The Wonderful World of Wendy: November 2008

How talented are you?

*This* talented? Amazing to watch.

Get in the holiday spirit and Elf Yourself

It's A New Day

I've been catching up on my dvr'd shows from this week. On Friday the new song from will.i.am premiered on Oprah. This is the same artist who put the "Yes We Can" speech to music and video after the New Hampshire primary which you may have seen here on my blog, or on YouTube, or via email from a friend.

I think the best thing I have heard coming from people - other than the reminder that we ALL elected Barack - is that there is no longer an excuse to not achieve whatever you set your mind to. It's time for everyone to step up to the plate and contribute to this world. If you love animals, volunteer at your local animal shelter; if you like kids, volunteer to help with homework at a tutoring center (you can do this even if you don't *really* like kids that much, but feel they need good role models regardless --->Wendy). If you love spending time with your dog and your dog is calm around new people, check out your local animal shelter to see if they have a Pet Therapy program to visit convalescent homes or senior centers. If you like plants, volunteer to help with a salvage/restoration project in your community. If you are a community builder, start a group around something you care about using Meetup.com. These are all things I have done so far, and it certainly makes you an engaged person with the other human beings around you.

Enjoy this new piece of inspirational work from will.i.am! And if the video above is no longer available, CLICK HERE.

Are you ready to take the 100-mile Thanksgiving Challenge?

Turkey day is less than three weeks away. That still gives you plenty of time to learn how to green up your Thanksgiving dinner.

A couple years ago, TreeHugger ran a contest based on the 100-Mile Diet that challenged readers to create a Thanksgiving dinner using only locally sourced food found within 100 miles from their homes. The contest turned out to be a huge success, proving not only that eating local is possible, but also easy, fun, and affordable. Are you up to the challenge? Do like the pilgrims and Indians, and enjoy your local bounty. TreeHugger.com

TreeHugger has posted its green holiday guides.

If you would like a little help in meeting the 100-mile challenge in the Puget Sound area, I suggest you check out your local farmers market and PCC. And if you do not know where to find an open farmers market this time of year, Puget Sound Fresh publishes a "fresh sheet", and also gives you a list of farmers market locations. You can pledge to eat local this Thanksgiving on their web site.

I personally recommend calling your closest PCC if you want to have a chance at getting a local or heritage turkey. If you really want to cut corners, you can order a prepared holiday meal that you just finish off at home. I am not certain if all of the food in their meal package deals comes from within 100 miles, however. You may want to ask.

I hope you enjoy your green Thanksgiving preparation! You will discover that eating locally and sustainably is a lot easier than you thought.

Happy 3rd Blogoversary!

I can't believe I have been keeping this blog for three years. What that really means is I can not believe it has been almost three years since we went to Italy. I started my blog because my friend Kristine had such a high security level set on her Outlook that it automatically stripped attachments from incoming messages at the server level, so she was never able to view the photos I sent her. I wanted to find a way to be able to share my adventures with my friends, including Kris. Much like we did in 2004 when we drove across country with our teardrop trailer - altho on that trip we called and left a daily voicemail message summing up our two week road trip that our friends and family could call and listen to. I still have those outgoing messages set up and saved in my Accessline account. I should turn on those extensions and go and listen to them and re-live that experience, too. When we went to France in 2000 we had about three free web sites setup with all of the photos we had taken after we came home. I am not sure where they all are now, I am sure Steve has them on his machine somewhere since I don't have them on mine.

I re-read some of my posts starting from the very first one, and then some of the posts from when we arrived in Milan, and I have to say I am really glad to have this "diary" of my life to help me remember many of the things I have done. When we went to Italy and were hauling the laptop around, Steve was kind of sorry he had the 20 pounds of extra weight. But because we were carrying our own equipment we were able to travel-blog our trip, and when I read about it today, it makes me smile, and I can almost taste those pillowy puffs of cheese filled pasta (read "Trust in Strangers" from 12/23/05) and I actually can remember vividly how awfully tired I was that night. This photo is from Xmas Day 05 in Torino. I pretty much look the same, and am proud to say I am still wearing all the same clothes.

I've been keeping a second blog for a year and a half, I call it my "green" blog since it is more about green lifestyles and real estate. I actually blog there more than here now, since my life is so much about living green. But my pink blog is about my very personal life and I found it quite useful this last holiday season when I was preparing my printed newsletter - the 10th anniversary edition. When I realized the printed newsletter came straight from my blog, I announced that the 10th anniversary edition would probably be the last. You should have seen the hue and cry come from the older generation, who doesn't use the internet. I hate cutting them out, but there is a lot of time and expense that goes into "Now That's a Wrap" and it's not as satisfying to do an annual recap now that I can recap anytime I want on my blog! I guess it will depend if I am employed or not by Xmas. If I am unemployed I will have time but not the money to fund the mailing. If I am employed, I won't have the time to create the newsletter, but I would be able to afford to print and mail it!

Yes, I have finally fallen victim to our current economic crisis and am looking for corporate employment. Steve lost his job at the beginning of September but luckily he went back to work in mid-October, just before my income dried up. I am finding lots of opportunities out there, based on my broad background, but whether I can be "the one" or not remains to be seen. Check out my Job Fox Career Web Page. It even has a resume uploaded, and some other samples of work I have done.

So, Happy 3rd Blogoversary to me! It's been fun to go back and look at some of my old pictures and to remember the great trips my husband and I have been on.