This Into That- Ocean Inspired Formal Dress

So I went to Puerto Rico a few years back with one of my best friends and left inspired to make a dress with the colors of the beautiful beaches with the movement of the waves and sea breeze. Well it took me to a few years to get around to making it come to life,  but I finally did it! It looks a whole lot like what I remember my original sketch looking like. I wish I could show it to you, but I have no idea where it is, if I even still have it.

How did I do it? Well, I started with this...

Then I un-seamed the sides, cut the hem to make it a high low skirt (it's also asymmetrical, so I didn't have to worry about messing up the cut), then I used the fabric from what I cut to add triangular panels to the sides and front of the dress (I made a cut right down the center front of the dress to insert the center panel). This made the dress flow more. If you'd like more details on this part of the process, comment bellow or email me and I'll try to describe it in more detail.

Then it was time for my favorite part... dyeing!!! But that's a whole post in itself.

Then I finished the hem added the strap and I had a great, one of a kind dress to wear to the Planet Connections Awards Ceremony! Planet Connections was the green theater festival I interned with this summer. Check it out!

Be sure to comment bellow or email me if you have questions about how I did this! Or if you have a This Into That project of your own that you'd like suggestions for! I'd be happy to help any way I can!

Here's some more pics of the finished product!

My knew favorite thing... Sprouting!

My mom just got me a sprouting kit as a back to school gift and I am telling you, this should be on every healthy foodist's wish list.

Basically it's a stack of trays that drain slowly to provide the right amount of water for ideal sprouting conditions.

All you have to do is fill the trays with seeds, water them twice a day, and in 3 days you have sprouts! It's awesome!

This picture was taken after only 2 days

And sprouts are amazing superfoods, too! Check this out:
Research shows that sprouts are a veritable fountain of youth. Sprouts abound with antioxidants, they are full of protein, chlorophyll, vitamins, minerals and amino acids. Broccoli sprouts have been found to contain 50 times as much of the antioxidant sulfurophane as mature broccoli... Sprouts contain enzymes, giving your body a much needed rest as they digest themselves - invigorating you while requiring no help from your body to process them. New research indicates that peanut sprouts reduce harmful cholesterol and that sunflower, buckwheat and grain sprouts dramatically improve the quality of life of diabetics. The list goes on and on.

Quoted from EveryNutrient.com

Google it if you want to read more about all of the nutritional value of sprouted seeds.
There are also many different types of seeds to sprout and each offers different flavor. I can't wait to try onion sprouts! To be able to add a light onion flavor and tons of nutrients at the same time would be awesome!

http://sproutpeople.org/ has an awesome variety of sprouts to choose from!

Greener back to school shopping: Digitize Your Notes

If your professor doesn't allow laptops, obviously listen to them because they are the one giving you a grade at the end of the semester. But some of my professors did allow us to have laptops in class, so I took notes on my laptop. I even had some of my books on my laptop (Ooh! Next post will be about being green when buying books). Taking notes on my laptop was great because my notes were easily accessible and easily shared. If a friend missed a class I could just email them the notes. I didn't do this last year, but this year I think I'll upload my notes to to Evernote or Google Docs, so I can can see them on my phone as well. Then my notes will be super convenient in addition to being earth friendly!

Another great way to make your studying greener and more convenient is by making flash cards with a website/ app called StudyBlue. I found it particularly helpful with my Italian class because I could study my vocabulary anywhere really easily because I had virtual flash cards on my laptop, anywhere with internet, and right on my phone. StudyBlue has an app for both iPhone and Android! StudyBlue also keeps track of what you get right and wrong and how often you get it right or wrong so you can easily see which things you need to study more. You can even make flash cards with images which would be great for a biology or art history class! To join StudyBlue go to StudyBlue.com or click here!

Happy Studying!

P.S. I have to give credit to my roomate from last year for telling me about StudyBlue. Thanks Rachel!

Green your back to school shopping: "Shop" at Home Before You Shop at the Store

When you're doing your back to school shopping, it's exciting to get new things, but before you get too excited, think about our earth while you're shopping.
My first tip for greener back to school shopping is look around your house to find things that you already have before going out and buying new ones! I just found a ton of pens, pencils, sharpies in a drawer! I also found a pencil box, stapler, a 3 hole puncher that fits in a binder, and some other random things.
Another tip: re-use old notebooks!  Before you go and buy new notebooks, see if you have pages left in old ones, and use those first. You can either rip out the old pages or just add a new heading at the next blank page. I know I have tons of notebooks that I've collected over the years that are half empty, so I don't plan on buying new ones til those run out. Re-using notebooks that you already have is better than using new notebooks with recycled paper, because recycling still uses energy. But when you do run out of notebooks, try to stick to ones with recycled paper (although I wouldn't blame you for opting for the $0.17 alternative. I know most college students are as broke as I am).

Back to School Shopping... At the grocery store

Or farmers market...
So here are my essentials to make sure your dorm is equipped for a great semester!
1) peanut/almond butter
2) spices (cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg, ginger, cayenne, peprika, whatever you like)
3) chickpeas
4) popcorn kernels (that way you can control how much butter/ oil and salt you use)
5) olive oil (for the popcorn, and I use it on my quinoa salad, ext)
6) salt
7) agave and/or stevia
8) microwaveable meals from trader joes (they have this cumin something soy thing that I like)
9) nut milk (I prefer hazelnut which I get from the farmers market)
10) cocoa powder (I put in in all my deserts)

Dorm approved food prep tools

So if your school is like mine, you're not allowed to have any appliances, just a fridge and a microwave. That means no food processor, blender, hot plate, or even a coffee maker that doesn't have an automatic off switch. This is quite a challenge because most of my non cooking recipes require a food processor or blender, and cooking just doesn't taste as good from the microwave (besides it kills a lot of the nutrients in veggies). But I have found a few tools that make things possible.

1) My favorite tool is my pampered chef hand chopper. It's not cheap, but I got it as a Christmas present and it has really come in handy. It can be used for most things you would use a food processor for, but it's hand powered and obviously not a strong, so I would try to use it with anything extremely frozen and recipes don't get quite as smooth as they would with a food processor. That being said I've used mine to make pesto, banilla soft serve, hummus, chocolate covered Katie's "Brownie Batter", and my favorite thing to make, fresh salsa. It's the most versitile of my tools, and even though it's not perfect, it has made my life a lot easier!

2) The simpler and cheaper alternative would be a mortar and pestle. I got one from the Christmas tree Shop for $3 or $4. I accidentally broke it soon after, but that's beside the point. This is great for making humus, or any recipe with chickpeas, and guacamole. It actually will get the hummus smoother that the hand chopper will, but it is a little more work.

3) Another simple tool is a hand held cheese grater. I use this for garlic, parmigian cheese in my pesto, and my favorite, ginger (I love my ginger hot chocolate, especially on a cold day). You could also use it with a frozen banana for banilla soft serve if you don't have a better tool.

4) Next tool is kind of obvious, but measuring cups and spoons are kind of essential if you want to follow recipes. Now I hate measuring and usually like to guesstimate or make recipes that don't require measuring, just tasting (like my salsa, hummus, banilla soft serve, every recipe I make on a regular basis), but sometimes, much to my dismay, you have to measure.

5) I don't know if this counts as a "tool", but a microwave safe bowl with a lid is essential if you want to make homemade popcorn. Make sure you double check that it's microwave safe. I learned that the hard way, by melting a bowl in my microwave (fire alarm went off and everything).

6) While a can opener is not diverse in its uses, it is necessary if you need to open a can. I used it for chickpeas and pumpkin.

These were the only "tools" I can think of that were useful this past year. Obviously you'll need utensils plates and containers, but those aren't tools.. This should be a good start to your back to school shopping. I'll post soon about food I always keep on hand in my dorm, that you'll probably want to add to your shopping list :)

Juice day

Today was the last day of the juice fast my church was doing and I didn't have much juice in my dorm room, but I did have 2 small limes and a tiny bit of guava juice, and I recently discovered a patch of mint growing outside the library (very exciting). So I made guava limeade with mint or a virgin guava mojito, or whatever you want to call it. And I must say it was pretty delicious!