How green are you? Take our quick & easy 2010 Earth Day Survey and you could be one of the first to see Disney's new film OCEANS!
Simply answer our 10 questions here and you'll automatically be entered to win a family pass to an exclusive advance screening of Disneynature's latest film OCEANS on April 15th. We've teamed up with Disney to offer you the chance to win a family pass (4 tickets) to an advance event in one of the following cities: Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Toronto and Ottawa. This is a chance for you and your family to get a sneak peek at Disney's latest film coming to cinemas nationwide on Earth Day, April 22nd.Bonus entries - increase your chances of winning a family pass to OCEANS:
- Become a Lavish & Lime fan on facebook
- Sign up for our Lavish & Lime e-newsletter here
- Follow us on twitter
& let us know about it at the end of the survey.
As an added incentive to take a few minutes for our survey, you'll receive $5 off your next purchase at Lavish & Lime. Survey & OCEANS Giveaway end midnight PST, Monday, April 12th. For more information, click here. Take a sneak peek below at the trailer for OCEANS. We guarantee you won't want to miss out on the opportunity to see it first!
Earth Hour 2010 is this weekend which means lights out on Saturday night from 8:30-9:30pm for hundreds of millions across the globe.
It started in Sydney, Australia in 2007 when 2.2 million people turned out their lights to take a stand against climate change. Last year more than 4000 cities in 88 countries took part. Landmarks like Rome's Colosseum, San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge and Toronto's CN Tower went dark as a symbol of hope for sustainability.
What will you be doing for Earth Hour? Cozying up for a romantic dinner? Having friends around? We plan to take the kids for a short walk in the dark then settle in for some storytelling by candlelight.
Here's a thought. Why not make Earth Hour every hour? There's so many ways to lessen our impact on the environment - and they're small, easy steps. How about hanging your clothes to dry once in a while rather than throwing them in the dryer every time? Or aim to get everyone ready a little earlier so you have time to walk the kids to school (we've found, they actually prefer it to driving!).
People everywhere are taking little steps and making a difference - let's keep it up!
What will you be doing during Earth Hour? Please leave a comment below and let us know. We'd love to hear from you! For more ideas about living life a little greener, visit Lavish & Lime.
Still feeling the luck of the Irish in the aftermath of St. Patty's Day? Try your luck and enter a family-friendly giveaway at My Wee View.
There's loads of different giveaways to choose from and lots of exciting prizes to be won! The best part is, this is a Canadian-based blog site run by a lovely Mom out of Nova Scotia.Best of luck!
This weekend we decided to forego the gorgeous cherry blossoms around town and head onwards and upwards for a bit of fun in the snow (and some allergy relief) instead.
We left this...
For a couple hours of this...
A 30 minute drive that was well worth the trip. The kids loved it - a bit of tobagganing, a snowball fight and a picnic in the snow. It was a litterless lunch we packed, naturally. Nothing quite beats a steaming cup of homemade hot chocolate up on a mountain. Yet again, we were amazed at how well our Thinksport bottles kept their contents hot - and our eco basket worked a charm as the perfect picnic hold all.
Two seasons, one day. How lucky we are to live in Vancouver.
Visit online eco boutique Lavish & Lime for more waste-free lunch ideas in our On the Go category. Any thoughts or ideas about a recent memorable lunch experience you've had? We'd love to hear from you. Please leave a comment below.
Did you know dryer lint is compostable? That you can make dough - even candles - out of it? Instead of simply throwing it in the garbage, there are a few ways you can reuse your lint.
1. Compost it. When you clean out your lint trap, toss it in the compost instead of the trash.
2. Dryer lint makes a great fire starter. In fact, it may be the easiest and most effective homemade fire starter around. It burns hot and fast and only needs a spark to get it going. Take the lint directly from the dryer and put it in a sealable container. As long as it's kept dry, it will be ready when you need it. Ideal for camping, wood stoves and fireplaces.3. Make modeling dough - yes, dough. Simply mix with water and flour as below, and voila - hours of fun for the kids direct from your dryer!
To make lint modeling dough:
- Place 3 cups (shredded) dryer lint into a pot.
- Pour in 2 cups water.
- Stir in 1 cup flour.
- Add ½ teaspoon vegetable oil.
- Stir continuously over low heat until the mixture binds together and is of a smooth consistency.
- Pour onto a sheet of wax paper to cool.
And if you're feeling creative yourself, you can always make paper out of lint from your dryer. Another adventurous option is lint candles, all you need is an egg carton, some candle stubs and of course, lint.
Whatever you do with it, cleaning out the lint from your dryer is a good idea. If not cleaned, the tray can become a fire hazard. Apparently, almost 20 people die every year from home fires attributed to this.
For more ideas about living life a little greener, visit Canadian online eco boutique Lavish & Lime. Do you have an eco-tip you'd like to share? Please leave a comment below. We'd love to hear from you!
Before we realized it, the damage was done. In typical 2010 Olympic spirit, we were at a local kick-off event and whilst our heads were turned our seven-year-old daughter lined up with a friend to have a Canada flag tattoo affixed to her forehead. 
You might think 'affixed' is a strong word to use for a temporary tattoo, but temporary it was not.
After the obligatory - and patriotic - day or so of wearing it, we decided to wash off the tattoo. We scrubbed and rubbed with soap and water and lotion and not a lot was happening. I left the bathroom and when I came back, out of desperation, our daughter had taken an emery board to the tattoo.
We quickly put an end to her innovative emery board technique yet it had removed the majority of the tattoo, so everything seemed alright - until the next morning.
She woke up with scratchy scabs all across her poor forehead. We vowed there and then, no more tattoos, no matter what. It took the better part of a week to heal, even with our calendula cream. 
We normally use our non-toxic Lyra face paint pencils but because we were out and caught up in the Olympic moment I guess she/we got carried away. Never again. She's learned (and us too) to stick to what we know and trust and that's our own face paint crayons. Any designs we make with our crayons come off easily, even our three-year-old can remove them herself. And they're easy to use - no water required - just start drawing. Plus they're completely lead-free, unlike so many other face paint products on the market today.Lesson learned. The hard way.Lyra face paint pencils are made in Germany and are available in two different colour packs - basic and plus. For more information, visit Lavish & Lime. Have you had a bad experience with your kids and tattoos? Any thoughts or ideas about natural face paints? Please leave your comment below. We'd love to hear from you!
