Savings all over the place, and pumpkin seeds October 22, 2009

We will be featured on Kid Steals this Monday, October 26 starting 9am MST at an unbelievable price!  Make sure to get there early before our featured products sell out (especially frog and penguin fans…)

Also, our November Warehouse sale is coming up, so start making your wishlist now if you are a Bay Area local: we will have selected styles from our current line at wholesale prices, as well as some old favorites.  It’s happening the 20-22nd of November at our San Rafael outlet. To download a flyer, click here.  And if you’re looking for something to do with leftover pumpkin seeds from your pumpkin carving adventures, here’s a delicious recipe!

Tablecloths are here! October 16, 2009

Perfect for a sunny brunch, baking project, or fancy dinner, our adult tablecloth collection allows everyone to eat, spill, and be happy. Easy to wipe off, machine washable, our tablecloths showcase classic Swedish design on beautifully textured linen/cotton cloth with the ecologically sound acrylic coating that give all Mimi products durability and easy care. Make mealtimes stylish and stress-free. The linen-cotton blend has a heavier weight and higher thread count than our cotton eating accessories, with the same soft and supple feel.

You can order them here!

Have a wonderful green Tuesday everyone!! September 24, 2009

We are brewing something great at Mimi the Sardine – adult acryclic-coated linen tablecloths.  In preparation for this excitement, here’s a recipe from Mindful Mama that involves the kids!

Coastal Cleanup Day this Saturday! September 17, 2009

Want to participate in coastal cleanup day?  Go to the California Coastal Commission’s site if you’re a Californian, or just put in your town name and “Coastal Cleanup” into Google.  You can also read about the effect of plastic bags in our oceans here, and think about grabbing your reusable shopping bags (an old favorite, the apples shopper, is back online!) when heading out!

Not healthy, but who cares? September 16, 2009

This recipe for Lemon Drizzle Cake with Crystallized Rose Petals sounds amazing.  It’s from the Sweet Kitchen, which is in Britain, but I stumbled across it and wanted to share it.  Oj!  Sometimes you hear so much about what is bad for you that it makes me want to stuff my face with cake.

Or here’s something heartwarming and cool!

Back to work after labor day … September 9, 2009

And I’m reading about BPA levels and low dose toxin testing in article from Living on Earth.  Here’s a couple fun quotes from the interview of Pete Myers, chief scientist of Environmental Health Sciences.

“Our regulatory safety net, the FDA or the EPA, the all depend upon a core assumption – that when they test at high doses those tests will reveal what’s happening at low doses. The problem is that when you’re dealing with contaminants that behave like hormones, it doesn’t work that way.”

“There’s a battle underway today over bispenol A. The low dose experiments say it’s risky and we shouldn’t be using it with food products. But to date the agency reviews of bisphenol A have basically depended upon traditional high dose experiments by contract laboratories, and have not been willing to pay attention to the low dose studies published by academic scientists doing this new research.

Another endocrine disrupting compound that has been shown to have these different effects at low doses than at high doses are some of the phthalates, a common plasticizer added to plastic to make it pliable and soft. This fascinating work showing that at really low doses phthalates alter our responsiveness to allergens. They make us hyper allergic. So the standard tests that are used to assess toxicity don’t even begin to tell you about this effect of phthalates.”

On a perkier note, here’s a review of our BPA and phthalate-free lunchbugs on an Island Life (by the way, all our products are BPA and phthalate-free)!

Get pumped for Friday! September 2, 2009

Here in the Bay Area, there is a lot of dread surrounding Friday as they are closing the Bay Bridge for 4 days meaning congestion on the road worse than sinusitis.

However, Friday is a good day for any Mimi the Sardine customer looking to get a steal of 50-80% off of our splashmat and bib set.  Baby Steals, a company that sells one product a day at steep discounts, will be featuring our frog and penguin splashmat and bibs on Friday starting at 9 am MST.  They often sell out early, so get there quick!

Moving green September 2, 2009

Mindful mama put out this article about bringing art to your child during your travels.

According to travelhorizons™, the quarterly consumer survey co-authored by the U.S. Travel Association and partnership:

“The percentage of American travelers who consider themselves “environmentally conscious” has not changed since 2007 (78 percent); however, there has been a remarkable increase in the percentage who report familiarity with the term “carbon footprint” (from 12 percent in July 2007 to 54 percent in July 2009). Awareness of the term “green travel” also improved from 9 percent in July 2007 to 22 percent in July 2009. Despite these increases, only 9 percent of consumers say they are willing to pay more to use travel service suppliers that offer eco-friendly options for travelers, and only three percent have purchased a carbon offset when booking travel.”

How do you travel green?

We were voted top 5 best back to school lunchbug August 26, 2009

Check out greenzer.com for green tips and ideas, as well as to see our spot on the top 5 green lunchbags!

Singing the praises of PVC-free! August 26, 2009

The Center for Health, Environment, and Justice is working on an anti-PVC campaign called “PVC: The Poison Plastic”.  Here are some quotes:

“Our bodies are contaminated with poisonous chemicals released during the PVC lifecycle, such as mercury, dioxins, and phthalates, which may pose irreversible life-long health threats.  When produced or burned, PVC plastic releases dioxins, a group of the most potent synthetic chemicals ever tested, which can cause cancer and harm the immune and reproductive systems.”

“PVC plants are disproportionately located in low-income communities and communities of color, making the production of PVC a major environmental justice concern”

Besides this, PVC is dangerous to fire-fighters when burned and is a recycling contaminant (meaning that the presence one bottle of PVC can keep 100,000 PET bottles from being recycled).

If you’re looking for an alternative to PVC products, Mimi the Sardine’s entire product line is completely PVC-free!  For more PVC products, download this guide.