weekly synopsis: episode 8

1. Went on an amazing hike to Estes Cone in RMNP. Finally hiking above 9,000ft. Summer is almost here!
2. Attended a trash diet workshop that andrea from bezero hosted, came home and re-assessed like a crazy person.
3. Twins...very disturbing.
4. Snow free mountain!
5. Our monthly bulk haul from Simply bulk.
6. Just implemented composting and recycling at the office and I am so excited! Now if I could get rid of the coffee cups and plasticware...
7. Just my sweet little baby friend visiting!
8. Sean's 25th birthday!
9. My favorite sunset spot.

toothpaste

Sean and I have been replacing things in our house slowly to zero waste products as we run out and toothpaste was the first to go. I did lots of different research on other homemade toothpaste and I found this one to be my favorite:

3 tablespoons coconut oil or until desired texture. (prevents tooth decay, absorbs calcium that make your teeth stronger and has anti bacterial properties)
1/4 cup baking soda (mildly abrasive and removes surface stains)
1/4 cup xylitol (sweetener, fights cavities)
15-20 drops peppermint oil
Mix all of these together in a container and spoon onto toothbrush for use.

It's super simple and we love it. It doesn't have the freshness of commercial toothpaste but it is free of harmful chemicals and I'm find with that trade!

trying to be a "zero waste" wedding

Being climate conscious is not necessarily a new thing in our household but being more proactive about it is. That being said and having 1 month left until our wedding, I can't not talk about waste and weddings...DUN DUN DUN!

So! Did you know on average one wedding of about 100-200 guests produces about 400-600lbs of waste...? With that terrifying statistic lets get on into it.

Firstly, Sean and I made a list of things that we wanted to have in our wedding. Nothing should be obvious. We decided early on that we didn't care (well...I care, kind of...) what a "normal" wedding was like and this was going to be our own thing. My sweet, sweet mother had a lot of ideas: this special plastic ware, party favors in cute colorful plastic bags...all my plastic nightmares come true.

We recently went to Utah to visit and we were able share my thoughts on all of this. And as I mentioned above she is really the sweetest because she totally hopped on board. She's even recruited a few of her friends to collect second hand plates for the reception. Best. mom. ever.

I do have a few regretful decisions that I already made in haste of all of this wedding excitement...

1) The wedding dress I bought brand new and paid way to much for it. I definitely got wrapped up in all of the sparkly funness of being a newly engaged human and bought it on a whim. I will indeed find a way to recycle this. (Anyone reading this is more than welcome to take it off my hands after July 16th!)

2) Invites I printed out instead of emailing them like I should have. Though the cost was cheap and they are super cute, not really a necessary item.

Though this may not be a 100% waste free event we are conscious and trying our best! A+ for effort!

Still left to accomplish:

150 napkins…

30 mason jar cozies…

Find more jars/cups...

Find compost drop off in SLC…

Fix dress...

Vigorously spread the word of no gifts...this has proven to be very difficult and weird. Tips anyone?

Literally everything else...