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...

weekend adventures

Last weekend was so sunny and so beautiful and I'm doing some reminiscing because today, it's snowing.

 drying socks on our super lame clothes line...its yarn and does not hold much weight...but does save us in electricity since we don't use our dryer much!

 best way to start a weekend, in my opinion, a cup of coffee and knitting on the porch with the pup

  hiking with louie OFF LEASH! This is his greatest joy in life. Seeing him be able to romp free in the mountains just melts my heart. 

 !!ice cream in bulk from a local ice creamery/bakery!! Also on a side note it is only a couple blocks from my house and this may become a health hazard.

gardening at the library with my most awesome community. I'm so happy to be involved with this project!

salad that was made with previously mentioned garden. Did you know you can eat dandelion leaves?!

1 month

It's been about a month since our waste free journey began...

and we have reduced our trash (as a 2 human and one dog household) from 60-80 liters of trash per month to a whopping >1 liter of garbage. GET OUT! I'm so proud of us.

Putting our trash in a jar was mostly about awareness but it surely helped us produce less. Just knowing how much garbage we produced made me more conscious about every decision I was making. Too many times have I made decisions without thinking about my impact; not only environmentally but socially. Humans can be extremely selfish and I'm hoping to reduce these instances in my life.

A few of the things we threw away in april have now been switched out to more sustainable options!

*Compostable toothbrushes-https://www.brushwithbamboo.com/
You guys, everyone go and order one right this minute! These are so awesome. The handle is compostable or better yet, you could upcycle them and the bristles can be recycled at a center. I looked into pig hair bristles (biodegradable option) but decided to go with this one. Goodbye, but not really to my old toothbrushes that will be in the landfill forever and never decompose.

*Homemade toothpaste-which is still a work in progress but currently a combination of coconut oil, xylitol (which was damn hard to find!), baking soda and peppermint oil. I actually really like this toothpaste and Sean does too! It definitely doesn't leave a minty fresh feel but I don't mind that part.

*The best deodorant in the entire world!-Also costs no money. Seriously. My ultimate test for this all in one day was as follows: 2 spritz per armpit; Biked to work hurriedly on a hot day (4 miles one way) and went on 5 mile hike. I smelled my clothes and armpits and it was violets and roses. I will share this magical recipe at a later date.

*Soap bar-it smells so good and is SLS free and I bought it locally with no packaging. Win, win, win. I use this for my hair and body.

Yay for zero waste!

weekly synopsis: episode 7

1. Winding the weekend down with a nice cup of tea.
2. Made 45 napkins for the wedding...still have 100 to go....
3. Had a nice dinner up in Red Feather during a winter snow storm.
4. Did some serious reducing in my bathroom.
5. Biked to work every day except one!
6. Spring has been just lovely (although there is 6 inches of snow outside right this minute)
7. Yogurt and granola work snack!
8. Brunch with Meg at Cafe Aion.
9. Hike up to Bear Peak with Sean (Who now wears glasses!!) and lou lou.

Hope everyone had a wonderful week!

hope for a more sustainable future.

I've recently made a big change in my life that I feel really passionate about!

Living waste free.

This has a lot of sub categories under it but overall trying to produce the least amount of trash as possible. Buying things in bulk, making sure I have containers with me at all times so I don't have to use any one-use items, buying second hand, composting, reducing, reusing, recycling etc.

It's not hard but it is certainly laborious. There are lot of amazing conveniences in this technological world of ours but unfortunately a lot of it ends up in the landfills...

Changes i've made so far:
1) A lot of research and studying up on the subject!
2) Saying no to bottled water, plastic utensils and to-go containers.
3) Along with #3, always have containers, utensils and napkins on hand, just in case!
3) Reducing the amount of things we own.
4) Properly disposing of our already owned plastics and switching over to a more sustainable/lasting glass and/or stainless steel.
5) Visited the bulk store (If you are in the front range: Simply bulk is a dream!)
6) Keep track of our trash!
7) We were already composting but being more diligent about it.

Our trash for the month of April so far-

My friend Meg is the one who pushed me to be more aware of the waste I was producing. So in essence, i'm sharing this so that I could be somebody's Meg. I'm grateful for her. Thanks Meg you've really shaped my life for the better! (Also she introduced me to knitting, so I am literally forever in her debt.) You're amazing, never change.

if you had a twin i would still choose you. love drake.

It is 70 degrees and beautifully sunny right now.

After work I stopped at my favorite bakery and treated myself to an iced coffee and a quiche. They had their garage door wide open and I sat facing it listening to the booming pop music of the young baker manning the store. Rihanna's "werk" came on which I usually cringe at the sound of her lazily pronouncing her words...but this time I couldn't but help jamming a little bit. Maybe it's not a well written song but we cannot deny its most appealing beat. 

Not to get all spiritual with Rihanna in a bakery but sitting there...I felt really good...But how easily I forget these beautiful simple days when a bad one comes along...note to self: need to work on this.

Also took Lou to the river today.