pretty green girl

Tag! I’m It!

The awesome Laura from Hey What’s For Dinner Mom tagged me in the 8 Things survey that’s going around. Aww, my first tag! By the way, if you’re not already reading Laura’s blog, you should be! I’m so impressed with the healthy and eco-friendly way she is raising her family, and all stuff she makes/grows/raises on her own!

Here goes. I’m going to add my own twist at the end – 8 Pretty Green Tips!

8 Things I’m Looking Forward To:
1. Glamping for my birthday!
2. Getting my braces off (supposedly in December. I hope!)
3. My friends’ weddings this summer (Jen, Jaime and Jes!)
4. Visiting old friends and a new baby in San Diego this summer (and hopefully some new friends, like Hallie!)
5. The Nike Women’s Half Marathon (ok, but half dreading!)
6. Going to France someday – volunteering on an organic farm, then going to Paris
7. Getting married and having kids (someday!)
8. My next meal (no matter when I post this, it will be true!)

8 Things I Did Yesterday:
1. Took my second photography class
2. Ate completely vegetarian, kind of by accident
3. FAILed at wrapping a breakfast burrito. Oh well, it still tasted good with a fork and knife.
4. Emailed my grandmother (she signs her response “luv.” Cute!)
5. Drank Berryblossom White tea
6. Listened to Wilco and Britney Spears
7. Wrote Horoscopes and celebrity gossip trivia
8. Ordered produce from my CSA. This week, I’m getting: avocado, spinach, “cheddar” cauliflower, English peas and dry-farmed tomatoes, plus I ordered a jar of nectarine conserves. Mmm!

8 Things I Wish I Could Do:
1. Math (especially splitting the check! I always way overpay cause I’d rather do that than figure it out)
2. Take better photos (see: photography class)
3. Get rid of my car
4. Eat whatever I want and not gain weight
5. Dance
6. Go back in time
7. Sew
8. Make everyone care about being green

8 Shows I Watch:
1. Scrubs (the best!)
2. Greek (One of the best shows on TV, I think!)
3. Oprah
4. 90210 (nowhere as good as the original, but as long as anyone from the original cast is on, I’ll watch)
5. Gossip Girl
6. The Hills (I own Laguna Beach on DVD. Love it. The Hills isn’t as good, though. They need more Lauren and Lo, less Speidi)
7. American Idol
8. The Today Show (when I’m getting ready in the morning. I kinda think it sucks, but it’s an old habit)

8 Pretty Green Tips
1. Clean your lint traps
2. Get it “for here”
3. Keep your carrots fresh
4. Take a shorter shower
5. Print green
6. Get mesh produce bags
7. Shut the fridge
8. Save your scraps for scratch paper

I’m not going to tag anyone else, but I’d love to hear yours in the comments or on your blog if you haven’t done this yet!

Happy Monday, all!

I had such a fun weekend! It started with dinner with my girlfriends from college at my favorite sushi restaurant, Tataki. It’s sustainable and amazingly delicious! It just melts in your mouth, yum! I love sushi, but hardly ever eat it for sustainability reasons, so this was a real treat. Of course, I had to take a few pictures!

Golden State – all-local tribute to California: spicy scallop with minced apple topped with albacore tuna, avocado and 24k gold flakes

Extinguisher – spicy amberjack topped with avocado, habanero masago, hot sauce

So good! Oh, and here’s a goofy pic of my side of the table. The rest were way too silly (or just plain bad/embarrassing) to post!

Saturday, I headed up to Sebastopol, a small town in Sonoma County where I went to high school, for the Apple Blossom Parade and festival. I brought my roommate and future roommate-in-law, Jaime and Chris of Wedding Road Trip. Check out their blog, it’s awesome! We had a great time watching all the silly parade floats and eating apple pie. But the best part was a stop at the best homemade ice cream place in the world, Screamin’ Mimi’s. I’m telling you, if you ever find yourself in Sonoma Country, it is a must- try! My favorite is Mimi’s Mud: espresso ice cream, homemade fudge, chocolate chips and chocolate sandwich cookies. To die for! I also had a bit of creme de menthe and Galaxy, a chocolate chip that is out of this world (har har har). And I was so excited to see their new packaging – compostable bowls and spoons!

I also stopped in an adorable store, Shiki Monkey, and finally got the bag I was lusting after the last time I visited. Check it out – isn’t it so cute? It’s made by Bungalow 360 out of organic canvas! I was seriously so excited after buying this and couldn’t stop talking about it! I also got a matching clutch I’m totally taking to bars. Hey, recycling goes with everything!

Bungalow360 uses solar energy and hybrid cars, recycles and reuses, and donates a portion of their proceeds to animal rescue charities. How cool is that?

On Sunday, I BARTed over to the East Bay for lunch with my sister – an amazing dungeness crab, avocado and pepper jack sandwich. So good! Then we spent the day thrift shopping for some new (used) clothes for her new job as an Education Coordinator at a succulent garden! I was her Personal Thrift Shopper and it was a ton of fun – she was surprised at how much she liked the stuff I picked out for her. She ended up getting 2 pairs of jeans (Express and Bebe), a Bebe dress, a sweater and four shirts for $110. We were shocked at the total – such a good deal! Buying used is totally win-win.

All her bounty in the Envirosax I got her!

All in all, a pretty fun, pretty green weekend!

It’s time to announce the winners of my Natural Dentist giveaway! Thanks so much to everyone who entered!

I added in everyone who tweeted and linked from their blog – thanks so much, you guys! So, without further ado, the winners are (picked using random integer generator):
#3 and #19!

#3 – Elizabeth from Don’t (White) Sugar-Coat It
#19 – Ashley from Healthy Ashley

Congrats, ladies! If you could send me your email addresses (Ashley, I see one on your site, but just want to make sure that’s the email you want me to use!) I will pass them along to Susan from The Natural Dentist so you can figure out what you want in your prize packs. Yay!

Even if you didn’t win, click here for a $2 off coupon! Happy Brushing!

***Last chance to enter The Natural Dentist Giveaway! Contest closes at 12pm PST tomorrow!***

I just got home from Nightlife at the Cal Academy of Sciences. It was awesome! Every Thursday night, it’s only $10 to get into the museum, and they have DJs and a full bar. We had a great time! Hello, they played Britney and had compostable cups! Ok, real glasses would have been better, but I’ll take it. And I love when they label the cans “Recycling,” “Compost” and “Landfill.” Really makes you think! With the DJs, mood lighting and dressed-up crowd, I sort of felt like I was in a Kate Hudson movie! The crowd was a lot of fun – for some reason there was a lot of breakdancing going on. Heh. We even got a “backstage” tour from my friend who interns in a lab there!

The museum is really neat – lots of green practices, especially the living roof! We got to see a rain forest with tons of butterflies, a swamp (with an albino alligator!), a planetarium show about life on other planets (I kept thinking My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nine Pizzas – who remembers that??), a really cool aquarium, a fun bug-catching video game, etc. I really recommend this event to anyone who lives in or visits the Bay Area. I believe it runs through October.

Pics from the night:

The building was built with blue jean insulation!

I thought Caitlin would like this one.

Crazy, huh?

Do you have any cool events like this in your city?

Happy Birthday to my best friend since high school, Kate! She has an Earth Day Birthday! That always made it easy for me to remember the date of Earth Day! This is one of my favorite pictures of us, taken by the very talented Trish.

***Don’t forget to enter my Pretty Green Giveaway! Winning products from The Natural Dentist is a great way to celebrate Earth Day!***

I’ve been thinking a lot about what kind of a post I wanted to put up for Earth Day, and since this blog is all about the little things you can do to make easy green changes in your life, I thought I’d talk about what I’m doing today (and in general) and hear about what you are doing!

* I went for a run outside instead of going to the gym. It’s a GORGEOUS day here in SF, and it’s a short run from my house to Golden Gate Park. I actually stopped in the middle of my run to just look at the trees and feel the breeze (ok, and catch my breath). Being surrounded by nature made me remember WHY I care about the environment, and why it’s important to make green changes. I hope you are able to take even a few minutes today to appreciate nature where you live!

* I will not drive at all today. I generally try not to drive when I am in the City (is that obnoxious? “The City?” I bet there are some New Yorkers who would beg to differ with my capitalization! Heh), but today I may go to the grocery store to buy some bulk items, and I have to lug all my compost over to my Dad’s house, way across town. It would be much easier to drive, but I’m not going to. It won’t be convenient, but I will find a way to make it work, because it is important! If you have to drive today, try to carpool!

* I will eat only vegetarian sushi from the restaurant my Dad is treating us to dinner from tonight. I don’t feel comfortable eating the fish there – it’s no Tataki!

* I won’t turn on the lights unless I need to. As I mentioned, it’s a gorgeous day out – the natural sunlight is enough!

* I will avoid buying anything that comes in a package today (with the possible exception of milk, which I get in returnable glass bottles).

* As always, I’ll bring my own bags, try to buy in bulk, and buy local and organic products!

What will you do to celebrate Earth Day? Do you have any unique green tips I may have never thought of?

It is hot, hot, hot in the Bay Area today! So I declare a mandatory Popsicle break sometime this week. Or ice lollies, as my British coworker calls them. A few of us just snuck downstairs to have them, and it was the perfect treat on this summery day!

Make yours organic, or better yet, make your own with reusable Popsicle molds!

Who’s in?

I’ve said this before, but going green doesn’t always require big changes. Here are some little things that I did, or that happened to me this week!

* My eye doc (ha, I originally said orthodontist – I went to both yesterday!) switched me from 2-week disposable lenses to monthly ones. At first I wasn’t sure about the change, because I’ll have to get used to a new routine, but then I realized I’d be saving plastic! I *hate* the wastefulness of contact lenses – the containers they come in, the plastic tubs of solution, etc. But since I can’t afford LASIK right now (I looked into it and it’s not an option), I can at least save a little plastic.

* I remembered to bring my own Tupperware for leftovers! I went out for Thai last night, courtesy of my friend’s expense account (thanks, Amy!) and ran out to my car to get the Tupperware (ok, GladWare) I’d brought my lunch in. It just had fruit in it earlier, so it wasn’t really dirty. The lady at the restaurant thought it was really cool that I brought my own!

* After dinner, my friend and I went for frozen yogurt, and I pulled my compostable spoon out of my purse! I try to bring “real” silverware most of the time, but had forgotten that day and used one of the biodegradable, corn starch ones we keep at work for lunch. They’re made in China, so I’d still prefer to use real silverware, but when I do have to use them, I try to get as many uses as possible! I’ve even run them through the dishwasher, and they hold up for several uses! I have to do a post about what happens when they get warm, though! Too funny.

Just a reminder that the small things do add up! What little changes did you make today?