Blue Lattice

If only I could afford this zip/bustier/Herve Legerish dress from Opening Ceremony.

Hot.

$450

Sustainable Food Budget Challenge

Have you ever participated in an online challenge?

Well, I haven't, and I decided better late now than never.

Crunchy Chicken {one of my favorite environmental bloggers!} came up with the "Sustainable Food Budget Challenge" for the month of April.

Here are the rules for buying food:
1. If not LOCALLY PRODUCED, then Organic.
2. If not ORGANIC, then Family farm.
3. If not FAMILY FARM, then Local business.
4. If not a LOCAL BUSINESS, then Terroir: purchase foods famous for the region they are grown in.
5. Hit the farmers market before the supermarket.

This does not include non-food items, or home-grown items {unfortunately I have none of those!}. Also, I have to make sure to include food bought on the go, like coffee or sandwiches.

Since I only buy for myself, I cannot spend more than $176 on groceries for the whole month. Living in Italy, this translates to about 32 Euros a week.

The good thing is that there is a lot of local produce that can be found at various markets throughout the city. I just have to make a point to go to them!

My own personal goals for this challenge:

• Eat. Less. Cheese. - Right now I only have Parmesan in my fridge. I am determined to limit my cheese intake!
  
• Drink less regular milk! - Back home in the states, all I drink is soymilk. I didn't eat cheese or drink regular milk for a reason {and because I just didn't like it}, and I have to remember that! It took me a while to find it here, so I became accustomed again to drinking regular milk. Eck! Get me off of that!
• Go to a new fresh market instead of the supermarket. - Sidenote: the great thing about supermarkets here, though, is that they do tell you exactly where the fruits and vegetables come from.
  
• Eat more color. - I have no problem eating fruit; I could eat fruit for a living if I had to. It's the vegetables I need to work on getting enough of.
• Limit my sweets intake - Pastries and gelato are my two weaknesses, especially when there are bars that sell them every two feet on my walk to and from school!

My possible downfalls? My food and wine pairing class on Mondays {hello cheese, cream, whole-fat milk, sugar!} and the future trips I have planned where I will have to eat out for my meals.

I'm excited to be participating in this challenge. If you're interested, I highly recommend signing up!

Life; Paris

Life has been crazy lately.

I visited Connecticut, and had the most amazing time with my boyfriend and best friend. It took a lot of willpower to come back to Italy. I miss them so much.

Then I had a week of school. I was lazy and jetlagged. Nothing happened. Except I did treat myself to a pair of cute gladiators and a seafoam green top from H&M.

This past weekend, I went to Paris with my roommate. We watched one of the guys we stayed with almost get arrested for climbing over the gate of Notre Dame at night, drank along the Seine, took pictures in front of Jim Morrison's grave, ate lunch under the Eiffel Tower, shopped on Rue Saint Honore, visited the Louvre for free {Fridays, 6-10 PM for students under 26!}, and ate baguettes and crepes. Paris and NYC are battling it out right now for my favorite places in the world. I can't wait to get back to Paris, hopefully to live one day.

Now I just need to learn French.

Seafoam

I am so ready to step out of my primarily black and grey wardrobe.

I don't know how or why, but I accumulated so much grey since September. Of course I love grey, but I am missing all the colorful clothing I left behind in Texas.
{I've been relying a little too much on a hot pink shirt from J.Crew for a color splash lately}

Right now I'm loving this photo I spotted here from Zara's spring advertising campaign. The pieces themselves are a little eh, but seafoam green, royal purple, and maize just seem to make the perfect color combination. I will definitely be on the lookout for these colors from this point on.

P.S. I really like the name "seafoam" green. But it makes me want summer even more. So maybe not.

3/12/09

I absolutely suck at studying for midterms. While trying to, I can come up with 5,456 other things I "should" be doing instead of studying. So I do.

Aaron and his friend have been in Italy since Sunday. They left for Venice yesterday, though, and now I'm all alone again {until Saturday}.

Thoughts:

• I tried caviar the other night. Never again.
• I think my big toe is dislocated.
• I leave for Connecticut in a week.
• I hate {Italian} Customs for holding my package hostage.
  
• I love wearing sweats for 85% of my day.
  

Dark Lips

Hussein Chalayan Fall/Winter 2009

I really fell in love with this shade of lip color while watching Hussein Chalayan's latest runway show. I know, I know--it's not anything new. But it looked so fresh with the models' sleek hair and primarily black, fitted wardrobe.

I also feel like I've mentioned my secret affinity for dark lips before. So if I have, I'm just reminding you.

Photos from Style.com

4 Degrees

I'll admit it: I have no earthly idea where Italy stands on the environment.

I like to think that the Italians care (like their law about turning the heat on after November 1st, and for three hour increments), but really it just comes down to them being cheap I've been told. I don't understand how their recycling system works (you can put glass, aluminum, and plastic containers in a plastic bag in designated recycling bins, but what types of plastic can you recycle?) and they seem to use a whole lot of containers. The only thing I know is that the majority of grocery stores charge for plastic bags, but I have no idea if that's to make more of a profit or because these chains actually care.

I don't always recycle. I don't use my refillable water bottle. And I've been eating way too many processed foods for my own (and the environment's) good.

After reading this post by the Crunchy Chicken, though, I realized I really need to get my act together again.

Photo from the Crunchy Chicken

According to this article from New Scientist magazine, our earth will be 4 degrees Celsius warmer between 2050 and 2100. That might not seem like a lot, but just realize that pretty much anywhere you live now will be uninhabitable. Instead, we will all have the choice of living in Canada, Alaska, Northern Europe, New Zealand, or Western Antarctica.

Please read the article. Please do something, no matter how small.