I always struggle with wasting food – I absolutely hate doing it!  I make every effort I can to finish off the fresh produce we have in the house before purchasing anything new.  As a last resort I try to make something with what I have and freeze it for later.  Despite all that, I still do waste plenty of food (just not as much as I used to).

Waste Land: Does the Large Amount of Food Discarded in the U.S. Take a Toll on the Environment?

According to the Agriculture Department, each year Americans toss more than 25 percent, of all domestically produced food. A 2009 study showed that a quarter of U.S. water and 4 percent of U.S. oil consumption annually go into producing and distributing food that ultimately ends up in landfills

Check out the full article from Scientific American

This was on www.thediscerningbrute.com and is just too sweet of a story not to share…

…on Websites I Love!

Check them out!

I just got the greatest new pumps from Kind Boutique!  The Neuaura Kettle shoes are super comfy and absolutely adorable.  They have a fairly small heel – not a kitten heel – a little higher than that, so they’re great for walking.  I wore them to work yesterday so that says a LOT!  I NEVER wear heels to the office – I always wear flats then change to heels!  They are seriously that comfy that I was happy to deal with all my daily walking around town while wearing them.  I even received a few compliments on them!  One being from the security guard who liked the detailing/pattern on them!  I agree with him – they’re super fun!  Kind Boutique has them on sale right now for $70!  I found them to be true to size…order yourself a pair!

Saturday I went to Molly’s Cupcakes on Clark to do a tasting for the cupcakes for my wedding this summer.  Although we’re not having a vegan wedding we’re having plenty of vegetarian food and of course Molly’s fabulous vegan cupcakes.  I chose to have them for both moral reasons – due to factory farming – and for environmental reasons – the dairy/egg industry has a hugely negative impact on our planet.

I settled on the following vegan cupcakes:

Vanilla and Chocolate cupcakes with pink and green vanilla butter cream frosting with white pearls on top.

Chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter filling and chocolate ganache frosting, topped with a peanut.

Chocolate cupcakes with Oreo filling and green, mint butter cream frosting, topped with part of an Oreo cookie.

Vanilla cupcakes with raspberry filling and pink butter cream frosting, topped with a raspberry and white pearls.

Stop into Molly’s and try one for yourself – they’re FABULOUS!  If you’re wedding planning, Lindsay is a delight to work with.  Even if your wedding isn’t in Chicago you can always have a friend transport them for you – that’s what I’ll be doing!

I recently came across Spring – the sister to Aldo.  Spring has tons of super cute leather free, synthetic shoes!  I recently ordered a super cute pair of shoes from them that I would show you, but I’m wearing them for my wedding so they’re in hiding until then

These are one of the pairs I ordered – super cute and only $49.99!

I just have to take a moment to rave about how fabulous Kind Boutique is!!  I recently ordered a pair of shoes and a dress from Erin at Kind Boutique and not only do I love my purchases, but her packaging is absolutely ADORABLE!!!!  Little touches make huge impressions in my mind.  At first sight even the normally ugly brown shipping box was cute – she decorated it with a couple little animal stickers – it made getting the package even more exciting!  Now I really should have taken a photo of it so you could see first hand but of course I just wasn’t thinking.  Anyway, upon opening the shipping box, my dress was neatly wrapped in tissue with more adorable stickers of cute furry friends and a little handwritten note thanking me for my purchase.  Erin has definitely found herself a new, loyal customer!