Allure's Pangea organic sample giveaway (expires 9/30/09)

If you haven't tried Pangea Organic's line of lotions, soaps, and facewashes this is your chance!!! Allure is having a giveaway for a free sample pack of what they are calling their "Skin Care Discovery Kit" just follow this link here https://secure.allure.com/magazine/sweeps/pangea/entry/long/ and fill out a little survey & the kit is on it's way to you.

Pangea Organic's is one of my favorite organic lines of bodycare producuts. brand I use their soaps and their lotions. Everything smells great and I love that you can plant their packaging! How neat is that =) I have yet to try their face care products so I am excited for this sample kit (I usually buy Pangea at Cost Plus World Market & they just have the soaps and lotions near me).

Allure also has a kit that is valued at over 100$$ of full size face care products on sale for 50$$ when you use a code they give you at the end of your survey (Allure0909 if I remember correctly). I ordered this kit so review of their face washes & facial masks to come =D. I listed the contents of the kit & their prices below! Super excited.......


Egyptian Calendula & Blood Orange Facial Cleanser* - $28 SRP
Egyptian Geranium With Adzuki Bean & Cranberry Facial Scrub* - $32 SRP
Japanese Matcha Tea With Acai & Goji Berry Facial Mask* - $40 SRP
Italian Red Mandarin With Rose Lip Balm* - $12 SRP
Turkish Rose & White Tea Eye Cream - $55 SRP

Icky Business... the cat box

So this post is just downright icky & that I absolutley HATE to deal with!!! The cat box. Ewwwww! But I love my kitties so having one is not optional. So in the spirit of going green I am blogging about it.

About a month or so after getting my chico bags and putting them to some good use I ran into a big problem. I used to use all those plastic bags that I would bring home from the grocery store for the daily scooping of the cat box. However... the supply had run short. I had no more bags left. Yeahh for the chico bag use..... Boo for cleaning the cat box. I had to BUY! bags....

So I decided to do a little research on greening the cat box and found out that the average cat box is not very eco-friendly. Apparently by sealing all that litter in regular plastic bags it never degrades and the actual litter itself is not very good for the environment. I used the petco store brand litter ( you know the one you can refill yourself) and thought I was pretty green because I reused the same plastic container each time... not so much.

Apparently that clay litter is strip mined in a very damaging process to the earth. This means that acres of land that could be used for other purposes are having their top layer stripped off to get to the diatomaceous earth”, (sodium bentonite) clay layer beneath the top layer of the soil. While the clay itself is natural, the land that it is stripped from is destroyed in the process. Also, have you noticed that when you pour your cat litter into the box there is a cloud of dust? This dust is not so great for you or your kitty. These dust particles are silica derivatives of the "bentonite" molecules in the clay. Guess what? They are carcinogenic!

So what are some better options out there for you & your kitty? Luckily there are quite a few good brands of natural options that will biodegrade over time. Swheat Scoop is made from wheat. Feline pine is made from waste of the lumber industry (I like the feline pine SCOOP not the pellets**), Worlds Best Cat litter made from corn. I have tried all of these and my 2 kittys have made a firm decision that what they want is the Swheat Scoop. They will use the feline pine scoop and the Worlds Best Cat litter, but when given a choice between a litter box full of those or the swheat scoop they always go for the Swheat Scoop. I have found all of these 3 options to absorb & clump well, and have good odor control.


IF you decide that you want to switch your kitties over to a natural cat litter be sure to do it slowly. Cats don't like change too much. First place a 1" layer of your new cat litter in the box then on top of that place a 2" layer of your old cat litter. As your cat uses the box she will mix the two litters together and begin to get used to the new litter. The next time you change out the cat box place a 2" layer of the new litter and a 1" layer of the old litter on top. Again kitty will mix everything together and get used to the new textures & smells. Finally on your next litter change you can only use the new litter. This process should take several weeks and help kitty get adjusted to her new green litter.



Now what about litter box liners & the scooping bags??? I don't personally use litter box liners but a lot of people do. Luckily BioBag has a great biodegradable option. I also use BioBag's large dog poop bags to scoop into. This way the litter is not sealed inside of plastic and both the bag, the waste, and the litter will all naturally biodegrade. **



A couple important side notes:

** I just want to mention DO NOT COMPOST your cat litter or FLUSH your cat litter down the toilet (even if the brand says you can, toximplasmosis cannot be filtered out of the water) Cats can carry a micro-org called Toxiplasmosis that can cause sickness in humans and birth defects in babies. An indoor cat is unlikely to have this but just to be safe do not flush or compost cat waste.


**I haven't tried the feline pine pellets option (the original) because my cats try to dig to china to cover up after themselves & pellets just wouldn't cut it for them. They needed a sandy option. The house cat evolved in an sand environment and the closer the litter option is to sand the more success you will have with your cat adapting to a new litter. They like the feel of fine granules on their paws.

Greening my nail polish.......

When I decided to go green I quickly learned that my nail polishes were a no go, & I had a huge collection! I adore going and getting pedicures so this was a huge blow.

Why is conventional nail polish so icky?? Well it is because most conventional nail polishes have chemical solvents such as toluene, acetates and alcohol. They are commonly around 70% solvent based. These solvents evaporate into the air after the polish has been applied to help the polish dry on your nails. When they evaporate they generate toxic chemical fume & that "nail polish smell." If you have ever painted your nails or been to the nail salon you know that smell. You are literally breathing in toluene, acetates etc.; chemical solvents.

Many nail polishes also contain dibutyl phthalates, formaldehyde, camphor, and tuolene. Phthalates are a chemical used in PVC plastics, solvents, and synthetic fragrances to preserve and "plasticize" the products. The dibutyl phthalates (or DBP) in polish are there to help prevent the polish from chipping. None of these chemicals are good for your body or the environment. The ingredient that really shocked me was the formaldehyde! It is a proven carcinogen.

So what other options are out there for us trying to be green & glam??

Well the best answer is to not paint your nails at all, but I like my toes a pretty pink a little to much for that, so if you are like me look for water based nail polishes? You can also find alchol based polishes without DBP, toulene, formadehyde, & phalates.; but your best option is to go for water based polishes.

So what are some proven brands out there???

Water based & the best option!!
Sun coat; honeybee gardens,

Non-toxic & more easy to find:
Rescue, SpaRitual, Priti, NoMiss and recently OPI says that they have begun to remove the "Toxic Trio" of toulene, DBP, & formaldehyde.

I have yet to try the water based polishes but I did get the a pink No Miss polish at whole foods & loved it. I was also gifted a wine red polish from SpaRitual and loved it as well. Both were shiny & long lasting =) My next polish purchase will be from one of the water based brands...... (review to come in the future!)

Aveda.. a greener and safer hairdo with all the lux of a traditional salon

I just got my hair done at Aveda and I am sooo pleased. One of my favorite things is to go to the hair salon and get a "hair makeover." To sit in the chair and get pampered for an hour or two is just so relaxing. However since making the decision to go green going to the salon has become a little more difficult. The chemicals in traditional hair dyes are not so great & the local salons around me all use traditional beauty products. I have written those off I needed to find a more sustainable solution.

My younger sister works at an Aveda salon & convinced me to come in and get my hair done there. This is the same sister who originally gave me the gorgeously green book and got me started on this green life journey. I had gone to an Aveda salon before, however it was just for a hair cut..... This time however I wanted to get my hair colored. I was a little nervous before going because I have never gotten my hair colored before (only bleached highlights) and I didn't want to damage my hair. However my color looks great and my hair feels better too! If the color was the same I would have sworn she just did a deep conditioning! Depending on the color you choose Aveda's dyes are 93-99% natural. The Aveda website defines natural as derived from plants and non-petroleum based minerals. Also aveda uses a patented process using green tea extract to oxidize their hair dyes instead of the petroleum based synthetics that conventional dyes use. This is good news for those of us looking for a safer way to dye our hair, since normal salon brands are 100 & synthetic with heavy metals,toxins, and petroleum based products. Also these conventional hair dyes have been linked to lymphoma, multiple myeloma, and leukemia. Don't believe me read the results of this study on pubmed. Aveda also used 100% certified wind energy to manufacture their products. To learn more about Aveda's green ingredient policy and how they are phasing out parabens in their products, increasing the amounts of organic herbal ingredients purchased, their 100% post consumer packaging, and other efforts to make their products safer for both you and the planet follow this link: http://aveda.aveda.com/aboutaveda/green_ingredients_policy.asp

All around the Aveda experience was relaxing and luxurious. I got great hairdo and hand massage. (if you get a hair cut they will give you a head & neck massage) Along with the peace of mind that my hair color was safe for both me & the environment!

My favorite eyeliner & mascara

After learning about how dangerous parabens, phthalates, and fragrance were to your body I swore off any makeup that had them in it. Which was great until i realized that was ALL my makeup! uhh-ohhh. I then had to hunt for new makeup that without those nasty little chemicals. I was able to find eyeshadow at the local drugstore. Physician's formula has a line of makeup called Organic wear and Almay has a line of makeup called Pure Blends. Both of these lines are fantastic for affordable, easy to find everyday makeup. You can get them at your local Target. However eyeliner and mascara gave me trouble. I spent quite a bit of money and tried several different kinds from my local whole foods natural beauty section. But they eyeliners were transparent and the mascaras gave no boost to my lashes. I wanted something more vibrant along with those thick lashes you see gracing the covers of beauty magazines!

Then I found out that Tarte was eco-friendly! I was already famliar with the brand and had no idea that they had paraben, phthalate, sulfate, and fragrance free eyeshadows. There tag line is Heath Couture and they state that " Health Couture™ is all about pure style:
the marriage between fashion and nature." To read more about there eco-line go here. I was so excited find this out. I love dark purple eyeliner because it just gives your eyes a little more "pop" than plain black and they have this great liquid eyeliner and eyeshadow stick called Indelible wink. Totally recommend that eyeliner. It comes in black, brown, grey, and purple. There mascara is also fantastic. Great definition and it is waterproof. To make the deal even sweeter their packaging is make from recycled paper and printed with soy ink. Also they have a great recycling program where if you send them your empty makeup containers you can recieve 15% off your next purchase. Be green & save green!!!

Check out their website www.tartecosmetics.com you can also purchase Tarte at Sephora too.

The ONE Tee

Have you heard about Edun and the ONE campaign? Edun is a rocker chic fashion line that features fabulous organic and ethical clothing designed by rocker Bono & Ali Hewson. The ONE campaign describes themselves as "ONE is a grassroots campaign and advocacy organization backed by more than 2 million people who are committed to the fight against extreme poverty and preventable disease, particularly in Africa." Since the ONE campaign and Edun's partnership they have donated over 45K towards preventing poverty an disease in Africa
Edun and One have come together to create a line of T-shirts to fundraise and raise awareness of the campaign. These edgy Tees are available on Edun's online store. To make the deal even sweeter they have just lowered the price of these tees... but not the donation to ONE. I am going to get one of these tees to support the one campaign & I believe that if you can afford to get one it is a great cause!!

A better way to Shampoo for you & the planet

All my life I have been using the shampoos, conditioners, and soaps that are found on the shelf of your local target. I started life with the classic Johnson & Jonhson no tears baby shampoo and moved onto more fruity smelling shampoos as a young girl & teen. Through college I bought whatever was cheapest bringing me to today. Then once I began to learn about living a green and sustainable lifestyle I realized that these drugstore staples were NOT the best for either me or the planet earth. I was shocked to say the least! I mean I know that my hairdresser has always harasses me not to shampoo every day because it is bad for your hair, but I didn't realize how right she was. Also I didn't realize that all those chemicals go into the drain to pollute the earths water supply.

I will use this analogy for you to help put things into perspective. Say you have a favorite sweater made out of.. lets say silk and angora. How would you wash that sweater? Would you throw it in the wash with your regular cotton clothes, use a conventional detergent, and then put it in the dryer? NO WAY!!! That sweater would be ruined in 2 seconds flat =(

Well your hair follows the same principals. Like your favorite sweater your hair is a type of fiber that needs to be treated delicately. You don't want to over-process it. Now do me a favor & look at the back of your bottle of shampoo. Can you even pronounce all those chemicals there? Do you know what they are for? I sure didn't!!!! So imagine my surprise when I learned that those chemicals designed to "clean" your hair actually strip your hair of all it's natural oils. Then imagine the shock I felt when I learned that many of those chemicals were carcinogens and neurotoxins!!!

For example the sodium laurel sulfate (SLS) than is in most all shampoos to create lather has been proved to be a skin irritant and is often contaminated with a carcinogen called 1,4-dioxane. Another example is "Fragrance." What is fragrance? Who knows; and that is the point. The word Fragrance is used to refer to the chemicals in a product that make it smell better than other products on the market. It is the equivalent to say that "secret sauce" on your hamburger. What is in fragrance is a secret that the company does not have to disclose and is not regulated!! This means that companies can use the word fragrance to mask hundreds of harmful chemicals in their products and have NO legal responsibility to reveal what those chemicals are to the consumer. They could be ANYTHING. Another really scary class of chemicals that are often found in your cosmetics are Parabens. These little chemicals are put into your products to preserve them, however once they get into your body they mimic estrogen and increased estrogen levels have been linked to breast cancer. Nice huh! For a handy list of chemicals to avoid that you can print out and put in your purse go here! Also go to the EWG website to their data base called skindeep to type in the products you are already using & they will give you a safety score on them.

The other benefit of natural shampoos & conditoners is that they don't strip your hair of it's natural oils. Why is this good? Well those natural oils protect your hair from breaking and give it a nice shiny smooth appearance. These are those same oils that make your hair gross and greasy if you don't wash your hair regularly. What happens when you use shampoos that strip all the oil out of your hair is that your oil glands go into overdrive trying to replace it causing excessive oiliness. So if you switch over to a natural shampoo you are going to notice a little bit of a texture change to your hair. Don't freak like I did!!! It is just your scalp adjusting to not needing to produce all that excess oil.

In the end you are going to have healthier and silkier smooth hair I promise!! Last weekend I went home for that Nascar race & took a shower at my parents. They only had conventional shampoo & conditioner. I used it but I swear my hair felt like nasty straw afterwards!!!! I didn't realize how much healthier my hair had become until that moment. So what shampoos & conditioners do I use for my very tangly straight hair? I like the Avalon organics shampoos and the Aveda conditioners. (also Aveda salons give you a FABULOUS!! massage along with your hair cut if you go there!!!)

My Blog is now green!!!

I just discovered this awesome web service that keep tracks of your sites CO2 emissions and then will purchase renewable energy from wind & solar farms to offset the CO2 emissions. How fantastic is that! So why is this whole CO2 emissions thing important? If you had asked me a year ago, I would not have been able to tell you. Many of you have probably heard about global warming and climate change, but if you are clueless like I was keep reading!!

What is renewable energy you ask? Renewable Energy is energy that has been captured from natural and renewable sources. These sources are most commonly sunlight and wind. However rain, biomass, tides, and geothermal heat can also be sources. These renewable sources can produce energy without producing CO2. Also, because these sources are not finite, like coal for example, as a global population we do not need to worry about them disappearing.

CO2.. I have heard of that but why reduce it? CO2 or Carbon Dioxide is a gas that is present in our atmosphere. When we breath in oxygen we breath out CO2. This cycle is completed with plants and respiration. The plants take in the CO2 and through photosynthesis release oxygen! However this balance has been tipped. Humans, through the burning of fossil fuels, are constantly releasing higher and higher loads of CO2 into the atmosphere. It is important to reduce CO2 because scientists believe that it is leading cause of global climate change. Often this is referred to the greenhouse gas effect.

So why is renewable energy important? Renewable energy is important because today's traditional methods of capturing energy cause air pollution through the release of CO2. These traditional methods include the burning of oil and coal. Not only are these processes polluting our atmopshere with excessive levels of CO2 but they are also finite. When we run out of fossil feul on this planet, it is gone for good. Today's society is incredibly dependent on fossil feuls. We need energy to light our homes, run our computers, drive to work, power our TV's, and countless other applications. That is why when we can it is good to take steps to reduce the amount of CO2 we produce in a day.



So how can 1 individual reduce CO2? You have most likely heard the term "Carbon Footprint." This is a term that has been coined to refer the the amount of CO2 we individual produce. To reduce that fooprint here is a list of5 simple things you can do!!
#1: Carpool to work, school, store, anywhere really!! Everyone has to shop so make it a social event!!
#2: Unplug your electric devices when you are not using them. An easy way to do this is to get one of those power strips with an on/off switch on them.
#3: Turn down your heater and turn up AC levels. Changing your settings by just a few degrees can cause a big impact! (not to mention save you $$)
#4: Buy locally grown fruits and veggies!! Think of all the petroleum that is used to ship grapes from Chili and bananas from hawaii...
#5: Ride your bike or take public transportation when possible.

To learn more about reducing your carbon fooprint visit this site & to learn more about renewable energy options go here!!!

Nascar... not eco friendly, but it is Dad friendly... so how to make an non-ecofriendly event "friendly"

So Yesterday was Father's day. This year for fathers day my mom got my Father tickets to NASCAR!! Wow.. and like just about every red-blooded American male my father was thrilled. For him what could be better than watching cars race at high speeds and lots of collisions.... For me, however, NASCAR does not hold that same thrill and exictement. Not to mention the gallons and gallons of petroleum that are used so a bunch of men can drive in circles at high speeds for several hours =( Not very nice to mother nature. This however was for my father, so I resigned if I was going to go to watch a NASCAR race I was going to make every thing else about the day as Eco-friendly as possible. So I wanted to share with you 5 things that I did to try and make the best of a NASCAR fathers day =)

#1 Carpool: by picking up my sister and then meeting the rest of the family to all carpool together we were able to save gas and reduce our carbon emissions =) A good first step!

#2 BYOB H2O: By bringing our own water (in a reusable water bottle!) we were able to save $$ by not purchasing 5 dollar bottles there, but also not create waste from those empty plastic bottles. =)

#3 BYOB food: Our family also made our sandwiches ahead of time from yummy organic ingredients that we had at home. We also brought fresh fruit to munch on that I had bought on Saturday from the Farmer's Market. =) By bringing our own organic foods, not only did we eat healthier and have more delicious foods than was being sold at the racetrack, but we were able to reduce the waste that we created by packaging our food in reusable containers!

#4 Walk: Instead of taking a shuttle to the other side of the racetrack to get to our seats we walked. Good for the heart & planet earth. Also reduces the need for gym excursions =)

#5 Up-cycled fathers Day present: Getting presents that people love and that are sustainable has to be one of the most difficult tasks for me. I want people to like their present and not feel like I am trying to force my belief in a sustainable lifestyle onto them. This year however I found the perfect gift for my dad! He collects reptile figurines so at a Whole Earth Festival I saw these awesome statues made from old bike chains! Perfect, recycled and sure to please Dad! The guy who makes these has many different kinds of statues so if this is the kind of thing you think your Father, brother, boyfriend, or anyone really would like go check out his site.... metal souls. I also used recycled paper to wrap Dad's present. Dad was really pleased with his new lizard =)

Saturday Is Farmer's Market Day!

Going to the Farmer's Market has always been one of my favorite activities. I love meandering through the Market on a warm sunny summer day and the smells of fresh veggies, flowers, and kettle corn. Often there are musicians playing and sellers of fresh coffee & pastries.

The pleasant sights, smells, and sounds is only one of the reasons to buy your perishables at your local farmers market. After deciding to live sustainably I learned that another wonderful reason is that the fruits and veggies offered at your local farmers markets are most often organic and locally grown.

Organic fruits and veggies are wonderful for your body. Did you know in a 2004 study done be UCD showed that organically grown fruits and veggies can contain up to 65% more phenolic compounds (it varies from veggie to veggie). These phenolic compounds are those powerful cancer fighting anti-oxidants you have heard about. The nutrient rich soil and lack of pesticides from organic farming forge healthier, vitamin packed, and better tasting veggies than conventional farming. Not to mention the animal life that is preserved in the organic farming methods. No bunnies are harmed by harvesting machines and butterflies killed by pesticides =)
If you would like to find out more about the benefits of organics visit Organic.org.

Here is a refreshing article on organic food as well.

Near me the farmers market is open year round, one of the benefits of living in California. However, in many areas of the country farmers markets only run April through October so take advantage of them now, while the summer is in full swing =)

My farmers market bounty from this morning =)

A first step... the reusable shopping bag

Bringing your own shopping bag is one of the simplest things you can do for the environment.... However, remembering to bring your shopping bag is not the simplest thing. For me when I first started out on my green life adventure. I already had a reusable shopping bag. The classic Trader Joe's bag featured on the left hand side here. This bag was nice and sturdy, easily to wipe clean, and super duper easy to forget. Yup! I never ever remembered my eco-friendly shopping bags.

I do however now have a nice collection of trader Joe's shopping bags, because I kept buying them! I would forget my bag and feel guilty about using the paper ones. So I would buy more! Great solution for Trader Joe's profits... not so much for my wallet.

Then one day I discovered this little beauty.... The chico bag. Some boy scouts were selling them outside the grocery store. You know like those girls who sell the amazing cookies? Well they had HOT PINK!! I just had to get one. That was the best decision I had made in regards to reusable shopping bags! These little bags stuff into an attached pouch so that they are so tiny they can be stuffed anywhere. I always keep one in my purse. I can't tell you how convenient it is to have a bag right there in your purse anywhere you need it! They unfold to the size of your standard shopping bag and can hold up to 25lbs. If they get dirty; throw them in the laundry! My boyfriend even likes them because he can attach the carabeanner to his belt loop.

For my forgetfulness these were a dream. Since then I have noticed that they sell these bags at Whole Foods. You can also find these bags at the links I have listed below! I recommend grabbing a few. =)


http://www.chicobag.com/ http://www.reusablebags.com/store/chicobag-colorful-compact-reusable-shopping-p-450.html

Ecobunga : Living green and saving some too!

I want to share this fantastic website I discovered which I stalk daily, called Ecobunga. This site is fantastic for discovering all sorts of eco-friendly deals. Every day they list the sales across the web from major green "e-tailers." They will alert you when greenloop is having a sale on a specific ecofashion brand, and let you know when you can save money at Amazon & Drugstore.com for all your household needs. I was able to score a great Ecoskin brand dress a while back for only 50 dollars! I would have never known about that sale otherwise =) I also scored a free pair recycled Simple Shoes flip flops, when Ecobunga alerted me to an Earth Day promotion going on.

I highly recommend checking this site out to score some amazing earth friendly and wallet friendly deals!!

http://www.ecobunga.com