If you are like me, going to a place just to sight see doesn’t seem to be enough anymore… I want to go there with a purpose! Well, now you can create a purpose wherever you go and interact with the community that is hosting you through Hands Up Holidays. 

Offering tailor-made luxury trips that include volunteering opportunities, Hands Up provides trips and opportunities to give back all over the world while enjoying luxury accommodations. Hello voluntourism!

All of our tours blend sightseeing with a ‘taste’ of volunteering. Choose your area of expertise- teaching, building, IT, environmental, medical, marketing, etc and the part of the world you would like to visit and Hands Up will provide you with a list of suitable volunteering vacations. Brilliant. 

(via moniquepalacios)

Smartphone Etiquette for the 21st century. You know that commercial where the people walking around have pop-up bubbles that show their thoughts and what they are really thinking about when in differing situations where their attention should really be on the task at hand… Well, I think that smartphones create those bubbles around us all the time- everywhere we go. Like any smartphone newbie it really is infectious and you almost can’t help checking your email, because, well, you can. Let the luster fade- it is time we lay some ground rules:

1. When you are meeting with an individual, group of people for drinks or a meal, or are attending a smallish meeting (less than 20 people) put the smartphone away, on silent, out of sight. Check it at the end of  your meeting or if you must, excuse yourself to the restroom for a quick check during a meal. Bottom line: give your full attention to people. It is respectful and what you would ask in return.

2. Check-in after. Especially if you are a girl, you need to be a little conscious about broadcasting your whereabouts. If you wait to check-in after the fact, you will likely have a witty comment to attach to your experience too.

3. Don’t bring the blackberry to bed. Many of us use our smartphones as our alarm clocks, but the danger is having it so handy will lead to texting, emailing and twitter surfing when you should be shutting your body down. Try a good old fashioned alarm clock and designate a ‘1 hour no electronics before bed’ rule. You will sleep better and let your mind disconnect.

Any other tips you would add?…

(picture via littleteaspoon)

I absolutely love info-graph picture books like this!

how is it that the developed world spends billions of dollars annually on weaponry, 
while the poor of the developing world have no access to education, medicines or even clean drinking water? what exactly is the relationship between cheap goods on the high street and the wage-slavery of sweatshops? how have large corporations branded the world in which we live in?

The manifesto of Jonathan Barnbrook, this book lays it all out in a very visual format. Sometimes pictures do speak louder than words.

(via desginboom)

With the advent of mobile gaming apps like FourSquare, location-based marketing and social media plug-ins for fashion brands and retailers are taking off. I, for one, like the trend and feel that a few brands out there are being very proactive in this space.

Ready. Set. PLAY!

Jimmy Choo and Marc Jacobs were ahead of the curve when they started offering discounts for customers who gained ‘Mayor’ status at their stores, or created realtime treasure hunts in which the customer who ‘found’ a pair of shoes on their app was rewarded with a real pair of Jimmy Choos.

Pepsi partnered with FourSquare to transform Gatorade from one of the largest sports brands in the world into one of the largest participatory brands through their Gatorade Mission Control initiative. In this way you make the act of purchasing interactive and can generate immensely insightful data. I think their is huge potential for department stores to take this concept and integrate it into their stores- offering checkin options for various areas, rewarding customers for purchases in one section with a discount or giveaway in another.

All About the Barcodes.

As more and more consumers adopt smart phones, barcode scanning features come into play. Wet Seal launched an app in which, once in the store, shoppers can ‘scan’ the hangtags with their iPhones and the application will generate different looks based on the piece of clothing scanned. Awesome. 

In the eco-fashion space, what about an barcode app that allows you to scan an article of clothing and then trace it’s production, as well as be presented with a visual key as to what makes it ‘eco’ (ie: vegan, vegetable dyed, organic cotton, etc).

And, what if you could ‘review’ a product after scanning it? Perhaps add your personal take on how to style it, or state what the fabric feels like…

What About the Future?

“Mobile is definitely the ‘must’ marketing platform for Millennials, where they’re consuming content literally 24/7, instantly and constantly,” states Teen Vogue vice president and publisher Sabine Feldmann. With 75 million members aged 14-29 in the US alone, Millennials are the largest consumer group. 

One thing is certain, don’t create an app just to create an app- Milliennials see right through it. Create something of value. Really ask the questions, “What is missing? What would I want to use?” And, keep rolling out the upgrades. When you launch an app have a timeline for when you want to release the next bit that will make it even more useful or cool. Just like the newest smart phone or Apple gadget garners a certain amount of lustful respect, having the latest upgrade will too.

I am back in Boulder, Colorado for the LOHAS forum. ‘LOHAS’? you ask… It stands for Lifestyle Of Health and Sustainability. Erm, okay… still, what does that mean? Well, I actually think this video does a pretty good job of explaining what LOHAS people are interested in doing. We care about the environment, are values driven, lead an eco-friendly lifestyle that we like to influence others to do the same, and sometimes they even call us trendsetters. 

At the LOHAS conference we are discussing better ways to reach the average consumer, educate people, change behaviors for the better and create a sustainable world. It’s good stuff. The conference is three days long, so I will have more to share later- but this is a nice introduction.

GretaGuide Summer Mix Tape.

It is that time again- time for a new playlist! Summertime is here and one of my favorite things is to make a new playlist. I play the line-up almost ad nauseam so that when I hear a song from it in the future, it instantly propels me back to the summer of 2010. Here’s what I’ve got!

The Ills- Mayer Hawthorne

Hot ‘n Fun- N.E.R.D. featuring Nellie Furtado

Dancehall Queen- Robyn

Summertime- Jamie Jones

Sweet Disposition- The Temper Trap

Your Love- Keane

Trouble Sleeping- The Perishers

Straitjacket- Stef Lang

Silvia (Hugg and Pepp Remix)- Miike Snow

Days to Come- Bonobo

The job hunt is on- luckily the employment numbers are showing an increase, which means it may be time for you to put your feelers out for a new job. A GretaGuide reader wrote in asking about the best way to write a cover letter in this ultra competitive job market. Here are my tips:

1. Use a template that has a nice design and catches the eye. On Mac, I like the San Francisco template.

2. Be witty! So many cover letters are so formal and so BORING. Stand out by being the right balance of personable and smart.

3. Tell a story. If you can open your cover letter with a quirky story or one sentence about you that is kind of out of the ordinary that will gain your reader’s attention and keep it! My cover letter, for instance, starts with the fact that when I was eight years old I wore lipstick to bed- proving the point that I was destined for the fashion industry. ;)

4. Keep it to one page. Enough said.

5. Add a pop of color or ‘bold’ words that you want to stand out. Again, this will differentiate your cover letter from the 300 others that are run of the mill. Just be careful to use this in a couple of places and don’t overdo it.

6. Always, always wrap your cover letter up with your respect for the company you are applying to, and how you would be a simply wonderful addition.

Good luck job hunting and for any other GretaGuide readers who have questions- use the email widget in the sidebar to send me an email. I try to respond as quickly as my busy schedule allows. X

Honestly, I can not get enough of the eco-fabulous guides! Sophie Uliano, New York Times bestselling author of Gorgeously Green, has just released another one.

In DO IT GORGEOUSLY Uliano provides a fun, chic, and practical guide for style-conscious women who want the eco-friendly lifestyle but don’t want to pay the high price tag that often comes with organic products. Uliano demonstrates how women can update their beauty regimen, create an eco-friendly home, adopt a healthier diet and fitness routine, indulge in guilt-free shopping… and more.

Plus, there are tons of great fashion and style tips in the book – including a Beginner’s Sewing Guide and instructions on how to make a Romantic Chemise. The book also includes great beauty/fashion recipes such as the DIY Salon Style Facial and Geranium and Apricot Moisturizer. Uliano’s step-by-step instructions are not only affordable and uncomplicated, they are also highly gratifying.

This may just become my gorgeous go-to gift this summer!

 Two billion sanitary pads and seven billion tampons are dumped into the North American environment each year. To make matters worse, most tampons and pads contain surfactants, adhesives and additives while most pads contain polyethylene plastic whose production is a pollutant. Also, dioxin, a known carcinogen, is a by-product of the bleaching process of tampons containing rayon. In landfills, many of these substances can leach into the environment (groundwater, streams and lakes) causing serious pollution and health concerns.

-Green Is Sexy.org

Yikes! Well, I know this is a bit of an intimate subject, but truthfully I could not hold back when I heard about Lunapads. A liner and pad duo that are reusable and a much more eco-friendly version of what society has deemed the feminine hygiene norm. And it is pretty much the most cost effective option. Period.