June 13, 2010 · filed under family, life

19
comments

oh hello lovelies

I’m so sorry I haven’t updated in forever; life has been a bit of a doozie (or is it doozy?) lately. But after approximately 22 hours of sleep this weekend, I think I’m back from the brink. How about a few updates?

My sweet nephew was born! I’ve been an auntie for about two weeks now. Not a very good one, seeing as I am here (DC) and he is there (Colorado). But on Friday I’m getting on a plane and I should be snuggling him by 8:30pm. His name is Nolan and I hope he stays this tiny and precious forever. (Photo taken by the new grandma over at kdalyphoto.com.)

I’m taking a digital photography class this summer that begins on Wednesday! This will be the first time I’ve been a student in more than seven years…yikes. I promise to show some of my work here, hopefully we will all be able to notice an improvement by August.

I’ve become increasingly concerned about chemicals in everyday life. Have you read this article? Quite frightening, isn’t it? Can anyone out there personally recommend a phthalate-free, paraben-free product line they love? I’m ready to invest in new hair, body, and cosmetic products if I can find something I like. (I bought Aveda shampoo and conditioner only to learn they aren’t nasty-chemical free….Le Sigh)

Sorry to end on a downer note. I’m counting on you to leave some happy comments to whisk me through the week and into Friday-night-with-my-nephew-squeeeeeeeeeeee!

19 Comments

  1. julie
    June 13, 2010 9:08 pm

    Aveda!! Oh not you too!!
    I’ll be on the lookout.

    Congrats on being an aunt! He is beautiful!

  2. Brooke
    June 14, 2010 4:36 am

    Sprout Wellness!

    http://www.sproutwellnessnyc.com

    All-natural, smells delicious, an works very well.

  3. Jenn Bo
    June 14, 2010 7:18 am

    The other nights I saw an info-mercial for “Wen” or something like that. Only oils and natural frangrences (like mint). I imagine it is like the acne mediciine and you commit for regular deliveries. And is probably crazy expensive (who am I to talk, I buy Pureology). I didn’t stick around long enough for the pricing. Of course, the ladies all had beautiful shiny full hair that miraculously all had the perfect cut.

  4. Alexa
    June 14, 2010 10:05 am

    the alba line was on sale at my fancy grocery store the other day and I stocked up. My sister said she found a good website with some info- I will get it from her!

  5. Nic
    June 14, 2010 6:09 pm

    I’m going through the same woes with the beauty care stuff. UGH. And household products. Everything is pretty much out to kill us. I can’t find a good natural shampoo that works.

  6. the ambitious mrs
    June 14, 2010 7:17 pm

    I know you’re coming to see Nolan but I’m so excited to get a bonus visit with you too! Tell me your schedule!

  7. RA
    June 15, 2010 8:21 am

    Good job on the new pictures! And of course, baby Nolan is too cute.

  8. lesli
    June 15, 2010 8:24 am

    Pretty flower pictures! Have fun at your class.

  9. Aly
    June 16, 2010 1:40 am

    Baby Nolan is just precious – love the pics. :)

    My hair is so bad from the swimming I’ve been doing lately that it’s desperate for a nice neutral shampoo – but I’ve yet to find one that doesn’t cost me a fortune + my first child. It’s crazy!

  10. KEK
    June 16, 2010 8:12 am

    What a cute babe – and a GREAT name (of course, I may be biased, as I have an 11 month old Nolan, myself).

    I am also on the hunt for the natural shampoo…Don’t get the J.R. Watkins (from Target) conditioner – it will leave your hair looking greasy/weighed down.

  11. Operation Pink Herring
    June 16, 2010 8:32 am

    I’ve been using Unite for a few months and I love it… unfortunately it’s salon only and kind of pricey ($25 for a big bottle — 1.5 liters, I think). But, hey, it’s paraben-free and not tested on animals! And it actually works, which I’ve found other chemical-free products do not.

    http://www.uniteeurotherapy.com/shop/results?zip=20003

  12. elise
    June 17, 2010 8:41 am

    I have also been on the major skin/beauty-overhaul-to-natural search lately. The Burt’s Bees Milk and Honey body lotion is FANTASTIC and I highly recommend it. I switched all my body wash to very diluted Castile soap (I use sweet almond, and the brand I bought was Dr. Bronner’s, but it comes in many many brands and I’m not sure it makes much difference – I wanted the herbal oil in mine for the scent – I’m still a girl!). I just use an empty glass container that has a pump lid and use about 1 oz of soap and the rest water. I also found an old glass bottle that had a spray top and did a little mix of essential oils (about 5 drops each) and the rest water and spray myself with that after a shower – it works great for extra moisture and smells fantastic.

    I have also been using the Burt’s Bees shampoo (fennel for colored hair) and conditioner (soy and raspberry, because it was on sale ;) ). I don’t have any raves to report, but then I don’t hate it either. The shampoo feels SO much thinner and more watery than what I am used to, but as long as I get enough it lathers up just fine…it leaves my hair feeling kind of stripped (to me), but the conditioner seems to fix that immediately. So basically I feel like it works fine; I am washing my hair more frequently though as I think the lack of chemicals allows the natural oils to come back in more quickly (I guess that’s a good thing though!). But before I was a 3x per week hair washer (judge if you will, hehe) and so going to every other day is not that big of a deal.

    I have Burt’s Bees Lemon Poppy face scrub, and I DO NOT like. Do not recommend. It doesn’t seem to get the makeup off well (as I always see it coming off on my towel when I dry my face) and it is too heavy and creamy for my liking. I use all natural hand soap at the sink from EO, and it is some kind of a peppermint, tea tree oil mix and I really like it as well.

    The Milk and Honey Burt’s Bees lotion is the best discovery thus far; that and making things myself from recipes (doitgorgeously.com, among others).

    Whew, sorry for the novel of a comment! I am still working on getting all natural makeup in my bag; will keep you updated on successes and failures there…and would love any suggestions if you have any!

    Oh, last thing – http://www.organicbeautysource.com/ has a list of totally “bad chemical” free brands. I wish there were more reviews from the author of the blog, but it did save me some time in searching for quality products…I didn’t really want to spend the next 3 afternoons poring over 73 different ingredients labels with a highlighter.

  13. heidikins
    June 18, 2010 8:27 am

    Oh, isn’t he just the most adorable little munchkin? And the cowboy boots? I’m swooning.

    xox

  14. doahleigh
    June 19, 2010 6:29 pm

    Sadly, they don’t stay tiny forever. My nephew, at only 6 months, is still precious, but he’s GIGANTOR! It’s crazy how fast they grow. Soak in as much as you can. He’s adorable by the way.

  15. Freckleonthenose
    June 20, 2010 4:59 pm

    I looove baby boys! My nephew was born about seven months ago and I can’t get enough. Hope you have a great first visit with him!

  16. K
    June 24, 2010 6:00 am

    Happy Birthday, birthday twin!

  17. Caroline Bryant
    June 30, 2010 6:56 am

    i am using herbal oils for healing minor cuts and burns.:~:

  18. Ciarra
    June 30, 2010 1:01 pm

    Congrats on becoming an Auntie! I love the name Nolan.

    Hub-E and I have tried to go chem-free for a few years. Sometimes it’s easy, but not always. I found an awesome line of makeup that I looooove called Larenim. (www.larenim.com) It is free of phthalates and parabens as well as some other stuff that popular mineral makeups contain *cough!baremineralscough!* For deodorants we use the Crystal Stick which also comes in a spray. For toothpaste – because anything containing artificial sweetener is another bad thing in our house – we use Weleda Salt Toothpaste and a Zinc one, I can’t remember the name. But it’s very hard to find toothpaste without xylitol or sorbitol or whatever. For body wash I like the Desert Essence Coconut body wash. There are a lot of options for body wash and lotion that is free of parabens. You just have to read labels all the time and make sure they aren’t hidden in there. For a general purpose cleaning product, Hub-E makes his own mixture of vinegar, food grade hydrogen peroxide, water, and an essential oil. It does a pretty good job of cleaning and disinfecting.

  19. Sara
    July 14, 2010 1:01 am

    I’m totally obsessed with Lush. I bought the smallest size possible of a few different products in May and still have more than half of it left. They also give very generous free samples if you go to the retail stores! I got some free conditioner when I bought my shampoo a month ago and just recently used the last of the sample!