We don’t do this sort of thing often, but today’s post will be a departure.  This will be about water.  Specifically, potable water.  That is one of the many things we take for granite.  Living in New Orleans, which is below sea level, water is very important for a different reason.  We know the suffering of having too much water.  On the other hand, there are many in the world who don’t have access to any water or have to walk great distances to get water from dirty streams.

Yesterday, I received a post from Scout and Nimble that really struck a nerve.  It is about an effort to provide funding to give 500 people in two villages access to clean drinking water.  It’s about one blogger’s determination to succeed.  It’s about caring and generosity.  Jesse tells her story beautifully so please take a moment to read it http://scoutandnimble.com/2012/02/29/funny-thing-called-fear/

I’ve been to Africa 4 times.  I’ve seen the conditions in which many people there live.  Casart supports a wonderful organization, Bicycles for Humanity, which provides bicycles to villages and trains villagers to repair them.  The bicycles enable AIDS nurses to reach their patients quicker as well as provide the village with a revenue producing project.

So I wanted to do something more than just make a donation to help Jesse reach her goal.  I thought that if I wrote about it I could help spread the word.  The organization Jesse is raising funds for is Charity: Water and 100% of public donations directly fund water projects in developing countries.  Just think about how your life would change if you couldn’t turn on a faucet for clean water to brush your teeth, take a shower, or fill a glass with water to drink.  How many friends do you have in your email address book that you could forward this information to?  Then, before you brush your teeth, take a shower, or take a drink of water, won’t you make a donation?

Thank you.

-  Lorre Lei

Merry Christmas (12 days and counting) and Happy Boxing Day! Traditionally, Boxing Day is the celebration in England that takes place the day after Christmas on December 26th. When I was a child the name conjured two men tackling one another in a boxing match but it really has to do with opening the Alms boxes in churches, in which worshipers put in money for those in need.

I like this idea, we do this at church and our traditional “Boxing Day” deed is to give Christmas gifts that all have charitable causes attached, like The Blue Monarch, as seen in our sidebar. They help abused and down-and-out mothers in TN get back on their feet by providing them a home and education on parenting as well as skills for making exceptionally good tasting granola and working at The Blue Chair, a popular coffee shop eatery in Sewanee, TN. This gives them business sense as well as a means for producing income and helps them break the cycle with their own children. We purchase their Out of the Blue Granola, which benefits this worthy program.

The “Blue Monarch” refers to the incredible long and arduous journey these butterflies make each winter, as well as their exceptional, world renown beauty. We happen to love this symbol too and it’s why we use it in our logo. It represents transformation and rebirth.

An additional tradition is more literal and also involves a boxing match of sorts –  tackling the mess in finding a way to put away all the boxes that have accumulated from Christmas (and throughout the year) — organize, sort and recycle.  We recycle all our cardboard mailing boxes.

Zooly Box

We also reuse some of the attractive ones as storage boxes in my office and studio.

Storage ideas from Lunchinabox

I go through and sort my business boxes and get things cleaned up and organized. This involves getting new business folders, filing systems as well as filing our online folders and figuratively storing them in manageable boxes so to speak. Dropbox, for instance is a great iCloud source for business files. Staples and The Container Store become my best friends. In the process we clear out and put away what we no longer need. This is rejuvenating as it frees up space and cleans out the clutter. Boxing Day has come to mean boxing up the old and getting ready for the new year ahead.

New use for tassimo-boxes via orgjunkie

Here are some fabulous finds from Houzz for interior design junkies for organizing with boxes. Makes you want to get out and get some boxes for boxing today!

The organized closet on Houzz_ladylyn34

Organized Design via Houzz_Michelle-Hinckley

Sophisticated Organization via Houzz_Betsy-Burnham

All the best for your Boxing Day!

– Ashley

Not Labor Day “rules” as in it’s great but weird rules about not wearing white. I never understood this myself so I had fun doing a little research for this post.

According to WiseGeek and Fletch (AskYahoo.com), the “it is not appropriate to wear white after Labor Day” rule was first instituted in the late 19th century and was further ingrained in the cultural mindset during the 1950′s and 60′s as more people were entering the middle class. This rule applied primarily to white shoes to remind the nouveau riche that this might be a way to keep white shoes from getting soiled. (Not that folks can’t think for themselves.) It later morphed to mean not wearing white clothing from Labor Day through Memorial Day, but wearing “winter white” wools, for instance is OK.

I love this quote on Yahoo suggesting that the South had it’s own take on this socially acceptable behavior, from G.R.I.T.S. (Girls Raised in the South):

“Southern girls know bad manners when they see them,” and a clear sign of bad manners is wearing white shoes before Easter or after Labor Day. Because fashions in the American South can be a little more formal than elsewhere, perhaps the no-white-shoes rule came from south of the Mason-Dixon Line?

I don’t think so, and I’m from New Orleans originally where some other silly, socially-accepted-Southern rules do apply.  I love grits, btw, and they are white — until you add lots of cheddar cheese — the way I like them.

Grits, bacon and eggs --a perfect Southern breakfast

I can think of other whites I like to wear like a white Casart Carryall, supporting Gulf Coast Recovery efforts.

I thought I’d make a moodboard (on Olioboard) with some of our white products to show how interiors can also “wear” white:  like our faux embossed Flower Power background, as a removable and reusable wallpaper; our white peony that could be put on a flat panel screen and of course, one of our color coordinating Carryalls as a mood accessory in the room and because it supports Gulf Coast Recovery. Since these wallcoverings are slipcovers for your walls, they can be used seasonally, so when you’re tired of white, simply stow away or leave up in protest to show that white is for all year round.

Casart coverings After Labor Day White Olioboard

Here’s one of many websites featuring white interiors. However, I find that with all white, some sense of color has to be interjected in order for it not to feel too sterile or like it’s a gallery waiting for some colorful artwork to show up. Click here for a link to our previous posts involving white interior design concepts.

All modern white interior from inhometrend.com

Well, I’m wearing white as I write this, just to let you know, and I’ll be wearing white until it starts getting cooler and it doesn’t make practical sense to do so. For the record, I don’t even own a pair of white shoes (not even tennis shoes). Call me a rebel but I break rules when they don’t make sense. Maybe that’s just me, however. Let us know how you feel about wearing white after Labor Day.

Not only do I not get this wearing white rule but I can never remember which “holiday” Labor Day or Memorial Day occurs when. Here’s a way I’ve devised to remember: Labor Day is when the rule doesn’t work and we all have to go back to work when the September routine starts all over again.

Happy Labor Day and hope you are not working but maybe wearing white!

– Ashley