Our Shopping Experiment: Adventures in shopping used

Our Shopping Experiment: Adventures in shopping used

We have decided to try an experiment: Starting today, we will be trying to not buy anything new for a while – possibly a year.

We’re trying it for a variety of reasons. Here are just a few:

1. We have plenty of stuff! We were lucky enough to get many wonderful gifts from the wedding and we couldn’t possibly think of anything else we need.

2. Support the Re-Use Economy! There are a lot of options for buying used items when we need something, and we want to support the re-use economy. Finding used (pre-loved?) goods can often be a rewarding experience, and we often find treasures that are way better than anything we could buy new.

3. It makes us think! Do we really need that or do we just want it? As Americans we have large ecological footprints. That means we are taking someone else’s share and we want to be more aware of the consequences of our choices. When we do have to purchase something we want to be aware of that purchase and make sure we need it.

4. Not buying new things will encourage our creativity! I’ll give you an example. Last year our couch was sliding around all over our wooden floor. You couldn’t sit down on it without it moving a foot. But the hardware store didn’t have rubber feet big enough. So I took the soles off my old pair of shoes, cut them up, and nailed the rubber to the couch feet. No more slipping!

OF COURSE there will be exceptions. We need to buy food. We need toothpaste. Etc. But the guiding principle will be to try buying used when we NEED something. And if we do need to buy something new, we’re going to make sure we really need it and we are going to do our homework on that product. That means making sure it’s the best we can find. Can we find one that is made out of fully re-used materials? Is it durable and will last a long time? Who made it and where was it made? Can we buy local or sweatshop free?

This experiment will evolve as we get into it, and we’re looking forward to blogging about the ins and outs of the Re-Use economy in Ann Arbor.

Think we’re crazy? Send us an email and tell us why! Have questions? Ask away! We want to hear from you about what you think about our idea.

Love to you all,

Courtney and Arthur

The best of the farmers market

This is the best time of year at the farmers market and you have to make the most of it because it doesn't last long. One way we have been spreading out the bounty is by buying seconds and making things that we will last. Most farmers will have seconds that they sell, they are the fruits that have been bruised or are a few days older. They are still good, just not as pretty, but they are cheaper. Many will keep them under the table or, if not just ask if they have any that day. Over the last month we bought a box of seconds peaches and made fruit roll-ups with our dehydrator. We also made tomato sauce that we put in our freezer. Tomato sauce is easy and a good way to use many things from the market. Ours includes:
Tomatoes
onions
peppers
egg plant
zucchini
garlic
basil

Cook everything together other than the tomatoes with a little olive oil. Once the onion has turned a little brown add cut up tomatoes and turn down the pot to simmer and let it sit until most of the juice has boiled off. Put it in a container in the freezer and you will have yummy farmers market veggies for the winter.

More Wedding Photos

We got the rest of our photos this week and they just reminded us how amazing the wedding was, how great it was to see everyone, and how fun it was! We got 2000 photos but we got it down to about 200. If you would like to see them they are at the links below. Feel free to pass them on to others who were at the wedding or might enjoy them.

preparations

Family and Wedding Party

Ceremony

cocktails

Reception

Dancing!

Training the Cat

Moshi is a whiner. She likes to get up early in the morning (between 4:30 and 5:30) and cry outside our door, frequently throwing herself against the door and scratching her claws on the way down. It's loud and impossible to sleep through.

But all she wants is attention, so getting up and punishing her (spraying her with water) only encourages her.

So how can you train a cat not to cry outside your door without getting up and opening the door? We figured it out!

We placed our vacuum outside the door, then ran the cord into the bedroom and attached it to a surge protector next to the bed. So I had a switch to turn on the vacuum cleaner.

Moshi sniffs the vacuum outside our bedroom

The next morning, Moshi started crying at 5:30. The second she threw herself into the door, I flipped the switch, the vacuum turned on, and Moshi shrieked. It must have scared the bejeezus out of her. From the bedroom we could hear her sprint out to the living room.

An hour later, she came back and cried again. I hit the switch again. She shrieked again.

But she learned the lesson. And for the last week she hasn't bothered us and we've been sleeping peacefully until we're ready to wake up.

Wedding

In a blog post I can't begin to express how amazing the wedding was. We are still trying to take it all in and process the whole weekend but all we can say is that it was perfect! Thanks to family and friends we have some photos up from the wedding. If you want to check them out they are at our website
http://www.courtneyandarthur.com/photos/

We will also be posting more photos soon as we get some of the professional ones. If anyone else took photos we would love to have them!

Thanks everyone for a perfect and amazing wedding.

Honey Moon Part I

This weekend we journeyed north for a mini honey moon. We spent three mights on Mackinac Island, which was a wonderful getaway. It is an island that is 8 miles around, filled with history, and no cars are allowed. You get around on bikes or by horse-drawn carriage. We spent the weekend enjoying the natural side of the island by walking the many trails of the island, biking around it, and going for a swim. We also learned about the history of the island and even walked on one of the world's longest porches on the Grand Hotel and bowled on the oldest bowling lane in the country. All good things come to an end and now we are back and ready for school today. We created a little movie to highlight our trip. Enjoy!

P.S. And yes we did sing Sweet Home Alabama. A local band played it two of the nights we were there.

Summer comes to an end

It has been two months since we have posted and a lot has happened. In the next week we will attempt to recap the past two months, post photos, and catch up on what we are doing now. But the highlights were, Courtney had another wonderful summer in NH teaching environmental science, Arthur completed an internship in Boston, we got married, and we are now back in Ann Arbor where Arthur is about to start business school, and Courtney just started a new job. Wow that is a lot! So stay posted and there will be more to come.