going greener by using plastic.

no, really...

so, I am an advocate of eating locally. it is important! it reduces waste! it is very good for you AND for the planet! it supports the local economy. etc.

and I take part in a CSA that comes to my work. the food is DELICIOUS. I am so glad I do it. but sometimes...

sometimes I have WAY more food than I can handle. Matt and I get $12 worth of local produce every week--which may not sound like a ton when eggs are $4 a dozen. But bell peppers are 75 cents a piece, and a POUND of green beans is only $2.50. And there are a lot of green beans in a pound. Certainly more than two people would eat in a week! Even if they do happen to be extra yummy local green beans.

so, I decided to go out on a limb and try some Debbie Meyer Green bags. I had seen them many times and always balked at them. Add more PLASTIC to my life??! Puh-leeze. I don't need no stinkin' plastic...

except I did need a way to keep my veggies fresh longer. my kale for my green smoothies was wilting at an alarming rate, and my strawberries were going bad quite rapidly! so I invested.

and you know what? they rock. because:
1. as I type this, there is kale in a bag that has been in my fridge for TWO WEEKS tomorrow. and is still crispy.
2. I was able to keep strawberries perfectly ripe for over a week using these bags.
3. They are reusable up to ten times. You just rinse the bag with water, let it dry and voila! New bag to keep your fruits and veggies fresh.
4. They are see-through. Which is awesome, too! No mystery containers in your fridge.
5. They are affordable. Which rules. $12 for 20 bags that can be used 10 times a piece?? After the third time they made my produce last longer they had paid for themselves!

And a tip: make sure you close the bag up tight! I sometimes use clips (which they don't advocate, but I am careful!) and I will twist and fold until I'm sure it's closed up.

try 'em, you just might like 'em!!

symbolizing hope for an everlasting union between two people...

last thanksgiving my friend gurdas mentioned that he would like it if I would paint something for him. he would pay me, he said, but he was kind light on the requests. he said colors, maybe red and yellow, maybe blues, maybe greens. and he said he wanted something on the bigger side of the size spectrum.

I had been wondering for MONTHS what to paint for him. I had no idea what to paint. I hadn't had time to paint, either, which helped, but really, I felt like I was at a loss. and then one day, I started thinking "what flowers come in reds?"

because, you see, I don't particularly care for red flowers. I really can't see the beauty in red roses. And even red ranunculus or red poppies aren't particularly appealing to me. I'm not sure why, but it is just is what it is.

but somehow I knew that dahlias came in red and yellow--and sometimes yellow with red tips. so I decided to paint a "red dahlia for gurdas." and here it is.


I told him it was a good thing that I painted it in colors that don't "go with" my house. or else I would've had a hard time letting it go. although it does make me quite happy that this painting now lives in the house of a treasured friend.

fun fact that I did not learn until AFTER I finished this painting....dahlias are a symbol of hope for an everlasting union between two people. and gurdas recently got engaged! is that kind of awesome or what?

oooooh and...only because I'm super pumped about it--last week I also sold one of my birdie paintings I'd put on etsy. I am so excited to have sold TWO paintings in ONE week!

these pictures are more than a month old.

but I like them.

we went out to celebrate neidy's birthday in may. we went to a bulls game. lots of people saw me on the jumbotron. I hadn't been there for five minutes and already my head was the size of a billboard. :) over the course of the next week like ten people asked me if I went to the Bulls game that saturday...

the little girl in front of us caught a ball. a lady about 100 ft away got smacked in the head by a foul. and then that ball ricocheted off and hit an infant!! it was scary. everyone is okay though. takeaway lesson: very small kiddos need seats under the big net.

next, we went to tobacco road. it was yummy. I forgot it was the same as the one in raleigh. but cooler, 'cause it's in durham! we took lots of silly pictures, drank lots of yummy beer. oh and jennifer and amy saved the day by instructing Taylor NOT TO PULL OUT MY CHAIR FROM UNDER ME. He thought it would've been funny. And it might've been except that that happened to me about three years ago, the dude didn't apologize when I fell on the tile floor and started crying, and it was awful. so, um, yeah. thank goodness!

oh AND Matt and I took a picture in the saaaaaame spot from 3 years ago. this picture was taken like four days early, but still. my, my, how we have changed :)

some day I will post about...

my CSA.
and debbie meyer green bags.
and how I wish I made pies from scratch more often.
about books I've read.
and glass straws I've used (thanks maria)
and an update on the green smoothies I drink every weekday.

additionally, I have a picture of a painting I did for my friend gurdas.
and I want to show you the picture.
and I want to get suggestions of what to paint next.

I have goals of telling you about the rest of our wedding festivities.
and of telling you how awesome freshly picked north carolina strawberries taste.
and of my new love of kale.

but for now, friends, you get a list.
and me saying that I am thankful for:
little itty bitty baby boys
the pieces of paper you roll coins in
ET
my husband's incessant corny jokes
debbie meyer green bags
interference acrylic paints
my tabletop easel
knowing what a filbert brush is
air conditioning (and sunblock!)
swimsuits that still fit
dvrs
cold draft beer
growlers
and ice water.

more soon, I hope.