Happy Friday! How did everyone’s week go?

I am excited that we are heading down to the beach for the weekend with my in-laws. It has been over 2 years since I have been down there and over 4 since the husband has been able to visit. It is long over due!

On a completely random note, check out this thunderstorm coming in last night.

We were sitting outside enjoying some frozen yogurt and watched it come in. I love summer thunderstorms!

 

A quick recap of my running the past couple days:

Wednesday I had another workout scheduled. It was much simpler than Monday, and since it called for some tempo work I decided it was best to do it on the treadmill.

We have a pretty good sized basement in our new place so we set our treadmill up down there. It works GREAT and we even turned it into a mini-gym/stretching area.

I ended up doing a 10 minute warm up, 30 minute tempo run (8:00-7:47), 10 minute cool down. Even though I woke up thinking it was not going to be a good run, it ended up going pretty well!

Thursday I had an easy 8 on the schedule. We were exhausted yesterday morning so ended up waking up around 8:30 which is late for us. Thankfully we had some cloud cover from the overnight rain so even though it was still humid the direct sun wasn’t beating down on us.

I ran an easy 8 on an out and back course. I love how an 8:44 average pace is easy for me now!

 

As we have begun to settle into our new home, we have slowly began to add a few new items. Nothing fancy but we have already found some great finds around the city!

We didn’t have enough to really fill the amount of space we moved into. We know we will slowly fill it with time, but for now we are making the most of it!

I have come across several pretty awesome products for our new house I thought I would share with you all today in honor of Five Things Friday:

 

STORMp3 Water Resistant MP3 Player

The STORMp3 player is amazing. Oh, and if you are looking for a father’s day present for the weekend – this would be PERFECT!

We are having a BBQ in a couple weeks as a graduation/house warming party and I can’t wait to use this out on the deck to play some great music!

Here is a brief description of the STORMp3 player:

• Water Resistant
• Does not rely on bluetooth connectivity
• Shuffle control allows songs to be played in a random order
• “Click and Drag” design makes adding music easy
• Great sound from two speakers delivering 6 watts of power
• Over 70 hours of play time
• Wall mountable
• Includes wall mounting bracket, 4AA batteries and USB Cable

We have already enjoyed listening to our music on the back porch during dinner this week. The only concern I originally had about the mp3 player was the fact that it was battery powered vs. rechargeable.  I still think that this would be a really nice feature to have, but so far the batteries seem to be having a very long life!

Seriously, go and pick one of these up they are PERFECT not only for Father’s Day but for the summer months ahead!

Charlie’s Soap

The motto of Charlie’s Soap is “Live green. Be clean.” When we first moved into our new place I was bound and determined to keep it looking nice and clutter free. I’ve set up a tentative cleaning schedule and so far have stuck to it. It makes a big difference in making sure I get all the household chores done each week.

I have also begun to bring more natural cleaning products into our house. With several animals who are always getting into things it is important to me to make sure that they (and us) aren’t taking in unhealthy chemicals.

I first tried out Charlie’s Soap last week and loved it. It has a very faint and clean smell, but it isn’t over powering.

As it states on their website:

“Charlie’s Soap’s raw materials can be separated into two categories, biodegradable ingredients and natural mineral ingredients.

Our products surpassed thresholds for “ultimate biodegradation” within a month’s time. They were also rated safe for use around lakes and streams.

One hundred percent of the remaining products fall under the natural mineral category. Our final formulas have been approved by the USDA for use around food preparing surfaces and are non-toxic.”

The two products I have been able to try out so far are their Indoor/Outdoor Surface Cleaner and the Kitchen & Bath Household Cleaner. I can’t say enough about both of them. Not only do they clean really well but they also are barely detectable. I have dealt with some pretty awful allergies with some over the counter cleaners, but never once have these bothered me!

Oh, and the fact that they are based out of North Carolina gives them a point in my book as well!

 

Gaia Natural Cleaners

I was introduced to Gaia Natural Cleaners a few months back. They are a smaller company, but they still manage to make some amazing products!

The company was started by wife, mother, health educator and entrepreneur. She started making her line of cleaners after she thought to herself “what kind of world do we want to leave behind for our children?”

Gaia Natural Cleaners contain:

• Baking soda
• Washing soda
• High purity salt
• Borax
• Citric acid
• Dry hydrogen peroxide
• Liquid pure castile soap
• Castile bar soap
• Vinegar
• Pure grain alcohol
• Essential oils
• Lavender (MY FAVORITE!)
• Lemon
• Tea Tree

As long as I can remember my favorite smell is lavender. If I go into a store and am picking a fragrance, 9 times out of 10 you will see me select the lavender sent. I just love the clean and beautiful smell it gives off!

I currently have several of Gaia’s products but my favorite is the All-Purpose Spray. It smells so beautifully but isn’t overpowering. I love using it in our new master bathroom because the beautiful aroma seeps out into the bedroom as well.

She has several types of cleaners:

• All-Purpose cleaner
• Glass cleaner (also GREAT!)
• Granite cleaner
• Floor cleaner
• Powder hand soap
• Laundry detergent
• Spot cleaner

If you are looking for a great all-natural cleaner you need to check her products out! Plus, you are support a small business which I always LOVE!

 

There you have it. Just a few awesome products that I love using!

 

Do you try to use all natural cleaners?

How has your running gone this week?.