Hidden Treasures at the Street Fair

One of my favorite things about Tucson is the 4th Avenue Street Fair that comes to Tucson every spring. It is fun to walk down 4th Avenue and browse the tents full of fresh, fun, and funky arts, crafts, and goods for sale. It's always a good time with friends!


The 4th Street Fair is free entertainment! Plus, you get the chance to be outside as spring hits and catch a bit of a tan. It's kind of like a big treasure hunt, and provides hours of fun and entertainment for free (that is, if you pack your own food & water). And don't forget the people-watching.

Ashley and I bring some cash for food, the kind of greasy fair food that really only tastes good when it is sold out of a stall window, you know, fry bread, kettle corn and pulled-pork sandwiches!


Oh yeah, and we look for one or two unique items to bring home.

This year, I stumbled upon two new vendors that were my favorite at this year's street fair, both for totally different reasons:

• Black Canyon Restorations
  Black Canyon Restorations, in their own words, "try to salvage as much material as possible before it goes to the landfill. We use old windows, molding, glass, hardware, stove parts, bed frames, barn wood, railings and many other materials that are incorporated into the design and assembly of our products." Reduce, reuse, recycle, and look good doing it!
  
  Perfect! Black Canyon Restorations has artsy, unique pieces that we just fell in love with!Plus, they were reasonably priced! We bought a shelf to display my small collection of tea cups and saucers. I loved that the hooks were made from old silverware. It's unique, fun, and okay, it did make me feel a little heroic to support such a creative and environmental effort.

• Golden Designs
  With an event like the 4th Avenue Street Fair, there is a plethora of tie dye. It lured me in as I got lost in all the music and art. But after browsing through a number of tents exploding with tie dye, I finally found a vendor who tie dyed on clothing made in the U.S.A. Sold! I came out proudly with a tank top that was made in the U.S.A. and dyed by a small business owner!

We mark that off as a good day with a couple fun treasures!

Making Progress

I am celebrating one small victory this week.

Old Navy classically has their "Item of the Week," and once in a while it is a deal that will stop you in your tracks. Actually, it won't stop you in your tracks; it will make you rush straight to the mall to purchase the item that I didn't need 5 minutes ago, but now suddenly can't live without. That is how I ended with a $12 pair of skinny jeans in my closet this past October.

And now, temptation began to settle in again. Summer dresses for $15 at Old Navy, and endless commercials to remind me of this amazing deal.

I looked up the dress online and saw that it this fabulous summer fashion item was not made in the U.S.A., so I passed on it. I looked through Buffalo Exchange and American Apparel, and could not find a similar dress.

So at the end of the day, I ended up not purchasing a dress that I didn't need to start with. After all, there are 3 skirts and 4 dresses hanging in my closet at the moment.

I call this...progress.

Skip the Restaurant & Cook with Friends

So many of our social gatherings happen around food. We go out for coffee, for lunch, for dessert, for dinner. I looked back on a couple months of bank statements just to see what I spent on food other than groceries and I was surprised to find that I could make a car payment and one month of car insurance with all the money I spent at coffee shops, restaurants, and fast food joints.

It begins to feel like, "If I want to see my friends, I am going to spend a load of dough on going to restaurants."

And of course, it might seem weird if you continually suggest going on a picnic just so you can brown bag your lunch.

So is my only option to just become a hermit, a social pariah, so I can eat my peanut butter and jelly sandwiches of shame huddled in the corner of my living room?

My New Habit: instead of always meeting at a restaurant, invite friends over to make meals together.

However, cooking together is a whole new adventure! I have experienced so much more joy with my friends by trying a new recipe in the kitchen rather than ordering a new dish at the latest vogue bistro.

The perks of cooking together:

• Cooking together provides a shared experience that is unique to whoever is sharing it. You can't help but bond when you cook together
  
• The kitchen fills with laughter-wearing silly aprons and figure out what chopping a carrot julienne means


• It is a more cost-effective way to eat meal
  
• Cooking a meal together provides a natural conversation outlet
  
• There is someone who can help you do the dishes when all is said and done


• You have the ability to make healthier meals in realistic portions

Ideas of how to make it an ongoing adventure with friends:

• You can split up the ingredients list between friends
  
• Even lunch can become a "build your own" salad or sandwich at home


• Make it a challenge to see how inexpensive you can make your meals


• Take turns with friends bringing the recipe
  

And when the meal is done being prepared, there is a greater enjoyment when it is time to eat. I feel like I have earned my meal! I love that sense of accomplishment!

I also think I tend to take more joy in eating when I prepare my own meal. I mean, I spent all that time cooking, I'm not going to wolf down my food, I'm going to savor every bite I slaved over. Eating slowly prevents overeating since your stomach has time to catch up with your mouth, all in all helping me to eat healthy portions.

And just for fun, here are a couple of my favorite recipes to cook with friends:

• Neopolitan Macaroni & Cheese


• Tarragon Chicken Paillards & Salad


• Weight Watchers Old-Fashioned Chicken Pot Pie


• Shish Kababs (why not? just cut up red peppers, onions, pineapples, chicken, beef, or whatever else you like)

Ode to Richard J. Foster

It was when I read Richard J. Foster's Celebration of Discipline that I first was introduced to the discipline of simplicity. The ideas are so counter-cultural, and yet, make so much sense in my heart of hearts. It is our greed, lust, and insatiable thirst for "stuff" that can kill our capacity for joy and to live life to the full.

Living life to the full does not mean living life with our arms full of stuff. Though I prefer to live life with my arms full of Ashley!

Here are a few of my favorite quotes and my musings from that book:

"Simplicity is the only thing that can sufficiently reorient our lives so that possessions can be genuinely enjoyed without destroying us." (p. 74)

"...if what we have we believe we have gotten [for ourselves], and if what we have we believe we must hold onto, and if what we have is not available to others, then we will live in anxiety." (p. 77)

• This is such a vivid and descriptive idea: that our possessions have the power to destroy us. Rather, it is our perceived need to possess that gives our stuff power over us.




• If we put to great a value on our possessions, then we spend time worrying how to keep, preserve, and sometimes showcase our possessions because we don't know who we are without them.

• Giving our possessions the power to define who we are (an inanimate object giving meaning to our very purpose and the design of our souls) will ultimately fail us at our search for meaning, security, love, and purpose.
  

"We cling to our possessions rather than sharing them because we are anxious about tomorrow" (p. 78)

• This is the very idea of hoarding. It reminds me of Ebenezer Scrooge, who couldn't begin to spend all the money he had hoarded, but fear of the unknown caused him to sit on top of his wealth. Scrooge was bound, imprisoned, by his wealth.




• Didn't we all see that Scrooge was finally living a full life when he was able to let go of his wealth and possessions? His possessions no longer controlled or defined him.




• Clinging to stuff is opposite in nature of how we are to live. Cling to healthy relationships, to our loved ones, not to stuff.



• It is true, those who are able to share with others live with a lighter spirit because they are not consumed with wasting energy on figuring out how to hold onto possessions.

"Simplicity is freedom...Simplicity brings joy and balance." (pg. 9)

"To attempt to arrange and outward life-style of simplicity without the inward reality leads to deadly legalism." (pg. 70)

• I would go as far as to say that trying to arrange an outward life-style of simplicity without the inward can feed into an addiction for control.



• The need for control exists in most of us, and living by a strict set of lifestyle guidelines is a great way to feed, and temporarily satisfy that need for control, but it only makes the need for control greater in our life, and that is what will destroy us.

The inward reality, as Richard J. Foster describes, "is to seek the kingdom of God and the righteousness of His kingdom first--and then everything necessary will come in its proper order" (p. 75). It's like Stephen Covey's idea of putting first things first.

It is not fixing our outer environment in order to achieve inner peace and simplicity. It is letting our outward attitudes and surroundings to be a reflection of what exists inside of us.

To seek God first is to live simply. He is consistent in character, unwavering in His love, and wills what is good in my life.

To seek control first is to live in the oppression of our spirits of our own devising. I am inconsistent in character, my loyalties and love are moslty conditional, and I often cannot see what is good or bad until after the fact.

Foster, R.J. (1978). Celebration of Discipline: The path to spiritual growth. New York: Harper & Row, Publishers.

Cha-Ching with Change

I realized pretty quickly that when I started working in all cash (instead of cards), that I ended up with a lot of change by the end of the day.
Time to bring back the piggy bank! At the end of every day, I empty the wallet, pockets, and car consul and throw all the change in a tin.



I consider change as money spent or unusable, even when it is still in my wallet. So, it just builds through the day and through the weeks!



If you want to take it a step further, you can put a little post it on the "bank" that could indicate something specific you are saving for, like "shoes" or "Disneyland."


I, however, am not that good and tend to let the change build up for 2 months, and usually find there was an unplanned expense of some sort (like a recent parking ticket I received) and use the money to pay for that.


I'm a fan of the Coinstar machines at the grocery store. I just dump all my coins in the machine, take my receipt to customer service, and get cash. However, it does take around an 8% cut for doing the counting for you, so if you are wanting to keep that 8% then use that mindless television-watching time to roll those coins.


The biggest treat is seeing how that change builds up, and all of a sudden I have extra money that would have easily been spent if I used my debit card rather than cash.