another beautiful print by you are constance:



all prints by youareconstance are printed on fsc-certified papers and are packaged in recycled and/or compostable packaging.

Trying to be a responsible human being....part II

Since deciding to weed out plastic from my life, here is the progress I have made:

* Replaced my plastic razor (which I will still use for traveling) for a stainless steel safety razor.

* No more trash can liners. I own this metal trash can with a lid from ikea that I clean out every time I dump it.

* Plastic bags and plastic food packaging, including produce bags. I bought some unbleached cotton draw string bags from Nourishments on Etsy:

I use these bags for everything. Bulk beans, rice, noodles, cereal, lettuce, fruit, you name it. So I mainly do my grocery shopping at the farmer's market and the bulk food place now.

* Plastic water containers. I go once a week to fill up my 3 gallon glass carboy with distilled water for only $.75. Then I haul it back to my apartment, flip it upside down into a ceramic dispenser. It's not super heavy, but sometimes it gets slippery and I'm always a little scared of dropping it. However, there is something empowering and humbling about fetching your own water. People do it all over the world; sometimes every day!



Here is what I still haven't found plastic free solutions for:

* Juice and milk/half and half cartons that are lined with plastic.

*Glass food jars (like spaghetti) with lids that have plastic on them.

*Pads. I know. They are so lame. But I live with a roommate and don't have a washer and dryer. So using/cleaning cloth pads is just not what I feel like I can do right now.

*Ziplock bags. I have been reusing the same box for over a year. But I still don't like that they are in contact with my food.

Currently looking for: a non-plastic wide tooth comb and hairbrush. Natural lotion and makeup in glass/metal containers. Milk in a glass container.

White Work

top to bottom:

http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5397008

http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=6266164

http://mari.bigcartel.com/product/new-york-love-white

http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5464460

But I know a change gonna come, oh yes it will...

i took this photo while standing on the santa monica pier. i took it when i was happy in a relationship.

now i'm not.

love is exorbitantly messy.

This Makes Me Smile!

last summer i traveled to israel for my friend's wedding and there met the amazing odelia! i am so excited that she is the current featured seller on etsy.

her and her man dani live in this amazing re-fashioned chicken coop on a hill. it is one of the most peaceful places i have ever been.





her softies are adorable! i love her caterpillars.




and who doesn't love a hedgehog?!

Just a little glimpse....

of what my life sorta looks like.....

it's all in the family...

i would just like to present to you the newest addition to my sister's etsy shop:

this diptych is called "agatha and the bird" and features a cute little girl with a tiny sly grin and a big plan. bekah is a graphic design student at the university of oklahoma and creates these prints on the side. she is also responsible for artwork hanging on my wall as well as the majority of the graphics, logos, album artwork, and t-shirt designs of my band.

when i think of her growing up, she was either catching turtles in the backyard of our michigan home or drawing. i'm pretty sure sometimes she drew turtles, too.

Trying to be a responsible human being....

plastic free shaving is finally in my life.

and let me tell you....i'm excited about it.

i purchased this weishi razor on ebay from a guy here in los angeles. he sent me around 30 extra blades and offered free shipping, all for $20.
i can't wait to use it and will update this post when i do. i've only heard wonderful things about these little guys.

i will say that i would love a more feminine and ornate one, but those are harder to come by, more expensive, and usually vintage (which kinda weirds me out). someone could make a killing manufacturing feminine, plastic-free safety razors, i tell ya.

i've also been trying out bar soap from soaptopia on my hair as shampoo (instead of buying plastic bottles). i am unsure about this though since it seems to make my scalp sorta itchy.
this one is called green machine. it is my favorite! the smell of basil fills the entire house when i use it! they said they'll be coming out with a shampoo bar in the future, but i think i might just buy a bottle of shampoo and conditioner as backup for now. i cannot stand a flaky, itchy scalp.

well, that's all for now!


UPDATE: razor is amazing. i was scared at first as to how much pressure to apply and how to get certain angles, but it went very smoothly (no pun intended). you hardly have to press at all! (and it also makes that nice sound that you hear when men shave). no more buying plastic cartridges!

Bangs and the Brothers Bloom

.....are just what i needed to kick off the summer.

(and a reminder of how serious my crush on adrien brody is)

Occupying my brain....

salsa verde freestyle

i decided to make my own salsa verde instead of buying it from trader joes. i looked online at different recipes, but it seems there isn't really one general recipe. with jeff's help (he lived in mexico for a while and also went to college in san diego), i concocted this recipe:

*about 6 tomotillos (mine were freakishly large tomatillos, i recommend using around 12-15 small ones)
*about 3 poblano chiles (sometimes sold as pasilla peppers, although pasilla are longer, thinner, and spicier)
* one jalapeno pepper
*one anaheim chile
*one medium onion coarsley chopped
*3 to 4 cloves of garlic chopped
*one bunch of cilantro chopped
*about half a tablespoon of salt
*cumin
*about 3 lime

i began by boiling the tomatillos in water. jeff said salsa is often made in a molcajete so the skins are removed after being boiled. while the tomatillos boiled, i placed the pablano, anaheim, and jalapeno peppers in a pan and placed them under the broiler. Checking them often and turning them often until their outsides were blackened. i stopped boiling the tomatillos when they started to turn a darker yellow color.
i removed the tomatillos from the water with a slotted spoon, placed them on a plate to cool, and saved the water. after the peppers cooled i peeled off the skins, removed the stem, sliced them open and removed the seeds. i also removed bits of the skin off of the tomatillos.
i have a small food processer so i did two batches. in each batch i put half the amount of tomatillos, chiles, onion, garlic, and a handful of chopped cilantro in each. i squeezed about a lime and a half in each batch and salted to taste. i also put in about a teaspoon and a half of cumin in the entire batch. after everything went through the food processor i transferred it to a bowl and added enough of the tomatillo water until i got the consistency i wanted.

this was an interesting cooking adventure i have to say. there is so much confusion about the different chiles and different salsa verede recipes and i think it's due to translations and regions. i got a lot of info on chiles and other peppers here. the site also has a helpful scale of hotness of different peppers.
i also read that the salsa is better the next day (although we couldn't help it so we fried up some corn tortilla chips and ate some of it right away)



the end

ten people, places, and things that i love...

1) the best mocha you'll ever have
2) the best croissant you'll ever have
3) Dave Eggers
4) best place to find a vintage mustard yellow file cabinet
5) soaptopia
6) land's end and the camera obscura there
7) interview with a woman who has my potential dream job
8) things in slow motion
9) really gross inventions that people eat

and finally.......

10) interpretive dancing with friends- late at night- after much wine- and listening to Bartok

me want evening attire

An apple pie for two or three

i like to bake. not all the time, but i like it when i do. my favorite things to bake are bread and pies. i think i like the science and intuition that comes with making dough and crust.

soon i will buy tasty berries from the farmer's market to bake with. yummmmmmmmmm.

Baby I'm the Lucky One

Either I am incredibly lucky or I'm just incredibly lucky. I feel like I skipped a necessary step in working my way up any kind of ladder. A friend of a friend has hired me on to help with Rodarte's fall line knits and I can't help thinking constantly how freakin lucky I am.

wow wow wow

Good Morning

Sunday Afternoon...

A picture I took of my good friend and band mate in my front yard. Pretty much sums up what I'd like to do all summer long....

Breathtaking...

Days with my Father by Phillip Toledano. This type of project reminds me of why I wanted to be a photographer when I was 19.



Found via A Cup Of Joe.

Labneh!

I went to Israel last summer and the food was so amazing! So when I saw this at Trader Joe's, I immediately snatched it up!

Drizzled it with olive oil and threw on some Zaatar and cayenne pepper and ate it up with tasty pita! Yum!

On a knitting note! I am finally blessed with an image of my handspun hand dyed indigo yarn all knit up! The wonderful Erin created a wave pattern lace scarf.

Just lovely!

I'm a plant thief...

Walks are once again becoming extremely tempting as the weather warms up. Latley I've been noticing the plethora of nice succulents that grow like weeds on the side walks and medians. So, I decided to start taking scissors with me and snip a little here and there...

I also snagged some aloe from my friend and some agave. I clip them and then lay them on a paper towel in my kitchen away from the sun. I wait for them to scab over and then put them in a pot, water thoroughly, and then leave them to dry out over a few days in partial sun.

So far so good and no root rot that I can see. Mr Brown Thumb over at Instructables has a very nice leaf cutting demo that is pretty informative.

And I'm finally finishing these socks that I started over Christmas break and then abandoned. It is such an easy pattern!

I got this yarn from the Malabrigo guys at Stitches West a year ago. The colorway is amazing and I don't even know if they still make it because I believe this yarn was just a demo when I got my hands on it.

I start school again tomorrow...*sigh* but it will be less stressful with my two, eight week courses over. So hopefully i'll keep up the knitting.

Scrumptious and Easy Peasy!

I can't for the life of me remember where I got this recipe, but it's so easy that you don't need to write it down. All you need is:

*Penne Pasta
*Pecorino Romano Cheese
*Arugula
*Salt
*Freshly cracked black Pepper
*Olive oil

I eyeball everything (something that drives my husband, the kitchen nazi, insane). I cook the pasta until al dente. I add salt, pepper, and olive oil and stir to cover. Then I add shaved Pecorino Romano cheese, let it melt a little, and give it a quick stir. Finally I stir in the arugula, which wilts nicely from the hot pasta. Voila! Tasty and simple and great during summer!

I also had it in my mind that truffle oil might be really good in this, too. Or maybe even some sun dried tomatoes. Nonetheless, this is a great dish when done with minimum ingredients. Enjoy!

Projects

Beginning the Swallowtail Shawl in Kidsilk Haze. I've already made many mistakes and am not sure if I should just start over. The mohair is almost impossible to frog.

Found this chair on the street in a very sorry state. It has good, sturdy bones so I threw on some white paint and new batting and fabric from Ikea. This book makes me want to be a professional reupholsterer. Is that a word? I'm pretty sure it's not...

And I finally framed and hung the prints my sister made me for Christmas. I love them to pieces!

Oh, and she also made me this awesomely creepy ceramic bird mask that I mounted above our fireplace. The lights on either side add to the eeriness.

It reminds me of Donnie Darko or something!