Eco Friendly Food Storage - lunchbots and lunchskins

This semester I have to be in class at MSU at different times during the week, many of which overlap with a usual meal. But, I don't have a fridge accessible to me and finding a microwave can also be a pain sometimes (especially when I need to eat during class). I wanted to find a way to transport room temperature food that didn't use plastic or paper disposable bags. I had seen quite a few different options on the internet like this and these. But none of them were feeling like just what I needed. Then, I came across LunchBots. They are great! They are made entirely of stainless steel and come in a variety of sizes. And I was able to find them at a local retailer which was also a plus.
While I was there picking one up, I came across this gem of a creation by lunchskins. It is the perfect size to hold a peanut butter sandwich. It closes securely with velcro. And the absolute best thing of all is that it's dishwasher safe so it's super easy to clean!! (which is great since I use natural peanut butter that tends to be a bit drippy.)
With these two storage containers and my stainless steel water bottle, I've now got a 100% waste free lunch or dinner I can take with me anywhere! yay.

ArtPrize Re-Framing Project - frame usa

Last year at this time I had the awesome opportunity to show some of my art at Grand Rapids' very own worldwide art competition, ArtPrize. It was such a fun experience and certainly a humbling one to invite the public to scrutinize some of my creative work. If you want to read my artist statement, you can click here. You can also watch a really cool video that my husband made about my creative process here. Below is a picture of my entry which showed at The Factory in the building above San Chez restaurant.Once ArtPrize was over, we had to decide what we were going to do with these 5 huge frames. My project was more conceptual than aesthetic, so we really weren't planning on hanging it up as it was in our house (we don't have the wall space anyway). However, we didn't want to just get rid of it either. So, we decided to re-use the large frames for other photos and then re-cut the mattes from my project and put them in smaller 5x7 frames to hang in our hallway.

All we needed were 5 identical simple black 5x7 frames that were ethically made out of sustainable and eco-friendly material. Sounds easy enough, right? Well, that's what I thought at first, too....

Since we started this project or new lifestyle or whatever you want to call it, we've been avoiding big box stores pretty much entirely. (I haven't been to Target since February!) But there are some things that we have found really difficult to purchase locally. It's certainly easy to go to Goodwill or yard sales to find used picture frames for cheap. But it would be rare indeed to find 5 identical frames like the ones we needed. After looking all over the internet for fair trade picture frames that fit our criteria for sustainability, I was officially discouraged. So, I broke and decided we should just go to Hobby Lobby. Well, we walked in... looked for about 5 minutes in the frame aisle... and it was just 'made in china, made in china, made in china' as far as the eye could see... so, we turned around and walked right back out.

I decided I was going to have to lower my standards a bit if I was going to find what I wanted, so I started searching the internet for frames that were at least made in the USA. Finally! I found 5 black frames from Frame USA that were not only made here, but were also made out of eco-friendly wood composite. I re-cut the mattes and pounded some metal hangars on the back of the frames and they were ready to go. They are currently a part of our new hallway gallery that I will feature on the blog sometime in the next couple weeks. Get excited! Cuz it's really cool.

Organic Alternatives - Hair Cut and Color - salon re:

One of the things that I knew would be difficult when I started this blog was finding an eco-friendly and non-toxic way to get my hair cut and colored. I looked around online for different natural and organic hair dyes, but I knew that my current stylist wouldn't get behind it and I figured I'd have to do it myself. I was lamenting all of this to my sister-in-law one day and she told me that her friend Kelly styled hair at an eco-friendly salon! Perfect.
In addition to using reclaimed materials and eco-friendly paint to construct the building, Salon Re: also uses water saving hair wash basins, natural cleaning products, and maybe the coolest thing - they donate all of their cut hair to Matter of Trust, an organization that makes hair mats to help clean up oil spills. Kelly uses a variety of low toxicity products, including yogurt and plant-based colors and lighteners. The salon also carries some great lines of natural hair care products, some that even come in compostable containers, that I'm excited to try when my current products run out.Overall it was a great experience. My least favorite thing about leaving the salon after getting my hair dyed has always been the smell. In fact, I usually wash my hair a couple times right away just to try to get it out. Not this time! My hair smells like flowers and spices, not chemicals. Thanks Kelly!

Eco Friendly Planner - house of doolittle

I, like most people, love back-to-school supplies... especially planners. I have always been a 'big picture' person when it comes to planners and therefore choose monthly rather than daily or weekly. There's just something about having my whole month on one page that I can take in all together.

Since starting this blog, I have gotten in the habit of checking for eco-friendly, organic, sustainable, fair versions of everything I decide to buy. It's quite a commitment and can often be discouraging... but not this time! I found this planner after a quick Google search and Amazon had it on my doorstep in no time. The brand is House of Doolittle and they sell eco-friendly office supplies made in the USA of recycled materials and printed with soy inks! They also cost about the same as any other planner you'd pick up at Office Max. That's a win-win in my opinion.Now... on to eco-friendly mechanical pencils....