MENSTRUAL CUP REVOLUTION!

I am really excited to post about the impact one change and one simple product has had on my body and mind, our wallets, and our waste footprint over the past few months. It is called the MENSTRUAL CUP.

A few months ago, I think around May, I decided to finally invest in a menstrual cup that I have been reading about on various zero waste blogs (my faves: Trash is for Tossers and Zero Waste Home). In addition, I read blogs by female doctors who've written about this (i.e., Dr. Jen Gunter; Cleveland Clinic) and read many of the comments and questions posted about the Diva Cup on Amazon. My SO also kept encouraging me to try it :).

In the end, it became very clear to me that this product was worth a try. There are a couple different cups out on the market right now, but I ended up going with the Diva Cup, because I could buy it at the local MOM's Organic Market.

So, what is a menstrual cup? It is a cup that catches menstrual fluid. But it is so much more than that! Here are some of the incredible benefits I've experienced first-hand or found out about through online research:

• It is HEALTHIER for you:
• First thing's first, the products are FDA approved. 
• Columbia University/Columbia Health reports that menstrual cups provide reduced risk of toxic shock syndrome or irritation, which may be caused by the bleaching of the absorbent fibers in tampons or the synthetic fibers themselves. Menstrual cups manufacturers make the same claims. 

• It is really, truly, I can't say this enough, more COMFORTABLE: 
• I waited to post about this until I had a chance to try it out for a few months and write from experience. I honestly LOVE IT! As long as it's properly inserted, and this isn't hard to do, it will mold to your body and fit like a glove. I live a pretty active lifestyle - walking, biking, running, rock climbing and swimming throughout the week - and I've never felt a discomfort with the cup during my menstrual cycle. It is really amazing and I can't imagine going back to pads and tampons. 
• And if you don't believe me or need additional proof, the 2011 FLOW study by the National Institutes of Health, which compared the experiences of women using only tampons with women using only menstrual cups over a period of 3 menstrual cycles, showed that "Approximately 91% of women in the menstrual cup group said they would continue to use the cup and recommend it to others."
• Note: There are different sizes of menstrual cups, usually dependent on whether you're pre- or post-childbirth. Therefore, please research all the options to determine which size and brand best suits your values and needs.

• It is EASY TO USE:  
• It's really easy to insert and take out, just make sure to read the manufacturer's instructions that describe which way the cup needs to be inserted and how. Cleaning is fast and easy when you're in a private bathroom. You dump the cup out in the toilet and then you rinse it with warm soapy water, and then reinsert it. Simple as that and no wrapping! 
• The only awkward part comes when you need to clean the cup in a public restroom. I've also done this and it was fine. Basically  you just have to make sure that you clean your hands before going into the bathroom stall. Take the cup out, dump the contents in the toilet, wipe it out with toilet paper, and reinsert it for the rest of the day. 

• It is REUSABLE:  
• It lasts up to 12 hours before you need to empty it out and wash it with warm soapy water. At the end of the cycle it should be cleaned in boiling water. The FDA recommends replacing your cup every 2-3 years, but many of the blogs and comments I've read on Amazon say it can last up to 10 years with proper care. 

• It REDUCES LANDFILL WASTE:
• Lunette estimates that a over 24 billion (yes, that's BILLION) menstrual products are used annually across the globe. Dr. Gunter notes that "In the U.S. alone we dump 12 billion pads and 7 billion tampons every year; because tampons are often flushed applicators frequently wash up on beaches. A reusable menstrual cup is clearly a more green alternative."
• Note: So far I've come across three manufacturers: the German and Kenyan Ruby Cup, the Finnish Lunette Natural Cup, the Canadian Diva Cup. All three products are made out of silicone, which requires the use of fossil sources such as petroleum and natural gas to produce. Therefore it isn't 100% sustainable, but it's much less wasteful considering the alternative - billions of pads and tampons being dumped every year.

• It SAVES MONEY:  
• Compare a one-time $25-$40 purchase every few years with a purchase of an average of 13-22 traditional menstrual products/cycle or 169-286 traditional products/year. If we assume that a package of 40 tampons or pads comes out to an average of $7, that will cost you anywhere from $35 to $84 per year. 

So there you have it! To all the ladies out there who are menstruating, I sincerely hope you look into this and maybe even give it a try. :)

Happy waste-free menstruation or moon cycles!
Modern-Akhmatova

How do you know where you belong?

SO and I doing a polar bear swim in Resurrection Bay this past February

We left our hearts in Seward, AK
A bay in a mountainous valley, it calls to us
To be where mountains climb halfway to the stars
The morning fog and rain may chill the air, we don't care

Our love waits there in Seward
Above the blue and windy Resurrection Bay
When we come home to you, Seward
Your quiet wonder will shine for us

~Modern Akhmatova

Note: This poem was inspired by the "I Left My Heart in San Francisco" song.

1 year anniversary BY THE NUMBERS

After writing the previous post about our 1 year "down to 1 car" anniversary, I started thinking about the evidence to support the claims I was making, namely that we were now healthier, wealthier, and happier as a result of getting down to one car and having to rely on public transportation, our bikes, bodies, and coordination talents to get around. Since my SO tracks everything related to our financial well being, I realized that I should take advantage of his love of numbers and graphs to try and provide some proof behind my earlier claims. So here is the evidence I could find:

Claim #1: We are HEALTHIER as a result of selling one of our cars and and having to rely on public transportation, our bikes, bodies, and coordination talents to get around.

Supporting evidence:

• We don't have conclusive evidence for this one, because we don't have hard data to support it - i.e. number of doctor's visits or doctor's conclusions about our health before vs after we sold our car. However, we don't really get sick or go to the doctor all that much, and so it isn't hard to keep a general sense of how often this has happened over the last few years. If nothing else, we have continued to feel healthier. Lastly, I know for a fact that my weight has stabilized since we embarked on this low-emissions lifestyle. I eat better, sleep better, feel energized, focused, and a lot more relaxed. 

Claim #2: We are WEALTHIER as a result of selling one of our cars and and having to rely on public transportation, our bikes, bodies, and coordination talents to get around.

Supporting evidence: Here is where my SO's tracking comes into play. 

• The chart above shows our annual car miles and costs over time, basically since we started dating at the beginning of 2012 to today, July 2015. The blue line represents the miles and the red line represents the costs. 
• The steep decline in miles and a less impressive, but still a decline in costs between 2012 and middle of 2013 is due to our moving in together, SO working from home, and living within walking and biking distance of my work. 
• 2014 was less consistent for a number of reasons. First, we moved again, but this time to a much less connected area that was within "car-distance" from all of our family and friends. The increase in miles in the middle of 2014 was due to a long, long-distance trip to NC for a family wedding. Nevertheless, our costs did not increase by a lot and at certain times declined. 
• Lastly, 2015 has been a good year so far. Overall, our car miles and costs continue to decrease. We still live pretty far away from family and friends, so most weekends we're driving at least an hour to see them. That said, we're keeping a very low-emissions lifestyle during the work week!

Claim #3: We are HAPPIER as a result of selling one of our cars and and having to rely on public transportation, our bikes, bodies, and coordination talents to get around.

Supporting evidence:

SO and I biking in WDC.

• We also don't have conclusive evidence to support this claim, because after all who knows how to measure happiness? It's an elusive concept that people still don't know how to quantify, and one that cannot be generalized, since it depends so much on the individual preferences, self-knowledge, etc, etc.
• However, we've been biking A LOT! And everyone knows that we've been displacing the car with the bike, and given a choice, biking is much more fun than driving. The below chart shows the growth of our addiction to biking. :) It's a 12-month sliding window of our biking miles. 

Based on what we know about ourselves, our self-constructed versions of past and present realities, we feel that we are pretty darn happy these days. We are grateful that we have the time and resources to experiment as much as we can in search of a lifestyle that is aligned with our values. And the lifestyle changes, such as going down to 1 car, have brought us even more awareness about our values and inspired us to continue down the road of REDUCING our waste on this precious planet Earth. 

Happy evidence-based analysis!

Modern Akhmatova

1 YEAR ANNIVERSARY

This month marks the 1 year anniversary since we downsized from 2 cars to 1. I first blogged about this change in the 2 Bikes, 1 Car Couple post. Considering that there are about 1.8 cars per household (source: Governing the States and Localities) in our area, we consider(ed) ourselves ahead of the curve!

Although it was super exciting at first, we found the transition pretty uneventful actually. We didn't have to adjust our habits or plans that much as a result of this change. It did and continues to require some coordination, but the fact that I work from home and my SO works within biking distance makes daily commuting quite simple, easy, and stress-free. If anything, we found ourselves wondering if we needed a car at all. It might be possible to go car-free if we didn't live in suburbia and so far away from our family. Unfortunately, the public and alternative transportation infrastructure between Maryland, Washington, DC and Virginia is pretty limited. We even have trouble biking to some of the towns nearby because of the highway jungle that surrounds us.

Either way, I'm happy to report that even in an area that is dominated by cars we've been able to function just fine with only 1 car. If anything, we're benefiting from it. We're healthier, wealthier and happier as individuals and as a couple, because we're living our values and improving our ability to live in harmony with our wonderful planet Earth each and every day.

Happy downsizing!
~Modern Akhmatova

THE WONDER OF SLOWING DOWN

"Walk as if you're kissing the earth with your feet." - Thich Nhat Hanh

SO walking with his 95 year old grandma.

It was a beautiful Mother's Day celebration. Our family had gathered at my brother and sister-in-law's house to celebrate the amazing women in our lives - my mom, my sister-in-law and SO's mom, and their 95 year old grandma. We filled the sunny day with delicious home cooked food, drinks, and colorful and fragrant gifts and cards.

Hours before everyone arrived and the festivities began, I remember the distinct joyous feeling of slowness. My SO and I had arrived at our siblings' (they are married, yes, you got it right! :)) house the day before, so we were already at their house the next morning when the preparations for the day were starting. That morning, I decided to make crepes before everyone got up. A little later, the four of us shared a slow breakfast, chatted, and hung out. After cleaning up, I started to cook my special dish for the day and realized I was missing a few ingredients. It wasn't long before I was off on a walk to the store through a quirky Orthodox Jewish neighborhood, running into other neighbors walking because it was still Shabbat.

I love seeing people out and about. Moments like these take me back to my childhood in Belgrade, Serbia, where I walked and ran everywhere my young heart desired. It may seem so simple, walking to the grocery store, but unfortunately this is a rare event in America unless you live in a city. That is why my SO and I are trying very hard to use alternative forms of transportation (a.k.a., everything other than the car - walking, biking, public transportation) whenever and wherever we can, because we realize how important it is to truly connect to the land we live on, to become aware of our surroundings, and hopefully, to run into other people and animals on the way to our destination.

I returned home after my wonderfully slow journey to the store and started to cook again. Shortly thereafter, before I was done, people started to arrive. Usually at this point I'd start stressing out because everything wasn't ready before guests arrived, but this time it felt as if I had embraced this reality ahead of its arrival and everything turned out just fine.

For the rest of the day, we dined, wined, reminisced, and spent quality time together. No one was in a rush or worried about anything, we just shared the moments together as best we could. Everyone was fully present and in it to enjoy themselves in the company of their loved ones.

And then I asked  our 95-yr old grandma if she wanted to go on a walk with me. She enthusiastically agreed and off we went down the canopy covered sidewalks in the early evening sunlight. She told me how much she loved walking and how when she was younger, she shared walks with her mom on a daily basis. She went on to say that people nowadays spend too much time in their cars and that they should walk more. It's healthy, she explained.

As we walked and I listened to her wise words, I smiled within. The day had been perfect on so many levels...It inspired me to embrace "slowing down" in order to be more present with myself, others, and the space that surrounds and nourishes us.

Happy slowing down!
~Modern Akhmatova

Related read: "In Praise of Slowness" by Carl Honore (his TED talk about the book: http://www.ted.com/talks/carl_honore_praises_slowness?language=en#t-1140814) 

LIFE'S ADVENTURES: LIVING MORE WITH LESS

*Note: this blog post is not by me, Modern Akhmatova, but by my significant other (SO)

SO and I in Fairbanks, AK

The past several months since February have been quite busy with their ups and downs. As my SO posted briefly about, we vacationed in Alaska for two weeks. Then we had to deal with cleaning up the aftermath of our flooded out apartment after we got back from vacation. Shortly thereafter we started looking for a place closer to my work since our lease term was ending. Finally we had to move all of our stuff to our new place.

In Alaska, first we saw the end of a 1000 mile dog race in Fairbanks (the Yukon Quest). We also spent nights searching for the northern lights, took a day trip stopping just shy of the Arctic Circle to see the frozen mighty Yukon river where we had a lunch on the snowy banks. Then we drove down to Anchorage, stopping midday for a day hike in Denali National Park. We briefly saw family in Anchorage and then we were off again, this time to Seward where we stayed in a cabin on the beach, played lots of cards and did some frozen hiking.

Brent Sass on his way to Fairbanks...final leg of the Yukon Quest!

Brent Sass wins the Yukon Quest!

SO and I in front of the University of Alaska Museum of the North...notice the bike behind us! 

Aurora borealis or the northern lights near Fairbanks, AK

Relaxing in natural hot springs

This is where you get your mail when you live in the middle of nowhere.

A road trip through winter wonderland.

Eating lunch on the mighty, but frozen, Yukon River.

Denali National Park and Preserve

SO getting ready to dog sled on his own!

Miller's Landing in Seward, AK...where we stayed while there.

SO and I taking a polar bear swim in Resurrection Bay (Seward, AK).

Alaska was fun, however we had a little thing hanging over our heads the entire trip. Despite having a relatively balmy winter up until the day we left, Maryland was experiencing a cold snap. And thus the first day after we arrived in Alaska, I received a call from our landlord that our apartment had flooded due to a burst pipe, despite our leaving the heat on!
It’s actually pretty funny that this happened, because we are practicing minimalists. Having moved 4 times in the past 3 years, it has certain synergies with our lifestyle. At the beginning of our vacation, as we shouldered our packs for our six-mile hike to the airport, while our apartment was just going out of view behind us, we casually discussed what if we just owned the possessions in our packs. What if we had no burdens of “stuff” and were just free to travel the world? Well I guess we got to ponder on that thought a bit more heavily during our vacation.

I think I took the news better than my SO. Honestly, after the initial reaction of “FUCK!??” I didn’t really mind all that much. These past few years, I’ve really taken to heart that I don’t care about things - at least in a sentimental way. Almost everything in our apartment is replaceable. And for what is not, I believe the memories are enough. Unfortunately SO had some letters from her deceased father that she really cherished, and years of journals she had written going back to when she was a child so she didn’t take the news so well, fearing that these would be ruined and the information lost forever. But except for those items, she also didn’t really mind the potential loss of everything else. We tried to put the news behind us and enjoy our vacation, but little things would remind us now and then of what was waiting when we returned. We tried to stay optimistic about it and I think that paid off in the end.

Things were better than expected when we got back. The landlord had replaced our carpet, and drywall and it was almost livable. Of course everything we owned was piled in giant trash bags in our living room and our kitchen and all the insides of the cabinets were covered with drywall dust so that was a bit traumatic. It took about a week to set things straight and it was stressful at times, but I’m thankful we had as little stuff as we did - it could have been a lot worse. In the end we only lost a few things from water damage (a few rugs and towels) but everything else amazingly came through OK. A few weeks after we got back you wouldn’t have been able to tell the difference. We did get a bill for damages from our landlord which was a bit annoying since they had initially told us because our heat was on, we would not be held liable, but since we hold renter’s insurance, Geico took care of that for us.

After finding a new place, we again appreciated the art of living with less stuff as we did our moves by ourselves over the course of a week, fitting almost everything we own into just 5 or 6 VW Golf-sized loads (we did borrow our friend with his pickup truck one evening after work to take our composter and mattress -our two biggest items - in one load).

~The Other SO

OFF TO ALASKA

Lost Lake Trail in Seward, AK

Take down the concrete.

Open it all up to the greens, blues and browns...

the skies above and below...

Let us breathe and be in harmony with our cellular relatives.

~Modern Akhmatova

Me walking on Lost Lake Trail in Seward, AK