blogs - kirstendirksen
NEVS, off-turf golf carts and the beauty of Slow Driving
Summering in a retirement community (where I’ve spent the past 3 years visiting my parents) takes some getting used to- life is no longer about “what do you do?” but about “what did you do?”-, and while I, at 40, am still far short of retirement, I love to ...
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1 month, 3 weeks ago by: kirstendirksen staff comments
Phosphates, ADHD, DOW & how to eat less pesticides
A study released this week suggests a link between ADHD (Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) and pesticides, but rather than shock, it inspired a round of "I told you so". Pesticides are dangerous. Duh!The news went up that kids exposed to higher levels of a common type of pesticide, organophosphates, were ...
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3 months, 2 weeks ago by: kirstendirksen staff comments
The burden of stuff: why less could make you happier
No one warns us about entering into a relationship with an unsuitable bathing suit or bicycle as they would with a unsuitable partner, but I think someone should. Think, for a moment, about the things in your closet/garage/kitchen/basement/study, how much of it would you really choose ...
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3 months, 3 weeks ago by: kirstendirksen staff comments
Travel for the soul: trains, Havasupai & Camino de Santiago
I've never understood the allure of Paris and this week, after reading Alain de Botton's A World Without Planes, I think I know why: my soul has never had time to arrive. "Those who had known the age of planes would recall the confusion they had felt upon ...
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4 months, 2 weeks ago by: kirstendirksen staff comments
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My happiness list: chat walks, snuggles, tanbark and obits
A friend told me last week that she knows exactly what will make her happy and does those things when she feels unhappy to try to change her mood. Obviously, these are short-term happiness fixes, but she thinks everyone should have a list. And not just in your head, but ...
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5 months ago by: kirstendirksen staff comments
A 21st Century garbage can: seeking the ideal vermicomposter
When the golf-loving gated-community-living mother of a friend of mine told me she had worms at a ladies tea, I knew that vermicomposting was no longer underground (see video Black gold: high rent worm composting). This was a couple years ago and since I've only heard more stories about ...
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5 months, 1 week ago by: kirstendirksen staff 1 comments
Life on the small screen: fly less, video chat more
For more than a century, it's been the stuff of fantasies: in 1891, Alexander Graham Bell dreamed about "seeing by telegraph" and Hollywood has brought us videophones in Star Trek, Blade Runner and The Jetsons. Once limited to the silver screen or the wealthy (in 1964, three minutes on ...
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6 months, 1 week ago by: kirstendirksen staff comments
How does your vegetable vocabulary grow? (a quiz)
Quick. How many vegetables can you name? Make a list and don't read below.According to the Center for Disease Control, less than a third of us eat the recommended amounts of daily veggies, and this is including fried potatoes (i.e. french fries) in the category. Part of ...
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6 months, 1 week ago by: kirstendirksen staff 1 comments
A primer on upcycled fashion and redesigned clothing
When Colin Firth's wife Livia Giuggioli (AKA Livia Firth) wore an old wedding dress on the red carpet at the Golden Globes, her goal was to publicize one of the greenest fashion trends that few of us have heard about. "So tonight I'm repurposing a wedding dress," she ...
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6 months, 3 weeks ago by: kirstendirksen staff 5 comments
The comeback of cabbage: a seasonal wonder veggie
Cabbage entered my home for the first time this week. While I'd eaten cabbage in the occasional picnic coleslaw, I'd never in my life bought it, cooked with it, or even seen it in a refrigerator (neither my parents nor my own). And that, according to the New ...
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7 months, 3 weeks ago by: kirstendirksen staff comments
