If Time Could Stand Still...

I've been really busy this past week following the Earth Day events, audition and rehearsals. On Wednesday, Earth Day, I got a chance to speak with Michael and George of the Michael Baisden radio show. I was driving along and I heard that they were talking about eco-products in dedication to Earth Day, so I called in and I actually got through. I told them some useful information about water conservation before they got goofy on me.

On Thursday, I attended the movie premiere for Jazz in the Diamond District. I give the movie two thumbs up! It was great to see and mingle with some old friends and meet new people.

http://www.jazzinthediamonddistrict.com/

I kicked off Saturday with an audition call back, then off to meet with a director for a movie I'll be filming in May. After all of this acting, I had to go to a rehearsal for the play I'll also be in, in May. As you can imagine, by this time I wasn't sure who I was supposed to be. LOL

Sunday I went to Federalsburg, MD to participate with my friend and his mom in the March of Dimes 5-mile walk. I had never done a walk like this before. I couldn't believe how quickly the miles flew by. Once we were done walking, they rewarded us with some great refreshments and goodies; I was a fan of the funnel cake.

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle: How You Can Make a Difference

You can make a significant difference toward climate change by implementing the three Rs. But more importantly, you should focus on the first two before implementing the final R.

Reducing refers to lessening the amount of items or resources that are consumed, using only the amount that is needed and looking for alternatives that will lessen our use.

Reusing is extending the life or re-purposing an item rather than discarding or throwing it away.

Recycling is processing old used items in order that the material can be used to make new products.

A fourth R has been suggested by the EPA: Respond! By responding, you would implement the changes in your life to be more environmentally conscious and become helpful in spreading the awareness.

Tips for implementing these changes in your life:

Reduce:

• Buy permanent items instead of disposables.
• Buy and use only what you need.
• Buy products with less packaging.
• Buy products that use less toxic chemicals.

Reuse:

• Repair items as much as possible.
• Use durable coffee mugs.
• Use cloth napkins or towels.
• Clean out juice bottles and use them for water.
• Use empty jars to hold leftover food.
• Reuse boxes.
• Purchase refillable pens and pencils.
• Participate in a paint collection and reuse program.
• Donate extras to people you know or to charity instead of throwing them away.
• Reuse grocery bags as trash bags.

Recycle:

Recycle paper (printer paper, newspaper, mail, etc.), plastic, glass bottles, cardboard, and aluminum cans. If your community doesn't collect at the curb, take them to a collection center.

*Purchase some cool post-consumer products at www.uncommongoods.com.

Sources: www.42explore.com/recycle.htm; www.epa.gov/epahome/home.htm#recycle; www.cheasepeakebay.net/atschool.aspx?menuitem=16885

Recycling 101

Your local government is the key to your recyling success. Contact your local government and/or recycling coordinator to learn about how you my obtain a recyling bin/receptacle and to learn what items are accepted in your county/area and how to dispose of additional materials, such as hazardous waste, properly. Generally, plastic items 1-7 (including plastic bags), glass, aluminum, paper items, and steel are acceptable. Research is constantly being conducted on how to recycle additional and new types of plastics. Proper recyling consists of adhering to your area's accepted items list, removing tops from plastic bottles and cleaning the items to be recycled before placing them in the receptacle.

Earth Day Weekend: SUNDAY

SUNDAY: Green Apple Festival!

I rounded out my weekend by attending the Green Apple Festival on the National Mall. I was so excited to go and meet the reigning Miss Earth United States and some of the other delegates. When we parked, we noticed a bike carriage that was free and sponsored by Timberland. Since we had parked so far, we thought it would be cool to take a "green" ride over to the festival. It was actually fun and relaxing.

When I arrived, I was greeted by Miss Earth Unites States, Jana Murrell and Miss Earth East Coast (DC), Ruby Ong. We hung out for a little bit before my manager scored us yet another interview. It's so funny that doing these interviews makes me realized how truly passionate I am about the environment and promoting the awareness of others. While it's so easy to recycle, I always stress that that's one of the last things you want to do; notice the order: we should always reduce, reuse, recycle, respectively.

Jana had the pleasure of speaking to the audience about the environment and introducing the Flaming Lips. All day long, the crowd were asking what time the Flaming Lips were performing. Once they got on stage, I realized what all the hype was about and that I actually already know and like a couple of their songs. There were other special guests in attendance as well, a Congressman, Timberland CEO, actor and others. This just shows you how vast the Green Generation is becoming.

I wrapped up the day by volunteering to help clean up after the show. I was actually surprised to find that there were actually things to be cleaned at a green festival. The cleanup was not so bad because most of the people began bringing the trash to me once they realized the mess that was made. I met one of the fellow volunteers for that day and asked to document her volunteerism. Thanks Zara!

Thanks to Earth Day Network, Planet Green, the Green Apple Festival and Timberland for sponsoring such a great event.

HAPPY EARTH DAY!

Earth Day Weekend: SATURDAY

SATURDAY: Anacostia Watershed Cleanup and Play Rehearsal

Saturday, I volunteered to help clean up the Anacostia Watershed, Kingman Island. I had so much fun walking the trails with my two biggest supporters and best friends who came out to volunteer as well. While cleaning, we found countless things along the shoreline, under the bridge and along the trails. I heard the funniest story about a child who was there cleaning finding a $20 bill; she said, "I gave to Mother Earth and she gave back to me!" That was the cutest thing I had ever heard. But seriously, the Earth does give back when we care for it.

While I was under the bridge, I was greeted by two young ladies who work for Discovery Channel's Planet Green Network. They were excited to find out that I am Miss Earth Maryland and that I was out volunteering so they did a brief interview with me. They thought my story would be a great one for the network to pick up and follow. I was extremely excited to express my interest in the environment and my views on climate change. They filmed me as I balanced my crown on my head and walked on rocks to pick up litter. I expressed to them, "This is one of the reasons our pageant's slogan is 'Beauties for a Cause'." This was my first interview that day; and it primed me for next ones that would later follow.

I met the cutest young lady named Julyanna while under the bridge who was eager to help us move our loaded bags. She could possibly be a future Miss Earth!

As we were leaving, we came upon the film crew for the Green Apple Festival who also interviewed me.

After a busy day of cleaning, I stopped by for a movie audition and went to rehearsal for a play that I am in. As you can imagine, by this time I was tired, but I still managed to perform well in my audition and at rehearsal, according to the people who critiqued me.

Saturday brought me great joy because the weather was so beautiful and I did so many positive things that day. I couldn't wait to wake up to attend the Green Apple Festival on Sunday.

Earth Day Weekend: FRIDAY

I am so excited to share the events of my busy weekend with you; these were among some of my first appearances as Miss Earth Maryland, and I enjoyed every minute of it. I had an opportunity to be interviewed four times over the weekend, thus giving the pageant, myself and my views on the environment exposure. I also had a chance to meet one of the other delegates from DC and Miss Earth United States. In addition, I had some things to do in the entertainment arena.

FRIDAY: Casey Trees Tree Stewardship!
Friday began early for me. I rose from bed at 7:00 am to prepare for a day of tree stewardship with Casey Trees. Before I got to the event, I assumed that we'd be planting trees; but to my surprise, Casey Trees has been caring for and planting trees in the DC area for some time. I was allowed the opportunity to care for some of the existing trees they had planted in the Georgia Avenue/Petworth area. I was so excited to learn some new things about trees and effective ways to care for them.

After being briefed on what we needed to do

for the trees that day, we split up and went to

work on the trees. When I began, I had no idea what I was doing and worse when the worms began squirming from their wholes I moved away. I was then told by an environmental student from Maryland who was also there to volunteer, that the sight of the worms was positive because it meant the tree was healthy. I was happy to learn that the tree was healthy and I later became comfortable with the worms. After a while, I put down my tool and started pulling the weeds with my hands, like a pro! When my first tree was done, I was more than ready to work on the next ones.

Tree Before Care

Tree After Care

Over the course of the day, we moved to about five different locations--weeding, mulching, and installing ooze tubes for some--walking a couple of blocks between each. We even cared for some trees at the local library before ending at Clark Elementary School, which has been closed for about a year. I was saddened by some of the things that we found on the grounds and playground of that school where I watched some of the neighborhood children play; I prefer not to mention them. I was more than happy to clean the school grounds as some of the others cared for the trees.

I would like to thank Casey Trees and my volunteer leaders for a wonderful experience and I would be more than happy to volunteer at any time in the future. I realized that at least one of the benefits for trees mentioned in my side note (below), reduced stress, worked for me. When the day ended, I didn't want to leave. I had grown to love playing in the dirt, seeing the worms and watering the trees!


If you would like to take advantage of the awesome opportunity and help Mother Earth, you can visit the Casey Trees Web site to see which opportunity may work best for you. http://www.caseytrees.org/

Side Note: You may ask, why care for or plant a tree? If you are asking yourself that question, then you probably are ignorant about the benefits we gain from trees. Trees offer many benefits as listed on the Casey Trees Web site:

• Healthy Air
• Cooling Shade
• Cleaner Water
• Less Crime
• Reduced Stress
• Livable Communities
• Increased Property Values
• Tourism
• Wildlife Habitat
• Trees and Commerce
• Job Opportunities

For more detailed information on those benefits, you can visit the following
link, http://www.caseytrees.org/planting/reasons/tree-benefits/index.php

Saved by the Carbon Footprint

If you haven't heard in the news already, according to experts, Utah was the first state to implement a mandatory four-day work week for most of its state employees. This should come as no surprise since we were hard-hit by the rediculus gas prices of this past year. In a USA Today article from June 30, 2008 Governor Jon Huntsman said he was making the change to reduce the state's carbon footprint, increase energy efficiency, improve customer service and provide workers more flexibility.

This is a positive environmental issue that seems to be impacting other states to make the change. The four-day work week initiative in Utah was scheduled to begin on August 4, 2008. As you probably have, I had forgotten about this intiative that was reported last year. Fox News reported today some of the effects of the change on one of its programs. Since I wanted to share the results with you, I took my research a step further by going to the Utah Government's website to view the interim report.

The February 2009 report as you can imagine, revealed positive results.

Here's a list of the evironmental benefits and interim results/"summary of early indicators":

• Energy
  Benefit: state savings on building operational costs, as well as spreading the load on transportation infrastructure.
  
  Interim Results:
  - $203,177 reduction in custodial service contracts this year.
  - Early energy usage data indicates that ½ of the buildings in the study are achieving 10 to 20 percent+ energy usage reductions.
  
  
• Environment
  Benefit: reduced energy usage correlates to reduced CO2 emissions.
  
  Interim Results:
  - Estimated reduction of 12,652 metric tons of greenhouse emissions produced annually.
  - Estimated reduction of 744,000 gallons of gasoline consumed annually.

While I covered only the environmental impact of the initiative, it is easy to imagine that the affected employees are offering no complaints to their new three-day weekend. This was a great way for the Governor to offer a work-life balance for his employees. Who wouldn't want to be off on Fridays? The report mentioned that 70 percent of the affected employees prefer the 4/10 schedule; employee turnover rates have decreased; and employee absenteeism has decreased. I don't know about you, but I would lobby to clone this Governor and place him in all of the United States if this initiative goes as planned. He's not only displayed his comittment to a greener environment, but he showed that he cares about his citizens in the process. His overall impact will be widely appreciated once this bug spreads.

I hope you're enjoying your week!

XO
Tia

More Than A Famous Face

I was recently interviewed by Sakwe of The Famous Firm for T.G.I.F. (Thank God I'm Famous) Magazine. I am featured in the "More Than A Famous Face" section of the magazine. Check out my interview. http://thankgodimfamous.com/magazine/tiaholmes/

XO
Tia

All in the Family...

I would like to take this time to recognize my cousin Alexis Johnson. She is this year's Washington, DC Cherry Blossom Princess. Of course, I am very proud of her so I had to put her on blast! She is a very smart and goal-oriented young woman who has God in her life. She is poised to do great things in the future.

Alexis Johnson is 2009 DC Cherry Blossom Princess

The DC State Society selected Alexis Johnson to represent DC in the 2009 National Cherry Blossom Festival NCSS Princess Program. Alexis, shown at right at the Lantern Ceremony on March 29, is a second-year student majoring in justice studies and psychology at North Carolina Wesleyan College where she sings with The Gospel Choir and tutors at the local elementary school. After graduation she would like to study law.

Source: http://ncss.typepad.com/my_weblog/2009/03/alexis-johnson-is-2009-dc-princess.html

Busy, Busy

I'm back from a long trip in LA. I had fun there, but I'm having trouble adjusting to the time difference because I've been busy since I got home. I arrived back home on Sunday and did a promotional shoot for a television show that I am working on the following morning. It's nice being busy, but sometimes it becomes tiring.

*Pictured: Interview with Rob and Que of Day 26 for The Sexy Report.

During the weekend, Earth Hour 2009 took place. The media reported it was a huge success and I'm glad to have been a part of it! I hope you all voted Earth.

My current excitement is fueled by the appearances and volunteering that I will participate in for the month of April. Since April is dubbed environmental awareness month, I will have a few features in online newsletters and magazines. I will keep you all posted on the links.

I also got some of my pageant photos back from my shoot with Sam Chyung.

Best,

Tia