Need Some New Clothes? Consider Hosting a Clothing Swap....

Last night I had the pleasure of meeting a great bunch of women and then riffling though their clothes!! I have been into the idea of hosting a clothing swap for quite sometime, but was thrilled to receive an invite from a friend of mine, whose friend had gone ahead and planned one. It has been a long time since I participated in a clothing swap and it was so much fun! In addition to clothes, there was food and drink, but since Kim and I were the only ones with nursing little ones we were only able to stay long enough to swap some clothes. In the end I brought a bag of clothes and accessories and came home with the bag full of new clothes!! And I got to meet about 12 other ladies, from all over Canada, Australia, the UK, Belgium, and The Ukraine. I love that the evening was environmentally responsible to boot. What a way to reduce, reuse, and recycle! And since only one of my friends was there I could still go ahead and host my own swap sometime soon. My goal would be to attend a swap for each new clothing season.

Hosting a Clothing Swap
Here are a few off the cuff tips on how to host a clothing swap that I gleaned from attending one. I think the less rules the better is the number one rule...

* Invite lots of lovely ladies via an email invite such as Evite. Invite everyone to invite their friends. The more, the merrier, and the best selection.
* Invite people to bring wine or other bevies and nibblies.
* Ask everyone to bring clothes that still have some wear left to them. No garage sale or thrift store bound items (nothing against these places since I LOVE them but sometimes the clothes are not in the best shape...).
* Encourage attendees to also bring shoes, accessories, whatever is clothing related. I brought a bunch of plastic hangers to share. And some women even brought paperback books.
* Do not make it mandatory for people attending to bring items. There will be lots of things to chose from anyway and usually someone who has not brought something will wait until the people who have have made their selections.
* As each person arrives lay out their clothes on the floor in rows so that things are folded but easily seen. As more and more people arrive you can hold up the items for all to view while organizing them.
* The only rule at the swap I attended was that if two women were "fighting" over the same piece of clothing that the person who brought the most clothes to offer to the swap could have the item.
* My rule was that I wanted to try on each item I was interested in so that someone else could have it if it didn't fit me.
* At the end of the evening whatever is left over can be bagged up for the local thrift store. You can ask attendees to help with this.
* Consider variations on this theme, such as a male/female event or even a kiddo event.


And if you and a close friend are both bringing items to the same swap and you are around the same size, consider looking at each others items BEFORE the swap. In the end, I think I ended up with four items from the friend I arrived with. One of them is this sexy little number above! I scored the perfect black cardigan to go over it and I can't wait to wear it on our 6th wedding anniversary this month!

My New Cutting Board and a Kid's Craft Project

I was looking online for a green cutting board when I found Epicurean. I blogged about them here. I wanted to give them a try and my 8x6" Recycled Series board arrived a couple of days ago. In the meantime, I found a local shop, The Colorful Cook in Canmore, Alberta, that carries this line of cutting boards, so I can go buy more if I like them... and boy, I do likey!


They are made in Duluth, Minnesota, from recycled cardboard. They are resistant to heat and stains, are dishwasher safe, and kind to knives. I have used my board several times already. After an initial wash with soap and water, my daughter and I made a small fruit salad. The board did resist staining, and was super easy to clean up again with soap, water, and an air dry. I have already brought my old plastic board of the same size to the thrift store. And next week, I plan to go to The Colorful Cook to buy a 14x11" board. If you are looking for a green, healthy board, please check out Epicurean.


On a side note, there was a long piece of packing paper protecting our new cutting board. It was about the same length as my daughter, so instead of throwing it into the recycler, we got to work tracing each other, then we used markers to dress up Quin's new buddy. Thanks to Epicurean for an environmentally responsible cutting board and for providing us with a morning of inventive fun!

My New Cutting Board and a Kid's Craft Project

I was looking online for a green cutting board when I found Epicurean. I blogged about them here. I wanted to give them a try and my 8x6" Recycled Series board arrived a couple of days ago. In the meantime, I found a local shop, The Colorful Cook in Canmore, Alberta, that carries this line of cutting boards, so I can go buy more if I like them... and boy, I do likey!


They are made in Duluth, Minnesota, from recycled cardboard. They are resistant to heat and stains, are dishwasher safe, and kind to knives. I have used my board several times already. After an initial wash with soap and water, my daughter and I made a small fruit salad. The board did resist staining, and was super easy to clean up again with soap, water, and an air dry. I have already brought my old plastic board of the same size to the thrift store. And next week, I plan to go to The Colorful Cook to buy a 14x11" board. If you are looking for a green, healthy board, please check out Epicurean.


On a side note, there was a long piece of packing paper protecting our new cutting board. It was about the same length as my daughter, so instead of throwing it into the recycler, we got to work tracing each other, then we used markers to dress up Quin's new buddy. Thanks to Epicurean for an environmentally responsible cutting board and for providing us with a morning of inventive fun!

Cell Phone Recycling Sends Kids to Camp!

I am lucky to live in a town where the environment is a top priority. I would have to be pretty lazy not to take advantage of some of the awesome programs they have such as townwide recycling, composting, Freecycle, computer recycling... now, I can get rid of more of the electronic clutter in my life while helping local children at the same time. For each cell phone the town collects, they receive $1, which they put toward their Campership Program. That might sound like a small amount of money but in the first week of the program they collected 100 phones. And not only will the dollars add up but the progam saves antimony, arsenic, beryllium, cadmium, copper, lead, nickel and zinc, all toxic chemicals, from being deposited in landfills. A bonus is that the program is accepting all models and types of cell phones, which are then sent to Ontario, then passed on to areas in economic need. If you have a cell phone you would like to recycle, just bring it to the Banff Town Hall. I know I have at least 5 (isn't that awful?) kicking around here that I can bring them...

To read more about the program you can read the article that appeared in this week's Banff Crag and Canyon.

FINALLY Got the Holiday Letter Finished...

I made the conscience decision this year to send an email holiday letter. Aside from my grandparents, everyone we know has email. And I love to mail out snail mail cards but since I like to include a photo and a personal letter, they always end up taking until into the New Year for me to write and mail. It is expensive and I honestly don't think many people keep them, which means I am creating more waste. I think other people feel like I do, that it can be wasteful to mail out holiday cards, because I only have received 4 paper cards, and 4 photo cards this year. In the past my fridge would have been covered and a basket would have been full. There is a hugely noticeable difference this year, unless everyone got busy and we are going to get them after the holidays. Anyway, I am proud of my decision and stand by it. I took the time to write a two page letter about the travels we took in 2008, how we bought a new home, about our new babe, and then paragraphs about what Andre, Quin, & I are up to. I know some people don't like these kinds of letters, but I love to write, and I really hate it when people take the time to send me a card that only has a signature. I want to know what you have been up to since I talk with you!! I think the beauty of the Christmas email is that my greeting and photo is in the body of the email (as seen above), and then I can attach the letter, and the people who want to read it will, and those who won't, won't. As an artist, I will always love to hold a photo and a card in my hand but sometimes it is best to reduce the extra clutter. Merry merry!

FINALLY Got the Holiday Letter Finished...

I made the conscience decision this year to send an email holiday letter. Aside from my grandparents, everyone we know has email. And I love to mail out snail mail cards but since I like to include a photo and a personal letter, they always end up taking until into the New Year for me to write and mail. It is expensive and I honestly don't think many people keep them, which means I am creating more waste. I think other people feel like I do, that it can be wasteful to mail out holiday cards, because I only have received 4 paper cards, and 4 photo cards this year. In the past my fridge would have been covered and a basket would have been full. There is a hugely noticeable difference this year, unless everyone got busy and we are going to get them after the holidays. Anyway, I am proud of my decision and stand by it. I took the time to write a two page letter about the travels we took in 2008, how we bought a new home, about our new babe, and then paragraphs about what Andre, Quin, & I are up to. I know some people don't like these kinds of letters, but I love to write, and I really hate it when people take the time to send me a card that only has a signature. I want to know what you have been up to since I talk with you!! I think the beauty of the Christmas email is that my greeting and photo is in the body of the email (as seen above), and then I can attach the letter, and the people who want to read it will, and those who won't, won't. As an artist, I will always love to hold a photo and a card in my hand but sometimes it is best to reduce the extra clutter. Merry merry!

30 Things in 30 Days - #25 - Buy in Bulk

In an effort to reduce packaging, it is encouraged to buy in bulk. Now, just because you buy something in bulk doesn't mean that there will be less packaging, you need to examine this on a case by case basis. For example, when you buy bulk toilet paper at Costco, you are getting enough toilet paper to last you for months, BUT each roll is individually wrapped in plastic, like at a hotel, although at least most hotels have their TP individually wrapped in paper. But, for another example, when you buy nuts, dried fruit, or dry goods in bulk you usually are reducing packaging. In the US try BulkFoods.com. In the Canada, try Bins and Bins.

30 Things in 30 days - #24 - Stop Storing Data on CDs

I am a photographer by profession. I got to a point where I was up to my eyeballs in CDs. Before external hard drives were affordable and easy to find at the local electronics store, I would burn images to CDs for storage and for bringing orders to my pro lab for printing. Now, don't even get me started as to why CDs are a stupid way to store important information. Have you ever lost important information because a disc was scratched to the point of no return? And they take up so much room. Maybe not to your average bear, but to me, volumes. I may be a professional but people these days are camera crazy and digital has made it even more so. So, really, everyone should have the same problem.

For data storage at home, I have an external hard drive. It is a My Book which has a 1 TB (One gigabyte (GB) = one billion bytes, One terabyte (TB) = one trillion bytes). It will hold up to 285,000 photos! Yes! Awesome! So easy to set up and use. And I have no idea the cost comparison to buying CDs but I know that it is a lot smaller and more useful than scads of CDs.

But what really got me thinking about this post was taking an order to the photo lab the other day. I used to burn an order, no matter how small, to its own CD, so I could transport it to the lab (unless I was using a lab with FTP capabilities, then I just uploaded to the lab). This was before flash drives. As I was uploading something to my flash drive the other day, I realized I should post about this. If you are not planning to bring your actual memory card to your photo lab, don't keep burning discs. Invest in a compact flash drive or a travel hard drive. The flash drive is great for taking images to the lab. The travel hard drive is great for uploading photos from your camera or memory card while traveling, so you can clear your card for more images. There are many kinds of flash drives and travel hard drives out there. I have the travel drive that is in the link.

Shelve the CDs. Equip yourself and reduce the waste.

30 Things in 30 Days - #23 - Green Weddings Part Two

Here we go again. More Eco Friendly wedding tips:

- If you are serving wine at your wedding, make it organic. You can find out about organic wines made around the world at Organic Vitners.

- Serve Fair Trade, organic coffee and teas at your reception. You will find helpful information here.

You know, I think this is getting a bit complicated, and I was looking for simple tips. Sooooo, I will continue these posts at another time, maybe a series on green weddings. But will move on to 7 more simple tips to close out this series.

30 Things in 30 Days - #22 - Green Wedding Ideas

Awwwww, weddings! So much work, so much expense, so much waste, but oh so much fun! Now, not everyone will want to go to drastic measures to make their wedding green, like say eloping. But, there are several ways to make any wedding more environmentally friendly. Here are some tips:

- Make informed choices when it comes to your rings. Check out companies like Green Karat, which use high quality, recycled metals. Ask questions about where your diamonds have come from and avoid conflict or blood diamonds. Global Witness offers an online consumer guide that can educate you on the diamond industry and teaches you the kinds of questions to ask a jeweler.

- Have your wedding and reception at the same location so guests don't have to drive beween the two. Even better, have the wedding outdoors is a beautiful location that reminds you why our environment is important to you. Botanical Gardens are amazingly lush and beautiful and you will be supporting a non profit organization if you have your wedding and reception there.

- Select clothing and accessories that can be worn again, or recycle clothing by going with vintage items. Check out The Vintage Wedding Dress Company for decadent dresses and Unique Vintage for more affordable but just as lovely dresses (although some are vintage "inspired" and not actual vintage). It is also possible to buy gorgeous wedding dresses made from silk or hemp like the beautiful ones sold by Conscious Clothing.


Fancy Strapless Dress by Conscious Clothing

- Donate your wedding dress to I Do Foundation so that is can live on and be worn again.

- Send invitations that are made with homemade paper that has wildflowers seeds in it so that your guests can plant the paper and enjoy the flowers. Or you can send e-invites but remember those people who don't have internet access. On this same theme, you can set up a wedding site where guests can access all your information and print only what they want to but be sure to mail the same info those without the internet.

Wow! I had no idea this post would get so long. It may end up being a two or three parter.... stay tuned!

30 Things in 30 Day - #21 - Harvest Rainwater

This is a new idea to me. I mean, I do know that people collect rain water. And it makes sense. I just never really thought much about it. I am always excited to learn new things and if you search the internet for "Harvesting Rainwater" you will find quite a bit if information. Harvested rainwater can be used to water your plants, both indoors and in your outdoor containers, as well as for lawns and gardens. Rain barrels are simple receptacles that collect water during rainy times, that can be used during dry times. It is best to place your barrel where there is some run off, such as under your home's gutter. You can store your harvested water in a large rain barrel. Rain water is soft, which plants like best, and it doesn't contain chemicals like chlorine or fluoride. This water can also be used for cooking, cleaning, or drinking, if properly treated.


Some people take great pride in decorating their rain barrels so they are true works of art. Here are some tips on how to. Have fun!

30 Things in 30 Days - #20 - Wash in Cold & Line Dry

Did you know that if you switch to cold water for all your laundry you can save 80% of the energy you use on washing? That is amazing! Switching to biodegradeable, non toxic powder is also a good step. I posted about Claudia's Choices, the soap I use, here. Hanging your clothes to dry is also a wise move, plus they smell so darn fresh. I live in a townhouse and there is a rule against drying lines. I smell a protest coming, I am just hoping that since I live in a very environmentally conscience community that they will come to their senses without my prodding. Stay tuned...

For more environmentally friendly laundry tips, check out this article by Annie Bond.

30 Things in 30 Days - #19 - Ditch Your Desktop

I JUST found out about this (what am I living under a rock?!). If you use a lap top instead of a desktop computer you will reduce your energy consumption by 3/4! Wow! Of course, you should power down your laptop at the end of the day. And I have to add that I didn't want to quit using my desktop but ever since I bought a laptop after Christmas I hardly ever turn my desktop on. I love being able to work anywhere.

30 Things in 30 Days - #18 - Take a Bath

I touched on this in the last post, but taking a bath instead of a shower CAN save water IF you take long showers like I do. I have read that the average shower is 4 minutes long.... hmmmmmmm, I would say my average shower is 10 - 15 minutes long! I am not proud if it, it is the most wasteful thing I do. The length of my shower depends on whether I am shaving, washing my hair, etc. I have previously stated that showers are a sinful treat for me, and I really over do them. The average bathtub holds 180 - 200 liters of water when full. A standard shower head dispenses 20 - 60 liters of water a minute. A low flow shower head dispenses 10 - 15 liters of water a minute. Here is a good way to decided if a shower or a bath is best for you.

"If you’d like to test the amount of water wasted yourself, here’s an experiment you could try at home. Put the plug in the bathtub next time you take a shower (but not a stand-alone shower as you might spill over the lower shower wall). After you've showered, examine how much the tub filled up. If there is less water than you would usually have in a bath, then you will probably save money by taking a shower instead of a bath.

The Environment Agency, however, would recommend short showers, not baths. Based on its latest research, it proclaims that a 5-minute shower uses about a third of the water of a bath and can save 50 litres every time." by Ray Dobson, the managing Director of WD Bathrooms based in Sheffield, UK.

Personally I believe in the restorative powers of water. Look at all the cultures that have public baths, saunas, therapeutic pools. A bath can be relaxing to mind and body. And bath time is a great time for young families to spend time together. Since having my daughter over two years ago, I now take a bath every other day, with her vs the daily shower I took alone before. We have a fun time bonding, and we save water. Yah to that! It is a long way from the military style showers I have been forced to take as a guest of family friends who will remain nameless but I am truly trying to curb my long, hot shower addiction.

30 Things in 30 Days - #17 - Low Flow Shower Head

I LOVE to shower! It is one of my sinful delights. In order to keep my water usage in check, which easily is double that of my husband, I have started taking baths with my 2 year old, but additionally we have a low flow shower head. And low flow doesn't mean low pressure. In fact, we have lower water pressure in our current home than in our past home and our shower head has regulated it perfectly. And we have a really big head so that it is like showering under a rain shower....oooooohhhhhh so nice! Now that it is chilling down outside for the evening, I may need to go warm up under my shower head. Maybe I can get my husband interested and we can shower together to save water...

30 Things in 30 Days - #16 - Check Your Tires

Keep your tires properly inflated. This will help your car to run more efficiently which in turn will produce less harmful emissions, and use less gas. I don't know what more to say. Simple!

30 Things in 30 Days - #15 - Recharge Your Batteries

Buy a battery recharger. Batteries are not combustible, due to dangerous metals they contain. This also makes them dangerous for landfills. Rechargeable batteries will pay for themselves over a lifetime.

One other simple way I have reduced the battery usage in our home is to limit the amount of battery powered items we use. Our daughter has very few battery powered items. This has resulted from careful selection of toys and asking the grandparents to buy her toys that don't have batteries.

30 Things in 30 Days - #14 - Farmer's Markets

In our part of the country, winter is just around the corner, but there is still time to buy locally from area farmer's markets. Squash, pumpkin, arugula, cabbage, spinach, bush beans, beets, and broccoli should all still be available. Many Farmer's Markets carry organic produce but not all do so ask questions. And it is always fun to try something new, so check out what is available. Support your local farmers and save on the energy that is used to ship items from afar.

I seem to have pumpkins on the brain so here is a recipe for Mexican Pumpkin Soup:
4 cups vegetable broth
2 cups mashed or pureed pumpkin
1 16-ounce can chili beans
1 tablespoons oregano
pinch of cayenne or other red pepper
1/2 teaspoon cumin
4-5 cloves of garlic, peeled and finely chopped
5 red potatoes, diced into 1/2 inch cubes
1 large onion chopped
1 tbsp. seeded diced jalapeño
1/3 cup soy milk
cilantro or parsley

Heat a large pot. Sauté most of the onions (reserve a few for garnish) and the garlic over medium heat for about 1 minute. Add in the broth, pumpkin, chili beans, jalapeño, and potatoes. Stir in the oregano, cayenne, and cumin. Bring to a boil and then turn down to a simmer.

Simmer for about 30 minutes or until potatoes are tender. Remove from heat and let cool for 5 minutes. Stir in the soy milk and serve immediately garnished with cilantro or parsley and onion (and extra diced jalapeño, if desired).

Check here from some more healthy pumpkin recipes.

30 Things in 30 Days - #13 - Walk Somewhere

Just do it. Put one foot in front of the other, breathe deep, and break a sweat. It will help save energy AND do wonders for your personal health. Stop being lazy, get off your butt, go outside!

30 Things in 30 Days - #12 - Turn Off the Lights

Yes, we can all hear our parents, "If I have told you once, I have told you a thousand times, turn off the light when you leave a room!" Well, like so many things, they were right. I must admit that once I moved out on my own I may have left the lights on a time or two just for spite... Luckily, I have matured :) or I think I have... anyway, turn off lights in rooms you aren't in (or anyone else is in for that matter). It is the easiest thing I can think of to save energy. For more info on energy conservation and some fun freebies go to FLICK OFF.