…Which is the better way to live?  Silly question, in my opinion.  In fact, I’m going to go ahead and say that one is not “better” than the other.  We need both.  There are too many different kinds of people in this world for a one-size-fits-all lifestyle or environment.  But.  But, no matter where you live- in the suburbs, or the big city, or the boonies- there are ways to be a good steward to the Earth and ways to not.  And I do believe that some environments lend themselves to good stewardship a little easier than others. 

In my experience, living in an urban suburb is probably the most difficult place to execute a green/low impact lifestyle.  The city’s downtown public transportation usually does not reach into the suburbs, so unless you work from home, your daily commute to the office is most likely about 45 minutes, twice a day, in your vehicle.  Not to mention the commute to the grocery store and your kid’s school/activities. 

On top of that, your suburban housing situation is most likely a development of some sort, named after whatever was there before the houses and lawns {Pine Grove Estates}.  And on top of that, there is the social pressure to have a beautiful green lawn, this year’s paint colors on the walls, the cutest fiesta-ware for your weekly book club BBQ, and a two-car garage full of, well, two cars and various other material “necessities”.  I know these types of pressures first hand, and they’re tough. 

Image courtesy of nytimes.com

Good stewardship in a suburban setting is possible, however.  After all, that is exactly what this blog is all about!  You may not be able to ride the train to work, but you can carpool.  Your lawn can be just as pretty if you watered it by collecting rainwater instead of with the sprinkler.  Your BBQs can be a great chance to educate your community about some of your low-impact lifestyle choices.  Your two-car garage can have a hybrid in it.  Your home can be just as pretty {prettier!} decked out with homemade decor instead of trendy made-in-China crap. 

Downtown city living comes with a whole realm of different pluses and minuses.  On the up-side, you probably have the benefit of super-awesome public trans, or you can probably ride your bike to anywhere you ever need to go.  You probably have a farmer’s market not too far from your pad, or you probably even know a couple crazy people growing gardens on their patios/roofs.

The downside it that you live in a concrete jungle, breathing smoggy air and drinking chlorinated water.  I can’t relate to this situation very easily, so maybe some of you who actually live this way can enlighten me…It just seems unnatural to have to visit a park in order to see dirt or trees or rocks.  When everything is man-made around you, don’t you lose touch with what is real, gritty, and alive?  I think I would.  But then again, maybe you appreciate nature even more when it’s something you need to purposefully seek out.  When every day is a reminder of how fragile and rare nature is, maybe you think twice before dumping chemicals down the drain or tossing a plastic bottle in the trash.

Image courtesy of ffffound.com

I grew up in the middle of nowhere, in the woods, and I can attest to the fact that many, many country folk take the woods, lakes, trees, clean air, and plentiful fresh water for granted.  They change their fishing boat oil right there on the lake shore, and inevitably spill it into the water.  They burn garbage in their backyards, or bury an old broken refrigerator in the ground to avoid the recycling fees. The list of transgressions is long.

But the list of upsides to country life is also long.  You can live off the grid if you so choose.  You can raise your own food.  You can use the natural resources all around you to support yourself.  You can separate yourself from societal pressures and the pull of material things, and build a home that is centered around what is really important.

Image courtesy of Jason Kravitz

 Perhaps I am biased…ok, I am definitely biased…because Mike and I are choosing to move from the city into the boonies, and so I see country-life as the ultimate way to live simply and live greener.  But I stand by my original statement that we are in control of how we live, no matter where we live.

What do you all think?

Hey readers, happy June!  Do you love early summer as much as I do?  Right now our lilac bushes are at their peak, and our yard smells like heaven.  Our little garden is pumping out salad greens at a light-speed rate, and this makes Mike very happy.  His nickname is quickly becoming “Brontosaurus” as he basically eats nothing else but leafy greens. 

But June is more than lilacs and romaine, for us.  It marks three months until our wedding.  We have entered panic mode…in other words, “oh-crap-we-still-have-an-impossible-amount-of-stuff-to-do-to-get-ready” mode.  It is for this reason that the before mentioned videos/Cheri’s List posts have not been delivered. 

I’m very sorry that the blog has been pretty lame lately.  I have a bunch of awesome ideas floating around and I can’t wait to make posts out of them, but for now I need to focus on all the last minute wedding details that are demanding my full attention and spare time.

{Our pretty wedding “logo”, made by Mike}

So in lieu of a real post, I thought I would update you on the wedding plans and all the things we’re doing to make the event as low-impact as possible.  During the planning process, so many challenges have arisen from the fact that we are avoiding disposable items like cups and flatware…and it has been a real struggle to not give in here or there/do things the easy way {read: the wasteful way}.  But we’re sticking to our guns on the following:

• Rings: Our rings are custom made by Tamara McFarland, a vegan hobby-farmer in California.  She uses 100% recycled metals and fair trade stones in her jewelry.  The stone in my ring is man-made, which means they did not impact the environment or society in a negative way.
• Glassware: We are providing mason jars for guests to drink water/beer out of instead of using the disposable plastic cups that the bar provides {they will be available in case someone breaks or loses their jar, but we will be making an announcement asking everyone to try to use their jar all night.}
• Caterer: We asked every caterer in town whether they use disposable plates/flatware or not.  Only one said that they do not use disposable.  We went with them.  {It’s a small town…city folks probably have many caterers to choose from and this is a non-issue.  But we were legitimately worried that we wouldn’t be able to find someone who used real plates!}
• Decor: Our decorations/favors are almost completely thrift-store finds, and we’re making everything else ourselves, so we’re not buying any plastic crap that will promptly enter a landfill afterwards.
• Registry: Same goes for our registry…we are carefully choosing high-quality items that will last us a long time.  My parents are still using many household items they received as gifts for their wedding.  When something is made to last, there’s no need to ever replace it.  One concern we have, however, is that our registry has a lot of fairly expensive items on it.  But we would honestly rather not receive any gifts than get a bunch of stuff that will break in a couple years and get thrown away.  On our wedding website, where guests will RSVP, we state that attending the wedding is a gift in itself, since everyone is traveling from far away, so buying us something off the registry is definitely appreciated but definitely not expected.
• More registry: I have to talk a little more about wedding registries…a little bird told me about MyRegistry.com and it has been such a great thing for us.  This website is easy to use, free to sign up with, and allows you to add items from any website {including Etsy!  Hip hip hooray!} and any real-life store your heart desires.  Mike downloaded the nifty iPhone app and we just walk around town scanning items.  It’s so easy, and you kind of feel like Harry Potter with a magical wand.
• Save the Dates: We emailed our Save the Date announcements, expect for five of them because the recipients don’t use email.
• Invites: Guests will receive a snail-mail invitation, but they will RSVP by going to our website.  This reduces the paper we use, and is more convenient for most people.  Our grandparents, and a few other guests who don’t use the internet, will RSVP over the phone.
• Honeymoon: When it comes to the honeymoon, we can’t help ourselves….we are going to go to Hawaii.  You can judge us for supporting the over-development and commercialization of one of the world’s most fragile and beautiful environments…but before you get mad at us, we are going to be renting the vacation home of a couple from MA.  We won’t be staying at a big corporate hotel chain.  We won’t be going out to eat {ok maybe once or twice}.  We will be shopping at the farmers market {I already checked, and it is within walking distance from the house} and cooking our own meals almost every day.  That’s a pretty eco-friendly way to do Hawaii, if you ask me!

Now this is what I’m talkin’ about!!  Have you heard of the No Impact Project?  It’s genius. I couldn’t wait to share it with ya’ll as soon as I found out about it.

In a nut shell, one family decided to make small changes every day in their lives to reduce their impact on the environment…and over time, all the small changes kept adding up…until one day they woke up and they were making zero impact on the environment!  This is exactly what Itty Bitty Impact is all about, so I am thrilled to find a family after my own heart who tried it, and succeeded! Every small step we take is a step in the right direction.

Oh readers…please watch the video, visit the site, feel inspired, and perhaps even take the challenge yourself!

I always get the itch to do a little self-pampering in the early spring.  I especially love facials.  After a long winter of dry-skin, I can’t wait to get my healthy summer-glow back.  But most facial products are chocked-full of nasty ingredients (see Natural Beauty: Avoiding Toxic Make-Up).  Knowing that I’m putting toxins on my face and then washing them down the drain takes all the enjoyment out of the facial for me.  So, I started to explore all-natural options.

…Actually, I have yet to find an all-natural moisturizer that I am completely satisfied with.  Do you have a favorite moisturizer, cleanser, and toner?  Please let me know in the comments section!

Since I don’t have a favorite store-bought moisturizer, I usually use aloe, jojoba-oil, and other homemade options.  I feel that homemade is the best option when it comes to skincare.  It’s the only way to have full control over what exactly is going on your skin.  There are tons of recipes to be found online for homemade face scrubs, masks, toners, and cleansers.

If you have never done this before, you might be surprised by some of the ingredients {or you might want to eat them.}  Turns out that foods like honey, yogurt, bananas, and oatmeal aren’t only good for us on the inside of our bodies…they also do wonders when topically applied.

Take some time this week to give yourself a homemade facial.  I found the following recipes on the Epic Beauty Guide, which is one of my favorite blogs.  You will be happy with how your skin looks after you try these:

Sugar Scrub

Removes dead skin cells so mois­ture can pen­e­trate, heals scars and acne, anti-aging.

{INGREDIENTS}

2 Tbsp. organic, cold-pressed olive oil
1 Tbsp. organic, raw honey
1/4 cup organic cane sugar
1 small, dark glass con­tainer {dark glass pre­vents the oil from oxi­diz­ing and will not leach into your scrub}

{STEPS}

1.  Pour your olive oil into your glass con­tainer. Then pour in your honey. Mix well.

2.  Add the sugar slowly and mix as you go. You may use less or more than 1/4 cup. You should end up with a thick scrub. Add a lit­tle more oil if you feel it’s too thick.

3.  Apply to your freshly washed face, neck, and chest.  Mas­sage the scrub gen­tly.  If you have very sen­si­tive skin, rub the scrub in your hands for a few sec­onds to soften up the gran­ules, then apply.

4.  Rinse off with luke­warm water. Skip the toner (you want to keep the remain­ing olive oil on your skin).

5.  Store the leftovers in a cool, dark place like your med­i­cine cabinet.

Milk & Honey Mask

Mois­tur­iz­ing, anti-aging, evens out skin tone and tex­ture, heals dam­age, soothes inflammation.

{INGREDIENTS}

1 Tbsp. organic milk ~ see if you can get local, raw goat’s milk or cow’s milk; you can also use plain, organic yogurt
1 Tbsp. organic, raw, unfil­tered honey
(Optional) 1 tsp. aloe vera gel ~ see if you can get an aloe plant, then you just break off a “leaf” and squeeze the fresh gel out!

{STEPS}

1.  Mix ingre­di­ents together in a small bowl.

2.  After cleans­ing, apply the mask to your face.

3.  Leave on for 10 min­utes.

4.  Wash off with luke­warm water, and a splash of cool water.

Champagne Toner

Cleans out and closes the pores, evens skin-tone, evaporates oil.

{INGREDIENTS}

A shal­low dish, a mea­sur­ing spoon, a cotton ball, and a bot­tle of champagne.

{STEPS}

1. Pour about 2 Tbsp. of cham­pagne into your dish and drop your cot­ton pad into the cham­pagne. Let the pad soak it up.

2. Wipe the champagne-soaked cot­ton pad all over your face, neck, and chest. It is fine to use around the eyes, just don’t get it in there!

3. Don’t rinse off. Follow-up with a light, nat­ural mois­tur­izer — jojoba or sweet almond oil are great.

I don’t exactly consider myself a girly-girl. I ride horses {and have no problem mucking stalls}, I go camping {outside in a tent. I know some of you think camping means sleeping in one of these}, and from time to time I make un-ladylike jokes {”that’s what she said.”}

However, I enjoy a good facial/mani-pedi as much as the next girl, and I wear make-up almost every day.  Therein lies a teeny problem: my need {yes dear, it is a need, not a want} for occasional pampering and regular make-up usage conflicts with my ethics.As you may know, the majority of cosmetics and toiletries on the market today contain enormous amounts of toxic chemicals which have never been tested for safety by the FDA.  Not only are these toxins sitting on our faces all day long and being absorbed into our bodies, but when we wash them off we are washing them into our water system and the earth.  Some of the most common include:

• Foaming agents such as sodium laureth sulphate, ammonium lauryl sulphate and 1,4-dioxane.

• Synthetic colors and fragrances which are not always labeled or identified completely on labels and may be an amalgam of hundreds of chemicals.

• Parabens, which are often used as preservatives and have been linked to breast cancer.

• Propylene Glycol which can cause liver and kidney damage

{More information can be found at The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics which has one of the largest databases of products and ingredients online.}

True story: Recently I switched from using department store make-up to using Aveda products.  When I ran out of my Aveda stuff, I had to go back to using the department store brands for a little while, and I noticed that my eyes became red and irritated after wearing it all day long.  I quickly replenished my supply of Aveda make-up and never looked back.  Besides using natural ingredients, Aveda also manufactures using 100% certified wind-power.

{I am not paid/sponsored by Aveda at all.  I’m just sharing a good experience I had with their products.}

Aveda is certainly not the only option. Even Wall-greens carries all-natural brands of cosmetics and toiletries these days.  If you’re a make-up lover like myself, I challenge you to switch to an all-natural brand, and see what kind of difference it makes with your skin/eyes/allergies.  Even if you don’t notice any outward benefits like I did, at least you can feel good that you’re no longer washing those chemicals down the drain every day! If you already use natural cosmetics, please share you experience in the comments!

Check back later this week for more on the subject of natural skincare, including a recipe for a homemade facial!…

The greatest science in the world; in heaven and on earth; is love.” -Mother Teresa

Mike and I got engaged (yay!) in August and we’re planning our wedding for September 2010.  Yep, we’re pretty excited!  We’re knee-deep in the planning process right now & it has been a lot of fun so far.

{Photo courtesy of the talented Sydnee Bickett -college friend of mine- who took this of us a couple months after Mike popped the question.}

Naturally we’re concerned about making the event as low-impact on the environment as possible.  We’re also concerned about other things, like: our budget, having fun, and making sure our guests have fun.

There’s one problem…our families are huge, so our guest list is close to 300 people.  It’s not easy to throw a ‘green’ + ‘budget-friendly’ + ‘off-the-hook-awesome’ party for 300 people!  I’m a little jealous of the couples who get to have small, intimate weddings…BUT I also feel amazingly blessed to know 300 amazing people!  I can’t think anything better than having all the people I love most in the world all together in one place for a whole weekend.

So…The Future Mr. & Mrs. Itty Bitty Impact have their work cut out for them.  After all, we have an image to uphold!  What would all our readers think if they found out we let the bar serve bottled water?  Or what if we served our rehearsal-dinner on paper plates! Or let our guests use paper napkins and drink from plastic cups!  AAAAAAAGH!  The horror!  This isn’t the Speidi wedding!!

{Photo courtesy of Feather Love Photography – You’d think celebrities would be able to afford glassware…}

Anyway, we’re going to do our best to pull off a ‘green’ wedding, and here are some of the measures we’re taking:

1.  We’re emailing our Save the Date announcement instead of sending paper cards

2.  We’re providing the bar with mason jars {no plastic cups will be used} and we’re giving our guests a way to mark their jar so they use the same one all night

3.  Cloth napkins, not paper

4.  Real cutlery, not plastic

4.  Ceremony + reception + accommodations at the same location= less driving around

5.  All decorations will be made by us, plus some helpful friends and family.  Most supplies {table runners, centerpieces, lighting} are being purchased at second-hand stores and reused

6.  As wedding favors, we’re going to make donations to a couple charity organizations

7.  We’re trying to find a caterer that purchases their ingredients from local farmers

Those are all the ideas so far, but we’re constantly coming up with new ways to reduce waste.  It makes the whole planning process a little more challenging, but also more rewarding.  I am happy that we’re going to be able to look back at the wedding and feel good about the way we did everything.

If you’re in the same boat as us, we’d love to hear your story!  Let us know what you’re doing {or did} to reduce waste at your wedding in the comment section.  Sharing ideas and experiences is part of what this blog is all about!

If you’re struggling to come up with ideas for ‘greening’ your wedding, take a look at the following blogs.  I have found them extremely helpful:

Green Wed – Inspiration and practical advice for ‘green brides’

Once Wed – Used wedding dresses for sale, DIY projects, inspiration

Recycled Bride – Buy used wedding dresses, decor, ceremony items, jewelry, etc.

Eco Chic Weddings – Inspiration and tips for keeping your wedding as low-impact as possible

I can’t wait to share stories and pictures of the big day with you all!  We’re really excited to get married and begin the next chapter of our lives together.

Today is about reflecting on 2009 and being thankful about all that has happened in the year.  It was an eventful year for us here at Itty Bitty…for starters, the blog was born!

I can’t tell you how excited I am to grow this blog.  My hope is that it will be a place for readers to see that we’re not alone in the struggle to reduce our impact, while still maintaining a normal life, holding down a job, and providing for a family.  I know better than anyone that it’s nearly impossible to exclaim “I’m never driving my car anywhere ever again!” and POOF, you’re suddenly the green-queen-supreme in your neighborhood.  We need bite-sized, practical ways to cut back on our consumption and waste…and that is exactly what Itty Bitty will focus on:  the small things that add up and make a difference.

We’re all in this together, so I want to hear your stories as well.  Please leave comments {or email me: toniasimeone@gmail.com } if you have something to share- experiments, questions, successes, secrets, challenges, guilty-pleasures, tips, strategies, family practices, motto’s, failures…If it has to do with your journey to becoming more self-sustainable, then please share!  One of my New Years Resolutions is to feature commonly asked questions, tips, etc. from readers on Itty Bitty.  What are your resolutions for 2010?

The Itty Bitty Resolutions list is really anything but itty-bitty…as you can see, we have a lot to work on:

1. Unplug appliances when they’re not in use {i.e. the toaster and coffee maker}

2. Use paper-towel less {major bad habit of mine: wrapping my breakfast in paper-towel and running out the door to work every morning…not cool}

3. Make toys for the dog out of scraps from the already-killed toys instead of buying new ones from the store {does anyone have experience with sewing dog toys that would be tough enough to withstand razor-sharp miniature dachshund teeth?}

4. Make a backyard compost area

5. Talk to our neighbors more often

6. Volunteer around the city more {we’re getting a good start on this one already…more about that soon!}

8. Be more careful about saving paper garbage to burn in the wood-stove {paper-stuff accidentally gets thrown out way too often}

9. Blog more often {and someday be a full-time blogger!}

2010 brings with it a blank slate, a fresh start, and new opportunity.  I am proud of how much more resourceful we’ve become in the last year, and I am really excited to see how far we can go in 2010.