{sustainable fashion spotlight} Maiyet

In this video for Maiyet's Spring/Summer 2012 collection, soft, beautiful, pastel-heavy pieces are totally compatible with the natural, beachy setting where the video is shot. And you can never go wrong with Feist. The socially-conscious Maiyet partners with a nonprofit organization called Nest which promotes "prosperity, entrepreneurship, and dignity in places that need it most." Together, they source and work closely with artisans from Colombia, India, Italy, Kenya, Mongolia, and Peru, paying fair wages and providing training and development for the artisans they work with. Maiyet is sold exclusively at Barneys.

note from dad

My Dad wrote this to me in my birthday card this year. Sometimes his words of advice seems like no-brainers, but he has a way of reminding me of oft-forgotten things in a simply stated manner. Sometimes you find yourself wrapped up in your hectic schedule and busy thoughts and these simple notions can start to wander astray. Whereas independence and self-reliance are incredibly important in life, having friends that you both need and rely on is even more important. That is something that I've had to learn to balance out- while I'm a very friendly person, I'm also discernibly independent and introspective. These past few years I've realized who my true friends are and I know, without question, which people will still be in my life 10, 20, 50 years from now. Our lives are going to go through a lot of changes and it's not always going to be as easy to stay in touch, but it's something that you need to do. As for giving up on my dreams, that's something I'm confident I will never need reminding of. But it's good to know my Dad's got my back. 

{hippy eats} baked oatmeal

recipe courtesy of Heidi Swanson

Serves 6-8

Ingredients

• 3 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
• 2 cups rolled oats
• 1/2 cup sliced almonds
• 1/3 cup natural cane sugar
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp fine grain sea salt
• 2 cups milk
• 1 egg
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 bananas, cut into 1/2” slices
• 1 1/2 cups berries
• Maple syrup for drizzling

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease an 8-inch square baking dish.

2. Combine the oats, half the nuts, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt in a bowl. In another bowl whisk the milk, egg, half the butter, and vanilla. Combine wet and dry mixtures together.

3. Arrange bananas in a single layer on the bottom of the baking dish. Add 1 cup of the berries, then top with the oat mixture.

4. Add remaining berries and nuts on top, then bake for 40 minutes.

5. Let cool slightly, then drizzle remaining butter and maple syrup on top.

I did a couple things differently, and it stilled turned out amazing.

• I used vanilla soy milk instead of milk.
• I left out half the butter and the maple syrup for drizzling.
• I used stevia zero-calorie sweetener instead of cane sugar.

I used strawberries for the bottom of the baked oatmeal and blueberries on top.

 

The gooey bananas and strawberries on the bottom took this oatmeal to a whole new level.

{craft time} water-bottle "flowers"

Wish there was such thing as beautiful, blooming flowers that didn't die? Let me introduce you to these plastic flower petals made from recycled water bottles. My friend discovered these in a craft book called Upcycling by Danny Seo. These are so simple to make and you can get as creative as you'd like with them. We made them today at an event that we held on campus and everyone had so much fun experimenting with them. My friend also used a decoupage technique with old newspapers which worked out great.

1. Paint tree branches green. These will be your flower "stems."

2. With bottle caps still attached, cut water bottles in half.

3. Use a hot glue gun to attach the top of the bottle cap to the edge of your branch.

4. Start cutting petal shapes out of the plastic. When you're done with this, bend the "petals" out so that they resemble a flower.

5. Now's your chance to get creative- you can paint the petals different colors or decoupage old newspapers or magazine pages onto them.

6. Display your new flowers in a vase or a recycled glass container. Now you can just let them sit pretty on your desk or nightstand 'til the cows come home.

milan photo diary

   

  

  

Last semester I studied abroad in Florence, Italy and spent those four months traveling all over Europe. I chronicled my travels over at my old blog eatandbepretty.com but would also like to share my adventures on here as well. Milan was by far the most glamorous city I've ever been to. In my opinion it even surpassed Paris in terms of style and fashion innovativeness. During my weekend in Milan I visited the famous concept store Corso Como, ate gelato (obviously), treasure hunted in Milan's high-end vintage stores, did a LOT of walking, and spent hours perusing stores like Versace and Prada pretending that I could afford more than just a keychain.

brooklyn grange rooftop farms

I recently came across these rooftop farms which have sprouted up (pun intended) in several cities like New York City and Philadelphia. Brooklyn Grange Farms is a one-acre rooftop farm located in Queens, NYC that grows organic produce and sells it to local community and restaurants. They hope to inspire others to install rooftop gardens of their own and their goal is to "improve access to very good food, to connect the city more closely to farms and food production, and to make urban farming a viable enterprise and livelihood."Brooklyn Grange grows a wealth of different tomato varieties as well as salad greens, herbs, carrots, fennel, beets, radishes, and beans nine months out of the year. 

Pretty neat, huh?! I only wonder why people didn't think to do this sooner.

5 ways to celebrate Earth Day

Hope you're all having a joyful Earth Week! I couldn't be more excited for this weekend for two important reasons- 1. my birthday and 2. Earth Day

I was not born to hippy parents. In fact, I haven't a clue where my tree hugging tendencies derive from. I seemed to just innately love the earth and want to protect it. I attribute this to being born the day before Earth Day. Spring is my favorite season and I think April is the perfect month to be born in. To celebrate these two important events, the plan was to go camping up in North Carolina for the weekend. However, the weather gods do not seem to be on my side and there are severe thunderstorm warnings all weekend, so camping is going to be postponed until next weekend.

Here are some realistic ways that you can show Mother Nature some lovin' for this year's Earth Day.

1. Visit your local farmers market

Produce tastes so much better when it's fresh, local, and in season anyways. Give back to both the environment and your local community by ditching the grocery store for the week and shopping local instead. Round up a group of friends, check out the free samples, and take the time to catch up on life. Most farmers markets also sell locally made art, gifts, and trinkets.

2. Cook a great meal

Now that you've got all this fresh produce, get your friends together and cook an awesome meal together. Here are some great recipes that use produce that's currently in season.

Side: Spring Egg Salad

Main Dish: Sauteed Chard and Gruyere Grilled Cheese

Dessert: Apple, Cherry, and Blueberry Crisp

3. A repurposing project

A great way to use old glass containers is to remove the label and repurpose them as holders for makeup brushes/ pens/ lip gloss/ whatever your heart desires. I filled up an old glass jar, filled it up with colored sand and stones, and now use it to hold my makeup brushes. It's a unique, pretty way to display my makeup brushes.

4. Go camping

Nothing makes you appreciate the environment more than basking outdoors in its greatness. Round up some friends and camping gear and head out for a weekend of camping. Just made sure you clean up after yourselves while you're on the trails!

5. Travel lightly

Ditch your car for a day and bike, walk, or take public transportation wherever you need to go. My campus employer Outdoor Recreation hosted an event this week called "Travel Lightly" to reward students that biked, walked, took a shuttle, or carpooled to campus that day. We had a bike parade and held a raffle, and made the front page of the newspaper the next day. It's a really simple concept that can make such a profound impact on the environment.

What else will you be doing this weekend to celebrate Earth Day?