Back to Basics with Miakoda New York

This post is sponsored by Miakoda New York, an athleisure clothing label devoted to producing comfortable, every day wear in an ethical and sustainable manner.

When it comes to curating closets, I’ve embraced something close to a no-frills policy. Over the past few years, my clothing choices have increasingly gravitated towards basic, minimalist styles, dismissing trends in exchange for timeless classics. I’ve found that this is simply my personal taste, but decreasing the need to keep up with fashion trends is also a plus, since it eliminates the draw towards buying clothing or accessories in order to keep up with the times.

Fashion is about dressing according to what’s fashionable. Style is more about being yourself. -Oscar de la Renta

Additionally, practicality has climbed my ladder of priorities, usurping the need to search for statement pieces. I prefer to make statements with my actions rather than my things. Versatility is equally important, to fit my hobby-filled lifestyle. On any given day, you can catch me baking bread, while practicing yoga, writing on my blog, photographing random “lifestyle” moments, learning guitar and new languages, and sneaking in a few pages of my current book at every opportunity in between bulk fermentation sessions for my dough. Those activities may embrace practicing dentistry more half of the week. Top the busy schedule with hours of socializing with family and friends, and one can see why going back to basics was attractive to me. The most ideal pieces in my closet fit together with any other article of clothing, making grab-and-go an easy, and common, occurrence. Regardless, I try to attempt getting dressed with the utmost intentionality, establishing a sense of comfort for whatever activity may arise, while still attempting a decent appearance, for who ever I end up meeting during the day.

So today, I decided to take Miakoda New York through my daily routine. Their clothing line is composed of athleisure wear, all of which I could see myself toting on any given Sunday. Sunday is my only weekend day off, and while I wear scrubs a majority of my other work days, I like to use Sunday as an(other) excuse to dress as comfortably as possible.

A huge fan of the basic black tee, you can see me outfitted in just this very thing for half of any given week. In fact, I have about five black tees that I cycle through, but I always find myself running out by Saturday. So here I am, adding another black tee to my arsenal.

This essential tee is all sorts of comfy, and all I need on any warm, Southern California morning (read as: for two-thirds of the calendar year). I spent the morning taking in the sun’s rays, before ordering my chocolate pretzel, a twist on my usual pain au chocolat.

The boxier fit is less constricting than the body hugging types and honestly, is more flattering for teenage-girl-like physiques like mine. Each tee, as well as other products from their clothing line, is ethically made in a New York factory that the founders personally visit a few times each season. The black one that I’m wearing in particular is made up of bamboo, organic cotton, and spandex. Bamboo lends to the fabric a layer of softness, while the spandex lends some stretch. Both were much appreciated when I continued to wear this tee later in the afternoon on my yoga mat.

Unfortunately, despite the warm sun rays, it was not long before I started to feel a bit too cool. Comfortable to me usually means a room temperature of 80 degrees Fahrenheit, and although we live in So Cal, it IS the middle of January. Sensibly, I am always carrying around additional layers and I couldn’t help but throw on Miakoda’s sweatshirt before we’ve even left our first destination. The sweatshirt kept me warm, and happy, as I continued to gobble up that chocolate pastry.

The sweatshirt accompanied me on my search for a spritzer for my new Ficus houseplant, and all errands and chores thereafter, including grocery shopping, running the laundry, washing the dishes, etc. It definitely draws me in with its functionality. I can see myself throwing this over scrubs, wearing them to bed as pajamas, or sitting on the couch sinking in its comforts while I type, type, type. In fact, I continued to wear it while I did some writing, cooked meals for the upcoming week with Mike, and relaxed with a late-night movie with Kirsten. (Note: over scrubs, and all other activities, never in the same day). This piece will definitely transition through my day-to-day activities quite nicely.

For a more refined look, I paired the sweater with light and airy silk drawstring pants. Still laid-back and modest, but slightly more elevated. Averse as I am to putting on the ritz, as some would say, I usually combine cotton basics with more delicate fabrics, to create a discreet outfit that is all-together enticing to the wearer (me) and alluring to the eye. Paired with some sturdy clogs, this summarizes my ideal ratio of practicality and style.

The boxy nature of the sweater makes it similar to the tee, a brother if you will, with longer sleeves and a thicker, softer composition. You can tell that this sweater was very thoughtfully constructed. Perhaps worth mentioning is Miakoda’s affinity towards using sustainable plant fibers such as organic cotton, bamboo, and soy. From their commitment towards finding ethical fabric suppliers who are using sustainable products, to their investment in partnering with high quality garment factories in New York, one can tell that the company is committed towards creating change in the way clothes are being made.

With tees and sweaters such as these in tow, I can go on with my hobby-infused lifestyle without a hitch. Suffice to say, writing about ethical companies and about not believing in the word negligible interests me more than writing about the next fashion trend. On the heels of that thought, it’s just as important to me to support companies that are trying to change the way the fashion industry is being run.

Unfortunately, fashion has transformed significantly in the last twenty years. The way we produce, distribute, consume, and then throw away, clothes has sped up to an alarming rate. Larger companies cannot keep up with the supply and demand without hiring megasuppliers, who then hire suppliers, who hire sub (sub-, sub-, sub-) suppliers to produce the clothing. It’s become such a large scale ordeal that it’s difficult to control how large orders are being filled. Case in point, when a factory burned down in Tazreen and sixty percent of the products were being produced for Walmart. Walmart had no idea that their orders were in Tazreen. In fact, they had previously visited the factory and deemed it unsafe and had specifically banned their suppliers from using that factory. So how did their products end up there? Because multiple sub-sub-sub-suppliers pawned off the work to this factory, without ever needing to communicate with Walmart. Other companies’s products were also being produced there, such as Disney and Dickies. Because these companies have specifically banned the Tazreen factory due to unethical working conditions, none of these companies were responsible for compensating the victims of the fire. When the fire first began, some workers asked to leave, and they were told to go back to work. Minutes later, they were enveloped in smoke, and some tried to escape through stairwells that had locked exits. 112 workers were killed in that fire, and many people suffered broken limbs trying to jump out of the windows.

Factories are being audited, but audits don’t necessarily prove that factories themselves are improving, only that factories are improving at making it seem like their conditions are improving. Additionally, as with the case above, audits aren’t really enough to stop orders from reaching these factories. Some orders are even sent to small groups of workers, or at-home workers. It’s gotten so bad that producers don’t know what company their products are being made for. Their orders come from, and are delivered to, middlemen. Alternatively, interviews show that many large companies don’t know in which countries their products are being made, let alone which factories.

Supporting small companies dedicated towards ensuring high quality products and meeting ethical standards of working conditions is important to me. Miakoda’s sustainability and ethics are worth noting. One of the problems we see with people who are aware of the pitfalls of fast fashion is the immediate reluctance to buy anything new at all. As more anti-fast-fashion advocates protest by shopping only vintage hand-me-downs to abstain from supporting unethically made clothing lines and to decrease waste, may I suggest that doing so does not pave the way for an improved future in the fashion industry. By shying away from purchasing new products completely, we do not allow the growth of smaller companies trying to change the fashion scene. As we disappear from the consumer population, those who are left purchasing any goods at all are either unaware of the situation, or are aware but choose to ignore. The hamster wheel of supporting companies that sell cheaply-produced goods at a larger cost to the planet and the living beings inhabiting it will be strengthened, and these companies will continue to thrive. Who will be left to support smaller companies trying to implement change?

In order to ensure that our products are being made ethically, the companies have to be held accountable for the production of their products, down to the very last detail. This doesn’t include just factory workers and hired employees, but also includes the workers who supplied the materials and their working conditions. We need to start thinking about the planet, as well as everything and everyone living on it.

I understand that this problem goes way beyond our purchasing power. Buying from the right companies will not directly yield immediate abolition of child labor and unhealthy working conditions. Governmental policies need to be implemented in order to successfully produce the changes we want to see. But in order for those policies to go into effect, it requires a call for change. As long as the large majority of the population continue to consume as if we are okay with conditions that violate basic human rights, there will be no pressure created to promote change. Our purchasing power acts as a vote towards the future we want to see.

Miakoda understands that as well. When asked to name the one message that they wish to send out to the world through their work, they answered with this. Everytime you make a conscious decision, you make an impact. Your closet can be filled with fast-fashion, or clothes that you’ve only worn once, but the decision to buy an ethical basic tee that you wear daily does make a difference. I do not believe in the word negligible. We need to feel empowered by our decisions, because they do matter.

For those who were wondering, the tee was paired with Eileen Fisher denim (similar one here) and accessorized with Nisolos and a gold Giving Key with the word “Create”. The sweater was paired with silk pants, also from Eileen Fisher, and accessorized with another pair of Nisolos and a black matte Giving Key with the word “Fearless”.

This post was sponsored by Miakoda New York, but all opinions are my own. Thanks for supporting the brands that support The Debtist.

Home-made Granola

There’s something special about sharing recipes from one person to another. Perhaps it’s the coming together that makes the whole thing so great. Acknowledgement that we need to share pieces of ourselves with each other, one of the most valuable being our time. Maybe its the activity producing something sustainable, a necessity ingrained into our very beings. Whatever it is, there is something to be said of gathering over the makings of a meal, the way it connects people on multiple levels.

I always feel joy when I learn a new recipe from someone I know. Even more so when I’ve already tasted said recipe and have decidedly fallen in love with the taste (smell, and sight) of it. Today, I had the privilege of learning my sister-in-law’s delicious home-made granola recipe. I’ve been asking her to come over and teach me how it’s done ever since she handed me a mason jar full of this home-made goodness a few months ago. We finished the jar in just a few days, strewn over yogurt, or eaten simply by the handful. Since then, I’ve been craving it, and so for the past few weeks, I’ve consistently asked for any spare moment she may have so that I might learn to make it on my own. Today was my lucky day.

She came over mid-afternoon, bearing all the ingredients we needed, with her own additional twist: Coconut flakes. The great thing about the ingredients in this recipe is that they can be purchased in bulk, allowing you to make the crunchy goodness without waste. Plus the recipe is flexible, in the sense that the maker can add whatever ingredients they want. Creativity can reign in the production of something as simple as granola. Some of her alternative suggestions included pecans or walnuts. Sometimes you can simply make do with whatever left over nuts and seeds you may have in the pantry. Either way, there’s very few ways to really mess this up. I mean, it’s granola!

The honest truth: It’s more than granola. It’s magic. It’s versatile. It’s simple. It’s healthy. It’s a great arsenal to have in the pantry. Considered a year-round ingredient in our household, it seems appropriate that we address its production early on in this virtual recipe book. The greatest part is the ease with which the process can be executed. Once in the oven, there is nothing left for you to do, except to rotate the granola every 12 minutes. Now you’ve got time on your hands to read a book, write a novel, or chat like we did, over espresso in the waning afternoon light. Additionally, each batch makes a hefty amount (more than six cups of granola!), thus allowing you to be quite liberal with how you choose to spend it.

Additional things I loved when making this:

The smell of brown sugar caramelizing on the stove top.
The sound of granola shifting, when raking it to get an even toasting.
The scent of coconut toasting.
The earthy colors of the combination of grains, seeds, and coconut flakes.
The warmth of the baking pan as you take it out of the oven to cool.
The “plink” of well-toasted pieces being transferred to a glass mason jar.
The crunch of your very first bite.
The subtle sweetness it lends to whatever meal your gracing with its presence.

Home-made Granola

Ingredients:

5 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup sliced almonds
1/2 cup pumpkin seeds
1/4 cup flax seeds
1/4 cup sunflower seeds
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup canola oil
1/3 cup water
1 tbsp vanilla extract
1 cup shredded coconut (unsweetened)

The Process:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
Boil brown sugar, canola oil, water, and vanilla extract for two minutes. Careful not to burn the mixture. We allowed it to heat over medium heat.
Combine all the dry ingredients until the sunflower seeds in a bowl. We will add the coconut flakes at a later time.
Mix all ingredients (wet and dry) together and spread on a cookie sheet.
Bake granola for 36 minutes, stirring the granola once every 12 minutes. Remove the cookie sheet from the oven and turn the oven off (very important, lest you burn the upcoming coconut flakes).
Sprinkle 1 cup of coconut flakes on top of the granola and return the baking sheet back into the oven and bake for an additional 12 minutes (or until desired crispiness has been reached), stirring once in the middle of the 12 minutes.
Remove from the oven, and cool before transferring to a container of your choice.

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Finance: Tackle Undergrad Loans During A Gap Year (ASAP)

There are a few financial decisions that I made in my early twenties that I am very proud of, and a few that I am not so proud of. For decisions that fall in the latter category, I sincerely wish that someone could just create a time machine so that I could send myself back to my younger self and shake some common sense into her. Or at least allow me to go back in time and have a one-on-one discussion (likely at a cafe somewhere) regarding my retrospectively realized financial mistakes, with the hopes of guiding her towards the right direction. But alas, there is no time machine.

However, knowledge lost to me should not be lost to others. I am fortunate enough to have a little brother, six years younger, who recently shocked everyone we knew by deciding to switch from pursuing a path to physical therapy to becoming a dentist such as myself. At first, I told him not to do it, mostly out of fear that he was entering the profession for the wrong reasons. It’s not exactly the profession for everyone. You have to love being inside people’s mouths, and I sincerely believe that description fits a very small group of people. And in exchange for this privilege of being surrounded by teeth, there is a costly price, which includes not only dedicated time towards earning the degree, but a huge monetary cost as well. I could see a young man entering the profession thinking it’s all fun and games. You can call your own hours, you get a decent pay. But you lose a lot of hours compared to your peers, studying the craft and paying off the debt. Additionally, you don’t see a majority (in my case, any) of your pay if you are dedicated to paying off the loans by the time your 38 years old. And by the time you are free from the debt, your peers would have had a 17 year head start on building their lives over you. I was simply afraid he would become a tooth doctor and then regret the bondage and the responsibility that comes with that. The worst you can do is choose to spend your days doing something you don’t absolutely love.

After a lot of back-and-forth conversations about the whys and the whats and the hows, I could see this is what he decided he wanted to do. And in my family, once we made up our mind about something, there is no change of course. Despite my resistance to the whole thing, I could tell he was going to push through with it, whether I supported him or not. So I did what any big sis would do. I immediately switched to supportive mode, figuring that if he is going to do this thing, then I’m going to give all I’ve got to making sure he loves every moment of it. So now we work together at the same office, me guiding him towards becoming a better dental assistant everyday, and him helpfully suctioning saliva out of my patient’s mouths. Perfect harmony.

I started writing the finance part of my blog to help newly graduated dental students with a massive debt realize that they are not alone, and that there are ways to overcome that debt. Now, I have an even bigger responsibility to walk my little brother, and other newly graduated undergrads towards a path that would minimize that final number, as much as humanly possible. If I can’t send myself back in a time machine to save myself from all the silly mistakes, I can at least try to save my brother. I am not doing this so that he could be rich one day. Such is never my goal. I am writing this so he can be a free man.

So if I could travel back and tell my recently graduated undergrad self what to do while waiting to get into grad school, I would tell them one thing. Use your hard-earned money towards paying down your undergrad loans. This was a very feasible thing for me, since I graduated undergrad in 3.25 years and I had an extra 9 months of freedom between graduation and grad school. It was a year and eight months before I was to start my dental program. During that time, I was living at home, and working three jobs. The first was a job as a dental assistant, averaging thirty hours a week. . The second was a visuals specialist at Banana Republic, averaging ten hours a week. And the last was a tutoring gig in Newport Beach, averaging an additional 10 hours a week. All jobs paid me over minimum wage, which at the time was around $8.5 an hour. The dental assisting and the tutoring paid me $13/hr. The sales job paid me above $9/hr. I wasn’t paying for food or rent, with much gratitude towards my parents. But I was also not paying my student loans down. So where did the money go?

At that age, you work like I did and think to yourself, “I’m rolling in the dough.” I had no concept of the power of money at that time, for I had no one to show me, or to even talk to me about it. Friends were dining out every night, going to concerts and raves, watching movies, and buying everything they ever wanted. What did you think I did?There was no outward consideration towards my far off future. I couldn’t see that these loans would one day become shackles that slow me down from enjoying later joys. There was this concept being fed to young kids, summarized in four capital letters. YOLO.

I was twenty one years old, and I thought I was unstoppable. I had so much energy, I worked like a horse. I never realized that the pace was unsustainable and that I will not want to work like a horse for the rest of my life. And off course, once I clocked out, I went on partying like an animal. (Okay, not animal. I saw REAL animals in college, and animal I was not. Maybe a tame deer. Either way…) I blew my money on frivolities, living my life under the following motto: “Work hard, party hard.” WHO COMES UP WITH THESE THINGS?!

I wasn’t fully irresponsible (or so I thought) since I paid the minimum payments towards my loans every month. They told me paying the minimum payments is considered good. No one ever told me paying off the maximum you can possibly pay is ideal. I never even hit my principle balance. I was paying so little that my accrued interest stayed about the same. At the time, I was already dating my future husband, and he was also working hard to pay for his housing. Since I didn’t pay for rent, I thought I had wayyyyy more money than him, and offered to take him out to eat whenever I felt like it. I bought him many gifts, just because. I invited him to concerts and bowling and karaoke and anything I can throw my money at. What I didn’t realize was that he had almost zero debt. He took out a skimpy little loan, which was paid off a few months after he started work as an engineer. And there I was, almost two years graduated, with the same debt I had while I was in school.

I was even so foolish as to plan a trip to Hawaii with Mike. In preparation for this trip, and as a reward for working so hard on my year and a half off, I quit all three jobs pre-emptively at the end of May, three months before dental school was to start. I continued my usual spending, and then allocated a huge chunk of my hard-earned money towards Hawaii. Granted, that trip was our first trip together and ended up being our favorite trip until we went to New Zealand. So yes, YOLO. You never get the time back, and it was a great experience. But the trip cost something close to $5,000. At the time, my student loan was about $16,000. I spent a third of my debt on a vacation, without realizing that it’s all just borrowed money. The crazy part was that I had $5,000 in my bank account, (I actually had close to $10,000 in my bank account) ready to be used for Hawaii. That money should have been placed directly into student loans the minute I was earning it. Not knowing anything at all about the power of compounded interest, that could have saved me a good portion of my current loan amount, probably around $13,000 or so, since it accrued interest over the next 5 years that I was in dental school. That’s the thing about any loan with interest. It continues to add even more debt to your plate, and the longer you wait, the more money you waste. As a young twenty something, time is on your side. Address debt while you are still young.

Now, you may be saying, $13,000 out of $550,000 is not a big difference. It’s such a small sliver of the pie! But it is, because it all adds up. It’s not like you graduate and start paying back the principle on your loans right away. You address the interest that has been growing on it first. For the first five months, we didn’t even touch our principle. Five months of all of the paychecks of a dentist going towards a loan, and not bringing down principle can be a very depressing thing. I think people need to see that. Extrapolate that for 9-10 years, as if you are essentially working for no take home pay for ten years, and then tell me that the $13,000 does not matter. Every single penny matters. That should be the mind set newly graduated undergrads should have. That every financial decision they make will shape their future. Especially so if they are going to pursue further education. It’s not a matter of “YOLO, my future self can worry about that.” Your future self is still you.

If I could do it all over again, I would continue to live at my parents, like I was doing. That was definitely a decision I was proud of. I would put as much of my income as possible (which would have probably been 90% of it) towards paying down my undergrad loans prior to grad school. I would have worked harder while I had a lot of energy. I would have saved more by saying no to all the pressures to conform to this image of a successful, newly graduated student. I would have worked until the very end of my “time off”. I would have probably skipped the Hawaii trip, or traded it in for a more financially friendly local trip to a national park. If I had done all of this, I would have been able to pay off all of my undergrad loans easily, while still living a fairly decent lifestyle, and possibly saving money along the way for my future graduate loans. Heck, I might have even been able to go to Hawaii and do that. Don’t believe me? Here’s the math.

Dental assisting: $13/hr x 30 hrs/week x 78 weeks = $30,420

Banana Republic: $9/hr x 10 hrs/week x 78 weeks = $7,020

Tutoring: $13/hr x 10 hrs/week x 78 weeks = $10,140

Total income: $47,580

Student Loans Total when I started dental school = approximately $16,000

Conclusion: I didn’t know anything about money at the age of twenty one.

Currently, my brother is gallivanting around Costa Rican terrain with a college friend. Before he left, I went over finances with him, grilling him on what he was planning to do while there, how much he was planning to spend, and pointing out tips to save money while traveling. The bottom line is that I can’t stop him from enjoying his life. I’m not even saying his trip is a life mistake. The Hawaii trip was a financial mistake, but it was also an experience that led us to realize how important traveling was to us. Ironically, the debt limits the extent with which we can travel. You win some, you lose some. He will likely learn something very valuable about himself on his travels. But I want him to at least hear from somebody that this decision will affect his future from a financial standpoint. I think every newly graduated kid deserves to hear that. If I could talk to my twenty year old self, I can’t guarantee she would have listened, or even fully understood. I mean, I would continue to make this mistake throughout all of dental school, again and again. But there is a chance that she would have changed her course, ever so slightly. And that makes a difference.

Minimalism: In the shower

Before you even begin to think that this post is going to be a bit too TMI for your taste, it’s not, I promise. Just hear me out.

I had a house guest once who stayed a few days at our place, and obviously, at some point, she did have to shower. I walked her upstairs to our bathroom and gave her a tour, to show her where everything is. The first thing she said was, “You have absolutely nothing here!” She was literally quite astounded. At first, I did not understand. I had everything anyone would ever need in a shower. Confused, I asked her what she meant. She said that in her own shower, and in other people’s showers where she’s visited, there would be a whole collection of products strewn across the sills and the floor. In my head, I thought to myself, what products? I guess there is more to showering than just soap, shampoo, and conditioner. When I asked her how many, she said ten to twenty! And here I was thinking I was going overboard by having conditioner around. No joke, I thought about nixing it. So the next time I went to my parent’s house, I looked in their shower, and sure enough, there were about ten items there. A bar of soap, but also, a bottle of Bath and Body Works Body wash. There was a second bottle of body wash for men, likely my dad’s effort to not smell like Cinnamon Apples. A plastic loofah. There were separate shampoo and conditioner bottles, one of each specifically catering to men and to women. There was a facial scrub, as well as an exfoliating scrub, which I’m assuming is for the rest of the limbs. Thus, my count added up to a total of ten products, just as she said! So I guess her shock was accounted for.

I wonder what happens if she ever stays over again, for our bathroom has gotten a tiny bit sparser than before. She may be even more baffled that all three of our products (soap, shampoo, and conditioner) now come in bar form at our house, and stay in one tidy little corner of the bathing area, tucked neatly away in a row. This is a pretty recent development in the household, but one that I won’t turn away from any time soon. In an effort to seriously reduce my plastic waste moving forward, I reconsidered many household items that came in plastic but had alternatives, shampoo and conditioner being two of those. Mike and I were already using soap bars, and have been for years, but bars for the hair was a revelation to us. There are people who say they can never get used to the feeling of using a bar for their hair. Fair enough. For me, it reminds me of younger years in the Philippines where we would just use the same bar for our bodies and for our hair. It wasn’t a big deal then, so to me, it’s not a big deal now. The shampoo bars create really great suds actually, and my hair feels much cleaner, and less oily, than when I use the liquid alternatives. Then again, a different (likely drier) hair type may consider it too dry. To each their own. Lucky for me, these work.

To further reduce plastic waste, our bars are purchased without packaging. Now, these bars could get a bit pricey, I must admit. We have found some go-to brands at places like Whole Foods, Mother’s Market, as well as other local stores for around $2/bar. It’s still more than your Dove bars of soap (unfortunately packaged in either a box, or a set of boxes, wrapped in plastic), but the extra cost is worth it to me. The shampoo bars can be even pricier, with Lush Cosmetics selling them at about $12/bar. However, they do last 80 washes, which is about a month and a half for us two. And the conditioner bars at Lush are equally as expensive, but since I consider hair conditioner as a luxury, I don’t use it on the daily, and if we run out, I just go without for a while.

So frugal me, how do I cope? We make do by asking for them as Christmas and birthday presents. We specifically ask for no plastic packaging of any kind. Most give us our gifts without packaging at all, which is perfect! Sometimes, soaps wrapped in paper get thrown in, but we recycle that right away, so I can still sleep soundly at night. It’s a consumable gift that brings me a lot of joy (knowing that it came package free) and that brings me a very pleasant experience (if you’ve ever used a Lush shampoo bar, you would understand). This past Christmas, we asked for bars of soap, shampoo and conditioner from a lot of our loved ones, and I think we received enough to get us through March or April. Which is convenient because our birthdays come around in June and July. So we can replenish our stocks once again, in due time.

I’m not saying every one needs to switch to bar form, right this moment. I’m just saying, if our house guest was correct in saying that everyone does have ten to twenty products in the shower, then as long as every household cuts that number in half, what a difference that would make in plastic waste! You don’t even have to get rid of the bottles if you really don’t want to. If men and women could share the same product and not buy into the advertising, then they can purchase in bulk, larger bottles, and produce less waste overall. Perhaps Mike is lucky in the sense that I have absolutely no interest in smelling like a walking flower. Good scents to me include cotton, charcoal, sage, and lemon verbena. Maybe I’m the lucky one, since Mike actually likes scents of Lavender and Vanilla, too. Whatever the case may be, there must be a mutual ground somewhere. Why not choose a scent or product that can work for both? Or why not just forget all the hype about scents and go with a good ole bar of non-smelling soap. Gasp!

Either way, I am pretty happy about my minimalist shower. I don’t even consider it minimalist at all, really. Sure, I may get push back after posting this post. Maybe some people will tell me I just don’t understand their skin type or their hair type. How they have needs to prevent flaky skin or flat hair. How they easily get split ends, or oily foreheads. I almost didn’t want to post this after writing it. But then I think back to when I used to join kids and shower in the middle of the street when it rained. Where a bath meant taking a bucket from a pot of hot water and carefully making sure to rinse as much of myself off as I could, so as not to waste it. I think of families who don’t even have a means to heat up their water, of kids who have to walk to a river. I think of people swimming in plastic waste in small islands such as the Philippines and Tuvalu, because of the prevalence of single use containers.

And I thought to myself, yeah, I’ll post it. These bars of soap are indulgences. They don’t come cheaply, and their value (and ethics) is worth way more to me than choosing a brand name, or smelling a particular way. All I ask is for you to consider it. Please.

Other things I consider when purchasing GOOD soap:

–Palm oil free: I first learned about palm oil when we went to New Zealand, last year. We were at the zoo, listening to the talk about orangutans when the topic came up. At the time, both New Zealand and Australia’s governments were trying to pass a law requiring the labeling of all products with palm oil, so that Kiwis could decide which products not to buy. A country very invested in issues surrounding sustainability and conservation of species and habitat, they were very aware of the illegal deforestation resulting from the growth of palm oil for product use. The deforestation is affecting many species, orangutans included, by depleting them of their habitats. I try to look for soaps that are palm oil free, but unfortunately, most aren’t labeled appropriately, so you just never know. I am particularly fond of GOOD soap, which can be found at Whole Foods, and which uses only Certified Sustainable Palm Oil.

–Ethically made and sustainability: A majority of the soaps I purchase advocate Fair Trade principles in order to get the ingredients for the soap. Additionally, I tend to prefer brands with sustainability in mind. All of this takes extra work and care to produce. This is part of the reason why the prices of these products are higher. Since we always revert back to buying GOOD soap when we run out of holiday gifted soaps, here is a list of ingredients used to make their soap.

Primary, Active Ingredients:
Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea) Butter (Certified Fair Trade)
Cocos Nucifera (Coconut) Oil (Certified Fair Trade)
Sodium Palmate (Certified Sustainable Palm Oil)
Sodium Palm Kernelate (Certified Sustainable Palm
Kernel Oil)
Water (Aqua)
Glycerin (Vegetable Source)
Goat Milk Powder
Minor Ingredients (less than 0.5% by weight)
Lavandula Hybrida Grosso (Lavender) Oil (Lavender Only)
Sodium Citrate (helps with lather in hard water)
Titanium Dioxide (natural color)
Chlorophyllin-Copper Complex (Fresh Mint only, natural color)
Iron Oxides (natural color)
Natural Fragrance (non-synthetic scent from plant oils and extracts, added in Sunshine, Prairie
Rose, Fresh Mint and Coconut bars)

– Societal Impact: There are an increasing number of products being released that have efforts to give back to less privileged communities. Good Soap sales fund Alaffia community empowerment projects in West Africa. Alaffia aims to empower individuals and their communities through long-term, effective projects with the end goal of
poverty alleviation, gender equality and human rights for all. Alaffia’s community projects include:

Alaffia Bicycles for Education: Since 2006, Alaffia has distributed over 6,300 bicycles to rural, poor students in Togo. With emphasis on girls, the goal is to reduce the high dropout rate (91%) by providing a means of transportation to and from school.
Alaffia Maternal Health: In sub-Saharan Africa, 400 women die each day due to pregnancy or childbirth related causes. Alaffia provides pre-natal and delivery care to 1,000 disadvantaged women each year in rural Togo, saving mothers and babies for strong families and sustainable futures for our communities.
Alaffia Reforestation: Alaffia has planted over 42,600 trees in an effort to help our Togolese communities better withstand effects of climate change, to slow desertification and to increase food security for families.

Thoughts on: Inspiring Change

“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.

I don’t write for the sake of writing. I write about things that I want to change. Frequently, the topics I embrace include less plastic use, refusing fast fashion, supporting eco-friendly practices, buying fair trade products, standing behind ethical companies, amidst other things. I write not just for myself, but for the world, for young generations, and for future generations. The birth of this blog, and its subsequent series, did not come from a day of boredom, neither did it come from a place of self-interest. It comes from a desire to help people see the effects of their actions in a different, and more insightful, light. The hope is to at least get one person, if not a whole group of people, thinking about the impact their everyday life decisions make on the world. May Martin Luther King, Jr. be an inspiration today, and every day, to progress towards a better tomorrow.

To be inspired, read Martin Luther’s letter from a Birmingham jail, here.

If you have the day off today, and decidedly want to spend it browsing Netflix, might I suggest some documentaries that I watched last year that changed the course of my life in one way or another?

Plastic Ocean

Chasing Corals

The True Cost

The Minimalists

If you prefer to spend the day cozying up on the couch, might I suggest some of my favorite, most recently read, books?

The Measure of a Man by Sydney Poitier
The Book of Joy by Douglas Abrams
Glow Kids by Nicholas Kardaras
Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert

And lastly, if you are going out to spend this beautiful day with friends and family, might I suggest outdoors, in nature, responsibly and environmentally consciously?

Have a wonderful day celebrating the King.

Easy Slow-Cooker Quinoa Enchilada Casserole Recipe

As temperatures cool, I find myself embracing warm comforts. The urge to jump up and start my day becomes subdued, replaced by the need to hunker down and cozy up. I am choosing yoga videos with titles such as “Salve” and “Soften”. Winter is a time for self-love. A time to take everything at a steadier pace than usual. A time to pull out that one easy recipe in your back pocket, and call it a day. This one happens to be a clow-cooker quinoa enchilada casserole. You can pin it for safe-keeping.

Other Easy Recipes

I would say that wintry times call for easy-to-make recipes that allow me to enjoy more of, well, me-time. In particular, I am drawn to comfort foods, ones that would come out of my mom’s kitchen. Something warm to my belly, as well as my heart. I draw upon soups, pastas, and casseroles for that additional comfort that I’m looking for. I like to think that this is also the grub yearned for by our friends and family who gather indoors with us during this cooler season. Possibly only because it’s what I want to serve.

When feeding a large group of people, the easiest way to prepare is hours beforehand. It’s never any fun trying to entertain while also stirring a pot of boiling soup that may overflow at a moment’s notice. I don’t enjoy the rush of moving about the kitchen and adding ingredients last minute in an effort to make the salad taste fresh. I like the kitchen to already be clean as my guests arrive, and I like to have a calm mindset. I much rather prefer an atmosphere where I could place 100% of my focus on the entertaining rather than the cooking.

So when board game night came around this past week, and I was looking to feed a group of seven, I pulled out my recipe for slow-cooker Quinoa Enchilada Casserole, placed all ingredients in a pot, and let my friend, the slow-cooker, do all the work. Made with ground turkey, quinoa, black beans, and other veggies, it’s a much healthier option than ordering pizza. Served in a bowl right when the guests are ready to eat, and topped with an avocado slice (or three), this is the perfect meal to sit down with over a board game. Guests can opt to eat it like a soup, or as a dip for tortilla chips. Let them choose!

I keep the slow-cooker on warm all night long, so guests can go back for seconds. And after the last friend has left in the wee hours of the night, the slow-cooker’s ceramic pot is an easy clean up after a good soak overnight. Let that be tomorrow’s problem. We’re taking it slow over here.

This happens to be the slow-cooker I own, which was gifted to us on our wedding night by one of our closest friends.

Ingredients:

1 pound ground turkey
1 cup uncooked quinoa, rinsed
15-ounce can of black beans, drained and rinsed
1 cup corn
15-ounce can of diced fire roasted tomatoes
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 medium onion, chopped
1 cup water
10-ounce can of enchilada sauce
2 tablespoons chili powder
1 tablespoon cumin
2 teaspoons ground coriander
1 cup shredded Mexican blend cheese
3 green onions, chopped
1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
1 jalapeno pepper (optional)
Tortilla Chips

The Process:

Cook the ground turkey in a skillet prior to placing in the slow-cooker.
Add all ingredients until the optional jalapeno pepper in the slow-cooker. Stir to combine. Cover and allow the pot to do the work on high for 3 hours or until the liquid is all absorbed into the mixture.
Remove the lid and stir everything again. Taste and add salt and pepper to your liking. Stir in the half the cheese and sprinkle the other half on top. Replace the lid and let the cheese melt. Top with the chopped green onions, avocado, and cilantro.
Serve with the chips at the center of the table. Enjoy!

Photographed is the Everyday Bowl by East Fork Pottery.

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Travel: With Eco-Friendly Attempts

Growing up, my family never did get around to much traveling. After all, traveling the world is a very costly thing to experience. However, it seems as if we’ve grown accustomed to a traveling lifestyle in our more recent years. In the last six months, my sister went to Alaska in June, Mike and I went to Mexico in July, followed by a family trip to Hawaii in that same month. My parents went to Palm Springs in August, Mike and I left for Germany in October, my sister left for Japan in November, my parents left for Florida in December, and next week, my brother leaves for Costa Rica. Hello January! It seems as if we are hardly in the same state for any given month. In retrospect, my siblings and I DID move around plenty in our early childhood years. By the time I got to my freshman year in high school, I had moved a total of ten times. I guess the nomad life chose us, and eventually, it permanently took hold.

Sadly, traveling comes with something more than a monetary cost, specifically when we are talking about air travel. It’s safe to say that air travel results in a significant environmental impact, and though a majority of the negative effects of travel comes from this one thing alone, I deny that nothing we do is negligible. I continue to believe that there are other ways in which we could attempt to minimize the harm we do to the environment, when traveling.

With my brother’s upcoming trip in mind, and with the recent posting of our Mexico travels [here], I feel the urge to share some of my more eco-friendly travel practices, while featuring some favorite products along the way.

+ Carry around a reusable bottle. We all need water to hydrate us during our explorations, whether it’s a city scape or the country side. It’s easy (read: convenient) to buy water bottles as needed. But most water comes packaged in plastic! So to reduce that, why not carry around a reusable bottle? In countries that are more developed, such as Germany and New Zealand, tap water is considered drinkable water. I was constantly filling my water bottle with water from bathroom sinks in Germany, not to be advised when you travel to other countries such as Mexico. So what of these other countries? I refill my water every chance I get, be it at a restaurant, or at the airport, or in the hotel room. There are many places to get safe water, and if you are not sure, then ask a local! We got the tap water tip from a German hostess at one of our earlier hotel stays. Additionally, this saves the airplane hostess from filling up a million of those disposable plastic cups for water alone. I make a note to fill up my water bottle from the airport’s water fountain right before boarding a flight. If I run out, as I do on extremely long flights, I simply ask the hostess to fill me right up. I got my Miir water bottle here, made entirely out of stainless steel. You can get a similar product here. Additional impact: MiiR partners with non-profits and other organizations to provide clean water in Honduras, Southeast Asia, and throughout Africa with a portion of their profits. Tracking your impact allows you to know where exactly the impact is happening, and an individual tracking code is sent with each bottle. MiiR is also a B-corporation ensuring good environmental, social, and transparent practices in the making of MiiR products.

+ Have a re-usable coffee mug handy, at all times. Okay, so this is a bit too similar to the above, I know. However, since a major travel activity of me and Mike’s is to drink different specialty coffees from all around the world, you can bet that we carry our reusable Keep Cup’s with us. Especially useful when one needs an energizing drink to sip on whilst roaming around the city streets, or to grab a quick dose of the liquid stuff before catching a shuttle to the mountainside. Whatever your travel agenda, if you drink coffee, this is worth packing. The specific mug we own can be found here. Additional impact: here.

+ Tote around your own utensils. I actually traipse around every day with the following utensils in my purse at all times: a fork, a spoon, a knife, a metal straw, and a pair of wooden chopsticks. For who knows when one is going to need utensils? If a friend asks you to eat take-out (see next note on take-out), then you could easily whip out your handy dandy utensils to avoid icky plastic versions. I carry them around in one of these from Ambatalia, for the sake of cleanliness, but any pouch works well. Additional impact: These utensil rolls are made out of mostly scraps- the denim is always reclaimed and intended to inspire using your own, or thrifted utensils. They don’t use any plastic in the shipping of our products and they use at least 80% post-consumer paper in any promotional and shipping materials. Thoughtfully designed and ethically manufactured in California. And don’t worry, I don’t carry around my own plates and bowls too! But, speaking of such things…

+ Choose to dine-in at restaurants. Dining in, while a bit costlier than their take-out counterparts, reduces the need for carrying around your own plate and bowl. Mike and I try our best to dine-in both while traveling, and while at home. Part of the draw for me includes the absorption of the local’s cultures and behaviors. People-watching at a restaurant is considered an activity in itself, at least for introverts likes me. Especially over ice cream.

+ Exercise, exercise, exercise. Opt outside. Exploring all the natural wonders New Zealand had to offer was one of my favorite parts of the trip. For me, vacations include escaping city sounds and city lights and just enveloping myself in sights that I don’t get to see every day. Like a bird building its nest, or how a mountain meets a lake. Take note of everything Mother Nature has to offer. If you are anything like Mike, then what you crave is the city life in another country. Even so, get outside and walk, walk, walk. And when you can no longer walk…

+ Ride public transportation. There are some times when public transportation is just not feasible for visiting vast expanses of land in such a short amount of time. But whenever possible, let’s try to get to know the Metro, or the Subway, or the train! In New York, we solely used public transportation, despite the rain. Same with other large cities such as Munich, Auckland, and Queenstown. You see so much more of the city in that way. You notice the advertisements and billboards, and learn what’s popular at the time. You notice recycle bins, and maybe learn a thing or two about their recycling rules. As always, people-watching optional.

+ Support local stores. I already try to support local stores locally, but I like to carry this habit to other countries as well. Some of my favorite stores in New Zealand are local hole-in-the-wall, self-owned shops that carry ethically made products that are also ecofriendly. My favorite purchases from there include my every day grocery bag, and fruit and veggie mesh bags. Since then, I have never packaged produce in plastic. Additionally, it helps to always carry a backpack, just in case you want to purchase something while you’re out and about. My favorite backpack is this. Additional impact: here.

+ Leave behind travel size toiletries. Equally as important, say no to free hotel toiletries packaged in plastic. Resolution: Pack soap, shampoo, and conditioner, in bar form. If you just can’t learn to dig bar forms for everything, choose a reusable bottle option, and buy the stuff in bulk, to reduce plastic waste.

+ Pack a snack bag, pre-filled with your fave munchies. Lastly, because food is pretty important while traveling, I prefer to pack a snack. For flights especially. To avoid receiving those individually packaged peanuts and cookies. Even the meals, which I love, are packaged in plastic! On the way to Germany, Mike and I sat I the last row and denied water and food from the poor flight attendant, every time. The flight attendant felt she wasn’t doing her job well enough and kept asking, “Are you sure?” On the way out, we passed her and thanked her for her hospitality, and she joked, “Gosh you two were the most demanding passengers!” Well, maybe she wasn’t joking, I couldn’t be sure. But either way, we left an impression and made it a point to deny one-time use plastic. Which gets people thinking, and I’d rather leave that behind than a trail of travel evidence.

Minimalism: Letting Go of Sentimental Things

Today, I lost my wedding ring. With the dramatic plunges in temperature in SoCal lately (My God, it’s 60 degrees?!), my scrawny little fingers naturally got scrawnier as my body tried to conserve heat against this frigid winter. All joking aside, I DID note the day before that my ring was slipping through my fingers too easily for comfort, as of late. So when I was running errands today, in between going to Mother’s Market down the street and picking up the mail, my finger started to get a bit chilly. I looked down and it was no wonder why, because all of a sudden, all my fingers were bare. My first thought was, “Oops!” My second thought was, “Well, it was bound to happen anyway.” I was glad that I didn’t choose to spend my life’s savings on that band of gold, or worse, take out a loan for it, and neither was it new. There weren’t any gut twists with the realization that I had a naked finger all of a sudden. No heart-wrenching pulls at the heart strings. I’m not a robot I swear. It had emotional value, sure, but it’s nothing to get emotional about. I immediately thought of this other flimsy fake gold ring that I owned which I had bought in high school for $5, and figured, well, that’ll do.

Herein lies the power of minimalism.

When I tell people that I try to live a minimalist lifestyle, I usually get the response, “You mean, like living with nothing?”, or some other variation of this sort. I even had a friend joke, “Well good, because you have nice stuff, so you can just give all of that to me.” Sorry friend, but I still want to keep my stuff. The point of minimalism is not to own nothing. Rather, the point is to not let things own you.

The ability to own things control a lot of people’s state of being. How many people covet the newest gadget, so much so, that it is all they think about? They start to experience anxiety, waiting for something new, hoping to beat everyone else to buying it right after its release. How many people spend their money buying frivolous niceties, at the expense of working even more hours and giving up more of their precious time to the hamster wheel that so well represents our day to day life? How many people have an excess of stuff, so much so that they spend a lot of time putting them away, or looking for them in forgotten places? How many people buy MORE stuff in order to organize the stuff they already own? How many people get angry, sad, frustrated, upset, heartbroken, when things break or are lost? It sounds like the simplest idea, to not let things own you, but you wouldn’t believe how difficult it is to accomplish, especially when it comes to things with sentimental value.

We all have sentiment. It is part of what makes us human. Unfortunately, at a young age, we have been taught to tie that sentiment with things. I don’t know about you, but both my mom and Mike’s mom are very sentimental about things. I call my mom a hoarder all the time (jokingly off course, otherwise it wouldn’t be as funny). My parents pay a monthly fee for a fairly large storage unit to hold stuff that they never access. Hidden among the “just-in-case” items, are memories tied to random stuff. Embarrassing kid projects from our elementary school years, boxes and boxes of photograph books, even old furniture that my mom so loves, but no longer needs ever since they sized down from a four-bedroom two-story home to a tiny apartment. She has piles of artwork that I made when I was in high school, the not so good kind. They have all our plastic trophies from our AYSO soccer days. You know, the ones for participating? Barbie dolls, happy meal toys, children’s books, legos, you name it, and they will still have it. Recently, I told my dad I wanted to get into soccer again, and he offered to pull out my high school soccer cleats, after 11 years of dust and disuse. I appreciate the gesture, but, was it worth paying a monthly storage fee to be able to offer the shoes to me? I denied it anyways, and asked him to de-clutter it instead. To this day, it’s still there. My mom kept her wedding dress, her wedding china, her wedding favors, her wedding shoes, and more. When I got married, my parents paid for my dress. I found my Vera Wang dress for sale at a 60% discount of $500 at David’s Bridal. Still a ridiculous price to pay for a dress, in my opinion. After I got married, I offered to sell it for my parents, so that they could recoup their money. The style was still considered pretty recent, and I knew with the Vera Wang label, it would sell quickly. Since I got it for so cheap, I figure it would sell pretty close to what I bought it for. My mom was heartbroken and said she couldn’t part with it, this dress that wasn’t even hers. Since they paid for it, I said that off course, they could do what they wished with it. So now it sits in a box, somewhere, in an effort to preserve it like her own dress. She says I will appreciate her saving it one day, and maybe I will. Who knows, maybe I am too young to understand its sentimental value. But then again, maybe not.

The funny thing is that their sentimental value is only equal to the sentiment with which we attach to it. For example, a lot of people extremely value their wedding ring. But some upgraded their preciouses a couple of times over the course of their lifetime. So they must have had a lot of sentiment towards the first ring, but when they decided it was “time to upgrade”, they stopped feeling the same sentimentality towards the first one. And again and again with each upgrade. Similar to a high school kid loving his first car, and then disposing of it once he feels like he has a stable job and has “earned” a brand new ride. If we can change the sentimental value of an object that easily, then why is it so hard for us to lose certain things?

I know plenty of people who would bemoan the loss of their wedding ring. The soaking of their valued photographs. The breaking of their expensive gadgets and toys. Some people enter a state of agony. We think we can’t replace these things, but in actuality, we can. Want to know what we can’t replace?

Time.

People.

Glaciers.

Extinct species.

Real memories.

Our memories are stored in our brains, and metaphorically, in our hearts, not in our things. I will never forget the night we got married, until time takes away my ability to remember anything at all. Likewise, if I lose a wedding ring, it doesn’t mean I love my husband less. These are important things to know. Because until we can remove the sentimentality from our things, our things will still be able to control us, in one way or another. Minimalism is funny in that respect. You surround yourself with only things that you love, yet with an understanding that you will be okay parting with everything you own. If my house burned down today, I would be fine with losing everything in it. I know this may sound super insensitive in the light of recent California brushfires, but honestly, this is true. So many people will make a long list of what they need to grab in case of a fire. Family heirlooms, photographs, certificates, trophies, and whatever else. Usually, people gravitate towards things with sentimental value. But they’re still just things. As long as my husband and family and friends are safe, then I can let go of all the things. I know I have it in me to rebuild my life again from scratch. And I think THAT is a very empowering thing.

When I lost my wedding ring, I informed my husband via text, then proceeded with my errands. After I was finished with my errands, I came home and calmly walked upstairs to check our room. Not to be found there, I walked back to Mother’s Market, and then to the mail area. Still I could not find it. So I went home. I emptied my purse, and there was my ring, at the bottom of my Sseko bucket bag. And I thought to myself, “Good thing I didn’t cry about it.” When my husband got home from work, I told him I found my ring and he said, “Yeah, I was going to text you to say don’t worry about it. You can always get another one.” Life, as it should be.