Compost Happens

I just heard a story on Market Place about the mayor of San Francisco making an attempt to mandate compost and I think it is so wonderful. My city, Denver, is doing a composting pilot program that my neighborhood is a part of. The city picked five neighborhoods representative of the city as a whole. It is unbelievable how much of our trash can be composted or recycled, very little goes to the landfill. I do wish Denver recycled more plastics. I can’t believe more cities aren’t initiating composting programs. I think it would be a great business venture. You can do compost collection, change a fee, similar to people who are not services by city waste removal, and then sell the compost. Sounds like a win-win.

8 True Things

I was inspired by this blog, to write this…


8 True Things

1. There are so many cute, crafty things that I want to do but when I get home I usually end up eating dinner and curling up on the couch with my hubby to watch a movie. Recently I learned to crochet; I can do that and watch movies… I really hate it, I want to be more crafty, do more on our remodel, and I just can’t get motivated.
2. I hold people to a really high standard, and for the most part I know it’s unrealistic. I know it’s unrealistic but at the same time I don’t want to surround myself with people that I don’t believe in, trust, admire, etc. I have ruined a lot of good friendships because people disappoint me. There are a few a really regret, some I am happy about. It’s the ones I regret that really bother me.
3. I have never really challenged myself. For the past year or two I have wanted a physical challenge, and for me that meant running a ½ marathon. It has been two years since I started saying this and I am hoping to run my first ½ marathon in October. My degree is in education and my program was pretty easy (sorry, I don’t mean to be offense to anyone who may have struggled in a similar program), I feel as though I probably never pursued any other career options because they might be have been difficult. Now, 3 years later I am planning to go back to school in a field I am really interested in, and dare I say a degree program that may be challenging.
4. I wish I had a strong family support system. I could say a lot about this but I don’t really want to get into it. A lot of this probably relates to my no. 2. But the truth is I am not really close to anyone in my family, and I don’t feel like I can go to my family for support, help, etc. My little brother, who is 16, is actually moving in with me for a while because of how bad his home life is (my previous home life). It makes me really sad.
5. I am struggling with my need for my career and my desire to have a family. Right now I don’t think we want kids but I just don’t see how we could have kids and keep my career intact. There is a really great book called The Bitch in the House that speaks to this issue exactly. Women in my generation, in my mother’s generation are now expected to have a career, but still remain a housewife, child care provider. I know we are not in a position to have kids, we probably won’t even think about it seriously for another five years, but this is really weighing on me. I guess I want to be able to do both well, without one or the other suffering, and I just don’t think that’s possible.
6. I miss music. When I was in high school I went to shows every weekend, The Nile was my home. My freshman year of high school I moved to a very, very small town in PA and I didn’t have a car. I only went to two shows the whole year, as many as I went to during Christmas break at home… I just kinda got out of the music scene, and the scene I was into kinda died, ska, but I still really miss going to see bands play, finding new bands, etc. Now I feel old going to certain shows…
7. I don’t feel like my image reflects who I am inside. When I started working in offices (sophomore year of college), I started wearing what I thought was appropriate work attire without wearing things that I necessary liked. Little by little I am working on finding a happy middle, and adding to my wardrobe. This also extends to my hair, tattoos, etc. I would like my hair to be more fun, for a lack of a better word. I would like a lot more tattoos, (working on that). But I also feel like I have been me for so long that it would be weird to up and change the way I dress, do my hair, etc.
8. I can’t wear white! I would really like to but I have sweat issues…. This is gross but it is true. A while back I started using this stuff called Certain Dry, you don’t sweat at all, and that started to freak me out, so I stopped, and now I just sweat a lot. Most of the time I don’t mind except when it comes to wearing white. All of my white tops have sweat stains and after a few wears I have to get rid of them.

I am suppose to write ten of these, but feeling really good about my 8. I am going to stop here.

Here's to being Real

The Skin Horse had lived longer in the nursery than any of the others. He was so old and most of the hairs in his tail had been pulled out to string bead necklaces. For nursery magic is very strange and wonderful, and only those playthings that are old and wise and experienced like the Skin Horse understand all about it.

"What is REAL?" asked the Rabbit one day, when they were lying side by side near the nursery fender, before Nana came to tidy the room. "Does it mean having things that buzz inside you and a stick-out handle?"

"Real isn't how you are made," said the Skin Horse. "It's a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real."

"Does it hurt?" asked the Rabbit.

"Sometimes," said the Skin Horse, for he was always truthful. "When you are Real you don't mind being hurt."

"Does it happen all at once, like being wound up," he asked, "or bit by bit?"

"It doesn't happen all at once," said the Skin Horse. "You become. It takes a long time. That's why it doesn't happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in your joints and very shabby. But these things don't matter at all, because once you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand."

"I suppose you are real?" said the Rabbit. And then he wished he had not said it, for he thought the Skin Horse might be sensitive. But the Skin Horse only smiled.

"The Boy's Uncle made me Real," he said. "That was a great many years ago; but once you are Real you can't become unreal again. It lasts for always."

Hair History

This is is the begining of my hair history. I had just cut my hair, that was about mid-back lenghth. This is circa 1997, jr. high. This was before I learned that it wasn't a good idea to dye my own hair. I was really into using Manic Panic...
I got rid of the color, most likely by dying it black (closest to my natural color) and did this really cute angle cut, it was really short in the back. I liked this. (Don't mind the cheesy high school sweet heart pic) ca. 1999, 10th-11th grade
Then I did this. Ca. 2000, 11th grade. I loved this! Lots of my friends thought I looked liek a twelve year old boy, but still I liked it.
Yay for hs dance photos!This was when I was trying to grow it out, and experimenting with color. I still really love baby bangs, they look so cute with this cut. I hate the growing out phase, but this doesn't look bad. Look how cute and thin I was. ca. 2002, senior year.

Senior prom, no more color, back to black. Still rockin' the bangs.



Freshman year of college, fall 2002. I was totally going for the why yes I am a freshman in college look.

This is straight from the hair stylist, I love it when my hair is big like this, going back to bangs, black with blonde streaks. This is January 2003, home for the holdiays.

Then I went blonde, I don't think I would do this now but it looked ok. These are no more than 2 months apart but look very different. I had really great black/brown/blonde streaks. Summer 2003



Summer/fall. This is my all time favorite cut/color combo. I wish I had a better picture. This was short lived, I am not sure why.
Back to natural color, growing it out for the wedding. I don't normally put this much work into my hair, but I really like this do. May 2006

This is a more typical hair style for that time period. Vishnu is so little.

Growing out my hair, hair trial for wedding. May 2007.
May 2007, natural color, braids, so cute. Our move to Denver

I really wanted to donate to Lock for Love, so I did. 11 full inches of almost virgin, untreated hair. I really hated the cut though. But it was for a good cause and unlike all people I was able to grow it back. November 2007
Ahh, the joys of growing out hair, baby bangs. August 2008

Growing it out, bangs, I am not sure I am a bang person, I really like them on other people... December 2008.

Winter Clearance

I bought these on clearance a while back and have been waiting for warmer weather to finally wear them. Today was the day!

Love

This was in an old church in Santa Fe, I really love it.

Yay for Iowa!

Liberty trumped democracy in Iowa gay marriage decision

Laura Fefchak, right, and Nancy Robinson, center, react to the ruling from the Iowa Supreme Court that the state's same-sex marriage ban violates constitutional rights. (AP Photo/David Purdy)

With the addition of Iowa and Vermont to the ranks of states that recognize the marriages of same-sex couples, gays and lesbians are now free to have their relationships legally sanctioned in four states. But while Vermont opened up the institution the old-fashioned way -- through the legislature -- Iowa joined Connecticut and Massachusetts in disposing of bans on gay marriage through court decisions, fueling charges that the judiciary is trampling "the will of the people." Well maybe it is -- and that's a good thing.

Article from Examiner.com