Posts in Lifestyle
Top 10 Ways to Make Your Kitchen More Eco-Friendly

All around the world, many people are trying to go green or live eco-friendly lives to reduce their impact on the environment. As well as helping out the natural world, going green can also provide some personal benefits, such as saving you money and making certain aspects of your day-to-day life easier and more convenient.

There are lots of ways to become more eco-friendly at home, starting off in the kitchen. And it’s not just about eating organic food or cutting down on the amount of waste you create; there are lots of creative and clever ways to minimize your carbon footprint through kitchen cleaning, organization, and general usage. Let’s take a look at some super easy ways to get started.

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Guide to the First 48 Hours with a New Puppy

Getting a new puppy is one of the most exciting things you’ll ever experience as a pet owner. After all, nothing beats finally getting to pick up your pup and bring them home for the very first time. My family has owned dogs my entire life, and we've welcomed many puppies into our homes. The adorable puppy you see in this blog is Mia, my parent's newest fur baby.

Because puppies are essentially babies, you need to make sufficient preparations to help your pup get acclimated to their new home. To help you give them a warm welcome, this guide has a few tips on how to best spend the first 48 hours with your new pup.

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Top 10 Natural Home Remedies for Postpartum Hair Loss

Pregnancy beauty is the stuff of legend. Before you pop, your skin is glowing from the extra blood circulating through your body and your hair is lush from those pregnancy hormones.

After the baby comes? Not so much. Between a lack of sleep, adjusting to your new post pregnancy body, and the postpartum hair loss that affects up to 90% of all women after they give birth, it can be easy to feel out of control.

Fortunately because postpartum hair loss is so common, over the years women have come up with a host of natural remedies that can help you regrow those lost strands. Here are some of my favorites to help you get your groove, and your hair, back, naturally.

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Sparkling Blood Orange and Lavender Cocktail (Plus a Mocktail Version!)

This light and aromatic cocktail recipe is a delight for the senses. The blood orange adds a sweet and tart zing, while the lavender and vanilla are fresh and botanical. For the for the piest de resistance, we used fresh lavender that cut ourselves on a California lavender farm.

This summer cocktail is perfect for any warm weather gathering such as the 4th of July or a grown-up birthday party. Your guests will love this smooth and refreshing cocktail which you can serve with a small food bites on a charcuterie board.

For this cocktail recipe we partnered with the expert mixologists from The Mixer who helped us deliver this elegant and elevated cocktail (and mocktail) recipe.

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40 Bucket List Things To Do Before You Turn 40

So, your 40th birthday is on the horizon. Congrats! You might feel a little bewildered about this next chapter, wondering whether you’re still considered young (or over the hill). Is it time for your mid-life crisis yet? Hint - you’re as young as you feel!

Regardless, turning 40 is a remarkable milestone. It is time to reflect on your life, the past as well as the future. If you’ve been living all footloose and fancy-free, maybe it’s time to finally start “adulting” and working towards big goals and building a sustainable future. 

Where your 30th birthday was about saying goodbye to the wild days of your 20s and entering the “30, flirty and thriving era”, your 40th birthday is going to be more about creating the ideal life for yourself with all the life experiences and wisdom you’ve gained.

I myself am turning 37 years old on my next upcoming birthday. I will admit that the second half of my 30’s really snuck up on me, but I’m doing my best to embrace this new era of womanhood. This blog post is not only things to do on your 40th birthday, but also how to approach midlife with gusto and zest for life.

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Creamy Chicken and Bacon Bowtie Pasta Salad Recipe - Perfect for Barbecues and Potlucks!

This pasta salad may be easy to make, but it really delivers when it comes to flavor! You’ve got the tangy and creamy ranch sauce, smokiness from the bacon and a dash of fresh zest from the veggies. The protein from the chicken really makes this a hearty side dish, and it can even be a quick leftover main dish lunch!

Whenever I have a BBQ gathering coming up, or I need to make a potluck dish for work, this is one of my go-to recipes. If you have a busy schedule, you can make it ahead of time and leave it the refrigerator overnight. It can be served warmed up or at room temperature, either way its delicious!

Once you’ve got all the ingredients purchased, prep work for this recipe just requires chopping up the veggies, cubing the chicken and mixing up the sauces. Next it’s time to cook the pasta and bacon, chop the bacon, and then mix it all up. If you’re working diligently, you can make this recipe in under 30 minutes, and it yields a large amount of pasta salad to feed a crowd.

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10 Easy Ways to Sunday Reset to Start Your Week Right

After a long week, your brain can feel frazzled and your body may feel physically exhausted. Once you get to Sunday, the idea of doing it all again next week might overwhelm you. Take a pause, and let’s reset.

Tackling a big week might seem daunting, but using Sunday to reset your body, space, and mind might just be the answer. A Sunday reset routine can help set you up for a successful upcoming week. This article will help you reset your body, mind, and spirit. Use this list to help you get started on a successful Sunday reset!

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Over 35 Zero Waste and Eco-Friendly Period Products

Let’s the honest, as women our periods are a bit of a drag. And it adds insult to injury that they also wreck havoc on our environment because most period sanitary products on the market are not designed with eco-friendly materials.

The average woman will dispose of 11,000 sanitary items in a lifetime, most of which contain plastics and are not biodegradable. Many of these disposed products end up in landfills and our oceans.

The good news is there’s a growing market for both eco-friendly and zero waste period sanitary products. For all my frugal savvy gals, investing in these products will actually save you a lot of money in the long run. It takes an average of 3 period cycles for these products to pay for themselves.

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Celebrating Your 30th Birthday While Pregnant - 10 Fun and Safe Things To Do

Your 30th birthday is truly a milestone event unlike any other, especially if you celebrate it while pregnant. When you enter into your 30’s era, your life tends to shift and your priorities change. You begin to settle down and focus on big picture life changes. This is all particularly true when you’re about to become a parent to a new baby.

If you happen to be celebrating your 30th birthday while pregnant, you may be wondering how you can still commemorate this special occasion. This particular birthday is known as the “Dirty Thirty” which can imply partying with alcohol and shenanigans. Well obviously the pregnant birthday girl will be responsible and not partake in any unruly or unhealthy exploits. But don’t worry, you can still live it up and have plenty of fun.

This guide is filled with pregnancy-friendly party and activity suggestions. All of them are great choices for any point in your pregnancy, no matter what trimester you’re in during your birthday. I myself have done all of these things during my own pregnancies so I speak from experience. Trust me when I say that you can enjoy plenty of get togethers with friends and family to make your birthday memorable without compromising your baby's health.

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Top 15 Ways to Organize, Store and Display Your Printed Photos

Many of us enjoy actively documenting our lives, using all kinds of photography to create photo memories that last forever. We often seek the services from professional photographers for life milestone portraits such as weddings and elopements, maternity and newborn photo sessions. We also have easy access to high quality cameras to photograph the everyday moments that fill our days.

With photography being such a a popular pastime, so many of us have taken thousands of photos of family, friends and pets. Not to mention all the inherited family photos from the generations before us. Now the question is, what do we do with all these photos?

Just like with all of the belongings in our life, we need to develop an organizational and storage system for our photos. Developing this system works double duty: keeping our memories safe and secure, while also preserving our sanity and avoiding a home filled with chaos and untidiness.

And finally, we share unique ways to display your favorite photo memories so that you can admire them as often as you’d like.

In this guide you will gain valuable insight from a professional photo organizer on how to get started with your own photo organizing project. We cover the entire process from start to finish, giving you the confidence to tackle the ambitious project of organizing your photo archives and creating a streamlined process for future photos. If you’re ready to get started, then roll up your sleeves and let’s dive in together!

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Top 30 Ways to Celebrate Your 30th Birthday

Birthdays come around every year, but you only turn 30 once! Your 30s are an exciting time full of growth, new adventures and meeting personal goals. Quoting one of my favorite characters Carrie Bradshaw from Sex and the City: “Your thirties are to learn the lessons.” And yes, during your 30’s you do truly grow into adulthood and learn who you are and where you’re going in life. But for myself, the 30’s have been the best so far. You can appreciate this special shift in your life by planning an awesome celebration.

In the last few years, one by one my friends and I have turned 30. We all found fun and unique ways to mark the “Dirty Thirty” occasion. In this blog post I share all kinds of ways to plan not only your 30th birthday, but this next decade of your life. It’s so exciting to consider the potential changes and possibilities in the upcoming years. While you anticipate what the future will bring, make the most of the present with a fun celebration.

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10 Adult Slumber Party Ideas for the Perfect Girls Sleepover

Having a sleepover as a tween or teenager was a rite of passage for many of us American girls. They usually involve snacks, movies, makeovers, and talking for hours about crushes. It’s an easy way of having fun and a great bonding experience.

But the fun doesn’t have to stop in adulthood. Grown women can still have sleepovers and connect, just like in the old days. While it may look a little different than when you were 13, sleepovers can form a fun part of celebrating everything from birthday milestones to graduations and bridal and bachelorette parties.

If you’re looking for a budget-friendly and nostalgic way to hang out with your girlfriends, then you’ve come to the right place!

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