The Honest Company

Well I'm pretty thrilled to see so many folks ("so many" is a relative term) liked that upper body action I posted Monday!

As I sat down to write today, my thoughts swirled with baby registry items, baby books, apartment listings, and a million other non-blog-related ideas. Granted, this blog does its fair share of discussing whatever its author wants (including but not limited to cats, travel, and pregnancy--all related topics, right?), but on days like this when my mind is running crazy I figure it's best to just roll with it. Enjoy. :-)

The Honest Company
It just gets better and better. Last month, I signed up for the free trial. You pay shipping ($5.95), but then you get five products of your choice in small quantities (about 3 ounces each). I chose hand soap, shampoo/body wash, conditioner, lotion, and healing balm. I was impressed with all the products, but obviously I was only able to use each a few times before they ran out. So when my real bundle showed up yesterday, I was so excited!

Here's how the bundles work:

• You choose a type of bundle (baby, bath & body, cleaning, or health & wellness). You can sign up to receive multiple bundles, and several products overlap into various categories.
• You choose how often you want to receive your bundle (every 4 weeks, 6 weeks, etc.).
• You choose what goes into your bundle for your shipment. Some items are excluded from the bundle option, but you can still add them on with the "+3" option where you add up to three items to your standard five. 
• You can purchase items separately (and without signing up for the bundles), but you get up to 35% off with the bundles, so it's a great deal. My friend Jenn, however, sent me a link to Zulily saying that The Honest Company has a new partnership with them! The deal lasts for two more days, and the prices are on par with the discounted bundle prices, so check it out!
• The best part: You can switch up what you get in each shipment! For example, I ordered all-purpose cleaner this time, but I certainly won't use it all in six weeks, so I won't order that again in the next shipment.

Also, I'm pretty sure Jessica Alba packed my shipment. 

Here's what I got and my initial thoughts:

• Shampoo/Body Wash: I liked the sample I used of this product, but I'm a little disappointed in the size. I'm pretty certain that two of us using this product as shampoo AND body wash, we'll go through it long before our next bundle arrives. I also have a pet peeve about shampoo and conditioner containers coming in the same size bottles, because I go through shampoo way faster. Does anyone else have this problem?
• Conditioner
• Face/Body Lotion: Excellent scent, great size (should last me six weeks). It's definitely a lighter lotion, not a cream, so I will still use my thicker cream at night.
• All-Purpose Cleaner
• Dishwasher Detergent: We are now trying out our fifth brand of dishwasher detergent. If you remember the dish soap incident, you know it's been a rough road. I wasn't happy that our original detergent wasn't getting completely rinsed off the dishes (probably our dishwasher's fault), so I figured if some residue is going to be left on the dishes I should switch to a less chemically-harsh brand. But after several other tries, including some powder brands, still no luck. Right now we're using Target's Up & Up brand, which has been good for two cycles, but I am excited to try this one, too. First world problems, I tell ya.
• Belly Balm: This one was my add-on item (optional), and obviously I'm using it for my growing belly (helps moisturize, soothes and prevents itchiness, might help with stretch marks). It smells awesome (Terry said it smells like Burt's Bees) and feels light, not too greasy. I normally use plain coconut oil, and I can't tell if there's a major difference between the two yet, but I like it!

You can click here to check out the website or to sign up for your bundle! (<--If you click that link and sign up, I get a referral credit!)


Why Today Wasn't the Best
I told you it was going to be a random post. This morning was a bit rough when Scout woke us up at 6 and then refused to let us go back to sleep. I know, I know, we better get used to it, but the baby's not even here yet!

Then I had to drink the infamous orange drink for the glucose test (to check for gestational diabetes--50 grams of sugar in liquid form). It was just as awful as I anticipated it would be, but thankfully it's done now. Hopefully I'll get good results in a few days and won't have to do it again!

Then we drove all the way to the South Bay to check out yet another apartment. It was a promising one, until we learned at the very end of the tour that cats aren't allowed in the building. And so the search continues.

After my sugar crash (they say it's a placebo effect, but I felt awful for the entire day after gulping that drink), I picked up Jenn for a quick workout at UCLA. We just did about one and a half bleacher snakes at Drake Stadium, and I was proud that I felt like I could do more! Still, the rest of the day remained in a funk.

Terry and I are heading to Jenn's for a little happy hour celebration tomorrow, and she asked me to make a dessert. Granted, she probably wouldn't mind if I bring any old dessert, but I felt it would be rude to not being at least something gluten-free so Jenn can enjoy it too. Well, after half an hour of searching and an hour of baking, I came out with two failed desserts. I made fudgy brownies and these lemon bars. They seemed so straightforward, but the brownies came out completely crumbly, and the top layer of the lemon bars were too liquidy to call them bars. Utter fail.

Disaster crumble

The bottom layer--which was actually tasty.

*Updated to say: Good news! The lemon bars actually came out pretty well, or at least the top layer solidified enough so that I can, in fact, call them bars. It's all coming together now, guys.

Alright, so here's what I ate on this less than stellar day:

Boring breakfast: plain scrambled eggs and the disgusting orange drink

Pre-apartment hunting snack: Peanut butter chocolate chip Lara bar

Pre-workout snack: Plain Greek yogurt mixed with honey, dried cranberries, and sliced almonds

Lunch: Enchiladas (actually, I got full, if you can believe that, so I only ate one)

Baking snack: Carrots, plus some taste-testing bites of the brownie crumble

Dinner: Turkey sandwiches on whole wheat with bacon, spinach, mustard, and avocado, plus about a third of a baked sweet potato

My sandwich

Terry's sandwich (he insisted I take a photo)

Dessert: The last of our pudding dessert with some brownie crumble on top

Check out the other WIAWs!

I hope you had a better day than I did. And I hope tomorrow is better for all of us! Happy Thursday!