2017 Holiday Gift Guide

Decided to compile a few of my favorite products this holiday season, especially as it is black Friday. 25 of them to be exact. Because I’m 25!!! And it’s like giving you a high five, five times. lololol math. Check it out below! Or check out my gift guide from last year here.

Food things

1. ButcherBox is having a Black Friday deal today, offering either an ultimate steak bundle (2 ribeyes, 2 NY strips, and 2 filet mignons) or $100 of free wine from Dry Farm wines (all organic wine – 3 bottles – customers can choose). Deal starts today (November 24th) and extends until November 28, 2017.
2. The Coconut Cult yogurt. I was admittedly hugely skeptical about this company before trying it. Mostly because of the pricetag. Upon discovering just how preciou$ and high quality the strain of probiotics used in the yogurt, however, it started to make a bit more sense. PLUS each batch is handmade. And the owners are so kind and wonderful. Each jar runs at about $25 – you can either have it shipped or check their store locator. Mango cream is my favorite.
3. Moon Cycle Bakery opens December 15th for sign-up. This is a monthly subscription service that provides nutrient-dense and magical treats to your door timed perfectly around your time of month. All ingredients used in the baked goods were mindfully chosen to help balance hormones and attenuate PMS symptoms, aimed at reclaiming and celebrating your cycle, rather than fearing it or being embarrassed by it. No shame in the period game!!! I love this company so much, and even helped recipe develop / create some blog posts for them. Read all about it over on their blog.
4. RachL Mansfield’s Eating Evolved Cups: If you don’t know RachL, highly recommend checking her out. She is an 11/10 human with a true affinity for making people’s taste buds happy. She just came out with her own version of Eating Evolved cups (double chocolate quinoa flavor) and I absolutely cannot wait to get my paws on them. Plus today you can use the code GOBBLE for a free pack of strawberry cups.
5. Cast iron pan – hands down my most used kitchen item.

Beauty things

1. Cocokind Holiday Trio Set: Now $45.99 instead of $54.99 (I also love and regularly use the Cocokind colors for makeup, chia seed face oil, rosewater toner, and Cocokind Collective).
2. Follain giftcard – today all things in store are 20% off. All of my favorite clean beauty Follain products can be found here. Code LEMONS for 10% off select Follain products (excluding kjaer weis, laurel, may lindstrom, one love organics, RMS beauty, suntegrity, vintner’s daughter, and zoe organics).
3. Gift card to get your hair done! I just got mine touched up (read: chopped and lightened) at Salon Capri (relevant to Boston based homies – Teryn worked her magic on my locks).
4. Curling wand – I use this 1 inch wand to get big beach waves. I think any 1 inch wand will do, though.
5. Frank and Whit Ultimate face care set: Has you covered from toner to mask to cleanser to scrub to steamer. Love love love these products and all that they stand for! Code LEMONS for 20% off.

Household things

1. Invite your relatives to relax with a few adaptogens. I personally love the Root and Bones Reishi and put it in smoothies, homemade lattes, and overnight oats. Code LEMONS for 15% off. $38.25 with discount
2. Palo Santo: I get mine from Philosophie – $7 today instead of $10
3. Essential oil diffuser: Mine is by the brand Ellia – found the link on Kohl’s for $59.99 instead of $79.99
4. Aunt Fannie’s cleaning supplies: I just love this company. Cleaning supplies with amazing ingredients, all of which are microbiome friendly. Pretty affordable, too ($4.99 for a bottle of wipes with discount code). Code LEMONS for 30% off until December 15th! OR amp up the gift and theme it by including a few microbiome friendly books with the products! See a list of my favorite books here.
5. Stock the stockings (or any other holiday / non-holiday containers) with a few new books. Read what’s on my bookshelf here.

For the busy student

1. A new insulated lunch box!! This one came recommended to me by @rootdownnutrition and seems to hold a BUNCH.
2. Noise canceling headphones for the library
3. Buy them a week of ubers or lyfts for the week to avoid the unpredictability of public transportation. 
4. Buy their time by offering to do all general human maintenance tasks for a day. Cook / clean / do laundry as they get to go for a walk or workout or catch up with friends or family. 
5. Blanket Scarf: to cover over ears when someone is loudly chomping or slurping in the library, to cover pants when you spill coffee all over yourself, to act as an eye mask for a quick nap in between classes, to provide warmth when the classrooms are absurdly frigid – truly so versatile 
6. The Sun and Her Flowers by Rupi Kaur: Stayed in on Friday and read this cover to cover. Short little poems that are great to bring on the bus / train. Sure to leave you feeling hopeful and inspired. Her first book of poems (Milk and Honey) is equally splendid.
7. Let loose!! Celebrate after finals are over with a box of Truly Sparkling. I genuinely drink this if I’m not in the mood for wine and I love it. For wine lovers, try a Dry Farm Wines subscription.
8. Muscle roller stick: my upper back and quads get SO TIGHT from sitting all day. I come home and roll out (insert Ludacris song here) and it feels heavenly.
9. I love my Stasher bags and reusable straws to bring with me to class every day in stead of using plastic baggies and plastic straws.
10. My healthy human water bottle comes with me every single day. The new design makes it so easy to hold! (despite extensive years of classical dance training, I am absurdly clumsy and used to drop my old one all the time. This one has a little curve right where your hand goes, which makes carrying it much easier). I have the stone white color – looks like marble.
11. Felix Gray glasses: I’ve always wanted glasses. When I was in high school I even went to Claire’s and bought frames and wore them on the first day of school senior year of high school (you’d think by senior year that the fashion faux paus would have come to a grinding halt – nope, not for me). which help with eye fatigue, dry eyes, and blurred vision from too much screen time (essentially every waking moment of my day between classes, studying, and blogging). The lenses filter the most dangerous range of blue light, which may be linked to eye strain, macular cellular damage, and sleep cycle disruption. Plus they’re so chic and make me feel cool and smart.
12. An extension cord!! Seems like such silly gift but they can come in SUCH handy when you’re juggling computer, phone, and lamp outlets while studying! I chose this one because of it’s 5 feet long with great ratings!!

Exercise things

1. Corepower yoga membership: holiday Gift Card Promotion ($100 for $80)
2. Alexia Clarke membership – a workout sent to your phone every day (either an at home workout or a gym workout) with instructional videos on how to do each move. $30/month
3. DeskCycle – looks silly but I have one of these under my desk for when I’m studying long, long hours and don’t have as much time as I’d like to move my limbs. If you have access to a treadmill, I also love this little contraption that allows you to put your laptop on it and work while walking.
4. Activity watch – I have a Nokia Health watch and love it. Tracks sleep and movement and doesn’t even look like an activity watch! $77.97 instead of $129.95 today!
5. Barry’s bootcamp gift card – This workout seriously saved me this semester. When school started, I essentially stopped workout out entirely, thinking that I needed to dedicate all of my time to studying. My grades suffered, I was tired often, and just generally felt pretty low. I started Barry’s, and noticed little changes every day entirely unrelated to what I looked like. I started speaking up more in class, I delegated my time more efficiently so that I was getting more done in less time, and my grades actually started to improve. I’m not a runner, but will run for Barry’s. And right now they’re having their annual holiday sale!! Classes are at a discounted price, which only happens once a year!!
6. Booty by Brabants leggings: Magic is threaded into the seams of these leggings. Oddly enough, they’re one size fits all, but they make the booty look BODACIOUS. High waisted and universally flattering. The bras also create cleavage from thin air. 

Mind

1. Subscription to a meditation app – Headspace is the one I use, but others have said they really like Mind.
2. A Year with Rumi – Daily Readings (I like to start my days reading one of Rumi’s poems. They’re very short and just gentle reminders that we are all human.)
3. Stay organized with a new planner. The Happiness Planner is the one I have and I love it!

Other

1. For the curious loved one in your life, give the gift of genetic testing. Orig3n offers a range of DNA testing, in the categories of: fitness, skin, nutrition, behavior, and childhood development. And all tests are currently 50% off!!
2. Beyond Yoga: This is my favorite favorite athleisure brand. The leggings are so soft and don’t hold moisture for those super sweaty workouts. And today they’re offering 30% off!
3. Set up a list of podcasts on your loved one’s phone / audio listening device. Find a list of my favorites here.
4. PinnerTest: This is a food sensitivities test. Definitely on the pricier side, though most blood tests requiring lab interpretation are. I did a few blog posts describing my experience that you can find here and here. Code TWISTOFLEMONS at checkout for $60 off. ($430 instead of $490).
5. If someone in your life is in need of nutrition counseling and advice, sign up for good friend and integrative dietitian / mindful eating specialist Lisa Hayim of The Well Necessities. She is a truth teller and warm soul and a huge source of love and light in my life. OR if someone  is interested in advancing their nutrition knowledge, consider showing them some online programs for integrative / functional nutrition programs.
6. Nectar and Green subscription for local Boston folks!! Love love love this company and having a bottle of organic, homemade almond milk show up on my door sometimes is the thing that gets me through the week.