Top 5 Essential Oils in Our Home

The new tagline in our house is "there's an oil for that." The hubs was a bit skeptical at first and used this line to poke fun at me but now he is all about the oils! I have been rubbing lavender on his feet and neck before bed to help him sleep and that is what made him a believer, or maybe it was the free foot rub that did it? :) Thursday night I came home when Keith was already asleep and caught a huge whiff of lavender when I walked in the room. The next morning he made sure to mention that giving yourself a foot rub is not nearly as fun as having someone else do it...

Our daily oils:

• JOY: 3-4 drops in the diffuser every morning while I have my quiet time and drink a cup (or two) of hot tea
• VALOR: 1-2 drops on my feet and wrists when I feel anxious
• LEMON: 2 drops in my glass of water for an energy boost during the day
• THIEVES: I use thieves in my natural disinfectant spray
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar or white (non-GMO) vinegar
• 20 drops of THIEVES oil
• LAVENDER: 1-2 drops on Keith's feet and neck before bed

What are the oils you use daily???

Memorial Day Shenanigans

This Monday I woke up with a sudden urge to do something random and the Houston Arboretum popped into mind. I don't even know what made me think of it, especially since I had never been there before. But any-who, it did and we went. Unfortunately Keith had to work on Memorial Day (make up for one of the ice days) so instead I brought my trusted companion Troub with me.

Troub begged to jump in the pond but I wasn't having it. I made him sit by the water so I could snap this photo and he kept inching his way forward to put at least his paw in the water. He's a rebel.

That's right, I took a selfie with my dog. #unashamed

It started raining on our drive home and that just made the day even more perfect! While driving, I heard a commercial on the radio for a sale at Half Price Books. Next up on the Memorial Day adventure, BOOKSTORE!!! I knew that I wanted to buy Jane Eyre because I lost my copy from high school wanted to re-read it since it was my favorite book back then. Guys, I'm not joking when I say I stared at four different copies of Jane Eyre just trying to decide which cover I wanted. (If you are one of my family members you know how true this statement really is). I cannot make decisions for the life of me. For some reason I decided upon this little lady and she made a wonderful addition to my rainy day. 

Speaking of wonderful additions, I just added this recipe to the "keeper" pile.  If you love shortbread and tea, this will be your jam. It was a super easy and quick recipe to make, plus I felt really fancy drinking my ginger peach tea with some tea cookies. 

At the beginning of my time off, I was really struggling. I wanted to make sure each day was packed with productive activities. I was praying one night that I would quit stressing myself out about my time off and really enjoy the blessing it is. Keith has been so encouraging and always asks what fun things I got to do each day. I am so blessed by a man who doesn't want me to feel bad about doing fun things while he works to provide for us!

Beauty Tips and Tricks with Lavender Essential Oil

Lavender essential oil has so many uses. Keith uses it every night to help him sleep and I use it on cuts and for my allergies. I tried out this beauty trick last week and I love it! It is so refreshing to get a whiff of lavender every morning when I put my make up on. 

Preparing for Swimsuit Season with Essential Oils

Eeeek! It's May and I should have started preparing for swimsuit season a while ago! Now that I'm out of school I have had three pool/beach days, gotten burned once, and have experienced super dry skin as a result. I'm so thankful for all of these oil resources from the Pretty Oil to help me to now tackle swim suit season like a pro. No more sunburn and dry skin for this girl. 

Anyone else experience the problem of EXTREME exhaustion following a day of laying out in the sun? I come home and immediately have the desire to take a nap, which is outrageous since that is basically all I did while laying out in the sun. Now I don't have to face the fear of losing a day's worth of productivity when I lay out. "Thanks peppermint oil!"

Along with the resources from the Pretty Oil, I have a variety of Pinterest boards I now follow. I feel like I am DIYing/life hacking everything with oils these days and it makes me feel too legit. Too legit to quit. (Sorry not sorry) 

Here are a few of the boards I follow:

Remedies and Recipes

The Pretty Oil

Baby Steps to Essential Oils

Here is a link to my board too

Please feel free to share any recipes or helpful tips for using oils!!!

Lavender Lemonade

This morning I woke up feeling like a million bucks. I had a surge of energy and couldn't wait to jump out of bed and get my day going. You know who else had a TON of energy? Troubadour of course. Troub and I headed out to the park for a beautiful walk in the 60 degree weather (in Texas, in May). #SWOON. When I came home I wanted a refreshing drink and what did I come across on The Pretty Oil blog? A yummy recipe for lavender lemonade! I wanted to share the deliciousness with you so here you go:

Ingredients:
3 lemons
7 cups cold water
1-2 drops Young Living lavender essential oil
¾ cup organic raw agave
Handful ice cubes
Optional: lemon or lime slices for garnish

Directions:
Juice the lemons into a pitcher
Add the water, lavender and agave
Stir well to mix, then add ice & enjoy!

 I didn't have agave so I used some honey instead. Still super yummm.

Must have essential oils for summer!

Problem: Sunburn

Solution: Mix 10 drops of lavender oil with coconut oil and rub on.

Problem: Bugs

Solution: Purification oil is a natural insect repellent.

Problem: Allergies

Solution: The allergy-bomb. Diffuse equal drops peppermint, lemon and lavender oils.

Problem: Summer Cold

Solution: Thieves oil – a drop in a glass of water, or rub on bottom of your feet.

Problem: Your kids are 2 days into summer vacation and are already BORED.

Solution: Peace & Calming – diffused, dropped in bath, inhaled… let’s be honest, we suggest you stock up on this one.

When you purchase the premium starter kit during the month of May, the Pretty Oil Team would like to send you the Essential Oils Pocket Reference guide as a welcome gift! Click on the "Order Oils" tab in my menu bar for more information.

Pinterest Party

Pinterest party - a party where people finally make a few of the things they've "pinned" on Pinterest. 

My cousin Jackie turned 26 and to celebrate, she threw a Pinterest party. She picked out three crafts for us to complete: monogrammed wine glass tumblers, dinosaur wine corks, and terrariums. All of the food was made from recipes found on Pinterest. 

First up: Terrariums!!! All of the glass bowls and bags of potting soil were purchased at Dollar Tree. The succulents were purchased at Lowes; we also used some rocks and a little bit of moss. Each person added anywhere from two to three succulents per bowl and of course a dino.

The inspiration: (Found HERE)

Our version:

Next we completed our monogrammed wine glass tumblers. The tumblers were purchased at Dollar Tree...what a steal right?! The Cricut was used to cut out vinyl letters to stick on to our cups. I'm pretty sure everyone opted to do initials instead of monograms and I think they turned out to be adorable!

The inspiration: (Found HERE)

Our version:

Our final craft was more of a Pinterest fail... the spray paint we used came out chunky and made the dinosaurs look like they had a crazy disease. So I went without paint and and just hot glued the guy on there.

The inspiration: (Found HERE)

 

Our version:

Here are a few more photos from this awesome party:

 I hope everyone gets the chance to go to a Pinterest party one day. I'm telling you, it will change your life.

A fresh start full of pointless shenanigans

Here is the summary of this blog post: photos on photos on photos

Once upon a time, I used to blog. I kept friends and family up to date with the events, both big and small, taking place in our life. Then, I started my final year of grad school where I continued to take classes, began to work 35 hours a week (free labor they call an “externship”), nanny-ed a sweet girl every day after said externship, and made time to say “hi” to my husband every now and then. But in all seriousness, this past year has been full of fun times, learning experiences, and growth. Here is a quick recap of the past 12 months.

Also, I stupidly deleted an album online that contained all of my blog photos which left my blog barren. So I abandoned it and started fresh. Here I will post all of the pointless shenanigans going on in our lives…

March 2013:

Josh and Rachel got married





April 2013:

Keith turned 30



My sweet niece and nephew were born (on Keith’s birthday). You can read my sister’s delivery story on TwinTalkBlog.com



May 2013:

Jackie turned 25 and celebrated with a Fiesta!



June 2013:

Started a our first garden...then watched it die.



July 2013:

The twins first 4th of July parade. As you can see, they weren't thrilled.



August 2013:

Started my first “externship” in a school district. I got to be a part of the early childhood assessment team and provide therapy to PPCD (preschool program for children with disabilities) classes. It was such a great learning experience! My supervisor was so wise and taught me so much. The other girls on the team were also a complete blast to work with and I loved going to work each day!

November 2013:

Our niece, Amelia, turned 2 and unfortunately we couldn't make it up to Lubbock to celebrate. Sad day :(

Troubadour turned 2. I've said it once and I'll say it again...Troub is the bee's knees.
















Tori got her Aggie ring and we went to College Station for her Ring Dunk



Went to Lubbock for Thanksgiving





December 2013:

Celebrated Christmas in Houston



January 2014:

Went to Pine Cove for our annual girls scrapbooking weekend



Started my medical externship placement and FELL IN LOVE

February 2014:

Celebrated Pappa’s 83^rd birthday



So that is our year in a nutshell.