I will get you, bathroom grout!

Just to preface the OCD characteristics of this post, I do want to say that we have had icy weather here in Dallas and I have been cooped up inside for around 3 days. Although, if you know me, you also realize that I would have done this anyway, even if it were perfectly sunny and I were getting plenty of outdoor exercise. Still...

I had recently become fixated on the grout around the bathtub. The bathtub is surrounded by white tile with white grout. Or, it is white in some places, off-white or weird shades of whitish orange or whitish reddish in others. That is the thing - the fact that it is white in some places convinces me that all I need to do is find the appropriate cleaner and I can make all the grout white!! Wouldn't that be amazing?!

Since this is me we are talking about, I have been trying to achieve this white grout thing without tons of dangerous chemicals. Last week I stood in the cleaning isle of the grocery store examining various scrubbing brushes. I realize that a toothbrush can be used to clean grout, but who am I - Cinderella?? Aren't we a little more advanced than sitting in a bathtub on hands and knees scrubbing with a toothbrush?! So obviously there is some kind of implement I can purchase that will not be a toothbrush and therefore will make this less pathetic.

I ended up buying this Scotch Brite scrubber thingy. I liked it because it has interchangeable heads - you can use the brush or you can get this kind of steel-wool-looking thing and switch them out. This made me feel like I was being very green because it is so re-usable.

Yesterday I set about to use it on the grout. I looked through the 3 books on cleaners that I have and the only thing they had to offer was a kind of baking soda paste made with bleach. I really didn't want to use up all my baking soda, though, so I tried some bleach diluted with water and tried sort of "throwing" the baking soda onto it. Remember, this is a vertical surface I am trying to clean. Therefore, throwing baking soda "at" the wall of the bathtub...not so effective.

Also, I have my doubts about this scrubber. It says is is ergonomic. What does that even mean? I am sitting here rubbing it on the wall and it hurts and I am uncomfortable. How is that ergonomic? Am I supposed to be standing in the tub? I can't do that because I am wearing slippers and I refuse to take them off, it's too cold!

So, baking soda - not effective. Next I tried the Clorox green bathroom cleaner and that worked a little bit on some of the less persistent areas. Sort of. At least it made bubbles which gave me a feeling of getting something done.

Finally, I resorted to this old leftover Target brand Mildew Remover I have had for years. It is mostly bleach. In fact, I would not be surprised if it is 95% bleach. I sprayed that stuff all over and scrubbed a little. I had to leave the room before I passed out from the bleach fumes. I went to eat some dinner and forgot about it for a while. I came back and most of the grout was white!
Hooray!

In conclusion, I have no idea what worked. I put at least 3 different things on it and then I forgot about it for a while. I am pretty sure most of what I used ended up being pretty toxic, too. And I still have several areas around the base of the tub will mildew stains I cannot remove. If straight-up bleach can't remove it, I really don't know what could. Any ideas?

Making homemade body sugar

Following up on my post about body sugaring as a "green" form of hair removal, I recently ran out of what I bought from Whole Foods and decided to make my own body sugar. This was touted as one of the main advantages of body sugaring by the sites that recommended it - that it can easily be made at home with common kitchen ingredients: sugar, water, and lemon juice.

There was a good video on YouTube showing how someone made their own, so I used that recipe. Making this stuff was much harder than it looked, though.

Body Sugar recipe:
2 cups sugar
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup water

My first try was unsuccessful. I was using a 3 cup, dark non-stick pot, and there was so much foam that I had trouble telling what color the liquid was. I looked for other tips online and found that some people recommended using a candy thermometer, so I did that. I tried keeping it at 250 degrees, but I had to keep the burner very low to keep it from boiling over.

This pot was too small, it overflowed when the sugar boiled

It seemed to get the right consistency, but upon cooling, it was not sticky enough to remove hair.

On the second try, I used a larger stainless steel pot. Turns out, this is the secret. The first pot I was using was only slightly larger than the contents, which didn't allow the mixture room enough to boil up and then down again. Using a 3 quart stainless steel sauce pan was a much better idea.

I used the second batch this morning to remove hair and it worked great!

So, here are my tips for making your own body sugar:

• Use a pot that is at least twice as large as the mixture before it starts boiling. I recommend a 3 quart pot.
• I am not sure if the stainless steel made the difference, but I do recommend stainless steel over a non-stick pan simply because you can see the color of the mixture better in light-colored stainless steel.
• Do use a candy thermometer and maintain a temperature of 240-250 degrees.
• Do the hard-ball candy test - put a drop of the mixture into a glass of cold water. When it is ready, the drop will bend and spread but not dissipate in the water.
  

For more info, read my previous post on eco-friendly hair removal.

I loved this prayer

Aside from the President's speech, the prayer below was my favorite part of the inauguration yesterday. I spent all day periodically searching for the text and finally found it on BeliefNet.

Some people have been offended by the final portion of this prayer. I would like to clarify that the Reverend Joseph Lowery, who was a big part of the Civil Rights Movement in this country, was rephrasing some old Civil Rights slogans that were frequently referred to by members of the movement. In one part he was specifically referring to the saying "If you are light, you're alright. If you're brown, stick around. If you're black, stand back.", which was an encapsulation of the popular opinions held by many Americans, which the movement hoped to change. This phrase was also found in a song by a blues artist called Big Bill Broonzy (I believe from 1951), in which he speaks of the hardship of being a black man in America.

I really wish people would have known more about the Civil Rights Movement before they started ranting about that part of the prayer. Anyway, here it is, in it's entirety!

Transcript courtesy Federal News Service

God of our weary years, God of our silent tears, thou who has brought us thus far along the way, thou who has by thy might led us into the light, keep us forever in the path, we pray, lest our feet stray from the places, our God, where we met thee, lest our hearts, drunk with the wine of the world, we forget thee. Shadowed beneath thy hand may we forever stand -- true to thee, O God, and true to our native land.

We truly give thanks for the glorious experience we've shared this day. We pray now, O Lord, for your blessing upon thy servant, Barack Obama, the 44th president of these United States, his family and his administration. He has come to this high office at a low moment in the national and, indeed, the global fiscal climate. But because we know you got the whole world in your hand, we pray for not only our nation, but for the community of nations. Our faith does not shrink, though pressed by the flood of mortal ills.

For we know that, Lord, you're able and you're willing to work through faithful leadership to restore stability, mend our brokenness, heal our wounds and deliver us from the exploitation of the poor or the least of these and from favoritism toward the rich, the elite of these.

We thank you for the empowering of thy servant, our 44th president, to inspire our nation to believe that, yes, we can work together to achieve a more perfect union. And while we have sown the seeds of greed -- the wind of greed and corruption, and even as we reap the whirlwind of social and economic disruption, we seek forgiveness and we come in a spirit of unity and solidarity to commit our support to our president by our willingness to make sacrifices, to respect your creation, to turn to each other and not on each other.

And now, Lord, in the complex arena of human relations, help us to make choices on the side of love, not hate; on the side of inclusion, not exclusion; tolerance, not intolerance.

And as we leave this mountaintop, help us to hold on to the spirit of fellowship and the oneness of our family. Let us take that power back to our homes, our workplaces, our churches, our temples, our mosques, or wherever we seek your will.

Bless President Barack, First Lady Michelle. Look over our little, angelic Sasha and Malia.

We go now to walk together, children, pledging that we won't get weary in the difficult days ahead. We know you will not leave us alone, with your hands of power and your heart of love.

Help us then, now, Lord, to work for that day when nation shall not lift up sword against nation, when tanks will be beaten into tractors, when every man and every woman shall sit under his or her own vine and fig tree, and none shall be afraid; when justice will roll down like waters and righteousness as a mighty stream.

Lord, in the memory of all the saints who from their labors rest, and in the joy of a new beginning, we ask you to help us work for that day when black will not be asked to get back, when brown can stick around -- (laughter) -- when yellow will be mellow -- (laughter) -- when the red man can get ahead, man -- (laughter) -- and when white will embrace what is right.

Let all those who do justice and love mercy say amen.

AUDIENCE: Amen!

REV. LOWERY: Say amen --

AUDIENCE: Amen!

REV. LOWERY: -- and amen.

AUDIENCE: Amen! (Cheers, applause.)

Rest as medication

I just had to tell someone about this: when I got sick right after New Year's I was so proud: I made it through that head cold thing without actually taking any medications!
I followed the guidelines in Real Simple and took echinacea supplements, drank tea and extra fluids, and used Vick Vaporub and the neti pot. I also took baths with bath salts which are specifically for illness, to ease aches and pains and open up the sinuses.

I recovered in only 3 days (!) and felt very close to normal for about a week, I had even started working out again, and was planning to go to yoga on Friday morning. Then Thursday afternoon, the illness suddenly came back again, this time in my chest. Now I've had headaches and achiness and chest congestion and a sore throat for a few days.

I'd like to share something that I really think helped me avoid the need for medication with the first round of illness and I plan to implement this time around as well: rest.

It may seem obvious, but for most of my life I have not stopped long enough to be ill. I have continued going, going, going and doing, doing, doing until I got sicker and sicker and the illness stretched for weeks. Most of the time the colds turned into sinus infections requiring antibiotics.

In the past I've often had a high-stress job where there was no one to pick up the work for me, or I had volunteer or social obligations that I felt I couldn't cancel. But now I feel like I am in a better place, mentally, with my boundaries. I have specifically chosen a job where I am not essential. My job can be done by anyone else on the team, so when I started feeling sick on Thursday, I sent an email to let them know I was taking sick hours and went to bed. We didn't go out that night as we had planned, and Christian so sweetly went and got us some soup.

Probably one of the worst habits I had earlier in life was sticking to my volunteer or social obligations when I was sick. Last week when I woke up Sunday morning and felt ill, we were scheduled to serve in Frontlines Parking and we'd missed church the week before due to the holidays. I also had a meeting for one of the ministries I serve in at 4:30 PM that day. Previously, I would have "toughed it out" and tried to spend the 2 hours outside in the cold running and bouncing around, and I would have been roaringly ill by 1 PM, laid down for a few hours and got up again to attend the meeting, so sick and resentful that I wouldn't even be able to contribute. Instead, I stayed home from church and let Christian go without me. I took naps. I listened to the podcast of the previous week's sermon from my computer on the couch. I emailed the leader of the ministry and cancelled the 4:30 PM meeting.

Guess what?! In both of these situations, no one's world ended. Everyone was fine without me. The bonus is that I also got better a lot more quickly.

I really can't tell you how relieved this makes me feel, to find out that I've been putting this pressure on myself and, therefore, I am free to let it go and heal.

I do have to be honest and say, I am feeling a little stir-crazy today. We had committed to helping set up some computer stuff at the church today from 10 AM - 2 PM. I decided again to stay here and rest and see if I can beat this thing again with rest, Christian has gone on without me. But I keep thinking, I want to go up to the store and get some more Tylenol, to look for some of those bath salts ... and what if I stopped by Buffalo Exchange on the way home ... would that be so bad?! Would that make me sicker?

Wedding Giveaway

Our good friend Bob Sutton of Bob Sutton Photography is giving away 2 free weddings!
Bob has done photos of us and many of our friends, check out some of his work here.
He not a shoddy photographer by any means - these packages are worth a lot! So if you know someone who would be blessed by these giveaways, please pass this on!
Here are the details:

Dallas Wedding Giveaway
Destination Wedding Giveaway
Get to nominating!!

Climbing back onto the wagon

When I was young and single, I used to be in such great shape. I remember a friend from high school coming to visit me in Dallas and commenting how OMG ripped my arms were. At that time, I was going to the gym at least an hour a night. It was insane. Needless to say, I don't have any ridiculous expectations of that happening again.

Anyone who knows me, knows what a health nut I am when it comes to food. But I have to confess that lately, I have not been consistent with the physical activity aspect of my own health. OK, even that is understating it. I have not moved from the couch since, oh, probably before Christmas.

I have some great excuses for this, let me tell you all about them:

• I hurt my foot
• I got sick
• I don't want to join a new gym because everyone else is doing it this time of year
• It has been too freaking cold
  

Those are just excuses, though. I still have yoga classes left on my yoga card. We live right next to White Rock Lake. We have a Wii Fit.

I also read this article in Glamour about small changes. There was a lady who decided to do 10 pushups as soon as she rolled out of bed in the morning, and after a while she increased the amount. No special equipment, no changing clothes, no going outside in the cold. But just something to kind of get her started.

So, this morning both Christian and I got out of bed and did 10 pushups (OK, he did 14) when we got out of bed. Yesterday, we were both working from home and we went for a walk down the street and back (about 1.5 miles) on our lunch break. It was very nice. And after I walked, I was not as cold for a few hours!

Encouragement from Sunday

I continue to feel deeply sad for my friend and her family. But yesterday we went to church in the evening and I found the message encouraging, you can listen to it online here.

The best part was Karen, from IAmSecond.com, who shared the story of how God answered her prayers for help. If you know me, you know I'm not a big fan of "Christian-y" type things, and I really still don't know much about IAmSecond.com except that it seems to be some kind of trend. I am not into trends, but I do know what it's like to be at the end of the rope and I love, love, love hearing people tell how they were rescued from that! It was also helpful in getting my mind off the sadness of the death and the book "Beautiful Boy", as I mentioned in yesterday's post. The contrast between Karen's story and the story David Sheff told...so completely opposite. Karen's story is what I love to hear. Maybe I will just listen to a few more of the stories on that web site...

Heavy

I got a call early Friday morning that has made it difficult for me to post as I had planned. A good friend's niece died suddenly and unexpectedly, she was only 8 months old. I knew her parents through my friend, but had not yet got to meet the new baby and now she is gone. This juxtaposed weirdly against the baby shower I helped host yesterday for another friend. It's been difficult for me to wrap my brain around the birth of so many new babies lately and then this sudden death.

I guess I've grown accustomed over the last 2 years to celebrating life, with upwards of 10 babies being born to our friends and family, in addition to the 4-5 more that will be born this year. The death is just so incongruous and sad. It's easy for me to say that I still trust in the Lord because this was not my child. Obviously, I can't even understand what they are feeling because I've never even had a child at all. Today is the visitation and we are getting ready to go. Please pray or send positive thoughts toward everyone if you think of it.

I don't think it has helped that I have been reading Beautiful Boy: A Father's Journey Through His Son's Addiction by David Sheff. I've read a lot of stories about addicts and recovery, and heard a lot of my friends' personal stories in Celebrate Recovery, and even stories from parents of addicts in the past. What I never realized was how all the stories I've heard included God. At the very least, the 12 steps require a Higher Power. I've been blessed to have seen God in all the stories I've heard so far, so that even when there is relapse, there is always a hope and a peace. That is how this one was different, and why reading it has also been very hard for me. The author doesn't believe in God, and you can really see and feel it in the way he reacts to tragedy and heartbreak. He is terribly, utterly alone in his mind and his emotions. He is full of fear and panic. There is none of the "peace within the storm" that I see in families of addicts, addicts, or even people going through horrible trials that I have seen in the Watermark family. It was hard for me to read this book, knowing that without some kind of outside help, this man and his son were truly, truly alone. Even in the end of the book, no real peace, just a resignation to chaos. It was a painful book to me.

When I told another friend about the book and the death, she said "I am sorry, this is all very heavy". I think that is a good description. I feel heaviness.

Salt, Vinegar, and Baking Soda can save the world

My mom got me 3 really fun books for Christmas this year. I would have included them in my Green Christmas gifts list, but at the time of that post, I had not yet opened our gifts from mom and dad yet.
Heinz Vinegar: Over 100 Helpful Household Hints
Christine Halvorson
Salt: Over 100 Helpful Household Hints
by Christine Halvorson, Bot Roda
Arm and Hammer Baking Soda Over 100 Helpful Household Hints
by Publications International

I really enjoyed reading these books, and one day I got really excited and started cleaning everything with vinegar. Then Christian and I needed to run to the store suddenly. We got into the car and he said something like "Oh man, it STINKS in here!" because I hadn't washed my hands and the whole car smelled like vinegar! There was some serious vinegar everywhere that day. I couldn't smell it so much because I have a cold.

What I find funny about these books is that each one basically says THERE IS NOTHING YOU CAN'T DO WITH THIS PRODUCT. It's kind of hilarious. I did try them - some worked and others didn't. For instance, it doesn't matter what combination of vinegar and salt and baking sode I put on those stove burner drip catchers, I can't get the baked-on grease off of those suckers. But vinegar works nicely added to the laundry as softener, and it really cleaned all the stains off one of my very favorite anodized steel sauce pots!

Books, and how I forgot how to read them

It was not too long ago that I rediscovered my love of reading. And then, promptly forgot it again.

This is how it happened: I had been using the branch library loan online to order books sent to the branch nearest me (on my way to work, even!). The last book I ordered somehow did not order... I never received the email saying it was available. It was some kind of busy time for me (can't remember why), and I didn't have time to research what went wrong. Library books dropped off the radar.

Fortunately, my brother-in-law came through here on his way to Chile and left The World Without Us by Alan Weisman for us to read, and at the same time the church gave me a free copy of TrueFaced by Bill Thrall, Bruce McNicol, and John Lynch. It turns out that I had real trouble being interested in either of these books. Maybe it had something to do with how busy we got at work (4th quarter is our busy season), and when I got home my brain was so tired I didn't want to think any more. Both of these books required some kind of mental participation. Either way, I hung onto them both for multiple months. They just sat there, mocking me. I felt I could not move on until I read them, but I couldn't finish them!

TrueFaced by Bill Thrall, Bruce McNicol, and John Lynch
Whatever the reason, I first put TrueFaced in a prominent spot and stared at it for about a month. Then I picked it up struggled through it for possibly 3 months until I actually started to like it. I would rate it as a good book, along the lines of The Ragamuffin Gospel by Brennan Manning and Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller (previously reviewed, here). I think part of the reason I liked it was that it basically described the process I've been through at Watermark through Celebrate Recovery - coming to terms with a faith that is apart from "doing" things and "putting on a mask" and "looking good". Learning to live outside the fake by trusting God and being "authentic" (to use a Watermark word) with safe people. OK, they didn't mention choosing safe people with whom to be authentic, but I want to throw that in because I think it is possible that someone might read this book and think, "hey, I can share all my junk with whoever I want and they'll be mature enough to handle it". That is just not true. So that would be my one caveat to this book. Realize that the authors have made the assumption that either 1) the people around you are safe, or 2) that you know how to find safe people.

The World Without Us by Alan Weisman
Everyone knows I love the green books...and movies, documentaries, web sites. So I thought for sure I would love to read about how nature takes over if the human race just suddenly disappeared one day. But no, that would be wrong. Concepts like this seem, to me, to be best directed to people who have analytical minds, who enjoy engineering, who like to read about things in great detail. GREAT DETAIL. Let me restate - there was a lot of detail. I approached this book in the holiday season, on my vacation, with my mind set to "mush". I was looking for a nice, imaginative read. What was I thinking trying to read this book? I looked up and found that paint drying was more interesting. I could not get into it. I made it to Chapter 3 before I thought "Why am I torturing myself?". I accept the fact that I can't do it. I embrace this fact as part of myself. I do not have to read this book to be a good treehugger. I can dislike it if I want.

With these two books behind me, my plate is clear for 2009. Melanie has inspired me to start trying to read again. Maybe I will start with the book she recommended...

Zenity Spa

Before the holidays, I mentioned that I pulled a deal with my work to get a day off on Monday, and I was excited about visiting an organic spa I found online. My first thought was to go to the Whole Foods spa, but since Mondays and Wednesdays are 20% off services, apparently those days are fully booked way in advance, and calling a week early wasn't early enough.

So, I did an online search where I included all the surrounding areas of Dallas and found Zenity Spa in Allen, TX. It is not quite an hour's drive from our house.

First of all, being in a strip mall in a suburb, it isn't all that fancy from either the outside or the inside, really. I think I get spoiled a lot by Dallas stores and how plush they can be. I am sure they are that way because the clientele in Dallas is more pretentious and picky.

But, I kept an open mind, and I am certainly glad I did. I had a spa pedicure and a moisturizing manicure. They do their spa pedicures in a heated copper bowl because apparently copper is naturally antiseptic! Who knew?! I loved the way they sprinkled dried flowers in the bowl and added the essential oil I selected (I chose rose! I don't have that one at home yet).
The manicurist also helped me figure out what to do with my nails, since I really wanted a festive red but I fear nail color, which always only lasts about 2 days on me. She had the idea to do a buff under the polish so that when I remove the polish, the buff remained. It worked!! I recommend it to anyone who only wants polish for a little while but wants the manicure to last longer overall.

I think my favorite part of the visit, aside from the fact that they don't use chemicals or thick, sticky creams full of phthalates, was the people! I really enjoyed the two ladies I spent time with, they were very down-to-earth and fun to talk to. To me, that is very important when you spend 3 hours somewhere and want to feel relaxed.

I wish I could remember the names of the specific ladies who helped me, I would like to request them again. I am notoriously terrible with names. They also offer lots of different massage packages, I think I would like to go try those with Christian. I guess the saddest thing for me is how far away the spa is. I wish it was closer!

Looking forward to 2009

Things I am looking forward to in 2009:

• The new Whole Foods on Park Lane!
• The Aveda Institute that will be in that same new building. This means cheap facials from training estheticians!
• More traveling. For certain: Arkansas and California again. We are hoping for one of the following: Canada, Chile, or possibly Mexico. Waiting anxiously for the updated reduced mileage fares from CitiCard for 2009 to be posted on the site!!
• The arrival of spring so we can ride the scooter again!
• The births of 4-5 new babies to our friends and family.
• More working-from-home for me! Hooray!
• Blogging about more ways to simplify and "green" the way we live
  

And I guess the rest of the year will just be an adventure that we cannot foresee! What are you looking forward to?

Bath Junkie, Fredericksburg TX (Christmas, Part II)

If you've had a chance to take a look at my Flickr pictures for Christmas 2008, you can see that we did some traveling. First, we went to San Antonio on Christmas Day to spend time with my in-laws.
From there, we went to a family reunion for my side of the family at a lake house in Buchanan Dam, Texas. We stayed there for 3 1/2 days and had tons of food! It was fun to spend that much time with my niece, Natali:
Since our 3 year anniversary was December 23, we tacked our anniversary celebration onto the end of the family traveling. We had a few ideas, one was to go back to Dallas and catch a plan to one of the Travelocity Last Minute Package locations. But since we were already in South Texas, we decided to just head on over to Fredericksburg because we've heard so much about it.

It is definitely a fun little town to visit - we were there for 2 days. We especially loved Appian Way guest house, Oliva, where we stayed. We booked it through 1st Class Bed & Breakfast. It was a one room log cabin with a front and back porch, far enough out that we could see plenty of stars from the private hot tub on the back porch. Every night, 7 deer would come by.
If you've ever been to Fredericksburg, you know that the main attraction is just walking up and down Main Street, going into shops. One of the shops I had heard of before, Bath Junkie. They had one in Branson, MO when we traveled there this summer, but we didn't have time to visit.

Here's an exerpt from their site explaining what they do:

Each product from 's wide selection—including phosphate-free bubble bath, mineral-oil free moisturizers, talc-free liquid powder, exfoliating salt scrub, spa tub-safe bath crystals, alcohol-free body mist, SLS-free shower gel, head-to-toe body wash and conditioners, anti-bacterial handwashes, and a full line of pet products—are custom-blended right in the store to customers' specifications.

With 200 fragrances to choose from, customers can create their own dream blend (gardenia and watermelon? We won't judge) or for the easily overwhelmed, fragrance menus of favorite blends are available. Customers can also select their products' tints, allowing them to simply choose a favorite color or create the perfect match for their bathroom's color scheme.

This fit right in with my recent experimentation combining essential oils with unscented lotions. I have been doing this for a few months. The difference here is that they had a lot more scents available than my own measly collection of 2 essential oils (those things are expensive!).

I created a lotion (no coloring for me) with mandarin orange, french vanilla, and amber. I love it! I would definitely consider going back. The site says there is a location in Dallas, although I am not sure if it is a corporate office or a store. Here's a picture I snapped of one of the employees creating a bath scrub for someone:

Green Christmas gifts (Christmas, Part 1)

Well, we're slowly coming back online, having been home a little over 24 hours now. Last night we got back in time to go over to our friends The Suttons to sit around and welcome the New Year with some Community Group Rock Band :-)
I am trying to cover as much ground as possible regarding the Christmas season in as few posts as I can. I thought a good way to do this would be to review some great "green" Christmas gifts I received or gave.

1. From my in-laws, I received a share in an alpaca from World Vision. This was awesome because Christian and I were actually going to ask them to get us gifts from the World Vision gift catalog next year, but they anticipated it before we even asked!
2. Also through World Vision, I donated to displaced folks in the Congo on behalf of my parents, for their gift. Hear more about the Congo and what Watermark is doing.
   
   
3. I also gave my mother Cargo Plant Love lipstick - all natural - the carton is made of biodegradable corn and has seeds embedded in it, so you just plant it in the dirt and you get flowers!
   
   
4. To the girls in my community group, I gave Chico Bags. I love these because they fold up very small but are actually very large reusable bags. You can clip them onto your diaper bag or stroller and have them with you at all times.
   
   
5. My sweet husband bought me a Vers sound system iPod/iPhone dock clock radio. The sound is amazing, but more importantly, check this out: a) all the packaging is made from recycled materials and is recyclable, b) the company is carbon neutral, c) the machine is made of wood they grow themselves and then replace, d) the whole thing can be recycled when you are finished with it. Did I mention the sound is amazing?! My husband is awesome!!
   

So, I am wishing everyone a Happy 2009! I'll be back tomorrow with more details of our travels, or you can check them out on my Flickr photos pages!