Happy Shopping

Newsflash: today is the International Day of Peace! Clueless as to what this means? For many of you (myself included), I had no idea this even existed… until yesterday. I was given the assignment of researching what it was all about for Slice’s philanthropic efforts, and in doing so, I had a not-so-nice realization: I don’t do anything for the good of humanity. All too often, we get into our daily routine, and life burdens take the weight of our brainpower.

Well, friends, let’s break the cycle. Do something good once in a while – you’ll feel better for it, and the world will, too.

Before I go into what you (and I) can do, understanding what this day actually means is step one. According to the UN,  the International Day of Peace was established in 1981 by the United Nations General Assembly. Then, two decades later, the group unanimously voted to designate the Day as a period of non-violence and cease-fire. In addition, each year marks a specific theme, with this year’s being “The Sustainable Development Goals: Building Blocks for Peace.” How many goals are there, you ask? 17, to be exact.
Now, I know we all can’t jump on all 17 and save the world, but I figure everyone has something they believe in, so I’m calling this a “Choose your own Adventure” fun-tivity. Pick one goal you find important, and get going! To make it even easier for all of you do-gooders, you’ll find a way to help (or donate) for each goal below. Before you even start, though, download the Sustainable Development Goals app, which helps you take action on the fly. Anyway, Here goes:

No Poverty – end poverty in all its forms everywhere

How to help: donate to Outreach International

Zero Hunger – end hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture

How to help: get involved with Move for Hunger – you can fundraise, start a food drive, or donate, to name a few.

Good Health and Well-Being – ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages

How to help: this one’s easy. If you have kids, make sure they’re vaccinated, and if not, make sure you are!

Quality Education

How to help: go to AWorldatSchool.com and sign the #UpForSchool Petition calling on world leaders to deliver the commitments needed to get every child into school and learning. Also on the website is a resource for how to become a Global Youth Ambassador.

Gender Equality – achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls

How to help: get involved in unwomen.org – there are many ways to help, but donating is a good place to begin.

Clean Water and Sanitation – ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all.

How to help: get involved or donate to water.org.

Affordable and Clean Energy – ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all.

How to help: this one’s all in the details. Make sure your tires are properly inflated (which can lower your overall vehicle fuel consumption by 5 percent), unplug your appliances when they’re not being used, and turn down your fridge’s temperature to 37 degrees. Easy-peasy!

Decent Work and Economic Growth – promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all.

How to help: donate to the ONE campaign, and share the injustices to spread awareness! For instance, did you know that there were 168 million child laborers worldwide in 2012, which is 10 times the number of people who visited Disneyland in the same year? Open people’s eyes and watch what happens!

Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure – build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation.

How to help: register your commitment to the World Urban Campaign.

Reduced Inequalities – reduce inequality within and among countries.

How to help: hop onto inequality.org and choose how you’d like to help – sign a petition, join a group, or donate!

Sustainable Cities and Communities – make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable.

How to help: with half of humanity living in urban areas, protecting and supporting people living in urban slums is a must. To start helping, donate to one of the trusted projects from the Global Giving Foundation.

Responsible Consumption and Production – ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns.

How to help: another simple one – reduce, reuse, recycle! If you’re walking down the street and finish a water bottle, wait until you see a recycling bin rather than throwing it in the trash. Small step, big impact.

Climate Action – take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts.

How to help: sign the Nature Conservancy’s pledge, which aims at calling on leaders to ratify now and take immediate climate action.

Life Below Water – conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development.

How to help: hop onto GlobalGiving.com and donate to either preserve Chile’s ocean treasures, restore coral in the Dominican Republic, or help shark conservation in Thailand.

Life on Land – protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and half biodiversity loss.

How to help: volunteer or donate to Greenpeace.org – it all starts in our backyards!

Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions – promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels.

How to help: Become part of the #ENDviolence against children movement created by UNICEF. You can donate, put together a community meeting, or merely spread the awareness.

Partnerships for the Goals – strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development.

How to help: this one’s on the UN. As long as you’re helping out with one of the other 16 goals, you’re doing your job.

Happy International Day of Peace! Stay helpful, helpers!

Did you know that the month holding the most birthdays in the US of A is September, with the 16^th being the biggest date? Think about it for a second… you there yet? Holiday season brings happy people, I guess!

So, since chances are you’re going to be gifting up a storm this month, we’ve put together a pseudo how-to, with all the supplies you need to ensure that your present will be the highlight of your recipient’s day. Plus, you’ll be set for the rest of the year, so the days of boring cards and reused holiday wrapping paper will be way behind you.

Let’s start with the star of the show – the presents. To get you started, take a peek at the Buzzfeed list of unique gift ideas anyone will love. A pet portrait pillow? Yes, please.

If nothing here seems to do the trick, a safe bet is a subscription box, and Business Insider’s list has everything you need. As the self-proclaimed Snack Monster, Nature Box is stellar.

Okay, so you found the perfect offering. What are you going to wrap it in? For some clever, funny options, look no further than OriginalWrappingPaper.com – I mean, mustaches? Nothing better.

If you want to go with a more traditional style, the paper gurus at Papyrus have you covered.

But what if your present can’t be wrapped? Enter the gift bag. Easy to use (and even easier to carry), Paper Source has everything you need. Don’t forget the fun tissue!

So your gift is in the bag (pun intended). Everyone knows that the metaphoric string holding everything together is the card. Enough with the tacky, boring, sometimes overly sentimental drug store purchase. Hop on over to Etsy and snag a Wordsandabstracts card. Unique and different, you can’t go wrong.

One last thing – if you’re sending any gift online, make sure you’re using Slice so you don’t have to keep pestering the Birthday boy or girl to check if it has arrived!

Happy gifting!

About a month ago, I went on vacation to Maine with my boyfriend’s family. We had a lake house, and most of the week pretty much consisted of lounging on a boat, “working out” on a stand-up paddle board, and going to a drive-in movie (“The Secret Life of Pets” is AWESOME). That being said, on one of the days, there was a huge thunderstorm – so water activities, or anything outside for that matter, was out of the question.

After half the day consisting of playing board games and napping in the house, we were getting just a little stir crazy and needed to figure out something to do. Looking online for any indoor activities, I found that the L.L. Bean flagship store was a half-hour drive away. Now, this may not seem like the most exciting sort of outing – but with a trout pond in the store, I was intrigued and proud of myself for finding the perfect option for picking up some rain gear.

So, the boyfriend and I drove out there, thinking that we’d get some shopping in and see what this pond was all about.

Well, as you can imagine, the place was a MAD HOUSE. I was determined, though, to find some good waterproof options, so we looked around – and there it was. Big enough to fit a sweater under and sturdy enough to deal with (almost) any storm Mother Nature could bring, I found the quintessential rain coat. Side-note: I had been searching for a perfect rain jacket forever, but up until this point, I’d found nothing that fit the bill. I was so excited… that is, until I saw the hour-long check-out line. We were going to be late for a big dinner being prepared at home, so we had no choice but to go home empty handed. I’m not proud to say I had a temper tantrum in the car. Then I realized this is 2016 and we have these handy gadgets called computers. Tantrum over. I got home, opened my Mac Book, and went down the rabbit hole.

Why am I telling you this overly drawn-out anecdote? Because in doing my research, I inadvertently put together a pseudo rain gear guidebook, and you know you want to see all of my findings.

The Jacket – L.L. Bean Trail Model Rain Jacket

How much: $79
Where to get ‘em: L.L. Bean
Why it rocks: It’s light weight, comfy, and has enough breathing room to allow for a heavy sweater underneath. Cold, snowy days have found their match.

The Boots – Forever Young Women Rubber Rain Boots

How much: $34
Where to get ‘em: Amazon
Why they rock: Chances are, you won’t be needing to wear rain boots every day, If that’s the case, why spend at least a hundred bucks on Hunters? These are on the cheap and may be one of the only options I’ve seen that aren’t atrocious looking. Double win!

The Umbrella – REI Travel Umbrella

How much: $35.50
Where to get it: REI
Why it rocks: Okay, so I know you usually get the seven buck option from CVS every time it rains, but I’m here to tell you that all umbrellas are NOT created equally. This is the best you can get – not too pricey, and with a tented canopy on top, there will be NO MORE breakage every time a light wind blows your way.

Happy rainy days!

 

We all strive to be organized. Though some of us are better at it than others, whether it means taking laundry to the wash and fold to ensure that all our clothes are folded perfectly, making umpteen to-do lists that we only finish half of, or turning Sunday into the following week meal prep, there are steps that we all take to try and compartmentalize. Why? Because the neater and tidier our lives are, the more we can get done… or something like that.

So, with today being Labor Day or the (un)official end of summer, the time has come to swap our warm-weather clothing for fall attire – in other words, this is an organization phase. Now, if you live in a huge mansion with closet space for days, this task isn’t a major feat. If you’re like me, though, and reside in a too-small third-floor walk-up (or something like that), seasonal storage can become a David and Goliath sort of situation. Before you let the anxiety take over, take a deep breath and read on – we’ve got you covered. In only two steps and spending a little cash, becoming an organization guru is as easy as reading this article.

Vintage suitcases are your new best friends

Hop on over to Etsy, find a few of your favorite vintage suitcases, and when they arrive, fill each with a different summer piece – one for bathing suits and shorts, one for summer dresses, one for wedges, flip flops and sandals… you get the drift. Then, close ‘em up and place the beauties under a coffee table or next to the couch for a DIY side-table. They’ll look gorgeous and you’ll relax knowing that upon your next warm-weather vacation, you’ll know exactly where to find everything!

Divide your closet shelves up

Have a closet full of junk? Pick up a shelf divider from Bed Bath & Beyond, roll your beach towels up, and two things will happen: your towels and beach items will be laid out perfectly,  you’ll watch your junk space become an organized, gorgeous space before your eyes.

See? That wasn’t so bad! Happy Labor Day everyone!