Happy Earth Day, yo
Hi guys! Happy almost-Friday and HAPPY EARTH DAY! Today is going to be spent doing last minute things,
dropping the puppers off (Bella at funny quotes lady’s house)
Vieserton to the kennel (she has a crush on the boy who helps run it, so she’s very excited)
doing the recovery Insanity workout
and leaving for VEGAS! So stoked 😀
Last night after Zumba, I couldn’t wait to dig into the Indian feast that was waiting for me.
I put some into a bowl and poured a lovely glass of Riesling to go with it.
Curry eggplant, tomato and okra
+ a glass of vino
What I *thought* would be the perfect meal.
Well apparently I got a little overzealous with the spice action, because even for the self-proclaimed Queen of Caliente…. it was too hot for me. *Hides face in shame* It almost burned my mouth off!
Crazy huh?
On top of realizing that I was a little too big for my “spicy” britches, I also realized that I own something blog-trendy and didn’t even know it.
My cousin bought me this headband for my first half marathon:
I wear it ALL the time and if the pink doesn’t match my outfit (which is rare, haha), I roll it so you can’t see the crown, like so:
Well last night I took a closer look at said headband.
It’s a Bondi Band! The same brand that Ashley and Ryan sell. I had no idea and have had it for over a year. I can attest to the fact that they are indeed very good headbands 😀
So today is EARTH DAY!!!!
In honor of spreading some lurve to out planet, here’s a lovely poem:
Kiss the Earth
By Thich Nhat HanhWalk and touch peace every moment.
Walk and touch happiness every moment.
Each step brings a fresh breeze.
Each step makes a flower bloom.
Kiss the Earth with your feet.
Bring the Earth your love and happiness.
The Earth will be safe
when we feel safe in ourselves.
For today’s earthy holiday, I wanted to ask ya’ll what steps do you take to be more “green”??
For our little family:
– We buy organic meat and produce and also buy locally when possible
– We eat a high plant-based diet, which means we don’t contribute to waste and pollution caused from factory farms.
– I bring cloth bags to the store, and if for some reason we forget, I’ll use the plastic bags for puppy disasters so that they’re at least being re-used
– We recycle. This was a hard one (TWSS) because they don’t offer recycling services in our neighborhood (Valdosta is slow to get on the recycling wagon). So we have to sort our recycling and lug it to base to be recycled
– I started recently making our own cleaning products and will buy the Seventh Generation brand
How do you green-ify to your life??
Well I’m out like sauerkraut. See ya from the airport!
xoxo,
GIna
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Oh man… bummer that dish was too spicy because it looked incredible!! I also love that stemless wine glass.
To be more green, I try to take short showers, recycle EVERYTHING, and re-use ziplock bags when I can. I’m looking into getting some reusable bags in place of ziplocks… Tina at Carrots n Cake is actually doing a giveaway for some today but I’ve been looking at them for a while!
Something was too hot for you? I can’t believe it. 🙂
As far as being earth friendly – we recycle, use cloth bags for grocery shopping, try not to take bags when buying other things at retail stores, and use as many earth friendly household products as possible. I love Tom’s toothpaste!!
Have safe travels to Vegas lady.
We eat mostly veggies too, but when we do buy chicken it’s organic, cage-free, etc. I’ve also discovered the amazingness of green cleaners. Shaklee makes one that is chemical-free, works great and—best of all—saves me tons of money.
Enjoy Vegas!
I’m so excited to start a new tradition with my baby girl on Earth Day. Today we’re going to plant a tree in our backyard. We do the following:
– eat local & organic produce. 50% of our diet is raw
– I make my own cleaning chemicals (recipe for this on my bloggie)
– use tumblers to feed my daily coffee habit
– bring totes to the grocery store instead of using plastic
Too spicy?! Never!
We always try to buy local and organic if possible!
that used to be my motto, too.. until i tried this stuff. it was unpalatable :/
I changed up some of my cleaning supplies to “green” cleaning supplies, and I’ve changed my eating habits. I’m also a huge advocate of recycling! Have a great trip!
I’m really impressed that y’all still recycle, even though your town doesn’t pick it up!! Will you do a post on the cleaning products you’ve been making on your own? That sounds interesting!
I try to buy local and organic for mostly everything. I also bring my own bags to the store and luckily my apartment complex recycles. Happy Earth Day!
Our household:
a.) does not eat meat (which is one of the biggest resource and energy drains in the USA)
b.) reuses plastic bags and sandwhich bags
c.) conserves water
and, most fun,
d.) we don’t own a car! We live in a city and walk to work, to the grocery store, and take public transportation to get to the airport. We make it work even though our parents think its crazy!
I think we could improve on recycling….our city isn’t the best about letting households put out their recyclables on our block. Maybe we’ll start hiking to a nearby facillity like the Gina/Pilot household:)
First off, I LOVED that poem! I’m reading a book called “Savor” by Thich Naht Hanh about eating and living mindfully. Neat!
What I do to be green: I eat a plant-based diet. I got my parents to switch from drinking water from individual 20 oz water bottles to buying a Brita filter and eco friendly no-bpa bottles last year. I usually remember to bring my own bags to the grocery story. I clean with 7th generation and Charlie Soap. I recycle the things that can be recycled in my town (no glass recycle, for some reason). What else? My commute is super short (5 miles round trip), so I guess that’s good, too! I would like to be even greener, though! Happy Earth Day.
I’ve made the mistake of being a little generous with my spices too! I’ve learned how to recover the disasters though – I find mixing in a bit of plain yogurt, or (and I know this sounds weird, but it works) some mashed banana, it really cools it off. (That way, you don’t have to waste – so you’re being green too!) Other ways that I try to be green are:
– drinking out of stainless steel waterbottles and a big Starbucks travel mug for tea/coffee
– taking reusable grocery bags to the grocery store (I used to ALWAYS forget to take them with me, but I’m well trained now!)
– recycling
Wow, they don’t have recycling services in your neighborhood? That’s crazy! We have industrial-size home recycling bins here. 😉
I recycle like crazy, bring reusable bags to the grocery store, turn off lights and water when not using them, walk wherever possible (luckily I can walk to a million things from my house) and use energy-efficient lightbulbs.
YAY! I just finished my earth day post… gah it feels like it takes forever to post these things. but worth it: think coffee savings and free origins face wash
I think it’s really interesting how not eating meat can save so much green!
Katherine
whataboutsummer
We just started composting! I read somewhere that the average household throws away 10 pounds of compostable material each week…which adds up FAST! I’m excited to use the goods in my (yet to be planted) veggie garden! I also don’t eat meat, and use grocery totes, and I rock a push lawn-mower – no gas needed!
good morning Gina
yesterday i bought the same heart monitor that you have, but i dont know which is my vo2 max. What is yours? How can i calculate this number?
thanks
220 minus your age 🙂
you mean your max heart rate, right? because vo2max is entirely different and a lot more complicated to determine
i need the vo2max i know my max heart.
which is your vo2max? now i put 50 but i am not sure if it is correct.
i need an aproximate number no exact.
i have no clue what my vo2max is.. when i got the heart rate monitor, i left it on the settings it had but just put in my age, gender and weight. weird!
check out this website for vo2max info: http://outside.away.com/outside/bodywork/carmichael-20070118.html
hi gina! sorry to hear your indian food was too spicy!! it looked delish!
we recycle (only plastic #s1 and 2…our township changed it…)
we rarely eat meat
we shop at farmers markets and buy locally
we use the energy efficient lightbulbs
we are looking into solar panels for the roof =)
we dont have air conditioning (and our heat stays at 58-62º in the winter)
we dont use plastic water bottles EVER
safe travels girl!!!!
Have a safe flight!
Being at school, it’s really hard to be green, but I try to recycle everything I can, not to leave the water running, use reusable containers, not leave the lights/tv on…it’s not much, but at least it’s something!
I do mostly the same wonderful things you do: bring cloth bags, don’t eat meat (and buy organic for my hubs) and I planted some basil seeds to grow my own! Safe traveling! Happy earth day!
Okay, that’s it, I’m ordering a Bondi Band (or 2). I’ve been hearing about them everywhere, even contacted them in regards to my slightly oversized noggin (to make sure I wouldn’t waste my money) and now here it is again. Order shall be made this weekend…
I do as much as I can to green it up.
– I’m a veggie.
– I only use environmentally friendly cleaning products in the house (including laundry detergent, shampoo/conditioner and shower gels).
– I bring resusable bags everywhere I go.
– I recycle and compost.
– I don’t drive so I use public transit or walk where I need to go.
– I try to unplug most of my electrical equipment when not in use.
I’m sure there’s more but those are the most frequent!
Happy Earth Day and have fun in Vegas!
My main way of going green has been to give up driving. I live in a city and public transportation takes me where I need to go. This saves tons of the other green.
Cut back on shower time, unplug my devices when I’m not using them and eat veggie as much as possible!
reusable grocery bags are a godsend! i don’t go anywhere without them, now! i keep them in my trunk and have found myself taking them into the mall and into a million other stores. i also reuse any plastic bags i may end up with as garbage bags in small trashcans, or bags to carry my lunch in. at least they get reused at least once!
– We recycle EVERYTHING
– Use reusable bags and plastic or glass containers
– Have a rain barrel to water our garden (we grow our own herbs and veggies)
– Hang dry as much of our laundry as possible
– Changed out shower head to a water saving head
– Switched to a mostly plant based diet
– Narrow our errands to one day a week to cut back on driving time and gas
– We compost
– Use all natural soaps, shampoos and conditioners
– Drink tap water and save my kombucha bottles to use as water bottles to keep in the fridge
Love living GREEN!
OK that dinna must have been on FIRE for it to be too hot for you, Gina. Still looks good though:)
Some eco-friendly practices of my husband’s and mine include using canvas bags, recycling (a hard one, for the same reasons you said.) We use a HE washer/dryer, have fixed all leaky faucets, and limit our heat and air use. Awesome because most of these save $$ too!
HAVE FUN IN VEGAS!!! 🙂
Yay for Earth Day! I have been a recycling queen since almost as long as I can remember! Once our local paper did a little story on my family and how we had our kitchen set up with built in recylcing bins. haha… But I also use reusable bags at the grocery store, always use my Sigg bottle instead of plastic bottles, carpool to work twice a week, and use Aveda and Seventh Generation products. Now if I could just curb my shopping habit! That’s my non-earth friendly vice.
you and me both, girl 😉
how funny! i’ve been wanting a bondi band, but i just don’t have the extra cash flow right now 🙂 we recycle, use cloth bags (or no bags at all) for groceries, and use Siggs instead of water bottles. i’m sure there’s more, but that’s all i have for right now!
awww Love Bella’s pic! Those bands are cute – I want one!
Have a blast in Vegas!
How do you make your own cleaning supplies? Ive heard people using vinegar, bleach, etc. but Id love to know what you use – I really should be maknig my own 🙂
last time i used seventh generation dish detergent, warm water, lemon, baking soda and lavender oil. maybe i’ll do a post about it 🙂
That’s too bad about the dinner!
And I’ve recently started buying ecofriendly dishwasher detergent and laundry detergent. Also, I take the stuff my recycling doesn’t take, and bring it to Whole Foods where they will!
Hey are you going to continue Insanity workouts in Vegas? Just wondering….
I have a hard time doing the workouts on friday and saturday since I have soccer games during the weekends and like to have fresh legs, but I can’t go that long without Shaun T! Haha
yup, i have the dvd player packed in my suitcase! haha 🙂
Despite the spiciness the curry looks great!
I recycle, take quick showers, unplug appliances that aren’t in use, walk to school (walk most EVERYWHERE) and I’m sure there are plenty more too
Safe travels! I’m on the recycling and reusable bags bandwagon fo sho. NYC actually has really good recycling, to the point where there are sometimes multiple trash cans in public places (like parks) so you can even sort trash on the fly. 🙂
Yay, happy earth day to you too! I always use reusable bags, don’t eat meat (and thus get my family to eat less meat), use a reusable water bottle, compost, and recycle!
You like spice like me….I think I’ve only been over-spiced three times in my life. 🙂
I bring my own shopping bags to stores, re-use plastic zip loc bags when I can, recycle at home.
I’ve been a big fan of the fitnessista workout for awhile–but the past few days it has not been able to make a database connection. Has that material been removed from the website? That would make me so sad!
sorry ashley! my blog broke this week 🙁 everything should be fixed now, though!
I use a travel mug at all times. And given the amount of coffee I am drinking during this finals season I would guess I saved about 5 trees!
omg that awesome about the headband! what a cool suprise! and happy earth day to you too love <3
Recycle, shop with cloth bags, store with foodsaver resuable containers, compost, buy from farmers markets, pass on my magazine and newpaper, put on clothes instead of turning on the heater, grow my own veggies, use powerstrips for things I do not use often, unplug alarm clock and tv in guest room, walk instead of drive if possible, water with a drip line to not waste water, and probably some I have missed.
The first time I ever cooked for Pea Daddy, I dumped WAY too much cajun seasoning in some burritos and we were both crying! He kept going back to refill his water but he wouldn’t say that it was too hot. Whattaman!
I need to try preparing something Indian. Love the Earth Day poem! Have fun on your trip.
-emily
Bummer on the spicy food! I made dal last nigth in honor of Indian Food Wednesday, but thankfully the spice was manageable, although the relief from the pita bread for dipping was welcome.
The fiance and I try to be green by:
– eating vegetarian (he still likes a lil meat at times when we’re out)
– bringing cloth bags to the grocery store
– not owning a car and using public transport (we live in a city)
– buying energy star appliances
– recycling
– buying locally grown produce from farmers markets when possible
Hey I just realized I’m going to be in Vegas this weekend too! But I won’t get there until Saturday afternoon and I’m leaving Sunday. Big money big money big money (haha, I’m actually going with my dad to watch his cousin sing in a do-wop show or something like that, no big crazy party for me.)
I’m obsessive about being green. Turning off lights, heating/cooling house less, reusable grocery bags, recycling. I always carry my own water bottle, even when I’m traveling. It drives me nuts when someone does not have a green state of mind. Maybe this is because growing up my family recycled long before it was cool. I don’t think a lot of people realized how many things are recyclable, like the tin foil you used to cook with! Was it up and put it in the recycling bin! All metals and glass are heated to super high temperatures to burn off any food residue, papers or glues before they are melted down.
My goal for this year is to stop using zip lock baggies!!
love the poem!
We combine our green efforts with … uh, being cheap!
– We’re a one-car household, and drive a smaller car that emits less greenhouse gases
– We live inner city, and work downtown, which decreases the amount of driving we need to do
– My husband and I are vegetarians, and don’t eat meat tha contributes to greenhouse gases
– We purchase all organic food that’s locally sourced wherever possible
– We use only cloth bags for all of our shopping – even if it means walking out of a store with stuff in our hands if we forget a bag!
– We make our own cleaning supplies – or purchase environmentally friendly ones
– We live in a small space – 600 square feet! – which lessons our footprint on the Earth in terms of our utility usage, materials required to build our home and maintenance
– I’m notoriously cheap about reducing our electricity consumption – I’m always turning off lights!
We try wherever possible to reduce our costs for things like utilities and transportation … the silver lining is that it has green benefits too!
– We are starting to buy a lot more organic foods. We don’t eat much meat, but if we do, we go organic, since we don’t buy often its not that big of a cost issue
– we try and use our canvas bags at the grocery store. But if we ever get plastic, they are always re-used to clean the cats litter box.
– I recycle all paper, cardboard, pop cans/bottles, milk containers, as much as possible
– I like to turn a lot of the lights off, especially if we aren’t in that area, plus using energy efficient light bulbs
– We use COLD water to wash our laundry!
how we greenify….
1-recycle
2-nylon and canvas reusable shopping bags
3-library to borrow books and magazines instead of buying
4-no air conditioner in car (which sometimes sucks, but it’s worth it)
5-farmer’s markets
6-use vinegar and baking soda to clean
7-make own laundry detergent
8-buy MAJORITY of clothes second-hand
and much more, but those are the biggies 🙂
I’m finally de-lurking because this very topic has been on my mind a lot, lately. In my household, we’re reaching a new balance. While I’ve been forced to relax a few of my own green “rules” due our current living situation (which will soon be changing, anyhow), I do feel that our net greeness has increased dramatically over the last year.
-We *both* now recyle and use stainless steel water bottles.
-Only cloth bags for groceries.
-I’m getting better at turning off lights when I leave a room (gah, it’s so hard–I hate walking into pitch black rooms!)
-Organic or local when possible.
-Less meat–and all organic, at home–for the dude (but more than I’m used to, so this may not really be a change. Aaaanyhow…)
-A big thing for me is to minimize packaging/processing whenever possible. I *hate* ziploc bags and plastic wrap! Let’s just say my lunch bags for work are often very heavy with little pyrex containors! The dude has way into this, as well!
Happy Earth day to you!
We do lots at my house.
I try to be green as much as I can.
I use sooo many paper towels at culinary school, mainly because we HAVE to wash our hands/wipe down dozens of times a day.
So I try to reduce the impact at home some.
-I try to use paper towels as little as possible- we use cloths instead
-cloth napkins
-eco-friendly toilet paper
-we recyle
-I don’t take long showers & I don’t leave the water running when I brush my teeth
-we use green soaps/cleaning products
-use resuable bags
-use stainless steel water bottles & re-usuable coffee/tea mugs
-I am a vegetarian! Well, pescetarian. It’s better than being a carnivore!
We are trying to buy more organically/locally as well 🙂
xo
K