Interesting Links & Resources for June 6

Ran out of time this weekend, so just titles this time:


Why Buy, When You Can Borrow? ---Whole Living magazine


10 Everyday Rituals for a More Meaningful Life---presented on Yahoo Shine


5 Toxic Chemicals That are Everywhere--CNN and definitely worth checking out....along with their entire Toxic America series


Real Change is Coming blog post by Rhonda at Down to Earth


Sun, Sea, and...Orphans? A Vacation with a Difference in Thailand---CNN and something I've always wanted to do.

Sent to us at work via email. Sad to see that others can so readily turn a blind eye to the grief of another and instead focus on themselves.... Washington Post's Seeing a Fallen Soldier Home 

Mississippi Looks to Iran for Rural Health Care Model---interesting given the recent health care debates and our current relationship with the Middle East.

Environmental Health New's: President's Cancer Panel: Environmentally caused cancers are "grossly underestimated" and "needlessly devastate American lives."

Weekend Trip to the River

We met up with some friends at the river yesterday afternoon.  We'd woken up to rainy skies, but eventually it cleared off into sunshine. We took the grill out, floated around in the river, and had a small fire.  And as you can see from the second picture, most the other couples we know have two dogs as well. (One is not pictured here and the French bulldog pictured stole my heart.) Our girls have been absolutely passed out sleeping all day today! And no worries, that cup was picked up before it got washed down river!

Goals, Gratitudes, & Update

The last few weeks have been all over the place but there is much to be thankful for and much that has been accomplished:

---2 care packages constructed and 2 notes sent off (all of which definitely lifted my mood)

---2 pairs of holey, old running shoes sent to Nike-Reuse-A-Shoe. If they were in better condition I would have sent them to one of the organizations that provides shoes to lower income countries....but they were pretty beat up. So this way their parts can hopefully be reused!

---New furniture is settled: Last weekend we got the king sized bed and yesterday the hub picked up our sectional.  Unfortunately it appears I ordered the wrong lay-out of the sectional, so we'll have to rearrange the furniture yet again to make it all fit correctly, but I suppose flexibility is the key.  And we finally have all the furniture that we need. Might be a couple more shelves/desk but that's it.  It's nice to have those purchases completed!

---Got the discount applied to our car insurance for the state of Louisiana and paid the six month premium in full yesterday. Spent some time yesterday better organizing a calendar of when my paychecks will arrive and which one is designated to my student loan payment.

---This is the first week of my 7-10 mile goal, and I made it!  Even though I didn't necessarily want to run the last two days....the goal got me there. Although I'm pretty sure it wasn't much over 7 miles, but maybe 8. My muscles are tightening in different ways now.

---Am looking forward to visits from friends and family. We purchased tickets for my mom and Granny to come out in August. Granny turns 99 and will finally make it the Big Easy (NOLA: New Orleans). Due to work/conference schedules, I'm going to miss a buddy of mine who is there next week but he's talking about visiting here for a bit in Oct/Nov! Another friend will be presenting at a conference in Austin in Sept, so work schedules presenting we might try to meet up with him again. And lastly one of my MPH gals landed a CDC fellowship in Atlanta (awesome!!) and may be able to stop by on her move in Sept/Oct. Definitely exciting!

--I just discovered Tom's Shoes.....and may be ordering a pair. I'm a lil nervous though as my ankles are really thin and have a tendency to pull out of closed back shoes......I wish there was a pair of mules...

---The dogs continue to keep us occupied with tons of smiles and love! I actually just looked out the back window and saw the two dogs and Major all sitting in a triangle.  I'm also cat-sitting for a coworker who has been on vacation this week.

---The hub has a new road bike and has taken up biking with several of the other guys in his group. This week they covered over 30 some miles in one ride. Its nice to see him working out other than his required physical training, even if this means I'll never get a P90X partner!

---Pulled my first vine-ripened tomato yesterday!!  We have about three more turning. I've picked two jalapenos and there are quite a few just about ready. The bush beans are just about done, but I'm pretty impressed with the handful I was able to get!  And the basil has bolted which I'm not entirely sure why it did that....plan on finally ordering the worms this week. The grass in the backyard continues to spread....and we had glorious rain pours yesterday!!

---I'm also thinking about doing some postings on job searching and resumes.....

---I spent the most amazing solo evening on Thursday: red wine, cheese pizza, dark chocolates, smiling dogs, the second CNN toxin special, and then Its Complicated--a chick flick and very entertaining!  Simple evenings are the ones that replenish my soul and keep me feeling alive.....

Hope everyone has had a great week!  Enjoy your weekend!

Community Conversations on Toxic Chemicals and Health

For the last two nights CNN has been airing a TOXIC AMERICA series. I was able to catch the last 15 minutes of the initial special on Weds and then last night I watched the one on Toxic Childhood. So amazing to see CNN covering these topics in depth and trying to raise national awareness of how the unregulated chemical industry impacts human health.

Conversations on toxic chemicals and health are happening all over the nation, including formalized events. If you're able to attend one of the following conversations in Oregon then I highly suggest it---get involved and show your support.  Join the conversation!

This was sent to me by CHE-Oregon (Center for Health and the Environment's Oregon state chapter):

Community Conversations on Toxic Chemicals and Health

The Oregon Environmental Council, Oregon Toxics Alliance, and the Oregon Chapter of the Physician’s for Social Responsibility are teaming up to hold forums throughout the state to get public input about how toxic chemicals are affecting people’s health. The forums are part of a two-year project by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to strengthen the nation’s approach to protecting the public from chemical exposures in air, water, soil, and consumer products throughout the country.

Upcoming Community Conversations:

Eugene

Monday, June 7, 6:15-7:45 pm

Eugene Public Library Tykeson Room

Contact larkin@oregontoxics.org for more information

Hood River

Thursday, June 10, 5:00 pm-7:00 pm

Hood River County Museum

300 E. Port Marina Drive

Contact maye@oregonpsr.org for more information

Gresham

Sunday, June 13, 12:30-2:30

Gresham Library

Contact reneep@oeconline.org for more information

Astoria

Sunday, June 20, 5:30 - 7:00 pm

Blue Scorcher Bakery Café

1493 Duane Street, Astoria

Contact maye@oregonpsr.org for more information

For more information about the community conversations, go to:http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/nationalconversation/community_conversations.html

Increasing the Distance

After starting to run again in January, I finally decided today that it'd be a good idea to alter my running goals. My previous goal focused on running 3-5 times each week, primarily as a means to decrease and regulate my weight. The first several months were a definite struggle, but in the last month or so I've felt my body relax back into running. I'm able to now regulate my breathing and switch up my stride as needed in order to push myself farther and/or longer. Thus rather than just focus on getting myself out there in my running shoes, I'm going to now focus more on increasing my mileage. Initially these thoughts stemmed from a conversation I had with a woman in my neighborhood about two weeks back. She had stopped me in my backyard to ask about my running technique and how long I'd been at it, as she has been hoping to slide into an easier groove like the one I have reached.  It was incredibly nice to just chat with someone over a similar interest, and her questions influenced me to begin to think about how to increase my running distance.

However, as much as I want to increase distance, I also don't want to take the fun out of it all!  The hub and I had measured some neighborhood routes in January. Most of them that I have been running equate to 1.5 to 3 miles, with my most regular two running routes being about 1.5-2 miles. Although when I run on the treadmill (which may be more common during coming hot summer months) I'm averaging slightly over 3 miles (although I never think treadmill running is equal to nor as difficult as running terrain outside). However my apparent motivation with running appears to be the desire to achieve my goal, which up til now has just been 3-5 times a week (equal to 4.5-8 miles a week).  When I started to calculate how far I've run in six months.....well I was less than impressed.  I definitely have the capacity to go farther and push myself more (although probably not too far over an average run of 3-4 miles as even when I ran cross country that was a good day for me). Yet I usually choose not to do more because there's nothing motivating me to go the extra mile--literally! 

Interestingly side notes: I've discovered that I run much better without music & headphones and so for the last two months I have been running mainly just focusing on my breathing, my surroundings, and processing my thoughts from the days activities. Ironically, I also still run best in the middle of the afternoon---something that seems to be ingrained in me from high school practice times, which were always held directly after school. 

So my new goal will be for me to run 7-10 miles a week, in whatever form that entails. I figure this increases my range by about 2 miles on either side, which makes for a good push for the coming month or so until I see how it all pans out. I also recognize that I could choose to run at least twice a week at 3.5 miles or I could run 5 days in a week at 1.5 miles and still make it in my goal range for that week. I like that it still allows for flexibility, while pushing my competitive side to up the ante slightly. 

We'll see how it goes---but always good to readjust those goals!

Just One of Those Days

Do you ever have those days when regardless of how much you try, you just wake up annoyed with the world? Maybe you're annoyed with the injustice that exists, the prejudice, the lack of industrial regulation, the pissing matches politically, the current state of national and global affairs? Or maybe its on a more individual and personal level--you're annoyed with your inability to trust important individuals, you feel rushed, you feel that no one truly understands, or maybe you're wondering if somewhere you've lost pieces of yourself?

It's on these mornings that I always wake up with the old Monica song floating through my head (maybe it's a throwback to teenage angst?!) "Just one those days that a girl goes through, when she's merry inside...don't wanna take it out on you.." Or something along those lines...

So I have to admit, I've been hiding away in my office today. Definitely glad to be at work where I'm here to help others that might need it however....and that's just the ticket I realized.  Nothing makes me feel better at times than to help others.  So in an effort to cheer myself up, I'm making care packages--something I used to do on a routine basis, but got away from doing in order to save a buck..or two. But in reading a post over at the Simple-Green-Frugal Co-Op, I've realized to feel more at ease, I need to do more than to focus on myself.  This is the comment I posted in regards to Frugal Trenches great post "Somehow it surprises me that people would think that the simple life is only about the individual person's needs. While I definitely agree it can "simplify" to think only of oneself, I somehow thought that part of authentic, simple living was to get to the point where you're living generously. To me volunteering or giving of one's self is a greater reward--even if it's just the smallest thing. "Volunteering" to give someone a lift to the airport, sponsoring a scarf drive for homeless in winter, donating an afternoon at a carwash... I think I'm a much happier, simpler, and authentic person when I'm giving more freely of myself to others."

And so I'm putting my own comment...back into practice.  Hopefully it does the trick.