Giving back, Part Deux

It's that time of year again where I attempt to not let the commercialism crush me. This year's opportunity involves some of my dearest friends and one of our longest standing traditions.

I think this is the 13th year of our Christmas tradition, and we are trying something new ('changing it up'). Instead of buying a gift for our secret santa, we have all decided to make a donation in honor of them. One of the organizations that we will be using is kiva.org, where you can give a micro-loan to an individual or group in a developing country to help support their small business. They eventually pay you back, and you get to reinvest the money. It is the gift that keeps on giving. If you are interested in learning more or 'changing things up' this year, you can find more information on their website kiva.org

For more ideas, I also compiled a more extensive list last year. Some of the organization I purchased from and would recommend included Nighlight, Women's Bean Project, Raven and Lily, and Punjammies.

Merry Christmas!

we love LB

Yesterday was my "give a day, get a free disneyland ticket" volunteering day. We chose to help clean up our city, and boy was it a dirty little thing. We focused our efforts on storm drains because of the recent rains, so not only did we clean up a part of LB, but also saved a few oceans and whales while we were at it.

Cleaning up LB is entertaining in and of itself. The best piece of 'trash' we found all day was no contest: a dime bag of coke outside of an unnamed donut shop. Other honorable mentions included a dirty diaper (Ronnie found this one and will have nightmares for a few weeks about it), woman's underwear, a handle of a toy gun, and alot of qtips (are people really walking down the street cleaning their ears?)

The real question of the day we were all left with was this: After giving back to your community, what is the most valuable reward? A ticket to Disneyland or the chance to help out your neighborhood?

We all voted for the bag of coke.

Christmas Update

a tad bit late....

So I was alittle cryptic in sharing what Ronnie and I were doing for our Christmas gift, and for good reason- I was concerned that it may not turn out as I had envisioned. Which was true. So true that even in person, no one was able to accurately describe our creation. But it has grown on me over time, and maybe I can use that reason for the delay. But without further ado, behold- our Christmas sandman:otherwise known as the Christmas volcano. Ronnie had a bit of a different vision. Some may say it is cheating, but I'll let you be the judge:
What else did we get each other for Christmas? Why what I always wanted- a Honduran toilet!

All kidding aside, thank you Parkcrest for a great idea. This was a very special and meaningful Christmas for me.

Advent Conspiracy

I was inspired by my church and advent conspiracy to do something different this year.

I am trying to buy gift for others that give alittle back. For example, gifts/companies that are supporting/employing women in disadvantaged positions both here in the states and abroad. I didn't want to share all of the info, in case any of my gift recipients are reading this blog. But I also wanted to share some of the sites that I really like, because let me tell you once I started on this quest it was like falling down the rabbit hole. The possibilities are endless.

So maybe consider buying one gift this year that gives back.

Or maybe no gift at all and instead donate the money you would spend on a gift, and give a special memory or your time instead (a la Advent Conspiracy). That is what Ronnie and I decided to do for each other, and I can't wait until our gift day, where we donate our money and go do something fun (I'll wait to tell you what it is, in case it doesn't work because our idea of what to do may not work out like we are hoping...)

But I digress, on to the websites:

World of Good a good (haha) place to start for lots of options, sponsored by ebay

Trade as one many different vendors and options to choose from, they have stories of the artisans for each item available

Night Light girls who were being exploited in the sex industry in Bangkok, given job skills and support, they make jewelry

Suubi women of rural poor neighborhoods in Uganda given job training and education, they make jewelry and bags (the bags are really cool bc they have the artisan's story sewn in the inner pocket of the bag)

Raven and Lily I love all of their products, very anthropologie style, but with each purchase you know that you are supporting a fair living wage for women in India or Africa

Punjammies Each pajama pants is created in an after-care facility for women who have been rescued, released or escaped from a life of forced prostitution.

Kauzbots I wish I had kids to shop for, the purchaser can choose a kause with it's representative kauzbot and 10% will be donated to that charity, a good way to teach kids about giving back. Also kauzbots works closely with their manufacturers in China to provide a good wage and positive work environment, they even document their most recent trip out there on their website.

Women's Bean Project this one is in the states, I think Denver, helping women break the cycle of poverty and unemployment, teaching job readiness and life skills for entry-level jobs through employment in their gourmet food production business.

Samaritan's Purse several organizations do this, where you can buy a dozen chickens or part of a cow for a family in need in honor of that person on your list who has everything

fruit fly problem

The new apartment is working out marvelously, except for the damn fruit flies! Two of them even started drinking my wine last night when I wasn't looking- Gross!

The solution: a mixture of balsamic vinegar (because they think it is rotting fruit) and liquid dish soap (because it traps them in its slimy layer). Leave it out in a glass over night. It actually looks alittle like red wine so I recommend a third step of labeling the glass "Fruit fly trap- Do not drink".
I'll let you know how successful it is. But this concoction has tough competition- after the 2 flies got in my wine yesterday (don't worry, I saw them before I took a sip), I decided to leave out the glass (with the above mentioned label of course) overnight to see how many I could get....

Red Wine: 4.......Balsamic Vinegar+Soap: ??