A Few of My Favorite Things

It's that time of year again!  My online shopping is in high-gear so  I thought I would share a few of my favorite things because I've been meaning to forever and now is a good time. 

First on the list - hair and skin products!

Belle Butters!  We love Belle Butters - especially for skin, although they can be used in hair as well.  The scents are wonderful and they are all hand-made with no icky petroleum by-products in them!  My favorite scent is the Chocolate Mint, but I hear the Orange Dream Cream is great too.

Twist of Fate! This is a curl butter from Give All for Love, which is hand-made by an adoptive mama. It is, "an all-natural hair butter used to moisturize, nourish, and style naturally curly hair." And the best part is that a portion of the proceeds goes to charity, and you get to pick which one! 

 Kizzi's Stay Put Pomade from Carol's Daughter.  I love CD products, but this is my new favorite for doing styles with Lia's hair.  It really helps me keep her parts straight, and keeps her parts in even overnight when I have taken the hair bands out (because I'm scared they'll fall out and she'll eat them and choke and... well, you know how moms worry :).  It also makes her curls all springy, which is also great.  Here is an example of a recent 'do I did with this pomade.  And, yes, I'm still practicing on straight part lines.  Don't judge.

Dear Blogger, why did you make this sideways?  Why?

And now on to other fun things...

Mimitens!  These are THE BEST MITTENS EVER.  I got them on babysteals (also love!) a while back and this week Micah got to try them out in the snow.  They are fantastic.  They could be better - if they had fingers instead of just a thumb thing, but  I'll take that for now.  These actually stay on (way better than regular mittens) and you don't get that snow bank in between the coat and the mittens.  I love them.  LOVE.

Mumford and Sons  Seriously LOVE THIS BAND.  It's not totally safe to listen to in front of the kids who know how to repeat bad words, but I am just loving this CD, so I'm including it.



And, really?  I have way more favorites, but naptime is almost over, so I'll leave you with my favorite Santa picture EVER.  Also, I'd love to hear your favorite things too - feel free to leave me some more fun shopping links!

Baby Doll

I am pretty excited. Lia Makebe's first baby doll came in the mail today. She's a mini Coco doll by blabla. I love her. My plan was for it to be "from Micah," but he really could care less about Coco right now.

Cute, right? Back when I met Tiny and her Coco, I knew I wanted one some day for our baby girl. I also want one of these...

~made by this mama

Cute again. Lots of cute going on with these baby dolls.

And, I have to give a big SHOUT OUT to the store that sent our Coco doll - Sprout Soup! I had included in my notes that I wanted this by June 1 to take to our daughter. I very briefly mentioned that we were adopting. That was that. Today, I took Coco out of the package and realized there was something else in there. I reached in and found a sweet pair of organic baby legs! On the front it says, "Congratulations on your adoption!" How awesome is that? Also, they have a brick&mortar store in Columbus, OH - I'm definitely planning a visit for the next time we make it up that way.

Now, let's just hope the dogs don't eat Coco.

PS - More baby cuteness at Amy's blog - Baby Africa necklaces from Junkposse!

Shopping with a Purpose

My sister and brother (and their significant others) and our family have decided to shop purposefully this Christmas season. We drew names and each gift has to either come from a shop that "gives back" or the gift has to be "green" in some way (used, handmade, organic, etc.). So, I've been searching for shops that have these kinds of gifts to share with the family. I thought I'd share them here too since I know people are looking for ways to do this themselves. (I would include photos, but blogger is being stubborn tonight.)

Product (Red) - a portion of the proceeds from each Product (Red) purchase goes to help fight AIDS in Africa. My favorite thing on here (besides Starbuck's (Red) drinks) are the converse that you design yourself. I've designed myself a pair already (or maybe two or three pairs. Maybe.)

Ethiopian Orphan Relief - From their website: "100% of the profits from sales of our products benefit Ethiopian Orphan Relief, Inc.'s programs to help orphaned children remaining in Ethiopia." I really like their jewelry - most, or maybe all, is handmade in Ethiopia.

Ahope Store - AHOPE for Children is a non-profit organization whose mission is to serve the children of Ethiopia, with a primary emphasis on caring for orphans infected with HIV. This site also has great jewelry and the Ahope tshirts are very cute!

Omnipeace - Very cool Africa tshirts. Omnipeace donates 25% of their profits to the Millennium Promise to end extreme poverty by 2025.

Light Gives Heat - Their mission (from their website) is, "Empowering Africans through the encouragement of economic sustainability and creative endeavors. Motivating people in the West to “be the change they want to see in the world.” This is the site that sells Amy Bottomly's favorite tee.

Ten Thousand Villages - From their website: "Since 1946 Ten Thousand Villages has supported the work of literally tens of thousands of artisans in over 37 countries in Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Middle East, making us one the largest fair trade organizations in North America." They have a lot of different products to choose from - from all over the world!

Gifts of Life - Another fair trade site that works in Africa - "Our dream to help one woman, man, child,...family, at a time make a better life though the FAIR TRADE sales of their handmade African baskets and other handmade crafts," (from their site).

World of Good - This one is very cool because it has A LOt of different things to choose from - even clothes (to fit into the "green" category). Ebay runs it and it will tell you what "good" your purchase is doing, such as Eco-Positive, People-Positive, Animal Friendly, or Supports a Cause.

Gobena Coffee - Who doesn't love coffee? (Okay, maybe some people, but I don't know them :) Gobena is run by this beautiful family and 100% of the profits are being reinvested in the lives of orphan children through charity programs. It is also Fair-Trade & Organic. (Green & gives back!)

And finally, who could forget Tom's Shoes? Cute Tom's. Do you have a pair? They are comfy and cute and they give back! And, the best part - right now they are focusing on Ethiopia. Close to our hearts!



As always, I'm open to more ideas! Happy Shopping!

Christmas Shopping

This year we are going to attempt to purchase most of our Christmas gifts from organizations that give back - meaning some, or all, of their proceeds go to a cause or charity.

Here are some of the sites I've found for this...

Ethiopian Orphan Relief Store

Ahope Store

Omnipeace

Those are a few - I'm looking for more! Especially some with items for children. Where are your favorite 'give-back' shopping sites? (Amy Bottomly - I know you have a bunch! :)

Check it...

Look what I just found...

Through an extraordinary partnership with the Africa Aid Foundation, a t-shirt is being elevated to its highest call yet - life saver. With the purchase of each THIS SHIRT SAVED A LIFE tee from Tiny Revolutionary, $20 will be donated directly to Africa Aid to fund a child in their school lunch program in the Buduburam Refugee Settlement in Ghana for an entire year. The once daily, nutritious meal this donation provides ensures that a child is able to focus on learning for the future, not simply surviving for the present.

You can find this shirt here. They also have it for adults. You can also find another tshirt at the Africa Aid website.

Oh, and I found it because I am actually shopping for a new diaper bag/purse. I am currently using a huge-o-mongous bag from H&M that has no compartments so I am constantly losing things in the bag and end up emptying it's contents wherever I may be. This is not very fun, so I'm looking for something to help organize the wipes and the dipes, but also something I would like to carry when Micah isn't with me. Any suggestions? Please? :)