First time?

Seeing as I have hardly any time in my life these days, the posts onto here will most likely be super sporadic. I do like the idea of a sort of posting board for links, pictures and ideas that catch my eye, ear or mind.

The best was to describe myself is to say that I am a young professional who has not managed to grow up yet. i don't grow old, just tired. i swear! I work for a large company and that takes most of my week up. other than that, i somehow manage to go to a bunch of events here in Chicagoland, and apply for grad school. that is my biggest goal right now; to get into a great law school. well that and to get more organized, not be so sensitive to what others say do and think about me, put attire in my closer that i actually wear and not be wasteful with crummy fashion choices.

Speaking of being wasteful, i started this blog in part because i care about being green. Recycling is really important and in the past year i have worked on reusing and reducing. it is amazing how wasteful you realize yourself and others can be when you start to really pay attention. like this city for example- Chicago touts itself as being one of the greenest cities. i don't understand how they can call themselves that when there isn't a real and consistent recycling program in the city, and they aren't very efficient at taking care of bureaucratic issues without being wasteful. we have a river, but i work on that river and right now it is steaming. fyi, it is like 17 degrees and blizzard conditions out there, yet the river is steaming. that can't be very good for what little ecosystem is left there! i wonder if anyone thinks about that? or if anyone thinks about how toxic the fumes are. or if cta thinks about how if they serviced their equipment more often, maybe it wouldn't polllute as much? all of these little things add up. and don't even get me started on packaging! luckily i live v.close to the grocery store. i use those whole foods fabric/plastic bags when i can and because i live so close, i try to carry everything or stuff it in my coat or something. yeah, the checkout people look at me like i've gone sideways, but at least i saved a bag!

I want to take this approach with shopping for fashion too. i mean, who really needs ten pair of jeans? also, one handbag should suffice if you have done your research. i figure not only will this approach be better for the environment and general consumption, but i will also save money, which, trust me, is a good thing. i was reading in our elevator (i like to take the stairs, but in our building it isn't allowed because of security or something- boo) the other morning on one of those TV like screens that flash useless and some useful information, that the national debt is really bad. like the consumers- their debt is really bad. that means me, and i must say, it is true. i am in over my head. but who that has recently graduated from college isn't? i live above my means, but when i say above my means, i am saying that i buy groceries, take the el and do laundry. i don't have cable, internet or gas. most people think that puts me in the stone age or something, and for office watercooler talk, it really does. except that we don't have a water cooler, just built in refrigerator icemaker and water thing. but i have no idea if heidi and spencer are doing well these days, or if its mcdreamy or mcsteamy, and i certainly don't know who is american idol, or top model, or the best star dancer or whatever. but at least those are 3 less bills and 3 less resources i consume at an astounding rate. but alas, i do miss the internet. so i do it at work (shhh, big dirty secret) or while i am at other people's places (like now) i have a macbook and i kind of wish i had gotten the smaller model instead of the medium sized one. maybe it would have been more efficient? oh well too late now, i need to hang on to this one until it drops.

The worst part about trying to be green is most definitely the paper plates and not using as much water. i don't have a dishwasher (probably a good thing for the water usage? maybe???) so when i want to eat i use a real plate and it sits in the sink for longer than i care to admit. my place isn't like a frat house or anything, but it really isn't what i was going for in terms of cleanliness. with paper, you can just toss that bleached, factory created, chemical coated mess with the tomato sauce into the trash can and you are done. voila! except that if you ate every meal off of a paper plate and everyone did that sort of thing then it would really add up. so i haven't bought paper plates in a long time. i feel guilty every time i go down that aisle. As for the water usage, i used to think when i was a little kid that if it was "city" water it didn't really matter how much you use in the shower because it just gets recycled, right? well yeah, but they have to do all of this junk to it at first and really should we be drinking and bathing with that over clorinated product? maybe not. but it is still not good to take hourlong showers. i cannot seem to justify it in anyway. i really can't. and i do love taking long showers. but i need to help this city be more green and one more person not taking forever in the shower has to count somewhere.

i am going to keep posting any ideas i find on how to be greener, but also how to be fashionable, organized, etc. basically anything that i think would benefit me (so maybe it would benefit you). when i figure out the pictures, i will add more.