Today, 10 December, means for those of you buying Christmas or Hanukkah gifts for your loved ones, time is ticking.

Tick. Tick. Tick.

With that, I have a few awesome, heart-felt, useful, and even handmade options and ideas!

1. I already mentioned Equal Exchange fair trade, organic, yummy coffees, chocolates, and nuts and berries! Cheers to that, and you get rockin’ deals on their baskets THROUGH 15th DECEMBER!  Less than five full days, so get to ordering!

2.  Ashley from Our Little Apartment has an awesome Etsy store. You know, I dig handmade stuff, and Etsy is cool, but I quickly tire of a lot of the frivolous stuff I see as crap you can buy on Etsy.

Yet, I just <3 Ashley’s store.  I absolutely drooool over her earrings, and a rad idea on being more eco-chic is getting quilted coozies for your coffee cups!  Next time you roll into a coffeeshop, slip out one of these awesome bad boys from your purse and tell them to keep their cardboard sleeve!  Seriously… I am in love!  Go Ashley!

3.  Allie from The Greenists (previously Allie’s Answers) has an awesome roundup of fun, ethical and healthy gifts… both for her and for the child in your life.  This is the best list I have seen.  The Lola mini clutch and both necklaces make me giddy, while I love all the wooden, classic-style playsets for kids!

4. Dianne (also) from The Greenists has gone the route of giving what can be eaten! Dianne’s take:

A few years ago I decided that edible gifts were the perfect way to go. They are simple, yet still show someone you care and are thinking about them during the holiday season.

Pass along the recipes too, and the receiver might joyfully remake that for years to come.  That is how I acquired some of my favorite holiday recipes!  In Dianne’s post, you’ll find her links to several great holiday gift ideas you can devour.

So, there you have it… my favorite picks for holiday gifts for 2009.

Cheers, Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and Sustainably yours,

Ashley Sue

Have you met The Greenists?  In case you missed it, the previously known “Allie’s Answers” blog grew into “The Greenists” ~ which means we get even more quality info from more eco-loving, ultra interesting friends!

Two of my favorite recent posts include one on crayons and one on shopping for dinner at your house.

Remember when you were a kid and you loved opening a new box of untouched, unbroken crayons?  The colors were just so perfect, and they were shaped so lovely… OK, perhaps I was just geek enough to feel that way.  Do you also remember at Vacation Bible School when they would pull out the shoebox of broken crayon ends, most missing their paper wrappers and all of them hobbly and rounded on the ends?  They were not as exciting to play with despite working just as well.

Melissa found a way to make those knobbelled over crayons fresh and exciting again, not to mention the absolute perfect shape and size for tiny hands.  Plus, the process of making them “new” again is fun for your own creative side!

Also, Noelle realizes how much we all tend to throw out insane amounts of food.  For instance, I have a box of unopened prunes sitting in my fridge from over two years ago, purchased in a cloud of delusion where I thought I would enjoy snacking on them if I had them.  Noelle knows that times are tough, and frankly, each of us could probably do the grocery shopping for our week’s dinners right in our own pantry.  Go ahead.  Give it a try.

Sincere thank you to Allie for continuing to share her love for life and living with all of us, as well as introducing us to a whole new gang of friends ~ The Greenists!

Sustainably yours,  Ashley Sue

A quick update on a post I wrote in March 2009 regarding eco-friendly options to toilet paper and diapers:

Oddly, yes, the post mentions that Allie found out that cloth diapers and such have a higher carbon footprint than using disposable products, but that we need to continue looking for better options and not simply feel free to use the toxic disposable options instead.

I just stumbled across the Modern Mama who realized that while alternative options are indeed necessary, the truth of what these nappies are made from (despite marketing hype) and what they costs (including financial, health, and environmental costs) need to be considered.  Modern Mama Rosanne considers just that and shares her very in-depth findings.

I hope to be figuring all this out for myself and my hypothetical children one day soon enough, but until then, hopefully some of you spicy mamas out there will use the recommendation and research!

Sustainably yours, Ashley Sue

Shaving is another territory where our daily actions can have an immediate and huge impact on the environment.  Such a small choice, you would think, but consider all the people using razors and shaving products daily.  What if everyone used plastic disposable daisy razors and cheap, canned foam?

I’ve had this draft saved for over six months, but it took seeing Tiny Choices post on swapping razors to finish this up.

I’ll keep this easy… check out the Tiny Choices post.  Check out Allie’s post.  These two will be super comprehensive.

My vote?  I am a HUGE fan of Recycline’s Preserve razors.  My sister bought me a pack so we could get off our Gillette Sensor addiction.  I relate to Tiny Choices and her Gillette:

I have a Gillette Sensor lady’s razor and I dare say I’ve had it since the early 1990s – it’s been with me through high school and college, for sure, and ever since then. It’s served me well, and more so because it isn’t a disposable (the USEPA estimates that 2 billion disposable razors end up in landfills every year).

But Preserve has a great product, made of recycled plastic.  The double razor replacement heads can be a little rough, and you will notice the difference in quality if you had been using Gillette.  Spring and get the triple blade replacement heads.  You’ll totally dig them.

Or, just get really hairy when your razor is done, and save the water and waste.

Sustainably yours,

Ashley Sue Allen