:)

What a great weekend!

Kicked off Friday night with a movie - Angels & Demons. Saturday morning had the Race for the Cure and I beat my goal time by 16 seconds! Finished in 31:44, which is my best time ever. It was a great experience to share with 30,000 other Michiganders, and it gave me chills to run by all of the pink ribbons with people's names on them. I hung out with my Mom Saturday afternoon in my new favorite place - our finally finished screened in porch. We went to a Cuban restaurant downtown Royal Oak for dinner that we've been wanting to try. I had cornmeal cakes with herbed goat cheese and pico de gaillo, with mashed boniatos and spinach. Wonderful! Friends came over Saturday night for drinks and Red Wings hockey. Today I spent the majority of the day planting my vegetable garden.

I planted tomatoes, bell peppers, and onions, so hopefully I'll get some great veggies. I also met a friend for lunch and now another hockey game. Just an all-around awesome weekend. Looking forward to many more great summer weekends!

ready... set...

Tomorrow morning I'll be participating in a huge event - the annual Race for the Cure in downtown Dee-troit. I've never been to this particular race or any other event focusing on raising the awareness of breast cancer, so I'm expecting tomorrow to be an eye-opening event.

Me and 25 co-workers from Chrysler Financial will be running or walking together. This is my third 5k competish, and my goal is to have my best 5k time ever: 32:00. I can do it!!!

oink.

Here's an idea... let's create a PR campaign surrounding the Swine Flu warning everyone that eating pork products will significantly increase their risk of contracting the disease. Then people will freak out and stop eating pigs! Right? Right?!

The big swine flu news in the ethical and environmental eating world is the link between Mexico-based hog confined animal feeding operations (CFO's) and the swine flu outbreak. There are dozens of reasons CFO's are bad for animals, humans and the environment, and it is one of the reasons I became a vegetarian. Maybe the only positive thing about the swine flu is bringing some awareness to the horrible living conditions these animals endure, and the consequences it can have on the world.

I recommend the blog articles by Chews Wise and Civil Eats for more in-depth information on this topic. And if you are really curious about swine flu and factory farms, visit the Humane Society's article here. (Not for sensitive eyes).

Happy Earth Day!

I worked my tail off creating a stop-by-booth at work on Green Living and had much less than expected participation. (A stop-by-booth is basically a table set up in the cafeteria where we provide information to the employees on various health topics). I'm not sure why the participation for this topic was so drab, but it's disappointing that people don't take the same amount of interest and enthusiasm that I do in keeping our planet healthy! Sigh...

Well, I'll take a moment and share some great green tips that I've stumbled upon from this project. Here's to living green!

• Change your bulbs. If every household changed just 5 conventional light bulbs to compact florescent bulbs, this would prevent greenhouse gases equivalent to the emissions from nearly 10 million cars!
  
  
• Say "no thanks" to ATM and gas station receipts. If every person did this, it would save a roll of paper so long it could circle the equator 15 times!
  


• Skip rinsing dishes before loading the dishwasher, and only run a full load. Today's detergents are strong enough to handle dishes without pre-rinsing.
  
  
• Use the cold water temperature setting on your washing machine - clothes get just as clean as using hot water.
  
  
• Observe the speed limit. Gas mileage decreases rapidly at speeds above 60 mph. Each 5 mph you drive over 60 mph is like paying an additional $0.24 per gallon for gas!
  


• Eat less meat (and you know I had to throw that one in there :). The average U.S. diet generates more than 3,000 pounds of harmful CO2 a year - much of which comes from deforestation for grazing pastures, methane emitted from cattle, and carbon dioxide generated from power plants that operate factory farms. Try having a meatless Monday!
  
  
• And always remember the 3 R's: Reduce, Reuse, RECYCLE!

michigander.

I moved to Michigan a little over 3 years ago. I have lived in 5 different states, and moved 6 times before the age of 10. And yet I have never felt such a strong loyalty to a place I call home as I do now. I love the state of Michigan and the city of Royal Oak where Brad and I have made our home.

I had this conversation with my Mom on a recent road trip to Indianapolis to visit my cousin. Indianapolis, by the way, is one of the places I used to live. We were discussing how interesting it is that in 3 short years I have developed such strong feelings for where I live. I moved to Royal Oak having never even heard of the city, and knowing nobody. I feel very proud of Michigan, and I take serious offense when someone says something negative about the state... especially when they've never stepped foot over the border.

I'm not exactly sure why I feel this way about Michigan more than any other humble abode, but the plain fact is: I am glad Brad and I ended up here. Michigan is a beautiful state with big cities, small towns, farms, beaches, hills, lakes, and fields-a-plenty. It has adorable little towns, such as Chelsea, big-city life and entertainment in Detroit, and everything in between.

Maybe it's because I moved so much, and having seen lots of other places, I know Michigan is a pretty great place. Or maybe it's the people I've met and the friendships I've made, or the fact that I own my first home here. Either way, I have enjoyed becoming a Michigander and look forward to exploring more of this beautiful state.

Earth Hour is Tomorrow!

Tomorrow night my husband and I will be turning off all the lights for one hour, beginning at 8:30 pm. We are taking part in Earth Hour - a global event in which millions of people will turn out their lights to make a statement of concern about our planet and climate change. It's easy, free, and a great way to get involved!

Earth Hour got started just two years ago and is now the largest event of its kind in the world. Last year, more than 50 million participated and the lights went out at the Empire State Building, the Golden Gate Bridge, the Sydney Opera House and the Coliseum in Rome, just to name a few. Even Google's homepage went black for the day. This year, Earth Hour will be even bigger - already 250 cities in 74 countries have agreed to take part including Atlanta, Chicago, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami and Nashville with more signing up every day. Around the world, cities like Moscow, Hong Kong, Mumbai, Shanghai and Mexico City will turn out their lights.

So, I'm thinking maybe we'll play a game at the dining room table by candlelight. And no, I don't think the glow of the TV or computer screen can take the place of lighting candles, so those should be turned off, too!

Visit www.earthhour.org for more information. And don't forget to turn off the lights at 8:30 pm on Saturday!

Happy weekend y'all!!

thought for the day.

So, I try really hard not to preach about being a vegetarian. I'm a big believer in leading by example, and I don't think pushing ideas on people has a positive effect. Of course it would be great if more people in the world made the choice to cut back on eating meat, but I try to just focus on myself and know that I'm making a difference in the lives of animals, my body, and the planet. I've been meat free for almost one full year, and I think that's pretty damn great.

I'm not sure how well my quest of keeping it to myself is working out, though, because my parents have dubbed me with the nickname "food nazi". But it's taken me this long to post about being a vegetarian, and that's gotta say something, right? My poor husband takes the brunt of it, but he's a good sport and thankfully lets me say my peace and move on when I get all up in a tizzy. Anyway, I just heart this picture of little Lisa Simpson. She's so cute, no?

new toy.

Yes, I said toy. When was the last time I bought myself something fun? Something just for me? Well, the last I could remember is my original iPod mini, which I purchased in college. So, it's been quite a while, and I feel it was well deserved. So, while my main reason for getting a pretty new bike is to ride her around town, who knows? Maybe I'll branch out and hit a few trails this summer. Wouldn't that be great?!

3 days until...

Spring.

day 5 and pouting.

Okay, so it's the fifth day of my quest to give up patially hydrogenated oils, artificial sweeteners, and high fructose corn syrup for Lent. I've already encountered two separate events where I would have consumed the evil trans fats. Dun! dun! dun!

First of all, my poor husband had an episode at urgent care and then a skin graft surgery the following day. He's doing fine, but I'm a firm believer that if you're sick or recuperating from a stressful event, you should be waited on hand-and-foot, and be given whatever you want. So I splurged and bought him his favorite candy - Reeces Pieces, which I am never willing to buy for him based on the lack of nutrition of this tasty treat. Anyways, while he was enjoying them, I, of course, wanted a handful! But, alas, I had to refuse, as they contain partially hydrogenated oil.

And, just now, reaching for a mid-afternoon snack to get me through to dinner. A small, Quaker Oats chocolate chip granola bar. Dang ingredient list! But, my willpower prevailed, and I'm still going strong.

Here's to another 35 days!