Happy Earthday

hi everyone!

hope you all had a nice weekend!I have been in North Carolina since last Friday..and sick since last Wednesday. Gross. Everyone said I have allergies,but I dunno. My body was just tired, my throat was achy and congested, my eyes watered..which turned into...pink eyes, losing my voice, sneezing, funky mucus (sorry) and a wicked cough..GROSS..

you are probably wondering why I went to North Carolina feeling like this..I am Native American and my tribe is the Haliwa Saponi tribe. This past weekend was our tribes pow-wow. We are the 3rd largest tribe in the state of North Carolina..we obtained our State Recognition in April of 1965(thus we always have our pow wows the 3rd weekend of April). Currently, we are not Federally recognized(we must be able to trace back our ancestry to the 1500's..which isnt fair..I've never heard of anyone else having to do that to prove they are who they are). Anyhoo, the powwow is all weekend long with dancing,song,crafts,etc. It is held where my mother went to an All Native American School (which is still standing and has reopened) prior to integration in the 60s. BTW, the school is now open to all races and religions:) So, it was important for me to see my family, reconnect with my culture (its strange..I feel.. Americanized..I dont speak a lick of our langugage, I can do a bit of jingle dress dancing, but I am terrible at beading and basketweaving..Im just a bit out of touch due to not being raised around my culture)..

In addition to pow-wowing...Happy Earth Day! I'm hoping you savy beauties are Earth Conscious everyday as I try to be..our earth is in such a scary state! I know that after I left college I wasnt nearly as Earth Friendly as I had been in the past. I believe last Aprils Earth issue of Vogue really was a wake up call for me. There was an article on how long it takes a plastic bag to break down and its really..astonishing!! From that point forward, I began taking my own canvas bags to the store (heehee..I just picked up a Anya Hindmarc (I'm Not a Plastic Bag) canvas tote in Chinatown, its adorable), some stores give you a few cents back for using your own bags, which is an added perk!) I also recycle just about everything that I can!!When I finish up magazines, I leave them in our laundromat for others to read or take them to Art teachers at local schools to use for projects. I take the bus to work everyday(its $11 a week versus $10 a day!! and I get to catch up on my reading)..I've also started using those corkscrew bulbs that are energy efficient. While I was at WalMart in NC, I noticed that in their frozen food aisle that the lights in the freezers turned on as I walked toward them..a way of saving energy!I was HIGHLY impressed. They even had CDs with minimal packaging/plastic (I picked up a Best of Sheryl Crow cd that was in a sturdy paper envelope..there was a paper for 3 free mp3 downloads inside of the envelope and the piece of paper actually contained seeds that could be planted..how neat?!?)...

ok,my bunny slippers and I are back to bed! Hope you are having a fab Tuesday!!