"Hydroponic" Means ...

Britta and Rebecca with the first window farm, May 2009. Photo by Julia Makarova.

To be labeled under "Going Green:"

How cool are these "hydroponic edible gardens for urban windows" from Window Farms?

The term "hydroponic" refers to the growing of plants in a nutrient solution, rather than in something more like, say, dirt.

This would be a mighty awesome project. And so much better for your bank account and the environment, too, if you could make it work!

To be labeled under "Going Super Duper Seriously Hardcore Green Green:"

And just think ... If you get really good at the window farms, you could always graduate to something along the lines of this kit (also by Britta and Rebecca). And although their lawyer has asked them to stop selling the kits, they've made the instructions public on "How to Do the Reaction Yourself."

How. Did they. Come up. With this. Nevermind, I don't want to know.

But hooray for helping the environment! (?)

Notes from Today

1. Clinical-strength deodorant is far superior to the regular kind. The regular kind is dead to me from now on.

2. Receiving two movies at a time from Netflix makes my boyfriend far happier than receiving just one. Far, far happier.

3. Sometimes, a pie crust just isn't available on a day I want to make quiche. But on those days, I should just make it anyway, because you know what? It's going to be OK. Sometimes a girl's gotta go crustless.

4. My Starbucks travel mug can keep my tea hot (and then satisfyingly warm) for up to 8 hours. Eight! I know this because I'm drinking a mug of tea I made at 5 p.m. today. It's almost 1 a.m. now and I'm still trying to finish it.

5. I drink tea very slowly.

6. Green tea doesn't really taste very good after 8 hours.

7. When I have to stay up late to work, I must always be drinking a warm beverage. (This is true even in the summer. Even in the summer in Arizona.) It helps me think.

8. When I have to stay up late to work, past a certain point, I am too lazy to make a fresh warm beverage.

9. Sometimes, to get something done, you have to just stay up all night and, like, you know, do it.

10. To willingly submit to sleep-deprivation may very well be one of the most genuine signs of sincerity a human being can offer the world.

"Irritatingly Perfect" -- Yeah, I Said It

Did you know that The Notebook was the first novel Nicholas Sparks ever sent off to be published? Boy did he luck out, right?

And then somewhere after that there was A Walk to Remember, which wasn't nearly as good as the novel The Notebook, but which was also, regretfully, made into a movie, starring Shane West and Mandy Moore.

And then there was Nights in Rodanthe, etc., etc., etc., and I completely lost a little more interest with each subsequent book Sparks published because, well, they all came across as formulaic and, frankly, completely sappy.

Until now.

Yeah, I can admit it -- I do want to see Dear John. One, I am already pre-dispositioned to like Amanda Seyfried, since I loved her in Mamma Mia and Mean Girls. And two, even though Channing Tatum is admittedly easy on the eyes in an irritatingly perfect way, he's still, well, easy on the eyes. And more importantly ... Three, I feel like the subject matter is timely, because of the war, so I know that there are a lot of men and women my age who will be able to relate to the film, including myself.

Could this be the film to fill the gap The Notebook left in the hearts of desperate housewives and single women everywhere?



Pass the Kleenex.

Gorgeous Videos by stillmotion

I have a new obsession ... the (mostly) wedding-related videos of stillmotion.

Each one is absolutely stunning, with such clear, bright colors and so much movement that it's almost hypnotic. Once I start watching one, I can't look away.

Some of my favorites:

going in blind // aaron + jess' sde from stillmotion on Vimeo.

ildiko + aiden's sde // graydon hall TO from stillmotion on Vimeo.

And a really great Trash The Dress video:

Frances + James TTD - Times Square + Coney Island from stillmotion on Vimeo.

You're hooked, right?

Watch more here. They are all fantastic!

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