As my friend Whitney likes to say, “The Internet is a small place”. This rings so true especially when tragedy strikes, and word travels like wildfire to make the world a much more connected place. Thus we come to “Nie Nie Day”.

The backstory is tragic and emotional. Writer Stephanie Nielson, of the immensely popular Nie Nie Dialogues, and her husband Christian were in a private plane crash last week, and are in critical condition. They have four children, and I have read that their hospital bills will amass over a million dollars. Design Mom, one of my most favorite and long read blogs, first posted about Nie Nie and created “Nie Nie Day” to honor this beautiful family. Additionally, Design Mom emailed bloggers and urged them to hold silent auctions this weekend to help raise money for the Stephanie and Christian Paypal Fund (proceeds will go directly and only to the Nielson family). Man, have people delivered.

Head over to Design Mom and spend the rest of your weekend deciding what to bid on. Whitney from The Silly Wagon has a bunch of adorable items up for grabs over at Tangled and True, along with many other silent auctions. I am not hosting a silent auction, but I will be bidding on a few items. There are SO many to choose from - over 275 auctions in total - ranging from handmade jewelry, baby items, spa services, clothing, and some big ticket goodies that hopefully with raise a ton of money. Some Etsy shops and other on-line stores are offering a portion of sales for the weekend to go directly to the fund, and many have very affordable things - check Design Mom for specific shops.

The response for Nie Nie and her family is truly inspiring. And, when you’re done bidding, go hug your kids and kiss your spouse. Call your family and friends and tell them you love them. Look in the mirror and say hi and remember how lucky you are to have whatever it is you have. Pray if you do, cry if you need to. And please pass this along. Thanks.

Is it almost September already? As we’ve been rushing around to start school, I couldn’t believe it when someone reminded me that Labor Day weekend is coming up. If you’re lucky enough to live in the Bay area, you’ve hopefully already made your plans to hit up Slow Food Nation, an unprecendented “slow food” event this weekend, from August 29th through September 1st.

What is slow food, anyway? It’s exactly what you think. The opposite of everything you know about fast food, the slow food movement pushes for local, fair trade, sustainable, healthy, GOOD food. The organization Slow Food USA aims to not only treat food well, but makes sure farmers receive funding, education, and support from communities. Famed cooks and food writers such as Alice Waters (of the restaurant Chez Panisse), and authors Michael Pollan (The Omnivore’s Dilemma) and Eric Schlosser (Fast Food Nation) will be speaking to motivate everyone to support this truly grassroots effort to keep food pure and simple.

Slow Food Nation is jam-packed with events, including the largest farmer’s market ever assembled, an impressive concert line-up, hiking and food tours of San Francisco, cooking and tasting workshops, and much more. It’s been called “The Lollapalooza of Food,” and I’m sure anyone who goes will have all their senses just bombarded with amazing sights, smells and tastes. Most events at Slow Food Nation are free, but some are ticketed, so please check out the schedule before you go! And if you do make it, please share how wonderful it is!

A year ago, I was living in Panama and starting teensygreen the only way I knew how - by emailing, contacting and searching for people to connect with. I met Emily, creator of subu, inc. handmade recycled notebooks through a crafting website. Since she has the word “recycled” in her offerings, I jumped on it. Being a notebook fanatic, I not only ordered some custom notebooks from her, but launched my very first giveaway. Emily must have had a huge email circle, because I couldn’t believe how many responses I received after only writing for a couple of weeks! (It helps that her notebooks are no less than awesome.)

subu’s notebooks rock, not only because I can carry them in my bag, but they have an artsy vibe to them so even my grocery lists seem cooler. Emily has really expanded her line, with many different designs and sizes. The best part is she uses discarded printer paper, so you may find some quirky paper inside. But that’s all part of the fun. You can also get them customized, from the color of the cover to the image printed on it, from words to flowers, to, um, Bill Clinton. These are great for teens looking for funky additions to their school supplies, but you may want to keep them for yourself!

This week, two winners will each received two subu notebooks each! Just leave a comment with an answer to this tough question - which subu notebook will you be jotting notes down in if you could? This giveaway is open until next Monday, September (!) 1st at midnight, PST. Good luck!

This contest is now closed! Keep an eye out for more giveaways soon!

My daughter’s first week of school, while thrilling for everyone, has also been thoroughly exhausting (if you haven’t noticed the silence this week). For this weekend’s news, I turned to my Twitter friends, who post links to their own blog posts as well as news from around the ’sphere. Here are some of the best of this week!

@maxgladwell - Max Gladwell outlines the new Kiva B4B Credit Card, which allows you to brings microloans to businesses in developing countries simply by shopping. My husband and I have supported Kiva for a couple of years now, and have been impressed by the program and the people who work so hard to make a better life for their families.

@TiffanyWashko, AKA Nature Mom, posted an article on the awesomeness of green smoothies. They might sound a little intimidating, but drinking your greens (mixed with fruits for flavor and added vitamins, of course) provides health benefits we’re probably not getting in our daily meals. Worth a try!

@jetsongreen has posted a very comprehensive list of “Must Follow Green Twitter Feeds”. I’m proud to have been included with other great blogs, news sites and individuals all striving to get the eco-news out. Check out this list and add to your Twitter friends today!

@greenyourdecor has a great compilation of green “Deals, Steals and Giveaways”, as well as even more great links around the web. Stay awhile at this great site for green design ideas for your home!

The CEO of Zappos is at the closing ceremony of the Olympics, and he’s posting some amazing pictures! Start following him to get a glimpse inside the Bird’s Nest!

Tropical Storm Fay is here, school is closed, and what better way to celebrate being stuck indoors than a great, tried and true recipe. This may be more fitting in wintertime, but with the air running and rain outside, it almost feels like it. This is Florida’s take on the snowstorm, after all! Pair the soup with your favorite grilled cheese, macaroni and cheese, or top with cheese for total yummy-ness.

Organic Creamy Tomato Soup (recipe from Whole Foods Cookbook):

24 ounces tomato puree

2 cups organic chicken or vegetable stock

2/3 cup organic half-and-half or milk

sea salt, to taste

ground pepper, to taste

Heat tomato puree with stock, and simmer. Remove and whisk in half-and-half. Season and top with your favorite garnish!

Hope everyone has a safe day!

How can we talk about back-to-school without trying to figure out how to manage it all? I keep an on-line calendar, use the one on my phone, keep a notebook with me at all times…and sometimes I still feel disorganized. Even with all the ways to keep your day in check, there are always possibilities for more help. This year, I’m trying a more conventional approach - a great big calendar for my kitchen wall that I can see plain and clear!

Time Too has many solutions for your growing family and all the scheduling that comes with it. Their Baby Tracker line looks awesome for new parents who need to monitors baby’s feeding and sleeping times, as well as all the milestones in between, in a convenient notebook. It comes in a 24 hour view, and comes in either a single book, or as a fill for a binder. Considering the way my baby notebooks looked in my girls’ infant days, this would have come in way handier (and kept me a lot better organized!)

I have Time Too’s Family Tracker ready to go (it’s school year-based, so it begins in September, although for us Southern folks TODAY is the beginning of the school year!). The calendar is SUPER-big, with large squares on each date to write plenty of activities, birthday reminders, and ballet and soccer practice times. Morning, noon and night are even colored coded, so you don’t scribble date night with your spouse right next to the teacher meeting and get them confused! There’s also plenty of room for notes, phone numbers, to-do lists, anything you need to keep your family running smooth. The Family Tracker and journal pages are also made from recycled paper, and have a neat little stamp on them showing an “eco-audit” of the trees, water and energy saved while making Time Too products.

I have a giant Family Tracker wall calendar for one ready-to-run family! Time Too has a bunch of other wonderful products to choose from, so please click around and tell me - what would be your perfect Time Too organization tool for your family? Please leave a comment here, as usual. This contest will be open until next Monday, August 25th at midnight, PST. Good luck, and for many of you, happy back to school!

This contest is now closed! Thanks to everyone for entering! 

What an amazing time to be a kid who eats lunch! When I started my search for a PVC-free, lead-free lunchbag two years ago, it was slim pickings. Now, you can find so many wonderful and functional lunchbags to fit the style and personality of your kids. Because lunch should be as fun as school, right? Many schools don’t allow metal lunchboxes, because they’re difficult to store in the fridge, but I threw one in for bigger kids. Here are my favs for this back-to-school season:

For the Animal Lover - I flipped over these BUILT Munchlers lunch bags, and I think if I didn’t already have too many lunch-carrying options I would buy every one of them. They’re made from soft-sided polypropylene, tested safe for food, lead free, and easy for small hands to open themselves. The coolest part, aside from carrying around fab animals, is that the bag folds out to a placemat! That means clean lunch space and the bag stores flat when your kids finally put them down! They also come in a wearable lunch pack option.

For the Futurist - Fleurville has come a long way since their original Mothership bags, and their Lunch Pak is a proven hit with the preschool set. The PVC-free bag can be worn as a backpack or carried, and is completely insulated with a wipeable interior. It comes in a totally mod design (they could have named it a Lunch “Pod”) with great colors for both boys and girls. I’m hoping they’ll eventually make this bag as part of their Re-Run line and save some plastic bottles from landfills in the future!

For the Whimsical Set - I wrote about Mimi the Sardine bags for my very first teensygreen post, and I still hail these bags as our go-to lunch/snack/art supply/all around bag. Mimi the Sardine bags are made from 100 percent lead free, PVC-free, and meets the Oeko-Tex 100 Standard for safe textiles. They’re so fun to carry around, I mean, your kids will look so adorable carrying these to school!

For Kids Who Love Opening Boxes (and Well Coordinated Lunches) - Bento boxes are all the rage, but many of them (AKA cheap ones) have lids that always open and spill. My younger daughter loves her Laptop Lunch Bento system for many reasons. One, she eats like a bird, and having the ability to put a bunch of different foods together without plastic baggies makes both of us happy. Second, she gets to open all those little boxes herself - like food presents! Laptop Lunch wil save you a lot on plastic wraps and bags, and you can buy extra boxes in great colors. You also get their lunch menu cookbook, with awesome photos of lunch ideas that will make you instantly hungry!

For Older Kids - I first saw the tiffin lunch system while watching Anthony Bourdain eat his way through India. Men called “dabbawalas” or literally, “one who carries a box,” collect these stainless steel lunch boxes from suburban homes, deliver them miles away to their respective lunch recipients, and return the tiffins to their homes. Apparently they have amazing delivery accuracy (wish I could say the same for some places near my house)! These tiffins have made their way here, and I think they’re super sleek and old-fashioned all at the same time. Tiffins come in various sizes, from two to four tiers, can be insulated, and are sealed for no spillage. I think these would be great for older kids who are past the swinging-lunchbag phase, and who can manipulate the tiffin opening, which can be tricky.

Don’t think I’ve forgotten about the boys! If you have a little boy just starting school and could use a little extra support during their first weeks, I love the idea of putting something small and comforting in their backpack. I thought these handmade cars and trucks from Etsy shop Clickity Clack fits great in backpacks, or waiting for kids in the car to play with after a long school day. ClickityClack uses scrap wood from other projects to make these smaller cars and trucks, and they have a ton of other beautiful wooden toys to choose from!

If your boys still love their “loveys”, Molly’s Knitted Teddy Bears can easily fit right in! Totally huggable and adorable, who wouldn’t want to go to school with these guys?

Of course, girls can love them too!

At the beginning of a new school year, at least for the last couple of years (my girls are only three and five years old, of course), I’ve had two rituals to help comfort my kids as they go through a re-separation. One is to buy a new, handmade doll, and the other is to put something in their backpack that they can look at or hold when they need some reassurance. Tonight, my younger daughter was very upset when she realized her big sister is off to a big kindergarten classroom without her. So this year, I thought I’d have sister dolls made for my girls, who will be in separate schools for the first time.

Etsy has been THE go-to place for me to buy beautiful, fun handcrafted dolls. This back-to-school, I found these adorable dolls from Two Stars. Hand sewn and embroidered by Wendy KayP, and made with linen and cotton, these smiley dolls remind me so much of little girls! And as Wendy explains, the dolls have been tested by her two stars, her twin daughters, to withstand all the tea parties, danceathons, stroller races, and in my case, backpack adventures, they can handle.

Do you have back-to-school rituals for your kids? I’d love to hear how you incorporate comfort into your kid’s newest school endeavours!

I don’t know where you live, but here in Florida we’re on a ONE WEEK countdown to kindergarten. One week gives me not too much time to get ready for school supplies, earlier wake-ups, new teacher, classroom, and the hundreds of other tiny details to make the first day of school as stress free (and tear free) as possible. So for the next couple of weeks, I’ll be covering a lot of Back to School stuff, from the littlest kids to the ones you’re getting ready to send to college and beyond.

One important part of back to school gear is, of course, the backpack. For the past two years we’ve had to buy new packs, after the old ones seem to fall apart at the end of the year and are unrecyclable. I’m also not a big fan of character backpacks, so it was a pleasure to find Ecogear/Ecotech bags. For this giveaway, Ecogear/Ecotech has every kid covered, with organic fabrics and PVC-free materials for their unique, roomy and totally rugged bags for tots to teens and beyond. They’ve even patented a new material, called Ecoweave, which is clean to recycle and toxin-free. My husband has even belted the Snow Leopard around his waist when he’s on his scooter! Ecogear/Ecotech has a ton of new products coming out in coming months, so keep checking back about your favorites!

We’re going to have two winners this week! One winner will have their choice of either a Snow Leopard, Movhave Tui or Bighorn big kid pack from the Ecotech line. For the younger set, one winner can choose their favorite color of the Panda backpack from Ecogear. Please leave a comment at this post with your preference of backpack and what other bags you think would look good stuffed with books, sports gear or anything else your kid lug around with them!

This giveaway will be open for one week, until Monday, August 18th at midnight PST. Good luck!

This contest is now closed! Thanks for entering!