Free Boise Entertainment

ALIVE AFTER FIVE on the Grove downtown Boise

Boise's favorite Summer Concert Series runs June 3rd through September 30th every Wednesday and is held in the Grove Plaza downtown Boise. Listen to live music and enjoy cool beverages, vendor booths and delicious food each week. Cool off in the fountain...dance 'til you drop...or just sit back and watch! Either way, it's a great event for the whole family to enjoy...and it's FREE to attend! The event starts at 5pm and lasts until 8pm.

Great place to hang with your friends, have a drink (we bring our own-much cheaper) and listen to some good music. The opening bands are all local. The local band this particular week the pics were taken are just 2 kids from Timberline high school. Awesome! I think their name is BoDo.

Also a great place to people watch-from rednecks to hippees to grungers, cowboys and goths, punkers and everything in between. The guy in the floral shorts is there every week along with the roller-skating guy in a dress. People playing hackey sack, jump ropers and hula-hoopers.

Free exercise

Hiking in the foothills at Camel's Back Park with my husband, Chris, and youngest daughter

View from the bottom

Holy Crap! I'm out of shape!

Views from the top

Lunch after our hike-in the shade. Silly Alexis with sandwich hanging out of her face!

Think Globally, Hoop Locally

Wilson's Rebound Basketball Shows Company's Commitment to Making the World a Greener Place

Just in time for Earth Day, the global sporting goods company releases the planet's first "green" basketball.

04.11.2008

CHICAGO, IL-April 11, 2008- The key to curbing global warming and greenhouse gas emissions is to re-examine the way we do business. Wilson Sporting Goods is taking the lead by producing a green basketball that will be good for the player and the planet he or she dribbles on.

Wilson's Rebound came about when the company's engineers decided to tackle the question of how to produce an affordable basketball that would have less of an impact on the environment. The ball itself, which will be available just in time for Earth Day on April 22nd, is comprised of a surface that is made from 40% recycled rubber. How will the use of recycled rubber impact the planet? In practical terms, every 70 Rebound basketballs Wilson produces is the equivalent of one less tire ending up in a landfill.

"We know that today's young athletes are very aware of their impact on the environment," says Mike Kuehne, General Manager of Basketball for Wilson Sporting Goods Co. "And we're always looking for ways to improve our own performance. The Rebound will afford young players the chance to work on their game in an environmentally friendly way. Wilson is proud to be a leader in moving towards a greener, more sustainable planet."

In addition to the green composition of ball itself, the Rebound's display box is produced from nearly 80% pre or post consumer board. To add to the greenness, The Rebound was designed with a green and black color palette and features the slogan "Think Globally, Hoop Locally." The Rebound retails for $14.99 and will be available in stores across the country.

Making Music Biodegradable

Think I am going to have to get my son some of these guitar picks. They are from a company called Wheatware and they sell a lot of biodegradable products made from wheat and corn. Here is some into from their website....

Wheatware.com™ exclusively distributes Wheatware™ and Cornware™ products in the USA. Our products are manufactured in America from annually renewable crops grown in America. Who we are is a company of people committed to environmental values.

Purchasing our crop-derived Wheatware™ products, instead of forest-derived wood or cardboard products, helps supports Wheatware.com’s mission to annually save millions of virgin forest trees and their precious habitats. Within these habitats, a multitude of species live. As these habitats are destroyed, species are perishing everyday. We also recognize the importance of our forests acting as air conditioning systems for our planet. With each forest lost, Earths capacity to cool itself becomes diminished.

Forest-derived products, such as chopsticks, clothes hangers, golf tees, cardboard drink coasters, and drumsticks, combined, cause the destruction of over 30 million forest trees per year, typically by “clearcutting” (see deforestation).

Our commitment is to continue to offer an ever expanding number of products which replace virgin forest wood products in order to help secure a sustainable future for our children and generations to come. We thank you for buying our Wheatware™ and Cornware™ products…..you make a difference.

Their website is www.wheatware.com

Slacker

Sorry for the lack of posts lately and it may seem like I have been slacking, but life has definately gotten in the way lately. Besides work this month, we have had my son's girlfriend's birthday on the 7th and mine on the 9th, son's guitar concert, daughter's band concert, son's surgery (tonsils and adenoids removed) and I attended a 1980's prom theme bachelorette party. And I have the pictures to prove it.......

These pics were taken at Flying Pie Pizzeria. The BEST Pizza in Boise! They have what they call "It's Your Day", and when it is your day you get to come in and make a free pizza. On this day it was for everyone born in May, so my son's girlfriend and I got to make a free pizza on the same day. Awesome. Their website is http://www.flyingpie.com/. Check it out.

First we had to pick out our goofy hats. I chose a moose and leila chose a deformed turkey (reminds me of the poor turkey from the Thanksgiving episode of "South Park".

Dough Masters

Now for the best part.....Eating. I've got a really good canadian bacon, jalepenos, artichoke hearts, pineapple, zucchini, mushrooms, mozzerella, gouda and one other cheese I can't remember what it was now. I just remember it was delish! Leila made half her's without cheese for the vegan boy.
Daniel's guitar concert. He's the one with the bandana with the hair in his face next to Mr. Grant his teacher. This is his second year.



Alexis got to play 2 solos, since she is the only 6th grade band student. And then she also played all the songs with the 5th graders. This is also her second year.

Dan before his surgery...after he got the happy drugs. Looks like he's feeling quite well.

And after.....feeling rather miserable.



Now sorry if some of these are a little risque', but it is a bachelorette party after all.

Some of the girls posing with Fabio........

In the limo on the way to dancing and drinking downtown. I'm the old one on the right.

Love this pic. Check out those straws.

And Sharon getting a lap dance from the Prom Queen (er, bride-to-be). Check out the top of the tiara. Took tons of pics (the battery on my camera died-guess I should have paced myself), but just wanted to post a few for ya'll. Now you know why I have been so busy, so I will try to keep up with this a little more. Glad to be back.

Local Dinner

Went to our local downtown Farmer's Market last Saturday and picked out a few things for a nice dinner. Got some bread from Alipcella a local Boise bakery. It is a mushroom, spinach and feta cheese bread that I basted with fresh garlic butter and toasted on the grill. The Bok Choy and Kale stir-fry was from a local farm. And the Wine is from the Snake River Winery, also here in Idaho. Served with whole wheat spaghetti and a chickpea, veggie marinara sauce, topped with fresh romano cheese. Delish.

Check out your local Farmer's Market and see what you can find. Makes for a fun Saturday. We also got some local salsa and some huckleberry honey, an heirloom tomato plant and some organic Kale and Chard for the garden.

Earth Day