During the spring season, I started using Sun Basket for 3 meals during the week. Sun Basket specializes in gluten-free and Paleo meal delivery. Similar to Blue Plate and Hello Fresh, they send you all the ingredients and a recipe card. You follow the directions and eat delicious food. One of my favorite meals was Sole in Parchment packets. It was so simple, including clean-up. The flavors were amazing and the fish was cooked perfectly. I plan on eating this again and again. The recipe is here if you would like to try it too!
I also found a similar recipe from Williams-Sonoma. Puttanesca flavors in a packet. I bet it is really flavorful too. I am sucker for anything with kalamata olives and capers.
Give these simple recipes a try and let me know what you think.
I am inspired by companies and brands who support a cause as part of their mission. It is lovely to know that a purchase has a greater good. In a continuing series, I will highlight these companies and the amazing causes they support. Like always, if you know a brand that I should feature – please leave a comment or message me directly.
Cora is a company that actually has two missions! First, they are revolutionizing feminine care products so that you, your girlfriends and your daughters are safer during that time of the month. Made of organic cotton, free of chemicals and 100% biodegradable.
“The average woman uses 10,000 tampons on a lifetime-but who’s keeping track?
Not the FDA—feminine hygiene product manufacturers are not required to disclose ingredients or conduct testing to determine their products’ long-term effects on women’s bodies.
That means the majority of tampons today contain synthetic materials like Rayon and Polyester, as well as pesticide residues commonly used to grow non-organic cotton, and we have no idea how it it’s impacting our health.”
I like that this company is tackling a problem that many of us don’t even think about. They are shipped directly to your house, starting with a free trial and then shipping every 3 months. Kind of genius.
Secondly, for every 1 month supply you receive-Cora gives a month’s supply of sustainable pads to a girl in a developing country so she can do anything during her period. Through the Kiran Anjali Project, I have learned that providing feminine hygiene products to girls in India allows them to stay in school. Without access to sanitary napkins, many girls simply drop out of school when they start their period. Cora partners with local organizations to distribute napkins to girls in need. (Even better, the pads are produced in India which provides local women a living wage!) I love this so, SO much!
This mission is fantastic. I just signed up for my free trial. I am happy to report back once I receive my first shipment.
Yesterday I spent about 30+ minutes cleansing my Instagram of those I follow. I have been feeling a need to simplify my Instagram for one main reason. My sanity. You see I followed many social influencers who, as a career, share clothing, home goods, beauty products, vacations, and experiences on their IG accounts. Many of the items and trips they share are gifted to them or sponsored. While I don’t fault them for making a living- it wasn’t really a good thing for me to be inundated all of the time. Of course they disclose their sponsored posts, they are legally required to do so. For other posts they tag items and they simply receive kick backs through affiliate links if you make purchase. {Again, I don’t fault them for this practice.} I know, this is a lot of blog biz talk, but I think it is important to understand the business of social media, how companies are using their marketing dollars, and how we are being persuaded in purchasing decisions- possibly without even knowing.
Why am I sharing this information? 1. It is just that. Information. 2. While I try to be more conscious as a consumer, it was a battle not to click through to see the price of an item I found beautiful or interesting. 3. As most of us know, it isn’t the whole picture. IG lives are not REAL lives. They are curated, edited, filtered, and constructed. But does our subconscious know it? In many cases, probably not. 4. Comparing is exhausting. As an almost 43 year old woman, I don’t have time for it anymore. And when you are comparing your reality to a manufactured image- you are never gonna win!
I love Instagram. Visually it is so interesting to me. I have found wonderful small businesses and creative humans sharing their talents. I follow friends who I don’t get to see regularly. I enjoy capturing moments in my day and sharing them with you. I promote my blog posts using IG. I’m note deleting it, just using it more wisely.
What do you think? How do you feel about influencers using social media to make a living?
Suffering through a Seattle winter is payed in spades come summer! Last week {when if felt like summer} a friend and I had the most enjoyable afternoon! I thought I would share it- so you could add it to your summer TO-DO-List and maybe discover Local Gems. Great for couples, girlfriends or your whole family.
We started by renting a kayak from Moss Bay. They also rent paddle boards and sailboats, but we chose a double kayak so we could paddle and chat! The day was perfect and it was so nice to be on the water. You paddle by floating homes, Gasworks Park, and enormous yachts. With Seattle’s skyline as the backdrop it doesn’t get much better!
After our paddle, we treated ourselves to lunch at 100 Pound Clam. {It is literally 3 steps away from Moss Bay!} With the best spot on Lake Union and float planes landing in the back ground, it’s THE place for a summer lunch. I highly recommend the dill fries, the fried corn, and the Fishwich BLT- but honestly it’s all delicious! On a warm NW day, the picnic tables and a crisp Rose will be waiting for you.
My obsession for podcasts are not a secret! I recently found Rookie and have enjoyed listening to the wide variety of creatives and artists in interviews. However, I’m not their target audience. It’s really for all of our amazing teens!
Rookie is the podcast created by the online magazine Rookie. Self described as “an independently run online magazine and book series founded in 2011 by Editor-in-Chief Tavi Gevinson. We publish writing, photography, and other forms of artwork by and for teenagers (and their cohorts of any age!). Our contributors and readers are from all over the world.”
The online magazine seems to have a little something for every type of teen. I love how the categories include comics, beauty, books and friendship. Such an amazing platform and community for teens. As a reader or a contributor- I bet it’s empowering to know a teen voice has power. I find it refreshing that the issues and topics tackled in the podcast are complex. It’s not condescending and it is apparent the producers believe teens to be intelligent and thoughtful human beings. The podcasts are not cleaned up-meaning there is swearing and a lot of honesty!
After listening and a quick scan of the online site, Rookie tends to be geared toward females-but many of the topics would be interesting for our young men too.
Share this with a teen in your life or anyone trying to successful raise a teen {without losing her mind!}.
It’s somehow Monday again. Between a class party, a doctor’s appointment, a track meet and time trials for swim team-Friday was an absolute blur. By the time I had a moment to breathe it was time to go to bed. Do the last weeks of school feel like a gut punch to anyone else? Absolutely crushing. My kids have one more week and then it is Camp Mommy!
In the spirit of buying fewer but better things, I had to post about these pants. I swear these #kammpants pop up on my Instagram feed multiple times a day. Every girl looks effortlessly cool and relaxed while wearing them. After a little poking around, I found they are the Sailor Pant by Jesse Kamm. At $395 they are certainly not inexpensive, but I could seeing wearing them for years and years. The come in many colors, but the chambray is pretty amazing. I love they are made in Los Angeles by an independent designer. I’m totally into them and will add them to my fall wish list.
Want to try them on and live in the Pacific Northwest?
I couldn’t finish this post in time to hit publish on Friday. But since I’m in charge, I can post it on Monday instead. I hope you had a wonderful weekend. Our weekend centered around Little League playoff games. Sadly Little Man’s team suffered a crushing loss yesterday, so he is done for the season. We also saw Wonder Woman. You really MUST see this movie. I pretty sure I have seen every superhero/comic inspired movie produced in the last 8+ years. Wonder Woman is by far the best. Hands down. I loved the action, the spirit, and the story line. Plus, the kick-ass women were entirely inspiring! Hope you all have a great week.
A few things that inspired and interested me last week:
I am inspired by companies and brands who support a cause as part of their mission. It is lovely to know that a purchase has a greater good. In a continuing series, I will highlight these companies and the amazing causes they support. Like always, if you know a brand that I should feature – please leave a comment or message me directly.
FEED is a company that helps feed children in need around the world. It was started by Lauren Bush Lauren in 2007 in response to her travels and seeing hunger firsthand. Every FEED product is stamped with a number that signifies the amount of meals or micronutrient provided with its purchase. You know exactly what the impact your purchase will have in the world. Many of the meals provided are a school lunch, which for some children will be the only meal of the day. With a school lunch provided, attendance increases and kids are in school more often. The ripple effects are endless.
A few of my favorite products from the FEED site, but it was quite hard to choose:
While there are no specifics finalized, we have purchased airline tickets to Nashville ….so this trip is finally happening. As I began my search for lodging I stumbled upon The Wendell Home. This Airbnb home is a minimalist’s dream come true. I seriously cannot stop looking at the pictures. {I’ve included a few here, but you must look at all of them in the listing!}. The home gets a 5-star review, which isn’t surprising! A couple of my travel mates are not sold on staying in a house instead of a hotel {including my husband}. I love the idea of staying in a neighborhood and exploring shops and restaurants off the main tourist strip! All the other stuff is just a Lyft ride away. I may just book it and surprise them. I mean, how could we go wrong with this house?
Hoping to catch some live music at The Bluebird Cafe and see the Grand Ole Opry. Any other Nashville suggestions?
