Smog.

The whole Salt Lake Valley in filled to the brim with pollution.  This used to happen only one or twice a winter when I was a kid, but now it happens whenever we don't have a storm system constantly blowing fresh air into the valley.

I really do love Utah and Salt Lake, but the inversions we get in the wintertime are enough to make me want to move!  We consistently have some of the worst air in the nation in the winter months!  I feel pretty guilty about my driving habits lately, as well.  I drive about 75 miles a day with my job...while I am driving clients around to appointments and the like, I still can't help but cringe when I'm heading into work on the freeway and I can't even see our beautiful mountains because of the smog.

Luckily, we have a storm system moving in on Saturday to sweep the air clean, but I can't help but think about where all that pollution goes.  Everyone has been freaking out over these mass amounts of animals dying around the world, but why can't we stop and look at how much crap we're pumping into the environment daily?  Let's not mention the ripple effects from a huge offshore oil leak that occurred last year, either.

I think the poor Earth is finally speaking more loudly and clearly: what we are doing is not sustainable and it is damaging.  So, in this New Year, let's try our bests to make the small changes that lead to a healthier and happier planet.  I've mentioned a few things we can start doing, but I'll give a few more here to think about:

• Recycle.  It's easy and its impact is huge.
• Turn off the water when you brush your teeth.
• Use dishtowels instead of paper towels to dry your hands.
• Walk or ride public transportation when you can.
• Don't let your car idle at drive-thru windows. Turn it off!
• Run your dishwasher only with a full load!
• Wash your hair every 2nd or 3rd day, it saves water and my hair looks better a day or two after a shampoo anyway;)!
• On that same note, invest in some dry shampoo or shampoo powder to freshen up your hair on the non-wash days.
• Keep your thermostat at 68 degrees or lower in the winter.  Just put a sweater on of you're cold instead of heating up the whole house!
• Use eco-friendly laundry detergent, it's an easy switch and you won't notice the difference!
• Get a reusable coffee mug and swear off disposable cups for good!
• When your old light bulbs burn out, switch to the new compact fluorescent bulbs.

There!  If you choose to try just one or two of these over the weekend, you will be making a difference!  If you have any other great conservation ideas, please leave them in the comments so we all can give them a try!  I hope you have a lovely, smog-free weekend! xo.

Can we get a snow day over here?

I hope you had a great Thanksgiving weekend!  We woke up this morning to almost two feet of snow!  I've already shoveled my brains out because of a new law in Salt Lake City that fines you if your sidewalks are snowy!  Since I've been shoveling instead of getting a blog post ready, I'll have to catch up tomorrow with you all!  Drive safely! xo.

Pioneer Weekend

This weekend is a most auspicious holiday in Utah:

PIONEER DAY!

It means that we save all the good fireworks for the 24th of July, talk about how great the pioneers were for working together, omit all of the less than stellar stories about massacres and polygamy, and grumble about having to work on a "holiday."

I AM excited about:

• Bestest Best is having a wedding shower

• I get to hang out with my sis. Twice in one weekend!

• Getting part of our kitchen cabinets installed (!!!)

• My last Saturday getting up at the ass-crack of dawn for work

• Spending time with my Shug

I hope you have a lovely summer weekend, too!

Source.

SLC Oil Spill

Oil spills can happen anywhere.  Even in my own backyard.

This last weekend a Chevron pipe burst in a beautiful place called Red Butte Creek.

The oil leaked into the creek and down into our city waterways.
It ended up in our city park's lake.

I'm pretty sure wind power and solar power "leaks" are ridiculously rare.

Srsly?

Arizona - explained in crayons.

Word has it that Utah is drafting a bill similar to Arizona's.

Bummer.

Via 9GAG.

Salt Lake Talent - Ello There

I feel pretty lucky to live in an era where I can find local

talent at the drop of a word created JUST for interweb sleuthing.

Ello There is a local wedding invitation shop

that uses windpowered press

and,

I'll tell you,

Labyrinth references getyoueverywhere with me...!

So cute.

Garden-Starting...No, Garden-Trying

Well, it's official: Shug and I (mostly Shug) have decided to give gardening a try.  We've prepped the soil, tilled in the best organic cow poo, and even started a compost bin!  The sun was shining on our efforts last weekend and we had aspirations to get a few hardy plants in the ground yesterday.

But, in our gardening zeal we forgot the most important aspect of a successful garden: good weather.  I don't mean "good weather" as a constant temperature in the mid-80s, a few perfectly formed cumulus clouds floating by being sure to detour around the sun so as not to block its gentle beams, and a cooling breeze that kicks up only when I need to dab the ladylike glow of perspiration from my SPFed 55 brow.  No.  All I'm asking for, in official Spring mind you, is for the ground to quit freezing and the damned snow to stop flying! 

Shug and I awoke to three inches of snow blanketing our prepped earth, with one valiant and reckless scallion plant trying to maintain its posture under the weight of a heavy cap of ice.  Ruby tried to make us feel better by promptly pooping on the mound of lonely soil, letting us know ALL that digging and shoveling and tilling did NOT go to waste - its the perfect doggy potty, she seemed to communicate.

With more snow in the forecast today, Shug and I may have to postpone our planting even longer.  I'll keep you posted on how the gardening battle wages.

Do you like gardening?  Do you have any tips on how to get your veggies to flourish?  Any organic gardening tips?  I will take any and all suggestions!

PickMeUp

I'm going to try and focus on awesome and amazing things
because I had a venom-filled day yesterday.

I'm going to be excited for my birthday candle necklace Anthropologie sent in the mail.
(And the 15% off coupon!)
I'm going to be grateful for our treadmill in which I stomped the metaphorical brains out of people I dislike veryveryvery much.
I'm going to have a glass of wine with a glass of wine because I can and I'm a grown-up.
I'm going to watch a few episodes of Pushing Daisies
because I think it's the most romantic thing since love letters in cursive.
I'm going to give Ruby a bellyscratch
just because I like the snorts of contentedness she makes.
Hell, maybe Shug will get a bellyscratch, too.

What do you do when you've had a less than spectacular day with less than spectacular news?

Sunday...

It's ridiculously cold and gloomy outside today.

I'm battling the smog by:
eating gluten-free cinnamon toast with cream cheese
taking a snoozer with Ruby
watching Piñero

making a yummy dinner with Shug
and talking on the phone with my sister and my mumma.

I hope the sun is shining and the snow is sparkling where you are.

xo

Via.

Tipping Etiquette Revistited

Those outside of Utah may be surprised to know that Utahns are OBSESSED with Mexican food.

Now before you non-Utahns allow your heads to explode, I'll qualify that statement with the KIND of Mexican food we 'Tahns love: we love practically spice-free, cheese-laden, super-cheap "Mexican" food. We line up in herds each night for tortillas you could wrap around your head and "salads" with enough melted cheese on it to make nachos blush. This classification is such a far cry form the original goodness of foods like carne asada and carnitas, a "true" Mexican food fan would tear up and throw their plate of Mexican-Wannabe food to the ground.

So in my hankering the other night for some quality Mexican-Wannabe food, Shug and I found ourselves at a local fave, La Puente. La Puente is the kind of place where for under $20, you and your date can eat enough to last until next Thursday. If you drink the firewater, you'll still get outta there for under $20, with just a few less leftovers.

There's a little quirk about many Utahns: they don't know/don't want to know/pretend not to know how to tip. The average gratuity for a meal of, oh say, $20 is around 2 bucks...yes, 200 pennies...for waiting on a table of Utahns whose sour cream needs could not be satiated with five extra sides brought throughout the course of their meal.

Those who know me well also know of my dependence on the service industry. I've paid my way through school a few times with tips and gratuities. I'm STILL a slave to this industry even as I reach the end of my twenties and a graduate degree. Those who are in the service industry alongside me also know there is a code of tipping that shan't be deviated from...25% is where you START and you can go up from there if the service was better than expected. This really isn't such a jump from the standard 15-20% that regular janes and joes are supposed to tip...but in Utah, it's leaps and bounds above the standard 5-10% tippage.

Our server at La Puente was AMAZING. He had at least 12 tables accommodated and served their extra sour cream in a jiffy. He brought out my margarita with a sidecar of extra goodness and ice saying he "didn't want to waste the rest, so you might as well drink it!" Our chips were bottomless, as was our salsa. Honestly, he was the best server I'd had the pleasure of encountering in awhile.

So, in accordance to service industry tipping etiquette, I left him $8 for our staggering $25 bill.

While I was finishing my margarita, he returned to our table and removed his wallet and started fishing through a thick pile of business cards. He removed a card that looked like it had been taken in and out of his packed wallet a number if times, the corners of the card burnished down to rounded, fuzzy edges. It was his own "Buy 10 meals, get the 11th free" card to La Puente. He sheepishly explained that we, "could get a meal if it were under $7 for free the next time we came in," as he slid the card across the table to me. He gave us a quick smile and hurried off to another table in dire need of its third bucket o' chips refill.

It was such a sweet gesture, I was speechless. Shug and I looked at each other and we shook our heads. We didn't tip so we could get our server's free meal card. We looked out at the other tables in the restaurant and could tell it had been a lean night of tips before we'd arrived.

Mushroom Cloud Layin' Mutha'effer

Only the very unlucky have had to listen to me cry and whine about a required class I've taken this semester. Not only is this an online class and I am involved in post-graduate work that is probably the most diametrically opposed subject to internet-only communication, but the instructor and I...well, we're not buddies.

We're not biffs for many, many, many reasons, but the main reason is that I go to a public university known for it's open-minded approach to politics, lifestyles and the like. Usually, my classes are sure to cover the entire spectrum of human nature, but this online class has managed to remain staunchly ignorant to about 90% of the population and the way they choose to live.

So, yeah, I've had a few aneurysms over this class this semester.

But things got a lot worse at about 9:46pm last night.

To premise: every single one of our online postings and assignments have been due at midnight over the course of the semester. And when glancing at the syllabus, I THOUGHT our behemoth of a term paper was indeed due at midnight, as well. Natch, right? BUT, the syllabus did say the words "midnight" for all of the previous assignments, as opposed to 12:00am. For some reason, the syllabus said just 12:00 for the big ol' final paper, which, preceded by all of our other assignments, I assumed was midnight, as well. This would be the kind of midnight where carriages turn back into pumpkins and I would be finished with the most abominable term paper to date.

Well, it wasn't. This mental heavyweight I have had the horrible luck of studying under had posted that our assignments were due at 12:00pm. As in: high noon. As in: not midnight. I had just posted my term paper 9 hours and 46 minutes late. I know this may sound insane, but when the big hand and the little hand are on the "12" it could be either midnight or noon...That's why we have those little letters to follow the time, just to let all the imbecile students know when they need to turn in a paper worth HALF of their grade.

If she doesn't accept this as "on time," a screed has already been scribbled to the department on HOW TO TELL TIME.

Image via Language is the People's

A Vacation Would Be Nice

I'm going on my second day of teaching.
I'm teaching a lesson on substance abuse that is so watered down and innocuous
these kids called my bluff right away.

So I'm taking a cue from all the other teachers these kids have:
I'm on mental vacation today.

I'll be listening to the waves tease the beach and
Shug burning slowly in the sun.
(We put sunblock on, I swear!)

I'm pretty sure wine is a part of my vacay, too.

I'm bad and I'm fine with that.

I purchased these beauties for myself after two harrowing days of teaching.
It was truly my only motivation for not walking out and bursting into tears.
Thank you for giving me strength, FRYE.
xo

P.S. I got them on super sale, too...so don't even THINK I paid that much for them;)!

Dear Imaginary Kid,

I promise to never send you to a Utah public school. The reasons are too long to be contained to this one little letter, but I'll give you a few:

• I'd like to send you to a school where diversity isn't a novelty.
• I'd like to send you to a school where you don't care about what kind of jeans your TEACHER is wearing.
• I'd like to send you to a school where saying the words : "birth control," "condom," and "safe sex" are allowed and supported.
• I'd like to send you to a school that if there IS diversity you won't be trying to learn with 60 other kids in the same class.
• I'd like to send you to a school where you are more than what your parents make or what religion you are.

So, that pretty much takes all the public schools from the East and West sides of Salt Lake City out of the imaginary-kid-education-equation. It's a really, really good thing you don't exist.

xo

When is this coming to the U.S.?

I kind of think bunnies are a little freaky...but maybe that's just due to the psychological scarring that occurred when I watched Pet Cemetery in the 4th Grade at a sleepover...

And our kids will be ashamed of us...

A few nights ago, Shug and I were decompressing after a harrowing day of weddingness. We flipped on the ten o'clock news to be greeted with a late-breaking story about this.

Even though we live behind what many deem the "Zion Curtain," we were surprised that a couple would be detained after just holding hands and a peck on the cheek on LDS Church grounds. Then we realized we KNEW these people! These sweet, loving, amazing people were HANDCUFFED and CITED for "inappropriate behavior".

The LDS Church contends that ANY couple engaging in public displays of affection would have received the same treatment. Oh, really?

I keep forgetting in the haze of wedding planning that Shug and I are so lucky to have the right to marry each other. We will have the right to see each other in the hospital in the event of illness, we have the right to share our health, car, home owners insurance benefits, we get mad tax breaks after we marry and file jointly...

We can walk down the street and hold hands and even kiss each other if we want to without the fear of being ticketed or arrested.

I am so lucky to live in a time where, as a woman, I hold the same rights as men do. But I realize that less than a hundred years ago, women didn't even have the right to vote or own land. I also realize that change was created by a paradigm shift, a slow and steady fight to gain equal treatment and legal rights. I listen to the stories my mumma tells me about the women's rights movement in the 60's and cringe at how "archaic" things were back then...

I'm looking forward to the day when I can tell my incredulous kids about how ridiculous the times were when people were arrested for LOVING EACH OTHER.

Source