May 2008 Archives

These happy-making annuals are headed to my garden.

In continuation of my effort to re-brand Fridays as Small Good Things Recognition Day, here are some small goodnesses from this week.

Jamie commented last week that her one of her small, great joys is sitting outside reading a book. Hooray to that! And now that it's spring, the weather is perfect.

MizFit, who I just found out is buying me a Luminous Virtual Window for my windowless office -- ahem -- wrote to say that her dog's chiclet-looking hilarious teeth (MizFit, will you send a picture? Pretty please?!) and her daughter's tiny hands as they complete a task both make her happy. Indeed, isn't watching a child navigate the world anew such a brilliant and wonderful thing! And don't get me started on canine-generated happinesses. We'll be here all day. Here a few other small happinesses for this Friday:

1. The impending holiday weekend -- The Sundays in long weekends are primo days: you get Saturday to unwind and Monday to recover. Sunday is just full-throttle relaxation. Hooray!

2. Lilacs in bloom -- Oh, the sweet smell and gentle colors. It's goodness on branches.

3. The sense of national unity engendered by American Idol -- Culturally and politically, we're a pretty divided country. But we all admire David Cook's voice and want to pinch David Archuleta's cheeks. I say hooray to anything that can bring about national consensus (albeit pop cultural).

4. Caffeine -- Bless you, caffeine. You have gotten me through another week.

5. Bight colored annuals -- Spring has sprung! If a small, good thing knocks on your door this week, let me know. Happy Memorial Day, everyone!

I was wheeling around Target last night loading up on dental floss and water filters when I was seduced (per the usual) by this season's Go International designer line, Rogan Gregory for Target (read about some the shopping mania that happened when the collection first hit shelves here).

I grabbed a few shirts and a dress, tried them on, fell in love, begged the better half to let me allot some funds to the "necessary development of my work wardrobe" (ha ha), and then promptly tried them all on again in front of the mirror at home. It was then, as I was simultaneously cutting off the tags, that I read the labels and realized the clothes were all made from 100% organic cotton! Holy crap! I'd just bought reasonably-priced organic clothes that had been so mainstreamed -- that were just so much a part of the store vernacular -- that I didn't even know they were organic until I got home. How cool is that?!

And did I mention how well-designed the line is? If you're not already at Target (because, let's face it, who isn't there most of the time anyway?), get thee to your nearest outlet and savor the democratization of organic attire!

My recent Target trip also led to the discovery that they're carrying one of my favorite, all-natural body care product lines, Weleda. I can't say enough about Weleda's products -- from how yummy they smell, to how wonderful they feel, to how pristine and ecologically-sound their ingredients are. Learn more about Weleda, and read a comprehensive and detailed list of their all-natural ingredients at their website. Or, next time you're grabbing toilet paper at the Targ, go nuts with the Weleda testers. You'll be in an all-natural sensory heaven.

I also -- happily -- spied Dr. Bronner's on the Target shelves. Those of you who are familiar with "Dr. Bronner's Magic All-One Soap" already know that this soap is the best thing going. Not only is it all-natural, ecological, pure-Castile (which simply means that it's vegetable oil-based as opposed to animal fat-based) soap that you can use to do everything from wash the dishes to scour the bath tub to brush your teeth, it's also now certified USDA organic (all the liquid and bar soaps are at least).

Best of all, though, is Dr. Bronner's package labeling which, in the densest type ever put on a bottle of soap, urges us, in so, so, so, so, sooooo many words to, ahem, "realize our transcendent unity across religious and ethnic divides." It's awesome and, if reading it doesn't make you feel instantly, transcendently unified, it will make you giggle. And give you cataracts.

I'm not in the habit of promoting consumption, BUT I'm all for the democratization of high-quality, authentically natural products becoming more mainstream. Props to Target for bringing more good, healthy stuff our way!

Dolly brings happiness wherever she goes.

Some psychologists have hypothesized that we're often so busy looking for the "big" happiness in our lives (you know, that abiding feeling of contentment, success, fulfillment and security that will make everything okay forever but which never arrives? Yeah, that one.), that we miss all the little happinesses that accrue every day, and, in the process, further erode our chances of feeling happy. Nasty cycle.

So I think Fridays should be Small Happiness Appreciation Day, when we list out and celebrate the small, good things that brighten our lives beneath the radar. I'll start.

1. Burt's Bees Lip Gloss (color: cocoa) -- It's shiny and dewy and all-natural. Plus, it's cheap and whenever I put it on I feel like a movie star. (Pretend you don't know that Burt's Bees is now owned by Clorox.)

2. Cedar Summit Chocolate Milk drunk straight from the bottle -- This incomparable chocolate milk comes in an old-fashioned glass bottle. Every time I take a big swig from the bottle, I am filled with pure, kid-like joy. (Also, if you drink Cedar Summit before bed, you will dream the primary-colored, Golden-Retriever-filled dreams of a third-grader all night long.)

3. Chai -- Chai tea manages to simultaneously taste like your rural country home, Nepal, and Thanksgiving. I like mine spicier and earthier than most commercial brands (too sweet for me). If you do too, you should try Mischief Maker Chai. A mug of Mischief Maker warms the soul.

4. Comedy that makes comedians laugh -- I love watching professional comedians crack up. These are comedy pros, and when something amuses them, it doubly amuses me. Watch Ellen Degeneres bust up while she talks to Gladys from Texas (if you're pressed for time, just go to minute 2:20 and watch for 30 seconds).

5. Dog lips -- Enough said.

 


6. Dogs with pirate casts -- Ditto.

 



7. Tulips -- They mean spring. And spring means warmer weather and sun. And sun means I feel human again.

 

Photo taken this morning in my very own garden!

8. Watching Halvo do those crazy pull-ups with the extra weights -- I'm not so much jealous as I am in awe. The human body can do this? Wow. And, again: Wow.

9. Dolly Parton -- Dolly Parton is an angel sent from heaven. Burn a CD of some of her greatest hits today and listen to it on your commute home. When you get to Eagle When She Flies, crank the volume, roll down the windows and sing along. I challenge you not to cry (the good kind of cry) by the end of the song. Put song on repeat until you're parked in your driveway. What small good things make you happy on a Friday? I'm going to gather ideas for next Friday's post

Prince Fielder slugs it out in the land of bratwurst. I’m talented at a good many things, but I’ve only truly mastered one particular skill: resistance. I resist change. I resist exercise. I resist giving up chocolate milk and cookies (you can read more about my lingering bad habits here). I resist following my creative impulses, and going to bed earlier, and getting up earlier, and giving up spending so much money on ornate garden trellises (don’t ask). So when I read that Prince Fielder, the 265-pound first baseman for the Milwaukee Brewers, overcame his resistance to change and became a vegetarian (he’s the first “out vegetarian” in baseball), I was impressed and inspired. Here’s a guy deeply immersed in sports culture, playing baseball in the state where bratwurst was born, saying no to meat. The article I spotted, “"Meat is Out at Fielder's Plate,” was all about the resistance he’s now encountering from tailgating fans, who started shouting gems like “C’mon Prince, eat some brats — sauté them in a little Miller Lite!” at games. Fielder is fighting whatever internal resistance he may have had plus the wild-eyed resistance of hundreds of thousands of hardcore fans. Steven Pressfield, the author of The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles, says that, more or less, the way to win the battle with resistance is to show up for it — every day. Say you finally want to write that novel: Then everyday at a certain time, you pull up a chair and just start writing. It doesn’t have to be good or even coherent. It doesn’t matter if you’re idealess that morning, or sick, or hungover, or it’s the first day of Macy’s White Sale, or your mother-in-law is coming over later and you’re so filled with dread that you “just can't do it.” You sit down and write something anyway, crap or not. And that, says Pressfield, is how it gets done. In short, overcoming resistance takes presence and perseverance. And if we’re lucky enough to be able to persevere and overcome resistance without mobs of people shouting, “Beer brats are the breakfast of champions!” so much the easier. I'm currently working on trying to go to bed a bit earlier and wake up earlier. I'm proud to report that this morning I was out of bed 15 minutes earlier than usual! Sure, it was because my one of my dogs threw up and I was on cleaning duty, but I'm still taking credit. PS: Fielder became a vegetarian after reading about the inhumane treatment of chicken and cattle and getting, in his words, "totally grossed out." That's what happened to me nearly a decade ago when I gave up meat. But now my reasons have expanded to include the environment. The production of meat requires a huge number of resources and energy, and it involves intensive and unsustainable agricultural practices that promote monoculture crops. According to 2006 United Nations report, meat production is considered one of the largest contributors to environmental degradation worldwide. So if you were looking for one more good reason for giving up meat, now you can add "saving the world" to your list.