giving thanks.

thanksgiving is upon us and i thought i'd take the time to list 10 things i'm thankful for this year. here we go!

1. living close enough to my family that i can see them on a regular basis
2. the awesome bf
3. a non defective cat
4. managing to get a raise in this shitty economy
5. keeping in touch with friends even though we live miles apart
6. online shopping
7. hello kitty's face gracing every object known to man
8. gingerbread lattes
9. dvr
10. martha stewart (above picture is courtesy of her site)

what is everyone thankful for this year?

hello, kitty.

a dream come true. an entire exhibit showcasing my greatest and most embarrassing obsession... hello kitty. a friend told me about three apples at royal/t and i just had to go. an hour and half in line later, we finally entered the sanrio pop up shop, where i promptly made 2 rounds around 12x12 store and dropped $50 on things i'm sure i don't need but had to have. in between the store and the art exhibit, we stopped for a snack break. i was a little disappointed to learn that their hello kitty themed food was actually made from the same target appliances i have in my own home. bought a few cupcakes and continued on. the exhibit was amazing and if i had more time, i would've waited another hour to create my own t-shirt.

check out the gallery here!

deck the halls.

there will be no boughs of holly adorning our front door this year.. but what about this pretty little thing? this diy project from the cb2 blog is so simple, yet produces stunning results. they use their own ornaments (of course), but at $3 to $5 a pop, it can get quite pricey. you can get a whole bucket full from target for about $15 to $20. quite a steal considering most pre-made wreaths you'd actually consider putting up cost at least twice that much anyway. this is definitely a project i'll be tackling in the days to come. so pretty, i'll have to hang it inside, lest someone swipe it from our door.

full instructions here.

inside out.

there's something about bringing elements from nature into the home or vice versa that appeals to me. and although i've probably only set foot into a countryside a handful of times, it's definitely something i dream about from time to time. not sure what it is. being able to sit outside and see forests instead of strip malls? actually being able to see stars? sounds pretty good.

fall/winter picks.

there aren't really a changing of the seasons in southern california, i'm just going to group the 2 "colder" seasons together. actually i take that back. fall can reach the 90's early on. i will group the 2 seasons that should be colder together. yes, its mid october and we're finally getting into the low 70's around these parts. and yes, to me, that counts as sweater weather. or at least a light coverup. so here we go..

urban outfitters silence and noise boyfriend blazer - this is really all you need around these parts. compliments skinny jeans and mini dresses alike.

stuart weitzman "hiho" thigh high boot - who are we kidding. tights and leggings do not keep you warm. suede boots that practically cover your entire leg? definitely.

kate spade cashmere dress - demure dresses are a nice change after a summer full of strappy sundresses and shorts.

freepeople sequin tank - always have something sparkly on hand for those holiday parties!

forever21 sweater dress - sweater dresses are a perfect way to warm up without sacrificing the cuteness.

american apparel over the knee sock - to wear under your over the knee boots with just a little bit peeking out from the top. i personally do not always enjoy the feel of boot insides rubbing against my bare legs, so this is a good solution.

miss selfridge pearl effect corsage necklace - to me, pearls, ribbon, and tulle are ideal accessories for winter. they exude a little bit of glamour, which i associate with the upcoming holidays!

meals.

things we've been eating as of late.

pan fried tilapia with lemon butter. roasted new potatoes.

spicy orange drumsticks. yellow rice. green beans with pepper.

fish is surprisingly easy to cook. don't know why i've never tried it before.

paper heart.

maybe you didn't already know, but i have an almost unhealthy obsession with paper products. when i was younger i would spend most of my allowance money buying packets of stationary to write all my friends long letters with. most of these friends lived no more than 15 minutes away from me, but at the time it seemed like they might as well have been in a different country.

unfortunately, snail mail has become a thing of the past, replaced by emails and texting and as a result, most of my unused letter sets have been stored away. however, my love for notebooks has lived on strong. my current favorites are from oh joy!. their pretty scalloped edges, sweet prints and small size make me want store all my thoughts within their pages. they quite pricey ($13.50 for one) but i managed to grab the one above on sale for $4 from anthropologie.

i will probably continue to build my collection of cute paper goods (i already have boxes of them at both my current apartment and at my parent's house) and i only hope that i will continue to have thoughts and lists and doodles to fill them with.

first meal.

now that the bf and i are all moved in (90% done), i wanted to t ry out our new smaller kitchen. what it lacks in size, it's made up in brightness so i feel like it's more of a trade rather than a downgrade. for our first meal, i decided to make chicken with artichokes over angel hair pasta. i used canned artichokes because 1. it's cheap. and 2. it probably saved me about half an hour of prep time. this dish also comes with it's own sauce which is always a plus.

just add broth. yes, it's that easy. if the sauce reduces too much (which it did for me) just add more. the recipe called for only about a cup of broth, but i ended up using almost an entire can (around 2 1/2 cups). if it's too watery, just keep it over heat and let it reduce. you can really play around with this until it gets to the consistency you like. no worries about the chicken burning, the liquid prevents that from happening and keeps the chicken juicy.

serve over angel hair pasta and garnish with some fresh parsley. i always thought of parsley as a useless herb, just thrown onto meals for purely decorative reasons, but it actually has a really nice fresh flavor. will definitely be adding it to more meals.

why??

long ago i made these raspberry jam sandwich cookies and they couldn't have turned out better. tart jam pressed in between 2 buttery cookies and finished off with a dusting of powdered sugar. not only did they taste good, but they looked lovely, with a deep red heart showing through the pale cookie frame.

then for some unexplainable reason, i could never produce the same outcome again. what am i doing wrong?!?! was this batch just a freak of nature, when the baking gods decided for that one instance, i would be in their favor? or did i somehow forget a step or ingredient that had previously brought these to life? whatever it may be, i am going to try one more time (once i have moved and settled in) and hope that they turn out like the ones in the picture rather than sad flat non-uniformly sized poo.

picks for the summer.

i'm a bit behind (yes, it really is already august) but hot summers call for a drastic change in wardrobes and the season is a perfect time to bring out all the colors and styles you might have been slightly hesitant to adorn in lower temperatures. up until about april, when it starts reaching about 70 degrees, i yearn for the time when i can wander about at night without a cover up and lose the tights for bare legs when i want to wear dresses. call me spoiled, but anything below 70 requires extra layers for me.

here are few things i've been drawn to lately:

florals. skirts, dresses, tops.. everything is fair game. perhaps the actual blooming of flowers outside (before wilting from the intense heat and drought that california seems to be forever experiencing) influences me to buy items resembling them.

loose sheer tanks. i'm channeling my inner carrie bradshaw by pairing them with black bras. i think we are the point in history when a bra strap peeking out is no longer considered a faux pas. plus, anything that is not binding when it's this hot equals good.

messy updos. i wish i could achieve the height of messiness shown in the picture but unfortunately my stick straight hair will always have a little bit of polish no matter how much i try to make it gross when put up. lately i've been experimenting with headbands and braids to make it a little more dressy and less school marm-ish.

jewelry. the perfect season to wear jewelry is the season where it won't be covered up by winter coats, high necklines and long sleeves. so show off that bling! jewel tones seem to be popular this year, so the brighter the better, right?

catch up.

i realize that i am not the absolute best at this whole blogging thing. case in point.. i had my ny post saved in the drafts for about 3 weeks. in any case, here's a few random updates about life to hold you over until i get a real post on here:

- i have developed a somewhat granny obsession with butterscotch hard candy and feel the need to offer it to the bf about 3 times a day

- i am going broke this season. trips, shows, weddings, and the like are burning holes into my pockets. also, the heat makes me want to spend ridiculous amounts of money on summery dresses, strappy sandals and anything beach related.

- the bf and i are moving into our own place come the end of this month. i will no longer have a steve living with me. moving all the furniture, though, equals major sad face.

- work is super busy and my boss has the uncanny ability to produce intense paranoia within me. life is so fun sometimes.

- air conditioning is my bff

new york.

i have returned from my new york getaway and let me just say i might be one of the only people who is not completely in love with city. a great place to visit, but i would probably go crazy if i lived there. maybe southern california has spoiled me with its ever predictable weather (sunny and sunny), endless variety of cheap asian food (valley blvd, anyone?), and never having to worry about falling onto an uncovered public toilet seat (until 2 weeks ago, i didn't know those seat covers were a "courtesy"). i'll give you a rundown of my thoughts on good old nyc.

pros:

• things are pretty much open 24/7. there was never a moment where the thought "i'm hungry but i will have to settle for stale bag of goldfish crackers" crossed my mind. for you drunkies out there, last call is at 4am.
  
• there are a ton of places to eat. i think the only chain restaurants i saw were in times square, which i don't think any native new yorkers actually go to.
  
• you can sit outside and not have to suffer in a cloud of lung cancer causing smoke. you can also people watch, which is definitely more fun in ny than it is in the oc. even when you are outside, your only view is of a parking lot with nice landscaping.
• they have topshop and uniqlo! stores i always check out online but never buy from because i am a cheap bitch who doesn't want to pay s&h.
• the architecture is actually nice to look at.
  
• they actually have national landmarks older than my parents.
  
• no tax on clothing, at least in the city!

cons:

• if you want to pee, good luck. the restrooms are either closed after a certain hour or just plain don't exist. if you do find one, expect it to be small (if you turn around too fast, your ass might knock over the hand dryer because again, there are NO PAPER TOWELS), dirty, and without protectors for my butt cheeks.
• many places only accept cash or american express. no, i'm not talking about those hole in the wall asian eateries people are always complaining about over here. i'm talking about nice establishments serving 7 course meals.
  
• things can be expensive. we wandered into a supposedly "famous" deli for a meal. a pastrami sandwich cost $17. no joke. you can get one from the hat for about $7 over here. i can't compare, though, because i couldn't even bring myself to spend $17 on a sandwich.
  
• the weather is a fucking bitch! first few days went like this: rain. downpour. humidity. sun. rain. downpour. humidity. sun.
  
• maybe i'm being a baby, but i'm always a little wary when entering the subway station. sorry, but if you need to blare out ongoing messages about watching out for theives across your speakers, then be prepared for some stereotyping.
  

neutral:

• i am not sure if i love or hate the subways. they are convenient and cheap. but they can also be crowded and annoying if you have been waiting for one for 20 minutes and when you finally see it coming, it just goes right on by you. in the end i think my car wins, but in ny traffic, i would gladly get sandwiched between the french tourist and an up and coming rap superstar.

um.. this post is about 3 weeks too late. i suck at blogging.

dinner.

when i am unsupervised, i eat randomly put together dinners. tonight was leftover beef noodle soup, a soft pretzel and a champagne mango i found at the korean supermarket.

another one bites the dust.

turns out, i kill even the simplest of plants to take care of. when i first moved to this apt, i bought 8 of these and everything was going great. then one day, i noticed a couple of the leaves from one stalk turning yellow. what the eff. so i changed the water and removed the yellowing leaves. one week later, about 5 of the stalks were now dead. major fail, right?

apparently tap water kills bamboo. immediately. nice to know. so i went and bought a few more to replenish the now sparse bunch. bottled water only. green green green. then one day.. dead yellow bamboo. seriously. one day. WHAT THE EFF. changed the water again today. hopefully no more innocent plants will die at my hands =(

down the rabbit hole.

i cannot wait!!! it looks terrifying yet awesome! this has been all over the place but i just had to spread the news some more. reading more about it, it's actually more like a sequel rather than a remake. in this new movie, alice is, i believe, in her late teens? excited to see how that plays out. out of the cast that i can recall, they all seem to fit their parts perfectly. johnny depp looks like he wants to eat your face. alan rickman as the caterpillar? i don't think any other actor could possibly be more suited for the role, especially with his drawn out, condescending voice, as if he's continuously being bored by the thoughts of everyone around him. see more pictures at comingsoon.net.

eek! i'll have to wait until 2010 though. until then, i'll get my movie fix by watching "transformers: revenge of the fallen", "500 days of summer", and "g.i. joe: rise of cobra". channing tatum.. swooooon.

clean me.

i am quite positive no one cares, but i thought i'd list out some products that i currently endorse. i am on a skincare kick right now so i'm just going to go with it.. so here it is:
neutrogena deep clean cream cleanser. i have used this for over 6 years and so far it has not failed me. it's cheap and does not dry out my skin. check and check.

l'oreal active daily moisturizer. my daytime moisturizer. not too greasy and has spf 15, which probably does nothing except make me sleep better at night. shiseido moisturizing gel cream from their pureness line. it could be in my head, but i swear they know how to treat asian skin. i loooove this moisturizer. it's a little more hydrating than their shine free version but it's still so light going on.

matrix biolage scalptherapie mint shampoo. i also use the coordinating conditioner. makes my hair smell soo good and leaves it feeling what i consider to be perfect.
c.o. bigelow mentha body wash. perfect for summer. the minty scent cools and refreshes (and matches my shampoo!). my only gripe with this is that it seems to go fast and it's not drugstore cheap. which is why i..
also use this at night. bath and body works aromatherapy body wash in lavender vanilla. yes, i use 2 different body washes depending on the time of day. i also change body washes depending on the season. slight ocd habit? anyway, this one is especially good for nighttime, as the scent is very relaxing.
nothing fancy here. johnson's baby lotion with aloe and vitamin e. i have used this my WHOLE life. i wouldn't recommend it if you have really ashy skin, as it is not extremely moisturizing. but if you are just looking for a little softness to your skin, this is great! it's pretty much guaranteed not to irritate your skin since it is baby friendly.again, nothing fancy. vaseline lip therapy. the bf introduced this to me on accident. doesn't have that greasy sticky feeling you can sometimes get from lip balm. it also has a familiar smell that makes me happy.

so that's pretty much it. i'm not really a beauty junky so most of the things i use are available in drugstores and affordable to most. i do splurge once in awhile (just ordered some whitening [wtf, right?] essence and black sugar scrub off some random asian site) but these are my essentials and tried and trues. what do you guys use? any recommendations?

schmuck.

look at this guy. don't you just feel sorry for him? pity/amusement is the initial emotion i experience when i see this. why do girls make guys do this! i'm sure the girl in this picture is thinking "wow, i am soo lucky.. he would do ANYTHING for me! omg every girl needs one of these!" um, no, we do not (or at least i do not). i have lived on this planet for 26 years. in that time, i'm sure i have perfected the ability to hold an object, especially if it comes with straps designed specifically for that purpose. yes, it is that simple.

it's so demeaning and also unnecessary. are you really so lazy that you cannot even hold your own shit? or is it more like marking your territory? that's my purse, bitches, find your own coat rack! don't worry, a guy holding a purse is more than enough to keep other girls at a distance, just far enough to be able to still witness this embarrassing scene and laugh behind your backs.

thank you.

"I'm sure Adam can fucking sing 10 times better than Mick Jagger, but who gives a shit, he ain't fucking Mick Jagger. You know what I mean? There are probably a million guitar players in the world better than Keith Richards, but they ain't fucking Keith Richards! [...] If they become successful, then great, and if they are not, whatever? That's the way the chips may fall. I just get disgusted watching people crying that it should have been them, that they're a star, that they're special. You know what? Fuck you!"

- Rob Zombie on American Idol's Adam Lambert

SOO refreshing to hear that.

fatty fat fatty.

recently i've taken to cooking a bit more than normal and i'd like to share some of the results. the ability to cook (well) is a quality in women that is sought after by men near and far, or so i've heard. well the bf does not enjoy all of my culinary endeavors, mostly due to a serious lack of a refined palate, but he has stayed with me this long so the above must not be completely true. i'm not standing around preparing foie grois and truffles, but this boy's idea of a great meal consists of boxed mac and cheese and a lean pocket. really.

all time favorite. beef noodle soup. first picture is the finished product. made this with a base made by my dad. added veggies, more beef, and chili pepper to make it spicy.. just the way i like it!

lemon garlic chicken with pasta. first time deglazing a pan.. those little charred bits of meat really do make a nice sauce to drizzle over your pasta. used chicken broth this time, but i should really try it with wine.

fudgy brownie chocolate chip cookies. the name is self explanatory. tastes like a brownie, looks and kind of feels like a cookie. i love biting into the chocolate chunks for the little intervals of smooth, creamy texture. i had no way of wording that sentence so that it didn't sound like a sexual innuendo. believe me, i tried.

weekend list.

- offspring show on friday. don't really know they're music except what i've heard on the radio (or more like what i can remember from middle/high school). thoroughly enjoyed it, but i usually do when i hear music live. yes, even trance.
- this wacky going away party for a friend of the bf's on saturday. do you know what it's like to be surrounded only by couples? me neither until that night. i'm currently experiencing bling envy right now. i don't need a ring put on it. necklaces and tennis bracelets are perfectly acceptable.
- chili cookoff on sunday. things i have learned. white chili is just another name for a massive chili fail. christians make the yummiest chili. vegans make the worst (see: white chili). 7 tasting cups of chili and one root beer float later, i'm done.
- i m slightly sunburned. i was too excited about chili and forgot to put on sunblock. and wore a tank top. and put my hair up. sounds like i was asking for it, really.

salty coffee? wha..?

word on the street is that sea salt is the new condiment/seasoning du jour and i am slightly guilty of buying into the hype. although i wouldn't spend $10+ on something i use arbitrarily on everything i eat, when a few granules of it are sprinkled here and there, my mind thinks that whatever it has landed on will automatically taste better.

so when i heard about this sea salt coffee from 85C, i just HAD to try it. supposedly, it's most popular drink in taiwan right now and i can see why. 85C's coffee is already pretty delicious (asian coffee shops > american.. sorry), but this added to it a little something. you can definitely taste the saltiness in the light foamy layer that tops the drink and it is a great compliment to the sweet creamy coffee underneath. to get the full experience, you need to maneuver your straw so that you first sip some of the foam and then move your way down to the coffee. sweet and salty, the perfect combination!

gym rant #3.

dear creepy old guy,

stop leering at me while i'm working out. you are not fooling anyone with your halfway buttoned down shirt, hairy chest, and greasy hair. no one works out in jeans. it's a fact. look it up. please go away, you are freaking me out.

playa' hating.

i wouldn't call myself a hardcore basketball fan, but when the playoffs are on, i. pay. attention. my number one team? lakers, no doubt. i was born and raised in southern california, would it be any other way?

there has been something i noticed though and i hear this EVERYWHERE. whenever the lakers win (which is a lot), people who aren't fans automatically pull out the "kobe bryant is such a jerk" card.

huh?

apparently the other teams lose because kobe's immense arrogance just blows them out of the court. it's not that they're better, it's not that the other team just couldn't close the deal, it's because kobe is too full of himself. oh and he's a cheater.

these 2 points are ALWAYS brought up after a win by the haters. why? i don't know. i'm not denying that kobe probably is very into himself, but is that really a surprise? he is one of the top, if not the best, players currently in the nba. if i was him, i would definitely think i am the shizz. and he cheated on his wife. there's no justifying that, but again, it's not a rare occurence in professional sports. either way, what does that even have to do with the GAME? regardless of his personality or marital discrepencies, he is a supremely talented basketball player and he works just as hard, possibly harder, as any other player in the nba. there is really nothing about him that sets him apart from any other self involved pro basketball player.. except that he is better. so don't hate. ;)

hello lover.

every time i fall in love with pair of shoes, i think of the scene from sex and the city when carrie is walking past a shop window and stops when she spots her perfect pair. if my memory serves me correct, they were bright pink ruffly christian louboutins. *sigh* right now i am experiencing that feeling over these:

report tocai nude $215

unfortunately, i am not quite adept at wearing shoes with a 4 3/4 inch heel. maybe with practice? until then, some more shoe eye candy for your viewing pleasure..

andrea & joen daze pattern leather heel $264

report randolph black $168

sunday by andrea & joen
ace brand flats $69
(something i could actually wear on a regular basis)

cream and sugar, please.

carnival themed dinnerware! this cup is from fishseddy, a site that sells the cutest items for your home. their carnival line is perfect for evoking memories of the pier or fair, eating corndogs and other deep fried artery blocking foods. if i had a dining room table, it would definitely be set with whimsical place settings purchased from this site.

weekend list.

this weekend's list of fun stuff and good eats.

- dinner and movie on friday. bbq at lucille's. best chicken i have ever eaten.. forreals. the beginning of a 3 day long calorie fest. watched star trek. must admit, i feel like it was a little overrated. i should've watched wolverine.
- saturday, the bf brought back bagels for breakfast.. yum! yes, the way to my heart is through large amounts of food. went back to my parents' house and finally got to have some turnip cake and har gow. dinner at top's and then tina's going away party. soooo much kalbi!!
- highlight of the party: mark gettting a tomato thrown at him.
- sunday lunch at roscoe's. because of the gay pride parade, the wait was ridiculously long but once the food arrived, all was forgotten. major food coma ensued and resulted in passing out for 2 hours. i should never fall asleep when i'm alone.

what happened?

thursday i: made a casserole for dinner, did laundry, baked cupcakes, put away the dishes and loaded the dishwasher.

um.. what? isn't that supposed to be the life of a middle aged stay at home mom? am i going to consider eating dinner in front of the tv or staying up past 10 as an exciting friday night soon? when did i get old and boring?

so on friday, i had 20+ rowdy drunk people over at the apt to counteract the domesticity i displayed the night before. went to bed at 5am.

i knew it was just a phase.

rosemary cheddar biscuits

normally when i bake, i like to take the sugary route. One reason is that the bf is definitely more a fan of sweets and there is no one else's throats i can force my creations down. Second, do you know how much a cupcake costs here?! let's just put it this way... i can bake 20 cupcakes WITH frosting for the cost of one at sprinkles. not that that fact stops me from purchasing a giant red velvet every now and then.

a few nights ago, i decided to take the savory road. the bf had shown me this site and i happened upon a picture of heart shaped scones. scones! that are heart shaped! it is in my professional* opinion that any food that is heart shaped goes up a minimum of 8 points on the deliciousness scale. although the recipe keeps calling them "scones", i'm convinced they are biscuits. i don't really know the difference but if it looks a duck and sounds like a duck, then it's a duck. no idea where the correlation between biscuits and ducks came from, but here's the recipe.

*by "professional", i mean a professional consumer of food.

gym rant #2.

why is it that every time i hear about someone working out, it's always followed with "i feel so great!" but when I decide to grace the treadmill with my presence, all i feel like doing afterward is throwing up/passing out? i'm starting to wonder if there is something wrong with me, biologically, that prevents my body from producing those "i feel like i could run a thousand miles and love it!" endorphins. i'm far from the definition of physical perfection, but i wasn't aware that i was THAT out of shape.

please kill me.

god, i hate the gym. but, as it turns out, i hate dieting even more and unfortunately, i was not blessed with the "skinny asian girl" gene. ok, before everyone starts rioting over how delusional i am to make that statement.. hear me out. i've experienced a place where about 90% of the girls weigh about a buck five, if that. this elusive spot is also known as the "asian nightclub". if you're asking yourself why i subject myself to this, i don't know. i'm asian. i have asian friends. that's where we used to go. and who knows, maybe these girls work out 2 hrs a day, 5 days a week but they aren't fessing up. so my only conclusion is that they were born with the natural inability to absorb calories. that or they have a mean meth habit.

in any case, i am not the owner of either choice A or B so my only options are to either eat raw vegetables (forever) or work out to offset all of the delicious fatty calories. i tried the raw veggie thing and it's not for me. i was pretty miserable for 2 weeks living off of tomatoes and gum, only to gain it back in one pathetic weekend of what i thought was more healthy than fast food (restaurant sandwiches.. are not) and carne asada fries (definitely not). what the eff, right? so now i'm eating what i want (yay tacos!) in moderation along with my still healthy weekday lunches and then trying to work it all off in 40 minutes of frenzied uphill power walking. i am very much the opposite of "in shape" so my knowledge of what works is very limited.

pan seared chicken salad.

felt like being healthy last night. that lasted a hot minute.. but i digress. in my quest for a low calorie meal, i came upon the genius idea that, yes, a salad would be a completely fulfilling dinner entree! and without using a recipe, i whipped this baby up. tadaaa!

threw together chopped romaine, roasted red pepper and halved cherry tomatoes. for the chicken, i used a mixture of olive oil, lemon juice and dried (although fresh would seem like an ok alternative) rosemary for the marinade. coated the chicken with mixture and threw it in an already hot pan. watch out for oil splatter. while one side was cooking, i seasoned the other with salt, black pepper and garlic powder. turned it over and did the same. after a few minutes, this was the result. doused the whole thing in balsamic vinaigrette and went to town. if my calculations (courtesy of the "lose it" iphone app and the ALWAYS trustworthy internet) are correct, then the entire thing should be less than 250 calories (i use light dressing). i don't measure my food (that's for crazy people! kidding) but i would guess there are about 2 1/2-3 cups of actual salad in there and the one lonely chicken breast.

one hour later, i was starving and demolished a ham and cheddar lean pocket. i think i will leave salad as beginner course from now.

going green....?

i am all for saving the environment when you can (hey, i recycle and try to find multiple uses for things that would be otherwise tossed out) but i feel like we are getting to a point (or have we always been here?) where companies/celebrities/society as a whole are giving the environmental guilt trip in order to make a profit. Ideally, we would all buy organic locally grown produce, use dinnerware made from 100% recycled lightbulbs and drive gas saving hybrid cars. realistically, this is highly unlikely. for one, saving the world costs a buttload of money. i know i know, isn't it worth it to spend that extra dollar knowing you are helping to increase the years of liveability (whatever) on this planet? it is but it's not practical and it's usually more than just "a dollar".

every month i check out target's red hot shop, a list of fun quirky items the store offers. this month's theme is generation green and they are offering a small log bowl made out of reclaimed trees (the website states that this means "not cut down without reason". does that mean the tree was on its way out already so they put it out of its misery? or does it mean they cut it down and the reason was to make this bowl? just saying.) for $49.99. really. a bowl made out of trees for $50. i know what you're thinking.. "what a deal!". some other things you can purchase: a cat scratching post made of carboard for $80, a pack of apple seeds for $20 (comes with a paper cup, so totally worth it!), a bike for $250 (correct me if i'm wrong, but a $100 bike is probably just as earth friendly as a $250 one), and a doggie sweater knitting kit for $55. let's all do the earth a favor and buy an already existing doggie sweater, so that we won't be mudering the planet even more when we throw that stupid kit out in the trash?

in this econonmy, it is not only impractical, but also improbable that people will want (or be able) to spend the extra money on this crap companies throw at us to make us feel like we are doing something good. to all of the elitest snobs, get your head out of your ass. you are not better than those of us who cannot afford to be "green" because you spent $30 on earth friendly soap made from recycled african dirt and giraffe shit. if you want to grow an apple tree, eat a fucking apple. i just saved you $19.50. you're welcome.