Archive for November, 2010

Product Review: Wen Shampoo & Conditioner

Posted on November 10th, 2010 by Tonia 7 Comments

Remember when I complained about biodegradable hair products?  All the brands I have tried so far have left my hair feeling sticky and coarse.  I may be a rural-farm-dweller now.  I may chop firewood and chase mice with brooms…but why shouldn’t I still be able to have smooth and silky hair??  Ugh.  Luckily, my aunt Barbara, who is a vegan and a big inspiration to me, swooped to my rescue by sending me a sampling of her favorite all-natural hair products. 

The brand is called Wen, and I was pleasantly surprised at how well I liked their “cleansing conditioner”.  They call it that because it is moisturizing for your hair like conditioner, yet still cleans it like shampoo.  I decided to do an official product review, since {hopefully} there are a lot of you out there who want to switch to environmentally-safe hygiene products.  Say goodbye to sulfates, people!

soaps1

Wen’s Cleansing Conditioner & Re Moist Treatment:

ittyBirdiconPro’s:

 -Gives hair a light, natural and delicious smell

-Smooths layers and split ends

-Tames fly-aways and frizz

-Leaves hair shiny and silky….YAY!

-Sulfate free and vegan

-Protects color-treated hair and is gentle enough to use every day

ittyBirdiconCon’s:

-No suds.  It feels like conditioner, even though it’s technically a shampoo, and even after vigorously massaging it into my hair, it doesn’t suds up.  That’s a little strange, but I’ll get used to it.

-You need to use like 20+ pumps of it to cover your whole head/hair {according to the package directions, and if you have long hair like me}, so a bottle of this stuff will not last very long.

-No “squeaky clean” feeling.  If you like to have that “tight” clean feeling after a shower, this product may not be for you.  It doesn’t really cut through oil very well- which is actually one of the good things about it {it doesn’t strip your hair of its natural/healthy oils}.  I will probably use the Wen product most days, and then throw in a “purifying” shampoo once a week to rid my scalp of any build-up that the Wen is not able to remove.

-Need to wash hair every day.  My hair feels dirty again about 24 hours after washing with Wen.  Other shampoos make my hair feel clean/un-greasy for at least 48 hours {unless I go running or do something to work up a sweat, obvs.}

soaps2

Thanks again, Aunt Barbara!  Back-story, this particular aunt has always been my go-to beauty consultant.  I learned how to wear makeup and style my hair from her when I was in junior high.  More recently, she has taught me how to make the most delicious green-smoothies to help keep my skin healthy.  

Aunt B has managed to make the move to veganism in her adult life without sacrificing things like beauty regimen and fashion…two things near and dear to my girly heart.  She keeps promising she’s going to write a post for me about being a vegan, so most likely this won’t be the last time Aunt B graces the blog with her presence.  :)

Reuse Tues: Pallets & Crates

Posted on November 9th, 2010 by Tonia 5 Comments

Happy Tuesday!  Have you heard of Pinterest?  It’s a new, fun web app that lets you “pin” images from all over the internet that you like.  I created a pin board of images I plan to share on the blog at some point.  It’s SO nice!  If you’re in the middle of wedding planning or remodeling your home or something, Pinterest could be of serious use to you. 

Anyway, we have a few pallets and crates lying around right now, left over from moving, so I used Pinterest to find the following pictures of creative and cute ways to reuse pallets and crates around the house:

Pallet couch

Pallet shelf

Pallet table

Crate bookshelf

Crate foyer storage

How cute?? I think the crate shelves would look awesome in a home office.  With all the apple orchards around here, we could have wooden crates coming out of our ears if we’re not careful.

What have you reused around the house this week?  Let me know on Twitter by adding the #ReuseTues hashtag to your tweet!  This week I put a bunch of Mike’s old, stretched-out cotton t-shirts to work as rags.  My mom gave me the idea when she was here over the weekend.  We hung a little bag in our pantry, cut a few t-shirts in half, and stuck them in the bag.  Now when I need to wipe down shelves, I have a bag full of clean rags waiting for me in the pantry!

An Unexpected Gift

Posted on November 5th, 2010 by Tonia 3 Comments

Came in the mail today.  Mike and I have received really thoughtful, useful, and meaningful wedding gifts from friends and family over the last couple months, but this gift is unique in that it is from someone I have never met in real-life.  Beth is one of the few Itty Bitty readers who is not a relative of mine.  She’s a fellow blogger and a hobby farmer, and if she didn’t live a whole continent away from me I am sure we would be BFFs. 

She and her husband Bill sent us this awesome book and cheese-making kit for our wedding, and I cannot even express how touched we are!  Thank you, guys. {How cool is the card? It’s a photograph of the first egg they ever harvested from their hens.}

gift

Seriously, OMG!  How did they know?  Mike and I were just discussing how cool it would be to make our own cheese. 

cheesegift

To motivate me even further {as if I needed it} Beth sent me these sweet shots of their own cheesing adventures.  I simply cannot WAIT to get my cheese-making on!

cheese

cheese2

My stomach just gurgled, I am not kidding.

We Have a Wiener!

Posted on November 3rd, 2010 by Tonia 3 Comments

weiner

…His name is Charlie Brown and he loves to play “trick for treat”.  For Halloween he crawled into the sleeve of a sweatshirt and called himself a burrito.

But we also have a WINNER!  That’s right folks, we’re about to dole out a prize for the Hallowgreen Costume Contest!  It was very difficult to choose between the submissions because they were all really good, and because I happen to personally know all of the submitters, which I am pretty sure breaks some universal fair-and-ethical-judging rule {we would have let Charlie do the choosing, but he would have just picked whichever costume tasted the best.}

Runners up {left to right}:

1. “Grandma Sammi” AKA my friend Sammi.  The dress was her great grandma’s, the glasses are sunglasses with the lenses popped out, the curlers were laying around the house, and the shoes were $2 at Savers.

2.  Mac from “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” AKA my little brother Danny.  His whole outfit {cut off karate tee-shirt and Dickies} was bought at Savers.  And his sweet tattoos were fashioned with a Sharpie by a steady-handed friend {so don’t worry Mommy, it’s not real}.

3.  Charlie from “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” AKA Danny’s friend Brody.  It is my understanding that he always dresses like this, so he just shopped his own closet for this “costume”.

sunny_in_phil

Thanks for sending me this hilarious picture, guys!  It looks like you had a fun and resourceful holiday!  I hope that tattoo washes off before this weekend because our parents are coming for a visit…

And now {drum roll, please} it’s time to announce the BIG WIEN…UH, WINNER!!

Coming in first place by miles {because she’s really fast, and because that is actually her last name} is my good friend EMMA MILES!  Emma ran a marathon on the morning of Halloween, dressed as a woodland fairy. 

Her costume included an elaborate hair accessory that she made using one of the paper-flowers from our wedding!  I can’t believe she saved that flower for a whole month in anticipation of Halloween!  And considering that the flower is made out of recycled paper in the first place, it is clear that Emma’s costume is not only super cute, it’s super green.

emma_halloween_reuse

Woo-hoo!  Congratulations Emma!  You get to choose between this or this.

Emma comes from a long line of environmentally conscience people.  The Miles are some of the most inspirational people I know.  They’re the folks behind the Anathoth Community Farm, which you should check out immediately if you share my fascination with organic farming, communal living, and peace.

Thank you all for your submissions.  Until next year, Happy Halloween!

************UPDATE*****************
I discovered this costume a little too late for the contest, but it is SO GOOD, so I couldn’t resist sharing it with you all!  A college friend of mine, Ruthie {AKA The Gulf of Mexico}, posted this photo on her Facebook today:

73448_572657313629_63800213_33165223_4454863_n