Glam Wrexham - VIP booths - last few available - http://www.glam-wrexham.co.uk/glam_vip_booths.html

Glam Wrexham - Competition - http://www.solarchidesigns.com/glam-wrexham/glam_comp.html

Create an eco-wedding

I've written an article on organasing an eco-wedding which has been purchased and published by Earth Times. You can see the article by the following the link below:

http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/335975,creating-an-eco-wedding.html

Did you know?

Did you know that there websites that are entirely dedicated to eco-touring, hotels, campsites etc? You can be an eco-tourist. The eco-honeymoon will happen in a big way. So far I really want to stay somewhere called The Green House Hotel in Bournemouth. It looks fab and has a really sound ethical framework. They really seem to take green hotelling seriously - solar panels, organic, sustainable, low energy tv's, low energy lighting etc. I was impressed. It's expensive though so if we are lucky enough to go then we will just stay a few days before heading on somewhere else. Currently some kind of train orientated tour through nearby parts of Europe. Self-catering will be the mainstay for the honeymoon remainder. France have quite a few ethical self-catering places to stay. I fancy Italy but haven't spotted anywhere eco-wise yet. Mark keeps talking about Greece but it's a bit far away without a plane I think.

The planet will laugh with us

I never seem to have time to write my blog these days. I should invest more time in it and as such, here I am, tapping away.

Life has busy of late. Busy and at times, very difficult.

I'm writing an essay at the moment well not exactly this very moment but I've written about 100 words so far today and procrastinated for about 2 hours. It's hard to write an essay when your head isn't in the right place but it has to be done. The Degree end point is in sight and as the years have skipped past, I've already got various other qualifications (HNC, certificate thingy, Diploma) to show for the long, painful effort that is higher eduction. I'm already allowed to put letters after my name but I don't bother with them. Nobody ever knows what they mean anyway and I find them a bit pompous. I don't bother with graduation ceremonies either (although I have done one). I don't look good in a large black gown and square hat. If I ever do a phd, I will probably bother with the Dr. Not to be pompous but I think if you have managed to come out the other side of a phd and still be sane then you deserve to use the Dr bit. I might just use Dr at the end and change my first name to 'the'.

On a different note, Mark and I are planning our wedding. Well, hmmm, I'm planning it and he is going along with it. He inputs with agreement and conversation mainly. We are planning a eco-wedding. This means having the wedding party at home (oh I hope the landlady agrees). It also means posting on freecycle and checking in every day to see whether anyone is giving away anything weddingy. We have been very lucky so far. Some fantastic people have already given us lots of great items for our wedding - white material, gold organza, tea lights, flowers, ribbon and a carpet! We plan to decorate our garage sort of marquee style. We also plan to have gazabos in the garden. Decorate practically everywhere with solar powered fairy lights. In my head the house looks like a fab venue. I've already started prowling the Internet for eco-honeymoons. I'm getting ahead of myself though, the wedding isn't sorted yet and no, we haven't set a date but it's likely to be late Spring or perhaps very early Summer. The weather has a will of its own so we may as well just ignore it and carry on regardless. It's a pity gas heaters are not eco-friendly. Oh I should say that Mark has collected Freecycle items so he has inputted more than I gave credit for in the early part of this paragraph. He also been very supportive of my eco-ideas. He is green but a fair amount of his greeness comes from being skint and a bit tight with money. It's all good though. Our wedding won't cost the earth either money-wise or literally cost the earth. We will have fun and the planet will laugh with us.

If any nice people happen upon my blog and would like to help us achieve our eco-wedding, please comment on my blog page. If you have old white sheets, throws, tablecloths, solar fairy lights, gold material, white silk flowers, tressle or decorating tables, fabric paint, old patio chairs / tables, erm a gazebo, some kind of sheeting we can use keep people dry with, old but unpatterned carpet / other flooring, wedding album / book that people can sign, biodegradable cups, plates, bowls, knives, forks, spoons, glasses you don't want (especially wine or champagne flutes), picnic rugs, cool bags / those things you put in cool bags and erm anything else that loosely relates to having a wedding at home - don't be shy, get in touch. We are not being uber cheeky. We will be actually spending some money. Anything that isnt something someone else no longer wants / needs will be come from charity shops or (as secondary option) second hand from ebay etc. The honeymoon will be eco. We will travel by train, bus and on foot. There will be no planes. We will only stay in places that are eco-green. We will be undertaking some hardcore guerilla gardening to sort of offset any carbon nasties associated with our wedding. I don't really agree with offsetting as offsetting but I think planting trees, plants and making everywhere greener is a good thing. It does have positive carbon effects but the effect is not immediate so in that sense, offsetting doesn't really work. You catch a plane and then plant ten trees - the plane has still pushed masses of nasty carbon into the fragile atmosphere and the trees are not yet big and scary enough to gobble all the C02 up. Not sure what the tree / plane ratio is but imagine that we need a hell of a lot of trees to remove all the carbon associated with plane travel. Offsetting is good but it doesn't do what it says on the tin so to speak.

Anyway I've rambled enough for now. Essay calls. Sigh.

xx

for Shotokan Karate in Liverpool - visit our friends - http://www.itka-karate-liverpool.com

new website by Solar Chi Designs - Xpression Records - http://www.xpressionrecords.com

I've written a little something about night out panic - http://www.powderroomgraffiti.com/feel-it/glamour-girl.html

We are arranging our wedding - please read my blog: http://1974haze.blogspot.com/2010/08/eco-wedding.html

Eco-wedding

Hi

We have just moved to Cheshire and recently got engaged. We are currently in the early stages of arranging our wedding. We would really like to hold the reception at our home and want to make the arrangements as ethical and eco-friendly as we possibly can.

As such, if anyone can help us by giving us the following items, that would be really fab:

White tablecloths / sheets / material - any type of white material really so that we can cover the ceiling in our garage with hanging material. Any type is fine but velvet or cotton would be really great. We will also use material as makeshift table cloths.

Carpet - we want to put a carpet down on our garage floor for the wedding celebration but will continue to use the carpet in there after the big day. In general we are not fussy about the type but ideally plain carpet rather than patterned. Doesn't matter too much about the condition because we will clean it and place chairs in strategic places but obviously it's for our wedding day so we don't anything too stained and tired.

Patio furniture - if you have been lucky enough to replace your old patio furniture with new items then we would love to have your old stuff. If you have white patio furniture that would even better but we really don't mind.

Biodegradable confetti - a big ask perahaps and we have bought some of this already but if you have any rice paper, dried rose petals or any other type of biodegradable confetti that would be really fab.

Old ribbon - ideally in blue or white but any colour considered - we will plan our colour scheme around what people are able to give us

Citronella candles - if you have some that you don't need then we would be happy to give them a new home

Gazebo - this is rather a big ask really but if anyone had a white gazebo or erm 3 that would be really great. Alternatively any colour and we will decorate accordingly.

White or blue silk flowers - We are thinking of decorating the house with white / blue silk flowers. They don't actually have to be silk but I think that's what they are known as. Basically flowers made of material. Ideally white or blue but again we will plan our colour scheme around what people are able to give us.

Beads - if you have any beads, old necklaces or other beaded jewellrey that you don't want we would love to have them. We will make wedding decorations with them.

Fold up or old decorating tables - if you have any, that would be reallty great. We will cover them with material for our wedding. We will use them for storage in the garage afterwards.

Solar lights - again rather a big ask but if anyone has decorative solar light that are working but not needed, we would give them a good home. Either the little fairy light type or individual lamps which can be placed in a garden.

Recycled printing paper - if anyone has a surplus stock of recycled paper that they can spare, that would be fab. We intend to put up notices and messages around the house and want to print these on recycled paper.

Plastic wine / champagne glasses - if you have any of those plastic glasses that are shaped like wine glasses or other drinks glasses made from plastic, we would love to have them. We don't want to use glass because of breakages but don't really want to use plastic beakers either. We will keep them and reuse after the wedding day. If we are fortunate to end up with lots then we will give them away on Freecycle after the wedding.

Any other items that you no longer need and that you feel will help us, we will gratefully consider. We are open to ideas and suggestions.

We really want our wedding to be an enjoyable day that leaves a very small carbon footprint. If we could have a day that was carbon neutral that would be even better.

Hope you can help.

Obviously for ethical reasons, if you live many miles away from Cheshire then we would not be able to collect offered items. If you live nearby and can help, then please get in touch with me or Mark.

hazel@metronet.co.uk or markanthonydixon@hotmail.com.

Thanks for reading,

Hazel and Mark

xxxx

UK Directory of Hydroponics Shops - http://www.freeindex.co.uk/categories/industry/electrical_supplies/hydroponics/

Bury Therapy - http://www.bury-therapy.co.uk - Therapy in Bury

Bury Therapist - http://www.bury-therapist.co.uk - Therapist in Bury

Bury Counselling - http://www.bury-counselling.co.uk - Counselling in Bury

Bury Counsellor - http://www.bury-counsellor.co.uk - Counsellor in Bury

Stuff

I blog very little these days. I seem to have less available time. Whenever I get the urge to write something, more often than not, I send my writing over to Powder Room Graffiti. An

online magazine for women. This way, I get to do something I love and get paid for the privilege.

I do miss my blog though. It was my first step into the world of writing (unless you count school, Uni and essays).

If anyone passes by this way and gets an uncontrollable desire to read something I've written, head over to The Powder Room, search for 1974haze and read on.

The links below, take you to some of the more reason stuff:

http://www.powderroomgraffiti.com/shout-it/chipmunk-appreciation-society.html

http://www.powderroomgraffiti.com/live-it/the-first-date-of-the-rest-of-your-life.html

http://www.powderroomgraffiti.com/love-it/better-than-sex/angel-fear.html