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Author Archive | Jennie Lyon

Contigo Reusable Travel Mugs and Water Bottles Review + Giveaway

July 2, 2013 18

Once in a while I will wake up in the morning to find coffee drips down the hallway tile or down the staircase to the front door. The mister gets up very early for work and during his morning routine spills as he walks through the house getting ready for his day. Even better is when I bump my morning cup of Joe with my elbow while typing and spill cover all over my desk or knock it completely off onto the floor. Ugh. Does this happen to anyone else?

Then, there is another problem all together: while I love my cup of coffee, it takes me forever to drink it in morning and inevitably by the time the cup is halfway gone, the coffee is super cold and I need to reheat it. The mister has this problem at work to – except he drives most of his day and heating up a cup of coffee isn’t usually an option.

We were super excited to receive a package of reusable stainless steel travel mugs from Contigo. Contigo’s line of reusable travel mugs have an autoseal technology that automatically seals between sips – meaning that when I knock my coffee over at my desk, or the mister bumps around in the morning, no spills! The mugs and bottles are 100% spill proof and believe me we have tried – and they don’t even leak a little bit. They also have superior insulation properties that keep your beverages hot or cold for up to 8 hours! These are amazing.

If spilling coffee isn’t a problem for you – check out their reusable water bottles. Everybody needs one of those and Contigo’s water bottles are fantastic too. I have been using mine for everything from biking, exercising, yoga, paddleboarding, and for sipping water during the day. There are no caps to open and no lids to remove making it super easy to take a sip while riding a bike or using the elliptical machine! The water bottles also have the autoseal technology which means I can throw it in my handbag or yoga bag and it doesn’t spill. These are also great for the kids, they are BPA Free, and come in a rainbow of colors. Eben always leaves his reusable bottles on the backseat of my car. However, now there are no spill marks on my cars eats! Yay for technology!

I love Contigo reusable mugs and water bottles so much, I want to share them with you. I am giving away a set of 5 Contigo Reusable Mugs and Bottles. One lucky winner will receive and ! These will be perfect for home, school, work, exercise or a trip to the beach!

Good Luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway
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Contigo is offering all Sweet Greens readers 20% off their entire order using coupon code COMMUTERPROMO 

Full Disclosure: I received a set of Contigo reusable travel mugs, water bottles and gift card compensation. However all opinions are my own and I would have purchased these reusable mugs either way. 

Have a Lovely Weekend + A Few Green Things

June 29, 2013 0

Hello, Friends! How was your week? After an amazing vacation last week in the Keys, it has been fun getting back into the swing of things. Vacation always grounds me, I come back energized and ready to take on the world! It does wonders for the mister too – he went to the doctor this week and she told him that his blood pressure was the lowest that it has ever been! It has been a good week for Eben too –  his best friend is staying with us. It’s been Minecraft, Minecraft, Minecraft around here!

Can you believe it is almost July! Is it just me or is summer just zipping by? Do you have any amazing 4th of July plans? We will be visiting our dear friends in Atlanta and I can’t wait. We lived in Georgia a handful of years ago, it will be fun to go back and see how things have changed. Or stayed the same. Eben can’t wait to visit the Georgia Aquarium again – they have the most amazing whale sharks, his favorite!

Tomorrow morning we are getting up bright and early to hit the ocean on Bambolina, our sailboat. I am looking forward to a day of sunshine with my boys. My favorite part of sailing is sitting back while the mister controls the sails and the wind blows through my hair. It is an amazing feeling! While I hit the great, big blue, here are a few things I wanted to share with you:

– Whenever I see an Airstream I smile, maybe I will rent one!
– 10 places in the U.S. where bikes and boats rule – no cars! 
– Now that we live in an Audubon neighborhood – I need this FREE online birding guide.
– I am a huge fan of bugs – these shots of them up close are fantastic.
– I miss camping in the West – here are 25 amazing last-minute campsites for you lucky westerners.
– IKEA unveils solar powered emergency shelters that come flat packed. Fantastic.

I hope you have an amazing weekend, I will see you back here on Monday!

xo,
Sweet Greens

Exploring Sandspur Beach at Bahia Honda State Park, Florida

June 28, 2013 2

While at Bahia Honda State Park in the Florida Keys, we always plan to spend our afternoons at Sandspur Beach. After a long day of snorkeling, sailing, or paddleboarding, Sandspur Beach is the perfect place to relax. Known as the best beach in the Florida Keys, you quickly understand why when you get there. The sand is powder soft and the water is super warm with beautiful hues of dark blue to light aquamarine. It is paradise!

The water is super shallow and you can walk quite a distant out and still touch the bottom. In fact there are many sandbars that you can walk out to, set up your umbrella and it’s like you are on your own mini private island. The water is super clear so you can see to the bottom as well – making it easy to watch fish swim by and great for snorkeling (if you are patient, there aren’t a ton of fish, you mostly have to wait and see what you will come across). If you want immediate gratification snorkeling, scoot over to the 7 mile bridge for great snorkeling. There are meandering walkways in the water, part of the bottom is completely covered in sea grass and the other is a mixture of soft sand and shells. This is an excellent beach if you have small children and is perfect for swimming, relaxing, snorkeling, and exploring.

Sandspur Beach is amazing for collecting sea biscuits, empty conch shells and for observing the amazing creatures that live in the sea grass. We spend a lot of our time combing the beach and snorkeling for shells. Eben found a large empty conch shell and a couple of sea biscuits. In the past, we have found dozens of sea biscuits.

While snorkeling we observed crabs, sea hares, fish and were even lucky even to spot a seahorse. The mister has been looking for a seahorse for years – and after floating above the sea grass literally for hours, he spotted one as it darted from one sea grass patch to another. He carefully urged the seahorse into his mask so we could take a couple of quick photos. Isn’t she amazing?

Eben was delighted to find a couple his favorite sea creatures in the warm water – the Sea Hare. These little critters are silky soft, and ink a dark purple-reddish color if you pick them up. They suck to your hand and will crawl along your arm if you let them. They are so sweet looking, like a giant slug.

Do you have a favorite spot for snorkeling, swimming or exploring? I would love to hear about your summer adventures!

7 Great Eco-Friendly Wedding Favor Ideas

June 28, 2013 0

Hello, Friends! This post was sponsored by and wasn’t written by me it was written by Sarah from the Wedding Favors Unlimited blog where she enjoys writing about wedding planning and unique party favors. Thank you for supporting the companies that help to run Sweet Greens!

I love weddings – especially weddings where the bride and groom make every effort to make it eco-friendly. It can be easy to book a green location for the big day, serve an organic vegan or vegetarian menu, choose local flora for decorations and even purchase sustainable wedding rings. Choosing wedding favors is no different, you can choose from a large selection of eco-friendly wedding favors that your guests will love that will still have a huge impact. To get started, here are a few options to consider.

#1: Organic Flower Seeds
Give your guests an organic seed packet before they leave your wedding. These often come in many different shapes and sizes, and there are companies out there that do nothing but produce customized seed packets for weddings just like yours. Shop around for great ideas, then spread a little flower love with your seeds for guests.
#2: Non-Toxic Candles
Candles are one of the most popular favors, even when you’re not talking about the world of eco-friendly choices. If you do decide to go this route, though, make certain that you choose soy or beeswax candles. 
#3: Organic Herb Plants: 
Herbs are a wonderful plant to consider any time of year, and these might just be the cutest eco-friendly favors on the list. You can find organic herbs almost year round at any green house, and it’s fairly simple to split them into cute, reclaimed containers. Look high and low for old mason jars, adorable vintage glass containers, or even reuse those baby food jars. You will likely want to go with a variety of different herbs, but rosemary, basil, and oregano are the most popular ones to grow in a jar. You could even include a recipe on recycled paper so your guests know exactly how to use their new gift. 
#4: Organic + Edible Anything
Guests will love a great little treat, and food is often low impact, especially when you go organic. If you don’t want to handle any baking or preparation on your own, consider fair trade chocolate that contains only organic ingredients.

5: Organic Live Trees
There are few things more important in this world than planting a tree, and whether you want to go with the National Arbor Day Foundation or the Green World Project, you can get live tree seedlings to give to your guests in place of the more traditional favors. Most of these foundations have a lot of options, so even if you’re having a winter wedding, you can still give trees that will be ideal for your guests to plant in their local area.
#6: A Donation
Do your guests actually need a trinket on your big day? Instead, figure up what you’d spend, then contact your favorite charity. Many organizations have a donation program in place and can provide you with documents that a donation was made in honor of your special day.

#7: DIY
Have something you do well? Consider giving that as a wedding favor. For example, if one of you happens to do wonderful watercolor paintings, consider making a small, eco-friendly painting for each of your guests. You want to go with something that has a very low impact here, though, because if you don’t, you’re going to defeat the purpose entirely.Think of everyday items that you could upcycle into something fabulous to give to your guests. 
How about you lovely readers – what are your favorite eco-friendly wedding favors?

photo credit

The Best Bridge Snorkeling in Bahia Honda State Park Florida + An Octopus

June 27, 2013 4

Every time we visit Bahia Honda State Park in the Florida Keys our first activity is always snorkeling under the 7 mile bridge. It isn’t a popular snorkeling spot, there are never more than a couple people snorkeling in this area every day, but it is some of the best snorkeling that we have found inside the park. We usually spent at least 2-3 full days of our Florida Keys vacation snorkeling at the bridge – it’s that good!

When we arrived at Bahia Honda last week, we grabbed our gear and hit the bridge and as usual we weren’t disappointed. Here is a peek at what we saw during one of our days of snorkeling.

This area of the bridge is covered in sea urchins. We always wear our Keens when we are in the water – we have learned the hard way how important it is to always wear shoes in the water. Eben stepped on a sea urchin a couple of years ago and we spent a long, excruciating evening in the emergency room. Lesson: Wear shoes in the water!

Eben is checking out the sea urchins and getting ready to hit the water. The water in this area is very shallow, especially during low tide – making it the perfect snorkeling spot to see small sea creatures up close and personal. There are a ton of different kinds of tropical fish, starfish, sea urchins, crabs, lobsters and an octopus or two.

Every year we see at least one octopus, this year we saw two! (I didn’t have my camera with me for the first one). They have to be my favorite, they are so intelligent and beautiful!

As you start to walk into the water if you look carefully you will see all kinds of small Gobi’s swimming in and out of the rocks. They will swim away super quickly as you walk into water and they are everywhere. Do you see it in the middle of the photo below?

I am a huge fan of the Needle Fish – they are everywhere in the Keys, however unless you are really looking you won’t see them, they blend in really well. They swim on the top of the water in small schools and they are very inquisitive, I have had them come right up to my mask while snorkeling just to say hello and sometimes they will swim with us.

The mister and Eben are the most adventurous, they carefully pick things up, examine, admire and then put it back exactly where they found it. This day they found several small lobsters, the octopuses and several different types of starfish.

If you go into the deeper water under the bridge, we have seen Nurse Sharks – which is always amazing! (I really need to get an under water camera!)


It is one of my favorite snorkeling spots in South Florida and the Keys. Have you been? Is there another place in the Keys or South Florida that has amazing snorkeling that we should know about (besides the reefs)? I would love to hear about your snorkeling adventures.

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