Last weekend I stayed at Ice Cap Campground near McKenzie Bridge, Oregon. While looking for details on this campground I came across numerous conflicting details, so I'd figure I'd share what my experience was as of late July, 2022.

First off, we stayed at the campground on a weekend where the high was 105 degrees Fahrenheit. It was a HOT one. We made due and enjoyed ourselves just fine, but the heat kept us from doing too much. Thankfully, the campsite is covered in trees so there's lots of shade. We had campsite 9 and it was pretty small. Even with just our two tents, we weren't really sure where to place them (and I apparently placed mine on top of a spider nest the first night judging by the amount of spiders that were on the tent and the ground surrounding it when I was getting ready to go to bed for the night.

Let's talk about the amenities.

• FIREWOOD - they have it for sale for $7/bundle or slightly less if you buy 4 bundles at once. There weren't that many bundles left when we got there.
• TOILETS - Vault toilets look new and were clean and did not smell. There were 4 bathrooms for the campground to share.
• POTABLE WATER - There were two places where you could pump your own water. The pump took some significant movement to get going and was pretty tall, so it couldn't be used by a child younger than a teen most likely. The metal of the pump itself gets hot in the sun, so we needed a towel to hold onto it for some of the day. The water itself is cold and refreshing!

We were there from Friday evening through Sunday around noon, as the campsite checkout time is 1 pm.

My friend Olivia and I spent our time hiking, hammocking, and making yummy food. The campsite sits just north of the Carmen Reservoir and is bordered on the west by the McKenzie River. We hiked down from our campsite to the Waterfalls Loop Trail and crossed the river at the reservoir before walking north towards Koosah and Sahalie Falls. The trail isn't overly difficult, we did it in Teva and Chacos sandals, but it has the occasional exposed moments that were hard when the sun was beating down on the 105 degree day! I ran out of water in my small water bottle in the stretch going from the reservoir to the bridge that crosses the river above the falls. The rushing water was gorgeous and sometimes you were hit with a bit of refreshing mist!

On the east side of the river there are a couple spots where you can wade in the river where it pools, right above the falls. The water is fed by snowmelt from Mount Washington and so it's freezing! It was nice to dip our toes in and splash a bit on our bodies before continuing the hike in the heat.

​When we got back to camp, we mainly just hung out and ate some food.

On Saturday evening, we decided it had finally cooled off enough to find a place to paddleboard. Our camp host wrote us a parking pass for Cold Water Cove Campground, which was just a couple of minutes down the road and has access to Clear Lake, a beautiful and serene lake…also…cold! We were able to spend about an hour on the lake as the sun started to set.

We got back to campground and made some dinner and baked a big cookie in a cast iron over the fire. We went to bed with the sound of the McKenzie River rushing in the background.

Let’s talk sustainability for a moment, because it is having a much-needed moment. The fashion industry is one of the world's biggest industrial polluters, accounting for 8-10% of greenhouse gas emissions from human activity. A Vouge survey showed that the identification of sustainability as an important factor when making a fashion purchase rose from 65% in October 2020 to 69% in May 2021. Though on the surface this is great, Changing Market’s Foundation’s 2021 report found that as many as 59% of all sustainability claims from European and UK fashion brands are misleading and could be greenwashing. Consumers want to trust that the companies they are buying from are doing the right thing, but right now no one is really holding those brands accountable at a high level.
Fast fashion is about scale. It’s about producing clothing quick, capitalizing on trends, and making customers feel like the need to keep coming back and buying more to stay in style. Shein, an online fast-fashion retailer founded in 2008 by Chris Xu in China, has taken this retail category and completely blown it out of the water. Last year, it overtook Amazon to become the most downloaded shopping app in the US. According to a report by Earnest Research, it also became the largest fast-fashion retailer in the US by sales in June 2021, surpassing the likes of H&M, Zara, and Forever 21. Furthermore, Shein was valued at $100 billion following a recent funding round, which makes the online retailer worth more than H&M and Zara combined.

If H&M and Zara are great white sharks, Shein is a megaloden. Why is Shein growing so fast? Because they use a “test and repeat” business model and a flexible supply chain. The Guardian reported in April that only 6% of Shein’s inventory remains in stock for more than three months. Shein does production runs of only 50-100 items per style to test concepts, commissioning more from their suppliers if an item does well, or discontinuing the garment if it doesn’t. In contrast, ZARA suppliers require a minimum order of 500 pieces of clothing. With the same initial investment of 3,000 pieces, ZARA can only launch five or six new models or even less, while Shein can launch 30 new products for testing.

With the average price of a Shein product being $7.90, workers’ rights and salaries are likely marginalized to ensure skyrocketing revenues. There’s no other way to make the math make sense.

As a consumer, look at the pricetag and do some basic math. The industry standard for a profit margin is between a 2.2 and 2.5x markup, so let's apply that to a garment that Shein retails for $10. With a 2.2x markup, it would mean the product costs $4.50 to make. That cost includes fabric, pattern-making, trims, sewing, packaging, transportation, and more. Most of those costs are static, they don’t change much and can’t really be negotiated. Factories, however, are coerced into negotiating sewing and labor costs with brands. They want the business from the big brands, but negotiating labor costs means that those on the sewing lines, the humans that make your clothes, only make mere pennies in unsafe working conditions. According to the BBC, Shein suppliers are doing 75-hour work weeks with only 1 day off each month. Since Shein has such a quick turnaround of items, the pressure is intense and factories are willing to violate local labor laws because they want to maintain relations with the fast-fashion mega-giant.

The fact that Shein produces small batches can be considered positive; since it will decrease the chance of having unnecessary deadstock. However, the low cost of these products, and fast-fashion in general, encourages consumers to overconsume without seeing the consequences of overconsumption. Returns aren’t even processed and re-stocked, they’re just put into landfills because it costs more to put them back into circulation. Gen Z, Shein’s main clientele, are able to buy more clothing for less money than ever before. But the product they’re buying is made of the cheapest fabrics, with costs cut everywhere possible, so the quality is compromised. Maybe the straps break, maybe the fabric rips, maybe the sewing left the garment warped so it doesn’t sit correctly. These fast-fashion pieces do not have long lives in closets, they have no longevity, except as plastic waste in our landfills and microplastics in our water systems. Instead of buying a multitude of low-quality items from Shein, consider spending the same amount on a better quality piece that won’t be out of style in a month, something that will live in your closet for years and be cherished. Think quality over quantity, think relationship over fling.
You may be wondering, has Shein made any sustainability commitments? In Shein’s 2021 Sustainability Report, they claim to be committed to lowering emissions and reducing waste at every stage…which sounds great! But any consumer should agree that actions speak louder than words, so Changing Room dove in to see if this is actually the case or if Shein is just guilty of greenwashing. Adam Whinston, global head of environmental, social and governance (ESG) at Shein, recently shared that “[Shein is] committed to building a more responsible fashion ecosystem,” by launching their EvoluShein line in April 2022. He continued, “EvoluShein is one important step in our sustainability commitments this year, which touches on each of our key focus areas – protecting the environment, supporting communities, and empowering entrepreneurs.” EvoluShein utilizes recycled polyester, which sounds much better than it is. Recycled polyester still emits microplastics, relies on plastic production, and cannot be efficiently recycled back into clothing at the end of its life. Fast-fashion is built off the backs of underpaid laborers in unsafe working conditions, there’s no other way for prices to be as cheap as they are. Empowering entrepreneurs? Shein is notorious for stealing designs of smaller designers. 
There hasn’t been any proof of Shein reducing its hazardous chemicals, carbon emissions, and microplastic output. Moreover, fast fashion companies like Shein are the reason we are living in “a throwaway fashion culture”. Any sustainability claims without proof or substantial change in business practices must be thought of as nothing more than greenwashing. If you think about the true cost of fashion, given Shein’s pricing models it would be impossible for them to operate sustainably and ethically. Following fast fashion trends and buying cheap clothes might seem attractive for the short term, but ultimately in the long term, we all have to pay for the consequences of unsustainable consumption and production of cheap clothing.

I was looking for a fall recipe with pumpkin and coconut and ended up with these muffins! They're sweet without being too sweet and so soft and yummy, while being heavy enough to make a fast and easy breakfast :)

I was sworn to secrecy on this carrot cake recipe, but that shouldn't mean I don't get to share how pretty it came out!

I made this carrot cake with cream cheese frosting to celebrate a friend's birthday. Baking for my friends is something I love doing, and being able to do it during quarantine makes it even sweeter. The recipient of this cake I haven't known very long, but a natural, simple, beautiful cake was clearly what I needed to make for her! I was bummed when the co-op I went to didn't have any edible flowers for the top…but then I saw the dried pineapple rings and inspiration struck!

And thus this cake was born. I used a thrifted plate on a thrifted spice rack and a thrifted offset spatula to create this beauty! I placed it on a thrifted cake stand and ta-da! Happiest of birthdays, Lady Laura!

Three weeks ago, I adopted a dog. I've been pretty obsessed with dogs my whole life, begging for one for years. I always dogsat for the neighborhood, but never was I allowed to have my own dog. Well, I live on my own now and have been saving for a dog, and when I saw a local rescue post the cutest video and photos of Roxy, what they guessed was a chihuahua-corgi mix, I sent in an application! I got to meet her a week later and brought her home.

Roxy did not respond to her name as it was just given to her by the rescue, so I renamed her Mudge. Some of the first books I read as a child were the Henry and Mudge series by Cynthia Rylant and turns out the author lives in Portland, so the name felt right. Mudge immediately took to her new bed and every day I see her getting more comfortable with her surroundings and learning more.

Within a few days, we locked down the "sit" command, made good progress on "lay down", and introduced "paw/shake". She can also jump through a hoop! She's patient with her food, always interested in trying whatever I'm cooking, and naps most of the day. Here's what she's tried so far.

Likes:

• Broccoli
• Raspberries
• Blueberries
• Pineapple
• Frozen green peas
• Watermelon
• Pancakes
• Pizza
• Apples
• Peanut Butter
• Roasted Sweet Potatoes
• Black Beans
• Vanilla Ice Cream
• Cheese

Dislikes:

• Cucumber
• Tomatoes
• Lettuce
• Carrots
• Oranges
• Nectarines
• Plums

My life in Portland has been typically been a challenge mentally and socially. I moved here for a relationship that failed immediately and found myself in a place where I knew only a couple acquaintances and didn't have easy transportation to run errands, be social, and generally get around. I work a remote job so meeting others locally was incredibly difficult and I spent a lot of my time being pretty depressed.

Throughout my life, I've had a lot of close friends, but never a sense of being anyone's first choice. And that really really sucks, especially when you find yourself in a place where your options are even more limited than typical. When I lived in SF, being alone was easier. I could walk the city and go to the tourist locations and keep myself busy even if I was by myself. There's not that much to do in Portland. The charm in Portland is that there's a ton to explore just outside of it…hiking and camping and things that I don't really want to do alone.

At the start of 2020, I made the resolution to stop feeling sorry for myself and the crappy situation I was in. Who cares if I had a tiny apartment, hosting and baking and sharing things with friends makes me happy…so I decided to start hosting game nights. I literally invited everyone I knew in Portland. Mainly friends of friends, some dates I'd friendzoned, classmates from college, my fourth cousin, neighbors…a motley crew truly. I started to have a more solid group, we'd go to trivia weekly, and even planned a trip camping together (which hopefully will still happen, it's at the end of the summer). But then the pandemic happened. And so the social interactions stopped, my weekly routines to get out of the house vanished, relying on others or public transportation for getting anywhere became unsafe, and so I just sat next to my window in my apartment.

I'd go literally two weeks without going outside, because I live in a building with stairwells and a lobby where the coronavirus could easily be lurking. I'd leave my apartment to go to the grocery store when I really needed to, that was it. Meanwhile, my family was home, right outside of NYC, living in the epicenter of the pandemic in the US.

Having Mudge makes all the difference. She makes sure I get out of bed in the morning and that I get outside and exercise a bit. She makes me keep my apartment more tidy, which is huge for me. She makes me laugh and lets me hug her…which has been such a gift during this time. I honestly don't know how I'd keep my mind sane during this quarantine if I hadn't gotten her.

Yeah I still feel lonely from time to time, but I have her and she has me. And we can adventure together now. Next step…getting a car so we can be mobile!