KirDevries

The Kir DeVries TLC Home Made Simple Episode

woohoo- our TLC episode aired today... catch the trailer here.

Kir Helps You Live Well

After surviving ,and I must confess, enjoying the  "snowmageddon" of 2010 I am ready for spring! As I mentioned last month we have lots of great things in store for you. Have you checked out our new orange logo? It’s gorgeous. I hope you enjoy it as well as our newly designed, more informative and easier to use product pages.

It’s been such a pleasure helping thousands and thousands of you to fill your lives with healthy, eco-conscious and beautifully inspired goods. We continue to set the bar even higher, to bring you the very best of the best at fair prices with personal service.  This month we are unveiling even more new goodies to help you live well:

Natural Nail Polish: So many fabulous colors to choose from and I'm pretty sure you won't miss the toluene, formaldehyde and DBP that is missing from these long wearing natural polishes. 

Double Walled Porcelain Travel Mugs: Such a joy to hold in your hand! These sturdy and well designed mugs are beautiful but also practical. They are dishwasher and microwave safe and feature a removable splash resistant lid. 

New Reusable Bags from Envirosax: If only these bags did not last so darn long... I have no good reason to retire my 2 year old envirosax bags and upgrade to these great new styles for spring. 

Reusable Produce Bags from Flip and Tumble: I LOVE these produce bags. They are super light weight while still being durable. But the thing I really love is that the super light fabric allows you to wash the produce in the bag. It does not hold onto the water so I  just wash and then drop the whole bag into my produce drawer in the fridge.

 

 

Live Well,

Kristen

Reasons to Be Nice

Have you seen our new "good" section at Kir DeVries? This month in Good we feature "Reasons To Be Nice". In a busy on sometimes ungrateful world it really pays to stop and remember to just be  nice. Please fee l free to share with your friends and comment with your thoughts on the importance of being nice.

New Envirosax Bag Designs

Having just returned from the shows in NY, I'm super excited to start releasing our newest product offering for spring. The top of my list includes the new envirosax bags. They have  fresh new designs  that are sure to put a spring in your step as you head out for your next shopping adventure. For those of you who follow the line, Envirosax will be discontinuing the monochromatic line but will replace it with a fresh new line of monochromatic bags. It'sthe same general theme of black and white, just featuring updated designs- they are all awesome,  you will love them! The new salmon colored bags also made a big splash at the show and will be available here shortly.

A Clean Energy Alternative from Pavegen

I need this in my house. Given the foot traffic, I have to wonder how many watts of energy our upstairs  hallway could generate with these brilliant kinetic energy absorbing slabs from pavagen. Pavegen slabs are installed in high traffic areas where the kinetic energy from foot traffic  stored as energy in the slab. The energy can then be used for traditional energy needs such as powering lighting.  It’s truly refreshing to see a clean, efficient and well design alternative for  energy production.

Kir Shops Smart: Just For You!

We’ve just returned from the trade shows in New York and the big story  is “what you are not going to get”. That’s right, you’re not going to see tons and tons of  otherwise adorable and practical items that I found at the show . Why? Because once I started asking the tough questions, it became clear I could not, in good conscience, bring many of these items to the shoppers of Kir.   I want to know, where the items were made and by whom, what they are made of and all of the background info I need to verify product safety, authenticity and social responsibility.  It was a real eye opener and all around great experience.  I’m learning as I go and feel pretty darn fantastic  about being able to edit a truly great collection of goods for you  to choose from.

 

The new frog tea for two set from Shinzi Katoh is already in stock.

Now for the good news! After several days of  research and shopping we’ve uncovered about 7 new (and really really exciting) lines for you!  They will each be introduced here as they come into stock so be on the lookout between now and mid April.

Good Stuff

Hey Guess What?  We have four exciting new developments coming to Kir in the next few months. True to form though I’m going to tease you with just one per month . Actually some of them are just not ready yet- but teasing sounds like more fun to me! This month I would like to introduce you to our brand new content section called “good”.  It’s sort of a playground where we share things we think will brighten your day and add to your life. "Good” offers  a video section, daily musings, Good for the Girl (ya want to breath life in- read this one ;-) and Good & Green  (ya want to  be kind to this lovely planet - read this one).   I would love to hear your suggestions for daily musing, videos and topics, please send them to : Kristen@shopkirdevries.com

Helping Friends in Need

Green Your Decor has been a friend to Kir Devries, I look forward to her posts and marvel at the cool eco-finds that Jennae posts for her readers. So I was terribly saddened to learn that her beautiful young daughter has been diagnosed with leukemia.Unfortunately Jennae and her husband do not have health insurance at this time. Luckily they do have a huge blogosphere who loves them though  and so a chip in fund has been set up for them online. The link below will be actively accepting contributions until February 10th, 2010.

The Kir Vision for 2010

Great Scott- is it really 2010 already? I just love the new year, it invites us to take stock in what has gone by as well as daydream about what lies ahead. I am one of those paradoxical types; I love both tradition and change. So for the new year I have many exciting additions planned for Kir. Building on the integrity and spirit that guides our uniquely edited collection of goods for a better life we will also be offering our own line of truly eco-friendly, healthy & pure products as well as information you need to know and a little dash of good for nothing wit and wisdoms in our new content section. More on that later though- be on the lookout in the coming months!

 

In the meantime I would like to totally embarrass myself in the hopes of inspiring you! I have recently discovered vision boards. The general idea is that you find a way to create a visual representation of a goal that you have in life and keep it where you can see it as a daily inspiration. I just love to help others succeed and so my goal is to be a speaker at a workshop, conference etc. to that end, I made this somewhat comical, but I have to say, effective vision board element. Any guesses as to whose body I Photoshoped my head onto?

 

Want to know more about vision boards? Here is a great post about creating your own vision board.

 

White... it's the new black

Ever since seeing design genius David Butler (uh yum) on the cover of fast Company wearing a ridiculously cool white watch I have been completely in love with white. The tide was already turning, I had already made the switch from black to gray and white was the next logical step. I'm loving my new white flip camera (yes Kir videos will be coming soon!) and am eying up a cute white cube speaker for my ipod. 

And so to prove my point.... about the watch:

So to feed my new white obsession I have to look no further than the Living with White blog from the purveyors of contemporary design  Vish & Asia.