Whining Wednesday or it's time to live the dream, folks

Now I know it's Wednesday, which is usually a good excuse for me to whine about a few things, but lately I've been feeling much too positive about my future and

(maybe due to this never-ending cold that keeps me from thinking straight)

I find my dreams really reaching for the sky ...

for instance, Dream 1 - I sent my media kit

(yes, I have a media kit- it does contain a picture of Meg Ryan- but I don't think anyone will notice, since you don't really see her around much anymore and no one remembers her real face anyway)

to some magazines and am hoping for a product mention, but what I really want is to be described in print somewhere as being incredibly fit and attractive.

(I mean, other than in something I've written about myself.)

(oh, and maybe if the word 'annoying' wasn't used, that would be cool, too.)

So, the magazine could show a picture of my cork jewelry and say something like, Uncorked's incredibly fit and attractive designer Catherine Ivins ... yadda yadda yadda - there must be some way a clever copywriter can work this in for me.

Dream 2 - The other thing I really want is to be driving at some ridiculously high rate of speed and have to perform some challenging yet delicate maneuver - like swerving to stop a burning, runaway school bus full of orphans or avoid a little parade of baby ducks

(or maybe just once I won't hit the curb when I pull out of the bank drive-thru)

my passenger - perhaps Ben Stiller - he seems like a good sidekick - will be screaming obscenities, partly out of relief and partly out of total awe for my amazing driving skills, but I won't even notice.

Then, I'll park the car, doing one of those amazing swerve into a parking space backwards thing, and we'll get out to go to the station - because we're undercover FBI agents too, I forgot that part - and he'll have to jog to keep up with me

and then he'll kind of slap me on the back and say, "Hey, nice driving back there partner."

And I'll just shrug and say something like, "Yeah, well ... I do what I can."

And then he'll tell me that I look incredibly fit and attractive.

The days when you can extinguish an orphan and help a baby duck back to the pond ... well, those are the days when you're really living the dream, folks.

and I know these dreams are big and bold, but that's just the kind of girl I am ...


1. Searching for Fairy Tales print by This Years Girl
2. Larimeloom's dreamy silk camisole
3. Dreaming print by Corid
4. AKACinders Dreamy Cotton Candy Eco Felt Necklace
5. RoughMagicCreations A Robin's Pearls has me dreaming of spring

Take Ten Tuesday - some stuff you need and some stuff you need to know

A few things you might miss if you don't take a little time out (you deserve it):

1. Join ThredUp and start exchanging your clothes for stuff you might actually wear.

2. Check out Warby Parker Eyeglasses - you buy a pair, they give a pair to someone in need.

3. Read The Art of the Email post from Bakery

4. The Girl Scouts are out and about with their cookies - support them!

5. Listen to Engagement Marketing for Your Crafty Business at my fave craft podcast site Crafty Pod

6. Read Kirsty Hall's post on The Wisdom of Mistakes over at Make and Meaning

7. Watch Keith Loutit's amazing videos over on Vimeo

8. Read Tinahdee's great post for the Artisan Collective- Don't Have a Plan

9. Try this great Reusable TeaBag Tutorial from Ojamiya on EcoEtsy.

10. Watch Sandra Bullock thank her mom for keeping her out of cars with boys - don't we just love her!

Meatfree Mondays- saving our planet one hamburger at a time

A new study coming out of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies shows that when it comes to the net contribution to climate change the world's biggest problems are 1. on-road transportation, 2. burning biomass for cooking

(more than three billion people, or half the world’s population, cook in their homes using traditional fire and stoves; burning biomass fuels like wood, dung and crop waste. Day in and day out, for hours at a time, families breathe in lethal fumes from these cooking fires!)

and 3. raising animals for food.

If you are reading this, you probably do not use a biomass stove for cooking, but changing your diet can be the greatest and greenest personal lifestyle choice.

There are many reasons to decrease or eliminate meat consumption including compassion for other living things

(56 billion animals - 10 billion in the U.S. - are raised and slaughtered annually for food- hubby and I loved the Temple Grandin movie on HBO last month so much that we watched it two times in the same night, but even though her work made slaughterhouses more humane, they are still slaughterhouses and it's hard to think that our purchases support them)

the impact on our health

(eating less meat may reduce your risk of chronic preventable conditions like cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and obesity)

and meat consumption's impact on the environment.

GASES: The livestock industry produces 18% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Who would think global warming by cow farts would not be a laughing matter!

LAND INTENSIVE: Livestock production is land intensive: a recent report by Greenpeace on land use in the largest meat producing state in Brazil found that cattle production was responsible for vastly more deforestation than all other crops combined.

CEREAL CROPS: A third of all cereal crops, and well over 90% of soya, goes into animal feed, not food for humans. Eating less meat will free up a lot of agricultural land which can revert to growing trees and other vegetation, which, in turn, will absorb more carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

WATER: Livestock production is water intensive: it accounts for around 8% of global human water use. The estimated 634 gallons of fresh water required to produce one hamburger is enough for a four-hour shower!

POLLUTION: Livestock production is the largest source of water pollutants worldwide- principally animal wastes, antibiotics, hormones, chemicals from tanneries, fertilizers and pesticides used for feed crops, and sediments from eroded pastures.

And worst of all, the meat industry is set to double its production by 2050 so even if they manage to lower emissions by 50%, as they have promised to, we will still be in the same position!

Meatfree Mondays is a wonderful program with delicious recipes by amazing chefs and some great ways to work small changes into your life that can make a global impact.

We have been doing this for a while now and have cut meat back to the weekends- I am still working on eliminating meat completely. Meatfree Monday is a good place to start for the serious changes we all need to make for a healthier lifestyle for ourselves and our planet.

New York Times food writer Mark Bittman weighs in on what's wrong with the way we eat now (too much meat, too few plants, too much fast food) and how it's putting the entire planet at risk.

It's 20 minutes, but if you listen to it while you are making dinner you won't regret it, I promise.

Friday Finds - happy first weekend of March everyone!

1. Kim Kyung Soon's gorgeous photography for Korean Vogue.



2. The stunning metalwork of Tinahdee.




3. Hanging test tube ceramic vases


4. Lauren Moffatt's beautiful spring (YAY) collection.



5. The awesome BookBOOK leather case for MAC.



6. Kendra's amazing plantable and recycled tags at GreenPost.

7.Phydeaux's gorgeous new polymer buttons.



8. Illustration By Goscia's magical little gnomes.



9. The adorable illustrations of French artist Anne Cresci of Matilou.


10. And yes, Matilou has a locket!