You are currently browsing the category archive for the ‘France’ category.
Framboise Royale
I am not going repeat what I already wrote here. A quick synopsis, starting August 1st, 2010 I will publish a picture I take that day everyday for a year (well to be exact I will do this everyday until July 31st, 2011). This is the 122nd of those photographs. Also, there is a Flickr collection called “The Awesome Leftovers” where I put the daily shots (if any) that didn’t make the cut.
Taking Marine out for her Birthday dinner. Some more shots, Day 122 – Marine’s Birthday Dinner.
-Cara
Homosapien Friendly
I am not going repeat what I already wrote here. A quick synopsis, starting August 1st, 2010 I will publish a picture I take that day everyday for a year (well to be exact I will do this everyday until July 31st, 2011). This is the 57th of those photographs. Also, there is a Flickr collection called “The Awesome Leftovers” where I put the daily shots (if any) that didn’t make the cut.
Today’s photo of the day is an obvious bit of self promotion for Be Nice, my organic cotton, hand printed, unique designs t-shirt business. I printed up two new designs for Be Nice this last weekend. One being Homosapien Friendly, a design by Marine Boudeau, which is today’s picture of the day. The second new addition to Be Nice’s repertoire is Who Stars, a design by me, Cara Reynolds. There are also the two slightly altered-for-the-better tees, Binary Queer and Wind Turbines. To check out all these new additions go to Day 57 – Be Nice.
You may pre-order the new designs if you so desire. :] Please send an e-mail to info[at]ubenice[dot]com for this special promotion before they are released on the site to all. Be Nice shirts are only $25. Send the email and we’ll get the ball rolling on delivering your new, soft, hand printed, organic cotton, super fly tee to you asap.
Much love.
-Cara
Looking
I am not going repeat what I already wrote here. A quick synopsis, starting August 1st, 2010 I will publish a picture I take that day everyday for a year (well to be exact I will do this everyday until July 31st, 2011). This is the 50th of those photographs. Also, there is a Flickr collection called “The Awesome Leftovers” where I put the daily shots (if any) that didn’t make the cut.
This Sunday Marine came over to hang out for a bit.
Here are the rest of the photographs from that day, Day 50 – Marine and the Babies.
-Cara
Yes, Thanksgiving has not even happened yet, but I know there are those that like to be done with their Christmas shopping before Thanksgiving, even Halloween. I didn’t want to leave these particular individuals out of the loop about our super fresh Be Nice gift cards. This is a perfect gift for those who feel it is too much pressure to pick out which one of our super soft, organic, handmade, awesome shirts they should buy their family, friends, boss, co-workers, neighbors, orphans, whoever you feel the need to give a soon-to-be new favorite shirt(s) to. :]
You also have the option to personalize the gift card however you feel, from choosing the amount you want to bestow on said lucky individual(s), to adding a witty, perhaps moving, personal note, and you can even schedule on which special date it arrives in their e-mail (paperless is a nice way to show a tree some love this holiday season).
We wish everyone a Merry “Green” Christmas (or if you don’t swing that way a Happy Yule, Chanukah, Kwanza, Three Kings Day, Day of Ashura…) this year from us here at Be Nice. May it rock!
Much Love.
-Cara and Marine
I know all my stalkers like to know when they can catch a glance of me from a safe distance of 20 to 30 feet, well tomorrow is your lucky day! Marine and I will be selling our cute, handmade, organic, soft shirts at The Market NYC for the first time. This all courtesy of our green little company, “be nice“. If you would like to learn more about it, you can on the “be nice” blog!
Hope to see some non-crazy peeps there as well.
:]
-Cara
It’s Saturday, so I figured we’d keep it light.
Michel Lauzière rollerblading along a street lined with strategically placed and filled bottles. Performance was of “The Toreador Song ” from “Carmen” using 300 glass bottles on Late Show with David Letterman.
Enjoy…
:]
-Cara
Zeitgeist (n) – the spirit of the time; the spirit characteristic of an age or generation
Addendum (n) -something to be added
I never watched Zeitgeist: The Movie. I came across Zeitgeist: Addendum the other day and since my thinking hasn’t been the same. It has given me a better sense of focus, new ideas to think about and hope. Look, I am not saying I am drinking the Kool-Aide, there are things I don’t agree with; for one, their take on religion. I get where they are coming from, but I am enlightened to something else.
I will not go on and on about the movie. If you want to watch it for free you can here (although I am not sure why they would choose Google Video to host the movie. It is part of the problem, not the solution. Maybe they feel it will reach a bigger audience, but I am not too sure that is the way to go. UPDATE 1-22-2011 I JUST CLICKED ON THE LINK AND IT GOES TO VIMEO NOW. THAT’S COOL.). I myself downloaded it from someone else. I am going to watch Zeitgeist: The Movie at some point, but for now I still have a lot to think about with Zeitgeist: Addendum, so I’ll wait. Addendum can definitely stand alone.
I would love to hear people’s opinion after watching the film. I have already had a few cool conversations about it. I have burned it for a couple of people. I would like to keep passing it around and then people can pass their copies around and see how fast it spreads. I want a better world and I know it is possible.
Do not fear the robots.
-Cara
Here’s a little blurb about what’s going on with my organic, handmade t-shirt company I run with Ms. Marine Boudeau.
Good times.
-Cara
Join us at Pridefest this year in the West Village:
Hudson St. between Abingdon Sq. & West 14th St
Sunday, June 28th, 2009
11:00 AM – 7:00 PM
Come check out our handmade, organic, super fresh t-shirt collections, hang out, take pictures and buy plenty of shirts for you, your peeps, lovers, family…
Sign-up for our newsletter to receive any Pridefest updates and possibly discover many other amazing and interesting things.
To learn more about this super gay weekend visit NYC Pride.
Cara & Marine
Founders of Be Nice
Here is a collection of pictures from my first trip to France (the one in Europe). Marine (who is French from France not Canada) and I traveled together. We were in Praz-De-Lys for 7 days (March 7th to the morning of the 14th), then spent two days in Paris (March 14th and 15th). A shout out to Marine’s mother Suzanne for hooking us up with her superb Air France connection, making it possible for us to travel in a more bourgeoise fashion than usual.
We traveled from New York City (our home) to the Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport, then off to the Geneva Cointrin International Airport, next a bus to Taninges, then a cab to Praz-De-Lys, France. It took over 24 hours to complete the trip (March 6th).
We slept most of Saturday and Sunday we truly began our snowy, winter wonderland trip in the French Alps. A week later, we flew to Paris to spend our last two days in France. It was awesome. :]
Here is the link again of this amazingly fresh vacation.
-Cara
One of my former co-workers, Guillaume, brought this site to my attention. The video makes it sound like it is the start of an awesome site. There is a blog about the coming of GlobalPost. There is also a registration page, where you can sign up for the launch on January 12th.
I hope it is not an illusion or distraction. We will see.
Observe your surroundings and discover the truth.
-Cara
I think it is interesting that it is snowing tonight on the day Marine wrote this blog entry, and wore her Be Nice, “Pretty Snow” shirt. Don’t you?
:]
–Cara
This design is printed with green eco-friendly ink on a natural organic American Apparel t-shirt. It was designed by Marine.
“I’m Local, talking to me will not increase your carbon footprint”. I think it is a little funny. This shirt is specifically recommended for single beings.
You can get it online at ubenice.com.
This design is printed by hand with green eco-friendly ink on a natural organic American Apparel t-shirt. It was designed by me, Cara.
“Certifiably Organic” is a shirt made for people like me who are certifiable when it comes to eating, wearing, producing all things organic. If you are crazy like me about organic, then this is the perfect shirt for you! :]
You can find “Certifiably Organic” online at ubenice.com.
Be nice.
-Cara
With that said…
The Day After An Inconvenient Truth via e-mail, a gift from me to you.
You’re Welcome. :]
-Cara
I don’t really like tomatoes, but this is one way I’ll eat them. It’s a great dressing. :)
What You Need
1 Cup Organic Apple Cider Vinegar (I myself prefer the Certified Bragg Organic Raw Apple Cider Vinegar)
1 cup organic canola oil (I like Spectrum)
1/4 cup organic honey
1 medium organic tomato, peeled, seeded, minced
2 tablespoons chopped, fresh, organic parsley
2 tablespoons chopped, fresh, organic basil
2 tablespoon organic Dijon mustard
2 cloves minced, organic garlic
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
What To Do
In a mixing bowl, combine all the ingredients and whisk until well blended. Transfer to some covered container and refrigerate for an hour at least. Serve chilled.
I knew I should have bought that tomato today…
Oh well.
-Cara
This recipe my friend Lexi gave to me like a hundred years ago when we were just kids working at Whole Foods. This was before Whole Foods became a publicly traded company [I am a Whole Foods stockholder as when we worked there we were given stock and/or allowed to buy it cheaply. I just want to be honest and above board. ] and sold out. John Mackey, what a joke. I can say this as I experienced it firsthand. I never had such a great job before they went public. It was the best work environment and best people to work with. We all loved our jobs so much that it positively affected how we treated Whole Foods customers. It wasn’t a hassle or annoying, as we were respected and treated so well that we want to excel at our jobs and do what was right for the company. We were paid really well and had amazing benefits. It is the simple theory of treating your employees well and not only will they work hard, but you will make more money and a have a better life yourself. We were a true community and since that time I have never experienced that type of job.
The issue was to get the real big money they decided they needed to go public and it became no longer about us, it was about the stockholders and their happiness. Everyday, things changed more into a factory environment with dress codes, piercing policies, green aprons, whatever the stockholders wanted Mackey gave them. It became a place where if you did not agree with them they would fire you based on untruths. The place is not a good place to work anymore. I guess caring about what you do and how you do it doesn’t pay for a 720-acre ranch in Texas. Sorry, to get all up in it that way. January 1992 was just a sad time in history for all of us that worked there. If you don’t believe me here are some links I found from others like me who worked for this company and saw Whole foods devolve into what it is today.
Unconscionable Capitalism: How Whole Foods Values Policy Over Employees Well-Being
Good company to work for? (applying, business, change, part-time) [scroll down on this one to see some ex-employees of Whole Foods opinion.]
The Whole Foods Cure For Herpes
That’s enough for now, but if your not convinced do a search and you will find thousands of articles on what it is to work for a company with a nice exterior, but not so clean an interior.
To quote an ex-Whole Foods employee south2nd:
Ugh, stay away from Whole Foods. Before they became a publicly traded company, they were pretty great to work for. It has completely changed. They have eliminated most of the programs that made them different. The associates are not treated well, the pay is low, and the the atmosphere is very clique-ish and cutthroat. I would not recommend it unless you hate yourself.
OK, I really got sidetracked from my recipe…sorry…bringing it back now. This recipe was originally Lexi’s but since then I have changed it a bit, it is now Lexi and Cara’s Special Organic Yam Yams or Sweet Potatoes recipe.
What You Need
as many organic sweet potatoes or yams you want to eat
as much organic unsalted butter you want per potato (I usually put like two tablespoons cut into squares and put along the potato)
as much organic brown sugar as you want per potato (I usually do about two tablespoons or less depending on the size of the potato)
as much organic honey as you like (I usually use a tablespoon)
a tablespoon of organic beer
What To Do
Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees
Wash your yams/sweet potatoes
Cut them into quarters
Place them on a sheet big enough to wrap up said yams or potatoes
Add butter, brown sugar, honey, and a bit o’ beer.
Wrap them in their original shape with foil.
Put on a baking pan or may I suggest a dish with some depth as the juices will leak out of the aluminum sometimes and you don’t want to waste any of the good stuff.
Bake at 350 degrees for an hour or until they are nice and soft.
Put them and all the juices in a serving pan and enjoy.
I want some now!
-Cara
Reason 92 from, 101 Reasons Why I Am Vegetarian:
It is estimated that 30 percent of the world’s fish catch is non-target species, or “bycatch.” Fishers–typically in the cruelest most expedient ways–separate out the discards, only to dump them overboard, dead and mutilated. Bycatch from driftnetting is estimated at 85 percent of catch; despite a U.N. moratorium, Italy, France, and Morocco continue the hugely destructive practice. Shrimp fishing alone is responsible for over 27 percent of the world’s bycatch, despite producing less than 2 percent of global seafood.
Lindsay Smith CEO and President Dan Joyce VP Sales and Marketing
The first thing we will talk about is not something you would necessarily buy for yourself, but more for a public space. It is rubber sidewalks.
Rubbersidewalks are high-density paving tiles made with recycled California tire crumbed rubber combined with polyurethane binder and colorant, then molded with heat under compression. This produces a strong and durable part that meets all requirements of sidewalk-worthiness, including stable grade, non-vibration in compliance with ADA requirements, and high coefficient of friction for non-skid both dry and wet. Rubbersidewalks are available in various sizes and colors, and are reversible. Known life per face is minimum eight years. Actual life per face is not known but is expected to exceed 12 years.
Here are some reasons to use then,
- Diverted over 1 million tires from landfills
- Saved over 2,000 trees in cities’ urban forests
- Removed 78,000 pounds of CO2 each year
- Captured over 4 million gallons of water each year
What a cool idea…
Next, yes it is another bag, but these two ladies have a slightly different spin. Here is what they have to say about themselve,
We are proud to say that BaggyShirts is a sustainable enterprise, in that we:
- Purchase recycled men’s shirts obtained from warehouses of surplus goods collected from charitable organizations – no petroleum-based materials.
- Use the entire shirt – absolutely no waste.
- Prevent clothing and tens of thousands of paper and plastic bags from going to the landfill each year.
- Employ local artisans to fabricate bags at home, slashing carbon emissions by 80% to 90%. No overseas manufacturing.
- Pay our fabricators a livable wage that is above average for the industry.
- Operate with the least possible amount of negative environmental impact – we ship Internet orders in recycled and recyclable materials.
- Donate a portion of our proceeds to organizations that work to stop global warming.
The cool thing is they were inspired to start this business after watching, An Inconvenient Truth! Sounds familar.
Last but not least, this is a shout out to Marine, as these recycled glasses are made from the bottom halves of Bordeaux bottles that were “rescued” on the way to the landfill. A beautifully etched branch design is accompanied by the phrase ‘Protect Our Earth’ in four languages: English, Spanish (Proteja Nuestra Tierra), Afrikaans/South African (Bewaar Ons A Arde) and French (Proteqez Notre Terre). They look beautiful.
Well, these were good ones. I hope you liked them as well.
Enjoy.
-Cara
Reason 91 from, 101 Reasons Why I Am Vegetarian:
When food-safety inspectors in New York City make the rounds, they often come upon merchants selling just about anything: the meat of armadillos, iquanas, primates, turtles, frogs, and even rats. Some of the meat comes from endangered animals. Other cuts, if not intrinsically illegal, fail to derive from licensed inspected facilities and so put consumers at risk. The sellers of such contraband (most is imported) tend to be ignorant of U.S. laws, sometimes conveniently so. They don’t seem to comprehend the dangers to which they expose their customers and even the city as they raise the risk of outbreak. Over one recent 21-month period, a single inspector shuttered 138 city stores.
The history of solar power is of interest to me, because again for some reason I have an innate interest in all things solar. In this entry I wrote about some of the forefathers of the solar power movement and in future entries I will bring us up to the present time.
Humans and the earth have used the sun as some sort of energy source since the beginning of time, but it was not until 1838 that Edmund Becquerel observed and published findings about the nature of certain materials to turn light into energy. This in itself did not really create much commotion, but it did bring the thought of harnessing the sun’s energy source to people’s mind.
Thirty years later between 1860 and 1881, Auguste Mouchout, a mathematics instructor at the Lyce de Tours, became the first man to patent a design for a motor running on solar energy. This invention was born out of his his concerns over his country’s dependence on coal. “It would be prudent and wise not to fall asleep regarding this quasi-security,” he wrote. “Eventually industry will no longer find in Europe the resources to satisfy its prodigious expansion. Coal will undoubtedly be used up. What will industry do then?” Well we know what they do, they discover other nonrenewable sources of energy like oil and natural gas to use up, and once that is gone then will we turn to sun and wind for our main source of energy? The issue “they” see with that is they have not figured out a way to turn an obscenely grandiose profit off the sun and air, but I would not worry too much as I am sure General Electric is working on buying the sun as we speak.
Anyway, Mouchout received funds from the French Emperor Napoleon III and with those funds he designed a device that turned solar energy into mechanical steam power and soon operated the first steam engine. He later connected the steam engine to a refrigeration device, illustrating that the sun’s rays can be utilized to make ice, for which he was awarded an awesome French Medal of Super Freshness [I tried to discover, briefly, what medal it was he won, but to no avail, so yes I did invent the French medal of Super Freshness incase you weren’t sure.]!
Unfortunately, his groundbreaking research was cut short. The French renegotiated a cheaper deal with England for the supply of coal and improved their transportation system for the delivery thereof. Mouchout’s work towards finding an alternative source of energy was not considered a priority anymore and he no longer received any funding from the Napoleon V3 [ah, isn’t that the way things go?].
I will end our solar history lesson there for today and hope you have enjoyed it so far, more to follow!
Let the sun shine in.
-Cara
Reason 80 from, 101 Reasons Why I Am Vegetarian:
In the early twentieth century man learned how to extract nitrogen (fertilizer) from the air, cheaply and in large quantities. The discovery ultimately allowed 2 billion more people to inhabit the Earth and has given humans the luxury of feeding crops to livestock. Yet what gives the world abundance has, by way of nutrient runoff and acid rain, poisoned waterways from the Chinese countryside to the Ohio Valley. (Excess nitrogen promotes algae growth, robbing the water of oxygen.) In North America and Europe, lakes and rivers contain 20 times the nitrogen they did before the Industrial Revolution.
I collected some stats on drink consumption from, The Good Stuff guide, produced in 2004 by the Worldwatch Institute that I thought might be of interest to people.
- People in the U.S. consume more packaged drinks per capita than in any other country—about 350 aluminum cans per person per year, compared to 103 in Sweden, 88 in the United Kingdom, and 14 in France. [Go France!]
- Making 1 million tons of aluminum cans from virgin materials requires 5 million tons of bauxite ore and the energy equivalent of 32 million barrels of crude oil. Recycling the cans, in comparison, saves all of the bauxite and more than 75 percent of the energy, and avoids about 75 percent of the pollutants.
- Recycling just one aluminum can saves enough electricity to run a laptop computer for 4 hours.
- Making 1 million tons of plastic bottles from virgin materials (petroleum and other fossil fuels) generates an estimated 732,000 tons of climate-altering greenhouse gases.
Again I say, that’s crazy!
Eco-Cycle Media did a piece called, Zero Waste Systems that gives you an idea of how messed up our production/consumption/recycling system is right now. Then they wrap it up with some simple solutions you can do to reverse this doomed process.
Zero Waste!
-Cara
—————————————————
Reason 75 from, 101 Reasons Why I Am Vegetarian:
Okinawa has the healthiest and longest-lived people in the world, boasting the highest percentage of people who live to be a hundred years old. The super-seniors who inhabit the island tend to retain their mental keenness, and few need to live in nursing homes. Not surprisingly, they eat very little food of animal origin, according to a 25-year study on the island. Genes could take some of the credit, although today’s old folks are projected to outlive their children who have adopted Western eating habits.
Beauty you see in art is as important as beauty you see in nature. A connection to either beauty inspires. These paintings are by Romaine Brooks
Who inspires you?
-Cara
—————————————————
Reason 67 from, 101 Reasons Why I Am Vegetarian:
Most of America’s cows are not “Happy Cows,” in spite of what the California Milk Advisory Board might say in its nationally televised commercials. Many cows in the Western state spend their lives negotiating bogs of their own feces and urine. Elsewhere, they may be tethered at stanchions. All are inseminated annually to keep them lactating, and many regularly suffer painful udder infections. Thanks to calcium depletion and foot infections, slaughter occurs after only three or four lactation periods. The CMAB is a government agency and so is not subject to false-advertising laws.
The Day After An Inconvenient Truth 
What Did You Say?