One of the great things about pumpkins and gourds is that they can be used as festive decor for both Halloween and Thanksgiving. Chances are you still have one or two little pumpkins still lingering amongst your Halloween decorations. While you can reuse them in your Thanksgiving decor for the rest of month, I know a better way to enjoy them. In a few simple steps, you can transform those loose pumpkins into illuminating candles for the Thanksgiving table. This is a fun activity that the entire family can do together, and these pumpkin candles also make great hostess gifts if you have been invited to Thanksgiving dinner at a friend or family member’s home. Jump over to Inhabitots for the easy to follow tutorial.
Last summer we received a set of modern glass food storage containers from Wean Green. At first glance the fantastic colors won me over! However, it was the size of the Wean Green containers that really took the cake. The new collection includes Lunch Cubes, Wean Tubs, Wean Cubes, Snack Cubes and Wean Bowls. The 16.5 ounce Lunch Cubes are the perfect size for main meal like, sandwiches, salads, wraps, or roll ups. The Wean Tubs hold 5.1 ounces which is great for fruit, veggies, or cheese sticks. The Snack Cubes and Wean Bowls each hold 7 ounces and are perfect for yogurt, granola or pretzels. The Wean Cubes holds 4 ounces and is a great container for dips or salad dressing.
The smaller sizes of the Wean Green containers ensure that they stack perfectly inside his lunchbox with room for his water bottle too! And it has helped us keep his portions within the recommended amounts, reducing his lunch food waste. Last year, we were sending much larger glass containers that were heavy, bulky, didn’t fit well in his lunchbox, and would come home with a lot of uneaten food.
Wean Green containers are made out of tempered glass (which is 5x stronger than regular glass, so I don’t have to worry too much about breakage, boys drop things!) with polypropylene plastic lids that are BPA, phthalate and PVC free. These watertight lids have a silicone airtight seal that snaps closed, so there is never leaking! Hooray for no leaking! And since they can go in the freezer or microwave, they are really the perfect all around food storage.
Do you have a favorite storage container that you use in your child’s lunchbox?
Here’s something fun: I partnered up with my favorite online marketplace for all things natural, Abe’s Market! This week I will be presenting my curated list of better brunch ideas – since brunch is my favorite meal after all! Brunch is the perfect way to kick off the weekend and a great way to reconnect with your family after a long week.
Our home cupboards are stocked full with yummy organic goodies that we use for our weekend brunches. Like organic maple syrup, vanilla, granola, jelly, fruit, and yogurt. Yesterday, we enjoyed our favorite organic German pancakes and organic fruit and yogurt for brunch! Watch for the recipe coming up later today.
To get your family in the better brunch mood and to stock up on staples for the upcoming holidays, use coupon code SWEETGREENS20 now through November 15th for 20% off your favorite eco-friendly goodies from Abe’s Market.
I have had New York City on the brain! It started with my trip last month and continued after hurricane Sandy. I have been thinking how much fun it would be to travel to New York City during the holiday season. Can you image the hustle and bustle! Renee Leone‘s inspiring geographic watercolor paintings remind me of stained glass windows. Printed on FSC-certified mat board, these painting just make me smile.
As you may already know, I am a member of the Target Inner Circle. Last week I traveled to New York City for Target’s Media Day and 50th Anniversary Party. I have been home from NYC for a little over a week now, and I am still trying to process everything that I learned. Last night, I spent a couple of hours talking with a close friend and she wanted to know more about my partnership with Target – this was a great way to really discuss how a green lifestyle blogger fits into the Target equation and I wanted to share with you too!
Target Inner Circle Members
There was a lot of information shared during Media Day, the parts most relevant to you (and me) were Target’s commitment to environmental sustainability, education, community, and healthy living. There are many areas within these topics for example, Target’s commitment to resource conversation including; sustainable packaging, sustainable seafood, and efficient operations and transportation. However, for this post I am focusing on takeaways from the Media Day that I participated in. I will definitely be going into further detail regarding Target’s commitment to sustainability once I visit Target Headquarters later this fall and through other upcoming activities that I will be participating in via my partnership with Target.
Here is a breakdown of what I learned:
ENVIRONMENTAL + COMMUNITY SUSTAINABLITY
In 1962, Target opened their first store in Roseville, Minnesota – and with it came their commitment to health and sustainability in the community. Target’s giving strategy started with their devotion to urban renewal and cleaning local waterways. In the 1970’s they sponsored the first Earth Day celebration and implemented their first recycling program. Today, they continue this commitment by integrating sustainable practices across their business with a focus on using resources responsibly and maintaining the health of our communities.
Target is a retail leader in smart development – using innovative practices to enhance communities, neighborhoods and surrounding areas, they take the necessary steps to protect and preserveĀ water resources and the surrounding habitats on and near their properties using conservation easements. My favorite part is when Target comes into a community, they seek out buildings that were previously used for another purpose, and will rework that existing building into a Target store. A fantastic example is the CityTarget store in downtown Chicago – it is housed in the historic Louis Sullivan-designed building that was formerly home to the flagship Carson Pirie Scott department store.
I was also very excited to hear about the first five CityTarget stores that were opened in 2012. CityTarget stores are small-format (smaller footprint) urban stores in Seattle, Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco. This is definitely an area that I will be asking more questions about in the future. I was also interested to hear that Target will be reducing their operating waste by 15% at the end of 2015.
HEALTHY LIVINGĀ
You can already find a good assortment of sustainable beauty, cleaning products and grocery items at your local Target. I was excited to hear that Target’s commitment to healthy living can and will be seen in their new expansion in the fresh food market (coming to a Target near you!)Ā I was also excited to hear about Target’s continuing partnership with Natural Organics (my favorite affordable organic cosmetic collection!) My hopes are that Target will continue to offer more and more sustainable, organic and eco-friendly items in the future. I will be sharing some of my sustainable Target finds in an upcoming post – stay tuned.
EDUCATION
To begin, Since 1946, Target has donated 5% of its profit to the communities it serves which is equivalent to $4 million dollars each week! Target’s commitment to education begins in the classroom where they are an abundance of support and educational programs to set children up for a bright future. Target is on track to give $1 billion for education by 2015 with a focus on ensuring that children can read proficiently by the third grade. Since studies show that third grade is a turning point where kids transition from learning to read to reading to learn. As part of their commitment to education Target has completed 32 School Library Makeovers in 2012 – a total of 118 library makeovers since 1997 – donating millions of book, iPads, computers and smart boards. My favorite parts being that Target also provides an in-school food pantry and gives each child 7 books for their home library. Through their Take Charge of Education program Target has donated more than $324 million dollars to date, impacting more than 90% of the U.S. K-12 schools – donating millions of books, iPads, computers, and smart boards.
What questions do you have about Target’s sustainably, community, education, and healthy living initiatives? I would love to hear and utilize them in my upcoming trip to Target headquarters.
P.S. When I came home from my trip and was talking to Mr. Sweet Greens and Eben about what I learned and saw – Eben wasn’t impressed to hear about the celebrities I mingled with at Target’s 50th Anniversary Party, the mini Broadway Target inspired show we saw or even the huge Wow! factor when Alicia Keys sang Happy Birthday to Target – (you can see more photos on Twitter). However, when I pulled out the picture of me and Bullseye – the Target Dog everything changed, he said “Wow, Mom! While me and Dad were home all week, you were hanging out with the actual Target Dog – I am so jealous!” Ha! I am a member of the Target Inner Circle, all opinions are my own.
