GlassDharma glass straw review and GIVEAWAY!

I have a surprise for my amazing followers! I know some of you will remember a post I did a little while ago where I mentioned my love for Glass Dharma straws! Well, the makers of the original glass straw want to give YOU an opportunity to own and love one as much as I do- for FREE!

As I mentioned in my first post about this amazing glass straw- handmade in the United States- I've had mine for almost 3 years now! They have withstood being carried in my purse, dropped in the floor (although I don't recommend doing it on purpose), tossed by the kids, moved to 3 different dwellings while we were stationed at Fort Bragg, and not a single ONE has cracked, broken, or chipped! And if it had? Guess what! Their Lifetime Guarantee Against Breakage would have handled the replacement!

Bear in mind that they are not unbreakable, just guaranteed! Glass Dharma wants it's customers to be completely satisfied with their products, so if you're not 100% satisfied, they want to know and they want to correct it! If your straw breaks, they want to know and they want to fix it- or replace it! Now, THAT is customer service as it should be.

I believe that all of us here are planet-friendly people, but it wasn't until a few years ago that I realized just how huge a problem plastic straw waste is! Imagine just how many of those things end up trashed every year!? How could something so small be an issue?

According to Glass Dharma's website, in 2008, McDonalds ALONE claimed to serve 52 MILLION meals a day. How many of those do you imagine included a drink with a plastic straw? One little straw is no biggie, but tens of MILLIONS of straws being trashed every day (from only one company!) easily becomes the straw that broke the camel's ecological back! What an environmental disaster (waste created) and biological disaster (chemicals leached from the plastic)! Using glass straws from Glass Dharma is the perfect way to completely avoid contributing to the problem.

I was sent a box of straws- one Beautiful Bends (super cool bent straw), one Simple Elegance (the kind I've had 3 of for almost 3 years and loved!), one green Decorative Dots (a long one), and one amber Decorative Dots (a short one). Also included was a hemp carrying sleeve (natural hemp) and two cleaning brushes, which I will tell you makes cleaning them a breeze.

The Beautiful Bends straw is 9.5mm wide and 9" long, retailing for $8.50. The bend makes it perfect for use in a taller glass and I actually used mine while I was online researching the effects of plastic straws on the environment! It hung over the side of my glass slightly, so I never had to take my eyes off of the screen to ensure that I wasn't about to knock my glass off of the dining room table. Even if you're not a lazy sipper like me, they just look absolutely beautiful in a glass! 

The Simple Elegance straws come in a variety of lengths and widths. As the most cost effective straw, they are fantastic to have on hand for use by the entire family. Their simplicity makes them ridiculously easy to clean- and I truly think that my drinks just taste better when I drink them through a glass straw- these are perfect for the minimalist! I have taken to keeping mine in the fridge- talk about refreshing! While I usually don't drink hot drinks, thus keeping my straws in the fridge, they are perfectly suited for cold OR hot drinks, so use them in everything without worry of damaging them. They were made to be used!

The Decorative Dots straws are so neat! Doing this review was the first time I'd seen one of them, even though I've been lusting after them since I bought my first  set of straws. I love how fun they look and what's impressive to me is that there is no paint to make me concerned and no fading to take away from the beauty of your straw. The dots are colored glass (that come in blue, red, green, or amber), the same glass as the straws, which means that they are made of borosilicate glass, the strongest commercially available glass! The tall Decorative Dots straws are stunning and the shorter straws are now my first choice for my kids. They're strong, beautiful, and the colored dots make them perfect for color coding- no more mixing up the kid's cups!

I have been carrying my straw in my purse wrapped haphazardly in a cloth napkin for dining out, so I was really excited to try the hemp carrying sleeve! I was instantly hooked on the look and texture of the sleeve- it just looks environmentally responsible! I was sent the natural hemp sleeve (that retails for $12.00) to try out and that is definitely the one I would have ordered for myself. The fabric swatch, pictured below, gives you an idea of the color options you have if you're interested in a sleeve that isn't the natural hemp color- purple dawn, ocean blue, deep moss, and black pearl (that retail for $15.00 each). Regardless of the color, you can choose from 3 sizes to get the best fit for your straw!

Since I've had plenty of experience with the Simple Elegance straws and there were two of the Decorative Dots straws, we tried out the amber Decorative Dots straw and the Beautiful Bends straw to let you know how they work and what we thought of them! Do you know what that means for you guys?! I have two straws and two cleaning brushes to give to you!

Up for grabs, we have two gift sets, courtesy of Glass Dharma.

Set one:
A green Decorative Dots straw that is 9.5mm wide and 9" long. This straw does not normally come with a cleaning brush, but for our giveaway, it will! The cleaning brushes normally retail for $5.00 each. The green dots are absolutely beautiful and as an added bonus, keeps that pesky straw from rolling off of the table! Retails for $9.00 each on their website. (A total value of $14.00)

Set two:
A Simple Elegance straw that is 12mm wide and 9" long, making it perfect for drinking smoothies, even ones with fantastic fruit pieces that normally get stuck in the straw or never make it in! This is the mac daddy of glass straws and we have really enjoyed ours over the years! This straw has a cleaning brush in it's box! Retails for $8.50 each on their website, plus the cleaning brush! (A total value of $13.50)

This is mine, yours is new in the box!

I thoroughly enjoyed getting to communicate with the incredible people at Glass Dharma while we were planning this blog posting and the giveaway! What an incredible company selling handmade products, all made in the U.S- even the sleeves and brushes!

To win one of the two gift sets, here is what you do:

Mandatory entry, include your name and email address in this comment:
- follow "Where am I?"

Extra entries, please leave 1 comment per entry:
- like "Glass Dharma on Facebook" and let them know how much we appreciate this giveaway!
- suggest something you'd like to see more of here at "Where am I?"
- suggest "Where am I?" to a friend (and/or create a blog or Facebook posting about this giveaway), having them follow and let me know YOU sent them!

All in all, you can have 4 entries each.
I will use random.org to choose a winner on Friday, May 20th!

"Sip the world, taste the difference."
(and Happy Winning!)

Smoothies!

Quite a few people have expressed interest in knowing how I make my smoothies...

This is how I start my day most mornings and I looove them!

I start with the same basics, give or take one!

Almond or coconut milk, probiotic powder (immune system boost, anyone?!), raw honey (helps me fight off seasonal allergies), and flaxseed oil (yummy, healthy fats)!

The ground flaxseed is what I use when I'm out of fresh kale, which I prefer (but sometimes can't find at the farmer's mnarket), but I love both!

I usually use some plain, organic yogurt, too- but I was out the morning I took these photos!

This day, I used a bunch of frozen strawberries that my dad froze last year, a whole peeled kiwi, two whole peeled bananas, and a handful of frozen pineapple that I cut and froze last week!

I really enjoy using fresh fruit, but if I do, I use ice to thicken the smoothie!

I try to spend time weekly cutting fresh fruit, freezing it, and using the frozen fruit- makes the smoothies super thick and amazingly refreshing!

Here is what it looks like!

I just put in the fruit, put in the dry ingredients, pour on the milk and/or yogurt and blend until smooth!

It packs a nutritional punch, starts my day off properly, and the whole family loves them!

Some other goodness that I like to pop in the blender:

- avocados (give the smoothie the same consistency as a banana!)

- using juices instead of almond milk (orange is my favorite!)

Sweet Saturday!

Today was super chilly, but I got up at 7am to meet my friend Dana at one of our local farmer's markets. I really got some amazing things, but more on that later!


Here is a picture of my strawberry and rhubarb pie filling! The strawberries are from a local farm (by local, I mean 3 miles away!) and my Dad picked them last year, cut them up and froze them! So on a cold, rainy day in early Spring, I have beautiful strawberries to use in a pie with some gorgeous, but bitter, rhubarb. The rhubarb is soaking up some of that glorious strawberry sweetness before I bake it into something incredible using my late grandmother's cobbler recipe.


This, my friends, is raw milk. In the state of NC, it is only sold "not for human consumption," BUT we consume it. It is pretty incredible, albeit expensive, and we can't get a hold of much at a time since the people we get it from are very small scale, but it's absolutely incredible. It is unpasteurized, so it does carry some risk of contamination, but so does pasteurized stuff. That's my disclaimer :) The people we buy it from sell it for pet use or product use, so they do their part and follow the law. We are the "bad" ones.

I have some pretty serious lactose issues, but for some reason raw milk (cows and goats) doesn't kill my tummy, so I'm willing to search it out and pay for it.

I used my raw milk this morning to make a smoothie with a whole banana, raspberries, lots of kale, honey, probiotic powder, yogurt, ice, and flaxseed oil. My hubby said it was like a salad in a cup (I think I might have used a bit much kale for his liking- haha), but that it was good! My little boy hung out drinking it and "yum!"-ing to himself this morning. Precious.

At the farmer's market, I got some humanely raised and butchered lamb ( from the same guy that gave us the free eggs and sold us the sausage a couple of weeks ago- I told you he had a customer for life!). I got a ton of kale, some free range eggs (6 different colored eggs- love the variety) even though we are hoping to get a few grown chickens this week to get a start on laying, since our chicks are still way too young to lay. Also got some goat cheese, olive bread, and bacon pimento cheese for my dad and husband to enjoy.

I made a killer lunch this afternoon- baked winter vegetables (winter squash, parsnips, potatoes, and cabbage) and honey cornbread! My husband and father were here watching basketball (please, let March Madness be over SOON! I can't take it anymore!), both gave me funny looks when I served lunch (because there was no meat, I guess?), but they both really enjoyed it and went back for seconds of one thing or another. :)

Oh, I almost forgot... Tim and I got down into the basement while the little guy napped and went through quite a few boxes that were never unpacked from our move in August. The amount of clothes the kids have outgrown, toys they wouldn't play with now, things I'd forgotten about- it was just incredible. I boxed up a ton of stuff to take to Goodwill, pulled out the clothes to wash and freshen up before passing on to friends with kids smaller than mine, and really noticed that we had a lot more room, but ran out of time this afternoon. Will continue another day! Minimalism makes this mama's heart happy. Clutter steals time away from what you truly love.