More Green Wrapping

Two more sets of presents are wrapped and ready to go!

The first set had some large, awkward shapes, so I used leftover fabric, in addition to comics, onion bags, and brown paper. My favorite wrapping though, is the striped paper. That was a bag from a local store, that I've been saving since Spring. It has a beautiful sateen finish on it, and I was so excited to use it as gift wrap. The ribbon came from a gift I was given last year. On the little gift below it, I used a left over strip of the bag and one brad to make a makeshift gift bow.

The next set of gifts used more bags from retail stores. I centered the tree from a Starbucks bag, and the sticker from a bag from a local boutique, "Eden in Love", to make the presents pretty. Instead of buying stockings for my niece and nephews, I layered sheets of comics, then rolled the gifts in them, and tied off the sections between gifts with ribbon, making a Chinese Cracker style string of gifts. I used stamps on recycled craft

paper to spruce up the more basic packages.

All I have left to wrap now are the presents that will be exchanged here at my house, with my Mom and Husband. So far, I haven't spent a dime on wrapping this year, and I'm using up things that would have otherwise gone in the trash. And I'm making room in my craft closet - that might be the best benefit of all!

It's Holiday Time Again!

I love the Holiday Season. And I love decorations and wrapping presents and making everything look beautiful, and... and... and... I hate all the waste!!!

Since I haven't written since last December, it's obvious that the huge excess of the season inspires me to be a little greener. To accomplish a more planet-friendly version of Christmas this year that still fits within my ideals of decorating, I've been setting things aside all year to use in December. I put a basket in my craft closet, and I've been adding to it whenever something strikes me as beautiful, even in an unconventional way.

The first round of wrapping is complete! This collection of gifts will be going to our nieces and nephew in Tennessee. The paper is recycled brown paper. The ribbons are either scraps, or from my stash (that I am no longer adding to). And the decorations are all onion and potato bags. The tags are scraps that I've been saving from my scrapbooking projects.

At the beginning of the year, I was worried that I would start to feel like a trash packrat. But it really didn't add up to much, and it only grew out of the basket when I started saving a few containers, like the tins that hold steel cut oats. I cut back on buying bagged onions and potatoes, and now only buy those when it's the only option, or when the loose ones don't look good. I'm also not scrapbooking as much, because it's so time consuming and costly. So for the whole year, the pile didn't get out of control, not even close. And of the parts of the family I send gifts to, one whole family's gifts were easily covered with these scraps.

Best of all, except for running out of tape, I didn't have to spend a dime on wrapping these presents. I had the paper leftover from a previous project, one spool of ribbon came from my stash, and everything else was scraps.

I already sent off one box - and I didn't wrap those gifts at all. I used a basket that was a gift to hold the rest of the gifts, no wrapping needed. This completes box number two. That leaves one more group of gifts to wrap and send, and then the gifts we exchange here at home. I'm hoping they all end up as green as these!

Green Market, Green Tree!

Yesterday, I went to a green market at a church downtown. I picked up a prepaid ticket for a local kine Christmas tree - a Norfolk pine from Helemano Farms in Wahiawa. By buying it from the Kokua Foundations, $10 goes to their charity. Now I can just take the ticket to the farm, and have my tree cut down just for me! No shipping a mainland tree for me! And these stumps grow back - isn't that awesome!

I also picked up a few fliers about local organic produce. I'm excited that you can call an order a box of fresh produce that's in season, provided locally, and grown organically. And the profits go straight to the farmers!

And last but not least, I picked up some Christmas presents!

Here I am, basking in the glory of a good green market!

:)

Time to Change my Title Again!

I changed it once to add 'in Hawaii'. And now I need to change it from 'veggie' to VEGAN! Yay! Go me!

I thought it would be too hard to go vegan, and that there really wasn't much harm in a veggie diet. But then I watched an episode of Ellen, with Jonathan Safran Foer, who just wrote Eating Animals. I was intrigued, so I went to his website, which was of course linked to many other websites, and soon enough, I found myself watching upsetting, disheartening things.

I did some more research, and decided to slowly make a transition, with the goal of going completely vegan by the time my husband left for deployment, which was still several months away. 

But every time I sat down to eat, I felt guilty. I couldn't shake the images, and no food tastes good with a hefty side of guilt.

So there it is. Overnight, I went vegan. And it's really not that hard. It's been a little over 3 weeks, and I have lost a few pounds, increased my stamina during my yoga practice, and generally felt great. It's amazing what a healthy diet can do for you, and the loss of a hefty load of guilt.

So here's to Kind Diets and Kind Lifestyles! :)

When life hands you Lemons...

Make Ice Balls!

...wait, what?

So, I have an addiction to lemon juice in my water, in my soda, on my veggies, on my pasta, and with many other meals.

Usually, I buy the bottled lemon juice, and recycle the bottle. But lately, I've been having trouble with that. For some reason the store keeps running out! So I end up with the little plastic lemons, which are a #4 plastic, and not recyclable with the local program.

I've been keeping them, not sure what to do with them, until it hit me! Ice balls!

With such a great screw top cap, they keep a seal, even if they melt. So now I squeeze the air out of them and then suck fresh water into them, and stick them in the freezer. Voila!

Great for lunch boxes, my backpack coooler, boo boos, and probably many other uses I have yet to think of. If I get enough, I think they would be cute to use in a glass bowl with a bottle of perrier 'on ice' for a nice dinner, or a bottle of lemonade for a cookout.

So don't toss your plastic lemons and limes! Reuse them as ice balls - practical and cute too!

Things I love

I feel like there is so much negativity around me lately that I need to combat it. I feel an overwhelming need to put some positive out there. I'm keeping it simple. Here are some things I LOVE, right now!

*Yoga
*My Dogs
*Living in Paradise (And it *IS* paradise!)
*The smell of Plumeria Trees
*Having a good friend point out the beauty of a view I see every day, but never really noticed.
*Zumba
*A good sweat, when I work hard for it.
*A good deal, especially when I don't work hard for it.
*Products made in the USA
*Recycling
*Making things myself
*Supporting local businesses, and small business owners
*The sound of waves - big ones, little ones, and everything in between
*Waving to my husband's submarine, even if he's not coming home
*Babies that smell like baby powder.
*Beautiful fabric
*Vitamin Water - I'm addicted, and I wish I could by it in a gallon size
*Rainbows
*Cool morning/evening walks with the dogs, trade winds blowing
*Being able to walk to the homes of so many friends
*Driving the Jeep with the top down on H2, heading to the North Shore
*Hanging out with Sea Turtles
*Wading in the pool of a waterfall
*Hiking to waterfalls I can't wade in
*Mexican food at the beach
*Frozen Yogurt by the ounce with toppings galore
*Snails with the coolest shells ever
*Emails from my husband
*Yellow tangs that swim along the edge of my favorite walking path
*Open air restaurants at the Marina
*The sound of Jets overhead - makes me proud to be American.
*Hibiscus flowers in my backyard
*Tiny little finches in the chain link fence
*Myna birds acting like maniacs
*Mongoose - so darn cute!
*Tide pools
*Skiddle Skedaddle crabs skittering every which way
*My Lipstick Plant
*Thrift Stores
*Yard Sales
*All things beachy and vintage
*Searching for sea glass on Sand Island
*J. Crew - Especially when they have more things not made in China than usual
*Nordstroms
*Window shopping for designer clothes I'll never buy, but love to look at.
*LuLu Lemon
*Champa Thai Vegetarian Curries - Delish!
*The view when you drive through the H3 tunnel to Kaneohe
*Fresh pineapple all year long
*Lava Flows
*Picking Mangoes, and eating them still warm from the sun
*Tea Sorbet floats
*Genki Sushi's String Bean Tempura
*Edamame with sea salt
*My new camera
*Volunteering for something I believe in
*Reading a good book - at home or at the beach
*Having magazines galore, and someone to share/trade with
*Being organized, even though there's still a lot of room for improvement
*Cartwheels and Round Offs
*Talking on the phone to my niece and nephews without paying long distance fees
*Daydreaming about port call trips of the future.
*Reminiscing about port call trips of the past.
*Singing at the top of my lungs when no one can hear
*Dancing around the house when I'm getting ready
*A good massage
*Feeling tan even though I wear sunscreen
*Seeing muscles emerge where there was just fat before
*Candles burning, and smelling wonderful
*Loving where I am in life... there could always be somewhere better, but there could always be somewhere worse. I love where I am right now.

And ok... I do have one thing I don't love... dog farts!

Take the Saver Pledge

I'm taking the militarysaves.org Saver Pledge. Want to join me?

"I will help myself by saving money, reducing debt, and building wealth over time. I will help my family and my country by encouraging other Americans to BUILD WEALTH, NOT DEBT."

And I'm adding to this, that I pledge to help my country by choosing American products and services whenever possible. And I pledge to help the Earth by choosing green products, and to Reduce, Reuse, Recycle as much as I can.

www.militarysaves.org
www.saveandinvest.org

Join me in taking the pledge! It's frugal and patriotic!