rebuilding

as I have mentioned several times already on this blog, in the Fall of this past year, my husband Waldi and I moved across continents. (The photo above is the first one on my camera of Germany. It's taken about two days after we landed. We are smiling, but I can promise you- we're still a little dazed and confused) The short version of the story goes something like this: we decided in August that we would be moving, packed up and sold almost everything we owned, said goodbye to everyone we knew and loved, and showed up here in September with nothing more than what we could carry. Literally.

I'm serious. We had two suitcases and a backpack. Needless to say, I left most of my wardrobe in North America. 

Several years ago, we made a commitment to buying clothing with origins we could be confident of. This led us to a lot of fair trade, and hand made adventures, but also to second hand shopping. Second hand is in my mind, a valuable alternative. It gives clothes a new life, saves them from being thrown out, and allows me to give my money to individuals or community organizations rather than large corporations. 

And so we have been slowly working on rebuilding a bit of our wardrobes, attempting to keep these values in tact. A little bit of Flee Markets, some community second hand stores, and of course, good old handmade.

It's a challenge, and sometimes I slip up. But for the most part, I feel better when I can take confidence in where my clothes and accessories come from. This is a value that's really important to me- it fits with my goal statement and is in my mind part of a healthy lifestyle. 

(as a side note: there will be no weekend craftiness post this Monday. I have big adventures planned over the weekend and early next week which I will share here soon! So, there will be no time for crafting! I'll see you on Wednesday to share my quote for the  month of June)