Kayleighcology

Post-christmas recycling

2011-01-05T10:46:00.002-05:00

New year, new resolutions... new chance to pretend I'll keep up with blogging!

I just wanted to point out to all my favorite peeps that post-Christmas and into the new year is ALSO a great time to recycle some of your old electronics! Even in crazy places, like Cumberland, where recycling is hard to find, electronics can be donated to thrift stores like Goodwill or Salvo-- or, if they're not really usable anymore, you can recycle them at Best Buy -- check out their site to see just what they can and cannot take. And especially note that *they take old gift cards!!!*

Earth 911 has a ton of other suggestions for what to do with your other outdated possessions!

Hurray!

The cutest organic food!

2010-06-29T11:12:00.006-04:00

You've (hopefully) heard of the Dirty Dozen, the 12 fruits and veggies that use the most pesticides, and should, for that reason, be bought organic. That way, it's good for you and good for the Earth! Check out the most adorable cheat sheet here or here. It also includes some of the lowest pesticide foods. So, when buying produce, you can make sure to get the dirty dozen organic, and not worry as much about the low pesticide ones. Cheers!

Still Blogging!

2010-06-02T14:38:00.003-04:00

Hey all!
No need to fear-- I haven't slumped completely in the blogging department-- yet. Instead, I've gotten addicted to GENEALOGY. This is Nicki's fault. AND IT IS AWESOME. MANY more updates to come on this front!

In other news, I'm off to my first professional conference, ASLO/NABS, in Santa Fe, NM. Again, many pictures and stories to come :)

Needless to say, life is awesome!

Pet safety

2010-05-20T07:29:00.004-04:00

If you have pets, you should definitely consider ordering a free pet safety pack from the ASPCA, which is an awesome organization. The safety pack contains a magnet with the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Management hotline and, most importantly, a sticker to put on your window that tells emergency personnel how many animals you have.

Drain Cleaning Solution

2010-05-18T18:32:00.002-04:00

From my friend and fellow eco-warrior, Viki-- an eco-friendly drain cleaner and her review of it:

Drain Cleaner

1/2 cup vinegar
1 cup baking soda
2 cups boiling water

Shake 1/2 cup baking soda into drain (make sure it actually goes down the drain, and doesn't just sit at the top). Follow with 1 cup vinegar. Wait 15 minutes. Pour 2 cups boiling water. Repeat as needed.

This worked very well in the kitchen & bathroom, and failed miserably in the extremely clogged bathtub drain. However, the bathtub has been an ongoing problem. We tried a professional strength chemical drain cleaner a couple months ago. It worked slightly better for slightly longer. For heavy clogs, a more physical approach (like snaking or plunging) is probably needed before pouring anything down the drain...

Overall, I would rate this as a very effective way to prevent plumbing problems, and plan on doing this monthly (or as needed) in other drains. The slight advantage of chemical drain cleaners definitely doesn't outweigh their cost & enviro impact.

Thanks to the Vikster!

Way to check your Facebook Privacy levels

2010-05-18T13:13:00.004-04:00

With all the insanity over at facebook and their complete disregard for the privacy of their users, a way to quickly check all your privacy settings (provided, of course, by someone completely unaffiliated with facebook) would be lovely. Check it: ReclaimPrivacy.org . Easy as. Take good care of your internet safety, y'all.

Good Reads

2010-05-17T17:52:00.005-04:00

Hey all,
Everyone should go join up at Good Reads, because we can be BOOK friends forever! And you can keep a fantastic record of all the books you read (and plan to read), write reviews of them, record quotes, and take a semi-addictive book quiz! Check out the neat new widget over on the right hand side of the my blog to see what I'm reading right now!
Go forth and conquer!

Green cleaning!

2010-05-16T20:58:00.005-04:00

I realized I never uploaded my awesome green cleaning extravaganza recipes! The main reason for that was that a kit containing everything needed for this kit was one of my wedding presents to my best friend, Viki, and one of my birthday / starting college presents to my little sister, Marlie.

In case you're interested, each kit consisted of a home depot bucket containing:

Baking Soda
Washing Soda
3 Spray Bottles
White Distilled Vinegar
Cloths (I used the ones from Trader Joe's)
Liquid Soap (I used Dr. Bronner's)
Tea Tree Oil

Without further ado, here are the "recipes" for cleaning your house eco-style:

General Cleaners

Simple Cleaner
Sprinkle baking soda on a damp sponge or cloth and use as a gentle non-abrasive cleanser for kitchen counter tops, sinks, bathtubs, ovens, and fiberglass.

Creamy Soft Scrubber
Pour ½ cup of baking soda into a bowl, and add enough liquid soap to make a texture like frosting. You can also add in the juice of half a lemon for some extra cleaning power. Scoop the mixture onto a sponge, and wash the surface. This is the perfect recipe for cleaning the bathtub because it rinses easily and doesn’t leave grit. Note: Add 1 teaspoon of vegetable glycerin to the mixture and store in a sealed glass jar, to keep the product moist. Otherwise just make as much as you need at a time.

All-Purpose Spray Cleaner
Combine ½ teaspoon washing soda, a dab of liquid soap, and 2 cups hot tap water in a spray bottle and shake until the washing soda has dissolved. Apply and wipe off with a sponge or rag.

Vinegar Dissolver
Vinegar can also be used to dissolve calcium build-up in coffee pots and dishwaters and generally cut through grease and soap scum.

Window Cleaner
Put ¼ - ½ teaspoon liquid soap, 3 tablespoons vinegar, and 2 cups water into a spray bottle, shake it, and use as you would a commercial brand. Wipe clean with newspaper or a 100% cotton cloth. The soap in this cuts the wax residue from the commercial brands you might have used in the past. You can eliminate the soap after a few washings.

Cigarette Smoke Eliminator
To get rid of the smell of cigarette smoke, mix one-part vodka to three parts water, spray and let dry.

Kitchen Cleaners
Cutting Board Cleaner
Fill a spray bottle with vinegar and use to clean cutting board. The smell dissipates within a few hours. You can also rub with a lemon.

Lightly Lavender Antibacterial Spray
Pour 1 cup water into a spray bottle and add 20 drops of essential oil of lavender; shake to blend. Spray on the surface and let set for at least 15 minutes, or don’t rinse at all.

Quick Oven Cleaner
The best tip is to not wait to clean your oven when it gets dirty. An old stain is harder to clean. To clean oven stains naturally, sprinkle table salt liberally on the hot spill before your oven cools down. Allow the oven to cool. Grab a damp cloth and rub off the spill.

Oven Cleaner
Sprinkle water generously over the bottom of the oven, then cover the grime with enough baking soda that the surface is totally white. Sprinkle some more water over the top. Let the mixture set overnight. You can easily wipe up the grease the next morning, because the grime will have loosened. When you have cleaned up the worst of the mess, dab a bit of liquid soap on a sponge, and wash the remaining residue from the oven. Steel wool also works to add a little extra elbow grease where needed.

Stovetop Cleaner
Add a few squirts of liquid Castile soap to 2 cups hot water. Apply to the stovetop, the burners, and the vent hood to cut through accumulated grease.

Plastic Dish-Washing
To bleach stains from tomato soup and other acidic foods on dishwasher-safe items, rub lemon juice on the spots, let dry in a sunny place, then wash as usual.

Garbage Pail Clean-Up
Sprinkle borax in bottom of garbage pails to fights mold and bacteria.

Dishwasher
If the machine smells, sprinkle borax in the bottom, let it sit overnight, then wipe down with a damp sponge. No need to rinse; just run the next load.

Pots and pans
Rub borax into cookware with a damp sponge; rinse well.

Stove burner grates
In a dishpan, soak them in 1 gallon warm water and 1/2 cup washing soda for 30 minutes. Rinse and dry.

Stained teacups and coffee mugs
Fill with 1-part baking soda and 2-parts water; soak overnight; rub down and rinse.

Grills and barbecue utensils
To combat tough grease stains; dip a moist toothbrush in washing soda and scrub away.

Bathroom Cleaners

Simple Toilet Cleaner
Just spray on straight vinegar and wipe it off.

Toilet Cleaner
Pour borax in the bowl and let it sit overnight. Swish the bowl a few times with a toilet brush and flush the next day.

Daily Shower Cleaner
Mix 2 cups water and 3 drops tea tree oil in a spray bottle. Spray down your shower
daily and you don’t need to rinse it.

Showerheads
To combat mineral deposits, pour vinegar into a plastic grocery bag and knot the handles over the neck of the showerhead, securing with rubber bands. Let soak overnight. Rinse with water in the morning.

Floor Cleaners

Simple Carpet Deodorizer
Just sprinkle baking soda on carpets and let sit for a time before vacuuming.

Fancy Carpet Deodorizer
Crush up a handful of dry lavender and mix with a cup of baking soda, and sprinkle that over your carpet. If you'd like to use essential oils, mix a few drops of your favorite(s) in with baking soda (not enough to make it wet), and then break up any clumps and sprinkle that over your carpet.

Carpet Mist
Fill a spray bottle with water and a few drops of essential oil. Use to freshen carpet and upholstery.

Carpet Stains
After blotting stain with cloth, mix one teaspoon dish soap with one teaspoon vinegar dissolved in 2 1/2 cups warm water. Apply to stain and rub gently. Rinse with warm water. Blot dry.

Hard Floor Cleaner
Dissolve 10 drops of essential oil in 1/8 cup vinegar, add 1/8 cup plant-based liquid soap, and then dissolve this mixture in 1 gallon water in a bucket. Mop as usual. A citrus essential oil is one option.

To fight ants, use cedarwood essential oil. For ceramic and stone floors, eliminate soap (which leaves a film) and use 1/4 cup of vinegar with 1 gallon of water. Don't use water on unsealed wood floors. Instead, combine 2 cups of vinegar with 1 tablespoon of olive or jojoba oil in a bucket. Spread a thin coat over the floor with a mop or soft cloth. Let it soak in for 20 minutes; dry mop to absorb excess liquid. Open windows to air out the vinegar smell.

Another Floor Cleaner
You can mop almost any type of floor with a solution of 1/4 cup liquid Castile soap and 2 gallons warm water. If the floors are greasy, add 1/4 cup distilled white vinegar.

Miscellaneous Cleaners
Furniture Polish
Mix ½ teaspoon oil, such as olive or jojoba and ¼ cup vinegar or fresh lemon juice in a glass jar. Dab a soft rag into the solution and wipe onto wood surfaces. Cover the glass jar and store indefinitely.

Tea Tree Oil Mold Killer
Combine 2 teaspoons tea tree oil and 2 cups water in a spray bottle, shake to blend, and spray on problem areas. Do not rinse. The smell of tea tree oil dissipates in a few days. You can also use lavender or close oils or make a grapefruit seed extract spray by adding 20 drops of extract to a quart of water. Also works for mildew!

Vinegar Mold Killer
Pour 2 cups white distilled vinegar in a spray bottle, spray on the moldy area, and let set without rinsing. The smell will dissipate in a few hours.

Laundry Boosters
Add borax to boost laundry power. Also, add up to a cup of baking soda to eliminate perspiration odors and even neutralize the smell of many chemicals.

Hope you enjoy!!!

Hair Donations to the Gulf

2010-05-14T10:48:00.003-04:00

If anyone out there is planning to get their hair cut, shave their dog, or throw out nylons, please consider donating these things to the hellish oil spill in the Gulf in order to help sop up the oil. For more info, check out the awesome website: Matter of Trust. You sign up and they email you an address to send the goods to. What's really cool is that they stockpile this stuff specifically for emergencies, so even when... in some far distant future... most of the oil in the Gulf is sopped up, you can still donate to help in (hopefully nonexistent) future catastrophes!

Cancer and Chemicals

2010-05-14T10:36:00.005-04:00

So you know how I've been going on and on about reducing chemicals in the house-- especially toiletries and cleaning stuff-- it's nice to hear that the President's Cancer Panel agrees that *surprise* most of this "better living through chemistry" stuff is likely to lead to "better dying through cancer"... Okay, they said it in a more politic way, but still. PLEASE go check it out. It has some basic tips for reducing cancer risks-- like going organic and not microwaving plastic.

I think an important aspect of this is also reducing the huge amount of un- or barely- regulated chemicals in the home. For exactly that reason, when we move in a few weeks, I'm giving all my nasty chemical cleaning stuff to my housemate (ok that sounds bad, but really she's going to use the stuff anyways...) and keeping ONLY the good stuff. Ditto for my toiletries. Still working on Matthew...

Since if you're reading this, I love you, please go check out the report and consider following at least some of the advice. It can't hurt you, at least. At best, it could help you avoid cancer!

Kay-lit-cology!

2010-05-14T09:59:00.000-04:00

... as in literature... anyways...

BOOK CORNER TIME!

I read "It's Me or the Dog", by Victoria Stilwell, one of my most favoritest people in the entire world, and I highly recommend it! It was a fun read, had gorgeous pictures, and had lots of great advice for dog owners. I feel very ready for the dog we're going to get. IN JULY.

On a more literary note, I finished up "Jude the Obscure" by Thomas Hardy. As with most Hardy novels, it's a bit slow, but really good. Especially in the beginning of the novel, there's an interesting motif about respect for animals and one of my favorite quotes:

“Be kind to animals and birds, and read all you can.”

Jude also focuses on what marriage means: culturally, individually, socially... This is the story that had pastors burning this novel and led Hardy to give up and write only poetry for the rest of his life. You can definitely see why it would have been so ground-breaking and shocking at the time... But keeping that in mind is difficult to do and I think that's the main reason I got bored for parts of the novel. Overall, though, definitely worth the read-- Hardy is just an amazing writer, as long as you just relax.

I'M FAMOUS!

2010-05-11T09:28:00.004-04:00

Hey all,
I forgot to mention-- I'm famous! Over at CraftLit, one of my FAVORITE podcasts that has both crafting AND literature (eeeeee!!!), we're reading Persuasion by Jane Austen. When Matt and I went to England last summer, we visited the Cobb (if you don't know why that's neat, why not join us at CraftLit and listen to Persuasion???) I took a bunch of pictures AND a picture of me pretending to be Louisa Musgrove (spoilers!), and I sent them to Heather, my hero and host of CraftLit. AND SHE PUT THEM ON THE WEBSITE. AND SHE TALKS ABOUT ME. I just need to be interviewed by Matt Lauer, and my fame will be complete. Check out the episode: and dooooo listen to CraftLit! It's really amazing, mostly thanks to Heather!
I AM SO EXCITED.

Save the Planet from your Bathroom

2010-05-11T07:27:00.009-04:00

First off, check out the awesome new Google search of my blog at the right y'all (if you're on Facebook, you'll have to pop over to my blog to see the awesomeness in action)

One of my green goals of late is to green my bathroom and my toiletry routine. It started by getting rid of shampoo and conditioner and tossing those disposable pads and tampons for a Diva Cup.

Now I'm moving on up! Two really simple steps: use baking soda as face wash-- just get your face wet, rub some baking soda on, and then rinse it off-- and use natural bar or liquid soap-- I've been using bars from the Farmer's Market, but Dr. Bronner's is also fantastic. Dr. Bronner's is also great, because it can be used for everything from body wash to soap for hand-washing clothes to a general house cleaning soap. It's awesome. Check it out.

I've also been trying to find lots of DIY ways to save the planet... in the bathroom. One of the neatest things I've found is Egyptian Body Sugaring. It sounds a bit terrifying, but it's really just an early form of waxing that uses only sugar, water, and lemon juice. So it's completely biodegradable, contains no chemicals, and is overall as environmentally-friendly as whatever sugar and lemon juice you decide to buy. All you have to do is heat it up on medium heat and wait for it to get the soft candy temperature (I bought a candy thermometer for this, and I think it's pretty much required to do this right). Admittedly, this took about an hour-- so invite someone over or turn on an audio book. Then you pour it in to a jar (I used an old pickle jar) and wait for it to cool down a bit. Once it's at a comfortable temperature to put on your skin, use a butter knife to apply it in the opposite direction your hair grows, press a strip of cloth against it (I cut up an old sheet), and then YANK IT. It still hurts, sadly. But, as with waxing, it took about a month for it to start growing back in, which is amazing! It was definitely worth it taking a bit longer to initially get rid of the hair. Clean up is really easy-- I just poured boiling water over the strips of cloth (and anything that got sugar on it) and let it soak. The goo dissolves really easily! Then you can just chuck the strips in the wash! Ta da! Environmentally-amazing hair removal! Check out the full instructions here!

And, while I'm on the subject, I also made and used an amazing homemade sugar scrub! I am all about sugar in the bathroom, y'all. It's basically just coconut oil and brown sugar, but you can add some other oils in if you want. My skin felt moisturized for about 4 days, and utterly soft for a week or two. It was amazing.

Got any other awesome diy toiletries that are good for the planet???

Prelims!

2010-05-10T12:59:00.002-04:00

Hey y'all,

For those of you who didn't hear, I passed my prelims! That means I'm an official Doctoral Candidate. Which means... I still don't know what I'm doing, but I'm allowed to keep doing it until I finish my research. Just kidding-- I have my dissertation relatively planned out now. And I know LOTS of places where it needs work. So that's awesome!

In other news, I'm nearly done getting together my very first paper :)

And in OTHER other news, we have a slight mouse problem. We found out about it when Annabel killed a mouse... and put it in our bed for us. Under the covers... I spent a lot of time telling here what a good cat she was between sobs.

All in all, what a weird 2 weeks y'all...

LOTS of environmental and craft abulousness coming soon. For real

Heat pad!

2010-04-28T09:17:00.005-04:00

Heat pad, y'all, heat pad. Normally, I bet you're all like, "oh let me go to the store and buy a pad filled with chemical death and wrapped in plastic to soothe my aching muscles". That is silly, my friends. Here is a cheaper, more ecological, less carcinogenic option: MAKE IT YOURSELF! And here's how:

Get an old sock. I used one of Matt's that he gave me months ago, because he was sick of it for some reason. After I convinced him of this and that I was, in fact, not stealing socks that he loves, I was ready to begin!
There weren't any holes in it, which is key-- otherwise you have to do some sewing, and I was very lazy.
Fill said sock with rice! I put in less than 2 cups-- it's really up to you and how big you want the heating pad to be.
Then, to be extra super lazy, I just tied the end of the sock in a knot.
Ta da! Done! To use it, just stick that baby in the microwave for around 20 seconds, and you've got a heating pad!
For other options and pretty pictures, check out this awesome instructable!

It worked great for me when I had a really bad neck cramp due to the (teensy) bit of stress I'm under right now...

Try it out! Let me know how it works! Or tell me other options you use!

OH, and our adorable cat, Annabel, enjoyed dragging it around the house. So apparently it makes an Annabel-approved cat toy. For a similarly adorable dog toy using old socks, check out this fantastic idea!

Practice Prelims!

2010-04-20T11:15:00.004-04:00

For those of you who don't know, the next major hurdle in my obtaining of three letters (PhD) is my prelims. It's basically a defense of my dissertation proposal and an oral exam combined into three FANTASTIC hours. It's scheduled for Friday, April 30, from 9 to noon-- so everyone be thinking of me then. Anyways, today I did a dry run with a bunch of PhD students, and I did really well! THEY EVEN SAID SO, I AM NOT MAKING THAT UP. AND NOT JUST BECAUSE I BROUGHT THEM DONUTS AND COFFEE. So *phew* I feel a lot less worried about prelims, but still a healthy dose of terrified. Now to find the inspiration to do work...

Ok, for real, y'all

2010-04-18T19:00:00.004-04:00

Taking my boyfriend's months-old advice, I'm going to try to start blogging smaller amounts-- it'll be less stressful for everyone.

I'm going to talk about one of my favorite eco-tasks of late: no more shampooing! I haven't shampooed my hair since last fall. And the fine people who interact with me daily can promise you that I don't smell weird AND that my hair doesn't look funky...

First off, WHY would I do this, you might ask? To that I have three answers: the environment, my health, and my money. It's better for the environment, doesn't have a million carcinogens, and is super cheap! HOW AWESOME, you are probably thinking. HOW CAN I TAKE PART??? See below, my friend.

Basically, you use baking soda for shampoo and apple cider vinegar for conditioner. You only need to do this about twice a week (rather than daily). My hair is short and tough, but people online (and my little sister, who has REALLY long hair) have tried it and agree that it works fantastically. Check out the instructables here. And let me know how it goes!

I'm still working on convincing Matt to take part... Some day....

LOOK WHO'S BACK AND BLOGGING!

2009-10-13T12:25:00.011-04:00

Hey all,

The last few months have been more than a bit crazy but also more than a bit fantastic. I will now describe in succinct detail my life and adventures since the end of June...

July

For the fourth of July, I volunteered at and extremely enjoyed the Festival for the Eno, a local festival whose proceeds go towards the Eno River Association. In exchange for a few hours of selling soda and juice to the wonderful attendees, I got free entry to an excellent day. They have vendors, SUCH good food, a ton of music, and lots of hands-on activities and informational booths. Plus I got to see one of my favorite local bands, Lost in the Trees, play a great set:

I also moved to a brand new, gorgeous house with my BFF Katie. I have no pictures of the house. Why? I don't know. They will come sometime soon, including at least one picture of Katie's insanely lovable dog, Foxy.

In the middle of July, I met my Girl Scout troop! I'm co-leading a group of about 13 or 14 twelve-year-olds. They are a group of smart, independent, individual, wonderful human beings who I absolutely love. For the sake of not being creepy, I'm not going to post pictures of them on the web. Just imagine awesome girls. That is what they look like. I'm helping out with running meetings, planning events, and lots of fun little stuff. We're going to do a FANTASTIC Earth Day event this year that the girls are going to be in charge of. The ideas they've had so far are amazing! A large number of them are also thinking about getting the Silver Awards, so I get to help advise them on that. It's like a PhD but... fun...

The next big thing was my BFF Viki's stunningly beautiful wedding. Behold the gorgeous bride:
Hahaha jk that's a horse. But Vik's in the background. Here she is for reals, with two fine ladies:
It was beautiful, I got an awesome brunch, and family drama was kept to a minimum. Viki was a fantastic bride and wedding planner :)

August

I got to spend an awesome day with my girl scouts at the beach. We swam a ton, saw an aquarium, and ate some mighty fine pizza. Success.

Then, KAPOW! I went to Angleterre with my beau-friend, Matthew.

We went to Dorchester, Dorset, Lyme Regis, Chesil Beach, Exmoor, York (where Matt lived), LONDON! Oh and... ROME!!! Matt totally surprised me with the awesomest graduation (his graduation from his Master's that is) present ever from his parents: a trip for two to Rome! For some reason he chose me rather than his graceful, well-behaved girlfriend. For that I will always be thankful.

Altogether, we saw a gajillion gobsmacking things... The highlights were Thomas Hardy's cottage and grave (both of them-- one in Dorchester and one in Westminster), Cerne Abbas (heh... look at the picture), Roman ruins, older ruins, lots and lots of farm animals (weeee!), the Cobb (go read Persuasion or The French Lieutenant's Woman if you don't know why that is so exciting), amazing museums, all the big sites in London, ALL THE BIG SITES in Rome, and the Royal Albert Hall. I could keep gushing, but really I am only making you jealous.

One of my favorite-est things, though, was the Roman Cats... There is a little park of ruins where people used to just dumb stray cats :( And then these awesome ladies came together to take care of them! So now the ladies seem to be taking care of most of the stray cats in Rome. There are stray cats EVERYWHERE, and people are always feeding them. These ladies were AMAZING and the cats were so adorable. It was sad because many of the cats had been injured when they were literally thrown into this pit of ruins, but the ladies get a lot of donations and are able to really take care of them. If we had been there longer, I would have volunteered. As it was, I donated a ton of money. The picture below is me with this one really sweet old cat-- they were basically making her as comfortable as possible until she dies. I went over to pet her and she jumped up on my shoulder for about 5 minutes, and then ran over to eat some food. The lady said she barely ever ate, so I definitely teared up a little. I'm amazed we didn't come home with a cat!

It was the best trip ever with one of my most favorite people in the entire world. And we ate caprese almost everyday. It is what makes life worth living, friends.

The start of a new school year! But first, JETS: we went to the preseason Ravens-Jets game... The Jets lost, the Ravens fans were buttmunchers. Nuff said... Also, how about Mark Sanchez? I am in love with him and planning to be married by the end of the year... We'll be heading to the Jets-Jags game in November, and I simply cannot wait. JETS!!!

September

Rather than doing any work, I just kept driving back and forth between Durham and Baltimore. My darling boyfriend was living in Cumberland with his parents for a few weeks to finish up his Masters thesis, so we met in Baltimore for another marvelous wedding-- his cousin Dan and his (now) wife, Elise. They were beautiful. But more importantly, despite a middle of the night fire alarm at our hotel followed by 3 hours of waiting in the lobby, Matt and I looked good...

Matt and his SUPER FANTASTIC WONDERFUL mom, Lisa, forced me to buy a real girl dress and real pretty pretty princess shoes. I was glad I cleaned up so well and had such good people to help me do so.

Then it was my birthday!!! I spent the night with a few close friends and some champagne. It was nice and low key, which might be a first for my birthday.

In other September news, I got to lead my first Girl Scout meeting. It was hectic, but enjoyable. OH and the girls made me birthday cards!!! It was soooo sweet.

Then I was sick for about two and a half weeks and was extremely unproductive.

October

I got myself fully trained as a cat volunteer at the Animal Protection Society of Durham. It's a fantastic organization that not only provides shelter to animals and tries to get them adopted, but also does a huge amount of outreach. On that note, GET YOUR ANIMALS SPAYED OR NEUTERED. NOW. If you are not doing it because it is expensive, there are often low-cost, subsidized options available. Contact me and I will look them up for you. If you are planning to breed your animal, please consider the HUGE number of homeless pets that are euthanized EVERY DAY before you add to the number of pets in the world-- and take potential homes away from those in shelters. Finally, if you're thinking about getting a pet PLEASE at least consider a shelter animal. Those are pets that need loving and a good forever home.

I adopted my cat, Annabel, from APS almost exactly a year ago, and I'm so happy to be giving back to that shelter. Especially because I basically get to play with cats whenever I'm there!

THEN MATT MOVED DOWN HERE. He is still getting all his furniture settled, but the living in sin is going extremely well. He's looking for a job, so if any of you have leads for Durham jobs... you let me know ;) Again, pics of the house to come...

The busy beehive of the Girl Scouts participated in a local Diwali fest-- four of them danced in a show-- and the Buddy Walk, a great event put on by the National Down Syndrome Society. It was fun and the girls got to help out a good cause.

I also got to see (and host) one of the best bands in the entire world, Wye Oak. If you like music, listen to them and see what you think. If you don't like music, THEY WILL CONVERT YOU. Andy and Jen were great, even though poor Jen was a bit sick. Also, in case I didn't mention it, AN AWESOME BAND SLEPT IN MY HOUSE. I felt like a patron of the arts. It was neat.

And that about catches us up on the major events of my life! Coming soon, the awesome environmental stuff I've been up to!!! You can't wait and I know it.

Save the Waters!

2009-06-21T17:00:00.000-04:00

On a more general note, let's talk about water consumption practices!

Some of the best tips I've found are:

In the kitchen:

Save water from rinsing vegetables for house plants
Use the two sink method of dish washing (one with soap and water and one with clean water for rinsing) -- or use a dish washer, which has generally been proven to be more efficient if it's been made in the last 10 years or so.
Keep cold water in fridge, so you don't run it to wait for it to get cold
If you have extra ice cubes (like in drinks or that fall on the floor), put them in plants

In the bathroom:

Get a water efficient toilet, or put a brick or a bottle of water into the toilet to decrease the amount of water used per flush
Get a water efficient shower head
Turn off the water in the shower when you're not actually using it. Many times people say to me "oh but that's not that much time"... Really? Try it. I was amazed at how much time in the shower I was sudsing up, shaving, or just putzing... I think about half the time I'm "showering" I'm actually not using the water. I don't ALWAYS do this, but I try to almost all the time. Sometimes I really need some hot water to sooth muscles or after a long day in creeks of doom, but generally I turn of that water when I'm not using it. It makes a pretty amazing difference, and, hey, you can confuse your friends and pets with your constant starting and stopping.
I've also heard that "if it's yellow, let it mellow; if it's brown, flush it down" adage. However, I am a semi-germ-a-phobe, and although I know that urine is sterile, I still don't like the idea of it. If you aren't lame like me, though, this is a great way to cut back your water consumption.

In the backyard:

Use a rain barrel to collect water for the yard or plants (often local governments have programs to provide cheap ones, so see if yours does)
Get plants that are water efficient-- especially for the grass in your lawn, so that you don't have to water it as much. Further, get over your visions of suburban green lawns. They typically cost a TON of chemicals and water (the top water usage in the USA for households is watering lawns-- and most of that water just runs straight off your lawn). Instead, make an AWESOME lawn that has plans that don't need as much water and even think about a rock garden or an edible garden. A truly green lawn is one that doesn't require a ton of chemicals and wasted water (see what I did there? turned that word 'green' right on it's head)

For the auto:

Go to a car wash that recycles its water or use an waterless home car cleaning like EcoTouch, which is likely cheaper than whatever you're currently using

If you've paid close attention, these tips provide many good excuses to get some more house plants-- although I would be aware of what's in the water you're putting into any edible house plants: I wouldn't rinse veggies and then dump that water into a pot of basil, for example.

There are even more tips here. Incidentally, there are also many things you shouldn't flush, including tissues, hair, condoms, and floss! Hmm!

Greening my Kitty and your Car!

2009-06-21T15:30:00.003-04:00

In honor of... me being a doting Kitty-Mama... I have decided to green my little Annabel. I wrote before about planning to potty-train her-- but I realized that, for now,t his may be somewhat unreasonable. This is primarily because Annabel regularly visits her granddad's house, where other cat's and their litter boxes live-- so I feel like I would have to retrain her multiple times in a year, which would not work very well. Ditto for if I had to board her at a vet or kennel. Thus, for now, I am going to use one of the most environmentally friendly kitty litters: Swheat Scoop, which is made of (unsurprisingly) wheat. It has really low dust and has no clay (which is mined: clearly bad for the environment). Plus, it clumps naturally and is biodegradable. I'd like to flush it, but have been told that flushing it can still be bad for my pipes and eventually cause back ups. I think, however, that this might not be true for wheat based (rather than clay based) litter-- so I'm going to contact the poor folks at Durham's Water Quality Division yet again and see what they think.

If you're a dog owner and not dealing with the joy of cat litter, I hope you are doing your eco-conscious dog owner part. You should ALWAYS pick up your dog's poo (yes, even in your own back yard, Matthew), because pet feces is actually one of the major pollutants in streams. Streams that I'm wading around in. Please keep me poop free by cleaning up dog doo.

In regards to both dog and cat poo, I am still unsure about one aspect: what bags to use. On the one hand, using biodegradable bags is great, because it ... biodegrades. On the other hand, using random plastic bags from packaging means that no production goes into the bags-- and you're going to toss those bags anyways. My main worry is that the plastic will take so long to break down (give or take FOREVER) that the stuff inside won't be able to biodegrade... Any thoughts, people??? For now I'm sticking with use what you have-- that just makes more sense to me. But I'd love to hear why I'm right-- or wrong :)

SO, the point of me discussing the greening of Annabel is that I'm going to start paying for the more expensive, but vastly better for the environment and for my kitty, cat food. Many cat and dog foods contain an ambiguous ingredient known as "meat by-products": dead, dying, diseased, and disabled animals-- including euthanized shelter animals. Because Annabel is not a canna-bel (get it???), I have decided to stop feeding her anything with such euphemistic terms on the bag. I have decided, I think, to go with the expensive but worthwhile Newman's Own brand (shown here in comparison with other organic and green pet foods). The website where that's located, The Green Guide, is an excellent guide for making smarter choices as a consumer. So, poke around there for some eco-good-times.

On another side note, I know that everyone out there in this economic environment are just aching to buy a car... If you are interested in looking at your green options (or just interested in general), check out this informative site about hybrids, diesels, high-mileage, and E-85 (to which I say meh) cars! The cars are, I imagine, often more expensive-- but they will save you gas AND there are currently some tax incentives and such out there... Save both kinds of green, yeah?

Vinegar, like Jesus, is Magic!

2009-06-21T14:09:00.004-04:00

The title refers to this humorous and heretical clip of Sarah Silverman. Enjoy, or not, as your morals allow.

Yesterday I woke up to a scene that I lovingly refer to as "Death House". For those faint of heart, stop reading now. My house mate's sweet, but very elderly feline, was apparently a bit constipated in the night. And the poor thing strained so hard that the house... yes, the house, was covered in drops of blood-poop. The poor thing was clearly not a happy kitty, and of course this happened when his mommy (that is, my housemate) was dog sitting and so not home for the night. After moving the poor dear into my house mate's room and giving him some fresh food, I was faced with the prospect of needing to clean the house. And I thought... PERFECT TRIAL FOR MY NEW HOMEMADE GREEN CLEANING PRODUCTS!!! I will be putting up the recipes I have some time in the future... Currently they are a secret, for reasons that shall be revealed in a month or so. However, I CAN report that they were "shit-tested and Kayleigh-approved," as Matt said. They worked to easily get up the messes. Further, for areas that had any extra pungency, I just sprayed on some vinegar and kapow! scent begone! After cleaning up all of that, I was in quite a cleaning mood. So, with a glass of wine in hand, I swept the entire house (movin' furniture and everything) AND cleaned the bathroom decently. In the toilet and shower, I also used vinegar! It worked decently. Again, more specifics on eco homemade cleanin' products to come.

I will say, however, that I also tested out some Trader Joe's kitchen cloths... And, hallelujah, they were fantastic. You can basically use them as paper towels. Except you don't have to throw them out. I used them to scrub at the blood-poo on the floors, the toilet, and the shower (different ones-- I plan to somehow mark them so that one is for super icky stuff, another is for the bathroom, and one more is for the kitchen) and they were all totally fine, looking barely used. They are extremely absorbent-- sucked up the counters-full of liquid. Plus, when I rinsed and wrung them out, they dried rapidly. Also, the initial cloths are very large, so I cut them into fourths, which are about the size that I actually require-- about that of an average kitchen sponge. So, if you want to cut back on your paper towel usage (and the cost associated with them), I'd suggest dropping by your local TJ's (if you have one-- which I hope you do) and picking up a two-pack. If you do, let me know how it goes!

Diva Cup-date 2

2009-06-20T19:46:00.003-04:00

Just another side, small note about the Diva Cup... This could be specific to me or totally happenstance, BUT: for me, I feel like I generally have two or three heavy days and then a day or two of light, extra ...gunk... I noticed that, with the Diva Cup, I had three days of fairly heavy stuff, and then: NOTHING! Like I said, I don't know if that was happenstance or because the cup collects menstruation at a higher level or what. But, yet another awesome reason to try it out!

Diva Cup-date

2009-06-19T07:52:00.002-04:00

Well, it's that time of the month again. And no, Matt, that does not mean I'm extra-grumpy. However, it DOES mean that I had another chance to use my Diva Cup. And, I gotta say, I'm kind of in love with it. Once I got over the icky factor of putting it in (it is quite like a nightmare of a tampon) and taking it out (see above), it is more than worth it. I put it in the first day thinking, well, I'll take it out if it bugs me-- but it didn't. So I figured, well maybe I'll switch to a pad or something when I empty it next. I took it out around 10 hours to empty it (you're supposed to empty it and clean it with hand soap every 6 to 12 hours) and realized I really didn't want to deal with a pad or a tampon. If put in correctly, you can't feel the cup AT ALL and it doesn't leak AT ALL. It pretty much feels like I'm not even on my period, except for when I empty it. I am absolutely loving the lack of diaper-ness, string-ness, and... bloodiness. Plus, no smell! Hoorah. I've also noticed that it is getting easier and easier to get it in and out-- it still takes 5 or 10 minutes to take it out, clean, and put it back in, but it's not nearly as stressful.

So, if you are interested in the Diva Cup, here are a few tips:

Wash using Soft Soap with Aloe Vera
You're going to want to boil it once a month (I'm going to buy a little saucer specifically for this), just to get rid of any bacteria-- directions are on the Diva Cup website OR in the box
It is a little expensive (about $30), but eventually pays for itself (you can use it for 10 years) and is worth the money
You do need to be ready for a difficult insertion the first few times. It just takes a little to get used to and, hey, you'll be a lot more comfortable with down there.
If you can feel it, it's in wrong.
It won't get stuck up there-- if worse comes to worse, it gradually works its way out via yer handy muscles in there.
There are two models-- one for those under 30 and who haven't had babies and one for those above 30 or who have had babies: again, more info on their website.

All in all, TRY IT. It's totally worth it, and great for you and the environment!

Concerts Abound!

2009-06-10T14:18:00.002-04:00

Well the past 5 days have been music-filled. I was lucky enough to see The Decemberists in Raleigh, Phillie, and Baltimore, with Robyn Hitchcock and the Venus 3 opening for them at two of those shows. Plus Andrew Bird also opened at the Baltimore show AND we saw RH&V3 at a separate show in Annapolis. All in all, the shows were fantastic.

Before the Raleigh show, I finally made peace with tapas and ate at the wonderful Humble Pie. The Napoleon was simply amazing. The chocolate martini was simply not. The Raleigh show was probably the best, because the audience seemed the most in to the show and people were actually dancing around. Blind Pilot, who I really liked but were a wee bit slow, were a great opening band. It was a bit weird seeing the Decemberists at a seated venue, as I normally spend most of a Decemberists show bouncing up and down and singing loudly. In Raleigh, people actually went up front and danced around-- and two awesome peeps got up on stage and guitar-dueled. If you want to see how inspiring it was, check out their cover of Heart's Crazy on You, noting the fantastic vocals of Becky Stark and Shara Worden, honorary Decemberists.

In Phillie, we tried to get up front for the second half of the show-- and Marlie, Jordan, and I spent five of the best minutes of our lives 3 feet from Colin Meloy. And then the security guards remembered that they hate everyone, joy, and puppies, and made us (and a few dozen other people) sit down. It was worth it, especially because Colin loudly said (twice) that it SUCKED that they made us sit down. I really can't wait til the next tour, when I can dance my way through the show and hopefully get up front.

RH&V3 were awesome all three times. I think we scared people with our enthusiasm for them.

I continue to hate Merriweather. It just has such an anti-rock'n'roll feel to it what with the constant checking of tickets and forced hipness... My grudges run deep, even for music venues.

And thus ends my musical extravaganza. For now...

Vinegar to the Rescue! and All Cars Hate Me

2009-06-06T14:41:00.005-04:00

We have had some mold problems due to previous flooding and whatnot, and we've been meaning to clean it up and hope for the best for a while. So, with my new found eco-lution, I decided to go after it with vinegar. It was pretty amazing. The mold immediately started running down the wall, and I was able to wipe up a lot of it (which I think you're not supposed to do, but I didn't really think I should just let it all run down and soak at the bottom of the wall) and then respray and let it set. We'll see how it works-- hopefully it will keep it from growing back. And hopefully I haven't inhaled a ton of mold spores to my lungs. That would be unfortunate.

In other news, all cars hate me. Yeah. For real. Yesterday, driving from Durham to Baltimore, I parked at a 7-11 to pick up some brand new Dr. Pepper Cherry (mmm so good) and then had a tight spot to back out of-- there was a car at the gas pump directly behind my car. So, being a good and responsible driver, I slowly backed out. Inching closer and closer to the car, staring out my back window calmly. Just as I got close enough to begin point 2 of my three-point turn, I hear a honk. I assumed someone must be trying to come up somewhere and that my next turn would bring me into their path... No. It's the lady in the car that I'm still a good six inches away from, honking and staring at me with abject terror... I just looked at her, thinking, "Really? Am I not backing up slowly enough?" and then pulled out. Honestly, it pissed me off quite a bit. I can understand someone getting nervous if the other driver is moving quickly or if you're not sure that the other driver sees you, but I was clearly moving VERY slowly (as I myself get nervous in tight spots) and STARING out my back window. So it just seemed absolutely unnecessary.

This morning, as Marlie and I went to Starbucks (evil, but I did use a travel mug), I was backing out of a spot with a car in the drive through directly behind me. I started to tell Marlie the story, and right as I said, "And then she honked!" We hear a honk. I laughed, and continued to slowly and carefully back up my car, staring at the car behind me... And then the honk became sustained. I stopped and looked and the lady in the car was staring angrily at me, waving her hand. Again, all I could think was "Really? I am at least six inches from your car and this is the only way to get out of this spot!" I, in fact, was so annoyed that I rolled down my window and said, "Was I REALLY that close to you???" And the lady, without rolling down her window-- because clearly I am an impolite hoodlum of a rascal that would knife her, said, "YES YOU WERE THAT CLOSE!!!" Too which I just shook my head and drove off. Admittedly, I was shaking with anger. But I came up with a plan for if this situation occurs again: I will park my car and go and see how close I actually was... I am pretty sure that, again, I was at least six inches. But this way I can check and show them that they are, in fact, being friggin' absurd.

After all that, I decided to walk up to Walgreens rather than drive (plus it's a nice walk and hurray for not using a car when it's not needed), and crossed oh-so-legally at the crosswalk. Madame le Left Turn decided she didn't really want to watch for pedestrians-- and stopped about 3 feet from me. Didn't say like, "Oh my bad sorry or any such thing-- just stared at me as if I shouldn't be there.

So, dear cars, and more importantly drivers, please stop hating on me and be nice. Please.

Kayleigh the (energy) Vampire Slayer

2009-06-04T09:27:00.002-04:00

Hey my Peeps,

What's that? You wanna save some money AND save the Earth? How about unplugging all those cords hanging from your wall? It actually makes a big difference. Further, you can plug everything into a power strip and just unplug that baby when you're not using stuff (although, of course, when it's turned on you should only have stuff plugged in that you're actually using). Those are the basics, and you can also check out some more tips.

Or, be amused by cute children telling you to get with the green. And then do it.

Savin' double the green. Why wouldn't you do it?

J E T S GREEN GREEN GREEN

2009-06-02T08:27:00.001-04:00

The Jets, as usual, are the best team in the NFL.

Buying Used

2009-06-02T07:36:00.004-04:00

Buying used is a cheap way to reduce waste and remove yourself a bit from consumerism. Instead of giving money to big companies, you give money to charities, local businesses, or just local people that are selling their stuff. Plus, if you're like me, you love getting a good deal. In the past few weeks, I've bought:

a Samsonite suitcase for $10
an awesome steamer trunk for $10
a bed desk/tray thingy for $15
a pair of jeans, 3 pairs of shorts, and a pair of shoes for about $20
a few full dinner sets and silverware and cups, probably all for less than $50

And I love bragging about it.

For those of you out there looking for a good deal, here are some tips:

Thrift stores are great! A lot of times, though, there will be a few that are kind of iffy. It takes visiting and asking around to find the good quality ones that have the kind of stuff you're looking for.
If you're in a university community, look around for email lists where people sell stuff. Especially international students, because they are often selling everything they don't want to move back with them. It's also a great place to list your own stuff.
You can also check your local Freecycle lists, depending on the kind of stuff you're looking for and your patience. Again, this is a great way to get rid of stuff you don't want anymore.
Finally, ask friends and family! My housemate regularly offers me clothing that she's going to donate, and I know people are always giving my little sister cloths.
You can also get all your friends and family together for a mini-swap-o-rama-rama, where everyone brings cloths (or whatever) they don't want, and everyone can go through each others' stuff and take what they want.

All of these are cheap options that are good for the environment, because you're not supporting the making of a million new things but instead are buying things that are already made.

For other, similar and more crafty ideas, check out the newest series of "Cast-On", a knitting podcast. The new series is called "Make Do and Mend" and focuses on how to... make do with what you have and mend it to improve it. Plus, I adore the host, Brenda Dayne.

A Lovely Weekend

2009-06-02T07:17:00.004-04:00

This weekend was filled with two momentous events: my little sister's graduation and my best friend's wedding shower.

My little sister graduated fourth (or something absurd like that) in her class (of about 513). We were very proud of her, but all the pomp and busy-ness was a bit silly. I had an elderly lady yell at me to "PLEASE NOT PUSH IN FRONT": I'm pretty sure I was just standing near her. The graduation, as such things go, was pretty quick, and I was able to craft my way through the whole thing. No one was supposed to cheer after each name (513 students means it takes a while, even reading all the names quickly back-to-back), but of course some people did. I would love to graph the relationship between cheer after name in high school graduation to some level of achievement in life. Which is a snippy way to say, SHUT UP AND BE POLITE. Afterwards, though, we all got ice cream. Then we went home and Marlie played on her new MacBook, and Jor played on his iPod touch, and we all watched an awesome zombie movie, "Dance of the Dead." Seriously, it was wonderful and had a similar tone to "Shaun of the Dead". For those of you with FearNet on Demand, you can (and should) watch it for free.

Viki's Bridal Shower was absolutely gorgeous. The weather was lovely, the food was delicious, and the people were great. We played fun games and just had a lovely little shower. Viki, of course, looked wonderful. She was thoroughly bridal-showered.

I've also been crafting A TON, but they are entirely presents for people... SURPRISE PRESENTS. So, alas, I will have to put off posting pictures and their stories until after they've been given... Marlie, you can take some pics of the awesome presents I got you, as I forgot to do that :)

Reduce

2009-05-24T22:38:00.003-04:00

Recycling and reusing are awesome, but reducing is the most important R by far. Reusing often ultimately ends up in recycling, and recycling takes energy and materials. Reducing however, gets the problem at the source-- the fish rots from the head, so I say cut off the head. And, hurray, it's not that hard!

One of the top ways to reduce waste is to think about what you're buying. Buy things with less packaging and buy in bulk, bringing your own containers, whenever possible. Places like Whole Foods and Food Co-Ops are very understanding of this. I often use yogurt containers and jars as containers, so I doubly reuse and reduce! Farmer's markets are also a great way to avoid excess packaging (and transport!). Further, farmer's market sellers are often willing to take back used packaging (like egg cartons).

Fast food isn't very good for you to begin with nor is it particularly sustainable, but the huge amount of trash produced by fast food restaurants is yet another reason to avoid them. Get a good sit-down meal, where you eat off of real dishes, or be prepared with your own (way cheaper and healthier) snacks and little meals.

Similarly, I am working on always carrying a mess kit with me. That way, if at a meeting or a picnic, there are only disposable options, I give myself a better one. One of the most important parts of this kit is a travel mug. Because, inevitably, you're going to want some coffee or tea or some such thing-- have a cup ready for it! I've been trying to encourage my behavior by just refusing to get a paper cup. I just won't. The pain from not getting my coffee when I want it is enough to make sure that I'll bring a cup with me.

I also bring my own grocery bags everywhere. I always have at least one in the car. It's not just for groceries-- it's for any store where you might get a bag. Yes, including the mall. If you really don't want to bring your own bag, you can also use one bag for purchases from multiple stores.

Buy less. Buy used. Both of these things reduce waste.

Don't buy a magic doggie bag dispenser thing. Use the plastic bags you're already bringing into your home. It's effectively free and cuts down on a huge amount of waste.

Stop using paper towels. This is something I'll be doing in the next few months. There are a few prongs to accomplishing this goal. First, get some cloths for cleaning in the kitchen and bathroom and such. I've heard good things about Trader Joe's Cleaning Cloths, so I plan to get some of these and try them out. Second, keep some absorbent rags around (old towels or tee shirts perhaps) for big spills. Finally, keep any plastic bags that were just going to be thrown out around to pick up gross stuff. Rags can be washed in the washing machine as usual-- possibly with some extra vinegar or borax to kill any germs.

Similarly, make your own adorable hankies and hankie-holding tub.

Bring your own towel or washcloth to the gym, if they don't already require it. Use that to wipe down machines rather than a disposable tissue.

You need to clean, of course, but how 'bout reusing all your handy cleaning gadgets, especially things like Swiffer mops? As an added bonus, it so darn cute!

Avoid all those little uses of paper. For directions, use a GPS if possible (a great excuse to get a new gadget) otherwise write down short directions on scrap paper. Use scrap paper or cereal boxes to write down grocery lists on rather than buying a special grocery list pad (or at least fully use each piece of paper by re-using it over many weeks). Ditto for little sticky pad notes and memos to yourself.

Buy chop sticks and straws that are re-usable to avoid that constant waste.

For $41, you can get rid of catalogs and junk mail for 5 years-- and about one-third of that fee is donated to environmental agencies. And that's $41 per household, not per person. Besides saving the environment and saving you time, this also cuts down on the potential for identity theft. Did I mention it's really easy to sign up?

Alright, boys, get ready to get over your squeamish sides. You were carried in a womb for roundabouts 9 months, so I'm allowed to talk about menstrual cycles if I want. You don't have to read about it, though. Ladies, I've recently tried the Diva Cup. Basically, it's a silicon cup that you put on up there and it collects all the blood and gunk. You empty it at least every 12 hours (I think they suggest more like every 6 hours), clean it up, and put it back up there. A lot of the EWWW ICKY factor, if you think about it, is probably similar to what you thought when someone first explained tampons to you. This is better, because it can stay in for 12 hours and is (I think) less likely to cause TSS because it holds the gunk inside the cup rather than up against your skin. Further, if inserted correctly, there shouldn't be any leaks. Admittedly, you have to be pretty comfortable with reaching around in there. However, once it was in, I couldn't feel it at all. Sadly, due to my attempts to balance my fear of not getting it in far enough and my fear of getting it stuck (which is actually pretty impossible-- it will gradually works its way out after about 12 hours or you can just squeeze the same muscles as if you're having a poo, and it works its way out), I didn't have it in quite right. Then I had to go tromping about urban streams for two days, so I opted to give up on it for that period. I was also told that, sadly, Castile soap can possibly damage the integrity of it... I found that out after I used Castile soap once, so hopefully that one time won't hurt it too much. Instead, I got some Soft Soap with Aloe Vera, which I was told would work-- the Diva Wash also seems good, but a bit expensive. On that note, to be warned, the Diva Cup is around $30. But I think they say you can use the same one for about 10 years, so it probably pays for itself eventually. Have you tried it? What did you think?

So that's the three basic R's. What's next??? Oh, there's plenty more out there. Don't you worry...

Re-Use Addendums

2009-05-24T21:47:00.001-04:00

Some extra thoughts on re-using...

Plastic bags can also be used for dog poo and, generally, picking up any yicky thing that you might ache to use a paper towel for.

Prescription bottles can also be used as a handy change purse in bags. Also, I really love using one as a jewelery holder when I'm on-the-go. I put my favorite necklace in an old, clean sock, wrap it up and put it in the prescription bottle. It keeps it from getting scratched and ensures it won't fall out into the bag somehow. Plus you can decorate them with stickers!

Finally, I rubberband balls aren't exactly reusing anything (unless you use a plastic tab to start it), but it does keep rubberbands together in a simple, organized way that looks neat.

It's been a week... What have YOU found to reuse?

But What is KAYLEIGH Doing???

2009-05-24T21:42:00.001-04:00

Hey all,

You're probably wondering what I'm up to... Here 'tis:

I've finished finals and did fantastically in my first year.
I'm starting my summer research, which means I've been spending a large amount of time both staring at GIS models in the lab and wading through urban streams in the Research Triangle. Both have been a lot of fun...
Sadly, many people here graduating or moving to the Duke Marine Lab at Beaufort, NC. It's great that people are moving on to new things, but sad that I won't get to see them as much.
I'm currently working on becoming a Girl Scout co-leader and will hopefully find a troop over the summer.
Finally, I'm trying to be more health-conscious. Specifically, I've been using two Apple-cations (get it??? like for my iPod Touch...) called "Eat Right" and "Eight Glasses a Day." "Eat Right" is a good way to make sure I'm getting the right servings of vege, fruit, dairy, protein, and grains. Yay me! "Eight Glasses a Day" is, unsurprisingly, a simple way to make sure that I'm getting at least eight glasses of water. I usually shoot for way more than that, though, because my body apparently really enjoys being dehydrated. I'm also trying to get better at putting on moisturizing lotion with sunscreen in it daily and coating myself in sunscreen whenever I'll really be out in the sun for an extended period of time. Even on rainy days. Even in not-summer.

That's pretty much it for now. Lots of fun things coming up and to be posted soon.

Re-Use

2009-05-12T17:55:00.015-04:00

One of my favorite parts of reducing my waste is reusing, because it basically gives me a chance to get real crafty- and organized-like. I think the best way to start reusing is to be more aware of what you're throwing away. Whenever you throw something away, think if there is another potential use for it. Sometimes the answer is "no"-- but a lot of times the answer is "hmm... let me go poke around on the interwebs" or "actually, that fits a need of mine"! Those are happy times.

Here are some of the best re-uses I've found:

Twisty ties (from bread bags and the like): If you're very adventurous, you could knit yourself a plant cover. Or, more simply, I can vouch for these being really great for identifying keys! I have front and back door keys that look exactly the same, and I'd spent the last eight months or so cursing them every time I had to open my door. This solution is free, good for the environment, won't wear off, and can be felt in the dark. Plus, it looks snazzy:

The... uh little square bread tabs (do they have a name???): I've used these to label cords with, rather than wrapping tape around them. Again, free and helpful. And not so sticky:

Note: both of the above items also make great stitch counters for you knitters out there!
Glass jars: Simply fantastic for organizational purposes. I should have taken a before and after picture of my cabinet, but simply taking things like cotton swabs and bandages out of their original packaging and into cleaned jars has made a huge difference. Plus, since the jar is clear, you can see exactly what's in it.
Old prescription bottles: Sadly, these are rarely recyclable (as far as I know). However, there are many options for their reuse. Some of the best ones are as holders: for quarters in cars, small stuff like sewing needles and thumb tacks, an easy jewelery holder, a good way to hold bandages or tampons that preserves their integrity or a teeny first aid kit. I read online the idea of giving them to smokers to drop their butts in to (rather than on the ground), but a smoker friend of mine pointed out that smokers who don't care enough to drop their butts on the ground probably won't care to deal with it anyways. Nonetheless, I plan to harass people I know about it-- cigarette butts cause all kinds of nastiness for wildlife. These can also be great ice packs-- put some water in and stick 'em in the freezer, and they can be used for small boo-boos or for lunches. I wouldn't pull the ice cube out of there to use, just because there may be chemicals from previous RX's or the plastic itself. Finally, if you are not a crafty person, many vets, animal shelters, and homeless shelters will accept them as donations. So see if your local ones do, and you can be both environmentally and morally fantastic.
Wine corks: Oh the huge number of these I have hanging around... Again, craft-ibilities abound: cork board, trivet, place holders, and even more!
Beer caps: Much like wine corks, there are a lot of options once you start looking: boot scrapers, checkers, table tops, or coasters.
Onion and orange bags: These are great to wrap around sponges, tie with a twisty ties, and use as scrubbers.
Non-recyclable plastic tubs: Another good organizational holder. I also use some for plant watering and in-kitchen compost collection. However, I would only use them to plant non-edible plants in: I worry about the plastic degrading and getting into the plants.
Plastic bags and wrappings of all shapes and sizes: Until I train my kitty to use the toilet (you think I'm joking? oh no, just wait till this fall), I have to toss out her poo every day or two. For that reason, I getting plastic bags now and again when I went to the store. However, I realized that is lame. And then I started noticing how many plastic bags I just toss sans poo: large chip bags, cereal bags, bread bags, the list goes on. I've started saving them, and now it's not a problem. I'm also going to try using the same bag a few nights in a row to fill it up before tossing it-- I'm going to keep the poo in the bag inside of a box some kitty litter came in to avoid the smell getting bad. Updates to come...
Food scraps: Compost!!!! More on this to come...
Dryer lint: Dryer lint can be used to make papier mache, clay, or paper as a neat craft. It also can make a great fire starter or be added to compost. You can also use it as soft packaging for small fragile things. I would caution against two uses I've seen on the internet: as bird or squirrel nesting or as stuffing for children's toys. Someone pointed out that lint does not dry quickly, so providing it to animals as nesting could get them soaked and potentially kill them due to the cold. Further, lint is extremely flammable so not so great for toys.

A lot of these ideas are fun, but you may be thinking to yourself, "Look, I only have so many needs for prescription bottles." Well, you, that's a good point that I'll be discussing more in my next bloggy entry. However, another good idea (depending on the item) is to re-use something in a way described above, but give it as a gift rather than keeping your eco-genius to yourself. Plus, it might get that person thinking about how they can re-use their own waste.

In some of these ideas, I've written about donating items as re-using them. Don't worry: there will be a whole separate blog entry about how and where to donate unwanted items.

Do you have other ideas? AWESOMER ONES??? Think any of my ideas or opinions were so very clearly absurd? Lemme know. The comment button is for just that...

More Thoughts on Recycling

2009-05-04T21:16:00.007-04:00

...because you really can't have enough. Yesterday I tried to post some of the basics. Today, I thought I'd try to point some of the less obvious aspects of recycling.

You can't recycle pizza boxes-- At least not most of them Earth911 has explained why, which makes a lot of sense. They point out that, if you can rip out the food- and grease- contaminated parts of the box, you can recycle the rest. However, I'm not convinced that recycling places have the time or manpower to check to see if you've done that or not. It's worth checking with your local recycling center. Myself, I think I'm going to try to see if pizza places might let me bring in my own container. I'll let you know how that goes... And I'll be making my own delicious pizza more often.
Another side note... you know that handy little recycling triangle of arrows? It doesn't mean that the container is or is not recyclable. It's just a symbol used to say: "I am this type of plastic!"
I also wanted to let people know that, although you should do a quick rinse of recyclables and make sure to get any huge clumps of food out, don't waste water (or your time) getting them perfectly clean. Recycling centers wash everything out with some fantastic high-powered water, so by fully cleaning your own containers, you really are wasting water. Specific for you drinkers: you don't need to get the lime wedge out of the bottle for them to recycle it... Happy day!
Yet another reason that green can still mean being lazy: You don't have to take labels off containers! Again, don't waste the water or the time. Just rinse it quick and chuck it in the (recycling) bin!
Greasy plastics generally aren't going to get recycled-- so things like peanut butter jars should really just be tossed rather than wasting water on something that will just get thrown out

Even MORE information can be found over at Confessions of a Closet Environmentalist, but it seems like the best thing to do is to contact your local recycling center and ASK, if you are at all unsure.

Don't let all of this overwhelm you. It's good to focus on one aspect every week or two-- like making sure you know the rules for plastics and are following them. The next week or month you can focus on metal containers. Don't get discouraged if you think about how much more there is to learn or do. Instead, stay focused on how much you ARE doing already and the steps you're taking to increase it in the future. Doing anything is better than doing nothing. And, of course, doing nothing is actually doing something huge: throwing away everything is a pretty big action. Recycling even a little and working to something larger is great, compared to the alternative.

I'm sure there will be more recycling tips, but I hope to move on to reusing next...

The First of Many Green Tips: Recycling

2009-05-03T18:50:00.016-04:00

Many green and eco bloggers out there have written about the importance of staying motivated and being aware of how awesome you are for trying to green your life-- basically, making sure you don't become discouraged. Just like exercise and diets and any other semi-daily habits, it's something that you have to work at every day but also be proud of what you have already done every day. That's what I tell myself, anyways.

For that reason, instead of trying to tackle the goal of BEING GREEN, it seems wiser to give yourself a specific goal-- you can feel that you're making a difference in that area rather than feeling the huge amount of stuff you've yet to do.

With that in mind, my main goal for right now, until I've feel I've accomplished it is to THROW AWAY AS LITTLE AS POSSIBLE. Interestingly, as I've learned, this encompasses a huge number of strategies, boiling down to reduce, re-use, and recycle.

In that spirit, I will now begin my eco-tips for reducing your own waste...

First, and foremost, I suggest looking up the recycling tips for your county or city or whatever. To be an honest, as an ecologist and lifelong recycler, I kind of figured, "eh... I already know all that stuff"... Turns out, I... uh... don't. I realized that it makes so much more sense spending energy once or twice to be sure to understand the rules, than to waste time every single week preparing objects that can't actually be recycled. That energy could be spent in so many better and efficient ways... The following are things that I, personally, found out about my LOCAL recycling (it really does differ from place-to-place, so it's worth asking the questions to find out the specifics for you):

First, some basics: rinse your containers and flatten plastics and paper as much as possible. Paper products without food on them and metal cans and such are generally fine. Plastics type 1 to 3 (found in the awesome little triangle of arrows somehwere on the container) can typically be recycled. Beyond that, it's good to check with your local recycling.
Bottle caps are generally not recycled-- and in fact, as my friend Katie informed me, some places actually do not accept containers that still have their caps on. So be sure to take the caps off
If possible call ahead to check and, if they say it's okay, turn the hard plastic caps in to your awesome local Aveda store.
Shredded paper, in a paper bag, can be recyled in some areas, but not everywhere-- check with your local recycling unit.
Junk mail envelopes-- even those with windows in it-- can often be recycled.
It's important to keep your paper and cardboard recycling in a dry area previous to leaving it out on the curb. Many places are unable to recyled previously moist paper products, as far as I can tell.
Any paper products with paint or food or any such contaminating-type substances is generally not recyclable. Sadly.
Aluminum foil can be recylced, if it doesn't have food or grease on it.
There are also a lot of items that can (and SHOULD!) be recycled through local drop-off stations-- printer cartridges, cell phones, BATTERIES, shipping peanuts, plus of course household items that can be donated to places like the Salvation Army and Goodwill.

I'm getting together an email with about a million questions to my local recycling center to ask about a lot of these specifics. Never be afraid to ask such things, via telephone, email, or searching out at a booth at a fair. To be honest, they're usually very excited and encouraged that citizens are interested in their work and regulations-- everyone I've talked to has been about as nice as you can be.

I'd also like to point out that, as I realized what was and was not acceptable for recycling, I changed some of my consumer choices. For example, things that came in cartons, like orange juice, I started buying in jugs, which are recyclable in my area. There's clearly many other aspects involved in such decisions (which I'll get to in future blogs, don't you worry!) , but this is a darn good place to start!

Finally, I really like being able to SEE my differences so easily: the amount of waste going into my trash can has already decreased a lot and I can SEE it. Personally, that is an awesome accomplishment that I feel every day, as I open the trash can less and less.

Hope you enjoyed my first post! Let me know what you think and if you have recycling tips... Coming soon, reducing and reusing and a google-ton of other ideas!

Verdant

2009-05-03T17:51:00.002-04:00

With Earth Day, this year, I did what a lot of people did-- heard the green tips, looked at the green blogs, and rode my bike. But I also searched out green blogs and crafts for fun, and all the sudden I found myself thinking about a million little ways that I could make teeny, tiny changes that would add up to something more.

And, in response to that, I gnawed on my poor boyfriend's ear for a few hours each day, until he finally started reminding me of my long-neglected blog. Unlike Matt, I am not smart enough to write for an awesome online source and get paid for time. Instead, I'll just slave away for fun.

Here's my basic plan, in case you're interested... I really just want to start a blog filled with small tips on 'being green', as the kids say. My goal is to search out different eco-tips, especially those that are TINY changes, and try to be yet another source of such information. I'll, of course, also be linking to awesome blogs I find. And, I hope, you all can comment on my thoughts, and let me know about other blogs or tell me when my tips are not quite right or could be improved. To be honest, the main goal of this blog is going to be to keep me motivated in my green-ness. And it would be nice to have some company...

So it begins.

2009-05-03T17:15:00.006-04:00

Previous to now, almost all of my blogs have been focused on just keeping my family and loved ones informed about my banal, but loveable, doings. However, with Earth Day, I've recently been feeling the call to eco-reform and search out simple, easy ways to be more eco-friendly. As a plus, most of these are almost much more economical. In response to those feelings, I'm going to attempt to use my blog as a way to tell my friends and family the neat tips I find-- plus, you poor folks will be forced to listen to fewer eco-rants. Potentially. We'll see.

I'm also hoping, to be honest, that having more of a focus to my blog will encourage me to update it more regularly... you may have noticed I'm not great at that currently. However, I'm constantly finding fantastic eco-ness and wanting to share them with others. Thus, I'm hoping it will come more naturally-- To be sure, talking about myself on the internet does NOT feel normal.

However, I quite understand if you hav eno desire to read my eco-tips. Well, I don't understand, but it is your prerogative. So, I'm going to make sure to label all the posts about me and my life as "kayleigh", and all of the eco-awesome as "eco" -- along with other, more specific tags. So, if you scroll down and look on the right, you can select the tags you like and read any subject you desire. Or, as is hoped, you can read or skim through all of it.

Much love to all. I'm excited and hope you are and hope it keeps up...

However, to let you all know, and to stop any confusion, I will be tagging things carefully. Those about just me and my life will be tagged "kayleigh", while eco-awesomeness will be under "eco". That way, whether you prefer hearing about me or hearing about being green, you can make your own decision. I certainly hope you want to hear about all of it, but I understand either way.

Let's hope that you're excited and that my momentum keeps going...

The 2008 - 2009 School Year in One Blog!

2009-05-01T20:54:00.033-04:00

Hello out there all my fine people! It has been approximately forever since I last wrote on this blog to update all my beloveds (and anyone else out there on the interwebz) about my super exciting life as a graduate student! Well, let me get you up-to-date, and then I have an awesome announcement about the future of this blog (and why I hope to update it more often)....

In order to keep this interesting, I shall utilize the minimalist formatting of "bullets"

September 2008

Matthew came down for my birthday, and what a birthday was had

birthday cupcake and coffee-- for breakfast

I came up to see the New York Football JETS play an awesome game, back before the horror that was the 2008 season truly began.

I looked longingly into Matt's eyes, knowing this he was really going through with this whole 'grad school in England' thing:

October 2008

The awesomeness of the Jets continued somewhat unscathed

I adopted the cutest kitten ever: Miss Annabel Somers, also called Banabel, Banana, Nanner, Nan, Nannerpuss, and the ever-popular "GET OUT OF THE DRESSER"

Halloween came and went-- I actually spent that night watching Goosebumps, building an IKEA dresser, and having a glass of wine. Needless to say, it was lovely.

November 2008

I saw a really awesome Decemberists show with Jenna, Jordan, and Marlie. I believe I touched Colin again, which made my oh-so-schoolgirl heart cheer with joy. However, no pictures were to be had due to... us being lame and forgetting our cameras. Also, Jenna and Marlie were found to be very poor at following directions and/or common sense. This was not surprising.
Thanksgiving! It was awesome! We ate food! It was awesome!
I'm sure something else important happened... What was it... Oh yeah! GOBAMA!!!! I should really type something more thoughtful or thought-provoking, but basically I was just really happy. And still am.

December 2008

December was hectic, and not just due to finals (all A's, yay me!) and traveling up and down the eastern seaboard.
I also got to see my mother, my baby nephew: Chris, and my nephew's lovely parents (also known as my sister, Antonia, and my brother-in-law, Mark... but let's stay focused on the cute bundle of joy, shall we?)

proud new grandmother and baby

proud new aunty and baby

proud new family with baby (please note Mark's awesome shirt: "The angels have the phone box"-- if you don't know what this is from, your life is sad)

proud new Jets fan...

Plus I had about 8 Christmases-- one with Mum, Antonia, Mark, and Chris; one with Dad, Marlie, and Jordan; one with Matt's close family; and multiple with Matt's extended family.
Matt's family was especially wonderful and inviting and gave me a chance to see Matt at his best:

January 2009

Back to the grind! Three new classes: Biogeochemistry (the science of the entire world in tiny little bits of awesome), Wetlands and Stream Restoration Ecology (all the details of my research), and Spatial Analysis (awesome statistics that could blow your mind)
I also got to TA an Intro Environmental course with a ton of wonderful undergrads and a semi-deity of ecology and nicest man ever, Norm Christensen
Plus I re-potted my sweet plants

February 2009

Matt and my's TWO year anniversary, spent far apart but in love nonetheless
Continued the grinding

March 2009

We had a gorgeous, and rare snow day down here in NC

It was also Jenna's birthday, AND Marlie applied for (and got, of course!) the Humanities Scholarship at UMBC

Jenna, current Humanities Scholar

Marlie, future Humanities Scholar
We are a serious bunch.

That strange man, Matt, showed up again. We had an epic Baltimore and Cumberland tour of awesome.
A high point was seeing "Tis a Pity She's A Whore" at Center Stage which was so fantastic, and we got to go with Los Humanitios

April 2009

Guglhupf, a fantastic bakery in Durham, makes bunnies for Easter WITH SUGAR BUTTS. To be honest, the bunny didn't impress me too much (unlike most of their pastries) but was worth it for the cute-factor

Got to see the FANTASTIC AND ORGASMIC (if you don't know who he is, check him out! for your own sake!) Robyn Hitchcock and the Venus 3 in Carrboro, an area that requires more inspection
That Matt person showed up AGAIN. This time at my house in Durham.

finally fulfilling one of the promises our relationship is based on, Matt made me an Epic Cheese Plate that I could eat every day (and did for about a week)

We also ate multiple awesome meals and went to a few fun bars
I ate in the same room as Robert Redford and NEARLY got my pic with him
I went to Ben and Jerry's for Free Cone Day and got a card for one year's worth of 10% off at B&J's
Attended 3 or 4 end of year / beginning of summer parties that were all fantastic

May 2009

I continued the epic end-of-year party crawl

With the beginning of summer, I've been able to bike more regularly and go to the famous Durham Farmer's Market, which consists of everything good in the world, including the Scene of the Crime Rovers by far one of the coolest bands ever.

And with that, I have updated you to the present time. The next blog post is going to be legen- wait for it...

First Two Weeks of School

2008-09-06T08:52:00.009-04:00

HEY NEATO I FOUND AN OLD BLOG I STARTED WRITING BUT NEVER PUBLISHED. Check out what I was thinking more than half a year ago!!!

Well, I spent the first two weeks of school being pretty darn sick with a horrendous head cold. So sick that I got through two and a half seasons of Buffy, the Vampire Slayer, which was the upside of being under the weather. Nonetheless, I made it to all of my classes.

I am taking three academic classes: Landscape Ecology, Wetlands Ecology, and Introduction to Geospatial Analysis. Landscape Ecology is all about looking at spatial heterogeneity and patterns at a landscape level. Wetlands Ecology is about... wetlands. And their ecology... Intro to Geospatial Analysis is about Geographic Information Systems, which consists of mapping and lots of data analysis.

I'm also taking two more casual classes. One is just a seminar that consists of a lecture every Friday. The other is a two-day-a-week meeting with first- and second- year ecology students and a few professors to discuss articles on different topics in ecology.

So that's the general idea of my semester. Now for a few specific stories. The other Saturday, I went to campus to print out a few things, and I was still feeling a bit sick. When I got there, I couldn't figure out how to get into the gated parking lots. I had been told that they were open on the weekends, but I had missed the part about needing to swipe your Duke ID card to get the gates to open. So, instead, I had to drive around campus and park far away from the building. Walking over, I dropped my ID card on the road, and didn't realize it until I was already at the building, which I couldn't get into without the card. I walked back to my car, assuming I had left it on the seat. As I walked to my car, another car went around me and I heard a loud clicking noise. I looked over and there was my card, having been hit by the car. Luckily, it was only severely bent and not actually broken. I managed to straighten it out enough to get into the building and print the articles. As I was packing up, I hit my usb drive with my knee and broke it in half... I was able to fix it with some army duct tape eventually. After all that, I drove home and crawled back into bed-- and probably watched some Buffy, although I don't really remember at this point.

Orientation Week!

2008-08-24T10:33:00.007-04:00

I am now officially orientated!

The first day was mostly Nicholas School stuff-- meeting some of the head peeps in charge, other first-years, and some older students. I learned all about being a good TA and felt vaguely less lost getting around campus.

I also had a more general Graduate Student orientation, where we were talked at for awhile about fairly informative things and then got to walk around to a bunch of tables of people giving away free stuff and information for services and groups around Duke. I myself received multiple pens, a flashlight, and a variety of stickers.

On Wednesday, I visited the lemur center, where the lemur that played Zoboomafoo now lives. This excited me to no end, but others seemed considerably less impressed. They also allow some of the lemurs to live in a separated part of the Duke Forest, so that they can be studied in an approximately natural habitat. It was really interesting, and one of the other first year PhD students is going to be working there, so hopefully I'll get the inside scoop on those crazy lemurs... Wednesday night we went out to an interesting bar and got some decent panini type food. It was nice to relax a bit with people.

On Thursday, we had our Responsible Conduct of Research orientation. This was basically a really long repetition of "Don't Cheat", but it had some interesting discussion about what to do if you felt that someone was using questionable practices and how copyright works. Plus, we got a lot of decent food. A few of us met up later at Felix, one of the first year PhD student's house, and had a couple of beers. It was nice to just sit around and relax. I'm really glad that everyone in this program is so friendly.

Friday was pretty much open, so I biked on to Duke campus. It didn't take too long, but I felt a bit tired so I parked my bike on east campus (which is a bit closer to my house) and took a really short shuttle to west campus. There, I met with my advisor, Dean Urban, to discuss some specifics. It was a good meeting, and I felt much more certain about many aspects of my PhD. When I returned to my house, I felt strangely tired and my throat was hurting. Concerned, I decided to relax for a bit and curled up in bed. Little did I know that a hellish cold had been set upon me.

All Moved In...

2008-08-17T11:50:00.009-04:00

Well, I've been here for a week and am approximately settled. I have all the furniture I need, other than a dresser-- which I'll be picking up from IKEA the next time I am in the Baltimore area. Here is the basic idea:

It's really nice, and I actually have more space than I thought I would. The bed in there is actually the former roommate's, and I'll be putting up a sofa bed when she comes to pick that up in the next few weeks.

Dad, Marlie, Jordan, and Matt all drove down with me and helped me move in. It was sad to see them go, but it has been great talking with them on the phone and chatting online-- after being in New Zealand where I could really only talk to my family once a week, this does not feel very far away at all. I was even thinking of driving back up for the weekend, but I decided that it would make the most sense to just stay put and try to get comfortable in my skin. Plus, the bike coop I want to try to get a decent, inexpensive bike from is only open on Sundays!

I've spent most of the week driving around Durham, finding every thrift store, hunting for furniture, and meeting a ton of great people via Basma (my housemate). I am considering investing in a GPS for my car-- I've gotten lost every single time I've gone out, and I've been told that I should pretty much expect that. Durham has many winding roads that randomly change names and directions, in addition to various roads having the same (or extremely similar) names.

In happy news, Matthew's family sent me a peace lily that really cheered me up and also freshens the air! Hopefully I'll be able to keep it alive and happy. A few days later, Matt sent me a beautiful bouquet of purple flowers for our year-and-a-half-iversary, thus again proving himself to be the best boyfriend, and one of my favorite people, in the world!

I was able to get most of my furniture used, from moving grad students or a neat place called Trosa. I also went to Trader Joe's in Chapel Hill, which has an exciting and cheap selection of decent wine. Maryland does not sell alcohol anywhere but in liquor stores, so I am excited to again live in a real state, where wine is not closeted into sketchy corner stores that close on Sundays. Hurray! On Saturday, I dropped in on the Durham Farmer's Market and bought an insanely good batard, which I've been eating with jam daily. I hope to get fresh, local tomatoes, mozzarella, and basil for a matthew caprese salad at some point in the next few weeks. Besides all the delicious food, there were a few musicians around and free yoga in a nearby park. All in all, it was a feast for all the senses!

Basma and I dropped by the Duke gym, and it is gorgeous. I am excited to try out a simple and short circuit of weight machines, which I can hopefully work into my fitness routine. I've also found a pretty good jogging trail. It goes through a local park, which used to be a bird sanctuary and part of the Museum of Life and Sciences-- which means that there is a huge brontosaurus next to part of the path. I'm not joking. Go here and scroll down to "Points of Interest": the dinosaur on the right is about a 5 minute walk from my house.

On Sunday, I went to the Bike Co-op and had quite an adventure. They have a program that allows you to buy a bike for cheap-- you have to help fix it up and whatnot, but it's way less expensive than a new bike. I worked on a bike for about two and a half hours, got it ready to go, and then we decided that it was actually too small for me... Then we found a new, nearly ready bike, and got it ready to go in about 30 minutes. It was a lot of fun, and I learned a lot. AND, I'm now a member, so I can go back to the store to fix my bike if there are any problems. Once I get a helmet and a lock, I'll be good to go!

Orientation fills up this week, and then school starts for real next week...

Broadway Brett

2008-08-07T14:22:00.004-04:00

For anyone unaware of the football world, the New York Jets have finally received their fated quarterback, the formidable Brett Favre. This season is going to be extra-interesting...

Saying Hello to Durham

2008-08-05T09:32:00.005-04:00

Hurray! New blog up and running! Some quick info for peeps...

To the right are buttons to subscribe to my RSS feed, so you can INSTANTLY know when I publish a new blog. You could also email me if you want me to set up the blog to email you when I update... Or, you could just check out my blog whenever you get bored enough to amble on over. I plan to update every two weeks or more often, so it shouldn't be too hard to keep up to date with me...

I also put up an archive, groupings of blog entries by subject, and a bunch of links (including my Amazon wish list!!!) and such on the right.

And now on to my current plans...

Saturday morning, I will be heading down south in a convoy of three cars packed with most of my earthly belongings. The drive is about five to six hours, and we aim to be at my new house by mid-afternoon. The trip should involve many humorous pictures of overly-filled cars, sweaty family members, and angry and threatening people... All in all, a good way to remember my loved ones for a few weeks before I see them again.

Once down there, I am going to settle in, deal with all the fine tunings of living in a new town and state, and try to explore the area and meet new people! As you can tell, this will all be fodder for my blog...

Stay tuned!

Saying Goodbye to New Zealand

2006-11-12T21:49:00.004-05:00

I cannot believe it is here. Finals are done, I'm all packed up, and I leave in just a few short hours. My semester went fantastically and I couldn't really wish for a better time abroad. I volunteered for the last time at the Arts Recycling Center and painted this huge tiger mask/costume for the Christmas Parade that, unfortunately, occurs after I leave...

Pretty awesome for doing it free hand, I must say... I also did my last yoga class and a bunch of other 'last' things in Palmy. Leaving right now has me very melancholy, but not exactly sad. I haven't cried yet. I said goodbye to Bruce last week and Rob and Roxanne on Saturday right after my last final. I managed to run into Bri earlier today and gave her a quick hug. I helped Becca get her stuff on the bus and saw Mckenzie too... so everyone has been said-goodbye-to. The hall is deserted, just like it was when I came here. My room is empty except for my bags. It seems surreal that I'm already done. Like I'll wake up and it will be July 5th all over again...

Being as I am about to leave, I got quite sentimental in picture taking. Behold!

Baby ducks!

Rainbows!

Me at the Massey sign!

The sign is right as you enter campus. They seem to really want people to take pictures with this sign, as shown by the back of the sign

So at 10 o'clock I take the overnight bus up to Auckland, where I'll meet Allison quite early in the morning. After some sustenance provided by Auckland's Own Dunkin' Donuts, we'll go rent our car and then drive up to the house of Allison's DARLING friend, Charlotte. There we will drop off our luggage we don't need for Australia as well as relax. Then it's back to Auckland for a good night's rest before flying to Melbourne in the morning... For those of you still in finals, here is what you can drool over:

I will be in the following cities:
Melbourne, Canberra, Sydney, Byron Bay, and Brisbane

I will be doing the following things:
Ghost tours, visiting the Australian Zoo, cuddling koalas, seeing the Sydney Bridge and the Sydney Opera House, learning to surf, visiting Bondi Beach, visiting various art museums, possibly going to a nude beach, diving on the coral reef, and visiting more art museums. ALL WITH ALLISON!!!!! which makes it all 10 times more exciting :)

We are planning on having a fantastic vegan Thanksgiving, which I am looking forward to with the utmost joy... yummmmmmy.

As of right now, it's about 25 days til my butt is back in the states, which is both awesome and sad. I am really looking forward to all the Australia stuff, so keep me in your thoughts that my plans go fairly smoothly. For now, I need to go vaccuum my room and have my 'last supper' at the dining hall :P Here is a picture to show how much I'm looking forward to the holidays. I love NZ candy :)

Mwah!!!! See y'all on the flip side...

Fieldtrip and the North of the North

2006-10-27T18:38:00.012-04:00

Well hello my dear friends and/or family!!! I have returned from my weeklong vacay to the North of the North (Island) and now I am supposedly getting down to my final studying... we'll see about that. Anyways, here is what I did on my fab vacation!

To start it off, before I even went on vacation, I had my first and last field trip in New Zealand! It was for my geography class, and we basically drove around in a bus to various sites in the Manawatu region and looked at local examples of geological phenomena! LOTS OF FUN! But we did stop by the wind turbines (NOT WIND MILLS, because wind mills are made to MILL flour...) The turbines were HUGE. Monolithic, I would say. It made me really happy that I got to see them up close. I tried to get a picture for scale...

That is the base of the turbine with a school-bus-sized... bus... So, they were large and not noisy at all. GO THE ALTERNATIVE ENERGY SOURCES!!!

After that fun day, I had just enough time to finish packing before Bri and I headed out on our trip. The first place we went was to the Bay of Islands, which is the northern tip of the North Island of New Zealand. On the way there, we went to the Kauri Museum (which was a bit of a dive, but it was cool to see how the Kiwi Pioneers had felled these huge trees... in a depressing kind of way...). I guess I should explain what Kauri is... Kauri is a type of tree that is HUGE. In fact, it reminded me a lot of the wind turbines, which I think is significant in a cosmic sense. Kauri's are just as wide as Redwood trees, but not as tall (I think..) If you are really interested, wikipedia has this to say. After visiting the Kauri Museum, we drove through a national park that has about 75% of the remaining Kauri. The forest was what used to cover the entire top half of the Northern Island, before human settlement...

We stopped to see Tane Mahuta, who is named after the Maori forest god, and is the biggest (via diameter width) Kauri. It is SO hard to describe the magnificence of this tree-- the only thing I can think of, is that it was like seeing the Tree of Life at Disney World, but real. Seriously. Bri and I both said, at the same time, "Holy Shit." Tane Mahuta is believed to be about 2,000 years old... which puts a lot of persepctive on our measly little lives, espcially considering that many of the Kauri trees that were felled in the past were older and/or larger.

This is Tane Mahuta, with wee little people in front of him...

We stopped again to see some younger Kauri trees, and we could get close to these thanks to platforms-- you can't get too close because the roots are very delicate! Here is me showing my hippy side, hugging one of them. Again, notice how INSANELY LARGE it is.

After the long bus ride through the Kauri forest, we ended up in Paihia. Bri and I had a FANTASTIC jog through the town and saw a few different places. On historical notes, just outside of the town is where the Treaty of Waitangi was signed, and across the bay is Russell, which was New Zealand's first capital!

We went to a little barbecue that night and then started drinking... and I drank a bit too much, but ended up (eventually) in my hostel bed, safe and sound. The next day we got up (luckily, because I totally forgot to set an alarm :0) for the Cape Reinga Day Trip! YAY!

Cape Reinga is THE northern tip of New Zealand. You can see where the Tasman Sea in the west meets the Pacific Ocean in the east. And when I say "you can see", I DO MEAN you can SEE!!! Apparently it wasn't the best day, but you could still see the two bodies of water smashing against each other. I was so impressed that I took the crappy video below... Forgive the quality...

Here is a picture from the tip of the Cape, again showing the insanity of two bodies of water meeting:

There was a signpost with distances to various destinations, so I took the obligatory photo of myself walking towards LA...

On the way back, we stopped at these huge sand dunes!!! AND WE BODY BOARD-ED DOWN IT!!! AND I WIPED OUT WONDERFULLY! Here is a video:

So after that I had the wonderful joy of being covered in sand for the rest of the day! WOOT! It was fun though :) After that, we DROVE along 90 Mile Beach, which was kind of surreal... because now and again waves would kind of hit the bus. 90 mile beach, incidentally, is only about 60 miles. It was guessed at being 90 by some shepherd guy who knew that his sheep could go about 30 miles per day, and it took them 3 days to go along this beach. However, the sand apparently impeded their progress because when it was actually measured, it came out to be only about two-thirds of what he thought! I am so full of interesting historical information!!!

After that drive, we headed all the way back to Paihia and went to sleep early sans drinking. The next day, we had a free morning before heading back to Auckland. We did a fun little trip in a speed boat where we went to see Hole in the Rock and Cathedral Cave! That's right, a ROCK with a HOLE in it! INSANITY!!! Actually, it was pretty gorgeous to see...

Faraway

and up close

I got pretty excited

After the boat ride, we hopped back on the bus and headed down the opposite side of the northern part of the island... We got back to Auckland, had some dinner, met up with Allison, and yarn crafted for a bit... The next morning we were up and away again, off to the Coromandel Penninsula, which is south of Auckland. The weather for the trip was horrid, but I'm still glad we did it.

On the way, we stopped to look at the (cloudy but still wonderful) view...

Note the rocky crags out in the ocean!

Unfortunately, the weather was bad enough that we couldn't kayak. We headed over to Cathedral Cove (different from Cathedral Cave, mentioned above) and walked through torential downpours for about an hour to see this site:

I am standing against the wall in the picture above and in the middle of the cove in the picture below...

There were some kids playing rugby in there, waiting for the rain to subside. Which it never did. Afterwards, Bri and I got fruit smoothies and then we drove over to Hot Water Beach. This is one of the top 10 beaches in the world, apparently. It is located on top of TWO geothermal thingies that make the watertable underneath the sand REALLY hot... It was way too cold for us to put on swim suits and dig our own spa pools, so we did what everyone but one crazy girl was doing-- hitched up our pants and dug our feet into the sand. At first, I thought people were just dumb, because my feet warmed up, but only in that "My feet have a small amount of insulation due to sand covering them" way. Then we moved to a place that must have been right on top of the geothermal activity, because the water felt BOILING hot! It burned my little toesies!!! HURRAY! Afterwards my feet were uber soft from the hot water and sand, which impressed me quite a bit.

At that point Bri and I were both soaked to the bone, so we hopped on the bus and headed to our stop for the night at Paihia. First we did some bone-carving, which was fascinating. We got a bone that was shaped already, but we sanded and polished it so that it looked like real jewelery and not just some silly peice of shaped-bone. Very exciting. I will show it off when I get back.

The next day we got back to Auckland in the early afternoon, giving Bri and I enough time to souvenir shop as well as go to Kelly Tarlton's Underwater World! Which is one of the most impressive aquariums I've been in. Most importantly, it had a penguin exhibit. We couldn't turn the flash on our cameras, but we COULD video it. Note Bri's comment at the end that her pictures aren't turning out! HA HA!

Kelly Tarlton was a genuis of a marine biologist and designed this underwater area where you go through a tube through the aquarium... So I got a picture representing with his bust...

The best part of the trip was getting to see Robyn Hitchcock play later that night. I got a shirt signed for Papa Steve and got to be wow'ed by the performance and wit of Mr. Hitchcock and the Venus 3...

On Wednesday we did some shopping all over Auckland, and ended the trip with an AWESOME pizza at the Kiwi Music Bar. Then we loaded back on to the night bus and now I am in the middle of finals... writing a blog instead of studying! I am counting the days until I go to Australia! Details to come...

School Time!

2006-10-05T01:54:00.002-04:00

Well if anyone out there is still reading this blog or even thinking of me anymore, they may be wondering, "Hey, what the hell HAPPENED to Kayleigh anyways? It's been like 3 to 4 weeks I've been sitting here, just waiting for an update to her blog!" Well, friends, I am sorry for the delay. However, this entry will probably do NOTHING to quench your desire for Kiwi-type adventures...

You see, they have this really weird idea about study abroad: you're actually expected to "study" now and again. I know, I know. I, too, was amazed. But that is what I've been up the past few weeks. Doing school projects, going to the gym, and generally having a normal routine in New Zealand.

This is Paul, a kiwi who is in my Soils Lab.

See how interesting it is here! LOOK AT THE PRETTY COLOR OF OUR SOIL SOLUTE THINGY!!!

One weekend I did get to go up to Mt. Ruapehu with MUAC, but I discovered pretty quickly that I HATE snowboarding and I should probably never attempt it. Ever. Furthermore, I may have to pay for my board. Which broke because of a flaw that it had when I got it, but they will not believe me and are convinced that I dropped it off a car or beat it against the side of a wall or something. Oh well.

Last night I went bowling. And discovered I am also quite bad at that! ESPECIALLY WHEN NO ONE WILL PLAY WITH BUMPERS!!! Luckily, I enjoyed it a lot more because I got to where awesome shoes and dance around.

To amuse you, here are some quotes from my classes that humored me:

My geography teacher, in response to a diagram explaining alluvial processes with a tractor:

"now this tractor is supposed to show... ok, ignore the tractor..."

My soils prof, discussing the importance of soil surveys:

"The couple didn't get soil surveys of their land done, and they went bankrupt. And their marriage failed... So always use soil surveys correctly."

My soils prof again on the "rather stupid" location of palmerston north in a flood plain:

"one day palmerston north WILL flood. and people WILL die."

I love school here! Everyone is so absurd! So, that is my absolutely boring blog entry! But do not worry because in two days I am going up to the Northern beaches and I will provide many pictures! Then I'll be back in Palmy for about 2 weeks for finals, then AUSTRALIA! And then home :)

I miss everybody and can't wait to be back! GO JETS!

South Island Trip

2006-09-15T21:52:00.018-04:00

My trip to the South Island was FANTASTIC!!! It rocked in multiple ways. Let me see… To begin with, there were actually some scary problems with our airplane tickets that could have completely screwed our entire trip, but luckily we (especially thanks to me) caught it and bought new tickets Wednesday night… They left from Wellington, so Friday morning we were off and away on a bus

We had a few hours in Wellington, which we spent getting some yummy Mexican food and exploring Te Papa (a museum) some more. We caught our flight without any problems, and then got a cab to a nice hostel, dropped off our stuff, and headed into downtown Christchurch for some food and a beer. Initially we tried to go to “Boogie Nights”, but were told ever so nicely that our shoes did not meet their dress code… hahaha. So instead we went to the Irish bar next door which had a rocking band called “The Black Velvet Band”. I forced Bri into dancing and ended up getting twirled around by multiple drunk old kiwi guys. Then we trucked back to the hostel to get up early the next morning for the dolphin swim!!!

Again, there were almost some problems, but Bri this time caught them and all was well. We were able to get out to Akaroa harbor just fine and the weather was pretty good. The sun shined most of the time we were out on the water. We got to put on some wet suits…

Then we went out on the water. We had to ride around on the boat for awhile, looking for the dolphins. They are wild, so they’re not confined to one place. They are called “Hector’s Dolphins” and they are smaller than bottle-nosed. Once we spotted a pod of about five or six, we stopped the boat and got into the water. Because some of the other girls chickened out, I got in first, so I also got the power of the “tapping rocks”—they handed me two rocks and told me to tap them together under the water. Apparently dolphins like that. I let a couple other people try it, but the dolphins totally liked my beat the best. We weren’t allowed to touch the dolphins or anything, just let them swim around us. The waves were huge, so we just kind of laid on our backs and enjoyed the swells. The dolphins got wonderfully close to us, and I felt really in tune with everything. It was marvelous. This is what we looked like, bobbing in the middle of the Pacific:

Off the left is a dolphin fin!!!! When we did leave, I swear one of the dolphins flapped its tail at me. After that experience, we were totally in euphoria. We picked up a pizza and some fruit ice cream from the wharf and then drove back to Christchurch to meet up with Becca and Rob, and then drive on down to Oamaru.

We ended up in an awesome hostel that was situated in a hotel that had been built in the early 1900s. We got up at about 4:30 am, if I remember correctly (it might have been a little later) so that we could drive out to the coast and catch the sunrise... After a lot of exploring, we ended up at this light house we’d heard of where there was a yellow-eyed penguin colony as well as a seal colony!!! It was crazy seeing wild penguins that close.

I also saw a seal climbing up the cliff towards a pasture where the sheep looked slightly nervous… Then we went to one of the coolest places in the trip (thanks to Bri), Moeraki Boulders. We took a million pictures. Here are the best:

The boulders were created in volcanic eruptions millions of years ago and now sit on the beach, looking awesome, especially at sunrise… After that, we tried to wait around for the restaurant to open but they chose to just stare at us instead of opening on time, so chose to drive to Dunedin instead. There, we went to Speight’s Brewery (thanks to Becca). At the end, we got to drink a ton of different beers

In the middle is our awesome tour guide. On the far left is a silly French chap who got in on our photo op…

After a beer tour, it’s only natural to go to the Cadbury’s factory for a chocolate tour!!! We got to see a CHOCOLATE WATERFALL, which was humorous and satisfying. It was fortunate that it wasn’t til later the next day that I decided I should only eat fair trade chocolate…

Then we headed over to another tourist spot, Baldwin Street – THE STEEPEST STREET IN THE WORLD!!!!!!! We conquered it, and yes it really is quite f*cking steep… as Becca kept saying, “Dunedin, what were you thinking?!? Really!!!”

Me, scaling my way to the top…

After all that, there was little we could do but go to the Spaghetteria…

and happen to catch “School of Rock” on tv in the hostel. The next morning, it was up early again to watch the sunrise on the Otago Penninsula—however, we misjudged how far out the actual peninsula was. Nevertheless, we drove part of the way and saw a beautiful sunrise, as well as an albatross colony, and a lone seal swimming in the ocean. On the way back, we tried to stop at Larnach Castle, the only castle in NZ, but it was closed AND costs money…

So we skipped that, and began to drive to Queenstown. We made it by midafternoon, found a fantastic hostel, and went out to a Mexican place for dinner. Then we wandered around the town for a little while longer and headed back to base camp for then night.

The next morning, a cab picked us up from our hostel to take us to a coach to take us to Milford Sound (which is actually a fiord, as it turns out). It was extremely beautiful.

A few quick examples, which completely do not show the actually wonderfulosity!

Probably my favorite pic of Rob and I

And trust me, everyone at home will be seeing a million more of these pictures because it was insanely beautiful. We also got to see some seals! Which always makes me extremely happy. I have pictures of those as well, but I am showing restraint. We got back from that at around 7, and were of course starving. We ended up going over to “The Cow”, and getting some of the best garlic bread and pizza I’ve had. The way that the restaurant works is that everyone shares tables, so Becca, Bri, and I ended up sitting with two separate groups of Australians. It was a lot of fun. Then we went and had a drink at Pog Mahoney’s, but everyone was pretty wiped out so we headed out early, despite an awesome Johnny Cash rendition by the band.

The next morning was The Morning. The day of THE JUMP. Nevis. 134 meters. 440 feet.

DID I DO IT?

Yes, I DID!!!

It was probably one of the best experiences I’ve ever had. Truthfully, the moment when you jump and realize that you are completely alone, falling, is absolutely beautiful.

I don’t think for me it was that much about adrenalin, it was just the feeling of being alive for that moment…. Maybe that is the adrenalin… anyways, it was really fantastic and if I ever go back to Queenstown I will definitely be doing it again.

After that, Bri and I figured, hey why not take a helicopter up to the mouth of a river and white raft down??? The ride up was great, especially because I got to sing “suicide is painless” to myself, and pretended to look for the old 4077 sign (if you don’t understand that, you don’t watch nearly enough M*A*S*H). It was in some ways scarier than the bungy because we were expected to actually do things—like paddle. IN DIFFERENT WAYS. Bri and I sat at the front and at first got harassed about it, but then we rocked at keeping rhythm so in the end one of the old guys (whose name was Wombat) bought us a beer. Bri even steered us through a cave, despite my death grip on her legs which almost did her in.

Once Bri and I were completely out of energy, we headed over to Pizza Hut and then met up with everyone else, piled into the car, and began our long as drive to Fox Glacier. It’s unfortunate we had to do it so late, because we were going through the mountains and even in the moonlight it was striking. We pulled into our hostel around midnight, and we all pretty much curled up dead asleep right away.

The next morning, we headed over to the Fox Glacier Helihike area, where we were planning to take a helicopter up to the top of the glacier and then hike around on it for a bit. However, the weather was bad, and they had to cancel it. They told us we could still do a hike, but as Bri put it to them, “Will there be Blue Ice Caves? No? Okay then…” So, we decided to stick around for another day. But first we drove to the nearest city-ish area, Hokitika. There wasn’t much to do there (the west coast of the South Island is pretty much the boondocks), but we looked around at a few craft places and stared at the Tasman Sea for awhile…

and enjoyed some wedges and a beer as well. Then we headed back to Fox Glacier and spent the night. The next morning, we had considerably better luck and got up to that damn glacier!

And we got our damn blue ice caves!!!

Again, for those of you playing the home game, I will be showing you a MILLION more pictures of this beautiful area. Seriously. It was amazing. I am so glad that we got to do it, and in great weather as well. Plus our guide was a hotty… there was only one problem, but I took care of that pretty swiftly

Ha! I am such a humorous person when I have a pick ax!

Once we were done with relaxing on the gargantuan ice cube, we drove through Hokitika again, and then up to Punakaki, the site of the infamous pancake rocks!!! Bri and I went up to them, climbed over a barrier, and watched the sunset…

They are called pancake rocks because of the really obvious layers on the rocks, as you can see in this marvelous picture:

(At this time, Rob, Bruce, and Becca nearly got eaten by the sea, so I was glad that I went with the safer climbing over barriers rather than playing in the ocean option)

Then we headed over to the local pub and got a pizza and some beers. I know fully enjoy beers, by the way. Thank you, South Island. Once we were a bit snookered, we went over to the free hot tub at our hostel. Becca and I went wading in the sea for about 30 seconds, before Becca got taken out and we quickly retreated back to the hot tub.

The next morning was, according to NZ time, my birthday! Becca got me an awesome French Knitting hoogeybooge which I have yet to fully enjoy, but will soon be bringing coasters and various other accoutrements to a Kayleigh near you. For breakfast, I got the “Pancakes Rock” special (no joke), which Bruce bought for me because he (as well as the pancakes) rocks. Then I bought myself a birthday ring, that says “Kia Kaha”, which is Maori and translated on the ring as inner strength, but really means “GO HARD!” and was my mantra/battle cry throughout this trip as well as my whole study abroad experience. Our hostel agreed with their mural…

My birthday was actually pretty uneventful. We spent most of the day driving. We stopped for about 20 minutes in Nelson to try and find this cool yarn Becca and I had heard of, but we couldn’t find it, so then we had to hop back in the car and finish driving to Picton, where we caught the ferry. On the ferry, we drank some champagne, which Bri and Rob bought for me in copious amounts.

I look like a doofus in the corner, but oh well. We got into Wellington around 9, then headed over to the BK Lounge (aka Burger King) for a quick snack. Becca, Bruce, and I grabbed another beer at the hostel’s bar and then we all admitted defeat and slept the night away. It was a very enjoyable birthday, especially for being at the end of the most insane trip I’ve ever had.

In the morning, we took the TranzScenic train back to Palmy, which was neat because it is going to stop running FOREVER in about a month. I ended up sleeping most of the time, but what I did see was awesome. When we got back to Palmy, we realized just how far the train station was from town. We took a cab back to Massey and then I must admit I was happy to be back in MY room, able to do MY laundry, and listen to MY music…

Speaking of which, I managed later that day to break my ipod. It’s fixed now, but I had to get rid of all the music I had on it… all of which is back home. I am probably going to get some of it from home, but if anyone wants to send me mix cd’s, it would rock. Don’t worry, though, I’ve got plenty of friends HERE too, so there…

That’s about all so far. This week has been getting back into school pretty hardcore. I did well on my midterms, and now I’m launching into that penultimate struggle before finals. Planning some trips, and planning on when to get the huge, daunting projects that I’ve been putting off done. Becca and I went to an environmental film festival, and I got revved up about my PhD again… So yes, this is on to 6 pages in word and I’m rambling, so that is the end of this blog. Thank you everyone for birthday wishes and presents and everything else!!! It is great to feel loved even so far away! I love you all in return!

AUCKLAND WEEKEND!

2006-08-26T17:52:00.008-04:00

So! Insanity in New Zealand forthwith! Much has passed since I last blogged!!! Now I shall tell you of all my adventures since then! First, Becca and I took a weekend up to Napier AND SPENT THE NIGHT IN PRISON…

It is the oldest prison in NZ, and has been turned into a backpackers… We got to stay in a cell-type room, though it wasn’t an actual cell. It was just a room… We were told later that some girl had a ghost-experience in it, but we couldn’t decide if they told us that just to make us feel brave and what not. Nevertheless, it was fantastic and a great place to stay. Plus they had a cat, who didn’t like me very much…

Other than that, we pretty much just wandered around Napier. It’s a really beautiful city on the coast… I even took a dip in the water for just a second, because it is the Pacific (or possibly a bay… we weren’t completely sure)…

directly afterwards, we saw a sign that said not to swim at all because it was a deadly body of water… so that was scary and I was glad that I was only in for a moment! There was also a really pretty waterfall…

and we ate some fantastic Indian food, as well as seeing a drunk guy run down the street wearing only a sock… and then no sock… but I did not take pictures of that. The whole town is filled with art deco architecture, so it was fun just walking and looking at the buildings. They also had some nice craft stores, and they had these huge pine trees along the streets that had Christmas lights in them all year long.

I got back from Napier and literally had about four hours before I was leaving for Auckland. Bri and I still found time for a quick drink at the Celtic though. We took the overnight bus up to Auckland, and had a very trying morning wherein we were shanghaied by a taxi driver to a faraway suburban mall just to get dunkin donuts… but I got my damn donuts (which they have only in Auckland) and I was quite happy. I’m hoping to get one of those “I did stupid crap for a sugary pastry” stories there. After that misadventure, we took a BUS back to downtown Auckland and finally met up with Allison, our intrepid tour guide and bestest friend!

Bri’s on the left and Allison’s on the right…

Bri did the SKY JUMP in Auckland, which is like a controlled bungee jump. It was pretty frigging awesome to watch and I was very proud of her doing it. She is quite scared of heights, so it was cool that she conquered that!

Then we dressed up in colours and headed over to the ALL BLACKS game… We took the bus over, and amongst the many things yelled on it, my favorite was “GO THE BUS LANE!!!” The All Blacks won, of course, despite some scary moments. Then we got to mock all the Aussie fans that had shown up. Ha ha, lame os!!!! Then we ended up walking all the way back to the downtown area (don’t worry, it was through safe areas, just a long walk, and there were three of us… plus some kiwi guy who we befriended along the way). After powering up with some Chinese food (I had Mexican food made by Turkish people, I believe), we headed over to Tourist Central—a little bar called Minus 5. The whole place is made of ice, including your cups and what not. You pay 30 dollars and then go in for a half hour or something like that. Plus, you get a free drink! AND SNOW JACKETS AND GLOVES!!!

Then we walked over to a sports bar to chill for a bit, and I got come cider!!! And ran into an old friend…

That’s Shakespeare for you slow ones… And then we headed back and collapsed in bed. Sunday we headed over to a place called “Butterfly Creek”, which was out by the Auckland airport.

We were all looking at the airport, sighing… home… and then we were like, anyways, back to having fun! So Butterfly Creek is a butterfly house… example:

AHHH ATTACK OF CUTE BUTTERFLIES!!! But really, it was cool because they’d just land on you and flutter about. Then we found out that there was also a PETTING ZOO. So, of course we had to go… I got to hold a floppy bunny rabbit, further convincing me of the need for an angora bunny in my life…

We also met Bruce the Goat… And fed him cheezles, which we were told was okay… ish… anyways, best picture of the trip so far:

Finally to end our trip we went down to the wharf for a bit. And I got an awesome picture of ME! We also got ice cream and did a ton of shopping…

Then we once again took the night bus home and got back to Palmy at about 5 am on Monday, just in time to begin classes. Luckily we have mastered the art of sleeping on buses, once Bri figured out how key it is to hop in your sleeping bag… That made it ten times better. I had an uneventful week, gearing up for midterms. Then that weekend, we rented a car to do a case study of a natural area. Which we finished in about 3 hours, and quickly realized we had the car for the whole day. So, after stopping by an interesting museum

and a salvo army to buy some yarn, we headed out to Wellington. There, we tried desperately to find some tree that Orlando Bloom stood next to. Instead, all we found was a path that he probably walked on. And we tried to overhear what one of the movie tour guides was saying, but couldn’t figure out where to go next. Lots of fun, despite all the rain and cold. Then we had the best Mexican I’ve had here yet, and I got some huevos rancheros, which y’all know made my heart happy. On the way back, all the raining had caused a flood so it took almost 5 hours to get back… And the radio got about no channels, so Becca and I nearly drove Bri nuts by singing Newsies the whole time. At the end of it, Bri realized that she had her ipod the whole time!!! Ha!!!

Oh yeah and on Sunday, Bri spent 10 HOURS (I love you Bri!!!) DREADLOCKING MY HAIR!!!!!!!! I am currently needing to keep it back in a bandana…

otherwise, it looks like….

So that’s exciting, now I’m just keeping up with it and hoping for the best!!!

Over the last week, it was midterms, which was quite stressful but is now thoroughly done and over with… which means, SOUTH ISLAND!!! That’s right. Tomorrow morning we depart for a week of insanity. I will tell you all the wonderful details when I get back, and also next Saturday or so is my birthday!!! Oh and also I got my package from Papa Steve, and totally couldn’t hold back and opened it!!!! This is what my room looked like afterwards:

So, thanks so much to everyone that did anything for it!!! And for those of you that didn’t, I will deal with you later. Bums… Ha!!! Also, just to show how awesome I am:

It’s now on my wall… For real… Okay, time for me to get to bed so I am rested for the fantastic week ahead!!!! My love to all…

Probably the most boring blog by me, ever.

2006-08-13T04:30:00.002-04:00

SO GET READY!!! Just to give everyone the bad news up front, we did NOT get to go ice climbing this weekend. The weather up on Ruapehu was apparently quite formidable and, as we did not want to die a horrid, Shining-inspired death, we were forced to give up our trip. And we don't get to do it later because there aren't any other open weekends. So that sucks...

On Friday, Becca, Rob, and I attempted to see "An Inconvenient Truth", but it was sold out-- which was almost awesome just because it was the only sold out movie on a Friday night. Instead, we rented "The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou" which was very enjoyable the second time around. If you have not seen it, go see it. It is, after all, Papa Steve's namesake. HI PAPA STEVE!!! And I subsequently got the joy of crocheting for quite some time.

On Saturday, Rob and I watched an insanely large amount of Dr. Who (Season 2, bitches), then went to town and drank hard cider, then ate kebabs and walked back to campus and watched some more Dr. Who. AKA, best night ever.

On Sunday, Becca, Rob, and I went to Te Manawa, a very cool museum right in Palmy. We looked at some very cool Kiwi art and some historical exhibits. Then we went into the kids area, where we served as key detectives in solving a murder mystery and rhino kidnapping. We believe that we have discovered the identity of those involved, but we cannot be certain until late October... When the exhibit closes, and I think they do something that will tell us for certain...

So that was my weekend. Very relaxing and I got ahead on some of this so-called "schoolwork", not to mention my yarn crafting! I kind of feel like I'm finally really getting settled. I have my orientation, I know who I like to hang out with, I have a routine. It's almost like I feel normal here! (as normal as I ever get that is)...

Just to amuse myself and others, I was telling the lovely Miss Julia about how sensational the newspapers are here, and here is a wonderful example... Look at the headline on the far right...

Sensational, no?

So, boring blog! But next weekend I am going to Auckland to see the Mighty Mighty All Blacks and then there will be many pictures and other things! I love you all!!!

Well goodness gracious…

2006-08-10T06:44:00.010-04:00

So long without a blog, I am just trying to type one up before I head out for the weekend. And I’ve just finished a ton of studying (apparently they DO have that in NZ… boo…) with a few hours to spare before going to sleep, so I will update my web log o’ goodness. First, let me congratulate MYSELF because for the last two weeks I have been going to the gym almost every day!!! I am going to come back even hotter than I was when I left… Especially once I get my tan on in Ozzy land… Now, on to more interesting things for y’all!

Thursday night the Massey University Alpine Club held some CAPTURE THE FLAG at the Victorian Esplanade in town. It’s basically a playground, arena, and walking gardens all in one. Becca, Bri, and I soon discovered that American playgrounds suck in comparison to New Zealand ones. For example, they had a flying fox—one of those ziplines you jump in and barrel forward screaming for a while. Bri conquered her fear and did it (like five times), as did I (like twice)… The weird thing for us was that it wasn’t roped off, or had an attendant or anything—just a warning to not do anything too stupid on it. It reminded me of the NZ ACC (accidental compensation… something), which basically says “if you get hurt, we’ll pay for it” rather than the US system of “if you get hurt, find someone to sue”. There were multiple other awesome parts of the playground, including a human-sized hamster wheel, trampolines, and some massive slides. I forgot to bring my camera but I will get some pics that Becca took (and Bri and I took with her camera) before I leave… Anyways, we played Capture the Flag, and TWICE I almost won it for us, but the mud made me fall on my butt. Plus, we didn’t have any way to recognize which team a person was except by recognizing them—and we were playing at night, so that was a bit difficult. It was all fun and games until one girl tackled a big guy and ended up BREAKING her ankle!!! We all felt really bad and went home after that, but she was really tough. Nevertheless, it was a good night until that point.

Friday morning Bri and I went into town and had breakfast at a little bistro which was decent and later brunch at Café Cuba, which was excellente.

Friday night was in fact my one year anniversary with Tyler (if you didn’t notice from the other 3 times I mentioned it on this very website!). So, of course, I went out to see Concord Dawn and Minuit at the MuBar and drank some Tui… Nevertheless, Bri (as usual) managed to drink more than I.

Note Becca’s expression in the back… I have no idea if that had to do with the photo or not. Bri drank so much that with a little help from me, she got the much desired TUIVERSITY shirt. I am working my way there, and now Bri will help ME!!! Here she is semi-modeling the shirt with Rob looking very British (and comatose) next to her.

Then we were all really hungry so we ordered two pizzas—they had a deal delivering to the student bar. We went through those babies like nothing…

What’s that? You’re sick of pictures of people other than me??? Okay, fine.

On Saturday I went on a trip to Wellington (NZ’s capital), and Bri was able to come along! First we hung out in Te Papa, an awesome museum and we visited…

stop drooling… and we found a wonderful photo op…

The exhibit was fairly fantastic. It consisted of props, costumes, and some of the mini sets from the films. Unfortunately we couldn’t bring our cameras in (which seemed a bit absurd… I have no idea why…) but it included the miniature of Helm’s Deep, and some “life size” orcs, SAURON (that was crazy scary), and lots of video commentary about how everything came together. It was really awesome and as Bri pointed out, helped bring together the movie plot because of all the descriptions of places and characters (and who was who’s son, etc). We almost bought the dvd set, but they would not play in American dvd players, so that was a short lived fantasy.

After that, we spent the rest of the day wandering around the downtown district. We got a long lunch at a semi-Mexican place and also looked at a ton of clothing stores, which made Bri very happy. Then we took a quick stroll on the bay (I’m not sure if it’s actually a bay, but it’s bay-ish). This is what the city looks like:

It’s almost Mediterranean looking from that view. We also found some poetry that had washed ashore, so I got a picture of it… with me on it…

Then, my favorite part of the trip, we found this little “diving board” that went out over the bay. It was more of a huge wooden plank bolted into the boardwalk. Below it (about… 40 feet? 20?) was the water of the bay and one of those floating swim things. Again, like the flying fox, it just said “hey don’t be stupid” and was just there. For anyone to jump on… SO,

and then

AND THEN

It was pretty awesome. An old guy stopped and looked at me sitting there and asked if he could take my photo. It was awesome to think that I was worthy of a photograph. I felt muselike. Then he asked if I was going to jump and I was like, “alright let’s not get crazy, sir artsy man”. If I had had a change of clothes, I might have but as it was, it was a bit chilly to be jumping into large bodies of water. Bri also went out—made it like halfway, which was awesome because she is really scared of heights! I was like “GO BRI!!!” and then she looked like she was going to faint and I was glad to have her back on stable ground.

So, this weekend I am going up to Mount Ruapehu to get an introduction on ice climbing. We’ll be up there all weekend, and Bri will be with me. If this weekend is anything like buying the gear for the trip was…

Then it will thoroughly rock. Hope all the pictures didn’t kill anyone’s internet (dad… mar… jor…) and I hope everyone is doing fantastic. Finally, I’d just like to pass on something that a certain wonderful lady in my (and dad’s) life said: "I pray for you every morning and every night. I know you are like hours ahead, but I still pray for the day I am in. God speeds up the time zone, I feel sure." It is absolutely awesome that I have such genuine and loving people in my life!!!

Oh and if you are bored and want to look at some more pictures, check out my little album here

The blog in honor of Tyler and my's one year anniversary!

2006-08-01T04:52:00.002-04:00

Tyler really likes birds and if it weren't for him, I would probably not be nearly as interested in the wildlife in New Zealand as I am. I used to just be like "Birds... yes, anyways..." but since I have spent time with Tyler and seen him love his little birdie (what's up, sherbert???) and make comments on them, I've realized just how much attitude they have and how they are kind of human but in a much less anthropogenic way...

Anyways, I went over to the pond at Massey and took some pictures of the big birds that are over there:

First, I took a picture of these two ducks. The Mama Duck kept QUACKING like she was really really angry at the world, Riot Grrl style. So I took her picture, which made her stop for about two seconds and then she just cocked her head and kept yelling...

Then I kept watching her (because I couldn't really ignore her) and then a DIVING DUCK swam up:

Just in case you can't tell, the diving duck is the smaller, black one that has suddenly appeared in the photo. Diving ducks are the best ducks in the entire world. For one, because they apparently annoy the hell out of all the other ducks. Secondly, they quack in the most absurd way. Instead of "quack!" its more like "QUAAAAAAAA" and then they just paddle off. I tried to get a video with the sound they make, but I couldn't do it... Anyways, a very similar (or the same) type of duck lives around the Florida Keys. I know this because I was there once and saw this weird little duck DIVE under the water and then resurface a few yards away, a minute later. It is very unnerving if you don't know it's going to happen. I did get a video of how silly they look when they swim, and if you would like to see it just go here (and if that link doesn't work, be a doll and let me know)

Finally, there are HUGE geese and swans that just wander about campus. Sometimes they attempt to attack people, other times they look serene and majestic. After taking a ton of photos of the swans from faraway, one of them actually swam right underneath the bridge I was on. I took a few pictures, and then I think he realized I didn't have any food for him (which I apologized for)... So the best picture I got was the indignant look on his face:

Still absolutely beautiful... So that's all, lots of bird pictures and videos! Hope y'all enjoyed 'em...

And Now For Something Completely Different...

2006-08-01T04:49:00.002-04:00

Can anyone figure out why the picture below is funny? Anyone? Anyone? Tillman???

Seriously... I laughed aloud... Very strange...

Second Week at Massey...

2006-07-31T05:48:00.003-04:00

Sadly, with fewer photos...

Nevertheless! We found a fantastic yoga place in the Square, and have decided to do yoga once a week. Furthermore, on Thursday, Becca and I did some rockclimbing at the indoor wall. It was fun, though a bit challenging because the instructor just kind of told us to "go at it"... Then we ended up playing "football" for awhile with John Francis and some kids from his hall. Great fun, but I spent the next three days recouping. In honor of that, I got a gym membership and will be starting up a physical regimentation... or what not...

At some point midweek, we went to a lovely little coffee shop called Muffin Break... and low and behold what the painting in the corner said: I think if I were a woman, I'd wear coffee as a perfume --James Dean
The fact that the original JD said it, made me insanely happy... and the quote reminded me SO of Matt and Zach!!!!!!

Friday night, Bri made a marvelous stirfry dinner and then we went down to the Celtic for a short time. Saturday, almost everyone was gone, so I went to the Manawatu Turbos (rugby, but the national, not international version) game. They played Auckland and got CREAMED. It's the first time that Manawatu has had a rugby team in a few decades. For some reason, the best cheers people could come up with were:
"TUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUURBOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOS"
and
"GO THE TURBOS!" (yes, not GO TURBOS, but go THE turbos... it was hilarious)...
Their colors are, incidentally, green and white so a lot of signs around say GO GREEN, which in my mind was fantastic (J E T S JETS JETS JETS...)

After the game, where I was freezing the whole time because Saturday was one of the coldest days since I've gotten here, I went back to my dorm to warm up. Then John Francis came over and we went to the on campus MuBar to watch the All Blacks CREAM Australia and win the Bledisloe Cup (no, that doesn't mean the end of the season... I really don't know what it means except yay winning!!!). Sunday I mostly got some work done that I had been putting off forever...

So it was a very relaxed weekend, which was nice, and very cheap, which was even more nice. Probably the last of those that I will have for awhile now...

This week, I've already officially signed up for the Alpine Club's Ice Climbing Instructorial (...that's not a word...) weekend two weeks from now and am slowly accruing the many many warm items needed for spending 48 hours on a friggin' mountain. We also went out to eat dinner at Halkairna's, a Turkish restaurant. They had the BEST hummus I have EVER eaten. The falafels weren't bad and the smell and place overall was FANTASTIC...

Here are the falafels:

And here are all us lovely girls eating up our food

As of Friday (which is also Tyler and my's one year anniversary! O SMOOCHIKINS!!!), I will have been out of the states / in New Zealand for ONE ENTIRE MONTH!!!! I cannot believe how quickly the time is going... Four more months...

South Island Dreamin'

2006-07-23T18:42:00.002-04:00

Thanks to some master planning, here are current ideas for the South Island trip:

Christchurch

Dolphin Swim

Moeraki Beach

Sunrise at Lighthouse, hopefully with PENGUINS!

Boulder Beach

Dunedin

Chocolate Factory

Baldwin Street (steepest road IN THE WORLD)

Otago Peninsula

Queenstown

Milford Sound Coach and Daytime Cruise

Nevis Bungee

Fox Glacier Helihike

Hokitika

Green Stone Beaches

Greymouth

Sunset on “Dead Beach”

Picton Ferry

First Week in Palmy

2006-07-23T18:16:00.002-04:00

With all the sheep, you'd think it would be FILLED with knitters! ... and perverts...

(thanks for that thought, Papa Steve...)

Well my first week of real school has come and gone and it's already Monday (for me) and I just now have the time and decisive ability to blog about it.

So first, last Sunday, in preparation for the schooling that would soon be upon us, we made a big, American brunch: scrambled eggs and french (ha) toast! In fact, it was the first time British Rob had EVER had French Toast. Bri cooked everything and it was fantastic. Becca spilled a glass of water before we even got to the eating part. So this was the food we ate:

And this was about 15 minutes later:

So, onward to class descriptions:

-Physical Geography is really interesting. I like the prof for this module (almost every course I have is taught by like 4 prof's, one for each section) as he is humorous and a nice guy. so far the topics have been kind of bland, but the overall picture of long term and short term climate change is really really interesting. we have our first lab this week and it looks scary but enjoyable...

-SOILS!!! I LOVE THIS CLASS! I seriously might become a pedologist. It is so so so tres interessant. it's awesome taking it in New Zealand because farming is such a large part of the culture still that people really recognize that there is so much to soils, and how diverse they are and how different uses require different soils. So I am going to look into that as a career option.

-New Zealand's Natural Heritage. As Dad says, "if you don't take at least one course that has the name of the nation in the course title, you're not really studying abroad"... or something like that... But yeah this is another really cool course, basically about the geography and geology of NZ. We get to do a 20-page case study where we go out into some land (like in a refuge or a park or whatever) and write down EVERYTHING about it -- flora, fauna, soil, rocks, all that. and then we analyze it and stuff. So that is headed straight to my "let me into your graduate school" folder!

-East Asian Religions. OH SNAP! It is taught by an American guy named Doug which is pretty awesome. He is uber laid back, and the course consists of two papers and one written final. We are learning about confucianism, buddhism, and taoism in china, tibet, and one other country that I can't remember right now. I'm especially happy because (a) I've always wanted to know more about those religions and cultures and (b) I'll be closer to Viki in thoughts when she comes back from Thailand and I am jealous of her religiousosity there.

On Wednesday we had CLUB DAY, where in I have elected to join the Massey University Alpine Club. The first meeting is tonight, but the basic premise is that for fairly cheap we get to go out and do stuff like ice climbing, repelling, skiing, and partying with fellow alpine members. For me, this is very exciting. We also can spend $5 and then for the entire semester be able to rock climb at the Massey gym with instructors for free on Tuesday and Thursday nights!!! I am going to be a fantastic athlete soon!!!

In other physical news, Becca, Bri, and I may start doing yoga for only $10 a class down at the Square in Palmy.

So what else happened in New Zealand this week??? Well, I practiced eating at the dining hall...

It is like the commons, so I get a meal combo. I can get EITHER lunch or dinner every day (meals don't carry over). Generally I get dinner. I can also pay money for lunch. I think I could also get breakfast, but that is the easiest meal to prepare so I'm not going to worry about that. ANYWAYS, there are three places to eat from:

one is a pasta and pizza place (generally has noodles plus a veggie sauce or a meat sauce; also can get a slice or 2 of pizza with french fries), an asian place (rice or noodles with veggies or meat), a "home" type place (fried fish, etc-- haven't eaten there that much), and another place I can't remember because I haven't eaten there either... Anyways, in addition to the combos you get a cup (which I drink water out of, as much as I want) and a roll and butter and a dessert that usually is half fruit, half pudding or something, as well as a salad and/or coleslaw. Yesterday I ate a plate of pasta with white sauce, which was okay considering I don't

like white sauce. Today I had fried noodles with veggies and tofu, which was decent. The food is pretty good overall. Nothing horrid.

However on Sunday night, there was a fire alarm in the middle of dinner so Becca and I had the pleasure of standing outside for 20 minutes well our food got cold...

Moving backwards, on Friday night, Becca and I went to a fairly good poetry reading that was part of New Zealand's Poetry Day, sponsored by Montana Wines (which apparently means free wine at all the functions...) On Saturday, we went out with Jackie and saw her play Netball, which was interesting-- like basketball but without contact. Then we tried to go to a Kia Toa rugby game but unfortunately managed to miss most of it... On Saturday night, we went to the on-campus bar, called the MuBar and watched the All Blacks REPRESENT against South Africa. Next week is the Bledisloe cup, so that will be exciting... After the game we watched a band called Deja Voodoo play at the MuBar as well, and they were quite decent-- great live show.

So that was my first week!!! More to come I'm sure :)

Drinkin' in Palmy

2006-07-15T22:06:00.004-04:00

Furthermore, you are probably asking yourself, Kayleigh you have been at Massey for a week now, what exactly have you been doing all that time?

Well, I will tell you dear friends! I have been mostly getting to know the other international students, the campus, and the city of Palmy. We have had three days of orienation which has been helpful if a bit repetitive... We have also gotten to meet some locals down at the bars and the restaurants. All of the serving sizes are so small here and the food tends to be almost Asian in its desire to mix tastes that Americans just aren't used to. So we've been working on trying out inexpensive food so that if we don't like it, it's not a big deal. There are NO Mexican places here (like most of NZ) and only a few pizza places. TONS of Chinese, Thai, and Middle Eastern places though. We also found the best bars to just go and relax in. I've been drinking some beer and cider and just enjoying the friendly atmosphere. My favorite place is the Celtic Inn, which has awesome live bands...

We have also enjoyed a smaller bar called the Stunned Mullet. The first nigh

t we went in, we stopped to take a picture with the sign and almost got cussed out by the bartender, because people *probably Americans* kept taking pictures of the sign and not coming in. But all was well, because inside we met some locals who invited us to see a local Rugby game. Which we did, and it was awesome. However, I didn't take any pictures because it was FREEZING. Unfortunately the team we were cheering for did not win (interesting tidbit here: the word "rout" like "routing for"-- however you spell it-- actually is slang for having sex... but i think i accidentally used it anyways...)

These are some of the people I've been eating and drinking with...

Becca, Bri, and me at THE FITZ

And just for Cowboy, here is just me at the Fitz

This is Bri and I wit

h yummy cider at the Celtic:

and Becca:

and Rob, who is from the UK. Cheeky monkey.

So that is all that is going on down here on the other side of the world... Tomorrow classes start so my night life will seriously decrease, but my boredom will subside a bit. And I will leave you with this...

HUZZA!!!!!!!

Settling In...

2006-07-15T21:51:00.006-04:00

To my room, which is fantastic. You are probably saying, well Kayleigh, what does it look like? Here you are my darlings:

It's not the greatest picture, but it was the best I could do. It is large and I've put the bed directly next to the water heater in the corner, so I can snuggle up to it like a cat... but without burning myself...

Also on the bed, and this picture is in honour of Miss Julia, are Sir Stuart Wellington and Eeyore:

And in honour of Gertrude and all my other Yarn Crafters, a picture for you:

Yeah, that's right. I took up an entire drawer for my knitting and crochet!

McHardy Hall faces the main part of campus and my window phases the oval, which means "cricket field" but they don't like to call it that...

And finally, the lovely plants just below my window which make me cheery because one of them will be filled with flowers soon:

I have filled the room with my small amount of things but it is cozy and has lots of closet space, so all is well...

Blog Update and Goose Video

2006-07-12T20:23:00.002-04:00

I just changed my site so you can comment even if you are not cool enough to have a blog like me :) Jk!!! But much more interestingly, check out this video I took of a goose at rainbow springs!!!! Percy followed us around and amused me very much in his walking style. So check it out if you are bored :)

Coming soon: pictures of campus! And possibly a short video tour of some of my favorite places...

Meet Palmerston North

2006-07-09T20:52:00.004-04:00

I have now arrived at Massey U! HURRAH!!! The bus ride down was fantastic! It was really sad saying goodbye to the bunches of fantastic people that are going to Auckland, but it is so exciting to finally be HERE, where I’ll be staying for FIVE MONTHS! Look at the capitalization, people. It is obviously a big deal.

Bus Ride from Rotorua to Palmerston North

Our bus driver was Lauren aka Stella, and she was absolutely marvelous. There was only four other AustraLearn kids going down to Palmy with me, but we had a good time on the bus. We drove past Lake Taupo, and it was so windy that it looked like the ocean:

We also drove past what I think Lauren said was Mount Doom… Does anyone recognize it? Anyways, it was absolutely beautiful and we all kept sighing. For example:

We also stopped and BEHOLD A RAINBOW! Lefty informed us that rainbows happen all the damn time in New Zealand, but they are still insanely gorgeous:

CAN YOU BELIEVE THERE ARE ACTUALLY PLACES ON EARTH THAT LOOK LIKE THIS??? NO YOU CANNOT BECAUSE YOU ARE NOT HERE! Why not come visit me, eh? JK guys :)

Massey Uni

So far my only complaint is that they haven’t done so well with meeting us. It’s there spring semester, so most students are returning, but still! We basically got dropped at our rooms and that was absolutely it. Bri lives up in these cool little houses and she came down and sat with me while I unpacked so she wouldn’t have to hike around in the woods between campus and her flat by herself in the dark. I went up with her and she has a cool little space, but I like being closer—although I won’t get the sexy, toned legs she’ll have. Sorry Ty… Anyways, we couldn’t figure out the buses and no one was around to help so we called a cab. Bri, Jennifer, Matt, and I all went down to Palmy to watch the All Blacks game. The All Blacks are the NZ rugby team and coincidentally THE BEST RUGBY TEAM IN THE WORLD! We went ended up getting dinner at Burger King first as it was one of the only food places open. (Side Note: There are a ton of Asian food places here, and I plan to go to some of the Thai restaurants and think of Viki) Then we went to a bar called Icons and watched the game. We all drank Tui because it is the best beer in the world, and the All Blacks killed the Australian Wallabies (which is probably their biggest rivalry) and it was insanely awesome. Oh and the All Blacks do a ritual called the haka before each game. It’s kind of a dance that was developed out of the Maori rituals that were formerly performed before going into battle. You can see it here .

We also ran into a few Americans from Massey, one of who is leaving and one who will be around. After the game, us ladies were tired so we took a cab back. OH and we had the same cab driver both times, and he was uber nice and helped us find the good sports bar and was really nice about dropping us off and I love Kiwis so much!!! Oh and Julia: according to Lefty, NZ drivers are the worst in the world… I considered telling him to go to the DR, but I figured he’d tell me to piss off, so…

Wow, I was just interrupted writing this by two of my floormates, Kate and Jeremy. Kate lives just a few doors down and she just moved here from Hamilton, so she is almost as lost as I am. Jeremy was here last semester, so he is uber helpful. Anyways, it was just like The Floor because we were sitting in the hall talking for about an hour about nothing. Hurrah!!!

Back to what’s going on! Sunday, Bri, Jennifer, Kate, and I all went into Palmy to do some shopping. I got a bit of a feel for the town and found TWO YARN SHOPS! They were closed, but their existence makes me happy. I bought crumpets, jam, pita, and hummus, so hopefully that will give me decent breakfast and lunch—I can get dinner at the Dining Hall, which isn’t that bad. It looks a lot like the Commons at UMBC, actually. I keep feeling on and off a bit nauseous, but I’m chalking that up to completely different food and sleeping patterns as well as a tid of anxiety. So I guess that is all I have to say about everything, especially as I have probably used up all your interest in myself in New Zealand. Everyone email me and comment and send me love!!! I miss you all a ton!!!

NEW ZEALAND!!!

2006-07-09T20:49:00.020-04:00

Well I am here! First let me say thanks to everyone that kept me in their thoughts and prayers and were supportive as hell! I really appreciated it and my travel time went fantastically. My luggage did not get lost, customs did not attack my luggage (two girls in my group got searched and had to wait like 30 minutes while they went through EVERYTHING, so I’m glad I didn’t have to deal with that), and I ate and slept decently. I even got to sit with a nice guy named Dane who is in AustraLearn and will be up at Auckland University where I plan to visit him at one point or another. I also met a really nice girl named Allison who I might travel to Australia with after the semester ends. There’s also an awesome girl named Chambree who reminds me

of Julia because she is so nice and social!

We drove through Hobbiton!

YAY!!! I might take a Lord of the Rings tour at some point—they’re everywhere! Those movies took over the damn country as far as I can tell.

Right now I am still in that Honeymoon phase. Everything is amazing and beautiful. There are MOUNTAINS everywhere and it’s foggy and rainy (my favorite weather!!!). It’s a bit cold, but I packed my big jacket so I’m fine. I actually forgot a scarf, so I’m going to crochet myself a new one! Wow now I know why Julia’s blogs were always so long. It’s hard to write about all this in any kind of sense. From now on I am going to have a little heading and then a description of it, so people can skim easier as I now realize that I will be unaware to stay concise…

Bus Tour of Rotorua

Rotorua is the city we’re staying in and it is a geothermal hotspot

—all of New Zealand is, but Rotorua especially. The city has been based around tourism since I think the 1800s, specifically a place called the Blue Baths which is a spa that uses the water from geyser thingies. There’s all these places that are fenced off with steam coming off them, all throughout the city. I even saw one that was just in someone’s back yard. This is what they look like:

My favorite one was in a field where they used to play rugby and it just exploded like 3 years ago and destroyed the seating area—you can still see the handrails going into the geyser thing:

Supermarket

Yes they do have q-tips!!!

And a kiwi asked me for the time and I got all nervous!!! But managed to answer! Yay me!!!

Rainbow Springs

This was an awesome nature conservatory. We got to see a goose that wanders around the park and was absolutely adorable, as well as a ton of fish and birds. All the time I saw birds I thought of Tyler, so it was really quite nice. We even got to see a Kiwi bird, but I couldn’t take a photo because they are nocturnal so it was in a dark area. It is supposed to be very good luck to see a Kiwi bird, as they sleep about 18 hours a day. Our bus driver, Lefty, said that he’s only seen a Kiwi twice the entire time he’s lived in New Zealand. I was also very brave and asked our tour guide about volunteer opportunities with conservation programs, and she pointed me towards the NZ Department of Conservation and even made a few calls for me. I am excited to check that out once I have less expensive internet!

Zorbing

FANTASTIC!!! Chambree and Lefty and I shared a zorb, and this is what that means: you hope into a huge plastic inflated ball with a bucket full of soapy, hot water in it. And then you roll down a hill. It sounds absurd, but it was absolutely fantastic. Chambree was screaming the entire way down. Just look at how wonderfully clean we looked afterwards.

The Maori Experience

This was really awesome, even though the whole time I

was thinking about what Viki would say from a master anthropologist point of view. We went to a village of the native Maori people and saw some of their dance, songs, and way of life. Then we got to have a hangi (feast) and I HAD PAVLOVA!!! Pavlova is THE Kiwi dessert, and it’s kind of a meringue. Very very yummy. I also ordered my first legal drink: a Tui. It’s a beer and it’s fantastic. Does everyone remember how I don’t like beer that much? Yeah well that’s crappy beer. All the beer here is so good! Why didn’t you people tell me??? Tyler? Matt? ZACH? Anyways, the funding that bought me this beer was thanks to Kristi :) and it was yummy and I even took a picture of it...

AMERICAN DAY

All of us AustraLearn folks went over the International Dateline

and completely missed the Fourth of July! So, to make up for it, our fantastic Lefty threw us American Day! We all went to the 2 Dollar Store (yeah TWO DOLLARS! HA) and bought costumes. I was a Military Commando guy and Chambree was a biker chick. I found most of Chambree’s costume and put on her fake tat’s, so I am extremely proud of both of our costumes. Lefty dressed up as the Statue of Liberty, but he looked a bit more like Shrek or the Hulk…

Anyways, it was fantastic and afterwards Chambree and I hit the hot tub for a bit. It was really nice that we got to have an American celebration and we all really appreciated it.

Waitomo

This was probably the coolest part of orientation. We went caving. It’s called repelling (I’m probably spelling that wrong) in the states, and absailing (again with incorrect spelling) here in en zed. Chambree and I went at the same time, and we chose to do the “wet” option, which meant that we got to absail down two waterfalls as well as one really long, dry cliff. We were down in the caves for almost four hours. Chambree explained a bunch of geological stuff to me because she’s been caving before, and then the guides explained the same stuff later and I felt like a genius because I already knew it all! This was me absailing down one of the waterfalls:

I think I look pretty damn calm! Oh also there were glow worms in a bunch of different parts of the cave, and it looked like glow in the dark stars on the ceiling. It was really a workout too, and my abs and arms are still a bit sore from it. It’s definitely one of the most fantastic things I’ve done in my life.

So, orientation was absolutely marvelous and definitely worth my money. I met a ton of great people, and I now have Allison to go to Aussie Land with and a bunch of people that I will hopefully see a few more times in NZ and some when we all return to the States…

Here is some of the best NZ Slang:

Shrapnel = coinage, change

Togs = swimsuit (and we’ve been yelled at for saying swimsuit)

Uni = college

College = high school

Hostel = dorm (in addition to regular hostels)

Changes! But not bad ones or anything!

2006-06-21T10:59:00.001-04:00

I might change where I'm living, so that address I sent to some people may be null and void. I realized that I'll be a year or two older than most of the students at McHardy, so I might change to a different hall with older, more mature (HA) students.

Also, I have changed my classes to:

-New Zealand's Natural Heritage

-Biology of Plants

-Physical Geography

-Soils

And the almost sad thing is that I'm really excited about all of them! Thank god, because I'll be back in class in THREE WEEKS :( Anyways, thsoe are the updates for now. Marlie and Jordan left to visit their mom, which means I really am down to a week and a half before I leave the states.

Things I would Like to Do in Australia...

2006-06-20T10:07:00.001-04:00

Since I now know that I have enough money to do it, I am making a list of all the stuff I want to do there!!! Here we go:

- visit the Australia Zoo
- visit the Great Barrier Reef

The Time Difference...

2006-06-13T12:29:00.001-04:00

Okay, so everyone keeps saying, "So what time is it in New Zealand???" and Papa Steve told me to make a chart of the time difference... which I did, including the Daylight Savings Time of both the United States AND New Zealand. Anyways, if you are wondering what time it is, the best website I've found is the world time server. So then, even if you are in BELFAST or THAILAND, you can see how far apart our time is... More importantly, people in the United States may want to notice that, for me, my birthday begans at 8 am on September 8th.

In other news, I GOT A THOUSAND DOLLAR SCHOLARSHIP! Which means, I SHOULD have enough money to go to Australia after the semester ends. Also, I've decided that for our Spring Break (early September) I am going to head down to the South Island to swim with wild dolphins and bungee jump. Seriously. Best 5 months of my life, folks...

I'm also officially in McHardy Hall, the alcohol-free dorms. I can be snookered up but I cannot store alcohol there. So that way I don't crawl inside a bottle when I'm missing you all so horribly... I have an address and I believe I messaged it everyone, but let me know if I missed you and you have a desire to send me mail. Which I would ADORE, by the way.

Okay, that's all for now. Get ready to be bombarded with kiwi isanity!!!

People to Whom I Shall Send Postcards!

2006-05-14T23:01:00.002-04:00

-The UMBC Scholarship Office
-Humanities Office
-Honors College Office
-Study Abroad Office
-The CIC
-Sally
-Tyler
-Viki Viki Vikadin
-Sharon
-Jewlia
-Super Corporate Jesse
-Papa Steve and his Mignons
-The Ann Arbor Contingent
-Grandmama and the Aunties
-Anyone else? You comment and/or email me your addy and I will give you much love via the postcards!!!

I'M IN!

2006-03-03T08:29:00.001-05:00

I've been officially accepted to Massey U at Palmerston-North! As of today, I have just four months til I get on a plane and fly away. I'm picking out my classes and it looks like I'll be taking:

- Japanese cinema

- Physical Geology

- Soils!

- Sustainable Energy Systems (best class EVER)

I think it's a really good mix. I'm getting worried about actually going, though. I'm worried that I'll only hang out with Americans or I won't meet anyone I like. I'm really nervous about missing my family and my friends and my Viki and my Tyler. It seems like now that I've finally found good people, I have to leave. But it's nice knowing that the people in my life right now are wonderful enough that they'll be waiting for me (or at least thinking of me while they're in Thailand) until I get back. And it's not that long. I'm trying to stay focused on the "WOW NEW ZEALAND!!!" aspects of the trip, but the reality of the scariness involved is also starting to show up. I still can't friggin' WAIT til I go though, so I guess it'll be okay :)

Me Likey You Knitty

2006-02-22T16:52:00.004-05:00

Well! I have done so much in such a short period of time, that GOD KNOWS I must be neglecting getting work done... First, I finished Daisy's scarf. My Dad wants me to make him a new, softer, longer scarf with no ribbing because, as he says, "Wouldn't it be cool if it didn't curl up like that?" Yes, Dad, it would, if it were not RIBBED, as you said it was okay for me to do. Oh well, another day another project. I gave Daisy her scarf the weekend before Valentine's Day. She was really flattered and said "WOW!!! It's so pretty! I've never made something that people could wear before." It made me really happy. And she was impressed with the softness.

After finishing Daisy's scarf, I felt very neglectful of Marlie's socks, and could feel Second Sock Syndrome coming on hard. So I got to it and finished up. I finally understand kitchener stitch even though I didn't do it quite right. I understand what they're going for, even though I might forget by the time I do my next socks. I'm thinking that when I go to kiwi a gogo land I will do mostly socks, as they take a small amount of yarn per time, as compared to a scarf or a blanket. Plus I can use just a few sets of needles. And socks are easy to send in the mail as well.

I'm kind of worried about the price of yarn in en zed, but I plan to check it before I go. I've heard it's really expensive there, being as it's an island, and as Sarah says, "Maybe it's because it's sheep yarn, and not synthetic, d'you know what I mean?" Yes, Sarah, wool is more expensive. GOOD ON YA! (She is not an idiot, but rather a very cute former yarncrafter. She has left the guild and it makes me cry.) Anyways, I will probably stock up on yarn and needles and run through all the patterns in my "Knit Socks!" book while in en zed...

I'm giving Plu her socks on Friday and she better wear them CAREFUL AS HELL!!!

After Plu's socks, I decided to crochet a scarf out of this beautiful ribbon yarn. The stitch was basically sc, ch1, sc, etc etc and made little loops in the scarf. It created a really beautiful, 3D kind of effect and the colors I used made it look just as mermaidy as I wanted it. Plus, although it's not soft, it keeps me warm and is nice to the touch now that I've gotten used to it.

In other scarf news, Viki made me a scarf last year and I love it even though I make fun of the fact that she did it on size 13 needles. It is adorable!!!

So, you might ask, what are you working on now? Because I know a lot of people read this blog and want to know such intimate details about my yarn life... Well, I am currently working on a fuzzy scarf. I got some of the Paton Allure yarn to knit a wheel cover out of, but I had to use size 8 needles and put simply it was HELL. So I decided to make a drop stitch scarf on it for my little sister, Nondi, who I'll hopefully be seeing in a few weeks. Once that's done, I can begin on an afghan I want to make. I'm hoping to work on it a bunch over spring break so the project doesn't stretch out forever. I also now have plans to make Kemp an alternate ribbing scarf out of some soft blue yarn I have and my Grandmother a "sophisticated" scarf (snb nation pattern) out of some grey yarn that my dad pawned off on me. So that will help me get through a bunch of my stash.

Vik and I came up with knitting names: me = Ethel; Vik = Trudy; Kate = Phyllis. Plus Vik's Dad "bought" me a YARNCRAFT box (which has been thoroughly stickerized) as well as a set of METAL (thank god) crochet hooks!

So that is all the news that is unfit to print... Someday, maybe someone will read this...

... Now that I am combining these blogs, I can't move the one comment I got:

From Marlie:

zomg- i read it!

aren't you proud of me?

i care about mai sister.

and her knitty.

knitty, knitty, knitty.

and socks :)

they're warm.

(oh you know what else?

I just had to REGISTER

with a BLOGGER ACCOUNT

just for YOU.

Feel loved, m'dear)

The Process of Studying Abroad...

2006-02-20T18:14:00.001-05:00

Well, my passport application is in so that is not yet a problem. And as of tomorrow my entire Study Abroad application will also be in and in the mail to en zed! Then just two to three weeks before I know whether or not Massey is going to have ME to deal with in July.

Things that I Would Like to do In New Zealand:

2006-02-20T18:12:00.001-05:00

(to be added to)

-Try Surfing
-Go to at least one yarn shop
-Try to go to a sheep farm (for yarn)
-Visit Australia
-Go to Auckland
-Go to the awesome DIY shop in Auckland
-Not forget to blog and email
-Visit the set of LOTR and/or Narnia
-Get a tan
-Swim in the Ocean
-Go to the South Island
-Go to or start a yarncraft circle / stitch'n'bitch
-See a sheep sheared
-See yarn spun
-Take LOTS of pictures
-Go to an All Blacks match
-Go to another rugby match
-Learn to understand rugby
-Go a restaurant and order a strange mixed alcoholic beverage
-Go Bungee Jumping
-Swim with Wild Dolphins
-Visit the South Island

... any suggestions???

Projects Completed

2006-01-25T16:56:00.001-05:00

I completely finished the first sock, although the kitchener stitch didn't work as well as I had hoped. During playoff weekend, I kicked ass on the second sock and I'm already working the heel flap! Yester-afternoon I took the time to finish crocheting Jordan's scarf (first scarf I've crocheted!) and I WILL post photos of that, because I took them! The best part of that was when I laid it out on the table to take pics of, Jor walked in and said, "That looks COOL!!!" which made me really really happy. So I gave it to him and although it's a little thin, it used up all the army yarn and looks good. Plus it's nice and long so it's not overbearing or going to smother him.

Also, after trying about 3 different patterns for Daisy's scarf, none of which worked, I'm making my own. I tried putting a diamond on end, using purl stitches and it looks okay-- not great, but okay. I decided to knit the rest in garter to get that textured feel. The yarn looks really nice with the ridges it creates.

So for now, I'm working on the second sock and Daisy's scarf. I'm going to start looking up patterns to knit up some of my stash so as to (a) save $$$ and (b) use 'em up before I go to New Zealand so I have less to pack and an excuse to buy more yarn. I also want to find some crochet patterns so I can learn to crochet things that don't involve single crochet through the back loop. But I can do that til the day is done, baby!!!

So Close!!!

2006-01-17T16:57:00.001-05:00

Well I'm almost done with my first sock... about half an inch more and I'll be down to the toes and the dreaded Kitchener stitch. Ah!!! Once I finish the first sock, I will be faced with a dilemma-- to start the second one immediately or to first work on a scarf for Papa Steve's lady friend, the Daze. I found a beautiful pattern which I will put up here later and yesterday I bought some pretty "homespun" red yarn. Hopefully the fuzzy softness will not mess up the holes in the design pattern thingy... I should probably go ahead with the second sock so that it gets done... Meh... We'll see. Coffee time!

Ripping Out my Stitches (and my hair)

2006-01-11T16:58:00.001-05:00

So after mostly finishing the heel flap, I measured it and it was about 3 inches instead of 2 and a half. I ripped our a couple of rows and got it to about 2 and a half. Then I turned the heel!!! And it looked AWESOME!!! Then, as I was picking up the stitches for the heel gusset, I realized that by decreasing the rows I had completely messed with the pattern. I was already confused enough about picking up stitches, so I decided to back, rip out the picking up of stitches AND the heel turning. So now I have to re-knit the rows I ripped out in the first place, redo the heel turning, and then somehow manage to figure out how to pick up the stitches for the heel gusset. Despite the set back, it's going well. I just hate ripping out stitches, but oh well!!!

Done with the Easy Part... Hurray?

2006-01-10T16:59:00.001-05:00

Well, I've finished the ribbing and the sock leg and it looks adorable so far. Now I'm on to the difficult parts. I've already hit a snag, as I've never dealt with slipping knitwise or purlwise and the whole thing has me absolutely confused. From what I've picked up at various websites, I just stick the needle in "as if to purl" but then I DON'T purl-- I just put the stitch on the other needle... something about this seems off. Maybe it's just the way I hold my needles or something, but it seems that if I slip a stitch it will look the same, whether I stick the needle in the front or the back. I guess I'll just have to experiment and guess. I think it has something to do with the yarn being in the front or the back. Meh... Hopefully I'll figure it out tonight...

Ribbing and Leg

2006-01-02T17:00:00.001-05:00

Well I have the cuff at the top done and I'm starting in on the leg. I am amazed that I got the whole knitting in the round with dpns down!!! It really isn't that hard at all. I'm glad I waited awhile though and got down the basic knitting skills first... Now I'm just worried about the hard parts of the sock... heh...

The Journey of Sock Knitting

2005-12-28T17:00:00.003-05:00

After much putting off and finally (a) finishing Dad's JETS scarf (b) starting and finishing Ty's blanket and (c) giving up on my steering wheel cover because I hate fuzzy ass yarn, I shall begin to learn the art of sock knitting! I used my Christmas Craft money to buy "Knit Socks!", the exclamation mark leading me to feel optimistic. And today I ordered the double pointed needles (aaah) and the yarn Marlie picked out. So they should arrive soon, along with the "Clap Your Hands Say Yeah" album. Hours of indie music and sock knitting shall soon be upon me. I'm starting with the easiest pattern, the "simple stockinette" sock. So hopefully that won't trip me up and Pluto will be happy and the socks won't fall apart immediately.