love is blonde

Fun Announcement for the Short Attention Span Set:

My dear friend and I started a new blog! Check it out! www.chemicalfreeromance.com

Isn’t the name adorable? Co-blogger Alexa gets all the credit for it.

The Longer Version:

When we started to try to get pregnant I dutifully read up on how to become a glowing, healthy vessel for human life so my children can grow up to score 1600 2400 on their SATs and become rocket scientists. And even though that whole pregnant thing has been a big FAIL, I became a little obsessed anyway with avoiding things like BPA, phthlalates, parabens, and other toxic and hormone-disrupting chemicals.

Reading up on this stuff becomes a black hole of time and brainspace pretty quickly. It’s hard to sift out the maybe-possibly-bad-stuff from the really-truly-bad-stuff and make decisions to minimize exposure without going crazy and building a (BPA-free, of course) bubble to live in.

One thing I found helpful was a page of recommendations from the President’s Cancer Panel, some of which were:

Avoid exposure to endocrine-disrupting chemicals and known or suspected carcinogens prior to a child’s conception and throughout pregnancy and early life, when risk of damage is greatest.

Consult information sources such as the Household Products Database to help make informed decisions about the products you buy and use.

Choose products made with non-toxic substances or environmentally safe chemicals.

These are only three items from a longer list (google doc), but it seemed like things I could do easily that would be worthwhile.

Alexa (who has been reading up on this stuff and being a conscious consumer for much longer than I have), our sisters (who we have not yet successfully roped in to actual blogging), and I started trading ideas and tips for finding green household cleaning products, good natural shampoo, lotion without phthalates, etc, that we like. None of us want to spend a lot of money on natural products that don’t work, or smell funny, or give us greasy hair and zits. After dozens of emails amongst ourselves, we figured it might be a better idea to catalog it all online in a blog.

And thusly our new blog, Chemical Free Romance, was born. We write honest and simple reviews of chemical-free products we have personally used, and sometimes we share good deals, news articles, and other tidbits on the topic.

So come on over and hang out with us, share your knowledge, and maybe add a few of our favorite products and practices to your own life too.

I love this post about middle school and shoes over at angry chicken. For me, middle school was full of angst, probably because there was this whole awakening about what was cool, and the intense need to be cool that definitely didn’t exist when I was a kid. Trying to be cool can make you do some really dumb things.

That blog post chronicles shoes that were cool from 1983 to 1986. I was in middle school a decade later, from 1992 to 1995. And yet, so many of the fashionable shoes were the same.

The first shoes I HAD to have (after a childhood dressed in hand-me-downs and items from Target) were a pair of Vans. Keds were not okay, and the Payless version of Keds were definitely not okay. They had to be Vans. I had a maroon pair, and I wore them until my big toe poked through, and even then probably for a few more months.

The next pair of shoes I remember loving, absolutely adoring, were a pair of Converse One Star sandals. In fact, I loved them so much, I completely wore through two entire pairs and I’m pretty sure my mother hated them with a fiery passion. I’m sure there are more weird memories about these shoes that will get left in the comments. But oh, I loved them so!

I also remember having some Dr. Scholl’s wooden sandals, thinking they were somehow good for your feet. But that can’t possibly be true, right? There is no padding! Ah, I’m such an old lady these days.

Surely I’m missing some quality early 90′s shoe fashions. What did you wear on your feet in middle school or high school in the 90s? Doc Martens? KSwiss? Adidas? I eagerly await your answers to help me get through to the weekend!

If your facebook wall is in all caps:

HI FRIENDS, PLEASE SUPPORT THE MUSIC OF MY DEAR FRIEND BY CLICKING ON HIS LINK. ALSO I AM PRACTICING FOR MY UPCOMING CONCERT. I HOPE ALL OF MY FRIENDS CAN ATTEND.

I’m sorry, but on teh internets that means you’re yelling, ALL THE TIME. You have been defriended.

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If your Facebook wall is not in English:

_______ is goin xtra hard on some hmwrk

I don’t have time to translate. And please let me recommend some additional English classes. You have been defriended.

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If your facebook wall is full of love notes to your wife:

Good morning my Love! Thank you for EVERYTHING last night! I am so excited! I love you Gorgeous!!!!

I feel closer to your marriage than my own, and not in a good way. You have been defriended.

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If your facebook wall has Too Much Information, and isn’t even funny to compensate:

my kids had waaaaaaaaay too many prunes this morning

Well, that’s just gross. You have been defriended.

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If your facebook wall is dripping with amazing travel tales:

If you’ve never been to Santorini, put it on your travel list. It is GORGEOUS here!!! I honestly don’t know when it’s more beautiful, during the day or at night.

I will not defriend you. I will just be very jealous of you and possibly find a way to hide in your luggage next time.

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If your facebook wall is this boring:

_______ is relaxing

I don’t even know why you bother. Sorry, de-friend-o-rama.

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Maybe I should just give up facebook altogether, or at least for awhile. Has anyone successfully done this, and do you recommend it? It sure seems like if I devote an entire blog post to bashing wall posts, I shouldn’t spend so much time reading them…

With our Italian beach vacation (I will never tire of those three words) looming, we set out this weekend on a quest to find my husband some decent looking man sandals. You know, mandals. Due to the inherently gross nature of mens’ feet, mandals are not exactly the sexiest thing to shop for. But they are sexier than watching an otherwise hot guy walk around in 90 degree weather in tennis shoes and bright white socks.

Mandals come in a few different forms. Let’s discuss.

The “athletic” mandal: Usually made by a brand liek Teva or Keen, these have lots of straps, rubber, and….boy I am going to get some weird Google searches for this post, aren’t I? As nice as these are, they sort of scream “AMERICAN TOURIST” to me, which we are trying to avoid. Also, they’re kinda expensive!

Crocs: No need for further discussion, because these are just a big fat no in our house. (Even though my DC-BFF wears them, and I continue to love her.) See below for examples of old men who do not wear crocs well.

Flip-flops: I personally love flip-flops, and I even forced my husband to wear them for our wedding. Super hot photo, right? Well, he complains that they are massively uncomfortable and has never worn them again, 2.5 years later. Would anyone like to purchase a pair of worn-once men’s flip-flops?

The generic mandal: Now we have reached the section of blah, generic man sandals. I’m not even sure how to categorize them. They’re ubiquitous at your neighborhood Kohl’s. Like these below.

We ended up with Choice A on the left side (right foot) for a whopping $29.99. What do you think? And, please, ignore the man capris (manpris). I made him pull up his pant legs to look like shorts. We were totally the classiest people at Kohl’s.

Is there a mandal out there I’m missing? What does your husband/boyfriend/brother/hot neighbor wear? Will we look good in Italy in Paris? There’s still 23 days to buy something else…not that I’m counting or anything.

• My sister-in-law got engaged this weekend, which means Love is Blonde will remain quasi-wedding-planning-obsessed through 2009! (In fact, I have more wedding posts in the queue to be edited…)
• My mother, with the help of Jen and many hours of nagging on my part, launched her Very Own Blog for her photography business. Go check it out!
• Jen and Melissa came to visit DC, and took tons of gorgeous photos and even recapped the weekend for me. We basically did not stop talking and laughing all weekend, it was great.
• I look so fat in the pictures I want to cry, but that is a topic for another day. But still, waahhhh. Major struggle.
• We are going to Delaware this weekend for Mother’s Day, and GET THIS: My in-laws, in the year of Aught Nine, finally got high speed internet. HALLELUJAH.
• My real life BFF is having another baby girl! I’ve already lobbied for a few favorite baby names
• One month from today I’ll dancing my pants off (dress off?) at my lovely friend’s wedding on the eve of our Italian vacation.
• I LOVE THIS CAT. I am borderline obsessed with it, in fact.
• That is all.
• What about you?