things we do / don't do

In our lives there are things we do, and things we don't do. It's a personal choice and one I'm really thankful I have in this life... so I thought I'd make a list of things Mike and I DO and DON'T DO...

THINGS WE DO

• Purchase as much as we can from local shops vs. the big box stores. Supporting local businesses is what helps your local economy. Win/Win right? For every dollar spent in a local establishment that isn't a chain you're are most likely going to find that money will filter back from that business into your own community. Spending money at big box stores and chains and usually guarantee that you will spend money there, that money goes back to the employees pockets who will then most likely get a huge discount and then spend it back at the same company and that money goes into the big company's higher up's pockets in another town, in another state, far, far away from your little town center. BUY LOCAL!

• We Recycle (Paper, plastic and aluminum) - if there was an option to recycle glass we'd be the biggest supporter of that in our area. I mean, all the beer wine booze soda we drink, we'd do so much for the environment if we could stop tossing those bottles in the trash. Seriously there is only so much DIY you can do with beer and wine bottles people! 

• Eat Vegan as much as possible until 6:00 pm (VB6 diet). It feels amazing to not be weight down, or slowed down by meat and dairy. I always thought it was total BS but I am a true believer now. Just don't take away my bacon yet, ok? We usually have meat at dinner. Truth is during the day I don't miss it and often times I opt to eat a vegetarian meal at dinner. If I can still have cheese I'm happy. Every once in a while I will revert to NEEDING meat. It's happy medium. Eating less meat is better for the environment too but I won't get into all that right now.

• Enjoy the great outdoors. Winter is rough (mentally) here in Alabama. Until recently I didn't know there were ski slopes in the area, I may need to take full advantage of that next year. I hate that the weather here is cold, bone chilling cold and wet, with little or no snow (last month's "blizzard" for AL and GA not included). I need snow in the winter, it makes me happy. So while this girl hates to sweat I'm itching for Spring and kayaking and camping again.

• Watch LOTS of TV and MOVIES. I'm ok with this. Some might say it rots your brains (that's what my parents always told me), but I think it stimulates my mind. Maybe not as much as reading a book would, but I'll be honest, Netflix is my BFF right now. Between that and Hulu I'm a happy camper.

• We don't use cable TV. We cut cable quite a bit ago and neither of us has missed it since. We still get basic local channels, and have internet but literally other than 2 shows on CW we watch NOTHING live, unless it's a football game. Everything was DVR for us, and we slowly made the choice to switch and haven't looked back.

• We collect vinyl. We've been doing this for years. When I first moved in with Mike he had a few albums and I brought mine from home, given to me by my father. Together that totaled maybe 30-40 records. He had a great turntable given to him from a co-worker, that worked so well. We've since amped up our collection bordering on over 100 different albums and upgraded our record player as well. I'm happy to have something to get me jazzed about searching for music again. I feel like a teenager again when searching for vinyl, even though I just used the term jazzed which I'm pretty sure my nearly 70 year old dad wouldn't even say (he's too cool for that).

• Spend frugally.  We try our best not to over spend for anything. Clothing, groceries, shoes, etc. That doesn't mean we don't treat ourselves from time to time. I am also learning that if I want a quality product, or say something I want to last a very long time, that I need to save my money and make a large purchase (say for a nice pair of boots) - that will last me for years to come.

• We like to day drink. And we honestly like to drink period. I don't drink nearly as much as I used to. Usually one night a week, on the weekends. We may have a bottle of wine on Thursdays (TV night). And sometimes we'll have a few drinks on a Saturday afternoon. Since I've been back on the workout wagon, I realize I can't drink a lot on Friday night and function through a workout the next day. Both acts will hinder any progress I might make. I'm mindful and think it's OK to unwind with a few stiff drinks. Who's with me?

• We don't discuss politics with family. Or at least we try not to. Usually because most of us don't see eye to eye on most issues.

• We believe Love is Love. PERIOD!

• We try to be as positive as we can. To BE THE GOOD in the world. But let's be honest sometimes we're negative, cynical, and sometimes down right sarcastic as hell. It's just who we are.

THINGS WE DON'T DO

• Shop at HELL-mart. Aka the big W. It's a personal choice, one I constantly hear people say they can't always make. "The food is so much cheaper at Wally World." or "Everywhere else is too expensive." I used to think the same thing. Sure it's convenient, you get everything under one roof, but in the end I don't find that it's always cheaper. Mike and I make 2-3 stops on shopping night. Yeah it blows driving to more stores but I'd gladly hit up Target for paper goods and beauty stuff, and then hit up Publix or a Mom n' Pop grocery store for food than suffer even one second at Hell-Mart.  Bottom line, I hate the company, I hate their policies, how they treat employees is awful and frankly the quality of their shit is well... shit. Besides why would we get produce from there when we could go to our local farmers markets AND a local hydroponic farmer to get REAL, FRESH, non-pesticide ridden produce that's from our own backyard and never trucked in from across the US and who knows where else? We wouldn't, that's why.

• We don't watch the Olympics. Yep, I said it. Blast me, call me un-American I don't care. I just have never gotten into the Olympics. Yes I love snowboarding, and I like figure skating OK but it's never truly been my thing. Gymnastics is sort of entertaining but if I'm being honest, we just don't watch this stuff, or give it much thought, honestly. Sorry Olympic hopefuls I know you work hard and I am VERY proud of you but I just don't have the desire to watch the games. Unless of course you're talking about X-Games - then I'm all in. Unless you count Shawn White I have no clue who any of the Olympic athletes are this year other than him. I've watched Shawn's career since he was a wee baby snowboader. I big puffy heart him.

• We don't watch Award Shows. I used to be huge into award shows as a kid. American Music Awards, MTV Video Music Awards, MTV Movie Awards, I always wanted to tune in. These days, not so much. I mean the only thing currently making me want to watch this stuff is when awesome women like Amy P. and Tina F. are hosting Golden Globes, but even then I'd rather just catch up on re-caps after it happened. It's not to say that I don't think it's great - movies should be awarded. Actors should be praised for doing well in their roles. Hell I've enjoyed in the past when I've discovered some of my artwork won an award. I just don't have the patience to sit through it all, or listen to the red carpet banter. What I do love, is catching the BEST parts THE FASHION blogged to me (and everyone) by two of my favorite Hollyhood bloggers Handbags and Handguns and Day Old News. These ladies always do awesome coverage of ALL award shows and all the clothing. Not just for the women, but for the men too. So keep it up ladies!!!! Your recaps are all I ever worry about come award time. So can you all tell me who got Best Picture? I was happy to hear Matthew got Best Actor. "Alright, alright, alright!"

• Attend Church. I know that will bother some people, and others will be like big deal. Living here in the Bible Belt it seems like it's sort of a big deal. I'm ok with this. I know in my heart I'm a good person. I am very spiritual and have my own beliefs. Mike is a very, very good and honest person as well. We enjoy ourselves, do unto others as we'd have done to us. We respect people, we are compassionate, giving and caring. We abide the law and we don't take. I know there are many other lessons to be learned both in life and in church, I just don't see the reason to force ourselves to go to church ever week. There is more to it than that but let's not get into a religious discussion here. Bottom line - I respect others beliefs, and religious practices and I'd ask the same of them when considering my personal beliefs and my own way of practicing. 

• Have children yet, and we are OK with that, currently. One day we'll be parents, that day isn't today.

• We don't cause trouble and we don't bother no body. If you know the song this lyric is from, you're awesome!

• Drink Budweiser products if we can help it.  We love beer. We recently have fallen into the craft beer obsession. Trust me once you go craft, you'll never go back. I try to sip on my old faithful Mich Ultra but it's just not good to me anymore. I also discovered that it was to blame for most of my headaches from drinking. (That's my one Budweiser exception, Michelob is brewed by Budweiser - and now it's safe to say all Bud products give me a headache). If you haven't seen the movie Beer Wars you may want to check it out. Budweiser to me is the Walmart of Beers. They are shady, and often dishonest to the public. I'm not sure how they treat their employees - but let's just say I'd rather buy from a small time craft brewer (or even a large one like Sam Adams) than sip on Budweiser. And let's be honest, most beers taste 100% better and ole' Bud. I swear I'm not a beer snob either, our other exception to the Bud rule, Natural Light. It's the best damn creek beer there is out there. Especially ice cold on a blistering hot day kayaking. On tap? Forgetaboutit - DELICIOUS! SO yeah, we love our "trash" beer as much as our high end beer. Not snobby, just picky.

• Agree on EVERY TV show. There are quite a few shows I watch that Mike thinks aren't great at all, but it's all good. There are few he loves that I'm not that into. Biggest ones that stand out, He's not going to sit and watch Supernatural with me (though he's tried) or Hart of Dixie, but at the same time I'm not really going to sit and watch and entire episode of WWE RAW with him either. I used to, and I was a pretty big Wrestling fan in the late 90's early 2000's, but I'm just not as into it now. Most TV we agree on, often times there are ones we don't.

• Eat at Chain Restaurants / Fast Food.  I won't say we NEVER do this, there have been times it happens. Most recently, while Christmas shopping (not really recent) we ate at Chili's. Let's be honest, I like the Southwestern Eggrolls and while it's not awesome cuisine it's passable bar food. That being said we would MUCH rather support local eateries in our area. Downtown alone we have a great pizza joint, a great place to get a burger (best burger in town), a Thai and sushi place, one to get a good steak, one that's all italian food and awesome, and a new high end meat n' three type place as well. Add to that a small sandwich shop with speciality items, a Chicago style deli with subs and pizza that's open late after hours on Saturdays and a Tex-Mexican joint that is a local to AL chain and we've got EVERYTHING we could want. If none of that is exactly what we need we have quite a few authentic Mexican places sprinkled throughout town, and a few Japanese and Chinese places. I ask anyone, for the love of it all - if you had all of this LOCALLY sourced good food to eat why the hell would you to go Olive Garden? Or Outback? Or Applebees?  Why would you travel twice the distance to eat previously frozen food that the cooks microwave or reheat for you? Why on earth would you pay top dollar for that stuff? We also had a great seafood place that closed shortly after Olive Garden opened. To be fair, we always had a great experience there but others complained. We are still depressed it's closed. I haven't had a notable meal at a chain restaurant in years, so why subject myself to that again? That being said, I will be honest, I sort of miss the deep fried green beans from TGIFriday's. Not enough to go back... and every once in a while this girl craves Hooters. Yes, you got that right. As far as Fast Food goes, it's usually when we are short on time, or traveling that we decide to eat at any fast food place. It's another never say never but we try to avoid it at all costs if at all possible.

• He doesn't use Facebook.  I still have mine, however aside from a status update, or checking in on my best friends from back home and their kids I really don't use it. Mike has canceled his all together. He was over the political BS, and other BS posted by people. I can't say I don't feel the same way. I am literally sick of hearing about every bowel movement. I just can't seem to delete mine, yet.

So there you have it... a few things we do, and don't do on a regular basis. Is there anything you passionately DON'T participate in?