it’s been over a year since i’ve written a new post! so i’m updating ’cause life’s been pretty freakin’ eventful; i’ve moved out of Stockton, back to Lodi, then back to stockton again this July. no longer working at b&n (hallelujah!) but instead at a health food store. i’m in my second semester at CSU Stanislaus majoring in Ag Permaculture. keep your ears peeled, I’ll most definitely be using this space to spew out all my propoganda! ;)  congratulations to my friend Jen on her marriage to her husband Dan…i was lucky enough to be a bridesmaid at the wedding. looking forward to fall and the semester ahead.

yowza, it’s been nearly a month since last time i wrote. not much new going on, except all the crappy fires going on around here. i miss fresh, clean washington air! and not having allergies. but i AM loving the sun and warmth and not having to layer or bundle up or pray it wont rain or be overcast!

so, if you haven’t heard of etsy, you are TRULY missing out, my friends. it is an amazing shopping website, see it in my links in the column to the right. nothing i say about it will do it justice, but i’ll try. really, i recommend you just take a few minutes and see it for yourself. basically it’s like a huge indy/diy/handmade/vintage/artsy mecca where anyone can buy or sell. i, for one, love to support the little guys, and i’m always looking for something unique when shopping for myself or for a gift. this is the place to go online. among the ridiculously cool features: search by handmade, vintage, supply, seller or materials used; search by location with geolocator or shop local (look at all the stuff in stockton!); or use the gift guide to help you pick out something for even the toughest recipient (i got my dad this shirt for d-day!) Folks all over the world are using this site, and it’s a super cool community of very creative people…i hope you like it!

so i’m still very new to this whole blogging thing. first improvement will be adding more pics to juice it up. i also want to learn a bit of css language; evidently wordpress doesn’t accept html code, and i want to figure out how to add more widgets to my blog, especially my pandora. if you haven’t heard of pandora, it’s basically a jukebox on the radio, amazing sound; plug in a favorite song or artist and it’ll create a radio station with music it thinks you’ll like. you can create umpteen stations, rate the songs, and listen to other peeps stations too. i like turning it on when i’m hanging around the house, especially after my ipod ate shit and contracted a virtual std. yay, viruses!

well, my ipod seemingly bit the dust last week when i plugged it into my laptop and let it “update new software…” long story short, I’m pretty sure my computer has @ least one virus, and it looks like it’s taken my ipod down with it. if anyone knows how i can go about fixing this, please let me know! BTW, I’ve tried restoring, to no avail.

anyway, i keep finding cool new podcasts that i’m just gonna have to listen to the old-fashioned way: on my computer! YIKES! it’s OK though, because they’re usually worth it, especially MORE HIP THAN HIPPIE. i listened to one of their recent ‘casts, CSA to Z, in which Chico, CA lady-casters Dor and Val talk with the founders of Chico’s budding CSA, GRUB (Growing Resourcefully Uniting Bellies).

ask anyone who knows me, i’m a granola girl (relatively). i love tofu, veggies, fruit, herbs, tea, soy, aromatherapy, recycling, public transportation…i guess that makes me slightly GREEN. obviously, there’s still LOADS more I could be doing to green-ify my life. I’ve vowed that if (more like when) gas exceeds $5/gallon, i’m ditching my car and biking/public transporting myself. not as easy a task in the central valley as in san francisco, but i’m determined, dammit!

anyway, i promise that tangent was leading…here! my boyfriend and his dad have their own CSA here in Stockton, FreshEdiblesCSA (haha, shameless advertising). most people give me confused looks when i first mention the CSA. even after spelling out the acronym, Community Supported Agriculture, further explanation is usually required.

While you could easily Wiki or Google it, the idea is that a local farm provides fruits, veggies, herbs, flowers, dairy, etc. and the community helps support it by purchasing shares. money from purchased shares goes right back into maintaining the farm. members are usually welcome to interact, participate and give their two cents, as their contribution is vital to keeping the farm going.

This is Fresh Edibles’ first season up and off the ground; currently they do drop-offs twice a week (Wed/Sat) at numerous locations throughout the valley, mostly Lodi, Stockton, Modesto, & Tracy. Full shares provide enough veggies for ~4 people or a family/week, while half shares feed ~2 people/week. You can choose the trial or seasonal share. Bon Apetit!

just went to sonic burger for the first time since moving back to california. the park west center off 8 mile and i-5 is hardly pedestrian friendly; nearly everyone else was driving from store to store as i walked from one end of the ginormous parking lot to the other. i ended up ordering outside, picking the coney combo. when the girl brought my food out, the tray she carried loaded with drinks and my bag was no match for the wind; my coney and tots flew away as a powerful gust came up. she apologized (totally not her fault, obviously!) and promptly brought out another meal within minutes. the first tots had blown across the parking lot, but the dog had only fallen steps away, unscathed in its protective foil pouch. still, she threw in in the trash. i ate a few tots, then got up to walk back to my car, making sure she wasn’t looking as i snatched the first, perfectly good dog off the top of the trash. two dogs for the price of one! yay for my first garbage reconciliation.

I decided blogging was a bit more my style than that nasty little habit i’ve never seemed to separate myself from (myspace). So here I am, baring my soul on the worldwide interweb ;) About to get my haircut in an hour. I guess if I were a true blogger, I’d take before and after pics, but my camera’s lost somewhere in the shuffle of my move back to Stockton. I’ll try to post an after.