Green Your Online Shopping!

I dread shopping this time of year. I avoid mall traffic at all costs, so much so that in recent years most of my Christmas gifts have been purchased online - and I know I'm not alone. Wouldn't it be great if every online purchase you made could make a difference to the planet? Well now they can! When Tal told me about his idea months ago, I was skeptical of how it could work. Then he revealed his website www.greenanysite.com, and how it works - and it couldn't be easier! He simply uses affiliate programs with shopping websites. So when you make a purchase and click on "Green this!" a small percentage of your purchase goes to green causes that are chosen by registered users. And no, you aren't paying more for your purchase, the retailer is paying what is called a referral fee. Check out his website GAS! for yourself and see how easy it is to GREEN your online purchases and make a difference. And if what I described above sounds like googly gook to you, all of your questions can be answered on the website. I've listed the benefits of registering at GAS below (copied straight from the website).

Reasons to Register:

• Track how much CO2 your purchases have helped clear (we do not store any info on your purchase, just how much you've helped donate).
• Display the amount of CO2 you've helped clear on your Facebook profile or in a widget on your site or blog.
• Decide where your money goes. The money that gets donated each month to green causes, goes to organizations picked by our registered users. Every registered user has a say in where the money goes to… Planting new forests? Researching alternative energy sources? Carbon Offsets? It's up to you.

Check it out and start greening your online shopping for the holidays, and all year long. Happy traffic free, no standing in lines, mob free, shopping!

Kudos for Kroger

We went grocery shopping tonight at Kroger and decided we needed to restock our wine rack. When we went to check out we were just going to put the bottles in the cart with no bags and take them to the car - until the cashier offered a free reusable wine bag with dividers inside. Thanks Kroger!



You can see our table is all decked out for Christmas :).

Catch up

It has been a while since I posted, so I thought I should do a catch up post before blogging about new topics of interest (I have a list!). November was a busy month for me... Work was hectic, the holiday madness began with Thanksgiving, and I celebrated my 30th birthday!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Most years we travel to be with family for the holiday, but this year we stayed home and celebrated with our friends. We have much to be thankful for, and it was nice to share the day with great friends eating yummy food and watching football. Though I have decided that 8 hours of football is just too much for me :).

As for my 30th Birthday... it was easier than I expected or maybe it just hasn't hit me yet. I don't feel 30 years old! I had a great night out with friends - dinner, drinks, and live music. Funny how the band got exponentially better as the night went on and more drinks were consumed. I have decided to embrace my 30s - they are the new 20s right? Right! What is funny is that yesterday I woke up with a sore neck. I couldn't turn my head to the right. And though it's better today it is definitely not back to normal. It's amazing how many movements require the muscles in your neck, I had no idea! Hopefully this is just a freak thing, and not the beginning of my body falling apart like my husband keeps warning me about! I will not allow it. As soon as my neck is back to normal I'm going for a long run.

I can't believe another year has flown by... where has the time gone? The holiday season is upon us already, and I have yet to even begin Christmas shopping! Thankfully our families usually only exchange gifts for the kids. Personally, I much rather plan some fun activities to all do together as a family than exchange gifts. For one thing, shopping this time of year is stressful in itself, and I hate the stress of finding the perfect gift. Besides, it's not GREEN to buy stuff just to have a gift to give. It is quality time with loved ones that is priceless, and in my opinion, the greatest gift. I'm trying to cook up some ideas for things our family can do together this year and that all ages will enjoy (from grandchildren to grandparents)... let me know if you have any ideas to share!

Oh, if there are any Twilight fans out there... I updated the previous post with my thoughts about the movie in the comments section. There are book/movie spoilers so be warned!