Seventh Gen asks you to Line Dry

An interesting campaign recently launched by Seventh Generation challenged Americans to wash their clothes in cold water and line dry, for a month. I came across the campaign today in Elaine Wong's write up in BrandWeek.



It reminded me of how nice it was to live a bit simpler while I was abroad in Rome, Italy. There you have a small washer, but no dryer. As a rule, you try not to use a lot of electricity as a resident in Rome, and it was nice to be 'forced' to hang dry your clothes. The one thing that helped though, was that every tub had a pull out drying rack making it really easy to line dry your clothes in one of the bathrooms in the apartment. It also helped that the washers were small to begin with, and the dryer wasn't an option like I mentioned above. As a consumer in the US, I know that even if I took the Seventh Generation line dry challenge, I would eventually give in to at least a little fluff in the dryer of my stiff, line dried clothes.

With that said, it is a nice small step towards conservation that anyone can take. If not everyday, all month, but as a regular alternative - in mass that can make a great difference in energy consumption.

Funny meeting you here...

So, I'm back. We will see how often I post - but I kinda missed my blog. Started a joint blog with a friend with more commercial goals and quickly learned I was not committed to making that something that would take off. I just don't care that much about beauty or fashion. I did like having the opportunity to share personal stories and things I have learned - but maybe I can do that here, within reason. The more interesting things I learn are how to be a better adult, everyday. Which ironically includes how to remain a kid while your world grows around you.

I was on one of my favorite sites today - Creativity-online.com - and came across a video on the iPad and how designers are building new ways to interact with old mediums, like books. It inspired me to log back in, post the video, so I have it forever ;)

Before I embed it below - a quick note on those random Palm and Mercedes posts that keep popping up. My lovely fiance is starting a company and regularly uses my blog as a testing ground. I hope you find it as charming as I do.

Julia



Atomic Antelope for the Alice In Wonderland iPad app

Great Toyota Ad

Bet there were some funny outtakes...

If you were wondering...

You will notice I haven't been posting for a while. It's not because I don't come across beautiful things I want to blog about. It's because I have been cheating on my own blog, with another blog. A friend and I decided to start a blog for women, all about what it means to grow up, as two ladies in the city, working hard and changing from college graduates, to career women, to fiances, to wives, etc. etc. This seems to be top of mind for me nowadays - with work, life and love speeding ahead like a locomotive.

I will continue to use this blog as a place to document the beautiful things I come across or discover that I simply need to document - but probably not as often as I used to. I can't imagine many people are reading this blog though - are you?

If you are - let me know - because if it turns out I have actually inspired anyone along the way - you will inspire me right back - to keep on posting the things I see, learn and love. For now you can find me at lulubate.com, if you dare. It's certainly a little less grounded than this safe haven of a blog.

Look Mom, No Hands!

Learn something new everyday. Apparently synchronized bicycle riding is a sport. Certainly looks like it takes talent. I don't want to know what it looks like when someone is first entering into this sport. Think about it, ouch.

via Geekologie

The Stamp Making Continues

It is official, I have a dream. I officially want to start, work with, design, merchandise or manage a stationary company. This stationary company will support my jewelry line, boutique, and blog. It will be a Julia Brand Franchise - and I will be happy. I say all this with a bit of sarcasm, but I am actually finding my way towards what I love and thinking through the details in my freetime - which admittedly is limited :)

It's interesting though, how sales, an understanding of social media in every essence of the word, and a love for design and creating things is leading me towards something I am very excited about - my own dream.

I will chip away at it, one piece at a time, and in the meantime enjoy making things again.

Last night I made another stamp design. As a friend pointed out - this is not the most economical way to write a letter - but there is so much to be said for something handmade. You get so much joy out of it. And, I am experimenting with the designs and colors and shapes that I love - and deciding to dream big.

I'm clearly not as serious about my photography efforts yet, with these low budge pics, but took a few iPhone shots while making some new designs last night.

Enjoy.

Cooliris - a visual thinker's dream

Just learned of CoolIris through Ad Age this morning and I must say I'm hooked. Not only did I find the advertisements on the browser cool - but I felt like I could find any video or picture on the web I may desire.

Then, I clicked 'My Computer' and saw every single picture on my computer displayed in this easy to navigate format. It was way faster and more navigable than iPhoto.

The one thing I found annoying was that I could not get embed code for some of the vids I discovered and wanted to share on this blog.

But I was able to get the below code in order to embed a wall directly into this post.

Pretty cool stuff. Go to coloriris.com to download and start browsing.

Enjoy!