RSSCategory: Home

Five Unorthodox Reasons Why You Should Grow Some Your Own Food (A Little…or a Lot)

Five Unorthodox Reasons Why You Should Grow Some Your Own Food (A Little…or a Lot)

| June 23, 2015 | 5 Comments

In no particular order: When you grow your own stuff, you can tell Monsanto to shove it. In September of 2014, GMO giant Syngenta Crop Protection LLC asked the US Environmental Protection Agency to increase the legal tolerance for neonicotinoid pesticides on crops. Neonicotinoids, as you may have read, are now widely regarded as the […]

Continue Reading

Happiness and Hedonism: Nudging Yourself Toward a Happy Life

Happiness and Hedonism: Nudging Yourself Toward a Happy Life

| April 15, 2015 | 10 Comments

People ask me why I write about what I write about.  At least one person in my life gives me a hard time for “glorifying hedonism,” as though I’m advocating for naked drunken reveling with the Rockettes in a posh Gold Coast mansion (not that there’s anything wrong with that). I wonder about it sometimes.  […]

Continue Reading

One Simple Thing: Replace Your Nasty-Ass Spray Cleaner Today

One Simple Thing: Replace Your Nasty-Ass Spray Cleaner Today

| April 2, 2015 | 0 Comments

Time: 1 minute, or a trip to the store. Cost: $0.50 – $4.00. Benefits: Health, Money, Pollution I grew up fascinated with the women with perfect hair and nails on television, spraying the latest miracle cleaner on countertops, sinks, the mailman, etc.  Look!  You just spray it on, wipe it off, and all of those […]

Continue Reading

The Garden in Winter: Five Things Gardeners Can Do to Beat the Winter Blues

The Garden in Winter: Five Things Gardeners Can Do to Beat the Winter Blues

| February 2, 2014 | 2 Comments

Confession time: At the height of the harvest in early September, I am praying for the peace and quiet of February.  My kitchen counters are groaning with produce that needs to be chopped, blanched, canned, frozen, dried.  There’s not much room for anything else, to be honest, and so it sometimes sneaks out into other […]

Continue Reading

Friday Freedonist: Combining 5 Luxurious Home-Made Indulgences for a Personal Spa Day

Friday Freedonist: Combining 5 Luxurious Home-Made Indulgences for a Personal Spa Day

| January 18, 2014 | 1 Comment

It’s been a hard week, or to put a more positive spin on things, I should say an industrious week.  Work days that stretched into the evening hours, long workouts to try to start shedding some holiday weight, and too little time left over to just sit and take a deep breath. So I thought […]

Continue Reading

Ten Reasons Why I Hate Cheap Plastic Crap, and Why You Should Too

Ten Reasons Why I Hate Cheap Plastic Crap, and Why You Should Too

| January 7, 2014 | 16 Comments

Actually, I’m kinda proud of myself. I managed to get through the entire Christmas buying orgy without saying anything about this, but the holidays are spent and so is my restraint.  Apologies in advance to anyone who may have a fondness for cheap plastic crap, or who is employed by or dependent on the cheap […]

Continue Reading

Looking Forward to 2014: Five Things to Do Differently Next Year (to have more fun, live even better, and do more good)

Looking Forward to 2014: Five Things to Do Differently Next Year (to have more fun, live even better, and do more good)

| December 29, 2013 | 5 Comments

I don’t generally make New Years resolutions, and fear not, I am not going to start today.  But the end of the year usually finds me gnawing on a straw in a coffee shop somewhere, staring off into space and mulling over what I may want to change up in the coming year.  (Yep, it’s […]

Continue Reading

The Grocery Store Puzzle: Local, Organic, Cruelty-Free, Non-GMO…Who Has Time for This?

The Grocery Store Puzzle: Local, Organic, Cruelty-Free, Non-GMO…Who Has Time for This?

| November 1, 2013 | 3 Comments

I will, from time to time, stop into Costco to buy a few things.   99% of what they sell are things we will never eat, most in the processed food aisles.  But they also sell great things like organic olive oil in huge quantities, healthy meat and seafood, and organic frozen produce.  So on a […]

Continue Reading

Reading This Right Now: Zero Waste Home

Reading This Right Now: Zero Waste Home

| August 15, 2013 | 0 Comments

Zero Waste Home: The Ultimate Guide to Simplifying Your Life by Reducing Your Waste  (Scribner, 2013) by Bea Johnson Everybody has their little fetishes when it comes to the media they consume.  Today I’m officially coming out as a sort of lifestyle design addict.  From Tim Ferriss to Zen Habits to Mr. Money Moustache to […]

Continue Reading

What’s the Ultimate Daily Pleasure?   (Part 2)

What’s the Ultimate Daily Pleasure? (Part 2)

| November 6, 2012 | 5 Comments

Five Ways I Begged, Borrowed, and Bought More Time Yesterday I talked about the one shining thing that tops the charts for me in terms of luxury, hedonism, and selfish pleasure: Time. Today, a little about how I recrafted my life to have more of it to enjoy, and some thoughts on how you can […]

Continue Reading