Welcome to the green generation

Earth Day is a time to rededicate our efforts to protecting the environment, it's a time to ask, "what else can I do?" Well, there are lots of things you can do that don't cost money, and may result in changing behavior that might help protect our planet. I saw the animated flick "wall-e" and the concept rings true, if we keep putting a little item inside a large box filled with plastic packing in order to ship it somewhere, our planet might just look like the garbage strewn earth pictured in this movie before you know it. I encourage you to rent it and check it out, as it does have a happy, "earth-day-friendly" ending. Think to yourself, what can I do on earth day?

The number one thing you should do is educate yourself about the issues. It's hard to do anything constructive if you don't understand the facts. So spend some time researching issues such as Global Warming, Recycling, Energy Consumption, etc... Don't take the politicians word for things, read lots of different articles and make your own conclusions. After that, share your knowledge with a friend, a co-worker, or a family member.

Increase your Recycling. It is one of the best ways to help the environment. Recycling reduces garbage in landfills, reduces carbon emissions by reducing manufacturing and transportation emissions and enables our Earth's natural resources to be more evenly distributed among the world's population. Consider drinking water from the tap. This may seem like a strange concept, but tap water in NYC is among the tastiest and purest in the world. It contains fluoride, which will keep your kids teeth healthy. You can always refill your water bottles from the tap so you have water on the go, and the savings will soon add up enough so you can buy some jewelry :)

If you've never wrote your congressman or woman, now is the time. We need our government to legislate changes that reward green behavior as well as to fund the development of renewable energy. It might not be this crazy carbon tax, simple things work better and can be done sooner. Vote for politicians who share the same Green values as you, and tell them to give up their chauffers and ride the subway like I do.

If you're in New York, attend an earth day event. The streets around Grand Central Terminal will be closed for an Earth Day fair, come and see what's going on. Almost every community has things planned for this day, look in your local paper. If you have a yard, plant a tree!

We take time in the studio every day to recycle, we've switched to compact fluorescent lights to save energy (and it works!) and we've programmed our computers to go to sleep after a few minutes, and we have reduced paper significantly by storing documents electronically. Our catalog, that was a huge brick of paper that ended up in landfills every three months, is now online. There's more to do, but you have to start somewhere. Earth Day is the time to educate yourself and commit to doing something to help preserve our environment. Ciao!

Happy Spring

It's april 16th, and the annual income-tax-filing ordeal is finished. I always try to file early when I am expecting a refund, and file on the last day if I have to pay. This year, it's a refund, and I actually got my little check a couple of weeks ago. The amount wasn't enough to save, so I spent it on our easter dinner.
We had a great family affair, lots of food and good company. The easter bunny made an appearance, and my brother baked an easter cake. This cake mold belonged to either my grandmother or my great-aunt, and had been gathering dust for eons, but thanks to the internet he found the perfect recipe and the lamb cake, sitting on green coconut grass, was a big hit!

New York is greening up, the flower bulbs on the park avenue islands are starting to bloom, and the pear trees that line so many of our streets are covered with pretty white blossoms. The stores are having sales like you wouldn't believe, trying to get some business even though most of us are scared to spend. The tourists visiting manhattan have another view, and see the city as one big bargain. I always wonder how they can buy so much, unless they fly an airline that doesn't charge outrageous fees for extra suitcases!

We've been working overtime in the studio, shipping out our "angie" earrings and rings as fast as the factory gets them here from Rhode Island. Bob is doing such a great job with these beautiful swarovski crystals! Who would have thought these items would be so popular, but considering the images we have of Angelina Jolie at the Academy Awards, I am not surprised.
Of course, it's a new season now, and the spring jewelry has gone out to the stores and the website is featuring the newest items, along with our mother's day collection. My mother always told me to 'watch your money' but never followed her own advice- you should have seen her jewelry box! In that vein, I wanted to offer really nice stuff at a price that makes it easy to buy something great for mom. At these prices, you can buy a few things and treat yourself as well as mom.

In my family, we don't really go for the idea that "it's the thought that counts", our moms want presents! This is not exactly in keeping with the origin of mothers day. In 1912, a woman named Anna Jarvis trademarked the phrases "second Sunday in May" and "Mother's Day", and created the Mother's Day International Association. Ms. Jarvis used her powers as the creator of the modern mother's day to travel around the country and give speeches against the commercial nature of the day.

She sounds like a real grouch, and was against most of the mother's day things we do now, saying that sending a greeting card "means nothing except that you are too lazy to write to the woman who has done more for you than anyone in the world". She wasn't keen on candy either, saying "you take a box to Mother—and then eat most of it yourself". She didn't mention that giving jewelry was a bad idea, so that's what I recommend. You can't eat it, it won't get thrown away a few days later and it will make your mom (or yourself) look and feel great on May 10th. You know, Anna, I'm fine with that. Ciao.