If I were a Harajuku Girl...

courtesy of hp.com/gwen

That Time of Year

The Savannah Film Festival starts this weekend and I'm so excited! I know many cities have film festivals, but Savannah's has truly grown over the past 10 years and I'm happy to be able to experience it. Michael Douglas, the lovely Catherine Zeta-Jones, and the Redgraves (Vanessa and her equally famous siblings) are all coming to town! So beside star stalking you'll find me at the screenings of Purple Violets (which won't be released in theaters, but can be seen on iTunes in November), Reservation Road (this film starring Joaquin Phoenix looks a bit heavy duty), Romance and Cigarettes (musical/comedy from John Turturro) and the much anticipated film, The Kite Runner. I've only got tickets to those four films, but if I find the time I'm going to try to make some of the others. ***OMG I just found out that Mira Sorvino is going to be at the festival to screen her film Reservation Road! Me = excited and a total dork (Alan Cumming, James Franco, Chris Cooper, and Ben McKenzie will also be cruising around town)

This weekend the Coastal Empire Fair starts. I don't know what it is about fairs - the rides, the junk food, the pig races. It calls to me. Another happening is the Shalom Y'all Food Festival on Sunday. I'm not Jewish and I'm not sure if I'm going to find a lot of food to eat there, not being a red meat girl...but with a catchy name like that, I have to check it out. For such a little town, we've got a lot going on.

I'm just glad there's not too much going on today. It's one of those snug rainy days where you don't want to do much of anything except wear comfy clothes, drink steamy hot drinks and sleep. Unfortunately I've still got work to do. Hope y'all have a happy weekend!

California Wildfires

It seems odd to be sitting on my porch watching it rain while thousands of people in Southern California are without their homes. The latest count is 1,300 homes have been destroyed and almost one million people (and many pets) have been evacuated. They even had to evacuate the animals from San Diego's Wild Animal Park. Keep your thoughts and prayers with California, and if you'd like to make monetary donations to help those in need contact the American Red Cross. The California Office of Emergency Services is also taking donation by phone at 1-800-750-2858.

Dramatic images from Calif. fires

And now a message from Mr. Bob Dylan

The Goods

Keeping with yesterday's green theme, I'm going to share with you a dress that I've been wanting to buy for a while now. It's basically the same wildly popular dress from American Apparel, but made with organic fibers. Woo hoo and it's not that expensive. Gotta love it. You can find a similar dress at Tranquilit (love their clothes, so soft and comfy). That one is a little different (I kinda like it better) and pricier.

In other news...

Familiar with Reduce, Reuse, Recycle? Well, I'm thinking that my purchase of this awes vintage Valentino bag from ebay qualifies as Reuse. Green points for me. I'm doing my part. (this is how I'm justifying buying a bag I don't really need - but will use). See pic below (sorry for the bad pic quality, I took the photo from my cellphone).

I was worried it wouldn't look as good in person as it did on ebay, but I was pleasantly surprised. It only has a couple minor scuffs, otherwise looks brand new. Scoring designer goods for cheap makes me happy. That and ice cream.

Green Monday

Global warming has become an increasingly hot topic (pardon the pun) and not just amongst young liberals like myself. True science is nonpartisan. Democrats and Republicans have acknowledged the fact that global warming is a real an iminent threat. It's time that we band together to tackle this issue head-on. Not everyone can be an Al Gore - but we can take simple steps in our daily lives to reduce the carbon emissions.
The easiest one of all - replace your incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescents. Sure, the fluorescents cost more initially - but these bulbs will save you $ in the long run on your energy bills and they give you that warm fuzzy do-gooder feel (okay maybe that's just me). And don't worry, not all fluorescents give off cold bright white light. Here's a great review on the fluorescents available for purchase at home depot, which might help you choose which type of bulb to purchase.

Next easy step - adjust your thermostat. Every little degree counts and saves energy. In hotter months, turn up your thermostat by a couple degrees so your air conditioning doesn't run nonstop. Your home doesn't need to feel like Antarctica. Really it doesn't. And in colder months your house doesn't need to feel like the tropics. Turn your thermostat down, even if it's just a couple degrees. This time of year in Savannah, heat and AC are not necessary - just open a couple windows and let in that comfy fall air.

The next step is one I haven't taken yet, but I plan to. Instead of drying clothes in the dryer - hang them up to air dry. It's easy and will save you money. And if you're like me and don't like that crispness that comes with air drying - toss them in the dryer for a couple minutes afterwards to soften them up. Easy and still helps the environment.

Last but not least - think about how you get around. Think hybrids, think biking and walking, think about carpooling, and think about combining errands into one trip instead of several. And then do it!

Global warming fund photo courtesy of Flickr and the photo of my bike taken from Chubby's Cruisers.

Savannah's Recycling Petition

I received an email regarding the recycling petition (although I think it's the 3rd one I've signed) in my In Box today. If you live in Savannah, have you signed the petition yet? If not...do it already! And in the meantime, you can sign up for Rare Earth Recyling, which is a recycling service that offers home pickup weekly ($30/month) or biweekly ($15/month). [If you sign up put my name as a reference so I can get a month free pickup!] They even provide labeled bins for you to use. Sigh...there is a Green God!

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Savannah Recycling

October 12, 2007

Dear Fellow Savannahians,
As of this afternoon 1,563 Savannahians have signed the recycling petition. Have you?

If you haven't, please sign here right nowIf you have already signed, please forward this to everyone you know and ask them to do the same. If you live outside the city, please forward this to everyone you know who lives in the city and ask them to forward it on as well.The Time Is NowWe have just 49 days to gather 9,000 more signatures!It is time for the people to make their voices heard, to pull this city up, to insist that we do not want to pollute our air and water with the burning of our recyclables any longer.It is now completely up to the citizens of this city to make recycling policy.

See what signers of the petition are saying:"Curbside recycling in Savannah is LONG overdue. Let's get with the new century please...""I am still amazed that Savannah doesn't have curbside recycling. In the two areas I lived prior to moving to Savannah 7 years ago we had curbside recycling. Let's catch up with the rest of the country.""If Savannah can spend millions of dollars fixing up downtown, then why can't we have this simple service to advance our neighborhoods?""The time has come to do our part.""It is a real statement on the lack of leadership in the City that a clear opportunity over the past three years to provide a substantive recycling program has been in so many ways politely ignored. If we are indeed going to be a sustainable creative coast with a record as one of the greenest counties in Georgia, this is long hanging fruit."Read more comments from petition signers here.

Sincerely,
Savannah Recycling Organizers

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photo "borrowed" from Reemotek.com

Got Flair?

Jen Aniston in Office Space had flair, but do blogs really need flair? Go to your favorite blog and look on the columns at the sides and look at the footer - what do you see? That's flair, baby! Advertisements, links to other sites, proclamations that the blog is affiliated with one or more online cliques. Being new to this wonderful world of blogging, I can't help but wonder if such flair is necessary in order for a blog to be popular. I can't condemn it as I've been sucked into it myself. For instance, yesterday I posted a linked graphic for Blog Action Day. I'm into it and would hope that others are too so I posted it. But where does one draw the line? I started up this blog as an outlet for creativity and expression. My goal wasn't to create another cluttered space in my life (the backseat of my car is cluttered enough). Do I want to express myself on my blog - "You know what, yeah, I do. I do want to express myself, okay. And I don't need 37 pieces of flair to do it."

Another thing I've been pondering - the sometimes overwhelming influx of online social networking sites. Is everyone on FaceBook except for me? I think so. Or am I too old for FaceBook? I really don't know. I hope that doesn't make me an old fart. As much as I like the concept and I think the forum can be fun and useful, I don't think I could juggle my time between MySpace, FaceBook, hi5, LinkedIn, etc etc. Keeping my blog up-to-date is difficult enough. So here's my Word for the Day: Balance. Now I'm going to do a little stretch, say Ommmmm and get back to work...on my computer.

The real SITC

I'll let you in on a little secret: Cut & Paste is the New Photoshop!

In Rainbows

Radiohead's new album drops online on Oct 10th. Very Exciting. That's like a late bday present for me. Thanks Thom, you rock. No really...you do. So this brings up a question: Is Thom Yorke sexy? Most say no, some say yes, I say he's Sexy Ugly. Go here to see him photoshopped (although I think I could do a bang up job with my Cut and Paste method.)