in the land of random

Today I got behind a Dodge pickup of some sort with a bumper sticker reading:

ASK FIRST!!!
Before HUNTING or FISHING on PRIVATE LAND

I want to wear tires for shoes

eco sneaks

The Ocean Blue

This is what I have been working on ALL WEEK! Of course, it looks better in HD and has to be a much lower quality to post online.

So, what do you think?

life's not Fair

When I open my window or walk down my hallway, all I can smell is fair food. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmm...fair food.

contain this

Somehow a picture of me from a theme party in college ended up in a retail display at Container Stores nationwide. I don't even own this picture, so it was a little bit bizarre when a friend who works at The Container Store called to tell me about it. Yes, that's me in a Paschal High School uniform that I bought at a thrift store for 55 cents.

Proof:

Inside The Living Body

"Osteoblast" is a cool word. It sounds like a verb for blowing up bones, but sadly it is not.


os·te·o·blast (ŏs'tē-ə-blāst')
n. A cell from which bone develops; a bone-forming cell.

two words

conspicuous consumption


We all want nice things. A reliable car that gets us from A to B. A safe, attractive place to live. Stylish clothes we feel comfortable in that express who we are. Maybe you want a stainless steel trash can instead of your white plastic one, or an iPod, a new laptop, a couch that isn't a hand-me-down, an expensive new pair of jeans that fits like no other, some new camping equipment, or even a house. My point is, there is a difference between wanting nice things and conspicuous consumption, between "I have a nice comfortable car that efficiently gets me from A to B" and "look look LOOK at my EXPENSIVE car that cost me soooo much and shows off how much money I make and how much better I am than YOU."

In my opinion, conspicuous consumption is represented well by the Hummer. Most people who know me are well aware of my deep, deep, hatred of these vehicles. I despise, nay, loathe them. My blood pressure starts to rise and I actually start to sweat. Really, truly, sweat. There is absolutely, positively NO reason to have one of these vehicles in urban America other than to show off. Owning one shows a complete lack of respect for the earth you call home, the people you call neighbors and family, and your fellow drivers. PERIOD.

Another popular and perfect example of conspicuous consumption are logos. Oh you know what I'm talking about. That handbag or suitcase with an LV printed all over it. ("Look how much I spent on this handbag; I just have SO MUCH MONEY!! Don't you wish you were me?") Burberry plaid. The double C Chanel Logo. Gucci. Prada. Juicy Couture. Tommy Hilfiger. Even brands like Guess and some Target private labels are getting on the logo bandwagon. The thing is, these labels make many many styles of with a discreet logo. If you are really interested in the style or quality/craftsmanship of these items, they offer plenty of options without obnoxious all-over logos. But the people who choose the items plastered in logos are only interested in broadcasting their status and wealth; they are, above all, a status symbol. They say "I am chic, I have plenty disposable income, and I align myself with the marketing, lifestyle, and ideals that this company represents." Of course this logo-mania extends beyond leather goods to clothing, home decor, and as always, vehicles. (Just to reiterate this, I am not saying that having nice things is bad, just that there is a clear difference between having nice things, and having nice things with the sole purpose of showing off.) For example, we have seen the Eddie Bauer Explorer, for the person wanting to say "I am tough, I am outdoors-y, but I like leather seats embroidered with the Eddie Bauer logo and I never leave the safe pavement of my housing subdivision and suburban zip code...shhhhhh, don't tell!" I recently got behind this vehicle (see pic below) and shrieked "NO WAY!" With my right hand I fumbled inside my backpack and found my camera in time to grab a shot just as it turned a corner.


An H3 with a custom Burberry plaid spare tire cover, the red in the plaid matching the red Hummer. oh. my. gracious. Conspicuous consumption at its...worst.

because I can't afford therapy

Do you ever have one of those bad dreams in which someone you know, or knew, very well treats you very very badly? I have them often...for about eight months now. It is usually the same person (last night it was actually two different people in two separate dreams). I wake up knowing that in real life they would never do whatever it is they just did in my dream, but the dreams are so vivid and real that I wake up feeling really hurt, and then for the next day or two I remain anxious and upset at them.

Even as a kid I usually had very violent and negative dreams. In general you hear that flying dreams are good and represent freedom. But my flying dreams were almost always about me flying away from someone who was trying to kill me. This person usually had a knife. Sometimes the "bad guy" (as it was always a man) could also fly. I also recall a dream from my childhood where a masked bad guy broke into my house and I was home alone. My sleeping self knew he was trying to kill me (again, he had a knife) but my dream self thought the whole thing was a game, laughing and racing around the house and furniture in a catch-me-if-you-can manner. So my sleeping self was freaking out trying to make my dream self see that he was serious and it wasn't a game.

I even had one dream in which I actually died, but this has only happened once. I still remember it very well. I was living in a country that, in my young mind, seemed like somewhere in the mid-east, desert-y and hot. The women were all being persecuted and living in these sort of stacked hammocks in this huge multi story building that just looked like a building looks before the sheet rock is put up, all open and unprotected. Anyway, I was posing as a man trying to fight for the rights of the women, and I was eventually caught and executed. The thing I don't remember is whether I was killed with a knife or a gun. But I do remember my sleeping self worrying very much about if it would hurt when I was killed since I was asleep.

________________________________________________________

On a lighter note, the weeks have been flying by since I got back. I woke up this morning, took the dog out, came back up to make breakfast, turned on the TV to see cartoons, and couldn't believe that it was Saturday again. I mean it was just Saturday. Seriously, like two days ago it was Saturday and i was making a feta and mushroom three-egg omelette watching this same animal show on Fox and getting ready for work, right? Wrong. It was SIX DAYS AGO. Geez. I blinked and August was gone. I blinked twice and summer was gone.

And I am fed up with restaurants continuing to use styrofoam and plastic to-go/take-home containers when there are affordable paper alternatives. So in a week when I get paid I am going to buy some Biopak 100% recycled take-out boxes to keep on hand and in my car. And when I run out of the staples I have on hand I am going to buy a staple-less stapler. Plastic freaks me out and I have banned it, as much as humanly possible, from my life (as far as eating is concerned). I heard that Whole Foods carries corn-based biodegradable straws and was very excited. So the next time I was there I looked but no luck. I asked one of the very helpful employees and they went off to find out about the mystery straws, but reported back that their location does not carry them but I could call around and see if maybe the other larger location have them.

playing Uno at Fallout

It's fun.
You should try it sometime.
But would someone please tell me what is up with the colored cards that have no numbers on them?

rockin'

I went rock climbing at Exposure in Carrollton this morning. It's the second or third time I've been there, but I haven't been rock climbing in well over a year, so I was out of practice to say the least. But it was fun, and I met some really cool people. I would also like to try Summit Climbing Gym to see how it compares. I really wish there was something inside 635 though; I start getting hives when I get too far north into the 'burbs.

shoe fetish X 2

I'm not sure there is room for two shoe fetishes in this 517sf loft. But I am not willing to give mine up. I really scored on this tax-free weekend at DSW. Big time.

2 words: Michael Kors
One discount: 80% off
Total price: $19.99

oh yeah.




Maggie the dog has her own fetish. With my sandals. On many mornings I wake up and look over to see that at some point during the night Maggie has dragged one of my flip flops into her bed. She never chews on it, and there is always just one. A friend told me that she does this because it smells like me. Um, excuse me? I do not smell like a sweaty flip flop. He said to sleep in an old tee shirt for several nights and then give her the tee to sleep with and she will stop the shoe-napping. I did, but she is too smart for this. But, since she is not chewing on the shoes I suppose I really don't mind. Plus it is partially my fault for being too lazy to put my sandals away every night.

evidence:

Spiral Diner coming to Bishop Arts!

How excited am I that this small vegan restaurant in Fort Worth is expanding to Dallas? Words cannot express. I LOVE IT! Spiral Diner is consistently voted in the top 10 lists for vegan restaurants for the entire country (!) and it's hard to believe it's nestled inside "cow town." And now good news for Dallasites - Spiral Diner is coming to the Bishop Arts District in the OC in October. Hoorah! Rumor is that it might even be dog friendly. Yeah!

The menu is extensive, and even your hard core carnivore friends will find something delish to try. I have had the "Ate Layer Burrito," the "all day lunch plate," spaghetti, hummus appetizer, potato salad, and the McNut burger. They have all been delicious, and the price is oh-so-right. All of their ingredients are not only vegan but organic, and their mission extends beyond just the food.

Spiral Diner pledges to:
- Use only cruelty-free and environmentally friendly biodegradable cleaning products
- Only purchase recycled and un-bleached paper products (with the highest post-consumer content available)
- Always buy Certified Organic ingredients whenever possible with conventional only as a last resort
- Use environmentally friendly, biodegradable take-away containers and disposable cutlery (we also encourage our customers to bring their own reusable containers with them to help us reduce packaging waste)
- Recycle 100% of all the accepted materials that come through our kitchen
- Donate a portion of profit to local grassroots organizations that are fighting for human, animal, and environmental causes
- Reduce waste by purchasing in bulk as much as possible and donating excess food to local food banks and shelters

And their take on pricing:
"Spiral Diner's prices are set as low as they can possibly go. Our goal is not to make tons of profit; it is to provide the community with tasty vegan food at a reasonable cost. Our goal is also to pay everyone working at Spiral a decent wage. We will never charge more than we absolutely have to in order to pay the bills.
So when you eat at Spiral you know you are getting high quality food from happy employees.
Additionally, we will continually to adjust our prices to reflect food costs. As organic ingredients go down in price we adjust our menu prices accordingly. The more in demand organics become, the lower the price."

And if that wasn't enough, they also have vegan cooking classes, hip retro decor, and a bakery.

Who wants to go with me in October?

Sufferin' Succotash!

I recently happened upon a vegan food blog and saw a recipe for "late summer succotash" from the Vegetarian Times which looked delicious. For those of you who don't know, I have been inching my way towards being a vegetarian, but it's hard with the no-wheat and little-to-no-soy thing, which rules out quite a bit of wheat-based meat alternatives like seitan, and also tofu, soy sauce, and such. I eat at Spiral Diner whenever I get a chance (thank goodness they are coming to Dallas soon) and love the fact that they use all organic produce and recycle as much as they can and all that stuff. So right now I am an ovo-pescatarian, meaning that I am a vegetarian but eat eggs (cage-free and organic eggs) and fish. Basically I don't eat anything with legs and am not eating/drinking bovine fairy but I have not excluded goat dairy. It's complicated. Most vegetarians would laugh at me and say that I'm not really a vegetarian, which is true, but I have given up a lot since January and it feels like a huge step to me.

Anyway, I emailed the recipe to Carly and was like "we should make this sometime!" And on Monday I just happened to be at Target getting groceries and things before going to Whole Foods to complete the day's list, and lo and behold I get a text from Carly asking what I was up to, which surprised me considering she was supposed to be at work. Turns out she was home from work and I just happened to be at the SuperTarget just down the street from her place. So I ran over there and we decided to make the succotash that afternoon which was quite handy since I had to go to Whole Foods anyway. We were able to find everything there except for lima beans, which we substituted edamame for.

Everything in the kitchen went well, except that the onion won in the onion-vs-Hollis'-sensitive-eyes contest. (The next day I was watching Martha Stewart and she said to burn a candle close to an onion when you chop it and the candle will burn off the onion fumes. I tried it today and it works like magic.) Our Late Summer Succotash was divine if I do say so myself. The tomatoes really made it, and I don't normally like tomatoes.

Up next: Metaphysical Quandary Green Bean Salad

Recipe here

proof we really cooked and didn't steal the above pic:




So on Sunday and Monday I got to cross 2 things off my summer to-do list and one thing off my lifetime to-do list. Hoorah! Feels pretty awesome. Next up is learning how to change my own oil. I'll keep you posted on that one.

At the Drive-In (a.k.a. Galaxy night)

Four friends and I finally stopped talking about it and went to the Galaxy Drive-In Theater in Ennis, TX this past Sunday. I got to cross "go to a drive-in" off my summer to-do list. It's only about 20/25 minutes South of me, which is closer than much worse options like Studio Movie Grill. It rocked my socks off. Well, I wasn't wearing socks to start with, but you get my drift. They have 4 screens, each showing a different double-feature, and it is always just $6 per person! AND they have Dippin' Dots, the "ice cream of the future" (but somehow available today)! Since the movie studios take most of their box office profits, they rely on the concession stand for their main profit, so don't eat before you go. It is very affordable (think cheesy fries and a coke for $3.50). This is my new favorite thing to do in DFW for sure, so let me know if you want to go on a Sunday or Monday! We saw the double feature Simpsons/Transformers.

During the ten minute "intermission" they show old fashioned ads and graphics and stuff, so it's cool that they have kept up the vintage flair and didn't try to modernize it. they still have the metal speakers that you can hang on your window, and you will probably need to use your car radio (the sound broadcasts over different frequencies for different screens) to hear well, but we didn't have a problem with this wearing down the car battery.

Here are some things to remember about the drive-in:
- CASH ONLY!
- Um, they have Dippin' Dots now - how awesome is that?
- Bring plenty of bugspray and chairs/blankets
- If you get there after dark don't forget basic drive-in etiquette, such as turning off your lights ASAP and driving slowly through the aisles.










After the movies were over we headed a bit further into Ennis on a small road and pulled into a field to watch the meteor shower, and I finally saw shooting stars (I had never seen one before...yes, really, never). I must've seen about 10 at least. i don't have any pics of this so you will have to take my word for it. This concluded our "Galaxy Night."

whevever i start feeling alone in this world...

...i just remember the mosquitoes, and their never ending love (for my flesh and blood).