Beautycounter: My Why

A few days ago I shared that I have gotten involved with a mission-based company called Beautycounter. Before becoming a consultant I had no idea about the lack of regulation when it comes to the toxic ingredients companies are allowed to use in our everyday products. Products that I use on myself and more importantly on my daughter every day! After doing a ton of reading, watching and listening I learned a few things that I can't really "un-see" and since then, I felt like I had to do something to share this information with my family and friends.

As I said in my Facebook post, this is more than just a thing for me. I'm not a sales person by any stretch of the imagination and I'm not doing this as a way to stay at home, I love my job! But as some of you know, over the last few months in an effort to lose the baby weight I discovered a passion for health and wellness. I've been taking great care of myself in terms of what I put in my body, but I've been missing the mark with what I put on my body.

That being said, I'm excited to focus some of my time and energy helping educate others on the importance of safe skincare while also offering a safe, affordable and high performing option! I am also a sucker for leadership, networking and mentorship, so this is a great opportunity to work along side some bad-ass women and make important change in the beauty/skincare industry.

Some eyeopening tidbits to consider:

• The European Union has spent the last two decades banning over 1,300 ingredients from personal care products while the United States has only partially banned 30 to date.
• There are over 80,000 chemicals on the market today, many of which have zero safety data.
• The United States has not passed a major federal law to regulate the safety of ingredients used in personal care since 1938
• I found at least one or more of the 1500 ingredients found on this list (each of which are never used in Beautycounter products) that are linked to organ toxicity, or known to be carcinogens and/or hormone disruptors in the products I was using on myself and my daughter. One was formaldehyde. GROSS!
  
  

I know what you might be thinking, "we've been using these products for years and we're fine." Well yeah you may be fine now, but how do we really know what those chemicals and toxins are doing to our bodies? After all your skin is your largest organ! Not to mention, times have changed and the ability to research and learn more is now easier than ever. Look at everything coming out recently about Talcum powder being linked to cancer. My grandmother used that religiously and passed away from cancer, perhaps those were linked? If you could possibly avoid it, why wouldn't you?! Check out this quick video to learn more...

If you're interested in learning more about how you can switch your daily routine to a safer, yet still effective option, join my Facebook group or send me a message. I'd love to tell you what I've learned and create a customized regime based on your needs.

15...Scratch That...20 Months

Parenthood in real life. Bath on one side, dirty dishes on the other.

Crazy. That's what time is. It's a crazy fast phenomenon that all of us are continuing to try and figure out. Figure out how to slow it down, figure out how it goes so fast, and mostly figure out how we can get more of it. As they say, "the days are long and the years are short." And it's so true. I'd be lying if I said there weren't days that I'm counting down to bedtime (don't act like you don't do it to).

Mommin' ain't easy, and it's really tough to balance the responsibilities of being a working Mom and Wife. I don't take either of those three roles lightly. I love my husband, I love my daughter and I love my job, but sometimes trying to be the best at all three is really hard. But I think at the end of the day all three are happy, and if I'm doing my best, that's what counts. **Side note: don't take this as an opportunity to get me to sell makeup, wraps, supplements or anything else. I respect the heck out of everyone who does that, but I love my job and the work I get to do.**

For example, this post has been saved in my drafts for 5 months. I meant to write this when Grace was 15 months old. Truth be told I often lose count and mostly just say she's one and a half. But it's hard to believe she's closer to two than she is to one. But hey, we all know I love to plan a good party!

A LOT has changed since my last time writing here (sorry, I'll try not to make it so long next time). Eleven months have gone by which is basically a lifetime of change for a toddler. First of all, we're officially a toddler. As much as I tried to avoid it, there's not hiding it anymore! We've experienced our share of toddler tantrums (wow, nothing prepares you for those), but more excitingly we've got to watch Grace develop such a fun, caring, independent, strong willed, and definitely sassy personality. There's not doubt she's my daughter!

We're still working on saying more words. She totally understands anything we say and knows exactly how to get what she wants, but has no desire to talk. She knows a few words, but I have a feeling here soon she'll be talking like crazy. She's running around, constantly busy, always exploring something new and LOVES to play basketball, play with any of her Little People sets and do anything that means being outside.

She's now had her first sleep over with Grandma and Papa, gone to Disneyland (hopefully I can do a catch up post on that), celebrated holidays, got her first ear infection (not fun), traveled down to Phoenix to visit Aunt Teresa and Uncle Bob, experienced Safeco Field for fan fest (Go Mariners), spent tons of time at the Zoo, Toddler Gym, Wiggle Works, the museum and anywhere we can go to keep her busy ;) and really just grown a TON.

These days she can't stand the doctor's office, doesn't really love to get dressed, loves most foods but it really depends on the day, We're just doing our best to really enjoy each moment with her, because soon we'll have a TWO year old.

Here's some pictures form the last few months:

Daddy's girl. 

Our first fan fest! We'll be back every year, such a great time!

She's got her Grandma Meredith in her. Loves playing the drum!

Shoppin' in style!

She LOVES Aunt Teresa and Uncle Bob's pool!

Celebrating being 18 months old by having ice cream with Auntie!

First ride on Dad's softball bag!

Way too cool for school.

Love you more than words.

Oh yeah and remember how I was going to do that photo a day challenge? Well you saw how far that got. I'll work on it, I promise. 😁