Cape Kidnappers- New Zealand

Whatever I might say about this place would inevitably still be deficient. The pictures posted here can only show a small fragment of the beauty. Pictures can't capture the quiet, and the sound of the wind blowing and the birds singing. Pictures can't capture how nice it is to watch the horses and sheep grazing on the hillside or how delicious the food is here or what it's like to learn about the Maori peoples that had lived here long ago. The landscape here is, I think, the prettiest that I've ever seen. It's simply beautiful. I can say that every few moments and it's still not enough. Still, I hope you enjoy the photos.

Honeymoon- Waitomo Caves

Yesterday, we drove down from Auckland to Waitomo and visited two of the 300 or so caves in the region. In addition to the Anrunui cave (where these photos are taken), we also went to the Waitomo Glowworms Cave, which was weird and interesting but they don't allow photos inside the cave so my description will have to suffice: it's like a peculiar constellation (you have to look up to see them) where you already know that the glow of the worms comes from the bioluminosity of the chemical process of their digestion of the bugs that they lure with their sticky feedlines. Maybe it's just me, but I found it a little difficult to overlook the sci-fi/horror potential of being stuck in a cave with these little critters and having no real means of egress. Plus, we were in a boat and we had to be really quiet. I'm just going to leave it at interesting.

Today we go to Hawke's Bay on the eastern coast. It should be stunning.

Honeymoon and Extreme Jet-lag

The last week or so has been a bit of a blur because of the wedding and all of the contingent details: family, friends, last minute things to do and trying to make sure that skinnyskinny had enough inventory so that everything could function while I'm away. Brian and I have begun our honeymoon in New Zealand, after a forever-long flight and the resulting jet-lag. Most of today has been spent just recovering and trying to sync-up with the locals. This is the view from our hotel room in Prince's Wharf in Auckland. Tomorrow, we will probably go to one of the farmer's markets nearby before heading inland to Togariro (sp?). The trip has been lovely so far and should only get better.

Saipua Flowers (and Soaps)

It may seem strange that I would choose to include products from another soap company on my blog. Eh, maybe it is, but I happen to like a Saipua a lot. Actually, they are probably my favorite non-skinnyskinny soap company and they are also local. Sarah, who runs the store in Brooklyn is creating all of the flower arrangements for my wedding on the 9th of May (this weekend). She does amazing work with a really interesting mix of flowers and pod-like things. Take a look at their site and buy stuff from them when you can't buy stuff from us.

Book Review- My Booky Wook by Russell Brand

(I'm still using my kindle and still really love it.)
Russell Brand is a British comedian/entertainer. I saw him on Graham Norton a couple of months ago and was really impressed with his routine, his get-up, his spunk. It was the first that I had seen or heard of him and I thought he was eccentric and funny, like someone who needed to be watched closely because he was sure to be treasure chest of witticisms and edgy humor. So, when I saw his memoir on my kindle list, I thought 'Sure. That's bound to be a bundle of fun.' His story is compelling: former addict (not just to drugs), dysfunctional family, dark sordid past and so on. I can be a sucker for these circuitous stories of redemption. A lot of people are, I guess, because there are so many of these books available. I'm now maybe 40% finished with this book and I simply can't read anymore of it. It is so completely uninteresting. Sure, once in a while there will be a clever turn of phrase that I make a note to try to remember, but aside from that, it's as if this memoir somewhere jumped the shark. Even though there are quite a few 'revelations' in the book, I keep getting the feeling like there's no meat to the content. (Yes, Russell Brand has been a vegetarian for years, so there's that...yawn...) It's as if, even with all of his tales of sexual exploits and getting high, the book still seems remarkably sanitized. Maybe sanitized isn't the right word. Maybe it's simply predictable which is kinda worse, in my opinion. I'm not going to finish reading this unless I'm stuck on a desert island with an endless supply of battery-power for my kindle. And even then, I would be hard-pressed to call it entertaining.

Summer in the City

A lovely weekend here in skinnyskinnyburg, or Williamsburg to some. Today, it is supposed to get up to 90. Summer dresses and iced coffee are in order. Today's pic is of Haley (foreground) and Lena enjoying themselves on our balcony. Enjoy the weekend!

A Belated Earth Day Post

Yesterday, Katie (a phenomenal manager and all-around great person here at skinnyskinny) and I were in Philadelphia, taking part in the GoGreen Festival sponsored by Urban Outfitters (who own terrain and Anthropologie) at the Navy Yard. There were many other vendors there, all of whom were focused on environmental awareness in some way or other. As nice as the festival was, the best part for me was finding this bird's nest in a tree beside a parking lot. There were actually some little baby birds in the nest, which made this almost too cute for words.

Sometimes, We are Procrastinators (Okay, it's mostly me)

Here at skinnyskinny, we are a proud, ethical and just company. One of the best ever, by the way. Anyway, some of you reading this blog may not realize just how much paperwork (and fees!) is involved in getting permission to use the various logos, like the logo of the little bunny that shows that a product is cruelty-free. It will cost $500 to license that the cute jumping bunny logo. We've always been cruelty-free and most of our products are completely vegan, too. Even with the best intentions, though, paperwork and filling-out forms seldom ranks high on my list of priorities. As a consequence, I've been inadvertently putting off the completion of the paperwork to prove skinnyskinny's compliance for more than a year. There are plenty of excuses, many of them good ones, but enough is enough. Easter has come a day late to skinnyskinny. So, to honor the fecundity of bunnies and the arrival of spring, I'm pledging to finally get this task finished this week. It will still take 2-3 weeks for our paperwork to be processed by Leaping Bunny, but be on the look-out for the leaping bunny logo on our site in the next few weeks.

So Glad We Don't Make These...

These 'hand soaps' (get it?) are just weird and creepy. 'Nuff said.

Happy Easter, Passover, Spring Break!

Early Mother's Day Note

My mom is not Ingrid Bergman, but photos that I've seen of my mom when she was younger have always reminded me of her. Seriously. I noted some of the differences on the photo above. Since all of the photos that I have of my mom are packed away, I figured that I could use that stock photo as a launching-off point. Actually, I should be more truthful: I do have 2 photos but they are of my mom after she had undergone chemotherapy and I think she'd kill me if I posted those.
My mom, Sandra, is an amazing woman and I owe much to her. Her life has not been an easy one, but she has managed and has always seemed to do the right thing. My ethics and empathy come from her, as well as an inquisitiveness that never seems to get dampened. When my parents were divorced (I was 5), my mom raised all of us by herself. I am the youngest of 6. Dispensing with the obvious: yes, it was really hard on her.
She had not finished college and had been a housewife during the marriage. A neighbor friend of ours had gotten a job in a local construction company (they built and installed cabinets, from what I remember) and managed to get my mom a job there. After a few years of this, my mom managed to get a job driving heavy equipment for another construction company. For years, she woke up before sunrise, worked all day and then would come home after dark. I seldom saw her when she wasn't exhausted. I remember her talking about different projects that the construction company worked on, especially building a new terminal at the Nashville Airport. It was at a time when the automatic-flush sensors were just beginning to be used. I remember my mom's amazement with those things. I think about those automatic flushers every single time that I fly into or out of Nashville.
(Skip ahead many years...)

My mom just passed her 100-day mark after a bone marrow transplant. It is exquisitely good news and worthy of a special mention.

Organic Soap Set Gets Mad Props!

What a thrill! Our Organic Soap Set (in a book box) gets a full-page feature in the May issue of O. What a lovely photo, too. This soap set already won the award for Best Green Packaging from the HBA-IPDA (Health and Beauty Association-International Product Design Awards). I'm beginning to think that we're on to something here.

Featured Product: Lavender & Eucalyptus Soap

Lots of people get bored with soap talk. Those are probably many of the same people who only like movies with explosions or who would never consider a salad to be a complete meal. Yes, they are in short, brutes. So be it. They probably smell, too.

We are one of the few companies that use extra-virgin olive oil as the base for our soaps. Why does this make a difference? Well, extra-virgin is minimally processed and hasn't been stripped of it's best parts. For many of the same reasons that extra-virgin olive oil is better for you to eat than lower-grades of olive oil, we think that extra-virgin makes a better, more moisturizing soap. Because we start with such high-quality and nutrient-rich ingredients (check any of our labels), the finished soaps leave you clean without stripping your skin of its needed moisture. This means that you won't itch and you also won't need to use as many moisturizing products (like lotions). All of the recipes for our soaps have been carefully balanced to create gentle, long-lasting bars that won't melt away in the shower.

Our organic lavender & eucalyptus soap is our best-selling product of any that we make. It is a really good soap. The combination of the lavender and eucalyptus make this a great unisex scent. We've added copious amounts of goat milk to make this bar even gentler and soothing, plus there are nice little scrubby lavender buds in this soap to help exfoliate. Each of our bars is wrapped in unique (and by 'unique' I mean that there are no two packages that look the same. Check the photos.) and extremely ecofriendly materials. Additionally, all of our labels (the colored part) are printed with soy inks on 100% PCW papers. Plus, we are 100% carbon-neutral. For more information, read our 'about' page.

As a reminder, our Spring Sale is still on at the main site (www.skinnyskinny.com). Enter 'spring20' during the checkout to redeem. The sale is on through April 15.

What We Owe To Unions

(I don't have any pictures of striking workers or union-members so this is a picture of my sweet pup, Haley, used here only as a placeholder not a symbol.)

The Employee Free Choice Act (more about it here) is before Congress (call your senators to voice your support). In honor of long hard fights waged by unions to ensure rights for workers that should be self-evident, here is a very brief list of why I appreciate unions:

1. The 40-hour work week and the very idea of weekends- As the owner of my company, my weekends look distressingly like my weekdays, but I don't begrudge employees who feel entitled to weekends off. The Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 was responsible for setting the standard for the number of hours in a work week. It was initially a 44-hour work week.
2. Minimum Wage- I still don't know how anyone can survive on the current minimum wage, but given that there needs to be a law to establish the floor for wages, this right to survive seems lost on those that routinely fight against minimum wage increases. (That there is a huge difference between the minimum wage and a living wage is telling.) Again, the Fair Labor Standards Act established the minimum wage. It was initially set at 25cents per hour.
3. Workplace Safety- This one would seem to be another no-brainer, but it took the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) of 1970 to establish workplace safety standards. Go figure.
4. Health Care Benefits- Okay, so I'd really prefer universal healthcare, but unions have a higher rate of health coverage (80%) than non-union workers (49%). Unions are the ones that fought for this benefit that is now an expected component of any pay package for a 'good' job.
5. Social Security- In a perfect world, we would all have planned for and set-aside emergency funds for every sort of contingency imaginable in one's life. This is an insurance policy that we all deserve.
6. If I worked for a company (not my own) and I got knocked-up- I wouldn't get fired. The Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978 meant that it became illegal to discriminated against women for being pregnant, for childbirth or for any other pregnancy-related issue. Women are also not supposed to get fired for taking maternity leave.
7. Everything else- I'm not suggesting that unions have always done the right thing (they haven't) or that they are incorruptible (they aren't), but unions have often been on the forefront of fighting for issues and rights that now seem so customary that we take them for granted. And given that unions have been so crucial to the formation of our middle-class, it seems worthwhile to support workers who want to form a union.

(sources: American Rights at Work , The Fair Labor Standards Act , The Employee Free Choice Act )

Cacti and Succulents

I have a small collection (maybe 30 total) of cacti and succulents. They are all so beautiful, weird, and even a bit mysterious . Even after being poked enough times by the cacti that I should really wear protective gear, I still find myself surprised and a little bit hurt (emotionally and physically) when I misjudge the length of the cactus needles and get stuck yet again. The succulents on the other hand are so sensual and soft and full that for some reason, I exercise extreme restraint when dealing with them. Clearly I have my interactions with them backwards.

Lately, I've been trying to figure out ways to use the cacti and succulents as wedding favors because they look so nice together. This is a tricky challenge because wedding guests may or may not like a mysterious cactus that causes them pain. A less-stubborn person than myself (let's call them a quitter) would immediately move on to easier favors like chocolates or jelly beans or...snooze. But, as I read today on twitter, something something tomorrow's opportunities something something present themselves as today's something problems.

Jars of Deliciousness

It's not intentional that my last few posts have been on the sentimental side of things, but whatever. Pretend that I am sitting on a rocking chair on a porch, my hair up in bun and glasses perched on the tip of my nose, while I relay another snippet from the good ol' days... Again, when I was a child growing-up on a farm in rural Tennessee...My dad tended our beehives. There were 4-5 of them out on the far side of the garden. My dad was terribly allergic to bees so there's a bit of absurdity at the extremes of my family's self-sufficiency. My dad would suit-up from head-to-tow in his protective gear and my memories of this are of something akin to Homer Simpson in a fall-out suit. Eventually, my dad would return with jars of honey and bits of the honeycomb. It was absolutely delicious and I still remember the occasional fright of finding a stray bee in one of the chambers of the honeycomb.
Without the need to suit-up, we've been busy bottling jars of certified organic honey to be given as wedding favors for the spring nuptials of a very special client. In order for honey (and beeswax) to be certified organic, the bees must have a 3-mile radius of certified organic land around their hives (bees won't fly further than 3 miles from their hives). Besides a great taste, honey is high in anti-oxidants is a natural humectant* which means that it is a superb ingredient in skincare products. It tastes great in tea, on biscuits and on peanut butter and banana sandwiches.
*humectant means that it attracts moisture

Buttercups in Brooklyn

When I was little, I lived on a farm in rural Tennessee. I remember walking through fields of buttercups. Every so often, I'd bend down to pick one and add it to the little bouquet that I was gathering for my mom. This bunch is a few blocks away in a planter on the sidewalk. Not quite as nice as the fields, but the circuitous route to nostalgia was a nice journey this morning.

Goat Hair- It Makes a Great All-Weather Tent

So, as I mentioned a couple of days ago, I've started reading Cradle to Cradle by William McDonough. In the introduction (I've gotten further than that), he writes that the Bedouin in Jordan used woven goat hair to make their tents. It's portable and easy to repair. It's renewable because goats always travel with the clans. When it rains, the fibers of the goat hair swell and keeps the water out. It seems so brilliant.

Today's Action: Stop Mountaintop Removal

Good Morning, Everyone-
Tomorrow we will be donating to an organization ( Stop Mountaintop Removal) that in a sane world really should not exist. Sadly, it is not often a sane world. The devastation wreaked by this type of mining is so egregious, so horrific, and so visible, that I am continually amazed and saddened that it is still done. From their website:

Mountaintop removal mining is a form of strip mining in which coal companies use explosives to blast as much as 800 to 1000 feet off the tops of mountains order to reach the coal seams that lie underneath. The resulting millions of tons of waste rock, dirt, and vegetation are then dumped into surrounding valleys, burying miles and miles of streams under piles of rubble hundreds of feet deep. Mountaintop removal mining harms not only aquatic ecosystems and water quality, but also destroys hundreds of acres of healthy forests and fish and wildlife habitat, including habitat of threatened and endangered species, when the tops of mountains are blasted away.

This practice also devastates Appalachian communities and cultures that have existed in these mountains for hundreds of years. Residents of the surrounding communities are threatened by rock slides, catastrophic floods, poisoned water supplies, constant blasting, destroyed property, and lost culture. As a result, many have been fighting the practice for years. Mountaintop removal mining takes place in many states in the Appalachian region, including West Virginia, Kentucky, southern Virginia, and eastern Tennessee.

Maybe it's because skinnyskinny was born and raised in Tennessee (before moving to NYC) that this particular issue resonates so strongly, but I doubt it's that simple. It sucks for everyone in any of the surrounding areas. Listen to any of the stories from people who live there, and you'll soon realize that the 'benefits' of this asinine energy source can't possibly be worth the trade-offs.

We have a scheduled donation, but for every new follower that we get on Twitter by 5 pm (EST) today, we'll donate an extra $1 (up to $1000). So, get busy, there's no purchase necessary.

My Kindle

It's gray and overcast today here in Brooklyn. It's a perfect day for reading and sipping tea.
I recently got an Amazon Kindle2 (pictured) and so far, I've been incredibly impressed with it. I am not a gadget sort of person and really thought that I'd miss the feel of the paper pages of a book, but I didn't. The kindle is so easy to use and has so many intuitive features that it makes reading even easier. Okay, not easier, but it does make for a really pleasant reading experience.

The first book that I downloaded was Things I've Been Silent About by Azar Nafisi. I had read Reading Lolita in Tehran years ago and had liked it for the most part. I'd give Things I've Been Silent About maybe 3.5 out of 5. The next book on my list is Cradle to Cradle by William McDonough. This is an influential book on being much smarter/wiser about designing products, etc. for a truly sustainable world. At least, I think that's what it's about.

Happy Saturday! (We're having a Sale!)

The weekend is here. Yay!
It's also time for a sale at skinnyskinny. Through April 15, 2009, enter the code 'spring20' during the checkout on our site and you'll get 20% off our entire catalog. Our organic soaps make it easy to get started with your spring cleaning. So, go crazy...
The bird in today's photo is not made of soap. It's also not real. It's a hand-painted bird sculpture that I made (there are actually a pair of birds). The branch is attached to the brick wall in our apartment. Have a great weekend.

Organic and Ecofriendly Scented Stationery

Remember way-back-when, or at least in the movies that depict way-back-when? Women would scent their love letters with their favorite perfume to remind their betrothed of all the things that written words can't convey. Not only has skinnyskinny learned from this approach, we've even improved upon it. Our handmade stationery is made entirely from eco-friendly materials and scented with organic essential oils that can be completely personalized. The examples featured above are crafted from an old cookbook (a slightly campy resource, admittedly, but think of all the metaphors for recipes and chemistry in our language-- some of them are quite sincere) and treeless paper. The edges of the envelope are sewn. Inside this is the real substance: the scented note that can be as alluring, as seductive, or as innocent as you like. These were custom-made for a client, and if you are interested in your very own set, contact us for pricing and options.

Adorable Organic Soap Animals

Good Morning, Everyone-
We've recently made these organic soap animals for a benefit at the American Museum of Natural History. We loved them so much that we'll soon be adding them to our product line. They are great little guest soaps or the perfect soaps to entice the childish ones into the tub. They'll be available in all of our great organic soap varieties and will also be available as an 'urban/barnyard' set.

Happy Spring!

Hello and welcome!

With the arrival of spring, we’re launching our new site along with our very own blog: skinnsights. This is where you’ll find the latest buzz on new organic & eco-savvy products we're making and all the sustainable and eco-friendly business practices we're following. Get insights on things in the outside world that we like (and maybe some that we don’t) and get to know different members of the skinnyskinny team. Best of all, be the first to learn about our awesome promotions and giveaways.

In the next few days, we’ll be announcing our newest contest (hint: there’s a spring theme!), so make sure to check back often. You can also subscribe to the blog feed or follow us with Google Friend Connect. And if you can’t bear to be away from us at all, then follow us on Twitter and be our fan on Facebook. Then you'll never have to miss us.