{have a green christmas}

only a week left until christmas and so much shopping do to.

if you are like me, you are behind on your shopping. this season, i would encourage you to shop mindfully this next week and shop locally. shopping locally is an easy way to be green and feel good about your purchasing. there is no extra boxes or packaging to add to your trash and no ups or fedex truck has guzzled gas to get it on your door stop. i KNOW it is not always possible to do this, but just keep it in the back of your mind and balance out your shopping.

here are some of my favorite shopping spots in boulder/denver area.

• two handspaperie
• the kitchen - get the person you love a gift certificate for dinner.
• chelsea - great place for clothes, bags, and jewlery
• west end gardner - on pearl street and great for beautiful house items
• cara sanders, in harmony therapy - a massage! what couldn't be better especially for any working mom in your life. this would be my favorite gift.
  
• momenteum - fair trade gifts
• art and soul gallery - beautiful jewelry, art work, and other little items
• mya designs - custom vintage jewelry. check out the photos below of their work.

{Common Threads Consignment Redefined}

Here is a new store in Boulder and it sounds fabulous. They are green, give back to the community, and you can feel good about buying something new for yourself.

Recycled Fashion - Brand name Men's Women's, Maternity, Children's
and Teen's. Consignment now accepted daily during normal business
hours.

Creative Lab - Classes on Bernina sewing and embroidery machines, T-
shirt presses, leather presses (think personalized belts and dog
collars), knitting and more. Private parties in the Creative Labs
available for holidays, birthdays and more.

Cottage Industry - We carry great local Boulder products including
Pangea Organics, Lumina Candles, Pekoe Tea, Novo Coffee, Belle Baby
Carriers, pottery, jewelry and more. Stop in and create a gift
basket for holidays.

WE GIVE BACK - We run green, give back 5% and train and mentor young
adults to learn the trade.

MAKE A DIFFERENCE BY SHOPPING COMMON THREADS!

Store Address
2707 Spruce Street
Boulder, CO 80304
Monday-Closed
Tuesday - Saturday 10-7
Sunday - 12 - 5

303-449-5431

{happy thanksgiving}

the turkey is in the oven and the baby is napping so i thought i would blog.

on december 31, 2006, kim and noah were married up at gold lake resort. kim wore her grandmother's wedding dress along with other family heirlooms and she was pregnant! to see photos from their wedding, go to my website which noah designed.

avery is now six months old and she smiles non-stop. it is special to continue to photograph your clients as their family grows. however, it is even more special when your client is one of your good friends. thanks for all your support!

p.s. kim works at boulder green building guild or BGBG
in boulder. check it out because it is a great resource.
The Boulder Green Building Guild is an association of building professionals dedicated to promoting healthier, resource-efficient homes and work places. We strive to advance the craft of green building; support our members' environmentally-responsible endeavors; provide effective volunteer opportunities; and be the focal point for communication on green building. Our vision is to empower people to build healthy, resource-efficient communities.

{reduce}

as the holiday season approaches the number of cataloges you receive in you mailbox increases.
If you are tired of receiving so many cataloges check out Green Dimes. It is a service that stops direct mail. You can indicate catalogues you’d like to receive and they take care of removing the rest. Amazing! They also have a petition on their web site to try to instate a “do not mail” list similar to the “do not call” list. Save a tree!

{keeping it green}

Here is another tip to help reduce your waste.

I just learned about this thing called Catalogchoice.org, which is essentially a "do not call registry" for catalogs. Tons of junky catalogs are mailed to our house everyday, and this is a good
way to cut down on waste. It's sponsored by the National Wildlife Fed and the Natural Resources Defense Council, so it's legit. Check it out at www.catalogchoice.org

Check back soon for more green ideas and how to make your home or business carbon neutral.

{saving energy}

being mindful of how much we consume is important. here is one change everyone can do to save energy quickly and easily, http://www.blackle.com.

How is Blackle saving energy?

Blackle was created by Heap Media to remind us all of the need to take small steps in our everyday lives to save energy. Blackle searches are powered by Google Custom Search.

Blackle saves energy because the screen is predominantly black. "Image displayed is primarily a function of the user's color settings and desktop graphics, as well as the color and size of open application windows; a given monitor requires more power to display a white (or light) screen than a black (or dark) screen." Roberson et al, 2002

In January 2007 a blog post titled Black Google Would Save 750 Megawatt-hours a Year proposed the theory that a black version of the Google search engine would save a fair bit of energy due to the popularity of the search engine. Since then there has been skepticism about the significance of the energy savings that can be achieved and the cost in terms of readability of black web pages.

We believe that there is value in the concept because even if the energy savings are small, they all add up. Secondly we feel that seeing Blackle every time we load our web browser reminds us that we need to keep taking small steps to save energy.

How can you help?

We encourage you to set Blackle as your home page. This way every time you load your Internet browser you will save a little bit of energy. Remember every bit counts! You will also be reminded about the need to save energy each time you see the Blackle page load.

Help us spread the word about Blackle by telling your friends and family to set it as their home page. If you have a blog then give us a mention. Or put the following text in your email signature: "Blackle.com - Saving energy one search at a time".

Have a look at our energy saving tips page for ideas on steps you can take to save energy.

There are a lot of great web sites about saving energy and being more environmentally friendly. They are full of great tips covering the little things that we can all do to make a difference today. Try Blackling "energy saving tips" or visit treehugger.com a great blog dedicated to environmental awareness.