My First Bus Ride!!

Yeeeeee!!! I totally took my first bus ride on Friday, to the Minnesota State Fair. And yes, we did take the real bus too, not just the free, fun, bus to the fair. Sam and Matt were good enough to accompany me and we took plenty of photographic evidence. I'll be honest, I was a little nervous, but everyone was very nice. Here is my picture timeline:



This is me walking to the bus stop... I've got my money all ready to go.... and yes, I'm really that pale... it's not the flash or lighting or anything that I tried to convince myself that it was... =(





This is Matt trying to be funny and "Beeching Me" as I tripped up the steps of the bus. Yes, I tripped. And it sucked. (For more on "Beeching" please click here.)



Yes! My transfer ticket!! So exciting.... yehck! That lipstick looks horrible on me! My friends must hate me.




Some very nice bus riders who were willing to show their bus passes!! Woot! Woot! Bus riders!!!





So, in conclusion, the bus wasn't at all that bad. I mean, I was really nervous about pulling the line when my stop came up, but I would almost call it quite enjoyable... so enjoyable, in fact, that I intend on taking it to work on Tuesday!! Down to Hummers!! Yea to buses!!

10 days!!

10 days have gone by since I last posted! erg! Matt and I have been moving, moving and more moving, and this afternoon is the last day of our moving plight. Thank the hippy gods! I can't believe how much stuff I had! It felt so good to get rid of a lot of it. Matt and I got rid of almost half our stuff. I can't tell you how much of a relief it is to get rid of stuff you don't use, and only have the stuff you really care about surrounding you. And I literally mean "surrounding" us. There is a maze of boxes in our living room. Boxes are stacked precariously, and there is a tiny path you must navigate through to get to the kitchen.

But, never fear fellow hippies! I didn't just throw stuff away, that would not be very "earth warriorish" of me, I turned to the best site ever invented: www.craigslist.com!! Oh it is amazing! I sold our couch (because it wouldn't fit in our new place) and a bed on this wonderful site. A very nice girl who was moving into her first apartment came and picked them both up. Very cool. The rest of the stuff, we donated to Goodwill. But, we did get desperate at one point and had to heap a pile of junk outside our house with "free" signs all over it. When we came by the next day, every single thing was gone. Magic, hippies, magic!!

Project ideas?

So, my boss just walked by and told me I need to update my blog today so he can read it this weekend. Oh! And that he wanted to post a hamburger on here but thought my hippy friends would get mad. I said "Hippies don't get mad yo! We are a peaceful people.... that's just how we roll." But then I rethought...I mean I'm not totally a hippy yet right, I can still shank a fool!

So, I need some help. I have these cute little bottles left over. You know those tiny ones that hold 8oz. of water. I love tiny things and know I could make something super sweet out of them, but can't for the life of me think of anything. So, in honor of my boss, please share some zero waste ideas hippy friends!! Here's what they look like:

Moving

I am the worst hippy ever! I haven't updated my blog forever! Erg.... Anyways, here is my excuse... I'm moving this weekend. I hate moving! It's so final. Also, I find out how much crap I have bought that I never needed. The new hippy in me is appalled!! APPALLED!!! Boxes and boxes of things that I haven't looked at since our last move (2 years ago!!) But it has to be done. Our new place is 6.2 miles from my work and right on the bus line, 4.2 miles from Sam's, and a flight of stairs away from BFF Dan and Marie. It's 1.1 miles from Matt's school, so he can ride his bike or walk. We might even be able to get rid of one of our cars. Nice! Plus, we'll be practically in the middle of downtown, so lots more walking fun to be had. I can't wait!

Hippy

Phew. I was a little worried that my entire blog was built around a misspelled word. BFF Dan told me that hippy actually means someone that has big hips (that would also apply here), but according to the American Heritage Dictionary:

hip·pie also hip·py (hĭp'ē) Pronunciation Key
n. pl. hip·pies
A person who opposes and rejects many of the conventional standards and customs of society, especially one who advocates extreme liberalism in sociopolitical attitudes and lifestyles.

So, in other words.... extreme pacifism... there is your oxymoron of the day!

APA Citation for all you sticklers out there:
hippy. (n.d.). The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Retrieved August 07, 2007, from Dictionary.com website: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/hippy

Plastic Bottle Herb Garden

I found this great project in this book "ReadyMade: How to Make [Almost] Everything: A Do-It-Yourself Primer" by Shoshana Berger and Grace Hawthorne (also check out their very cool website at readymag.com.) It uses all of those pesky plastic bottles we have and it cost me about $3 to make. I just put a note up at work that said I was collecting bottles and I had enough in less than a week. I tweaked their directions a little bit, so these instructions are based on my modifications:

1. Collect 12- 24 oz. plastic bottles and 12- 16.9 oz. bottles.
2. Cut the smaller bottles in half. Drill 3 drainage holes in the bottom.
3. This part can be a little tricky, but you basically cut off half the front of the 24 oz. bottles so that the big bottles look like this (sorry for the terrible picture, but you get of the idea...) I found it easiest to hack of the top with a pair of scissors and then use a box cutter to lop of the "window" area.
4. Drill a hole in the "hanging" part of the big bottles.
5. I found this sweet owl picture at a thrift store for $1.50. It's all painted wood, so I was able to hammer 12 nails directly into it, but you could use any piece of wood.
6. Then you hang your pre-drilled big bottles up.
7. Plant your little bottles (I used aloe vera, geraniums, and started some tomato plants from seed I took from T-Gro's fruit.) Smaller, or starter, plants work best.
8. Slide your little bottles into the bigger, hanging bottles.
9. Enjoy your sweet work!

Update: I already killed the geraniums!! But, the aloe seems to be doing very well.

Bus Update

Erg... I just had to cancel the bus and Fringe Festival trip with Marie and Dan because I have this badass headache. Dang. Hopefully we can reschedule and I'll make sure and update you on our adventures!

Oh! Speaking of the Fringe Festival (insert shameless plug here)... you should go see my friends', Ellen and Sam, and the rest of the cast of "Streaming Twin Cities, or I'm an artist what's your excuse?" at the Fringe Festival (info below). Visit their website at http://streamingtc.com/.

Update: Yikes! I forgot to mention that another friend, Ph!l was involved in the show as well (I think they just let him hang around because he's so pretty, but I still should've mentioned him!)

Wed, Aug 8 - 8:30pm COMING SOON

Fri, Aug 10 - 10:00pm

Sat, Aug 11 - 1:00pm

At The Red Eye Collaboration Theater
15 W 14th St, Minneapolis MN 55403

"WE" Culture

All of Minnesota experienced a horrible loss on Wednesday. The 35W bridge collapse was a staggering tragedy. I know that all of our thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families.

As more and more of the amazing stories are coming out, I can’t help but feel an incredible pride to call myself a Minnesotan. The ordinary people that found themselves in an extraordinary situation and stepped up to help everyone around them, these stories are incredibly inspiring. It gives me hope that when faced with these circumstances, it wasn’t every man for himself; it was that those that were able helped those who were not.

If we can learn anything from this heartbreak, I hope it is that.

Worm Evacuation

Ahhhh!!! I added some new worms to my worm bin last night and when I woke up this morning, I noticed that there were two worms a-wigglin' on my kitchen floor. Weird...but maybe I dropped them and didn't notice. I opened the door to the cabinet under the sink and worms are everywhere! As I opened up the bucket and worms like popped out onto the floor. I'm not exaggerating. It was disgusting. Seems the newbies didn't want to hang out with the oldies. Great. I think to myself "I'm a hippy chick, I can handle this." But, when I went to pick one of the squirmies I squealed like a prissy girl. Oh crap...I've totally fell off the wagon in my recovery. So, I grabbed one of those hamburger flippers that you use for the Bar-B-Que and started flipping them back into the bucket. I'm not sure what happened, I checked the bedding and it's not too wet or too dry, but I read that when you introduce new worms to an environment they sometimes wig out a little. Hmmmm.... I'll keep you updated.....

Taking the Bus

Hippies take the bus. (They also bike!) As a true hippy chick, I need to start taking the bus. Problem is...

I've never ridden the bus in my life.

I'm not kidding... I really have never ridden a bus. I've heard that there are lots of bus crazies and weirdos and that it's a generally horrid experience. But my friend Sam does this kind of thing all of the time! And she's really pretty and hasn't been felt up once! (on the bus at least) So, I feel that it's time. I'm going to become a bus rider.

I'm scared.

So, I recruited my BFFs Dan and Marie. We're going to see Sam's show on Sunday and we're totally taking the bus! Dan is a "bus master". He knows all the bus lingo. I will definitely not end up somewhere in Wisconsin (erg....sconis!!!). Wish me luck!

Ode to Air Conditioning

Oh Air Conditioning!
How I love thee,
You keep me from melting
and sweating
Lo! How I hate sweating!
I love you
and will never turn you off
no matter what that dumb hippy
inside my head keeps muttering.
I will just push her down deep, deep, down.
And continue to bask in the glory that is the
AC.

Baby Shower Gift

I ran into my first ethical dilemma this weekend. It seems that we were invited to a cousin's baby shower, but I didn't get the invitation until the day before. Oh great! I can either buy the baby something used, (pretty sure mom would hate that!) Or try to make something on the fly. I thought to myself “I am a very crafty individual; I have a degree in art for goodness sakes! I can totally do this.” So away I went to the fabric store to buy some supplies and ending up spending way more than I probably would have spent just buying an actual present, but that’s not the point, is it? And most of this was due to lack of planning. So, I’ll know better for next time. Well, I started making this super cute one-sy and I had a really cute design idea for the front. Well, I got the design all finished, but turns out, baby clothes are really, really hard to sew!! They’re so tiny!! Not to mention that it dawned on me half way through cutting out the pattern that I didn’t even know how big the baby was. Great.

Stayed up as late as I could working on it, and started early the next morning, as the shower was in the afternoon. Calamities of calamities! I had a snap snafoo! (Oh yeah, I went there…) Completely ruined the whole thing. Pretty sure babies aren’t fans of straight pins. I finally just decided to go with it. After all, they’re family… I wrapped the darn thing up, using cellophane and an old record I melted into a bowl in the oven (very cool!) Then, I made her open it and everyone got a real good laugh at my ineptness… It was a hit! I promised that I would definitely keep working on it and hopefully finish it before baby starts walking! Turns out, people are really understanding when it comes to handmade gifts.

Well, a good lesson learned. I’m going to have to start keeping a couple of gifts on hand to avoid this situation again!!

Tomatoes!

Yea! The tomato plants T-Gro put in while she was here have beared fruit! errr. vegetables... what are tomatoes anyway? Anyhoo... here's some pics!!

Worm Bucket

I read on the internet about how 5-10% of our household waste is kitchen waste that could be composted. I found some really great internet articles about composting, and my mom sent me some information about how she composts but I have two problems: 1) We have a really small backyard, and this could lead to some potential irritation with the neighbors as composts have a distinct (I don’t personally find it horrible) smell and 2) we could buy an actual composter, but that would go against rule #1.

So, here’s my solution. I found a few articles about vermicomposting. This means you basically put a bucket of worms under your sink and throw in anything organic (even paper!) and they’ll eat it right up. Very cool, totally cheap and it doesn’t smell at all. So, I made 2 worm buckets out of a couple of buckets I had leftover from buying kitty litter (more on kitty litter later) and bought some “red wrigglers” over the internet.

Here’s the “how-to” as well as some pics. Also, here's a link where there's some sweet info, www.wormwoman.com, although I found my worms for super cheap on eBay (Search for "bait") but it's a really good starting site. The lady wrote a book called Worms Eat My Garbage: How to Set Up & Maintain a Worm Composting System, so awesome. Enjoy!

1) I started by drilling holes all around the bucket (the
worms need lots of air!) I drilled a drain hole and lots
of holes in the tops.

2) Then I took a bunch of shredded paper home from my office. I soaked it in some water and squeezed it out. This is the worms bedding.

3) Then I dropped the worms in there. They don't like the light, so I put them under the sink with a tray underneath the bucket to catch any drips from the drainage hole in the bottom. They eat pretty much anything organic. I just make sure to add another layer of paper after adding the food, or else it starts to stink. After a few months, I should be able to harvest some juicy looking soil! (I'll post these pictures when I get them!)

Veggie Tales a.k.a. Meatless Sorrow

God! I miss meat! I actually had a bacon daydream today when I was driving. I don't even like bacon. I was really imagining myself frying up some deliciously crispy bacon and then eating piece after piece for like dinner. Now that I'm writing it, I'm kind of getting grossed out... but at the time... man alive... I can only think of what the guy stopped next to me at the light was thinking. Maybe something along the lines of "Oh man, I think that chick is having a seizure or something.... oh well..."

Matt and I have both been vegetarians for about 4 or 5 months now, and I usually really enjoy it. It's not that hard... but I do get stuck in a rut a bit about what I eat. I try to be vegan whenever possible, except we do eat cage free eggs and organic milk when we're at home, but I need to get better at preparing foods ahead of time. I need to start taking my lunch to work. Erg. I hate packing lunches.

The Rules

#1

Buy nothing except things you absolutely need to survive which would include: food, water and shelter.

This includes: no fast food, no new clothes, etc.

Exceptions: Materials may be purchased for DIY projects.

Example: If I really need a new skirt, I’m allowed to purchase the material to make my self one. This has two benefits: 1) I will only take the time to make something if I really, really need it and 2) It’ll be doubly-sweet because I made it. So win, win!

Things can be purchased second-handedly (I don’t think that’s a word, but whatev!)

#2

I must strive toward a zero waste goal.

Now, this doesn’t necessarily mean that I will make it, but I have to at least try to find ways to reuse things, either by recycling, donating, etc…. This is where I’ll have to get creative!

#3

I have to blog about both my success and my failures.

Otherwise, it wouldn’t be any fun!! =)

Please let me know if you have any more suggestions about these rules, as I'm sure as I get into this process, I will be expanding and clarifying. I'm not really sure what situations I'm going to get into, but it'll be a long, strange trip I'm sure!

No Hippy Chick

I am so not a Hippy Chick!

I don’t recycle, I buy lots of crap I don’t need. I love meat, and don’t care about the animals. I drive everywhere, even to the grocery store which is 3 blocks from my house. I kick puppies for fun, ok I don’t really do that last part, but I might as well have… I’m selfish, materialistic, and incredibly vain and I’m sick of it!

I refuse to believe that because this was the culture I was raised in, that this is the way I have to be. I am committed to change!! What brought this little revelation on you might ask? Well, loads of things… mostly having to do with my little hippy friend T-Gro. She lived with me for awhile this summer, and kind of opened my eyes to a new lifestyle. What! You can walk places!?! I had no idea! What! You don't have to go to Target/Ikea/WalMart to survive!?! No way! She completely blew my mind.

I started reading, watching documentaries, started learning about our culture. We are a culture of ME. I want to live in a culture of WE.

So, I came up with this little experiment.... I kind of see it as my journey to turning from a Southern California snot, to a socially responsible human being. I used to look at being a "hippy" as kind of a bad thing, but I refuse to believe that you have to give up and go live on a mountain somewhere where you poo in a hole, forsaking showers and eating only root vegetables. I will never be one to poo in a hole. I'm not that depressed where I will dress in a potato sack... at least... not yet.

I also started this blog for a couple of reasons. 1) to share what I'm doing; who knows? With your comments maybe we can share ideas and tips of ways to live life better 2) To keep me honest and accountable; knowing that I have to report to my readers will help me stay on track and 3) to have a record of my development. I want documentation that proves how lame I was/am and how awesome I'm gonna be!! I want to prove that if I can do this, anyone can.