Trips to the post office and grocery store are so much more fun when done by bike.
And they’re even more fun while wearing cute mary janes.
And contacts! Woo hoo! (I haven’t had contacts for years because I didn’t have vision insurance, but my current job offers it, so I decided to try them out again. You forget what it’s like to be able to see clearly in all directions when you wear glasses.)
*On Wednesdays, I take a look at some of the beautiful items found at one of the best places for buying and selling hand-made and vintage: Etsy. Buying hand-made and vintage lets you own beautiful, unique objects with character. It keeps things out of the landfills and supports artists and small businesses who are trying to make a living doing what they love. If you have a particular theme you’d love to see, drop me a line and let me know. *
I’m not a big fan of putting mysterious chemicals on my skin. I’d much rather stick to natural ingredients that have been proven to have positive effects on the skin over the centuries. If those items are handmade by artisans, even better. I think that’s it’s a good and positive thing to pamper yourself, and these items are the perfect way to do that.
Corded Mint Full Set of Re-usable Produce Bags, $15.75
A few months ago, I bought one of the above sets of re-usable produce bags to carry groceries in. And they are amazing. I have used hardly any plastic bags to bring home veggies or bulk goods since then. The bags are stong, durable, easy to use, and attractive. Almost every time I take them to the grocery store, someone comments on them.
It’s easy to not give a lot of thought to the impact a plastic bag makes, but when you take a good, hard look at it, it’s scary. A simple lifestyle change, like carrying reusable grocery bags and reusable produce bags, can make a huge difference.
LoveForEarth is a great source for beautiful, reusable bags, and they have been generous enough to offer a set of reusable bags to one of my lovely readers!
There’s three chances to enter. Here’s the details:
1) Check out LoveForEarth’s Etsy shop, then come back here and post a comment letting me know what your favorite item in the store is.
2) Favorite LoveForEarth on Etsy and then let me know you did in a comment here.
3) Follow my blog via Google Reader, Bloglovin’, etc and let me know that you do in a comment here.
This giveaway will run for one week, so you have until midnight, November 19 to enter. Good luck!
*As part of my participation in the 3/50 Project, I write about things I buy locally on the last Friday of every month. To learn more about the 3/50 Project, check out this post.*
This month, I only ended up shopping at two local stores, focusing mostly on grocery items. This wasn’t really intentional, it’s just how it worked out.
Whenever I buy ethnic groceries (Asian, Middle Eastern, Hispanic, etc) I always prefer to shop at a grocery that’s run by people from that region. The prices are generally better than chain grocery stores, the selection is better, and the atmosphere is always so much more interesting. I’ve got a sociology background, so I love learning about different cultures. My favorite local grocery store for Asian foods is Oceanic. I was running low on a lot of staples, so I stocked up on soy sauce, mirin, kim chee, hoisin and other delights.
I’m a bit of a tea snob; I absolutely love to drink tea brewed from loose leaves. My favorite place to buy loose leaf tea is Kaleisia. It’s pretty much one of the coolest places to hang out in Tampa, the owners are super nice, and they actually go to China several times a year and get new teas. Buying tea here is better for the environment too, because once you buy the tins the first time, you can get them refilled when you buy tea again, eliminating extra packaging (you can have it put in bags too, if you don’t want to buy the tin).
Shopping local is awesome (and delicious).
Okay, I know that some people are going to think that I’ve turned into an insane neo-hippie when they read this post. When I first read about these bizarre soap nuts that some people were using instead of laundry detergent, I was really skeptical too. Nuts, that you throw in a little cotton sack, that somehow magically clean your clothes? It sounded ridiculous. But I did some research online, and found that many people swear by them. I was worried that they wouldn’t work with my HE washer, but the fact that they are low-sudsing is supposed to make them perfect for High Efficiency systems.
I didn’t feel ready to fully commit to this method of washing clothes at first, so I ordered a sample size that was good for five loads. After reading some various websites about how to use the nuts, I decided to use the tea-steeping method. I throw three nuts into a cotton sack (they smell really weird, but the smell doesn’t rub off on your clothes). I fill a small mug with some warm water, and let the bag of nuts steep in it while I load my washing machine. Soaking the nuts in warm water helps them to get ready; this step can be skipped if you’re washing with warm water, but I almost always use cold in the machine. I then throw the bag in with the clothes, add a few drops of lavender essential oil to the water (to make everything smell pretty), and add the water to the laundry detergent slot.
I re-use the same bag two to three times, and then add the nuts to my compost pile. I’ve read that you can re-use them more times than that, but that’s what I feel comfortable with. If you use too many nuts, your clothes may come out a bit stiff, but the stiffness will go away with the next wash.
So what’s my verdict? They work great for lightly soiled garments. Once, the soap nuts left a small stain on white garments, but it came out with the next wash. The nuts don’t seem to work as well with heavily soiled garments, but it could just be that I’m still learning how to use them.
Why are they awesome? When you buy them in bulk, the overall cost is a lot less than traditional detergent. The packaging is minimal, and the nuts are biodegradable; unlike most plastic-contained traditional detergents. They’re hypoallergenic – there’s no perfumes, dyes, or nasty chemicals to seep into the water supply. And they’re kind of quirky and fun. If you still find the thought of washing with nuts really weird, they make a liquid soap from the nuts as well.
So if you’re up for a bit of neo-hippieness, try out a sample size. You may just find yourself loving how these little soap nuts clean your clothes.
*Note: I was not compensated in any way for this review. I wrote it of my own free will and was not asked by any company to do so.*
Talking Dirt: The Dirt Diva’s Down-to-Earth Guide to Organic Gardening
If you’re interested in learning about organic gardening, this is the book for you. Annie Spiegelman speaks in a modern, humorous tone as she explains everything from starting a compost pile to native plants to vegetable gardens to English roses. This is a fantastic guide for both experienced gardeners and novices. The book is neatly divided up into sections on sustainable gardening basics, garden maintenance, flower gardens, edible gardens, and a seasonal guide to help you know when to do what. This book was such a fun an enjoyable read that I finished it in about two days, and I’m planning on re-reading it as I get ready to plant a butterfly garden and vegetable garden in my backyard. Annie gives fantastic suggestions for easy, low-maintenance plants to grow as well as what seed catalogs are good, and what other gardening books you should be reading. She can inspire even the most un-green thumb to try their hand at planting. And really, even if you have no plans to ever plant a garden, this book would still be a fun read.
Since I sew a lot, I end up with lots of fabric scraps. I especially end up with lots of t-shirt and jersey scraps and sometimes I’m not sure what to do with them. This week, I found the perfect solution. I wanted some reusable washcloths for cleaning my kitchen so I can kick the paper towel habit, but I didn’t want to spend money. I took my jersey scraps and my terry-cloth scraps and combined them to make some awesome, patchwork kitchen cloths.
I sewed all my scraps together into two giant “blankets”, one of jersey and one of terry cloth, cut out 10 by 10 squares, and serged them together. Then I took scraps of ribbon and bias tape, and stitched them to a corner so that I can hang the clothes on hooks.
Now I’ve got them hanging up near my paper towels, and I’m actually finding myself cleaning my kitchen more, because I love using these! I keep my kitchen clean with a homemade mixture of white vinegar, water, dish soap and essential oils. Being green is fun!
Rosemary Mist Soap and Shaving Brush from Sacred Waters Soap
I’ll be honest – I really don’t like shaving my legs. I like how smooth they feel once they’re shaved, but I hate the process of shaving, the time it takes, the waste that shaving cream containers create. A few months ago, my boyfriend switched from shaving gel to using shaving soap and a brush. I loved how little waste it produced, and decided that it’s not something that should be reserved exclusively for men I did some searching for shaving soap on Etsy, found a soap that wasn’t too “masculine” and bought a shaving brush. I’ve been using that instead of shaving gel for a few weeks now, and I’m actually kind of enjoying shaving now. It’s nice to not be creating a lot of extra packaging that has to be thrown away. It’s nice to have something that smells natural and not like a bunch of artificial chemicals. And I find that I’m getting a closer shave too.
My basic process for shaving with shaving soap is this: I pour some water in my bathroom sink for rinsing my razor. I wet the shaving brush and then work up a lather with the soap. I spread on the later, working one area at a time. I usually start with one calf, then the thigh, and the switch to the other leg. I then rinse off the remaining soap at the end. This ends up taking about the same amount of time that shaving cream took, but it’s much better for the environment, and it’s more fun too! At least, as fun as shaving can be.
(Note: I recognize that buying one bar of soap at a time and having it shipped to me it creating additional packaging that has to be dealt with. But many Etsy soap sellers offer deals if you buy their soap in bulk or buy multiple bars at a time. This saves money and packaging.)
Yes to Carrots Hydrating Body Lotion with SPF 30, $13.99 at Walgreens
(yes, my boyfriend likes to randomly show up in the background of my pictures)
I’ve been reading up on the dangers of many chemicals used in beauty products, and sometimes the research can be quite scary. What’s even more scary is the fact that many chemical ingredients have not had sufficient studies done on them for us to really know whether or not they are safe for us to use. For some useful reading on this subject, check out Skin Deep’s Cosmetic database.
Many sunscreens contain oxybenzone, which has been linked to developmental and reproductive toxicity. Many also have “fragrance” listed as an ingredient. This is a concern because companies do not have to disclose what chemicals make up “fragrance”, and it could include hundreds of different ingredients, including phalates, which disrupt the endocrine system and can cause developmental and reproductive problems as well.
Anyhow, after reading that research, I decided that maybe it was time to try out some new sunscreen. I decided to try Yes to Carrots SPF body lotion, because I had read about it somewhere (Lucky magazine I think). The price tag put me off a bit, but since I was going on vacation, I went for it. It’s paraben-free, petroleum-free, sodium laurel sulfate-free, and cruelty-free. It contains Dead Sea minerals, organic carrots, aloe, and zinc oxide, which is a natural sunscreen. This lotion has a lovely (and nautral!) smell. The consistency is a lot thicker than most traditional sunscreens, so I didn’t need to use as much. It was a bit greasy feeling, but I have yet to find a sunscreen that isn’t, so it didn’t bother me too much. I got a bit of a tan on my trip, because I forgot to re-apply after being in the ocean one day, but other than that, it worked just as well at protecting my skin as any other sunscreen I’ve used. As an added bonus, when you wash off the lotion in the shower, you skin still feels soft and hydrated.
So this lotion has it’s pluses and minuses. It definitely works fantastically, but that price tag makes it difficult to use it as an everyday sunscreen.
I recently bought a a retractable clothesline on Amazon
I’m not one to romanticize the life that housewives of the past had, but it does give me a sort of domestic satisfaction to hang clothes out to dry. Or maybe that’s not the right word. I find it relaxing to be outside, in the sunshine. I find it satisfying that I’m not wasting energy when the sun provides all the drying power I need. And I feel a connection to the past, when people used to actually put a little physical effort into keeping their house clean, instead of letting machines do all the work for them.
The apron is a souvenir from when I lived in Nicaragua for six weeks back in 2005. In the markets, the vendedoras always wore these aprons to keep change in. They would be selling anything from Coca-Cola to gum to bananas to ice cream, but they all wore these beautiful, colorful, frilly aprons. I feel in love with the look of these aprons, so I bought one for myself. The inner pockets are huge, and there’s more than enough room for all the clothespins I need.
