Monday, September 21, 2015

One more week until Europe!

In July 2012, there was a really good flight sale and I didn't want to pass up an opportunity to see my friend Allison for her birthday at the beginning of October. Tamson and I had just started dating and I didn't know where we would be in three weeks, let alone three months. I went with my gut and asked him to join me anyway and hoped for the best. I wasn't really afraid we wouldn't make it to the trip, but I was a bit scared that the vacation would make or break us. It turns out Tamson is a great travel companion, and we have made it well past three months. In a week we will be embarking on our official honeymoon to Europe almost three years to the date since our first trip together.

Here's to another three months, another three years, and another three decades. But after that, I'm done. Just kidding. I love you!

IMG_9983
View of Bahhston and the Charles River, September 29, 2012

Friday, April 3, 2015

Fresh-ish Start

Hi everyone!!!!!!!!

It's been a while, hasn't it? Much has changed over the last few years. For starters, I became an iPhone user, jumped out of an airplane, visited Texas for the first time, ran a 10k despite my hatred for running, partook in three 24-hour Disneyland events, visited Hogwarts, and got engaged to the love of my life; we attended a million weddings, showers, etc., and then we got married earlier this year by one of my best friends, who officiated wearing a graduation gown, because I joked with him that it would make him look more official and he took it seriously. Married life has been great! It's fun being in each other's faces all the time and melding our lives together. We are definitely rubbing off on one another. For example, the hubs has convinced me to carry a tiny pocket knife (because it has a nail file and scissors, not for shanking purposes!) and I have gotten him into Gilmore Girls.

Since it's a new chapter in my life, I've decided to kind of start over with this blog. Why not start over completely? A, this site has always just been a reflection of me (which is why it's always been all over the place) and stuff I do and I don't have the time or creativity to come up with a new me, and B, I'm convinced that once I let go of jennio.net, Jennie-O Turkey is going to pounce on it...because that SO happened to jennio.com!! It used to belong to a graphic designer and now it just redirects to turkey! Anyway, in the last decade I have found it to be a bit of a struggle figuring out what to post and what not to post and then my posts just stay stuck in draft folder limbo, only to be picked up again much later when it is no longer relevant and not at all how I feel. I figured out that I need to compartmentalize a little better and post things that I can actually be proud of instead of the weird, random things I have written. I will probably update old posts as I go along so I can try to convince readers that I'm relatively normal.

The site is still a work in progress (as am I) so lots of changes, big and small, will probably be in store.

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Dieting...Clothes?

It's November. To many this means Thanksgiving, Black Friday sales, Christmas lists, shopping, shopping, and more shopping. To me, it's the end of year one of my clothing diet. I first came across the idea here (the Great American Apparel Diet site) but did not join in officially for fear of commitment. I liked retail therapy. I loved Forever 21. I liked being able to just pick up something mass produced and not have to rummage for stuff when I was looking for something in particular. I rummaged sometimes too but as a pastime, not based on need. After a couple months, though it was saddening at times when I would go shopping with my sister, I realized the clothing diet wasn't too bad and was actually saving me some dough so I stuck to it.

What is this clothing diet? I stopped buying new clothing, with the exclusion of underwear, swimwear and socks. I also allowed myself to buy accessories and shoes. I made one exception for Chinese New Year because you're supposed to wear something new, but then I ended up forgetting this new item (an awesome hoodie from Loyal Army) at my apartment when I went home for the New Year, so that was kind of a bust.

Why would I ever do such a thing? Environmental and financial reasons. I have never really been a shopaholic and I don't actually like going to the mall, but sometimes I would go shopping with my sister when she was on a hunt for something and I would be the one who ended up with a bunch of stuff while she left stores emptyhanded. Committing to a clothing diet has been a good way to control myself from buying things I don't actually need but just think are cute, saving me a good amount of money. Plus, why buy all this new stuff when there's plenty of pre-loved stuff out there waiting for a new home? People get tired of their clothes fast and ever-changing trends keep them going back to the malls and buying more. I like the idea that by buying pre-loved instead of new clothes, fewer raw materials are being harvested, less energy is being used for making and shipping the clothes, fewer clothes end up in the landfill, and the items you get instead end up being a little more unique. If I can help the environment just by doing this small action, then why not?

How do I cope? It was kind of hard, especially at first, and I would be sad when I left stores without anything in hand, like it was an unsuccessful shopping trip. Then I began coping by buying trinkets, like accessories, belts and purses. It's probably an equally terrible habit, but it would usually be one thing, just so I felt accomplished. It was stupid, I know.

I have occasionally rewarded myself if I'm really tempted to go shopping by buying Urban Outfitters' Urban Renewal stuff, which are pieces upcycled from vintage fabrics or clothes, or going to thrift shops or consignment shops. I love going to Crossroads. It's basically a lot of things you see in stores now anyway but cheaper! I make the occasional trip to Goodwill but it's hard to find things at the one back home. I think I have had better luck at Goodwill finding housewares and such for super cheap. There is also the $1 sale on Sundays at Jet Rag in the West Hollywood area, which is the best thing ever. True, there are plenty of items that are too giant, stained, fugly, or all of the above, but I actually bought a skirt there that fits perfectly for, guess what, a dollar. That paired with a top I got at Crossroads for $4 are pretty much my go-to outfit for when I need to ditch the jeans and t-shirt to look more professional. I also got a super long skirt that I wear as a tube dress. There were a few other things I bought from the Sunday sales at Jet Rag for upcycling but have not yet gotten around to it. Actually, funny story..I bought some ugly sweaters to take apart for a project and wore one of them as part of my Halloween costume and a lot of people actually liked it.. It's a really good place to find interesting patterns if you're into crafting because the stuff isn't as common and there are a lot of huge pieces of clothing, so plenty to work with. It's probably even cheaper than buying at a fabric store for the same amount of fabric in some cases.

BUT, I love love love going to flea markets. I really love the Melrose Trading Post. I feel like the people there price things pretty fairly and admission is only $2 ($1 with this coup!). Its only downfall is that it's a little bit smaller than some others, being restricted to the Fairfax High School parking lot. I have also been going to the Long Beach flea market at the Veterans Memorial Stadium but I like going there more for household items, decorations and furniture than clothes. Lots of good stuff there, though. In fact, I was able to find a crate with the Anheuser logo for $2. Whaaat? I know. I kept asking the vendor if that was right and he looked at me like I was stupid.

For now I want to keep going with my clothing diet as there has not really been anything that has gotten me to revert back to my Forever 21 shopping sprees. I'm pretty proud of myself for going this long though. It's been healthy for my wallet and the environment.

But probably not for my social life...

Sunday, August 23, 2009

my eco life has been flipped upside down

I have had my fair share of reusable bottles. I just can't justify buying disposable bottles of water when you can fill up for free or almost free. Just think of how much energy is being saved just by filling up with a reusable bottle instead of drinking from a plastic bottle that gets thrown away and then more energy goes into making the next one you're going to drink from. So I used to use these cheapie plastic ones I got from China just because I could just refill and be all eco friendly and such and then the whole BPA leaching issue arose. I was probably especially affected since I used my bottles to drink tea because Chinese ones always include this cool little strainer thing for teas. It was said that a huge indicator was if you could smell the plastic of your bottle, it probably was not very safe to drink from. Sure enough, my bottles smelled heavily of plastic when there was hot tea in it. Sigh.

Last summer, while gallavanting through Lucerne with my college roomie, I decided it would be awesome to get a Sigg bottle from Switzerland. I bought a one-liter bottle and carried it the rest of our trip, refilling wherever it was safe to and saving my Euros while doing so. Just now, I found out the sad truth about said bottle--that its lining contains BPA. Cry. They have been working their way around this for a very long time by not denying that their lining has BPA in it but stating that it does not leach BPA. Very fishy. Any brand new bottles that don't have that brassy look on the inside but are lined with a beige color are safe but mine unfortunately was purchased just before they started producing those (August of 2008). But I have no idea when they even actually started selling them. I just feel so very lied to right now. Sure, it's possible it doesn't leach BPA and my future babies won't be growing extra limbs but all the denial just makes me so upset. On top of that, I have learned that apparently cheaper aluminum bottles still do leach BPA, though not as much as plastic. WHY.

Anywho, if you are a Sigg owner, supposedly you can e-mail them your info and they will send you a new one for trading in your old bottle. There are also stores, such as this one that will give you a big discount when you exchange your old Sigg for something BPA-free like Klean Kanteen, which seems to be the bottle of choice as a Sigg alternative.

Saturday, May 30, 2009

Ghostie

Today I heard my mom's take on ghosts and it actually made me feel so much more at ease. I have always had a huge fear of ghosts ever since I was little because I used to watch those scary shows with my brother late at night that are like true stories about ghost encounters and stuff. I was told that my cousin went to a temple to get his fortune read and he was told that he was being followed by a ghost, a possible link to why his family has had such bad luck, which prompted his entire family to move to a different house because they were scared it was this guy who used to live there who had committed suicide (not in that house, though). His younger brother was also told once upon a time that he was being followed around by my paternal grandmother. All of this was totally creeping me out, but then my mom was saying how it wasn't really that big of a deal because all you have to do is burn some money for them and offer them food and ask nicely that they take it and enjoy it and leave you alone. Seriously, nothing can scare my momma. But on top of that, she was very skeptical because she thinks my cousin is probably just trying to find someone else to blame, so it wasn't that creepy to her.