My skin has not been my best friend these past five months or so (redness, breakouts, and a lot of painful dry skin/flakiness around my nose and chin), and I was really struggling to find a scrub or mask that was both natural and effective. Sometimes I use coconut oil as a moisturizer or a hair mask. So I added some sugar to an almost-empty jar and made a face scrub.

This is not a fancy natural beauty remedy loaded with essential oils. This is sugar and coconut oil, but it works wonders.

Coconut Oil Sugar Scrub

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup coconut oil
• 1/2 cup white sugar

Instructions:

1. Microwave the coconut oil slightly so it becomes more liquid than solid. 
2. Add the sugar. Give it a stir. 
3. Keep the mixture in your shower or by your sink and use on your face (and hands!) 2-3 times per week.

That's it! If you want to add your favorite essential oils or experiment with other ingredients you can go for it, but this very basic and easy to make scrub has been such a lifesaver for me recently and I really look forward to using it every few days.

The other day I finished unpacking all of our books, which are on a big shelf in the nursery, and I was having so much fun going through all of the children's books I've accumulated over the years (and a few new ones that some of my friends were kind enough to give us as gifts recently). It made me want to put together a blog post with a list of some of the books I'm most excited about sharing with our daughter. 

So without further ado, and in no particular order, here are nine of them:

• Where the Wild Things Are:  I have a Where the Wild Things Are tattoo for a reason. This book very literally changed my life when a professor pointed out that the illustrations got larger and took over the page the more Max's imagination took over the story. I knew children's literature was special but I didn't know how sophisticated it could be until that moment, and I really think it was that class discussion that made me want to go to grad school and continue to study children's lit.
• A Sick Day for Amos McGee: One of the sweetest picture books ever. The illustrations are the cutest.
• The entire Harry Potter series: These books are so special to me and I can't wait to share them with her. Rob and I want to start reading them to her right away, is that weird? I think it might be the first story she ever hears.
• Pretty much everything by Shel Silverstein, especially Where the Sidewalk Ends: I love Shel. 
• Bee-Bim Bop and First Book of Sushi: I haven't read either of these yet but I'm ordering them after hearing about both on the bibimbap episode of Spilled Milk. Kids books about food? I mean, what could be better? I actually wrote a collection of haikus about food in grad school so these are right up my alley.
• A is for Activist: Another one I haven't read yet but can't wait to share with our daughter. 
• The Very Hungry Caterpillar: One of Rob's favorites when he was growing up. It's this kind of stuff that makes my heart want to explode--knowing that we get to pass on our favorite books, foods, traditions, etc. and just leave the rest behind. (For example I don't think I'll be reading Love You Forever to her because I think it's creepy.)
• And last but not least, Go the Fuck to Sleep...just kidding! Or am I?

These aren't all of my favorites, so I'll be sharing more later! Do you have any that I should add to my list? I'd love to hear your recommendations!

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I'm so incredibly excited to announce that my third cookbook is officially available for preorder on Amazon! The Big 15 Ketogenic Diet Cookbook is quite possibly my favorite book so far, and I had so much fun working on these keto recipes and I hope you enjoy them as much as I have. Like my first book, this one covers 15 main ingredients that are essential to the ketogenic diet and is packed with 150 high-fat, low-carb recipes to keep you full and satisfied on the keto diet (spoiler alert: there's a bacon AND an avocado chapter). I also included two variations for every recipe so you can switch up flavors and ingredients, bringing the number of recipe possibilities up to a whopping 450.

If you want to read more about my experience with keto, you can read this post I wrote after a month of high-fat, low-carb eating. I had some trouble sticking with it throughout my pregnancy but am so excited to get back to it in the next few months--it truly is one of my favorite ways to eat, and it was something that Rob really identified with right away, which was a nice change of pace from Paleo (a lifestyle I love but one that is really my thing more than a thing we do as a family--and if I've learned anything about nutrition and health, it's that sometimes you need an accountability partner to back you up).

The book will be released on December 5, so stay tuned these next weeks for more sneak peeks and even a couple full recipes! Until then, you can preorder your copy today--thank you so much as always for your support! I really couldn't do any of this stuff without you guys.

Photos by Linda Schneider for The Big 15 Ketogenic Diet Cookbook.