Ann Arbor- mainly Zingermans

We ventured to Ann Arbor last week, a short hour drive from Toledo. It was Steven and my first time in the city. Steven's dad graduated from the University of Michigan, so it was nice to visit.

We started off downtown near Catherine St. We were headed to the best deli in America (well in my humble opinion, but I bet you can find at least a 1,000 others who agree), Zingermans.

Some deli deliciousness 

The incredible chocolate selection

patiently waiting for their food

and it arrives! That's a ton of food, by the way.

Yum!

And that's their famous corned beef sandwich.

Les Mis Visitors: Providence Style

We had a wonderful week in Providence. The weather was great and the visitors were even better. Kristin, Ben, and Jonathan arrived on Friday. Steven's mom, Laura, came on Saturday along with some cousins from Boston.

Here's a picture during our "self-guided" tour of the Rhode Island State House.

Our biggest fans at the Friday evening performance.

Yes, this was our 2nd lunch in a row at Nice Slice. But boy was it delicious. This time I had a zucchini slice. 

Steven's cousins were there for the Saturday matinee and his mom for the Saturday evening performance. Here's a picture from our lovely dinner in between shows.

Another pit picture, almost a year later. Today, the day I'm writing this post, is our 1 year anniversary at Les Mis.

With Steven's mom after the Saturday show.

Ogallala Aquifer

Nebraska got a huge win today as President Obama announced that the Keystone Pipeline's route through Nebraska would be delayed as they researched new options. 

The reason this issue is so important to me is pretty obvious. For many of you, this may not be something you know anything about, so I'm here to fill you in.

The Canadian company, Transcanada Corp, is trying to build a pipeline to get oil from Canada to Texas. 

The proposed route was supposed to go directly over the Ogallala Aquifer. This aquifer is a shallow, vast underground water table that spans 8 states. These states depend on the water from this aquifer for drinking and irrigating farm land. 

In 2010, TransCanada completed a major pipeline — the Keystone — which runs from Alberta to Illinois. The company is now planning a second line, called the Keystone XL, that would run from Alberta to Nebraska with an extension from Oklahoma to the refineries on the Gulf Coast.

The Department of State calls the area that the proposed pipeline will pass over "environmentally sensitive." Being a Nebraskan, I would agree with this statement. Moving the oil to Texas is the main issue at hand for the pipeline, however I think people's health and safety should come before this. I applaud the Obama administration and hope that the new proposal won't scar this vital aquifer.

If you want to read more about this issue, NPR has a story HERE

Charity Research: Kiva

The first question my aunt had was, "how are you going to research the charities?"

Oh, I hadn't thought of that. So today I set out with the help of my trusty friend google.com to experiment and see what I come up with.

I decided to start with the charity Kiva. It has it's own website kiva.org. The slogan on the website is, "empower people around the world with a $25 loan." Initially this sounds great to me. $25 is about the right amount of money for someone like me to give. So let's find out more about this charity.
Kiva was founded in 2005 and is based in San Francisco, CA. Its mission is to connect people with lending to alleviate poverty. The goal here is to allow people the opportunity to create a better life for themselves. I learned when reading The Blue Sweater that people will be more invested in their project and making it successful if they are lent the money instead of receiving a gift. It makes them have pride in themselves and what they're doing. Kiva claims that 100% of every dollar they receive goes to micro-finance loans. They do not take a cute. (this seems to be going in the right direction). They do not charge interest on these loans.

Kiva's staff at their San Francisco headquarters

Ok I must digress here. Obviously this book The Blue Sweater had a huge impact on my thinking in regards to philanthropy and especially micro-finance loans. The author's view is that interest should be charged. This way the philanthropy stays afloat and is not always looking for handouts and you are holding the people accountable for the money you are lending. The author doesn't mean charging them an exorbitant amount, but enough to show that you are serious. I'm not saying that I disagree with Kiva's idea to not charge interest, but I do think it's worth noting.

Something I do like about this organization is that they have Field Partners who are in charge of the process of administering these loans. That means that someone is out there making sure the ideas are sound and the people are serious. This is much better than sending over checks. Face to face time is a must.

taken from Kiva.org. 2 Domican Republic girls pose for Kiva Field Partner.

Now I must leave Kiva's website and find out what other information exists on this company. In a NY Times article, they criticize Kiva for slick marketing that makes people think they have control over who they are giving the money to. Meaning, you would sign up to give $25 to a baker in Nairobi but that money is actually just sent to a pool of money that is then given out by those Field Partners. I'm not too concerned with this negative press. The money is still going to a good cause. And since this article is dated (2009), this wording has been changed on Kiva's website. This same article goes into a long winded discussion about exemptions and tax status, which to be honest, I'm not that concerned about.
The other articles that pop up when searching Kiva are from individual donors who are enthusiastically promoting the charity.

Bottom line: I like the idea of micro-finance loans. I think Kiva is a solid organization to invest in. 

One thing I think about is, do I want to help globally or locally? Kiva is a global organization. It's helping someone thousands of miles from me. Yes, it's a third world country and we have a duty to help them, but our own country has people who need help to. Obviously, it's a personal choice. One I'm probably going to ponder my whole life.

Christmas Idea

My Aunt Pat came up with a great idea for this Christmas, we are going to donate to charities in lieu of doing gifts. This is fantastic because none of us really NEEDS anything and we all have to spend so much money shipping it to a zillion different places. So I had a clever idea to do a little post about each of the potential charities that are on my list. I also welcome suggestions! It's not like we're going to be donating a huge amount of money, but I still believe that properly education oneself about charities is important. I recently read the book "The Blue Sweater" by Jaqueline Novogratz where she explores the area of philanthropy with specific regard to Africa. In her travels and research she witnessed how many times the philanthropic organization was more concerned with themselves and their image than the people they were helping. This actually caused some places to end up worse off after receiving the charity. My first post on this subject will be coming soon. For now, I thought I'd show you how Blue State Coffee in Providence is letting their clientele decide what charities they support.

When you purchase a drink at Blue State you are given a token. With that token you are able to place your vote for which local charity you want Blue State to support.

Here are Will and Steven casting their votes. Being avid NPR listeners, they went for the local station. 

Winter is coming, so learn a new scarf technique

Here's your host for this post, Will Curry. He so graciously offered his expertise on this new scarf technique as taught to him just a few minutes before by the sock shop lady.

First, start with the scarf folded in half.

Then put around your neck just like Will is doing.

Then place just ONE end through the loop. Hang on to that loop.

Twist the loop just like Will.

Now put the other end through the twisted loop.

And here's the finished product. I think it looks a bit like a braid or something. It lays super flat and is more interesting than the usual both ends through the loop.

Fall in Providence

It was a beautiful fall day here in Rhode Island and we took a little walk to the Brown University area of the city.

The first Baptist Church in America (or so the sign said)

In case you didn't know where we were.

Steven and Jill eat at a pizza place, how original. 

Oh, but wait this pizza was original. That's a cranberry, almond, spinach, feta slice on the left and a tomato, pesto slice on the right. So good!

We may have encountered the cutest shops in this area. And yes, I purchased that headband. It was too good to pass up and perfect with my new Zenni Optical glasses.

And for a little good luck, lady bug socks. This brand of sock, K. Bell, are the best. Forget it, HotSocks, I will not purchase you anymore. You get holes in just a couple wearings.