Nature Box Fights Hunger: A Subscription Box Review

Hello, my name is Sherri and I am an Subscription Food Box Addict. It's been three days since I received my last subscription box…

Nature Box Fights Hunger

Ah, Nature Box--  my BFF of subscription boxes! Once a month Nature Box will send you full size healthy snack items of your choosing. You can pick options from vegan, soy free, gluten free, non-GMO, nut free, dairy free or any combination of choices-- almost every diet is represented which is AWESOME!

You all know I won't lie to you and it's a big deal when I say that this is my favorite of all the subscription boxes because I have A LOT of subscription boxes. Nature box gives you amazing tasting, full sized treats for every diet which is really hard to find!

What really sets them apart from other subscription boxes is that you get to pick exactly what is being shipped to you! Most other boxes will package random selections.

This month my selections all are from the non-GMO and gluten free category. I picked Dried Figs, Antioxidant Boost (it has chocolate), Sour Cream and Onion Almonds, Chili Lime Pistachios, and Dried Apples. They sent me a FREE sixth bag of granola because they are kickass like that and do random customer appreciation gifts every now and then. Love it!

I admit that when I originally signed up, that I was just going to try it once because I had a coupon. But after that first box.. well, yeah, now I'm seriously addicted to a few of these flavors! My top three choices are the figs, the antioxidant boost and the chili lime pistachios, but the dried fruits are amazing, too, especially the pineapple!! Mmmm... I've been getting Nature Box since December and those picks are ALWAYS on my list! So delicious!! 

Nature Box is fantastic because they offer full size products. If you really love something, you can buy more on their website. They make awesome snacks especially when you're on the go or if you're feeling so lazy that you really just want to grab something out of the pantry and put it in your mouth. 

Help Stop Hunger For You and For Me 

and the Entire Human Race..

When you get a Nature Box you will help to stop your own hunger,  but they also help feed someone else in need! Nature Box actively participates with WhyHunger to make sure needy Americans get nutritious foods.

If you sign up, you will be helping to decrease hunger through Nature Box's donations to community-based organizations, emergency food providers and summer meal programs for low-income children.

And to that I say-- give me more pistachios! 

If you sign up here: NatureBox, the first 25 people who use the code Special25 will get $5 off your first box! However, I'd keep trying it because I think it might be a promo that's used often {wink wink}

If you'd like to join my Natural Living Support Group on Facebook please fill out this form!

Happy Snacking! 

Flor-Essence 7 Day Herbal Cleanse Review

As you may know, I've really enjoyed getting personally with you lately. Just last month I posted about sex and Ryan Gosling and today we get to talk about bodily functions! Yay!

I know that you're super excited to read about poop, but I will try to keep the details less like "New York Ripper" and more like "Justin Bieber's Live Tour". I know both are pretty nauseating, but one is definitely more gory than the other. (That quip was for for my niece. She better be reading this.) {snickers} 

Flor-Essense 7 Day Herbal Cleanse

I decided to use the Flor-Essence 7 Day Cleanse because it's completely based on natural herbs. What I think is really cool is that it's actually from a formula used by a North American Indian Tribe.

It's made with mostly organic herbs and the tea is rated by the non-GMO project so I know that I'm getting a safe, plant based product. I also really liked this cleanse because it's gentle and less likely to cause any issues. A lot of people who take the regular colon blowouts as a detox end up with chronic constipation and, frankly, that's pretty hard to deal with. Literally.

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Norwex vs E-Cloth: Cleaning Without Chemicals

Would you believe me if I told you that you could clean without chemicals and get a BETTER result?

I found out about Norwex when Emily, an awesome person/blog reader, told me about how well they had worked to clean her windows. And when you guys tell me that something is awesome-- I listen!!!

These types of cleaning products require only water to work and can clean just about any surface. I really love that these products are reusable and washable to they really reduce our environmental impact and save some money on paper towels/cleaners! Emily's story inspired me so much that I bought a bundle of Norwex products to try out. It included a window cloth, an all purpose cloth, and a dust mitten. 

But while on Amazon I saw that there was a similar brand which provided more products for less money, but didn't get quite as good of reviews as Norwex. I thought that this would be a great opportunity for a BATTLE! They cost about $20 less than the Norwex products so I wondered if the difference in cleaning would equate to the difference in cost...

Norwex vs E-Cloth (dun dun duuuuuun!)
1) Dust Mitten (Norwex) and Dusting Cloth (E-cloth)
The Norwex dusting glove is a lot like the Swiffer dusting products. It picks up the dust without it just being relocated which I LOVE. It even handled my pet hair dilemma which is fantastic because I have a lot of pet fur. With the Norwex, I cleaned everything and I could have kept going, but I was out of dust. (darn!)

The E-cloth worked more like a traditional duster and seemed to move the dust around rather than collected it unless you completely wet it, wring it out and the dust with it. It does a much better job this way! So if you purchase the e-cloth duster, please make sure that you get it nice and wet before you dust!

2) All Purpose Cloth (Norwex ) vs Kitchen Cloth (E-Cloth)
The previous owners of our house must have put some voodoo magic curse on the kitchen granite because there has always been these bumpy areas. Seriously, it is the arch-enemy of my life. Nothing has ever worked to get any of it off! So, I did the obvious: I cleaned half of the bumpy areas with Norwex and the other half with E-cloth. Guess what?! It's 98% gone! These are amazing!! Just water! Seriously! Whhhhaaat?!?!

{mind blown} Pooooft!

I actually thought both product performed well, but I loved the added scrubber on the E-cloth product. The Norwex product has a ribbed side that is for scrubbing, but I liked the E-cloth scubber just a little more for tough spots. Seriously, both did great though!

3) Window Cloth (Norwex and E-Cloth)
OMG. It worked! Like Windex! Sure, it requires slightly more elbow grease than a typical spray window cleaner, but it's totally worth it! It removed pet nose stains, finger prints, dust and there were zero streaking on any window or mirror!

{sigh} I'm in love!

Both products are awesome, but I liked that you only needed one cloth for the Norwex window cleaner while you needed two (a cleaner and a polish cloth) for E-Cloth. But if we are going simply by performance-- they are just about equal.

4) And There is MORE!
The E-Cloth Home Cleaning Set also provides a stainless steel cloth, range and stovetop cloth, and a bathroom cloth which are not provided in the Norwex set.

I don't think that the stainless steel and bathroom cleaners are necessary because the Norwex "all purpose cloth" can do those functions too; but I LOVE the range and stovetop cloth. I'd definitely recommend it for daily cleaning of the range because it totally kicks butt. Seriously.

How did I never know about this?!

It also has been tested to remove bacteria from surfaces using just the cloth and water! WTF. {mind blown x infinity}. And they last up to 300 washes! Sweet.

So what's better than function? Cost and saving the world, of course. 
If you buy the Norwex packet with all three items, it's about $50. That's less than $17 per item, but it lasts for 300 washes and you won't need to wash it every time you use it. Win.

I've made a simple math problem to help you see how you could save money:

Cleaning supplies + paper towels = money
Reusable cloths + water= savings. 
Savings in cleaning supplies = more shoes

Now that's logical, people.

Plus, it will help save the world! No more chemicals and less waste! Plus Emily told me that 13 billion tons of paper towel are tossed into our landfills every year? Isn't that crazy?! But you can make a difference! I think these cleaning cloths are a great way to be more eco-friendly.

Conclusion
So which is better? Eh. It's hard to say. They both did very well! The E-Cloth kit does have a lot of "extras", but I feel like most of them aren't necessary except the range and stovetop cloth (love it) and I don't really like extra clutter (I have enough-- trust me).

The price tag on the E-Cloth set is about $20 less than the price of the Norwex kit. Is it worth it? Personally, I prefer the Norwex duster and window cleaner just a little more than the e-cloth, but I love the e-cloth oven range. Oh, the choices!

Here are some links to look at the products on Amazon.com (affiliate links-- if you buy the recommended product you pay the same price and I get an Amazon commission to buy more cool stuff from Amazon to blog about. True story.)

Norwex Household Package

E-Cloth Home Cleaning Set, 8 Count

Norwex Microfiber Dusting Mitt

You can search and find products separately as well if you only want to buy one or two of the products instead of the kits!

Have you tried Norwex or E-Cloth? I would love to hear if your mind was blown as much as mine! And I have to give a big shout out to Emily for introducing me to the idea of using Norwex! THANK YOU!!

**If you're interested in a E-Cloth GIVEAWAY check out this post!!***

Looking for Other Ways to Reduce Indoor Air Pollution: 
Clean up Indoor Air Pollution with these easy steps 

P.S. Due to the multitude of comments which contain Norwex affiliates who are trying to gain business by leaving comments on my blog: If you are a Norwex Rep and you leave a comment with your Norwex link-- that is spam and you will be deleted. Be respectful. This is my "home" and these are my visitors. 

Disclaimer: I was not paid or compensated for this review.

If you buy any of the products from my recommended Amazon links I will get a very tiny and rather small commission from Amazon (your price stays the same) which I will use to buy more stuff to blog about. True Story. 

5 Ways to Drink More Water

I have never exactly liked the idea of a New Year's Resolution. I have the opinion that if you need to make a change, then you should do it when you figure out that it should be done instead of waiting around.

But I always wait around. It's the perpetual problem of my life: procrastination. And since I wait around, I make New Years Resolutions. It's a cycle and I'm okay with it.

So this year I decided to make my New Year's resolution that is so simple, but also something that I really needed to do for a lot of different reasons.

I should really drink more water.

I've known this for years, but as I said-- I procrastinate. I always have made the excuse that as a nurse I never had TIME to drink more water. In fact, I would like to blame my nursing career for making me become accustomed to being chronically dehydrated. Now my body doesn't even think of asking for any kind of refreshment because it's become so efficient on running on hardly anything. So now I have to remind myself that I need to drink. That's the hard part because, well, I already admitted it-- I like to procrastinate.

But now I'm not working as a nurse and I'm a student again. I have plenty of time to do lots of things especially drink more water. Now there is NO excuse!

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Honest Co. Dishwashing Gel vs GrabGreen Dishwashing Detergent

The Battle of the Eco-Friendly Dishwashing Detergents!

Many of my readers don't want to make their own dishwashing detergent and have asked me for options for eco-friendly commercial brands. I did some research and I wanted to try these brands to see how they stacked up against each other.

In the left corner, we have GrabGreen Dishwashing Detergent: 

It's a tiny pre-packaged detergent that you toss into your dishwasher and go! Easy, simple, no fuss. Includes a rinse aid.

In the right corner, we have Honest Company's Dishwashing Gel:

It's a liquid so you can determine how much you need/want to use. You just put it in the dispenser and go! It's also compatible with a rinse aid (but not included).

Round One: 
How Green Can You Go

I use the Environmental Working Group (EWG) to compare products safety. I like them because they break down chemicals into what's harmful and their degree of safety.

They use an A (Safe) to F (may kill you) scale. To put things in perspective, only 6 products got an A score and many of the big names (like Cascade and Finish) got a big fat F.

You can click on the link to EWG above to see where your dishwashing detergent ranks.

EWG's rating of GrabGreen Dishwashing Detergent: B

GrabGreen uses A LOT of different ingredients and some are rated as low as a C, which means they could be potentially harmful, but it's still a lot better than most of the detergents out there.

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Graze Subscription Box Review

Have I mentioned that I LOVE subscription boxes?! I especially love subscription boxes that give me delicious, yummy food. Yum!

I've been getting the Graze subscription box for a couple of months and it's definitely become one of my favorites because it's customizable, cheap, yummy, and so fun!

Once you decide to subscribe, you can go online to see their selection of food items and you're able to rate each individual item based on how much you think you'll enjoy it. You can choose between love, like, try or trash and that tells the company how often you want to receive the selected food item which is so awesome! Who wants to pay money and get something you know you won't like!

Graze also has options to even choose gluten, vegan, or dairy options!!

The snacks are always delicious, but they are also healthy-- lots of dried fruits, nuts, grains and sometimes they even send chocolate. Yes, chocolate! And remember it is totally healthy because it has magnesium and calcium and… other stuff.

There are always four snack size options in each box. You can sign up for a delivery once a month or the standard option of every two weeks and it's currently only $6 a box and shipping is free!

If you sign up with my Invitational Code: MARTHASNACKS and you can get your 1st box FREE!! Yay! Free stuff is always so awesome.

This week I got Raspberry and Coconut "Muffins" (dried raspberry cranberries, coconut, amaretti drops, and almond slices), Sour Cream and Onion Cashews, Rock the Casbah (pumpkin seeds, walnuts and dates), and Fruit and Seed Flapjacks (oats with mixed seeds and dried fruits).

So far I've been a member of the Graze community for a few months and I have only had one item which I didn't really like. But if you ever receive something you don't enjoy, then you have an option to dislike the item on the website and Graze won't ever send you another one.

Problem solved!

If you LOVE something, then you can mark it as a favorite and then you'll receive that snack option more often. It's pretty amazing. :)

The best part is that they taste great and they're healthy! The calories per container are very reasonable. They come with a nutritional facts sheet and these particular selections ranged from 130 calories to 225 calories and are full of iron, magnesium, potassium, and fiber. Yay!

Visit Graze.com if you'd like more information and don't forget your invitational code to get your first box free: MARTHASNACKS. 

Budget Gifts for the Manly Outdoorsman In Your Life

I'm awesome at giving gifts if you like anything glittery, but tools? I just recently learned what a socket wrench was. Sort of. In theory.

Anyways, I told The Man I was going to write a blog about what to get a manly man and I needed advice! He said that every manly man wants the following:

• Tools
• Car Stuff
• Awesome Stuff
• Weapons/Survival/Camping/Hunting/Zombie Apocalypse supplies
• A Little Something-Something ::wink wink:: ::nudge nudge:: 

Hey! And one of those options is completely free. ;)

The rest... well, not so much.

I'm going to focus on budget friendly options that are geared towards the outdoorsman/survivalist/military enthusiast. Why? Because cars and tools are boring.

And this is a PG blog so I'll let you figure out the ::wink wink:: ::nudge nudge:: on your own, but I thought we could take a look at some....

"Awesome Stuff"

• Magnetic Wristband This is awesome and it kind of goes with cars and tools. It's a magnetic strap that he wears on his wrist and it will hold onto anything metal (nails, screws, nuts, bolts...)



Mind games baby! This one is HARD! 

• I know that The Man has lost a bolts down the hood of the car and has had to fish them out-- this will prevent it! 
• Hanayama Brainteaser Puzzles Mind games are always so cool! Guys love figuring stuff out! 
• THE WALKING DEAD Seasons 1-3 DVD Sets -- I think this is awesome and it teaches your man survival skills in case of a zombie apocalypse which is very important. I mean, he is going to be the one protecting you and your family. It's best to teach him. 
• Seriously, it's one of the best TV series on right now. We love it and I even HATE horror movies.

Survival Knives
Okay, I know I'm pretty much a hippie, but today I'm going to write you about weapons. I know. It's crazy.

Mind blown. Poof!

But, really, it's all love's fault. You do crazy things for love.

So I know you're thinking, "What gives this almost hippie the right to tell me what weapons to buy my super awesome manly man?"

I'm so glad you asked!! :)

1. Well, I was in this little thing called the United States Military. Maybe you heard of it? ;)
2. I grew up with a Marine for a Father. Enough said.
3. The Man (who was specially trained in knives while he was is the Army Special Forces) has educated me on the fine art of knife selection.

So, that's my credentials. Hopefully, you approve. If not, then let me convince you...

Or just look at the pictures.

Whatever. ;)

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SpaceGirl Organics Review in Central Florida

Even though the organic movement is increasing it's still difficult to find good quality produce at local supermarkets. As a result I joined a co-op early this year, but due to the economy they had to close down. I was so sad to have to go back searching for organic produce at my local grocer. And then I found Space Girl Organics which is based in Central Florida and delivers all over the local area. They have boxes of produce (which you can customize) that are affordable and are delivered right to your door in a cooler. Awesome.

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Clarifying Bentonite Clay Facial Mask

Do you have a skin goal? Maybe enlarged pores? Wrinkles? Would you like to have tighter skin? Of course, everyone does! Well, you're lucky because I have a fantastic solution for you!!

I have found that bentonite clay is a fabulous natural way to my improve skin! Now, you may think, "What a minute-- isn't that dirt?!" Sort of. It's super special dirt from God. Bentonite clay is pretty much His gift to us!

So please, don't go outside and just smear mud on your face. It has to be quality bentonite clay!

I buy loose clay and add water (or rose water) to make a fantastic mask, and I've bought a pre-packaged facial mask like this one from Redmond Clay. It's literally just clay and water, no chemicals no preservatives!

The Facial Mud claims to do the following:

• Clarify your skin
• Remove excess oil
• Shrink appearance of pores
• Draw out toxins
• Tone skin
• Remove impurities
• Deep cleanse your skin. 

It is safe for all skin types and it's so simple to use.

Essential Oils For Added Benefits
If you want added benefit you can even add a couple of drops of essential oils such as lavender to help combat bumps and smooth scars. Personally I love Frankincense because of it's ability to support healthy skin.

Make sure you know which essential oils to use because some may cause thicker hair growth or increase hair growth and I don't think you want that on your face!

If you'd like to join my Natural Living Support Group on Facebook please fill out this form!

How To Use It
If you are using powdered clay, use 3-4 tsp, add 2-3 drops of essential oil (optional) and enough water (or rose water) to make it like a paste. If you are using the Facial Mud, then just add 2-3 drops to the clay.

Apply the wet clay and let it dry for any time between 10-25 minutes (the more sensitive your skin- the less time is recommended).

You may experience some redness after the mask simply because of the process to draw out the impurities (aka pore gunk). I washed the clay off my face at the 15 minute mark and the first thing I noticed was how tight my skin felt. It wasn't uncomfortably tight, but rather pleasantly firm as if gravity has been reversed. Yay!!

The second thing I noticed was how soft my skin felt to the touch. I couldn't stop touching it! 

My skin is a little red after the mask, but I have very sensitive skin so I'm happy with that. It fades pretty quickly!

The first time I did this I noticed that my old facial scars were a bit more visible than usual, but slowly it faded and my skin looked back to normal. If you're worried about that, then you can always do it before bed! However, it really does make a difference in the long run! For me I've seen smaller pore sizes, tighter skin, less blemishes, and reduced wrinkles. 

If you're interested in the Facial Mud you can buy it here: Facial Mud Hydrated Clay 4 Ounces or the Powdered Clay: Redmond Clay
Rose Water: Eau de Rose du Maroc Distillate Water

Essential Oils: I recommend this brand 

If you've tried clay before I'd love to hear your experiences!

Questions? 
If you'd like to join my Natural Living Support Group on Facebook please fill out this form or you can read DIY Beauty Basics 101

Disclaimer: Redmond clay provided the clay for this review, but it is only because I told them how much I loooovvvee their products and I wanted to write a bunch of posts. So, yeah, I loved them before they gave me free stuff. Now I love them more. 

The links for products are affiliate links. I will receive a small commission from anything purchased which I recommend. I am a Young Living distributor so I earn a commission from products sold. If you are interested in getting 24% off your order-- please email me. There is a gimmick, but it's actually a cool gimmick. I swear.

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Non-GMO Multivitamins (SunWarrior vs NewChapter)

Seriously, I don't get it.

I watch what we eat, choose healthy food, try to buy organic fruits and veggies and then take a vitamin full of stuff we can't pronounce.

Why?

It took me a while to figure it out: There are ZERO options at local stores. I honestly didn't even know I could get a non-GMO plant based vitamin until I started looking for it.

If you wonder what the difference, then here's a great chart by SunWarrior that shows you how synthetic vitamins are made vs sources for natural vitamins. Even if you don't opt to go with sunwarrior, please look at this list! It's really amazing.

Personally, I wanted options because that's how I roll so I opted to try to vitamins to see how they compare.

According to my strict standards, I had three choices: SunWarrior, NewChapter and Pure Synergy, but I'm a baby-- I don't do big pills, so I scratched Pure Synergy off the list. They are rather large, but if you don't mind-- definitely check them out.

It is kind of important to note that if your VEGAN then SunWarrior is the only one that will actually fit your diet. However, I love meat so I didn't care.

So. let's look at the pills...
(or if you're lazy just read the summary) ::wink::

SunWarrior vs NewChapter

Okay, so they are both great companies. They pick quality ingredients and take great efforts to make sure their products are safe, healthy and even suitable for gluten free diets. They source most ingredients from organic or non-GMO sources which is huge!

But if we're going to talk important stuff, then you need to know what you're dealing with. How big is this pill?! 

First, I want to talk about the capsule itself:

SunWarrior multivitamins are made from kosher vegetable gelatin, which is great in terms of capsules. They can be broken apart and the contents can be placed into something like applesauce if you like. They are pretty easy to swallow and that's coming from a person who hates taking pills.

NewChapter's pills are solid pills-- no capsules so no mixing in applesauce. They are still a reasonable size, but just a little more difficult to swallow, but barely. 

Proprietary Blends:
SunWarrior added a longevity proprietary blend which is supposed to help with anti-aging. Sounds pretty nice! While NewChapter also added two immunity blends and a digestive support blend using all natural ingredients. So, I guess it's just really what you're looking for!

Also, SunWarrior and NewChapter don't add fillers or synthetics to their supplements which is so important. It's kind of impressive. Most of the "propriety blends" are just a bunch of junk, but both of these companies make their ingredients transparent so you know what you're getting.

 Probiotics:
Sunwarrior added 5 sources of probiotics from both the Lactobacillus and the Bifidobacterium types, which makes your gut happy on so many different levels. It's important to have both types because they act on different parts of the GI system. NewChapter only has two strands of probotics and they are both from the Lactobacillus family.

However, at such low numbers, I don't believe that either brand should be your sole provider for probiotics so make sure that you're taking an additional source for optimal health.

Let's take a look at the labels...

Sunwarrior:

NewChapter:

They both recommend taking 3 capsules a day. SunWarrior gives you 90 pills and NewChapter gives you either 72 or 96 tablets depending on which bottle you buy.

However, remember that these are supplements to supplement your diet. Take what you feel you need for optimal health.

SUMMARY:
Cost:

• NewChapter is slightly cheaper.

Pill:

• SunWarrior is a capsule
• NewChapter is a solid pill
• Size is comparable, but NewChapter is SLIGHTLY larger

Special Diets:

• Both are gluten free
• Both are non-GMO
• SunWarrior is Vegan.

Bottle:

• Sunwarrior comes in a plastic bottle
• NewChapter comes in a glass, dark bottle. 

Probiotics: 

• Sunwarrior added 5 sources and they are from both the Lactobacillus and the Bifidobacterium types
• NewChapter only has two strands of probotics and they are both from the Lactobacillus family.

Proprietary blends:

• SunWarrior added a longevity proprietary blend which is supposed to help with anti-aging.
• NewChapter also added immunity blends and a digestive support blend 

I would definitely recommend either of these multivitamin! In fact, I take both.

You can find both on Amazon.com or at their brand stores:

• SunWarrior: Raw Vitamins for Her
• New Chapter Perfect Immune Multi Vitamin Tablets, 96 Count

(These are Amazon Affiliate links-- your price stays the same and I make a small fee from Amazon to help buy supplies for the blog!)

Plus, they really are the best prices. You can also buy the SunWarrior vitamins from the SunWarrior store, but they end up being more with shipping. :)

Awesome Stuff and I'm Old.

Whew! School is in full gear and already kicking my butt!

In my first class we had to introduce ourselves and explain which piece of literature influenced us the most. I hate public speaking so I said I'd go first and rambled about ee cummings and his straight forward style, quoting part of a poem, and saying how he influenced me and how much I love his use of syntax blah blah blah. The next person says "Harry Potter". The next person says "Harry Potter"and then another person says "Harry Potter". Seriously over 40% of my class said Harry Potter. I counted. Another 10% said Anime and I heard the words Twilight once.

OMG. I'm so old. When did this happen?!

So to make myself feel better I went online and bought graphic t-shirts so I would feel younger and more hip. Makes sense right? ::shrugs:: It made me happy.

Okay, so I don't think I've actually stated that I'm obsessed with CafePress.com so let me make it official.

I am obsessed with CafePress.com.

I wanted to show you some of the awesome things I got in the mail! And I'm doing this for no reason other than I think it's awesome. I'm not getting paid or compensated in any way. I bought all this stuff and I looovve it!

See-- awesome, right? I can't wait to hit the gym in that shirt holding my I love Bacon water bottle!

Maybe I'm easily amused, but seriously, this has made me so happy!

And to make this post as random as possible I'd like to share with you one of my favorite poems by ee cummings!

So beautiful...

Conscious Box (Monthly Samples of Green Products)

UPDATE: I have recently tried to cancel this subscription because they did not stop shipments on both of my gift orders after the 3 months after Christmas (only one ended, the other was renewed and I have never been reimbursed or explained as to why this happened) , there was missed shipments to one of the recipients, and as I became unhappy with customer service, I decided to cancel my subscription. This is a very difficult company to a) get ahold of customer service b) follow through with cancelation orders. I would now suggest not ordering from this company due to these issues 


I cannot even begin to tell you how excited I was when I heard about ConsciousBox! I already have subscribed to BirchBox and BarkBox so needless to say that I'm kind of obsessed with all things in boxes. This was right up my alley!

But Conscious Box is different than any box I've seen before! Primarily what sets it apart is the natural approach to selecting products, but they also give you samples in a lot of different areas like food, beauty products, natural remedies, cleaning supplies, and supplementations. You also get choices in what kind of box you receive. Conscious Box even let;s you pick from a classic box, gluten free or vegan box.

Yes, choices!! I love choices!! I picked the gluten free box because I thought it would be more Paleo friendly. You also get to choose if you want a non-contract subscription so you buy it when you want it or if you want to commit for 3, 6 or 12 months. The longer you commit, the more money you end up saving!

If you order you will receive the box mid-month and it looks something like the picture to the right. And when you open the 2nd part of the box you will be amazed at how much they packed into the Conscious Box!

It had 15 items to sample plus a post card, including a full size bottle of supplements, two snack bars, and lots and lots of other goodies!

I didn't get everything in the picture because I kind of thought that an included brochure was information (aka trash) and I threw it to the side. However, there were more samples of products like toothpaste, mouth wash and gum in there. Oops!! Don't worry-- I saved them, but only after I tore through all this other amazing stuff first!

The items that I was initially most excited about were the Butter Creme Salve and the L-Theanine Supplements!

The Salve is completely organic which I love!! And it's lavender... oh, I do love lavender! It was nice and thick and quickly absorbed into the skin.

L-Theanine is a natural supplement which is basically the healthiest part of green tea without the caffeine. It helps with anxiety, insomnia, dementia, high blood pressure, and aiding in the effectiveness of cancer drugs. I've actually read a few articles about how amazing this natural supplement is so I was VERY excited to see it in my box. This sample came with 10 pills so it's enough pills to see how it will actually work! I'm excited!

To Purchase: Doctor's Best Suntheanine L-Theanine .

I took one right after I wrote my first rough draft of this post and then I promptly passed out on the sofa... I think that means it works! Especially considering that I never take naps and I have a hard time sleeping. The effects can last up to 10 hours and I'll say that I was feeling pretty good. :)

It also came with a ton of other products... here are a few!

ALMOND BUTTER! You can't go wrong with that stuff. It's delicious!! It's nice and thick-- very similar to the consistency of peanut butter.

To Purchase: Barney Butter Smooth Almond Butter

So this is a huge pack of "sample" throat lozenges. Their sample pack is about the same size as a regular pack of normal lozenges at CVS. What impressed me most was the ingredients! With ingredients like Manuka Honey (that's the GOOD stuff), aloe vera, and orchid... well, it just sounds like it should be expensive.

So, of course, I tried one. It's so yummy! It tastes just like a green apple candy and it's really sweet too, but surprisingly it has very low sugar content. It's that amazing honey!! It seemed to last longer than a normal lozenge too. This stuff is great! You can purchase at Fontus Science.

More stress and relaxation supplements. Apparently they know me already. Careful though if you're taking any GABA meds.

Tea! You can't go wrong with tea! This one is supposed to be energizing like a cup of coffee. I might need that on Saturday when I have class ALL DAY. Yuck!  Runa Guayusa Tea Box

Menopause supplements for night sweats. Not applicable to me, but I will be giving this to one fine lady I know. However, it is worth to mention that this "sample" came with 60 pills. Crila¨ for Menopause, 100% Natural, 100% Organic, 60 capsule bottles

Super Toddlers Bars. I do not have any toddlers so this became Super Sherri Bars (that has a nice ring to it, right?). It isn't exactly "Paleo" because it's based on organic brown rice and organic sugar, but I had to try it, right? I am writing a blog about my opinion and how can I give my opinon if I don't try it? Right?

Okay, it's all an excuse. I just wanted to eat it.

No regrets because it was so yummy! It is pretty sweet, but hey-- kids like that! If I was a toddler I would eat it every day.

There was also an immune booster, coconut oil, protein powder (vegan), tooth paste, mouth wash and gum. Whew! Lots of samples!

My recommendation is to go buy a Conscious Box BEFORE the 7th of the month so you can get one during the next shipment cycle. I am sooooo in love.

Enjoy!

Now excuse me while I go eat an entire tube of Almond Butter.