2nd Annual Very Green Birthday or Fun Green Ideas For Your Stay-Cation

Bonjour, mes amies! Happy August! August is such a bittersweet month, we are still enjoying the bright skies, riot of summer greenery and carefree living of the season, yet sense that fall, with all it of its crisp colorful glory, cooler days and additional parental school worries is right around the corner. Anyway, I also love August because it is the month of my introduction to the world. Last year I celebrated my very first Very Green Birthday with my son, by taking a tour of the other side of town's green retailers and restaurants. This year, as part of my 2nd Annual Very Green Birthday (four day weekend) I'm going to take some of the fantastic stay-cation ideas featured in the July issue of InStyle Magazine and add a few shades of green. So here is the plan:

Day 1)


Don't Do A Darn Thing You Don't Wanna Do - Self Explanatory

Day 2)

Treat Your Feet - Soak my feet in lavender (from the garden) infused water, scrub 'em down and beautify them with nail polish (OPI is toulene free now)

Try A New Something - Inspired by the lovely and adventurous blogger Rue of Outdoor Afro and the book "A Walk In The Woods", I'm going on a 5 mile off trail hike led by a lady ranger. The area was once part of the Underground Railroad.

Have a Picnic Under the Stars - Heading to a mini Shakespeare festival, picnic fixins in tow. If I have time, I will head to the Botanical Garden adjacent to the theatre stage, to admire the landscaping.

Host a Film Fest or Rent Some DVD's - I would like to say that I will be watching some environmental videos, but Mad Men Season Two will be in the DVD player. I will be munching on some organic popcorn and natural corn syrup free strawberry liquorice. One day if I'm feeling ambitious, I will host a backyard environmental film fest using a projector and a white sheet as described in the article.

Day 3)

Sleep Late on Monday - Enjoy a blender breakfast (berry smoothie with flax seed)

Putter In The Garden - I will plant another vine (wisteria) and toss in a couple of bamboo plants or you could create a cool succulent container garden that could be brought in after summer

Spice Up Your Workout - Saraina Jain of Slumdog Millionaire has a series of exercise videos available on http://www.masaladance.com/, but I'm going to settle for that yoga class that I haven't gotten around to taking all year

Bliss Out Your Bathroom - Gonna upgrade to bamboo towels, add a tiny vase of fresh flowers from the garden, throw in a pretty basket of handmade soaps and add a soy candle

Day 4) Happy Birthday!

Send Yourself Fresh Flowers - straight from my garden. Unless I'm making bouquets for grandma or neighboring kids, I really don't like to cut flowers from my garden, because they look so pretty outside. But since its my birthday, I will make myself a special arrangement to kick-off the celebration.

Pancakes - Every year for my son's birthday, I make him a special batch of pancakes from his favorite childhood tale, "Mgambo and The Tiger". This year, I will start a new tradition by making a batch of peanut butter pancakes with strawberry lemon topping and whipped cream (these are the bomb!). We will enjoy outdoors, weather permitting.

Dash Off A Note - Send a note of thanks and appreciation to friends and family members using vintage postcards.

Going Green - The goal is to rent a red Prius for the day, if not available, convertible Beetle baby!

Go On A Scavenger Hunt - Planning to do some shopping at some of Cleveland's coolest vintage stores with my son (will be interesting to see if he nabs any back to school finds). I will add a twist to the shopping trip - a scavenger hunt. Will create a list of objects we need to photograph throughout our day - the winner gets....haven't figured that part out yet.

Be A Four Star Foodie - Wrap up the shopping with lunch at Ohio's first green certified restaurant The Greenhouse Tavern. It specializes in French inspired locally produced, in season food. Bon appetit!

Ice Cream - Cash in my free birthday ice cream cone from Coldstone Creamery (Birthday Cake Remix of course). Just sign up on their website for your annual free treat.

Evening Picnic on The Front Yard - I used to picnic on the front yard with my baby when he was a little fella..... he is soooo not feeling that now, but I have had the urge to eat out there all summer, so I'm gonna go for it and will delight in the firefly-works.

Maximize a Mojito - Virgin mojitos baby! Simple syrup, raw cane sugar, lime juice and fresh mint, smash together, top with Vernor's ginger ale, stir, pour over ice - enjoy. Ahh!

Take A Bubble Bath - Finally use the bath bombs from Lush that my son bought me two Christmases ago and savor the memories from yet another Very Green Birthday.

Well, there you have it. That is the plan anyway. It will be interesting to see how much of it gets done in these four days, but I will have fun trying! You should try them for yourself, you'll like it.