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Things I Love Thursday – Start of Summer 2012 edition
What am I loving right now? Nice weather! I’m sure the streak will end soon but then hopefully it’s only a few more weeks until real summer. The last couple months we’ve been experiencing small stretches of great weather, which really helps with the cabin fever. There are a lot more things you can do for free in the warm weather too. We’ve been cooking up lots of burgers, eating on the patio, and taking walks around the neighborhood.
We’ve been trying to get Sebastian into some sunglasses for awhile now, but he would never keep them on his face. This month we bought him some cute blue wayfarers (for $1!). It was still a no-go until we took a walk on an especially sunny day. As soon as he realized those cute sunnies actually served a purpose, he kept them on and has been wearing them on most of our outings. The cutest was when we headed into a store and out of the sun – Without any prompting, Sebastian copied his dad and smoothly pushed his own glasses up onto his head.
We are very fortunate to have a few parks close to us, two of which are in easy walking distance. The “Art Park” is an area where the city hosts small concerts and other community events, and it has a lot less distractions than the park with all of the play structures, etc. We had a little picnic there recently and soaked up some sun. For snacks, I packed sliced nitrate-free hotdogs and some Cheerio’s. Typical toddler grub at its finest! I never believed Cheerio’s to be especially healthy but recently read that they actually have more sodium per serving than a bag of Dorito’s. But whatever, it’s a treat. — Right: Sebastian found this plant dumped out on the pavement and quickly went to work packing it back into the container.
Sebastian’s striped tank top is from the local kids consignment shop and is clearly getting a lot of wear! I love how big he looks there on the left, so grown up. His hair is growing like a weed – These were taken about a month ago and his hair is already noticeably longer. I sort of want to mohawk it but I’m torn! For now we are trying to let it grow long enough that it tucks easily behind his ears. I love it long but it’s a shame when it hides his face. (He doesn’t seem bothered by the length at all, and refuses any and all attempts to clip or headband it back.) — Right: I love this shot, despite the awkward way my mama-belly looks like second pair of boobs! I assure you that’s not how it looks normally. My hat is by Empyre, nursing tank by Glamourmom, peach top by Fresh Produce (review coming soon).
Last week it was actually warm enough that we had to cool down – Rare for Portland in May! Donny pulled out this (clean) IKEA trash can filled with water, which Sebastian excitedly dunked his whole head in multiple times. By dunked, I mean stood up laughing and spitting out water. Kid is a fish for sure.
Sebastian wasn’t soaked enough, so Donny had to dunk his whole body in the water bucket. — Right: VIVA LA SUMMER!
Scout by Bungalow Stylish Storage – Hang-10 Bin
Scout by Bungalow is an online store specializing in stylish storage solutions. I reviewed a Scout Hang-10 Bin and I wish we had about a dozen more. They look great on a bookshelf or as a stand-alone toy (or other storage) box. Scout storage boxes are strong, but lightweight enough that my toddler can haul them around himself. Our bin is soft enough for him to climb on and dump out without risk of injury. (Sitting inside it and then tipping over entirely is another story, but I digress.)
Some other fun uses for a Scout bin could include:
- Flower planting – The liner seems like it could be waterproof enough, or use it to hold potted plants on your patio.
- Garden or BBQ supplies – Outdoor storage.
- Magazine or yearbook holder – Prop it up on its side for a fun way to display your periodicals. (I bet you could even mount it on the wall for a cool floating bookshelf in your bed or bathroom.)
- Imaginative play box for kids – See our take on a play stove below.
- Craft caddy – I have a feeling our box will become kids craft supplies storage soon.
The Scout storage box I received looks similar to a kids storage box we have from IKEA, but the quality and durability is far superior. It’s also a lot cuter, with very vibrant colors. The box feels sturdy and holds quite a bit – Right now it is in our living room, housing a load of Duplos. I feel strongly that your home should be equally welcoming to everyone who lives there, meaning that Sebastian’s things are in every room of the house. An attractive box makes it more about the design – You don’t immediately notice that pretty box is full of blocks!
Here we used the Scout bin for a makeshift play stove. You can see how sturdy it is!
One Hang-10 bin costs $23, with their other size boxes at higher price points. Honestly, that seemed a little steep to me at first, but the quality is there. If you can afford it, these are definitely worth the price, and when you think that you could get three for less than $100, it doesn’t seem so expensive. (And like I said, they are much better than the cheaper ones I’ve seen elsewhere.)
The design I reviewed seems to be discontinued but I especially love this leopard-print bin from the Scout website. Some of their prints are cute enough to design a whole room around.
I received a Scout Hang-10 Bin from Scout by Bungalow for the purpose of this review. All opinions here are my own.
Save money by buying eyeglasses online
I posted about my new short haircut this week. While I am very much loving the new look and low-maintenance of it, I’m less in love with the way my old glasses look with the new hair. Maybe it will grow on me, but I strongly prefer the new hair without glasses. I can’t wear contacts all the time though, so I’m looking into new glasses styles. I tried on my sister’s smaller frames the other day and liked the more chic look, so maybe I need something smaller? I’m also debating prescription sunglasses, which I’ve never tried before.
I used to buy all of my glasses straight from my eye doctor. What a whopping waste of money! Not only do most eye care clinics have a limited selection, especially when it comes to trendy styles, but I was seriously overpaying! Zenni Optical is one great choice for cheap prescription glasses, with the lowest prices I have seen. They have the cute retro styles I like, and I may end up shopping there for my next pair.
I highly recommend shopping for eyeglasses online. I don’t have insurance for eye care and use an eye care club instead. Between that and shopping online for glasses, it really cuts down on the cost of my imperfect vision! Hopefully I can use those savings to pay for Lasik someday soon…
Honestly Loving The Honest Co.
Awhile back, a friend tipped me off to Jessica Alba’s latest project, The Honest Company. Jessica Alba is best known for her movie roles (and her banging hot body, see: Sin City) but is now a celeb mama on a mission. While researching baby products for her two daughters, Alba quickly realized that there are little to no standards in place to protect families from toxins present in the very products marketed to moms of babies and young children. I’ve said it here many times and will continue to hammer it in: Some of the most trusted brands (Nestle, Johnson & Johnson) also have the most deplorable marketing and consistently poisonous products. Thankfully, Jessica Alba is using her fame and fortune to help families move in the right direction. Her line of baby and home care products are just ‘crunchy’ enough to be truly safe yet palatable to someone used to more mainstream products.
The Honest Company is now beginning to offer individual Honest products for sale, but it is primarily a subscription service. Sign up for one of their bundles – the Diapers or Family Essentials bundle – and every month you’ll receive a selection of awesome non-toxic items. The Family Essentials monthly price is fairly affordable (around $40 I believe), although the cost for Diapers is a little up there – But I may just be sticker-shocked because we cloth diaper. The coolest part is that you can do a free trial for just $4.95. It works like magazine sign-ups and other monthly services – You must remember to cancel on time, but really, how difficult is that. I did just the trial and it was easy peasy. That $5 is the shipping cost, nothing extra, and you get a good amount of stuff to try out.
The Honest Company have more products than I received to review, but here are the ones I tried:
laundry detergent – This laundry detergent is Free & Clear (meaning free of all dyes and perfumes) so it is probably cloth diaper safe but not confirmed. I used my sample on a load of regular clothes with no discernible difference from the All Free & Clear (or whatever brand was on sale that week) that we were using. The Honest brand is probably more environmentally-friendly than Tide, etc., so I’d recommend Honest if money isn’t an object. It’s always important to vote with your dollar, spending your money at companies whose values you support.
hand soap – The scent of Honest Hand Soap reminds me of Mrs. Meyers (a brand with amazingly fragrant natural products), and I love anything that smells like lemongrass. It’s also really gentle, so I would call this an above average hand soap. Our little bottle is almost empty, sitting on our sink, and it makes me happy every time I use it. – Ya gotta love anything that gives you that kind of boost throughout the day, especially after doing dishes!
face & body lotion – The Honest Company Lotion reminds me of Skin MD Natural, which I like a lot. I’m a fan of any lotion that works well on both face and body, and it’s really gentle. And non-toxic!
shampoo & body wash – We’ve tried a lot of baby body washes, and this one is about average although I especially love the vanilla scent. For the record, our fave baby wash is this one, although we are currently loving BabyGanics
healing balm – This is my favorite product of the bunch, and probably the only one that really stands out from other similar products I’ve tried. I love this stuff. The Honest Co. Healing Balm is USDA organic. Not sure if it’s cloth diaper safe but I’m sure it would treat rashes for babies in disposables. Sebastian has never had a diaper rash but I did use the Healing Balm on some scrapes on his chest as well as a dry patch on his legs that was bugging him. It is also the best thing I’ve found to treat a particularly dry & flaky area on my face, and it doubles as GREAT lip balm. I wear it to bed, or underneath my lipstick for a really smooth finish and muted color. Also good for elbows, cuticles, pretty much anything.
We cloth diaper, but did give The Honest Company disposable diapers a try. We received the ‘boy’ bundle (I’m not a fan of having to select gender versus individual designs, but whatev), which included several diapers in fun styles. There were some anchors, skulls, and the plaid design above. Honest diapers are on par with Seventh Generation in that they have less chemicals and are better than Huggies or Pampers… but they’re still disposables. I always feel a little bit dirty when I use them, but I did fall for these a bit. Sebastian doesn’t pee overnight but they did contain a big morning pee when Mama was too lazy to get out of bed right when he woke up.
I have trouble endorsing disposable diapers – It’s scary how much these held – but if you are going to go that route (or use them for a trip or daycare or whatever) Honest is a good brand to go with. The wipes are good as well. You know, they’re baby wipes. I generally use them for makeup removal and stick to cloth wipes for butts.
Overall, I found The Honest Co. products to be pretty great. The Healing Balm is the only one that really stands out, but all of these are a huge step up from the usual crap on drugstore shelves. I do wish that these would move into stores where they could get more visibility – As of right now, moms who don’t spend much time online probably won’t even hear about the brand. And I feel like moms who research products online are more likely to already be making healthier choices. But, baby steps.
I am not affiliated with them in any way, but Cool Mom Picks is currently running an awesome Mother’s Day Giveaway featuring a $200 gift card to The Honest Co. You can enter their giveaway here – It ends on Sunday.
© 2012