Travel: The Dominican Republic

 Punta Cana

My parents own a travel agency, and I've spent my life seeing the world. When asked where my favorite place to go is, my answer is and will always be "somewhere new." Needless to say, there's a whole lot of "somewhere new" out there waiting for me to discover. One of my favorite places to go is any all-inclusive resort in Punta Cana. There is something undiscovered about the Dominican Republic, and our experiences there are always fantastic. 

Mostly, we visit the D.R. to lay on a beach with a book and a drink, do a little swimming, and just enjoy some much needed R&R. One special thing I love to do there is photo packages- they're affordable and fabulous. I LOVE playing with the beach dogs- who are showered with resort food by just about everyone.

In 2019, there was a slew of negative press regarding tourist deaths in The Dominican Republic. The funny thing is that there were actually fewer tourist deaths in 2019 than in previous years- only the media coverage was different. A vengeful lover, a drug dealer turned baseball star who visited home, tainted alcohol in Mexican (yeah, not DR) resorts, and a few drunken accidents turned this hot tourist spot into a ghost town during peak season. 

I'm not saying this happened because The Dominican Republic's all-inclusive resorts offered significant competition to Florida resorts without the springbreaker and infighting connotations of Mexico, I'm just saying that the media coverage was disproportionate to past events and it benefited U.S. resorts...

Going Green: Bite Toothpaste review

There are areas of life that involve more plastic waste than others- namely hygiene. Shampoo, deodorant, toothpaste, makeup, etc all come in plastic bag, bottles, jars, etc in the name of cleanliness. Short of making your own (which is timely, requires ingredients sourcing, and years of tweaking for a truly great recipe), we're kind of at the mercy of the marketplace.

In our house, the mightyfix subscription we use made switching to glass bottles for household cleaners easy. Meliora is a low-waste company, with refills in paper tubing for laundry detergent and spray cleaner. I buy my handsoap in bulk and refill glass dispensers (reducing my plastic from multiple plastic bottles to 1 gallon jug a year), but when it came to toothpaste...

We tried all the toothpastes- traditional tubes with and without fluoride, jars of clay and baking soda based powders, charcoal tubes, etc. A lot of eco alternatives feel messy and dipping in powders doesn't feel super sanitary. The ones that come in traditional tubes still had a high waste factor. Enter toothpaste tablets. We tried the main brand, Bite., but there are other toothpaste tablet brands out there. These are preportioned pea sized toothpaste bits. You bite down and use a wet toothbrush and they get to foaming. Bite uses xylitol (like many mouthwashes) for killing bacteria, charcoal for scrubbing, cocamides for foaming action, and a touch of menthol for the minty clean feeling we're conditioned to. Their product ships in a glass jar the first time with refill packs that are not in a jar.

*will update with photos/vlog

Going Green: Girl Stuff *NSFW*

Most people who embark on a health journey eventually try to apply that conscientiousness to every part of their life, not just food. We buy primal pit paste, and mouth cleaning "dirt", try to get our cardio (i play kinect games for cardio fyi), and at least start with informed eating. A lot of us are also environmentally conscious. For women, there's this whole other huge facet of our lives to apply this too- our cycle.Today, I'm going to deviate a little bit and go full on *real* life by talking about a health-conscious aspect of my life that i think a lot of women think about, but don't necessarily talk about- menstrual care and products.

 Traditional feminine hygiene products are made with a whole lot of CRAP like bleach and plastic and other chemicals that we are smushing up against super sensitive skin in a warm wet environment. The absorbent materials used in them generally make them an ideal petri dish for breeding bacteria, which is why we all had to learn about Toxic Shock Syndrome at puberty. They're also designed to absorb for effectiveness, but being super absorbent means absorbing your natural lubrication along with the monthly mess. All that creepy stuff aside, they aren't super biodegradable so not exactly friendly to the environment when discarded, AND they cost a lot of money along with the pink tax (extra tax applied to products made for women). If you flush them they clog the plumbing, and if you put them in your bathroom trash...let's hope you don't have pets. So let's dive into...

Menstrual Product Alternatives

There are a lot of alternatives out there from fabric pads to semi-disposable rings, and i'm here to tell you what's available, what i've tried, and what i use now:

Blossum Cup- $12.95

• Menstrual Cups
• Menstrual cups are a cup that you insert up into your vagina to collect blood throughout the day rather than absorb it. They have a learning curve- if you get them inserted correctly, you don't even feel that it's there, but if you *don't* get it in correctly, they can slide, turn, and just be generally uncomfortable. i used it for a year's worth of cycles and I did eventually get the hang of them, but my biggest problem was with the cup sliding down. They do come in different shapes and sizes, but the general consensus is most people cut the stick off
• Brands: Diva, LilyCup (Intimina), Saalt, Lena, Cora, Blossom, MoonCupetc.
• Disposable Menstrual Disc
• 
• a soft cup works the same way as other menstrual cups, but it's designed as a ring with a loose, kind of baglike collection area which eliminates issues with slipping, and is meant to be used for a single day- ultimately disposable. Reviews say the rim is hard, but not uncomfortable. These versions tote "mess free intimacy"
• Brands: Flex & Softdisc
• Flat Fit SoftCup
• 
• There's actually a hybrid out there between a silicone cup and a soft disc with a rounded bottom. Reviews say it is way more comfortable, but messier at empty and probably better suited to someone with a light flow.
• Brands: Ziggy (Intimina) $39.95, NixIt $49.95
• *I bought a ziggy cup in August 2019, and they were running a 20% off sale. Code "Cup19" was also valid for $10 off (which is basically shipping) so i paid $31.89
• Period Panties
• 
• Period panties are like regular panties, but with a special wicking gusset in the crotch. They are all the rage among moms, and my current method which I've been using for about 2 years. You just wear them and go about your day, changing when appropriate (I only need one pair to get through a day, but a heavier cycle might require a change)
• Brands: Anigan EvaWear, Thinx, Knix, etc. There's a bunch out there, and many articles comparing brands. They average out ~$20-$30/pair
• Sea Sponges are also a thing, but they weird me out and i'm not going to review them here

Ive tried the first and last, and don't love the idea of the second which still gets tossed at the end of the week. If I try the third, I'll update this post, but my current system is working for me and that's super expensive for something i'll use once or twice a year.

Pros & Cons

 Mostly, I use the panties which are incredibly easy and go in the washer. There really isn't a mess to deal with, and they're super comfortable. The downside is that they're kind of a real investment, they aren't cheap and ideally you want a pair for every day of your cycle. You can wash them in a sink or shower and hang dry if you're on vacation so that's not really an issue, BUT these are a no go for swimming and less than ideal for intimate activities. This is why I still occasionally use a cup, because sometimes you can't or don't want to wear your period panties. A cup is great for swimming, and I recently used mine for poorly timed boudoir photos. The pro is you can generally leave the cup in place throughout your day, with minor adjustments when you use the restroom. The con is that any actual interaction with the cup tends to be at least minorly messy, since you legit have to push it up or fish it out of your body with your fingers. The mess isn't necessarily cycle fluids, but let's just say you want to clean under your fingernails when you're done. 

Updates & New Tags

This post is just a general update on the direction of the blog. I've been working on a lot of lifestyle posts, and you're going to see some new tags- "Going Green", "Travel", "Parties", and "AIP" among them.

When I started this blog, i was full steam ahead on battling food allergies and general health issues. The blog is mostly about healthy, flavorful, conscientious eating, but every now and then i like to throw in a tidbit about parties and motherhood, because this is real life and we all have something to learn from each other.

I'm going to share with you products, services, and recipes that I love, with full disclosure that I don't get compensated for sharing anything (if ever i do, i'll let you know ;) )If I share a product, it will pretty much always be a product that I've used and have experience with. If I share a recipe, it's going to be one I've cooked (and probably tweaked). If I share a vacation, it's one that I have personally been on, and I will do my very best to give credit to the interwebs where it's due.


"Going Green"
I've been switching to skin friendly and environmentally friendly alternatives for everyday products since i was 18. The older I get, the more successful I get at making meaningful changes for the environment, lowering our footprint one change at a time. I'm going to start sharing how and why I do that, what changes came easily and which ones we're still struggling with. I believe that little changes can have a big impact, and I want to help you make little changes too!

Travel
My parents own a fee-free travel agency- Elliott Excursions- based out of central pennsylvania, with agents across the country. We didn't have cable tv or air conditioning growing up, and we didn't care- because we were raised in an environment that gave us the world. I've been on cruises on every coast of the U.S. and the Adriatic Sea. I've flown to Iceland, The Dominican Republic, and soon- Guatemala. When our sun was born, we gave his nursery and adventure theme complete with a compass rose on the ceiling- he'll have stamps in his passport from Canada and Central America before his 4th birthday- seeing the Pacific Ocean, The Great Lakes, and finally the Atlantic in that order. I've been traveling on a budget from childhood, but my favorite place to visit will always be "Somewhere New." I'm happy to share those experiences- and spend savvy tips- with all of you.


AIP
When I switched this blog over to The Copper Kitchen 3 years ago, my allergy issues were in remission. One baby, a broken bone, several injuries with NSAID regimens, and a series of mommy/toddler co-infections with antibiotics have landed me right back in the auto-immune fight. Autoimmune issues are generally forever- a glitch that causes the immune system to be over active and attack our own bodies. For almost all of us, that means severe full spectrum inflammation around joints and organs, usually affecting pain levels and energy levels significantly. For me, it also means crazy skin reactions, like cold urticaria (my immune system reacts to being cold) and dermatographia (skin writing disorder- scratches light up red and puff up like puffer paint). It also affects my eyes and adrenal system. The food portion of this blog exists largely because i used diet to control my autoimmune issues in the past; my hope is get them under control with diet again. Auto-immune protocol diets (and similar diets like GAPS and paleo, which i used before) are not necessarily fun- they can be very restrictive, often expensive, and just more labor intensive than fast carbs with no limitations. Auto-immune diets are basically anti-inflammatory diets; they remove major allergens, sugars, grains, nightshades, etc. I've altered my diet for my autoimmune issues probably a dozen times since i first started struggling 15 years ago, so it's not as difficult for me to do as for others, but I'm going to share what makes it easier, how i deal, and how hard it really can be to look fine and be horribly chronically sick all the time. Diet modification can and should be a lifestyle change, but when we're feeling healthy, it's easy to slip back into what is easy and comfortable.

Mighty Fix Eco-Alternatives Video Review

Ignore my sweaty summer mom look, and check out some of the products I've received in my Mighty Fix (eco-alternatives subscription box).

Mighty Fix is a subscription box from Mighty Nest that sends you eco-alternatives to everyday pollution in your life- alternatives to plastic bags and bottles, lunch solutions, environmentally friendly cleaning products, etc- helping you change your lifestyle one item at a time.

I don't get a kick back for this video, I just believe in the product and thought I'd take advantage of my clean kitchen to *show* you some of the fixes I've received in the past two years, so you can see that they are everyday alternatives that you will realistically adopt in your life.

https://mightynest.com/the-mighty-fix
Code: FIX99FORAYEAR

*I DO get a small kickback if I send you a referral email, and it does allow me to customize your first item when you subscribe
Items like:

• Collapse-It Food Storage (shown in video- i received the medium 4 cup size)
• Silikids Silicone Coffee Mug (I didn't show this, but i do use it- standard travel cup in teal)
• 5 Piece Food Hugger Set (shown in video)
• E Cloth Window Pack (shown in video- i received 2)
• Stasher Storage Bag (not shown- This a silicone ziplock alternative, DH uses for toiletries)
• Edgy Moose 10" Fabric Bowl Cover (not shown- I use this to rise bread)
• To Go Ware Utensils (not shown)
• Stainless Steel Straws (I didn't show this, but we use them a lot and have repurchased- set of 4)
• Meliora Laundry Set (shown in video- detergent and stain stick- sample size is half size)
• Swedish Dish Cloths (shown in video- received 2)
• Healing Balm (shown in video)
• Duralex Glass Food Storage (shown in video received a small square and small rectangle)
• Magic Mud Toothpaste & Preserve Toothbrush (shown in video)
• Bambu Bar Board (shown in video)
• All Good Lotion (not shown)
• Moso Charcoal Bag 200g (not shown in video, its a charcoal bag for odors)
• Silicone Spatula and Spoon (this was actually the blue handles on the counter in the video)
• Tidy Dishcloths (not shown)
• LunchSkins Set (shown in video- i received 2 in sandwich and snack size)
• Spray Bottle Set (shown in video- Meliora)
• Bees Wrap Set (shown in video)
• Dryer Balls (shown in video- i believe i received 3 of them)
• Flip & Tumble Produce Bags (shown in video- set of 3)