A couple of weeks ago I talked about how I did my first juice cleanse, and what an awesome experience I had. I had so much more energy, and felt alert and headache free (sometimes I get headaches in the evenings). Since then, I’ve been trying to pick apart my diet to figure out how I can have that kind of energy all the time, without constantly being on a juice cleanse. When my friends at Soma approached me about trying one of their brand new, gorgeous water pitcher filters, I thought it would be a great chance to challenge myself with something I knew I needed to be better at: drinking more water.

I’ve been a huge admirer of Soma for a while and their commitment to beautiful, simple, and smart design. Their original product is the Soma carafe, but I’m loving the brand new Soma pitcher even more with its wooden handle and larger size, holding 10 cups but still fitting neatly in the fridge. No longer do I need a separate pitcher to serve water for company. This one can go straight from the fridge to the dinner table, it’s that good looking! The plant based filter removes any bad odors, flavors, and chlorine that might come from the tap water I normally would drink so it tastes fresh and clean. Also, happy to see that Soma is a new member of the Made to Matter by Target collection– a handpicked group of brands that support wellness and health.

I’ve always been pretty terrible at drinking enough water but have read so much about how important it is for your health. Even just slight dehydration can zap you of energy and I’ve heard it can do amazing things for your skin. Recently though, I read that the 8×8 rule (8 glasses of 8 ounces) a day is kind of a myth. Really the amount of water required is based on your weight and size, which make so much more sense. You can read more about how to calculate it here. Six glasses is what I calculated for myself and that felt reasonable to do. Normally I probably drink about 4 glasses.

To challenge myself, I started last week to fill up the Soma pitcher with 6 cups of water and then I made sure it’s emptied by the time I hit the pillow at night (letting my family know it’s hands off for them for a few days). I work from home so that was pretty easy to do. If I’m heading out to run errands or to the park I use the pitcher to fill up a reusable water bottle. Because the Soma pitcher holds 10 cups of water, I could challenge myself and a smaller member of our family, like Henry, to do it as well. I think I might try that next week because already I’m feeling more energized and haven’t had any headaches at all. Hooray for something as simple as drinking more water to feel refreshed!

Are you a good water drinker? Do you make a conscious effort to drink enough water during the day? If so, how do you do it?

Thanks to Soma for sponsoring this post and making beautifully designed products that are good for us too! The entire Soma family is available at Target and drinksoma.com. And here’s some good news: the first 50 readers to use the code SY1FREEFILTER (at drinksoma.com) will receive 1 free filter ($12.99 value) off their first Soma order! I’m going to grab one or two more for holiday gifts.