Easy Eco To Go.com

You Know You Want One! - Wordless Wednesday & Giveaway

easyecotogo@gmail.com (Julia) — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 05:05:00 +0000

That would be the lovely Project GreenBag that you could win in this weeks giveaway.

I love this one because it's simple, classic and anyone can carry it.

So just click on the photo and be swept away to this weeks stylishly ruesable giveaway.

Wordless Wednesday

And The TerraCycle Winner Is....

easyecotogo@gmail.com (Julia) — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 19:20:00 +0000

Wow, you guys have done some great stuff this last year! I loved reading all the changes you’ve made, big and small. Thanks so much for sharing and especially for reading along about my families green changes.

So this was another one of those totally nutty mornings, slept in late, had to take Tyler to the Orthodontist before school, helped with the spring fundraiser at school and then to the store to stock up on brown rice tortillas (me) and razors (Todd). Oh yeah, and I’m having computer issues, good times.

Well as exciting as that was, onto the great part of my day....announcing the winner of the awesome TerraCycle gift pack!

Seeing as I didn’t get this done before the boys left this morning it was once again up to the dogs and me to pick a number out of the box.

The dogs probably would have been more helpful if they hadn’t been holding me down.

And after all that, the winner is…..

#54, Susan! Yay!

Congratulations Susan! Thank you so much to TerraCycle for hosting this awesome Blogiversary giveaway and thanks to everyone who enter and shared their greenness with us!

And don't forget to stop by TerraCycle's Facebook fan page to see who won the juice pouch prize pack!

How Green Is Your Bag? {Giveaway}

easyecotogo@gmail.com (Julia) — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 08:01:00 +0000

Ah, the reusable bag, one of the first changes I made on my road to greenness. To me, it was a small change that could have a huge impact. And to help you along Project GreenBag is having a giveaway for one of their awesome bags, but more on that later. hehe

First, did you know...

So why not just use paper bags instead? Well, they have just as high of an environmental cost and may actually be worse then plastic:

The worst part is that just a tiny percentage of those plastic bags are recycled; 10-15% of paper bags and 1-3% of plastic bags being recycled.

However, not all reusable bags are created equally. Those nylon, polyester or polypropylene bags are not good for the environment. For one, they’re made using oil, a non-renewable resource that kicks off some pretty funky chemicals into the air during production.

Now I admit (and you already know if you’ve been reading my blog for a while) that when I started my reusable bags journey I started with the above mentioned not-so-green bags.

I have however, started switching over to greener reusable bags, like the previously mentioned Green Eyed Monster bags, as well as ones made right here in California in San Francisco by Project GreenBag.

The bags from Project GreenBag are made from 100% organic cotton, use eco friendly inks and are sweatshop free. And did I mention made here in Cali, oh I guess I did. It just deserves to be said twice. ;)

I bought two of their bags, Clean Energy and San Francisco, some time back and absolutely love them.

They’re a great size, sturdy and too cool looking! Plus since they’re cotton they’re also super easy to clean, just toss them in the washer and dryer.

Besides their awesome bags, I also love all the great info that they have on their blog (that’s where all the plastic, paper, oil-made bags info came from). And on top of that they also use minimal shipping and never uses any plastic, which you know makes me happy!

Right now you can stop by the Project GreenBag site and tell them what type of bag you would like to see them make next. Wouldn’t you love to see your green idea on an awesome waste reducing, reusable bag?

If you'd like to check the info out yourself, here are the links for the plastic bags info and the paper bags info.

Ok, so onto the giveaway, Project GreenBag is giving away one Recycle bag to one lucky reader. Yay!

For the main entry go to Project GreenBag and leave a comment here telling me one thing you learned about them.

As always there are additional ways you can enter:

Follow @easyecotogo on Twitter and leave your @name (1 entry)
Follow Project GreenBag on Twitter and leave your @name (1 entry)
Write a blog about the contest/blogiversary or email 3 friends & cc me on the email easyecotogo at gmail.com (3 entries, please leave 3 comments)
Tweet about the contest (Reuse in style with a fabulous #giveaway from @ProjectGreenBag & @easyecotogo! http://bit.ly/98eoeC) (1 entry, can be done once a day. Please leave a comment for each tweet)
Follow my blog in Google Friend (1 entry)
Subscribe to Easy Eco To Go (2 entries, leave 2 comments)

Add my button to your blog (leave your site with your comment so I can stop by and say hi!) (3 entries, please leave 3 comments)

Separate comments must be left here for each additional entry!

Also, please include your email with comments or if you’d rather, after you leave your main entry comment, email me at easyecotogo(at)gmail(dot)com so I will have a way of contacting you if you win. You will have 48 hours after I contact you to send me your info or else I will choose another winner.

The contest will run from Monday March 8, 2010 thru Monday March 15, 2010 at 11:59 pm PST. Sorry, but the contest is only open to US residents.

And as always the boys will help me pick a winner which will be announced Tuesday the 16th.

Viva La Revolution!

easyecotogo@gmail.com (Julia) — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 00:21:00 +0000

So I’ve been seeing these tweets for Food Revolution with Jamie Oliver for a while now but haven’t really paid much attention to them. Then I saw I post on Recycle Your Day where Leslie has a clip from the t.v. show (I didn’t even know it was a t.v. show) and in the clip Jamie is asking first graders if they know the names of different vegetables are. They don't by the way.

Seeing that one got me curious, so I went over to YouTube to see what else I could find, and I also googled it, of course.

It looks to be show about making better food choices, what food really should't be served in schools and getting the whole family involved in meals.

I went to see Food Inc and I watched The World According to Monsanto online. While both of these movies, like Food Revolution, are primarily about food, I think they are also very much about the planet.

For me, going green and trying to keep the planet healthy led to learning more about food which led to getting myself, and my family, more healthy. So maybe if people start in the other direction, getting themselves healthy, it will lead them to want to get the planet healthy as well.

Well that’s my hope anyways.

And besides, any revolution that involves spontaneous dancing can't be wrong, right?

Happiness Is At Hand - Wordless Wednesy

easyecotogo@gmail.com (Julia) — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 05:12:00 +0000

Fine, it's not a new picture, but I'm dang excited about these hankies! You know you want some, just click on the photo and be swept away by hanky happiness.

Wordless Wednesday

Reducing Waste In A Disposable World – Easy Eco To Go/ Stay Vocal Hankies

easyecotogo@gmail.com (Julia) — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 20:51:00 +0000

So you may recall that back during Ditch the Disposables I did something that I never thought I would do and gave up facial tissue for reusable hankies. Why was this so un-thinkable? Well at the time when I thought about hankies I thought of the big bandanna sized ones that after being used would be stuck into a back pocket to be used again, a la my dad and brother. What’s so wrong with that you ask? Well, how should I put this, oh I know; THEY’RE COVERED IN SNOT, that’s what’s wrong with it!

So instead, we (my mom) made them small so they were really only good for one use, which was perfect for me. And it turned out a lot of people really liked the idea of single use hankies as well. I got quite a few questions asking if we planned on selling them. At the time the answer was maybe, but I really didn’t know how to go about selling them.

Well lucky for me, one of the people who loved them was Alex from STAY VOCAL and he knows a lot about how to sell.

Alex came up with the idea to make hankies that combine both of our logos that would be made from rescued t-shirts. Now, these aren’t shirts that are made from recycled materials and then turned into hankies. They’re shirts that would have been destroyed by companies or thrown out and ended up in landfills. So better then recycled, they’re reused.

I was so thrilled that Alex thought me of to do this project with. One of my unspoken hopes with Easy Eco To Go was to make a great reusable product. I had originally thought of trying to make bags, but everyone is doing that. ;) But how many cool hankies have you seen out there?

These awesome hankies will have our logos on one side and be blank on the ‘blowing’ side. The edges will also be hemmed down (by me, I swear!) so that you can get many, many uses out of them and will be the perfect size for onetime use. I keep a basket on the dryer that we all toss them into after they’ve been used and then I just toss them in with whatever load I happen to be washing.

Now the hankies don’t have to used solely for blowing, they’d also be great for small messes around the house or out on the road.

You can find these lovely hankies over at STAY VOCAL for $3 each or if you buy 4 or more $2.50 each. Because really, who needs 1 hanky?

The hankies will be printed by STAY VOCAL and sewn and shipped by yours truly. They’re currently listed as for pre-sale right now and will be shipped out next week.

So needless to say, I’m pretty excited about this new chapter for Easy Eco To Go and I want to thank all my greenalicious readers for taking this journey with me.

We're only making 40 for our first test run to see how they'll do. Wouldn't it be cool if they all sold today?

So please support my dream of reducing waste with Easy Eco To Go/Stay Vocal emblazoned hankies! Too much? hehe

And The Green Eyed Monster Bag Winner Is......

easyecotogo@gmail.com (Julia) — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 17:09:00 +0000

Ah, and so ends another giveaway. But before we get to the winner, I have some pretty cool news. Green Eyed Monster is offering Easy Eco To Go readers 50% off all their tote bags! All you have to do is load your shopping cart up and enter ‘easyeco’ in the discount box. That’s so awesome! Now you know I’ll be taking advantage of this offer and I promise to try to leave a few bags for you guys…maybe. Hehe. The discount is good until Earth Day, April 22nd.

Oh, and a little FYI; the graphic designer and artist behind the Ponder Monster bag and Green Eyed Monster logo got a shout on Dooce.com's Daily Style section last week.

Ok, so now onto the winner of the Ponder Monster bag.

Today it was just Dylan helping out and we had some serious photo editing complications, hence the one photo sent from my iPhone. Ah life.

Anyways, after much coaxing I got him to keep his eyes closed while he stuck his hand in the box.

And the number he chose was…..

29 which belongs to Heavenly Savings, yay!

Congratulations Heavenly! Thanks so much to Green Eyed Monster for hosting this giveaway and the awesome 50% discount code (easyeco)! And of course thanks to all of you who entered.

Don’t forget to enter the Awesome Blogiversary giveaway hosted by TerraCycle, it’s a big one!

One Ecotastic Adventure! {Giveaway}

easyecotogo@gmail.com (Julia) — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 07:07:00 +0000

Holy rusted metal Batman, it's been 1 year today since I started this blog!!

Now I'm going to be honest with you. I've never stuck with anything for a year (husband & children excluded).

When I started this crazy green writing adventure I really didn't know what to expect. I didn't know anyone who blogged and I had actually never even read a blog.

There were 2 things I wanted to have happen:

This has been an incredible ride and I have met some truly amazing people on my ever continuing green journey.

One of those people is Alex from Stay Vocal. He owns a great reuse apparel company that keeps unwanted tees out of landfills.

Back in December he did cereal t-shirts that were sent in cereal boxes and contained prizes just like cereal used to back in the day. Well, he asked me to contribute a prize and I made hankies out of an old shirt that I put my logo onto. It turns out Alex really liked those hankies so....he wants to help make a line of Stay Vocal/Easy Eco To Go hankies!

There will be two different styles of hankies with both of our logos on them and they are going to be sweet! There is way too much to say about this awesome project so I'm saving the rest of it for tomorrow! hehe

Another great company that I have met and gotten the opportunity to work with is TerraCycle. They were the first company to send me products to review (I still get compliments on Dylan's CapriSun lunch bag) and I just truly love what they are doing.

One of the first things I thought of doing when I realized my blogiversary was coming up was to do a giveaway. But since I had suddenly started doing lots of giveaways I wanted to do something extra special. I immediately thought of TerraCycle and how they've supported Easy Eco To Go in the past.

And let me tell you, they did not disappoint. So for my big 'ol 1 year blogiversary, TerraCycle is giving one lucky reader a billboard tote bag stuffed with cool circuit board goodies like, a picture frame, coasters and a clock. SWEET! Now that's a giveaway!

So how do you enter this fabulous giveaway you ask? Well let me tell you. This one's a little different then the previous ones. For the main entry for this giveaway leave a comment telling me one green change you've made in your life since March '09. It certainly doesn't have to be big, anything counts.

TerraCycle is also hosting a giveaway on their Facebook fan page. All you need to do is leave a comment saying what new green change you'd like to make by March '11. So be sure to stop by and enter that one as well!

As always there are additional ways you can enter:

Follow @easyecotogo on Twitter and leave your @name (1 entry)
Follow TerraCycle on Twitter and leave your @name (1 entry)
Follow Stay Vocal on Twitter and leave your @name (1 entry)
Write a blog about the contest/blogiversary or email 3 friends & cc me on the email easyecotogo at gmail.com (3 entries, please leave 3 comments)
Tweet about the contest (Celebrate @easyecotogo's 1 yr blogiversary w/a great #giveaway from @TerraCycle! http://bit.ly/aRpayF ) (1 entry, can be done once a day. Please leave a comment for each tweet)
Follow my blog in Google Friend (1 entry)
Subscribe to Easy Eco To Go (2 entries, leave 2 comments)

Add my button to your blog (leave your site with your comment so I can stop by and say hi!) (3 entries, please leave 3 comments)

Separate comments must be left here for each additional entry!

Also, please include your email with comments or if you’d rather, after you leave your main entry comment, email me at easyecotogo(at)gmail(dot)com so I will have a way of contacting you if you win. You will have 48 hours after I contact you to send me your info or else I will choose another winner.

The contest will run from Monday March 1, 2010 thru Monday March 8, 2010 at 11:59 pm PST. Sorry, but the contest is only open to US residents.

And as always the boys will help me pick a winner which will be announced Tuesday the 9th.

Greening up Aunt Flo

easyecotogo@gmail.com (Julia) — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 21:31:00 +0000

Ah, my lovely Aunt Flo has stopped by for her monthly visit once again which got me thinking about greening up my period.

You may recall that back during Ditch the Disposables I wrote about switching from disposable feminine pads to reusable ones. For me it was one way to help green up my period by no longer contributing to the 14 billion (yes billion) pads, tampons and applicators that end up in landfills every year.

I switched over to Lunapads (they sent me some sweet samples & a discount code good until 2/28 easyeco09 ;)) but you can also find pads at GladRags and even on Etsy.

For the tampon users there's the Diva cup (which can be found at the sites mentioned above as well). Now I heard some great things about it when I wrote the last post but for reasons no one wants to hear, they just aren't the right choice for me.

But there's a lot more to periods then just protecting your panties. There's also the bloating, tiredness, crankiness, cravings, cramps and more.

Well it seems to me that there should be a greener way about taking care of those issues then by taking over the counter pills. Ok, that and it was brought up on an #ecowed Twitter party. Seriously if you're not on Twitter, the #ecowed parties are reason enough to join!

What I found were things like exercise, diet changes, herbs, sunlight and sex.

Now I know exercise is good for you and it's supposed to cure everything with it's endorphin releasing effects but I'm tired and cranky and don't want to move more then I absolutely have to. Next! ;)

So onto eating better. Well that doesn't sound too bad what with already going off gluten, corn and soy and adding lots more veggies into my diet. I think I can work with this one. Foods rich in vitamins A, D, B complex and E can all help with PMS. So during Aunt Flo's visit I'm going to eat more brown rice, bananas and be sure not to forget to take my fish oil supplements. This site gave a great break down of how the different vitamins help PMS symptoms.

As far as herbs go I read that peppermint tea and chamomile tea can help with cramps. Now lucky for me, I don't get cramps, but a cup of peppermint tea seems pretty relaxing and may just help with the overwhelming urge to throttle someone.

Ok, I didn't actually read anything about sunlight helping it's just something I've heard people say. I know when I'm crabby and go outside on a sunny day I feel the crabbies start to lift. This one of course is a little tougher to get during these gray winter months but it's something to think about. And if there's even a sliver of sun run outside!

Ok, sex to help PMS just kind of made me laugh because when that time of the month rolls around I feel decidedly un-sexy. But I suppose there are worse cures!

And you know what else helps with PMS, chocolate. My triple batch chocolate chia seed pudding has plenty of good for you cacao in it. Also chia seeds have calcium and omega 3's & 6's both of which are helpful with PMS.

So I say the next time Aunt Flo stops by make a big cup of peppermint tea, some triple batch chocolate chia seed pudding, sit outside and don't go back in until the last drop of pudding is gone.

Well, that's what I'm going to do anyways. Do you have any other natural PMS busters?

Oh, and don't forget to stop by Lunapads to get 10% an order of $35 or more with discount code 'easyeco09', you only have until 2/28!

Nearly A Year, No Way! - Wordless Wednesday

easyecotogo@gmail.com (Julia) — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 07:20:00 +0000

Next Monday is my 1 year blogiversary. The photo below has something to do with how I'm celebrating. Guesses?

Wordless Wednesday

Vegetarian, Vegan, Raw Foodist, Oh My!

easyecotogo@gmail.com (Julia) — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 17:10:00 +0000

I've talked about going vegetarian for the planet and then how eating meat is ok (to me) as long as it's from humanely, sustainably raised animals. But the more I've been reading the food blogs I follow (most of which promote a raw foods diet) I've started thinking once again about giving up meat.

For me not eating meat has never really been about the animals (sorry), it's been more about the effect the animals have on the environment and on our own health. One of the things that really struck me about the raw food diet is the concept of eating living foods as opposed to dead foods (this would be anything cooked, even rice).

It got me thinking about how I have been feeling so much better since giving up gluten, corn and soy, and eating a lot more fruits and veggies then I have eaten in a very long time. So I started thinking, well then how much better would I feel if I increased them even more? And what about all these different seeds and nuts that I've been reading about?

Did you know that seeds and nuts have protein? I know, me neither! Also, you're actually supposed to soak nuts and seeds before eating them because they have a natural preservative on them that makes them harder to digest (Dr. Heather told me that). Many nut sensitivities can be fixed by soaking and then dehydrating (so they get crunchy again) them. It worked for me at least. Soaking nuts also increases the vitamins in them (I found that out here).

I really like nuts so I decided to give it a try. I soaked walnuts by putting them in a container, covering with water, adding 2 teaspoons of salt and letting sit overnight. Then I rinsed them and put them in the dehydrator for another 12 hours at 150 degrees. They were really good, actually even better tasting then they had been before. The walnuts that didn't have that bitterness to them any more, they now had a more buttery taste to them.

So anyways, just as I started thinking about going veg (again) Meghan at Making Love in the Kitchen was kicking off a 5 days vegan plan. Hmmm....coincidence?

I briefly thought about going vegan but I don't know that I could give up cheese and yogurt. Being vegan means you don't consume any animal products at all, nothing from meat all the way to honey (bees make it). Also being vegan seems to be more centered on animal compassion then just a simple food choice, which is all good, it's just not somewhere I'm at. But this is also “labeling” which as you know I'm trying to avoid, so I guess you should just ignore all that. ;)

At any rate, I decided to join the 5 days vegan adventure because it seemed like a good way to make the transition into eating meat-free. I also wanted to get Meghan's e-tutorial so I could get some of her tasty recipes. Now Meghan's not a raw foodist (good grief, labling again) but she is a nutritionist and cooks pretty gluten and soy free (plus some other stuff) and I still plan on eating cooked foods too. I've bought some of her tutorials before and they always have LOTS of info on why what your about to do is good for you, what to expect, tons of nutrition info and how to make it work for YOU.

Luckily, I have lots of support from foodies that I've met through the internets (Bitt and Michele, to name 2) plus some great raw food sites with easy recipes.

One of my fave new sites is Love Veggies and Yoga. Averie posts LOTS of food recipes and always ends with a yoga pose and pics of her super cute little girl.

What really makes her a fave, all the dessert recipes! The first one that I decided to try was the chocolate chia seed pudding. Chia seeds have calcium, fiber and omega 3 & 6, to name a few goodies, so they make a great heathly snack. I changed Averie's recipe a little; I didn't have cocoa bean extract so that got left out, I used raw cocoa called cacao (it's good for you) and I used a little less agave. I also just stuck it in the fridge as soon as I mixed it (yeah, I don't always read all the directions). I took it out about an hour later mixed it some more, put a little bit on my spoon and....nearly fell over it was so good! The consistency is a lot like tapioca. I had to make myself stop eating so I could take a pic for you!

Afterwards I went ahead and made a triple batch because Averie says that it can last up to 2 days in the fridge.

Triple Batch Chia Seed Pudding:

6 tablespoons chia seeds
3 tablespoons cacao powder
3 tablespoons agave
1 1/2 cups non-dairy milk (I used rice, going to try hemp next time)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Mix together with a whisk (or fork), pop in fridge, mix again when you think about it and enjoy.

Now, I don't see mine lasting to days, but it enough to now share.

So to wrap up this crazy long post, I'm not eating any animal products through Friday and after that I'm not going to eat meat. I don't know if not eating meat is more green, helpful to the animals or more healthy, but I do know that it will make me happier. And I do know that there's nothing greener, helpful or healthier then that.

And The Glass Dharma Winner Is....

easyecotogo@gmail.com (Julia) — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 16:20:00 +0000

So once again I'm changin' things up a bit.

Writing all those names down was getting a little confusing, plus it started feeling more wasteful than I had intended it to be.

So instead of writing names down every time I'm now going to use numbers that can be used over and over again. The reason I didn't do numbers (or the random generator) at first was because there always ends up being non-entry comments left and I don't want those to count against real entries. So my mom's brilliant idea was to write the numbers on paper and just not add the numbers that belong to no-entry comments. Excellent!

Ok, so here we go.

Numbers in shoe box.

Tyler helping this week.

And the winning number....

Which belongs to Ashlei!

Congratulations Ashlei! And a super big thanks to Glass Dharma for hosting this review/giveaway and to all you lovelies who entered!

The Monster Bash Continues! {Giveaway}

easyecotogo@gmail.com (Julia) — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 08:01:00 +0000

A little while back I found a contest on Twitter for a reusable canvas bag from Green Eyed Monster. The bags are made from 100% post-consumer recycled cotton and recycled plastic water bottles and are made in New Hampshire.

Made in the US and 100% recycled fabric, oh yeah, you know I entered that one!

Well seeing as I'm writing this you may have guessed that I won, good guess. The bag that I won was the Ponder Monster bag. It's cute, eco-friendly and HUGE! Green Eyed Monster bags are 20” wide x 15” tall x 6” deep with 25” handles.

I like taking mine to the farmers market because it's great for carrying all my leafy greens (kale, spinach, lettuce, etc.). Those leafy greens, while not heavy, just take up a ton of space. If I use one of my other bags, 2 bunches of greens just fill them up so I'm stuck carrying more bags then I really need to. With my Ponder Monster bag I can fit them all in the one bag, which for me is just much easier.

What I love about Green Eyed Monster is that I feel they're really walking the green walk. Not only are their bags made from recycled materials instead of new, they ship in reused boxes (big monster orders) and recycled envelopes (little monster orders) and the tags that come on the bag are made from recycled paper attached to the bag with a paper clip t(hat you can reuse!). I just love a company that's really trying to make a difference!

They're also members of 1% For The Planet which means they donate 1% of their sales to a network of more than 1,500 environmental organizations worldwide. Cool.

I also love them become they're in New England which is where I grew up, but I suppose that doesn't really have anything to do with anything. ;)

There's lots of ways to keep up with the Mad Monster Luv; on Twitter, Facebook and their blog Monster Bites.

Hmmmm.......Now isn't there something else that's been happening on Monday's lately? Oh yeah, a giveaway! Well this week Green Eyed Monster is giving one lucky reader their very own Ponder Monster reusable canvas bag!

So here's what you need to do. For the main entry go to Green Eyed Monster and leave a comment here telling me what your favorite bag is . This one must be done before any additional entries will count.

For additional entries:

Follow @easyecotogo on Twitter and leave your @name (1 entry)
Follow @greeneyedmonst on Twitter and leave your @name (1 entry)
Write a blog about the contest or email 3 friends & cc me on the email easyecotogo at gmail.com (5 entries, please leave 5 comments)
Tweet about the contest (Get some mad monster luv from @greeneyedmonst & @easyecotogo with an awesome Ponder Monster bag #giveaway! http://bit.ly/aI1UyA) (1 entry, can be done once a day. Please leave a comment for each tweet)
Follow my blog in Google Friend (1 entry)
Subscribe to Easy Eco To Go (2 entry, leave 2 comments)

Add my button to your blog (leave your site with your comment so I can stop by and say hi!) (3 entries, please leave 3 comments)

Separate comments must be left here for each additional entry!

Also, please include your email with comments or if you’d rather, after you leave your main entry comment, email me at easyecotogo(at)gmail(dot)com so I will have a way of contacting you if you win. You will have 48 hours after I contact you to send me your info or else I will choose another winner.

The contest will run from Monday February 22, 2010 thru Monday March 1, 2010 at 11:59 pm PST. Sorry, but the contest is only open to US residents.

And as always the boys will help me pick a winner which will be announced Tuesday the 2nd.

A Monster Of A Good Time

easyecotogo@gmail.com (Julia) — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 07:30:00 +0000

I've been following a site on Twitter for awhile called Green Eyed Monster. They started off with some seriously cool reusable bags ( more about those on Monday) and have now started a blog as well.

Being a huge fan of their bags I had to check out the blog. The blog is called Monster Bites and is written by sisters Ash and Kimmy who run Green Eyed Monster.

Here's a little about Monster Bites in their own words:

Monster Bites brings you 365 days of the latest in DIY fashion, sustainable living & handmade goodness for an enviable life!

They also do lots of giveaways that you're automatically entered into if you're a subscriber. Now you know I love me some giveaways and since it's free to subscribe I signed right up.

Ok, so as great as DIY fashion projects sound you know I just signed up for the giveaways. I thought, sure I'll check them out but with my lack of craftiness (hi, my mom makes all the stuff I come up with) I figured I would never be doing any of them.

And then came this weeks project; Going Loopy. It's for a endless scarf made out of a mens t-shirt. All you need is the shirt and scissors. No sewing required! All you do is cut and go.

Totally liking the shrug style.

So, I'm enjoying the site and am actually looking forward to what next weeks DIY fashion project is going to be. And I'm also kinda hoping to win a giveaway. Hey, who doesn't like cool green prizes?

So you may have noticed that I said on Monday I'll tell you more about the bags. Well, what else has been happening on Monday's lately? I guess you'll just have to come back! ;)

Bring On The Gluten, Corn, Soy-Free Cake!

easyecotogo@gmail.com (Julia) — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 16:17:00 +0000

Today's my birthday!

So I'm taking the day off.

I'm going out to lunch at the Cozmic Cafe with Todd and my mom. On Saturday we're doing the big family birthday, that's actually when I'll have my cake. ;)

Hey, you know what would make a great birthday gift, a gift certificate to Glass Dharma! And what do you know, you can enter to win one here! (Sorry, couldn't help myself!)

Green Or Not Green? - Wordless Wednesday

easyecotogo@gmail.com (Julia) — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 05:17:00 +0000

Green or not green, what do you think?

Wordless Wednesday

Kale Chips? Yes Please!

easyecotogo@gmail.com (Julia) — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 20:58:00 +0000

As I've mentioned I've got some food issues. I can't have gluten (wheat,oats), corn or soy and those 3 things are in almost every packaged food out there in some odd form or another. Corn can be found in ingredients from baking powder to xantham gum. Check out this list and then check your pantry, I'll bet nearly everything you have in a package has at least one of these ingredients. Even a lot of gluten-free snacks contain corn. Oh the joys of food intolerance.

So because of this I've started doing some experimenting with other foods. And really where better to start then snack foods.

One of my favorite snacks is chips, I just love a good crunchy, salty snack. One “chip” that I kept seeing pop up on the food sites I read is kale chips. Yes kale, the really weird lettucy looking vegetable.

Every one of the sites says that after making kale chips, they always come out crunchy. The other thing about kale is that it's super good for you. Kale has all kinds of nutrients including, Omega-3, calcium and protein. Ok, so a crunchy, salty good for you chip, fine, I'll try it.

Mike at Simply Raw Recipes has a great basic kale chips recipe. The only thing I changed is that I used rice vinegar instead of lemon juice because, shockingly, I have issues with citrus. I think it's kind of funny that I essentially made salt and vinegar chips which I've never liked.

Bitt over at A Bitt of Raw has a “cheesy” (as in not really cheese because she's a vegan) kale chips recipe that looks pretty good also.

And if you don't have a dehydrator Meghan at Making Love in the Kitchen has a recipe for making them in the oven.

The reasoning for using a dehydrator is that it “cooks” the food at a super low temperature which means that they are still considered raw (heated under 118*) so you still get the maximum health benefits of the food.

Oh, so you'd like to how they tasted? They where actually quite good. They really where crunchy, very salty (I went a little crazy with the sea salt) and not at all vegetable tasting. This is something I will definitely make again.

Making the kale chips was super easy, they taste great, don't give me a headache from weird ingredients and are good for me so I can eat as much as I want. Now really, what's not to like about them?

Have you ever made kale chips? Do you have a alternative packaged snack recipes? If so I'd love to hear about it!

And The Bite Bags Winner Is.....

easyecotogo@gmail.com (Julia) — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 17:46:00 +0000

So after a nutty morning I finally got the boys off to school, got home flopped on the bed......and realized I still need to pick a winner for the Bite reusable bags giveaway. Hehe

So today it's just me and the dogs picking a winner.

I've got my hat.

Bud's ready.

Cujo can hardly contain his excited.

And the winner is.....

Congratulations Sarah! Thanks to everyone who entered and especially to Christine the incredible creator of Bite bags!

Glass Dharma = Good Green Karma {Review & Giveaway}

easyecotogo@gmail.com (Julia) — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 04:59:00 +0000

As you know, I've been trying to cut down on our waste when ever I can and have switched many of our disposables or to reusable; hankies, cloth napkins, feminine care products.

Another disposable I've been trying to get out of our house is straws. Dylan absolutely loves drinking out of a straw. I don't know what it is about straws but kids just love them. Ok, and I like them for when Dylan wants to share my morning smoothie. He doesn't want his own, just some of mine. Yum.

Now I know I should reuse them by washing them or keeping them for crafts but I'm terrible about doing that, so they just end up in the garbage can. Every time I throw one away I cringe a little.

Plus when we go out (rarely, but still) there's always the straw that comes with the drink. Whether it's a restaurant or Starbuck's, that little piece of plastic really bugs me.

Plastic straws are another one those green little pet peeves that I've now developed while trying to reduce the amount of waste we go through. Yeah, I've got issues.

Lucky for me I've also got a solution; reusable straws. Oh. Yeah.

And where can you get reusable straws; Glass Dharma.

Glass Dharma sent me a (free) set of 3 reusable glass straws to try out; Simple Elegance, Beautiful Bend and Decorative Dots. Which are all made by hand right here in California. Nice!

I know what you're thinking, “Glass straws? Isn't glass, maybe, a little dangerous?” As it turns out, not really.

The straws are made from borosilicate (the same glass Pyrex is made from) and is the strongest glass commercially available. Which means it won't break, but if your straw does Glass Dharma offers a 100% money back guarantee.

When the straws got here they were a lot thicker then I expected (very good) and definitely didn't seem like they would break easily. But I guess you never really know. Well, unless you have a 5 year old in your house.

We decided to go out to eat (I had to try out the straws, right?) and the boys wanted to take the Simple Elegance and the Beautiful Bends straws to use. So I put the straws in the boxes they came in and handed a box to each boy, can you guess where this is going? Dylan takes his, turns and runs to grab his jacket. The straw goes flying (yes, flying) out of the box, hits the metal dog food dish, makes this loud clanking sound and everyone freezes. I go over, pick up the straw and..... nothing, not a scratch or crack on it. So yeah, I'd say these straws are pretty durable.

You can also get a carrying case for your straw, which I imagine would work better then the box they come in (hehe). I'm definitely going to have to pick one of those up.

And guess what, Glass Dharma is giving one lucky reader a $25 gift certificate! That's like getting 4 drinking straws or a straws-case-cleaning brush combo! Sweet!

So here's what you need to do. For the main entry go to Glass Dharma and leave a comment here telling me what you would get with the $25 gift certificate. This one must be done before any additional entries will count.

For additional entries:

Follow @easyecotogo on
Twitter and leave your @name (1 entry)
Follow @GlassDharma on Twitter and leave your @name (1 entry)
Write a blog about the contest or email 3 friends & cc me on the email easyecotogo at gmail.com (3 entries, please leave 3 comments)
Tweet about the contest (Little straws by @GlassDharma make a big impact, win a $25 GC from @easyecotogo http://bit.ly/cFodDk #giveaway ) (1 entry, can be done once a day. Please leave a comment for each tweet)
Follow my blog in Google Friend (1 entry)
Subscribe to Easy Eco To Go (2 entry, leave 2 comments)
Add my button to your blog (leave your site with your comment so I can stop by and say hi!) (3 entries, please leave 3 comments)

Separate comments must be left here for each additional entry!!

Also, please include your email with comments or if you’d rather, after you leave your main entry comment, email me at easyecotogo(at)gmail(dot)com so I will have a way of contacting you if you win. You will have 48 hours after I contact you to send me your info or else I will choose another winner.

The contest will run from Monday February 15, 2010 thru Monday February 22, 2010 at 11:59 pm PST. Sorry, but the contest is only open to US residents.

And as always the boys will help me pick a winner which will be announced Tuesday the 23rd.

Happy Green Valentine's Day!

easyecotogo@gmail.com (Julia) — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 16:40:00 +0000

Happy Valentine's Day to you! Here's hoping that your your day is as green and rosie as you were hoping it would be. I know mine is and I couldn't be happier!

The day started with potted mini roses, Todd couldn't stand the idea of not getting me flowers and I have to admit, I'm pretty glad he did. aAnd, of course, there were made made cards from the boys which you just can't beat.

Soon we'll be heading out to the Sacramento Zoo (we've got season passes) where they are having their grand opening weekend of the new giraffe exhibit (Dylan's most fave animal).

So yeah, I think it's going to be a good day.

What are your Valentine's Day plans?

Being My Green Best

easyecotogo@gmail.com (Julia) — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 22:43:00 +0000

I was over at Michele's site, Healing with (Raw) Juices, and she had this great post about how we tend to label ourselves. It's about how for her, putting those labels on how she eats actually took the joy out of the food she was eating. How being a “vegan” or “raw foodist” just made her feel guilty if she decided she wanted to eat eggs (free roaming, just like I like 'em) or have a Greek yogurt. Both are healthy, good for you choices but because they didn't fit into one of those labels, they became “bad” food.

She found a way to deal with by not worrying about what label she falls into as long as she's always eating healthy. It's a great post and it really spoke to me.

I think that same kind of thing happens a lot with being “green”. I know it does for me anyways.

I say I'm green, but more of a light green. I reduce, reuse and recycle....most of the time.

The way Michele was talking about eating is how I feel about being green sometimes. Even though this site is all about being what ever shade of green is comfortable for you, I feel like since I know about all these different things, I should be living a lot darker of a green life then I do.

I know, it sounds pretty silly. I'm totally cool with you for only being light green or even less, but I feel all guilty and bad if I'm not being all super green.

So I'm switching my thinking from “being” to just simply “living”.

I'm going back to what I first said when I started this blog, that instead of feeling bad about what I don't do, I'm going to feel great and celebrate what I do.

I'm going to be proud when I wash out the plastic container the sour cream came in to use again. But, more importantly, I'm not going to beat myself up when I don't wash the container out (because we have a crazy amount already) and I just put it in the recycle box.

I'm going to feel great when I shop at the farmers market because I know it helps the planet, the farmers and well, it just makes me happy.

I'm not going to feel guilty about driving a Highlander instead of Prius because with 2 boys and 2 dogs that's just the right vehicle for us so that we can all go out together.

And I'm still going to dream of owning a home with solar panels on the roof and having my very own organic garden.

I'm not perfect and I'll never live off grid. I'm just a girl trying to live a little more consciously and hopefully, leave things a little better then I found them.

And at the end of each day I'll be happy with the choices I made, knowing no matter what they were, they were right for that day.

Let The Sunshine In!

easyecotogo@gmail.com (Julia) — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 19:20:00 +0000

I was recently given a Sunshine Award by jingle. It's been pretty gray and dreary here lately and this was just the thing to brighten up my winter days. Also, it's nice knowing that I brought a little sunshine to someone else. ;)

The rules are pretty simple:

Link back to the person who gave you the award.
Give the award to 12 other bloggers who bring you some sunshine.

Ma Vie Folle
A Bitt of Raw
Recycle Your Day
Healing with (Raw) Juices
The Chrysalis Stage
The happy raw kitchen
tout-est-des-roses
The Last Biscuit
Eco Experiment
Guy Goes Green
Kristen's Raw
Greener at First Sight

I really could have kept going, there are just so many wonderful bloggers out there! So I think that if you like this award and write a blog, you should grab it. Heck, even if you don't write a blog but have somewhere you could post the award, you should still grab it! You bring sunshine and should get a little sunshine too.

Let me know if you grab the sunshine so I can stop by and soak up some rays with you!

Can You Guess? - Wordless Wednesday

easyecotogo@gmail.com (Julia) — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 05:38:00 +0000

Do you know what these are? If not you will on Monday, and you know what happens on Monday's!

Wordless Wednesday

Easy Vocal To Go, No wait, Stay Eco, No That's Not It...

easyecotogo@gmail.com (Julia) — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 19:20:00 +0000

If you're a fan on Facebook or follow me on Twitter then you probably already know that Alex from Stay Vocal (an amazing reuse apparel company) came for a visit this weekend to talk about a Stay Vocal/Easy Eco To Go project. If you aren't well, you should be, no wait, I mean you know now. Hehe

I met Alex in the Spring at the Chico farmers market and wrote my first review about his “What do you do to make the world better” t-shirts. Then just a few months ago he invited me to participate in his cereal t-shirt, prize box giveaway. I absolutely love his slogan "Reuse! Because you can't recycle the planet!" Yeah, I'm a fan. So when he said he had an idea I was very excited.

Alex got here a little before lunch and since he's a vegan and my house is crazy on the weekends with everyone home, I took him to The Cozmic Cafe & Pub in downtown Placerville. They've got a lot of vegetarian, vegan and gluten free options and nearly everything is organic and good for you. I hadn't had a chance to go before so this was the perfect opportunity.

The cafe connects to an old mining tunnel and Alex was super excited about the whole reuse aspect of the cafe.

The food was wonderful and the conversation, while slightly disjointed, was still just as good. Another thing we have in common besides being green, the ability to carry on 5 different conversations at the same time.

After lunch we headed out to some nearby thrift stores, that's one of the places Alex gets shirts for Stay Vocal. I learned what he looks for in a t-shirt to make a great reused design and I also learned that he's a fan of white pants, who knew.

We ended the day with a trip to Noah's Ark Natural Food so he could get some vegan jerky for the ride home. I also needed a couple of things but didn't have any bags with me (shock!), so Alex helped carry my stuff. You know someone's a real friend when they'll carry your toilet paper.

So what was this great, amazing, incredible idea that Alex had for Stay Vocal and Easy Eco To Go? Well, I can't tell you, not yet anyways. But let me tell you, I am very excited about it!

Wanna keep up with what's going on with Stay Vocal, read the Stay Vocal blog, become a fan on Facebook or follow along on Twitter.

And The PeopleTowels Winner Is....

easyecotogo@gmail.com (Julia) — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 17:38:00 +0000

Wow, you guys really liked those PeopleTowels! I can't blame you, they are pretty awesome.

Dylan helped once again in picking the winner of the PeopleTowels giveaway.

He really wanted to throw them up in the air so he could grab one while it was falling.

I won't say if it hit the bed or if he grabbed it out of the air, but either way he was pretty happy.

But possibly not as happy as the winner.....

Congratulations Chanda! A big huge thanks to PeopleTowles for hosting this giveaway and to everyone who entered!

Don't forget to enter the