Welcome to my first installment of the Monday lunch blog. More on this later...

Last week my other half asked me why I've suddenly become so interested in natural and organic cosmetics. I had just come home with Burt's Bees shampoo and conditioner, a mineral salt deodorant and some natural creams and lotions. Looking up some ingredients on Skin Deep: Cosmetic Safety Database, I discovered some unfavourable and increasingly risky items in two of my new purchases and started to complain. It was difficult to express, to begin with, why I was choosing the most toxic-free products I could get my hands on. Besides the obvious health and environmental impacts, I can't bear knowing I'm using something bad for me, especially if I just spent $10 on it. Let's face it, it's not cheap.

The other day I was out with a friend and picked up a Subway sandwich to share for dinner. Assuming we'd share the drink — I don't normally get one but expected to be wandering the art gallery for awhile — we got a straw. Unwrapping it, I realised the waste involved: a plastic straw and a thin plastic sheath covering it would be thrown out when I was finished. I didn't even need a straw. We came to the conclusion that bottles (this one was glass; I would have it no other way) should be made like sippy cups.

The sandwich came wrapped in what I can only assume was coated paper, and inside a plastic bag with a couple napkins. All of it ended up in the trash. (I took the juice bottle home and will recycle it when finished.)

So all this got me thinking, fast food sure generates tons of waste!

Forgive me. I've been meaning to write.

I've been working full time for about a month now doing what I love to do — web design — and I got to thinking it's probably time to make my blog the main interest, rather than my design portfolio. (Speaking of which, I really ought to update it!) I had intended to make an entrance page where one can choose one's direction, but couldn't settle on a design. If I do put my blog at the forefront, I'll certainly have to write more, won't I? and take more pictures! I have all these ideas that generally make little snippets.

"Everything you LOVE about QUAKER OATMEAL," it says inside a graphical ribbon on the front. An illustrated steaming bowl of oatmeal and a poorly-drawn sprig of what appears to be wheat. (Brilliant.)

Oatmeal to Go: Brown Sugar & Cinnamon Oatmeal Squares. Sounds delicious, right? Its soft, dense texture just waiting to be handled like a moist oatmeal cookie. At the time, I succumbed more to the curiosity than the anticipation of pleasure; that and I knew I didn't want my dearest eating this crud but I couldn't bear to throw it out. So, I ate it. And it was good.

Not.