Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Obsessed Much?



What is this?

Chicago, I love you, but you're a little crazy.


Sunday, November 16, 2008

Go Green or Go Home (or go green, then go home)

I went to the Green Festival in SF this weekend with Suzy. It was great, until it got super crowded at which point I said, "yeah, I'm kinda over this." We were there for about 6 hours. I did an OK job with my effort to spend less money.

I bought some reusable produce bags (a pack of three sizes plus a mesh bag) from a place called Blue Lotus.

I also bought two rad stainless steel water bottles from a place called Earthlust, which has designs that I'd never seen before - one for me and one for Tim.

Finally, my favorite thing that I think I saw were these t-shirts from a place called We Add Up. It's an awesome idea. You buy a shirt and it has something that you have committed to do to help the earth. It has a number on it. That number corresponds to the number of people that have committed to helping our environment. The idea is that, together, we can make a difference. LOVED IT! I think this idea is pretty gen(ius).

If you are looking for gifts for the holidays, I highly recommend these companies! Other green companies that you should support can be found here.

The other thing that I took away from the Festival was the fact that the US government allows a lot more in the way of toxic chemicals than other countries. In particular, it's quite scary how much the cosmetic industry gets away with. I heard Mark Shapiro speak, and it was interesting. He has a book out about this and I hope to read it soon. Here's some info. We should all be really pissed and scared about this issue!

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

omfg

I know it probably does not deserve the time it takes to type this, but I have to say, I can't really believe these things a) exist b) already exist. And in particular, what's up with the "666" one and this one.

I'm trying to not let all that faith that was restored in my county dissipate.

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

My walk to vote

Today, I was part of history! I'm not gonna lie, I teared up a bit walking to the polls.

Generally speaking, Davis is very liberal. I think we have the most hybrids per capita in the country. Apparently though, on my street alone we have at least 2 of the 10 or so peeps voting Yes on 8 (the proposition that would ban gay marriage) and for McCain. (Yes, those last two statements are slight exaggerations.)

I've been counting signs on my street and I think we're up to about 50 on my block alone. Today, on my walk to vote, this is what I saw:



Here's my front yard. I really am a true Davisite; I have a political sign in my yard! If you look across the street, you can see that it's totally "the thing to do" here. (Also, there's a mattress...I'm not sure what's up with those neighbors. For weeks they had a ton of shit in their front yard. They have, like, 12 kids and even more bikes. And, they drive a 2-seater pick-up truck. Interesting.)

I love that these people feel the need to clarify with a homemade sign. "We're not against the gays, just equality!" I also don't understand why it says "United Not Word Marriage." Why the "word?"

I found this interesting. They are against gay marriage, but for Obama. Kinda an anomaly around these parts.


I really want to meet the person that owns this house on the corner. They literally have about 7 - 10 signs in their front yard. And, I'm fairly certain they put all the signs in the road divider that you see here.

So, while living in a tiny college town has it's ups and downs, the fact that they are very politically active is a plus. However, I guess I'm only saying this because they lean in my direction. If it were the other way, I'd not be so satisfied, indeed.

Monday, November 3, 2008

This past weekend

I've always loved dressing my dogs up. When I was little, I would put a t-shirt on Scruffles (my first dog who is also referred to by me now as "the dog from hell") and walk him up and down the street.

So, as an adult now when Halloween comes around this is obviously the only time I can dress my 75 lb. dog up and not look crazy.



Also this weekend, I went to my friend Suzy's place in SF to bake cupcakes. She actually did all the work, I just got to enjoy the end product. I guess in a small way it made me more hopeful to sit in a room with four people and bake cupcakes for Obama, knowing that there were four people that would actually get super geeked out about sitting in a room baking cupcakes for Obama.

Here's the end result:


(Yes, that is marble cake.)