Ecoista

18. April 2011

Shark Steamer: My favorite green cleaning tool

Steam!

I’ve had my Shark steamer for a few months now, and I continue to be impressed with it. It does a great job as a cleaning tool and as a steamer (anything that means I don’t have to iron it great!) It comes with a roomy tote bag and seven different attachments from small brushes that are great for cleaning in corners to larger paddles for cleaning bigger surfaces.

The first day I had it, I spent 4 hours steaming everything in sight. It managed to get rid of gunk that looked like it had been caked on the stove for years. It cleans tile and grout in seconds, better than any other product I’ve tried. And best of all – it doesn’t use any chemicals, just water, so it doesn’t leave toxic smells.

Shark EuroPro Steam Pocket

I recently added linen curtains to my kitchen windows, and I used my steamer to get the wrinkles and creases out of the curtains. It took just a few minutes., see the results below!

Curtains Before: Wrinked and Creased

Curtains After: Flowing (no ironing required)

2. April 2011

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Portraits of Nino Pazzo the Cat

I’m still learning how to use my new camera, and I’ve discovered that my cat is a terrific subject. He was feeling a little crazy this morning and burrowed himself on the windowsill, so I snapped a few shots. He seemed to like the sound of the camera. Such a ham!

1. April 2011

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Spring in New England

April welcomed us with a Nor’easter here in New England. After such a tough winter, snow was the last thing I wanted to see. But I couldn’t help but be enchanted by spring’s early crocuses framed in white snow this morning.

19. March 2011

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DSLR 101

I’ve been so inspired in my Blogging Your Way class that I just bought my first fancy, non-point-and-shoot, camera! (Thank you Holly and Leslie.) After a lot of research and exploration, I decided on the Canon Rebel T2i. I went to Calumet in Cambridge last week armed with a list of all items a novice would need, thanks to my photographer brother who patiently guided me. The guys at Calumet said he should receive a commission check.

Here’s the list for any other novices out there thinking of starting with a DSLR:

Camera w/ kit lens, lens to be upgraded after I become more of an expert (and have more money)
lens (Canon 50mm f/1.8)
UV Filters for both lenses. These are inexpensive and will protect the lenses.
Microfiber cloth to clean the lenses
2 Cards. I went with one 8GB high speed card that would be able to store video. I’ll probably get a 16GB soon. My brother recommended 2 cards so that if one gets full, I won’t be stuck waiting for the photos to copy to the computer. If one fills up, I can just swap it out and keep shooting. That will be important especially for client shoots.
Monopod with legs or Tripod. I’m still deciding on this one.
Extra battery, preferably Calumet brand. Calumet doesn’t make one yet for my camera, so I’m waiting on this too.
Camera Bag. I followed my brother’s advice and went with the super-portable bag with an additional case that I can attached to the main bag’s strap to hold the extra lens. My goal is to take pictures as often as possible, and I know that’s more realistic when everything is easy to carry and not as cumbersome as many large camera bags can be.

I was originally planning to order everything online, but I highly recommend going to a high-quality shop where they will guide you and make sure you get all the right items.

Here are some of my first photos with my new camera and photography styling skills, thanks to BYW.

10. March 2011

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What’s with the multiple names?

What is my name? Christine, Marielle, Elle, huh? You would think that at 34 I would know by now, but here’s the deal.

The name my parents gave me when I was born was Marielle Christine. My mother, who is Belgian and a native French speaker, didn’t like the way Americans said Marielle, so she decided to call me by my middle name. I’ve never had a problem with the way people say my first name, so it’s never bothered me. What does bother me tremendously is being called Chris. I don’t feel like a Christine, but at least it doesn’t make me shiver with horror the way Chris does.

It’s amazing how frequently Chris creeps in. People like my stylist who have known me for a good amount of time, sometimes years, just decide one day that they’re going to start calling me Chris. It’s too uncomfortable for me to yell over the sound of the hair dryer “It’s Christine, not Chris!” to someone who has known me for years, so I end up enduring it. Are those two syllables really that much more effort to say?

Christine has had its funny moments too, though. Whenever I filled in my name on standardized tests as a kid, the 6-letter limit meant that my name had to be Christ. For someone who had no exposure to religion, that’s just weird. (My parents were raised strictly Belgian and Irish Catholic but no longer practice. I think the nuns beat it out of them. We never even stepped foot into a church as a family.) My father still laughs hysterically at the irony that an agnostic named after Mary and Christ married a Jew. It’s like it’s a prank three decades in the making.

So what does this all mean? It means I wish people called me by my first name, Marielle. Elle for short. That just feels right to me. I haven’t quite figured out how I’m going to make this change happen, but this post is step 1.

Love,

Elle

28. February 2011

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Blogging Your Way

Welcome to my new blog design and URL! It’s been a while since I last posted, but I’ve been busy at work on the new design and a new website for my business (coming soon). I decided that I needed a fresh, new look to go along with lots of other changes in my life that have me excited for the near future. I’ve been out of school only for a year, and I’ve learned a lot in that time: I’ve started my own business, decided to move out of the suburbs and back into the city, rediscovered how to live life out of grad school (this sounds trivial but proved to be quite a challenge. It’s a shock to go from dedicating every moment of every day to one goal, then accomplishing that goal and being let loose into the world again with unstructured time), reconnected with friends and family, and lived through the hardest time of my life when my mother had her accident. She’s now doing miraculously well, and I am so thankful for her presence in my life.

In the past month, I’ve been feeling like life is finally starting to clear up and the potential for the future is taking shape. I’ve discovered that starting a business is so much more involved than I imagined, but I’m also getting better at living with the patience and acceptance that my vision will take time to achieve. In the past, my goals have been easily defined, and the path to achieve them was no mystery: I will get into a good school, I will graduate with this degree, I will make this much money, I will be promoted to this title, etc. Now, it’s all in my hands, and it’s completely different. Being my own boss was one of my goals back then, but that’s as far as my imagination was able to go. Now that I’m here, it’s up to me to figure out where I want to take my business, how I allocate all of my time, the vision for my blog. It’s at once exhilarating and terrifying. I feel very fortunate to be in this position, to have fantastic clients so early on, and to have the opportunity to work with and learn from designers like Molly Frey, who’s life and business are great models for me.

And today is my first day as a student in the Blogging Your Way course offered by Holly at decor8. I had a feeling it would be a good class for me to take, but now after just one day, I am so glad I did! I know it will help me grow creatively and guide me as I grow my business and my blog.