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I don't really blog anymore, because pinterest really does everything that I used my blog for, which was put all the things I love in one place. But tonight, I feel like writing something that will go out in the great abyss and can't be taken away.
There is so much in this world to worry about. A war that is both painfully overdue for an end, but that is also stopping potential genocide, civil war, and forced Taliban rule. Massive middle east uproars, world wide economic disaster, despair, and destitution. Insane natural disasters from hurricanes, earthquakes, tsunamis, droughts, flooding, and fires. The blight of the bees, the state of farming today which is both awful and confounding. The fact that an entire generation of Americans is simply not growing up (ie moving out of their parent's homes, not marrying, not having children, etc.) due to a horrid lack of jobs. The way animals are treated from our grain fed cows to football players hosting dog fights. The number of homeless families, to poor mental health care given to those in poverty and those returning from war. Its overwhelming. I don't know what to think or how to effectively operate in a world where it feels like everything is falling apart, yet nothing really feels different.
I still go to work and listen to my female co-workers complain about a lack of men. I hang out with friends, who talk about the latest movie that is showing. I still come home and do my dishes and walk the dog. I make love to my husband; I wash my hair; life is moving on and yet, with SO much bad, how is it moving on, so consistently?
Since a manifesto is a public declaration of principals and/or intentions I want to say the following about what I've decided based on the fact that in the big picture the world is coming to an end, but in my day to day life it really isn't:
1. I want to buy and eat pesticide-free food. That is made in America by Americans.
2. I want to eat meat, whether cow, pig, or chicken, that eats what it ate 200 years ago, whether that be grass or scrapes.
3. I want to save the bees.
4. I declare my support of the troops. I want us to leave our wars, but also be able to determine a solution so that Iraq doesn't burst into a civil war focused on eradicating a certain people, and the Taliban are not able to create their country in Afghanistan-and no I do not know how that is to be.
5. I want to raise my children to love nature by playing outside, hold real books and turn real pages, and know the art of conversation as a way of speaking not texting.
6. I want to pray more. Whether that is in the form of yoga or the Eucharist or quite meditation.
7. I want to have a hobby farm someday. In which my husband and I grow our own produce, raise our own chickens, have our own beehive, and can what we can't eat at that moment.
9. I want to be married to the same man forever.
10. I want to travel.
11. I want to practice consumerism in a way that does not innately create poverty.
12. I want to do my dishes more often, so that they don't get so smelly.
13. I want to complain less, and do more.
14. I want to make my own ice cream.
15. I want to help revive newspapers, magazines, and museums.
16. I want to knit a pouf.
17. I want a lot, and I want to contribute.
I feel better. I hope a do better too.
We got it from Urban Outfitters, and I love it. It was fit with European lighting, but we took it to a lighting store and they rewired it for us, and they changed the color of the wire so it blended better. I'm obsessed. It really makes our kitchen unique. The whole endeavor was about $250 (initial cost, plus shipping, plus rewiring), so we had to hold off on anything else for a bit.
Please ignore my outfit for a MOD party and look at the simple, but not "me" lamp in the background. This came with the marriage. Adam took bright pink lamps from his mother's house, painted them and put neutral shades on them when he moved out on his own. There were two of them and while they are fine lamps, we wanted something different. I'd been eyeing the clear ones for two years, and finally a year after the chandelier we found the best priced ones out there, that also included shades and were a good shape.
We got these from Crate and Barrel. They were $90 a piece, but compared to some of the prices we saw we were happy with it. After a certain point, it is better to just save up and get what you want instead of settling for something cheap and ugly. 
Again, the lamp is from Anthropolgie (with an anthro price tag too!), but the lamp shade is from Pottery Barn and was on sale! Woot! Woot! We spent quite a bit of money on lighting these last 14 months, but it makes us happy to have pretty things. I'm glad we saved for what we wanted, instead of settling for cheap, unattractive things, that won't make it past a year.
