Covet Collective: January 2012

Thursday, January 19, 2012

Alexis Bittar

Came across this amazing ring today. Had to share! The gold and aquamarine coloring....swoon.

You can find it here.

-Tina

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Rather than a post about what I Covet today, I want to change things up and talk about giving back. We all Covet material things, and many times people want things they can't have...even if they actually need them.

Yesterday (Monday) my husband and I had the day off from our real jobs, so we decided to take the day and work a shift at Habitat for Humanity. They have an ambitious build going on in our area: a 36 unit development!. It is a massive project that is a little different than your typical Habitat single-family-home project. Once this build is complete, just think of the number of families it will house! For those not familiar with Habitat, the homes are a partnership with families that make 50% of the average income of the area, and the family's mortgage is calculated as 1/3 of whatever they make. This way they can always afford their home, as the mortgage adjusts if they have any increases in pay, or hit a hard spot (which many of us have felt over the last few years). On top of that, the families getting the homes put in 500 hours of service on the homes while they are being built, so volunteers work right alongside future homeowners. It was a very neat experience.

Take time today to check out the Habitat group in your area at the main website. Or, if you are in the Bay Area, here is the Silicon Valley site. For you Bay Area folks, the build site we just worked on is open Tues - Sat, so find a day that works for you! For those paying attention, yes, they were open special on Monday for the holiday, knowing they would get some volunteers.

If manual labor isn't your thing, there are so many resources to find volunteer opportunities near you - Craigslist, Idealist or Volunteer Match are just a few options to check a range of opportunities for you.

Happy Helping!
-Katie

Friday, January 13, 2012

Antique Farm House Love: Jar Basket

Does anyone else love Antique Farm House? Seriously, you have to sign up for their sale alerts. They have some fantastic stuff and reasonable prices. I just had to post their sale today, as I am a lover of using jars as storage. Please tell me you also wash out your pasta sauce jars and use them for storing everything form kitchen utensils to hair ties. Am I the only one? Oh, how I love this little basket and jar combo: