Over the past few years you have, no doubt, taken some steps towards making your daily routine more earth friendly. Perhaps you have taught your children to throw bottles and cans into the recycling bin instead of the trash can, traded in your clunker for a hybrid, or even begun riding your bicycle to work every day. Everywhere around us, we can witness the inspiring sight of our friends and colleagues working together to reduce their carbon footprint.

With all of this hard work you have been doing to give Mother Earth some TLC, you deserve some special attention, too! You need some soothing and pampering products to soften your skin and relax your soul. With the natural and botanically derived ingredients of Daub & Bauble products, you can even ride the green wave into your daily cleansing and moisturizing routine.

To top it all off, Daub & Bauble has award winning bottle designs, too! Wallpaper, Communication Arts, and How magazines have all recognized the beautiful and colorful bottle designs, which are made of recyclable plastic. Even your in-laws will be impressed when your soap bottle matches your home décor!

Daub & Bauble Hand Wash

Have you looked at the ingredient label on the bottle of hand soap next to your kitchen sink lately? It is probably filled with an array of harsh and synthetic ingredients. Triclosan, for example, is an antiseptic that is used to decrease bacteria on the skin. However, the germs on your hands actually build up a resistance to this ingredient over time. Additionally, triclosan, when combined with detergents and strong fragrances, can be extremely drying to the skin. Another ingredient you will probably find in your soap is alcohol. While it is commonly used as a filler, alcohol evaporates quickly off the skin and provides no nurturing benefits. Sound good? No way!

Daub & Bauble has come up with the perfect solution to the common hand wash dilemma. Its hand washes contain a variety of natural ingredients to moisturize your hands every time you cleanse them. These include soothing aloe vera, and antioxidant vitamin E. One of the most beneficial natural ingredients in Daub & Bauble Hand Wash is vegetable glycerin. Unlike alcohol, glycerin nourishes your skin. It allows your skin to breathe, and helps to heal those little annoyances such as hangnails and teeny cracks in your hands.

Nervous about giving up your antibacterial soap? Don’t be! Studies have shown that it is the actual scrubbing and rubbing motion that removes germs from the surface of your hands, not the properties of the soap itself. You can rest assured that a good lathering with this gentle moisturizing formula will definitely do the trick.

Daub & Bauble Hand Lotion

After washing your hands, while the skin is just ever-so-slightly damp, it is the best time to lock in some moisture. But what happens when you go to lift a glass off the kitchen counter one minute later, and it slides right out of your hand only to shatter on the floor? Most lotions create a slick with petroleum, a thick oil that leaves a greasy layer on top of your skin. Instead, Daub & Bauble uses naturally derived plant oils, such as grapeseed oil, that will sink right into your skin without a greasy trace. Daub & Bauble hand lotions also contain avocado butter. It turns out that the same fatty acids that are great for your heart are excellent for your skin, too!

Sniff, sniff… what is that great smell?

Daub & Bauble hand soaps and lotions are both graced with delicate scents that will please your olfactory sense, rather than overwhelm it. These fragrances include energizing Orange and Clove, refreshing Lemon and Ginger, earthy Fig and Thyme, and exotic Cacao and Spice. Turn your kitchen sink into a mini spa with these luscious fragrances. Your husband or boyfriend will love them, too, as they are not reminiscent of heavy perfumes; just fresh and clean.

photo by davitydave

If you’ve kept up with magazines like Dwell, Domino, Real Simple, and others, you’d know that patio succulent gardens are all the rage in gardening circles.  Most container garden articles have glorious photos of succulents overflowing terracotta pots or stoneware.  Sure they look great, but not necessarily the “look” for a modern garden.

A large stoneware planter is hard to move around, and many prized succulents are simply not cold hardy in most of the United States.  Additionally, succulent gardens are perfect double-duty garden gems; they look great on the front porch steps and make stylish indoor/outdoor center pieces for summer barbecues and impromptu gatherings.

Perch Succulents Indoors and Out

To make your succulent garden stylish, portable and match your modern aesthetic, consider planting a garden in the new Perch! Campy Planter.  These quirky little planters are perfect for indoor/outdoor succulent gardens.  The pedestal base doubles as a saucer to catch what (little) water you add to your succulents.  The stoneware planters are all hand-made in Brooklyn, New York, but feel at home in any modern house.  Growing succulents is a bit different than other container gardening ventures, so here’s some tips for growing healthy plants:

Grow Happy, Healthy Succulent Gardens

• Use fast draining soil when planting in containers.  Like other plants, succulents still need nutrients, so they will not grow well in a mixture made entirely from sand and gravel.  It is best to use a mixture of sand, gravel, and light compost.  You can generally buy specially mixed succulent soil/planting mix at your local garden center.  It is worth the money.  Plus, one small bag will do, unless you plant a dozen containers.
• Find containers with drainage holes.  That’s what makes the Perch! Campy Planters great for succulents.  They have a small hole in the bottom of the sphere, which drains out into the pedestal.  That makes these succulent pots easy to move around.
• Avoid re-potting succulents too much. It’s a good idea to select a slow-growing or small specimen for a small pot.
• Place your newly designed containers in a sunny area.  Succulents staying indoors for a long period of time should be near a sunny window, away from a direct draft from the air-conditioner or heater.
• Water your succulent containers when the soil is dry.  The amount and timing of water varies by species.  If you buy a plant with a tag, look up that species to see if your plant will need more water at one time of the year versus another.  In general, if the plant starts to look shriveled, it needs water!

Easy Succulents for Container Plantings

• Aloe
• Echeveria  (commonly known as “hens and chicks”
• Euphorbia (crown of thorns)
• Sedum

Succulents are very popular right now, so you can find mini-succulents at almost every garden center.  Plant your portable succulent garden, and enjoy the fun, indoors and out.

This spring has been a whirlwind for me with aHa! Modern Living; blogging, shipping orders and communicating with customers on Twitter.  I was delighted to get a tweet from one of my followers, @LOTB (aka Fern), requesting an interview.  Moi?

I had a lot of fun answering her questions about why aHa! Modern Living was created, my favorite products, and one of my many garden goofs, just to name a few.  Check out the interivew on her blog, Life on the Balcony, a great site for gardening tips for apartment and condo dwellers.

Thanks again Fern for the fun questions. Best of luck this season!

The Nature Lover

Does your special lady love all creatures, great and small?  Is her idea of a perfect morning sipping a cup of coffee, reading the paper next to a picture window watching the birds courting each other?  Is she on the lookout for insects trapped inside that need to be let out?  Does she rescue stray animals and nurse them back to health?  If her lovely afternoon is spent talking to the animals, consider the Perch! Bird Feeder or the Modern Nesting Box that will frame the tableaux of feathered friends outside her window.  Check out more ideas For the Birds.

The Gardener

Gardening is one of the most obvious types of nurturing.  The benefits of a gardener are on display for everyone to see.  A thriving vegetable garden, a riot of color outside the front door, or a carefully designed knot garden that is the pride of the lady of the house, and the neighborhood garden club is the sign of a true nurturer.  Help her make her garden grow with durable tools like Spear & Jackson’s Garden Hand Tool Set or Bypass Pruners that will last as long as her gardening stamina.  Check out more gift ideas For the Gardener.

Hostess with the Mostess

Entertaining and party planning is yet another form of nurturing.  Some fabulous entertainers consider nothing to be more fun than hosting friends and family for a delicious meal or cocktail hour-fun, food and relaxing.  Part of the gracious entertainer’s arsenal of tools is the tableware and flatware in which everything is served.  Help your nurturing hostess prepare a beautiful event with new Roost Sapling Servers [bronze or silver] or create an easy modern, nature-inspired table setting with a few Glass Tealight Logs.  She’ll be so excited to host her next party.  If you treat her well on Mother’s Day, she’ll be sure to invite you.  Check out more gift ideas For the Entertainer.

Remember, It’s about Her, not You

Our Mother’s Day blog series has focused on how to create a memorable Mother’s Day experience for your lovely lady.  Just to sum up our advice for having a happy Mother’s Day, make sure that you tailor the day to your specific target of affection.  Make the day special for her, and it will be special for you, too.  Mother’s Day isn’t just about mothers, it’s about family.

Have a happy Mother’s Day!

As I mentioned in a previous post, Mimosa is Pantone’s 2009 Color of the Year.  The color yellow reminds us of the warmth and nuturing qualities of the sun, which are qualities that most humans are drawn to, not to mention yellow coordinates with just about every color.  Add a splash of vibrant yellow with Daub & Bauble’s Sorrento Lemon and Ginger Hand Set to your kitchen or bath to conjure up the fresh scents of the outdoors this season.

The Daub & Bauble set is an affordable way to add a happy yellow without committing your walls to such a vibrant paint color.  You have the option to buy other garden scents as a set, alone as hand lotion or hand wash, or add a little sophistication with Daub & Bauble’s white ceramic caddy.

About 17 years ago, Kamal Meattle discovered that he was allergic to the air in Delhi, India.  His doctor’s told him that his lung capacity had dropped to 70% and it was killing him.  With the help of NASA and a team of experts, Kamal discovered 3 common indoor plants are all you need to grow your own fresh air.  >>More ways to Improve Your Indoor Air Quality

1.  Areca Palm removes carbon dioxide and converts it into oxygen.  You need four shoulder-high plants per person.

2.  Mother-in-Law’s Tongue is called “The Bedroom Plant” because it converts carbon dioxide into oxygen at night.  You need six to eight waist-high plants per person

3.  Money Plant removes formaldehyde and other volatile chemicals. Best grown using hydroponics.

Care of Plants

• Wipe leaves clean every day or once a week in cleaner air cities.  Layers of dust block sunlight and reduce the plant’s ability to photosynthesize, which is how plants feed themselves.
• Soil used should be vermi manure (worm poop) or hydroponics
• Place plants outside once every three to four months

Kamal’s Research Findings

Kamal spent the last 15 years researching these plants and their effects on air quality in his own 20 year-old, 50,000 square foot office building in Delhi.  He found that by using 1,200 plants for the 300 office occupants, there was an increase in human productivity by over 20% and reduction in energy requirements by 15% since the office spaces required less fresh air.

Why Is this Important?

The results of Kamal’s study are important on many levels, but the impact on the environment speaks loudly.  Kamal’s mission with his current project, GreenSpaces, is “to reshape the way commercial buildings are designed and built, with a view to reduce impact on environment and contribute to social development and sustainability.”

• 40% of the world’s energy consumption is taken up by buildings
• World’s energy requirements are expected to grow 30% over the next decade
• In the next 15 years, 60% of the world’s population will be living in buildings in cities with populations over 1 million
• A growing preference for living and working in air conditioned places

How to Grow Your Own Fresh Air – TED 2009 Talk

Retweet Giveaway Winner

@Farmingglassie is our Retweet Giveaway Contest winner.  Thanks to everyone who participated.  We will have more giveaway contests throughout the year.  If you want in on the fun, follow us on Twitter for aHa! updates.