Shifting gears today from pretty things in life, to a more introspective topic: lessons I have learned over the years. I figured I would share life thoughts every now and then so you get to know the person behind the blog a little better!

You might be wondering if it is my birthday because of the title of this post: but nope, it was actually back in January! I started working on this list waaaayyyy back then but never got to finish it until just recently. Better late than never though, right?!

These are just the highlights of some of the most poignant and life-changing things that I have learned over my lifetime so far, especially in the last 5 years or so! I have been very fortunate to have many wise and godly people in my life to glean things from, and have come across a lot of really helpful resources from sermons, podcasts, books and blogs too. Hopefully you can find some nuggets that inspire you as well! Enjoy. 🙂 Continue reading →

More empties, now onto household cleaners! I go through countertop cleaners like crazy because I am pretty obsessed with wiping everything down all the time! I think this many bottles only lasted me like a month and a half or something, I feel like I buy a new one every other week or so. I am pretty sure that isn’t normal, but it’s ok with me since I love having clean kitchen and bathroom countertops all the time. And I have 2 little crazy boy cats who tend to get tons of dirt and hair everywhere! Continue reading →

I never was one to make New Year’s resolutions. For whatever reason, I always thought it was lame. I think it was the idea that you need any sort of date on a calendar, to decide to do something different in your life.

These days I think it makes perfect sense, and the new year is a great fresh beginning to dream big and make some goals to accomplish throughout the year. Because of how quickly life goes by, and how easy it is to just go years on auto-pilot without ever doing the things you really want to. I have found that actually writing things down, and expressing them in words, is a pretty powerful way to remember and focus on the things you would like to see happen.

So, as I reach the end of January and also approach my 32nd birthday, I have been taking the time to decide which goals I am going to tackle this year! I would love to be able to accomplish even more things than this, but I figured that anything extra could just be a bonus of top! I want to dream big, but also be realistic about how many new things I can incorporate at a time. Here is my list so far: Continue reading →

I love Facebook for being a tool that helps me keep up on the happenings of all my friends and family, people I love dearly, people who I don’t get to see often enough. And life is going by so very fast, so I try not to take those people for granted and I like to see what they are up to! Major life changes, new jobs, new pets, people pursuing their passions, and most of all: babies. People are having so many babies. Time is marching on and the lovely people I know are experiencing one of the most beautiful things one can experience, the joy and wonder of adding children to their families. And I am always ridiculously thrilled and excited for them, sharing in their joy at this life-changing news!

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About a year or so into my gradual transition to being more conscious of what is in all of the products I buy, I was starting to feel pretty drained and discouraged. I had read a lot of articles and blogs about the abundance of toxins in all of our everyday items and was trying to slowly by slowly make changes to my purchasing habits.

My friend Rachel and I were on the same page with this, and would exchange tips and recommendations on certain things. She had read this book The Honest Life by Jessica Alba, and loved it and kept recommending that I read it. For whatever reason, I didn’t get to read it for a while but ended up finally reading it last August. It was all about the unexpected journey she faced when she was pregnant with her first child and had a bad reaction to the typical baby laundry soap. That got her asking questions about what was actually in all these products we use on a daily basis, especially considering having a baby around. It was this entire process that led her to start her own line The Honest Company, which carries tons of products with non-toxic and natural ingredients! I loved the book so much, and highly recommend it.

Finding out more about her whole line of products was so refreshing at a time when I was just like “Why can’t I just order everything from one place I can trust and not have to read every single label??” So I was super excited about the brand, and felt Jessica had so much integrity in her high standards for it.  (I have since realized that I should still read all the labels and keep up on company changes of all natural lines, since things can change over the years.) But I still really trust the Honest Co.

So without further ado, here are all their products I have tried so far and what I thought about each one!

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