Posted by
Kate on
Friday, December 28th, 2012
It’s not easy being green, but more and more people around the world are making the effort to embrace a healthy and natural lifestyle. Families are swapping out toxic cleaning chemicals for eco-friendly, green cleaning products and electing to shop at farmers’ markets or grow their own organic produce rather than eat prepackaged food that’s loaded with preservatives. But even as we become more mindful about making sure that we protect ourselves, our children, and our partners from harmful chemicals in our food and household products, we may be overlooking some important members of our family: our pets. Even if you love your pet as much as you would love a child, by exposing it to toxins and being lax on preventative care, you may drastically shortening its lifespan. But with just a few simple changes, you can make sure that you’re not cutting your pet’s life short.
Image source: Vetdepot.com
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Posted by
Kate on
Friday, December 21st, 2012
There are just a few shopping days left until Christmas. Hopefully you’ve gotten all your gifts picked out and wrapped so you can kick back and relax while the rest of the world hustles and bustles around you. If however you are an inveterate procrastinator like I am, you have miles to go before you sleep. Here are some of the tools you’ll need to stay fueled and protected through the rest of the holiday season:
Image source: Johngushue.typepad.com
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Posted by
Kate on
Thursday, December 20th, 2012
My daughter has finally reached the age where visits to the playground are a near-daily occurrence. It provides much needed interaction that is important for intellectual stimulation and social development – and she likes it, too. I try to rotate our schedules so she doesn’t get bored going to the same place all the time, but we both find ourselves drawn to a circus-themed playground just a few miles from our home. She likes it for its varied activities and its bold, bright colors while I enjoy its safe design – after all, I’ve been researching safe local playgrounds since this summer.
Image source: Sarasota.patch.com
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Posted by
Kate on
Friday, December 14th, 2012
I was raised in a family full of artists and art-lovers. My stepdad is an architect who also exhibits his sketches in art galleries and has illustrated a book on historic architecture. My mom recently opened her own gallery with an abstract artist friend of hers. I grew up feeling that taking a break from work and instead enjoying and creating art helped me lead a more well-balanced life. So it’s no wonder I try to fill not only my home but the homes of all the special someones on my shopping list with unique, one-of-a-kind pieces of art so I can support artists that rock. It’s even better if I can find eco-friendly art or art that is made with recycled materials. Here are some standout environmentally-friendly pieces that will brighten anyone’s holiday season:
Image source: Bobbrowninc.com
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Posted by
Kate on
Wednesday, December 12th, 2012
My sister announced her first pregnancy at Thanksgiving dinner a few years back. That Christmas, she got piles of baby clothes and books about pregnancy and child-rearing and nothing for herself. I must guiltily admit I was one of those people who got swept up in purchasing adorable baby clothes and forgot to treat my sister like she was her own person, instead of a walking incubator for the family’s first grandbaby. To put that in perspective to non-moms, it wasn’t that much different than if someone decided to buy you tickets for a conference on MySQL just because you were married to a computer programmer. Now that I’ve been through my own pregnancy, I’ve learned that you can still get gifts that acknowledge a woman’s pregnancy without being solely about the baby that’s growing inside of her. Here are fantastic go-to gifts for the mom-to-be on your Christmas shopping list:
Image source: Modernhippiemag.com
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Posted by
Dani on
Tuesday, December 11th, 2012
Image source: EDF.org
In the year 1891, Nikola Tesla was busy spreading the AC current across the world, the telephone was gaining international popularity in Europe and the United States, and the first escalator was patented at Coney Beach in the UK. A spirit of innovation had swept the globe, and a Russian chemist named Aleksandr Dianin was about to make history.
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Posted by
Kate on
Monday, December 10th, 2012
Before my daughter was born, my husband and I were inveterate travelers. It’s not surprising: we both have the wanderlust in our blood. I grew up with an architect stepfather (who recently wrote a book about historic architecture) and an interior designer mother who flipped houses before it was cool: I lived in nearly forty different houses by the time I graduated college. My husband’s parents have been known to pick up and move cross-country whenever the mood strikes them. When he moved to Florida to be close to me early in our relationship they packed up and followed a few months later. With so many travel-savvy people in one family, we have moving and vacationing down to an art. So here are some of the great gifts I bestow on my globetrotting family members to make their trips easier – and a little eco-friendlier:
Image source: Sync-blog.com
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Posted by
Kate on
Friday, December 7th, 2012
If seasonal marketing efforts have persuaded me of just one thing, it’s that ladies love bath stuff. It seems like I can’t walk into a store without seeing giant cellophane-wrapped baskets of seasonally-themed shower gels and body lotions. Don’t get me wrong: I am actually fully in support of indulging in bath and body products. I collect eco-friendly body scrubs like they’re going out of style, and enjoy regular evening baths scented with lavender in an attempt to curtail my insomnia. But I disavow those holiday-scented gift basket monstrosities. For one thing, who wants to go around smelling like eggnog or candy canes? Plus (and I’m not the only one who feels this way) a pre-made gift basket just feels kind of thoughtless. However, I would certainly accept a gift basket with hand-selected products that appeal to my unique and eclectic tastes. In case anyone reading this (like for instance my husband) is curious, here are some eco-friendly bath products I would be happy to unwrap on Christmas morning:
Image source: Skinnyskinny.com
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Posted by
Kate on
Wednesday, December 5th, 2012
My daughter is a serious fashionista in training. Even though she is only thirteen months old, she has a definite sense of style. Just this morning, I had her dressed in jeans and a t-shirt for a trip to the park when she rummaged through her dresser and produced a skirt, then waved it at me insistently until I acquiesced and slid it on over her jeans. She happily scampered around the park for an hour in her fashion-forward ensemble. I shouldn’t be surprised: this is the same kid who spent Halloween day strutting around the house in a ballerina outfit, fuzzy boots, and a faux-fur vest – and that wasn’t even her costume, just regular old clothes.
Image source: Facebook.com
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Posted by
Kate on
Monday, December 3rd, 2012
For the last five years, my sister has lived nearly 400 miles away from me. We’ve both gotten married in the intervening years. She’s become a mother to two spirited little boys, while I’ve been raising a sassy and spunky daughter: she was actually pregnant with her second son while I was pregnant with my little girl. We text and Skype whenever we can but the distance is difficult for both of us to deal with. I haven’t seen them in person since I hosted my nephew’s first birthday party back in September. So I rejoiced when my sister decided to look for her job in my area. In less than a month, she and her family will be right here in my house with me while she goes on job interviews and goes apartment hunting (though I’m also hoping we’ll have plenty of time to go visit the new LegoLand theme park). This means our kids will finally get to spend an extended period of time together, which also means they’ll be sharing a lot of toys. So I’ve been hunting down the best of gifts that are unisex and eco-friendly so there’s plenty of Christmas joy for all our little rugrats:
Image source: Amazon.com
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