Grammys:: Katy Perry, Florence Welch, Solange

Crikey! The Grammys were on today, and the red carpet was rife with fashion triumphs. I've snuck a couple of peeks during the day, and have hand-picked some of my favourites, and some that aren'tsomuch, to share with you. 

Giddy up! 

Katy Perry has wonderful assets, there's no denying it. If you were on a boat, she wouldn't really need any flotation devices, as demonstrated here. Yes. I am totally jelly. She totally flouted the Grammy dress rules and bared her boobies  soul to the red carpet. And she looks fabulous in this Gucci frock. Although - one thing I'd change, a strong lip. I'd go pink. That's probably because I am a little bit addicted to pink lipstick. 

Florence Welch very rarely gets it wrong. And she certainly didn't today. Check her out in this divine Givenchy sequinned sheath. Although - just to play Devil's Advocate, I think she's done this look. A lot. It works. But it would be refreshing to see something a bit different.

Look - we all know I am loving Solange like crazy lately, and she did not disappoint. Effortlessly oozing cool, she just floats in wearing colour of the moment - emerald, and studded coral heels, and her hair just so - and I just go - ahhh. She gets the green light. 

Big Fat, Old TVs. All About Recycling Stuff.

Matt and I have been tidying up around our house. It's been happening slowly, and once we open up a space, it feels good. Then it gets re-populated with the kid's toys that sprawl into empty spaces, and, well it has to start all over again.

In the last week we've cleansed our house of the portacot, some clothes that don't fit, some old books - and best of all - the big fat old tv. While everything else went to charity, no one wants a big fat old tv. And I didn't want to toss it out on the side of the road, hoping and praying someone else would either:

a) pick it up thinking it was the score of the century

or 

b) let some teenagers smash the TV and then let it sit on our footpath for the next few months.

After some research I discovered that those big fat old tvs are not only a footpath eyesore, not only outdated, and not only big and fat, but they carry 2kgs of lead and other heavy metals. If you toss them in landfill, not only does it overstretch limited capacity, but the toxic contents can leach into the ground. 

So I discovered that for a fee of $50 we could recycle our e-waste with a better conscience - as well as removing the space hog from our living room floor. We went to Planet Green Recycling (in Artarmon), but I've since discovered other places that do it. The City of Sydney host e-waste drop off days every three months, and this includes collection of computers, printers, electronic games, CDs, DVDs, cameras and phones (although you can donate your old mobile handsets to YouCan to help raise money for teen and young adult specific cancer wards). 

I hate the idea of tossing things into landfill, which I pretty well documented when I went through "the bin" reclaiming someone else's 'stuff' over the course of a couple of months, I'm pretty chuffed we found somewhere to recycle our big fat old tv. 

A Big Question

Back at high school, my classmates all guessed that I would become a Greenpeace PR consultant. I am a PR consultant, but alas, I haven't worked my way to Greenpeace. Yet.

Yesterday I was reading SMH. They had a story about radiation - in particular Japan's precarious nuclear reactors.

Now while I am now nuclear physicist (thank goodness for that), don't we want to explore something that's less volatile?!

While a whole country waits - and in fact - the whole world, waits breathlessly, hoping, praying that Japan isn't further inflicted with pain via their nuclear plants - respondents to SMH's poll were having their say.

I think the results are pretty flipping scary. It might be a 'green' option - but what about safety? What about the three-eyed fish in the Simpsons? Didn't we learn anything from Chernobyl?

I'm happy to be educated if you think I'm misinformed. Educate me.

But hear me. What about renewable energy? Why can't we harness that - it's safer, it's greener (isn't it?!), and we're not mining Australia to fund it.

Each one of us are teetering on the edge of our chairs, hoping these damn nuclear plants don't blow. People in Japan are terrified - evacuating Tokyo en masse. We're terrified - for what does this mean? What happens? No one knows enough.

What do you think?

Green

I met this green-eyed guy once. He was ridiculously cute. Beautiful actually, cute doesn't do him justice.

We were at the same party for NYE. I'd just rolled up and decided I was going to pretend I was French for the night. I don't know where this harebrained idea came from (it could have been the alcohol - nooo, say it ain't so), but I know very little French.

I met this green-eyed beauty, went and made him a punch (three parts vodka to one part punch) which he refused to drink. I kept telling him to drink it. He wouldn't take it. I introduced him to a group of people (who incidentally - he already knew and I didn't) as my husband - and then I forgot his name three or four times.

We chatted and chatted. I finally lost my silly French scheme and merged into myself. We relocated inside from the balcony, looked at the fish, kept chatting and then I whispered in his ear, 'I'd like to kiss you' to which he replied 'Well why didn't you?'. And then he kissed me.

I like green-eyed boys who become my husband.

Go Green friends!

Magical March: Day 17

Happy St. Patrick's. Or if you're the Doctor - happy Patrick's day. Dressed head to toe (including green undies) in green, off he went to pre-school. So. Darn. Excited.

Happy St. Patrick's day to all my Irish readers. All one of you. Top of the morning to you Sheilsy.

Fridge Buyback

I am still madly decluttering and trying to break the ring of silverfish that have taken up residence at our place (they're like some creepy style of squatter, except I keep finding them EVERYWHERE and yowsers, they are huuuuge).

Part of this declutter was our fridge. Our fridge (which was given to us) kept freezing everything. My most memorable frozen thing was getting out a fresh container of tabouli that I had made, and was so excited to eat for lunch - to find it was frozen. I ate it anyway, but it was more like parsley sorbet - not so crash hot.

It froze everything. Frozen watermelon - not good. Frozen capsicums - not good. Frozen cheese - not so good. Frozen artichokes - not so good. I shan't go on.

We've switched fridges to a younger model. Perhaps we're having a mid-life crisis of sorts. Hopefully this one is not hell-bent on freezing everything.

And this is where it gets really exciting (as if it wasn't exciting enough - come on, you know it was!). If you've got a spare fridge and want to get rid of it - click here (for Sydney-ites only) to learn about the Fridge Buyback!

The fridges are taken away (if they fit the criteria) and the metals recycled - and you get $35 and a reduced electricity bill (and less greenhouse gases is the best bit yet!).

So, Plastic Is Not So Fantastic

One of my friends wrote an ace piece for Sunday Magazine a couple of weeks back. It detailed just how much of the stuff we buy everyday is wrapped in plastic. Things that I (ashamed as I am to admit it) had never thought about. Bread - plastic. Cereal - yes, it does come in a cardboard box, but it's in a plastic inner bag. Yoghurt - plastic. Biscuits - not only are they usually in plastic, but they're also in a plastic tray. Come on - they're not Laura Palmer - why is everything just wrapped in plastic?

So my friend, Carrie, did an experiment, and attempted to go two weeks without buying anything wrapped in plastic. By no means was this an easy feat.

Morning coffee - hold the plastic lid.

Buying fruit and veg - without the small plastic bags. Yes the people the check-out people do roll their eyes when you approach because your apples invariably roll away - but who cares?

Buy bread from a bakery - and take your own bag.

Try to shop at more organic places - they have large bins of pulses etc, so you can scoop in and take your own containers.

Plastic, plastic, plastic. It's pretty darn ordinary.

On reading this article, it's made me even more aware of everything I am buying. Not that I was walking around in some kind of bubble, but after her experiment, it made me really examine what I was putting in the trolley.

The article also detailed how there are many areas in the ocean just littered with all kinds of plastic debris, toys, bags, bottles etc - some places are at least 70m deep (I am going off memory here, so if you read this and remember better than I - correct me!). So basically the plastic breaks down, the fish mistake it for plankton etc and eat it, then it turns up on your dinner plate. Mmm. How about a piece of plastic with your tuna steak? Anyway, I won't bang on about it - but you can read more about it here - this is not the Sunday Magazine article - but one from Greenpeace's website.

One thing I have done is stocked up on lots of green bags.. But, there's a flaw with these too. They're still made of plastic. Yes, it is recycled plastic, but it's still plastic. So I went exploring with trusty friend, the internet, and ordered some of these great string bags from here some time ago. They are fantastic - you can just pop them in your bag, et voila - when you need them, they're scrunched up small, but they are strong enough to hold all your groceries, they're biodegradable.. And look at those gorgeous colours, sorbets, gelatos - how can you go wrong (and they're pretty darn cheap too).

Honestly, check out people do laugh when they see I have these bags - but lots of people have asked me where they can get themselves some of these bags. Let's start a revolution.

I did read a great tip about a woman who ordered take-away, and when she called up - the people knew her and knew not to put her food into take-away containers, as she'd always bring her own containers to put her food in. Good idea huh?

Anyone else got any plastic-free ideas to share?

Here's mine.. I have so many of the green bags, that sometimes I leave a spare one at the cash register for the person after me - in case they've forgotten to bring their bag. That way, we can all work together and save the planet so our babies can have and enjoy babies too!

Happy Things From Our Little Spot in the World

I've made a few brilliant discoveries this week.

Firstly, that the show I had been hankering to take my little ones to at the Sydney Opera House is now on, so I booked tickets to go next week. My husband is an artist, so I thought it apt that we go and see a kids show about an artist, a man painting on perspex. It looks vibrant and abstract, I hope my little guy likes it.

It also reminded me of Amber's idea at this weeks Kids Craft Weekly - exploring light and texture, and in particular, painting on perspex. I think that's one to do next week after we've visited the show.

My second happy discovery involves shoes. The words 'happy' and 'shoes' should always be related. I have big feet. So big in fact that my husband can wear my sneakers. So sexy. So, so sexy. I was googling to find some flats that were a bit cool (please read: not 'comfort' shoes) and I stumbled upon this... Brilliant bit of cyber sleuthing I must say. So for any big footed babes, this is the destination. Despite the $45 shipping fee to Australia, it's a good deal, and better than wearing sneakers/thongs/or too-tight shoes for the rest of your life. Hey - I can vouch, I'm like a kid in a candy shop and I've already ordered two pairs!

I horrified my sister last week when I told her I had stopped wearing deodrant. Dead silence was the response. Alas, I have changed (again) and gone with a crystal deodrant - hey I didn't smell - it's winter and I am no sweaty betty! But this leads me to my third happy discovery... This book. So many great ideas to go green, even the smallest things can help. You can visit the website too - there's loads to read up on, and it's all simple. You don't have to go searching high and low for things, it's about making going green easy!

And before anyone says anything about shipping shoes from the US not being very green, yep, I hear you - but being a size 12 shoe, I can never find shoes that fit. They're either gone early in the game, or they just don't make/stock them. So I'll just be extra good in other parts of my life. It's not easy being green, but I can try.