{tidbits of green}

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Welcome to another edition!

There’s all sorts of eco and exciting new to share this week.

Where do I start?

A new campaign popped into my radar called TakeOut WithOut

Join the campaign to reduce restaurant waste!

If you’re like me than you try to remember to bring your own take out box or even utensils/kitchen towel when necessary. Quite commonly, I get dirty or blank stares for REFUSING a  plastic bag, fork, spoon or even condiments sometimes. I feel like I’m saving the employee time by taking away a few extra steps (apparently those extra steps are really important & personal to some.). When I go to the deli I take my containers with me. They love not having to package up my requests.

I’m happy to see a campaign out there like this! Reducing waste is what it’s all about!

According to their website:

It takes approximately 20 seconds to put our food into take out containers? Convenient? No, it’s actually inconvenient since the packaging can remain in our landfills forever, causing continued damage to us and our world. The American population tosses out enough paper bags and plastic cups, forks and spoons every year to circle the equator 300 times (www.cleanair.org). TakeOutWithOut exists to help you to fill your stomach, not the landfill.

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Summary of Summer

Hey guys! Happy 09-09-09!  Still around. Database crashed and I wasn’t able to get to it until last night. Sorry about that!!

We had a jam packed weekend full of fun!

We took Tristan bowling and I even wore Clark for part of it. Don’t worry, I played it safe… & Tristan had a ball… LOL!

And as a last consolation for the summer and because our  membership is going to expire at the end of the month; we went to the zoo!

We BBQ’d yesterday at my in laws. I made a nice spinach salad and the neighbors actually made a raw dish! I was so impressed. It was a zucchini salad with lemon zest and sun dried tomatoes. Yum, yum!

This summer I’ve tried a few raw dishes and some new cooked ones. Our garden didn’t do as well as we’d hoped. This is the first year in five years that we’ve planted a garden and have not had much of a harvest. The insane high temps killed most of our plants or slowed their growth. We normally have tons and tons of tomatoes, zucchini, eggplant and peppers.  We hardly had any harvest of what we planted.  It was a bit discouraging but also part of gardening and the challenges you face. We’re determined to research some of the challenges through winter in hopes of a more successful garden next year. Hopefully, we  master composting by then and are able to provide the much needed nutrients we were possibly lacking and time of all things.  Thankfully, my mother in laws garden was flourishing because we’ve been eating some of her bounty.

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Teething Tales and To Do’s!

My precious darling is STILL teething! It’s been 6 wks!!!

And today, my tooth hurts! I’m due for a dental appointment that I keep putting off- the dreaded ROOT CANAL. Yes, that’d me! *sigh*

I can’t put it off any longer. I need to get it over with. I’m actually really comfortable at the dentist. It helps that Dr. Li is really nice I’ve been going to him since I was 8 years old. He’s a great guy. I was once part of the “no-cavity” club but those days are long gone. O’well!

Today, I have so much do I don’t even know where to begin! Yikes. Tristan is at my parents and I should be utilizing my time wisely (this counts).

Like a bad mommy,  I missed Clark’s 4 month appt. last week… I completely forget to write it down on my calendar. Oopsie. They sent me a letter threatnening to charge me $50 buckaroo’s! Garsh. It was one of those things I had totally thought about to but never confirmed my suspicions.

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Pure & Heavenly: Earth Mama Angel Baby

Back when I was pregnant with Tristan I had heard of a company named Earth Mama Angel Baby but had never seen it (I live in a small town) until I started looking online for greener baby products. Before conceiving, I’d heard startling information about baby washes containing harmful ingredients. It made me realize, I needed to start doing my research and find natural baby products that did not contain toxic chemicals like phthalates, 1,4-Dioxane, formaldehyde,” etc.

Recently, I was actually able to sample Earth Mama Angel Baby products through swag and for this review. I received a sample of their Bath Blossoms, Bottom Balm and Baby Lotion. I so was excited when I saw EMAB inside my swag bag from The Smart Mama’s book release. I’d always wanted to try their products but just never had the opportunity. Quite honestly, I was going with my easiest most available option…. Burt’s Bees, California Baby and Little Twig. Depending on where we did shopping is what we’d end up with. I’d known about the Environmental Working Group’s Skin Deep Database and have looked up a few things in the past. It never really dawned on me to look up the baby products. I thought I was in the clear. Boy, was I wrong!!!

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Surf Sweets: A Giveaway!

As promised in last week’s post A GIVEAWAY for the chance to win SURF SWEETS organic and natural candy!

WIN IT:

An assortment of Surf Sweets and a T-shirt!

How to enter:

Visit Surf Sweets and tell me ONE fact about their products.

You do not have to be a blogger to win!!

{PLEASE LEAVE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS IN YOUR COMMENT}

For extra entries: Leave a seperate comment for each.

* Tweet the giveaway and leave me a seperate comment with URL;

* Blog about the giveaway

* Become a subscriber to this blog- only new subscriber’s count!

* Stumble the giveaway

That’s 5 ways to win!

For non-bloggers tell your friends about this giveaway in an email and Cc: me at lamamanaturale{at}gmail{dot}com

It’s that easy.

Giveaway ends Wednesday, March 18th, 2009- and will be announce on the 19th!

Have fun and Good Luck

Surf Sweets Organic Candy

I’m a candy junky. I’ll admit it. I heart candy. It’s my weakness. A few months ago, just after a midwife appt. we stopped at The Whole Foods Market (my fav store) to get a bite to eat. While at the check out stand I noticed an organic candy company called Surf Sweets. I’d never seen the company before so we bought a package of jelly beans. I couldn’t wait to rip open the package and devour a few. Then coincidently, I was contacted by Surf Sweets and was asked to sample their entire line of sweets. I couldn’t pass up such a *SWEET* opportunity.

I already knew their Jelly Beans were worth replacing Jelly Belly’s. All it takes for me to make a switch is to know that the ingredients in them are in fact natural and organic. Surf Sweets are made with organic fruit juice and sweetners. They are free of artificial colors and flavors. Surf Sweets is also one of the only candy makers that DOES NOT use corn syrup. Now, this is biggie in my book because we avoid corn syrup or HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP like the plague. It’s an absolute no-no! Which is why I don’t mind making the switch from the leading brands out there because for one, it’s not healthy and for two in the long run my body will thank me.

I’m always reading labels and making sure that there is at least some nutritional value. The last thing I’m going to do is put my dollars into something that says all natural and it doesn’t even contain an ounce of nourishment…such as vitamins. Surf Sweets contains 100% of your daily Vitamin C in their candies. What’s great about this natural and organic candy is that it’s made for veggies (vegetarian’s). It’s casein free, gluten free and free of GMO’s. Look for the green packaged items if you’re a vegetarian or vegan because they’re made especially for you!

Their products are made in a nut free facility -free of the eight most common allergies. If you ask me you really couldn’t ask for more in a candy company. Besides, being conscience of their ingredients they’re also enviromentally conscience in their packaging minimizing their impact on the planet.

Each different product has it’s own unique taste and flavors. Delicious candy, I say! You’ll have try it out and see for yourself. I especially liked the Gummy Swirls. The Sour Worms are just the right amount of sour. Usually, I’m not into sour…because it’s overpowering but the Surf Sweets sour worms are perfecto.  I truly enjoyed taste testing for this candy company. They’ve really done their share in pleasing us candy addicts- especially the one’s trying to make a switch in that area and go green! 

Next time that sweet tooth starts creeping up on you… Check out Surf Sweets candy and ride the green candy wave with them!

 ** Giveaway to follow…