Monday, December 24, 2007

The Perfect Cookie

They just opened a Whole Foods near our house. To say I am thrilled would be a gross understatement. I try to buy most of my groceries at Trader Joes to take it easy on the pocket book, but there are those hard-to-find essentials you can find only at Whole Foods. On one of my treasured trips to WF I came to face to face with a cookie made by Liz Lovely. I'll never pass up the opportunity to try a new cookie that is vegan.

I bought the cookie half expecting it to taste much like a cardboard box with chocolate chips and to have a leathery texture. You can imagine my surprise when I bit into the Liz Lovely cookie and found myself reminiscing of my last escapade with cookie dough ice cream. The cookie was almost like cookie dough; moist, and certainly not low on the taste spectrum. Now, after this first bite I went straight to the wrapper to understand exactly the loveliness I was consuming.

Liz Lovely's tag line is "Baking a Difference," and they've certainly baked a difference in my world and the whole wide world. I've have found a little piece of heaven with a cookie that is vegan, sustainable, socially responsible, Fair Trade, Non-GMO, and organic. Come on people, what's to stop you? Check out Liz's cookies on www.lizlovely.com You can shop online or check to see if your local natural grocers carry them.

Liz Lovely

www.peezandques.com

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

It's Not a Bad Search

I always feel like there is more I can do to help those less fortunate than myself. Between work, personal and social obligations, there is little left of my own time to donate to local charities. One thing I do everyday for hours is use the Internet. It would be too good to be true if I were able to double-bill my time to work and charity. Well, apparently Ken and JJ Ramberg had hoped for the same thing when they started GoodSearch.


GoodSearch is a search engine which donates half of its profits to charities and schools. You, the user, designate the charities, and neither you nor the charities spend a cent of your own. They've also recently added GoodShop with the same idea. Various percentages of purchases made on Goodshop go to user designated schools and charities.

So, be sure to go some good searching and good shopping. You have nothing to loose and someone else has everything to gain.

GoodSearch
GoodShop


www.peezandques.com

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Shoe Fest: One For You, One For Me


It's easy to get wrapped up in the shopping frenzy of the holidays. Above and beyond the giving to our loved ones, it's the time of year we are supposed to count our blessings and think of those less fortunate than ourselves. One way to appease our loved ones and those less fortunate all in one fail swoop is with Tom's Shoes.

Tom's has fun colors of shoes that will wow even the toughest of Christmas gift recipients. And, for every pair of shoes you buy, Tom's gives a pair of shoes to a child who cannot afford any of their own.

So spread the Christmas cheer worldwide. Visit TomsShoes.com for a list of local retailers, or to buy online.

www.TomsShoes.com

www.peezandques.com

Gift Wrap with a Life Span Beyond Christmas Morning

My favorite part of Christmas is the giving part. It is fun to buy or make that perfect gift for the special people in your life. Often I spend just as much time and care in wrapping my gifts as I do purchasing them. Christmas morning comes and goes and the living room displays the carnage of wrapping paper that will see nothing more than than a landfill for all it's days to come.


I've recently discovered a great new product. Handmade and chic gift bags. Cut and sewn from organza and other fine fabrics, Enchante Bags are made in various shapes and sizes to fit something as simple as a wine bottle, to that fold-out gift box you got for mom's new blouse. Your gift bag will be sure to wow the socks off your gift recipient, but the best part is that they can reuse the bag next time they give a gift. Not only have you saved them the cutting and taping that goes hand in hand with gift wrapping, but you've given the environment one less holiday wrap to handle.

www.enchantebags.com



www.peezandques.com

Monday, December 17, 2007

The Gift of Charity


So you have been checking off your list for Christmas shopping. And you have only one more person to shop for, Grandpa Bob. You would celebrate the nearness to your shopping's end, however you have no idea what to get Grandpa Bob. He has everything he could ever need or want and anything you buy him would just be excess. In fact, he has even told you he wants nothing. In the past you've come up with more sentimental gift ideas, but this year you are at a loss!

I began giving to such people with even more generousity than in previous years when I discovered gifting to non-profits. You'll find most charities and foundations make it possible to make a charitable donation in the name of a specific individual.
Some even take it a step further, you can adopt a dolphin, polar bear, or even sponsor a child in a poverty stricken country.

So not only are you helping a worthy cause, but you using the money you'd use buy Grandpa Bob a useless present and showing him you were thinking of him!

Here's some idea's to get you started:

Adopt a Oceana Creature

Adopt a Wild Animal

Norther Rockies Radiation Oncology Center

Make A Wish

Kiva




www.peezandques.com