regarding beard envy....

This is Bob Harper.

I want his beard.

Honestly, (I must be on a stint with confessions recently), but as I've said before... I have beard envy. If I was a dude, I would be all about the fun of well groomed facial hair. I know guys kinda get the short end of the stick sometimes when it comes to hair as they are easily criticized for having too much hair or not enough, but really.... there are so many styles of facial hair to choose from. Big bushy it might as well be a scarf or a well waxed handlebar mustache, the dudes have soo many options.

Anyways, I've always been on the look out for the perfect ideal beard for me and last month while "The Biggest Loser" was on over at a friends house I walked by the TV and stopped:

"Woah, who's that?" I asked.

"oh, that's Jillian Michaels... duh."

"No. not the chick who looks like she would eat me if given the chance, I'm talking about the cute guy with the perfect beard night next to her!!!"

I mean really, look at this:

Pretty cute eh?

I did it, I found it, my ideal beard and it belongs to Bob Harper a trainer on the Biggest Loser TV show. I mean, look at it (his beard), it's great. It has that "just past the 5 o'clock shadow not really maintained but you know it's groomed really well and very intentional" look to it. Light, scruffy, cute, outdoorsy, it's cute and very handsome (those abs of his don't hurt either).

Anyways, if you're a fan of Bob Harper, working out, eating healthy, or just his beard, you should check out his website where he has training tips, tools, and best of all... videos.

As well, if you're a fan of beards (there is a great visual pun on that last link)... then you should check out this video from the world beard growing championship (there is also a swell website for Beard Team USA which competed in the competition that you should check out).

And speaking of beards and lumberjacks and flannel, this is a photo I recently came across that is awesome for all sorts of reasons:

#1: Lumberjacks

#2: nice beards (see description above)

#3: plaid

#4: flannel

#5: the girl in the middle is wearing a shirt from Timber (which the shirt depicts lumber barons standing on a tree stump)

#6: I live in Stumptown

Okay, the last reason doesn't really have anything to do with the image... but what I'd like to explain to you is the awesomeness of Timber, the art collective. I'm not really sure about the "idea" of Timber (apparently there is a story or comic in the works... but there is something to it) but they have a shop on esty where I bought one of my most favorite t-shirts ever:

Lumberjack!, axe!, beard and mustache on an American Apparel shirt - score!!!

And, according to their website, apparently you can find their work in the upcoming book "Tees: the art of the T-Shirt", which is apparently available starting tomorrow, at booksellers everywhere.

What's even more awesome is that in regards to another topic I've discussed recently as well, the idea of living with less, Timber t-shirts come into play. In another posting of mine, I discussed blogger Dave Bruno, who challenged himself to live with only 100 things. In his blog he listed all 100 items and #54 on the list is a t-shirt from these Timber guys. I think if I were to limit the amount of items I stuff in my house, I'd definatly keep around their shirt. That's love right there. Also, when I bought a t from them, they also threw in a cool little sticker which I slapped on my bike (so, if you're ever wondering what's up with the lumberjack on my bike... there you go.)

And speaking of love, one concert that I went to this summer that I absolutely loved was the No Depression Festival in Seattle. While I went mainly to see Sera Cahoone and Gillian Welch belt out some music, much like this guy (who photographed all the beards he came across)... I enjoyed looking at all the beards and plaid shirts in attendance. Apparently, beards are the new black. Man I swear, sometimes dudes have all the luck.

And... while I'm at it, hundreds of lucky dudes around the world are taking part in Movember. Not only to celebrate facial hair, but to help raise funds and awareness for men's health issues like prostate and testicular cancer. Basically, starting Sunday, November 1st, freshly shaven dudes start growing mustaches and keep em going all month long earning support from their friends in the form of donations, which then go to support men's health. Watch their educational and informative video below:

Can't grow a mo but still want to help?... buy a t-shirt (it's all about the t-shirts these days eh?). Portland t-shirt company No Star is selling mustache themed shirts and will donate 10% of their sales towards the cause.

Okay. I think that's enough obsession over facial hair for one day.

confession #3

Anyone who knows me really well... knows that I have a small crush on Scandinavia. Not only do I love Norway, Denmark and Sweden (Finland too!), but I love their cities, their people, their design sensibility, their food, their drinks, their shoes, their toys, their textiles, how their flags all look alike, their bikes, their health care and education plans - I mean, I really could go on and on and on. Maybe I'm just gushing about the Oregon Manifest Lecture tomorrow night when some Danish dudes are coming into to discuss how Portland can market cycling to the average citizen, maybe I'm looking forward to attending a wedding in Sweden next summer, maybe it's just with this colder weather we've been having I've moved from flip flops to my favorite danish shoes, maybe its year in and year out they top all the lists for being some of the happiest people with the best quality of living... regardless, this blog.... Scandinavia, is for you.

My favorite shoes, a pair of Danish Duck Boots I picked up in Copenhagen back in 2001. They've since been resoled once, but they are my go to shoes for the colder months. It's funny because a friend of mine from college told me upon my first visit to Denmark, "when you go there... I tell you two things... everything looks perfect like legos and they make they best shoes. Buy shoes there." And so, I did.

Havarti cheese is great by itself or in a sandwich. Rainy day? Have this with some good bread and a few slices of tomatoes and I swear it's the best grilled cheese sandwich you've ever eaten. Where's my cheese plainer?

I love pickled herring in mustard sauce. In fact, whenever I go to IKEA, I mainly go to pick up some of this and some more meatballs. True story.

Can you think of a cuter royal couple, I can't. These Norwegian Royals take the cake:

Nothing is more sleek and sexy than modern style Scandinavian furniture. From bottom barrel Ikea to top of the line I would gladly sell my first born child to own that, I love the clean lines, the attention to form and function and how it's probably one of the most uncomfortable chairs you've ever sat in. Doesn't matter.... it screams sexy!

Carlsberg and Tuborg beer? YUM!

And, I need a whole other blog to describe my brother and I's fascination with Legos growing up and even to this day. If I could count the amount of time we spent playing with these well designed building blocks... I would be counting years, not months or days. In fact, a little dream of mine came to fruition when I visited Billund, Denmark... the home of Legos. In all honesty, I think one reason my brother and I picked the careers we did, adds up to the creativity legos garnished us with. Also, my Spanish friend was right... every little community in Denmark seemed as if it was made of Legos. It was magical. really, it was.

Swedish soccer and swedish soccer fans:

When it comes to textiles, I love Marimekko designs:

They were fucking vikings!!! RWAAAAR!

Their love for cycling as transportation. Good luck finding your bike here:

When it comes to flag design, you might as well keep it simple.

Did I mention their food yet?

Bodum makes some of the best designed french presses and table ware you're ever going to come across, affordable too!

Danish money has holes in it:

I love my vintage Norwegian ski guide parka I just replaced a few weeks ago:

Oprah loves them!!!! In fact, I don't really watch Oprah... but I did notice that she went to Copenhagen Denmark this month to film some segments for her show. In this little video, she tours a cute little stylish apartment that simply and cleanly holds a family of five. Wow! And here, is just a little run down on her visit which explains a few key facts on why Denmark differs so from the US when it comes to happiness.

As well, even though those Northern European climates get ample amounts of daylight in the summer, they also get ample amounts of darkness in the winter - which I think is why they are more creative in nature. Which is also why brightly painted homes and barns help!

They gave us the Little Mermaid, Pippi Longstocking, trolls, and Isben.

The Lillehammer Olympics in 1994 were the best winter olympics ever. Need I remind you?

Lastly... they gave us Abba. (click on link for an amazing video)

one word - awesome

Awesome is the only word I can think of to describe the singer Brandi Carlile. Anyone who has known me for a while knows that I am a big connoisseur of her work. To some of my friends my admiration can only be seen as "superfan", or "obsessive", or a little "driven and out of control" - I prefer to say that I am well versed and have a some what academic appreciation for her. Sure, it doesn't help that she's cute... but, that's not what I'm talking about here. Sure, I've seen her 26 times over the course of four years, but I'm not going to bore you with details. In fact, anyone who cares to know details knows where they can find them, for everyone else I'm just going to share with you some videos I took last night at Brandi's show for her Give Up the Ghost Tour here in Portland. And, if you missed it, you should be sorry. Don't say I didn't tell you.

And, because I know people have short attention spans, I'll start off with my favorite video of the evening, a duet with the simply pleasing Katie Herzig. I think this moment made anyone who wasn't already a fan of one of the two ladies, sign and commit their adoration.

And, because this song never never never gets old, Pride & Joy. It doesn't matter that I've seen this song change and develop over the past three years, every time it just gets me. And, add in that guitar sex is just so damn hot. I just need a cold shower after point 6:16 on this video.

This is one of my new favorite songs from Brandi's new release. The words are just so touching and bittersweet.

I've never been a huge fan of the Song Mad World, but Brandi has the ability to make it something.

Another track that I absolutely love on the new album is this one, Looking Out. It's become quite the song that makes you want to blast it from the speakers carusing down the highway.

Much like I do with this old favorite of mine, My Song.

And, if you're reading this on facebook - get your ass over to my blog and watch the videos here.

rinse, repeat, rinse and repeat again

I jenn levo, have a confession to make which may or may not make me a bad American. Depending on what side of the fence you sit on, you may choose to exile me to France, a hippy commune in the woods, or congratulate me for not being wasteful and for taking good care of myself. I on average, wash my hair only every other day - and that's even on a good week - if I've been busy, it'll be less. And maybe it doesn't seem like a huge deal, but I work out at least five days a week and I sweat. But - does that leave me a stinky sweaty greasy mess? Not really. (I mean, I think honestly over the years only one or two people have complained and compared to current statistical amount of people in my life -as determined by facebook friends- that is a teeny tiny percentage.) Who knows, maybe it's helpful that I have five people in my work office and we don't ever have to really touch or see people from the outside world unless we want to, but if my sanitation habits were really that bad... I would have hoped someone would have told me face to face by now.

See, the thing is that apparently Americans love their shampoo. In fact, the average American washes their hair about 4.59 times a week (twice as much as Italians and Spaniards). And, according to some fresh and clean smelling Georgetown college students interviewed by NPR last March.. to not shower everyday is "completely heinous.... and after a workout, it's disgusting not to wash your hair." On the contrast though, washing your hair that frequently, says hair stylists and dermatologists... is waaaaay too often. In fact, when you shampoo as frequently as four and a half times a week - you actually strip your hair of beneficial oil and in the long run, cause more damage to your hair than help.

So, not only am I looking out for my hair's well being, but I've learned over the years that the way we Americans view proper hygiene is directly related to the advertisements that have been shoved down our throats since the wee 1900's. Some of these early advertisements used sex to sell their products and over time, it became an accepted fact that to wash often was clean, and clean is sexy. Not that dirty is sexy really... but what happened was a market was created where prior there was none. Back then, it was the norm to wash your hair once a month but over time ads convinced people it was proper to do it more and really, much like lemmings jumping off a cliff, the trend just escalated throughout the last century. In the 60's and 70's, more ads featuring people like Farrah Fawcett in a Faberge ad, Cybil Shepherd in a Clariol ad, Christie Brinkley for Prell or the pretty Breck girls sold the idea that that they could shampoo their way to beauty by washing their hair every day. It's a win win for the hair care companies; the more we wash our hair, the quicker we go through it, the more we go back to the store and buy more, and the more money ends up in the pockets of the company owners. Welcome to consumerism and instant cash flow!

I want her hair AND her bike

Overtime though, just convincing people to use the product more often is not enough. I come from Cincinnati, land of hygiene friendly Proctor and Gamble and by growing up there I became highly aware of the products they sold. In fact, one of my favorite games - that I still play today- is what I call the Supermarket Challenge. Basically, you challenge yourself to take a trip down the beauty aisle or the soap/cleaning aisle of a grocery store and try to not find at least two products with the P&G logo on the back. I was always amazed at how many competing products P&G made that all line the store shelves and all essentially do the same thing. The only real difference is they are just packaged differently or come in different colors or smells. Once I notice this, I take a step back and look at all the packaging it takes to hold all those products. All the boxes for the tubes of toothpaste and all the plastic bottles. Then to think about all the card boxes boxes they came in for shipping, and how far they came from, how much gas was used, where they were made and how many different chemicals are in each one just so that we, as Americans.... can have a choice when we go to the store about whether we want a shampoo that conditions and shines, or one that calms down fly-aways, or one that builds body and adds texture, or one that smooths but adds natural curl and really, it's quite overwhelming. Why do you think we need plow over farms to make way for more parking lots and more massive Super Wal-Marts in America? So we can have more choice when it comes to our shampoo and health and beauty needs of course. Really folks?

In a similar note: I laugh and am disgusted when I see Nair ads aimed for pre-teens. I'm sorry, but 10-14 year old girls do not need to be worried about hair growth on their legs.

Some people in some very eco-conscious circles of society have even gone as far as to give up shampoo completely. Blogger Jeanne Haegele, who writes a great blog called Lifelessplastic, went three months without using shampoo. Instead she washed her hair with baking soda twice a week and conditioned it with a vinegar rinse. She stopped the experiment after a bad case of dandruff, but now washes with a shampoo bar (much like the great ones LUSH sells) a few times a week and even used baking soda for deodorant. Personally, I'm quite the fan of Dr. Bronners All-in-One soaps which pretty much can take care of all your cleaning needs with just one product. Not only are they certified under the USDA National Organic Program, but there are also certified Fair Trade. Better yet, at some grocery stores here in Portland they sell the soap in bulk meaning you can just bring your own reusable bottles or jars with you to collect your cleaning needs. Their line of soaps and products have increased over the years, but their liquid soaps are still my go-to for when I'm out camping or hiking and only want to bring one soap with me. As well, their ingredients are all things I can pronounce and don't mind washing my hair or doing my dishes with - I don't know how I feel about washing my hair with Dawn, regardless if it gets grease out of my way.

Basically, before you go to rinse repeat, and rinse and repeat again... just think a little more about why you are doing it and if it needs to be done so frequently. I'm not saying we need to be crunchy not shaving, soaping, showering citizens... but our beauty and hygiene regimes do create more waste than actually necessary. I mean, the more dirt you have on your body the better your natural insulation will be and the less you'll have to spend on heating this winter - right? So, next time you see me with a sheen or glow emitting from my head that you think is just grease - rest assured that I probably just came from the gym. It's not grease, but healthy good old american sweat. The kind you can be proud of.