Anyway, just last night, my hubbie was talking about a discussion the “Green Committee” at work had last week regarding steps they can take to make their workplace a better, more eco-friendly place. Among other things, they wanted to find a biodegradable, organic, cost-effective hand wash for their bathrooms. Apparently there aren’t a lot of choices from their vendor for office supplies. Being the big fans of Dr Bronner soaps that we are, my husband recommended using Dr Bronner soaps in the bathrooms. His suggestion was dismissed because Dr Bronner’s is too concentrated to work well (and cost-effectively) as a hand soap.

Upon hearing the reason for Dr Bronner’s losing out in the bathroom soap race, I informed my husband that we’ve been using Dr Bronner’s soaps in our bathrooms for about the past year. I simply dilute the flavor of choice (usually lavender or citrus) and put it in a foaming bottle. Viola! Organic, biodegradable and cost-effective! Not to mention our hand soaps are nice smelling, easy, and very kid-friendly.

Here’s how I do it: use 1/3 Dr Bronner’s soap with 2/3 water. I use foaming Method hand soap containers I saved, though I’ve heard you can buy similar foaming bottles at Target. Of course you can play with the proportions, just be careful not to use too much soap as you won’t get good, foamy soap. Plus, you’ll have to go out and buy another bottle if you clog up the bottle’s foaming mechanism.

Try it. You’ll love it! One less thing to worry about – as long as you have some Dr Bronner’s on hand, you don’t have to worry about running out of hand soap.

As if they could read my mind, my friends at TheDailyGreen came up with a handy-dandy list of the top 15 fruits and vegetables that it’s “okay” to buy non-organic. Not only do they provide the list, but they also provide us with the reasons these 15 fruits and veggies are safe in their non-organic form and they provide some yummy recipes.

The Clean 15, as they call them, are:

Onion, Avocado, Sweet Corn, Pineapple, Mango, Asparagus, Sweet Peas, Kiwi, Cabbage, Eggplant, Papaya, Watermelon, Broccoli, Tomato, and Sweet Potato.

On the flip side, TheDailyGreen also has the list of the Dirty Dozen - the top foods you need to buy organic. No big surprises here, but if you’re like me, I like being reminded and I particularly like lists.

The Dirty Dozen are:

Meat, Milk, Coffee, Peaches, Apples, Sweet Bell Peppers, Celery, Nectarines, Strawberries, Cherries, Kale, Leafy Greens, Grapes, Carrots, Pears, Potatoes, and Tomatoes.

OK. So that’s way more than 12 foods. I think they couldn’t find a snappy name for a list of 17 items, at least not a name as good as the Dirty Dozen.

Of course, once vertigo and nausea forced me to give up my morning over-indulgence, life became very difficult. Baby didn’t seem to care that I had to forego my morning boost. She continued to make sure I was waking up at least a couple of times a night. (Not sure what this Night Owl did with my Angel that could knock out a 12 hour sleep at 3 months, but if she didn’t have such a sweet smile, she surely would be looking for another bed in a room far from mine.)

Giving up the overly caffeinated lattes solved my vertigo and nausea issue, but now my energy level was so low I had trouble even concentrating by lunchtime.

Seeing my blood-shot eyes and barely-functioning body one afternoon, my friend reminded me about REVV. And he was right. REVV was what I needed, without being too much. The fact that I can easily and simply control the amount of the boost of energy I need is fantastic. Starting with two wafers, I can chew an extra wafer or two depending on how comtatose I’m feeling.

Best thing about REVV? It’s totally organic and good for you. The main ingredient is wheatgrass. Brilliant solution for me, actually. I’ve been trying to talk myself into liking wheatgrass for years because of it’s reputation for unsurpassed health benefits, but I’ve just never been able to become a fan. REVV‘s unique mint chocolate flavoring makes the tablets surprisingly edible. They’ll never put Godiva out of business, but the flavoring definitely makes the tablets easy to eat. (Note to REVV, if anyone from the company happens to be reading, please develop a couple other flavor choices. Ironically, I think a cappuchino flavor would work nicely, as well as a fruit or fruit mix.)

Additionally, if your looking for a healthier alternative to some of the over-caffeinated, high-sugar energy drinks, go “get REVVed“!

Yeah, I said it. I LOVE my hemp washcloth. May sound like a bold statement for such a minor player in the overall scheme of life-enhancing goodies, much less bathtime basics. But for today, I’m in love.

As someone that’s always searching for a better way of transporting bath gels/soaps/liquids from the bottle to my skin, I spend way too much time pondering and testing all the options available to the general public. I’m a bit like The Princess with the Pea issues when it comes to selecting what to lather up with. Pretty much everything I’ve tried in the past is too hard, too scratchy, too gross (didn’t dry sufficiently between uses), too bulky, too soft, too difficult to handle, etc., etc. Or does this make me Goldie Locks?

In any case, I don’t have any of these issues with my very simple, yet brilliant hemp washcloth. It’s long enough that I can get all spots on my back with no outside assistance, thin enough that I can fold or ball it up in one hand to use like one of those ubiquitous plastic poof-balls, loosely woven so that it completely dries in about an hour, and of course it’s hemp, so it comes from a eco-friendly, renewable source. When I finally wear it out, tire of it or just decide to move on to my next-greatest bathtime love, it’ll biodegrade faster than I can come up for an excuse for using something plastic with my Dr Bronner’s.