Megan Loves the Ocean

We're in the final stretches of #plasticfreejuly Where does the time go? The lovely Sylvan Lake where the fam, Cam, and I beat the heat one day I got back from my trip to South Dakota last weekend. I had a great time, and my aunt's wedding was beautiful. Took some time off between posts because honestly, I'm usually a little down for a few days after leaving loved ones. I love living in the Pacific Northwest, but do wish I was closer to my family. Moving on from the sappiness, here are some plastic free travel tips I picked up: I brought my own coffee mug and water bottle and they got tons of use. Always handy to have around. Except I forgot my water bottle in the uber on the way back from the airport 😅 It's one I've almost lost a thousand times, but this was really it. RIP purple water bottle. A Mizzou tumbler I have has now taken over as the primary water bottle #gotigers Reusable utensils would have been helpful for eating out, which is more of a ne

Happy 4th of July to everyone who celebrated! I'm gonna be honest this post might not be the most coherent, I got a nasty migraine earlier and feel a bit better but still woozy. How was everyone's first full week of #plasticfreejuly ? I think overall mine went pretty well. Some successes: Brought a French press and my own coffee into the office this week, and I don't think I got too many weird stares Found some "naked" deodorant from LUSH. I got  aromaco , but they had a couple different kinds. I thought they just did bath bombs but there's quite the selection in there I put on my big girl pants and asked if I could get cheese wrapped in paper at the cheese counter, and I could! I'm going to be making cod au gratin in the slow cooker and you can't have au gratin without cheese! Picked up some live yogurt cultures. Haven't had to make my own yogurt yet, and if I don't try this week then definitely the week after Cam helped me out in

It's here - Plastic Free July! July 1st is also my dog's birthday, she's turning two today and celebrating with apples and peanut butter (and for dessert - more peanut butter. She got to clean out the jar since it was almost empty).  Since it's only been one day, I've managed to keep my plastic free pledge! I did share some faulty info last week that I've corrected on that post and am also correcting here: you cannot use your own containers in the bulk food section of Whole Foods. You used to be able to, but apparently they've changed that. I think at my local store they provide paper bags instead of plastic, so it's still a good option for going plastic free. I will follow up next week. (I didn't actually look at what the store provided because I used a mason jar - didn't find out I wasn't allowed to until my cashier berated me a bit ¯\_(ツ)_/¯) I realize I'm lucky out here in the Pacific Northwest because I have a lot of resou

It's exactly one week before #plasticfreejuly begins, and I gotta say I'm feeling a little nervous. Plastic - especially single-use - has become such a pervasive part of our daily lives that I didn't even notice just how much I use, and how much of it isn't necessary. For some things, there are pretty easy and painless swaps. Others feel like they might not be as painless. All this plastic we're swimming is why we need something like Plastic Free July in the first place. The initiative started seven years ago in Western Australia (which abbreviates to WA. This was a source of confusion for me for longer than it should have been). The movement is really looking at cutting out single-use plastics - aka the shrink wrap on produce, shampoo bottles, the wrapping your Amazon delivery may come in, what have you - as these are not sustainable and choke out the ecosystems they end up settling in. I already had some plastic-reducing habits, which is why I thought going al

Hi friends! I found out about an initiative called Plastic Free July   while attending a conservation class at the Seattle Aquarium and decided to take the plunge! In two weeks, I’ll start one whole month of avoiding single-use plastics. In addition, I’ll be writing about my successes, failures, and challenges along the way. I plan to make weekly updates, and then after the month of July start posting bi-weekly about the ocean as well as conservation topics. Please consider taking the pledge yourself – you can start small like cutting out use of plastic utensils or committing to your reusable water bottles and coffee cups. Also please feel free to join the conversation and share! I’ve been casually interested in ocean conservation for basically my whole life, but am just starting to deep dive into this stuff, so I’ll be learning along with everyone else. Next week I’ll post my first full entry, and then it’ll be July! (Where does the time go?) Looking forward to taking this journey