Monday, October 31, 2016

Brand: Perfectly Posh

I discovered Perfectly Posh through my friend and neighbor, Abbie. It's a pampering brand - think bath, body, and spa for men and women. 

It's one of those home party, independent consultant businesses, which I have a love/hate relationship with. But, I saw this ad, and was intrigued to learn more: 


Affordable, natural, and guilt-free? Sign me up! 

Abbie was generous enough to give me several samples so I could try a variety of the products, and I was beyond impressed. Here were some of my favorites: 
  • BFF Face Wash: the featured ingredients are aloe, grapefruit oil, and peppermint oil. Being oil based, your skin feels refreshed not stripped, and the strong peppermint is a great way to wake up in the morning!

  • Night and Day Moisturizer: the featured ingredients are aloe, olive oil, and lavender oil. This is a thicker moisturizer that I thought would be too heavy for daytime, but it soaked in to a silky finish after just a few minutes, leaving my 30-something skin feeling plump again. The subtle lavender smell makes you feel like you're in a spa. 
  • End Mend Shampoo and Conditioner: These were the most impressive. I have brittle hair with a wavy/frizzy texture. I don't know what sorcery this is (well, we do - it's *all* the oils and seed butters), but my hair was soft and smooth after a single wash. Without products, my hair was drying into nice, frizz-free curls! You see commercials promising results after trying something just once, but this was a product that delivered
  • Hello Sweetie BFYHC (Big Fat Yummy Hand Cream): a subtle vanilla scent and a formula that soaks in to be non-greasy. 
I have never been so pleased with a natural pampering products company before, where the fragrances are light and pleasing from essential oils, and the products seem very effective. 

Shop online here: www.PerfectlyPosh.com/HereDeares

Sunday, October 30, 2016

Can I get a doggie bag?

We all grew up with some version of "eat your whole dinner... there're children starving in China!". The truth is there are people starving here and abroad. 13% of US households are "food insecure".

What's crazy is the amount of food we waste. Produce gets rejected before it hits the grocery store because it's "ugly". Baked goods get tossed because they are a day old. Restaurants and events have leftovers.

It seems a 1:1 solution. We have food going to waste and people going hungry: let's make some connections.

Petition the government and large grocery stores to make changes. Grocery stores can sell the non-standard or bruised produce, or use them for their own prepared foods. A tomato may be an odd shape but make for a tasty salsa. Or, grocers can pass these along to food banks and kitchens.

Sites like change.org allow you to create or join a petition on a number of different topics; simply search "food waste" for several results. Or, visit www.uglyfruitandveg.org to learn more about how you can get involved.

Other countries like France and Italy are already doing this through new laws. And The Real Junk Food Project in the UK has opened a food waste pay-what-you-can supermarket. Let's do this, US!

Donate your restaurant's or caterer's prepared goods. There's an awesome company Copia that is solving for this in the San Francisco area (and hopefully will expand!). They are an app that lets restaurants post food, and local drivers pick it up to deliver to non-profits in need. You can tweet them to show support for them expanding to your area.

Some restaurants like Starbucks are connecting directly with food banks through their own programs.

What can you do? If you work for a restaurant or frequent a favorite restaurant, ask them if they are involved with a donation program. Many ingredients or prepared goods are still edible for several days past the "best by" date.

We've got this, US! Let's connect our available food to our people who need it.

Wednesday, October 26, 2016

Reuse: Outfit 4

So last night, I went on a last minute trip to the thrift stores, because I decided to completely change direction on my Halloween costume. I'm saving my sewing intensive costume for next year, and am aiming lower. :)

On my way in, this adorable sweater caught my eye. I love the bird pattern, the contrast waist and sleeve cuffs, and it doesn't show super well in this photo, but it also has coral colored buttons. I glance at the tag, and sure enough, it's in my size! Thrift store lucky day.


Well, even better is when you start inspecting for any obvious stains our damage, and you notice something. What is that?


Yes, it's an original tag. I have found me a thrift store unicorn: a new, never worn, with tags, gem. 

Original price: $88
Goodwill price: $13
Savings: $75

Bam!

Tuesday, October 25, 2016

Animal excursions: turtles and dolphins and more!

Last week, T and I went on an awesome vacation to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. One of the things I love about travelling is seeing the changes in local flora and fauna. Just walking along the sidewalk in PV, I saw all sorts of colorful birds, was surprised by giant birds like pelicans, and even caught glimpses of iguanas up in the trees!



Now let your mind wander to a nice tropical beach vacation. What are some of the activities do you think of doing? Snorkeling? Scuba diving? Swimming with the dolphins or catching a glimpse of a giant sea turtle?

Planning our trip, I stumbled across a couple companies in PV that offered wildlife excursions that were wildlife friendly. What does that mean? Well, if you wanted to swim with dolphins, you are typically going to swim with captive dolphins, where they have limited swimming area and are trained to interact with people. Based on the numerous documentaries, TV specials, and news articles recently, we know that at the best, this isn’t a natural state for marine life, and at the worst, the animals are treated cruelly to be submissive.

With a wildlife-friendly or eco excursion, you are going to interact with free wildlife in a more educated, respectful, and natural setting. Using dolphins again as an example, you would visit an area that is known to have a local pod, and get an opportunity to swim in the same area, but not necessarily hold on for a ride. With eco excursions you are also likely to get some information about the animals, conservation efforts, and be led by experts; our tour guides were marine biologists.

The tour we went on included two parts: First, we went to an estuary. This is a swampy area where the river meets the ocean, and is a rich land for birds, crocodiles, and more. This particular estuary is protected – it was previously 3 times the size, but developers build hotels and condos over it. Our tour was not only educational, beautiful, and a good photo opp for birds, but it also contributes to the saving of this eco-system, which is mostly privately funded. The estuary also included a crocodile hatchery.



This is a conservation project as crocodiles lay their eggs on land and have a lot of natural predators in addition to humans. Bringing the eggs to the estuary allows for a safe and monitored hatching, and gets them out of, for example, the golf club sand pits.

The second part of the tour was to a turtle camp. Similar to the crocodiles, sea turtles need some volunteer assistance to protect their eggs from natural and human predators. At this turtle camp, the volunteers retrieve the eggs from their nests and rebury them in new nests within the camp, where they can be monitored. When the eggs hatch, the volunteers (or tourists if there is a visit planned) point the babies towards the ocean so they can make it to sea. With the protection of the eggs and guidance towards the water, the survival rate of the sea turtles from egg to adulthood has increased from 1:1000 to 1:100.



What can you do to reduce your risk of being a human predator?
  • Check before eating any exotic meats or eggs if that species is on any endangered lists.
  • Let experts be your guide, and do not touch wildlife or take selfies until you know more.

Thursday, October 20, 2016

Product: Peak Fresh Produce Bags

(Image credit Ben Seese, Creative Commons on Flickr)



I struggle with buying the right amount of produce. I’m only cooking for T and me, and I want a lot of variety of flavors. Or I’ll buy limes just for the zest (cilantro lime rice – yum!), and want to get to the fruit later (hello, Moscow Mule). If I buy even a few different vegetables, half of them are spoiling by the end of the week.

Enter our hero, my mom, who introduced me to these miracle bags! I’ve been using them for a few months now, and they really do extend the life of my produce by 2-3x.


Cost: Under $1 a bag.
Savings: For me, about $10/week.

How they work: Peak Fresh is a “Modified Atmosphere Packaging”. Essentially, it removes ethylene and excess humidity from around the fruit and vegetables that cause them to age.

The best news? These bags are reusable. Simply wash them out and store the next lemon, pepper, or tomato in them. Therefore, this 10/pack of bags will last me the better part of a year.

Buy directly from them. Or, I’ve also seen them available through sites like Amazon.

Tuesday, October 18, 2016

Spotlight: The Crayon Initiative

After I learned about Clean the World (see my earlier post), I became interested in companies that had identified a waste source and found a way to recycle that waste to be repurposed for a humanitarian cause.

Shortly after, I came across this article, and became enamored with The Crayon Initiative. The Crayon Initiative was started in 2011 by Bryan Ware. A father who frequented restaurants where his children were given crayons, he wondered what happened to the crayons if they were left on the table. He learned that they were usually thrown away, and wanted to prevent all the wax from entering the waste stream - after all, wax is long-lasting and won't break down in the landfills. Enter: The Crayon Initiative, where crayon remnants are melted down and reformed into new crayons. These crayons are donated to children's hospitals to keep kids learning and active and feeling like a "normal" kid amidst their illness or trauma. Another cool thing? The molds Bryan uses makes the new crayons "thicker and easier to grasp for young children and kids with special needs."

Want to get involved? Volunteers are needed in San Francisco, you can collect your own broken crayons to send in, or recommend a school or restaurant near you start a collection.

Connect:
http://thecrayoninitiative.org/
https://www.facebook.com/thecrayoninitiative

Saturday, October 15, 2016

Featured On This Blog



Hi friends!

I wanted to make sure I pointed out a secondary page on this blog. Go to the blog Menu and check out the Resources page. I’ll be maintaining links here to all of the companies, community groups, and stores that I mention on the blog.

Enjoyed learning about something in one of my prior posts, but can’t remember the name to look for it again? No worries – the links, along with a short description are all here in one page.

Have a great weekend, everyone. :)

Friday, October 14, 2016

Reuse: Outfit 3



This outfit is so cozy for fall, especially considering the storm we’re in the middle of here in Seattle.

Jeans: $0, Buy Nothing
Sweater: $0, Buy Nothing




Pro tip: If your jeans are too long and you’re too lazy you haven’t gotten around to hemming them yet, boots are your best friend. Stylish *and* functional in this October rain!

I can’t say enough about Buy Nothing. Because they are hyper local groups, you shouldn’t have to travel more than 5-10 minutes to meet a neighbor and gift or receive items that need a new home. Clothes are just one of the many items I’ve given or received through Buy Nothing.