Celebrate the day with a toast to the homeland!

I am feeling green today, but that's because the Irish half of me is getting restless. It must know it's St. Patrick's Day. I can hardly wait until tonight when a bunch of us gather at my dad's for a for our yearly feed of stick-to-your-ribs Irish stew and a couple of pints. Though I almost always drink local beer (I feel it's very important to support local microbreweries), tonight I'll indulge in some Guinness to make my grandpa proud. Hopefully tonight I'll make it out the door before my dad starts singing along to The Chieftains or The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem. Another St. Patrick's Day tradition we have is to enjoy some of grandma's delicious potato bread (Christine Picheca blogged about it yesterday in her Foodie Files. You must try it!).

In order to make your St. Patrick's Day celebration as green as possible, opt out of buying all those plastic party favours (hats, plastic beaded necklaces, green Hawaiian lays) that you wear once and then throw out. None of these things can be tossed in the recycling bin. Plus, they're all made worlds away and are shipped thousands of miles to get to us.

How will you be celebrating St. Patrick's Day?

Need some ideas to celebrate? Check out

A great Irish feast
St. Patrick's Day cocktail recipes

Also, don't forget to enter to win a Filter For Good prize pack!

Pound the pavement for your cause!

It's that time of year when spring feels like it's just around the corner, and for me, I feel a strong urge it to get back into my running. I try my best to run regularly in the winter, but it just isn't the same, so come spring I'm out the four times a week - rain or shine. In anticipation of the upcoming Green Living Show here in Toronto (it takes place at the end of April), I was browsing around their site and came across information for the Earth Run.

This April, the Green Living Show will host Toronto's first ever Earth Run on Sunday April 26 at the Exhibition Place. Signing up for this race will help you kill two birds with one stone - it's the perfect opportunity for you to help raise funds for local environmental initiatives and for you to get fit just in time for summer. The run is a mellow 5 kilomotres long, so now if the perfect time for you to get outside and get training.

There are also Earth Runs in Vancouver and Ottawa, as well as the United States and Spain, for those of you outside of Toronto.

For more info, or to sign up for the race, visit www.earthrun.com.

Have you been spending more time outdoors in anticipation of spring? How do you plan to get back in shape after the long, cold winter?

Yesterday, I attended a book launch for A Good Catch, by Jill Lambert at Seafood Oyster Bed and Grill in Toronto.

The origin and method of catch of the seafood that graces our dinner tables is becoming more of a concern as we become more aware that stocks are depleting. However, it can be hard to become a conscience consumer all of a sudden. In her book, Lambert helps to make the transition easier by explaining what the best and most responsible choices are. The book also features (more...)

It's probably pretty easy to forget about being green on Halloween. I mean, the day comes upon us so quickly and then ends just as fast. All we have left to show for it is mounds of itty bitty chocolate bar wrappers in the garbage bin under our desks (I'm extra guilty of that one) and a long-lasting sugar high. But just because Halloween is a one-day event, it doesn't mean you have to let go of your eco-conscious ways. There are many ways to practice being green, and I recommend you start with you kids.

National Geographic's Green Guide explains that the Halloween makeup kits your kids use contain (more...)

To all of those who live in and around the Greater Toronto Area should take a trip to Woodbridge this coming weekend to check out the 4th annual Green Home Show. The event will showcase the most innovative tools in home energy saving available today. The list includes solar, wind, green electricity, water, recyclables, and bed and bath products.

The show will be held this coming weekend, Saturday September 27 and Sunday September 28 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. It takes place at Kortright at the Living City Campus at 9550 Pine Valley Drive in Woodbridge, Ontario. Admission for adults is $8, for student and seniors is $5 and kids under 15 get in for free.

The lucky attendees can get a tour of the Archetype Sustainable House (seen at the left) where they will be able to check out the latest energy devices in action – how cool is that? They're also welcome to participate in any of the seminars (visit www.kortright.org/ghs for info on the seminars) and are invited to take a hike on the Energy Trail where they will encounter wind turbines, grid connected photovoltaics and an energy self-sufficient cottage with a wood stove and a composting! There is also a kid's program that will educate your tots on all things energy related. Sounds like it's going to be an action-packed show!

For more information, visit www.kortright.org/ghs.

Also, don't forget to make a comment here, on Tuesday's blog post, to leave your best green cleaning tip. The person who shares the best green cleaning tip will win a copy of Green This! Greening Your Cleaning, by Deirdre Imus (I spoke about this book in a past post. Check out the book here). Simply leave a reply below! You have one week to leave you tip on this post, and I’ll announce the winner next Tuesday.