery and a napkin. All recycled materials.

    I'll be finishing this one and trying again!

    Friday, April 9, 2010

    New Endeavors

    Today I began the journey toward a new endeavor...it involves a sewing machine

    Did I mention? I detest sewing. Not your average run of the mill don't like, but true on - full out hatred.

    Yet ever since I saw this project on a green blog, I haven't been able to stop thinking about it. And it provides me the perfect opportunity to provide new life to items that would otherwise become garbage. (Yay!)

    and just in time for the 40th Anniversary of Earth Day !

    Friday, April 2, 2010

    and so it starts

    my first blog.

    ...and after a week of topics piling up in my head, I suddenly have writer's block

    is this what stage fright is like (except without people staring at you, just the blinking cursor...)