Brooklyn Bridge

Tonight I had an easy 3-miler to tackle. What better way than to hop over the Brooklyn Bridge and back.

Sorry these are crap, they’re from my phone, but you get the point. It was pretty freakin’ awesome. Don’t think I’ve ever been on the bridge at night before. I like it up there.

Manhattan Bridge and Empire State Building

Financial District

YIPPIE DESIGNS!

My Etsy store is open, just in time for the holidays!

If anyone is interested in custom pieces, that’s really what I love to do – just shoot me a comment, tweet, or email.

In case  you’re wondering ‘why Yippie?’, I’ll tell you.  Yippie is a blend of Yuppie and Hippie. It basically means one living an upscale and urban, yet socially conscious lifestyle.  I’ve felt like this has been my life for a while, and really represents what I’m trying to do with this business.  When I started selling, I was donating profits to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society via Team in Training.  As the business grows I’d really like to give customers a few options for the charity they’d like a portion of their purchase to go to!

I’m also planning on making updates at my Yippie Designs blog!  Subscribe to find out about all the cool ‘stuff’ I’m up to!  🙂

BAD 2009 – Climate Change

I have to admit, I almost didn’t participate in Blog Action Day this year.  The topic is climate change and frankly…I’m just not all doomsday about it.  Actually, people who are over-the-top with all the global warming stuff generally bug the crap out of me:

1. It is clear that human actions are causing harm to our environment, but I’m not fully convinced that CO2 will be our terror-filled horrific end.  As part of my Geography curriculum, I had to take a physical geography class.  A big chunk of the syllabus covered environmental changes throughout the history of the earth.  And technically, the planet is in a ‘cool’ period right now.
2. I cannot stand people who are psychotically “green” because a celebrity told them it would be trendy.  GIVE ME A BREAK.  And I know most of them would deny it, but you know I’m right: being green is cool, and people do things that make them look cool.  As a general rule, I revolt against anything considered to be “hot”.  Therefore, ugh.
3. Speaking of celebrities, pretty much every high profile celebrity environmentalist is a total hypocrite.  And they admit it.  I will use Harrison Ford as my example.  Mr. Ford has more motorcycles than he can count on both hands, 5 airplanes, and a helicopter.  What does he do with a helicopter?  Well one task is hunting down polluters of the Hudson River.  Hey, I hate people polluting my river.  Like a LOT.  But I’d rather listen to the Staten Island Ferry employee yell “Hey!!  That’s my water, too!” than see HF zooming across the river in his fossil fuel burning bird.
4. I hate that people guilt you into being “green”.  Seriously.  Stop it.  If you make me feel like I’m a bad person, I’ll probably just hate you and get on with my life, not reasonably listen to what you have to say.  Fr. Tom once said “You can’t argue someone into heaven”.  Well, you can’t argue me into only flushing the toilet when it “really” needs it.  I’m wasting water.  Boo hoo.  I don’t throw up when I walk past the bathroom.  That means something in my book.
5. I remember being in grade school and participating in programs like one Target sponsored – something to the effect of Kids Save the Earth.  But ‘back then’ environmentalists (at least in my environment) were weirdo tree huggers.  Ewww..crazy people!!!

So the big conflict is – I really do love the earth.  I. LOVE. TREES.  Seriously, I very nearly cried when my parents cut down the tree I planted in 2nd grade.  I had my picture taken with that tree every year.  Who does that?!  I love rain.  I love snow.  I generally enjoy inclement weather, as long as I’m not outside in it.  I try not to be wasteful.  I think public transportation is fabulous and I wish I could ride my bike to work everyday.  I’m a member of Transportation Alternatives.  But, selfishly, *sometimes* I just don’t care.  I never knew how to resolve my gasoline-loving-tree-hugging views until I posted about being a Yippie a few weeks ago.  The Yippie thing started as kind of a joke.  But then the more I thought about it, the more it really seemed to fit.  I think that applies here as well: I just can’t seem to be able to go all the way with my planet loving.

So, what do ya’ll think?  Am I a bad person?  Does planting trees at Hands on New York Day make up for my space heater?  Would love to hear thoughts – most people I know aren’t really on one end of the spectrum or the other.

How Running Turned Me Into Peter Griffin

Ok, just a short post tonight, but I have exciting news. Yes, after almost 5 months of being laid up with a fifth metatarsal stress fracture, I finally took the SCARY plunge tonight and ran FIVE WHOLE MINUTES! Ok, so maybe it was only 4 minutes and 30 seconds, but it was pretty much one of the greatest moments of my life. I always took running/walking/all physical movement for granted. Then I go out one day for a quick little 10k race through Central Park and…my life pretty much comes to a screeching halt.

So the deal is, I run the 10k, I have an awesome race, I head home (in a teammate’s car because while I was running, someone stole my phone, credit cards, house keys, driver’s license, and MetroCard from bag drop. Seriously, screw you. I don’t know what you tried to buy at Macy’s for like $600 but you were DENIED), feeling good – other than the obvious I-wish-that-jerk-didn’t-rob-me. The next day, Easter Sunday, I wake up and head to church. Church is 3 blocks away. I had to drag my foot there. I kind of felt like Peter Griffin when he has his stroke after eating 30 hamburgers at McBurgerTown.

At some point Saturday after the race, my foot was sore. Ok, it’s a 10k, everything’s sore. Well, the foot didn’t get better and by the time Monday came around I knew something was seriously wrong. After visiting the doctor (4 times!) on Tuesday, I went in for a minor surgical procedure (apparently they put you completely under even for this – I was unaware until someone whipped out an IV) and…couldn’t walk for about 8 weeks. Honestly, this was such a small injury that I don’t know how people that are really REALLY hurt or sick do anything ever. Ironically, I was running with Team in Training, an organization that fund raises for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. It’s kind of awesome and they have chapters everywhere, I recommend you check it out if you’re interested in running/volunteering/do-gooding (see my guide to volunteering).  So…after many weeks of fear, terror, paranoia very conservatively nursing my foot back to health I decided to try a jog during my walk.  I have to give credit where credit is due, watching videos over at ADoRunRun was pretty much my whole inspiration.  So thanks guys, and hopefully see you out there soon!

Happy running!

Double Dose AKA My Guide To Volunteering

Ok, sorry, two posts in one night, but I’ve been thinking about this a lot and wanted to get it all out!  A few days ago, I was reading one of my favorites, Gal’s Guide. There was a post about changing the world, especially when it comes to women’s issues. I responded with a comment that in hindsight was much too obnoxiously long to ever be a comment, but…I get really worked up when I start talking about volunteering. So here it is…my quick and dirty guide to changing the world (through local volunteer organizations).

My personal favorite organization is New York Cares. This organization does it all. Children. Seniors. Special Needs. Animals. Environment. Hunger. Healthcare. Tax Preparation. Education. Job Readiness. And yes, even women-specific projects. This is the first group I volunteered with in the city, and have served in several leadership positions with them. To give you an idea of the variety of projects you can choose from, personally I’ve been an SAT tutor, painted school murals in Brooklyn, served homebound seniors their weekend meals, etc. New York Cares makes volunteering EASY. Seriously, you will never have an easier time than with this group. They have a blog and they’re also on Twitter @newyorkcares. Five stars.

***UPDATE***
The whole “Five stars” thing above was just my own way of saying this is a great organization, but today I learned that New York Cares earned the highest star rating available from Charity Navigator, FOUR stars! Check it out here.

I know a lot of you who might read this live in Chicago. Well, lucky for you, there is a Chicago Cares! I’ve never actually worked with this group, but they are organized in the same way as New York Cares, and you can follow them on Twitter as well @chicagocares.

For those of you outside of New York and Chicago, both of the above organizations are part of the Hands On Network. The Hands On Network has affiliates all over the country. They also have a blog and Twitter @HandsOnNetwork! You can search for projects anywhere in the US (and outside the US) on their website and get involved with your local affiliate.

Finally (for now!) there is Volunteer Match. You can search this website for opportunities near you, but my favorite features of Volunteer Match are the “Virtual Opportunities”. These are projects you can do without even leaving your home. Some of these projects have been calling an elderly person just to chat for a few minutes each morning, or to make homemade greeting cards. You can do these projects in the comfort of your home on your schedule. Again, there are women specific projects. And of course, you can catch the Volunteer Match blog or follow them on Twitter @VMConnect.

All of the above are also on Facebook, in case you haven’t yet reached your social networking fix.

If you’re looking for something more specific, volunteering with the Special Olympics has been one of the most exciting and fun experiences of my entire life. If you want to have nothing but fun for a day, go hang out with these athletes. I guarantee you cannnot not have fun.

What about you? What are your favorite organizations/experiences? I’d love to know, I’m always looking for something new. Let’s face it, I volunteer just as much to do something fun, meet awesome people, and get something out of it myself while bettering my community, but I think that’s just fine 🙂

Extreme Makeover: Awesome Edition

So last night I was fortunate enough to complete a long-standing goal of mine – to participate in an Extreme Makeover: Home Edition build.

O.

M.

G.

It was awesome.

I first found out about the build one day at work while I was undoubtedly bored/in the bathroom (yah, that’s usually when I do my facebook/twitter creeping) via Twitter that Ty Pennington was being interviewed on my hometown radio station. Guh? I immediately Googled the show and found that a builder HQed out of my hometown (BN) was the builder on at a location within a 50 mile radius of BN. Of course I immediately flipped out and then purchased an airplane ticket. I filled out my volunteer application on the builder’s website and then………….waited. The time given to post the volunteer list came and went. WTF, people. Finally I got information that the list post was delayed. Really all this means is several more days for me to torture myself, trying to figure out if I was on THE LIST (which in the end didn’t turn out to mean much – they accepted any walk-in that showed. Pssssh.). And I was! Resume happiness.

Well the next few weeks flew by until my happy day-o-travel, which considering the small tornado outbreak in IL that day was rather uneventful. When I arrived home, my BFF’s mom picked me up from the airport – my parents were totally on vacation. Once I settled into their house for the night I realized – this is the first night I have ever spent alone in this house. I’m 27. That’s kind of really weird. I’m just assuming that’s not normal given my crazy sheltered background. But I digress. Up and early Friday for work, meh. Then Friday naptime. Since I just wanted any time slot I could get to volunteer, I had signed up for all available times. Obviously, I got a crappy slot (midnight – 6AM). I decided the best way to tackle this was a nap from about 7-10 before and a nap afterward. After naptime I find out my mom decided to tag along. This was great because, well, driving alone is boring and my mom is pretty awesome.

We get to our little shuttlebus in Philo, IL at 11:59PM.

Oooo excitement!

We arrive at the site – holy moly. It had rained earlier in the day and the “yard” around the house resembled, well……..think of the grossest pool of brown standing water and soft, chunky brown stuff you can think of. Gag. And move on. It was completely disgusting and AWESOME. I love to get dirty. While my mom manned the registration tent, I worked carrying scraps of shingles, trim, and other scary-looking assorted pieces of extremely sharp metal to a dumpster that had 7 foot walls. Yah, I’m like not even close to that tall. So I made about a zillion trips consisting of:

1. Break your back bending over to pick up this crap (NOTE: Beware the scraps still raining down from the roof – the roofers were totally not paying attention to people on the ground) (SECOND NOTE: Beware razor sharp pieces of metal hidden in larger scraps everywhere. I was fully convinced my day would end in some sort of scary tetanus shot/appendage reattachment scene. Lucky for me, it didn’t.)
   
2. Lug the sharp/dangerous/muddy scraps across the scary quicksand/mud mine field to the dumpster. Beware slippery pieces of cardboard strategically placed near the deepest puddles (I did not fall).
3. Gracefully HEAVE the scraps over the 7 foot garbage monster wall, trying not to overextend your crumpled up back (see step 1).
4. Repeat.
5. Love every freaking second of it.

After a while, there was no more dangerous garbage to pick up, so I ended up doing really weird tasks such as shoveling the street, attempting to use a shovel as a modified dust pan (moderate success), hauling GINORMOUS coffee canisters that weighed a ton and were full of scalding hot coffee. Trust me, all those waivers of liability were not for nothin’.

Eventually I wound up back at the registration area – there wasn’t much ‘labor’ type stuff for us volunteers to do while insulation and drywall were being installed. This turned out to be a great idea since I got to just kind of hang out with my mom and two other nice ladies while we checked in the steady stream of volunteers.

Finally, after taking one more look at the house, we decided it was time to grab the shuttle back to the car – sometime around 630AM. I’d like to thank my Diet Dr. Pepper and a box of FlipSides for saving our lives (keeping me awake) on the 1.5 hour drive home.

To top off the awesome day, we passed this:

If you can’t read the license plate it says “WTFPWND”. I tried to explain that to my mom but…well, I was PWND by the license plate – I don’t even know where to start explaining something like that to my mom.

I happily collapsed in my bed sometime around 8AM to take nap part 2. I was exhausted and dirtier than I think I’ve ever been in my life, but so happy about everything that had happened the previous 2 days and would happen the following 4 days. For the skeptics out there, give the show another chance. I can tell you from being on site the house is not being built ‘too quickly’ to be sound. In fact, the contractors were constantly circling the house looking for any problems which were literally fixed immediately. I’ve also heard lots of people complain that the families that receive these houses end up not being able to afford them. Well, that has been addressed. The first thing I thought when I walked into the house was…”this is it?”. The houses have been scaled back to be a reasonable size for the families to maintain, and all of the houses are energy-saving and ‘green’.

If a build ever comes to your area, I’d strongly recommend checking it out. It really is an amazing thing, and you’ll be impacting someone’s life in such a major way. Imagine if someone gave YOU a new house!

I think the episode will be airing sometime the week before or after October 18. I’ll post the exact date once I have it!

For more info about the Montgomery family check out Extreme Brady Homes or Salt and Light Ministry.