bam: think twice before making online purchases

As much as I love to support small businesses, I am guilty of making a majority of my purchases, both personal and gifts, online. In fact, I realized on Christmas morning that I had done all of my Christmas shopping entirely on the internet...whoops. Clearly, I hardly think twice about loading up my cyber shopping cart and checking out online, expecting items to arrive at my door in 5-7 business days (I still am unsure of what qualifies as a business day. Is Saturday a business day?). That was until I listened to this quick, 20 minute story on one of my usual podcasts, RadioLab, called Brown Box, which is all about the crazy behind the scenes process of how orders make it from your computer to your doorstep.

A reporter talks about her time working as a "picker" for a shipping company that receives online orders. A "picker", as you'll learn on the episode, receives the items you just ordered to their handheld scanner and then is allotted almost no time to go find the item in a ginormous warehouse and put it on a conveyer belt before they receive another request for an item to go run and find. Hearing about this reporter's experience really makes you think twice before clicking that "Quick, buy it!" button on Ruelala.

That being said, I can't wait for this romper to arrive that I impulsively ordered online to wear to my friend's bachelorette party in Miami this weekend...

You can't expect me to change overnight!

-Cam

bam: happy earth day!

It is Earth Day and for those of you who, like me, feel like they should do something to give back to our planet, I may have a solution. Back in March during World Water Month, UNICEF launched the Tap Project which challenges you to go without touching your phone for 10 minutes. Every 10 minutes your phone goes untouched, UNICEF donates one day of clean water to children in need. In honor of Earth Day today, I challenge you to try it out. Visit uniceftapproject.org on your phone and then hands off!

Just to warn you, it does not work while your phone is plugged in and it does drain the battery a bit, so make sure you have enough battery or have your charger nearby so you can juice your phone back up whenever you decide to touch your phone again. 

Does anyone else have any other creative ways to give back to the earth today?

-Cam

cam: imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, right?

First off, I want to sincerely apologize for my absence for the past month. The springtime is always a busy and travel-heavy time for me and while that is hardly a good enough excuse for my 4-week long hiatus, it's all I've got.

My most recent travels took me to The Bahamas for my organization's board meetings. Before you throw out comments like, "A business trip to The Bahamas?! Must be nice!" or "What, do you have meetings while wearing bathing suits and sipping tropical cocktails?", you must know that not only was the weather subpar, but I didn't even get to dunk my head in the ocean and only put on a bathing suit my final day there because, contrary to popular belief, I was actually working.

I was also doing a little bit of style admiring. One of our board members had this fabulous bag from Sword & Plough that she received for free after supporting their Kickstarter campaign. Sword & Plough was started by two sisters who grew up on a military base, with one of them eventually serving as an officer in the US Army. Throughout college, they couldn't help but notice how few of their friends and classmates actually knew someone who has served in the military. Their thinking behind creating bags for Sword & Plough is that they would "emotionally and physically touch civilians in their everyday lives and remind them, in a beautiful way, of the challenges our country and servicemen face, and the power that every person has to help." They recycle and repurpose military gear in a fashionable way to create these bags and the proceeds in turn "empower veteran employment, reduce waste and strengthen civil-military understanding." The end product is a beautiful, sturdy bag that I am planning to purchase as soon as I have saved up some extra cash:

Signature tote.

Another item I couldn't help but admire was another board member's stack of colorful string bracelets. Less bangley than the collectable Alex and Ani bracelets and more sophisticated than homemade friendship bracelets, these Pura Vida bracelets are so simple and casual and are an everyday kind of bracelet. While she purchased hers in a set from HauteLook, I set out to choose my favorite ones to create my own custom set. Some of them go toward a good cause, while others are just plain good looking:

Breast Cancer Platinum

Feather with neon blue

Surfers for Austism

Gold circle with seafoam

Gold bar with dark gray

I can't wait to make these purchases. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, right?

-Cam