Hello Everyone. How has your week been so far? I am in Tucson, Arizona! We decided to take an impromptu trip through New Mexico to Tucson, Arizona yesterday, and here we are. We thought it would be fun to jump in the car and enjoy the weekend in the desert. And it has been! Plus, Mr. Weatherman said that we were suppose to have bad weather in Colorado this weekend. Have you heard, I am not a fan of bad weather? So here we are. The best part, we don’t really have an agenda, we are just going to see what we think of New Mexico and Arizona. We are currently having lunch at a fabulous restaurant called Maynard’s Market and Kitchen. Thank you to my lovely friend Rikkianne at ChakraPennywhistle for the recommendation. Isn’t it fun to visit new places?
I reserved a home on a farm with a pool in Arizona via Airbnb. Have you heard of Airbnb? Airbnb is known as the “eBay for space.” Basically, it is an online marketplace that allows anyone from private residents to commercial properties to rent out their extra space. You can rent a house, apartment, bed and breakfast, castle, tree house or even someones sofa. How fantastic is that? I love the idea of staying somewhere besides the traditional hotel room.
I will definitely take some pictures to share with you of the place that we are staying, plus tons of pictures of our road trip.
Do you have any special plans for the weekend? Do you like to take impromptu trip to places you have never been to?
Hello, Everyone. Our first week of summer vacation is coming to a close. Based on the amount of time that we have spent hanging out by the pool and enjoying dinner on our patio, I would say it has been a huge success. Tomorrow, I want to get up early and hit our neighborhood yard sale (don’t you love when a huge neighborhood has a yard sale, so many great things that I can walk or bicycle around to see.) Then, Mr. Sweet Greens and I are going to do a litttle work on our house (touch up painting, decluttering and organizing the garage.) We are going to be selling a lot of things from our home in the near future, furniture, beer and wine making supplies, toys, clothing and books, so I need to start getting everything organized. Are you like me and love a great organization project? I am kind of a junkie, really, I should have been a professional organizer, maybe a future career?
The rest of the weekend shall be spent – you guessed it – by the pool. I also need to finish the arrangements for Eben’s 9th birthday pool party that will happen in the next couple of weeks. The party is going to be super minimalist, to reduce the impact on the environment. Plus, once you add children and water, do you really need anything else to have a blast? Also, should I bake a cake or cupcakes? Do you have a preference?
Stay tuned, next Thursday will start my Guest Greenie series, where I invite a guest blogger to share their green ideas, how to projects, recipes and recommendations over the course of week. Won’t this be a fun way to find new ways to be green? I have a great list of greenies lined up and if you are interested in becoming a Guest Greenie, then click here.
Our weekend family camping trip to Steamboat Lake and Strawberry Hot Springs was a huge success and definitely a trip that we will take again in the future. It was a little chilly, but perfect weather for hiking and soaking in the hot springs.
Here is a run down of how our weekend went:
1- The first thing that I wanted to do once we arrived in Steamboat was go to Strawberry Hot Springs. It turned out to be the perfect day for it, it wasn’t crowded at all. In fact, there was a large period of time that Mr. Sweet Greens, Eben and myself had a hot spring overlooking the river – all to ourselves! It was a fantastic day! If you ever visit Strawberry Hot Springs, here are some tips:
a- If you go during the fall/wintertime, you will need 4wd and chains, it is a super steep incline on a dirt road to get to the hot springs.
b- Bring your own lunch and drinks (there is no one to purchase food once you get there).
c- Leave your lunch and snacks in the car until you are ready to eat them, or the chipmunks will chew a hole in your North Face backpack and steal your Clif Bars. FOR REAL! Mr. Sweet Adorable Chipmunk that we were chatting with when we arrived, chewed a giant hole into my backpack and ate our Clif Bars.
d- Since you are so close to the sun, it was warm and super sunny. Don’t forget your sunscreen, sunglasses and hat.
2- The next morning, Mr. Sweet Greens made us breakfast! Isn’t he the best? Then we packed up all of the essentials for a 4 hour hike at Mad Creek. I enjoyed this just as much as the hot springs. It was a fantastic hike, high up on the mountain, so you could see the river below us. We were then able to hike down to the river and hike along it for a couple of miles. If you get a chance, Mad Creek Trail is something that you definitely want to hike. It is spotted with old barns, homes and other structures, which I found fascinating. One of the homes, still had the stove inside of it and another had a fantastic green door that I wanted to take home.
PS: This was Noodles’ (our Pug) first hike ever and she was a trooper!
3- Then we were off to soak in the hot springs again, because that is what you do after a long day of hiking, right? It was much busier this time, which was fine by Eben. Being an only child, he was ready for some kid to kid contact. The children and Mr. Sweet Greens had a fantastic time going from the hot springs to swimming in the river and back. After, we had a late dinner in Steamboat at The Boathouse Pub. It has a great patio right next to the rushing river and was a great way to end the night.
If you would like to see more pictures of our weekend, click here.
This is where we are spending Memorial Day weekend
Hello Lovely Readers,
Aren’t you so excited that it is Memorial Day weekend? Yay! Mr. Sweet Greens, Eben and I are getting ready to leave for our Memorial Day weekend family camping trip. We are going to Steamboat for four days full of fun. There will be nature hikes and lounging in the canoe in the mornings, hot dog and marshmallow roasting in the afternoon and soaking at Strawberry Hot Springs in the late afternoon. However, after looking at the pictures of Strawberry Hot Springs (I have never been there), maybe I will just soak the entire four days! The pictures look fantastic and I can’t wait to get there! I have a huge crush on hot springs and Mr. Sweet Greens always tries to incorporate a visit to them on all of our vacations for me. (I could write a book on fantastic hot springs, since we have been to so many.) Can you tell I am excited? Mr. Sweet Greens is awesome, he always plans the most fabulous trips! I think it is the perfect way to kick off summer vacation. Don’t you agree?
How about you, what are your Memorial Day weekend plans? Are you going to go camping? Are you having a family BBQ in the backyard? Hanging out by the pool?
I hope you have a fantastic Memorial Day weekend. I would love to hear about your plans!
When choosing the foods that your family consumes, do you purchase foods that are locally grown and produced? If not, have you considered, where your food comes from? How far it has to travel to reach your dinner table? Or, what type of impact that food will have on the environment or the health of your family?
Choosing to eat locally grown and produced foods can have a huge positive impact on your community, your health and the environment.
Why?
When you become a locavore (someone who eats locally grown and produced foods), you choose foods that are locally grown and produced from venues such as your local farmer’s markets, co-ops, CSA programs, local grocery stores, restaurants or by growing your own.
By becoming a locavore you avoid purchasing foods that are shipped long distances, consuming enormous amounts of fossil fuels and generating massive amounts of C02 emissions. Also, in order to transport foods long distances, it is often picked before it has ripened and then processed in factories to artificially ripen it with preservatives and irradiation. Neither of these processes are healthy for you or the environment.
When you choose to become a locavore, you have more control over the impact that your food has on the environment, your community and the health of your family.
Just think of the positive impact we could all have if, we gave up our huge lawns and planted a family food garden instead. Not only would our gardens grow but so would our relationship with the Earth and our communities.
Need more help becoming a locavore, you can get the Locavore app for your iPhone, which can help you find food that is in season where you live, find your local farmer’s market and much more.
Are you a locavore? How do you eat and live locally?
