oooh ooh!

they like me! (or they were wooed by the thought of fresh, happy-pig bacon!!!)

thoughts on stuff and debt and gifts

I have a new goal and it involves spending money only when I have it.  Unfortunately, this isn't always possible, as...hey, a girl's gotta eat, right?  

J and I had dinner with a few people last weekend (Caribbean food, yum...) and they had both a) unplugged their TV* and b) stopped using credit cards. Revolutionary, right?  (a bit.)

Two weekends back, we were at All City Coffee (our new caffeinated haunt) and the woman behind the counter had a very awesome flower-shaped necklace on that she had made with her credit card (cut up once it was paid off).  

I used to live debt-free (remember that? wow.) and now we have a bit of debt that's working for us (think mortgage!) and a bit that's not working for us (car payment anyone? credit card debt full of vet bills and repaired engines?)

Also, I've been thinking a lot lately about STUFF and how much we have.  We have too much. I have too much. You probably do too.  More to dust, more to move around with you, more to step around when navigating through the world.  J and I went to a design conference this week called 101 things designers can do to save the earth, put on--for free!--by svc and aiga.  The keynote speaker was Eric from design can change and he admitted to being a consummate consumer.  He loves stuff as much as the rest of us, but he's lately been thinking about how having a lot of stuff is really inconvenient.  Just think about America--we love to store our stuff.   Do we really need this much stuff? So much stuff that we can pay to have someone else warehouse it for us? What does that stuff DO for us?  Anything good?

all this to say that when Mother's Day came up a couple weeks ago, we decided that handmade cards mean more (and make a lot more sense) than spending money on things our mothers may or may not want, and could probably afford to buy on their own should they want to.  (none of us is living in poverty here ya'll.)  

and with that, i'm off to goodwill to donate more stuff we don't use or need.

*we recently did this too...in a way. first the tv went to live in a room we never spend time in. then we got rid of the cable. now we're down to 12 channels and...gasp...nothing to watch!  it's fantastic.  we still get netflix, but then we're only watching what we want when we want to. no vegging for us!  do you know how much more time there is in an evening without any television? it's actually amazing.

SPC: Still Fresh

Fresh Bacon from the Farmer's Market

My reflection in the shine of the microwave

Joe and I went to the Sunday Ballard farmer's market last week, and we bought all the fresh things the market had to offer:

* bacon from a happy pig

* eggs from happy chickens

* muscles (for pizza!)

* lettuces

* onions

* a happy little heirloom tomato plant

* that amazing pizza from the traveling clay oven pizza people

but the one thing that makes me the most excited...BACON. Fresh, happy happy BACON in a big slab you can slice to whatever thickness your mouth desires. Today I'm going to eat it on a BLT...and I fully anticipate moaning throughout the experience. So there.

Have you been having that conversation that we've been having here lately? The one about how it used to be cheaper to buy mass-produced food that was grown far away and anonymously and that now with diesel prices at over $5 a gallon in the Pacific NW, it's actually cheaper to buy real food grown by real people on real land that you can visit locally?

We have. We're talking about joining a local CSA and in the meantime, we're trying to buy locally and eat organically and just...well...eat LESS than we normally would have back when everything came from Uncle C (that's Costco, in this family) and seemed disposable. (That's SEEMED disposable, not WAS ACTUALLY disposable. Big difference, kids.)

For more freshness, click here.

Already done with 7 and it's only May

Number 7: See at least 4 live shows with Joe.



ALMOST done and done. I originally added this to my list because I often forget how much I love live music...the people-watching, the hum of the crowd, the raw energy on stage, the peace and love and respect...er...drucken stupidity all around.

For some reason Seattle gets a lot of week-night shows coming through and I'm such an old lady when it comes to staying out way past my bedtime of 10.30, especially on a skool nite.

But, Joe loves him some music. Like, seriously, LOVES music. It's really important to him, and it's fun for me, so I thought it would be good to make it a priority this year.

Well, God Bless my cousin Eric, the Merch Manager for Brother Ali when he was last on tour and now for Atmosphere, who puts us on the guest list for these shows. Holler for free shows. If only Eric hadn't come into Seatown at 4pm yesterday and then had to leave at 4am this morning...we could have taken him to this sweet little biker bar we found in Georgetown that serves all vegetarian sandwhiches. Oh well. Maybe when he comes back for an art show in the fall. Hopefully that's when I'll scratch number 22 off my list too.

Shows seen so far:

1. Brother Ali & Abstract Rude & Toki Wright, & BK-One [Nuemos 3.10.08]
2. Cunninglynguists & Can U [Chop Suey 4.18.08]
3. Atmosphere & Abstract Rude [Showbox Sodo 5.13.08]

Shows slated:
4. Bumbershoot 08! Complete with Beck and Mike Doughty and Brother Ali (you coming to this one eric?)
(photo credit Atmosphere...pushing their new lemons album.)

SPC: Fresh

This month's theme: fresh. Like the DAILY rain we're still getting. (okay, it's just drizzling today, but it's enough that the dogs keep looking at me like...WHAT? when I open the door for them.)

Fresh--Like the bursts of pink blossoms on my azalea bushes out back. Like my new springy hair cut.

----

Okay, so I'm working from home a lot now. (Which, btw, I LOVE.)

Which means, instead of spending my two 15 minute breaks gallivanting around the office and making small talk (and clicking silly photos), I have to find something else to do to amuse my (solitary) self.

Which is why I've decided to join the Self-Portrait Challenge...a weekly theme to inspire self-portraits, coupled with a community of like-minded portrait-eers. Check out the link on the button on the side bar or right here, if you like, for more fresh wonderfulness.

blue friday

i love blue too, though it may be because my parents love blue. i grew up in blue houses with blue kitchens and blue table linens and blue leather sofas and blue accents in the wall paper...

pink thursday

color week! color week!

Washington DC

Capital Hill, Seattle

Mila with a cupcake

lotus in san juan capistrano CA