Our soon-to-be NEIGHBOR's birthday bash!

*See two posts below for what we did to the house during the recent snow storm.*
Here is the birthday girl, and she just bought a house in Baltimore too!
J & I had only a lil bit o'fun during the birthday surprise...

Good Green News- Go Aussies

Aussies are setting the pace...Will the rest of the globe keep up?

How Green Can Our House Be?

That's our challenge to each other...

When we decided to purchase a home together, A & I furthered our study of sustainability and green living while striving to continue living an organic and conscious lifestyle. Our new house is/will be completely organic, furnished with all recycled materials/products (which we will build and purchase), lots of healthy light, full of philodendrons and other productive plants (thoughts now of a living wall in the living room), and we are saving for solar panels as we recycle the enormous amounts of trash that pile up next to our back fence. Also, as we continue to learn and challenge each other, we are garnering a large amount of eco-knowledge, plus a deep love with our house and this exciting new stage of the life we gleefully decided to share.

Here is an update:

As we first settled in:


Mom gave us an Amaryllis and it loved the new pad immediately:




The kitchen mess at first:


Recent purchase from a nearby antique store:


A's tofu-love celebrating one of our first nights, YUM!:








The basement, as it stands now:




Painting began when we were mired by the recent ice/snow storm (we ended up with 6 days off from school):










We're almost there:






The finished product:










Questions, comments, concerns (my should-be copyrighted teaching probe) about our work so far?

Talent does come in many forms...Thanks Liz!

Fantastic hands, eh?! This artist deserves mad props. Imagine the hours and patience this artist must possess. Luckily for the world, he photographs his work for posterity. In my opinion, the eyes of the animals show his rare talent. Click on any photo below for a larger, more detailed view!

Bliss on a brutal morn

This morning we were greeted with a horrid sign, "7:00 MARC Local-----CANCELLED"
Ok, no stress, we are world-travel-savvy and able to persevere-- or so we thought. We ended up taking the 7:15 EXPRESS MARC with about ONE MILLION other people, landing us at Union Station and then 20 minutes late for school. I lost my love aboard the Red Line, but we were reunited on the Orange Line. Whew!

Commuters are great people. This morning as my face aligned with this friendly woman's crotch, a man's shoulder and another woman's sleepy eyes, I noticed how pleasant everyone can be when stress strikes. We commuters quickly form an alliance against all conductors when our schedule is rudely interrupted. Poor conductors. But sarcastic, thus sane, commuters are a blast first thing in the morning.

Deepish Thought: Women commuters all carry at least two bags (I have data to prove this, yet I am the exception.), and men carry only one large bag. Why is this? Are woman just destined to carry more of the load, regardless of what the load may be? Or, do women need/want more things to get them through a day? This was this morning's deep question...

Other deep thoughts lingering from last night:

The Wire is the greatest show EVER! produced and should be mandatory viewing for all citizens of the USofA.

Owning a house makes us feel like we are trapped in a virtual game of "house" all the time. (And, we so do like playing house!)

I have a good gym partner now who assists my struggle of staying fit and warm at the same time.

Utterly Impressive!

Look what high schoolers can do when they care. This act embodies why I am a teacher!
Don't forget to pay attention!