Finders Keeper Friday, Sept. 7, 2012

Another Friday, another thing that I love, love, love.  This time I am going to introduce you to Bountiful Baskets.  Bountiful Baskets is a nationwide food co-op that provides foods to you that are either locally grown or grown by small, independent farmers.  I cannot tell you how much I love this program.
For a weekly contribution of a mere $15.00 plus a $1.50 handling fee (hey, they have to pay for that gas to get the produce to you somehow!), you get quite a bit of produce!  This coming Saturday will be our third week contributing to the co-op and receiving a produce basket.  The word "basket" doesn't really do the amount of food you get justice.  It is more like two boxes of food.  And by boxes, I mean two diaper case size boxes.  For example, last week we received the following:

1 bag of peaches
1 bag of nectarines
1 three pound bag of onions
several more onions
7 red potatoes
3 heads of broccoli
5 tomatoes
1 bunch of bananas
1 pineapple
2 cantaloupes
1 celery

I know for a fact that I could not go to the grocery store or even the farmer's market and buy this much produce for a lower price than what I contributed to the Bountiful Basket co-op.
Another beauty of this co-op is that it is all volunteer run.  So if you are really interested and want one in your area, you can easily start a pick up site.  In fact, even though we have a pick up site in our area, I would prefer to have one closer to home.  So when Nicole is just a little bit older, I am strongly considering starting one in our little town.  I might even help my sister start a pick up site in her town, as they don't even have one yet!  Hard to believe, considering how wonderful this program is.
If you would like information, be sure to visit their website at www.bountifulbaskets.org.  I guarantee you that you will love this program as much as I do!

Disclaimer:  I did not receive any compensation for the above post.  It is solely my own opinion, and Bountiful Baskets doesn't even know I exist.  Well, they do, but they don't know my blog exists.  Again, just for the record.

Finders Keepers Fridays

Ah, Finders Keepers Fridays.  The day when I get to gush about something I found and loved!  Do you dislike wearing makeup as much as I do?  Or do you absolutely love wearing it?  Me, not so much.  At one point I did enjoy it.  But now, with a preschooler and an infant, it has become more of a chore to wear makeup than a pleasure.  But I also dislike looking so...un-put-together.  Is that even a word?  But I found the perfect answer.  It's called Aveeno Positively Radiant Tinted Moisturizer.

Summer Colds

Gah!  Summer colds hit our house last week, and like unwanted house guests, they just aren't taking the hint and leaving.  Josh came down with it first, and insisted that it must be allergies because he didn't feel sick.  Then two days later, both he and Eloise were snotty and feeling miserable.  The next day Nicole started being snotty and cranky.  And then on Sunday morning I woke up with the terrible sinus/facial pressure that they all had.  Not fun.  Not fun at all.  Needless to say, my Proverbs 31 Challenge is all off schedule now, but I keep telling myself that is okay.  What I need to focus on is getting my family healthy again, since Eloise and Nicole's poor little noses just won't stop running!
Thankfully, Charles was at his mother's house for the week, and Cassandra has not caught it yet.  I am hoping that with all the disinfectant wipes I've been using on just about every possible surface, she won't catch it too.
So, other than that, things have been going pretty smoothly this week.  The kids have been great, Charles arrived last night for his week with us, and even the housework is getting caught up.  What a blessing!

Changing It Up

I think I am having an identity crisis with my blog appearance too.  I love, love, love the pink stripes, but I just feel like I could do more with it.  (Just like my own physical appearance!)  So don't be surprised or worried if you see the look of this blog change a few times over the next few weeks or months.  Just like trying on clothes, I need to try on some new blog designs!

Identity Crisis

Lately, I've been feeling like I have an identity crisis brewing.  Maybe it because of Pinterest.  Maybe it is because I have been reminiscing of my single mom days and wanting to watch the Gilmore Girls.  I don't know.  But I do know that I feel like I need a change.  I want to look less like the mom who hangs out in her stylish sweatpants all day, and more like the women whose style I admire.  In the past few months, I've stopped wearing makeup, and barely style my hair.  Definitely NOT the woman my husband married almost five years ago.  Back then I had long blonde hair and always wore makeup.  I also worked out.  Now I have reddish brown hair, and although I try, I am lucky if I get a jog in every two weeks.
So, I've been looking for ideas on Pinterest.  I've never been a fashionista, but I do like to look nice.  And now thanks to Polyvore and Pinterest, I can find outfit ideas already put together, right down to the accessories, as well as hairstyle ideas and how-to tutorials for makeup application.  Of course, our family budget doesn't exactly allow a lot of new clothes, but stylish pieces can be bought on sale at various stores in our area, and just one or two pieces may be just what I need to make me feel stylish again.
As for my hair, well, I can't have it highlighted right now, and I learned that doing it at home is not something I can do well.  (The last time I tried, I ended up looking like a spotted leopard and had to make an emergency trip to my stylist.)  So for now, I will just have to be more diligent about styling it in different ways.
Working out is going to be a challenge, that is for sure.  But if I want to run in some 5K's this year and in the Spartan Race with my husband next summer, I need to figure out a way to work this in to my busy schedule. Sometimes I wish my sister or sister-in-law lived in my neighborhood so we could go on jogs together.  But maybe we could each keep an online log of our workouts and inspire each other that way.
Anyway, here are some of my favorite "style" things from Pinterest:

Polyvore.com

hollie29, polyvore.com

fashionworship.com

kristen-344.polyvore.com

blogs.babble.com

Want to see more of what I've been finding on Pinterest?  Click on the Follow Me icon on the right side of the page.  And please feel free to share where you find your style inspiration in the comments below!