Today for the first time in a couple of years I made the very hard decision to NOT buy cage-free organic eggs. The cage-free organic eggs were $3.29 and the other eggs were $.99. After much mental deliberation I felt that I needed to make the financially wise choice for our situation. At this moment, Kendall and I are both unemployed. Although we are both actively looking for jobs, until we begin to have a regular income funds are very limited.

I am bringing this up because financial factors play a big role in people’s abilities to make some environmentally and socially friendly changes to their lifestyle. For the past couple of years we have been really blessed by having room in the budget to support our ideology.

There are a couple of things this leads me to think about:

1. While I don’t necessarily agree with the mass production of organic food, I can definitely see the financial appeal of it.
2. There are still positive changes you can make to your lifestyle that don’t rely solely on your financial situation.

I am going to look more into exlporing these two points in later posts. I would love to get some feedback and hear your thoughts.

This girl of many one/changes has just had one big life change. A few months ago we decided to move to Seattle. A lot of people ask why we decided to move to Seattle. The answer we always give is pretty simple–it sounded like fun. We wanted to live in a city, but still be close to nature. I had never been to Seattle before and my husband had been here for a total 6 hours (6 years ago). We did a lot of reading, talked to a lot of people, and prayed for guidance and Seattle is what we found.

After taking care of what we could on a long list of “to do’s” we left to embark on our great adventure. The drive out was wonderful. There was so much to take in with our eyes, heart, and spirit and no words true enough for me to describe it all.

With our excitement ready to explode within us, we drove into Seattle at 1:30pm on Thursday, September 14th. The past week and a half has been spent unpacking boxes and getting used to our new life in a city. Living in a city is a first for both of us and there is much to learn. Already there is so much we do differently.

We walk EVERYWHERE. We walk to the grocery store, coffee shop (where I am using their internet connection), conference center, Pike’s Place Market, Aveda Salon, resale shop, and hardware store. I love it! Living here has brought about a new simplicity to our lives. When at the grocery store, we can’t overshop because we know that everything has to fit in the canvas shopping bags that we are then going to have to carry home. Transitioning from a good sized two bedroom apartment with storage locker to a small one bedroom has forced us to go through everything we own and to really only hold on to that which we cherish and/or use.

Already this adventure of ours has been such a positive experience. I will have a more convenient internet connection starting Monday, September 25th and I look forward to getting back to making regular posts. Thank you for your patience and understanding as I began this new chapter to my life.

My husband turns 30 today and I am throwing him a birthday party this Saturday to celebrate his life. He has spent all of his life (minus 4 months) living in the midwest (Illinois and Michigan) and we thought that it would be perfect to close out this chapter of his life and welcome the next by having a party.

Since I am throwing the party I wanted to make it as environmentally and socially friendly as possible. The one major complication with accomplishing this has been time. The party is Saturday and we are moving 2,000 miles across the country on Monday. I hate disposable anything and I can’t justify throwing stuff away for the sake of “convenience”. However, as much as I fought disposables that seemed to be part of the solution to having this party in the midst of our immediately chaotic life.

Plates: I found 100% recycled paper, unbleached, compostbale plates made by the Whole Foods brand Green Mission. The Seventh Generation ones that I was able to find in a grocery store were kind of flimsy and the Green Mission ones were much sturdier.
Silverware: I am going to use my mother-in-laws silverware and I found a partially used box of disposable silverware if I need any additional eating untensils.

Napkins: Seventh Generation 100% recycled paper napkins.

Cups: I have not figured out what I am going to do about cups…any suggestions? If I find a good solution I will let you know.

Food: I am buying vegetables for the party from Erehwon Farm. I sent Tim an e-mail asking him what would be available this Friday and made my menu based on that. My very good friend Meredith is coming out for the party and we are going to drive out to the farm on Friday afternoon, harvest our vegetables and do a little work.

Drinks: I will have NO bottled water. I am going to fill a couple of pitchers with ice, water, and lemons. Metropolis Coffee Company’s Decaf Fair Trade Organic Coffee and Equal Exchange’s Fair Trade Organic Breakfast Blend will be served with dessert.
House: I am going to clean the house with environmentally friendly products and recycle everything possible.

While I am going to do what I can to have a sustainable party it is important to remember that that is not the point. I am not going to spend my evening eagle-eyeing whether everyone is recycling their soda cans. What I am going to spend my evening doing is having fun, relaxing, and celebrating the life of this truely amazing and wonderful man.

Happy Birthday Kendall!!!!