Friday Frivolity: LOST Edition!! Videos from Comic Con and a "Dharma documentary"

Ok fellow Losties, let's just admit it... we're all still secretly pining for our favorite adventure/sci-fi/castaway TV show. All our grumblings about its Deus-ex-machina tendencies, and last minute introduction of Jacob and his frienemy last season, are all just an attempt to balance out our raging addiction to the show. And we have been missing it oh-so-much for the last few months, agonizing over the identity of Jacob, pondering the fate of Juliet, wondering where on earth the show will pick up after the bomb, and puzzling out just what the hell is in the shadow of that stinkin' statue...

And the next season is still 173 days away, not that anyone is keeping count.

But do not despair! We have the Lost Comic Con Panel to tide us over, and even a (tiny) consolation from ABC as well... small comfort, true, but I figure we'll take what we can get at this point.

Drum roll please!



Courtesy of Comic Con 2009, YouTube now sports a new 40 minute session with the Lost producers and several of the actors. No spoilers, I promise... the producers promise to be as clear and explicit as they "never were." One of my favorite moments is definitely in part 3, when a wannabe-version of David Faraday turns up, with his "constant," Dharma beer. Another one... Richard Alpert donning eyeliner behind the scenes. TOO FUNNY. Also, excitingly, they promise that the bomb at the end of the season won't just have "wiped out" the last five seasons as some viewers have feared, and that we will find out who was behind the food drops in earlier seasons. That's about all the promising they did, the rest was humorous evasion as might be expected.

Our consolation prize from ABC comes in the form of six short webisodes pretending to be a 1980's documentary about the Dharma Initiative. All that's been released currently is the intro clip, which, while entertaining, is hardly illuminating... but it will be fun to watch the others as they are posted in the months leading up to the premiere.

The stream of fan-generated Lost videos is also a must-watch. Recall my comment a while ago, that the only possible matchings left in the Kate-Sawyer-Jack-Juliet octagon would be Kate-Juliet or Jack-Sawyer? *cough cough* Welcome to Brokeback Island. (video totally safe for work, and hilarious)

And y'all have to see the Comic Con clip of Michael Emerson auditioning for the part of Hurley... the moment when he comments that the plot seems "a little preposterous" is a nice touch.



Lastly, for another take on the "audition" scenario, check out this older tape of Jorge Garcia (supposedly) auditioning for the part of Sawyer. Muahaha.

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Free MP3 Madness!! Amy Millan, Joshua Radin, Whitney Houston, Owl City, even a country tune & Spanish rap!

Hello fellow music lovers! This week I'm pleased to announce a nice smorgasbord of free downloads on Amazon, as well as a several other noteworthy contributions from iTunes, Paste Magazine, and others. To begin:

Amazon has showered us with MP3s this week, including a great sampler from the label Minty Fresh. I wasn't familiar with any of these artists before now, but I really enjoyed many of these tracks -- a fun range of music from some very promising talent... Cocoon, Drew Andrews, and The Aluminum Group were some of my favorites.

Another set of Amazon downloads that you need to check out, if for no other reason than because it contains a song from that gem of a person, Amy Millan, is the Arts & Crafts 2009 Label Sampler. Oh Amy Millan, how I love thee! To be perfectly honest, I liked her work with Stars better, but her more folksy solo stuff is great too. Friends, if you don't know Stars, you cannot call yourself a Music Lover. You definitely can't call yourself an Indie Music Lover, so don't even try. But even if you're just looking for new tunes to play on a road trip or during a workout, you'll still love Amy Millan; so go grab her song right this moment. Then, if you're a fan of Postal Service, make sure you also swing by and snag the Owl City track Fireflies... you'll be glad you did.

A great download currently available from Paste Magazine is a duet from Joshua Radin and Maria Taylor from the soundtrack of the new movie Adam. Frankly, this MP3 is awesome. You should download it. And since I've been a fan of Joshua Radin for a while now (his music was featured on the soundtrack from The Last Kiss, among other places) I can vouch for his music in general too... his sound frequently can only be categorized as "beautiful" and "heartwrenching." If this free track isn't proof enough for you, check out his song Star Mile, and then you'll know exactly what I mean.

For a dose of fun pop with a decent helping of personality, you'll probably want to download three free tracks from sisters Tal & Acacia. Sidenote: sometimes it seems as if all it takes to be a successful musician is a quirky name. Some of my prime examples would of course be Imogen Heap, Regina Spektor, Feist, and Lady GaGa. And, except for the last one, Tal and Acacia's website cites all those lovely ladies as inspiration for the sisters' sound. It might be a tiny bit of a stretch -- they're no Imogen or Regina quite yet -- but their music is still lively and fresh, and there's a possibility they'll get there eventually. Fans of Christian contemporary should also take note that their music is produced by the same fine gentleman who helped to bring us Caedman's Call and Third Day, and that the third track here is entitled "Yahweh." Hint hint. (thanks Frugal Girls for finding this one!)

There's a lot of great stuff available on Fingertips right now, particularly a track from one of my old favorites The Clientele. For smooth listening with an oldies vibe, The Clientele is just what the doctor ordered. You should also check out the track from The Mummers -- they're new to me, but the song is really catchy and playful. You might find yourself wanting to go hang out at a country fair.

Next, to prove that I'm not prejudiced against country music, I'll point you to a Borders download by an artist named Justin Townes Earle. But because I am actually prejudiced against country music, I don't really have anything to say about it. Sorry country fans, I just can't feel it.

Lastly, we'll glance at the iTunes free tracks. The only one that really interested me this week was La Cancion de La Semana, which happens to be a really cool rap from a female Castillian emcee. It's awesome, and you might call it Safe Rap because even after four years of college Spanish its still pretty unintelligible to me. So no chance of being offended! Additionally, you can find free show downloads this week (Degrassi, The Colony, and Ruby and the Rocketts) and even an audiobook (Paranoia) so that's always entertaining too.

Edit: Oooh lookie! A free track from Whitney Houston's new album, I Look to You. Just had to add that in... (Thanks Wise Bread!)

Enjoy your free music for the week! Let me know if you stumble across any new favorites. :)
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Seasonal bounty! Excursion to the Farmers' Market...


What with vacations and general busyness, I hadn't made it to the Farmers' Market in a while... But let me tell you, this is the right time to be dropping by your local produce stand! The Farmers' Market near my job is on the small side, with only a couple of booths dedicated to produce (the others for salsa, smoothies, and fresh bread, among other things), but even so there was a huge variety of vegetables available. I was able to go home with tomatoes, onions, potatoes, figs, and corn... all gorgeous, incredibly fresh, and raised without pesticides. Other items available included several types of beans, as well as peas, okra, shallots, and arugula as well, which made for difficult decisions I can tell you!

Pricing was a little bit higher for the potatoes and onions then they would have been at the International Market, but a convenient opportunity to buy locally was more than worth it to me. Also, the "small" bag of cherry tomatoes I purchased for $2 was about two or three times what is normally sold at the grocery store for even more than that amount, so there are definitely deals to be found.

There really is something to be said for being able to have a conversation with the people who tended and harvested the food you're about to take home with you... One of the ladies I spoke with works a certified organic farm, and her passion for rediscovering our too-often forgotten heritage of food production was truly contagious. Another booth attendant was speaking of how only hours before she had picked and shucked the peas she was selling. With no pun intended, shopping locally provides a really wonderful feeling of rootedness. Our food doesn't just materialize at the grocery store, it comes from plants painstakingly fussed over by other human beings; farmers who are proud of their work and their choice of ethical agriculture, and make eye contact with you as they hand you your purchases. Enjoying this sense of community in an outdoor environment made my little shopping expedition incredibly restful somehow, a small moment of connectedness with other people and our mutual past even in the midst of a bustling reality.

All that to say, if you haven't already you really should give Farmers' Markets a chance! With so many vegetables in season, this really is a perfect moment for it... so go go! And let yourself take time to browse, to be curious, and to revel in the knowledge that the food you're buying was attached to a stalk, stuck in the ground of your own state, maybe only hours before.

For seasonal guides on produce so you can know what to expect each month, as well as websites to help you find Farmers' Markets convenient to you, refer back to my post on tips for finding local and organic produce affordably. And for more thoughts and ideas on enjoying and benefiting from local produce, check out the other posts in this week's Food Roots at the blog Nourishing Days.
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Free Mambo Sprouts Coupon Booklets to Give Away!!

Y'all may have already picked up on the fact that I love coupons. Also, that I love organic and healthy foods, and will often choose those products even when they're the more expensive option. So naturally I adore Mambo Sprouts for cleverly combining both! I've mentioned the site many times before, but since a few days ago Mambo Sprouts was kind enough to give me a whole stack of their coupon booklets to give away, once again I'm waxing lyrical.

Mambo Sprouts is awesome.

The summer coupon booklet includes rare coupons for Clif Energy Bars, fair trade organic coffee, Organic Valley dairy products, and one of my personal favorites, MaraNatha Nut Butter. Nom nom almond butter nom. Another coupon I'm particularly excited about is $1.50 off of Rice Selects Couscous. Since couscous is basically a delicious stand-in for rice with a more interesting texture and a quicker cooktime, I will be taking the opportunity to stock up a bit. This coupon booklet is basically gold, and I'm giving away multiple copies. Oh yes!

Leave a comment if you would like a copy, and if I have more comments than copies I'll get creative with a random number generator. Then, if you haven't already, be sure to stop by the Mambo Sprouts website to sign up to have their future coupon booklets sent directly to you. Last time they sent me a sample of organic Jasmine green tea as well, and it was amazing. So take advantage of that! While on their site, also click around to check out their selection of printable coupons, contests and giveaways, and interesting articles. It's great stuff.

Hurrah for organic and natural food coupons! I'm aiming to send them all out by the middle of next week, so Wednesday August 5th is the deadline on this one. I'm very much looking forward to scattering these booklets to the blog-reading populace, so comment away!
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New Stuff at Devastate Boredom... FACELIFT!! (and carnival fun)

If you've happened to wander by my blog lately, you've probably noticed a few changes... and by a few changes I mean that the whole place had a totally freaking cool facelift!! I have the highly creative Sarah over at Blue Castle to thank for that. She did an gorgeous job designing and customizing a new background and header for me, and I love love what she came up with. She's hugely talented in not only blog design but also crafting and art; her ideas and projects are an amazing resource for we DIY types. Check out her site! You'll be in awe. (And then you'll probably be inspired to go buy out the craft store... but make sure to check for coupons first! ;P) Anyway, thank you so much Sarah!! I appreciate your work and creativity immensely.

In other (still exciting!) news, my post on the best sources for obtaining affordable organic and local products recently was included in some great blog carnivals, alongside a ton of other awesome resources for frugal/green living... if you have some time to kill, you'll find some amazing ideas and fun times here:

Best of Money Carnival
All Things Eco
Carnival of Twenty Something Finances
Money Hacks Carnival
Carnival of Pecuniary Delights
Festival of Frugality

I'm a huge fan... these are awesome compilations of links, and the host blogs are pretty sweet too! So check it out. Now, having exhausted my supply for of superlatives for the day (week?), I'll go back to my desk and be extremely negative for a while...
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Guest Post: Why I Bought an Apple TV Rather Than A Cable Subscription

Today I'm doing a blog swap with Carrie from It's Frugal Being Green; she has kindly consented to discuss her experiences with a great potential alternative to cable TV over here, while I write about the top 10 sources of free-and-legal MP3s over there. Carrie is a blogger buddy from the opposite coast who shares a lot of my favorite obsessions, so be sure to check out her site for more great ideas and material!

Guest Post: Why I Bought an Apple TV Rather Than A Cable Subscription

I've never paid for cable TV. The one year I spent living in a college dorm, cable TV was included and I found it to be a total mind suck. I'd stay up until 3am watching reruns of early nineties sitcoms.

However, there are a few cable TV shows I enjoy. I could wait until a year or more after their release and buy the DVDs. Or I could buy an Apple TV and then download the episodes of the TV shows I want to watch the day after they're originally aired and skip the transportation and packaging costs on the environment involved with buying physical media.

Apple TVs are boxes manufactured by Apple that hook up to your TV and sync with your iTunes library so that you can enjoy your media on your television rather than on your computer. They start at a cost of $229.

Over the past year I have purchased the following shows:
Birds of Prey (an awesome show, that unfortunately only lasted one season, from the creators of Smallville but with a Batman theme rather than a Superman theme) - $24.99 on iTunes
Sex and the City Seasons 1 and 2 - $22.99 each on iTunes
Stargate Atlantis Seasons 4 and 5 - $36.99 each on iTunes
Tin Man - $4.99 on sale at the time on iTunes
True Blood Season 1 - $34.99 on iTunes
The Tudors Season 1 - $19.90 on iTunes

I spent a total of $204.83 on media over the past year. For the equipment to get started and a years worth of media, I spent a total of $433.83.

The cheapest cable package available at my location would have been $29.99/mo or $359.88 for that year. Add in HBO (which is a premium channel) so I could watch several of the shows I'm interested in and I would have been paying $15/mo more for a total of $539.88 a year.

Not only did I save $106.05 in this first year (and I'll save more in future years because I won't need to buy a new Apple TV each year), but I've saved my valuable free time. I'm watching exactly the shows I want to watch at exactly the time I want to watch them, everything is commercial free, and I don't feel obligated to watch things I wouldn't otherwise want to watch to feel like I'm getting more for my money.

Carrie blogs at It's Frugal Being Green. Carrie is a 25 year old woman living alone in the San Francisco Bay Area. Her blog explores frugality and going green as methods to live within her means and fight the occasional obsessive compulsive hoarding urge.
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Friday Frivolity: A (voyeuristic?) glimpse into the lives of others... Post Secret and Found Magazine

Tomorrow I'm going to be hosting a blog swap with Carrie from It's Frugal Being Green, so I figured we'd have our moment of frivolity a day early this week... with a surreptitious peak into the lives of others. *cue eerie music now*

Practically the whole blog culture (and one might argue, the whole internet) is one massive carefree voyeur fest, with everyone looking over each others shoulders and noticing the moment anyone's hair style changes or relationship ends... but certain sites have made a veritable art out of peering into souls. Some of these souls are unaware of observation, and others cater to it and put on a bit of a show to keep the watchers absorbed. It's a form of entertainment, certainly, but potentially also a source of perspective that generates compassion. It's through those bifocal lenses that we're now going to take a look at two of these quite purely voyeuristic sites.



Post Secret more or less epitomizes the bipolar dynamic of morbid curiosity existing side-by-side with compassion and hope for the future. With a weekly supply of anonymous secrets confined to the space of a postcard, thousands of faceless individuals have in essence placed on display 4x6 inch snippets of the human psyche, in all the complex jumble of emotion and dysfunction that that rightfully implies. This site is a window into the human condition, and a powerful reminder of how much lies hidden under the surface in the minds of the people you pass on the street or in the hallway at work each day. 

It's a forum for people to gawk and point and whisper, sure, and some of the postcards are probably fabricated purely out of the desire to shock. But, whether they mean to or not, these postcards can also stir compassion, offer points of connection and hope, and provide an often much-needed reality check. When I was struggling with depression it was good to remember that other people hurt too, and that in a lot of ways I wasn't so badly off. Knowing that didn't change the nature of my depression, but it gave me a backdrop to keep it in perspective. Every type of secret you would ever imagine, and a few that you probably would never think up, will scroll across your screen on this site.

(Trigger Warning: As you might guess, the images and messages are often intense and sometimes not safe for work. Just a head's up...)



Post Secret showcases people who cater to the voyeurism and find freedom though the anonymous soul-baring, and now we'll look at the opposite... a site dedicating to peeking into the lives of people who probably will never be aware of our watching eyes.  Found Magazine is exactly what it sounds like... a collection of items that have been found. Photos, lists, notes, doodles, these various discarded or lost bits and pieces give us glimpses into the minds of individuals who are oblivious to our observation. From wedding photos from long ago, to a childishly scrawled note, these odds and ends add up to a lot more than fragments of paper that were left in a library book or fell out of a backpack. They're souvenirs of human experience, mementos of collective memory, and it would be a rare person who could scroll these pages without coming across one that rings true to him in a powerful way.

Entertainment, sure. Creepy? Sometimes. But these sites also provide connection with nameless strangers, and a sense of community despite anonymity. It's a way of remembering that we're all in this together, and we might as well try to help each other out for the ride. That's my take anyway... :) Enjoy the sites, and I'd love to know what y'all think of them!
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Chicken Pot-Pie CAN Be Fascinating...

I don't know about you, but when I think "casseroles" I've always tended to think traditional meals... most likely accompanying turkey and followed by pumpkin pie. Ritz crackers and those crinkly little fried onions are probably involved, and lots of mayonnaise. But at The Boyfriend's insistence I've consented to give casseroles another chance, and have been pleasantly surprised at the results! Welcome to casseroles updated for generation X,Y, Z, and all otherwise modern-thinking folks -- casseroles done my way. denominator

The Devastate Boredom approach to La Casserole involves minimal pots and pans, and capitalizes on the great value of a meal capable of absorbing this, that, and even leftovers, and still turning out a tasty whole with hardly any time invested. Casseroles done right are a thing of beauty, and the difference can be as simple as substituting Rotel for ordinary tomatoes and tossing in a few pinches of extra seasoning to seal the deal from there.

The Boyfriend and I have done a good bit of tinkering with different casseroles over the past few months, but today's Cooking Lesson for Justin will focus on our newest favorite... the hardiest, most delicious chicken pot-pie ever tossed together in a mere fifteen minutes.


Fascinating Pot-Pie Step-by-Step

First, you will need these things:

  • 1 rotisserie chicken (try to choose a basic flavor, since barbecue or lemon might clash with the seasonings you'll be adding later)
  • 1 bag frozen mixed vegetables
  • 1 can cream of mushroom soup
  • 3/4th cup water
  • red pepper
  • powdered mustard
  • curry madras
  • 1 tube refrigerated biscuits




First, shred the chicken. Wash your hands and dive right in; it will only take a few minutes. Then, mix up all the remaining ingredients in a bowl. (You're practically done already)

The one part you'll have to think about a little is the spices... Andrew and I did roughly a teaspoon of each with an extra sprinkling of freshly ground black pepper as a finishing touch, but you probably will want to vary it up depending on your personal flavor preferences. It's flavorful with even just a single teaspoon of red pepper, but the curry and mustard add extra levels of complexity that you really shouldn't miss if you're looking for a fascinating pot-pie.

Once you've mixed all that together, plop in a Pyrex and smoosh it flat. Don't forget to spray the pan with cooking oil first so your dinner won't stick or burn!

You might notice that we haven't yet done anything with the tube of biscuits. Pop them out and stick them on a baking sheet, lining it with foil or parchment paper just to make clean-up that much easier.

Put both the Pyrex with the chicken pot-pie concoction AND the baking sheet with the biscuits into the oven at 400 degrees. The biscuits will be done in about 10-15 minutes, but you might want to leave the casserole filling in a little longer depending on how soupy it looks at this point.

Keep in mind that all you're really doing is thawing the vegetables and heating everything up together so the flavors meld, so once its hot and looks good go ahead and pull it out and put the biscuits on top. If the biscuits have had time to get cold, heat it a few minutes longer.

You're done!

Break up the biscuits and mix well. The end result: Delicious chicken pot-pie, and a casserole that's anything but boring.

Like I said before, the beauty of casseroles lies in their flexibility, so you can change this recipe up as much as you like. Instead of rotisserie chicken, leftover grilled chicken could work beautifully, and instead of the curry you could substitute anything from Italian seasoning to sauteed onions. You could use fresh vegetables, or even canned, but don't forget to drain them in that case!

Your kitchen tip for this Tuesday is: Never use salt. Obviously there are exceptions to this rule, such as in baking and when cooking pasta (my favorite cooking show recommended that pasta water be "as salty as the sea") but by-and-large you can make salt completely unnecessary simply by taking full advantage of the wide range of flavors and spices available to us in a cosmopolitan, global cooking scene. Curry tends to be a favorite of ours... We've used it in everything from today's pot-pie, to chicken salad sandwiches, to popcorn seasoning. Fresh herbs like basil, cilantro, rosemary, etc, are also a great way to layer flavoring without resorting to piling on the sodium. My favorite basic guide for what spices are compatible with what foods is an old post from Trent over at The Simple Dollar called 10 Herbs and Spices That Will Make Simple Foods Pop so be sure to print that out and take it with you if you're still finding your way around the spice isle. You'll be glad you did!

Check out more Kitchen Tip Tuesday ideas over at Tammy's Recipes! She has a great trick for keeping pots from boiling over, which is perfect for a distractable cook like me...
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First Harvest!!

I know that this might not be as interesting to others as it is to me, but please indulge my garden kick... 'cuz we had our first little harvest!

Delectable Harvest Thus Far:

2 Anaheim peppers
2 Banana peppers
1 Bell pepper
2 small & unnaturally orange squash
6 Tabasco peppers

Yum! Can't wait to add these into recipes for the next week or two... though I'll admit to being a little dubious about the apparently sunburned baby squashes.

What with all of our assorted gardening mistakes thus far, I'm very pleased to still get some delicious results... I can only imagine how much better it will go next year!

You may now return to your previously scheduled boredom devastation.
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Escapades With a Homemade Upside Down Tomato Planter

About two months ago, my Green Goals included making a homemade upside down planter. At long last... it's done! Ta-da! And it was astonishingly easy too... basically, you use scissors to hack the bottom off of a two-liter bottle, add holes along what is now the top and run string through them so that it can hang, and you're done. Like I said, ridiculously simple really. Here are my additional observations:

1. It's better to use the planter for a plant that's big enough to have an established root cluster, but not too many "branches" yet. Because I had procrastinated so long on the whole project, my plant was very tall, and it was a little challenging to work the whole thing through the mouth of the bottle without breaking any of the stems. Had the plant been smaller, it would have been a little less stressful... for both of us.

2. Give that it is a bit of a challenge to get all those leaves through such a small space, here is the best way I found to do it. Once you've finished "constructing" the planter, take a chair somewhere you don't mind spilling a little dirt, and hold the plant (in its existing pot) on your lap or between your knees. Lower the new planter (aka, bottle) over the top of the plant, gently pressing the leaves upward so that they point towards the sky as you go. You might want to use a pencil or something to gently poke the top leaf of each "branch" through the top of the bottle, at least to where you can take hold of it and ease it through the rest of the way. Once the whole plant is successfully through the mouth of the planter, hold on to the old pot and flip the whole thing upside-down, allowing the dirt and root system to slip free and slide into the bottle. Ta-da! You have successfully transplanted your tomato into an upside-down planter. Hang it up, and you're good to go.

3. Make sure you don't throw away the bottom of the soda bottle that you cut off initially -- this will make a nice little watering contraption and will help to retain the moisture inside the planter. Simply flip it over, and push a pin through each of the nooks in the plastic. If you're lazy, even just one or two will suffice really. Water your plant thoroughly, and then set the plastic over the top like a lid and fill that with water too. It will drain slowly, giving your plant a more prolonged drink and helping to create something of a greenhouse environment inside the planter. If you were lazy and only poked a couple of holes in the device, simply angle it so that it will drain in their direction.

And that, my friends, is all there is to it! I'll keep y'all posted on how our tomato plant does in its new home, but after being cooped up in a tiny pot for so long I'm pretty sure he'll love it. Here's hoping for a thriving crop of cherry tomatoes!

Big thanks to my dad who built us the wooden stand to hang our upside-down planter on! It looks great, and works even better! :)
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The Ultimate "Cheat sheet" for Finding Organic and Local Produce... CHEAP!

Recently I wrote about the many considerations that come into play these days when it's time to cook dinner... from nutrition, to choosing pesticide and chemical free options, to budget limitations. That post dealt with using the food pyramid site as a tool to make sure your nutritional bases are covered; today's post will discuss easy ways of procuring organic and local produce... without breaking the bank to do so. If you're new to the reasoning behind choosing to eat organic, you might want to take a minute to read over my post on the Environmental Working Group's studies regarding the "dirty dozen", and how disturbingly common it is for produce to retain pesticide residue even after washing or peeling... then come back here if you're interested in giving organic a go. ;) Ready??

Here's the ultimate cheat sheet on affordable ways of obtaining organic and locally produced food:
  • Farmers' Markets --Farmers' Markets are obviously an amazing option, both from nutritional and from frugal standpoints. Produce has the most nutritional value right after being picked, so food derived from local sources has the benefit of being much fresher then grocery store produce. If you're not sure whether the farmer uses organic agricultural methods, ask! That's the benefit of buying your produce straight from the source... if you are curious about where exactly it's coming from, it's very easy to strike up a conversation and find out. If you aren't sure where to find a Farmers' Market in your area, the website Local Harvest can be incredibly helpful to point you in the right direction.
  • Buying direct from the farmer -- I'm listing this one separately from Farmers' Markets because Markets rarely seem to have meat available... and really, it might seem a little sketchy to be buying meat out of a cooler in the dead of summer anyway. You can find ranchers in your area on the Eat Wild farmers' directory, and buy antibiotic- and hormone-free meat in bulk directly from the source, either picking it up yourself or having it shipped to you. This is another option I haven't been able to try myself yet, but its from lack of storage space rather than lack of interest. Cheaper, local, and better-for-you... all around a great option.
  • International markets -- If you live in Atlanta, you're in luck; our massive international market is well stocked with affordable organic options on pretty much every item in the place. I don't know if all international markets "do" organic, but I've heard that they're pretty consistently a great place for cheap spices as well. At ours, you can buy about three times the amount of grocery store spice for about $.5o, and with an amazing selection to choose from too... so its definitely something worth checking out! A google search by city should be sufficient if you don't know where to look for your local international markets.
  • Dirty Dozen / Clean Fifteen -- It's very helpful to me to be able to know that I can buy certain non-organic produce with a fairly clear conscience -- I definitely stick to the "Dirty Dozen" / "Clean Fifteen" standards as much as possible to limit my expenditures. Initially I was gearing into buying even that much gradually, to ease the transition for my wallet, but as my enthusiasm for chemical and pesticide free produce has grown it's more or less just become habit.
  • Eating seasonally -- Eating seasonally allows you to know ahead of time what will be available at the farmers' market so you can plan accordingly. What's even better, grocery stores will often switch to local (if not organic) options when the produce is in season. Currently the Krogers in my area are advertising Georgia-grown watermelon and corn; last month it was Georgia-grown blueberries. Being aware of what's in season makes for an easy way to limit your carbon footprint and ensure the freshness of what you're buying, while encouraging chain stores to support the local economy. This seasonal produce guide is a good place to start, and Real Simple magazine has a version too.
  • Grow it yourself! -- The mixed results of my own on-the-job-learning experience with gardening has been well-documented already, but no one can deny that growing your own food is by far the most affordable source of organic produce! And fortunately for you, I can now point you in the right direction for a wealth of information on getting started with container and backyard gardening. I'll start with Trevor from the Simple Dollar and his advice on gardening even in an apartment, then send you over to Apartment Therapy for a deluge of archived articles there. We'll end with a huge index of resources at the Organic Gardening and Homesteading site to fill in any gaps. Keep in mind that urban gardening can look any way you like, from DIY upside down tomato planters to growing a crop of potatoes out of a trash can. The process is fun, creative, and not too overwhelming if you start small, and you'll find that it's surprisingly satisfying to eat food you've produced yourself.
  • Watch for deals -- The idea of watching for deals probably would seem like a no-brainer, right? For most people, a tight budget will naturally translate into keeping an eye on what's for sale, and maybe checking some websites for coupons too. What I mean more precisely though, is watching for deals on organic items in places you wouldn't normally expect to find them. Just last week Publix had Ragu pasta sauce buy-one-get-one-free, and that included their organic pasta sauce as well. Add in a coupon from a booklet recently available for free in the store recently, and I was able to buy organic pasta sauce for a mere .35 each. Another example would be recently when Kroger had Seattle's Best coffee on sale for a flat $5... including the organic version. Throw in a printable $1.50-off coupon, and you have yourself a high-quality, affordable, pesticide-free caffeine buzz. More and more often these days, companies are offering organic options right alongside the original product. When those brands go on sale, capitalize on it!
  • CSAs -- "Community Supported Agriculture," generally referred to as CSAs, are set up so that members of the local community pay a lump sum to buy shares of a farmer's harvest, receiving weekly boxes of a wide variety of produce. This is a great option for a large family, or to split with another family, but not one I have tried personally yet. If anyone has tried it I would be very curious to know whether the cost ends up being a better value than buying a la carte at a Farmer's Market or similar, so if you have experience here please pass it on! You can locate convenient CSAs in your own community on the Local Harvest website if you're intrigued.
  • Freeze it! -- When you find organic produce on a good sale, consider whether you can freeze it. This tends to be easier for fruit then for vegetables, which usually have to be first blanched (dipped in boiling water and then rinsed in cold before they can begin to cook) to preserve the enzymes and prevent discoloration, and the loss of flavor and nutrition. Henry's Market has a good collection of tips regarding freezing produce, and a UK site on food gardening has great step-by-step instructions on blanching and storing vegetables by type. I can see this being a great option for surplus produce from a CSA or just stocking up on seasonal items, and I promise... it's actually pretty simple.
With these frugal resources for procuring organic and local food, you should be good to go! Hope that helps -- let me know your thoughts, and any of your favorite methods I might have missed. Happy healthy eating! Your savings account can thank me later. :)
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MP3 Madness!! Au Revoir Simone, Those Darlins, the National, Anya Marina, golden oldies, and so much more!

This week I want to highlight some of my new favorites from the Daytrotter website, so we'll start with three downloads from Au Revoir Simone. This girl-fronted (and backed, since they're all females...) indie pop group has long been dear to my heat, and to my delight several of my favorite tracks from them are included in these recordings. From "Sad Song," wistful in its melancholy, to the gentle rapture of "Stars" there is a little something here for every mood. These downloads are an amazing free-and-legal taste of their music, but if you enjoy them you might want to consider paying for the studio recording of each. The rest of the album is just as good, and the clearer vocals are well worth the investment.

Continuing in the girl-band theme, we'll move on to a Those Darlins download currently available on the Paste Magazine website. Upbeat, alt-country that even country haters won't be able to resist, "Red Light Love" will toe-tap it's way right into your heart. Download the track straight from the Paste Station player, and cherish it as your very own.

To balance out the heavy female presence so far, we'll now swing back by Daytrotter for some strongly masculine downloads from The National. Lead singer Matt Berninger has one of the deepest, bell-toned voices you'll find in indie pop today, and their contemplative, stirring music is well-represented in the tracks available here. Great background music for a quiet evening at home, or a candlelight dinner with that special someone.

Another great new artist to set the mood for a candlelight dinner is Anya Marina, whose album title touts itself as Slow and Steady Seduction, Phase II. Don't make the mistake of limiting this artist to the realm of batted eyelashes and smoky candles though, because Anya Marina has a lot to offer. Catch her Daytrotter live recordings, and snag a track right off her new album on the Borders website too.

The iTunes free downloads this week are worth a free download or two, though not amazing... fans of stand-up a la Comedy Central will want to check out the free episode of the show Comics Without Boarders currently available. The last comedian of the episode, Dean Edwards, is hilarious. He had me laughing at my desk, so don't miss that one! (His act starts at 11:41 in the episode if you want to skip right to it.) There doesn't seem to be a Discovery download this week, but you can download one of the fables from the audiobook Nelson Mandela's Favorite African Folktales, narrated by Alan Rickman, instead.

I love this last one! Amazon has a sampler album download of five tracks from stars of the golden era, including Dean Martin, Ella Fitgerald, and Billie Holiday. Can't get much better than that! Sit back and let the big-band glow wash over you...

I hope you enjoy the soundtrack for the week! Let me know your thoughts, or if you find any new favorites. Happy listening!
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Acknowledging the Boredom Gone Out of Control, and Promising to Make Amends!!

Hello Gentle Reader!

I apologize with deep regret for the length of time your boredom has been allowed to rage unchecked, and fervently promise you that such a lapse will not occur again! I have been busily hashing out some blog-related changes and developments, as well as wrestling with a particularly unwieldy Life-Map in an attempt to figure out if I'm headed in the right direction, and I think we're making progress on both blog and life fronts. I'm excited for prospect of getting some things wrapped up and fine-tuned in the near future, and I promise to make amends for my recent neglect...

In fact, this week alone will be packed chock full of boredom-devastating delights, including but not limited to: an MP3 Madness update stuffed chock full of the latest free-and-legal gems, a review of a book that sent my world reeling (in a good way!), and a Friday Frivolity post on... dare I say?... voyeurism. Oh yes, this week shall be a good one.

Stay tuned! And if you're not yet following or subscribed, may I ask what could possibly account for such a heinous oversight? Are you really so absolutely free of boredom in your day-to-day life? If so, please fill me in on your secrets, I would love to know how such a blissful state of constant interest is obtained. If not, dear reader, hit the subscribe button! Your dying brain cells will perk up and thank you.

Yours, towards the eradication of boredom!
Sarah Eliza
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