Were I to recommend just one book to a friend who was considering going vegan, The Vegan Way: 21 Days to a Happier, Healthier Plant-Based Lifestyle That Will Transform Your Home, Your Diet, and You by Jackie Day would most certainly be it. Day’s lovely blog, My Vegan Journal, never fails to inspire me as my family and I continue on our vegetarian/vegan journey. Her book has been endorsed by Moby (“When you feel like you’re hitting a bump in the road to vegan, there’s always a dash of comfort and inspiration here to keep you moving along”), Pamela Anderson (“The Vegan Way is like having a friendly, nonjudgemental vegan friend by your side”), and Dr. Neal Barnard (“Jackie Day’s book provides a perfect starting point [to a plant-based diet], with recipes, research, inspirational quotes, and daily goals as resources”).
Let me first say how absolutely beautiful the book is, from the watercolor illustrations peppered throughout to the photographs of decadent food and natural products. Providing a 21 Days-to-a-Vegan Road Map, Day encourages us to set a date and then find our muse. Some of us may seek inspiration in our children or mindful time with animals. Others may look to their annual physical results or love of the environment. Day will join you in your pantry, refrigerator, closet, make-up drawer, as well as on vacation, at holiday parties, and out to dinner.
Even as a budding feminist in my college days, I swore I would never let my future children play with Barbie dolls. Graduate school only cemented my belief that Barbie perpetuated a stereotype of “ideal” beauty that was unattainable and promoted a hyper-sexualized look completely out of line with her audience of young girls. 
I scoffed at Mattel’s attempts to get parents to “buy in” to Barbie by marketing her as an astronaut, surgeon and POTUS, all the while maintaining her unrealistic body standard (if she were alive, she’d be 5’9?, 110 pounds and desperately trying to stand up straight on those tiny, permanently arched feet – because Barbie always wears heels). This post doesn’t aim to crucify Barbie. You can find data on the Barbie Effect easily enough.
What this post IS about, and what I’m so very excited to share, is the ANTIDOTE to that very effect: The Lottie Doll! 
I have been waiting for weeks to write this review and am eager to share it. Before I did so, I wanted to use my PlanetBox Launch repeatedly to see how it held up to daily use and washing. And today, I can say that I am a PlanetBox convert. This is the real thing. I have tried many “green” lunchbox products now – canvas bags with Velcro closures, various manifestations of the classic bento box, bamboo sandwich wraps – and I’ve always been left wanting. Since my son started school four years ago, I have been searching for one product that could replace all of them. I’ve found it in PlanetBox. 
Each year as school begins, a flood of emotions assails me. Melancholy brews, like a low-grade fever, for weeks before September is upon us, matched by elation over the new chapters upon which my children are embarking.