GIVEAWAY - Brookish Mr. Darcy Proposal Mug and Choice of Book

CLOSED - AND THE WINNER IS: Jennifer Hudson Taylor!

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Brookish is the wonderful 1800's inspired shop of husband and wife team Brooke and Justin.

They live with their 2 daughters in northern California, where they celebrate everything Jane Austen with their amazing screenprinted creations including mugs, towels, t-shirts and gift cards.

Brooke adores the 1800's but also has modern sensibilities. She brings a sense of both of these realms into her creations.

I have a bit of a Jane obsession and recently enjoyed the Pride and Prejudice remake zombie book.

(hoping this isn't sacrilege, but I think some other Jane fans may like it, too!)

WHAT YOU GET:

One lucky winner will receive this gorgeous Brookish mug and your choice of book!




HOW TO WIN:

This is an easy peasy one, just let me know which book you would like with your Brookish mug if you win!

For additional entries:

(5) Twitter this post
(5) Blog about this contest; linking to this post
(5) Follow my blog

Let me know if you have done these things so I can give you additional entries. This contest is open to everyone.

DRAWING:

MIDNIGHT on Sunday, April 25th! Good luck!! CLOSED

Saving Second Base - things you can do everyday

The Daily Green asked Janet Gray, a professor at Vassar College and a board member of the Breast Cancer Fund for some simple tips that can help reduce your breast cancer risk factors. I thought it was important enough to repeat here.

Research shows that many risk factors play a role, including our genetic makeup and whether or not we've had kids or breast-fed. But, a substantial body of scientific evidence indicates that exposures to common chemicals and radiation, alone and in combination, may contribute to the high incidence of breast cancer.

1. Drink clean water. This means clean (filtered, if you don't like the taste) tap water and not bottled water.

Commercial water bottles often are made from plastics that leach chemicals like Bisphenol A (BPA), which is known to mimic hormones, and which has been linked to an increased risk for breast cancer. Leaching of chemicals from plastic bottles is particularly common when the plastic bottles are warm, as can happen when bottles sit in the sun. If you are using a plastic bottle and the water or other fluid inside it smells "plasticy", don’t drink it!

2. Use microwave safe containers. Despite the label on many plastic containers claiming that they are "microwave-safe"; use either glass or ceramic bowls for heating foods in a microwave oven. Even so-called "microwave safe" containers have been shown to leach Bisphenol A (BPA) when heated.

Laboratory studies with rats indicate that exposures to BPA, especially during prenatal through early adolescence, predispose an individual to increased risk for developing breast cancer.

3. Eat soy (but not too much). Most studies suggest that a regular intake of soy, especially during adolescence, as a well-integrated component of a regular diet (as opposed to a dietary supplement like a pill), may be protective against breast cancer. On the other hand, some studies examining the effects of ingesting high levels of soy supplements (e.g., genistein pills or isoflavone protein extracts) suggest that this may lead to changes that increase the risk of breast cancer.

4. Use natural cleaners. Many household cleaning products (including chlorine bleach) contain chemicals like alkylphenols (example: 4-nonylphenol) that are endocrine disruptors (chemicals that mimic hormones and have been implicated in increased risk for breast cancer) as well as toxins that affect both our brains and our reproductive systems.

5. Tune up your car. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are products of incineration found in air pollution, vehicle exhaust (especially diesel), tobacco, smoke and grilled foods. Exposures to PAHs, especially from vehicle exhaust and gasoline fumes, have been linked with increased incidence of breast cancer.

Exposure to high levels of PAHs either at the time of their first menstrual period or at the time they first gave birth, were associated with an increased risk of post-menopausal breast cancer in women decades later.

6. Eat clean fish. Foods that may contain high levels of PCBs and dioxins should be limited, especially for pregnant women and children. Both are known carcinogens that have been linked with increased risk for breast cancer. Although PCBs have been banned from production and use in the US since the 1970s, they remain in our environment, including our rivers and lakes.

Eat smaller varieties such as bluegill, pumpkinseed, stream trout, smelt, and yellow perch. Limit consumption of fish that are fattier (and more likely to accumulate PCBs) like lake trout, or fish that are bottom dwellers like catfish.

In general, careful preparation and cooking can reduce the amount of PCBs consumed. Fillet fish by removing as much fat as possible. Also cook using methods such as baking or broiling in a pan with a rack, rather than frying – frying may actually seal some of the toxic chemicals within the remaining fat of the fish.

7. Avoid (most) canned food. In addition to being found in many plastic bottles, BPA is also found in the epoxy resin liner of most canned foods. The BPA from this lining has been shown to leach into the vegetables in the can.

Eden Organic makes beans in cans that are BPA free, so why can't the other manufacturers do it, too?

8. Avoid dry cleaning chemicals. PERC is the most common chemical used at dry cleaning shops. It accumulates in our body fat and may therefore remain in our bodies for long periods of time

Don't buy clothes that need dry cleaning, check if your dry cleaner uses perc, if you get your clothes dry cleaned with perc or other organic substances, be sure to remove the plastic packaging from your clothes and air them out, preferably outside of your home. Also, many fabrics that say "dry clean only" don't really need it.

9. Use stainless steel or cast iron cookware. Aluminum is a metal that mimics estrogen. Labs have shown that aluminum can cause direct damage to DNA in several biological systems. Although studies have not shown a direct causal link between aluminum and breast cancer risk (little work has been done in this area), breast tissue has been shown to concentrate aluminum and it is found in highest levels in the quadrant of the breast near the underarm region, the same area where the highest proportion of breast cancers are originally diagnosed.

These tips seem very do-able to me and you may already be doing many of them. I didn't know about the aluminum cookware, but have been using mostly cast iron for other reasons for awhile now. Hoping this list gets us all thinking!

Thoughtful Thursday - Bling It On or How to Make a Lucky Number Necklace

This is a fun piece that I made for a friend's housewarming party (she collects gnomes), but it would also make a great idea for a lucky number or initial necklace!

My friend likes big jewelry, but this can also be made in a smaller size or would make a great accent piece hanging on a mirror or frame.

(and everyone needs at least one piece of big chunky jewelry in their closet, right, plus I know you are really into the industrial bling ... or was that Fergie?)


You will need:

1. metal house number (these come in all sizes)
2. hardware - washers, eyehooks, screws
3. doodads for hanging (beads, charms, etc)
4. neck chain
5. jump rings and slip rings
6. power drill (drill press preferred)
7. pliers




1. Decide on the placement for your doodads (bottom, sides, front) and mark your locations with a marker. Drill a hole (smaller then your eyehook) on the top for your chain and on the marks you have placed for your doodads.

2. Screw in your eyehooks and washers. Add slip rings or jump rings.

3. Add your chain and doodads.

Your only limit is your imagination- you can decoupage parts of the number and even hang your number horizontally for added interest!

No Whining on Wednesday or keeping things balanced and maybe even easy to quit

When I was growing up my mom didn't work.

Now, I say it this way because I know you will know what I mean, and of course, she did work. She did the hardest work of all.

She was not a good example of a "happy to be at home raising her family" kind of mom. She was bored.

This boredom led to depression and some other negative stuff, but it also led to alot of fun, crazy good stuff which came from her innate creativity and forced isolation.

But, I grew up thinking that working (and being out of the house) was probably a good thing.

When my daughter was very little I was working for a bank. Her good friend's mom took a job as a crossing guard, but because it was a pain in the neck going back and forth to her crossing guard stop all day long, she quit after a few days.

Now, this was all at a time when I was working alot and probably lacking a certain balance and my daughter would ask me sometimes often to quit my job.

So, anyhoo, she was with me at the bank one day (maybe a take your daughter to work day, I don't remember) and a bigshot vp was visiting my branch and she was asking all the daughters what they wanted to be when they grew up. And Sue's daughter said, "a doctor" and Theresa's daughter said "a lawyer" and the vp was nodding and smiling and then she asked my daughter and my daughter said "a crossing guard"

and when the startled vp asked her why, she replied, "because it's easy to quit."

(gulp)

Now, years after I ditched all that (or it ditched me, truthfully), I am working long hours again and feeling that lack of balance, "not easy to quit" thing creeping back into my life.

Yesterday, I had a rather lively debate about this exact subject- yes, with another person -

(Olive was sleeping)

who believes that because we are doing what we love (and hoping that the money will follow) there is almost no such thing as working too much.

(of course, this guy was also eating a box of raisins at the bagel shop and I haven't seen an actual person over 24" tall eat raisins out of the box like that in a very long time, also I should mention that the box was gigantic)

but, I don't get out much- maybe raisin popping is the new thing.

I have a feeling (and a knowing actually) that work that you love because your soul needs to do this thing and work that you love because you can make the payments on your cute little Prius can both become ... too much

and this "too much" thing can happen very quickly and soon you are not doing the things you used to do (and you loved those things, too) - no trips to the library, no long bike rides, no painting your peeling wicker porch chairs, no trying out those new recipes, too many no's for a life where you are committed to saying yes.

So, I am re-balancing again and thinking this is just another process without an endzone and knowing that being so far left right now means I may need a very big push right to swing back to center.

(does anyone have an extra ticket to Hawaii they won't be using?)

So, after our lively debate, which consisted in quite a bit of raisin flinging on his part, I was finally able to extricate myself from the conversation by maneuvering toward the condiment counter to get a lemon slice for my tea.

Suddenly, someone next to me was announcing, “Well my daughter had her baby.”

(surely she wasn't talking to me because I didn’t even know she had a daughter, but, yes, I turned around and there it was- eye contact)

My response was something like, “Hey, do you know where they keep the straws?”

and she continued, "She wasn’t plannin’ on having a baby but she was takin’ medicine for her urinary tract infections and that messed with her birth control and she got pregnant.

Me - smile, nod, *crickets*

(I sometimes go pre-verbal when forced into an actual face to face conversation involving the word urinary and infection and yes, this happens to me quite often, I live in New Jersey, remember)

"The labor was quick though. She was already real dilated by the time she got to the hospital. That baby pretty much just dropped on out."

and then she grabbed her crossing guard stop sign and headed out the door.

I guess some people just don't know when to quit.


1. Vintage children in crosswalk pic from TheVintageMode
2. Quitter card by RedLetterInk
3. Cinnamon Bagel Earrings by 3Squares
4. I am an artist, not a waitress ring set by KathrynRiechert
5. Get a job dress by PaulaLaFargue