The mister and I went for simple Day of the DeadHalloween Costumes this year. We used items that we already had and added a few details that we picked up from our local thrift store. Also, my good friend, Rebecca dressed up as a butterfly using items she already had in her home – doesn’t she look fantastic?
How to get the look:
Day of the Dead | Female Recycled Costume:
I used a dress that I picked up at goodwill last year for an 80’s party. I added a few flowers that we found at our local thrift store to the top and waist of the dress as well as to a ponytail holder using safety pins. I paired the dress with a pair of black tights and shoes – then dressed up the costume using white eye shadow, black eyeliner and red lip liner that was already in my cosmetics bag!
Day of the Dead | Male Recycled Costume:
The mister wore a pair of black pants and a stripey shirt from his closet. He added a little fun makeup by using white eye shadow and black and blue eye liner from my cosmetic bag!
Both of these costumes only took a few minutes to throw together – however, they were a huge hit at our Halloween party! The best part – I can take the flowers off of the dress and use it again in the future for another fun costume!
P.S. Eben’s Finn (from Adventure Time) costume turned out fantastic! We repurposed an old white tee shirt by sewing it into Finn’s headpiece. Then, we paired it with a turquoise tee shirt, blue shorts, white rolled socks, and black shoes! I even made a green backpack from fleece scraps found in my craft closet. Super-duper cute! However, he asked me not to share photos of it on Sweet Greens – and of course, his feelings always come first, thank you for understanding!
West Elm has a new natural body care collection for men in their market called Sam’s Natural. The collection is made in small batches from natural ingredients, is free from parabens, sulfates and heavy metals and is biodegradable! I also think the packaging is perfect and the hardwood scent sounds fantastic!
I am adding this collection to the mister’s holiday stocking stuffer list!
Today is Mr. Sweet Greens’ Birthday! I am so happy that I met Jayson – he is a wonderful husband and father and best of all, he is my best friend. He makes me laugh every-single-day, is the first person I turn to when I need to talk and has this way of looking at me from across a crowded room and making me feel like I am the most beautiful person in the world!
I am very thankful that he is mine.
Happy Birthday, Mr. Sweet Greens.
P.S. To all of my friends and readers in the path of Hurricane #Sandy, please stay safe!
Hello, Friends! How are you? Today, Eben is home from school due to Hurricane Sandy and I have been trying to finish up work early in case we lose power! This afternoon, I am going to finish up our Halloween costumes, (I can’t wait to share the results with you on Monday). Then, this evening I want to finish the Halloween decorating and bake the goodies for our Halloween bash tomorrow! While I check out Pinterest for Halloween baking inspiration, here are a few green and spooky things I thought you might enjoy:
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.
