Uppercase Living Updates & Fundraiser

1. you can order online now! credit cards securely accepted through ProPay:
http://christie.uppercaseliving.net/
click on 'Products' to view the catalog

2. I'm running a fundraiser November 11 through November 30, 2008 ... extended through the Thanksgiving holiday!!


15% of online product sales from my Uppercase Living website

http://christie.uppercaseliving.net
will be donated to Animal Lifesavers Pet Adoption Inc. (a no-kill, animal rescue org out of South River, NJ)
http://www.petfinder.com/shelters/NJ252.html

Uppercase Living - vinyl "expressions" to customize your spaces ...
Make your space a reflection of the unique individual you are. Whether you identify with a deeply motivational thought, a beautiful embellishment, a bold image, or a combination of these, Uppercase Living® expressions let you be who you are and let you express that uniqueness in your surroundings. We call this the art of self expression.



Easy to apply to all kinds of surfaces - wall, wood, plastic, metal, ceramic, glass (car windows and mirrors).
Can be removed without ruining surfaces - great for renters!
Many, many colors to choose from.
CUSTOM expressions can be made with the online design tool.
Check out the November customer incentives, too!

View the Catalog on the Website: http://christie.uppercaseliving.net
Register with your name & information.
Click on "Products" to get to the catalog.
Click on "My Design Tool" to create your own custom expressions.
You can save your expressions and/or add them to your cart.
Pay securely with a credit card - service provided by ProPay.
Your order will arrive at your address typically within 2 weeks of placing the order.
Orders Due: 11/30/08 ... EMAIL ME YOUR ORDER CONFIRMATION NUMBER so I can be sure to include you in this fundraiser! :)

christie.arlotta@gmail.com

3. Otherwise, to guarantee delivery before Christmas, place your order before December 1, 2008.

I'm baaaaaaack!

So, truth be told ... blogspot is just so much easier to deal with than my website blog function thingy.

So, I'm moving the blog back here and leaving the website where it is www.christiearlotta.com

The Big Move

Well, I've got a webpage now!

A full serviced page on the webs ... crazy, I know.

So, this blog will now be hosted over here: www.christiearlotta.com ... click on "The Blog".



My new page is hosted by Dreamhost ... chosen for their environmental committments. Hey, a girl has to stay green even if she is becoming a network marketer (enjoy $50 off with this coupon)!

;)

The August Tomato Harvest

So many tomatoes, so little time. I think I hauled in about 40 lbs yesterday. FORTY POUNDS. And we're not done yet ... there are more red ones out there already. There are 8 tomato plants in our garden - and we think they are happy ... organic, biointesive practices seem to be working! It is hard to think that it will get better than this next year ... better soil and less chlorinated water (thanks to our soon-to-be installed rainbarrel).





Here is a peek of my haul from yesterday along with some of our green peppers and the yellow squash from Rutgers:














But, let's not forget the ones I had already put in freezer (some chopped, some whole) ...




You can freeze tomatoes chopped, cooked, or whole ... with or without their skins. I like this page from the U. of Nebraska-Lincoln about how to freeze tomatoes.

We are now in the process of making another batch of tomato sauce (well, John is ... I'm just writing about it). ;)



John's sauce: lots of tomatoes (blanched to remove the skins), onions & peppers & garlic sauteed BEFORE adding the tomatoes, generous helpings of oregano & parsley & whatever other spices are next to the stove, some sugar, and finally a lot of time on the stove to cook down (the pot below was FULL when we started).



Yum!!

The Deck That Should Have Always Been

When we bought this house, we immediately knew something was missing. The back of the house was just not complete. There was a dinky landing off the second story great room and a long staircase down to the ground. After sketching up several ideas, we agreed on a deck design and then went about choosing a material.

Here is the brief rundown and our findings/thoughts of our material search:
Pressure-treated lumber – lots of chemicals and needs to be painted/stained every year. Definitely the least expensive option.
Cedar – beautiful and resists bugs but finding an eco-friendly source was difficult, and not local to New Jersey. And, it would also require painting/staining each year. Not exactly cheap!
Ipe – Brazillian hardwood … beautiful, but … comes from Brazil, requires sealing every year and is PRICEY!
Composite Decking – lots of color choices, eco-friendly in that it is primarily made from wood waste or plastic waste. And, no painting/staining!
Trex Eco-Friendliness
TimberTech Eco-Friendliness

We chose Timbertech www.timbertech.com for its local availability, cost & eco-friendliness –
• TimberTech wood composite products are manufactured with recycled wood waste that would otherwise go into landfills.
• TimberTech recycles water (during the manufacturing process) through a closed loop water system.
• Skids, corrugate and product dust are recycled.
• Unlike wood, TimberTech products are a one-time purchase for most homeowners – with a limited 25-year residential warranty.
• TimberTech products do not require painting, staining or sealing.
• Scrap products are reclaimed and put back into the manufacturing process.

We realize that the claim of zero to low maintenance very much depends on where you live (climate, etc). We expect to have to pressure wash this new deck once a year … hopefully we can do it without nasty chemicals.

The other benefits of this deck for us include: easier access to that jungle of a garden, much easier access to the pool, a quiet place to enjoy morning coffees and the ability to put in a sliding glass door off the bedroom. We have noticed that the dogs will scratch up the stairs if we don’t take some measures … we thought about clipping their nails but Stella growled so we ditched that idea. We are probably going to get either some indoor/outdoor carpet or a plastic runner for the stairs. Little sacrifices for our four-legged friends. :)

And, finally, some photos!

This little spot was designed to hold a rain barrel ... hopefully that will get added soon so we can water the jungle garden with yummy rainwater!

The Decorator In Me: Uppercase Living

I love design - particularly interior and architecture. Before I learned that it takes 5 years of college to be an architect (and many years slaving after that), I totally wanted to be one. :)

I spend a lot of time thinking about and implementing interior design strategies and concepts. Many of you know that I absolutely love Eco-friendly design (er, that is the idea of this blog!) - and I swear there will be more on that VERY soon (new deck being put on the back of our house as I type ...)

My new obsession, however, is this Uppercase Living product. Vinyl "expressions" for your home, office, car, etc. Relatively simple to apply and remove. AND, you can customize them!! Now, I know vinyl is not the best material in terms of Eco-friendliness, but neither is most wall or craft paints. Ever take a whiff of those? Yuck!

Photo of the custom expression on our Great Room wall (our "Hawai'i wall). :)

So, I'm so enamored with this stuff that I am now an independent demonstrator! yay for business ventures!!

Want to order, host a party (either house or catalog) or become a demonstrator? Check out the website and then email me!!! :)





**edited to fix the links** sorry all that are on the RSS feed. ;)

The First Heirloom Tomato

So, first let me just say that I have become addicted to the video feature on the macbook. It's addicting or maybe I just always wanted to be a movie star. I don't know. 

But, seriously, we had a tomato tonight. The first heirloom tomato from our garden and it was AMAZING! No, seriously, amazing. Like, I'm not sure we've ever had a tomato so good. 

Uh, back to that macbook video addiction ... here's the clip of us cutting up said tomato. The eating part was too obscene to publish - sorry. ;) 

LOL - funny how I argue with John about where the tomato is from. Don't miss the martini glass to the side there ... yea, that's mine. ;)

The Zucchini Bread of 2008

We have quite a few LARGE zucchinis from our Rutgers organic farm share and we have a ton of other vegetables to eat. So, what is a girl to do with so many zucchinis? First, you batter and fry them up ... so freakin' good. Then, you ponder and remember how much you loved zucchini bread when you were younger ... find cookbooks and ... what?!?! not a single zucchini bread recipe to be found. Not even in the heralded Joy of Cooking book.

What
the
heck
?

Like any good blogger and semi-foodie, I log in to my epicurious.com account and search for a recipe. Results: one with several (i.e. too many) negative ratings and comments.

Ugh.

I tell you what ... I miss my grandma right about now. You can bet that she would have been able to rattle off a recipe in no time. boo.

But, I've got family ... and family knows some people ... so from the daughter of my sister-in-law's (yay - Susan!) neighbor comes the following recipe:

3 eggs (go organic and cage-free please)
1 cup oil
1 cup sugar (organic and fair trade if you can find it)
2 cups zucchini - grated (notes: 1. from Aunt Nancy & my Mom: you can leave the skins on ... and 2. from Evelyn: a peeler is a stealer of nutrients)
2 tsp vanilla (organic)
3 cups flour (organic)
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 Tbl cinnamon
1/2 cup nuts (optional - we like walnuts)

Beat the eggs in a bowl (this should be a large bowl as all the ingredients will end up here).

In a separate bowl, combine oil, sugar, zucchini and vanilla. Then add to the eggs - stirring completely.

In yet another bowl (large), combine all the dry ingredients. Then stir into the liquid mixture.

Bake at 350 deg F for about 1 hour. One large or two medium bread/cake (greased or buttered) pans can be used. Watch the bread for the last 15 minutes so you don't overcook.

Our results: pretty darn good but a little dry. Either the loaves were in for a few minutes too long or there wasn't enough oil.

Take #2 will be tomorrow since I only used one zucchini - they are really big. :)

The Silent Vegetable Garden Video

I keep meaning to get around to adding some voice-over to this video ... but, honestly, I got a lot going on at the moment! ;)

The garden is an example of sustainable gardening - in a way that incorporates micro-climates into the mix. Plants are placed much closer together than a traditional garden and different vegetables are placed so that they compliment each other's needs. Sun loving plants shelter shade loving plants, for example. Carrots are placed throughout the garden (there are a lot of them!). The close proximity of all of the vegetable plants crowds out the undesired weeds (for the most part) - leaving more soil for the plants and less weeding for the people (uh, Johnny of course). The potential downside to this approach is access to the fruits ... it is hard to see in the video but it is very difficult to move between the tomato plants and the potato plants are growing any which way they can - rendering Johnny's pathways kinda useless. ;) 

So, here it is in its un-edited (a little long - sorry), un-voiced-over glory. Enjoy the view of what we now call "the jungle" ... organic veggies, no pesticides/no herbicides, hand-dug (by Johnny, of course), and oogled over every day.



There will be more video once we get some tomatoes ... should be sooooon!!

The Tiny Choices Wedding Series - Post #1

Yay - I'm the guest blogger today over at my friends' wonderful page Tiny Choices ...

Go on over there to read all about how my girls threw me an eco-friendly bridal shower.

The Next Big Thing

Are you ready for the next big thing?

Are you a leader?

Are you looking to be financially independent?

Then you owe it to yourself to check this out:

http://www.DNAprofitforlife.com/

You'll want to get back to me with questions that my team and I can answer. :)

christie.arlotta@gmail.com

The Great TN Caper - by Pets Alive

I love animals. Domestic, farm, wild - whatever. I love them all. I don't eat them, I don't wear them. At all. It is a personal, ethical choice. Not one that everyone makes, which is fine, but please at least educate yourself.

But, I think that - just maybe - I love animal rescue people more. 

My husband and I had the pleasure and luck of being able to help out an animal shelter/sanctuary in June in upstate NY. Coincidentally, this helping happened to be on our one month wedding anniversary - though we didn't realize it at the time. It's not that we aren't happy to be married ... it is just that the animals were louder than our post-wedding bells. ;) 

Anyway, we did a nice thing for the shelter (tiled a room with some beautiful donated tiles). We listened to the dogs bark all day while out in their awesome outdoor runs (luckier than most dogs at a shelter - trust me). And, we had a few moments at the end of the day to visit with the cats in their 'cat house' (which was so cool - all rooms devoted to cats! does it get better than that?!?! ... but then we had to be off so that we could get back to our own animals in NJ. It was a few days later that I was alerted by that lovely automated RSS thingy to a new blog by the Pets Alive team.

And, with tears in my eyes, I quote just a small portion that I hope makes you want to read the rest of their post ... 

"Animals can’t ask for help and they don’t deserve the heartache and hurt that so many of them are faced with. It takes animal lovers to step up and help make a difference in their precious, sweet lives. Please do whatever you can, whether it be donating money or time, to do your part to make an animal happy, safe, and healthy. If they could ask themselves, they would, but since they can’t we all need to be their voices for them."

Amazing. I love the PetsAlive staff and vols for EVERYTHING that they do for the animals. Y'all are a true inspiration.

The Better Way to Boil Water

I originally read this at EcoGeek this morning ...

From EcoGeek: " ... researchers at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have discovered that by coating the inside of a pot with a microscopic layer of copper nanotubes—which under appropriate magnification make the surface of the cooking vessel look hairy—they can increase the efficiency of energy transfer from the pot to the water it holds by an order of magnitude."

EcoGeek: goes on to say: "What does this mean in reality? Well, most of us define when the watched pot has boiled by that roiling appearance as bubbles are nucleated and rise to the surface, rather than by the temperature of the water. The copper "microfur" results in a 30-fold increase in the number of bubbles created as the water reaches 100 C. Not only does the water get hot faster, but we’re also more likely to start actually cooking with it sooner. And who in her right mind doesn’t want a greener version of pasta e fagioli?"

Yay - RPI (my alma mater) making more "green" news:

LED Lights

Fuel Cells

Mushroom Insulation

The TP Issue

The recent Tiny Choices post about toilet paper ...

The Tiny Choice About Work Garbage

The ladies over at Tiny Choices have inspired me …

My most recent TC: not using the garbage can in my cube at work (provided by the building management/cleaning company).

Why you ask?

Because even if there is just one little piece of garbage in that bin, the entire thing gets emptied … including the thin plastic bag. So, for example, if I put my daily granola bar wrapper in there and nothing more – the whole thing gets emptied at the end of the day! And, I get a a brand new plastic bag. I just can’t justify that! I've politely asked the cleaning staff if they must empty a can that isn't full or smelly - and they just kinda stare at me. Now, OK, I do understand that this is garbage and I do have the luxury of someone else picking up that bag and emptying it ... but come on! It's not like I have cans of tuna in there!!

So, now I collect my tiny amount of garbage in a coffee mug and dump it in the large kitchen garbage bin at the end of the day. That garbage can fills up and is emptied daily so I don’t feel bad.

Now, if I only I could figure out how to create no waste while here … one of these days I'll get there.

The Vegetable Garden

April 2008 - the beginning of the vegetable garden:

This spot was previously a pretty small garden that did not appear to get a lot of attention – at least in the last year before we bought the house. Additionally, there were several large tree limbs that did not allow hours of lovely sunlight. We had several limbs taken down … moved a flowering shrub … and had to take down a holly tree (sad, but the tree was not happy in spite of being in the way of the new garden).

We love vegetables ... seeing as how I am a vegetarian and my husband is pretty darn close, this is not really shocking. Our garden measures approximately 16 feet by 20 feet … that is 320 sq. ft. – larger than some bedrooms (not to mention some houses). And this does not include the asparagus plot. My husband John did a lot of reading about sustainable gardening and creating mini ecosystems without pesticides and herbicides, etc. He agonized (slightly) about what plants would go where and how many of each to buy.

May 2008 - after the little plants and some seeds were placed in the ground:

In our desire to be more eco-friendly, no chemical-laden fertilizers were used on the garden. John added some commercially available organic compost, organic plant-tone, humus, sphagnum moss, bone & blood meal. We were a bit lucky with the startup since John was able to bring a pick-up truck load of soil from the established garden at his old house. Most of the plants were purchased at Rutgers Gardens' annual plant/flower sale so they are organically raised. We also ordered some organic seeds online from Seeds of Change. So far, John says the real key to the garden was “double digging”.

July 2008 - the garden is like a jungle (the tomato plant in the foreground is over 5 feet tall!!):

We've been picking basil for weeks and green beans for about a week. Everything tastes so yummy! We've got pesto in the freezer from the basil harvest for approximately 8 lbs of pasta ... and it is only July!

Our first tomato was picked today - and it tasted amazing! We even compared it to a store-bought, on the vine, organic tomato. Ours was the clear winner for taste and “meatiness”.

We are looking forward to future harvests of organic tomatoes, eggplants, peppers, potatoes, squash, tomatillos, carrots, green beans, peanuts, basil and parsley. Oh and of course asparagus in a year or two. Yay for gardens!!

The Beginning

Just a little background information to get things started:















My husband and I purchased a house just about a year ago. It is a 3 bedroom (well 4 if you count the back room ... more on that at some point) 1980's-era modular home in New Jersey. I haven't measured the living area yet - but I am guessing it is about 2,000 sq ft. We both try to live an eco-friendly life and as we go about this house "making it our own" we are faced with SO MANY choices about how to do things. Flooring, space layout, cabinetry, water, heating & cooling which includes windows, and landscaping to name the big ticket items.

So, when I either get overwhelmed and need advice or we have actually made a decision - this is where I'll come to put it out there for the rest of the world to read. Even if that is only my family that can't witness the house progress from their distant locales. ;)