Riding the wave

I got back from Nicaragua early Monday morning. The trip was everything I hoped, an adventure with some good friends and a break from hectic New York City. The country is very poor, but very beautiful. The bright colored buildings and smiling faces of the local people made me anxious to explore the few places we had time to see, and also made the extreme heat more bearable. Hoping this will be the beginning of the traveling bug.

(image courtesy of Pedro78)

Green Effect

I came across the Green Effect web site the other day and was very inspired by what I read. It's an initiative sponsored by SunChips and National Geographic which prompts people to come up with ideas on what they would do to "green" their communities if they were given $20,000. One of my favorites was a "veggie truck" that drives around your neighborhood around dinner time offering up fresh, convenient and cheap produce. Wouldn't it be nice to see this driving down the road in front of your house? Imagining something like this negotiating it's way through Manhattan traffic isn't really realistic, but Brooklyn, for sure!

(image via nomm de photo)

Spending less

I've decided that I need to spend less money. I want to stop buying clothes I don't really need, meals that I could make at home, books that I can borrow from the library, basically anything that's not really essential at this point. Although I'm used to living within my means, I do occasionally overdo it and purchase unnecessary things. I'm not going as far as saying I won't spend more than a dollar a day, but I think it might be helpful to start writing everything I buy in a notebook. Since I'm not spending money, I can only admire clothes from afar. Aren't these outfits cute?







(Photos via Totokaelo)

Cinco de Mayo

Cinco de Mayo commemorates the Mexican Army's victory against French forces at the Battle of Puebla in 1862. I'm pretty sure I always just thought it was Mexican Independence Day, so here's to finding out a little more about this temporarily downtrodden country! It's been raining in New York City for the last couple of days and thinking about a warmer climate south of the border is making this day go by just a little faster...




(photos via Wallpaper)

The clothing designs above are by a woman named Carla Fernandez. She travels through Mexico finding communities that specialize in handmade textiles and works with them on a fair-trade basis to collect material for the label she designed, Taller Flora. I don't have the highest hopes of finding environmentally friendly fashion that doesn't look like a hippie crocheted it in the back of a van, but aren't these beautiful? Simple and structural with muted tones make it both high fashion and accessible.

Bon Iver

This is the perfect song to listen to on a gray and overcast first day of May. I'm tired today and although I love listening to Bon Iver all the time, I especially like him when I feel like cuddling up in a big blanket and drinking a cup of hot co-co. He created his latest album, For Emma, Forever Ago alone, in his father's cabin in Wisconsin. I can't help having a huge crush on the album (and Justin Vernon).