Really, more about me? Well, OK!

   I know, I know... I've already done a brief blurb of introduction for myself but, after reading my initial posts, my husband suggested that I give a little more detail as to why I started this blog.
   So here's the grits -
   I'm a soon-to-be 34 year-old mother of 3 fantastic kiddos. We live in Santa Cruz, CA...

   I have lived here for almost my whole life - I grew up in the little mountain community of Bonny Doon (smack dab between the "-nport" and "Felton" dots on this map), surrounded by majestic Redwoods and wildlife galore. I moved away from Santa Cruz in 2000 to finish out my college career in Southern Cali, returned briefly in 2002, but then met and moved in with the man who would become my husband. We did a stint of living & working in the San Jose/Sunnyvale area for several years, then moved back to Bonny Doon in 2008 after our first two kids had been born. This move was driven by financial reasons (Hubby had been laid off and we couldn't cover our rent anymore) but, for me at least, also had to do with the fact that I just couldn't imagine raising my kids in the Silicon Valley.

   I tend to think of Santa Cruz as being a lot like a great big bowl of Social Granola. This one, sleepy little town is chock-full of a wide variety of interesting and colorful people. It is, probably most notably, a college town - home to UC Santa Cruz, of course (go Banana Slugs!!) - But we also have a pretty nice selection of these folks...

                       Mixed with a few too many of these ones...

                                            Then you add in quite a few of these guys...

And all sorts of these folks...

 Who, more often than not, end up looking/feeling/sounding more like this...

...to the rest of us.

   So, why try to go Green-er, you may be wondering. Have I finally given in to the Green Bullies? Am I going to morph into some pretentious, self-righteous Green Preacher? Will you find me stalking about the vast wasteland of a Toyota lot, hunting for a Prius I can't afford? No. Um, no. And HeCK no!
   Like many of us, I have been bombarded with produce, products and prophets proclaiming the benefits of Green Living. While I don't doubt that going green is what's best for myself, my family and my planet, I don't subscribe to the notion that it has to be painfully expensive, or that I'm some horrible monster who is single-handedly going to bring about the demise of our planet by not going 100% green RIGHT NOW.
   What I'm searching for is the middle-ground... The Promised Land, if you will.
   What this means for me, personally, is finding ways to be more earth-conscious and eco-friendly in my everyday life without breaking the bank. I'm not looking to switch my family's wardrobe to all-hemp clothing, to spend half-again as much money on products and produce labeled as organic, or to fall prey to any of the other ploys in the vast sea of Trendy Green Living items that are flooding our supermarkets.
   Now, before you start sputtering like the little teapot thinking that I'm spewing blasphemous venom against mainstream Green products, I reiterate that I definitely do believe in these earth-conscious & eco-friendly products, and the good they can and will do for our planet. However <comma-slash> what I'm more concerned with is looking for ways to re-use and/or recycle things I already have in my home, reduce the amount of waste leaving my home, and to overall lessen my family's impact on the planet.
   In short, you won't find me acting Greener Than Thou. I'm just happy to be doing my part... And, just maybe, helping others find convenient, easy and affordable ways to do their part, too!