Visit Garbage!

Just reminding peeps about my other garbage related blog Garbage!. You get to find out all sorts of things, like what kind of things I've picked up off the ground lately as well as what I bought at the grocery store - how exciting.

Missing the Trees

Although the trees at home don't have leaves yet, I'm sure missing the great outdoors. Just thought I'd post this here to remind myself of the beauty of nature! Man, I need to get outside more! (Picture is from my Gaspesie trip in Sept 2007)

Things in My Life I've Learned So Far.

I linked to this site today... Wonderfully resonant! Thanks to Design-Milk for the tip off! The piece above is called "Doing things just for fun is fun." - how perfect. If only I could get that through to some people!

Memeing...

My dearest Em at Cochonet Rouge tagged me for a meme... so here it goes....

7 Random things about me...

1. The telephone scares me, and I HATE making calls to people I don't know, help lines and banks are the scariest, even if I need help. I LOVE talking on the phone to people I know, but prefer to initiate contact. (I despise my cell phone!!! It throws me into a state of panic everytime it rings)
2. I don't usually don't wear matching socks, and not in a cute way - my rule is that they must be the same weight, and its out of sheer laziness. I will NOT fold socks.
3. I have no taste in music... I take that back. I rely on my friends for my taste in music... I feel I can't be up-to-date with everything, so I let them tell me what I'll like (they're always right anyhow)
4. I'm a bit of a loner. I have friends, but I seem to constantly be places by myself reading a book, I like reading and being alone sometimes, so that's good, but sometimes I miss having people around.
5. I've never had a pet
6. I worked as a sewing machine operator for one day when I was 19. I sewed zipper guards for ski jackets. I sucked at it, and it didn't pay well enough, so I went and worked retail instead.
7. I met lovely Em of cochonet rouge for the first time when I went shopping one day when I had just moved to Montreal at the most amazing kitchen store ever (Wilfred & Adrien) before we worked together, and I chatted embarrassingly with her about the colour I was painting my room (excessively bright green, which turned out AMAZING!)

I'm tagging some peeps for this meme thing... The people I'm tagging are... p. at more than alive, my sister over at AC/DB, miss Clover Robin, and miss Emmiephant at I just want to grow potatoes and dream, and of course my lovely Dayle over at The Big ?...


“7 Things” Meme How To:
1. Link to your tagger and post these rules.
2. Share 7 random facts about yourself
3. Tag 5 people at the end of your post and list their names (linking to them).
4. Let them know they’ve been tagged by leaving a comment at their Blogs
5. Have fun!

cardboard bag

This bag by Giles Miller has been coming at me from all angles... Its seemingly HUGE news... Who knew a little bit of cardboard would create such a fuss.  The price definitely creates a huge fuss with me... 180 GBP (that's about $360)... Back to my drawing board, trying to make something awesome and sustainable for everyone, not just the people who have excessive amounts of money.  

Things not TO DO today.

I'm sure trying, but I'm trying really hard NOT to do instead of doing today. I'm treating this lovely Tuesday as a Sunday, and pretending that there are no stores open. Its my birthday in 2 days, and I still have not received a single card, and I have been informed by many that an e-card will be all that I'm receiving this year. So #1 on the list - DO NOT want real cards... they are just mushed up trees with a picture on them. So another thing I'm trying NOT to do today is pretty much anything... With no plans, I'm not in the mood to do much. So #2 on the list - DO NOT feel guilty about a bit of nothing. And lastly, its about conspicuous consumption... I was reading a new blog linked by Cochonet Rouge... Habitually Chic, has beautiful pictures of beautiful people and spaces... So #3 on the list - DO NOT strive for the unattainable, and most of all the incredibly fake.

Book Report Time!!!

So, I'm guessing you are surprised at my book choice for review.  No seriousness or huge amounts of data - fiction, and children's fiction at that! But I couldn't resist, The Giving Tree is such a wonderful book on nature, friendship and giving - it just cannot be forgotten!  We use our trees on a daily basis for so many things, and I love how this wonderfully simple story shows a lifecycle of a tree in relation to our own lifecycle.  I'm sure other people have more poignant things to say about this book... but it makes me remember to pause to appreciate everything we take for granted from nature.  Don't forget the trees, they'll be sad and lonely!!!  Thank you Shel Silverstein, for such a wonderful story that I can appreciate even more 20 years on. 

My Garbage Update

I have a new little sub-blog about my garbage... I'm attempting to not create any un-recyclable or un-compostable waste, and to use not only my garbage, but other people's to create some wicked-awesome stuff. There will be lots of regular features, like The Daily Dumpster Dive, Recipes From the Gluten Free Kitchen, and Sources. I've found that my biggest issue with garbage is the packaging, so hence the recipes, and pictures of the things I bake. So check it out here.

USB Batteries - great idea!

I LOVE these, what a great idea, no charger, no wall socket needed. They are made in a more normal colourway (green and black) than posted above, but they are developing these colours, which are rather pretty. Useful and pretty. Thanks treehugger for the info!

Today's garbage

So, I didn't start my 'no waste' lifestyle due to unforseen circumstances. Also I haven't found any chocolate that comes in recyclable packaging, and chocolate is a necessity in my life, dark is best. My new favourite is Divine chocolate, its wonderful, and they have pretty great packaging too (check their website for details). Thanks so much to the people who make chocolate letters, for the photo of the kick-ass chocolate S.

Conference Craziness

So last week I had a bit of conference/workshop craziness... Went to one conference and one talk and a workshop, and then attempted to learn some computer programming skills (to no avail... there were tears). So the conferences I went to were... MADE's Waste Not Want Not - which was an excellent day of talks about using recycled materials! Great talks, many of them went over my head, but its great to know there is something going on in using all of our 'garbage', and to meet other people who are designing based on waste (though in a much more technical way). Then in the evening I went to the RSA's Art's and Ecology talk by Jeremy Deller - Culture in a time of Crisis... which was a great overview on his work. Then I went to Manchester (after a very rushed crit in the morning), for the FEI Conference: Ethics of Fashion or Fashion of Ethics?. A great event for students on the fashion industry and the ethics of labour practices. After careful consideration, I think the people being highly educated on this topic should be the Buyers of the world, not the Designers... so often the Designers have little to no say in the entire manufacturing process, and the buyers do have so much more power in terms of pricing, and confirming of ethical standards. Just a thought. Then I tried to learn Processing at a workshop... yikes, I think I will leave the programming to people who are really good at it... you know who you are :) The picture is from my daily stroll to the DLR, a lovely tree already in bloom. Looks beautiful, but is it time yet?