Coffee and mindfulness

I have always been interested in what, where , how or why the things I own are made. I guess I am a geek at heart. I love reading about science and finding out about why the sky is blue, whales migrate, what quantum physics is about, why time is relative, and so on and so on and so on. I guess with an attitude like this I will never be bored. So in the interest of what things are made of, I started to think about my coffee sleeves. You see, I like to get a caramel latte every morning after I work out. It is my vice for the day, my reward for working out, even though I love to exercise. That is another topic altogether. I think being aware of what things are made of gives a mindfulness to consumerism. It makes me step away and say, hey, what is this thing I use everyday? Since I started thinking about what the ubiquitous coffee sleeve is made from and do I need it it anyway, I realized even though the ones I use are apparently made from recycled materials, I could save an awful lot of paper if I just made my own. I mean, think about it, I exercise about 5-6 days a week and get a coffee all those days, that is an awful lot of paper sleeves! So, I decided to design my own sleeve with some of my scraps of fabric laying around….

some batik, scraps of felted black wool.
I love it, and am thinking of making new ones for every season. So, I used it this morning for my daily coffee fix. The coffee server was surprised that I had my own homemade sleeve and said “Hey you could build a side business off of these!” Hmmm…
Read more musings at snow-food-friends-and-staying creative