Happy Happy Earth Day...

My tribute to the ethanol rage... but seriously, I was searching for a picture of myself to use for a profile. And I came across this on the website of a photographer I worked with a little while ago. Obviously photoshopped... It reminds me of Oz- of a Kansas cornfield dropped in the middle of Oregon.

This is definitely set up to the biggest-hyped Earth Day ever. "Green" is now an adjective used everywhere, for everything... and recognizable by everyone. It's definitely great to see how even large companies are realizing that they need to at least be seen as making an effort. I guess the skeptical side of me just wishes they spent as much cash on actual scientific innovations and solutions as they do on letting us know about it. Walmart is now on the "green" bandwagon and sells organics. I suppose it should be good news, it just seems like the "green washing" is more about PR and advertising these days than it is about the principle and doing what's best for the planet. Maybe it's impossible to separate the two. And maybe it doesn't matter. Maybe I'll just always be suspicious of the biggest players. We have reason to be. It just feels weird to suddenly find them on our side.

On a happy note, the printer I use (Greener Printer.com) just announced that they are giving away 200 free business cards to celebrate Earth Day and their new thicker 100% recycled card stock. They use soy ink too and have done beautiful work for me.

We should all take a moment tomorrow and celebrate any changes we made this last year to decrease our footprints on our planet. (My favorite is that Ian and I were able to lower the electric bill for our house to $20/month). It's also a good time to reflect and think about Spring Cleaning- inside and out.

Some Celebratory Ideas:
Go Veggie or Vegan for the day
Drink a green smoothie
Make an Organic Feast and toast with a glass of biodynamic wine
Take a walk
Read a book (like the Food Revolution)
Don't shower! (you know you shouldn't be washing your hair every day anyways!)
Screw in a CF lightbulb
Turn down your thermostat (yes- it is still FREEZING in Oregon)
Turn your hot water heater temp down a few degrees
Bike to work

And on the commercial side of things:

Sign up at idealbite.com for daily tips. This is a fun site.

How about a green cell phone? No kidding. Credo Mobile (formerly Working Assets Wireless) has the greenest phone on the planet! I wish I hadn't renewed my contract last fall. I'll be switching when it runs out.

And there's always carbon offsets, but do some serious research before you buy. There have been many reports of bogus companies just collecting money and doing nothing.

Yeah- same old stuff... but a little does help a lot. It's got to.

Wishing you peace & balance, Dana

Mmmm waffles....

You know, these are better than toast...more satisfying. And they are great for desert too... which is often when I eat them. And always first thing when I come in the door after a Sunday long run. We bring the girls Odwalla bars for recovery on the way home, but I can't eat them, so I wait until I can toast a waffle. It is a good swap (taste-wise) for me.

Both of these flavors are vegan & gluten free. The mesa sunrise has a ton of different grains (amaranth, quinoa, even flax) and is more savory... it works when I'm having a sort of "corn-muffin" type of craving. And the buckwheat blueberry is just delicious with actual tiny berries that get moist and soft right inside the crusty exterior. They are both great plain or with a little bit of Earth Balance.

:)yum.

Losers...

OK, I admit it.... I watch the Biggest Loser. It is the only reality TV show that I've ever really watched and certainly the only the one I've been hooked on. And yeah... I've been there since the beginning. In all fairness, we cancelled our cable last year- so I had to give up my food network addiction (Alton Brown, I miss you!) and my love for HGTV. I love making fun of the mainstream advice that the trainers give, not to mention the mini-commercials that riddle the episodes.

Like Bob really eats Quaker's Weight Control Oatmeal EVERY day for breakfast. At least in this week's pop quiz, all the remaining contestants knew the calorie equivalent of a pound (3500 Kcal). Before this show, I'm sure most of them stayed as far away from that knowledge as possible.

The way the producers have stretched this show into a two-hour infomercial is almost inspirational. And yeah, the writer's strike probably had something to do with it, but it is definitely the most brilliant marketing move ever made by 24-hour fitness.

The irony of Ian and I watching this is certainly not lost on me... he is pretty scrawny and I am not exactly huge....we're both underweight according to our BMIs. We joke about him going on a show for Biggest Gainers, where they take skinny guys and see who can gain the most muscle.

But seriously, there is something very inspirational about the positive underlying message. These people are taking their life in their hands. They are doing something, they are motivated, they are making changes. I also can't believe how hard these obese contestants can push themselves (you know the casting crew must do some serious testing on these people to make sure they can handle that type of physical activity). And I do love the before & afters.

I am addicted to the Biggest Loser the same way I love shows about remodelling and flipping houses. (I would watch Extreme Home Makeover, but Ian won't have it). In the end there are worse things than being left with a compulsion to do core exercises and scrub the bathtub.

Back in the Saddle

I've been playing catch-up all week. Mentally more than anything. After a meet at UofO on Saturday and baking on Sunday, I'm sure I'll feel more in the swing of things again. I actually finished Ian's taxes yesterday, which is a relief... and now I can't stall any more, I've got to tackle the mountain of receipts for my own. Yesterday, besides a nice 9-mile slog through the mud in the forest with the girls, I spent my day on Quickbooks and Turbotax....

Last Wednesday I left for North Carolina to visit my good friend Judith (from college) for her baby shower. Since we never see each other I was going to come early so we'd have a few days to spend together. She took some time off from work (she's an RN at the Duke medical center) and we were going to go to the coast where her parent's have a house in the Outer Banks.

So, on Thursday morning we got up, made coffee (for me) and chatted for a bit before she rushed out to get to a doctor's appointment at 9:30am. She told me she'd be back in an hour..... but she never came home! I went for a run, showered, made some breakfast and then still no word. I began to get concerned and decided to take the dog on a walk to keep myself busy and since he had been so devastated to see me leave to run without him. When I returned to the house there was message from Walter, her husband (and yes: they are named Judith & Walter, and no: they are not 75, they are in their late 20's). Apparently they were running more tests. hmmm.

Well, the phone calls and messages went throughout the day... I slept with the dog in the warm sunshine on the porch and read the addicting novel that I bought in the Newark airport: (The Other Boleyn Girl). And then the call came that she was scheduled to have a C-section at 6:00pm. Judith's wonderful mom and sister came to pick me up around 4 and we headed to get tiny diapers and other last minute supplies at Babies R' Us... (wow, that was an overwhelming place). And then they took me, finally, to Whole Foods... I had eaten Judith out of pumpkin seeds and dried cranberries and was very hungry. Then we headed to the hospital.

I talked to Judith in her room right before they took her in. She was calm. She is always calm. This is perhaps one of her greatest strengths... and why we had been such great friends so quickly. She is so steady and grounding and the only person (besides Ian of course) who I think I could ever live with long term. She told me what they expected and how it would go and she was excited, in the way that Judith gets excited and she was, I could tell, under the cover of collection, a little nervous. Because this was all so new to me, it was quite surreal.

The surgery came and went very quickly and soon we were allowed to see baby Alister, all 4 lbs and 12 oz of him, through the glass of the baby area. He looked so tiny and helpless squirming in his little plastic bassinet. And how strange that just 45 minutes ago, he was inside my friend as I hugged her. It was a lot to take in and at once, I understood the commonly used phrased: "the miracle of birth."

Though I hadn't planned to be there and it meant less time with my friend, I was so happy to have been there for the occasion. When we left the hospital that night, her parents and sister and I celebrated at a nice dinner with a bottle of champagne and toasted the new baby boy.

I spent the next few days reading my novel, walking the dog, roaming Whole Foods, hanging out with Judith's sister and brother and visiting the hospital. It was a long trip for 5 days. In a way it was totally exhausting and in other, it was remarkably enlightening. In any case, it was much to digest.

Foggy...

This has been an interesting week. I've been feeling foggy again... kind of overwhelmed. I really need a day off or a month off... Saturday. I am not going to do anything work-related on Saturday. I've got a hair appointment and maybe I'll try to find something to wear for the wedding- since I am apparently way behind on that. At least I stopped by Lark Press and ordered invitations last night.... I know, last minute. Apparently I am very non-traditional. And that is fine by me. I think it is hilarious that everyone I've come into contact with as far as "wedding stuff" tells me I am "incredibly easy going." Me? Maybe... I have my moments, I guess. It's more that I pick my battles.

It's just been a strange week. I even scratched a car in the parking lot at UP with the school van.... foggy. I think it is from the lack of caffeine ingestion.

Since I started an elimination diet this week, I've been doing decaf... Yes... I know, wouldn't it be much more cleansing without coffee? YES. I just haven't been able to do it. I'm easing off... maybe next week (though I'm traveling to NC, so that is probably out). I can't usually survive airports without a large comforting cup warming my hands.

Who knows. I just need this eczema patch on my wrist to go away for good... could it be just stress? Maybe.

Priceless

Stuff White People Like.... genius. Somehow I think this guy is making fun of me. Especially when the first thing I read was #75 "Threatening to Move to Canada." It was like having a wagging finger pointed in my face... I started using this line right after the first Bush election hanging chad debacle.... (though to be totally honest, I would rather move to Australia).
Excerpt:

Within white culture, it is agreed upon that if Canada had better weather it would be a perfect place.
Being aware that this information can be used quite easily to gain the trust of white people. Whenever they say, “I’m moving to Canada,” you must immediately respond with “I have relatives in Canada.”

When I read this, I immediately thought: I DO HAVE RELATIVES IN CANADA.
On the end of the article he adds these notes:

Note: Canadian white people threaten to move to Europe.

Note: Europeans are unable to threaten to move anywhere.

I actually cried reading some of the posts. I probably looked like a crazy person in the cafe where I was sitting on my laptop... which should probably be the topic of a post in and of itself. "Blogging" too...

I love Irony, oh wait... that is #50.

There is a great opinion article in the LA times about the author too:

White Like Us

The author talks about how he is making fun of himself and other upper-middle class white people in our society. We all think that we are very original, but we're actually part of a group.... I'm going to post my score later...

Stop the Thyroid Madness

I guess this is the time of year when people when people get sick. For some reason this year it seems like everyone in Portland has been sick in the last month or 6-weeks. I am actually finally feeling better after two weeks of achy-tired-yuckiness. Did I say tired? I meant exhausted. It took me a week to realize that I was actually sick, and not just suffering from some strange sudden-onset of chronic fatigue syndrome.

That all being said. The lack of energy inspired me to think about my thyroid again.... and I started surfing to see what I could find. This was my big discovery:

www.stopthethyroidmadness.com

Wow. I love the idea that doctors need to start treating the symptoms again and not just the lab results. I do think most of us are under-medicated when it comes to the thyroid. (I keep holding out hope that the celiac disease has caused my elevated thyroid antibodies... and that if enough time goes by on my gluten-free diet, my thyroid will magically be better again! but that is beside the point)

Hypo-thyroid patients used to receive enough medication so that their symptoms were alleviated. Now, as most of us know, doctors shoot for our TSH to be in a targeted range. The problem is that where you feel your best can be at different places within that range. It turns out TSH is pretty individual.

One thing is certain: Doctors like tests. They like hard "science" and measurable data. They like numbers they can monitor. (kind of like cholesterol, but that is another can of worms entirely)

I would love to find a good ND to compliment the treatment I already get. It is an avenue that I haven't really explored, but one that seems like it might be very beneficial.