I love a good subscription box and I have heard of Babbleboxx for awhile now. The difference between this box and others is that it is specifically for bloggers to try out new products. The issue remains the same for me though, most subscription boxes though…I am pretty choosy about the brands I buy and allow into my home. Unless the service is tightly niched I usually take a pass. That said though I will usually take a chance with boxes that claim to have healthier options. I love to find new-to-me brands that are a good fit.

The Revamp Your Routine BabbleBoxx is themed around a new year, new routines, and a healthier start to 2016. This is what is included:

I am very pleased with all the products I got to try and enjoy!

The Stop Drop and Diet Book – This book was confiscated by my husband almost immediately upon opening the box. When when I wrangled it away from him, I found I really liked the concept and that says a lot with all the diet books on the market. It is all about finding healthier substitutes for the unhealthy foods you love and following a 21 day plan. I like that it has options for so many different lifestyles…those that cook at home, those that like convenience and shop the frozen isles, restaurant lovers, and fast food lovers.

Stash Tea – I am a tea lover and I love that these teas are organic. The Golden Cup Chai with Turmeric is a hit with us because I love anything that adds Turmeric to the routine. Adding this warm, Indian spice to a mild chai is a winning combo. Yummy with organic milk and cream of course. The Lavender Tulsi is also fabulous. I love lavender teas and Tulsi is one of the healthiest out there in my opinion.

Birch Bender Gluten Free Flour – In general we don’t eat pancakes too much because we aren’t huge on flour and gluten. That said, I do like to try the gluten free varieties floating around out there to make pancakes for the kiddos a couple times a month and this is a good one. It is an organic, just add water mix made from wheat free flours and their signature hazelnut meal. Yum!

Dickinson’s Original Witch Hazel – If you use towelettes for facial cleaning you need to be aware that many brands can have horrid ingredients. This product is essentially natural witch hazel and aloe vera. Simple and effective. It is a much better alternative.

Cold-EEZE Plus Natural Multi Relief Cold & Flu lozenges – Ingredients include zinc gluconate, sambucus nigra (elderberry), and licorice root. I like the minimal ingredients and that is does try to live up to the “natural” in the name, as many brands use this word and dilute the meaning. I have no doubt that we will use these when cold symptoms are a nuisance, such as at work.

Enjoy a healthier new year!

This post is sponsored by BabbleBoxx.com on behalf of Single Edition Media

The above is a collection of goodies I recently recieved from Now Foods as a #NOWWellness blog ambassador.

I have used many Now Foods products over the years so I felt it was a good fit for me and this blog. The products they sent are for the most part products I would buy myself any day of the week. A couple I might not have purchased but I am still happy to give them a try!

Perhaps most exciting for me are the avocado oil and the sweet almond oil. I make no secret of my adoration for essential oils and all their uses in creating DIY beauty products and home remedies. Avocado oil is my absolute favorite carrier oil so I know I will use every last drop. The same goes for the sweet almond oil. A carrier oil “carries” the beauty product or essential oil to broad area of the body. Imagine if you will, putting a drop or two of lavender oil on your fingers. How far will those drops of lavender go? How much skin can be covered? The answer is not much. This is why a carrier oil comes in handy. It dilutes the essential oil’s more potent components, and it allows you reach more skin with your homemade creations.

So why do I love avocado oil and almond oil? Well one of the biggies is that they both score low on the comedogenic ratings scale. “0” will not clog pores, “3” is moderate, and “5” indicates a high risk of clogged pores. Avocado oil and almond oil both rate a “2” which is moderately low. Neither one feels greasy after application either. No one wants to feel slippery all day!

So how am I using them already? Well I am using them to fill my glass roller bottles. I use a carrier oil, a few drops of my preferred essential oils and I have a ready to go, diluted, application method.

Next up I am excited to use the garlic infused coconut oil. Thank goodness it came to me as a solid though because I very nearly used it in brownies. They were saved because I was too lazy to heat it up and I used the avocado oil instead. Only later did I see the garlic part! That would have been awkward. The toasted hemp seeds will go fast I think and the tri colored quinoa sounds delish! I can’t wait to dig further into the #NowWellness goodies.

This post was created as part of a #NOWWellness campaign in which I am a financially compensated Now Foods Ambassador. The opinions I share here are my own and based on my own experiences with the products.

Attn: Giveaway at the bottom of this post!

Tampons and menstrual pads are the go-to products for most women. They are what you see sold in traditional stores and what you see advertised in TV commercials and magazine ads. They are far from the only options women have though. Hopefully by now you have also heard of some of the alternatives…cloth pads, natural tampons (sponges), and of course menstrual cups.

Let’s start off by saying that this product was not my first rodeo with menstrual cups. I have been using them for years. I have tried several different brands and have been happy with all them. Last month though was my first time using the Sckoon cup brand. Before that I used to purchase their cloth diapers and baby clothes…though that was some time ago.

A menstrual cup does what a tampon or pad does but rather than absorb the flow it collects it. It IS a cup. If you are not squeamish about inserting a tampon then you should not be squeamish about inserting a cup. It is basically the exact same thing. The only difference is that you pull a tampon out with a string and toss it in the toilet. With a cup you pull it out, empty it into the toilet, and then wash it for re-use. I guess it is slightly more complicated then a pad or tampon but once you get the hang of it, it is no big deal.

I like menstrual cups more than I ever liked tampons. For whatever reason I could always feel tampons, even though they say you shouldn’t. With a cup…I truly cannot feel it. Tampon applicators are also really slippery, which meant many times I had problems with insertion and had to use toilet paper to kind of dry it off and try again. With one brand of menstrual cup I have had some launch failures for the same reason, slippery-ness. With the Sckoon cup there are neato grooves on the bottom (of their otherwise silky smooth and comfortable cup) that give you something to grip and hence no issues with that. See them below…

While on the subject of how it compares to other cups let me also use this same photo to show you how it has that little stem sticking out of the bottom of the cup. The other brands have that too but instead of a solid stem that tapers off they have a little hollow tube. That tube collects menstrual flow and has to be washed out…this is not an issue with the Sckoon. This may seem like a small detail but I really like it.

I also love that the Sckoon cups come in COLORS!!! My other cup is clear and it has started to look dingy over time. I am not willing to use anything harsher than soap and water to clean it because I want it to last. These colored cups solve that issue because they will stay pretty and not get discolored. I have blue obviously but they also come in other colors.

As with other cups it comes in two sizes. Size 1 is for people who have never given birth vaginally. Size 2 is for those of us who have given birth vaginally. It is made from FDA approved soft medical-grade silicon, so it’s safe, reusable, environmentally friendly.

If you need a crash course in how to use a menstrual cup it is really very easy… Take the cup in hand and fold it using your fingers. Insert pushing up and backwards (towards your back). Your vaginal muscles will grip it and keep it in place and it will open once it is up there too. When you are ready to take it out simply bear down a little bit and the bottom part will come out. Grip it and pull it out carefully so you don’t spill. Dump the contents, wash it with soap and water, and re-insert.

The only time when this becomes a bit tricky is when you are using a public bathroom. I simply dump it out and reinsert it and then remember to wash it as soon as I get home. I also use toilet paper from the bathroom stall to clean my hands off so I don’t leave a public bathroom stall with blood all over them. No need to freak anyone out. I don’t imagine that it is any harder than inserting a tampon in a public place.

After using it through two menstrual cycles I will be reaching for my Sckoon cup before my “other” cup now. It gets an A++ in my book!

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The company is generously allowing me to giveaway one of their cups! I have a size 2 cup in blue. Just like the one in my photos. To enter to win in fill out the Rafflecopter form below. Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

I received a free menstrual cup to facilitate this review and it was done in affiliation with the Green Moms Media.

This post brought to you by Softcup. All opinions are 100% mine.

When it comes to our periods women have other options, beyond the traditional tampon or sanitary pad, though you would not think so by looking at most store shelves. Tampons and pads reign supreme and yet both have so many issues, healthwise and environmental, that it makes sense to look at the other options.

Pads are sumpremely uncomfortable (like wearing a diaper), they leak, and they end up in landfills in mass quantities. Tampons give us a bit more freedom but they rob us of moisture and put us at risk for Toxic Shock Syndrome (TSS) which is pretty nasty. Both are made with bleached materials and a host of not so savory chemicals.

Years ago I made the switch to a menstrual cup and have never looked back. I sing their praises to any woman who will listen and lately many women have asked me what I think about the disposable cups on the market like SoftCup. I never tried them so I didn’t have much to offer other than my initial reaction which was that I do not prefer single use disposable products. This week though I decided to give it ago in the name of research of course, and see I thought about them. I was pleasantly surpised to find that that I like them very much.

It is a cup that collects that menstrual flow and instead of washing and reusing like you would with a regular cup, these are meant to be tossed in the garbage after each use. They are much safer for you then a tampon, with no known risk of TSS. It’s hypo-allergenic, latex-free and completely safe when used as directed. I think they make a great intro product for any woman looking to see if a cup will work for them.

Insertion was easy. You just squeeze the cup together and insert by pushing down and back as far as it will go. I found it easiest to insert in the shower. Getting it out had me just a bit worried but that was no big deal either. You just bear down a bit and hook your finger under the rim and remove (keeping is steady to avoid a spill). After that you can dump the liquid in the toilet (or let it go down the shower drain), stick the cup back inside the wrapper, and throw away.

What I liked best: They are very comfortable (can’t even feel it). I could exercise as usual and this was a biggie for me because I love my CrosssFit classes and I have had issues with my regular cup during strenuous exercise. On heavy flows days I will skip class but that would not be necessary with the Softcup. I could swim while wearing it and and even have sex while wearing it without any kind of mess whatsoever ( I was very impresed). It can be worn for 12 hours.

buy Softcup now

Find Softcup on social media: @InsteadSoftcup on Twitter & Softcup on Facebook

We don’t have any dogs in our home…yet. We badly want one but we are renters and it’s just too much stress to have a pet at this time. To get our fill we have to make regular trips to Nana’s house where there are two furbabies available to love on.

Every year the #1 Christmas gift priority award is bestowed upon those dogs by my kids. Forget everyone else in the family…as long as those doggies have full stockings we are all good.

This means I have to be on the lookout for more planet friendly options and there are many at the Only Natural Pet Store. I recently got an email highlighting their new 2 Ball Toss & Tug Toy. It’s a durable, inventive toy made entirely of reclaimed materials, making it more eco-friendly. The rope is repurposed climbing rope and the balls are reclaimed. Made in Colorado too! I know two someone’s named Zoey and Koko who would love these…

Also Read: Healthy Pets, Green Pets