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some people love the holidays. others are big on birthdays. at method, our annual ping pong tournament is the happiest time of the year. we take it pretty seriously, too. check out this year’s official rules to the 6th Annual Brad Shutzberg* Method March Madness Doubles Ping Pong Competition.

round one begins february 27, but teams have already been chosen. the brackets are assigned. and in the meantime, practice (and trash talking) begins.

get ready, ping pong table, get ready.

*no, I don’t know who Brad Shutzberg is, but someone here probably does.
 

not many soap makers get to hang out with stylish design bloggers. unless you make stylish soap, like us. so when the organizers of Altitude Design Summit approached method about sponsoring this year’s event, first we panicked about all the new adorable outfits we would have to buy, and then said “yes, please.”

katie + I hosted an intimate dinner for 12 bloggers to kick off the week. it was fun to meet some of the ladies (and one gent) behind the blogs we regularly visit for fashion, décor and crafting inspiration. I especially loved connecting with other San Francisco folks, like UberCraft’s kelli, formerly the Craft + Holiday editor at Martha Stewart Living, and kasey from Turntable Kitchen. I have a long list of people who will be receiving her awesome food + music pairings box this year. caitlin from Sacramento Street dined with us as well. then we caught a glimpse of her featured in the San Francisco Chronicle’s Stylemaker Spotlight that very weekend.

I attended panel sessions led by some talented folks who have turned their everyday passions into beautifully curated blogs chock full of design ideas, cupcake recipes + crafting projects that would make even Martha’s head spin. and in some cases, they’ve parlayed web fame into HGTV careers. heather armstrong of Dooce shared tips for growing strong online communities, and we heard erin loechner from Design for Mankind recap her year blog-umenting her Midwest home renovation.

we also heard ben, the founder of Pinterest, tell his tale of turning a humble vision into THE online venue for organizing + sharing. in fact, it inspired me to establish method’s own Pinterest presence, which our in-house design team will soon start populating with web links of both the products we make + those that inspire us. be sure to follow us on Pinterest.

the highlight of the week was undoubtedly the “sparkly clean” themed party we hosted on Friday night, along with the planning expertise from three lovely bloggers: melanie from You Are My Fave, danyelle from Dandee Designs and susan from Freshly Picked. Those ladies could hustle, blowing up hundreds of white balloons, ensuring sparkly beverages were on hand for all the guests, and most importantly, providing props, confetti and good tunes for hours of fun in the Smilebooth.

our party rocked way past the end time, which is pretty standard procedure for us. it was an awesome way to tie a bow on a week of blogger goodness. plus, it was a heck of a lot of fun catching up with long-time method friends like gabby from Design Mom and liz from Say Yes to Hoboken. we’re already looking forward to Alt 2013.

as method continues growing our community of people against dirty, we always want to hear from you about what we types of content you’d like to see on our blog, twitter feed or facebook page. so tell us!

it's about that time. time to get a glimpse into the daily adventures of one of our people against dirty. for this installment of 'a day in the life,' we follow pack-man (officially: packaging engineer) jeremy bruno on bike rides, product inspection and get a sneak peek at a new limited edition line. it doesn't get better than that. 

7:00am
roll myself out of bed after hitting the snooze button three times

7:45am
hop on my bike for a ride to the office. the best part of the ride is the “green wave” on valencia street, all downhill on the way to the office and the stop lights are timed to the speed of a bicycle. there was a lot of traffic for the ride in this morning due to the beautiful weather in san francisco today.

8:05am
arrive at the office for breakfast and a BIG cup of coffee to jumpstart my day and get me through all the morning emails.

10:00am
between emails and meetings, my time this morning is spent on finalizing the launch of our new limited edition lime and sea salt hand soap, dish wash, and all-purpose cleaner. what do you think? they look right at home on our tiki bar.

12:00pm
time for a quick lunch and then off to inspect test pallets that have arrived. I’m responsible for ensuring that our product reaches the consumer free of defects and looking as pretty as they were intended. so far, so good.

4:00pm
back on the bike and off to get a haircut at hip new mission barber, Freeman’s Sporting Club.

5:30pm
a quick stop at home to unwind from the day, inspect my new ‘do and change clothes for my soccer match this evening.

7:00pm
game begins. it’s been over three weeks since our team has played together, so it was a rough start. but the good guys prevailed in the end – 7-3!

8:30pm
return home happy from the win and sit down for dinner with my fiancé Maria. tofurky sausages on a hoagie bun with peppers, onions, cheese and marinara sauce—my favorite!

10:15pm
early to bed early to rise.

we’re ringing in the new year with 2012’s first employee of the month, lesley (middle name: over-deliver) newhouse. when she’s not busy going way above and beyond her goals, she’s making our partnership with Target stronger than ever. what’s her secret? read on to find out.

lesley, congratulations on being crowned our first employee of the month of 2012. how does it feel?
it feels amazing. I never thought I’d be in this position. I’d like to thank my parents for giving me a strong foundation, my family for all of their support and, most importantly, the Target guests for buying great products and continuing the fight against dirty.

did you have any idea that you were going to be chosen?
no, I had no idea at all. I thought these were the kind of awards people only dreamed of getting.

is your team making sure you don your crown and robe? it might be a nice shield against the cold over there in Minneapolis, huh?
well, I’m feeling lucky that our winter has been pretty mild so far this year. otherwise, I’d have to wear a coat over the robe and no one would see it. and my team isn’t exactly “making” me wear it but I will surely have it on every day – they’ve been known to take cool things from my office.

are you excited about your Perk of Significance? when are you going to take your weekend jaunt to downtown Minneapolis?
I can’t get it scheduled soon enough.

I bet! so besides that, what would you say is the best thing about being employee of the month? (it’s okay to say the Vault of Edible Riches.)
oh, I have to agree with you on the Vault of Edible Riches. it covers all the cravings a girl could have - salty, sweet, sour and even healthy.

do you have any big plans for your reigning month?
I think I may treat the robe like Flat Stanley – and showcase all the places it goes.

I like the sounds of that. so, do you have any parting words of wisdom for someone who might like to be the next employee of the month?
be true to who you are and all else will fall into place.

well there you have it. thanks lesley.
 

in the name of getting into the spirit of the season, the method team made you a little something.

check out our rendition of ‘holiday road,’ wherein we lip sync our hearts out, dance like it’s going out of style and otherwise embarrass ourselves. it’s better than it sounds.

thanks for a great year. we’ll see you in 2012.

if you happened to catch this morning’s “holiday gift guide” episode of the Nate Berkus Show, you may have seen a few familiar festive treats. Dannielle Kyrillos (from GiltCity.com) and Nate showcased their favorite gifts for friends and family, including our holiday dish soap and gel + foaming hand washes. nice!

so, where can you buy them? we’re glad you asked. check any of the following US retailers, or buy them online at http://methodhome.com/shop/holiday.

Gelsons
Giant Eagle
Heinens Fine Foods
Hyvee
Kroger
Lowe’s Home Improvement
Schnucks Markets
Shaws Supermarkets
Spartan Stores
Staples
Target
Wegmans

as always, we recommend calling ahead to confirm that your store stocks method before making a special trip.

missed Nate’s holiday gift guide episode? you can watch it here.

the Nate Berkus Show airs daily on NBC.
 

isn’t it a curious thing that you can wash a surface, a pet or hands after handling an onion, garlic or fish and, even though the surface was cleaned, the odors persist? there’s all kinds of chatter on the web about how to remove odor – tomato juice, peroxide and small dab of dish soap. but do any of them work?

first, a little chemistry lesson. there are three primary chemical classes of odors that are most frequently encountered around the house. I know you may be able to name others, but they generally they fall into these three classes of chemicals:

sulfur compounds, called thiols or sulfides. i.e. skunk, onions and garlic

nitrogen compounds, such as amines or ammonia. i.e. pet urine, fish

organic and fatty acid odors. i.e. sweaty athletic clothes, smelly feet

and sometimes cleaning is not enough. cleaning is the process of surfactants and solvents washing away dirt, and often other things you don’t see, like bacteria and odors. but when you have a stubborn odor like onion or garlic, you need something more. method kitchen hand wash has a special ingredient that neutralizes those odors that are difficult to wash off. it works like gangbusters.

we tried the following test on a new employee on his first week at method (well, I guess it was sort of “hazing,” but it was a good experiment). we rubbed a stinky concoction of chemicals representing rotten fish and other not-to-be-mentioned bad stuff on both hands. then we washed one hand with regular soap and the other with method kitchen hand wash. at first, there wasn’t a big difference. the wash seemed to work for both. yet after a few hours, the hand washed with regular soap had a noticeable stench, while the kitchen hand wash hand was clean as a whistle. fortunately we had the cure, and washed both hands with kitchen hand wash. and our new employee didn’t quit.

this might be a good classroom experiment, although it takes a bit of time for some odors to return. have you ever tried anything else to combat stubborn stink? tell us about it!
 

we’ve all done the classic hostess gifts to death. the wine. the potato salad. the framed photo of everyone in matching reindeer sweaters. those are great, but why not up the ante this year with a few seasonal soaps to brighten up your sink side?

we put a holiday spin on our naturally derived, biodegradable pump dish soap, gel hand wash and foaming hand wash. each one comes in an array of festive fragrances, for under $5. it kinda puts the potato salad to shame, doesn’t it?

they’re only available for a limited time, so stock up on your favorite treats in spiced pear, frosted fir, candy cane or cinnamon drop while you can. it really is the most wonderful time of year.
 

when I think of hawaii, I think of honeymoons, don ho, pristine beaches and frozen drinks with little umbrellas stuck in them. I certainly don’t think of plastic.

on the mainland, we don’t hear much about the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, a large expanse of the ocean in the middle of the pacific where millions of pounds of trash swirl and damage the fragile ocean ecosystem. yet it’s easy to ignore a problem that’s thousands of miles away, even if it is at least twice the size of texas. but for the hawaiians, this problem is right in their backyard. or, more specifically, it washes up into their backyards.

that’s why 200 parents showed up at a local hawaiian school on a thursday night to learn about how to reduce plastic consumption in their daily lives (complete with an impromptu Jack Johnson performance, no less).

it’s also why nearly 600 people, with five method employees lucky enough to be among them, showed for a beach cleanup bright + early on saturday morning.

side by side, we spread out along the coast and filled bags with washed up fishing supplies, crates, buoys, discarded bottles, toys, cups and even the odd toothbrush. we were proud to be there, beside surfers, parents and native hawaiians, all working together to keep their beaches as clean as the pictures on postcards.

the result? a huge dumpster full of garbage, a thousand pounds of plastic headed to the recycling center for use in our new ocean plastic bottles and cleaner, safer beaches. for now anyway.

because the problem isn’t going away any time soon. more plastic washes up on beaches every day. the only real solution is to turn off the tap -- stop producing products made from virgin plastic. we know our ocean plastic bottles won’t solve the problem either. but we hope they can help bring awareness to the problem.

so what can you do? volunteer at a beach cleanup. say no to products made from virgin plastic. and recycle, always.

we'd also like to give a huge ‘mahalo’ to our friends in oahu who have allowed us to be part of their beach cleanups or have graciously donated their usable plastic for our Ocean PCR project: Sustainable Coastlines Hawaii, Kokua Hawai’i Foundation, and B.E.A.C.H.

we’re big fans of taking what already exists and turning it into something new. we love it even more when that something new is easy to make, easy on the wallet and looks really nice. so, when our pal and eco-lifestyle expert danny seo introduced us to his new book, Upcycling, we couldn’t wait to dig in and learn what to do with all the mini liquor bottles we save up around here.

Upcycling not only provides tons of ideas for entertaining, decorating and creating one-of-a-kind gifts, but the book itself makes a swell present for anyone looking for a bit of inspiration around giving old items a second life. with easy step-by-step instructions and lovely pictures to guide and inspire, danny shares how everyday things can become beautiful accessories, gifts, artwork and more. no crafting skills necessary.

so break out the eggnog, your old cassette tape boxes and get upcycling. oh, and page 48 offers a creative solution for your favorite hand wash bottles. in case you were wondering.

get your copy here.