Maine Girl Says, Maine Girl Does...

The tally thus far...

What is my $ total for my upcoming eco-friendly wedding I do wonder...I have a goal to keep it under $3k, can I do it, I wonder...

To Date:

• 625.00-   Kelp Shed (reception location)
• 500.00-  Photographer Tracy Twitchell Pray (no website yet)
• 321.00-   150 cupcakes with fondant icing from Seaflour in Phippsburg
• 169.90-   2000 Compostable Cups & 1000 Compostable Drinking Straws from Eco-Products
•   15.00-   Save the Date Email from Save the Date Etsy shop 
•   15.00-   Wedding Invitation Design from Westwillow Etsy shop
•   99.00-   Titanium Wedding Rings from Titanium Knights Etsy shop
•   83.95-   100% Cotton Cards and Envelopes from Crane & Co.
•   24.75-   Reply Cards (non eco friendly product) :( Bad Jessica!
•   66.75-   Postage Stamps from USPS
•     6.98-  Gross Grain Ribbon from JoAnn Fabrics
•   16.05-  Wedding Dress (I found it on a clearance rack last year) I will pay more for altering
•   41.97-  10 White Paper Lanterns from Target (I need more)
•   55.00-  1 Bottle Grey Goose (my Mom had it at the house, she donated it), 1 Bottle Smirnoff triple distilled, 1 Bottle Smirnoff Raspberry (so far)
•   55.00-  Bartender (tip jar will be out)

And the Grand Total this far is... $2095.35- can I do it I wonder.  I still have Wine to buy, Champagne to buy, Kegs to buy, More Vodka to buy...mixers to buy, a dress to alter, candles to buy (for the recycled jars I have been collecting from everyone and anyone), more paper lanterns, hair to be done (not the day of but a pre wedding highlight is a must), shoes (ooooh I almost forgot about the shoes), a speaker system to rent or buy...Babe I think I might go over my goal budget ;)

Earth Week 2009

I am happy to love the Earth!  I am happy to celebrate it every day not just once a year!  This week I have explained some of the things I like to do every day, to further help the children to realize how important the Earth is and how we can help this planet we live on. 

Earth Day was dreary and rainy so we went to see the movie Earth.  Gavin loved it except for the parts where he learned about preying, which I will say they did a phenomenal job depicting, a four year old was left to understand what it was all about without it encouraging nightmares.  We have made a big point of picking up liter and later this weekend we will go to Hermit Island, where Aaron and I will be married, to do a clean up. 

Today I ordered the cups to be used for the cocktail party following my wedding, yes plastic cups for ease was my choice, which led me to a ton of research which is where I found this awesome company out of Boulder, CO - ECO PRODUCTS and I ordered these:

 

Compostable Cold Cups

"Not all cold drink cups are the same.  Our line of cold drink cups are made using a renewable source, Corn.  Unlike petroleum-based cold cups, that depend on oil and won't compost, our strong and durable cups are made from US grown corn and are compostable."

I really wanted to by the ones with a super cool green stripe on the bottom that said 100%  Compostable but there was a $30 difference in price, and well I am a penny pincher!

So there it is some  ways I give love to our EARTH!!!!

to love somebody...

My dear friend Niki introduced this little numbe rto me this morning, I just had to share...Perfection!

Have a great day!!!

Opened 2/28/09

I am completely thrilled with myself!  Once again this month (this is the second month I have been keeping track) I have made 1 roll of paper towels last over a month!  YIPEE!!!!  This makes me feel so very good.  HOORAYYY!!!!

 

Best part is there is more left...I will keep you updated on how much longer I can make it last.  How do I do this you wonder...Well besides my "good" dish towels (the ones I use for display) I have a stack of about 10 dish towels used for cleaning up spills, cleaning, wiping, etc., we also use cloth napkins in this house I have a supply of about 20, 4 of which are for special occasions.  Bounty's "select-a-size" is also a VERY big help, you really don't need a regular size piece of paper towel for many things. 

Remember it is the little things that help to make the Earth we live on a better place!

Our first geocaching experience...

Thanks to my friend Terry and family we will now become a family of geocachers!  Good friends of ours came with us for the adventure.  Within minutes of parking the car at the geocache site for the day Totman Cove the first cache was found, the children were now hooked!  I forgot to bring trades for the treasures but thankfully the pack rat of the family mysteriously had a pocket full of bouncy balls (she had no idea where we were going when we started on this new adventure.)  They all enjoyed using the GPS, thanks to Amy!

 

After the finds we hung on the west end of the beach for a while.  Gavin stated that this was the "best day there ever was!"  The kids were ready at that point to come home pack up a  cache and go hide it near camp in Moosehead. 

 

The children are tired and happy now, ready to eat pizza (a rare occasion) and watch Bolt!  The treasures still in hand...

Have I mentioned I moved up our wedding date to June 13th...

June 13th won out after all, I could not resist, I had to do it and now I will pay.  It is a time crunch from here on out!  I am good under pressure (Aaron may have something different to say about this.)  I have been working very hard on my invitations.  My order came from Crane & Co with one problem, the RSVP card stock was for professional printing only.  At first I thought NO PROBLEM and trotted right over to Brunswick Instant Printing where I got a great, cheap quote but learned about problem #2 they may not fit the minimum requirements by the United States Postal Service for postcards.  On to USPS I went, and guess what...1/8' too short...not kidding!!!  After some more research I have had to settle on some scalloped edge cards that are cute but NOT made from recycled paper.  At the very least I am trying to be as eco-friendly as possible.  Yesterday I started messing around with my invite presentation I have got the concept just not the correct colors quite yet.  The fabric is actually going to be an organic muslin and the grosgrain ribbon chocolate brown...I think!

Check!

Today was the day...it is done, I ordered some fabulous Cotton Cardstock to print my invitations on from Crane & Co they have been GREEN since 1801.  This is very important to me, I will make this wedding cheap, fabulous, and eco-friendly!!!

 

 

Next on the list...choose the design I want from westwillow on etsy!

 

The Very Hungry Caterpillar...

I stumbled on this in one of my favorite blogsthis morning and had to pass it on.  To those of you who love Eric Carle as much as I do it is a must see!

I think it is time for a field trip to his museum sometime this summer!

What if I took Coffee-Mate out of my life...

So like many people in this world I struggle with a need to weigh less...I am a pretty active person, my workouts are inconsistent but I would like to get them more consistent again, I eat really pretty healthy off the top of my head the only processed food I consume on a regular basis is Coffee Mate!  I have an overwhelming love and need for coffee and coffee-mate, but with the amount I drink and the following nutritional information:

How much weight would I lose if got rid of it.  Really??  What would I replace it with?    I also realize that giving up the delicious red wine I consume would help, but that is not going to happen.  :)

Saturday was a beautiful Maine day...

Nearing 50* on Saturday I packed us a picnic lunch of Cape Cod chicken salad, Pita Chips, Baby Carrots, OJ & Champagne and we headed out for a trek at Hermit Island.  It was so wonderful to be outside all day, feeling the sun on your face, smelling the delightful salt air and hearing the waves crashing on the surf.  It made me yearn for spring!  I showed Aaron where I want the ceremony to take place and we discussed how we would get my Dad down there.

 

After a stop at the "Bath Tub" for that yummy picnic lunch we went on to Cross Island #3, my absolute favortie campsite my family got 5 or so times in all the years we have been camping there :)  The view is stunning and it is a bit off the beaten track making it nice and quiet.

 

 

On our way back we stopped and took a few pictures of the Kelp Shed...

 

basically so I would have something to look at for my planning (I should have it memorized after spending the last 35 years of my life there.)  After seeing a bunch of washed up trash on the beach I have decided the children and I will be spending Earth Day doing our part in helping our environment!