Not your average brown bag

{A b.happy bag in the Leslie pattern}

I'm managing a big event in Chicago in a couple of weeks, and among the schwag are these fantastic, upholstery-grade, 100% cotton, made-in-the-USA grocery (etc.) bags from b.happybags. We ordered three different fabrics (because we couldn't decide on just one) and hopefully there won't be too many fistfights over who gets which pattern. I'm partial to this pattern, since I have a thing for Jacobean prints, and I think the plaid on the side is not as Burberry-ish as it looks in this pic.

b.happybags was started by two Phoenix-area women whose goal in producing these bags "is to appeal to the people that think you have to don your Birkenstocks to make a wise post consumer decision." Plus its way cooler to carry your cat litter in a Pucci-inspired tote.

The last thing I need, however, is another cotton grocery bag. I have been bringing my own bags to the grocery store for about 6 months now, and while I occasionally have need of a paper grocery sack to store the newspapers before recycling, for the most part it has been an easy switch for me. And I actually remember to bring them into the store with me 99% of the time. I keep them all in my trunk in a tote-shaped basket with leather handles that I use for heavier canned goods.

Okay, maybe just one more bag...

Happy Birthday Shakespeare

{The esteemed Bill S., doesn't look a day over 443.

Portrait attributed to John Taylor. Pic from Tudor History}

My first encounter with The Bard was at McDonalds when I was in grammar school. No, he was not shakin' down the Hamburglar for some change so he could buy an apple pie. He was, however, plastered all over the place in a 1970s Tudorbethan fantasy of "stained glass" windows and half-timbering, interspersed with stencils of famous lines from his plays. Very Merrie Olde England.

Why, you may ask (and I did when I was a kid) was this place an homage to Shakespeare? Because it was in a town called Stratford, named for the fair city over the pond, home of the Globe Theater abroad and the (now defunct) American Shakespeare Theater here. Back in the day, my parents tell me, the AST was the place for great theater in the region, Shakespeare or otherwise. Folks drove for miles to see Christopher Plummer, John Houseman, Lynn Redgrave, etc. perform on its stage, and restaurants in the area did a brisk trade in pre- and post-theater dining. The Bard became a bit of a theme and I guess McD's just jumped on the bandwagon.

I half remember someone's birthday party (mine perhaps? Third grade?), sitting with a group of classmates in two booths that spanned the end of the aisle. We took turns eating each other's fries (back when they were cooked in beef fat and quite tasty) and reading the quotes on the wall, but we were too young to understand them or their references, and too engrossed in our smorgasboard to care. Fast food was a rare treat then, and going to McDonald's for someone's birthday was a novelty. We were easily entertained.

Table for 4 please, in the "Rose by Any Other Name" section if you have it.

Every day is Earth Day

{aluminum oxygen tanks abandoned on top of the world become Bells of Everest}

Okay, I won't even get started on the whole commercialism of Earth Day, aka, the new Christmas. Ick. Is this really a reason for a sale at Home Depot? Or Best Buy? Or Bob's Matresses? I'm ashamed of our culture sometimes.

Here is one of my favorite executions of recycling: take something that is almost impossible to discard (because of the inaccessibility of proper disposal - read Jon Krakauer's Into Thin Air if you haven't already to understand the lethal beauty and futility of climbing Everest). Bells of Everest, located in Maine, collects discarded aluminum oxygen tanks and turns them into unique bells and gorgeous bowls. Even the scraps from separating the two halves get made into lovely ornaments. I love the idea of taking something so utilitarian and turning it into something beautiful when its useful life is over, rather than letting it forever litter the side of a mountain. If you can't make it to the top of the world, at least a bit of it can come to you.

{the bottom of a tank makes a stunning bowl, from Bells of Everest}

Black and white and I toile you so

{meghan fabric from Rubie Green}

There is something so refreshing about a crisp black and white print, especially when it is something unexpected like these pineapples from Rubie Green. "Rubie Green" is actually 25 (!!!) year old Michelle Adams, a former Domino market editor who left the publishing biz to pursue her dream of designing beautiful upholstery fabrics and producing them in an eco-friendly way.

{Country Life fabric by Waverly}

When I first moved to my current apartment I stiched up drapes and a duvet cover in Waverly's black and white Country Life toile, a pattern I have loved-loved-loved forever (and by "forever" I mean waaay before toile went from being "classic" to "the latest trend" to "ubiquitous" to "so passe you can find it at Ocean State Job Lot"). Now it seems commonplace and pedestrian. Thankfully the other side of the duvet is natural muslin, which looks great with the new natural muslin drapes and coffee-with-extra-milk walls. Someday I may feel the toile love again, and I'll flip the duvet over and rehang the drapes and be ahead of the curve. Everything old is new again, n'est pas?

An Engineer's Guide to Cats

If you have, know or love a cat (or an engineer) you will appreciate this video.