Vida

Last weekend Mike, my boyfriend, and I made a short trip to Milwaukee the land of German vibes and breweries (this is based on a day and a half there...) I've been to Milwaukee for a few days before, but it was always work related so I haven't had much time to walk around the town and soak up the vibes. Mike & I got there just in time for the Cardinals/Brewers game Saturday evening.  We made a quick stop at the spy bar/restaurant, which Mike was really into and had our first (of many) Spotted Cows and then headed over to a bar caddy corner from our hotel to take a free shuttle to the game.  (Highly recommend that if you're going to a game!) Miller Park was no Busch Stadium (sorry Brewers fans), but everyone was very nice and we were very grateful for the roof! we approved of the creative logo Saturday night we just hung out at a low key bar with lots of Cards fans (and bachelorette parties) and a live band.  The bar food was good too.  No complaints here.

Saturday night, the Cardinals played the Brewers in Milwaukee and our ace, Adam Wainwright, was pitching.  We fondly refer to him as Waino.  In the fourth inning he came up to bat and limped up the first base line. Trainers ran out. Our manager ran out. Waino walked himself off the field. He didn't come back to pitch the next weekend, but I completely believed he was okay and they were just keeping him off as a precaution because he walked off the field unassisted. He fooled me. He tore his achillies tendon and is out for the rest of the season.  Needless to say this is going to change our team completely. Boo. we're smiling because we were fooled

I think we should make reuse, reuse, reuse our theme for Earth Day 2015. We always preach “reduce, reuse, recycle” in that order for a reason—how would you suggest we address the importance of closing the supply-demand cycle by purchasing goods with recycled content?   As I say in my book, recycling is only marginally better than tossing stuff in the landfill. After all, recycling paper and aluminum, to name just two items, still requires vast amounts of energy and water. Likewise, nothing is 100% recyclable. Most plastics can only go through the process once or twice; paper five or six times. As for metals, they can be recycled endlessly, but there’s always some lost in the process. So nobody—especially an environmentalist—should feel as if they’ve somehow done the environment a big favor by tossing something into a blue bin. If you really want to do the Earth a favor, reduce your consumption. That’s a hard ask, of course. I don’t want to do it, either. So what’s the solution?

As summer (slowly) approaches, it's time to talk about the current state of the bike path.  Messy. At Fullerton , it sounds like it will be better in the end, but they started ripping things up and blocking things off in the fall.  From my peeks through the fencing it seems they've made very little progress.  Once summer hits, it's going to be a disaster.  I can honestly only imagine at this point. Completion date:  summer 2016 ugh At Ohio, they've also had the main path blocked off for the flyover bridge since last spring.  They did reopen a portion of it a couple months ago, but it's still pretty bad (and a bit unsafe).  This will be a disaster...again.  Maybe it won't be as bad as summer 2014...? Completion date:  2018 We can only hope for the best, but I imagine I will be taking streets on my commute home a lot this summer... I really hope they have a plan for the summer crowds...

Last weekend I was able to spend some time with my family visiting my brother, Jeff, and his family in Savannah, GA. I love spending time with my family and trying to keep up with Jeff's kids.  Saturday alone we roller skated, rode bikes, played in the tree house, bowled, went for a walk around the pond in their neighborhood, went to a playground, and had a birthday party.  And that's just thinking off the top of my head.  No joke.  They definitely keep you busy. Friday night Jeff & my sister-in-law, Greta, stayed up until 2 a.m. working on my niece's birthday cake and the next morning my niece woke them up at 5 a.m.  (Yes, feel free to do the math.)  They took shifts staying up with her until a normal hour. Saturday night we made our way to bed around midnight and I came downstairs for my run at 6 a.m. expecting not to see anyone.  There's Jeff already feeding my niece at the table. Me:  Oh, hey!  I wasn't expecting anyone else to be up. Jeff:  Yep, ou