Bentos and Lunches To Go

While skimming my Google Reader on Friday, I came across a post on jesse.anne.o about bentos that piqued my interest. I used to be totally obsessed with Vegan Lunch Box and the fun looking food creations she came up with. Now I've got bento on the brain again.

Lucky for me, Jesse included links to the Vegetarian and Vegan Bento Flickr pools in her post. Look at all of this pretty, tasty goodness!

(source.)

(source.)

(source.)

I guess it's time to bust out my copies of Vegan Lunch Box Around the World and Cute Yummy Time (and maybe ask for Yum-Yum Bento Box for my upcoming birthday?!?).

Experiment 01: No Poo

Two weeks ago, I woke up and decided to start an experiment. I took the "no poo" plunge. "What is 'no poo'?", you ask. It's a movement to not use shampoo (or conditioner). A Re-Nest article on the subject stuck with me for months, so I decided to take the plunge. 

Why? 1. Shampoo is expensive. 2. (Traditional) Shampoo is not good for the planet. 3. Organic & natural shampoo is even more expensive. 4. My hair is insane & really fickle about hair products. 

For the record, the thought is to start the switch by "shampooing" with baking soda and "conditioning" with apple cider vinegar. Eventually, this is supposed to be needed less frequently (or not at all). I used 1 TBSP baking soda + 1 cup water for washing and 1 TBSP apple cider vinegar + 1 cup water for conditioning.

The first day, my hair looked (and felt) swell!

Third day was maybe a tad grimy, but all was well.

By this Thursday (almost two weeks in), my face had decided it was absolutely pro-poo, and had the oil slick and breakouts to prove it. Headband to the rescue!

And soon after that, I decided to give it up. There was not enough of a light at the end of the tunnel to justify permanent gross-face. And so, this morning, I washed my hair.

Overall, I'm glad I tried it. I think I could still alternate the baking soda/acv routine with normal shampoo. And I got Brian started on that routine already, which means less shampoo between us.

And it's gotten me into the experimental spirit. I've already got plans for experiments for the next two months. Stay tuned!

(Part of) Today Via Hipstamatic Disposable

Flashback Friday: My Old Friend's a New Mama!

(With my friend Missy at Halloween Horror Nights on, you guessed it, 10/30/98)

My, what dorks we were! 

I mean, I'm wearing a (partially glow-in-the-dark) Cheshire Cat shirt and you can't tell, but she's wearing my old Paul Frank monkey shirt. And what's up with the giant, long pants?! We're both short, but seriously. For real, neither of us could've broken 100 lb soaking wet at this point, but we look twice that big. (And RIP, Kongfrontation, as seen in the first picture.)

And 13 years and 12 days later, she's a mama! (And she's going to be a great one!)

Daily Animal Doodles - Day 1

I've been excited to see results of people's participation in Paper Sparrow's Daily Animal Doodles over the past few months, but it was never a good time for me to join. But now, November is here and although I know I will be tremendously busy, I think this is the perfect project to encourage sketch breaks. It will also hopefully get me back into my silly anthropomorphic doodling.

And so, I present to you, day one:




Let me know if you're participating!!!

Flashback Friday: Halloween

(1987ish)

(2006)

(2007)

(2008)

(2009)

(2010)

Flashback Friday: Middle School

I have finally started making progress on my pile(s) of pictures to scan. A lot of them are pretty old, and therefore, pretty ridiculous. As such, I thought it only fair to share.

I present to you two of the results of a photo shoot I did with my best friends in middle school. (I'm the one in the stylin' orange shirt.)Yes, we paid someone to make us look like this and record it for history's sake. And believe me, there are more, but these were separated out for some reason (probably because they're so fantastic). 

Feel free to keep these images in your head to think about in case your day gets rough, I know I will!