city sprouts fundraiser

oh cambridge...so crunchy i love it! we have this fantastic program called city sprouts which is run in conjunction with the cambridge public schools. it's mission is to promote a respect for the earth and healthy eating through gardening. each cambridge public school has a garden and a garden coordinator. the children are encouraged to drop in and help the coordinator maintain the garden. our school coordinator, louise, has gotten toby to eat things such as chives and spinach. as far as i'm concerned that woman is a miracle worker. seriously, look at these tiny gardeners. it's totally cute. and they love it. it's amazing really to see these children work and have such a fun time doing it.

city sprouts is having their annual fundraiser at the whole foods on river street this saturday june 6th from 11-2pm. $5 will get you a hot dog or hamburger, chips and a drink and 100% of the proceeds goes to this wonderful organization. so really, go...i mean really...where else in cambridge can you get lunch for $5? and for a worthy cause? no brainer. see you there!

if you can't make it and would like to contribute to this lovely organization, click here.

shop local

you know how you hear all the time "shop local". and you think great, i'd love to! but where how? and then you just go to target like you always do...mostly because you are so tired and your car just drives itself there? well fear not my tired friends, i'm here to tell you about an awesome local event called mommies who shop. mommies who shop is a night out for us moms to meet the girls and have a few glasses of wine while at the same time finding some great local artisans who make super cute stuff for our kids! there is always a spa there so you can be pampered while you shop. what's better than that?

toby + rei shows at all the mommies who shop events because we love meeting all these super hip moms and hearing them ooh and aaah over our stuff, but also to find great stuff for our own kids. the next show is in weston, ma on June 10th from 6-10pm at Regis College, 235 wellesley street. get directions here.

some of my favorite events partners are:

1. hoosier magnolia - looking for some baby gifts? nothing says summer like the backlog of baby gifts you need to buy and hoosier magnolia is just the place to stock up! i especially love her beautiful and unique mobiles (shown above), because as you all know i love birds. michelle, the owner/designer, is so nice and wonderfully creative and i get so many compliments when my kids wear her clothing. check out the beautiful hand sewn giraffe dress on jasper above.

2. sheabella tutus - i mean really? 2 nice ladies from brunswick, maine? cute tutus? whats better? if you have a girl in your life, you must buy her one of these fantastic homemade tutus. and then let her run free into the woods with her friends. run free little ballerinas, run free!

3. zooguu - these are the cutest little plush toys ever. so unexpected and different. i love them. how cute is this little bird? i know, i know again with the birds, but they have tons of different animals trust me.

tickets are $15.00 if you pre buy them on line and if you buy 5 tickets, the 6th one is free. so see you there!

swap meets

so, it's spring time (thank god) and as I am cleaning and purging the kids gazillion clothes (where do they come from?) i am starting to think about where all these clothes go. some of these clothes are so cute and have only been worn a few times. like when you buy your kid winter shoes and then the day after you buy them their feet grow two sizes.

anyways, sometimes i am organized enough by season to take them to the consignment store. my favorite is kid to kid in natick. you bring your crates of clothes, they assess them and either give you cash right there or they give you a store credit which they add 10% to total. and then it's like buying free clothes! to find your local consignment store, check here. if you live outside of massachusetts, check here, and then click your state.

finding a children's consignment store these days is tricky since the CPSIA regulations are making it impossible to buy second hand children's clothes. another way to help your clothes find a second life is to go to a clothing swap. these are gaining in popularity, there are some great local swaps already set up, to find one in your area check here. but- i'm wondering if it would be way more fun to have one at your house with your friends, some wine and garbage bags full of clothes. like this lady...but instead of wine she had baked potatoes. whatever. you say potato, i say pinot grigio. at the end of the party, the organizer could take the remaining clothes and donate them to local schools or rosies place or some other fantastic charity. if anyone is interested or has any cool party ideas, please post a comment.

watch out!

as kate browning always says, watch out! toby + rei hits the big time with our tees in the garnet hill catalog, "growing up garnet hill".  introducing the next generation of the robot tee, he is dip dyed (think tie dyed, but you actually dip the tees into a vat of dye) and printed in bright orange.  i think he is the best one yet.  he comes in size 2, 4 and 6.  size up though, the tees run a tad small.  

if you don't receive this catalog, it is super cute and i am loving all the girls bathing suits.  it makes it feel like it's maybe not 12 degrees and snowing here.  a little breath of spring air.  big sign.  

anyways, buy our robot tee through garnet hill here and we will love it when they sell out and we can be all like, really?  who knew?

what's for dinner today, baby?

when my son was born 4 years ago there were two organic options, make it yourself and earth's best jar foods. as a mom who had a full time job, the "make it yourself" option was just not an option for me. i mean, really, i could barely get to work with my hair washed on most days.  don't get me wrong, earth's best jar food is great...for jar food. but the problem with jar food is that you have to cook it at such high temperatures that it loses a lot of the flavor of the food and some nutrients too. so i was happy to see that after jasper was born there were some more organic options that didn't include the jar.

the first is local boston based business, little lettice organic baby food. the founder, sara cabot, is a mom of 4 who made all of her own baby food.  i am impressed. 4 kids?  homemade baby food?  this woman is like a super hero.  for reals. anyways, little lettice is available at whole foods, south end formaggio kitchen and a few other local stores. it's more expensive than the jar food for sure, but really the taste is amazing.  they have the best apples of all the options i tasted. they also had a bit more texture than their jarred counterparts. which was great for us because little jasper (remember: sensitive sally in all ways) was resistant to texture and it was a great step in the texture pyramid.  thank goodness we had early food intervention for her otherwise i wouldn't have "texture pyramid" in my lexicon.  aren't you guys lucky?

the second one i found and have enjoyed is happy baby food.  this food is delicious and is found also at whole foods in the frozen section.  the portions are small and come in ice cube like trays, so you just pop em out and defrost and serve.  brilliant.  the peas are my favorite for sure.  they have a hint of mint.  yum!  the foods come in 3 different options; purees, smooth + sorta chunky.  

what's great about both options is the flavor.  i really can't say it enough, the flavor of the fresh frozen food vs. the jar food is incredible.  go ahead, i know you are dying to taste your baby's food.

bio bags

i've recently been told that our kitchen trash system is so confusing that no one is ever quite sure where to put what. i agree, it's hard to know. brown cardboard, not coated cardboard goes in the compost with all food scraps except meat, and cheese and fish and corn cobs and on and on. our whole kitchen system is green and it makes me feel good. except. the tall kitchen garbage bag. that thing from glad is so not going to decompose. ever. so even if i put my groovy g diapers in the trash instead of flushing them, the bag will be on our earth forever. not good.

so i was psyched to find these puppies at my local whole paycheck..err..whole foods. bio bags are 100% bio degradable and are $6.50 for 12 bags. they are made from corn or some crazy thing? read more about them here.

the bags are also available at drugstore.com.

and for those of you dog lovers out there, they make a dog waste bag too. so the all natural stuff that comes out of your dog won't be trapped in plastic for 100 years. you betcha that's earth friendly. these come 50 to a box for $6.00, any joe six pack can do that math.

wink.

back to school - part three

my friend alex, who somehow always knows where to find the good stuff, just sent me the 411 on this awesome lunchbox alternative. the company is called laptop lunches and they use an american version of the japanese bento box for transporting lunches to school. the set pictured above is $20.99 and you can get all kinds of accessories for it, like extra containers and an insulated sleeve with a non toxic ice pak. the insulated sleeve looks like the heavy neoprene that doesn't contain lead like the other insulated lunchboxes out there. fantastic...thanks for the tip alex!

back to school - part two

packing school lunches. really, the bane of my existence. the whole packing lunch thing is so fraught with non-green choices, it's hard to know what to do. like, plastic bags for example. i use a million of them. and i try to reuse, but it's not always possible. also, things like apple sauce comes in those handy little plastic cups, good for time saving, yay. bad for the environment, boo. so i am happy to hear that some schools are actually requiring that all school lunches have no packaging that can be thrown away. it's forcing me off my plastic baggie addiction and back on the environmentally friendly train. here are some suggestions on bagging a green lunch:

- skip the individual container choices. these seem like a time saver but they really have way too much packaging. the big box, the wrapper, the individual bags. i use the little plastic cups from glad for fruit and crackers etc. and as an added bonus they don't get smooshed in the bag.

- use a wrap-a-mat for sandwiches. have you seen these? they are like washable envelopes for sandwiches. it's a little like origami, but you'll get the hang of it. they are fantastic and only $6.50. you can also make them yourself, check out this awesome diy site, small objects.

- don't buy the insulated lunch bags. these contain lead and phthalates and really are generally another thing that the kids just don't need. when we were growing up we had a turkey sandwiches that we threw in our lockers at 7 am and ate and 11:35. and it was fine. totally fine. if you really need to have the lunches cold, throw an ice pack in with it. toby + rei sells an awesome robot lunch sack that's made from 100% organically grown cotton.

- remember when you were a kid with your holly hobbie lunchbox and thermos and then your mom would send soup in the thermos? how weird is that to think about now? anyways, thermoses have come a long way baby. i love the foogo insulated straw cups. bpa free and they keep drinks cold for up to 12 hours. $14.99 at diapers.com.

if anyone has any other great green lunch ideas, please feel free to post a comment.

back to school - part one

well, the days are getting shorter and the nights are getting a little cooler. that can only mean one thing. back to school. and unless you are between the ages of 6 and 22, you are pretty psyched right about now. bye bye buddies, have fun , we'll miss ya, now get on the bus. but, before you can really relax there are many items you need to buy. kate browning told me she got her list of items to purchase for rei to go back to school and horror of horrors, on the list was...yes, it's true, antibacterial hand gel.

really? really?

i'm sure anyone who has met me for more than 5 minutes has totally heard my anti-anti bacterial hand gel rant. putting the scary super bug argument aside (please don't get me started) these gels have a very high alcohol content and can be extremely harmful if licked or swallowed. there have been several cases of children being whisked to the ER with alcohol poisoning from this stuff. see info here on snopes. purell's hand sanitizer is 62% alcohol. 62%. um, no thank you.

thankfully for those of you who must have your anti bacterial gel (i really am trying hard not to go into my super bug rant....must ... resist...temptation...), cleanwell makes an absolutely alcohol free and chemical free version. i love this brand, they make a triclosan free anti bacterial hand soap as well. and here is a hint, it's way cheaper at target than at whole foods. 

poloppo

i found this awesome website, poloppo, through my blog savvy friend dana several months ago and loved it, so i was so excited that they were showing at bubble with us in new york this past weekend.

poloppo is a website that collects kid's artwork from all over the world. they then select pieces of artwork and license them and then incorporate them into the designs of their products. the children receive royalties that goes towards their education and poloppo dontates 5% of their revenue to fund arts programs to underprivileged kids. the picture above was drawn by annabelle age4. it's a spaceship. it's awesome right? if you know any little artistes, have them upload their artwork. you never know, it could get selected and then other cool kids could be wearing their art. what's better than that? click here to shop their online gallery.

bio-degradable diapers, yes way

i know what you're thinking, that i made that up. but, it's like a miracle really. they are diapers. that are biodegradable. yes way. the company is called nature babycare and they are european (of course) and they are here. the diapers are almost 100% bio-degradable, the and tabs and elastic waist + leg bands are won't break down, but everything else will. they also sell 100% compostable wipes.

as far as pricing, diapers.com does a great job breaking down the per diaper cost (ie. so you don't have to try to do division in your head or remember how to use your cell phone calculator). if you buy a case of the nature babycare diapers, they run you $0.26 per diaper for size 1 to all the way up to $0.51 per diaper for size 5. for comparison sake, pampers are $0.17 for a size 1 to $0.34 for a size 5. g-diapers will run you $0.33 for a size small and $0.41 for size med/large.

here is the 411 from the cooler choices website:
-chlorine-free absorbent materials – does not contribute to dioxin pollution
-100 % compostable/natural back sheet – NO plastic - reduce the greenhouse affect
-100 % compostable/natural distribution layer – NO plastic - reduce the greenhouse affect
-100 % compostable/natural consumer packaging – NO plastic - reduce the greenhouse affect
-No latex, fragrance, or TBT (tributyl tin)

did you hear them? NO plastic. NO WIRE HANGERS!!!! anyways, digressing.

i chased down a dad at my day care who was toting a package of these wonder diapers and asked for a real life opinion. he said he loved them, but they didn't use them for overnight. he was a man of few words. but then again, i'm not sure he loved being grilled at 8am trying to drop his kid off. i think he needed some coffee.

you can buy these fab diapers on diapers.com or if you buy them on coolerchoices.com, they will plant one tree for every package of diapers that you purchase. cool. i like trees.

i have to give a big shout out to cristina at green mom finds for pointing this mom in the right direction. she's always got the good scoop. i can't wait to give these a try.

dude, sweet bike

it seems like lately there have been articles ad nauseum in the boston globe and the new york times about riding your bike as a great way to combat high gas prices. these articles seem to focus on how to do so safely, but i'm here to tell you how to do so in style. ohhhhh yeah.

now you know i love just about anything european. and that's why i loved these bikes...the jolly bikes (pictured above) are imported from holland by 2 local ladies tecla and monet. literally this is the smoothest ride ever. and they come in so many fun colors. they are $700.00, but man, they are the coolest. monet will paint anything you want on the wheel cover. which secretly is a guard so your skirt doesn't get caught in the spokes. oh jolly bike - you had me at 'hallo'.also super spectacular is the electra cruiser. it's a bit more affordable at $300.00+. these really are a sweet ride, very very smooth. i love all the vintage styling like the white wall tires. if i didn't already have a retro schwinn from the '70's i would totally buy one. we did buy toby one of their kid bikes, it's so bad ass with flames. he loves it. check it out...who wouldn't?
the last fun bike option is a fold a bike. have you seen these? they are for the hard core train commuters, but they are totally rad. citizen bike makes a great one for under $300.00. that's like 70 gallons of gas these days. imagine you are so cool that you walk into work with this under your arm and sneer at all the car commuters. i love it.


oh and yeah, don't forget a helmet, use your hand signals and blahbeddy blah blah safety blah.

under the nile cute-ness

my girl jasper is teething. poor thing. she has been busily chewing her way through her entire box of toys, but thankfully she has really settled on gnawing on this one. we got this bundle of organic chew toy goodness as a hand me down from baby reese. it's 100% organic cotton from egypt from the geniuses at under the nile. they have all kinds of other fruits and vegetables too. kate browning got jasper the banana as well, which is also super cute and easier to hold but for some reason she is really partial to this little guy. i think it's the adorable little face.

the best part is, you can run part of the toy under water (we put the head, hat and leaves of the grapes) and pop him in the freezer and voila! frozen teether that you don't have to wonder if it's covered in lead or if the plastic contains anything icky.

there is even a little crate of 4 vegetables that you can give as a gift. so cute. individual veggies are $6.00 and the crate is $26.00. available at under the nile, or locally at crunchy granola baby in salem.

sugar spiked formula

i have actually had to sit with this for a week before i felt like i could write this post and not rant like a lunatic. the new york times recently reported that similac's organic formula actually has significantly more sugar in it than all other formulas on the market. wait. what? i don't even let my 3 year old drink juice that isn't watered down. i have been giving jasper this formula since she was 8 weeks old thinking that i was doing the 'right' thing by giving her formula that was created with organic milk. but apparently all i was giving her a sweet tooth and a propensity for obesity. awesome. similac is the only organic formula that uses cane sugar (parent's choice and earths best, two other organic formulas, use organic lactose which is less sweet) but similac maintains that is 'wasn't optimizing for taste'. yeah, whatever.

here is the scariest part of the entire article, which caused me to round up all unopened formula canisters and return them immediately to target:

"The sweeter taste of Similac Organic was observed by a professional sensory-tasting panel, commissioned by The New York Times to do a blind tasting of eight nationally available formulas, soy and dairy, organic and not. Seven of the formulas were as sweet as unsweetened apple juice, said Gail Civille, the director of Sensory Spectrum, which performed the tests. Ms. Civille said Similac Organic was the sweetest, with “the sweetness of grape juice or Country Time lemonade."

COUNTRY TIME LEMONADE? oh no. oh no no no.

you should have seen the poor guy at target when i dumped 4 canisters and 3 liquid containers and he said 'is anything wrong with it?'

aren't you glad you don't work at the target returns counter?

i am happy to report that jasper is loving her new formula.

modern organic bedding

our kids spend over 50% of their little lives in bed. our favorite retailer and green guru, jennie at crunchy granola baby says 'if you are going to go organic, go with organic cotton in all of their bedding. mattress, mattress pad, sheets; the whole kit and kaboodle'. but, if you are like me and like beautiful modern patterns, you are out of luck right? think again my funny friends. i have found some super cute organic bedding designers and here are 2 of my fav's:

1. pixel organics - these prints are so childlike and fun. the print at the top of the post is called 'lions and tigers and kitties, oh my!' it reminds me somehow of the retro barkcloth fabric, but in a new fun + funky way. i love it with the chartreuse walls. ( i actually just love the word chartreuse and i really don't find that many ways to use it in casual conversation)



2. argington bedding - this modern furniture designer has created a line of organic bedding that is so beautiful. the pattern at above is their butterfly print with complementing pattern in twigs. it's just so girly and pink i can't stand it. they have an adorable dinosaur pattern for those with boys.

both companies boast that their cotton is 100% certified organic and they use low impact dyes and regenerated polyester that doesn't off gas. pixel organics even states that the fill on their comforters may have been your plastic water bottle from last month. as if you still use those. please.

organic consignment-delightful!

i am totally addicted to ebay and craig's list. i love buying used things for my kids, so eco friendly right? but they just aren't meeting my organic needs right now. so i was super excited when green mom finds (do you not read this blog? it's fantastic) turned me on to this fabulous website called the conscious child. it's an online consignment store for organic and non organic kids clothes. so, if you are like me and buy the organic stuff and then want to recycle it, now you have a place to sell. also, if you are like me and you love the organic stuff but are truly broke even after the federal stimulus check came, this is a great place to buy.

check out these awesome lanacare booties for 9.99. so cute, and cheap, they are normally 20.00!! they also sell some pretty cute new organic stuff, maybe they will carry toby + rei soon. who knows?

it's a blog, blog world

it's always an adventure here at toby + rei but this week we had some really good news and good press! the good news is we were accepted into the bubble kids trade show in nyc in august. we are totally psyched, it's pretty hard to get into and we (i, kate was absolutely sure we would!) were not expecting to go this year, so hooray for us!

we have also gotten some awesome shout outs this week from some of my favorite bloggers. it's always so great to be recognized by these ladies, they are truly some tough customers!

check out the post from Kelcey at mamabirddiaries about great mother's day gifts. kelcey is a new york city mama whose adventures with her 2 kids in nyc are literally laugh out loud funny. i love her, really check out her blog, you will not be sorry. if you are interested in buying a delicious bamboo/organic cotton fleece robe for your mama or want one for yourself they are back in stock finally and available here.

we also had a really nice review written about us at reallynatural. we had to submit items to them and then they check us all out, wash our stuff, see how it holds up and then they post a review.

and perhaps the coolest post for you my reader is the giveaway on designmom today for a toby + rei new baby gift set. it's a blanket, onesie and hat of your choice. just post a comment and be entered to win. if you do not read this amazing blog every day, you must. gabrielle has such incredible taste and always posts about cool stuff you and i just can't find on our own. she also has really cool craft projects to do with your kids that aren't hokey. i like that. i hate hokey.

also look for more giveaways and reviews on eco childs play next week and green mom finds in early may. we are also hopefully going to be part of a boston globe article about local green companies. it will be in the style section, keep your fingers crossed and eyes peeled.

happy spring!!

i covet thee

i know it's wrong to covet, isn't it one of the 7 deadly sins or something? i think brad pitt and morgan freeman were in a movie about it, or was it envy? i guess it's the same thing though really.

anyways, for earth day i had to post about my favorite line of eco friendly clothing for chicks. it's called covet and it's so not hemp people. those who know me know that i am a sucker for anything that is somehow a sweatshirt but doesn't look like a sweatshirt. i mean seriously, how much do i need to own this top? it will be mine....

all of covet's clothing is made from organic cotton or sustainable fabrics like soybean and bamboo. plus they are totally adorable. and not outrageously expensive. hooray! you can buy covet locally at envi on newbury street or online at urban outfitters. happy earth day friends!

it's easy being green

i hear all the time, 'i really want to be more green, but i don't know where to start'. i think it's just that there is so much talk about being green everywhere right now. you can't even open up an elle magazine without reading about green makeup and green fashion. i mean come on people. even i just want to read what color is good for the season and which trashy books are out for summer beach reading without feeling guilty that my jeans were made in some sweatshop. what i'm saying is that even for someone like me who is so far up in it, it's a little overwhelming. this blog is dedicated to making being green easy, so i have listed 10 easy things anyone can do to make a little difference. and who knows, maybe you'll all have some for me too. sharing is nice. plus i've been getting a lot of flak lately about how everything i suggest costs 5 times as much as the thing they were using before, so everything i have listed is either cheap or will save you money.

1. local farmer's markets - i can't say enough great things about buying local and in season. i know everyone hates grocery shopping, but going to a farmers market on like a wednesday night or saturday morning is like heaven. the colors, the flowers, the nice people. sigh. it's all farmers from local farms who want to sell you their tomatoes. and it's somehow CHEAPER than the grocery store. and they are delicious. trust me, you will never buy produce from may to september in a grocery store again. click here for a website that will list all your local farmer's markets (ma only).

2. market bags - these are so fun, they remind me of the rain hat your grandma somehow always carried in her purse that folded into a 2" square. they are lightweight and pretty and you'll never have to get a plastic bag at any store ever again. buy them at greenward, scott says he can't keep them in stock and they are so CHEAP - $7.95! if you can't get to greenward (booo...) click here to buy on line. this site has lots of great reusable bags.

3. unplug/turn off - unplug your appliances and cell phone chargers at night. they do still use energy even when they aren't on. also, turn off your computer and printer at night.

4. eco friendly cleaners - this one has been written up ad nauseum this spring with all the mags and their spring cleaning articles. don't go out and spend a lot of money getting new products. start small. think of the products that leave your house via the drain and start there. all that stuff goes back out into the water supply. so, like dish soap, bath scrubs, laundry detergents etc. method makes lots of eco friendly cleaning products that are don't cost much more than the regular brands and are available at target. and you are always at target right? here are some of my other favorites:
mrs. meyers all purpose scrub - i have the lavender. it's so not comet, available at whole foods.
earth friendly products dishwashing liquid - i like the apricot, available at trader joe's.

5. compact florescent light bulbs - take my earlier rant with a grain of salt, these really are great. they use a ton less energy and they last forever. which saves you money. just keep them out of the kids rooms.

6. reduce recycling - for full explanation on this see earlier post, but really buy less things that are in plastic. less to recycle, less impact on the planet (and less stuff to lug to the curb).

7. reuse your plastic bags - rinse em out and reuse em. how is that for money saving? huh, john fitzpatrick? huh? yeah.

8. check your tires - if every american’s tires were properly inflated we could save around 2 billion gallons of gas each year. also, get the junk out of the trunk, it will help with your fuel economy.

9. just say no to plastic water bottles - get yourself a reusable water bottle, sigg makes really nice cool ones. $20.00 but you'll never have to buy another poland spring bottle of water again at $1.25 a pop.

10. green dimes - their motto is 'stop junk mail, save trees, help the environment'. as kate browning would say, what's better than that? there is a basic package which is free, premium that is 20.00/year etc. really, who needs 4 pottery barn catalogs a month?

i hope this helps all of you who don't know where to start. please comment and post any easy tips you have.

the straight poop part 2

for all of you folks who are thinking of cloth diapers, but then you go on line and they all seem so expensive and what if you pick the wrong one and you end up with 300.00 worth of unusable bamboo/organic cotton diaper outers and inners? and who knows what they feel like because you can't just go to your local babies r us and check them all out. right? so, if you are local i have a great resource for you- diaper lab in somerville.

diaper lab is owned by a woman named salina and her husband ryan. so so so nice. you make an appointment at their somerville home and they have all the lines of cloth diapers you can think of. salina runs you through the options and you choose the right one for you based on your own needs. she even counsels you on how many to buy, so you don't end up up with too many or not enough. hooray for salina and diaper lab! hooray!