Happy Earth Day!

We made a card for you (yes you!) for Earth Day Open it HERE Lots of love, The Ly Home

Eating Clean with Plan to Eat

Absolutely loving Plan to Eat

I was recommended this website a few months ago and was skeptical since it had a yearly fee. I don't like paying for things, ha! I didn't want to pay for something I could do myself. I tried it out for a month for free and was completely hooked. It only cost about $40 a year which equals $3.40 a month or about 83 cents a week. Totally worth it - trust me.

We've been eating so much "cleaner" since I try to get recipes that are healthy and fresh and try our best to purchase things based on the Dirty Dozen to keep things as toxin-free as possible. Because this site generates a shopping list for you based on the meals you choose, we only ever have those ingredients in our home so it's guaranteed healthy and we don't waste as much food. I know every week exactly what we're going to eat that week.

People who haven't seen me in awhile have been commenting on the weight I loss the past few months - I just started exercising this week so really, it's just been me eating fresh and clean consistently. And I find this has been a huge help with that.

If you get it, let me know! We can share recipe books! I have 187 recipes in my recipe book right now, ready and willing to share. Our user name is "Ly Home" if you want to share recipes.

Over and out.

DIY Hang Out

Back in February I met a friend of a friend named Andrea. I then realized that she was THE Andrea - the illustrator and blogger of Cereal With A Smile I used to follow a few years back. We talked about making DIY things and a few weeks later we met up for a DIY hang out.

It was fun!

She made a scrumptious chickpea lunch and together we made an all purpose spray, a cleaning scrub and toothpaste. I loved it because now yet another person in this world knows how to make 3 toxin-free things for themselves and their home.

Then her friend Malex dropped by and brought cake. Great ending!

So fun to meet bloggers in real life. And make homemade things.

Here's her entry of our hang! Malex on the left, me on the right.

I had so much fun doing this. If you'd like to come over for a DIY hang or want me to come over, just let me know! We can trade - I can teach and bring the ingredients for cleaners and you can make food or give/teach me something that you DIY that is earth-lovin' and friendly.

Face Routine

For a few months now I've been doing pretty much the same face routine - and my face loves me. I have finally found some products/ingredients that I love and love me back.

I mean I still have those times of the month where I get pimples around my mouth (I always touch my face there...) and my skin looks tired (oops, I sometimes forget to drink water and/or sleep...).

But in general I've felt so much better about my face this year. This is an update to this blog from almost two years ago now.

Thought I'd share my night and day routine with you. I linked the things I use to where I get them from in case you're interested!

Good Night!

So it's night time and I'm getting ready for bed. 

1. I rinse my face four times with just plain ol' warmish tap water.
   Four isn't a magical number, it's just what I do.
2. I pat my face slightly dry and then smooth on some basic lotion. I then take a textured cloth and wet it with hotter water and wipe the lotion off my face gently with it. I feel like this removes any dirt, oil or makeup the first rinse didn't get. And it just feels so good.
   *
3. I take my witch hazel  which I have in a spritzer bottle, spray it on another smooth cloth, and wipe my face gently. This is my toner.
   Did you see the price of this? $1.29 for 100ml. So cheap. So amazing. My face loves this stuff.
4. I put a thin layer of this night cream on.
   This stuff feels so thin, but I wake up to such a smooth and moisturized face.

* Once a month after step #2. I use this night exfoliant. It's magical and I wake up to such a smooth face! It's the smoothest and best smelling thing I put on my face.

Night night!

Good Morning!

I wake up to a nice smooth face from the night before and jump into the shower. 

1. When in the shower I gently rinse my face with water. I can feel the night cream rinsing off.
2. I go in the fridge and get my hemp oil and apply a thin layer to my face. My face LOVES this. It's my day "cream" and the best stuff I've found so far to moisturize my face.
3. I have cornstarch in a spice shaker in my bathroom and I shake a little on my hands and apply it evenly on my face. This is my "cover up" or "matte powder". Works like a charm. It takes the shine away from the oil and evens out my skin.
   And no, I don't leave the house looking powdery or white. It actually rubs in nicely.
4. I take my blush and apply two circles on my cheeks and rub it in gently.
5. I take my eyeshadow and apply a wee bit to my eyelids.
6. I curl my eyelashes everyday with an eyelash curler for about 10 seconds per eye. If I'm going out at night I usually wear some mascara.

Ready to go, see ya!

Blush

Happy to have found this blush by 100% Pure.

I was at Big Carrot the other week when I ran out of my Gabriel blush which I had used for about a year. I had wanted to try a cheek stain for awhile so when I saw this little bottle I thought I'd give it a try. I asked for the ingredient list (as always) and was so happy to find that it was even more pure than the Gabriel one I had been using. It's name is pretty accurate: 100% Pure.

Here are the ingredients:

Cocoa Butter, Shea Butter, Honey Beeswax, Grapeseed Oil, Vitamin E (a-tocopherol), Vitamin C (ascorbyl palmitate), Pigments of Cranberry, Pomegranate, Blackberry, Raspberry, Cabernet Grape, Plum, Strawberry, Cherry, Peach, Apricot, Blueberry, Cocoa Bean, Carrot and Tomato, Strawberry Extract, Mica

When I read this list at the store I said "I could eat this!" Which was one of my original rules a few years back when I learned our skin was our largest organ - don't put anything on your face you wouldn't put in your mouth. This rule can be hard to stick to, but it's definitely not impossible!

Though I won't eat my new blush, I have been liking it a lot. It smells good too. It's also a lip stain which is bonus. It came in handy over the holidays when I went to a few holiday parties and wanted to look "pretty" - you know, flushed cheeks and warm lips. Always special to dress up sometimes!

Shampoo

I am so glad to say that after 4 years of trying a number of different natural shampoos and even trying to make my own - I have finally found the shampoo for me.

It's Green Beaver's Gluten Free Shampoo.

I mean, I don't need my shampoo to be gluten free, so I guess that's just a bonus? But my hair finally loves me. It's clean, it's toxin-free and it looks and feels good. Just in case you didn't click on the link above, this shampoo seems to cover all the good things like:

• Certified organic
• Vegan
• Biodegradable
• Not tested on animals
•  and free of:
• parabens
• phenoxyethanol or formaldehyde releaser preservatives
• artificial fragrances or dyes
• phthalates
• SLS
• sulfates or ingredients generating carcinogenic nitroamines. 

I used Nature Clean for awhile until they changed the look and I feel tripled the price? Ok maybe doubled. But still. Now that I've used this shampoo for a good month now, my hair looks and feels better than it did with Nature Clean (which is a company I still love by the way!).

So my hair loves me. And like all the discoveries I've made over the years, it's always worth it to find the best natural product that works for you. I feel guilt-free and toxin-free and I didn't have to compromise on what's important to me.

As mentioned before, everybody's different and every body's different. How my hair reacts/feels/looks with different shampoos will be different from you. Keith was completely fine with some of the other shampoos we tried. Me? My hair would look greasy and feel heavy.

So glad I picked this up at my fave store Better Bulk - thanks Brian for the recommendation!

DIY Toothpaste

Since about mid-October we've been making our own toothpaste and love it!

It started as a school assignment - I had to do a science project with my classmate Amanda so we decided to use David Suzuki's new "Connecting With Nature Guide" and created a lesson plan for Gr. 4-6. It was fun! We had to do a demo showing how to make the toothpaste and ever since then Keith and I have been hooked.

It's so easy and cheap and it works!

Here's all you need:

Toothpaste Recipe

• 3 tbsp. baking soda
• ½ tsp. table salt
• 1 tbsp. vegetable glycerin
• 10‐15 drops essential oil (e.g. peppermint, spearmint or cinnamon)

We keep ours in a mini glass Mason jar in our bathroom cabinet and it lasts the two of us about a month. 

We used Green Beaver toothpaste for a few years and it's great. No nasty chemicals or SLS. But now that we know we get make it for cheap and it actually works, that's the way we'll go for now!