Tag Archives: Martha Stewart

Tip: Giving Mother Earth the Christmas gift that keeps on giving… no wrap!

13 Dec

I just finished wrapping a few presents and thought this would be a good time to advocate NOT using gift wrap.

To help make my case, a random statistic I found on some random website: If every American family wrapped just one gift a year in fabric, the paper saved could paper 15,000 football fields!

Why we would WANT to paper football fields (or how) is beyond me. And if you try to segue into asking me not to use toilet paper, you will definitely have lost a convert.

But still… I think the message is: let’s try to cut back on gift wrap because it’s a horrible splash in the pan that ends up in a landfill.

You don’t have to sell me – I actually like the way my gifts look (old fashioned) when I wrap them with grocery store paper bags and recycled ribbon:

It makes me feel a little “Martha Stewart” (minus the inside trading charges) to get crafty with my gifts like this. (Side note: a shout out to Trader Joe’s for printing their bags in way that makes them festive without turning them inside out – as evidenced by that far-right gift in the photo above.)

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Drinking brings out my Inner-Martha.

13 Jul

Apparently even Martha does it. So it must be OK.

Would someone please tell me why it is that whenever I indulge in a few drinks beyond my limit, I suddenly start offering up services that would warrant an entire season’s worth of HGTV?

Case in point: this weekend at my friend Tony’s wedding reception, I saw my friends Seth and Johnnie. They confessed that they had exchanged rings in their own private commitment ceremony of sorts, and immediately, I jumped on the “OH MY GOD, WE MUST THROW YOU A RECEPTION” bandwagon.

Nevermind that they made their commitments to each other PRIVATELY quite a while ago.

Suddenly, I fancied myself a wedding planner. I zipped through the details quickly, as if I’d done it a thousand times. “So what I’m thinking, it’s going to set you back a couple grand – can you swing that? Most of that will be a band and liquor. We’ll do the rest of it as a potluck picnic in an Arlington County park. I’ll call on Monday to find out their reservation and rental system…”

“Are you sure you want to do this?” Seth asked me repeatedly.

“Of course! Are you kidding?” I was unstoppable.

Until I woke up the next morning. It had sounded like a marvelous idea at the time, but in the sober dawn of a new day, the realities of my world came crashing back on me. I travel 50% of the time; I work 10-12 hour days when I’m not traveling; I’ve just moved into a new place which I need to finish furnishing, painting and decorating. When, exactly, had I thought I would have time to plan a celebration? I still haven’t pulled of a housewarming.

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