Mean Green Recycling Machine!

Yikes! It's the last day of April!

So I know I fell off the posting band-wagon and missed EARTH DAY (gasp!) But...for a good reason. I spent last weekend and Earth Day in Colorado surrounded by family and friends for some wedding festivities! And to make up for such a lack of earth-friendly amazingness...here are the awesome eco-conscious gifts I received:

Best shirt ever! Compliments of my sister, Kelley!

Again, a Kelley, find: Teavana a delightful tea shop that invests in equal trade and gives 1% of their earnings to CARE! (And has amazing tea and tea products too!)

A cute summer purse made of recycled bottles! Just in time for the sun to come out in Seattle! And, yes, compliments of Kelley - as she told me "You've made a monster out of me!!" But once you start - you just can't stop! :)

Awesome recycled tablecloth and matching napkins - made out of recycled plastic bottles!

Adorable beach bag - also recycled! Cute bag the purse came in!!

Happy last days of April!!

I'm off to a weekend away in Leavenworth with the lovely ladies of Bethany! <3

Countdown!

78 days until this.

79 days until my wedding.

Most epic weekend ever?!

I think so.

Happy Birthday Trees!!

It is my dear friend, Therese's, birthday!

She is fabulous, creative, full of life, giggles, love and compassion.

(And she has the most beautiful kitty ever!)

HaPpY BiRtHdAy Trees!!

Hope your next year is full of blessings and adventures!

The Plastic Problem

Read this article about a woman who decided to give up using bags (plastic and paper) and just stick with reusable. I sympathized with her forgetfulness at checking out, realizing all the reusable bags are in the car and sulking out with my bundles of paper and plastic. I like this challenge and think I should sport my Trader Joe's bags (I have the one's above) and take on her challenge!

And here's a little motivation if you're still feeling unsure:

According to the Worldwatch Institute, Americans use more than 100 billion plastic bags each year, and 99 percent go straight to landfills. To combat these statistics, Whole Foods has pledged to eliminate plastic bags from stores by Earth Day, April 22. The natural-foods chain will still offer free recycled-paper bags, while encouraging consumers to shop with reusable bags.

American cities are starting to take action, too. San Francisco's City Council, for instance, voted in 2007 to ban plastic bags at grocery chains and pharmacies. For more information or to get involved, go to reusablebags.com.

Article and information from www.wholeliving.com

Ooo shiney

Isn't this pretty? I saw it on my friend Therese's fb page and was even more excited to hear that it's from Brilliant Earth and you can get this beauty for free if you order any ring from them...find out more here.

I highly recommend their jewelry as that is where my engagement ring and Nick's band are from. They are a company committed to ethical and green jewelry - their diamonds are conflict-free, they use recycled gold and my ring came in a beautiful bamboo box (see below) and with environmentally-friendly cleaning solution...Nick knows me well and picked an amazing ring I'm proud to wear. Brilliant Earth has amazing customer service too and their pieces are gorgeous. So, indulge - you deserve it!

Spending Green

I've always been a sucker for those fancy checks with colors, pictures - anything your heart desires. My philosophy was - well, if I have to spend money (and it's usually bills when I write checks...) why not make it that much less painful but making them pretty? And now you can have pretty, GREEN (as in recycled material) checks! Spend away!

And TGIF...it's been one of those weeks!!

Kitten fever

I am having some pet withdrawals. It's been the longest in my life that I haven't had a pet (because of circumstances...i.e. "No Pets in the Dorms" and "Pets cost a lot of money"). But I miss my Tinker back home and have an itching for a little kitten to play with. All in due time...I need to get through a wedding first and adjust to life with a BOY let alone a little kitten.

But, this tangent is because I discovered RECYCLED CAT LITTER!!! Even though I currently cannot use it...I'm tucking this little treasure away for LATER!

Happy Birthday Nick!

Today is my sweethearts birthday!

(Doesn't he look SO EXCITED?!)

Happy Birthday Nicholas!!!

I have a weekend full of surprises for him...and the sun came out to celebrate and everything!!

In the spirit of birthdays, here are some ideas for environmentally sound birthdays:

• 100% Recycled Gift Wrap (super cute!) -- or re-using a paper bag and decorating, or the comic newspaper page etc etc
• Gifts that give-back like these, and these, and... there's so many I love!!
• Compostable paper good items (for the party, of course!)
• Give them a plant!

Off to celebrate my Nick!

That magical triangle

Here is my plug for the day: close the loop!

BUY recycled procucts! If you are triumphant in recycling those cardboard cereal boxes, plastic bottles, glass jars and paper - GOLD STAR FOR YOU! But, if you are not making an effort to buy recycled products than your green trangular recycling circle of life is incomplete and you are dropping bad karma all over the place (just kidding about the karma....kinda).

While recycling is a first great step - it really only helps if you intentionally buy those recycled items instead of consuming more. Because otherwise there will be an abundance of recycled items left in the dust while we still exhaust the little resources we have left. This is the Recycle -Reuse -Reduce (I'll get to the reduce part later...)

So next time you peruse the grocery store isles look for recycled products (and the Green Arrow sign does not necessarily mean it's recycled...look for words that say "Made from __% post-consumer products or Made of recycled materials.)

Here a few to start:

- Paper towels

- Paper Napkins

- Some macaroni and cheese boxes are made out of recycled cardboard!

- Aluminum foil

- Paper plates

- Paper

Happy Shopping!

Bamboo on a Soapbox

Our office is doing Yoga on Tuesdays which is a lovely way to take a deep breath in the middle of the day and stretch! (Which is great because it's sandwiched in-between Monday and Wednesday Circuit Training where the interns are determined to whip us into shape, holy moly).

As I looked around the room I decided that the most comfortable clothes are yoga clothes. The soft flowing shirts and pants that you could easily curl up on your mat and take a nap in clothes.

Then I stumbled upon this site which makes all of their clothes out of Bamboo which you can see how here. I picked out a few of my favorites...aren't they lovely?

Pair that with my eco-friendly mat (which is WAY more padded and comfortable that others), my eco-friendly water bottle, slap "Organic" on my bum and let's do some YOGA!

And just to clarify, when I practice YOGA! it is not devil worship. My co-workers and I were chatting about the wrath this word (YOGA!) can rain down on your head among some Christians/Christian communities. I thought this was an interesting blog post about Catholicism and Yoga. Though it's a hot topic among Catholics and Protestants alike I agree with the blog's author's point:

Many practices have been shifted from or shared with pagan religions and made holy: the Rosary (using strings of beads to count prayers was Hindu and Buddhist long before the 13th century when Mary taught us to use it), fasting, meditation, ritual sacrifice (for Old Testament Jews), holidays and traditions like a Christmas tree and countless others that we’ve commandeered and made holy. Just because a pagan does it does not automatically make a practice or movement intrinsically evil; why can’t a Christian simply focus on God while doing yoga?

I think starts with fearing what is not understood. And I also think we generalize our struggles into everyone's struggles. If Christian A struggles with yoga and forsaking God does it mean Christian B, C and D do too? What if Christian B struggles with alcoholism and Christian A can easily have a glass of wine with dinner without batting an eye. Does that mean wine is intrinsically evil? Of the devil? No. It means Christian A should probably steer clear of yoga and Christian B should stay away from alcohol...

Can we all agree that breathing and stretching isn't sinful?

I digress...I had more to say on that than I originally thought! I suppose our conversation today struck a nerve. I was also thinking about it because of this beautiful blog's latest post which has to do with living in the land of Towers of SHOULD and SHOULD NOTS (i.e. SHOULD NOT do YOGA!) when we should actually be moving (yoga moves or otherwise) in the land of Grace. So...from bamboo to soapbox, Happy Tuesday!

Where art thou, sun?

image via www.weheartit.com

Dear Seattle,

I've noticed you're incessant rain and that your temperature has dropped into the 30's and 40's...in April. Here is a friendly reminder of where you're supposed to be heading...spring, summer (then you can just stop).

Love,

Me

And in the meantime, here are some recycled must-have beach items!! Because I know you have visions of sandy beaches and floppy sun hats too!

April's Theme...

OKAY...it is officially APRIL! Woot!

And if you know me at all you already know what this month's theme is going to be:

KITTENS!!!

Just kidding...

...April Fools!

The theme of April 2011 is everything Green! (In honor and celebration of Earth Day the 22nd!)

So, where to begin?

How about here?