happy earth day

With a bit of free time this morning at work I was looking through nonprofit web efforts that have been successful fundraising-wise.

I hit up Romeo the cat's web site. Romeo is a smushed face little guy that was rescued by Caroline Golon in North Carolina. Caroline is a marketing/pr professional and cat enthusiast who one day made her cat a Twitter page because she thought it was cute.

Now, Romeo has more than 7,000 follwers on Twitter, not to mention an incredibly successful blog. Caroline leveraged the fact that Romeo was a rescue to promote other rescue organizations and help raise a ridiculous amount of funding for pet rescues across the country.

Posted on Romeo's blog this morning was a very helpful Earth Day video with some fantastic advice for willing humans. I think my favorite tips are "Carpool" and "Conserve Water." Enjoy, and Happy Earth Day!

bleak refrigerator yields old school treat

The beginning of the month is rent time, which means, living takes priority over food. As such, sniffing around for a mid afternoon snack is a far more challenging task than usual. My list of choices was limited to dry cereal, a wilted tomato, brown lettuce, some American cheese singles, and the butts of the bread. Cheese and bread are always good choices, and I consider myself lucky that they're still hanging out in my kitchen on April 2nd (rare).

I remembered a "bedtime snack" my dad used to make me when I was little. I basically rotated between smooshed cheese animals and strawberry cream cheese sandwiches with no crust. So today, I decided to make a smooshed cheese animal.

Begin with the simplest of ingredients. A single slice of bread - your choice whether you de-crust or not - and a single slice of cheese. Growing up we were straight up a Kraft family, but we've been rocking the Lucerne brand around here lately. Side note: they taste the same. Place the cheese atop the bread, and begin to roll. Smoosh and roll. Smoosh and roll. Until a cheesy bready cigar has been made.

You can use toothpicks to make a bunch of different animals once you have the tootsie roll body, but I personally opt for the deer. Or in this case, cockroach. It might have to do with the teeth cleaning toothpicks we have, but I remember these little animals being way more endearing, fascinating, delicious when I was five, but at this point I think I'm just going to grill him and eat him melty instead. 

spooky miss elson

I've had a mini lady crush on Karen Elson ever since I bought Kevin Aucoin's Face Forward in high school. She makes pale gals everywhere proud. That's why I was delighted to see this haunting video for her single The Ghost Who Walks. Who knew she was so multi-talented? I guess Aucoin was right about her ability to be incredibly versatile!

And if that doesn't feed your spook bone, there's the ever amazing Blue Orchid video - which happens to be my favorite White Stripes song. Every time I die over those stiletto point shoes and creeptastic Meg White bashing the shit out of those dishes. So twisted, but I know I'd dig it if they haunted my house.

mega mogul inspiration

For the last few months I've been desperately seeking a new, paying job. After weeks upon weeks of doing, redoing, redoing, and reeeedoing my resume and cover letter, I'm finally starting to see some results. Today marks the first day of actual progress, and April 1st has presented me with two promising interviews. Arriving at both interview locations earlier today I half expected to walk into a cruel April Fools prank, but luckily I was met  instead with positive attitudes and easy interview questions (phew!).

These steps forward couldn't come at a better time. I am beyond broke and was starting to feel hopeless and self pitying. Regardless of whether or not these positions pan out, it's nice to see that there actually are people out there who like what I've got to offer enough to invite me in for an hour or so of chatting. Today is a good day.

So, in honor of the newly motivated, career-minded professional that is me, today I am inspired by a lady who built her own empire. And while she may be a bit artsy crafty and dry, momma done time which automatically makes her hard. Not to mention that she managed to emerge from her time in the clink with a masterfully knitted poncho. Impressive. So here's to you, Martha. May I be 10 percent as successful as you in my ventures.