In the spirit of gratitude, I had the absolute pleasure of visiting Trash for Teaching, not once, but twice this past week.  First, I went with the second graders at my school to design and create weather instruments.  I was so blown away by this incredible establishment that I brought my family back on Saturday for open studio time.  This place is unreal! If you like crafting and building, it just doesn’t get better than this.  Trash for Teaching “rescues manufacturing overruns, discards and castoffs, originally headed for landfill, and re-imagines these items.” In super simple terms, they gather heaps and heaps of unused materials from companies that no longer need them, and use them to make stuff.  On the weekends they have open studio times, which seriously, if I could, I’d go everyday.  It’s a half hour away with no traffic (I live in LA, so that’s an ironic statement.  There’s always traffic.) So unfortunately, I can’t just swing by.  We did become members though, and any time I have a baby sitter for D, we’re heading over.  Though, truth be told, I really would like to spend a few hours there by myself.  Here’s hoping.

Gigi had the time of her life there.  The Ssaturday we went there was no one else there, so I could keep a close eye on her and she was free to roam around and do her thing.  We glue gunned, drilled, hammered and nailed for two hours straight.  It was AWESOME! I want to host a birthday party for her here as soon as she’s old enough.  Look at how beautiful all the supplies are!

The drilling, hammering and nailing was pure bliss.  We made a house that Gigi has been playing with ever since we brought it home.  She’s so proud of it.  After she completed her house, she found a broom that was just the right size.  This kept her busy for the next twenty minutes or so, thank goodness, because I was dying to get my hands on some of that trash!

Ev was the lucky one who got to sit and work the whole time.  Grr.  How did that happen?  Anyway, he made part one of a beautiful and rather masculine, all metal menorah and I frantically put together my own somewhat modern menorah during Gigi’s sweeping tirade.  I forgot to take pics but will post some soon.  We were all feeling proud by the time we left.

I feel so grateful to have been introduced to this incredible space.  I can’t wait to go back.  The possibilities are endless, as is the trash.  It costs 100 dollars to become a member and you can take up to 100 lbs of trash over as much time as you want.  If you live in LA, get there! It is so worth the trip, even in traffic.