FUN-raising for Sunflower Creative Arts!

 

Come one, come all!

If you are looking for some good fun with great company all in the name of a worthy cause, then join us on Saturday May 3rd from 5-10pm for some appetizers and drinks at the home of Kelly McMahon! 

There will be music and dancing along with a raffle and silent auction where one lucky winner can win a one week stay in the keys or at a condo in Park City Utah! 

To order your tickets go to: http://Sunflower.brownpapertickets.com

Hope to see you there!

Essentially yours,

Erika

Earth Festival 2014!!

This Easter we were fortunate to catch the Earth Festival at Woodlands Park. It was awesome!

There were so many different vendors and organizations offering either great services or info to attendees. I instantly kicked right into Blogger mode and began snapping away for you fine folks. 

We started down the Eco Park but didn't make it far before our boys found (I'm sure by now you've guessed it) trains! 

This woodwork was quite impressive, so detailed! 

Back to the festival! The first booth I came across were the lovely ladies from Mother Earth diaper service. Where were these ladies when I was knee deep in poopy cloth diapers?? (I'm still not out of the woods yet!) 

Being a big cloth diaper advocate, I raced right over to check out their setup. 

You can check them out at www.motherearthdiapers.com for more info.

We visited a couple more great booths with lots of Eco friendly info like The Sierra Club (can't wait for my first meeting May 14th!) and the Green Living Alliance booth, which had so much neat info on conservation and composting!

The boys even got to play with a couple of rabbits named Alfred and Percy. (Thomas fans out there don't need me to tell them which rabbit was their favorite!) 

Loved this sign!

But this one took the cake! There isn't enough talk about the fracking of our water, the fact that our Everglades are at risk is scary. 

I'm a lover of nature, I do my personal best to do my part and try to teach my kids to be mindful and conserve. To give back as much as we consume if not more, because at the end of the day we are only guests on this beautiful planet. Fairs like these are available to help educate and inform those who seek out answers. Because when you know better, you do better. Until next time!

Essentially yours, 

Erika

Spread the Word: The Great Give

Sunflower Creative Arts is an organization near and dear to my heart. They are more like family! 

It's an awesome place for kids and adults   alike. Once a year they host a fundraiser in order to raise money for their scholarship fund, and they need your help to keep growing! 

This year Sunflower is participating in the GREAT GIVE, a 24-hour online giving event, on May 6.

Donations will help us grow the Sunflower Scholarship Fund so we can make our amazing play, nature and arts-based classes available to all families, regardless of financial situation. 

How can you help? 

1. Join our event on Facebook and invite all your friends! Every donation makes a difference- gifts made May 6 will receive a portion of bonus funds- making your dollar go even further than it would on any other day.

2. Donate! Here's the link you'll need to make your donation on May 6 (share it!):  

 

 GREAT GIVE to benefit Sunflower Scholarship Fund  

 

(OR http://www.greatgivepbc.org/#npo/sunflower-creative-arts)

If your looking for a place to give, this is it! 

Essentially yours,

Erika

Products I Love: Good Soap

I love this vegan soap, it's mild and refreshing with plenty of lather!

I shred their Eucalyptus bar for my homemade hand soap. (Recipe coming soon!) Good Soap is made with fair trade Shea butter, I try to buy fair trade as much as possible. It can be found at most Whole Foods markets, enjoy!

Essentially yours, 

Erika

The Gathering Place - Green Baby Fair

(Sorry this post took so long, renovations at home have set us back to say the least!)

The Green Baby Fair was a complete success! Thanks to the kind people at The Gathering Place and all of their sponsors. They made this newbie blogger feel right at home! I met so many awesome people with incredible products!

First let me start off by saying I was supposed to have a babysitter for both of my boys so that I could focus all of my attention on the fair. This did not happen, so here they are at the fair with me! 

When they say baby/ kid friendly they meant it! These guys were surprisingly entertained the entire day!

We started off at the "O'Baby" booth where they were kindly giving anatomy scans to any mom-to-be! (Jealous!) 

They had the coolest stuffed animals that could record your baby's heartbeat,so anytime you felt like hearing that magical sound you can just squeeze your stuffy! How awesome is that? 

The days of waiting until the next ultrasound are over!! 

My next stop was with the wonderful mommies from Zippyz. 

These are the coolest pajamas ever! Where were these when my squirmy boys were small? (Okay, truth be told I make big babies. They may have never been small!)

These snap up top and zip the rest of the way! 

You can check them out at www.littletrendyz.com, or find them on Facebook at Zippyz by Little Trendyz. Enter coupon code ERIKA20 for 20% off!

Of course I was drawn to the beautifully displayed doTerra booth by the wonderful smells of Wild Orange and Eucalyptus in the air! 

Being a wellness advocate for doTerra myself, I was nervous but excited to attend the mini workshop offered. I worried the boys wouldn't be able to sit through it without interruption. Double stroller in tow, off we went! 

Here they are keeping themselves busy for about 40 mins! (That's big for us) the other twenty minutes I spent exchanging snacks for their (semi) silence. (Mom of the year right here folks) 

The workshop was so informative and chock full of giveaways and totally worth it! I won this great aromatherapy book!

Of course I had to stop by the booth afterwards and pick up some goodies to take home...

(This diffuser is by far the best I have tried!)

(I use these travel oils daily!)

Needless to say it had already been quite a day, it was time for a lunch break. Luckily The Gathering Place had arranged for a couple of food trucks to be there. 

I chose The Health Nut, they had a pretty extensive menu offering vegan and paleo options for every meal.

For the record, this was quite possibly the best chicken sandwhich I've ever had.

With full bellies we move on! 

Well, some of us.. Nugget needed a nap!  

(Thank goodness for the super comfy reclining seats in the Bugaboo Donkey!)

We stumbled upon Barefoot Books, such a cool twist on the Grimms Fairytales. All characters are more lifelike, while staying true to the original storyline. Most books have a read along CD inside too, perfect for long car rides!

Our favorite was the Barefoot Books original "The Gigantic Turnip".

There were tons of booths dedicated to teeny babies, such as Melo Pima. All Pima cotton products for your teeny bundle. My favorite was their hooded bath towel. All clothing is made from 100% Peruvian Pima cotton.

You can check them out at www.melopima.com 

Last but not least we stopped of at Tutti Bambini's display to check out the popular Beco carrier. 

I loved getting to meet the wonderful ladies at Tutti Bambini and discussing the highly anticipated upcoming Miami's Ultimate Baby Affair 2015 in February. 

All in all the day was a success! I thoroughly enjoyed meeting new people and learning all about new products and vendors. I can't wait to see what they have to offer next year! 

Essentially yours,

Erika

Tip of the day: Microwave Cleaning

If you are anything like me, you hate cleaning the sticky splatter off of the top of your microwave too! It seems it just takes forever sometimes, and the scrubbing is oh so fun. Imagine my excitement when I came across a wonderful all natural cleaning tip. Its super easy and I start it when I first start my dishes, its all finished by the time I am done with dishes! You will need: A glass bowl 1/2 cup of white distilled vinegar (I use this for everything! Best to buy in bulk!) 1 cup of water (Tap is fine) You can add a few drops of essential oil if the smell of vinegar is too strong for you. (it only lasts a few minutes, but I use lemon essential oil sometimes. Thats it! So to start, you pour the ingredients into the glass bowl and put the settings on your microwave to 4 minutes on high. Then, let the mixture sit in the microwave for ten minutes with the door closed. When you open the microwave door grab a sponge and wipe away, the sticky residue comes right off! You could even use a paper towel if you'd like. (I try to stay away from these, reduce reuse recycle!) Hope you enjoy this tip, it sure has freed up some time for me! Essentially yours, Erika

Essential Oils: On the go!

I can't tell you how many times I've been on the go and needed my oils! You can imagine my excitement when I found this awesome keychain travel kit! 

It conveniently fits eight oils for emergency on the go use. I still have to figure out which eight will make the cut. 

I love that it came with the adorable tiny amber glass bottles! I can't wait to fill them all up and take them on the road! I'm sure this will get plenty of mileage! 

Essentially yours,

Erika