boone's moustache recap...

like i said earlier, it's time for FebruHairy (hooray!) and boone's going to shave his beard on Friday after a job interview (also hooray!). here's a recap for you of what he looked like in '08 and '09. any thoughts about what 2010's 'stache style should be?

i'll share my ideas later, but he said he wanted some suggestions, so make sure to post yours!

my favorite month...

do you know what day it is?

the first (really, the 3rd) day of februhairy, of course! my grad school will be covered with fellas sporting crazy facial hair all month long raising awareness and funds for victims of domestic violence. wish us luck! photo found here.

prayers for haiti...

i remember how completely crazy with worry for my parent's safety i was after Katrina, and how panicked i was when i realized that two of my tfa friends were in burma in the middle of the 2007 tsunami... i don't have an personal connections to haiti, but the photos i'm seeing and stories i'm hearing make me feel just as sick to my stomach. i've got all sorts of other things to post, but they just seem too silly to share when the people of haiti don't have water, shelter, or food and have lost so many of their loved ones. with that in mind, here are just a few ways to help (as though you don't already know what they are)

- hip hop artist wyclef jean is working for haitian earthquake relief with a website called Yele. Visit the site to donate.

- you can give to United Methodist Committee on Relief online or by calling 1-800-554-8583.

- mennonite central committee provides immediate shelter, food and emergency supplies, and trauma healing, and responds to other long-term recovery needs. you can help by donating to mcc's haiti earthquake appeal. give online or by phone toll free:1-888-563-4676.

- partners in health plans to bring medical assistance and supplies to areas that have been hit the hardest.

- CARE is a humanitarian organization fighting global poverty. among other efforts, they are sending emergency team members to the devastated city of port-au-prince in haiti.

- a few etsy sellers are using their artistic talents to raise funds. Cristin Rae and Debrosse are two of them! i LOVE creative philanthropy!

- if you live in atlanta or northern california and want to PHYSICALLY help Haiti, medshare international really needs volunteers this weekend to sort medical supplies that they're sending down there. Visit this website to sign up.

(obviously there are many, many more. feel free to leave a post sharing of other organizations offering aid)

don't spend ALL your money on black friday!

calling all socially conscious atlantans! next week there will be TWO chances (one on the westside of town and one on the eastside) to pick up some fantastic Christmas gifts from local nonprofit organizations.

here's the best part of purchasing these kind of gifts: you get to give a Christmas gift to your loved ones PLUS you get to support the INCREDIBLE good work of these organizations! it's a double whammy of gift-giving and it speaks to the Christmas message of God's gift to all humankind.

what are these fabulous organizations, you ask? well, here are just a few to whet your appetite...
ten thousand villages
ties that matter
metro state women's prison theological certificate program and Voices of Hope CD
trees atlanta
medshare international
youth theological initiative
global health action
childspring international
project chacocente
heifer international
wells of hope

interested? then put december 3rd and 4th on your calendars and email me for more info about which nonprofits will be at which location!

boo! aborting $30 mission

bad news.... i've been sick sick sick.

initially when we went shopping we hit our target (and even were a little bit below) but then we had to get some orange juice and yogurt and other things like chocolate reisens that make people with flu-like symptoms feel better. the good news is that it worked but unfortunately put us over our $30 budget, besides, i don't much feel like cooking anything beyond cambell's soup.

finally, i went to the doctor and now i've got some antibiotics and today i stayed home from school (which means i've been watching waaaaay too much law&order on tv) so maybe by next sunday all will be well and i can start over. we're NOT giving up the challenge, just postponing it.

stay tuned.

photo from here

$30/week

today was rainy and icky in the ATL... which was fine since boone and i were swamped with homework. our only plans (other than writing our papers) were to go to the grocery store for the week and watch house. (which was fab, btw).

i mention that we went to the groc. because this week we're participating in a hunger awareness project coordinated by tami of the ATL food blog, running with tweezers.

here's the deal. we're going to eat on $30/person this week and i'll blog about it. we're not going to cheat and eat things we already have in the freezer or pantry... nope. today, we're going to the store and starting from scratch since the national average for a person receiving food assistance is between $21 and $24 per week. can you believe how low that is?

if you're as incredulous as i was then here are some other hunger stats from her blog:

• At some point during the year, 1 in 5 Americans receives food assistance from 1 or more of the 15 programs providing help.
• In 2009, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) will help feed 31 million people per month. The average monthly benefit? $101.
• Between March 2007 and March 2008, the global price of food rose 43%. 1 billion people - 1/6th of the world's population - live on $1 per day.

check back for our grocery list and recipes from this week and to see how our experiment is going...

***update
so as it turns out, this wasn't a stretch for us. in fact, i did a little backwork and research and realized that, er...um.. this was what we ALREADY spent on groceries each week. i admit, i was pretty surprised to realize that we were completely capable of meeting this challenge. I didn't post our recipes because it sort of seemed like cheating. I'll try again soon and maybe try to create fab, easy things on this "budget"

creativity and compassion...

i love TOMS shoes. love them...even though sometimes they look like bedroom slippers. in fact, i got boone a pair for christmas last year and i've wished we wore the same shoe size ever since. i was scoping out these hot TOMS boots today and ran across this idea on their website....a TOM's "Style your soul" party.


basically, everyone buys a pair and gets together to decorate them. i wish i'd thought of this for our engagement party or my batchlorette party. anyway, i love that everyone's present would be a pair of TOMS that they give to children in needy and their favor would be the pair they painted and could keep for themselves.

I want a pair...

lovelies, my friend craig sent me this link today to sseko designs that got me all kinds of excited!



turns out that these fab sandals are handmade by women in Uganda between secondary school and college. they money that they earn from making and selling sandals goes directly to their college funds! apparently it's difficult for many women in some areas to find a job paying a fair wage, so Sseko Designs offers them one. here's what their website says about it:

"Sseko Designs hires recent female secondary school graduates for this nine month period to live and work together, while earning money that will go directly towards their university education. These women will not make sandals forever. They will go on to be doctors, lawyers, politicians, writers and teachers that will bring change and unification to a country divided and ravished by a 22 year-long war."

hello? education, fashion, and making a difference? i want a pair of these like whoa.

Febru-hairy recap...

so we raised just shy of $2,000 for the shelter! i'm so proud of my pals with 'staches... not only are they hotttttt but this means we exceeded our initial goal by $500. not bad for 18 guys and their female ally right?

joe came and shot some portraits for us... I don't have them all yet, but here are some highlights i snagged from his blog.

'Stache Bash today!

Februhairy ends TODAY with the 'Stache Bash. Let's hope we met our fundraising goal for the Women's Resource Center! (or at least got pretty close)

I wish I could give the Moustache King this fab mousatche print...

so behind...

i'm so sorry that my posts have been lagging this week...
the truth is that boone and I are in the middle of Febru-hairy at school, so I've been doing promotion and planning for that.

what's febru-hairy?
i'm so GLAD you asked!

it's the fundraiser that boone and i started last year for a local Domestic Violence shelter during the month of February. Basically, we're trying to get as many dudes on campus (and off, for that matter) that we can convince and cajole to grow moustaches this month and take donations and tell people about the issue whenever someone asks why they've got a 'stache. all the cash we raise goes to the shelter!

last year we sold tshirts and had moustaches and raised 1,100 with about 15 guys. this year we're going even bigger! I'll keep you posted on how things go.. but in case i fall behind or if you just want to know more, check out my other blog here!

now you know why i've had my obsession with facial hair. (previous posts here, here, and here)

photo from etsy

tooting my own horn (just a little)

guys, guess what?!?
i walked into anthropologie the other day and saw these...



remember way back when i made a post about them and how cool, fab, and eco-friendly they were?
i thought so.
well, apparently they really were cool, otherwise anthropologie wouldn't have had anything to do with them. let's just say i felt good about myself and leave it at that. ;)

HOORAY!

need i say more?

image by yeehawindustries

before the [holiday] goldrush...

y'all know i love a good cause... and TFA is definitely one of them (but maybe i'm biased).
either way, this album produced by a TFA alum's dad looks/sounds pretty fab and ALL proceeds go to benefit the cause.

ALL of them, guys.

and let's just say for a minute that you're not into helping kids get great teachers in their classrooms... that's fine i guess. BUT who in their right mind doesn't want an entire album of contemporary folks like neko case and pieta brown covering great songs by people like joni mitchell, the beatles, james taylor, and leonard cohen?

i know. you'd be crazy.... the good news is that you can get it here.

Odetta... i never knew you.

friends, let's talk about something for a minute.
how could so many of you know about my ridiculous love of blues, folk, gospel, and all rootsy music and NOT tell me about this legend who died yesterday?!? (i mean, i had a RADIO SHOW dedicated to roots music in college for goodness sake!)

why did NPR tell me that Odetta influenced nearly all of my favorite folk artists and sang at the MLK march on washington and not you?

clearly you must not've known about this amazing woman, either or you would have told me....

well, if that's the case then you're forgiven. sort of.

I'm going to scour the internet for information, buy songs from itunes, and ask my dad if he has her records... you should do the same.

advocacy and rememberance through beautiful quiltwork...

gayle white at the AJC reported that kenneth cole (hello? the big fashion designer?) is coming to speak at the opening of Emory's "Quilt on the Quad" exhibit on December 1, which happens to World AIDS Day.

And, for that matter, so am i. (I don't get "speak" as much as remember victims of the virus by calling their names at the ceremony.)

This is the annual event where the university remembers victims of AIDS and raises awareness of the disease by displaying some of the panels from the AIDS Memorial quilt.
Cole is speaking because he's an Emory alum AND because he's chairman of the world’s largest HIV/AIDS research organization, so i'm definitely excited to be a part of it.

Anyway, if you can't make it to the opening event, you should definitely check out the quilt... i saw it last year and was really moved. here are two beautiful panels..

photos from the NYT .

(pretend) you're sleeping on the streets...

the delightful blog Bloesem had this post today which just floored me.
look guys, bedding that looks like cardboard boxes!

anyway, since i love all things quirky, i knew had to share this with wishfulfillment. additionally, the proceeds from the sales of this crazy/cozy bedding from snurkbeddengoed goes to aid the homeless in the Netherlands (so it's socially responsible too!) either way, i wish i had a guest room or a smaller bed so i could have this in my house.




maybe i'll just get it and save it for my future guest room. ugh! if only i could figure out how many dollars equals 69 euros...

grown up, responsible papier mache...

so i usually avoid knickknacks and clutter at all costs, or buying random things that you can't actually USE for anything... but when i ran across stray dog designs shop, i was enamored with these little papier mache versions of my favorite creatures.

i mean, one little lovebird sitting on a table might look so sweet.

not only do these critters come in lots of colors and look amazing when multiples of all white are grouped together, they also look way more awesome than my own papier mache projects from elementary school.

on top of their aesthetic appeal, i learned that their paper and glass are made from recycled materials, and that some of their proceeds go to different organizations working to help others! how cool... doing good with design!

anglers of men?

i discovered the beautiful angle website completely by accident a year or so ago and only just remembered how much i loved it. as far as i can tell, beautiful angle is a coop of print-artists who spread thought provoking messages around tacoma, wa. sometimes their posters promote local events or just celebrate the city of tacoma, but often they prick the conscience with phrases about faith and community. not only do the posters have meaning but they are BEAUTIFUL in a very raw, natural way. each word, song, or poem has been carefully chosen and the linocuts that go with it are almost magical in their imperfection/perfection.

in short, they give me a whole lot of joy. apparently many of the ones posted around tacoma end up in cubicles and on bedroom walls... but for those of us not fortunate to live in wa, they offer prints for sale and give you fairly reasonable prices on this website.

speaking of...

there are few things in life that i take greater pleasure from than listening to national public radio programs. the three i refuse to miss are this american life, with ira glass, radio lab, and speaking of faith with krista tippett. sometimes i’m away from my radio when these shows are airing, but the good news is that i can always download a podcast to hear what i missed. recently I listened to tippett’s travel journal and interview about the L’arche communities around the world. because tippett talks about the “difference as normal” and the importance that these communities place on accepting what is imperfect, i thought it was a great post to begin this blog. the speaking of faith website says: "Forty years ago in France, philosopher Jean Vanier founded an international movement, L'Arche. The L'Arche community in Clinton, Iowa is part of this movement people of faith living and worshipping alongside developmentally handicapped adults. There are now over 120 L'Arche communities in 18 countries. In this "radio pilgrimage," we take listeners into a radically different faith community that confronts our assumptions about service and diversity, and the worth of individuals.” if you you want to know more about this community and hear tippets excellent questions and honest account, click here for the archive of this speaking of faith.