Bank Holiday Weekend Projects

I keep seeing things I want to make, and as there's a three-day weekend right ahead it's perfect timing for a small project or two!

First, it was this funky little bracelet from Scavenging which brought a smile to my face. I like the idea of turning a credit card into jewellery, it just appeals. And it looks pretty smart too. I don't own a drill, but next time one of my cards expires I'll be looking into it.

Then, these cute patterns caught my eye over at Heart of Light. I particularly like the tunic-style one - can see it being the kind of dress you wear all summer.

However, as I've found out with my first slightly-too-ambitious sewing project I probably ought to start with something a little simpler. Which was why I was pleased to come across a step-by-step guide - with photos! (how can I possibly go wrong with this?!) to a simple circle skirt on Burda style.

And finally, I tried Lara bars for the first time recently. Pretty good, I thought - tasty, filling, but not too much so, not too sweet, nice simple list of ingredients. BUT, super expensive for a small snack. So, I started musing on how one would recreate one. The aforementioned simple list of ingredients seemed to predispose the snack to guestimated copying.

Luckily, others had trodden the same thought process before me. Delighted to find out the always-wonderful Clotilde of Chocolate and Zucchini, and the new-to-me Enlightened Cooking, had already done the experimenting part and come up with some recipes. Chocolate and Zucchini's here and Enlightened Cooking's here. I am definitely definitely going to be stocking up on bulk fruit and nuts and trying these out for next week's lunchboxes. Yum!

Happy (long) weekend to you all!

Photos: bracelet from Scavenging; pattern from Simplicity; skirt from Burda Style; bars from Enlightened Cooking

Isolation and Efficiency, and How They Came Around to Bite Us in the Backside

A couple of interesting links to share with you.

The title of this post is lifted from a speech I came across today whilst blog-browsing. It's Barbara Kingsolver's commencement address at Duke University and it is lovely - meandering yet whole, funny, uplifting, vivid, thoughtful. It's called "How to be hopeful" and paints saving our lives on earth as the next big battle, along the lines of historical battles such as the abolishment of slavery, universal suffrage and the civil rights movement -

"That will be the central question of your adult life: to escape the wild rumpus of carbon-fuel dependency, in the nick of time. You’ll make rules that were previously unthinkable, imposing limits on what we can use and possess. You will radically reconsider the power relationship between humans and our habitat. In the words of my esteemed colleague and friend, Wendell Berry, the new Emancipation Proclamation will not be for a specific race or species, but for life itself."

She also talks about ideas of success, describing how things seem to be at present:

"Exhaled by culture, taken in like oxygen, we hold these truths to be self-evident: You get what you pay for. Success is everything. Work is what you do for money, and that’s what counts. How could it be otherwise? And the converse of that last rule, of course, is that if you’re not paid to do a thing, it can’t be important. If a child writes a poem and proudly reads it, adults may wink and ask, “Think there’s a lot of money in that?”"

and as to what could be:

"You could invent a new kind of Success that includes children’s poetry, butterfly migrations, butterfly kisses, the Grand Canyon, eternity. If somebody says “Your money or your life,” you could say: Life. And mean it. You’ll see things collapse in your time, the big houses, the empires of glass. The new green things that sprout up through the wreck –- those will be yours."

I read that a couple of times, and felt kind of softened, comforted, open, hopeful... But the bit I really want to take from this is the following:

"The hardest part will be to convince yourself of the possibilities, and hang on. If you run out of hope at the end of the day, to rise in the morning and put it on again with your shoes. Hope is the only reason you won’t give in, burn what’s left of the ship and go down with it. "

Read the whole speech here: http://www.dukenews.duke.edu/2008/05/kingsolver.html

I came across this through an interesting comments conversation (commentsation?) that sprang up from this post over on No-Impact Man , which in turn is a reply to this article in The New Republic. The article talks about a 'green bubble' which is bursting as the economic crisis draws people away from environmental concerns. It was difficult to read objectively because I kept wanting to say, "well, I'm not like this or that", as it takes rather a snide view of the green movement, however I want to go back and read it again without taking it so personally as it seems to me important to read things that challenge your views as well as those that bolster them. To read without bristling and feeling attacked, but to use their arguments to see what you agree with and what you don't, to see if you want to adapt your held beliefs, or if you can more clearly focus your position by working out what exactly it is that you oppose or disagree with.

global politics, detox diets and metaphorical sunshine

How was your Easter weekend? Good, I hope.

I spent my weekend back at my parents' house, enjoying getting out of London and being warmed by the sun. Staying with my parents invariably involves large amounts of wine and cheese being ingested and Easter weekend was no exception.

I decided before I went that it would be hopeless trying not to partake in the traditional dairy and fermented grape binge, so I vowed instead to return to a sparse diet of just vegetables, fruits, pulses, nuts, seeds and a few wholegrains*. The plan is to go from today until Friday - so far I'm doing pretty well although I've had a low grade headache all day - caffeine withdrawal? I'll update you on how that goes later...

Meanwhile, a few interesting web finds to share with you...

First off, I've been ploughing through the Make Wealth History site, which is a real mine of information and food for thought on matters environmental and economic. It fills a political/global gap in my blog reading and ties together a lot of topics I am interested in but feel quite ill-informed about. So I am feeling quite educated and inspired.

On a lighter note, I saw a link to The Bright Side Project over at Heart of Light . Their mission statement is to: "...bring you a little metaphorical sunshine every day, to help you stop for a second and remember life is (still) beautiful and there is goodness in the world." Which they do by giving away lovely handmade goodies to commenters - you just go along and answer the question posed and see if you win something. Lovely! metaphorical sunshine indeed...

Anyway, I also enlisted my Mum as a sewing instructor at the weekend, so as soon as I get my photos on the computer I'll post the results of that. Otherwise, I'll leave this little miscellaneous ramble here...

* nb - i called it a detox diet in the title because it sounded better, but I shy away from that word because i think all that detox stuff sounds like pseudo-science, and all i'm trying to do is give my poor gut a rest - i can tell it struggles with the massive amounts of sugar and wheat and whatnot i throw at it! also interesting for me to be experimenting with a kind of vegan diet, because I do think there's a lot to be said for that - not least in the environmental impact of it.

aveda goodies

psst! go here http://www.aveda.co.uk/promotions/prize_feb.tmpl to enter aveda's prize draw for a hamper of £350 worth of products...

hmmm, I just realised I'm completely trying to cut down on lotions and potions, but ,well, if the odds happen to roll my way and I win the load of stuff, I'll dole it out as presents to people who do use all that. They do have relatively good eco credentials as well...