Stationery companies are coming up with the neatest ways to be ‘greener’ lately. Now, when you think of stationery you think of paper, right? So you might be asking, how does a company that makes its money off of selling paper go green? Here’s one answer for you:  note cards handmade from cotton or bark fiber, which are renewable resources. Their entire line of solid cards, envelopes and paper is produced without elemental chlorine (PCF) and their printers operate with reduced volatile organic compound (VOC) emission and recycle their ink waste.

Here at Rock Candy Life we love anything that is eco-friendly, but cute and stylish at the same time. That’s what we try to do with our shower curtains—create products that are healthy for us and the environment, but are still design-focused. We admire companies like waste not paper!

Here is the website if you want to check it out for yourself: http://www.wastenotpaper.com/

It’s a tough Monday morning coming back from a weekend in Las Vegas. Man, I love Vegas; Gambling, amazing restaurants, celebrity sightings, great shows and people watching. Everything is bigger and brighter in Vegas, especially the lights. After several trips to Vegas, my experience on Saturday night was a bit different than the others—the Las Vegas strip had gone dark. My boyfriend and I had just gotten out of a show at the Aria hotel and while waiting for a cab were wondering why the Cosmopolitan hotel didn’t light up their sign at night. After a short cab ride down the strip, I noticed the Bellagio lights seemed oddly dim, but didn’t think much of it. Suddenly it clicked—all of the major hotels on the Las Vegas strip didn’t have their lights on. Obviously it wasn’t pitch-black, but imagine the strip with no color, and just enough light for you to see which buildings were which. After a few minutes of guessing what could have caused such a rare sight, my boyfriend, an avid Googler, pulled out his iPhone to solve the mystery. The World Wildlife Fund called it “Earth Hour”, a global initiative to focus attention on the threat of climate change. It was such a rare experience to have had, as the strip doesn’t turn off its lights for just anything.

Check out a picture here:
http://www.life.com/image/98094717

Alot of people have the mindset that going green has to be an all-or-nothing kind of thing; like you aren’t allowed to call your lifestyle ‘green’ unless EVERY aspect of your life involves environmentally- friendly products and actions. This is just not true. Going green is hard work and takes time. It takes baby steps. Start with your grocery shopping for example. Buy organic foods (most of them say organic right on the label!) and reuse your shopping bags. Easy, right? Then start to change your transportation routine–carpool with someone to work or school. Or, better yet, ride your bike—it helps the environment AND keeps you in shape! Recycle not only at home, but in the office too. Those files full of papers from years ago or the junk mail you get all the time—recycle it! It is small, everyday things like this that really make a difference.

Once you get these easy things down you can move on to bigger things—rid your house of toxins and harsh chemicals. A little bit of research about which products contain dangerous chemicals will be completely worth your time. Things you would have never thought of like your kids’ toys and your furniture contain PVC, the most toxic plastic for our health and environment. So start buying PVC-free products (like our shower curtains!), and you will be on your way to a healthier, greener life!

Love dogs? Love cute designs? Love to be environmentally friendly? We just discovered the coolest thing here at the office today: molly mutt. What is molly mutt, you ask? It is a dog bed duvet company that doesn’t JUST make super cute dog bed duvets. Molly mutt came up with this great idea to make a dog bed from recycling and reusing things just lying around the house. Here is how it works. When you purchase a duvet from molly mutt, you are also encouraged to purchase a stuff sack (which is what makes the idea so original). The stuff sack is used to literally stuff anything and everything that is comfortable for a dog to lie on. Things that you would normally just throw away, whether it be old clothes, blankets, towels, pillows, etc., is now put to good use. Plus they are affordable and so easy to clean—just throw the duvet in the washing machine! It’s brilliant really. Molly mutt has come up with a way to sell their product while encouraging recycling, being ‘green’ and saving their customers’ money all at the same time. Who doesn’t love an opportunity to make you, your dog, and your environment happy all at the same time? I know we do and that’s why we were so excited to see people upcycling in a fashionable way.

Check it out for yourself! Link to molly mutt website: http://www.mollymutt.com/

So we are all trying to do our part to be a little greener in our daily lives. One of the simplest ways to do this is by substituting products that you use every day for a “green” version. My example today: cleaning products. When at the grocery store it is so easy just to pick up the eco-friendly cleaner instead of the others, but just because the label says it is free of chemicals doesn’t necessarily mean it is true.

I actually got this information from one of the bloggers that reviewed our shower curtains, Amanda Robinson, author of Natural Mommie. She writes about eco-friendly products for mom’s trying to better their kids’ environment, and by doing so has gained a strong following. Anyway, back to the cleaning products. Turns out the majority of cleaning products on the market today actually DO contain nasty chemicals that we are all trying to avoid. There is one, however, that is honest-to-god all-natural and chemical free. See the chart below to see how your cleaning product matches up to the competition:

I came across an article today from the Houston Chronicle reporting that a plan for each Houston household to use a 96-gallon bin for all recyclable items has been rejected by the mayor. This article not only sparked my interest but in all honesty, it kind of bugged the crap out of me. Now let me preface this by saying that I am no tree hugger myself, and on more than one occasion I might throw something in the garbage that could have been recycled. However, hasn’t our country been promoting this whole “Go Green” effort to improve our earth and the environment we live in? Have we not been told that recycling, along with decreasing our water and electricity use, is one of the first and easiest steps we can take toward a “greener” life? I believe that it is the small things that really matter; if every person changed one small thing in their life (such as recycling), it would make a world of difference. So why is the fourth largest city in the country not contributing toward this nationwide movement? It is the big cities like Houston that need to set an example for the rest of us.

I found this article a while ago and posted it on our Rock Candy Life Facebook page, but decided to share it again. Let’s be honest. We all love Target and could spend massive amounts of time and money while sipping on a white cherry Icee every time we step foot in the store. This article brings to our attention that Target is not all high and mighty when it comes to cute products at affordable prices. Turns out there are a few aisles in Target we should avoid, as hard as it may be. Here is a brief summary of what I learned from the article:

The four items the article suggests to purchase elsewhere are Furniture, Movies and Music, Exercise Equipment, and products with PVC.

•    Furniture:  You’re better off getting your furniture at Ikea—better quality, cheaper prices, and more stylish.
•    Movies and Music: Target just can’t compete with Amazon and Walmart’s prices.
•    Exercise Equipment: unless you want a product from an infomercial, head towards a specialty store like The Sports Authority or Academy.
•    Products with PVC: watch toys and shower curtains especially (make sure to read the labels to make sure products are PVC-free). PVC can contain lead and phthalates that have been linked to reproductive problems in humans and release carcinogens when incinerated.

The article then goes on to name a few things that you should buy at Target, including green cleaning products. Going green is all the rage these days, and Target is your one stop shop for a wide variety of environmentally friendly products.
Link to article

As the newly promoted Rock Candy Life Senior (yes, senior—fancy huh?) Account Manager, one of my weekly assignments is to write a blog entry. So, with this being my inaugural entry, I will share a little bit about myself and how I ended up at Rock Candy Media/Rock Candy Life.

I was born in Dallas, TX and lived in Plano until the end of fourth grade. My dad, who is in his 30th year at Chase Bank got relocated to Austin where I have been ever since. I attended middle school at St. Louis Catholic School, high school at St. Michael’s Catholic Academy, and college at the University of Texas. While at UT I wasn’t ever sure what I wanted to do for a career. I went from being an education major to nutrition major, then to advertising and finally decided on straight up communication studies. I don’t think I could have made a better decision. With a degree in communication studies you earn the ability to be good at almost any job out there. If you can master the skills of building strong relationships and communicating effectively with co-workers and clients, you are well on your way to great opportunities and success.

And then I found Rock Candy Media. I was taking a couple summer classes but still wanted a part-time job. At the time my work experience consisted of a million nanny/babysitting jobs and some summers interning at Temple-Inland, so I didn’t have a lot to offer as far as advertising and marketing experience goes. What I did have to offer, though (and this is what Annie, my boss, tells me had her hooked on me), is that I had the desire to learn. And boy have I learned. I have been here about six months now and learn something new every day. But I know there is still so much to grasp.

That is why Rock Candy Life (and this blog) is such a great learning tool for me. As senior account manager for a brand new product company, I have the opportunity to see what works and learn the do’s and don’ts of getting a product and brand recognized. I’ve been getting us featured on blogs and it’s so exciting to see a sales spike when we get published. And it’s nice to be on the other side of the blogging world as a writer now. I can also share my opinion on design, decorating, and pretty much whatever I want. Sounds like fun to me!

See ya next week!