We live right downtown in Tacoma and pass Tollefson Plaza almost every day. To be honest, most of the time it seems like a pretty empty space with only a few people around, but over the past month it was completely different thanks to the Letters installation. Every day there were tons of people around, laughing, spelling out random things, running around trying to find an “R”, taking pictures, etc.

I love Tacoma’s creative thinking and am so glad to be part of this awesome community.

Here’s our little letter adventure:

Rachelle and James are adorable and have so much fun together, which made for a perfect session for Scott and I because everyone knows we’re totally ridiculous. They scouted out some perfect locations for us and were willing to climb trees and roll around on the ground; dream clients!

To view James + Rachelle’s entire Seattle engagement session, view the slideshow here!

Proofs and ordering available here.

I reached the last straw a few weeks ago when I went to throw something away and saw that 90% of what was in the garbage was produce and food scraps. Right next to our tiny garbage can was a heaping giant bucket full of recyclables and for a while that was my justification. I mean, we live in a 4th floor loft, right? We’re already recycling at least 80% of what we buy. We generally have one small shopping bag-sized garbage bag per week. We try to avoid plastic, we buy with the least amount of packaging possible, we strive for local+organic+natural+just mindful. Surely that was enough and these food scraps could just make their way to the landfill guilt-free, right? They’re FOOD SCRAPS. It’s fine. They’ll just decompose chillin’ in the landfill and everything will be gravy.

Well, I know that’s not true. I know that food that ends up in a landfill decomposes differently because landfills accumulate so much stuff that the food ends up buried, without air. When it decomposes without air it releases methane and other biogasses that trap heat and are far more of a problem than carbon dioxide. Guilt-free just went out the window.

The other part that made it hard for me to justify my… let’s be honest, laziness, is that when I lived with Jay + Jen they had a worm compost that they kept right in the kitchen, so I KNEW how easy it was and how it wasn’t a bug-infested mess like it kind of sounded like it could be. I’m being 100% honest when I say that I didn’t even know if was there until Jen showed me and it didn’t smell at all.

So, I called myself out on my own complacency, ordered some worms, and they just arrived today! This is my first time, so if anyone out there has any tips, or if you’re thinking of starting one, definitely share your story in the comments and link to your website if you have one. I’d love to read about more people that are doing this, especially urban + apartment dwellers. I think it’s easy for us to just say we don’t have the space or the ability, but we know it’s possible no matter where you are.

Here’s how we started our worm compost!

We ordered some red wiggler worms about a week ago from WormLady.com out of Chehalis, WA.

They showed up today in a little “worm kit” with some bedding and castings. We ordered 1 pound for $29 (shipping included), and from what I’ve read it sounds like 1 pound of worms will eat 1/2 a pound of food a day.

I bought 2 plastic bins from Target for less than $10. They stack inside each other and the top one has holes in the bottom for drainage and ventilation. The top has air vents, too. (In a lovely little design via Scott. ) I brought them home and realized that I probably shouldn’t have gotten clear ones, but oh well. I lined the bottom one with newspaper so hopefully it’s dark enough for them, otherwise I’ll figure something else out.

We added the bedding which was just a mix of ripped up newspaper, some potting soil that I had laying around, and some clipping from our tomato plants (that are on our roof. Shhhh.)

I’ve been saving food scraps in containers in the freezer, so I grabbed some of those first. Just some egg shells and cauliflower. After I added the food scraps I covered it with the bedding again.

Then, the worms!

The ONLY thing I’m worried about with this is attracting fruit flies, so I covered the entire thing with wet newspaper (thanks, Weekly Volcano!), which is suppose to help.

And that’s that! I’m excited to see how this all works, reduce our garbage, and have compost for potting vegetables. I’m going to post updates and try to document this little journey. The good & the bad. Like I said before, I’d love to hear your stories of urban composting, or really any ideas you have for apartment dwellers trying to live an eco-conscious life.

Cutest!

Last night Scott got home and it was pretty obvious that I had had a trying day. Nothing catastrophic happened, but I was definitely overwhelmed and in a serious funk. For the past month I’ve been in intense thinking mode about photography, life, and how to build something that I’m truly, truly proud of and that also reflects my views of how I want to live my life. No small feat!

I’m so excited for where all of this is heading and can’t wait to implement it all and share the details with everyone. For now, though, I’m glad that I have Scott, who realizes right when he walks in the door that I need a break and immediately jumps in the car with me to go run around the forest.

We went to the Tacoma Nature Center last night in search of turtles and salamanders. We didn’t find any so we ended up taking photos of each other for another installment of us & them on the Vagabond Bond.

Hey, friends! I’m feeling inspired today, so I decided to have a contest!

Take a photo with your phone of something that’s inspiring you today and post it on the Vagabond Bond’s facebook wall by 11:11 pm {make a wish!} tomorrow night (08.20.10). I’ll pick a winner, then post all of the entries on the Vagabond Bond blog! The winner will get an 8×12 print of their choice!

Email me at vagabond@saramontour.com with any questions.

As it turns out we weren’t the only ones. Scott captured these hilarious photos of our crazy cat, Emmett.

Are you ready to ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOCK?!

I seriously adore this cat beyond belief. We adopted him from the Humane Society and I spend my days cracking up laughing at his ridiculous antics.

Happy Monday!

I met Pam a few years ago when she and Grant were looking for a nanny for Jetson. I met with her at a coffee shop and within about 10 minutes I was riding in her Jeep on the way back to her house to meet Grant. From the time Jetson was 8 months old to about 2 1/2 we spent most of our days together playing, laughing, walking to the coffee shop, and growing. I was working on my photography business, Pam was building her marketing company, and we spent hours hashing out millions of details and trying to help each other live our dreams. I adore this family so much and am so, so lucky to have all three of them in my life.

I laughed the entire time I was editing these photos. Ok, so maybe it didn’t go exactly as planned, but still… so great. See you guys in September when we’ll try to do it up right!

<3