Mission WWO-Success!

In my last post, I talked about embarking on the official Weekend Without Oil challenge which took place this past weekend.

At first I remarked that I was fearful of what crazy things they were going to ask me to give up but quickly discovered that it wasn't going to be as hard as I'd imagined.

Eat more local and organic foods, walk more, use your reusable bag, eat more veggies, don't buy new clothes, make-up or electronics, drink tap water. Basically things I was already doing. This was going to be a piece of cake (made with vegetable oil)!

I chose to accept this mission.

And I learned that this green stuff takes even more thought than I realized.

Because I've been going green for a while now, a lot of it is second nature and I don't think about it. But sometimes, things become so routine that I become sloppy and occasionally, that non-green thing slips in. And that was what was so important and eye-opening about this weekend.

I decided not to go to the beach and instead, had lunch with my mother-in-law who was in the city for the day on Saturday. We ate at Le Pain Quotidien. I chose this cafe because I know they use a lot of organic ingredients, their furniture is made from reclaimed wood, they use "green" cleaners and energy efficient lamps. Perfect for my oil-free weekend.

I ordered an iced tea/lemonade...my favorite. The waiter placed it on the table, along with a sliver of lemon garnish and an oil-based product. One that you use to sip drinks. One that I usually opt out of. But this time I didn't. There it was, smiling at me, as if to say, "I gotcha!"

I had barely made it into the day and I already felt defeated by . . . a straw.

I quickly forgave myself, ate my delicious gazpacho and enjoyed the conversation.

After lunch, I headed over to the store to pick up supplies for dinner. I got to the store, placed my items on the conveyor belt and dug in my purse to pull out my reusable bag...only to find out that I had forgotten to put a new one in because mine was in the laundry.

"You've got to be kidding me!" I said aloud as the cashier was about to place my first item in the plastic (oil, oil and more oil) bag.

She looked at me as if she'd done something wrong. She hadn't...I had.

"Sorry...I forgot my bag. I'll just carry the stuff."

She looked at me even more strangely. I paid for my items and walked out of the store with groceries in hand. And elbows, wrists -- anything that would hold my unbagged groceries.

The best thing about this weekend without oil was that I did a lot less shopping. I stayed home the rest of Saturday and read.

Sunday was a much needed rainy day so that kept me indoors. Until it was time to grab a few things for dinner and this time I sent John out...bag in hand.

He came back from his trip to the store with a horrified look on his face.

"What?" I shouted.

"You're not going to believe this!" he exclaimed.

"What??"

"There is a sign that I've never notice before hanging in the produce section. It says that the fruits and vegetables have been waxed for freshness. And one of the things keeping them fresh is petroleum!"


My mouth hung open. I had no idea that when I cooked vegetables in oil they may have already been covered in it. Was this going to have to be a weekend without vegetables? My head started to explode.

Because he's so awesome (and afraid of me), he told me he fled that store and went to another one where he was fairly certain that the vegetables were oil-free. At least we hoped.

I was proud of myself that I had cut out so much oil of my weekend, but disturbed that there was so much oil to cut out. With all the attention focused on the Gulf, I couldn't believe all the places oil has gotten into that we overlook on a daily basis. Common, everyday items we never even think about.

I mulled this over with a glass of oil-free tomato juice.

No straw.