I Declare A Spending Freeze!

Ok, going over my travel budget and thinking about everything that I want to do while I'm traveling, I'm becoming more and more aware that I absolutely must stop spending money, specifically on food and fun nights out. There goes my social life!

Stop complaining Elmo. Your tea was always imaginary.

 
As I was thinking about where to blog about this new personal pact--on my new travel blog, Found, Wandering, or here--I realized this ties in with sustainability as it relates to ethical consumerism. The less prepackaged foods I buy, the better. Here's an article that discusses more on that thought. This will especially be the case if I continue to get a good amount of my produce from the local farmer who sells produce bags at my work. Local means less gas used and emissions with the transportation and fresher food for me.

This spending freeze will also force me to be more resourceful and creative--buying less products and reusing what I already have.
And, with all this prep for the Peace Corps, it will be good to really assess what is needed versus what is wanted and what I can live without (I'm looking at you guys, Daily Latte and Weekly Movie!)

"Red Tent" Post #1 Sustainability

Gentlemen, you may want to excuse yourselves from this post (please refer to this post for explanation) but don't feel that you must. Just a warning that we're gonna get all womanhood up in here!

This is what I call the buffer zone, in case anyone wants to leave before they can't un-see what comes next.

Ok, now that that is out of the way, my first exploration into sustainability comes in the form of...duhn duhn duhn... the Diva Cup.

For those of you who may not have heard of this little devise, basically it is a replacement for tampons and pads. It's a cup that goes all-up-in-ya and can stay put for up to 12 hours with no fear of toxic shock syndrome. And it's made of silicone so its reusable instead of disposable with a general recommendation to replace once a year. So I'm sure you see where I'm going on the topic of sustainability. This is what their website has to say:

Excellence in environment care :Our commitment to being “green divas” is evident in our products, lifestyles and educational resources. Every year, billions of disposable tampons and pads are thrown into our landfills and waterways. Our award winning DivaCup and DivaWash helps to reduce the eco-footprint of feminine hygiene by providing reusable solutions to disposable tampons and pads.

Excellence in sustainability: Our mission to offer women a new way to care for themselves extends far beyond period care. We invest our knowledge, time and resources in community and International organizations that offer health care, empowerment and education to women and children around the world.  - http://divacup.com/

I've known people who've used the cup but I never gave it much thought until I started reading travel blogs about girls who highly recommended it to keep costs down, backpack space available, and to create ease when encountering times in your trip where throwing away pads or tampons might not be the most convenient.

Also, they seem to be healthier for our bodies as well:

The DivaCup is exclusively available in a natural un-pigmented silicone. We considered manufacturing The DivaCup in colored silicone but decided against it because the skin, including the sensitive skin of the vaginal walls, should not be exposed to dyes, chemicals, etc. Although colors are fun, adding other components such as pigment particles, along with chemical additives required to bind the particles to the silicone, create additional risk to the base chemistry of the silicone. Diva International feels that this is an unnecessary risk to take as there is still a possibility that the particles or other chemicals may not bind properly and could leach into the body.  - http://divacup.com/

 Unfortunately, tampons may contain traces of dioxin from bleach, pesticide residues from conventional, non-organic cotton, and mystery “fragrance” ingredients. - http://safecosmetics.org/downloads/FemCare_fs_022411.pdf

So, there you have it. Now, I haven't been able to try it out yet as I keep getting sent the Model 2 which is for post childbirth instead of Model 1 for pre-childbirth.
I hear there is an adjustment period (ahem-- no pun intended) while you get used to the new process, but I figured best to start now if I'm going to use this during my travels.

Initiating the "Red Tent" post status

Some of you may have heard of or read the incredible book by Anita Diamant called The Red Tent. Basically, to quote wikipedia, "The book's title refers to the tent in which women of Jacob's tribe must, according to the ancient law, take refuge while menstruating or giving birth, and in which they find mutual support and encouragement from their mothers, sisters and aunts."

Anywhoo, in my blog, I am now instating "Red Tent" posts where I will discuss things that, perhaps, not all men will care to read about but where I can feel free to discuss womanly type issues without worrying about offending anyone. Not that men aren't welcome. It's just my way of giving you a heads up beforehand.

And if you have not read The Red Tent, I highly recommend it!

The end.

Community, World, and Sustainability

That's a lot in one month! And I'm getting a late start. But I'll do my best!
I already have a Disaster Relief training scheduled through the Red Cross. I will continue part of last months goal with working on my Peace Corp application. And I will study up on ways I can do my part to be less impactful on our world's resources and especially how I can incorporate sustainability in my travels this coming year.

This is what I've learned (an ongoing post)

• By selling all my belongs and practically begging people to take some of it away, I've learned that you can find what you need in thrift stores, discount stores, and online. Full price is overrated. Also, when getting rid of everything, going into a store brings a whole new perspective. You finally realize how you've always felt almost obligated to buy something until you don't 'need' anything anymore.

• Having gotten rid of 3/4 of my stuff and still filling a room with more stuff than I can handle, I've learned that you can get by with waaay less than you ever thought, and it feels good to get to the bare bones. I'm still not where I want to be in terms of only having the essentials.

• I've learned that priorities can change overnight and letting go of some things can be scary but it can be for the best.

• I've finally figured out for myself what people mean when they say "life is short". When you realize that nothing is owed to you in this life, you finally take responsibility for your future.

• After almost a year of changing my diet, I've discovered how quickly the human body will readjust to reject the stuff that is no good for us.  Before the change, I was drinking multiple caffeinated beverages a day, consuming dairy products in the form of tubs of ice cream and venti lattes, and shoveling down buckets of processed sugar. Now, when I have coffee with caffeine, even a small one makes me jittery and I don't like the way it makes my heart skip. Concerning milk, the other night I had 3 sips of a latte that the barista had mistakenly put milk into instead of soy and I immediately got a stomach ache. I had never thought of myself as lactose intolerant before, but when I got that stomach ache, it reminded me of how I often felt before the change: bloated and not as well as I've been feeling this last year. To summarize, if you can ween yourself off the bad stuff, you can really trust your body to tell you what you need and what you should avoid.

Career related. I swear...

OK, I'm realizing that this year is about random scary things occurring to me and then me getting hell-bent on doing them even though they sound crazy-balls.  For instance, going vegan. Had no interest. Thought to myself, "Let those vegans go about their own business, I'll stay over here in the cheeseburger aisle and they can stay over there in the crazy aisle and we'll all be happy."

Piñatas are definitely in the crazy aisle.

Well we all know how that ended up! Bethany watched a few documentaries and the next day? BAM, Bethany herbivore Watrous was roaming the streets.
Then it was the gluten free thing. I thought "How and why would I go gluten free? I'm already vegan. Don't take away my bread, pasta and salad dressings too." But no, because along came an article about how wheat allergies can affect one's memory.
THEN, I was cruising along with the production company, figuring I'd be settling in to that and making it a long term commitment when a spontaneous friend comes to town and reminds me how awesome not being tied down is. And the next thing I know I was selling all my possessions, moving out of my Burbank palace and telling work "I'm leaving the country. I don't know where to or for how long, but meh."
Let me just clarify that there was sheer terror the night before each BAM moment. Thoughts like "Am I seriously going to do this? Am I seriously wandering over to the crazy aisle? How am I going to do this? But most of all, why am I doing this again? It's kind of lonely in the crazy aisle and people look at you like you're one of those weird zoo animals that no one knows the name of. They don't quite know what to make of you, but they're sure it can't be good.

It's my shifty eyes, isn't it.

Seriously, was God high?

It's like there's a part of my brain that when in panic mode grumbles "alright, let's do this".

Face my fears? *sigh* Fiiiine.

So for the longest time I've believed that I should do stand-up comedy at some point in my life. Not because I aspire to or think I'd be good at it or even want to. I've just always thought, "yeah, I guess I should do that". But the thought has also always equated to sticking forks in my eyes. But I woke up yesterday with a joke in my head and instead of chortling to myself and going on with my chocolate bar breakfast, I wrote it down. And then seven more jokes came flying at me and I wrote them down too. And thus, I have a sort of stand-up routine in the works which now my brain tells me "so we should probably perform that, I guess."
So look forward to THAT, world!

Aaand It's February

Career month! I thought about changing this out, what with the plan to quit my job and wander the wilderness of the world for awhile, but I do really want these travels to help me figure out where life is leading me. I hope to write and earn some money that way, and I'm also still very interested in getting into the Peace Corps once this initial adventure runs itself out (and when I say adventure, I mean money). I've already begun working on some languages which, if I can get well versed, can really help me in different international careers I've looked into.

Also, I just had "nerdy" headshots taken because I bought a Groupon last year and never used it, so I thought "why not!"

People's eyeballs. That's why.

 
I've been learning to embrace the nerd so I think I'll see if these headshots do me any more good than my "trying-to-be-hot" headshots ever did.

Like this but without the glasses. The bigger the smile the hotter, amiright gentlemen?

So, in actuality, I think career is the perfect thing to be focusing on right now.

Goals:
• Finish Peace Corps application 
• Write everyday and practice travel writing
• Continue with language courses
• Reflect on what I really want out of life and what 'career' means to me
• Book commercial agent and rock screens around the world with hot nerdy humor

Mission accomplished? Some might say no.