Ooh ooh me!

I am down for a swap, but maybe we could make it a goods swap instead of just a clothing swap? I just got rid of a bunch of clothes and I have some other goods that could go to a good home.

Also, I will post soon about an unplanned purchase I made today. . .

two big updates and a proposal

-my first update is best appreciated when you consider Chris's reaction to our "buynothing" project: an indignant "why would you want to do that???"
But just months later he and I just got engaged and he actually proposed with an antique ring from 1931! I tried to take a picture of the ring for this blog, but my camera isn't cooperating. Anyhow, I love the fact that it is a recycled diamond and such a unique style of ring.
-the second update is that we bought a used car, a 1999 subaru outback the other night. Its a great car with lowish milage, plenty of room for us and the dog, and we got a great deal. yay for buying used and for craigs list!
-my proposal is that we have a clothing swap SOON now that Mad Eye is back from her adventures abroad. I'm feeling the need to get rid of some old clothes gain some new.
Ideas for a date and time? Ladies?

ripple effects

Just a few stories that make me feel like this project is worthwhile:
1. Shelley and my friend, Rachel Adams, explained the project to her coworker who is now inspired to try it with her whole family (two adults and two kids). It sounds as though they already make many socially conscious decisions and know a lot about living lightly... but that's FOUR more people who are trying this out!
2. My mom, who is a great sale shopper, went to the title nine warehouse sale recently- I think she even went so far as trying on shoes, but then she thought about us and our project and she walked away without buying a single thing.

TIny Choices

I found this blog referenced on one of the craft sites I regularly read. It's called Tiny Choices and it's maybe obviously about making small steps toward being green. It looks very cool, though I'm basing that almost entirely on the fact that they have a link to this site, which lets you put in your address and calculates the walkability of your neighborhood. Yet more fodder for me to stay in Seattle and not move to BI. My neighbhood got a 97, work's neighborhood got an 18. Very sad.

By the way, does anyone else post on here any more?

House things

I have been wanting a new work table for a while now. My dining room table has been sufficing, but besides worrying that I'm going to run the rotary blade over it, it's really too short to be a good cutting table. I have alternated between cutting on the kitchen floor, the living room floor when I lived with hardwoods, and I think I'm getting too old for it.

What I really want is a nicer, higher version of this:
But for many reasons, it's wrong. For one, it's IKEA, which Kennet will not let me spend good money at because nothing wears well. It's also $500, which isn't ideal. What it comes down to for me is that it's just too short. So that won't be happening.

I thought I remembered there was some kind of recycled house material place in Seattle and sure enough, a little google search led me here. Maddi, I saw a screen door on it and thought of you- by the way- did you put house renovation on the exempt list? You must have, but here's some more ideas. I'd love to buy a flat door (as opposed to one with designs carved into it) to make into a table top, or these window frames for hanging on a wall somewhere.

A bounty of acceptableness

It isn't really hard to find cool, not new stuff in this town. This is a pile of clothes from Crossroads, lots of fun and cheap too. Plus a used CD from Everyday that I wanted to pass along to someone else (where burning wouldn't do) and, my personal favorite- a pile of stuff from the library. I am a big fan of the library- why accumulate stuff when you can just get it on demand?

Crossroads shopping does bring up one question that I think I don't want to know the answer to:


This super cute shirt was at Crossroads, but still has the tag on it, as things sometimes do there. What do I do? Clearly in this instance I bought it- but technically it is new. When I try to justify it, I think, the point of not buying new is partially to not create demand for new things. So in theory I'm not doing that by not buying it from a regular store which would then have to restock their inventory. But Crossroads has to restock too, they just do it mostly with used stuff. I think I'm probably in the wrong here- what do you think?

Supporting Third World Economies

I made it almost a whole month in East Africa without buying anything new. But I didn't. Kennet and I debated a bit about the tourism economy and all the shops that are mostly filled with crappy tchotchkes. On one hand, they create an income for people who might not otherwise have an income (obviously there are a lot of people in Tanzania and Uganda who do not have work or who get paid very little). On the other hand, they redirect energy that might be better used to improve living conditions or contribute to society in a more productive way.

As a rule, I am usually very discerning about purchases I make on vacation, so I don't have to carry a bunch of stuff home, but also because I care about how things are made and how people are paid. So I made two decisions while I was in East Africa.

In Zanzibar, I bought two hand woven scarves (the one with elephant butts on it is not pictured, bummer). I really wanted some fabric that could be used in a quilt or other project. It turned out most fabric there is made in India and looks it. I really wanted something locally made and I found this scarf in an alleyway shop where I could see the weaver at the loom in the back room. While I can't vouch for how much of what I paid went to him (probably little), I felt better knowing that at least production costs didn't include travel from India.

On one of our last days in Uganda, we were visiting a friend of David's who has been living there for some time. She had these baskets in her home and I loved them. She took me to a craft market where I could pick out a few- the kind of place that also carries the Bead for Life necklaces. I figured that buying something clearly handmade and well made was ok because it supports the local economy of what David says is actually becoming a Second World country.

Spending money in these parts of the world is something to be thought carefully about. I wanted to contribute to the economy and support local workers as much as possible. It's hard to do as a tourist- one has to be concerned with what money goes where because it's very easy for it to go to the wrong place. People time seems to be worth very little there, so a tip can go a long way. We tried to be generous in the right places because we can be, and not just throw money or things where it isn't right. I don't think we did perfectly, but we tried.

Though I usually try not to collect stuff, it is nice to have some beautiful things that I think I will use to remind me of our trip.