Pup culture: hand made Halloween costumes

As the temperature gets cooler, and the leaves start to fade yellow, I am cheered on by the prospect of my favorite holiday getting closer and closer… my endless fascination with zombies, vampires, and anything else that goes “bump” in the night, has made the one eve it’s ok to celebrate all things creepy especially cherished. Oh Halloween…

This year I am extra excited, as I now have a four-legged fur baby to costume as well. (Although I do not want a sissy, clothes wearing dog, a Halloween costume will be the one exception to her “no clothes” dress code.) Throwing some devil ears on her would be too easy—although quite fitting. Determined to find the perfect costume for my bratty puppy, I turned to Etsy.com. Without a doubt I knew that the masses of grass-roots, entrepreneurial spirits that share their wares via Etsy would not let me down. And of course, I was right. Please enjoy the most divine canine costumes that I cherry picked for you. Which one is your favorite??


Big, bad wolf: actually, this is SOOO fitting for my puppy, who if it were up to her, would gobble up EVERYTHING that ever crossed her path. Made by hand, and offered on Etsy, can help your pooch get in touch with their primeval spirit.

Wanna bee: omg, so cute. This would have been perfect for the cuddly lap-dog I thought I was getting…

Called Purple People Eater, but reminds me more of my sparkly "My Little Ponies" from days of yore. So cute!!!

Robin Hood: especially fitting if your dog’s a thief like mine…whether she stole your heart, or your dirty underwear...

Pirate pooch: Arrrrgh! Show some culture, represent Somalia this Halloween with this nifty pirate ensemble.

I will definitely be interested in your feedback, as well as any advice on how once the costume is on her-- to make sure she doesn't eat it? (This being her first Halloween, the concept might be confusing to her, and for all she knows the new outfit is her "treat"?)

Kelly loves green roofies

When I was a little girl, in a pre-Stephenie Meyers and J.K. Rowling literary environment, I loved, loved, loved Laura Ingalls Wilder and all of the books in her “Little House on the Prairie” series. It’s strange in contrast to today’s popular children series, but somehow the old-fashioned, hands-on adventures that the Ingalls girls had were every bit as magical and imagination capturing as the exploits of Harry Potter, Bella, and Edward.

I devoured those “Little House” books a long time ago, and although details from each book are a bit hazy and blurred together in my mind now, (note to self—rereading these books could make excellent beach fare?) I can still vividly recall the mental images I concocted during the time when the entire family dug out the insides of a hill, and made it their home. (Frustratingly, I can’t even remember which book this occurred in??) My faulty memory fondly recalls that on one side of the hill they installed a glass window, and on the side of the hill, they installed one of those doors where the top and bottom can open independently of each other, so they could air it out when it was nice outside. This little hole in the hill home was described (or at least, this is how I remember it) as being so discreet, that unless you knew the home was in there, it was quite possible to pass by that hill and have no idea an entire family lived inside. (Additional non-sequitur to self—house in hill would be great in case of zombie outbreak.)

At age 9, the idea of making a livable habitat in the dirt was so cool that I would have traded (in a heartbeat) my air-conditioned, indoor-plumbing, electricity powered, 5-bedroom home to have instead lived in that hillside domicile with the Ingalls.

Now that I’m a bit more grown-up, and more jaded/ spoiled/realistic, I can fully appreciate the modern luxuries of home—and rustic hillside dwelling does not seem like the sparkling, shiny idea that it once was. However, thanks to very creative and practical green thinking, it is now possible to enjoy all of the modern-day conveniences while allowing nature to be part and parcel of your house-- with a “living roof”.

Basically, a “living roof” is when there is purposely plant life thriving on top of a building. There is a wide spectrum of “living roofs”, ranging from little garden roofs, to things like this:

Besides an immense love for all things “Little House on the Prairie,” there are a ton of benefits to going “green” roof side.

The soil and vegetation provide great insulation; and can save a lot of heating and cooling energy. In the winter, these roofs absorb the heat from the sun and help keep the buildings they are on top of warmer. In the summer the living roof again provides better insulation and keeps the cool air inside, while the roof itself remains cooler than a regular roof, all the while creating shade.

By creating extra landscape, a living roof provides more living space for all sorts of creatures. Especially beneficial in congested urban areas, these roofs provide easy places for people to enjoy time outdoors. Local wildlife benefits also; as birds, squirrels, etc., will have new places to explore and thrive in.

From a more practical (i.e. boy) standpoint, you get more bang for your buck with a living roof too, as they last longer than regular roofs. A living roof blocks UV rays, and prevents extreme surface temperature fluctuations, which are main causes for regular roofing materials to deteriorate.

Living roofs also improve the local air quality, as the increase in plant life purifies the air better by absorbing more pollutants from cars, pollen, and dust. Also, because the soil can retain 65-100% of rainwater, some floodings can be prevented by the decrease of local water saturation.


Last, but least, they look so cool-- imagine having a permanent vase of flowers decorating the top of your house? It would give you a visual kick-start every time you looked at it. Since this is kind of a newish practice, green roofing companies are still playing around with which plant varieties work the best for roof purposes, but some people have successfully grown huge Christmas trees on their houses, and some people have successfully had prosperous vegetable gardens growing on their roofs. (Love that idea—so, so green!) Also, since the idea of making use of a roof is now open for interpretation, people are thinking of all sorts of ways to make the most of the space. Some innovators are incorporating solar panels into their living roofs, and people are really thinking outside the box (house?) in order to maximize that once wasted space's green potential. To that I say, kudos!

Happily, this trend is catching on, and respected, well-funded universities such as Penn State, North Carolina State, and Michigan State are all doing substantial research on green roofing, and are in the midst of incorporating large scale green roofs throughout their campuses. Penn State already has multiple buildings with green roofs, and has many more planned for the future in order to coincide with their goal to “green” the campus-- such as the building pictured, which is fittingly to be their new Center for Green Roof Research.

With all of this green, living roof activity going on, it could be open for interpretation when someone says they can't wait to hear the pitter patter of little feet heard from above…

Blame it on the rain?

No.
Blame it on Forks? Oh, I do.

Ever since getting completely consumed in the Twilight series (which I had initially completely dismissed as cheesy tween lit), the rain (which I used to loathe,) now holds a certain romantic and Gothic appeal that makes my EMO heart ache in the best way possible...

It used to be that when I looked at the window and saw rain, I was bummed. (I have naturally curly hair that I try to fool everyone into thinking is naturally straight.)


Now when I see the once dreaded precipitation I sigh, and wistfully think of the rain, mists, and clouds that were always present in the little town of Forks, making itself so conducive to a vampire habitat... Mental images of Edward, Bella, Jacob, and shirtless werewolf boys flash through my mind, and suddenly—the rain doesn’t seem so bad. (And my hair isn't even a concern.) Thanks Stephenie.

To go along with my new sunny attitude towards the rain, there is awesome “green” rain gear that enables anyone to get through the cloudy days both stylishly, dry, and environmentally conscious.

Enter Radley, one of the biggest handbag designers in the UK. Their moto is to make beautiful things that women fall in love with, and with their enivornmental concern I'd venture to say that Mother Nature might just count as one of their biggest fans.

Branching off from their handbag mainstay, they have started to develop eco-friendly accessories such as umbrellas and reusable shopping bags. They have developed a way to recycle plastic water bottles into adorable umbrellas, and there’s a certain irony to the whole idea that I love-- what was once used to keep water on the inside is now used to keep water on the outside. (The reusable bags are really cute too, but my Twilight slant focuses on the rain story.)

With a cheerful Radley umbrella in hand, I can only hope that I look as cute as Bella did in her big green rubber rain boots and yellow rain jacket, and that secretly, somewhere, a vampire is falling in love with me...

Zombie Nation

Zombies love nature! And brains!

This idea is SO not girly at all. In fact, it’s probably the opposite of girly. And, despite the fact that my favorite color is pink, and I’m 100% made of sugar, spice, and everything nice, I can’t help the fact that I also love zombies? (Does it soften the topic if every zombie mention is in a decorative font?)

Sadly, an embarrassing amount of free time is spent thinking about zombies, and how to best handle a sudden attack or infestation. (Seriously-- please don’t tell anyone this, I’m only sharing this with you because I trust you... but sometimes at work, when I'm getting a drink at the water fountain and someone walks by me, I think to myself what Iwould do if that person suddenly turned into a zombie? Would there be enough time to run away, or defend myself? In most instances, there would be no good opportunity for recourse, and I’d be a goner.) Yes, I realize this is NOT normal, but isn’t the first step to fixing a problem admitting there is a problem?

“Hi, my name is Kelly. I’m an aquaholic that thinks about zombies a lot?” (Do you think there’s any hope for me?)

Anyway, after watching Resident Evil 3 “Apocalypse” for roughly the 50th time this weekend, I found myself drawing lots of parallels between zombies and being “green.” (And I’m referring to more than just their skin tone… )

Ready for this?

Despite the semi-varying premises of zombie flicks, the constant theme (beyond brain eating) is that the zombies always win. Even though they are ugly, bungling messes with non-functioning brains-- since they act purely on their basest of instincts, they always seem to prevail over the over-analytical humans. Zombies effectively oust humans from the number #1 spot on the food chain, as humans make up a large part of their food pyramid.

In light of recent current events, zombies have more relevance than ever, as they seem like they have the potential to be the dream American citizen.

Consider:

They are like the purest of hippies, with all forms of bathing becoming nothing but a vague memory. (No need for toilet flush taxes, or water restrictions for them!)Toxic waste would stop being created, and land-fills could be left alone to rejoin nature.

Al Gore would just eat up the idea of zombies! They eat only local organic foods, never fly commercially (or, ahem, in private jets) and in fact they forsake cars and all forms of public transportation in favor of walking everywhere. They wouldn’t even blink an eye if not one drop of fossil fuel was ever used again.

The government would love them because zombies don’t think for themselves, (nor want to), and have no need or concern for their money. They could care less if their kids had good educations available to them. Their entire existence revolves around working just for food, and racking up tons of bad credit wouldn’t be an issue.

No one could ever blame zombies of being racist or sexist, as they truly consider themselves to all be equals.

It seems like zombie movies hit closer to home than any of us realized, as these movies are obviously really just cleverly disguised satires of our current social situations. I mean, come on people! If we could all just learn to act a little bit more like zombies, our government would be so much happier- and isn’t that really what we all strive for?

As usual, I could go on and on, but I am recommending to myself to stop now, as I don’t want to put any ideas in the heads of the scientists working in the U.S. equivalent of the underground (literally) “Umbrella” corporations.