Ideal Bite

After years and years of thinking about it, I finally own a home.  Of course, I could go on and on about the joys of homeownership, but that's been done (and overdone).  What I didn't quite expect was the mad panic of owning a place... Now, instead of calling my landlord in the event of an annoyance, I have to think about things like:

1.  Where on earth is the water main?

2.  Why does the floor make that noise in that place when I step on it?  Is the house caving in?

3.  Where is that bloody draft coming from?

It's the latter that is most distressing... Fortunately, my realtor (Chris Bartle from Green Key Real Estate in SF) is getting me a "Green Up" from Sustainable Spaces as a housewarming

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Flatulence is a topic that's near and dear to my heart. No, really.
Like putting your elbows on the table and exposing the hair on your back, it's one of those things that's totally natural but is just not acceptable in most circumstances.
A few weeks ago, this dude let one rip during my yoga class. Yoga's all about being comfortable with your body, and nobody said anything. But I, for one, was thinking, "Dude, I commend you on breaking the rules by breaking wind - even though we're in this small, enclosed space." I really wish we lived in a world where it was OK to cut the cheese without shame - as long as we aim away from other people. Until then, there are natural gas relief tabs.
-Toshio... off to let one rip... Read the full post... 

True story... I lived in the NW corner of Alabama for 3 months while my then-boyfriend tried to finish a book that he probably still doesn't have an outline for. It was like a study-abroad experience. It definitely felt like a movie, with crazy Southern accents and ideologies (and remember, I am from Atlanta so I promise you they were pretty damn extreme). The craziest part, though, was all these stories that the old timers had, and somehow the press wasn't powerful enough (or brave enough) to bring them to light.
The one I remember most clearly is the case of a certain big bad awful company dumping toxic sludge from a PVC plant into a river. Their scientist supposedly tested the water all the time and it was just fine. But when a local non-profit did the test, they found levels of carcinogenic chems at 3000x the allowable level. When they put a fish in the water in a walled-off Read the full post... 

On a visit to Budapest last summer, I fell in love with the traditional cuisine—Transylvanian layered cabbage, Lecso, Hortobagy pancakes, curd dumplings, red wines from Eger. As I ate—nay, regularly gorged—myself on giant plates of the heartiest of hearty foods, day after day, I was puzzled to find my pants were going the way of baggy. At the end of four days, I even had to cinch up my bra strap. I wondered if I’d exposed myself to some flesh-eating parasite or whether my feasting was some kind of Draconian illusion brought on by the magical wines of the East. Then I realized that not only had I been consuming massive quantities of metabolism-boosting paprika, but also I was walking several miles a day to see the sights. I felt healthier and more energetic than ever—and even managed to don an on-sale (although incredibly tacky) teeny bikini by the end of my stay. Who knew getting fit as Read the full post... 

So of course it is pretty and makes you feel pretty when you put it on, but my problem is that I can't keep up with it. I have lost or had stolen practically every nice piece I have ever had. So once I find things that I definitely LOVE LOVE LOVE, I just leave them on. For example, I super-glued a pair of earrings into my ears in 2002, and they haven't come out. That way I don't lose them (there are kind of nice, but I more just love the original design and sweet little hoop shape). And the necklace that I haven't taken off since I got it 6 months ago? A simple chain with this pressed blop of metal that has the word "gratitude" engraved in it. That is definitely the key to loving life really...being grateful, whether or not we are wearing that shiny new bling-ditty-bling thing.

Now, I do NOT have the same philosophy with horse gear... The more the better. But I do get it used

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So who would have guessed that the extreme makeover craze would hit the mascot unit of the U.S. Forest Service? Woodsy the Owl has a new look and a new line—and I have to say, I really miss the fat-and-friendly original. Old Woodsy took litter seriously, but he wouldn’t wig out if you accidentally dropped a sandwich bag. New Woodsy, by contrast, seems like the type of overachieving, iron-pumping scout master who might inject an injured nature friend with steroids to get him through a hike.
But then, I’m the daughter of a forester, so Old Woodsy’s words and ways were instilled in me at an early age. On family camping trips, my brother and I were responsible for picking up 10 individual pieces of trash on the campground before dinner. We’d shuffle through thickets and through the sooty fire pits of adjacent camp spaces, and then present our respective collections to Dad for counting. Read the full post... 

Ideal Bite isn't the only company with an office in the Bay Area to be taking a different approach to employee benefits.
In SF, you'll often see black vans driving around the city. I always wondered who was inside...FBI? CIA? ABBA? Actually, Google sends around carpool vans to pick up their employees and take them to their campus in Mountain View. How cool is that? Read about their other benefits initiatives here.
Last year, we also had a chance to chat with Diana Simmons, Sustainability Manager (yep, you read the title right) at Clif Bar, which is based in Berkeley. Then I read the book Raising the Bar, by the dude who started the company. They're also doing some really progressive things. Read the short version here. Read the full post... 

When I was little, all I needed to get by was a roof over my head, food, water, and a TV. Today, not only do I need all these things, I also need cable plus HBO on that TV, a computer with internet, one personal cell phone, one work cell phone, three credit cards and a mutual funds advisor.

OK, so I could live without these things, but I wouldn't want to. That said, I really could live without having to deal with different providers for each and every service I use.

On the fun scale, dealing with separate vendors ranks somewhere between picking up my housemate's floss off the floor and sterilizing my yoga mat, which is why I love the donation-linked service model - one company, more than one service. They're all 2-for-1 providers, since all donate to charity at the same time they give you the kind of service you'd get at the big guys anyway. Add to that Read the full post... 

I really, really, really love the clean-cleaning options that are out there.  Whether my favorite Caldrea sink scrub or Method shower spray or Ecover glass cleaner... I love the fact that the cleaning products of the world have jumped up and taken notice and offer us tons of alternatives to your basic, caustic faux-pine-scented versions.

As I type this, however, I am watching the Sundance Channel's new series, The Green, on tv.  And I have to admit... I love what they are doing here.  Every Tuesday night, they are running a documentary called Big Ideas for a Small Planet.  It's just great stuff.  Check it out.  Fab, fun people, making you laugh as they explain how we need to change to save the world.

I like that - a little freak out, peppered with a lot of humor.  Case in point - a quote from the inaugural episode:

"I feel as if we are in a giant car, heading into a

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...all of us here in the San Francisco office are going to do our part in the little ways we can.  We're killing lights, steering clear of the bottled water, and turning off our computers.  But my personal favorite nod to greening our office space (since we can't afford to build our own, lovely, LEED-certified building like the lucky people at Hearst...)?

We have all taken an oath that we will only get company drinks within walking distance of our new offices so that we save on fuel costs in transporting us to our drinks.  Fortunately, there are plenty of places to booze in our vicinity.

Aw come on... every little bit/bite, no?  (OK, fine.  We're doing a lot more than that.  However, this is my personal favorite.)

;) -

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