The House the Mouse Built Goes Eco.

Disney is undeniably one of the primary sources of inspiration for the 'tween set and the house that the Mouse built, with it's cute and wholesome shows and movies, has its own set of trendsetters. From fashion to music to causes, the channel's teen stars are definitely making waves. Recently, Disney unveiled its Friends for Change campaign. Spots air with regularity during and between shows and feature the It-girls and It-guys of the teen scene. The idea behind the campaign is the theory that a mass can always do more than just one person. Never have truer words been spoken! Going green is not just for the grownups anymore!

Check out this spot featuring Selena Gomez, Demi Lovato and Miley Cyrus.

De-stressing the Eco Way

Let's face it, stress happens. It happens to all of us, no matter how calm we are or how we try to avoid it. My favorite way to de-stress is to have a healthy dinner with a glass of wine, take a nice bubble bath, and fall into a super comfortable bed for a solid 8-hour slumber. Since the green movement has steadily spread to all corners, just about anything you could possibly want is now available in "green".

After a particularly stressful day, I love to prepare a quick dinner (or cheat and pick something up) from the organic section of my local grocer or the farmer's market. A glass of organic wine finishes the meal. If you can't find organic wine locally, order yourself a bottle or two from The Organic Wine Company. Check to make sure that your state allows alcohol shipments before you order, though.

The Green Glass Company has a wonderful array of eco-friendly glassware. From tumblers to goblets, they've got it all! I'm a big fan of the clear goblets!!!


Like so many of my fellow greenies, I have eco-sins that go against my passion for living a green life. Among them is my love of the bath. The area around my bathtub looks like an apothecary with all of the products I use, but I try to negate a bit of my impact on the earth by using organic products. Check out The Daily Green's article on green bath scrubs.

Anna Sova makes an incredibly comfortable and still affordable set of organic cotton sheets.

The Bella Pura sheets are available in 4 colors and come in queen and king sizes.

Nothing combats stress like a good night's sleep! So next time you're stressed, feed your body well, take some time for yourself and sleep it off!

Squirrels, Recycling and The Farm Chicks

Everyone's favorite tiny calico kitty, Miss Harper, has a new best friend. His name is Earl and he is a medium-sized squirrel who has taken to visiting our porch daily. Initially, Earl's visits began when I started putting sunflower seeds in the new birdfeeder and he happily ate all of the seeds the birds dropped or knocked out of the feeder. Now, he comes back for the seeds and for his new friend. They spend half-hours at a time just staring at one another. It might just be the cutest thing I've ever seen! Pictures to come soon, if I can remember to leave the camera in the living room.

In other news, I have been doing some recycling research lately. Adjusting to being eco-friendly in a new city is as much a challenge as adjusting to the city itself. Each city has its own recycling guidelines and Nashville's rules definitely take some getting used to, but I'm certainly working on it!


Lastly, I wanted to point you in the direction of one of my favorite blogs. I've been a longtime fan of The Farm Chicks (especially their fabulous ideas for fun little outdoor gatherings) and their blog is equally as fabulous. The ladies are big supporters of family owned businesses and buying local, which is inherently eco-friendly because it saves on transportation of goods from point A to point B (which is often across the country). Check them out soon!

The Green Project

No matter where I live, Louisiana will always be home. I remember spending many weekends of my youth in New Orleans eating in the French Quarter, hanging out on Magazine Street and seeing the sights and sounds of the city. My favorite part of New Orleans has always been the architecture. Not surprisingly, I find myself mixing pieces of Louisiana architectural salvage into my own home. The Green Project has just made that easier and even more eco-friendly!

From their website:

The Green Project operates a warehouse store that resells high-quality, salvaged building materials at low cost to the community. The store is dedicated to helping the environment by reducing the amount of usable materials placed in landfills or disposed of improperly. You may bring reusable building materials to our warehouse store, or we can pick them up for a small fee.

The Green Project also supports others who salvage or deconstruct damaged or collapsed buildings by hand, in a way that saves between 45 and 70 percent of the materials. This preserves New Orleans' unique architectural history and benefits New Orleans' residents by returning their ruined building materials to use elsewhere in the city.

Next time you're in the market for building materials, consider shopping somewhere like The Green Project or Habitat's ReStore.

The Farmers' Market

If you're looking for a way to green your meals, both literally and figuratively, visit your local farmers' market. Buying food locally saves your food from being trucked across the state or across the country and it also guarantees that you know exactly where your food comes from and how it got there. I had lunch at the Nashville Farmers' Market yesterday and I had such a great time exploring all of the restaurants and merchants' booths filled with colorful produce and plants. I grabbed a shrimp po-boy from Nooley's (formerly of Baton Rouge) and a snowball at Fleur de Lis Flavors. Nothing like a taste of home in my new city!!! If you're looking for something to do this weekend or a great way to bring some local flavor into your meals, hop on over to your neighborhood farmers' market!

The Vatican Goes Eco

The Vatican is going solar in a big way. The smallest country in the world recently announced that it intends to spend 660 million dollars to create what will effectively be Europe’s largest solar power plant. This massive 100 megawatt photovoltaic installation will provide enough energy to make the Vatican the first solar powered nation state in the world!

View the whole article here.

EcoManor

When most people think eco-house, they think boxy and minimal. If you're like most people, prepare to have all of your eco-house expectations shattered. Meet the EcoManor.

The home of Laura and Rutherford Seydel is a beautiful showplace that's green from top to bottom. The EcoManor website even gives great links to the household and decor products that they used that are eco-friendly. Among the fabulously appointed rooms is a pink and green girl's bedroom. Talk about putting the green in pink and green!

Eco-Exercise

Spring is here and it's time to get back outside and get some exercise. Running or walking outdoors is a great eco-friendly way to get your workout mojo going. If outdoor exercise isn't your thing or if there simply aren't enough hours in the day for you to fit in an outdoor workout, consider an eco-friendly indoor workout.

One of my favorite indoor workout tools was originally intended to be a winter substitute, but I've liked it so much that it's taken up permanent residence in the Eco-Prep house. If you're a cyclist, consider an indoor trainer that requires no additional energy other than what is produced by pedaling.

Because I come from a place where temperatures below 40 are highly unusual, I have a difficult time adjusting to winter up here in the north. Cycling or running outdoors during the chilly winters is pretty much out of the question. My indoor trainer has been a saving grace and has kept me on track with my cycling program.

Other great options include rowing machines or self-powered treadmills and elliptical machines.
For more eco-exercise tips, check out these links for GreenYour.com and Dummies.com.

Channel Your Inner Martha

EcoSalon has a great article on 10 clever ways to use leftover fabric.
I always have random pieces here and there that are too small to be put to regular use, but now I've got some great ideas on how to employ the scraps! See all ten ideas here.

Greener Golf

Have you ever wondered if landfills possess potential beyond just being collection zones for waste? Landfills can be sources of energy when the methane gas let off by decomposing garbage is captured and used it to generate energy. They can also be reused once the garbage has decomposed. Perhaps the best (and most aesthetically pleasant) use of landfills is the transformation of these blights into golf courses.

Mountain Gate CC, Los Angeles

From Brownfield Golf:

Completed in 1975, the Mountain Gate Country Club is recognized as one of the most successful landfill golf courses in the United States. What was once a Los Angeles County solid waste landfill is now an upscale, private country club surrounded by million dollar homes with exquisite views of golf holes meandering through the canyons below.

The 27-hole golf course was constructed over solid waste deposited in 8 canyons to depths in excess of 200 feet. Over the years, waste has decomposed resulting in settlement of the land surface. Mountain Gate maintenance personnel report settlement has exceeded 70 feet in some areas, necessitating the repair of irrigation and drainage systems and the re-grading of golf course features. Although a nuisance, some club members appreciate the continuous changes of golf course features as an added challenge to their game.

I've Been Tagged

I've been tagged by Pink Julep, who has a fantastic little blog, so go check it out. Since this has been a fairly hectic week work-wise, my posting abilities have been limited, but I figured since I've never done one of these on my blog, I'd take a little break and fill this one out. I'm not tagging anyone just yet, look for that to come soon.

Step 1: respond and rework—answer the questions on your own blog, replace one question that you dislike with a question of your own invention, add one more question of your own.

Step 2: tag—eight other un-tagged people.

Make a list of things you can see without getting up:
A stack of eco-books (for blog research, of course), a stack of backissues of Domino, two cats, my laptop, the across-the-street neighbor's giant energy sucking television (on which he spends endless hours playing Guitar Hero).

Favorite football team:
LSU Tigers

What are you wearing now?
Jeans and a white button up shirt.

What color is your bedroom?
White, we're not allowed to paint.

What’s the last thing you read/are currently reading?
Currently reading Twyla Tharp's The Creative Habit

What was the last movie you saw?
The Last Waltz.

What’s your current obsession/addiction?
Hmm, my initial inclination is to say "going green" but I would be remiss if I didn't also add discovering new music.

What was the last thing you said aloud?
I asked the cats if they were hungry.

What websites do you always visit when you go online? Treehugger.com, Ecorazzi.com, Planetgreen.com

What was the last thing you bought?
A haircut for myself.

What are you listening to right now?
A friend's newest cd.

If you could have any super power, what would it be?
I'd like to be able to fly. I think that'd be kind of neat.

What is your favorite weather, and why?
Sunny and cool. It's the best weather for walking around in the city.

What time do you usually get up?
9:00 am (I am lucky to work in an industry that doesn't wake up too early)

What is your most challenging goal right now?
Figuring out how to green our upcoming move.

Say something to the person who tagged you:
Thanks so much for the tag, Pink Julep. I look forward to keeping up with your blog.

If you could have a house–totally paid for, fully furnished–anywhere in the world, where would you want it to be?
Nashville

Favorite vacation spot?
Home to Louisiana

What is your favorite children’s book?
Goodnight Moon

Name one thing you just can’t resist no matter how bad it is for you:
Mac and cheese

Favorite hair product?
Burt's Bees avocado pre-shampoo hair treatment

What was the first tape or cd you ever bought yourself?
I don't even remember. Probably something teeny-bopperish.

Free Green! Free Green!

Are you thinking about building a new house? Or maybe remodeling the old one? For so long, "green" houses have been ultra modern loft-style homes which work for some people, but the prep in all of us longs for a cottage or a bungalow or a Colonial or a Cape Cod style house. Free Green to the rescue! Free Green offers house plans of all varieties for free (that's right, free!) and you can customize any of the plans available on the website to your specifications.

The Comfortable Cape Plan

Check out the Free Green blog to learn about green building and watch the progress of a green house as it is being built here. The Go Green Now section is also great and offers tips on what you can do now to make your life a little bit greener.

Denim Therapy

Let's face it, sometimes you fall in love with a pair of jeans the way you fall in love with a puppy. You love them, you wear them as soon as they come out of the laundry, they become almost part of you. Trust me, I know, it happened to me. I bought a pair of jeans when I was a sophomore in college that still, to this day, hold a special place in my heart. They weren't flashy, they weren't designer, but they were comfortable. Basic bootcut jeans. I wore them frequently with everything from tshirts to polos to oxfords to dressy tops. And then the inevitable happened. They became holey jeans. But not in the cool holey places, not on the knee or by the pockets or anywhere on the leg. They did not become rockstar jeans. They became holey in a region where even the mention would make my grandmother would blush. I was devastated. Something inside me told me to hang on to them so I put them in the back of the drawer, all the while hoping for a miracle to come about, a miracle that would allow jeans to be magically repaired.

Meet the miracle!

Denim Therapy Denim Repair

Here's their process:

We have reunited thousands with their favorite jeans and we know we can help you too. Its simple:

1. sign up for denim therapy (its free!)
2. ship us your jeans
3. we'll give you an estimate
4. we apply therapy (only if you still want us to)
5. you are back in your favorite jeans

The proof is in the pudding. Here's the before:

And the after:

Now you can hang on to your favorite jeans for a while longer!

Preppy (and Green!) Icon of the Day

Today's Preppy Icon of the Day is Kelly Rutherford.

In addition to being preppy, Kelly, who stars on the CW's Gossip Girl, is also uber green. In fact, she's on the current cover of Positively Green magazine.

Sprig has a great video interview of Kelly talking about her eco-friendly lifestyle. Not surprisingly, Kelly is wearing a super preppy twinset. Presh! View the video here.

EcoSalon, Serena & Lily Get Green and What Type of Green are You?

There are lots of items on today's agenda. I am so excited to have discovered EcoSalon through an offshoot link from Viva Terra. What a delightful blog! The site really does have something for everybody, so head on over and give them a look.


I also wanted to alert you to two other fun pieces of info (both gathered from EcoSalon...I am LOVING the site!). First, Serena & Lily, one of my favorite retailers for cute bedding and furnishings for children and adults, has added some organic pieces to their collection. View the EcoSalon article here.


Also, marketing researchers have developed a spectrum for determining a person's "green category" and, though I disagree that there are only four types of greenness (perhaps six or seven would be more appropriate), it is a pretty interesting read. You can view the article here.

And with that, I am off to eat leftover cherry pie. Shh, don't tell my trainer.

Recommended Reading

Everyone says they want to "go green" but most of us find getting started to be a daunting task. Here's a book that will jump start your eco-friendliness the easy way.

Penned by Josh Dorfman, The Lazy Environmentalist is a great way to get started going green.

See Josh's website here.
Get the book here.

Following Instructions

This year, with the economy treading water, homemade gifts are a super option. If you're looking for something special for that hard to buy for person on your list, chances are Instructables has a set of instructions for how to make it.

I'm planning to learn how to make these bath bombs:

There are plenty of ridiculous things on the site, but there are also a lot of really great ideas! Give Instructables a look!

Green Can Be Funny

To tickle your funny bone:


From Plenty Magazine. Seriously, this is funny stuff!

Company Done Right

Alabama Chanin is certainly a company that deserves to be on the radar.

From their website:

Sustainable Life - Sustainable Style

Alabama Chanin is a lifestyle company that focuses on creating an array of products through focusing on slow design and sustainability. We craft limited-edition products for the individual and the home. Our products are made-by-hand using a combination of new, organic and recycled materials. Each piece is constructed with care by talented artisans who live and work in communities in and around Florence, Alabama. Our products come numbered in one-of-a-kind or limited edition series and signed by the artisan that made it. We dedicate ourselves to producing quality products that become a part of daily life in this generation and beyond. From farmer to fiber to artisan to home, our products are “grown-to-sewn” in USA.

Green Your Getaway

If you're planning a ski vacation this year and haven't yet set your plans in stone, allow me to recommend Jackson Hole, Wyoming. More specifically, Hotel Terra.


The hotel, located less than a mile from the entrance to Grand Teton National Park and an hour south of Yellowstone, has 72 rooms and is committed to earning LEED certification. Read about Hotel Terra's greenness here.