Style me Green

Welcome to the new Pure Green. As I promised, I'm starting anew, with weekly columns. Ordinarily, 'Style me Green' will appear on Mondays, but I'm excited to bring it to you, so here it is. 'Style me Green' is an effort to express how great you can look while being good to the planet. This look is great for fall - a casual rugged look, good for sipping café au lait at your favourite café, or meeting the girls for lunch.

1. Boho Earrings: etsy

2.Organic Kharma Bootleg: Loomstate Organic
3. Organic Abigail Jacket: Loomstate Organic
4. Janice Boot: Terraplana
*Note: an eco warrior, the janice boot features vegetable tanned leather, a recycled quilt back panel, eco memory foam for added comfort, and a recycled rubber heel!
5. Recycled Leather Toad Tote: Baggage
*Note: these unbelievably cool bags are made with old leather jackets by a Toronto designer

Viola Park by HenryBuilt

If you're not familiar with Henry Built, you need to be - the home-grown, Seattle-based company creates modular kitchens that are far from ordinary, bursting with good design sense, and just all around gorgeous. They're simple, clean and yet, wait for it, functional, something that, in my mind, makes good design great. Best of all, they've launched a sister-line called Viola Park, which takes sustainability to heart. The line uses FSC-Certified wood, non-toxic finishes and other amazing features such as Paperstone countertops (made with recycled paper) and Bamboo Plywood. If you love the look of such materials but don't know where to get your hands on it, make your way here, to Sustain. In the meantime, enjoy Viola Park.


{notice the not-your-average bamboo backsplash. what they call 'strandwoven', its a durable, very attractive zebrano-like material.}


{ a close-up of the Paperstone surface. we love it at Sustain. its gorgeous, easy to care for, impossible to damage.}

Wedding, Part 2

So, I promised yesterday that there would be more to come...actually, we had our heart set on NOT having a tent, but as the day drew nearer, it seemed less and less likely that the sun would be shining, so we were forced to source one out. As it turns out, a blue and yellow 'circus' tent was all we could find - not my first choice - but as it turns out I ended up loving it! It had personality to spare, and the tent gave the event a feeling of intimacy that would have been lacking otherwise (also, it gave me an excuse to decorate a little more!).

{the tent from afar}

{we strung old-school x-mas lights, ( you should've seen me on the ladder!) which were sooo lovely - they aren't so eco, but they were borrowed, so that makes up for it. the best feature is that we wound them down the center pole, and then tied on a huge bundle of bullrushes. with the lights shining through it was absolutely perfect. i have to thank my buddy dan for this.}

{a close up of the bullrushes}

{inside the tent. the picnic tables - borrowed from our friends - were very eclectic. none of them matched...there was a green one, a red one, a purple one....i loved it!}

{the centerpieces - again keeping with our eco theme. we didn't want to buy anything that would have to be thrown out, so rather then buy vases, i collected tin cans and covered them with a pretty, recycled paper. i bought the flowers at the grocery store, snipped some hostas from the garden, and did all the arrangements myself, with some help from my mom, my new mom-in-law and my aunt. one of my favourite moments.}

{the tables. very simple. the wine was spectacular, a very appreciated wedding gift from jonathan's aunt and uncle, who import wine from all over the world.}

{jonathan working on the bbq. all the meat was free-range, organic, locally sourced.}

{the food...mmmm....a beet salad, fresh tomatoes, a wild rice & grape salad, corn on the cob, pork and chicken. we used tree trunks from dead fall to dress up the table.}

{ xoxo }

WHEW!!!....I'm Back!

Okay...I have to extend my apologies for being so out of touch, I really grew to love PGD, and thought of it often! I was just so overwhelmed by my life (opening a new business a very small detail)...and I didn't want my content to suffer. Not sure if opting out completely was any better, but I feel at least like I can face it now! Even better, I want to build and grow the community of PGD even more! I'm thinking of adding new columns (like life & fashion, the organic kitchen, non-toxic living, innovation and design, more reader content and more, but still keeping some of the old faves like DIY projects and Eco Style), updating the blog and giving things a general facelift! Design is still a big part of my life, but as the eco way of life gets entrenched deeper and deeper within my bones, I feel that there is simply more to life than sofas, colour schemes and trends. More on that later.... If any of you feel like you'd like to help, I'm open to that too! In fact I'd love it! Reader's give blogs a lovely sense of community, diversity and interest!

In the meantime, I have other big new, which may help you forgive me for being so distant...during my busy, hectic summer, I somehow managed to sneak in an 'I do'! That's right, Jonathan and I tied the knot! And we did it super cheap, very eco-friendly, with lots of help from our family and friends. The big event took place in our back yard - we did the food ourselves, but as Jonathan is part-owner of a very successful restaurant, his mad-skills in the kitchen didn't make this seem as much of a stretch. We rented the cheapest (and most colourful) tent we could find, borrowed picnic tables from all our friends, shook out the white linens and presto! It was an event to be remembered. Everyone (including us) had a great time, and I couldn't be more excited (and proud) to share it with all of you too! Here are a few highlights...p.s. another way we saved money was by asking my kid brother to take the pictures. As a result, there's a real homegrown quality to these shots.

WEDDING, Part 1 - Still to Come - the tent, the decor, the food, and what makes it eco

{my dear dad, walking me down the lawn. A note about the dress - I picked a design and tweaked it, got fabric on sale, and had it made. the entire thing cost $120!!! the only thing i regret is not having a close up of it.}

{i did all the flowers myself - i'm pretty proud of my bouquet, actually, featuring hosta leaves from my garden. the whole deal cost $60, including my bouquet and all the centerpieces}

{the women in the family}

{mr. & mrs. mackay}