and spring became the summer

Well, regular season college baseball is at a close - the conference tourneys start up at the end of this week - and summer is surely upon us.

I totally forgot to tell y'all that my "carbon pawprint" article (downloads a .pdf) came out in the March/April issue of Nashville Paw. Somewhat of a combo of me and Heather, the editor, composing it, but it's alright I suppose.

I have a temporary roommate for the moment (please, universe, see fit to have my condo sell) who is AWESOME. Here's her website. She just moved back to Nashville from NYC and is waiting for the lease to be up from the person renting her house, so I'm getting the benefits of having a wonderful person to share my space, pay attention to Madeline and cook dinner! And, this Saturday (last I heard), she's starting a Yoga In The Park class in Centennial! It never occured to me before, but doing yoga on the ground - not on concrete or a wooden floor - really sounds wonderful.

A couple of weekends ago, Madeline and I went with Julie & Hayley to the Centennial Dog Park, and it was AWESOME!!! Maddie is so weird - she didn't want to have anything to do with anyone but me when we were in the big dog section (which, really, there were small dogs in there, too, lots of dachshunds and shih zus and terriers), but when we went over to the small dog section, she was friendly as could be! The thought of living 1 block from there makes me tingle with delight. Walking to work, baseball AND the dog park? I'm smitten.

The more I think about it, the more I'm contemplating jettisoning the Prius. Well, really, I'm thinking about making Matt take it, getting rid of his big 'ole truck, and just having him bring it to me when i need to make a long drive (or, heck, renting one!). Talk about cutting costs! No insurance, no necessary parking space, no oil changes, no car payment! WOW!

Anyway, I'm rambling. Summer is definitely in full swing outside, with June just around the corner. I cannot WAIT for some poolside margaritas and some beer on the lake.

Good news abounds as we head into March

Well, today is a red-letter day in my greening little world - it is my last day at my current job, meaning that I will be starting my new job on Monday! I told you before about some of the green-issues I had with my job, but another one was that I was still driving too much for my tastes - about 20 miles round trip a day - make that up to 40 if i went home or out for lunch.

The new job (can you hear me squealing with excitement?) is only .6 miles from my intended new condo (still waiting on the old one to sell before I can get into the new one, but even if the world ended and I moved back in, it's only 3.3 miles from the old one!)! I WILL GET TO WALK TO WORK!

I cannot tell you how exciting this is. As much as I love the little Prius, she's been put through her paces with these 40 mile drives back and forth from Murfreesboro, and walking to work will seem like HEAVEN (I hear Sinatra crooning faintly in the background...)

And that 40 mile drive is weighing even more heavily on me with the rising gas prices (gas in the 'boro hit $3.09 last weekend, the highest I've seen it down there - the highest I've ever seen was $3.33 on the corner of Belmont and 21st after Katrina). And timely as ever, my uncle popped this in my inbox this morning - Volkswagen is unveiling a hybrid that's supposed to get 69.9 mpg.

So a happy Leap Day to you all! VU Baseball began last week, and the Music City Classic is underway as I type. Come on Spring, get sprung already!

Walking in Green Hills

Anyone who's ever met me knows I'm not a big walker... when I was a kid, I hated walking to the bus stop before school - I hated walking to class in college - and I hated it last month when I went to a friend's place in East Nashville and we walked from his house to the bars.

My dislike does not stem from a dislike of exercise - I actually love walking for exercise, love taking the dogs for walks, love taking an aimless walk around the neighborhood. When I visit AblePonder down in Mississippi, one of my favorite activities is walking with her and the dogs! Rather, it stems from the fact that I hate to get sweaty when I'm not supposed to be sweaty, and I inevitably sweat when I walk, ruining makeup, clothes and comfort for longer than the duration of the walk.

I said all of that to say: a walkable living area has not been on my list of priorities... until now.

I had the luck to work from home two days this past week (it was mixed luck, to be sure, but luck nonetheless), and I took advantage of that by taking a couple of breaks to go for walks. I'm not sure how good the walks were for my lungs (this city air is dirty!), but they were good for my mood overall, not to mention my pocket, what with the gas I didn't use driving in to the office!

It was not the first time I've walked in my neighborhood, but it was the first time it really hit home how completely UN-walkable it is. Not only are there spotty sidewalks (on the wrong side of the street for me on Hillsboro, and very few along the small side streets), but the shoulders are really skinny and non-existent in some places.

This is not to say there aren't people jogging, biking and taking dogs for walks - but I'll bet it's stopping many more from doing so. I also have adopted a new dog, Madeline, who has much more energy than my geriatric pup Georgia (she's 14!), and I'd like to take her for walks. Luckily, I'm right across from the park, so we can go there. But really, I'd like to feel I'm getting somewhere - and sometimes, I'd like to actually get somewhere - like a coffee shop, the grocery, the pharmacy, the post office, kinko's...

When i lived in Hillsboro Village, the walkability of the neighborhood was really wonderful - restaurants, bars, a grocery, coffee were all within a quick walk and really invited an outdoor community.

Now, in Green Hills, the residential/commercial mix ought to be walkable, but the lack of sidewalks discourages this. Still, on Thursday morning, I balance-beam-walked my way along the side of Graybar Lane and Hillsboro Pike down to Starbucks to have them fill my mug with coffee. Then, I walked over to the park in the afternoon with Madeline. And it felt so good!

So I've been thinking about an ideal, walkable Green Hills. Obviously, it's something that is seen as profitable - case-in-point is the expansion of The Mall at Green Hills. Down by the new California Pizza Kitchen is the Hill Center - and it is an outdoor, walkable shopping center. I'm looking forward to going down there to check it out. So - if it is profitable, couldn't local businesses be persuaded to help defray the costs of sidewalks (I'm thinking of Pier 1 imports there at the intersection of Glen Echo and Hillsboro)?

Those two days working from home have encouraged me to venture out of my house de pie more often... I'll try to venture away from my favorite street, Boensch, and perhaps I'll put on some sturdy shoes to better navigate those skinny, steep road shoulders. Still, though, until utopia descends and lays sidewalks or wide shoulders and makes me a less sweaty person, my walks are going to be challenges - which isn't a bad thing to add into the mix, after all.