This simple blog journey has been wonderful. We have learned so much and had a blast being part of this community. Now it’s time for us to move on to new things, so we wanted to give a sincere thank you to all who have read and supported us in this endeavor. We hope that you were inspired by or at least had a good laugh with (at) us in our attempts to live more authentic lives. If you want to find more from Lisa, visit her at www.justherejustnow.com or check out her Simple Life column at Charlottesville Woman. To... Continue reading

-By Lisa I don't mean to get all Oprah here, but I just have to say it. Keeping a daily gratitude journal has been huge for me. I'm not sure if The Secret works; maybe if I glue pictures of the things I want on a poster board, they really will fall in my lap the next day. But what seems to be true in my life is something akin to Karma or You Get What You Give. Even if there is no cosmic scorekeeper and the 90’s pop/rock one-hit-wonders have no clue what they are talking about, there is... Continue reading

Grace checks out the beach in North Carolina -By Lisa Lying on the couch seems to be the preferred activity of Grace, my SPCA rescue dog. Though admittedly it's high on my list, too, I think we get need to all get out and enjoy this weather. Inspired by a recent trip to visit family in North Carolina (proof that some things that are worth getting off the couch for) I've been checking out all the fun, dog-friendly goings-on around our town. Here are my top picks for outings that are equally enjoyable for canine and human. Carter Mountain Orchard... Continue reading

-By Lisa As it turns out, I have not been Carpe-ing the Diem and living my life to the fullest. Carpe Donut has been offering these bites of organic, made from scratch heaven since 2007 and I just had my first one last week. I've seriously been missing out. These are mind blowingly good. I’m not actually a donut person. The run-of-the-mill donut is insubstantial, making me feel like I ate nothing but greasy, sugary air. It’s not even worth it. But take a look at the compete ingredient list for Carpe Donuts. organic unbleached wheat flour organic pasteurized apple... Continue reading

-By Lisa I don't think having a box of tampons on my bedside table would scream "girl" more than Simple Abundance . It's a very girly book. I am not a very girly person. But this book overcomes the shocking pink hue and the delicate, shiny ribbon bookmark. It overcomes those things for one simple reason; the words in this book are wonderful. Really wonderful. It's somewhat outdated; it was originally published in 1995. At one point she talks about writing away for catalogues - which made me giggle. But the concepts are eternally relevant and this bedside companion brings... Continue reading

By Katherine Unless you live under a rock (in which case, you’d be über low-impact already and completely exempt from this observance), you know that today is Earth Day. This year’s slogan is A Billion Acts of Green®. If you’re stumped on which of the possible acts you could do, the Earth Day Network website has great ideas to seize the day. I love this annual love-the-earth fest. Tomorrow, my brood and I will head to the Charlottesville EcoFair to be at one with our green neighbors. We'll be wearing our best Bobo chic. I’m thinking floral skirt, organic t-shirt... Continue reading

My dog, Grace, taken with my cool new Instagram iphone ap -By Lisa We were looking for a puppy. While we wandered around the CASPCA two weekends ago, we were certain that the pain of losing a dog was something that just needed to be put off as long as possible. We wanted to delay the inevitable by getting a pup. That was what we wanted – a young and petite female; we were like some perverted old man. But then we saw her. She was a stray who was living on the street for a while, judging by her... Continue reading

By Katherine Next week is annual Screen-Free Week (formerly TV-Turnoff Week). It also marks about the one year anniversary of our family shutting off cable. Where do we stand? Overall, are we tuning in less often? I think so. Are we watching less crap and better programming? Definitely. During those interminable, time-has-no-meaning, housebound weeks with a newborn this past fall, I watched nearly every documentary in the Netflix on-demand library. (Nearly every. I finally got up the courage to watch The Cove, but I’m still too frightened for Jesus Camp.) If it wasn’t for getting rid of cable, I wouldn’t... Continue reading

-By Lisa I don't remember what meat tastes like. I was three years old the last time I ate any, so my palate's recollection might be a bit fuzzy. But I have a dinnertime game that I like to play with Husband The Omnivore; I ask him to describe the meat he is eating, using strictly non-meat references. And he often uses mushrooms as a comparison. Fun, right? I know. We are food dorks. I suppose the textural resemblance to meat is one of the reasons that mushrooms in general (and portabellas in particular) are so popular. I do a... Continue reading

By Katherine Spring means lots of things to lots of people: the emergence of daffodils; the onslaught of allergies; the dreaded realization that it's only two months until bathing-suit season. To me it means: CSA shares start in earnest! I can't wait for my first weekly box of fresh, seasonal, local vegetables and for forcing myself to deal with more beets than one family possibly can consume in one week. This year I'm going with Horse & Buggy, a local natural foods cooperative that pulls from mostly Mennonite farms in central Virginia. Aside from the amazing variety that H&B offers... Continue reading

-By Lisa “You’ve always had lizard skin.” – My mother It's true. My skin is unbearably dry and every dermatologist I’ve seen tells me to drink more water. I drink until I drown; it doesn’t help. I’ve tried lotions and oils and moisturizing soaps and body washes and nothing seems to make a difference. I've even resorted to chemical-laden prescription creams to try to deal with it. I’m just flaky. But this might be the thing that sheds my lizard skin. I first heard about skin brushing from the book Clean. Dr. Junger suggests it as a detoxifying aid. Apparently,... Continue reading

By Katherine I’ve been “composting” for about two years now, but only in the sense that I plunk my food scraps into a large bin in my yard and feel really good about myself for doing it. I’ve never actually MADE compost for spreading around the garden. I think that would require aerating or watering the pile or upping the “browns” to “greens” ratio, or something like that. Some composting advocates argue that there’s no science to composting—that one need not understand the details of decay, per se, to make it happen. I suppose if you had one of those... Continue reading

By Katherine Panic set in just after dawn last Thursday morning, when bleary-eyed and tumbling down the stairs to breakfast with a hungry baby gnawing on one arm and a hungry preschooler pulling on the other, I noticed the date on the calendar: March 17th. Oh no! I’ve done nothing to prepare. Grandma Maxwell will roll over in her grave. Hastily, I blurt out: “Happy St. Patrick’s Day, Honey! How about some green pancakes?” A look of confusion and then horror crosses her face. “Green?” she asks, incredulous. Yes, green! We’re Irish-Americans, and this is what we do on St.... Continue reading