Here are a few cool places to find unique presents, which I’ve dutifully bookmarked over the year. Just in case you’re shopping for someone like me.

• Daytrip Society: for the traveler/nature fiend
• English Retreads: fashionable environmentally conscious bags
• Yogitoes: yoga supplies
• PalmerCash: cool vintage-style T-shirts
• Underground Signs: create your own subway stop
• Survival of the Hippest.com: bling your twitter address
• BigCartel: from the artist direct to you – i.e.,  Sandra Juto or Bakers Dozen
• WWF: Adopt a species and help protect their habitat
• Still stumped? try Neatorama for that weirdo cousin of yours.

And don’t forget these very very important Christmas Cheat Sheets. FABULOUS! From Cookie, an awesome designer.

Thanks to @smashadv at Obsessed With Conformity for the WWF idea.

So we finally find a great townhome, reasonable condo fee, nice neighbors, and my question is:

Do we really want to be Home Owners?”

I mean, what is the big deal about owning anyway? It’s a lot of hassle and paperwork, and it chains you down. If you want to upgrade, you have to sell, and that’s only getting harder to do. Ugh! Plus, if we do buy, my fall vacation is surely canceled. Totally unfair. Am I being short sighted? I think not. Especially not in this market.

Renting means we can afford to live in a nicer neighborhood and someone else deals with the big headaches like the roof and the furnace and the property tax. Plus, I get to go on a fall vacation. So we’re taking a break from house shopping. And planning a vacation instead.

Here’s a doozy — we find a home at the right price in the right neighborhood, but it’s part of a co-op.

My first thoughts:

1. You mean a condo, right?
2. A co-op, like where we buy our tofu?
3. Is that good or bad?

Well, if you’ve got any experience with co-ops in the DC area, I’d be really happy to hear from you. co-ops are apparently popular in other cities, but I’ve never lived in one in DC.

One of the strangest things about co-ops dealing with this extra big down payment, which I’ve found is called the Share Loan. When you buy into a co-op, you’re actually buying a share of the housing cooperative, which gives you a vote on how things are run on the property.

I’ve a couple of helpful links on the Internet — see below — and I’m asking my agent and my lender to give us advice, as well as all you people. Please, crowdsourcing, don’t fail me now.

Links:

• Wikipedia
• National Association of Housing Cooperatives

Last year we — my husband and I — looked at some houses with the help of some folks. None of them were helpful enough that I’d want to call them back, though. So we’re starting over this year with a new agent that we hope is more helpful.

Last year we also witnessed the mortgage industry crumble around us. The 0% down program our bank offered last winter disintegrated into thin air, and was replaced by something new every two weeks or so.

This year we’ll go straight to the credit union.

It WILL be a different experience this time, or it won’t happen.

If you live in DC and are looking for green living resources, I’ve got a great place for you!

Eco-Green Living is jam-packed with resources for building and living green, especially if you are looking for ways to renovate your home. Stroll around downstairs and you’ll see natural paints and carpets, light bulbs, mattresses, even gifts and natural shampoos. But you’ll also notice there are samples of recycled tire flooring and maybe a few long boxes of bamboo flooring. This is just a hint.

Go on upstairs – you’ll find every color in the rainbow in sustainable countertops, flooring and tiles. Plus tankless hot water, eco-insulation, skylights and more.

These folks just keep taking in what they find to make it available for you, plus they have connections for installation services. It is really awesome to see how MUCH you can do, how many CHOICES you have while keeping green. Check it out.

Eco-Green Living is located a short walk from either the McPherson Square or U Street/Cardoza Metro stations, on Church Street between 14th & 15th Streets, one block over from the P Street Whole Foods.

http://eco-greenliving.com

This is such a great idea – Once Upon a Prom helps high school girls get prom dresses, and helps grown-ups clean out their closets.

Men may not understand that prom dresses are one of those items that can be especially hard to just ‘throw away,’ but they take up space in the closet or attic, and they are increasingly useless and depressing as a girl gets older and will never fit into that dress again.

Saving these dresses for our daughters is simply oppressive. The style will simply not be in fashion by the time our daughters are going to prom. (IF we have a daughter to pass the dress on to.) Okay, there is a slim chance, and if you have an immense closet, keep that dress. But if not, Once Upon a Prom will put your prom dress to immediate use for a girl that actually wants and NEEDS it NOW.

Check it out. Visit Urban Chic in D.C. & Baltimore, March 24-31

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/20/AR2008032002247.html

Check it out – those big art flags you see promoting art exhibits in your city can be yours!

They make a huge impact once they’re inside your home, at up to eight feet tall. What a great way to keep this plastic fabric out of the landfills. And it helps defray the cost of advertising for great museums, which can always use the support.

Visit: http://www.betterwall.com/