I’m in love with Green Volcanic Clay! Atlantis Natural sent me a bottle to try and I’m more than impressed. When I was pregnant my face broke out like never before. Ever since then, I’ve had teenage acne and little white spots under my eyes. The Green Volcanic Clay has gotten rid of my white spots and is totally clearing up my skin. You put the Clay on like a mask and rub off any excess clay. You leave the mask on over night and you won’t believe the results when you wake up! Green Volcanic Clay isn’t just for acne. It helps heal wounds, cuts, and injured tissues with external application faster, and with far less scar tissue. It’s especially recommended for someone who is undergoing surgery. I was waiting to get a scratch just to try it out and it only took a day before my cat scratched me. The Green Volcanic Clay didn’t burn like peroxide does and it healed in 4 days. Majority of the cat scratches I’ve had have ended up infected, but with Green Volcanic Clay– I had none.

The Green Volcanic Clay is made up of ash from volcanic lake areas and chlorophyll. It contains no preservatives, artificial colors or added chemicals. Chemical analysis show no traces of pollutants such as mercury or lead. If the Clay dries out, all you need to do is add purified water to restore it to a paste like consistency. You only need a dab for a boo boo or mask, so the bottle should last you a while. Conductivity studies have shown the Clay has a high content of negative ions beneficial to humans and other animals. It provides a natural electric charge to organs promoting regeneration. So the Clay will help with inflammation, swelling, and even sinus issues. The Green Volcanic Clay is only $15.99 from Atlantis Natural and the price is a steal!

Contest has ended. Thanks to all that entered! You can still get 20% off at Nimli! Just enter SUMMER09 at the checkout
I know it’s a little bit early to start thinking about Grandparents Day, but if you want to make sure your order gets to you in time… 6 weeks will be here before you know it! I came across a very chic natural and organic site called Nimli. They have fabulous products for adults, kids and pets. Whatever your organic needs are, they can meet them. I absolutely love their kids line of clothes, shoes, blankets and furniture. But this blog is about the wonderful grandparents in our lives, so how about treating them to something special.
Nimli has amazing shawls that are great for every occasion. The Azuri Cashmere Pashmina Shawl is very versatile and the 72X22 inch fabric can be worn in many different ways.

These are just a few ideas, but you can get more creative. The Azuri Cashmere Pashmina Shawl is made of the finest natural fabrics of Pashmina (a type of cashmere wool made from Persian Pashm) and 30% Silk. The stylish shawl comes with fringed ends that add an extra flare. The Pashmina and Silk create a natural warmth that would be great for the Fall and Winter days or evenings. It is tightly woven, light-weight and has a elegant sheen. I love the shawl can be worn casually or it can dress up any outfit. You can get the Azuri Cashmere Pashmina Shawl on sale at Nimli for only $34, originally $150!! Or you can enter the fabulous giveaway and take your chances. You or your grandparents will adore this shawl!

The Discount: Nimli is offering all of my readers 20% off any purchase- good until the end of the year! Just enter SUMMER09 at the checkout

The Giveaway: Nimli is offering one LUCKY reader a Azuri Cashmere Pashmina Shawl

Rules: You have until 11:59 p.m. August 14, 2009 to enter. The winner will be chosen by random.org and announced after they respond to the winning email. The winner has 48 hours to respond to the winning email, or a new winner will be chosen. You must leave your email address! This contest is only open to US residents.

How to Enter: Visit Nimli and check out their other amazing products and leave a comment about another gift you’d want to give to one of the grandparents in your life. Click on “Comments” to leave your post. Make sure to leave your email address!! I cannot contact the winner without it!

EXTRA entries: You must complete the “How To Enter” before making any extra entries. Make sure you leave a comment for each extra entry and tell me which one.
2. Become a fan of Mkokopelli on FB, Mkokopelli on Twitter or Follow my blog
3. Subscribe to my blog by email (on the right sidebar)
4. Blog, Tweet or send a message on FB and leave a link here (3 extra entries)
5. Enter another giveaway I have going on and tell me which one
6. Sign up for Nimli’s Email Updates and join them on FB, Twitter or My Space
7. Tell me your favorite Nimli Green Discovery

Thank you to Nimli for this great giveaway! Good luck to everyone and happy shopping!

Potty Training Concepts Winner

Alicia Arnold said… CommentsCounter=CommentsCounter+1; document.write(CommentsCounter) 67

I tweeted http://twitter.com/aliciagiveaways/status/2732057797

The Laurie Berkner Band “Rocketship Run” CD Winner

furygirl3132 said… CommentsCounter=CommentsCounter+1; document.write(CommentsCounter) 11

I signed up for the Laurie Berkner Band mailing list.
My daughter loves Laurie Berkner, she has such great music and her lyrics are pretty funny, thanks so much for such a wonderful giveaway, glad she FINALLY has a new CD out!

Eloise

July 18, 2009 12:56 PM

Just a heads up, I’m playing with my background layout. So if the screen looks funky, you’ll know why. 🙂

Hope everyone is having a great weekend!

The great thing about being a blogger is the contacts you meet in the process. I have loved hearing Mom and Dad stories about how they began their companies and what they’ve been through. So many people have opened up and let me in on parts of their lives. I’ve had wonderful people give great advice on how to build my site and where to get more blogging knowledge. (No, I haven’t been sucked into the black hole) 😉 Strangers have taken time out of their busy lives to form a new relationship and we’ve never come in contact- other than by a keyboard. It’s amazing how the Internet has changed over the past 15 years and how you can befriend someone with just one click. I think some people take this marvel for granted, but I am very blessed for what this venture is teaching me.

I started reading a book my mom has, “212 The Extra Degree,” and wanted to share 2 paragraphs…

“As a friend- Choose to visit or talk with one extra friend each week and create 52 additional discussions among friends for the year. Do something helpful and unexpected for one friend each week of the year and plant more than 50 additional possibilities of influence.”

“As a parent- Wake and act each day with the understanding that your actions will be absorbed by your children… and your children will grow to be contributing adults to the level of your influence. Add an extra 15 minutes each day to the time you invest with your children- an equivalent of more than 2 weeks each year at work. Imagine the exponentially positive effect of investing 2 extra weeks each year exclusively in the development of your children.”

“212 The Extra Degree” is about how to live successfully. It has beautiful photography with amazing positive inspirational quotes throughout the book. We sometimes get caught up in every day things and don’t realize our behaviors and how they are affecting others.
So, reach out and touch someone today and spend an extra 15 minutes of undivided attention with your loved ones.
Hope you have a great day!

This contest has ended. Thanks to all that entered! You can still get 10% off at Birthday Keepsakes by entering the code MKK at the checkout until August 23
When I was pregnant I had big goals of completing 2 baby books. Yes, 2. One for me and one that Ella could take with her when she moved out. Honestly, I loved 2 books and couldn’t decide between them, so that was my justification. 😉 The day that I gave birth everything happened so fast, I didn’t think about saving a newspaper to put in her books. Does anyone??? After we got home and settled into our routine, I started filling out the books and came to the section where you fill in info about the world and what the current rates are for everything. Ugh! I decided to do an Internet search in hopes some company had this info already printed out so I wouldn’t have to do individual searches. That’s when I happened to come across Birthday Keepsakes and fell in love.

They have awesome 8×10 or 11×14 Keepsake prints that have all of the information about your child’s birthday on a cute bordered design with 13 options. I decided that the $9.99 was totally worth not having to look up all of the information needed and would be a great keepsake for when Ella wanted to know cool things about her birthday. You get to personalize the Keepsake print by adding time of birth, weight and other important details. It also has cool stuff like astrology info (which is optional), famous people who you share your birthday, headlines that happened during your birth week, famous past events, best of the year, costs of common items, top news stories, plus fun and fashion. Basically everything that both of my books asked for and more! I’ve even thought about ordering one for myself just so I can see all of the info about 1980.

They also have other outstanding personalized products. We got to try the Activity Placemat and it is an amazing learning tool. It comes laminated, so your child can write on it with a washable marker. The placemat is bordered by primary colors and it teaches how different colors can mix to make another color. It also has their name, birthday and a space that your child can trace their name. You can choose to put a personalized message, days of the week or the months. I choose days of the week and I have Ella circle what day it is every day. It also has different shapes at the bottom in colors that weren’t used in the border.

And that is just the front of the mat! The back has the alphabet with characters that begin with each letter and after the alphabet there are numbers 1-10 with counting dots. It has been the best alphabet tool I have come across yet! Ella has been circling the letter I ask her to find or she will point to it. She loves it! Plus it’s great to take to restaurants to keep your kiddo busy while you wait.

They also have Little Prints,which is an amazing print you can capture your infant’s foot and hand prints or just one. It comes with a sweet poem and would make a great baby shower or home coming gift if you know the baby’s name. They give you an ink print pad that doesn’t allow the ink to touch your newborns fragile skin. Birthday Keepsakes knows mess-ups happen in the process, so they send you 2 prints! My friend just had a baby, so we got to try it out on her 2 week old.

The hand was a bit difficult to do since he was still bawling up his fists. You might need 3 people to get the perfect print or just go with the footprint. Other than that it was quick, easy and turned out really cute.
Birthday Keepsakes also has Growth Charts, Name Wish Poems, The Twelve Gifts of Birth, Wedding and Anniversary Designs, Framing and more!

The Discount: You can get 10% off at Birthday Keepsakes by entering the code MKK at the checkout until August 23

The Giveaway:
Birthday Keepsakes is giving away a $50 Gift Certificate to 1 lucky reader! You can get multiple items with $50 since they have amazing prices.

Rules: You have until 11:59 p.m. August 10, 2009 to enter. The winner will be chosen by random.org and announced after they respond to the winning email. The winner has 48 hours to respond to the winning email, or a new winner will be chosen. You must leave your email address! This contest is only open to US residents.

How to Enter: You must visit Birthday Keepsakes and tell me what you or your child’s name means. Click on “Comments” to leave your post. Make sure to leave your email address!! I cannot contact the winner without it!

EXTRA entries: You must complete the “How To Enter” before making any extra entries. Make sure you leave a comment for each extra entry and tell me which one.
2. Become a fan of Mkokopelli on FB, Mkokopelli on Twitter or Follow my blog
3. Subscribe to my blog by email (on the right sidebar)
4. Blog, Tweet or send a message on FB and leave a link here (3 extra entries)
5. Enter another giveaway I have going on and tell me which one
6. Tell me what you would spend your $50 GC on at Birthday Keepsakes
7. Tell a friend about Birthday Keepsakes

Thanks to Birthday Keepsakes for your amazing giveaway and good luck to everyone!

Congrats to

Swaddle Babies said… CommentsCounter=CommentsCounter+1; document.write(CommentsCounter) 73

Follow your blog

Etsy, Artfire, Twitter: Swaddlebabies

You have 48 hours to respond 🙂

I came across an article about what you can and can’t recycle and I found out that you can’t recycle bottle caps!!! So if you do use bottled water and you leave the cap on, the bottle will get sent to the landfill. This goes for anything that has a plastic cap on it. Aveda has found a solution for using the wasted bottle caps and wants you to collect them and bring them to their stores. The program accepts caps that are rigid polypropylene plastic, sometimes noted with a 5 in the chasing arrows recycling symbol. This includes caps that twist on with a threaded neck such as caps on shampoo, water, soda, milk and other beverage bottles, flip top caps on tubes and food product bottles (such as ketchup and mayonnaise), laundry detergents and some jar lids such as peanut butter. To learn more, visit Aveda.

Most recycle places won’t accept grocery bags either. But if you are like me and forget your fabric bags sometimes, you can drop off the plastic bags at your local grocery store and they will send them back to the company who makes their bags.

GreenEdge Kids has an awesome variety of Eco-friendly reusable water bottles ranging from $10-$14. They also have an assortment of reusable bags varying from lunch bags, sandwich bags, grocery bags and even produce bags. Prices range from $4-$22. While you’re visiting their site, be sure to check out their Specials. They have tons of organic clothing on sale.

Here is a blurb from Pepsi about the new product:

“An all-new premium cola, Pepsi Natural is made with all-natural ingredients, including lightly sparkling water, natural sugar, natural caramel and kola nut extract. The amber-hued cola gets its color from natural caramel and natural apple extract. From the amount of bubbles to the foam that rises to the top of the beverage when it’s poured, Pepsi Natural offers a brand-new cola experience.

Pepsi Natural is packaged in a sleek 12-oz. glass bottle and is available in single-serve and 4-packs initially in the premium and/or natural food aisles of retail outlets in the following ten regional markets: Chicago, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, Portland, Las Vegas and New York.”

It actually sounds like it might taste good! There are several contests going on with the promotion Pepsi Natural News – Contests Be sure to check them out!

Becoming a “green” family has been a long and hard process. Like many things, I didn’t think everything through when I started transitioning our family. There are so many options to think about when you decide to become more Eco-friendly and sometimes you forget about the small, yet important stuff. When Ella needed new bedding last year, we went with organic cotton. I felt comfortable knowing she would be sleeping on organic sheets and not inhaling contaminants. What I didn’t think about was the mattress that laid under her sheets.

When I was pregnant and shopping I had no clue about the dangers that were around every corner… OK, maybe I’m being dramatic… but this is something I’m passionate about. Protecting my child is my responsibility. Not to mention the bigger picture- protecting our environment so it’s safe for our children and so forth. So as I was changing her sheets one day, I noticed the tag on her mattress which said “vinyl laminate.” A PVC film is used when making the laminate, so there is a chance chemicals are being released and she’s inhaling them for 13 hours a day. It’s too late in the game to go out and buy a new toddler mattress when we will be upgrading to a twin soon enough. So my other alternative was to buy a organic mattress protector.

As fate has it, a week after my revelation, I was introduced to Naturalmat and a Mattress Protector was sent to me for a review. As I pulled the mat out of the Eco-friendly package, Ella ran to it and starting cuddling it. Her words were, “beautiful flunky! oooh, so soft.” A flunky is her made up word for blanket. After I put the mat on her bed, I laid down to test it out. OMG it made such a difference! Now this protector was made to stop leaks, but the extra padding and comfort is unbelievable. It truly feels like a whole new bed. The Naturalmat Mattress Protector is made up of 2 thick layers of soft organic flannelet which encompasses a breathable thin polyurethane membrane. It is unbleached, undyed and naturally flame retardant. The mat lays flat on top of the mattress and has elastic bands on each corner to hold it in place. Luckily, we haven’t had to test it out for leaks just yet. Though I’ve read reviews and it has passed the test. I feel a bit of relief knowing my baby is sleeping safely and HIGHLY recommend the Mattress Protector for any crib or toddler mattress.

Naturalmat also makes amazing mattresses and sheets for all your crib and toddler bed needs. Each organic mattress is handmade in Devonshire, England from the finest natural and raw organic materials. Their durable naturally sprung mattress cores provide superior and longer lasting level of support than any other synthetic foam or metal spring. So you won’t have to worry about a spring popping through your baby’s mattress. Most mattresses are made of polyurethane foam and PVC, which harm the environment in their manufacture and disposal. They also emit noxious gases which can interfere with brain development. I wish I would have known these things 3 years ago, but it’s never too late to learn! Check out the Naturalmat Mattresses below:

The Discount:
You can visit Goores.com to make your Naturalmat purchases and you can recieve a 10% discount on ANY Naturalmat product by entering the code: mknm at the checkout. Happy shopping!!!