I’ll be giving River cruises this summer! Join me to see the beautiful city of Chicago.

Saw that today. Absolutely stunning.

Always Y.

Illinois' new flag: What design experts say to consider as you vote among 10 finalists Public reaction to the 10 finalists has been mixed, so we turned to the pros. They had some thoughts.

Public reaction to the 10 finalists for Illinois' new flag has been mixed, so we turned to the pros. “Only the simplest designs really function well,” advises flag design expert Ted Kaye.

You can vote on the 10 finalists online: trib.al/Xs31iR3

Awww! 🥰

You know you’re an architecture nerd when you’re on your 2nd architecture film today and it’s only 10am.

Omg. Same.

Watch: DC bishop takes on Trump to his face in national prayer service President Donald Trump attended the National Prayer Service at the Washington National Cathedral on Tuesday, along with other top Republican leaders and their spouses. Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde appea...

Washington Bishop Budde just blistered Trump and his family at the inauguration service at the National Cathedral.

Budde told Trump that one action of unity is "honoring the dignity of all people." The second foundation of unity is "honesty. The third is "humility."
www.rawstory.com/donald-trump...

I am dreading the next 4+ years.

Do me a kindness! Share this if you love and support your local library & librarians (and remember: that includes your school library & school librarian) 😊📚

Thank you libraries & library workers… for everything ✨💚

Technically, the NBC tower is post modern, not Art Deco. (Chicago Architecture Center River Cruise docent here)

Plastic Free Living: 14 Tips to Reduce Consumption In our modern world, it's challenging to escape the omnipresence of plastic. From the moment we wake up, we interact with a myriad of plastic items, from toothbrushes and bottles to food packaging and...

I know I don't have all the answers and I'm not trying to lecture. These are just some ways to reduce our plastic consumption that we have incorporated into our lives. Would love to hear any of your thoughts/ideas!

Photo from www.linkedin.com/pulse/plasti...

With all of that, we still find that we use a lot of plastic in daily life and we recently discovered that our local grocery store has a recycling bin for plastic food packaging.

We bring our own bags when we go grocery shopping, we don't use the plastic produce bags when we don't have to, and if we forget our bags we request paper and then use those for recycling at home.

We got some reusable tin sandwich and snack tins for the kids lunch boxes and when we have to, we use compostable ziplock bags that we get from responsibleproducts.com We also use compostable kitchen garbage bags and doggie poop bags.

DIY Spray Bottle This spray bottle rocks—it's reusable, it's got recipes for cleaning on the side, and it has a strong and reliable sprayer. Reuse it again and again to reduce plastic consumption and look good doing i...

We make our own glass, countertop, and wood cleaners with glass spray bottles we got online. That sounds really granola-y, but it's actually very simple. We have used these bottles with the "recipe" right on the bottle for almost 10 years now: www.thetaremarket.com/products/cle...

We use a bar soap and brush for handwashing dishes and we've gone back to regular old Cascade powder for our dishwasher instead of the pods.

I LOVE Kobee's lip balm. kobeesco.com

Native deodorant in the plastic-free packaging is a hit at our house.

Kitchen:
We've reduced our paper towel usage by switching to rags and Swedish dishcloths.

We've reduced our paper napkin usage by switching to cloth napkins.

I've switched to Basic bar soap for face wash, and just regular Dove bar soap for body. I use a daily SPF face lotion and a nightly face lotion in sustainable packaging at zerowastestore.com

I use floss and a tin floss container and bamboo toothbrushes that I found at zerowasteoutlet.com

Shop Granola Girl Skincare Clean, Green, and Zero Waste Skin & Body-Care that is Paraben Free and All Natural. Bathroom Accessories ranging from Natural Soap Bars, Moisturizer, Soaking Salts, Salves, Lip Balm, Herbal Teas, Hair...

Bathroom:
I use bar shampoo, I like Ethique (try their website or Amazon, the dark pink works for me) and for bar conditioner, I like Granola Girl granolagirlskincare.com

Laundry:
We've ditched the huge plastic jugs (who wants to carry those around anyway?!) and use Tru Earth or Clean People laundry strips, both work great. We've also switched from dryer sheets to wool dryer balls and can't tell the difference.

Every year we try to remove a little bit more plastic from our everyday life. When I talk about this with other people, they always ask what we're doing, so here are some ways we have reduced plastic in our home over the years.

Would LOVE to hear how you live with less plastic/more clean!