an update

I have this bad habit of posting on certain things in our life and then never following up on the initial posts, so I have decided to do a bunch in one fell swoop.  Here goes...

1. I decided this past Earth Day to make an environmental baby step each year as my way of celebrating the day.  I was wanting to take the composting plunge as this years's step. 

I ended up going with a cheap black, plastic box model that I spotted at Sam's just after writing the post.  I didn't want to hold off any longer as I knew it would never happen and I decided cheap was the way to go right now, so I could see if we were really up for the commitment. 

I also bought this counter top caddy.  Well, we have been composting ever since and i really love doing it.  It is so fun knowing that our kitchen scraps will soon be bringing forth "black gold" for our autumn plantings.

2.  I also wrote that we were attempting some square foot gardening this spring.  My gardening skills are utterly lacking and I have done nothing but murder plant after plant in the past.  Well, at long last - success!  I live in the desert, but guess what?  The veggies and flowers in my garden are blissfully unaware of that fact?  I have flowers that have shot up nearly taller then our fence and veggies so plump that they surely will be on the grill not later than tomorrow.  Here are a few pictures I took yesterday after a good rain storm (true, it is monsoon season here, so that may not be hurting the cause either.)

The whole thing is pretty unruly.  I'm thinking we need to cut some stuff back and we definitely to stake the tomatoes - but it still gets me misty eyed looking at it!

3. So far as the Le Creuset collection, well, I never did get around to mentioning it to my mother-in-law.  You see, if there is one things that it is difficult for my folks, it is a collection left unfulfilled.  Since that post - we have celebrated no major holidays but I am the proud recipient of 5 glorious pieces.  I love them, I love them, I do.  Most of my pieces came from a Le Creuset outlet store.  These places are phenomenal.  I'm not quite sure why anyone would ever pay full price if they knew these existed.  There's a full list of the outlet stores here. 

These are my pieces:

4. We ended up getting Sean a flip video camera for Father's Day.  He had mentioned it in the past and it just seemed like the perfect time.  We have loads of photos of our kids but have just really failed in the video department.  My brother-in-law Bill is always going on and on about how we need to be videotaping them.  And he's right.  Photos are amazing but every time Bill pulls out his gobs of footage - there is something to actually getting to hear their sweet muppet voices and witness their hilarious antics.  As a child I loved those nights when we would all sit around and watch all home movies.  Hopefully will the size and ease of the flip, we will actually begin to integrate this into our lives.  Sean was thrilled.

5.  Speaking of cameras, I've been trying to figure out my new one.  I decided on a Nikon D60.  I also got these lenses: a 50mm f/ 1.8D AF and a  55-200mm f/ 4-5.6 G ED IF AF-S DX VR Zoom and an external flash.  I am super excited and continue to shoot away as I am figuring out how to take a decent photograph.  The D60 seems like a great DSLR to learn the ropes with.  I LOVE it.

 

6.  The floors look great.  Sean stenciled our dining room floor while the kids and I were out of town and they look amazing.  We still need to seal them and replace the floor moldings so we haven't moved the furniture back in yet...but now I'm liking the room even without furniture!

 

(Not sure that you wanted all of this information, but this is for all of you that had any lingering questions.)

We're having a loud thunderstorm here, utter bliss.  Happy Tuesday to you!

{all photos besides manufacturers are mine}

sunjar

 

Another genius concept.  I'd love to string these across my back yard.

You can find them here.

{images found here.}

Curb - the natural media company

The first time that I came across something like this was in Canada.  I remember looking at a hillside that ran alongside the roadway and seeing a Coca-Cola ad created entirely from shrubs.  That was several years ago but I was reminded of it a couple of months ago while at Disney World.  At Epcot there were ads on the grounds made entirely from flowers.  I was struck by how fantastic this idea is.  Let's face it - advertising isn't going anywhere soon.  But at the very least can't we require something more of advertisers.  Rather than allowing them carte blanche to ruin every landscape & surface imaginable - why does we insist that they better the view?  When you consider the staggering amount spent on advertisements each year, does it make sense that the money not only inform but also contribute?  

I spent a little time researching this idea and came across a company called Curb.  Curb is the world's first natural media company.  They offer a large number of media solutions with only the use of natural elements. Take a look at some of their concepts:

Low grow - ingenious ways of re-creating brands and adverts using high quality shrubs, plants, turf and natural elements such as wood and natural stone to create brand logos in almost any color you can imagine. These are built to last indefinitely and can be displayed in an indoor environment for up to 8 weeks.

Crop ads:

Mow Ad:

Rake ad:

Compost art - Our experts can literally carve or recreate any message, brand, logo or even building using natural Compost.  And before you ask, all of the natural compost they use is manure free, so there is never a need to stand up-wind of the brilliant natural displays!

Solar art - This incredible natural media is created using nothing but the power of the sun's rays, a magnifying glass and the skill of their artist who is able to burn the most intricate patterns, portraits and logos into wood.

Wood carving - Our wood carving expert can literally re-create any message, artwork or logo from wood. At Curb we don't usually like to blow our own whistle but our wood carving expert is the royal wood carver, so rest assured the quality and detail we can deliver is quite literally sensational. Our expert has decades of wood carving experience and has done pieces for everyone from HRH Prince William to the Emperor of Japan. Whatever you want done in wood, from small displays to huge wood poster billboards Curb can carve them to perfection!

Snow tagging:

Sand carving:

Sea tagging:

Clean advertising - Clean advertising is a beautifully simple and highly targeted natural media which works by literally cleaning your advert in any high footfall urban location. Also known as reverse graffiti, clean graffiti and street advertising, we use specialist equipment and laser cut stencils to selectively clean the dirt away from pavements and walls. The resultant clean advert is created by the stark contrast between the original colour of the dirty surface and the as new clean color.  Clean advertising lasts for anywhere from 2 to 20 weeks dependant on the location and we use nothing but filtered rainwater to clean the advertisement into dirty surfaces.

learn more about Curb's offerings here.