Bachelorette Party

So much has been going on lately, I haven't had time to post (never mind do all the planning I'm supposed to be doing!) Mom is trying to be patient, but if I don't get on the ball soon, she might explode!

I've moved into our new house and am loving it. Even though the a/c leaked all over the carpets and hardwood the first night, and the master bathroom shower is still without hot water, I still love having a place of my own!

The weekend before the big move, was my bachelorette party! My sister hosted the bridesmaids and me at her house in Nashville. We had a great weekend!

Amanda and I drove over from Charleston, Hannah and Cecily came down from Indiana, and Sara flew in from DC. While Amanda and I waited for Sara's flight to get in, we checked out the official Charlie Daniels museum (aka gift shop) and a couple other tourist traps on 2nd Ave. We walked down by the river, but amazingly the riverfront and all the surrounding buildings looked unaffected by the flood. They have done a great job with cleanup - in the tourist parts at least.

We originally planned to do a little flood relief of our own, but turned out everyone my sister knew was in a transition stage: wet things had been hauled away, and they were waiting on permits for remodeling. In any case, the thought was there!

We enjoyed a sunny afternoon by their pond, hanging with Lyle, and avoiding the ticks best we could! Em cooked up an awesome pork tenderloin for dinner and we ate up before our night out.

The whole family: mom's, aunts, sisters, cousins... chipped in their 2 cents for ideas for my gift. The result was a box of goodies including Parmesan cheese (for a breath killer, effective birth control, AND food), pink tool belt (for when I don't want to wait around for Adam to fix something), a notebook made from horse POOP! (for "when shit happens"), a couple of Adam's favorite recipes, a day planner pre-filled out to the tune of "Make Adam breakfast, clean Adam's dishes, make Adam's lunch, work ALL day, do Adam's laundry, talk about Adam's day, watch Adam's favorite TV show...." you get the idea, wrinkle releaser (much needed), pregnancy test (NOT needed!!), a couple nightgowns, and some beano. Yep. Beano. I'm not sure if that's for me or Adam...

After dinner, cake, and gifts - we all headed downtown for music and drinking! Our first stop was a concert benefiting a local girl with breast cancer. We had mixed reviews on the music, but were glad to be a part of the charity. Next we went to a honky tonk on Broadway sporting a light up engagement ring and 100% "recycled" veil lovingly made by my co-workers. I personally LOVED that music - stand up base, fiddles, and a sweet slide guitar. We ended the night at a low key bar with some quality late night food - and a little entertainment from a bachelor party we ran into.

Sunday we slept in, lounged around the pool, played some tennis, and enjoyed the sunshine. We toured around some high class neighborhoods, got caught in a downpour 3 blocks from our car, and finished the night with pizza, beer, a board game, and movie.

Monday morning we stopped by the famed Pancake Pantry (yes, Taylor Swift and Justin Beaver ate there....we were one week late! haha) before dropping Sara off at the airport JUST in the nick of time! Amanda and I have a uneventful (good thing) drive back finishing Shopaholic and Sister on CD and even made it home in time to get some yard work in.

Thanks to my sister for hosting a nice weekend! It was a relief to get away from house, wedding planning, and work for a few days. Now it's back to reality and the clock is ticking. 93 days to go!

uncommongoods.com

Uncommon Goods Website

Another cool registry find: glassware handmade from recycled windshields! I registered for it ALL! Plus, flattened wine bottle platters, wine barrel lid lazy susan, and woven magazine place mats and coasters! THAT was fun!

p.s. as of yesterday, we are officially homeowners! get to move in the first of the month!

Let the Registry Begin!

Call me crazy, but I've been putting off registering. Picking out nice things that I will want to use for the rest of my life and be able to incorporate into my ever-changing style ideas is daunting. But nevertheless, the fact that people WANT to buy me nice stuff is awesome, so I decided to man up and get started.
So far we've found a few ways to green up this process.

1. Adam and I have decided to register mainly at local businesses as they will probably benefit from and appreciate our patronage more than the big box stores. This creates a challenge for out-of-town guests to purchase these items. To combat this, we're going to make a custom combined registry at myregistry.com (don't go there yet, it's not ready!) that allows us to pull items from any store and provide phone numbers if they do not have an online purchase option. Pretty nifty, eh?

2. I found some cool green options in my first outing. Most notably, Cuisinart now has a non-stick "Green Gourmet" line. There list of greeness is awesome including low carbon manufacturing, recycled aluminum, petroleum-free surface, and recycled packaging. Kudos to Cuisinart!

3. Other products I registered for were from the Totally Bamboo line. Bamboo is a great choice for wood as it is super strong, lighter than other hardwoods, and is a very renewable resource. Bamboo grows so quickly and has such an expansive root system, that it does not need replanting to regenerate itself. Plus, the type of bamboo that this company uses is not the same that pandas eat, so they're not taking away a food source. Yay!

4. In instances where a eco-friendly product was not available or the best option for us, I chose super durable, high-quality products. I'm hoping to reduce our carbon footprint with these options by never having to throw them away and buy new. (or at least not for a LONG time)

That's as far as I got in the first 2 hours (and about 20 items). I'll keep you posted on other cool finds!

Bridesmaid dresses are in!

Designer's Website
After a brief hiatus for some intense house hunting (we have an offer in on a short sale and hope to have word by then end of this week), wedding planning is back in motion.
Since the last post I have picked up my wedding dress (yay!) and have picked out the bridesmaid dresses! Thanks to two lovely, patient models/bridesmaids, Sara and Amanda Suiter, we found a dress that I really like. (and hope everyone else does too!)
My green effort in this case was reusability... Let's pause for the 27 dresses scene where the bride thinks her hideous dress choice can "totally be cut short and worn again!" I hope I'm not so blind! ...Good-looking, affordable dresses are difficult enough to find. Adding organic hemp fabric from a fair trade company was asking a bit much. Instead, we found an "ink" colored cocktail dress, by Donna Ricco, at a local shop in downtown Charleston that can double for bridesmaid apparel. I'm hoping the girls can rewear these dresses to future events or at least consign or donate them after the wedding.
I'm hoping to find some great jewelery and shoes to complete the ensemble with equal reusable potential.
Here's a pic! (My unbiased opinion: MY bridesmaids look WAY better in this dress than this model...)

Waste Not Paper

Links: Out of Hand, Waste Not Paper

Met with Maggie from Out of Hand on Pitt St in the Old Village today. We went over my options for invitations. She's totally on board with the green theme (which is refreshing) and had some great ideas and actual knowledge on the subject. She's working on the design portion for me, but here's what we've semi decided so far.

- The paper is from Waste Not Paper of Chicago, IL, 100% recycled and 30% post consumer waste
- The ink is soy based and will be printed locally
- We're ditching the traditional RSVP, directions, and other event cards (doing all that online instead)to reduce our paper waste

We discussed using organic cotton paper instead of traditional fibers but the thickness requires imprinted lettering. While I loved the way this looked, the process to make this happen requires personalized copper plates, big machines, and lots of shipping. After talking it out...the environmental costs to get this look are just not worth it to me. Maggie seems very creative and is a engineer/computer graphics person in addition to an artist. I think she'll do a great job helping me get what I want. Local brides...give her a call!

About Waste Not Paper (from their website):
The foundation for all of our great products is paper. Our paper - the base for wrap, notes, stickers and more - is created domestically, which means it didn't travel the world to get to you!

Our paper comes from mills that practice responsible, sustainable forestry as certified by objective 3rd parties. Much of our product is created using renewable energy sources, such as hydro power or wind power.

Our entire line of solid cards, envelopes and paper is produced without elemental chlorine (PCF). Our printers operate with reduced volatile organic compound (VOC) emission and recycle their ink waste. Many of our note sets are handmade from renewable content, usually cotton or bark fiber.

Eco-White, made of 100% recycled content with 30% PCW, is the base for our printed notes, wrap and bags. We also donate, reuse, and recycle all of our scrap paper. In addition, we have added new labels to our note sets and wrap which feature information about their recycled content.

Waste Not from Start to Finish Poster (PDF)
We have nearly completed the bulk transition, offering our line of exclusive solid colors with recycled content containing at least 30% PCW (post-consumer waste). Beginning this year, our luxe papers are also made in the USA and contain recycled content.
We have swapped out all of our packing materials to reduce waste (and peanuts), and continue to look for creative ways to reuse packing materials.

Encouraging our employees to follow eco-friendly practices is an important part of our business. We recently moved into a "rehabbed," 12,000 square foot warehouse in the Chicago's northwest loop. Our location makes it easy for and encourages employees to use public transportation. For three years, we have been a top participating company of our size in the Chicago Bike-to-Work Week Challenge. We have a successful recycling program at our headquarters and try to find creative, beautiful uses for our scrap.

Watch for more environmental practices in the future as we find new and innovative ways to incorporate eco-friendliness into our business. We are confident that beauty and environmental responsibility can go hand-in-hand.

The Green Industry

I'm at a conference for work this weekend discussing veterinary management topics. The presentation today was about going green in our practices (which is awesome). In addition to veterinary specific ideas, I heard of a few good resources that everyone can use in their daily lives. Check them out!

www.ecobusinesslinks.com
Find businesses that sell eco-friendly products - broken down by product type.

www.cdrecyclingcenter.com
Load your CDs onto you iTunes then send your discs in for recycling.

www.myfootprint.org
Fill out your profile and then find ways to reduce your footprint in ways that really make a difference.

www.earth911.com
Find places near you that recycle specific items (batteries, certain plastics #'s, electronics...)

Call it a fad, but the more people become aware of and use these green options, the more available and cost-effective they will become. Free trade is a powerful system - let's use it to the earth's advantage!

Brides Against Breast Cancer

Link: http://www.makingmemories.org/

Last month, my fellow book-clubbers (Lauren and Kat - also my two faithful blog followers - thanks guys!) were nice enough to accompany me to try on dresses in Santee, SC. The general consensus when I announced my plan to just about anyone was, "Have you ever been to Santee?" Why would I leave the #2 wedding destination in the United Sates (Charleston) to dress shop in Santee? The answer is simple: to look through the thousands of dresses at the Brides Against Breast Cancer (BABC) warehouse.

BABC is a division of the Making Memories foundation - a not-for-profit charity that uses proceeds to grant last wishes to terminal breast cancer patients and to educate young women on breast cancer prevention and early detection. All the dresses in their warehouse have been donated and are then resold for this charity. Even after I explained all this, most people were concerned that I was going to be wearing a "used" dress. This, however, was what made the purchase that much more exciting!

I went to a few bridal stores in Indianapolis with my mom when I was home over Thanksgiving. The experience was nice and I even found a dress that I really liked. This dress, however, had a hefty price tag of $2,300 and the thought of having a brand new dress bleached and assembled in China and shipped across the world just for me to wear for a few hours made me sick. My roommate had already told me about BABC and I was putting a lot of weight on finding "the" dress there.

When we arrived, we were a bit overwhelmed with the racks and RACKS of choices available. They were organized by size and split into halves: couture and regular. Compared to my $2,300 current option - prices weren't my limiting factor (all dresses were discounted 40-70% AND tax free) - fit was. After the 50+ dresses I tried on in Indy, it became pretty apparent that finding a non-strapless dress that did not look hideous on me was going to be a challenge. Kat, who was also dress shopping, is thin and petite and beautiful and not difficult at all to find a dress in which she looks great. She, however, was trying not to break the bank with her purchase. I'm happy to report - we both fulfilled our missions!

Barbara, the lady who helped us pick out dresses and owner of the store, was pretty much awesome. She is a New Yorker to the core. The type who tells YOU what to do - not the other way around. She is unabashedly direct and totally knows what she is doing. Not to mention she has a heart of gold. She left her job at Brides in NYC to work in the charitable side of the industry in honor of her mother who is a double mastectomy survivor. She goes above and beyond to make a bride's day when choosing her dress. For Kat, she dropped the price of the gown she fell in love with to make it fit in the budget. For me, she met my parents and me in Greenville, SC while setting up for a show so that my mom could give the final approval.

I'm going refrain to from posting a picture of my dress or even describing it to avoid "accidental" sightings by Adam. I can say, however, that I love it and feel great to have yet another big decision checked off my list!

If you want to get in the action, not only can you support this charity by buying a wedding gown, veil, shoes, accessories, brides maids dresses, prom dresses, mother-of-the-bride dresses....you can also donate all of the above to BABC. The link to their site is at the top of this post. As a kickback - the donation is tax deductable. I plan to box up my dress shortly after the festivities and give it right back. Maybe it could be "the" dress for someone else as well.