DIY NATURAL SHOWER CREAM

Hello friends,
I know how much you like natural beauty products so I invited my dear friend Catarina from Joan of July to share one of her magical recipes with you guys :)

"Are you a fan of natural soap as much as me? I prefer naturally and handmade soap to any other alternative to wash my skin. By using natural soap you’re not putting any nasty chemicals or parabens into your skin or system.

I even learned how to make my own natural soap a few years ago and I love making them! I mostly use olive oil and sometimes soy wax in the base, then add some essential oils to give it a nice smell and to make it more appropriate for my skin type.

But… what happens when you find yourself with a bunch of old, unused soap and other pieces of used soap that are now looking less than fresh so now you don’t feel like using them anymore?

ROUND UP :: SUSTAINABILITY

As I'm working on my way to live as independent as possible I struggle many times, especially with the system we are currently living in. It was made for consumerism: to buy new when it's broken ("why fixing? A new one is so much cheaper and well... it's new"), to buy new because it's trendy, to buy knew because I had a terrible week so need to go shopping and relax. 

I'm trying my best to find solutions, instead of buying new. I have been trading as much as I can, buy second hand, if buying new buy Made in Portugal or Spain or France, no China or Vietnam or Cambodia or buy handmade or from a single person instead of a huge company. But still, I'm in a loooong process. Being sustainable is also living with quality of life that includes food, daily necessities and experiences (travel, travel, travel). 

The last two years I've been posting about sustainability and today I wanted to share all those posts, to inspire you to have a more sustainable life as well. 

This Summer I mostly used my bike to go shopping, see a friend or go to work. It's pretty safe where I lived so I could cycle at 3 am :) If I drunk more beers I should a bike ride was all I needed to get fresh air and do not get a ticket from police hahaha Read some benefits of riding bikes here and use less as possible your goddam car. 

ANDRESA LIVED 1 YEAR AND 11 HOURS WITH TRADES + 1111€

"Believing is to see life with other eyes"

I’m known as the “Trade Girl” since I started a challenge of living during 1 year, 11 days, 11 hours and 1 minute with 1111 euros, in 2011. Trying to be someone healthier, sustainable, economic and ecologic, soon I discovered that what I really wished for was to be more human and also happier. When we have a fixed job, from 9 to 5, with lifetime contract, without possibilities of growing in the career, we think that’s the place we want to stay for the rest of our lives.

MY ULTIMATE GUIDE FOR CONSCIOUS SHOPPING

First of all I want to make clear I'm not judging or pointing at anyone's life or consumerist choices. If you have a good salary and are into big brands like Gucci and Dolce and Gabbana or if all your shopping is made in the Mall is not our business. You are free to do anything you want with your money.

BOOM FESTIVAL 2014 [DAY TIME]

I'm back with a Festival post! If you are around for a while you discovered my passion for festivals right? But Boom Festival is special, is more then a festival, it's a festival that turned into a village, where we live in harmony and sustainable for a week.

I had an hard time chosing the pictures for this post, I took around 200 and I wanted to post 50 haha don't worry I decided to divide one post in three, so you will read today Boom Festival (by day), Boom Festival (by night) and a special attention to the main dance floor, Boom Festival (Dance Temple). Besides showing my pictures I'll talk about this festival and you will understand why I set going to Boom Festival as a priority in 2014, including it on my Goals List 2014.

ECO FRIENDLY MENSTRUAL CUP

I heard about Menstrual cups (also known as Moon cups or Lunette) for a while, I'm always in the hunt for environment friendly products and if I can save money even better :) But what really made me go for it was the fact that I don't need to worry anymore in packing my favorite tampons when traveling, some places in Asia you cannot even find tampons and using pads is the same as wearing diapers.

I purchased mine from Ebay  (only 10€ and free shipping) one month ago. Brought it with me for this mini Euro trip and finally used it. I won't lie that I was in panic first time I tried it, it felt wrong but after 3 times using it I felt in love with this new friend. 

VERTICAL RECYCLED BOTTLE GARDEN

 Ricky is super crazy dog and his favorite hobby is to eat and play with the plants of my parent's backyard. Mom always has parsley, cilantro, basil and mint, these herbal plants give delicious flavor to food and we often use them in portuguese cuisine.

BIO-CONSTRUCTION :: EARTH AWARENESS

Yesterday I came back to Algarve with a ride sharing and it was great! The time flew by because me and the driver connected pretty well. Among many subjects we talked about Bio Construction, he attended courses in Sintra (Portugal) and Austria before and showed me some cool pics. As soon as I found out about Cob Houses when we worked last year in California I knew that was my dream house! 

Bio-Construction increase awareness of the environment and/or address climate change respond to our growing need for shelter. They are also inexpensive houses. 

For a long time I wanted to post about this topic but it was missing something... The conversation with Sergio plus the websites he told about, gave me the fuel needed to write this. If you ever read this Sergio thanks a lot for all the info sharing, pretty productive! So let's see some examples of bio-construction:

Bamboo Shelter

RIDING BIKES IS BEING SUSTAINABLE

I commented before that I was cycling one hour per day in other to lose weight. But there are way more benefits when you ride a bike. 

Here goes a comprehensive list:

⁂ Planet says thank you: Less pollution since vehicles chuck out noxious gases which can settle in the lungs and damage cells.

⁂ Great Hobby: Your kids will love to go to the park in their bikes. If you have free time with your friends, it's always an excellent option, you exercice and at the same time you can catch up.