Going Green!

In the past few months I've been progressively learning more about various ways regular people can "go green" without becoming crazy hippies, hugging trees or attempting to install solar panels to the roof of my apartment building - neither three are options for me. Starting small, I replaced my regular light bulbs with GE Energy Saving light builds which use 75% less energy, saving me money on my electric bill, helping the environment AND only need to be replaced once every 8 years or so!

Next? I started recycling. I know, I know...I should have been doing this all along but its hard in NYC! Space is tight and I barely have room for 1 trash can, let alone storage for plastics, papers and aluminum cans. Peter - my wonderful building superintendent who greets me each morning by telling me how beautiful I am, how can a girl NOT love him? - set up recycling bins in the basement so now all I have to do is put on my bedroom slippers and run downstairs to save the planet. Very convenient.

And finally - I've started to replace my cleaning products with non-toxic, biodegradable products made by a company called Seventh Generation. So far, I switched to their 100% recycled paper towels, their laundry detergent and their dishwashing liquid. So far so good and they are sold at my regular grocery store so I don't even have to go out of my way. I didn't realize this but many cleaning products are created using petroleum, which uses HUGE amounts of energy and oil.

Green Fact: If every household in the U.S. replaced just one 25 oz. bottle of petroleum based dishwashing liquid with a plant-derived product, we could save 86,000 barrels of oil, enough to heat and cool 4,900 U.S. homes for a year!

So JUMP ON THE BANDWAGON - do me a favor and start with replacing 1 light bulb....that's not so hard right?

"The Cathedrals" series

One of my recently discovered favorite artists is a woman named Florine Stettheimer who spent fifteen years creating "The Cathedrals" series - four canvas depicting different aspects of New York life(Wall Street, Broadway, Fifth Avenue and Art) These were started in the late 20s and completed in the 40s and are on display at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. The images below don't do the pieces justice - they are big, wonderfully colorful canvas with really whimsical images! If you ever are in New York go to the museum and check them out, you won't be disappointed!

Cathedral of Art

The Cathedrals of Fifth Avenue

Close up of bride and groom

The Cathedrals of Broadway

Happy New Year!

Hope everyone had a great Christmas and a very Happy New Year! Tommy and I flew up to NYC this past weekend to relax in the city and spend new year's eve together. We started out with dinner at Wolfgang's were I proceeded to eat my body weight in steak, german potatoes and creamed spinach. Delicious!!! Then we headed to a party with Brian and Carrie and had a great time ringing in the new year together! It was a late night and needless to say, its tough going back to work this week but luckily the week is almost over :)

Brian and Carrie

Carrie and Ellen

Don't I look like the Travelocity knome? Yes, that's right...Tommy is rocking a beard.