it's lovely when you love what you do

for a little background on me, i am currently a junior at the university of florida. for the first two years of college, i switched my major every semester. i had no idea what i wanted to do.

at the spring of 2010, i changed my major to marketing. my parents are both big business people, so needless to say, they were very supportive of that decision. however, just one thing was wrong. no matter how much i wanted to love it, i hated loathed it.

finally, at the end of last summer, i realized that my first choice was the one i really love. obviously, i am now kicking myself at not staying pre-med since the beginning. but, i really don't care- because now i am doing something that i love, and that is all that matters to me.

even though i wake up early for a 7:25 am class every monday, wednesday and friday, i really don't mind. i wake up excited to go to my early physiology class. i find myself counting down the time until my biology class and lab, and looking forward to spending hours bent over the MCAT review books.

there's something about loving what you do that makes it easier and much more enjoyable. and i just want to say- i'm really glad i re-discovered my love for medicine. and i am excited to spend the rest of my life in medicine.

etsy find[s]: of carnivals and city lights

photo credits: irenesuchocki

while wasting more time on etsy, i stumbled across these beautiful photographs taken by irene suchocki.

now, i would just like to take a brief moment to say, she has some of the best photography skill i have ever seen. her prints are absolutely amazing. she has managed to take plain scenery pictures (well, as plain as the eiffel tower and brooklyn bridge can get), and turned them into something a little more romantic. these photographs are whimiscal and breath-taking. and to me, the story conveyed in each photograph is more than just a thousand words.

i have to admit, i have been a devout user of flickr for all of my photographic needs, but nothing i have ever seen of flickr can really compare to the beauty of these photographs.

a few more of my favorite photographs of irene suchocki are posted below. if you want to check out her store on etsy, you can find it here.

 

green living is the best living: part iii

photo credit: i'm eco friendly

minimize waste

another important part of being eco-friendly is that you reduce your carbon footprint- the impact of your actions on the environment. by working hard to minimize our carbon footprints, we can better preserve the earth for future generations. now doesn't that sound quite lovely?

one way to reduce your carbon footprint is by minimizing waste. the average person produces about 4.56lbs of trash a day- that's 56 tons of trash a year. i think we definitely have room for improvement, and i can only hope that the number starts going down, and does not continue to go up.

so if you're with me on lowering the amount of waste we produce a day, try to follow these rules:

• use a reusable shopping bag to carry your groceries in a week. recent statistics estimate that about 1 million shopping bags per minute are consumed. that's quite a lot of bags. 
• try to only buy products that come in recyclable containers, and make sure to always recycle as much as your can.
• find substitutes for common paper products. for an example, you can use a sponge instead of a paper towel to clean, and a cloth napkin instead of a paper napkin. 
• avoid buying single-use products like disposable razors, plastic cups and utensils, and paper plates. 
• use reusable storage containers for your food, instead of wrapping it in tin foil or saran wrap.
• get your bills and statements electronically to your email, instead of receiving a paper statement each month. 
• use your own reusable coffee mug when you go grab your next cup of coffee at starbucks. some starbucks will even give you a certain percentage off if you bring in a reusable starbucks mug for them to use. 
• pre-plan your meals for each week, so that you do not end up with extra food that will go un-cooked. 
• buy a composter, which would allow you to directly turn your kitchen waste and leftover food into compost for your garden or lawn.

while it is difficult for many to compost their own waste, the other eight rules are easy and will make a significant impact on how much waste we produce each year.and when it comes to being environmentally friendly, any change for the better is a great improvement.

etsy find: zen green tea liquor vase

photo credits: bottlehood

my etsy find is another example of just how great it is to recycle. this upcycled vase is a product from bottlehood, who made it from a recycled zen green tea liquor bottle.

bottlehood is a company founded by two people from california who decided to do something about the liquor bottles that are thrown away by local restaurants in san diego. through the help of local craftsmen, bottlehood turns these bottles into upcycled tumblers or vases.  because a glass bottle can take up to 4,000 years in a landfill to decompose, by upcycling these items, bottlehood is bettering the environment, and the economy.

i absolutely love the way that bottlehood is using the glass bottles to create something that can be useful and unique. if you would like to check out the vase, you can find it here. if you want to see the other products that bottlehood has to offer, you can find them here.

green living is the best living: part ii

photo credits: nab hostel

 recycling

since recycling is a key ingredient to being eco-friendly, it's only fitting that the second installment of my green living series focuses on recycling. aside from being one of the most important aspects of green living, recycling is a very easy way to transition to a green lifestyle.

so here's my compilation of everything you need to know (and a little extra) about recycling.

what can you recycle?

the list of what can be recycled is actually quite extensive, so here's the summary of common recyclable items that can be placed in curbside bins:

• glass bottles
• empty aerosol cans
• plastic bottles and jars
• metal cans
• aluminum cans
• aluminum foil & foil trays
• cardboard
• paper bags
• bagged shredded paper
• newspapers
• phone books
• paper & catalogs
• mail & magazines
• paper & frozen food boxes

while those items are the items that can be placed curbside for recylcing, there are various other items that can be recycled by bringing them to a certain location. cell phones can be recycled at the nearest best buy center. best buy can also recycle your rechargeable batteries and printer ink cartridges. you can also recycle your computer and other electronics. some locations will even give you cash if you bring your electronics to them to be recycled.

it is also important to recycle your paint, oil and toxic household cleaning supplies. these items are extremely dangerous and should be disposed of properly, and not just thrown away in your garbage can.

for a more detailed list of what can be recycled, you can visit this link. also, as a side note, every city will accept other things to be recycled, so check with your city's sanitation department to find out if they'll accept any other items.


how can you recycle?
to recycle the common items, there is generally only two steps. the first step is to ensure that the containers have been cleaned out properly. this is especially important with cans and boxes that previously contained food. the second step is to separate your recyclables. out of consideration, you should always try to keep the paper recyclables separate from your other recyclables. if you only have one bin for curbside recycling, you can keep your paper products in a brown paper bag in your recycling bin.