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Watching: Tampa Bay vs. Dallas - NFL Football Game (Theo is watching it, I'm sitting on the couch with the laptop.)

Tuesday afternoon I went to the Rideau Centre to run a few errands and browse for ideas for Christmas gifts. I am of two minds when it comes to Christmas shopping. Mostly I despise the consumer culture that now surrounds the holiday season. I like that for my family it is more about spending time together. That being said, we buy gifts for each other (immediate family only).

For my parents and my grandmother I have bought, for the second year in a row, tickets to the Vinyl Café at the National Arts Centre. It's a CBC radio show hosted by Stuart McLean, and there's music (Canadian, of course) and he has these stories he tells of Dave and Morley and their two kids. It's very homey, old-style, feel-good kind of stories – but they're the kind everyone can relate to. This gift I find very fitting for the holidays especially. We get to spend time together and do something nice we normally don't get to do.

No toys... just something to eat thanks.

I am also of two minds when it comes to tomorrow: Buy Nothing Day. I like that this day (the busiest holiday shopping day of the season) is encouraging people to think critically about their consumption, about the meaning of buying, and hopefully about production as well. There is even a smaller, growing movement called Buy Nothing Christmas!

However, I also like the campaigns that various breast cancer awareness groups do, and the new (RED) campaigns as well. If you're going to buy something – at least have something where some of the profits go to a good cause. I guess this approach is a little more of the opinion "If people are going to buy – we should take advantage of it."

Perhaps those types of campaigns are going to be a step in the right direction towards certified organics, fair trade, local products etc…

Speaking of which, there are two fabulous things I want to share and I don't know which one I'm excited about more.

Goodsearch.com is essentially a search engine where a penny is donated to a cause of your choice every time you use it to search. There is a huge directory to pick from; including charities and schools - you can even add your own. You pick one the first time and you can always have that be your cause when you go to the site to search, or you can spread the wealth and choose a different one each time if you'd like. I like to give to the D.C. Central Kitchen (after reading Begging For Change: The Dollars and Sense of Making Nonprofits Responsive, Efficient and Rewarding For All – I was inspired by its goal and vision) and the Rainforest Action Network among others.

My recent internally ramblings have often been about proper choices in consumption. I try to buy fair trade, certified organic, local etc. whenever I can.

So what's a girl to do when she gets married? Have a diamond ring which could be conflict diamonds? Even if they aren't conflict diamonds, they likely destroyed the environment quite a bit in the mining and refining process…. No ring? I seriously considered that. But I like the mythology/reasoning behind having wedding rings. (A never ending circle; worn on the ring finger because it was originally thought to have a vein that ran directly to the heart…) My want of a ring and my need for something more eco-friendly has been answered: greenkarat.com!