Happy Earth Day!

In honor of Earth Day - BE participated and we volunteered to clean up the Presidio.

Now mind you, I'm not all that environmental, nor am I all that great when it comes to yard work, but I thought it was a great cause at a great location so why not!!

BE rented a posh bus (which I didn't think was green at all ;> ) and by 8:30, all 50 of us boarded the bus and headed to the park. Part of the team also headed up to Marin to plant some trees.

We were grouped into 6 per team, and after a brief how-to's, we were given gloves, picks and bags and off to weeding we went. We pulled weeds for what seemed like forever, and after a short break, the fun started when we planted indigenous ground cover. We also learned a lot, just by chatting with the other volunteers while working. Some of the team members were assigned to the Nursery to plant seedlings. Some were assigned to shovel off mulch from the trucks.

To say that it took most of us out of our comfort zone was an understatement!!! By lunch time, everyone was tired and dirty and ready to call it a day. I sat on mud - wet mud so my butt was wet towards the end. L and I were wearing our gardening clogs - which we thought was a good idea at first - but later on realized, closed-feet shoes would've been better. It was a sight to see - with everyone wearing our BE brown shirts proudly ;).

It was a long, long day. My cheeks are sun-burnt. My arms and legs hurt from weeding, bending, squatting, etc.. Did I also mention that I woke up at 6 and was out the door before 7 just to be here by 7:30? I'm dirty (and I hate dirt!!!), and my bones ache.

We had salad for catered lunch, which wasn't too shabby.

But was the whole experience satisfying, you ask? YOU BET IT WAS!!! I'd sign up all over again!

I did my part for Earth Day (AND I TOOK PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION!!!).
What did YOU do today?

(Pictures to follow. You really didn't think that a group of 50 people, working for a make-up company, would not pause doing manual labor long enough to take pictures, did you?)