Low Car Diet: 2 week update

As of today, we're halfway through the Low Car Diet. So how has it been going? Here's a break down:

Wednesday 7/15 - Launch of the diet. I took the bus to work early to set up for the event - it was a lovely morning, and I was amazed how easy it is to take the bus at 6 in the morning! That day I walked from SAM downtown to the Olympic Sculpture Park, back to Watermark Tower, back to OSP for a meeting, and downtown (again) to catch a bus to Bellevue. Whew! In Bellevue I met Fiance-with-the-mostest, and we got some dinner and saw Harry Potter. It was great, since Bellevue is on FWTM's way home from work, and we were able to carpool home after the movie.

Thursday 7/16 - I took the bus and walked to and from work. That evening I was packing for our trip to Hawaii (yay!). Unfortunately, I wasn't able to attend a very fun book club. Usually I carpool with friends, but those folks weren't attending. I thought about using a Zipcar, but I wouldn't be able to return it without a late night bus ride or keeping the car overnight. And I thought about using Dave's car when he got home, but that just didn't feel right with the diet. I decided it was a good lesson - that sometimes reducing your miles means choosing how many events you can handle - but it wasn't easy.

Friday 7/17 - Friday 7/24 - Maui! This week wasn't the most accurate test since I had a pre-planned vacation. FWTM and I joined my family for a wonderful and relaxing trip. While not the greenest, I did notice some sustainability choices associated with our trip. 1) We did use rental cars on the island, but had 2 cars for 10 people. 2) Dave and I were staying just down the beach from my family, and we walked back and forth about half a mile each way. 3) We did a great zipline course through a company working to be green. 4) Most of the time we stayed close to the hotels, limited our need for transportation. 5) We spent a lot of time enjoying the local flora and fauna. 6) We ate lots of locally grown foods.

Saturday 7/25 - We spent most of the day recovering from our trip. We did use FWTM's car for a trip to the Marymoor garden to water and to get food. It took us some time to readjust to life at home.

Sunday 7/26 - This was another day primarily spent relaxing and recovering. We didn't drive at all. We also tried the outdoor pool within walking distance for the first time, since I will need to use it during the challenge to continue my training for the Danskin triathlon. In the evening we walked to the Kirkland garden, and harvested some zucchini, lettuce, and peas.

Monday 7/27 - My first day back to work! I bused and walked in the morning, bused and walked to the library and a meeting downtown, and bused home. FWTM and I returned to the pool for a swim tonight. We decided to divide and conquer to get to the grocery store and the garden on foot before dark, which worked out great. We're lucky to have all these resources so close to home!

Tuesday 7/28 - A slow day. I bused and walked to and from work, and walked to the garden in the evening.

Wednesday 7/29 - So far I've done my normal commute to work (bus and walk). Iwalked to the downtown museum and back later today to stop by a colleague's baby shower. Tonight...well, I'm not so sure yet. I'm either going to soccer or to hang out with Fiance-with-the-mostest and his family. Given the temperature, I'm hoping for a game cancellation and option 2.

So far, I'm finding that my biggest limitation is stress. Here's something I've figured out about myself: I like to please people. I feel beyond horrible when people are upset with me, or I have to say I can't do something. I try to do everything, get stressed, have to say no to something, and then feel MORE stressed because I'm upset. Ugh.

How does this relate? Well, when I'm car-free and coordinating trips with FWTM, sometimes evening events are harder to get to. Take tonight. I can bus to soccer, but I have no idea how I'm going to get home. I can't think of any buses that run near there at that time, or at least not frequently. So, I could get a Zipcar, but I'd have to get it overnight (I'm still deciding). If I go hang out with Fiance-with-the-mostest, I will most likely hitch a ride with some of his family that will be carpooling over, and then ride home with FWTM. In any case, I have to PLAN these things. Normally I thrive on my detailed Google calendar (thinking color coding and syncing), but add in the stress factor...well, it's not pretty. My next "challenge" is obvious - find ways to manage stress, and my schedule, so they don't take away from the Low Car Diet.

We'll see how I do...

Garden = Yum

I love my garden. Having fresh produce is, well, cool! I mean, how could you not be excited about all this?


And that's just one harvest a couple of weeks ago. We can pick something almost every time we visit. The peas have been one of my favorites. It's so fun to eat a few fresh off the plant while watering the garden.


The broccoli is producing well, too. I'm not a big fan (though I like our better since we grew it), but Fiance-with-the-mostest is pleased. The side shoots - what grows after you cut the main stem - have been producing, too.


And more is on the way! Our tomatoes are growing, the potatoes have died back (that's what they are supposed to do), and the onions are flowering.




I do have some sad news to share. Our lavender plant has passed on. I actually dug it up, and the roots just never took after transplanting from the nursery pot. I'm not sure if it was me, or if it was always doomed. Rest in peace little lavender. We loved you.

Broccoli bouquet?

Yes, broccoli does flower. Remember when Fiance-with-the-mostest and I put some broccoli in water to see what would happen? The results were actually kind of pretty!


Who's up for a broccoli bouquet?

Mahalo, Hawaii

We're back from Maui after a wonderful, relaxing week. I'll be back to blogging soon, but until then, here are a few trip highlights:

We survived the road to Hana, and even climbed to the top of a waterfall. Woo hoo!

Along the way, we visited the Garden of Eden. It was paradise for the photographers in our group (including Fiance-with-the-mostest).

I still managed some nice shots, despite my non-fancy camera.

Near Hana, we saw a black sand beach with lava tubes. We weren't very good at obeying the warning signs, though.

See?

This is how FWTM spent most of his time...

On another day, we did a zipline course with my brothers in Ka'anapali. Last year we did the one at Haleakala, so we were ready to zip!

I really like Skyline Eco Adventures and their "active zipping" style. You are in a rock climbing harness, and at each line they clip you in, and you jump. On most zips you even control your direction, and you have to get your feet down for landing. Other companies on Maui use chairs - so not as fun (in my opinion).

Here I am in action! The views were amazing, and we were lucky to have some clouds for cooler conditions.

Here's the last zip - 1000 feet across and more than 20 seconds of time in crossing.

The video is kind of small, but here's the older (and bigger) of my little brothers on our final zip. Wait for it - first you'll hear the line, then see him as a small dot, and finally he'll land right next to where I'm filming.

Thank you, Hawaii. We had a great time!

Off to Hawaii

In just over 8 hours our plane will take off and we'll be on the way to Maui. Hoorah!

Here are some highlights of my last Hawaii trip:






I'm looking forward to the beach, pool, zipline, and just relaxing. And of course I'll be thinking about the Low Car Diet and how to lower the impact of our vacation. :)

More after the 24th...

Starting the Low Car Diet

Yes, that's right: car not carb.

Yesterday morning we hosted the launch of Zipcar's Low Car Diet Challenge at the downtown Seattle Art Museum next to the Hammering Man. Through the program, 30 participants are committing to live without their car for the next month, and instead will walk, bike, ride the bus, and use car sharing. I am one of the participants, and will be representin' for SAM.

The event was great - 20 of the 30 Seattle-area participants came out, and we heard from past participants, all ceremonially turned in our keys, and received an awesome goodie bag of SWAG. It was great to meet some of my fellow participants, and I can't wait to learn more about them as we all blog about our experiences.

Zipcar also brought out a couple of stylish cars, and now they have me excited about trying out fun options like the Mini Cooper convertible and some of the new hybrids. Why would I want to stick with my same old car when I can car share and keep trying something new?

So what are my goals for the challenge? For one, I hope to assess our ability to live as a one-car household. I haven't used my car more than a couple of times a week in a long time, and now that I've moved in with fiance-with-the-mostest, it seems silly to have my little Honda sitting on the street all the time. I already take the bus to work, we can walk to our garden, the grocery store, and many restaurants, and we carpool most evenings and weekends anyway. Now that I'm headed back to school and we're planning our wedding, having the extra money from selling my car would be nice.

I also see this as a next step in living sustainably. Being free of my car means one less car on the road, and it will give me the extra incentive to not use a car when it isn't really necessary. I feel like having a car naturally leads to laziness. If I have a car, I have a place to park it, and it means I can sleep for 5 more minutes if I drive, it's hard to break the cycle of car culture. Even when I combine trips, I still feel guilty when I have my car at the garden or grocery store that is 5 minutes from my house. Maybe I'm not using a lot more gas, but I am adding to congestion, not getting extra exercise, and not setting a good example.

But, it's not going to be easy. 95% of the time it won't be an issue, but those other 5%...

What I've realized, though, is that I just need to do my best. Like any other diet, it has to be sustainable. I want to approach this challenge from the perspective of how we would manage transportation without my car. That means recognizing that I will still ride in a car sometimes, and this is the "low" car diet rather than "no" car diet (I don't think I'm ready for that one yet).

So, wish me luck!

Education

I. Am. So. Tired.

It's a busy week, to say the least. There are a lot of really wonderful things happening (like the bachelorette party and wedding of one of my best friends), and things that are frustrating (getting a sore throat).

Next week you will start hearing about my newest adventure: Zipcar's Low Car Diet. But, given my tiredness, I've been struggling for blog ideas.

So, I thought I'd tell you more about my pending reintroduction to the world of academia (AKA graduate school). At the end of September, I will begin the Master's in Education program at the University of Washington, in the area of Curriculum and Instruction.

So how did I get here? Just a touch over 4 years ago I graduated from UW with a B.A. in Environmental Studies and a B.S. in Biology. Outside of classes, I was co-president of the Earth Club (planning Earth Week events on campus), worked on several undergraduate research projects (including studying oyster restoration ecology - yes, I'm serious), trained as a Beach Naturalist (I'm such a nerd), and volunteered and worked in a number of other capacities. I learned a lot about myself and what I liked (and didn't like) to do.

After a couple of brief stints after graduation, I started working at our local science museum. I LOVED it. Everyone else liked science. It was like nerd heaven! It was so easy to make friends, feel included, and pass an 8 hour work day! But, I'm ambitious. I wanted to advance, get benefits, and be a leader. So, I started splitting my time to teach environmental education. If I thought I was in love before, this time I was hit hard. I regularly doubted myself as a teacher, but working with kids was incredibly rewarding. I'd come home singing camp songs, exhilarated and covered in dirt. What more could you want in life? But, alas, I still needed a job with benefits, and was about to be kicked off my dad's. Note: I almost cried when I recently went to see the newly expanded and LEED-certified nature center. It's amazing.

For the past two years I've been in my current position, working on environmental programs for the art museum. I'm still amazed that I got this job. How could they have looked at me and thought I could do this? But, I learned. I asked questions. I shared ideas. I worked hard. Sometimes I forget just how much we've done (and how much I've grown). It's hard to express how grateful I am to my boss and this museum for taking a chance on me.

Why go back to school then? I love to learn, and I care about helping others to learn (especially about the environment). I'm a very academic person - in that sense, I could probably start down the path to most any career I wanted. I don't mean that to brag at all, my friends will tell you I'm sufficiently clueless about other aspects of life to make up for my book smarts. But Education is one of the most challenging fields I have ever experienced. As a teacher, I always want to do better and give more. I have a love-hate relationship with challenge.

Long term, I hope that I will work at an environmental education center again, be a leader to informal educators, develop curriculum, help build partnership between information education institutions and schools, and even mix in some green event planning and sustainability consulting (those are all about education, too). I admit it, I get bored easily. I thrive on change and building new things. For me, teaching feels that way.

It's kind of crazy how many changes I'm experiencing this year: moves, grad school, engagement. I don't love the transitions (I thrive on routine), but I do know that I wouldn't have it any other way. It's amazing to think about where life will be in a year!

From the garden with love

Happy Fourth of July! A story about our own "Victory Garden" seems like a lovely tribute.

Yesterday we had an awesome harvest of produce from the garden to share with my family for a holiday meal.

Basil! My goodness this stuff is expensive at the store, and relatively easily to grow. We decided to pick a good number of leaves, and try out our new food processor (yay!) by making pesto. Not only was it remarkably easy, the resulting pesto pasta was DELICIOUS. We used this pesto recipe, this time with pine nuts. Next time we might try walnuts. We combined the pesto and penne pasta with some added sauteed onion, zucchini, and garlic (since, as you'll see, we need to use zucchini in everything).

Yesterday was also our first harvest of snow peas and sugar snap peas. We grew up these plants from seed, and now the vines, supporting themselves on twine to grow upwards, are as tall as me. It was remarkable to me how quickly they went from seeds in the grown to producing bushes, and the results were delectable. We shared with my family, and dipped in a little ranch.

Our broccoli is a bit less successful. Broccoli is a cool season plant, and this hot weather and drought has been a bit too much. They seem to be flowering prematurely. The florets pictured above are on the verge of opening into yellow flowers, and we felt this head was too far gone. So, it's being employed as a centerpiece/science experiment. But, we did pick some properly mature, if small, heads. We've read that after the first harvest, broccoli will produce smaller side florets, so we're leaving them to see what happens. And we still have many more plants still to flower, so there will be no shortage of broccoli in this household. While I'm not a huge broccoli fan, I have to say that ours is far superior to the stuff I've had in your run of the mill veggie tray.

I can't claim to have grow these lilies from bulbs - I bought a mature plant because our flower bed looked sad - but my calla lilies and Renior lilies are growing. I think 2 of my package of California poppy seeds is germinating as well - apparently they have a low germination rate. Sadly, my lovely lavender plant is looking very sad right now. We suspect it may have a parasite - the joys of garden center plant purchases.

But the real news: we have an abundance of zucchini. I gave the first to my dad and stepmom when they visited earlier in the week. Fiance-with-the-mostest is proudly showcasing the second club-like weapon zucchini from our garden. Many more are on the way, in both green and yellow varieties. We're a little fearful of the sheer volume of zucchini we may be consuming. When I was little, my parents used to tease me about my picky eating and consumption of approximately 3 kinds of food (waffles, grilled cheese sandwiches, and the breading off of McDonald's Happy Meal chicken nuggets) and say that I was "going to turn into" my food of choice. I hope life as a zucchini will treat me well.

David the Gnome is also impressed with our harvest. Beyond an amusing photo-op, we plan to create plenty of zucchini stir frys and pastas, zucchini bread (we'll be taking some to Sustainable Kirkland on Thursday), and zucchini cupcake. Yes, that's right: ZUCCHINI CUPCAKES. I am totally excited about this. Here's a recipe involving peanut butter frosting - how could that not be good?

Did I mention that I plan to force zucchini on everyone I know? Those who invite us over, be warned. And my co-workers, well I just don't see how they can escape. Mwa-ha-ha.

Back from kayaking

It was amazing! We saw so many orcas, and at close range. I have strained my wrist and can't type very well, but it was worth it.

So, for now, enjoy some photo highlights:

And believe me, my co-paddlers got better orca pics! More to come...