All's Fair in Love? It's Up to You.

How are you celebrating Valentine's Day? Do the traditional flowers and box of chocolates appear somewhere in your idea of a romantic holiday?

This year you can spread the love globally with fair trade flowers and chocolates for your sweetie.

According to TransFair USA, 2008 marks the first Valentine's Day when fair trade flowers have been available to U.S. customers. Flowers that are fair trade certified have been grown according to stringent environmental standards. The growers have received fair wages for their work, and profit from the sales goes back into the community.

Don't forget to select some fairly traded chocolate to complete your recipe for romance. Fair trade chocolate is available in many local grocery stores, including Whole Foods and many independent stores specializing in organic foods.

If you think your love would prefer something a bit more, ahem, shiny for Valentine's Day, then I strongly suggest a gift certificate from ghia. Delivered via e-mail, the gift certificates are great last minute gifts for busy bees who haven't had time to shop, and they allow your true love to find the fair trade jewelry or locally made accessory that is perfect for them!

I Wish

The holiday season is approaching, and for me that means it's time to update my gift wishlist.

As much as I would like to pretend I've shed my desire for material things, I love making lists of things that have caught my eye. And, after all, my family needs some gift ideas for me, right? :-)

In previous years, I've made my wishlist at a big-online-store-that-shall-go-unnamed. My wishlist at the mega-store worked well, but I found it lacking in a few things. What if I wanted to add a pillow made by an independent artist at Etsy, or I wanted to request a donation for my favorite charity? I could add many items to my wishlist, but there wasn't an easy way to ask for a giftcard to my favorite local stores.

So recently I've switched to Kaboodle, a service that lets me add to my wishlist products from any site. So now my favorite jewelry from ghia and my favorite gadgets from ThinkGeek can be on the same list with the books and DVDs I love. Plus, I can make my own wishlist items, like a wish for world peace or a request for money to take classes at the Nashville Jazz Workshop.

A friend of mine uses a similar site, The Things I Want, and it allows her to add everything from fabric for sewing projects to vintage clothes.

The wish list websites are a great way to let your friends and family know about products that fit your values, whether it's fair trade coffee or journals made from recycled paper.

Shameless Self-Promotion time: Did you know you can make your ghia wishlist? Just register on shopghia.com, add your favorite fair trade and local products, and send your list to your friends and family!

Vegan Shoes -- and They're Stylin'!

Thanks to Keesta! Blog, I just found this awesome site called Moo Shoes. The store focuses on vegan-friendly, cruelty-free products. The prices are a little high for my Target-leaning tastes, but they are fairly standard for cute, well-made shoes.

Check out one of my favorite product styles: