eco-fab.

let's see, let's see... while in myrtle matt and I went into this cute little shop, I forget the name of it but I'm sure I'll remember it later. anyway, they sold localcelebrity tshirts. which are cute and made of organic cotton. and we both went to our respective gender's side of the store to look at things, and came back with the SAME SHIRT. It's this one. Pity that a medium is too snug in places for me, so I didn't get it. And they didn't have a men's small. But Matt got one, and it makes me happy. :)

I also learned (while looking for a large for me) that this shirt is a part of global green. And that you get a shirt for joining. I'm going to look into it more...but I think it looks pretty awesome.

while on vacay matt and I recycled. like, everything. I think the cleaning people thought we were crazy because they were like "oh, no, you can leave your trash, we'll take care of it." And when we explained they were for recycling, they looked at us like we had six heads.

Oh, and the chick at Old Navy was awesome--I had one of my baggubags that we'd stuffed everything in, and she was all "this is great! these bags are cute! and they fold up smaller than the ones I have--where did you get them?" And since I normally get crazy looks, this was refreshing.

ps, I still haven't gotten a plastic bag in a long time. the last day was, let's see...February 24th. and that was the express bag and the little plastic bag for my origin's body wash. I'm pretty proud of myself. :) I have realized that I need more bags though. I have three right now, and that just isn't enough.

on saturday I was kind of bummed--it was earth hour and matt wanted to go hang out with his friends. and I wanted to stay home in candlelight...we decided to go over to his friends', and THEY agreed to turn out all their lights, too! It was super fun. Chicago alone saved approx 420 tons of CO2. Pretty significant since the average person in the US produces 20 tons annually. And that's for ONE city, making a pledge to turn out the lights for ONE hour. that's a big deal!

I learned that nalgene bottles aren't exactly safe. Evidence is fishy, but they do agree that #7 plastics contain a hormone-disrupting chemical called bisphenol-A. PLUS I learned that nalgene bottles can't be recycled. The off-white ones don't have this chemical and can be recycled, but those pretty colored ones can't. Hmm. I'll be learning more about this and I'll let you know the results.

Also, I had a funfunfun idea. Earth Day is April 22nd. It's a Tuesday. Which isn't a good day for a party. But I *think* I'm going to throw an Eco-Fabulous party on the 26th. We'll get a keg of enviro-friendly beer like sierra nevada (who uses solar power for 80%ish of their energy) or something by brooklyn brewery (they're all wind power). And the keg is better than the bottle or can. (thanks for the link melissa)

To get in you'll have to bring recyclables or bulbs that have been replaced by CFLs. I'm still working on the details, but I'm EXCITED! Let me know if a)you have suggestions or b)you want to join us!

and finally, I'm really enjoying the green guide. I'm going to subscribe. :)

think flowers.

~as written on the mud flaps of a semi. which totally made my day.

so, wednesday I went to myrtle beach to spend time with matt. we ate good food, we walked on the beach, we slept A LOT and relaxed. and I kind of watched a disgusting amount of america's next top model. I didn't mean to, but it was ON and I got SUCKED IN. That show is totally the devil. And I like it. Matt kept sneaking the channel over to the ANTM marathon whenever I got up or was getting ready or whatever--and the time kept creeping away.

and it. was. wonderful.

the whole theme of our time was "we are on vacation." i.e., we don't have a damn thing to do, so deal with it. and deal with it I did. :)

we went to crocodile rocks and made friends with the philly-folk across the table. we requested queen, asked the people what if you're not from the north OR the south (oklahoma is neither, you know) and also asked for them to play friendly little cat (the chick on the song is annoying but imagine a harley'd-out-dude with a ponytail playing the piano and singing this--SO funny). we also took shots. jello shots. from syringes.

I learned that Matt prefers his cereal mushy, which completely grosses me out. I determined that I really, REALLY want an opal ring (it is my birthstone after all). we went shopping at the outlet stores. we ate at the olive garden, which was deeeelicious. and we really had an incredible time on our vacay, our first just the two of us.

see: pictures.

we drove back on saturday morning and I had the WORST FOOD from wendy's I've ever had in my entire life. then I slept while he played soccer, and eventually we met up with some of his college friends to watch UNC win. boo on them! and then today we watched davidson v. kansas, and I'm sad to say davidson lost. but I still had a fun time.

and now...bedtime. before my FINAL day in my current job. I am SO excited. SO. I have a whole entire other post's worth of green things, and I'll share it with you tomorrow. just you wait. I think you'll like it! and high-five to all who participated in yesterday's earth hour!

these are the four I chose...

I put a lot of thought into it, and I realized a few things.

a) you get paid more for having your photo published than you do for winning this contest. potentially a lot more.
b) hence, I need to pick photos that I think have a lower likelihood of being selected for publishing (so I excluded the under-the-tree-with-the-colors-photo and the barn/house photo from my options)
c) the elements of a good contest photo are different than the elements of a good hang-in-your-home photo (so the runners were in and the swings out even though I reallyreally like the swing photo--more than anything because of the leaves in the upper corner of the runners photo)
d) that I should probably pick photos that aren't as likely to be captured by someone else (so the lucky strike was out) and for the places, things that are still there (so goodbye to southend, boo and frown.)
e) that I have very kind people who read my blog and tell me their opinions. I appreciate it mucho.

so here are my picks. for the um, er, pics.

though I'm still debating between these two. since I didn't manage to do it yet, I'll be deciding tomorrow morning and submitting the proper disk. I know, I'm a procrastinator and a waffler. I'm okay with that.

north carolina photo contest...

hi hi. I'm entering a photo contest. It's Our State's annual photo contest! There are five categories...I get to enter one in each, if I like. And they have to be pics from NC. If you wouldn't mind, I'd like your help...and sooner rather than later, if you please...I'm going to burn the cd and mail this off on Saturday (it's due April 1st)

black & white--I'm leaning toward the flower picture...

nature-landscapes

nature-wildlife ( have none to submit)

people-groups or individuals experiencing north carolina life

places--well recognized buildings, historic sites and landmarks

i want to settle down.

no, no, I'm not thinking about babies and marriage. I mean, that's totally in my life plan, but not on the shorter-term agenda.

what I want is to decide that wherever I'm living isn't a short term stop. I don't need to know I'm going to live here for the next twenty years, but it would be really nice for me to know that I'm planning on being here for the next five.

sometimes I hate being in north carolina. your roads are funny. and you've made my accent worse--it was nearly non-existent before. you've made me like collards every-so-slightly and I think I'm allergic to you--and to your pine trees, which look ridiculous with their up-on-high branches. but then again while living here I've come to appreciate some of my favorite things. like painting and photography and ranunculuses. and gardening. and indie music. I have friends here. and a church. and some of both are more like family. I sorta-kinda know the area, and I make a darn good tour guide.

and don't even get me started on my boyfriend. :)

you've made me miss snowflakes and the oklahoma sky, and I hate deciding how to answer when people ask how I ended up here. do I tell them "because of a boy?" or "because of my ex-husband?" I really hate that part.

but I've come to realize I kind of love here. it's like when I realized my favorite color was pink--I just hadn't bothered to let that sink in yet. and now I find myself asking "why do I still think this is ultra-temporary? why am I still thinking about going elsewhere?"

and I just don't know.
I just don't know.

It seems like recently the stars have aligned...I just got what seems to be like a dream job for me--it'll be hard and all, but I've got an awesome boss and I'll get to write AND do engineering AND they seem to give positive feedback. I just achieved a life goal--who does that at 27?!?--and that published photo comes out in a week! I have this spectacular boyfriend who loves me and loves who I am--faults and all.

and yet I'm afraid to commit. I'm not willing to say I have plans to stay here. and I'm not willing to buy a house. I keep talking about how I'll stay here for two more years until I'm fully vested at work. or how I'll stay until I figure out about grad school--it's still a possibility, but it's not like it's imminent. I haven't found anything worth risking it all for.

I will have lived in NC for five years as of early june. three of them in this very same apartment. I hate moving. I'm financially stable. If I were just a teensy bit more frugal with my cash, I could afford a reasonable mortgage payment. I already have plenty of furniture and kitchen stuff. My lease is up in July.

It would be SO EASY. Or at least not rocket science. I could do it.

and yet there is still something holding me back. I sure wish I could figure out what's making me hesitate. sure do. maybe I should take the easy first step and see what I'd qualify for with a mortgage. just to see....maybe.

i am okay with being by myself...

I'll get to the title in a minute.

friday after work--nap. dinner at azitra. meeting up with matt's college friend. drinking. running into my fellow church folks at ben's place and later heading to lynnwood to catch up with them. and realizing I hadn't had enough water to drink.

saturday matt and I went to brunch before he left for myrtle beach. and then it was a day of reee-lax-ing. pedicure. painting. shopping. photographing. cuddling with my kitties. good stuff. ooh AND I got my copy of our state in the mail. here's my photo!!!

last night I watched Million Dollar Baby and painted and went to be early since I had to get up so early--and I'm no good at early!

and then today was easter. I was at church for a long time (seriously--seven to noon) and we sang twice--and the second time was AMAZING. and fun! though I did almost yell at a woman who has repeatedly treated me like a child. there are three of the "younger" choir members that she's always telling what to do. including me. I'm sure this sounds ridiculous, and I'd have to explain a lot to give you an example--but long story short, she barks orders that it's not her place to bark.

anyhoodle, the service was pretty and the music was superfun and I was extra super thankful for the coffee and breakfast. and my pastor cracks me up.

also, one of my choir members was kind enough to invite me to her easter dinner once she heard that I didn't have any plans. which was really nice, indeed. I've realized that there's something getting to me though--it's the pity. I mean, she was so kind to ask me, and I know it was genuine, but the look on her face when I said that I was going to stay home and chill out bore a strong resemblance to the look you'd give someone when they said they had to put a pet to sleep. and I felt conflicting emotions about it, you know?

I actually asked another single woman about it--I explained that I LOVE being asked, and sometimes I really want to be with people, but that sometimes I'm totally okay with being by myself. And it's like some people can't understand that. It was kind of awkward. I think next time I'll just say "I have plans." And leave it at that...

oh, and the cross of flowers was quite lovely. It was pretty last year, too! (it's at the bottom of the post) but I especially liked it this year because I remembered to bring some flowers!

oh, and I finally took pictures of the flowers matt gave me for our anniversary. they're purdy. and now I will watch more of memoirs of a geisha (which is a LONG movie) and get some sleep!

again, HAPPY EASTER!!!!

rat-a-tat-tat

um, I think I'm going to get a third tattoo. I'm still thinking about it. mostly, I know what I want, but not where to put it. on my shoulder is an option. yes, I realize it would likely show in a fancy dress, but a)I don't care and b)how often do I wear fancy dresses anyway?

I've also thought about getting it on my elbow. like, on the inside, where your arm rests by your torso. a little tiny flower. yes, you could see it in a short sleeve shirt, and no, I don't care about that either. I just want a little sunflower with green leaves and yellow petals and I'm not sure if I want an orange or brown center. or orange-brown. but the more I think about it, the more I know this is what I want. I'll tell you my sunflower stories soon, I promise.

I actually tried to draw what I want on a bandaid and put it on my arm so you'd get the idea, but bandaids don't make good tattoo palettes. :)

so if you have input, or have a tattoo in one of those places and have reasons you do/do not like the location, I'll be happy to hear it. and please, don't remind me that I'll have it in fifty years. first of all, I already have two, and second that's the entire point. And I want a third because I have a thing about odd numbers.

tonight we sing the maundy thursday service. we have a flute, oboe, violin and horn (I forget the name and don't feel like looking it up--not a trumpet. not a sousaphone. maybe a french? yeah, I think it's a french. anyway.) accompanying us, and they sound awesome, but it's TOTALLY screwing up our singers. I can hear exactly none of the people by me, and people don't stand close enough together either, so we sopranos are way over on the side in a J shape and I'm all alone. it kind of sucks.

at least it got better as the night wore on. I guess...I'm excited to sing the descant though. And I wish we were singing "was it a morning like this." and at least I don't have songs about torches and swords in my head! anyhoodle.

time to have lunch with my mentor now--we're celebrating my new job, and his transition to being my boss!

maybe I should become a hermit...

so, two things.

this is totally worth twenty minutes and forty seconds of your time. it's called the story of stuff. I think this annie leonard lady and I should totally go out to lunch. or attend a march together or something. if you are a fan of, oh, living on earth, it is worth it. the little factoids are disturbing, and the fact that they're all accurate is even worse!!!

and look at this--THREE batteries in each bottle of shave gel? THREE? okay a)wasteful, b)batteries are toxic and c)what, are we supposed to be all "ooh, shiny!" and do people dispose of the batteries properly after they're done? I doubt it. gracious.

and we are five percent of the world's population and generate thirty percent of the waste. MAN.
anyway. happier note. I painted yesterday for the first time in like six months. well, technically I painted, I finished painting this which I started almost a year ago and I also painted over my poppies picture so I can reuse the canvas because I don't even like that one! however, eventually I've got to find a home for some of these because I only have so much wall space and it's already covered with photos! anyhoodle. time for scouts!

a fickle star named cleona.

perhaps that should be the name of my first album, should I ever make one. matt gave me that last night, and I'd explain, but you wouldn't find it NEARLY as funny as we did, I promise.

what I will tell you is that we both love-love-loved what the other got for us. matt thought the little poem I wrote him was wonderful (it had a part about every month and things that happened then and stuff like that...) and we got a HUGE kick out of how I had pointed out that my card was printed on recycled paper and how he got a card for me with al gore telling us to "be green!" by the way, yes, cards plural. from the man who "doesn't do" cards. he said "I know how much you like them, so I thought you needed more than one. I actually had to stop myself from buying more!!!" and? I totally almost bought him that card with the little kids on it. I actually settled on a DIFFERENT card with little kids on it. cute cute cute!

(by the way, I totally have a sappy smile on my face right this instant)

I got him twelve gifts--some bigger, some little--on purpose (plus his card) and though it was totally unintentional, he got me twelve gifts, counting the cards, plus the flowers. two of my faves were the picture frame (with random people's pictures in it--I need to change that!) and a shirt that said "solar power is hot!" I do hope you haven't thrown up yet. It gets worse!

so, once we opened our gifts and put the champagne in the fridge, we headed to uno's. and you may not know this, because I soooo didn't blog about it, but our first date was at uno's. we kind of just picked it when we got to the shopping center (and I quickly learned that if our relationship was going to work I'd be picking the restaurants about 90% of the time) and I didn't think about it--I mean I like uno's, it's one of my fave places--except I was totally going to order off the menu. on the first date. arguably not the best thing to do, you know?

well anyway, so we went there, and I did order off the menu because the chicken fajita pizza is my veryveryvery favorite pizza ever (more than mazzio's, more than mario's, more than zpizza, more than the one I make from scratch, honestly, but they're very different and it's a close second but moving on) so anyway, we went to uno's since it had significance.

and randomly enough, it just so happened that "our booth" from that date was open and without our saying even a word to the server dude, that's where he sat us. :) cute, no? I mean, its not like there's four million tables there, but there were easily, oh, ten or twelve open, and that's where they sat us on our anniversary? mighty fun co-ink-ee-dink. so this? this is us in "our booth." :)

after that, we came home and drank the champagne and ate the sugar cookies he'd given me while watching new tv! how I met your mother was quite funny, and big nerds that we are we enjoyed the big bang theory too. oh, turning off lights in another country over the internet and going to a physics convention. SO damn funny. so so so.

end: being maple-tree-ish. y'know, sappy.

other things: 1. I keep buying the 3 lb bags of oranges even though I know I can't eat them all. I don't want the bigger oranges because I'm less likely to eat them, and honestly the 3lb bag is a better deal anyway. so I forced one of them on my coworker luke. two days later I put a little sign by his orange a'la alice in wonderland that said "eat me." this is how he returned the favor. and yes, that's the taped together peel of an orange.

2. I bought daffodils at work to support the american cancer society. twenty of them, actually. and they are open and in my green depression glass vase, and they are LOVELY. I can't even begin to tell you how much I love green and yellow together. just like my granny. I totally want to have a yellow kitchen some day (I used to want green, but now I want yellow, but I'll probably do green again and now I'll tell you why) because they're all cheery and pleasant if you pick the correct color, but yellow kitchens are also the most likely to catch on fire. or so they say.

3. I cleaned my downstairs this weekend. vacuumed, scrubbed, etc. it isn't done completely yet, but I've made good progress. and I think I'm going to totally undo that tonight and tomorrow by painting when I get home. and watching movies. :)

happy tuesday. and I'm still smiling! :)

never iron a four-leaf clover, because you don't want to press your luck!

they have no idea who said that, but I LOVE it.

Question: WHERE IS ALL THE GREEN? No offense to you personally, but if you're not wearing green (or orange) today I've gotta call you LAME. Don't worry, it's not a permanent thing, but really? You're supposed to wear a certain color ONCE a year or pay the consequences--seriously, you can do it! No one wants to get pinched! Wear green, people!

There are like three other people with green on in my group and I think one of them was by accident. Maybe I'm so into it because green is one of the most flattering colors I can wear. Or maybe it's because I'm a little Irish or because today is Matt and my anniversary--but really? in any case, it's totally lame.

this weekend was a busy one--and not at all what we'd planned. friday night there was no bowling--instead we went to a mexican place. everyone who showed up knows each other, and lara, kevin, matt and I were running late, so we just ended up meeting in the middle. I'm sad not to have bowled though. sad sad sad.

and then saturday--well, there was the softball practice where I kind of rocked the place. I was like "holy sh!t I'm catching all these!" not that I was perfect or something, but it totally reminded me of early high school when I could actually play. but let me tell you--I'm paying for it now. sooooooo sore.

and then it started POURING. like, to the extent that the kind people at Marshalls were leaving en masse. It was kind of amusing, really. But I finally found a couple of casual-but-nicer shirts that don't make me look like I'm wearing clothes meant for 17 or 37 year olds. And I found a purdy $15 skirt that's black and white and red. I wore it to church sunday with a black shirt and red flats. :)

that night we had McAlisters and then went to check out Tra'Li, the Irish pub closest to me. It was good, but not amazing. We were glad to get a table though. We had a couple of beers and came back to watch August Rush. This is a good, cute, enjoyable movie. It will not rock your socks off, but I think you'll like it and I encourage you to check it out. If you like music, if you like the actors in it, if you want to see Robin Williams look freakish. I had to go to sleep before it was over, but I finished it yesterday while I planted the rest of my seedlings. YAY for seedlings!

and now? now I'm at work not telling anyone that my last day is in two weeks because my boss's boss has requested that I wait for the paperwork to go through. which is fine by me, I guess, but still.

that, and I'm awaiting my anniversary fun tonight. yaaaay! happy one year to us! we're going to uno's, where we went on our first date. I'm looking forward to it!