I really like TED talks. The really good ones make me feel like a smarty-pants when I watch them and are super interesting at the same time. Win-win.
I found this particular TED talk to be share-worthy and would love to know what you think about the topic (food and how what we eat affects our bodies – particularly the relationship between certain foods and cancer).
Happy (healthy) eating!
Let’s be honest folks, how many of us never open the forwarded emails that our mothers/fathers/uncles/aunts/grandparents (a.k.a anyone born before Sesame Street first aired) send? If you’re like me, you kinda get the gist of the email from the “Fwd:Fwd:Fwd:” subject line and probably don’t click through to open. [My apologies to any of my forwarding-friendly readers/Mom.] So, imagine my surprise when my mom sent me an (forwarded) email the other day that I not only opened up. but genuinely appreciated.
Because it was full of dogs. Crazy, underwater, half-frightening, half-ridiculous dogs.
And because I like to share, you can see them too.
I really like his nose.
I did a little web research and found the photographer’s name and website. If you’re interested, go here: http://www.littlefriendsphoto.com/index2.php#!/home
A couple of weeks ago I went to see Jeff Tweedy (the lead singer of Wilco) play at The Vic. Every year he does this solo acoustic charity concert where the proceeds go to the scholarship fund for his kids’ school. The concert is entirely audience-request driven (of course, you have to be one of the first 30 people in line in order to put in a request and I would imagine those die-hards practically spend the night at the theatre in order to do so…); it is a bit random but still pretty cool.
I took this video of him playing one of my favorite old Wilco songs. It always makes me smile. I hope you like it, too.
She lowered the knife and it grew even brighter.
The fourth and final installment of the Harris Burdick story time series is upon us. Break out the tissues.
This one was also written by our friend Josh and was my personal favorite of the night. I think you’ll like it, too.
“Just Dessert” or “Alice and the Bunker” by Josh Hoover
Tags: harris burdick, story time
Image from "Cute Overload" blog: http://cuteoverload.com/2011/12/31/top-ten-cutest-photos-of-2011/
I just wanted ya’ll to see this little thing.
That’s all.
I only wished my hair looked this good. I'm pretty sure I could have molded it into this pretty easily, though...
In my imaginary world, I am a wonderful hippie who grows her own food on my (also imaginary) roof-top garden next to my (fictional) solar panels and (nonexistent) menagerie of animals. I also live in a commune with all of my best friends and all day long we laugh and play and create organic something-or-anothers from the wonderful, natural materials we have grown together with love and friendship. I’m also a mermaid, but that’s another story.
In reality, my hippiedom has merely translated into sometimes buying some organic stuff and using non-toxic cleaners in my house (at least I can always eat whatever falls on the floor…). But the desire to improve is there and I am constantly looking for little (aka: easy) ways in which I can feel better about my lifestyle.
Enter shampoo bars.
More specifically, shampoo bars made (with love!!) by a mom-and-pop outfit in Ohio – OHIO! – with happy, natural, planet-pleasing ingredients like snuggles and lollipops. AND none other than my beautiful opera-singer friend,* owner of miles and miles of shiny, shampoo-commercial-worthy hair, swore by the stuff. I figured the proof was in the pudding, right?
I bought the shampoo bars. I used the shampoo bars. My hair felt funny and a little dull. I kept using the shampoo bars (the website said it can take a week or two for your hair to adjust). My hair started to feel as if I were coating it with wax or plastic. I switched flavors of shampoo bars (did I tell you that I bought six different samples? I was going to find the BEST shampoo bar for my hair!). My hair continued to feel plastic-y and was starting to look dirty. I rinsed my hair with baking soda and vinegar. I kept at it. I was determined. Pretty soon I could barely get a brush through my hair, let alone a comb, and putting my hair into a pony tail felt less like a simple act of daily life and more like an epic struggle against unnatural forces. Yet I still continued to use the shampoo bars. I was going to have beautiful, shiny, earth friendly hair! I just had to wait until my hair “adjusted” to the new soap. Oh, and people, I still have bangs so you can imagine what sort of looks I was getting out on the streets of Chicago.
Finally, I gave up. I saw on their website that the soap doesn’t work so good for people with hard water (apparently, the Great Lakes region has very hard water.) But I did not yet hang up the towel. *insert laugh* Oh no, if mom-and-pop shampoo bars weren’t going to work, at least I could use the all-organic amazing shampoo and conditioner touted by beauty insiders around the world as the most wonderful shampoo in the world. *insert sparkles* All I had to do was sell a kidney to buy it. And I’d like to say it didn’t work or that I realized the folly of spending five brazillion dollars on a small bottle of shampoo so I never ordered it. But I did order it; and it probably would have worked, too, if it didn’t smell like death eating a grilled cheese. I never used it.
So dear friends, the moral of the story is that being a green machine doesn’t always work. I’m sending back the expensive stuff and have gone back to my drug store “evil” shampoo.
But my hair looks good…
* For those of you that don’t have any opera-singer friends, the ladies are notorious for knowing how to look good. There’s a reason they’re called “divas.”
Oh yeah, I mentioned a give-away! I still have three sample sizes of the shampoo bars that I am never going to use. If you’d like to try ‘em out, I’ll send them to you. First responder gets them. Just make sure you don’t have hard water!
If any of you out there are attempting to create or try something new, whatever that may be, please listen to this video of Ira Glass. He’s talking about the art of storytelling, but the message is universal. Love it.
