a peek inside the fishbowl

Update: We have a winner! Was it you? Scroll down to the last comments in this post to see.  Thanks for all of your thoughtful entries everyone. I hope Santa brings you everything you wished for. :)

I think the recent snowfall we’ve had here in Ottawa has pressed the “fast forward” button on my Christmas. Normally I leave it to the last-minute, but this year I’m way ahead of schedule. I’m making plans, browsing the stores, humming Christmas tunes, and getting into the holiday spirit early for a change!

Over the past few years we’ve changed our outlook on Christmas gift giving. Here at Casa Fishbowl we have tried to shop more mindfully, and  make some of our purchase at neighborhood stores and buy things that are made a little closer to home. (There are a lot of reasons why we do this, but it’s mostly because I want our money to stay in our community. Here’s a good piece about shopping locally over at Huffington Post if you’d like to read up on the other benefits – and there are many!)

This giveaway is from Fishbowl patron, terra 20. They’re on my list of places I will be doing some of my shopping, and lucky for me, they’ve opened up a little sister store in West Wellington which is not far from where we live. Have you been? It’s smaller than the original Pinecrest location, but the selection is generous, especially in beauty and personal care items. I love the size. It’s compact and cozy, and it’s a comfortable place to shop.

Can I suggest some really nice gifts? These are a few of my favourite things at terra20 right now:

na Coille Cutting Boards
na Coille is also a Fishbowl patron. Some might recall that our breakfast bar (pictured in this post) came from there. na Coille also makes gorgeous cutting and serving boards. I got one for my birthday last year and I admire it every.single.day.

Not only does it look pretty in our kitchen but we’ll never have to buy another cutting board ever again! Yay!

Purple Urchin gift sets
I’ve written about Purple Urchin here before. If I’m going to give smellies, isn’t it nice to give ones that are made locally out of good ingredients? terra20 carries gift Purple Urchin gifts sets (great for the teen in your life!) but the individual products – like the soaps – can make great stocking stuffers and hostess gifts too.

And then there’s Cate & Levi. My kids are a bit too old for it now but the designs just sing to me. terra20 carries a whole assortment of their hand puppets, notebooks and other adorable little things. And they’re made in Ontario, out of upcycled wool sweaters.

Anyway, that’s just a few of the things that tug at my heartstrings at terra20 right now. (Ask me later about the BB cream I picked up there. It’s amazing!)

So let’s get down to business! This giveaway is for one $100 gift card from terra20. You can use it to put a dent in your Christmas list or buy something you’ve been longing to try, whether it’s eco-friendly cosmetics, pet toys, fairly traded chocolate (THINK OF ALL THE CHOCOLATE YOU CAN BUY), or something practical and non-glamorous like household cleaners. :) Interested? Please read the following carefully:

• In order for your entry to qualify, please leave a comment below. Tell us, what are your top considerations when buying gifts? Is it price? Design? Packaging? Where it’s made?
• For a second entry, take a look through the terra20 catalogue. If you want, you can leave a second comment telling us what you might buy with your gift card. Leave a link so we can see what it is!
• This giveaway is void where prohibited by law.
• The winner of this giveaway must pick up their giftcard at terra20 in a timely manner at the location of their choice (Pinecrest or West Wellington.)
• If you can’t post your comment for whatever reason you can email it to me for posting at andrea at quietfish dot com. Please note, I cannot be responsible if your entry is misdirected or gets stuck in my Spam folder.
• I will draw one name using Random.org at noon EST on December 9, 2013. I’ll contact the winner via email at that time.

That’s it! Over to you!

I found this in a pile of old papers the other day. Clearly I was making the kids sign contracts before they could properly sign their names:

I wonder if I should enforce it? ;)