A Week in Words and Photos

Last week's farmer's market gold...

...makes this week's best arugula pesto.

Perfect for pasta!

A perfect rustic homemade mixed berry pie... recipe coming soon!

I finally got around to beautifying the outside of my home. A little potted 

plant goes a long way in making our house look inhabited and such!

I found these little guys poking their heads out in my front garden. Surprise flowers - one of the joys of spring!

I also wanted to share the trailer for this documentary that I am dying to see. The movie comes from the director of The Nutty Professor and Bruce Almighty among other comedies but is an entirely different brand of film. Tom Shadyac's new documentary entitled "I Am" is all about fixing what's wrong with our world, harnessing our power to help other human beings, and improving our lives in the process.

Mike showed me the trailer a few weeks ago and got me interested. Then Shadyac made it to Oprah this past Wednesday and, after watching his interview, I knew I had to see this movie. This man went from living in a multi-million dollar mansion to a mobile home. He renounced a majority of his possessions and abandoned the cultural notion that we are primarily consumers. In the process, Shadyac gained a more profound and essential understanding of the world and our exact place within it. I'm not sure just how much of this anti-consumerist framework is brought to the film, but it looks like an amazing documentary regardless.The sad thing is, it has yet to come to Baltimore and isn't scheduled to be showing in my neck of the woods anytime soon. I'm crossing my fingers in the hopes that this will change! Has anyone been fortunate enough to see I Am yet?

There's also a great post from Milla over at The Girl Who Married A Bear that touches on a lot of these issues. She talks about intentional living and voluntary simplicity and how having the skills to make things for yourself, rather than having the money to buy them, is a great source of empowerment. I absolutely love what she's got to say about consumption, financial security, self-reliance, and so much more.  I strongly encourage anyone and everyone to stop by her blog for a look!

Hope everyone had a great week! I had my bachelorette party on Saturday night which was an amazing time, even though I'm usually not one for the party scene. A bunch of my friends and I went out for Mexican, then rented a private karaoke room for the night. It was more fun than I could have possibly anticipated and was the perfect bachelorette activity for me. What were you up to this Easter weekend?