1. Zappo's Made in America Filter- 7,440 items that were made in America including lots of shoes. I find this oddly comforting, especially because things like boots and tennis shoes are on there (yay New Balance!). Also, the Harveys bags and wallets made out of recycled seatbelts.

from http://observer.com/2014/02/nancy-holt-visionary-land-artist-dies-at-75/

2.Nancy Holt- I hardly ever get to genome someone so historical and influential, and it was fun to read about her, her life, and her tunnels. She was a Land artist, made works you might recognize even without an art background, and collaborated with many of the names you recognize (Robert Smithson and Michael Heizer). I was looking at some of her photographs through her tunnels, where her intervention reframes the Western landscape, making you look at it and think about it in a new way. Yo can look at Holt's artwork here.

3. Teal Tuesday- I feel like it gained some momentum this year, but I have some good ideas for next year too. Everyone get informed about Ovarian Cancer- awareness is so important for this awful cancer! I also love this campaign- we should totally do this next year!

"The strength of a family, like the strength of an army, is in its loyalty to each other" -Marco Puzzo

 This is a new weekly article where a mom with a shortage of hobbies and sleep harrasses companies into making small but Earth-friendly changes to their regular deal. Please let me know if there is something or somebody you want to lovingly nudge toward doing the right thing, and I will join you in your quest!

Hi Chipotle Customer Relators!

My husband loves Chipotle. Loves it. When we have given up on adulthood, which can be such a bummer, we abandon making dinner and head to your burrito-y goodness. As much as I love your commitment to the ethics of the food, I have major beef with you-

Why don't you use compostable bowls?!?!?

This, to me, seems like such a simple fix to sending all of those bowls to the landfill. If you care about the animals on this Earth, which is awesome, you also need to care about the waste you create and how it effects them. I know you use 100% recycled napkins, so this seems right in your wheelhouse.

 We live in Seattle, where compost and recycling are a way of life, and it cuts me deep to keep throwing these bowl containers in the trash when compostable options are now readily available! I have even read that your bowls are compostable at some locations, but at our safe haven from maturity, the bowls clearly land on the Landfill portion of the trash signage. What gives?

I know that you can do better, and it would make me super happy to throw my bowl into the compost bin. You can do it, Chipotle Kings, we believe in you!

from Amazon

1. Our new Preserve Toothbrushes- We finally bought Preserve's recycled plastic toothbrushes, and I am pretty excited about it. When you think about it, why aren't all toothbrushes made out of recycled materials? So far, they work exactly like a regular toothbrush, but I get to feel like we are doing a little bit of good by switching over. If you want to join us, you can buy them on Amazon.

2. Salmon Hash- Nom nom nom. Dill and yogurt sauce and a bunch of veggies (and potatoes! Nom starchiness), this dish is still my favorite way to eat salmon. We are doing Seafood Sunday and Meatless Mondays, so that let's you know how far behind on life we are right now!

3. Silas Kopf- My favorite genome today for Artsy, this wood artist is from Warren, PA! His work is incredibly cool (you don't think of woodwork as being figurative, but his is), and you can read more about him and see his work here.

Sorry, loyal readers, I was out of town and am behind. Pretty ridiculously so. I am working on the Registry List, but it will most likely be a day late.

Every Tuesday in September, we are wearing teal to raise awareness for Ovarian Cancer- please join us tomorrow for our biggest Teal Tuesday Yet! We started doing this last year when my cousin Rochelle and I realized no one is talking about this disease despite it being the most deadly gynecological cancer and needing way more support than it gets,  so help us spread the word!

What You Have to Do

Participating in this is crazy easy, and it can make a huge difference!

1. Tomorrow morning, when you are picking something to wear, pick something teal! It doesn't even have to be your whole outfit- rock some teal socks, a bracelet, a bowler hat- any teal will do!

2. Post a picture of yourself looking amazing on Facebook or Instagram. With the picture, write one fact abouut Ovarian Cancer. If you don't know much about it, you can learn more here!

3. Post it with the hashtag #tealtuesday so we can revel in your beauty and awesomeness!

Why We are Wearing Teal

 Three years ago, my Aunt Ann went into surgery for a lump that was causing her pain in her abdomen. What they found was a tumor the size of a folded up washcloth that had already spread throughout her abdomen. She continues to be faithful, courageous, and freaking amazing through her multiple rounds of chemo. She has had relatively healthy and normal periods, as well as incredibly tough ones. This cancer is brutal. Right now, she is again going through a round of chemo, but she is also able to still live her life, going with Shelly and her kids to the zoo, and so many other great things!



Watching her go through this has taught us many things, but I think most of all, I have seen God do so many miracles and answer to many prayers, and it reminds me no matter how dark things look, our God is able and He heals. How awesome is that. .

Because we have been so blessed, we have to try to be a blessing to others, and one of the ways we are doing this is to try to raise awareness about this disease, so other women can find their cancer sooner, so it no longer is thought of as a death sentence, and so women like Ann can feel seen and supported. This is the goal, and it is important.

I have been reminded how strong and powerful love is (and the bonds between women are) as I watch the people who love her hold her up, and I think we can do this for others as well! Please join our family in spreading the word!

Where You can Learn More

1. The People are Resourceful- All around the fairgrounds, people use their yards as paid parking lots. We paid ten bucks to park next to somebody's patio. Genius way to take advantage of the hoards of people that suddenly show up in your small town.
2. What a Krusty Pop is- A Corn Dog. It makes sense when you think about it, but then if you think about it longer, you wonder why they don't just call it that. Also, people must love them, because they were all over the place.
3.They have Lil Sebastian- He does being a mini horse, and he does it better than anyone.

4. They know what's important in life- they have a whole GIANT hall reserved for people to show off their weird collections and lego crafts. I can't tell you exactly why, but this makes me feel so warm and fuzzy inside. We are all just a bunch of weirdos, but Earth isn't such a bad place. If someone can win a prize for their corn collection, there's hope for all of us.


5. They have a Wild Cat here too- Identical to the ride at Cedar Point, though it looks a little rougher. Still, exciting to see a familiar face after such a long distance.

6. Scones are Fair Food (and they are AMAZING)- At first, we joked about the crazy vendor trying to sell scones mid-afternoon at a fairground. Then we noticed they were all over the place, and they each had crazy long lines. So, we clearly needed to get in line and try it. Well, we tried the one covered in fruit and whipped cream, and Fisher is on to something. Washington State, you are on to something! Respect! Happy to join this bandwagon.

 I absolutely love our bub's nursery. I know some people feel they spent too much time, energy, or money on their nursery once the baby arrives, but I love that we had this large and fun project to take on before he got here (and let's be honest, for quite a bit afterward).

We picked a theme that sounded like it would be very loud or overstated, but it actually turned out pretty subtle.  I really loved the idea of a travel theme, and I showed some more antique looking nurseries to my husband (because I wanted something where our decor could mostly be re-use, not brand new), and it reminded him of steampunk designs. I love that it combines travel with something more fantastic and otherworldly, and it was a really fun theme to play with.

Our theme needed a few key touchpoints- Maps and globes, mechanical gears, Victorian elements, patchwork, and flying machines.  We chose a relatively simple color scheme- muted teal and gold, then all metallic colors- greys and bronzes.

Once we picked the basic ideas, we spent months looking in antique stores and flea markets, as well as regular baby stores, for details we liked, then transformed furniture we mostly already owned into the key pieces in the room . We looked everywhere for a globe we liked, bought grown up looking frames we can reuse, and turned our diaper cake into our favorite art.

Our regular style is a little bit retro and colorful. We want things to feel comfortable, and everything is a balance between my more bohemian, busy style and The Boy's clean, minimalist taste. This room is the only one we have ever done from start to finish at the same time, so it made it especially fun.

These are some of our favorite parts.

We received a few Authentic Models hot air balloons from our baby registry, and they hang like a chandelier in the center of the room from the skylight. These models are super pretty and basically tie everything together. They are just hung with fishing line from hooks.

The room has pretty low walls, so we knew we would have to bring the decor in other ways as well. We moved our old futon into the nursery and covered some spare pillows with map covers off of Etsy. We picked a mix of blues and neutrals to bring all the colors in. Also on the futon, we have a fox from his Uncle Thomas and Aunt Bry, the teddy bear we made two days before the Bub was born, and one of his Uncle's old tiggers. The rocking goldendoodle was a gift from the Bubba's Uncle Carlo, and it is basically the prettiest thing in the whole house. It fits in with the colors perfectly.


I moved all of my clothes into the Boy's wardrobe, and we took my old dresser and turned it into the Baby's changing table. We sprayed the black dresser a bronze color, and The Boy replaced the knobs with nozzles, to play into the steampunk mechanical feel. I think it turned out great, and when the theme changes, we will just change its look again.



We did buy two pieces of furniture- the bookshelves (bought first for their height since the room's proportion was weird) and a crib from Pottery Barn (in retrospect, I would have chosen something Made in America). We picked it for its low profile, because we are short and the room is short, and the wood matched the futon. I am not sure I would pick it again, but it works fine. On the other hand, the shelves have really grown on me, and I love that the bottom shelf is a toychest. The Bub already uses it.

We also bought vinyl copper-colored gear vinyls to use here and there in the room to highlight the theme and add a little interest. The walls in our house are so textured that this is the only one that lasted, but I think they could have added a lot in a different circumstance.


My absolute favorite part of the room is the mobile, lovingly made by The Bub's dad for him. He wanted a mobile of flying machines, but he couldn't find it, so we bought felt in the room's colors and he worked on them until they were perfect. It is so gorgeous from the little metal details to the big gear they hang on to the clouds covered in buttons. He probably made it over months while I made all the Christmas ornaments. If we can do it, you can do it. Learn a blanket stitch, make some testers, and take your time.


I love the goggles we bought in an antique store and the bears- one is from my Mom and the other was made by his Aunt Shelly. The Tinker Toys are a gift from his grandma from her trip antiquing.

Our advice for making your nursery:

- Get a big head start on things. Pick a theme you are excited about early. We had picked the theme way before we knew the gender, and I think we would have only changed a few things if the bub was a girl. It gives you time to play, find things in consignment or on Buy Nothing, and to get a look out for deals. In the best case scenario, your shower might have the same theme, and that can help a lot with decorating.

- Don't pick a theme that is too constricting- You don't want what you choose to be so set that you can't play off it in fun ways or have something in the room that doesn't match without it being bizarre. Don't pick a color scheme that is all black and white- you will get colorful toys and blankets! Don't go super modernist/minimalist unless you have a good plan for clutter. It will be a room that works harder than most the others, so it can't live as a showroom.

-It's for you, but that is ok. Before you know your spawn, your life is about them, but in this sort of theoretical way where you can't do anything about it. Planning a room can be a fun way to speculate about who they will be or what you want your family to be. When they show up, they will mess with everything they can reach, and their favorite thing will be a fan or curtain or something totally banal.

-Make stuff and use stuff you already have. Having a nursery with a theme doesn't have to be expensive. Think about how to put things you already own to use in a new way. Also, think about how the things you buy could have life in your house beyond the nursery. A bunch of clown themed stuff won't translate into other spaces, but if you like modern and bright, maybe a bunch of clean white frames, or a biomorphic set of wall hangers, or a pillow case will. It doesn't all have to work that way, but it's nice if some of it does.

-Think about storage- the first year of baby's life is a constant transition from size to size and holder to holder. Nothing seems to last that long, so you need a place for objects to wait in the wings.

-Take on projects, but not too many- Projects can be fun and keep things interesting, but you don't want to be so ambitious you can't finish it all. We still have a cool steamer chest sitting in our basement waiting to be finished. The Bub has never complained, but it's sad to have spent the money (cheap, because it was a mess) and the time (way more of that) and never use it. Plus, it taunts The Boy.

-Think about Future Babies- Again, this is just about choosing what hits the theme, and what stays neutral. It's tempting to get bedding that is exactly on point, but something more neutral that can graduate to more babies might make more sense if that is your plan.

-Have Fun! This is true for all adult stuff you are "supposed" to do (except paying your bills and taxes and the REALLY not fun things). If it isn't interesting to you, just don't do it. Your baby will not care. Whatever seems fun, do. Otherwise, don't.

Want more of my ideas about how to make baby's life awesome? Check out my Baby Registry lists, which feature all eco-friendly and made in America stuff, that just happens to also be awesome.