Just Jax

JAXTUNES: Story behind 'What Child is This?' NEW track for Christmas!!!

2011-12-01T08:40:00.000-08:00

Hey Guys!

I've just released my first Christmas track and I'm super excited about it! What Child is This? is a carol set to the traditional English folk song, Greensleeves... A song I've been in love with my whole life.

I have a small wooden jewellery box that's been with me for as long as I can remember. I believe one of my Uncles gave it to me when I was a baby but I'm not 100% sure on that...Will need to check with the Mothership on that one. Regardless of how it came to me, this jewellery box is one of my most beloved treasures. You turn it over, wind it up, open the lid and a creaky little music box tinkers out Greensleeves over and over again. It has helped me to sleep countless times and been a special place for keepsakes over the years. Especially the part that holds the music box... The flap over top of it can pop off, making it a perfect place for hiding truly top secret stuff... Things that as a young girl I didn't want anyone else to see, especially not my Dad who liked to organize my room from time to time! Ha!

Greensleeves has a good history with me so it seemed only appropriate to suggest What Child is This? to Vic as our first Christmas song. Luckily he immediately fell in love with it too! I knew he would. It had so much potential to be turned into something super vibe-y and moody, which is right up Vic's alley! He wasn't too thrilled at the idea of doing a bunch of cheesy Christmas tunes... so when I presented this old, melancholy melody he was overjoyed to get started!

Quick extra side note:
I didn't think I could love Greensleeves anymore until I found these two things:
1. A Sarah McLachlan version of What Child is This?...Oh I could just die!
2. This write up on Wikipedia about how there is a theory that Greensleeves was written by Henry the 8th for Anne Boleyn! Hello! One obsession just met another and I am in heaven! I really hope that's true... Probably isn't, but I'll believe it anyway... Because it makes me happy. Oh that Anne!

But back to the track,... Here is the final product... I hope you enjoy it! I am so happy to have had the opportunity to put my own personal spin on something that's meant so much to me. I am excited to look into more old songs to see what other ones we could add some vibes too. I think we're onto something here!

Thanks for reading and listening!
Be sure to let me know what you think of the song by writing a comment below!

Cheers!
XoXoXo
J

Purchase tune on CD Baby @ What Child is This?
Or on itunes @ What Child is This?
For more of my music check out: Jaxtunes

JAXTUNES: My CD is on Digital Hit's Christmas Gift Guide!!!

2011-11-25T17:54:00.000-08:00

Check it out!!!

Digital Hit's Christmas Gift Guide

YAY!!!

JAXPERSONAL: Skewed Christmas!

2011-11-21T14:30:00.000-08:00

Check it out!

Skewed Xmas

JAXPERSONAL: Hit Dr. M... Do it.

2011-10-17T18:39:00.000-07:00

When we moved recently I needed to take down the, "Wish it...Dream it...Do it" from the wall... I had some FUN!

Yes, I am four. LOL!

JAXPERSONAL: I love Michelle Phan! XoXoXo

2011-10-14T13:11:00.000-07:00

I just adore her... I was going through her videos today because I have to get ready for a VIFF party this evening, (I always turn to her tutorials for makeup guidance) when I found this one! I am definitely going to try this out!

She's the best!

Note: It's a tad out dated... This is an old video, so I don't think the 'tag' thing is still going on... BUT no reason not to check out Ecoimagination... I know I am! I'm excited to read about the various green inventions! Thanks Michelle, you satisfied my green side and my girly beauty needs all in one video! How does she do it?!

JAXFILM: Fun Green Find!

2011-10-13T13:46:00.000-07:00

My good friend Kryshan Randel is a fab director and he just sent me his latest green creation...

I LOVE IT!!!

These kids rock!

JAXPERSONAL: Sick Vengeance!

2011-10-11T18:16:00.000-07:00

I want to know where this cold came from.

I want to know where its family lives.

I want to wait just outside its home.

When it leaves to assault my nose with more sneezing and my sinuses with more pressure, I will sneak into its home and take away from it that which it holds dear.

That is all.

~ Ian Evans

Thank you Ian, I couldn't of said it better myself... watch out sinus infection, I will get you back for this...

JAXPERSONAL: Romantic Kittens

2011-09-08T11:11:00.000-07:00

Aw! My girls just crack me up!

JAXPERSONAL: Mom always said don't play with your food...

2011-08-28T11:11:00.000-07:00

I clearly was slow on the pick up...
Introducing my latest creation...

TUCKER!!!

Random?
Yes...
Makes me happy?
Yes again...

JAXPERSONAL: Shoe love

2011-08-27T19:19:00.000-07:00

There are no words...

JAXFILM: A Hot Doc! - 'How to Cook Your Life'

2011-08-27T16:29:00.000-07:00

Trailer provided by Video Detective

I loved this documentary. I watched this today after making a particularly yummy omelette for myself...

"This charming doc takes its time while focusing on food, but highlights larger lessons that audiences will reflect upon long after leaving the theater."
~ Rotten Tomatoes

IMDB page for the film

JAXFILM: New Info Find!

2011-08-26T15:51:00.000-07:00

Today my man sent me a text about looking into Planet in Focus... He figured it was right up my alley... He was right.

I checked it out and the main 'Info Find' that has me very excited is this resource: Green Screen

I have been looking for something like this for some time now. I have yet to go through the material but impatient as always I just HAD to share it with you here and on Twitter etc!

I'll definitely be using this program when shooting my next project! I'll be sure to document how it all goes.

Cheers guys!

JAXPERSONAL: Political cat

2011-08-08T10:55:00.000-07:00

Chanel would not budge from that spot until he was finished speaking.

JAXFILM: Story of Stuff

2011-03-06T18:22:00.000-08:00

I love this! Enjoy...

JAXPERSONAL: Wax Seal fun!

2011-02-15T16:48:00.000-08:00

I've been having fun with a birthday present recently...Check it out!

JAXPERSONAL: Valentine's Day Cards

2011-02-13T17:49:00.000-08:00

Happy Valentine's Day tomorrow!

I made these cards with my friend Sarah. It was good crafting fun!

JAXFILM: Get Your Sweater On!

2011-02-11T15:59:00.000-08:00

This is my latest directing/producing endeavour. I did this to promote World Wild Life's Sweater Day coming up on Feb, 17th. It was loads of fun to shoot!!!

JAXPERSONAL: What is it about coffee shops?

2010-12-11T13:38:00.000-08:00

There are so many of them...And we all have a favorite place we call our own, where we go to sit and sip our lattes and our herbal teas...Some of us hoping to meet that perfect stranger who will change our lives forever, some of us longing for company and finding comfort around the presence of strangers...Some of us investing much needed time and chit chat with long lost friends and lovers. There are the first dates and the break ups...Sometimes right beside each other.

I once sat in between a couple deciding to divorce and a couple on a first date. To my left was all heaven and giggles and rocket ships and to my right was bitterness, despair, discomfort and resentment. As I eavesdropped between the two, swaying between bliss and heartbreak I couldn't help but feel like I was in the middle of some kind of story arc, as if I was the middle section of a novel. I had physically found myself between a beginning and an end.

Maybe it's because there's so much history of intense life conversations happening in coffee shops that they naturally draw us in...because they are just vibrating with life. Sort of like when you go into a very old building and feel all the souls that have passed through and the weight of emotion it's carried.

When I visited Notre Dame in Paris I broke into tears immediately upon entering. I had no clue at first why I was over come with such emotion but over come I was and cry I did, HARD...And interestingly enough, no one there seemed to be at all phased by it. I had the distinct feeling that this was quite common. I later realized I cried because I could feel all the tears that had been shed in that building, all the important moments, the huge feeling that was consistently lapping against its stone and like water erodes a surface after enough time, so had all those years of human emotion. The place was drenched in emotion and it hit me all at once, like a wall.

Hmm...Perhaps way in the future, if this little coffee shop I am in right now isn't paved over with a Super store there will be a young girl in search of herself who enters and bursts into tears, feeling the divorces, the first dates, the longing, the loneliness etc...Of course she'll be able to recover quickly...in time to order her non-whip, mocha to go...Ah progress!

Extra note: I wrote this a while back but never posted it. I guess it's a tad silly...It's kinda flakey but I just re-read it now and there's something about it that I think maybe is worth sharing...So silly as it is, here it is. And I thought I'd add a fun find: This is a coffee shop that I just adore!!! It's in an old heritage building and when I'm there with my love I feel like I am in Europe...Ah shoot! the website is under construction, ah well, I'll post it here anyways because it has the address and I'm telling you, you gotta go check it out!

Caffe Cittadella

JAXFILM: ~ Zooey Deschanel & Joseph Gordon Levitt ~

2010-10-30T17:48:00.000-07:00

Gotta love these 2 ~>

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17KUOQOlt8E

And...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ln29hZ9hhZ0&feature=related

JAXFILM: BP Spills Coffee ~ SO FUNNY!

2010-06-29T19:56:00.000-07:00

This is SO funny I just had to post it! Please watch! So good!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2AAa0gd7ClM

JAXTUNES: My EP "Elevator Goodbyes" Is Now Available At CD Baby

2010-06-18T15:03:00.000-07:00

JAXPERSONAL: A speech I wrote 2 years ago

2010-05-25T12:58:00.000-07:00

Hello my name is Jaclyn A. Smith and I am the producer, director, and writer of “Flicking the Lights off.” A public service announcement I made for W.W.F’s Earth Hour based on a particular video that was quite popular on You tube recently. I am not an expert on any area of the environment, nor am I a scientist…I am an individual who is absolutely terrified of Global Warming…Scared out of my mind…Stay up late and can’t stop thinking about it kind of scared…That’s who I am…And that’s pretty much the reason I made this short...But let me explain that a little more…

When I was a little girl I remember a time when the local golf club had sold and then cleared a patch of land. They got rid of all the trees to build these matchbox houses. And I remember driving by that area and feeling this pit in my stomach. I remember it feeling so wrong to me, instinctively wrong. And around that same period of time we were driving a friend of mine home from dance classes and on the way to her house we always passed this factory. I watched the clouds of waste billowing out of the tall smoke stacks, and I remember that turning my stomach as well. It just didn’t make sense to me. If trees were what filtered the air and we were cutting them down and at the same time pumping pollution into the sky, wouldn’t we be running out of clean air soon? But I remember thinking…Well there’s something that I’m not getting because I’m a kid. The adults know something that I don’t and when I’m an adult, I’ll understand. Well I became an adult (sort of) and I still didn’t understand. So I started to educate myself more on what was happening. And the more I learned the more disheartened I felt…The more helpless and thus the more afraid. Not a nice feeling…So here I was up at night, not sleeping thinking about global warming and I thought to myself, I have 2 choices: ignore it or take action

So naturally I ignored it. Seemed like the easier thing to do at the time…But as probably most of you in this room know it doesn’t really work…The fear stays because the helplessness stays and I don’t know about you but it’s pretty hard to unlearn something. Once you know something it’s in there…It’s kind of like when I tried to hold onto my belief in Santa Claus after my friend at school enlightened me. Kept thinking I could re-convince myself…I tried but that information was locked in there. So obviously ignoring the problem wasn’t working…

So out of complete selfishness and a desire to alleviate the growing pit in my stomach I decided to try the other option out, take action. ‘Flicking the Lights off’ is the result of that effort and let me tell you…What a relief. Action = a lessening of helplessness and that in turn lessens fear, which frees you to take even more action and thus the cycle continues. Wish I had known that earlier. Plus bonus…when you take action those around are inspired and they take action and pretty soon you’re a part of this team…And you start to feel the power of when people come together to solve problems. And it’s a great feeling…You start to feel that anything is possible. My mother always says to me that any problem can be solved and any goal reached through the use of three things: Positive thinking, creativity and teamwork. I experienced that with this short and I’m continuing to experience it on the larger scale with people like you coming together to stop global warming.

Global Warming is something that is a huge topic of concern obviously for people of my generation and younger...Whenever I’m at social functions it always comes up in discussion. And what I find is that most of the people I talk to, they too have this feeling of helplessness. They tell me they’re discouraged and feel that this is too large a problem for them as individuals to take on…Something I’m sure many people have felt throughout history when facing similar seemingly insurmountable problems…And of course similar to my experience their helplessness then produces fear, which in turn feeds their lack of action.

The way I see it, the first step to solving this problem is making individuals feel capable. We need to inspire and make individuals feel they are able to do something about Global Warming. It’s used in companies all the time. Promote confidence in your employee’s abilities and they will work harder and be more productive. We need to empower the individual, the consumer, the voter. Individuals hold the power. If enough individuals create a demand for change then those in power in order to stay where they are will have to listen. If enough individuals demand less environmentally harmful products then companies will change their products or create new ones to meet those demands in order to stay ahead. Demand starts with consumers and voters. It starts with individuals like you and I creating new habits and demanding more through our actions of our government and of these corporations.

Of course this seems pretty obvious and I know I’m preaching to the choir here but I find more often than not people forget their power. The way to remind them I think, is to let them know they are part of a team, that their creative voice will be heard and to promote positive thinking. Hope is the key here. You throw too many problems my way, too much negativity and I will shut down. I will tune you out. But if you make it fun and funny and inspiring I’ll be on board, I’ll remember what you said and I’ll personalize it. We all know those Mac/PC ads. Those adds stick, they stick…People now ask the question when meeting each other, “Hey, are you Mac or PC?” Talk about a successful campaign. Now how great if we could do this with environmental messages and have people ask each other, “Hey, are you flicking the lights off?” Get to people through positive reinforcement and humor. With the information age and this global access to everything we are bombarded with negative imagery and facts about what’s happening in our world and so it comes as no surprise that through things like You tube people search for comic relief. What better way to reach people and particularly young people and get them educated and motivated to take action than through the kinds of humor that they’re seeking out.

I have a very firm belief that the human race can come together to fix this. I believe in our ability to change, adapt and move forward and I know when we do come together and put aside our differences to save our home we will see a great time in history unfold. Just look at what we’ve done in the past. Through out history we have created massive changes that we felt were necessary for us to evolve and move forward. In the last century alone there are countless examples of this.

What better thing to unite us? What better motivator for us to put aside our differences, our prejudices and our various conflicts than coming together as a team to save our Eco system?

I wished I could do something…I dreamed of doing something…but most importantly I went ahead and did something…
Wish it…dream it…do it….
Positive thinking, creativity and teamwork
Take action, you have no idea the impact you can have as an individual until you try.

JAXTUNES: Behind The Scenes: EP Cover Photo Shoot

2010-05-25T12:49:00.000-07:00

Something fun to share.
It was cold that day!
A big thank you to Devin and Natalee for making me look so great!!! And for keeping me warm!

JAXART: My Art Part 1

2010-03-06T19:11:00.000-08:00

JAXTUNES: Great new song find!

2010-02-17T23:59:00.000-08:00

Hey Guys,

Check this guy out:

http://www.myspace.com/jasonpoulsen

Be sure to click on 'Where Are You Girl?'

I'm in love with this song!

XoXoX

JAXPERSONAL: Answer

2010-02-10T16:46:00.000-08:00

I sat and starred

We had tasted snow together

I sat as he cut me

My throat, my eyes, my tongue

Sweet stings that won't fade

I sat, until raw

My blood soaked dress heavy

I sat frozen, with arms outstretched

As he left

And silence answered

JAXPERSONAL: Sailor

2009-12-18T11:35:00.000-08:00

This is a picture of my friend Sailor. Together we tackled my fear of riding. Something I'd always wanted to do and never did since it was my brothers thing. Although the main reason I didn't was because although I have grown up with them and on many an occasion helped to take care of them, I had only been on one once. And once was all it took to scare the crap out of me! It was a Halloween party and my brother was dressed as a knight. He was on his horse and asked if I wanted to jump on the back with him. So I was lifted up there. But Hudson hated the extra weight on his bum and so he started bucking. Hello terror!!

But...all these years later I decided I couldn't let the fear hold me back anymore and so I started taking lessons with this handsome fellow here. The most gentle of the gentle! And of course my teacher (my sister in-law) helped a lot too! She was super patient with me and was so encouraging. By the end of the summer Sailor and I had definitely found a rhythm. I even jumped! Of course it was a tad by accident. I steered him in the wrong direction toward a jump and he just went for it. But I was mighty proud of not falling off and so was my teacher!!!

Sailor passed away this last year. He was a very old man in horse years and had a great life, full of adoring students and lots of carrots! He was such a beautiful spirit and my dear friend. Thanks for getting me past my fear Sailor. I love you very much and I hope where ever you are there's lots and lots of carrots.

JAXPERSONAL: A tribute to my cat, the craziest of the crazy!

2009-12-15T17:06:00.000-08:00

Hard to get out of bed!!

Check out the weather! Grey today...

Talk back to the teacher!

Don't mess with me!!

Take that!!!!

Ha! I just love her!

JAXPERSONAL: Happy Holidays Everyone!!!

2009-12-15T16:23:00.001-08:00

Hope you have a great one!!!

JAXACTOR: Yes

2009-12-03T18:41:00.000-08:00

"...Let me state the opinion that a correctly functioning actor should ideally, be the healthiest, least neurotic creature on earth, since he is putting his emotional and sensory life to use by expressing it for an artistic purpose. If he is employed in the theater, he has an opportunity of making use of his anxieties, hostilities, pent up tenderness through an artistic expression. I think that perhaps the people who call us neurotic or vain or exhibitionistic are unaware how many talented actors are that way only because they are without work opportunities and therefore release their need for expression in alcohol or unreasonable behavior - or perhaps these people are jealous that when we do function we can do what they only dream of doing."

- Uta Hagen, Respect for Acting

Sums it up perfectly.

JAXPERSONAL: Thanks Nic

2009-11-29T13:55:00.000-08:00

One of my dearest friends in the world is Nicolas Kadima. He is a brilliant artist and a true gentleman. I adore him. His work is kinda like a drug to me. And his friendship lifts me up whenever I am down. Talking to him does something to me that I can only describe as,...Reuniting me with my artistic soul. Dramatic? Perhaps...In fact, most definitely...But hey we're artists! Drama is life!

Re-uniting me with my artistic soul...Now that's a friend! I find it hard these days to remember what I need to be happy...There are so many people and things and companies and societal rules giving me lists of 'To Do's to help me achieve bliss: Get married, have kids, have tons of money, be famous (because apparently that's the only way to be successful at my crafts), live in a fancy place, be fit, be super healthy etc etc etc... There are so many voices that my own seems to have drowned somewhere down in my belly...Or maybe she's all the way down to my feet by now.

But something happens when I speak with Nicolas...Something kinda pushes her back up...Like she hears his voice through the noise and sorta goes towards it. She comes up from my feet and jumps straight back into my heart and I am suddenly reminded that I need only a few things to be truly happy.

All JaX needs to be happy is simple:

LoVe and ArT

I need LoVe and ArT...Simple

Simple...

Thanks Nic

JAXTUNES: Random

2009-11-26T16:57:00.000-08:00

I LOVE this song!!!!

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xtj32_hide-and-seek-imogen-heap_music

I just can't get enough of it these days.

She's amazing.

That's it. Just felt a need to share that.

If you haven't heard this before...Enjoy!

JAXPERSONAL: A dip into darkness

2009-08-27T12:45:00.000-07:00

I am currently reading, ‘Eat, Pray, Love’ by the amazingly brave Elizabeth Gilbert. I had started this book many moons ago, back when it was all the rage. But quickly lost interest and moved onto other titles. I am an obsessive person by nature, an all or nothing girl. When I love a book it grabs me and I cannot let go of it. I cannot escape its world and I end up carrying it with me everywhere so that as soon as I have a second of down time I can jump back into it again. Honestly the first time I picked up this book, that didn’t happen.

However this time, for whatever reason it is happening. I am on that pilgrimage of self-discovery with her, every step feeling so familiar, so close to my own experience of depression and self- investigating. I guess timing really is everything.

Up to page 54 (where I have stopped to write this) Elizabeth bravely shares her battles with depression and loneliness. I have always had depression in my back pocket. He’s been there my whole life. While Elizabeth’s guy sits in her favorite chair and lights up a cigar, my guy is always opening a door and signaling for me to walk down that hallway into darkness with him.

But I’ve reached a point in my life where I am actually learning to embrace those times when the dark path draws me in. I know now having gone to the basement and perhaps even deeper with this route that there is a line not to cross. There is a point of ‘extremely hard return’ that I must not allow myself to get to. The funny thing is I’ve walked this path so many times in my life that almost like a border crossing I know exactly where that line is and I have recently had a personal triumph in that I was able to walk to it’s edge and then turn around.

I find this easier somehow, easier than fighting so hard not to go through the door in the first place. I am learning to embrace the sadness that is inside me and swim in it calmly knowing that I can leave it if I so chose. Luckily for me, I’ve assembled a stellar support group and tools to do so. I now know how to jump out.

But I wanted to write this because I admire her bravery in sharing this sort of desperation that we all experience as humans. I don’t think there is a soul on this planet that hasn’t experienced depression in some form or another. We’ve all swum in the darkness and so many of us unfortunately see this as a failing, a fault, and worse yet, think we are the only ones.

I think if more of us shared that we have bouts of darkness in our lives perhaps that collective loneliness and guilt would ease up. So I decided to write this simple, small Blog and post it. I am attempting to be brave like Elizabeth. To say that with all the beauty in this world I too have days when getting up seems impossible. And to add, that I’m discovering for myself a way for it to be okay to have those days.

I’ve stopped fearing him as an enemy and decided to create a friendship with the man who opens that door. And like in any healthy friendship, we’re establishing boundaries and respect with one another. So far, it’s working out for us.

JAXPERSONAL: Garden State Play time

2008-09-27T00:03:00.001-07:00

So I have this theory.

I think that we would all be happier if we never stopped playing.

Why do we stop? I remember when I was young, after school and on weekends playing for hours...playing until it was dark and I could no longer negotiate another second out of my mother.

Why did I ever stop that?

Well to be fair, I didn't really. My chosen profession is one that enables me to play my whole life. In fact it's a necessary skill of the craft. But even so, I only play while in class or on set/stage. I don't dare run into the play ground and play in broad day light in front of non-actors! Certainly not!

Unless:

a) I am drunk, the thing that I believe we use as adults to give us permission to play. Something we want to do and are perfectly capable of doing without it's help. Believe me I have witnessed not only myself but many a friend act like perfect idiots sans being intoxicated.

b) I am flirting with a guy and showing him how care free and CRAZY I am. Something I learnt attracts the opposite sex from movies like Garden State etc...

Side note: listening to the sound track now...Amazing!

c) I am playing with little ones. And to be clear, little ones that I know and not new little ones I've just met and want to play with. I have attempted this a few times and the parents or care taker looks at me like a guard dog and really, good for them, it is their job to protect but how sad for me not to be able to make a new friend.

But here's the thing why do I only play for the above reasons?

I think we should be able to go to play grounds built our size! I think that if everyone had a little more play time in their week we wouldn't be quite as stressed. And maybe once in a while instead of saying, "Hey want to grab a drink?" (Ah red wine...Sorry fell off my point there for a second...What was I saying?...Oh right)...We'd say, "Hey want to play?"

The reason for this pondering is that I was telling a story to a friend the other day about something interesting that happened to me and some girl friends a while back. I will now share this story with you so you know where this 12:30 am ramble is coming from:

So...it was one of my friends birthdays and we all went out of course...DRINKING. But at one point or another in the evening we sat at the bar and no longer had any interest in getting drunk. We were bored. So we started walking away from the bar and that's when things got EXCITING! We started to take random photos around the city and the photos just kept getting crazier. We got so excited that we were running from place to place screaming our ideas at each other! We were acting like 6 year olds and having so much fun!

At one point we came across a park. We looked at each other and started to race for it! We ran around from swing set to monkey bars to slides. I remember I was so excited I HAD to run! Walking just wasn't going to cut it! I was out of breath coming up with new games for us to play!

A little while into our Playfest another adult came walking up to the park. What was so crazy was that as soon as we all sensed that person, we stopped dead in our tracks. Some of us went near our belongings which we had thrown into a pile and some of us got out our cell phones to look busy. But we all got into our sunken one hip postures of "I don't care. I'm just hanging out."

We stayed like this until the other adult had walked on. Once safely out of sight we started up again, back to our playing and fun.

That experience made me realize how self conscious and fearful we become as we get older.

So that's that...I think adults need to play more. Just another thought of mine. I thought of it while sitting here listening to Garden State and looking at my stuffed animals. Yes certain 6 year olds never grow up. I am proud to be one.

Maybe one day I'll make sure every neighborhood has an adult play ground and every office too etc... Yeah, when I am all grown up that's the first thing I'll do!

Princess J

PS Garden State soundtrack has ended perfectly with the ending of this blog.

JAXPERSONAL: cold mochas and recycle bins

2008-09-20T00:21:00.000-07:00

I was at an amusement park on a trip recently and I noticed the amount of garbage they were carting around at the end of the evening...(because yes I stayed until they closed. Had to get every last minute of 10 year old out me) What struck me was how many of the bags were filled with recyclable items. I then took a glance around me and saw that although there were many trash cans there weren't any recycle bins. This sparked a conversation amongst my group and everyone commented on how in public places even if they think to recycle they can't because there isn't ever a bin in sight.

I have often gotten frustrated at certain rather large coffee chains where I go regularly (yes they have me hooked!) because I want to recycle the juice bottles I buy there etc...but there's no recycle bin in sight...I go and ask the people who work there and they are usually more than happy to take it and put it in the recycle bin behind the counter. But think of how many drinks that could be recycled get thrown out a day at these places? Just because of the inconvenience of not having the recycling bin out! A simple change but it would probably have a big effect.

They want us all to recycle. Well why not start by ensuring that recycle bins are beside every trash can? Make this is a requirement for businesses? Just a thought.

But back to these large chain coffee shops...the places where many of us who need our shot or 2 or 3 of caffeine and sweet drinks and chatter etc go to regularly...Why are those coffee cups not recyclable!? When I think of how many people go to these coffee shops a day and how many drinks are sold and then think of that all going to the landfill it hurts my stomach.

So I decided I would ask one day why this is? And the answer was the following: it's the lining on the inside of the cup that keeps the drink warm. It's that lining that makes the cup unable to be recycled.

Ok so lets get this straight:

1- you mean to tell me that with all the things our scientist have come up with they can't make something that keeps your drink warm but can be recycled?

2- you're telling me that keeping our drinks warm is more important than our eco system which we need to survive. But then I could list a whole bunch of other dumb things like this too...won't go there.

But I guess it comes back to that God of all Gods $$$$....the most important thing to us ever...in the world...it's so much more important to have money than say air? or water? Life itself...yep when we're all dead and gone we'll be so happy that we have $

Went off there...sorry...hey I am the same...I think about $ etc...I fall into this system like everyone else..I go and buy my coffee and forget my environmentally friendly mug...but I guess I'm just saying that yes we can on an individual level make habit changes...but it would be nice if once and a while the big corporations who pour so much time and $ into controlling and affecting our behaviors could help us out a little by making the choice available ie: a recycle bin in their stores and by maybe spending a little bit of there huge revenue on hiring some gifted scientist to make up some sort of chemical concoction that can keep that mocha warm but also that cup out of the landfill...

Or you know...maybe the mocha can just stay warm long enough anyways, on it's own...I tend to drink mine right after purchasing it...not a 1/2 hour later...but that's just me...maybe they'd get too many complaints about cold mochas unable to naturally stay warm long enough to be enjoyed. That'd be terrible.