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Mother’s Day is right around the corner, and it is definitely a time to treat mom, grandma, or another special woman in your life. Our new home’s yard has been teeming with all sorts of flowers and plants since it started to get warmer, and every time something new pops up in the garden, I call or text my mom to see what it is. She and my nana, who is with me in spirit, taught me so much about gardening growing up, yet I still have SO much to learn. Still, I marvel at the colorful life popping up all over, and it makes me feel closer all the time to two women who I love more than anything.

When Uncommon Goods reached out to me to see if I was interested in sampling one of their products in the lead up to Mother’s Day, it was hard to decide what to choose. From wining and dining to gardening, they have so many incredible, unique, and quality items. Since I am currently obsessed with readying our garden for Summer, I chose a beautiful blown glass Solar Light Garden Stake.

solar glass globe

The light is so beautiful. both by ay and by night. It appears to be a delicate, blown glass globe but in actuality is very sturdy and is standing up to the elements. By day, the sun glimmers off of the fun colors, and by night, it’s a little fairy lantern lighting the side of our garden bed. Assembly was super easy; it came in just a few pieces that popped together.

Items like this globe and the may other gift ideas that Uncommon Goods has to offer are perfect for a Mother’s Day gift or for a housewarming, shower, or other occasion. To check out the full line of beautiful gift ideas available at Uncommon Goods, please visit their website.

Uncommon Goods isn’t just for Mother’s Day; they have plenty of gifts for other occasoins:

http://www.uncommongoods.com/gifts/by-recipient/gifts-for-women

http://www.uncommongoods.com/for-her/gifts-for-her/gifts-for-mom

Uncommon Goods is a company that’s easy to love. I seriously covet much of their website, and their representative was a delight to work with. Here’s a bit more about Uncommon Goods.

Founded in 1999 and headquartered in Brooklyn, New York, UncommonGoods is a privately-owned retailer that endeavors to feature unique designs and handcrafted gifts created in harmony with the environment and without harm to animals or people. We run all our operations out of the historic Brooklyn Army Terminal, including our warehouse where the lowest-paid seasonal worker starts at 50% above the minimum wage. We make it our mission to support and provide a platform for artists and designers; in fact, half of what we sell is made by hand. Most of the products we carry are created right here in the USA, and about one-third of our entire collection incorporates recycled and/or upcycled materials. At the core of our company is a great respect for the integrity of the creative individual and the belief that it is our responsibility to use our business to impact the world in a positive way.

Highlights:

• B Corp: B Corporations use the power of business to solve social and environmental problems. We are proud to be a founding B Corp since the B seal means that we meet a rigorous standard on a wide range of issues, including wage levels, environmental impact, and giving back to our community.

• Studio Tours: An exclusive look inside the workspaces and minds of our uncommon artists and designers. Find the faces and inspiration behind some of our customer’s favorite products. You can even take a step inside our own creative studio!

• Design Challenges: Get your work out there and join our community by participating in our product design and art challenges.

• How to Make It Events: Our panel series connects local artists and designers and empowers creative professionals to improve and develop their businesses. Past topics have included Scaling up your creative business, Implementing green practices in your designs, and Collaborating, networking, and the influence of your social network.

• Voting Tool: Get a first look at our newest arrivals and help our buyers decide which products will become the next UncommonGoods!

• Uncommon Knowledge: Is your DNA unique? Where does the growler get its strange name? Did Washington chop down a cherry tree? Find the answers plus dozens of other surprising stories and curious facts on our blog!

• Better to Give: As an independently-owned business, we have the freedom to support causes we believe in and to impact

the world in a positive way. With every purchase you make, we’re proud to donate $1 to the non-profit of your choice. Since we started the Better to Give program 12 years ago, we’ve donated over $700,000 to charities around the world!

Our Non-profits:

• RAINN is the nation’s largest anti-sexual violence organization. RAINN carries out programs to prevent sexual violence,  help survivors, and ensure that rapists are brought to justice.

• American Forests protects and restores forests worldwide, helping to preserve the health of our planet for the benefit

of its inhabitants.

• Women for Women International provides women survivors of war with the tools and resources to move from crisis and poverty to stability and self-su ciency.

• City Harvest strives to end hunger in communities throughout New York City through food rescue, distribution, and education.

 

I received this product from Uncommon Goods for review purposes. All opinions are my own.

Tags: gardening, gardens, gifts, home and garden, lifestyle, Mother's Day, product review

A couple of weekends ago, while searching Trader Joe’s vitamin area, I stumbled across a container of Super Red Drink Power dietary supplement. Looking for new ways to stay strong and healthy during this winter flu season and my many upcoming trips, I bought it and tried it as soon as I got home. Super Red Drink Power is rockin full of antioxidant blends that include raspberry extract, blackberry extract, goji, acai, and non-alcoholic red wine extract to name a few. Each scoop is only 40 calories and offers a ton of Vitamin C, and 4% of your daily value of dietary fiber, in addition to all of those antioxidants, 2000 mg of detox blend, and 2710 mg of enzymes and probiotics like lactobassilus casei. I first tried the powder on its own in a glass of 8 ounces of water. Tipping the glass up to my mouth I prepared myself not to like it, but was extremely surprised when it tasted like cherry juice. . . or dare I say a bit like Cherry Kool Aid. Since then, I have started adding a scoop to my green monster shakes, along with bananas, spinach, vanilla soy milk and pumpkin for a powerful morning or post workout boost. Has it made a huge difference in the way I feel? I can honestly say that these days, outside of work, I am feelin pretty energetic and positive, which I attribute to a variety of things. I don’t recommend any drink powder as a replacement for a healthy fruit and veggie-filled diet, but I definitely like having it around to make sure I cover all of the bases!
super red drink powder
Have you tried this powder yet, or do you have any other supplements that you swear by?

Tags: product review, Trader Joe's

Last week, I received a box of free samples of almond butter from Kristen at Blue Diamond (Thank you!!). Coming home to 4 new jars of almond butter was seriously like Christmas. Only a food blogger would be excited about receiving a box of almond butter, and I really really was! Included in the box was a jar each of home-style creamy, ready spread creamy, ready spread crunchy, and almond butter with honey (yummmm).
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Because I don’t want the almond butter to go bad, I am only opening one jar at a time, but at the rate I am going, I will be able to review one a week! First up, the home-style creamy almond butter. One of the first things I notice, of course, is the marketing on the label. “Start your day the almond way!” with a list of bullets, the first being “Satisfies & sustains”. This just happens to be one of the reasons I love almond butter to begin with, in addition to its yumminess. A meal that includes almond butter tides me over far long than one without. Over the past few months as I have added it to smoothies, oatmeal, yogurt, toast, and even stir fries, I have noticed that I stay full longer, and for someone on the go, that is ideal! I first tried Blue Diamond home-style creamy on a piece of, what else, Nature’s Pride bread! I will say right now that some of my other beloved almond butters, and you know who you are, better watch out! Blue Diamond almond butter is VERY creamy with a lovely taste of roasty toasty almonds. It contains only almonds and sea salt, and I find that the addition of sea salt really balances out the flavor, especially when paired with something like strawberry preserves. Also, despite its being home-style rather than a ready spread, it does not have a huge amount of oil on the top to stir in which makes it a bit neater to serve. Since this first encounter with Blue Diamond homestyle almond butter, I have been eating it for breakfast daily in my new favorite combination: 0% Greek yogurt, 4 TBS of canned pumpkin mixed with fresh nutmeg and cinnamon, and 2 scoops of Blue Diamond almond butter. When whipped together with a spoon, this combination literally tastes like pumpkin cheesecake. Mix in some crushed graham crackers or granola and you have yourself a pie! It is perfectly delicious, healthy, filling, and seasonal. Now I am brainstorming all sorts of other combinations and recipes for all of the almond butter that I have. Next up will definitely be the almond butter with honey! I really wanted to open that one first but held off because I have a sneaking suspicion that I am going to love it. If you see Blue Diamond almond butter in the store, definitely give it a try!

Tags: Food, product review, yogurt

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