The teacher in me...

If just one percent of U.S. students bought notebooks made from postconsumer waste this year, 60,000 trees would be saved.

Source? Organic Style Magazine

That fact is staggering kids..if I would have known, I would have spent the end of last year promoting it! If only kids knew..this year, I'll have to do a better job!

Peace in small numbers

I remember when Joe and I first started going to Phish shows together nearly 10 years ago. At first, it was just us. Occassionally the illustrious Lori would join us for a romp or two, but she was always carefree and ready to roll no matter what the situation was. Then, it started happening. Joe went to Rutgers and all of a sudden, more folks started tagging along. It became a joke...

"Camp Caroline"

We even joked about making a wooden sign of sorts to bring with us. The larger the group got, the more tiresome it became. We wondered what had happened to the small carefree group we started with.

With time, many of those folks went their separate ways and once again, Joe and I found ourselves oddly alone or in different groups..the groups that weren't our group anymore..we somewhat grew a new group out of circumstance at IT..sitting in traffic with other folks from New Jersey who just happen to end up behind you leaves to many a conversation and in the end, an amazing comradery!

As the group begins to grow, you suddenly realize you are back in square one..desperately trying to organize many different personalities and styles into one harmonious festival. When do we get too old for this again??

Beach Combing..

From the time I was a little girl, being woken up very early on a beautiful day to walk miles along the beach just looking for shells has been something close to my heart. I've had an affinity for it ever since. I can't GO to the beach without being totally and completely facinated by shells. Today was a good day. The tide rolled out and I found myself mesmerized by the spot on the beach where the undertow just kinda sits and hosts the many washed up shells. I would grab a handful and just sifle through it looking for the perfect gem. Thats the beauty of it, really! There is a gem for everyone, however the gems are not the same for everyone. I wish I could find more seaglass, but that seems to be a rarity these days since garbage isn't dumped into the ocean anymore. There are still beautiful things to be found. It's all in the moment however. One must be quick..or the shell you are eyeing is quickly washed away by the ever onset of new waves. None the less, a handful of shells is all one needs to make it a perfect day at the beach..

FIRE!

I'm starting to like texture a whole lot..check this out..this is our chiminea fire tonight..too good to pass up :)

Some things are timeless...

I found an article in the Burlington Free Press, reminiscing from our adventures a year ago. It may look alot different today..but the sight of it still brings tears to my eyes..the trees still stand up on the field that stood for the end of Phish.. The article, which brought tears to my eyes, can be found here. The picture, a year later, the maple trees..still symbolize something beautiful and heart wrenching all at the same time..

Home Improvement Bliss!

Ok, so we've been here two years..so what, right? When you first move into a house, you have these grand endeavors all set up..what you'll do as soon as possible..it'll be great, right? WRONG! What happens when you find out you married "Mr. Not-So-Handyman" and you end up doing alot of it yourself? It takes a long time..and each project makes your muscles ache so badly you hope you'll remember the feeling before starting a new one.

When we first moved in, alot of "wall things" went onto pre-existing nails. "Oh, just stick it there...yeah yeah..that works until we paint.." Two years later, on those very same nails, all of our art hung. No, the walls never got painted. They remained the shiny dingy white that they were when we moved in.

My friends..that is no longer the case. After two years and several rooms later, I found Joe once again willing to help me paint. In record time, I might add, we managed to paint the two front rooms a beautiful shade of "baked scone"!! It feels warm and cozy and I can't believe we didn't do this sooner!! I feel like I've finally accomplished alot in this house. I think this is it for the summer..last big project..but we did this project sans arguing, sans pain..it was beautiful! I'm already looking forward to next summer's deck endeavor..an environmental and cost effective sanding of our deck!

Morris Arboretum

Today I went to the Morris Arboretum in Plymouth Meeting, PA..there were LOTS of butterflies there, along with the organic miniature houses around the train tracks. I particularly liked this picture I took..there were several, and I'd post them all if I could..it seems as if i've got more pictures to post now than stuff to say!