Cute Diaper Bags!

Super cute diaper bags today on the Foundary.com

Beauty Products and Parabens

Parabens freak me out... But I don't always use products that don't contain them but I need to do it more. We have some amazing Aveda products at our house that I really love though. They are Paraben free which is fantastic. Here is some more information on Parabens:

Are Parabens Dangerous?
Though food items and medications have regulatory safeguards, cosmetics do not. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) only gets involved if a product is mislabeled or contaminated. The FDA also prohibits any cosmetic that has decomposed or become putrid, so preservatives like parabens actually prevent regulatory intervention from occurring in the first place.

Researchers (and, soon, the public) expressed concern in the 1990s about parabens and public health, but little consensus (or quantifiable information) has been formed since then. Because they're so commonly used, it's difficult to study how parabens affect us. The amount of parabens in any individual product is believed to be far less than the amount that would cause you problems. On the other hand, you may use several of these products every day of your life and spread them all over your body, where they normally remain for the majority of the day.

Parabens are cause for concern because they're xenoestrogens, meaning they fit into specially shaped estrogen receptors located in your cells. Once a paraben molecule has fit into the estrogen receptor, other glands and neurotransmitters begin passing messages and making adjustments based on the presence of that "estrogen." Some researchers worry that parabens could affect estrogen production or other aspects of the endocrine system. One study of cancerous breast tissue found the presence of parabens, but parabens may very well be found in all tissue, due to widespread use. Parabens -- in large quantities -- have also been shown to lower the sperm count of mice in laboratory conditions [source: Oishi].

Despite these concerns, parabens are still generally considered safe in cosmetics because they're found in such small amounts. While there are suspicions that parabens may be harmful to us, there isn't much in the way of solid proof. If you have worries about parabens, seek out product lines that use biodegradable, nonhazardous and eco-friendly ingredients.
(http://health.howstuffworks.com/skin-care/beauty/skin-and-lifestyle/parabens1.htm)

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I know Burt's Bees Baby Bee and Aveda are both FANTASTIC and Paraben free.

Here is a blogger that seems to know more on the topic too: http://parabenfreeprincess.blogspot.com

A few years ago I came across this website: http://www.cosmeticsdatabase.com/ which rates makeup and skincare for how hazardous it is to your health. I found this to be pretty eye opening, maybe you will too. I was happy to note that makeup I love - Bare Escentuals is relatively low on the list as far as how hazardous it is!

Get Excited About A Cleaner Floor

I'm 31 years old, a mother of two, a wife, a graphic designer, and I live in a small town, and I get excited about stuff. I really do. I am a very passionate person, and when I find something that is amazing, I am SO excited. I'm posting today about the grout in my kitchen. YES I'm serious. I'm posting about grout. In the last few years we have redone our ENTIRE kitchen. It started with just wanting to redo the floor tile. During the tear-out process, a tile chipped and flew into the door of our stove. This started the domino effect of "Well, might as well get a new stove... Well, might as well get new cabinets... Well, might as well tear out the walls. You get the picture. So we have nice new porcelain tile now, with VERY light grout. And there are a lot of "miracle" grout cleaners out there but the best thing we did was try Scrubbing Bubbles®. It was amazing. FINALLY something made our grout look amazing again! You have to try it!! You'll be so excited!