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I did it. I ordered my wedding invitations! Thankfully I avoided a bridezilla moment when I found out the Orla invitations are out of stock for a few months — the InviteSite team recommended the Carmine style as an alternative, and after receiving the sample, I like the Carmine just as much as the Orla, if not more. The tree-free mulberry wrapper is a gorgeous deep shade of red, and I chose the chocolate brown taffeta ribbon (red ribbon is shown on the site). Plus, the ribbon will be much easier for my clumsy hands to tie than the raffia that comes with the Orla.
The printing is underway; and I should receive the entire kit — with vegetable-based-ink-printed recycled invitations and reception cards, tree-free wrappers, recycled envelopes and ribbon – ready for assembly, in time to mail the invitations in June.
Yay!
The name Miessence has popped up in a few places I’ve been recently, from the Skin Deep database to greenhome.huddler.com. And since I’m very nosy and need to know what the hub-bub is about, I went directly to miessence.com to get the scoop.
Miessence (pronounced MY-essence) is the skin-care division of Organic and Natural Enterprise Group (ONEgroup), manufacturer of the first certified organic lines of health-, skin-, personal- and hair-care products. Many organic advocates recommend that you look for the USDA Organic label on organic items — and Miessence products are independently certified organic by the USDA, the Australian Certified Organic organization and Europe’s International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM). While not all products are certified by all three organizations, many are certified by at least one or two. (To be labeled “organic,” the USDA requires that a product must contain at least 95 percent organic ingredients. A pretty rigorous standard compared to most.)
The certification standards alone were enough to get me interested in trying some of the products. However, I thought about the environmental repercussions of ordering online from a company based in Australia — the shipping alone leaves a rather large carbon footprint, despite the fact that its U.S. distribution center is in Nevada. Apparently ONEgroup is just as concerned as I am, if not more. All freight-shipping activity is offset by tree planting through Greenfleet, and the manufacturing plants are powered by wind sources to reduce CO2 production. Plus, product packaging is PVC-free and made from recycled glass and plastic. While I’m still not crazy about ordering items that require shipping, these factors eased my mind about the impact it has on the environment.
So, yes … I did indeed order a handful of items. I’m saying goodbye to my Method hand soap and body wash, my Kiss My Face deodorant, my Avalon Organics moisturizer, and my Aveda Tourmaline Charged exfoliating scrub, and replacing them all with the Miessence equivalents. I was happily surprised to discover that I’m not required to buy the products through a local rep. The option to sign up with a rep is available, but unlike other home-based-business companies, I didn’t have to know someone who sells Miessence before I could order.
I received my order yesterday (UPS 3Day Select shipping: awesome!) and promptly tried the foaming hand wash upon opening my package. I’ve never had cleaner or nicer-smelling hands. Plus, there’s a refill available, so I can reuse and refill the pump. Love it. The garnet exfoliant was remarkably effective, and I am one tough cookie when it comes to evaluating face washes and scrubs. And the purifying moisturizer was light, oil-free and absorbed quickly. No greasy buildup in my T-zone. Again, I’m ruthless about moisturizers working properly. Lastly, my delicate underarms stayed dry all day thanks to the Tahitian Breeze roll-on deodorant. I smelled a little bit like a pine tree this morning — from the moisturizer and deodorant — but it’s a pleasant scent I can handle, and the scent from both dissipates rather quickly. It’s reminiscent of times spent at the cabin during my childhood. And hey, if the products work, who cares if for 10 minutes I smell like I (lightly) rolled in some pine sap?
I’m very pleased with what I’ve tried so far, and I’m super impressed with ONEgroup as a sustainable, environmentally conscious company. I will certainly be ordering more Miessence.
Organic skin-care products that are safe and that work — who knew?
[Edited 3/20/09. I inadvertently said I purchased the purifying skin conditioner, when I actually purchased the purifying moisturizer. Error corrected.]
More food-related blibbity-blah today. I just received a really cool thank-you email from Driftless Organics, confirming my membership! The owners seem really committed to keeping their members informed and up-to-date on the farm goings-on, which is pretty dang awesome. It’s great to know what they’re up to, and that they’re just as excited for the growing season to start as we are.
In addition to maintaining its well-organized and thorough website, Driftless Organics started a blog to communicate to members on a regular basis. OnePotatoTwo is the perfect way for me to check in and get to know the farmers. Love that.
Tally ho! We’re on our way! I’m feeling really good about choosing Driftless Organics for my inaugural CSA season.
Mississippi Market saved my sanity today.
I spent at least an hour and a half scouring the Coborn’s Delivers site to determine if grocery delivery was a viable and economical option. The name has been stuck in my head since the Minnesota Public Radio membership drive — I heard the Coborn’s sponsorship announced countless times over the air. Plus, I wanted to explore another local business. Needless to say, my search was somewhat frustrating; the site does have a “natural/organic” category, but there are limited brand and quantity options (I don’t need 32 oz. of chicken, thank you). I filled my cart with as much organic stuff as I could and supplemented with non-organic where necessary. But by the time I got to the checkout, I hesitated, wondering if perhaps Mississippi Market would have what I was looking for, for less. I really didn’t know if Coborn’s prices would be comparable to brick-and-mortar grocery stores, or if the prices are inflated to reflect the delivery costs.
Since my conscience was telling to me to stop and think, I did just that and emptied the cart. Despite the fact that I hadn’t showered or even brushed my hair, I still donned my jacket and drove off to Mississippi Market with a printout of the Coborn’s list to compare prices. I am so glad I did! I came home with more items for the same price and didn’t have to sacrifice organic items to do so.
And the best part? I finally joined the co-op. I’d been mulling it over since we moved back to St. Paul and knew I’d do it eventually. I shopped at MM the first few years I lived in St. Paul, so I knew the selection was good and the prices were fair.
I was a member of the East Side Co-op when I lived in Northeast Minneapolis, but the membership doesn’t really do me any good in St. Paul. (I know I can get a membership refund, but there’s a long and complicated story behind why I haven’t done it.) Now, when I shop at MM, I can say, “Yes!” when the cashier asks me if I’m a member, instead of sheepishly saying, “I’m a member at East Side.” And I’ll be a member-owner in my own community. Sweet.
Yes! I have buy-off from Doug, and we are going to submit a member application to Driftless Organics for their 2009 CSA.
I mulled over the information yesterday, and calculated the weekly cost to be about $17. If I were to buy organic produce at Whole Foods or Kowalski’s, I’d spend at least that or more every week. Plus, I’m horrible at deciding which vegetables to buy at the store — I can never make up my mind on what would be good to eat that week. Having the every-other-week CSA box will motivate me to do more meal planning around what we get in each box. (We decided that a weekly box would be too much for two people to consume.)
I’m really looking forward to this!
I had a chance to look over the Land Stewardship Project’s CSA brochure (downloaded as a PDF from the LSP’s website). After leafing through the 40-plus pages of CSA listings, I think I may have found one that fits our needs.
Driftless Organics in Soldiers Grove, Wis., offers an every-other-week share at a reasonable price, with the option to split the cost into two payments. I don’t think we need a full box every week, since there are only two adults in our household — so it wouldn’t be practical for us to buy a full weekly share. And the St. Paul pickup site is close to home, which is ideal. They also offer specialty boxes, such as a Thanksgiving box and beef boxes (of organic, pastured beef!).
I nearly did a backflip when I saw that parsnips are available — I’ve had a fondness for parsnips since a scrumptious meal at The Crafstman introduced me to them a little over a year ago. I am intrigued by the prospect of learning to cook with them.
I think my overworked brain would benefit from sleeping on this thought, before I instinctively pull the trigger on the application form, as I am usually wont to do when it comes to making and acting on decisions.
There are days when I really wish the previous residents of my house would submit a permanent address change to the Post Office, but today is not one of them, for once! I went into the office to grab my laptop and spotted the misdelivered “mix” newsletter from the Twin Cities Natural Food Co-ops association. And lo and behold, the cover story is “The ABCs of CSAs.” How appropos, given the suggestions I’ve received based on my recent “meat research” posts.
As I presumed, there are several CSAs within Minnesota, and a handful of local co-ops are having CSA fairs this spring, where consumers can meet the farmers and see which CSA best fits their needs.
Needless to say, I will be doing some research to see if this is a viable option for us — I am totally on board with the concept and would love to give it a try.
I don’t think I can wait for the Seward Co-op’s fair the last weekend in April (because I’m an anxious, compulsive weirdo), so once I return from the gym tonight, I plan to check out the following websites for more information:
More to come, once I’ve had a chance to work off my nervous energy and focus on this newly discovered option.
Holy cow. Add another hash mark in the “love it!” column for invitesite.com. I requested a sample invitation on Friday and received it yesterday — how’s that for a quick turnaround?
Not only that, but I absolutely love the invitation style, so much in fact, that I’m looking no further. I posted a link to the Orla save-the-date booklet on Friday, but ordered a sample of the standard invitation — which actually uses less printed paper, surprisingly. One piece of cardstock, that’s it.
Mom and I decided that it will be best for InviteSite to do the printing, as well, so the invitations will be offset-printed with vegetable-based inks. The outer paper is made from tree-free mulberry and mango leaves, and the card stock is 100% post-consumer recycled content. (I could say, “You can’t get more green than that,” but I guarantee someone would come up with something to beat it. Nevertheless, it satisfies my criteria for green.)
This is the invitation in its “packaged” form:
And opened:
Gorgeous, and green! Love it.
I had a minor bout of waffling between electronic and printed wedding invitations today. Doug and I are getting married in September, and we’re trying to be green in any way possible within our modest budget (compared with today’s standards). We originally planned to limit the number of printed wedding invitations, not only to save money, but to save on printing and paper usage and the carbon footprint made by mailing the invites. We split our guest list into groups of: to whom we could send electronic invites (friends and co-workers) and to whom would expect mailed ones (family). We’ve eliminated the need to mail RSVPs by creating a “wedding website” where all of our guests will RSVP online.
However, I thought today that we could perhaps do away with all printed invitations. And then I thought, no, we probably can’t. Well, my mother settled that argument by insisting on printed invitations for guests who are invited to the ceremony. (We have a large group of guests invited only to the reception and a smaller ceremony-only list.)
Shortly before I called Mom to ask her opinion, I googled “eco-friendly wedding invitations” and found invitesite.com. I am extremely impressed with this company! It offers tree-free and 100% recycled invitations, and prints with vegetable-based inks. The owners are committed to sustainable business practices, as well. Sounds like an all-around green effort, which is awesome.
And while reading about InviteSite’s printing processes, I learned that letterpress is a very efficient way to print — there’s very little waste paper, and the process requires a minimal amount of ink. Fortunately, the invitation style I like can be printed with letterpress.
Since all of the details of our wedding are on our website, we don’t need to print all of the information on the invitation. This means we can choose a smaller size; I think we can use a save-the-date booklet in lieu of a traditional invitation size.
I was hoping to incorporate some orange tones in my color scheme, despite the fact that I don’t actually have a color scheme. All I want are autumn tones. As luck would have it, InviteSite offers this save-the-date booklet in a gorgeous burnt-orange color, made from tree-free mulberry and mango paper:
Orla Save the Date
If I order this style, I’ll also have the chance to flex my fledgling crafty muscles — it’s a DIY kit that requires assembly.
These invitations would be for ceremony-goers only, which cuts the count of printed invitations from 85 to 60. I’ve ordered a sample and will follow up once it arrives. This may be the solution to balancing my desire for green choices and my mother’s desire for some convention. 
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