It’s The Best Day of Summer!

August 27, 2010
Grown-Up, Nature

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Yes, today is my best day of the summer and that’s because I’m visiting the most magical place in the world—no beaches, no Mickey Mouse, no messages…it’s Birch Family Camp.

For the last ten years, I have volunteered one or two weeks of my summer to teach photography to the kids and parents of this wonderful place. For over twenty years, Birch Camp has been providing families from the poorest New York communities with extraordinary therapeutic and recreational services designed for people infected — and affected — by HIV/AIDS.

It is the tightest knit family I have ever been a part of, and after just six days together in the woods, we all leave with new friends, new lessons, and sore cheeks from laughing so much. Because I am almost nine months pregnant, I couldn’t go this year, so I am going to get my fill for just one day.

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Camp has been suffering greatly due to the economy, and we are desperate for donations. If you’d like to contribute, please click here, or, if you’d like to buy our fabulous Birch Family Cookbook, S’more to Love ($40 plus S&H), with over 100 recipes and gorgeous photos of shiney, happy people, please click here!

And if you’d like to peak at our photo program, you can learn a bit about it here.


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Unusual Tea Bags

August 26, 2010
Food, Gifts, Grown-Up

After four straight days of rain, I thought my decaf iced coffee summer days were over! So hot tea was on the brain…

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Donkey Products has an amazing selection of character tea bags. The top image is from their Zoo ParTea series, and the design-your-own group below is from CreativiTea. Don’t they just make you smile?

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Serve your guests tea in glass mugs to show off these gorgeous origami tea bags. Found via Design Swan.

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Of course, a tea bag on a hanger! Brilliant! Found via Yanko Design, via Pinterest.

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Ew, but funny…tea packaged in cigarette form. This will keep paws off your precious tea! Found via Toxel.com

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These tea sticks are so cool!


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A Topographical Rug

August 24, 2010
Decor, DIY Home

When a map and carpet come together, this is the result. The designer, Laurens Van Weiringen, and 29 of her closest friends worked together to accurately depict a landscape in the form of a rug. They used varying sized and colored foam squares in a very exacting grid to create this cool result. I wonder if she’ll do custom orders?

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A Postcard Garden

August 20, 2010
DIY Home, Grown-Up, Nature

These take tabletop gardening to a whole new level! Introducing Postcarden

Combining gift and greeting card, PostCarden is a fun and simple pop-out card that transforms into a mini living garden. Choose from a cityscape park, a botanical garden, a little backyard garden, or a football field.

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Found via Ohdeedoh.


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