Wonderling

Portland Fashion Week

So it's been a long while. I have no excuse other than it was summer, nice outside and I was just plain lazy. But seeing how it's fall again, I'm back in school, the band has more shows and I'm busier in general with obligations that aren't strictly "social activities", I should be a bit more consistent with this thing. Makes sense. 

This last weekend I was offered a VIP ticket to one of the Portland Fashion Week shows which I hastily accepted. Here's what I saw

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have to say I wasn't really impressed. Maybe my expectations were too high, but I thought, a city like Portland that thinks of itself as so alternative and forward-thinking should have some pretty innovative fashion designers. At least the theme was sustainability. 

Moss Art

This is a clock made out of living moss! I want to try this so bad, but the recipe for making the "spray on" moss is supposedly difficult to master. 

Upgrade

I just found this amazing site called greenUpgrader. It has everything from "upcycling" to green product reviews. Here's their motto, "You don't have to give up living well to be "Green". We believe small choices we make can make a big impact."

Update!

I thought I would do an update on all of the new stuff I've been trying since it's been a few weeks. 

1. Free Online Samples: I posted a while ago about seeing if getting online samples really worked and if it was really worth it. A few weeks ago I started getting the samples in the mail (it works!), but they were only sample size....which really isn't that great. I also have started to get these magazines like Lillian Vernon and Handsome Rewards; mags for retirees. Most people would be irritated, but I've always liked looking at all the crazy stuff people will buy. 

2. Baking Soda everything! 2 weeks ago I decided to stop using store bought shampoo, conditioner and deodorant and replace them with baking soda and vinegar mixtures. 

For the first week the baking soda deodorant worked great, but once I started riding my bike to work it wasn't enough. I'm going to try this recipe and see if it keeps me "fresh" on biking days. At the very least I can bring it to work and reapply. 

The baking soda shampoo is wonderful. It doesn't strip my hair like regular shampoo, but it still gets it clean. With regular shampoo my hair would be totally limp (it's naturally fine and pretty straight), but it feels like the baking soda shampoo keeps some of the natural oils on my hair, so it's not all lifeless and dry. For the first time in years I can have a "good hair day" without using a pound of product. 

I haven't really used the vinegar rinse. I used it once, but I haven't had a problem with the baking soda drying my hair out yet. 

3. Biking to work. This one is really new. I have only ridden to work twice this week, but I already feel so much better. The first day was really hard. I realized how horribly out of shape I am when I almost didn't make it home without getting off my bike and walking. The great thing about biking though is that you don't really get sore muscles. I thought my legs were going to be too sore to walk the next day, but they were fine! I didn't go to work on wednesday and my neighbor was driving up here this morning for some pre-volunteer stuff so I hitched a ride with him today. 

I'm really looking forward to getting better at biking. Once I have better balance (how do people ride with both hands off the handlebars!?) I think my confidence riding in traffic will be much higher. For now I try to stick to non-trafficy areas. 

Recyclable Organization!

I've been looking for a pocket-sized accounting ledger to keep track of what I spend "on the go", but I haven't found anything smaller than letter size. I'm at the end of the week from hell and it's threatening to continue through the weekend, so I took a breather and decided to look for small ledgers again and this amazing little website called pocketmod popped up bringing a ray of sunshine to my gray day.

The best part is that you can make anything into a pocketmod booklet. I've seen tourist guides to Italy, Mac OS mini-handbooks and all sorts of other sites with pocketmodded cuteness.

Back to Biking

At work I get a yearly bus pass for the small price of 30-something dollars a month that's automatically taken out of my paycheck. I decided today that I'm not going to renew my annual pass so that I have no choice but to bike to work.

Here's what influenced my decision:

1.This morning my brother sent me a link to the 2008 Bike Commute Challenge where businesses all around the Portland Metro area compete to see who can bike the most days to work in September. You can even form teams within a business to compete as well as challenging individuals to a "commute-off".

2. I ate half a pint of ice cream last night in bed.

3. I spent a decent chunk of money on a perfectly wonderful bike that I rarely use

4. everyone else I know bikes to work (peer pressure!)

I'm happy with my decision. A bit scared that I will have no other option in getting to work, but I think this is the only way that I will buckle down and do it.

Someone also pointed out to me that with the 300+ dollars a year I'll be saving I can spend 200.00 on fun bike attire and still save 100.00! haha, I wont spend that much on "attire", but I am going to get my bike some fenders and myself a nice breathable set of rain gear.