My Honest Review Of The Honest Company

The Verdict's In - I Love The Products 

Since I began my own journey towards becoming healthier,  my views on things have drastically changed. I am absolutely not the same person I was when I started my own journey and transformation. Not only has my opinions about exercise and eating changed, but my entire lifestyle has changed. Let me explain: It first started with me becoming very cognizant about what ingredients were in our foods. I began to adopt a five ingredient or less rule at the grocery store. If it had something I couldn't pronounce or had more than five ingredients we avoided it. This was my way of cutting out processed foods. This was no easy task because quite honest we were eating a lot of junk. From there it stemmed into my quest to be all organic. I became a nut about what was going into my body and my families. I was on a mission to keep the processed chemicals out and try to eat foods in their most natural state. While I am not 100% organic (it's really hard to do actually) I am about 90%. I started small with the "dirty dozen" of suggested items you should eat that are organic. Then next went to meats and lunch meats and eggs. I had been all organic on my sons snacks from the start we were already there with that. I then switched our milk to all organic as well as our butter. Lately I have moved into only buying cooking ingredients like olive oil, coconut oils, spices, sugars and the list goes on and on that are organic. Basically I started small and worked my way here. Often I get questioned if it is expensive to shop this way. The answer depends on how you shop. If you stick with the perimeter of the grocery store and try your best to only buy foods in their most natural state, this isn't going to be all that more expensive. However, if you do all organic and load up on processed foods that may say they are organic, your looking at a fortune at the store. I am very careful to always look for the USDA organic label. Some companies are good at "marketing organic" but don't have enough organic products in them to be certified. I am learning very quickly that just because it is organic does not always mean it's "healthy."

Now for the second part to this story. Last October I learned that my thyroid was off the charts out of whack. My doctor is more of a naturalist and we began to talk about natural ways to aide in making my thyroid symptoms become less severe aside from taking medicine. One of the things she really encouraged me to do was begin to remove all products from our home that had chemicals in them as well as move towards because they can be considered endocrine disruptors.  She also encouraged me to pursue my organic lifestyle.  Little by little, I began to change things. I threw out all of my plastic containers and switched everything to glass for our food storage, tried my best to removed products that contained fragrance, (I kicked my beloved Amber Romance lotion from Victoria Secret to the curb) and even got rid of the typical deodorant that most use and switched to a salt stick. I kept searching for a more natural approach.  I became a hawk about what I was not only putting into my body but also what I was putting on it. My husband often joked that I was becoming a crazy person,  but he went along with my wishes anyways even if I was making him nuts. All along I have been teaching my son about what it means to buy organic and why it's better for our bodies to be "chemical free." I have to say nothing makes more proud than when my three year old questions if something is organic. My hope is to teach him to live the same lifestyle.

This leads me to my review of The Honest Company. This past summer I came across the book The Honest Life by Jessica Alba. It was a great resource for me to learn more, but it also got me interested in giving the Honest Brand products a try. I learned online that they have a "bundle option" to get monthly shipments of the products so I decided to give it a try. A friend of mine shared with me some of her reviews on which products were worth trying and she also gave me a tip that I should make my five bundle options the most expensive choices then add on the less expensive items at the end. You have the option to get a few additional items at 25% off after your five bundle items. I loved the products from my first shipment and am anxious to use these new items from my newest shipment I just got this week. I liked this so much I actually went ahead and ordered a bundle for my mom too since she also has thyroid issues. One thing that I really appreciate about the brand is that most of the products do have the USDA certified label for being organic. My only complaints so far is that when I ordered the laundry soap the first time and also the hand soap, they got opened somehow and spilled on some of the other products in the box. Honest company handled it very well. They sent me a new bottle of laundry soap and hand soap with free overnight shipping. I don't know if it was bad luck or something that happens often, but the bottle of laundry soap leaked again during the shipping process. When I let them know they actually refunded me 10% of my entire order. Pretty great if you ask me. So my advice would be to avoid ordering the laundry soap online and just buy it in the store. You can get most of this stuff at Target.  Stay tuned for more product reviews and check out my video for my "honest review" of each that I have tried so far! Here is a link to let them know I referred you and it will allow you to save $10.00 off your first bundle if you are a new customer. Let me know your thoughts and your own reviews on the products if you give them a try yourself!

When Things Don't Go According To The "Plan"

Difficult Roads Often Lead To Beautiful Destinations 

If you have been following me on social media, you know that this past year has brought a new reality that my husband and I had to face. Our reality was that even though we had no trouble at all getting pregnant with our son almost four years again, our chances for another have become very slim on our own. It's funny when you have one, you always just assume there will be more. We always have talked about "the next one" we saved all of our little guys baby things for "the next one" and had anticipated that our family would grow at least by one more. Then two years down the road after there was no next one month after month of trying, we decided maybe something was wrong. After lots of testing, regulating my thyroid,vitamin d levels, unblocking my tubes and taking several rounds of fertility drugs - we found ourselves in a dark place this summer. It was a place of hopelessness and sadness. We feel very very very blessed that God gave us our son, but we also are very very sad for the little brother or sister our son does not have. It has been a hard road to walk and one that luckily we have walked together as husband and wife. As hard as this struggle has been, it also has really brought us even closer together. While I don't like the road we are on, I wouldn't want to be on it with anyone else. 

When our last round of the fertility drugs did not work in June we decided to take a step back and spend the summer trying to accept what might be our reality that our family may be smaller than we thought. We took in every moment of the precious life that is growing up before our very eyes. We stopped talking about "the next one" and simply have tried to just be present and enjoy our summer with our blessing we were given. We decided that we would take a break from all the trying, the medication and the stress of it NOT working every single month. 24+ months of trying with no luck gets to be defeating after awhile. While I wear a big bright smile every day, some days that smile is hiding sadness that only my husband knows about and understands. However, I can honestly say we are in a different place now than before. I would be lying if I said I wasn't still sad some days. It's still hard but I am better, stronger and even more grateful than ever before. 

Our steps from here if we want to continue this difficult journey requires some science and gets to be a lot more expensive with no guarantees. We are still praying about that decision. Quite honestly, we have been praying about this for months. My heart tells me I have to at least try once so I don't spend the rest of my life wondering what if. It's more so now that the timing has to be right and right now the timing is not right. My body is still under too much stress with all that I have going on.  In the meantime, I decided I wanted to try a more holistic approach. I had read tons of articles and books and talked with people who dealt with infertility and many had suggested I try acupuncture. I felt like at this point I had nothing to lose so I went for it and loved it.

I signed up for four weeks in a row worth of hour long treatments and will decide from there how often I plan to go. I was absolutely amazed at how much she was able to tell me about my body by feeling my pulses and meridians. Right away she was able to tell me she knew I was there for infertility just by what she was feeling from the pulses. I was amazed and my tongue also told her that I had recently been dealing with something stressful and traumatic (umm yeah 24 months of this struggle I would say is a bit stressful.) The treatments may or may not work but what it has done for me is helped me to feel more balanced and less stressed which is important because the hormones secreted during stressful situations can significantly decrease fertility. While I cannot promise it will work, I would highly encourage anyone who is trying to get pregnant to give it a try. Actually I would encourage everyone to try it. There are SO many other health benefits as well aside from fertility help. To answer the million dollar question - NO the needles DO NOT hurt!! 

So why do I share all of this with lots and lots of strangers? Because the scars that you share become lighthouses for other people who are headed for the same rocks you hit.  Someone out there is reading this and needs this it. Somebody is in the same boat as I am, and if that somebody is you; I want you to remind yourself that just because it's not happening right now doesn't mean it never will. You are in your own little storm right now and it's changing you and it's testing you, but it will not break you.  When this storm passes you are going to come out of it a different person than you were when you went into it. Keep up the faith, keep your chin up and keep us in your prayers. We could use a miracle. Feel free to reach out to me for support if your standing in this storm, I get it and would be glad to talk with you. S.Griffith27@gmail.com

Natural Living - Homemade Soaps

Evanley Naturals - Meet Tori 

Some of the fantastic samples she sent me to try out! 

This past fall when I learned that my thyroid was off the charts and out of whack my doctor talked with me about removing anything that I could from my lifestyle that contained chemicals. She talked about using all natural soaps and lotions because many of the products you buy in stores can cause an imbalance in hormones. She also suggested removing many other environmental factors that could take effect on my condition. My doctor is what I would call organic and natural and I sort of love that about her. She is very into clean eating and holistic wellness. She's a great fit for me since I am too.

I began my quest this past fall to get rid of the "bad stuff" and it has been a gradual process and I have lots of ways to go before I am where I want to be but all in all I am getting there. I did little things like switch out our household cleaning products and I try my best to store all of our foods in glass dishes along with switching out my water bottle to glass. Little things...and now some of my soap products.

Well now it's time to talk about Tori and how we connected. We were in a moms group together on Facebook. I had noticed that she had been fighting breast cancer and her story resonated with me since I went thru my own struggle back in college. (See my past blog post) Why I Wear Pink

We didn't really connect until later this year she had posted about wanting some help with meal planning. I messaged her and let her know that I would be willing to help her. It never turned into anything in regards to my business that I run on the side but it did turn into a friendship over a shared belief in products. She told me about her soap business. I talked with her about my interest in switching over to organic natural soaps and just like that things sparked from there. She ended up sending me a boat load of samples to test out. She is too sweet! I absolutely love them and especially love that she uses such high quality ingredients. Not only does she do soap but many other luxurious products too! I am a huge fan of the lip gloss she sent me! I asked her to share her business story with me so that I could feature it on the blog. Here is a little bit  about how she got into the soap business.

"My love affair with soap began an unusual way. I was diagnosed with Breast Cancer in 2013. What was the worst day of my life, has taught me so much about health and the important things in life. There are many things I cannot control in life, but what I put in and on my body is not one of them. Shortly after this diagnosis I was given another one of a pulmonary embolism. My life was spared from this blood clot, but it precipitated a lot of research on healthy living. As my chemotherapy progressed so did my knowledge of what we put in and on our bodies. As life would have it, I was given a miracle baby which ultimately led to the name of my business- Evanley Naturals. Evanley is a combination of my children's names...thought it was fitting.

I have spent hours upon days of researching soaps and their beneficial properties. The most important ingredient in my soap is an ingredient that is not tangible...research. I use only organic oils, butters and essential oils. I do not use GMO's and I only purchase from reputable suppliers. All of my soaps are palm free...I love nature and harvesting palm oil or kernels is not good for the environment (this is debatable with some).

In order to make soap I use goats milk, a lot. Goat's milk is packed full of essential nutrients and vitamins like vitamin D, C, B1, B6, B12, and E. These feed the skin and are absorbed into the body. I also use olive oil, coconut oil, sunflower oil, castor oil, Shea and mango butters, clay's for color, and essential oils for scents. I never use fragrances or mica's (synthetic materials). In some specialty soaps I use rice bran and hemp oils. I also love to use the resources around me such as dandelions and mint (grown in my yard)."

If you are interested in purchasing some soaps from Tori you can contact her thru email  or check out her like page on Facebook.