plastic free july.

At the beginning of July, I committed to doing Plastic Free July. It's an Australian initiative that aims to "raise awareness of the amount of single-use disposable plastic in our lives and challenges people to do something about it." It's been an encouraging and a hard month so far. Encouraging because I already do many plastic free things and they're things that I don't find hard anymore, they're just part of life now. However, it's hard because there are lots of things that I don't do and would like to. I like to do things well and completely, and this is a difficult battle.


So I'm going to try to share how it's been hard and how it's been easy to encourage you to start doing something, to take one step, and also to share what I've been struggling with and maybe together we can work out ways for this to develop.

EASY:

• toilet paper. You might remember this post where I shared about 'who gives a crap' toilet paper. I won't re-share all the details but the summary is: they're great and plastic free. 48 rolls of toilet paper gets delivered to my door in a cardboard box and each roll is wrapped in paper.

• plastic shopping bags. My grocery shopping is pretty irregular but when I do, I always take my bags. I have a pile of green bags (they're actually black), but if I'm ever out and need to pick up something quickly, I have a small foldable bag which lives in my handbag. My husband has a couple of bags in his car. And on the hooks at our front door, we have a collection of calico bags we can take if we think we might need to pick something up. Otherwise, I'm more than happy to carry whatever I've bought. Or you can always ask for a cardboard box.
• toothbrush. About six months ago we bought bamboo toothbrushes. They are completely biodegradable. And they're great. I'm no dentist so I'm not sure if they're doing everything those other highly marketed ones are, but I have visited my dentist since using it and there were no complaints. 
• drink bottle. Who wants to pay for a bottle of water anyway? We have a filter tap in our kitchen and I fill up my drink bottle when I go out. Sometimes I take two (if I'm going in the car). Mine are glass and metal, and I do have a plastic one – but it's not a single-use one.

These Freedom 1 litre bottles are fun! Great to have on your desk, hard to drink when you're driving. I have one in yellow!

My custom designed KeepCup

• straws. It's pretty easy to say 'no straw' when you're out and just drink it, and it's even easier at home, but sometimes the novelty is nice. I have metal straws at home (which I could take out if I wanted) which I use if I've made a smoothie or my nephews want a milkshake. They were super cheap and even came with a straw cleaner!
• dry food. I buy my dry food (flour, nuts, beans, etc) in bulk and store them in glass containers. Sure, some of the 10kg bags are plastic, but this is cutting down a lot of the plastic. 
• KeepCup. I bought a glass KeepCup this July, for my occasional takeaway coffee or when I want to take a hot drink out. When I haven't had it with me it's helped me to go without or appreciate the moment and sit down to have the coffee.
• stock/bone broth. Not only for the plastic use but also for the massive financial and health reasons, I make our own stock. I then freeze it in glass jars and I have it on hand.
• snacks. I make most (if not all) of our snacks and meals from scratch. This reduces the amount of plastic e.g. a packet of biscuits are in a plastic tray and wrapped in plastic, trail mix comes in a little plastic bag – instead make your own without the gross bits and store it in a jar, homemade muesli bars which are usually individually wrapped (wrap in baking paper). It is also much healthier and cheaper.
• tomato sauce. I make the best tomato sauce. And it's so much better than yours, Mr Masterfoods. It doesn't come in a squeezy bottle, it actually comes from tomatoes (shock, horror). I store it in a glass bottle in my fridge. Try it – there will be no turning back.
• leftovers. We ALWAYS eat our leftovers (reducing waste, saving money) and 99% of the time store them in containers in the fridge (rather than being cling wrapped). This also means they're ready to take to work. It's the little things.
• eggs. Yes, everyone buys their eggs in cardboard (well, at least I hope you do!) but when I can, I purchase 30 eggs from a farmers market and return his packaging to him. Reusing is so much better than recycling and he's always so happy!
• fruit and veg. We buy our fruit and veg in bulk. It's awesome. You get so much, for so cheap, and there is very little plastic. If I ever need to buy anything additional from the shops, I just get it and put it in my basket, I don't put it in a plastic bag first. Why do bananas need an extra plastic bag? If you think they do, use calico bags – I have a collection that shoes and sheets have come in, or make your own.

Image from @myresolve_rebecca Instagram page. She shares in our bulk fruit and veg.

"THINK ABOUT IT... WHY WOULD YOU MAKE SOMETHING THAT YOU ARE GOING TO USE FOR A FEW MINUTES OUT OF A MATERIAL THAT'S BASICALLY GOING TO LAST FOREVER. WHAT'S UP WITH THAT?" - JEB BERRIER, BAGIT MOVIE 

HARD:

• packaging. It's hard to tell other people what to do, especially businesses. They have processes and products. I would like to start asking people to consider better options. But I did decide the other week to buy a book from a shop rather than Book Depository because I know they ship in plastic envelopes. I have received products from TOM and KeepCup and was very happy that they used plastic free shipping materials.
• meat. In general, we buy our meat by what's on special in the supermarket. This allows us to actually eat meat. It doesn't really follow all of my principles of buying the best quality meat from the best treatment of animals or plastic free but I really struggle with this. In an ideal world, I would purchase my meat from a butcher/deli and get them to package it in my plastic containers. Every couple of months, however, my family purchases grass-fed beef in bulk from a farmer. I LOVE this however my difficulty is freezing it in plastic-free portions for what we usually need. Same goes with mince or chicken when we get it from the supermarket... 
• other people. Ok, I know I need to stop judging other people, and this isn't what you think. This is about people who you say 'no plastic' to and then they waste it anyway. For example, I was at Woolworths the other week WITH my green bags and the lady put something in a plastic bag. I said I'd prefer if it was in a green bag. She didn't take it out so I asked my husband if he could just put it in a green bag for me. He did and then the lady scrunched up the perfectly good bag which she could have used for someone else and threw it in the bin. I was so mad. Sometimes things work me up and I'm annoyed for ages after, this was one of them!
• milk. I do make almond milk sometimes but my husband loves regular dairy milk (and it doesn't curdle in your tea!). It's difficult to find it in glass, especially at a good price point.

• cleaning products and the cleaning myself products. I'm not really into using a bar of shampoo and have never got around to making my own cleaning products (I will when they run out) but I do buy in bulk as much as possible. My shampoo, conditioner and body wash are all 1L bottles. Every bit counts.
• fruit and veg. I have talked about fruit and veg being easy but storing some of it is difficult. Because we only buy it once a fortnight, we need it to last, and it lasts much better in the fridge when it's in a bag or container. Lots of things are in containers but in order for it all to fit (and with the number of containers we own) some things need to go in bags. I'd like to make some fabric bags to store them in instead of plastic. Also, for my health I have a very specific requirement to eat stewed organic apples. All of our fruit and veg isn't organic, so I need to buy these specifically from the shops. Our local green grocer doesn't sell anything organic so Woolworths it is, who only sells organic apples in plastic boxes and plastic wrap. Annoying!
• rubbish bags. Plastic Free July suggest lining your bin with newspaper as a plastic-free alternative. We produce way too much bin juice for that! Currently we are using plastic bin bags bought from Costco over a year ago (they seem to last forever!). I'm glad to see that there are compostable and degradable garbage bags, so when the Costco ones run out, I'll have to invest in them. Many people say they use plastic shopping bags for their bin but mine always have holes in them, and as I've mentioned, we have an issue with bin juice and holey bags don't work too well.

I'm encouraged because I'm doing my part and I'm also so much more aware of what I'm using. I'm thinking about it a lot more and often going without. Awareness is key. Which thing are you going to start doing? How are you going to beat your current best? Please share below or on social media. It would be great to support one another.

Burton Health Tea Club.

Last week I gave you a sneak peak into the Burton Health Tea Club through my interview with Laura. The experience of receiving the package is hard to put into words. The Tea Club is an experience. Sure, it's just tea, but it's so much more than that.

Receiving mail at your door is exciting when you've sent it to yourself but receiving it from someone else, when you're not exactly sure when it will arrive and not exactly sure what's inside, is joyous. I love presents and so this gets me all excited. Even writing about it, a couple of weeks later, I am all jittery – in a good way!

I opened the regular Australia Post box to find a beautifully wrapped gift inside. After stopping to take some photos and not wanting to open it too quickly so the excitement didn't pass too quickly, I carefully unwrapped this gift. I came across tea (as expected) but the surprise was this month's custom blend, aptly named Winter Warmer. The tea was a large bag as well as a small one-serve bag, a beautifully designed postcard with the ingredients and pictures and what they were good for, and a gift. I'd heard it was a good gift this month, and that rumour was true: a Natural Tranquility aromatherapy candle in White Tea and Berries. A candle housed in a beautiful glass jar with a wooden lid (I will definitely be using the jar when I'm done with the candle).

Image from @burtonhealth Instagram

If I could experience this, as well as receive these amazing goodies, every month, I'd be a very happy girl. I love the anticipation and the joy and the presents. I'm sure that even if I'd paid for it myself, it would still feel like a special present, because of the love and care that Laura puts into it.

I think the Tea Club is a great idea, and these are the top 3 reasons why:
1. Self-care isn't big enough. It's often seen as extravagant, but I think it's necessary. Always giving to others and not doing some things to look after yourself is dangerous. Go on, treat yoself!
2. Tea is good, herbal tea is better. Organic herbal tea created by a naturopath is best as you get the goodness of the herbs (without the pesticides) and nothing nasty added, in specific blends to help you. And if the blends have punny names, that's even better – you must be on to a good thing! Burton Health tea is delicious – that should be enough to get you to join the tea club – and even better, you get to try a new blend every month!
3. You can never have too much tea, but if you can, this is a perfect gift to pass on. The tea club doesn't only have to be a gift to yourself, but it can be a gift to someone special in your life (for one month or many). The brilliance of the tea club includes a sample tea – this means you can try the tea and if you don't like it, you can pass it on, or you can choose to pass it on and still get to try it. Win-win I say!

Now run, don't walk (or just click HERE) to check out the punny names and get free shipping and wish the online shop a Happy Birthday (until 12 midday 23 July 2015). Just enter 'welovetea' at the checkout. You won't regret it! Or sign up to the Burton Health Tea Club for three, six or twelve months, and it could be your birthday every month! I wonder what punny names she'll think of next.

pinterest picks: sew sew sew.

I'm a Pinterest fanatic. I really love it. I've been on the Pinterest bandwagon for many years now and have accumulated many and a wide variety of boards and pins. I always find it fascinating to see which pins get the most interaction.

Because some of you don't need Pinterest in your lives, I thought I'd share some "pinterest picks" from time-to-time. I'll either share some of my favourite finds or what my Pinterest followers are loving. Today is all about sewing, because that's what my followers are telling me they like.


This cute fish cushion (from here) is created from a child's drawing. A great way of keeping a child's (or your own) masterpiece. Make your own, or send it my way – hand embroidery is so therapeutic!

Or if you don't want to make your own, check out these by Ava and Yves from The Gathered Store.

This simple heart (from here) has gone cray-cray. It has a full tutorial attached to it and is pretty simple for beginner sewers. These were made for her wedding.

I made a whole bunch of them for my niece's 5th birthday party last year. All of her friends found one in a treasure hunt and got to take them home. The rest of them ended up on my sister's Christmas tree and are still hanging around her kids bedrooms (and my mum's living room).

A work in progress

My niece collecting her hearts from the treasure hunt

Keeping the heart theme, this heart garland (from here) is super simple, especially because it's made from felt. Felt is great because it doesn't fray so you can cut it up into whatever shape you like and you don't have to overlock or anything... The link to the tutorial doesn't go anywhere but I bet it says something like this: cut out hearts, sew vertically through the middle with the sewing machine, then keep sewing for a few centimetres, then repeat until it's your desired height (to cover your window or wall). Repeat until all hearts are used up or you have enough strings of hearts. Hang! See? Easy!

And finally, the sweetest softies (from here) are on my board 'sewing' but to be honest, I think I'd just buy one. They are too cute, and I may also buy many other things too (to justify the shipping from England, of course!).

And some of her other work:

To check out the rest of my pins (not my legs), click here.

a beautiful banner for a beautiful wedding.

This year is a year full of weddings for me. Lucky I love weddings. I love seeing how different people express themselves and celebrate.

In March, our special friends Fi and Mike got married. Their wedding was beautiful because it expressed who they were and included lots of contributions from so many of their friends and family. They (ok, maybe she) knew what they wanted and what they wanted people to do. I was asked to create a banner for the entrance of their wedding and to live in their home. I was honoured.

Photography: Mr Glen Edwards

I was honoured because Fi is incredibly creative. And she has many incredibly creative friends. I don't see myself as creative around them. I don't let myself shine. But Fi believed in me, trusted me, and gave me confidence to design and create a banner for them. It was a privilege.

In asking me to do this, she has given me great confidence in other things. It's amazing how her small act of asking me to do something for her wedding has empowered me to do more and given me confidence in myself and my abilities. So I want to say thank you. Thank you Fifi for trusting and empowering me, for seeing things in me and for allowing me to grow through that.

A couple of the MANY shots from my living room floor, showing a little bit of the handsewn detail.

My trusty helper (I couldn't do it without him) and the finished product before the guests arrived.

Me with my banner.

Their wedding was beautiful, in so many ways, however the most special part for me were the name placecards. On each and every person's name card (all 126 of them), Fi handwrote three things that she loves about that person or sees in them. I have written about how I am a 'words of affirmation kind of girl' here, and this spoke to me. The words were clear and prophetic. I was honoured to receive the card. And they are incredibly designed (with all of the other wedding stationery) but the incredible Lauren Langley. My friends are pretty great.

This post is to honour my friends but also recognise the creativity in me and show off my banner. I'm pretty proud of it – I put my heart and soul (and many hours and handsewing nights) into it – and I'm looking forward to revealing more creative endeavours soon.

tea please.

My herbal tea loving has being going strong lately and so you can only imagine what I was like when I discovered a Tea Club. Yes, there are book clubs and sporting clubs and fan clubs... why not tea clubs!? Now it's not any old Tea Club, it's owned by a naturopath, which I could only presume would result in the best quality teas, that not only taste delicious but are good for you too.

So on my wishlist it went. I even told people to buy it for my husband's birthday (so I didn't have to wait so long). But then Laura, from Burton Health (and TEA CLUB) contacted me about trialling it and reviewing it. Excited? Yes!

So, I thought, how about we get to know her too (as I love supporting small business) and we can learn a bit about naturopathy and her tea too! 

In a nutshell, what is naturopathy and who is it for? 

Naturopathy is natural health care that incorporates herbal medicine, nutrition and healthy lifestyle practices to help people achieve increased vitality and wellness. It is perfect for anyone who wants to get sound, evidence-based advice to help them improve their health. We work with anyone from newborns to great-grandparents.

We're in the middle of winter, aka cold and flu season, why should someone visit a naturopath instead of their doctor? 

Naturopathic medicine can be used to boost the immune system to help prevent catching a cold or flu. It's great as the first line of defence. I also find that herbs are amazing for clearing up annoying coughs that linger long after the cold/flu has gone.

What started your love for tea? 

I was born in England so I think that pretty much means I was born with a tea cup in my hand! I can’t remember a time that I didn’t drink tea. As I got older, I realised that the traditional black tea didn’t suit my body and I slowly transitioned into herbal tea. I didn’t really start loving herbal tea until I started making my own. I’m definitely a tea snob now.

What makes your tea "noice, different, unusual"? 

I use only organic herbs in my tea blends. I never add flavouring, sugar or artificial ingredients, instead I let the beautiful natural ingredients speak for themselves. And I use my herbal medicine training to develop blends that not only taste great, but also nourish the body. Ohh and of course, I hand make each blend with love. Love is the secret ingredient.

How do you brew the perfect cup of tea? 

Three vital ingredients: 1. Amazing organic herbal tea 2. A nice teapot 3. A pretty tea cup. 

I add my herbs to the pot, pour in boiling water (you can use boiling water for herbal tea without damaging the brew), let it steep for 5-15 minutes, sit down and enjoy cup after cup. I leave my herbs in the pot so that more of the constituents are drawn out of the herbs the longer it steeps.

MEET THE MAKER:

5 words to describe you: 

Image from here

Noice, different, unusual... Kidding! Tea obsessed, recovering chocoholic, realist.

Favourite:

• flower: Primrose, Snapdragon, Lavender

• breakfast: chia pudding in summer, oat bran breakfast bowl (a.k.a the best organic breakfast bowl in the world) in winter, healthy pancakes on weekends and healthy muffins when I’m not in a breakfast mood.

• colour scheme: white and wood with splashes of colour

• location: Any beach. I love to be near the water. Favourite holiday destination is Tokoriki island resort in Fiji. Favourite city is Sydney. I feel so lucky to live here!

• thing in your home: My bath tub. Such a great way to unwind.

• outfit: My Peter Alexander Booo ghost PJ’s.

• day of the week: Sunday – we call it alarm free Sunday. It’s the only day of the week that I get to wake up naturally and I also get to spend the day with my love.

For more info on her Tea Club, tune back in here shortly for my review, or if you're just too excited to wait, visit here. Visit her online shop here to buy a one-off bag (that will keep you coming back for more).