Repost: Simple Pinecone Centerpiece

Repost from February 2009 here. Pine cones can also be used as holiday decor on the table, the mantle, or just around the home.
Here is a simple and interesting centerpiece idea. Pine cones placed around a votive candle. This couples wedding was in Yosemite, so it's very fitting with the decor, but it could work with any outdoor, woodsy theme.

Photo from Joel Flory

Vintage Lamps and Shades Remade

Holiday traffic at the mall is a b*tch and fighting for a parking spot can cause any decent woman to suddenly engage in all out warfare, armed with a handbag and a mascara wand. So unless you relish that kind of thing (and if you do, you're messed up in the head - just kidding - okay, not really), take advantage of the net this holiday season!

The next few weeks I'll be highlighting some awesome eco-happy gifts. My first pick? Check out Linwood Avenue for handmade lamps and shades, made from repurposed materials.

RE-Post: Healthy Monday - Pre Wedding Earth Friendly Meditation and Relaxation

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! As we had into the New Year, and things start to get hectic, I wanted to share with you this old 2007 post - a simple reminder about taking care of yourself.

While planning my own wedding, I remember having some incredibly stressful moments. And if you're a bride-to-be, you probably understand what I'm talking about. So on this Friday, I want to leave you with the reminder that being earth friendly isn't just about taking care of the earth, it's also about taking of yourself. It's important to take time to De-stress and the best way to do this is by focusing on your own needs. Need a little quiet time? Block out some time to just veg out on the couch with a good book. Feeling ridiculously overwhelmed? Release some of that toxic energy by going for a jog or head to the gym for a cardio or yoga class. Not feeling so great? Try treating yourself to some organic veggies and fruits. Meditation, which is essentially the practice of clearing your mind, is also an avenue to explore. If you want to learn more, visit Dharma Crafts, a great place to find earth friendly meditation supplies and gifts as well as a thorough list of learning resources!
Happy Friday!

Happy (almost) Thanksgiving + Surfing: Delectable Delights

It's almost Thanksgiving! It was this time last year that Mr. J (aka the hubby) and I surprised my parents and in-laws with the news that I was pregnant. It's hard to believe my little munchkin is now here and nearly four months old! While I would love to launch into my own personal narrative explaining all I have to be thankful for, I think I will simply offer up a moment for you to just sit quietly and ruminate on what you have been blessed with. Even the most mundane things are worth being thankful for if they put a smile on your face. Do you have a job you love? Find a great pair of shoes on sale? A fiance that helps with the dishes?

What do you have to be thankful for this holiday season?

I'll be taking a blogging break for the rest of the week! See you on Monday! Enjoy this list of delectable delights until then. :)

Rutabaga Soup from Everybody Likes Sandwiches

Homemade Baileys from Eat Boutique

Perfect Pancakes from Lottie + Doof

IndieWed Black Friday Sale!

Going to IndieWed in Chicago? Need tickets? There is a black friday sale! Purchase tickets here and enter blackfriday (one word) where it asks for a discount code. The one day special is 50% off the general admission ticket prices.

Using Succulents for Your Wedding

I know I've written about this before, but if you plan to do your own wedding flowers, you may want to pick something that can be done a few weeks or days in advance. Floral arrangements usually have to be put together the day of or the day before the wedding, otherwise they die or wilt and just look ugly. Nobody wants ugly flowers.

An alternative? Succulents! I've also written about succulents before, but their compact structure, easy care, and hardy nature really make them ideal for the DIY wedding. They can be assembled early on and you can actually be very creative with them. For example, this bride has her bridesmaids carrying small, potted succulents. Pretty awesome! Check out all the pictures (it's truly worth it) at Jesi Haack Weddings.

Healthy Monday: The Benefits to Cutting Back On Meat

Reposting from November 2009! Enjoy! :)
As I am writing this post, I am starving. It's 12 pm on Saturday and I've got lunch on the brain. I came across this awesome recipe for vegetarian bolognese (scrap the beef and use lentils!) and to say I am craving a lentil packed pasta dish now would be an understatement. I thought I would take advantage of my hunger induced attitude to share with you the benefits of cutting back on meat. (And I know some of my readers are already vegetarians, so please feel free to add your 2 cents in the comments.)

First off, the health benefits are a plenty. According to MeatlessMonday.com, replacing meat with foods lower in saturated fats can reduce your chance of heart disease and keep your cholesterol low. It can also help you maintain a healthier weight and improve the overall quality of your diet.

Zucchini Cakes from EatBoutique.com

Secondly, there are environmental benefits to reducing your meat intake. MeatlessMonday.com writes, "United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization estimates the meat industry generates nearly one-fifth of the man-made greenhouse gas emissions that are accelerating climate change worldwide . . . far more than transportation." Another issue is the large amounts of water required by livestock. Cutting back on meat will allow us to minimize water usage, as well as cut back on fossil fuel dependence.

Now, I've tried the vegetarian route and honestly, I couldn't do it. But my husband and I do try to have meatless meals once or twice a week. It's not as daunting as you might think. Dawn Jackson Blatner has a great little article on how to ease the transition.

Saturday's Question: Making Your Own Cleaning Products

I've been loving the feedback so far on the "Saturday's Questions." Thank you for taking the time to leave your own comments and input.

Have you ever made your own cleaning products, such as laundry detergent, soap, all purpose cleaner, etc...? If so, did it work well? If packaged nicely, would you enjoy receiving this as a gift from a friend?


Want to ask our readers a question about wedding or eco etiquette? E-mail your question to jns721@gmail.com, as well as a link to your blog or website (if you like), and we'll post it!

Eco Honeymoons + Getting Too Close to Nature

I spent my honeymoon in a place that was as just as close to nature as the Pacuare Lodge (shown below). It was absolutely beautiful and there were mornings I woke to light-footed lizards and fascinating frogs scampering around our cottage. But on a romantic evening out at an on-the-dock kind of restaurant, I got a little too close to nature. I was enjoying my meal when all of a sudden I felt something resembling tiny little toothpicks quickly scampering up my leg. I think some part of me realized that whatever was on me was fairly large, so I screamed and jumped in an effort to shake off said toothpick-leg thingy. After coming to my senses, I looked around to realize that the entire restaurant, which was quite small and intimate, was staring at me. No joke, folks. Right then a waiter rushes over and promptly stomps on what I can only describe as the cockroach's exotic, evil twin, but bigger and uglier and scarier and creepier... you get my point.

Anyway, I love nature. Just not that kind of nature. I still totally advocate an eco-honeymoon and the Pacuare Lodge looks so beautiful!

Imagine having your own treehouse honeymoon suite!


Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Read: How to plan an eco-friendly wedding, from Brides.com

Pretty: Organic Wreaths

Yummy: Perfect for the holidays

Wedding Ideas: Saving memories

DIY: Winter holiday decorations

Craft: My favorite sewing pattern shop (right now)

RePost: Bye Bye to Big and Poofy!

...and hello to sweet and sexy!

There isn't anything particularly earth-friendly about these dresses, I just like to see brides embrace their own style.





Photo credits from top to bottom:
1st photo: Found via A Cup of Jo - Samuelle Couture
2nd photo: Found via Style Me Pretty , photographer Dustin Todd
3rd photo: Elisabeth Millay
4th Photo: Jessamyn Harris

Simple DIY Cake Stand

Hello friends! I hope your week is going well thus far! Things are gloomy, rainy, and chilly here in Georgia. Looks like our gorgeous Fall weather is coming to an end. I'm thinking sunny thoughts today and what better way to do it with a happy, bright yellow DIY project. Eat Drink Pretty has a tutorial for a cake stand (see below), but honestly this project is so amazingly simple you barely need the tutorial. Great part about it? It allows you to re-purpose old stuff around the home. I love me some eco-easy DIY projects!

Tis The Season...

Thanksgiving is almost here and you know what that means! Soon we'll be bombarded with twenty-four hour Christmas music, jingling Santas, and crazy traffic at the mall. But 'tis the season to be jolly. The Christmas music isn't so bad in limited quantities, the Santas offer a welcome smile, and who needs mall traffic when you can do all your shopping online! If you're starting to look for gifts, the eco-friendly SusyJack offers great stocking stuffer-ish items, such as recycled notepads, calenders and correspondence.

SusyJack Wall Calendar

SusyJack Notesets

SusyJack Pencil Holder

The Weekend and Radiolab

Healthy Monday is a bit of a bust today and I do apologize for it. For those of you don't know, I write my posts a day or two ahead of time, so writing for Healthy Monday always falls on the weekend. And you would think that two days would be enough time for me to write something. Anything! But here it is, Sunday at 9 pm, and I'm writing to apologize. My lovely little baby, Sophia, keeps me busy. Very busy. And so does work. I feel like a La-hoo-ser (did anyone love Ace Venture as much as I did? Recently watched it again, but wasn't that impressed...). This blog is the only claim to fame I have. After I am dead and gone, people will read this awesome blog (yeah, that's right, I said awesome! Don't burst my bubble!) and say, "That was the best thing Jennifer Stambolsky ever created."

Okay, I'm kidding. I really hope my child is the best thing I ever produce. No pressure there, Sophia.

Don't worry, I'm not going to leave you with nothing of interest for today. If you have any mind-numbing work to do, like data entry, house cleaning, or you just have a long commute and need something to listen to, check out Radio Lab. Also available on iTunes, the podcasts are free. Each episode investigates a curiosity, which usually yields captivating results. Seriously, it's the best thing on radio since... I'm too tired to finish that sentence.

Saturday's Question: What's Your Take on Wedding Trends?

Every Saturday I'll feature a question and ask you lovely readers to weigh in. Do you have a dilemma? E-mail your question to jns721@gmail.com, and a link to your blog or website if you have one, and will post it!

It seems the color blue and purple is a trend in the wedding world lately. When planning your wedding, do you take trends into consideration or do you purposefully steer clear of them?

Handmade Pottery, Great as Gifts of for your (cup)Cake

If you ever tell anyone that you've tried the pottery wheel, or that you like the pottery wheel, or hell, if you've even seen a pottery wheel, your conversation will quickly turn to, "Oh, you mean like in that scene in Ghost where Demi Moore is at the pottery wheel." What is it about that scene that makes it so memorable!?


I took pottery classes in college (part of the wonderful, but underrated Bachelor of Fine Arts degree) and I adored it. Unfortunately, I was not nearly as talented as Whitney Smith. I love her use of color and her work's slightly whimsical, but sophisticated nature. She offers up some lovely cupcake stands, cake stands, bowls, vases, and plates.

Have a fantastic weekend everyone!

Moolah: Get $10.00 off when you spend $100 at Soapwalla, use promo code JS10

Reading: Online Holiday E-zines, chock full of delicious DIY

Wedding Idea: Floral free centerpieces

More Moolah: 10% off at Le Chic Wedding Boutique with code LCB10

Event: The best thing in Chicago in January - IndieWed

Beautiful: Anthropologie inspired wedding

Eco: Six eco-Facebook pages that could make a difference

My New Obsession: Pinterest (my boards are here)

Yummy: Pumpkin Cream Pies

DIY: Painted Luminaries

Eco Twine

Eco-craft alert! 100% cotton baker's twine - lots of great colors and a simple way to dress up any package. You could also use it to tie up your boyfriend, fiance, or husband. Not that anyone of us would ever do that... :)



If you don't want to tie anyone up, it's also great for crafting. Check out their flickr pool and blog for ideas and inspiration.

Out of the Woods: Eco-Friendly Wedding Accessories

Wow! Thank you everyone for the great feedback about your own birth control pill experiences! I'm really glad to know I'm not alone in my hesitancy to start taking it again. I was thinking that in all the negativity about it (which I certainly share), it ultimately did allow women more personal freedom, but for the time being I plan to continue to stay off of it.

Anyway, on to wedding things! Below are a few eco-tree wedding accessories to contribute to a woodsy theme. Each of the items were found at Le Chic Wedding Boutique and you'll find links below.

Eco-Rustic Cake Stand
Wood Escort Card Holder
Wood Gift Tags
Rustic Table Number Holders

Make Your Own Wedding Cake

Is it safe to say that frugality is now trendy? I keep seeing headlines that start with, "In this economy...," which only serves to remind us that times are tough, at least for some. And DIY is now nearly the norm when it comes to weddings. DIY flowers and stationery are pretty common, but what about the cake? I recently came across an awesome wedding where the bride had made a tiered lemon cake, recipe and instructions courtesy of Martha Stewart, but now I can't find the blog I saw it at. Anyone know what I'm talking about?

Anyway, the Hungry Housewife made an awesome cake from Martha (shown below), and although it was for her (non "girly-boy") husband's birthday, this pretty ruffle cake would do quite well for a small wedding. She says the icing is amazing and piping it around the cake is easy facheezy.


Want to dive into the cake batter a little more? Here are some DIY tutorials:
An oldie, but a goodie: Tiered cake post from Melissa at Masterpiece Weddings.
Cake Boss on TLC: How to Make a Wedding Cake.
Epicurious: One of the great foodie websites weighs in.
Fancy Shmancy: Southern Living's Wedding Cake Recipes.

Healthy Monday: Share your experience or opinion on birth control pills.

photo by Stacey Lynn Baum

Today's Healthy Monday post is a little more personal, and very female oriented (so for the one guy that reads my blog - my husband - he can sit this one out). I'm just going to jump right into it: After having my baby in July, I have yet to go back on the birth control pill and honestly, I'm not sure I want to. Call me crazy for being a little skeptical about ingesting synthetic hormones nearly everyday, but every doctor or nurse I have spoken to backs the pill religiously. A few years ago I wanted to try a different pill, but when I asked the nurse if it's okay to stop the pill cold turkey, she incredulously asked if I was trying to get pregnant, because "otherwise there is no reason to go off the pill." What the...? No reason at all? Well, I had a couple of my own reasons, but one was because I heard Dolly Parton blamed her birth control pills for causing depression. Okay, okay... I really like Dolly, but I'll admit she's not exactly the pinnacle of medical information. This led me to do a little google digging for info, but I found it was hard to find conclusive evidence on whether or not birth control pills are safe. I did come across this haunting tune: Cancer.org's suggests that recent use of birth control pills can slightly increase your risk of breast cancer.
I promise I'm not about to use Monday as my own sounding off day, but I can't actually post a conclusive healthy-or-not type of post about this. So instead I thought I'd ask your opinion? Am I alone here? Anyone else feel a little weird about BCP? Or do the benefits outweigh any supposed risks? Feel free to share your experience and/or opinion in the comments.

Saturday's Question

Every Saturday I'll feature a question and ask you lovely readers to weigh in. Do you have a dilemma? E-mail your question to jns721@gmail.com, and a link to your blog or website if you have one, and will post it!

In the interest of being more environmentally friendly, would you take public transportation, ride a bike, or walk to your own wedding?

Real Wedding: Suerissa & Keith

In the coming weeks, I'll have some beautiful new weddings to share with you, all courtesy of recent Earthly Affair customers. To get started, I thought I'd reminisce on some of my favorite past real weddings. Enjoy! (Don't forget to peruse our list of love, thanks, and fun, found at the end of this post.)




Suerissa purchased thank you cards in the Earthly Affair Fresh design. Her wedding was feminine and sophisticated, with lovely cherry blossom centerpieces, a NYC skyline, and a gorgeous Grecian style dress. In order to keep things a little greener, Suerissa and her groom provided vans to transport guests to the venue, they eliminated the inner envelope of their wedding invitation to save paper, and they donated to wateraid.org in lieu of favors.

Photography by Julia Newman

Gift: Cutest tea cup ever

Moolah: Save money with Broke Ass Bride's Bargain Bash

Giveaways: Team EcoEtsy holiday giveaways

Fun: Get Married in Times Square (vote for the dress!)

Eco-honeymoon: Costa Rica jungle lodge

Eye Candy: Awesome flower gallery

Design Your Own Shoes

Looking for vegan footwear to cover your dogs? Or just can't find that perfect shoe for your wedding dress? Milk and Honey lets you design your own, which is a pretty amazing concept considering it seems really hard to make shoes. But their small scale production is guaranteed to give you a shoe made with more love than something at a big department store. Plus, you can visit their showroom, by appointment, if you live or will be around the Los Feliz area of Los Angeles.

Found via TreeHugger

Recycled Wine Glass Tags

There's nothing fishy about Fish Lips! Don't you love that company name? Makes you wonder about the thought process behind the person who came up with it? (I imagine it went down like this: Hmm, that Filet-O-Fish commercial is really annoying. Maybe I'll have fish tonight. But then my date won't want to kiss my fish lips. That's a good name for a company - Fish Lips.) Anyway, if you are still reading after that really sad attempt at humor, then I thank you.

The holiday season is upon us. And so is engagement season really. So if you plan on throwing a party for either or both, wine glass tags (100% recycled ones from Fish Lips) are a sophisticated way to keep guests from playing the guess-whose-wine-glass game that is. Plus, these are cute. And sometimes it's hard to resist adding something cute.

Vintage fabric handbags

You can never underestimate the power of having an awesome handbag! Define awesome, you say? Well, it's something eco, something unique, and something that appeals to you aesthetically. Am I right? Handmade with vintage fabrics, Beso Handbags are pretty awesome.

Healthly Monday: The Benefits of Tea

Today's Healthy Monday features an item which has been studied, sipped, and savored. It's used for medicinal reasons, to aid in meditation, and it beget a certain Japanese ceremony. It's been iced, mixed, and sprinkled with citrus. It is found in the cups of those who simply want to engage in good conversation or in those who just want to read a good book. So, what is it, you ask?

The item in question is tea and it's one of nature's many wonderful gifts!


Studies have shown that tea can lower cholesterol levels, fight bad breath, and aid in weight loss, but its biggest claim to fame, green tea specifically, is its anti-cancer capabilities. (It should be noted that studies on humans have been inconclusive.) However, there is something about tea that transcends research and resides in the depths of our souls. Cheesy? Perhaps. But the Japanese created an art form out of it, American colonists threw it in the harbor during the Boston Tea Party, many of the British work their day around it, it's the national drink in Egypt, and, well...here in the Southern United States, I don't know what we would do without our sweet tea during those hot summer months. It's accessibility helped it to stand the test of time, but it also enabled it to become one of the most diverse drinks available and can be found in a variety of flavors, scents, and types.

So next time you feel the urge to grab another latte, soda, or sugar filled sports drink, try a cup of tea. Too bitter for you? Sweeten it with Stevia...remember Stevia? (By the way, I tried this stuff for the first time the other day. Sweetened my raspberry iced tea with it and it was very good, although I think it would dissolve better in hot tea.) And remember to buy fair trade!

Click here to learn how to brew the perfect cup of tea.


Sources: Stash Tea
Adagio Teas