Have you ever tried to write when your head is congested?  Man is it difficult. 

This Food Free Friday post is dedicated to Kleenex...my saving grace this week! :)

*Image from stampedpapercoblog.com

I've had this cold/flu business off and on for a few weeks now and it's totally clouding my brain.  I've got all these great posts I want to write (like a recap of Nourished, A Food Blogger Conference, and the GFAF Expo) yet I can't pull my thoughts together.  Even worse, I've got some great recipes I want to try, but I'm so exhausted I can't even consider it. 

I've felt like the posts I have written were painfully compiled and just not quite where I'd like them to be...  Can anyone relate?  Does the snot in your head cloud your thoughts too?  Ha...I know that's disgusting, but it just made me giggle!

However, the positive side of this is I've been napping like crazy, so I'm beginning to feel like I'm catching up on my sleep! Yay! Even better is I've been able to see even more how loving my husband is. His work has been crazy, yet he's been taking care of me as best he can when he's home. 

So, I want to know.  What do other writers/bloggers do when their minds are clouded by illness?  Do you all just squint your eyes at the blaringly white computer screen and write what you hope to be something legible? 

Please share...just not your germs! ;)

Time for Food Free Friday! 

Today I wanted to take some time and highlight some gluten-free beauty products that I am loving.  I don't know about you, but I spend maybe fifteen minutes getting ready for work. For me, the longer I can sleep in the better.  My typical morning goes as such:  alarm goes off, hit snooze 2-3 times, fly out of bed, brush my teeth, do my make-up, do something with my hair, throw on some clothes (ok, I do have to pause and say I am one of those crazies who spends 10-15 minutes picking out my outfit the night before!), grab breakfast and lunch (again, night before packing is a MUST for this gluten-free gal) and run out the door!  That being said, I am always excited for ways I can shorten my beauty routine.

Enter in these two gems.  I came across both in just the last two weeks and they have already trasformed my day! :)  Don't you just love a good product that you can trust and that seems to make your life easier?  I do!

Nars Eyeshadow base

Eyeshadow base-This smudge-proof eyeshadow base from Nars is amazing!  Seriously, since using this primer it seems like my eye shadow has just improved dramatically.  I'm just obsessed with how much longer my eye shadow stays on.  Usually, by the end of the day my eyes are a bit irritated and my eye shadow is creased and wearing off.  Well, no more!  I was impressed when Love, my trusty Sephora employee, recommended it as the one thing in Sephora she would most DEFINITELY buy (can I just say though, that comment leads me to believe she recieves free products...summer job at Sephora!?!?Hmm...not a bad idea!).  Now, after two weeks of use, I would have to agree.

RAL Nude Peppermint Lipgloss

Lipgloss-I know I've spoken a lot about my friends at Red Apple Lipstick and how amazing their products are.  Well, I'm here to do it again because I just can't get enough!  I recently got my hands on their Nude Peppermint Lipgloss (thanks for the recommendation Jay!) and I'm hooked.  This stuff is incredible and again, going with today's theme, shortens my beauty routine.  This lipgloss has the perfect hint of color to make you feel like your look is "done," AND because it's a lipgloss you've got that awesome lipstick/lipgloss look acheived in one easy step.  To add to that, this stuff is peppermint flavored...added bonus baby!

So, now that you knows what's got me tickled this week, what beauty products make you happy?  I love learning for others and trying out what they like (that's how I came across the above, people!). 

Also, if you're curious about certain products, let me know.  I'm always down for an excuse to try something new! :)

It's Friday and I'm ready for the weekend...why? Because I'm a teacher and I'm going on Spring Break baby!! Ohh yeah...I'm so excited to relax and sleep in. Don't get me wrong, I love my students, 7:30 is just SO EARLY to me! ;)

And, as an added bonus to this Friday, Red Apple Lipstick's Line of Summer Passion lipsticks is going on sale! Wee!!

You can check these colors out, and find a coupon code here on their site!!

Photo Courtesy RAL

Happy lips and happy shopping!

Here's the email they sent about their products:

Oh my goodness!  Have the last two months been crazy, or what?  It just seems like I'm running around like a chicken with my head cut off...

I have to say, as a teacher, I am very much looking forward to Easter Break this year.  While I've already got a few appointments scheduled and I'm sure I'll pick up some projects to work on around the house, I cannot wait to be able to sleep in! :)

Anyways, enough of that.


I am SO excited to have found Organix hair products.  As you probably have learned by now, in our house are slowly incorporating more and more organic food and products into our lives.  We strive to be healthy, and for us organic just seems to be the way to go.

After eating predominantly organic food for over a year, I began to think about household and beauty products.  Why not go organic there too?  I mean, shouldn't it matter what I put on my body? 

I started with lotion and face products, trying out Dessert Essence lotion, face wash, and toothpaste.  I didn't care much for their hair products though.  I have extremely thick, wavy hair (as much hair as at least two "normal" people according to my hair stylist, ha!), so I need a shampoo that's ready to work extra hard and be sudsy enough to clean ALL my hair! 

Have any of you had a similar experience with organic hair care?

Brazilian Keratin Therapy

Well, after trying a few different brands, I finally looked into Organix shampoo.  I've used their Brazilian Keratin flat iron spray for at least a year now (not sure why I never tried their shampoo before?), so I finally looked into their other products.

And guess what I found on their site? 

Are Organix® products gluten free?Yes, our entire Organix® line is gluten-free

OHH YEAH!!!!!!  Can you believe it?  This product is sold at Target and Walmart too!  Not only a "specialty store," like so many other organic hair care products.  That makes the price of this gem about 50% cheaper (I found it at Walmart for about $5)! 

Moroccan Argan Oil

I've been using the Moroccan Argan Oil shampoo for a few weeks now and it seems to work really well for my hair.  The site also said that these products are safe for color treated hair.  Added bonus! 

You can read their complete list of FAQ here!

So what are your thoughts?  Have you tried Organix hair care?  Is there another gluten free shampoo that you like better?  Please share.

Now we've all been stuck in that rut of being tired and not wanting to make anything to eat, and when the thought comes of "where do we want to eat tonight," our minds start to run.

There are plenty of applications for your phone that you can use to help with this decision making.

Now I have to admit these apps aren't the best looking apps visually, but do you really want all the bells and whistles screaming at you while you're trying to find something that's going to fill your belly?

The way I see it, especially as a man, show me what the restaurant has and how to get there. (Do we really need anything else?)

So the first one is called
FIND ME GLUTEN FREE
Find Me Gluten Free is a gluten free restaurant finder. Easily find gluten free friendly restaurants, bakeries, cafes, grocery stores and more! Businesses are tagged with special gluten free features that they offer, such as pizza, pasta, bread, and dedicated gluten free facility. Search your current location or a specific address. View menus, call, or get directions for each business. View others' ratings and reviews and submit your own. Also, now share pictures of your gluten-free food! We're constantly adding businesses, so share your favorites with others. Also, easily view national chain restaurant gluten free menus. Happy gluten free dining!

Anywho...

So we've been super busy the last week shooting a 2 minute spot for a Udi's Gluten Free Competition, titled "Udi's New Year, New You."

After we came up with our idea for the spot, we pulled together some great friends of ours to help out and get the piece shot within the last week.

I'm now spending the remaining time editing and putting the spot together. I'm not saying what it is, but we'll put the final product up soon.

Have a great day everyone!

I'm really not that good at taking pictures while I'm working, so here's a little BTS of what I'm doing.

We went to Santa Barbara for the weekend and ran down to the beach and I was able to get her right before the sun went down


Here's one of the opening shots... Rachel was getting her makeup on, so I just snapped a quick shot of our simple setup... Man I love my job :)

My great friend Jared helped us with probably the funniest scene of the piece. And Rachel's wonderful friend Cassie came in at the last moment and really gave us everything we needed.

And everyone needs color correcting... Shhhhh don't tell Rachel, she thinks I was "rendering" her image... hahaha I love you wife!


Here's a hilarious shot of Jared, Jesse and John talking about their "problems..." and catching someone off screen...

So, I had a revelation at Sephora this week!  I was in the store doing some Christmas shopping when I thought I'd ask around about gluten free products they sell.  I've searched on their website, but to no avail...nothing was clearly labeled. 

I've been wearing Clinique makeup for the past two years, since realizing that gluten free cosmetics are just as important as food.  It's simple, how "careful" are you to make sure your makeup, shampoo, lotions, soap, etc. don't end up somehow, possibly in your mouth.  It's also been argued that products absorb through your skin.  Either way, I'd rather be safe than sorry and with so much that a Celiac, like myself, has to pay attention to it's best to know for sure that you're not purposely coming in contact with gluten throughout your day. 

But anyways, back to Clinique.  As I said, I've been wearing their makeup for a few years, but it's started to irritate my skin.  I've wondered about that, and decided I'd try a different brand.  There's many guaranteed "gluten free" products that I'm interested in trying, but many of them are not available in my area and sadly aren't being sold at Sephora. 

Luckily, Lassen's, a local health food store, sells some gluten free cosmetics.  I've purchased Ecco Bella lipstick in Claret Rose and Cafe au Lait and love them!  I've also recently tried Mineral Fusion's eye shadow trio in Fragile.  However, I've still been in search of a face makeup.  I thought I was at a loss while perusing Sephora until a wonderful stranger told me that her sister was gluten free and purchased all Nars cosmetics because they were gluten free!  Can I just say that I LOVE people who interrupt stranger's conversations to tell them information.  This wonderful lady just saved the day for me! :)  Hehe...yeah yeah, it's only makeup, but I was so excited!  I immediately got on my trusty Iphone to check out Nars websited and check THIS link out!  On their website, under their "customer care" section they insure that all their products are without gluten...can you say love!?!?  I immediately had the sales lady (conveniently named Love!) color match me and I bought some new foundation.  A few days in and I'm liking this product a lot! 

I'd still love to try some of the more organic products I've seen, like Afterglow Cosmetics, just to see how they fare, but for now I'm so happy to have found Nars!

Lastly, the million dollar question...what's YOUR favorite gluten free cosmetic product??  I'll be contacting many companies in the next few months to learn as much info. as I can so as to share it with my lovely readers!  Maybe I'll come across something you love, or will grow to love!?!? 

I have arrived!

Welcome to Food Free Friday.  Today's feature is...twitter!  That's right people, gfree_gal has arrived on twitter!!  You know what this means...more updates and tidbits of valuable information for living a gluten free lifestyle.  So please, join the fun and follow me @gfree_gal. 

Can't wait!!

Alright so it's my turn to write a post regarding those things that are not food, but still considered gluten free.

I have chosen bendy straws, well Rachel did, but I get to write about it.

Now these things are amazing. I'm not just saying that because Bendy straws create something that is so surreal that one would have to travel to the moon to partake of the wonderfulness that is the, "Bendy."

I'm saying that, if I could go back in time and create these magnificent things, I would change its name to the Crozbend. I mean seriously, how awesome would that be. "Yo, you checked out the new Crozbends, these things are off the chain... for real..."

Anywho... I've got nothing really exciting to share regarding the bendy straws, but the fact that they make drinking anything that much cooler, you should get some. Plus they're Gluten Free!

Friday, such a glorious day, particularly now as I am off work for the weekend! :)

So today, as we enter into fall (praying we have indeed had our last 100 degree day!) I will address a very serious topic.  Lotion.

We all know the necessity of lotion to survive in life.  Without it, you leave the world to see, and sadly have to sometimes touch, your scaly, cracking selves.  This, my friends, is a travesty.  It's a terrible, if not inhumane, way to travel through life.  ;)

Now, let me share some wisdom on this topic of lotion.

A good lotion needs to moisturize enough to not warrant a second application, yet without leaving your body with a grimy, greasy feel.  It's a delicate balance and I believe I have found the perfect option with Desert Essence's Organics lotion.

This product line has some great lotions and body washes AND it's all 100% vegan, wheat & gluten free!

As a sensitive soul (you know, the people who have issues beyond the food realm), I really enjoy their fragrance free hand and body lotion.  This stuff is so great because while it is fragrance free, it has a light and pleasant scent rather than something funky and odd.  Come on, anyone who's tried a fragrance free product knows what I'm talking about! :)  Another plus with this product is that it doesn't sting your legs when applied right after shaving!  Yay!!

One word of advice, while this line does have great lotion, I'd steer clear of their shampoos and conditioners (body washes are decent too!) unless you have fine/thin hair.  Myself, I have as my hairdresser likes to say, "enough hair for three people," on my head.  I've tried the hair products and I have to double, if not triple the amount that I normally use just to wash "all" my hair!  But, I do have massive amounts of hair, so their hair products may work just fine for you.

Don't take my word for it...test Desert Essence out for yourself!

Welcome to our new weekly post, Food Free Friday!  Every Friday we'll be featuring something non-food that is gluten free (and hopefully fabulous)!

Today, we're talking lip products.  Did you know that many cosmetics contain gluten?  It's a sad and annoying fact that us Celiacs have to deal with every day.  Now, many of you may be thinking that whether or not your cosmetics are gluten free doesn't matter, but in fact it does. It's not so much the absorption into our skin (although some will argue that it is) as the likelihood that we may ingest some of what we put on our bodies.  Just imagine for a moment about your normal morning routine and you'll probably be able to come up with quite a few ways that you could accidentally ingest your beauty products.

My suggestion is that you start to pay attention to the products you choose, starting with your lips.  Anything that goes on your lips is guaranteed to get into your mouth at least a little bit, there's just no way around it.  If Celiac experts recommend that your non-Celiac significant other brush their teeth before kissing you (they do say this is a risk for cross contamination), then you can just imagine how important gluten free lip products are. 

One lip product that I've grown to love is Softlips chapstick.  They're just so smooth and tasty!  That may sound silly, but it's true.  They have a chapstick that's vanilla flavored and it's just plain delicious!  Plus, with spf 15 you can't beat it.  Protection and a great flavor, yay!  Softlips also has tinted chapsticks, which makes getting ready in a flash quite simple.  Another yay!  So far I've only tried the "pearl" color, which is very nice and light.

Now, we need your help.  What are your favorite gluten free lip products?  Share with us and we'll post them on here!  We'll even test products out and share our results, if you like.