Mindful Momma

Punjammies: A Gift for Good

As we make our holiday shopping lists, we tend to be busy thinking happy thoughts and are not necessarily concerned about people who are not as well off as we are. Not to be a complete downer but for many people in this world, shopping is the furthest thing from their minds as they struggle just to exist. The good news is, it is possible to shop and do some good for people in need at the same time. A great example of this is Punjammies from the International Princess Project.

Punjammies pajamas are sewn by women who have escaped from a life of forced prostitution. The International Princess Project empowers these women to rebuild their lives by giving them a safe way to earn wages and to find dignity and self-worth. The photo below shows a group of women who have just completed their sewing training at one of the centers run by the International Princess Project. See how happy they look?!!

Just look at the beautiful pajamas they create! Punjammies are made using traditional Indian sari material in stunning combinations of colors and designs. I have a pair in the USHA design (far right photo) and I love them! Don't miss the matching pj tops and tanks too - made with Fair Trade, organic cotton!

Do you have a sister or a girlfriend who might like a pair of Punjammies? Get 25% off if you buy a pair on Cyber Monday (use code GIVEHOPE at checkout). And check the website and Facebook page for other deals throughout the holiday season.

(Full disclosure: I was sent a free pair of Punjammies in exchange for my honest opinion.)

Tips for a Healthy Thanksgiving and some Green Shopping

Let's face it, sometime in the next week, most of us will be doing two things: indulging in a big meal and doing at least a little bit of shopping. As for myself, tomorrow I'll be packing up the car and heading out of town for the long Thanksgiving weekend. Whether or not parenting duties will let up enough for a bit of holiday shopping remains to be seen, but I would love to hit up some of my favorite hometown stores if I have a chance.

Before I go, I want to leave you with a few links that might help you out this week:

Do you have special family recipes you make every year for Thanksgiving or do you look for new ideas each year? My favorite part of the Thanksgiving tradition is the search for new recipes to make!  In my new post over on the J.R. Watkins Naturals Clear Conscience Blog, I talk about Thanksgiving Recipe Traditions and share a healthy, veggie side dish recipe.

Did you know that a lot of traditional Thanksgiving foods come in cans lined with toxic Bisphenol-A (BPA)?  Things like pumpkin puree, cream soups and jellied cranberry sauce? Blogger Robin Shreeves over at Mother Nature Network put together some helpful tips for how to make a BPA-free Thanksgiving dinner. It's worth a read!

Have you ordered your holiday cards yet? I'm happy to say that mine have already arrived - what do you think? Of course I still need to prepare them and get them mailed but I don't think I've ever been this far ahead of the game before Thanksgiving! Pear Tree Greetings makes these beautiful, customizable cards out of post-consumer recycled paper. They've got some great deals for Black Friday ( 20% off a minimum purchase of $75 using code BLACK20 at check out) and Cyber Monday (40% off a minimum purchase of $125 using code CYBER40 at check out) that you might want to take advantage of!

Not sure where to start with your green-minded shopping this year? My friend Jennae from Green Your Decor put together a lovely Green Gifts Guide. She's got gifts for all types of people and even a selection of DIY/homemade gifts as well as gifts that give back. Jennae has such good taste  - I bet you'll find something perfect on her list!

Overwhelmed by all this talk of shopping? Don't forget to follow my Mindful Shopping Techniques before you hit the road (or the internet)!!

What are your plans for the holiday weekend? Will it include some healthy eating and green shopping?

New Sponsor: Eco Chic Baby

Now that the holiday shopping season is really ramping up, I thought it would be a great time to introduce my new sponsor: Eco Chic Baby! Eco Chic Baby is a modern family boutique with a retail location in California as well as a lovely hand-picked selection of eco-friendly and handmade products for babies and families online.

Just look at this pretty dress from Swanky Baby Vintage!

If I were a new Mom again, I'd love one of these Reese Li diaper bags. Heck, I'd like one any time!

Goodbyn lunchboxes are great for lunch-packing school kids:

And what child wouldn't love a toy truck or set of play dishes made from recycled plastic from Green Toys?

Eco Chic Baby also stocks baby carriers, strollers, safe baby bottles and natural rubber teethers and more! To make your holiday shopping one little bit easier, Eco Chic Baby is offering FREE SHIPPING to all Mindful Momma readers using the code Mindful Momma at checkout!! If you'd rather skip the Black Friday madness and shop online, check out Eco Chic Baby!

Americans are Watching for Progress on the Safe Chemicals Act - Tomorrow!!

Just a quick post to let you know that tomorrow is a huge day for the safety of our kids and the American public! The U.S. Senate will hold a hearing to discuss the Safe Chemicals Act, a bill sponsored by Senator Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ). We desperately need this major overhaul of our outdated chemical laws to keep toxic chemicals like BPA and formaldehyde out of products we use every day!

The hearings begin tomorrow (Thursday, November 17th) at 10:00 am EST.  They will be streamed live and if you want to watch, just visit the Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families Facebook page tomorrow morning for the link! Safer Chemicals and many of their partner organizations will be live-Tweeting and posting on Facebook during the hearings.


Wouldn't it be nice to shop without worrying about toxic chemicals in products? If you agree, please jump on Facebook and Twitter tomorrow and join in the conversation! On Twitter, please use the hashtag #SafeChemicalsAct in all your tweets for maximum impact. Here are a few suggested Tweets for you to use:

Visit the @SaferChemicals FB page for live coverage during the #SafeChemicalsAct hearings Thur 10am EST  http://on.fb.me/t9oZms

Moms will be watching this Thurs at 10am EST as the Senate discusses the #SafeChemicalsAct. http://bit.ly/rCMGgB

Hearing on #SafeChemicalsAct Thursday, Nov. 17^th at 10am EST. Call your Senator and let them know you want #saferchemicals!  http://bit.ly/vY0vCh

Thanks for your help making toxic chemical reform a reality!

(Credit for photo of recent Stroller Brigades for safer chemicals: Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families)

Vegan Boots & Chocolate

What do boots and chocolate have in common? Not a whole heck of a lot, except when they are vegan. I'm not a vegan myself but given the chance to reduce my dependency on animal products, I'll go for it. Recently, I had the chance to check out a couple of unique, vegan products - boots made from vegan leather and a vegan chocolate making kit.

Jambu Colorado Boot

Jambu makes fun shoes. I reviewed a pair of cherry-mesh sandals last summer so I'm already a big fan of the brand! This fall they were kind enough to send me a pair of boots to review. I chose the Colorado boot, which is made from vegan leather (a synthetic, non-animal leather) with a bit of mesh in the back and outsoles made of partially recycled rubber. The pink and brown color combo is different from anything else I own - and I was trilled to discover that I had a pink and brown skirt (from the thrift store, no less) that matched them perfectly! What do you think?

They are super comfy. I wore them all day long on the J.R. Watkins tour a few weeks back. Jambu shoes and boots are available on Amazon and Zappos - plus I've seen them in a few shoe stores around town. Follow their Facebook page for news about deals and giveaways.

Navitas Naturals Chocolate Kit

Have you heard of Navitas Naturals? I hadn't until recently. They specialize in nutrient and antioxidant rich superfoods - some of which you may have heard of like acai, pomegranate and chia and many that may be brand new to you (at least they were to me) like maca, lucuma and camu. The idea is to mix various powders and seeds into your smoothies or sprinkle on top of your granola.

That's not what they sent me though. They sent me a chocolate making kit!! An Organic Superfood Chocolate Making Kit with Goldenberries to be exact. Here's what was inside: a bar of cocoa butter, a packet of cocoa powder (mixed with mesquite, lucuma and maca) and a bag of goldenberries. All certified Organic, raw and vegan.

It was the perfect project for my 11 year old son and me to make together! We mixed up the ingredients in the double boiler (they have directions for keeping it raw if you prefer) and froze the chocolate in our Mumi & Bubi baby food trays.

 

After dinner, we had a chocolate tasting. Mmmm....absolutely delicious and unlike any other chocolate I have tasted. A smoky, slightly cinnamony taste - even though it does not contain cinnamon. We chose to sweeten our chocolates with Fair Trade honey although we left a couple chocolates unsweetened for comparison. The unsweetened chocolate was surprisingly good - the flavors were so complex that we really didn't miss the sugar.

You can find Navitas Naturals products at Whole Foods and many other health food and specialty stores. Or purchase online using the coupon code navitas15 for 15% off! I'll be picking up a couple of chocolate kits for holiday gifts for sure!

Are you a vegan or are you trying to use fewer animal products? What vegan products do you buy most often?

(Full Disclosure: I received free products from Jambu and Navitas Naturals in exchange for my honest opinion. There are a couple of affiliate links in this post.)

The Scent of Life

This post is sponsored by Seventh Generation and Social Moms.

There's nothing quite like being in the woods to make me feel alive and at ease in the world. Whether I'm hiking up a mountainside in Washington State, discovering new places somewhere in Europe or simply hoofing it through the woods in Wisconsin, I just love the woods.

I've been hiking in the woods ever since I was a kid. Every summer we piled into our family station wagon and went adventuring to various parts of the country. It almost always involved an art museum, a picnic somewhere and a long hike in the woods. My sisters and I were not always grateful during these excursions but have come to appreciate our parent's efforts to show us the wonders of the world in later years. :)

What is it about the woods that I love so much? It's that certain smell. A mix of pine needles, fresh earth, decomposing leaves, new moss and old wood. It's nature the way it really smells. Not some artificial "mountain mist" or "sea breeze" scent but a true earth-made scent. Do you know what I mean?

The sounds and the sights in the woods are wonderful too. The crunching of brittle pine needles, the rustling of leaves, the chirping of birds in the background. The filtered light trickling down from the tops of the trees - those few rays that are lucky enough to reach the ground shining luminously. The shadows. The myriad of soft browns, yellows and greens. I love it all!

When I walk in the woods, I feel alive. I close my eyes and breathe in that magical, earthy scent and I feel like I'm where I should be. Not doing laundry, not typing on my computer, not racing through the grocery store. Instead I'm living, breathing and smelling nature, just as it is. Perfect!

What is your favorite scent in nature? Do certain scents remind you of your childhood or bring you back to a particular place? Do you love to walk in the woods as much as I do?

To celebrate their new line of naturally scented dish soaps, Seventh Generation asked me to write about my favorite scent from nature.  I wrote this blog post while participating in the SocialMoms and Seventh Generation blogging program, for compensation. For more information on how you can participate, click here. If you are interested, Seventh Generation has an awesome giveaway going on right now: Enter to win a trip to Italy, France or Vermont in their Nature Makes Perfect Scents sweepstakes!!

 

{image credit art.dutra's photostream via flickr using Creative Commons}

Mindful Shopping Techniques

As we head into the big power shopping season of the year, I thought it might be helpful to lay out some ideas to help you be a little more mindful when you head out to shop. It's so easy to spend too much money or make less-than-stellar choices when you are unprepared and stressed out. Can you relate?

Follow these tips for a holiday gift buying experience you will enjoy and feel good about!

Make a list - Before you make a bee-line to the mall, make a list of your gift recipients and what you think they might like. Sounds simple, but most people don't do it.

Start early - Don't wait until the last minute to shop. Start now and feel good about getting it done!

Be alert - Don't shop when you are tired. It's like grocery shopping when you are hungry. You make bad choices. Personally, I prefer to shop in the morning or early afternoon when my brain and body still have plenty of energy.

Focus on quality - Instead of a bunch of cheap gag gifts, look for one high quality item your friends or family will actually use.

Shop local - Support a local business or artisan instead of the mega-mass-merchandiser. Besides, the gift selection is so much more unique at independently owned shops!

Give experiences - Instead of the latest video game, give a pair of tickets to a sporting event. Instead of a new knick-knack, how about a membership to a museum?

Go DIY - Spend your money on supplies for homemade gifts like chocolate hazelnut spread, peppermint lip balm or a set of handmade cloth napkins. Homemade gifts are fun to give and extra special to receive!

Beware window shopping - Some people can do it but if temptation is your middle name, stay away from those pretty window displays!

Do you have any tips for mindful shopping? How do you manage the holiday madness?

This is my post for the Green Moms Carnival - hosted this month by Betsy of Eco-Novice - on the topic of Black Friday. Check it out on Monday, Nov. 14th for lots of insights and ideas on how to get through the holiday shopping madness with your sanity and your eco-values intact!

 {image credit: Toni Kaarttinen via flickr}

Materials for a Green Bathroom

Phew! I think the worst part of our remodeling adventure is behind us. Most of the dust, chaos and loud noise has already happened. The exterior is almost finished. The new front porch is complete. The 3rd floor dormer has been built. Take a peek:

Now we're moving on to my favorite part - the design phase for our new 3rd floor bathroom! I've been having fun picking out materials over at our local green building supply store - Natural Built Home.

The bathroom vanity is custom designed from FSC-certified alder wood with a low VOC finish and is formaldehyde-free. On top of the vanity will be a Paperstone countertop with a backsplash of the pretty, recycled glass Blazestone tiles you see below:

The shower will be tiled in Travertine stone (below) with a border of the Blazestone tiles around the middle. 

We've also picked out a dual flush toilet, we're putting in radiant in-floor heating and we've insulated the hell out of the walls.

It's going to be awhile before this project is done (big sigh!) but I can hardly wait to show you the end result!

Do you have any tips for creating a greener, healthier bathroom?

Andalou Naturals: Affordable, Effective, Natural Skin Care

In case you haven't noticed, there are a lot of skin care companies out there. Many of them strive to be natural, organic or use the latest hot ingredients in order to attract attention in the sea of competition. I recently found a company that stands out among the crowd - at least to me:  Andalou Naturals.

Andalou Naturals is a relative newcomer in the skin care field. Products are made with a blend of natural, organic and Fair Trade ingredients and the company is committed to being transparent about ingredients and overall sustainability. Here's why I think Andalou Naturals stands out:

High quality ingredients

• Minimum 70% certified organic ingredients
• 100% naturally derived ingredients
• Increasing number of Fair Trade ingredients including shea butter, cocoa powder and hibiscus extract
• Meets standard for Whole Foods Premium Body Care label

Transparent labeling

• Full ingredient disclosure so that customers like you and me can make informed decisions
• NO sulfates, GMOs, phthalates, petrochemicals, artificial dyes, synthetic fragrances, or paraben preservatives
• Verified gluten-free, vegetarian, and cruelty free

Effective

• Products use Advanced Fruit Stem Cell science to help renew and repair healthy skin
• I tried the Avo Cocoa Skin Food Mask - and boy is it ever nice! It's similar to my homemade Chocolate Facial Mask but much more sophisticated. Advanced Fruit Stem Cells, organic avocado and Fair Trade cocoa help to slow cellular damage and stimulate healthy cell renewal. It goes on super smooth, smells good enough to eat and left my face feeling nourished and healthy!

Affordable

Best of all, Andalou Naturals is affordable!! I've fallen for some pretty expensive natural and organic skin care lines in the past and it's nice to find a line that I can buy without cringing at the price. (a 6-oz cleanser is $12.95 and a 1.75-oz facial cream is $24.95). You can find Andalou Naturals at Whole Foods Markets, other specialty stores and online. Check to see if there's a location near you!

Want to try Andalou Naturals? If you place an order online, you can take advantage of a special deal: Buy any cleanser and facial cream and receive a full sized toner for FREE!! Plus free shipping on orders over $49.

Have you tried Andalou Naturals?  Leave a comment and let me know your favorites!

(Full Disclosure: I received a free Skin Food Mask from Andalou Naturals in exchange for my honest opinion.)