Sustainable Centerpiece

I've noticed, in the last few years, a proliferation of Christmas-themed items in every store in America. Christmas towels, Christmas dishes, Christmas sheets that you can slip between while you wear Christmas pyjamas. And I love that stuff. I have a small stash of Christmas items that I have collected, and I buy or receive one or two things a year.

However, rather than buying tons of decorations that can only be used at Christmas, it seems more sustainable to turn regular, non-Christmas stuff into magical holiday decor.

Therefore, I give you ... the sustainable centerpiece, made completely of items that can play double duty throughout the rest of the year.

These are the items that make up the centerpiece:

The white tray actually is a "Christmas item," but I use it year-round to hold hors d'oeuvres at parties or to carry goodies to potlucks. I also have here a red juice glass, which used to be part of a set until I broke one; two red votives, and a martini glass. Here's where they live most of the year:

The martini glasses actually get used for martinis. At least, they did, because I broke one of those too.

So, to make your own, find a pretty plate or tray that you already own -- plain white works great too! Gather up some of your glassware -- funky martini glasses, old mason jars, etc.

Arrange them on the plate, and fill the spaces between them with potpourri or pinecones from outside. Add a candle to each glass (I use LED tealights, which last forever, compared to regular tealights which burn out in a few hours). Voila! You've created a beautiful, sustainable centerpiece.

Ol' School Meets Cyber Monday

When I was a kid, I was obsessed with The Little House on the Prairie series of books (not the TV show -- my mom didn't like me to watch it). One of my favorite things about the books was the Christmas chapters -- detailed descriptions of how the pioneer families celebrated the holiday, including the gifts they received. These gifts tended to be things like pennies, oranges, and homemade trinkets.

Well, most kids today would be ticked if they received pennies and oranges in their stockings. But luckily, we're living in a crafty resurgence, where you can surf the web for gifts made by human hands just like they were in the "olden days".

If you want to buy something artisan-crafted, you'll probably want to order ASAP, as buying directly from artists can take a bit longer than your typical order on Amazon.com.

Here are a few of my favorite artisan-created gifts this year:

Sophie Blackall:

I ordered a print from Sophie Blackall's shop for someone that I love. I especially like her "Missed Connections" series, in which she illustrates the missed connections ads from newspapers. (Prints run about $40.00)

5 Seed:

5 Seed is a natural beauty company that sells beautifully-packaged products and informs you about all of the ingredients that go into them. I haven't tried them yet, but I've heard great things and I've been considering what I want to make my first purchase. (Products range from about $5-$20).

Nebulous Kingdom

I love fairy tale art, so I adore the work of Anne-Julie Aubry, who sells under the name The Nebulous Kingdom. Her calendar allows you to enjoy her work without having to choose one print over another! (Calendar is $29.50 and ships from France)

Danita Art

For another way to ring in 2011, check out Danita's shop. Danita is a self-taught artist and uses many themes from Mexican folk art in her work. Aside from prints, she also creates dolls and jewelry. (Calendar is $18.00).

Wooden Rings

I once read an interview with Benicio del Toro in which he said he wore a wooden ring because he could always "knock on wood." I found that idea incredibly attractive -- much better than knocking on my "wooden" head the way my mom advised. On Etsy, you can find a great selection of wooden rings to keep your loved ones safe and sound. (Click here for more rings. Ring above, can be found here for $45.00 and is made of recycled wood)

Happy shopping!

*All photos are owned courtesy of the sellers. Hopefully they enjoy some free advertising.

Black Friday

I really think consumerism has gone too far.

It's sort of ironic, don't you think, that we spent Thursday being thankful for the many intangible blessings in our lives, and the next day we shove others out of the way to get the best price on the year's hottest toys?

Just sayin'.

Thankful

I'm thankful for all of you, who take the time to read a few musings from a distant friend.

The holiday season is officially upon us, and we will have many things to be thankful for, and many opportunities to give. Best wishes to you and yours as you celebrate with your families.

Just in case you're confused ...

... the fact that we've gotten a seasonally-appropriate amount of snow in Spokane does not mean that "global warming is a lie."

I'm Dreaming ...

... of a sustainable Christmas.

If you've read this blog for awhile, you know that I have a lot of goals. I am what we might call a "goal-driven" person. Take right now, for example. You may have noticed a dearth of blogging lately. It's not because I'm not writing. I am writing out the wazoo. I decided on a whim to participate in NaNoWriMo , or National Novel Writing Month -- in which crazy people the world over dedicate themselves to writing a 50,000 word novel in 30 days.

Currently, I've written around 28,000 words of said novel, and am slightly off pace to finish on the 30th. However, I have a week of vacation coming up, and that means a lot of writing time.

I created a goal for my holiday gift-giving this year as well. Now, I know that a lot of folks despair about the way Christmas seems to creep earlier and earlier each year.

I AM NOT ONE OF THOSE PEOPLE.

I love Christmas. One month of Christmas (and other winter holidays from various faiths) is not enough for me. I mean, when there are great songs like "Winter Song" by Sara Bareilles and Ingrid Michaelson in the world, why would you only listen to them for a month? And sparkly decorations! The world is better when there are lots of sparkly decorations. Those are great reasons that Christmas (and winter holidays celebrated around the world) are awesome - and we haven't even considered the spirits of generosity and good will and the desire for world peace, and all of those other psychological goodies that accompany Christmas (or generic winter holiday of your choosing).

This Christmas, I set a goal for myself - to make gifts, or to buy gifts that are a) fair trade, b) made and sold by individual artisans, or c) made from sustainable materials. I got off to a solid start - knitting up a storm throughout October (DIYers have to start Christmas when the first QVC Christmas special starts airing -- seeing a Christmas tree QVC while flipping channels is sort of like a crafter's alarm clock to grab the knitting needles and whip out the sewing machine.) I even bought my sister's present from an artist on Etsy. However, this whole novel-writing thing has slowed me down, and I'm worried I'll run out of time to make really good, conscious choices.

In the coming days, I'll update you on some of the great shopping and crafting finds that I come across ... and feel free to share your faves in the comments.

Just a note: This goal, however, does not extend to the gifts I will buy for the small children in my life. Buying sustainable gifts for my nephew would certainly inform him of my values. It would also cause him to cry, if he opened a hand-made toy lovingly crafted by a Third World artisan, when he could have had a plastic monstrosity. Christmas is a time when we learn many great lessons, but let's face it. Causing Christmas-morning disappointment will only lead to grinchifying young hearts.

*Photo courtesy of Library of Congress archives. Library of Congress, rock on!

Why I'm Going to Buy Some Effing Paper Towels

I'm going to buy some F#!*ing paper towels.

I haven't bought paper towels since before December. I transitioned to using rags (torn up T-shirts and towels) for clean up, rather than paper towels, almost a year ago. It took a little getting used to at first -- cleaning up a mess on the floor with a reusable towel is weird in the beginning. In a world where there are disposable wipes, towels, mops, and dusters, using a cloth towel just seems ... well, weird.

But I got used to it. I had come to believe that paper towels, killing all those trees, had no place in this world.

That was until today.

Dateline: Houston, 7 a.m.

I got up and began to make coffee. I'm not going to lie. I'm a clumsy girl. I accidentally bashed the coffee decanter against the sink and ka-pow! glass and yesterday's coffee dregs went flying. Luckily, even though I'd just rolled out of bed and was barefoot, I got only a scratch on the pad of my finger. A fair amount of blood, but nothing serious.

I spent a half hour cleaning up the glass and drips of coffee, thinking to myself that I wished I had some paper towels. But I had a sponge and (yes, very ungreen of me) a disposable mop. Everything clean and spanky by 7:30 a.m.

Dateline: Houston, 8:30 p.m.

I'm doing the dishes after a rock 'em, sock 'em Gleetini Night (2 oz. vodka, 1.5 oz. Godiva liqueur, 1.5 oz espresso, 1 oz milk -- shake with ice and strain into two glasses. It's like an amazing coffee milkshake). I noticed a little drop of blood on the kitchen floor.

Turns out, I'd nicked my toe on a little piece of glass that I'd missed during the morning, and by the time I'd figured it out, I'd trailed blood all over the house (yes, TMI, charming, I understand).

What's a green girl to do? I didn't want to use sponges on the floor, and rags would be stained by the blood. And there were NO PAPER TOWELS.

So I did the next best thing -- got a wad of toilet paper and got to work.

But I'm going to be purchasing a roll of paper towels. Not for every day use, just for the days that begin with an exploded coffee pot and end with the trail of blood droplets, a la some British mystery series.

Devil Nectar

Oh, coffee!

How I love you so.

As a child of the Pacific Northwest, I started drinking coffee at the age of 12. My first cup was a raspberry mocha from Gloria Jean's (you know you're an addict when you vividly remember that first hit.) Ever since, a morning cup has been a major part of my life.

Coffee production has a number of environmental and community impacts that aren't great. However, I try to counteract some of those by buying coffee that is both organic and fair-trade (good for planet, good for people). Even two years ago, finding convenient and low-priced organic, fair-trade coffee wasn't easy. Now, Target's Archer Farms brand and Safeway's O Organics brands both offer fair-trade, organic coffee ... although, for some reason they don't often have it available pre-ground. I guess they figure that the upper-middle-class, liberal-elite, Obama-voting types who would want organic coffee have fancy stainless steel grinders at home and say things like, "I always grind my own coffee; you can really taste the mountain air!"

But now, this has entered my life:

So shiny!

Yes, this is our new coffee maker at work. A beautiful, single-serve Keurig coffee maker.

There are lots of benefits to this thing. Of course, it's almost impossible to mess it up - it really does seem to make a perfect cup every time. Since it's single-serve, water and coffee aren't wasted when too much coffee is made (I always tend to make too much and up throwing out burned coffee that's been sitting in the pot). I don't make as many random afternoon trips to Starbucks to fuel up, thus cutting down on the use of fossil fuels. And Keurig is owned by Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, a company that is known for its social responsibility - lots of organic and fair-trade coffees are readily-available in single-serve form.

But, then there are these:

These are K-cups. To make the single-serve coffee, you have to use these K-cups, which are made out of plastic (petroleum!) and aren't recyclable. Currently, Green Mountain and Keurig are working on other options, such as paper-based k-cups, but for now, the plastic ones are dominant.

For now, my strategy is to continue to make my morning coffee at home and bring it in my re-usable cup, and restrict myself to one afternoon cup made in the Keurig. I'm hoping that they figure out a way to make their product more sustainable, however, because it's becoming a bigger piece of the market pie, and if this type of coffee maker becomes standard, that means a lot of little plastic cups entering the landfills.