Eco Friendly Wedding

I found this article in a newsletter from eart911.com. This is a great website to learn about eco friendly products. I was pleasantly surprised to see that they did a piece on Eco Friendly Weddings. What a great way to help educate others on how easy this process can be. Being eco friendly is almost always better for our personal health so if you don’t care about the environment you should at least do it for your own health. It just feels good to do the right thing and can often save you money.

Here are the hightlight from the article.

1. Put your research hat on, browse the internet, read “The Green Bride Guide” and talk to your vendors for suggestion.

2. Invitations that leave no trace.

a. 100 percent post-consumer recycled paper.

3. Location, Location, Location

a. When choosing a site look for a place that requires the fewest number of people to travel long distances. If the guest list is primary local than stay local.

b. You can also consider eco-friendly lodges or an organic restaurant.

c. You may not find all of these in one local, review which one will make the biggest impact on the environment and go with that as your priority.

d. Where ever you choose embrace the local fair with organic food. Although this may cause you to reconsider the time of year you plan your wedding in the north to get the best options on local produce.

4. The Dress

a. Consider a consignment shop or if Mom still has her dress hidden in a trunk dig it out and try it on, vintage themes can be a big hit at any wedding. If you’re not going with a formal wedding theme and going casual wearing something you already own is just fine.

b. There are also many eco-friendly designers who make wedding and bridesmaid dresses including Conscious Elegance, Conscious Clothing, Gwendolyn Gleason, and Chrissy Wai-ching.

c. Choose a color for your brides maids and let them pick a dress that looks great on them that they can where after your big day.

5. The Flowers & Center Pieces

a. Most Florists will assist you in creating arrangements form local plants and flowers.

b. Also consider plants for table center pieces that your guest can take home as favors.

c. Soy candles are another great option and great to set the mood for a night of love. If your hall restrict candles than consider LED string lights for decoration which use almost no energy and can be reused after the wedding for parties and holiday décor.

6. Gifts Registry

a. Consider “The Green Bride Guide,” it’s an eco-friendly place, but do register for gifts so you’re getting only items you can use.

7. The Honeymoon

a. Check with your travel agent for eco friendly packages,

b. Or plan a trip on your bike with a small back pack traveling across Europe or the US going from inn to inn and seeing the local sites. Or maybe a hiking and some camping. This is good for both you and the environment.

For the complete article go to: http://earth911.com/news/2010/05/31/green-wedding-101/

Rain , rain go away!

Well maybe not, as a former white water paddler rain make for a great spring for paddling. A great opportunity to get a little exercise and enjoy what Mother Nature has given us. Isn’t funny how much we all complain about the rain? I will agree it would be nice if we could control when it come and in what quantities it comes in, and yet if it does not come we are still complaining how we need the rain. So I’m making a new resolution to enjoy each day for what it brings. To be thankful for the wells that are being replenished with the rain, the fact I do not have to go out and water my gardens and most of all to be grateful to have clean water to drink. I am also happy to see many paddling friends enjoying a little fun out on the rivers.

This time of year the rain brings spring flowers, and if your gardens aren’t pushing peddles and budding up it will be soon. Of course that’s assuming you have a garden. Now is the time to look at what you’ve got and plan what you need to make next year’s spring garden all it can be. I recommend creating a garden journal it's a great tool to use for good garden designing. Buy a note book with graph paper pages. This allows you to easily sketch up your gardens to scale and locate what you have in your gardens. Label what you have for plants your plans and list it on the side of you sketch what the plants are. Look at where you could use additional color and texture. Do this in the spring, again in the summer and one last time in the fall. Creating a gardening journal will help with the planning process to creating a beautiful garden? Best of all if you’re not into white water paddling garden designing is an enjoyable project for a rainy day.

ABC Reports on Chemicals found in everyday products!

Check out this news report on the dangers of everyday product we use at home and work, and even worse that we let our kids play with! After years of research on how detrimental these chemicals are for our health the government with a little help from some of the more responsible chemical manufactures are looking to make some changes.


This is a quote from the report from ABC News story, "Chemicals In Toys, Furniture May Face Tighter Standards"

'"Products on American store shelves now contain a whopping 89,000 chemicals, with a core group of 3,000 making up about 95 percent of the chemicals in use. Some of these chemicals have been proven in studies to increase the risk of cancer, neurological disorders or reproductive defects. Mercury, for example, used to make button-sized batteries, can damage neurological development in fetuses and children. Asbestos, used in home insulation and brakes, among others, can cause cancer.

Yet the Environmental Protection Agency, which has primary responsibility in this area, is virtually powerless to regulate these chemicals."

Hopeful this will be the beginning of regulations that will protect from product which can be harmful to our health.

Read the full report at:

http://abcnews.go.com/Business/chemicals-toys-furniture-face-tighter-testing/story?id=9875081

Also make sure your Senators are planning to support a bill to restrict the use of many of these chemicals.

http://www.ewg.org/kid-safe-chemicals-act-blog/2010/02/senate-investigates-chemicals-in-people/

21 Ways to make life better for all!

ONE: Give people more than they expect and do it cheerfully.

TWO: Marry a man/woman you love to talk to. As you get older, their conversational skills will be as important as any other.
THREE: Don’t believe all you hear, spend all you have or sleep all you want.
FOUR: When you say, 'I love you,' mean it.
FIVE: When you say, 'I'm sorry,' look the person in the eye.
SIX: Be engaged at least six months before you get married.
SEVEN: Believe in love at first sight.
EIGHT: Never laugh at anyone's dreams. People who don't have dreams don't have much.
NINE: Love deeply and passionately. You might get hurt but it’s the only way to live life completely.
TEN: In disagreements, fight fairly.. No name calling.
ELEVEN: Don’t judge people by their relatives.
TWELVE: Talk slowly but think quickly.
THIRTEEN: When someone asks you a question you don't want to answer, smile and ask, 'Why do you want to know?'
FOURTEEN: Remember that great love and great achievements involve great risk.
FIFTEEN: Say ‘bless you' when you hear someone sneeze.
SIXTEEN: When you lose, don't lose the lesson.
SEVENTEEN: Remember the three R's: Respect for self; Respect for others; and Responsibility for all your actions.
EIGHTEEN: Don’t let a little dispute injure a great friendship.
NINETEEN: When you realize you've made a mistake, take immediate steps to correct it.
TWENTY: Smile when picking up the phone. The caller will hear it in your voice
TWENTY- ONE: Spend some time alone.

Maine Recyling at it's Best

As an Interior Designer I prefer to use green products that are not detrimental to the environment or those of us living in these environments. Recently while reading my newsletter from New England Home magazine I came across an article on Downeast Doormats which I want to share with you. These mats are great, they are beautiful, colorful, practical, durable, and best of all they are made of 100% recycled materials.

I am sure many of you have heard about the relatively new law which requires all of Maine's Lobestermen to replace all of their floating lines used to tether their traps with sinking line. The law is in response to a problem with whales getting entangled in these lines, the new sinking line which is being mandated is to protect the whale from entanglement. The state of Maine in conjunction with the Maine Float Rope Company is collecting this rope in an effort to diverting thousands of tons from heading to the Maine landfills and use it to create these great mats.

This is the type of product we all need to support, diverting waste from our landfills is one of the easiest things we can do to help the environment. Purchasing these mats make great holiday gift for anyone. They will help keep dirt out of our homes and offices which will increase the longevity of our existing floor, which will than help prevent them from landing in our landfill so quickly. This will save you money over time so you can see this is a win-win situation for all. I understand this is a major inconvenience for our Lobestermen, so I want to thank them for their efforts in saving the whales. It is great to learn that this law was not implemented without any thought, and I think in the long run we will all be better off for it.

For more information or to purchase a mat check out Maine Float Rope. If you have any great success stories on recycling or a green product please feel free to share so we can motivate other to live a greener life!

How Would You Fix the Economy!

This is from an article in the St. Petersburg Times Newspaper on Sunday.. The Business Section asked readers for ideas on "How Would You Fix the Economy?" I think this guy nailed it!

Dear Mr. President,
Please find below my suggestion for fixing America's economy. Instead of giving billions of dollars to companies that will squander the> money on lavish parties and unearned bonuses, use the following plan. You can call it the Patriotic Retirement Plan:

There are about 40 million people over 50 in the work force. Pay them $1 million apiece severance for early retirement with the following stipulations:

1) They MUST retire. Forty million job openings - Unemployment fixed..

2) They MUST buy a new American CAR. Forty million cars ordered - Auto Industry fixed.

3) They MUST either buy a house or pay off their mortgage - Housing Crisis fixed. It can't get any easier than that!

P.S. If more money is needed, have all members in Congress and their constituents pay their taxes...

Beging a strong believer in the KISS method(keep it simple stupid) I have to admit when I recieved this idea in an email I really enjoyed it. This doesn't have much to do with design, but if it worked we'd all have alot more money to spend to create healthier spaces to live in!

Enjoy!

Correction of the ”Gutta Serti Method”

In last week’s House and Garden Tour blog I spoke a bit about House #2 on the tour, home of David & Sue Atwater, and her beautifully painted silk. I need to correct an error in that blog. The art of painting silk is an ancient process, but the method used by this artist Sue Atwater is called “gutta serti method”. It was revived in France in the 1960s, originally developed by Russian immigrants of the Tsars family who dispersed throughout Europe during the Bolshevik Revolution. Many of the family members were known to have landed in Paris, France in the 1920s. They brought with them their secrets of silk painting and a substance called Gutta. Gutta is a form of clear rubber used on the silk to create crisp images. It was the French’s love for this stunning hand painted silk which caused them to revolutionize the process by the 1960’s.
Gutta Serti Method of hand painting may have revolutionized the process, but the beauty comes from the artist’s natural talents and design ability.

The first step after the artist has created their design is to start the process with the gutta resist. The resist is painstakenly applied to the fabric to ensure the dies do not bleed into each other. Next, using the most delicate brushes the artist design is carefully painted onto the silk with the background being applied last. Once the artist starts the painting process it needs to be completed or hard unwanted lines will be created where the dyes dry between paintings. Did I mention that all these dyes are carefully hand mixed ahead of time to create just the right colors for each design? The painting is complete and the dyes have dried, the silk is wrapped between two pieces of clean newsprint. The silk and paper are rolled onto a wooden dowel, sealed with parchment and steamed over boiling water for 4 hours. Finally the silk is unwrapped and aged anywhere from overnight to a week; this sets the dye colors into the silk. Once the setting of the dye is complete the silk is framed into art or sewn into articles of apparel, or beautiful pillows. Although the process may be tedious the end result is some of the most beautiful silks you can image.

Artist Sue Atwater’s patience, eye and creativity for good design and her enormous talent as a painter makes her a true master of the “gutta serti method”. We are so truly fortunate to have this caliber artist live amongst us here in rural Maine.