American Made Summer

It's been uncharacteristically cool here and I've been loving every second of it. We do, however, live in Southern California so it was bound to heat up eventually. That means it's time to bust out the sun block, shorts and tees so my pasty boy can run around outside without turning pink.

Digging through The Boy's disorganized stash of seasonal clothes I realized that last year's 3T shorts and tees were already getting too small for my big boy and that I'd have to purchase some Summer stuff before Summer to tide him over.

In keeping with my plan to buy more American made stuff I bought these shorts

 and these

and this shirt

in size 4 from American Apparel and the stuff just barely fits. My kid's three and a half and this stuff is, theoretically at least, supposed to last until he's five. WTF? How did my big boy get to be so big?

In any event, I went back and bought him a pair of these shorts in a size 6. They still look pretty small, but I can't bear the thought of buying him an even bigger pair. And besides, I swear I rocked the same pair of shorts in the late 70's and early 80's, so they'll be good for entertainment value if nothing else.

Success!

My first month of shopping for American made stuff is sort of one step forward, one step back. The Boy was in desperate need of new jammies. He's growing like a weed and only had 2 pair of jammies that weren't comically small. I had to act quickly in order to avoid him spending too many more nights going to bed looking like The Incredible Hulk or that kid in that commercial. But in my haste I relied on my old standby - Baby Gap. Crap.

 

The bright spot, my one step forward if you will, was purchasing a pair of AG Jeans. Though they cost three times as much as I've ever spent on jeans - $150... on sale! - they're made in LA and come in petite for my short ass. I've been wearing them for all of 3 hours and already I love, love, love them. The denim is soft, there's no weird zipper lump sticking out, the rise is good and there's not a huge gap in the back exposing my butt. Love!

 

Here I am modelling them from my throne on the sofa.

Living A Better Life

I'm not big on New Year's resolutions. Yeah, I usually make a mental list - lose weight, tick more books off on my reading list, work on my novel, blah blah blah - but I rarely write anything down and even less rarely stick to my "resolutions." So for 2013 I was thinking that maybe I need something more tangible to stick to, something requiring a more wholistic approach to change. Moving my body more, yes, but also paying more attention to what I eat, use and purchase. The whole 'less is more' or 'quality over quantity' thing is really what I'm aiming for. Fewer but nicer things. Less stuff made in developing world sweatshops, preferably made here in the US.

I know it will be difficult as it seems as though everything is made in ChinaIndiaBangladeshPhilippines. But I'll give it a go and see how much American made stuff I can get by on.

As a start I figure that in oder to pay more attention to where the stuff I buy comes from I have to learn where the stuff I already have comes from. So this morning I took a look st my toiletries and makeup. I gotta say, I'm not doing do badly in this department.

Shampoo - Giovanni's. Super crunchy points for this as it's US made AND cruelty free.
Toothpaste - Tom's of Maine
Deodorant - Tom's of Maine
Tinted moisturizer - Laura Mercier
Mascara - Jane Iredale
Hair product - Aveda

I didn't include Hubs' Burt's Bees stuff and the Burt's Bees face wipes I use to clean my face at night. All made in Durham, North Carolina. Burt's Bees is also what we use for The Boy's baths. His toothpaste is made in Germany and The Little Boy's bath stuff is made in France, so 50/50ish for the rest of my family.

As for the rest of my stuff, my comb is made in Switzerland, shower gel made in Canada and the rest of my makeup and sundries are made in France. So the bulk may not be made in USA, but at least it's less likely to have been made in a sweatshop.

So this is a start. There's still a year's worth of food to buy, birthday and holiday gifts to get and clothes for quickly growing boys to shop for, but I'll give it a go.