When did I become so crunchy?

Crunchy Mom: 
A member of an increasingly growing group of moms who are neo-hippies.
They generally believe (for varying reasons) that there is something bad or less beneficial about buying mainstream products or doing other common activities in the mainstream way.

Breastfeeding. Cloth diapering. Baby wearing.  Making my own baby food. Natural birth. Doula.

These are all my plans. I never intended to be or thought I would be "alternative" or non-mainstream, but it just sort of happened. Actually, it didn't just sort of happen. I know it is directly related to my natural hair journey. When I transitioned to natural hair was the first time I started to read ingredients on products, become more conscious of the ingredients in the products I bought, and realized that I could make my own products and use household kitchen/pantry ingredients on my body and hair. This later expanded into me having a healthier eating lifestyle because I became more interested in the ingredients in food, and how to make pre-packaged type foods at home. So naturally, these philosophies have made their way into my parenting choices.

I don't really think I'm a hippie necessarily, or that mainstream is innately wrong, I just think that sometimes the old way, natural way, or homemade way of things is healthier, cheaper, and/or more beneficial. Everyone is open to making their own life decisions, and who knows what I'll do when this kid is actually out in the world and not inside of me, but I'm o.k. with being crunchy.

Pregnancy Update:

I am 14 weeks today. Woohoo. Nothing major to report. Baby, mamma, daddy and fur baby are all doing well. We'll learn the gender next month!

Are you "crunchy" or more mainstream?

Growing a Human

First comes love, then comes marriage then comes...

And then...

You've guessed it. I am growing a human! 
Before you ask: 
The TimLaNeshe hybrid baby has an ETA of somewhere between Oct. 1 and Oct. 4. 
I'm 12 weeks along. 
We will be finding out the gender in May. 
I've wanted a girl, but I feel like it's a boy. 
Tim is excited. 
I am excited. 
I feel relatively fine, considering all the work it takes to grow a human. Mainly just REALLY tired. 
We're going to breastfeed. 
We're going to cloth diaper. 
Hooray! 

Top Three "Drunk In Love" Covers

Beyonce's "Drunk in Love," you either hate it or love it... or used to love it but now hate it, and pretty much all of us have had it stuck in our head a time or two. It boasts some of Beyonce's raunchiest lyrics and has made "serfbort" a word used in common conversation. 
While I'm pretty much over hearing/seeing the Beyonce version of the song, I've seen some AMAZING covers on YouTube that I wanted to share. 
1. This four male version with guitar accompaniment is just awesome. I may like it more than the original. And these fellas aren't bad on the eyes either ;-) The group's name is FOURTUNATE, you can follow them on Facebook HERE. 
 
2. This version also features just guitar accompaniment and it's so beautiful. This one is from singer/songwriter Katrina Bello.
 
3. This last version was the first cover I came across and I was just impressed with how much she sounded like the original song. This one is from singer Alexis Jordan. 

Heard any good covers lately? 

Clarisonic Mia Review

Hubs bought me the Clarisonic Mia for my birthday in January, so I've been using it for a little over a month, which I think is a good amount of time to develop a solid opinion. 
Before I get into the review I thought it would be important to share my skin care regime before starting with Clarisonic. I use the Oil Cleansing Method, which is essentially, cleaning your face with oil. 

These are the three products for my face regimen. Olive oil, sugar, and apple cider vinegar. I place some olive oil on my fingers and massage it into dry skin. Then I rinse the oil away with a warm washcloth, and follow-up with apple cider vinegar as a toner. If I want additional exfoliation, I put a bit of sugar into the oil on my hands, before massaging it in. This has been working great for me. I was satisfied with my face regimen but I couldn't ignore all the positive reviews I saw about the Clarisonic. Since birthdays comes just once a year, I decided to make the Clarisonic Mia my gift of choice. 
After my first use of the Clarisonic I was immediately impressed. My face felt so soft and clean. I began using it every day...and then I broke out. I knew one of two things had to be to blame. Either I was using it too much, or my face didn't like the foaming cleanser that comes with the brush. After some trial an error I've found I can successfully use the Clarisonic with no adverse effects if I use it every other day vs. every day. So I alternate using the Clarisonic and using the Oil Cleansing Method. I occasionally use the cleanser that came with the brush, but more often, I use the Burt's Bees Natural Acne Solutions Purifying Gel Cleanser.
Using the Clarisonic leaves my face very smooth and very clean. 
My favorite features: 
Auto 1 minute timer: when you turn the brush on it runs on an auto 1 minute timer, so you know you don't over or under use it in one session. 
Make-up removal: make-up removal can be one of the more laborious face-washing tasks so it's good to know that you can use the Clarisonic directly on your made-up face to remove make-up. No pre-rinsing required. 
No base: Instead of a charging base, the Clarisonic has a magnetic charger that pops on, and then can be easily stored when you aren't using it. No additional clutter on your bathroom counter! You only need to charge it about every twenty uses. 

Overall, I give the Clarisonic 5 stars. No, it's not a necessity, but if you have a birthday coming up or are looking to treat yourself, it's a nice item to have on your wishlist. 
Have you used the Clarisonic, what do you think?

Quick & Easy Meatless Black Bean Tacos

I'm not a person who NEEDS meat in their dishes. I eat meat, but I can feel like a meal is complete even if it's meatless. This recipe came from a lazy Saturday evening in which I didn't feel like really cooking. I had taken out pork chops to defrost but after a five hour meeting I didn't feel like really taking time in the kitchen, so I searched my cupboards and fridge to figure out something quick. Quick & Easy Meatless Black Bean Tacos were born. 
Ingredients Whole wheat tortillas Can of black beans Mexican blend shredded cheese Enchilada sauce
Place the whole wheat tortilla in your already heated skillet. On one side of the tortilla place a few tablespoons of black beans and a few tablespoons of enchilada sauce, to taste. On the other side place your desired amount of cheese. Heat/brown for approximately three minutes, until the cheese is melted. I cook it open faced so that both sides of the tortilla brown at the same rate and everything has a better chance to warm. Once it's fully done, fold the cheese side onto the bean side and enjoy! I didn't have sour cream but I imagine some sour cream would be good on the side. 
What kind of quick recipes have you come up with?

Matcha Green Tea Smoothie Recipes

I've shared my Super Smoothie Recipe before, but I want to share a smoothie that I make every once in a while that is more of a treat. 

The first time I ever tried a matcha green tea smoothie was at my previous gym and I was immediately hooked. Match green tea powder is full of antioxidants and it's an energy booster. Because I knew the matcha powder the gym used had added sugars, and I didn't want to have to spend $5 a day on smoothies I decided to look into making my own. Here is the recipe I came up with: 

1 Teaspoon Organic Matcha Green Tea powder (I order mine online from Vitacost)

2 Frozen Bananas

Almond milk

Add all the blender and blend until smooth. 

The amount of almond milk you use depends on the consistency you want. You can use less, and get almost a matcha green tea banana ice cream, or use more to get a regular smoothie consistency. I would start with 1/4 cup and add little by little from there. Usually about a half cup is good. I use PLAIN almond milk for this. The bananas make it perfectly sweet, vanilla almond milk would make it too sweet for my liking. 

There you have it. A simple, delicious and very healthy smoothie treat!

What's your favorite kind of smoothie?

Best #coldselfies

I don't know if you've heard, but it is COLD in the Northeast. Despite it being 61 degrees when I woke up yesterday, today when I walked the dog it was 4 degrees. It is certainly BUNDLE UP weather. The cold is eye watering, nose running, biting, cold. 
As I was scrolling Instagram this morning I was loving all the #coldselfies people were posting, showing they were adequately layered for the weather. Here are four of my favorites: 

The only thing you really want exposed in this weather, because you have to see, is your eyes. Armelle (armfrank) and Rich (rbird152) are employing excellent cover almost all of your face technique. Just because it's cold doesn't mean the sun isn't out. James (jimmycreates) is protecting his eyes from the winter sun, while staying stylishly warm. Last but not least and technically not a selfie, Ailani, dressed by her mom Lisha (lmo3k), is the cutest little bundle of warmth I've seen today. 
What's the weather like in your neck of the woods?