Advocare 24 Day Challenge

What is my love language you ask? Why, food of course! If you give me anything scrumptious, particularly fried or sweet, I will instantly be your BFF. Needless to say Keith and I quickly became BFFs with Princess Cruises around a month ago thanks to the never ending delicious pizza bar, desserts, and coffee. (oh and the awesome trip to Alaska) On our way back to Texas, we stopped in Seattle and what else were we to do but eat at all of the recommended restaurants we could fit in a 72 hour period....oops. 

So this is how the Advocare 24 day challenge came to be.

As Cross Canadian Ragweed once sang, we were "sick and tired of being sick and tired." We talked about "getting healthy" when we returned from our trip and it was at that time that our sweet friend Shayna posted her 24 day challenge success photos. What intrigued us most was that this mother of two young kids was able to cut out coffee (multiple cups a day) and had even more energy now than she did with the coffee! Keith teaches 2nd grade and I just finished grad school. We LIVED survived off of coffee during the school year and yet we still had no energy. We had a strong desire to get healthy and take care of our bodies and so we started the 24 day challenge.

I will post soon about our meal plan and how we ate healthy(ish) on our week long vacation. The nerd in me really helped out because I researched and planned so many meals before we received our box of Advocare goodies. Shayna recommended that I became familiar with the challenge guidelines before it came so I wouldn't be so overwhelmed. That was such a great tip and I would recommend that to anyone planning to do the challenge. It was good to know what foods were encouraged vs which were allowed in moderation BEFORE we started so that I could stock up on the good foods. 

 

Throughout the challenge I found myself craving less and less of the bad fats and sweets. Natural peanut butter with a few sneaky chocolate chips became my guilty pleasure. I no longer drink coffee and don't get any headaches from not drinking it. In the last 24 days I have not fallen asleep in a movie and that is a huge victory! All in all I feel like a healthier person with loads of energy!!!

It's amazing what you can do with the right nutrition, healthy eating, and working out 3x/week.

I am thankful for this challenge because it taught me tons about discipline and God's call for us to take care of our bodies. I realize that when I take care of my body I have more energy to spend serving Him. Thank you Shayna for your encouragement throughout this challenge! Keith and I truly appreciate you!!!

Essential Oils for Bee Stings

"I'm bringin' home my baby bumble bee. Won't my momma be so proud of me? I'm bringin' home my baby bumble bee...OUCH! It stung me!"

It's summer time and the bees are buzzin'. Don't get caught without a natural remedy for you or your little ones. Here is a really easy and natural regimen for bee stings with essential oils. 

If you don’t have these oils you in your cabinet here is a list of other recommended Young Living essential oils for bee stings:

• Lavender (Included in Premium Starter Kit)
• Idaho Tansy
• Peppermint (Included in Premium Starter Kit)
• Palo Santo
• Spikenard
• Idaho Balsam Fir
• Purification (Included in Premium Starter Kit)
• PanAway (Included in Premium Starter Kit)
• Melrose
• Deep Relief Roll-On

Graduation

Woohoooooo! I finally made it. (Well in May, as I am a tad bit late in writing this post...meh) I began my journey of obtaining my master's in speech and language pathology three years ago and can't believe I have finally graduated! What started as a "full-time" two-year adventure turned into a "part-time" three-year adventure. I use the quotation marks because those of you that know the program at the University of Houston know that "part-time" still exceeds the requirements to be considered full-time and "full-time" really means every minute of your life. Half-way through my first semester I decided to go part-time in order to spend more time at home with Keith since we had JUST gotten married. It was a very difficult decision to make, but looking back I see how God used His plans for my good.

"We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God; those who are called according to His purpose." - Romans 8:28

God's plan allowed me to make friends from two different graduating classes, gave me great externship placements, and blessed me with a fellowship and a supervisor that made such an impact on me. His plan allowed me and Keith to become directors of our Sunday school class, spend time with friends and family.

These three years included many projects, tears, research papers galore, buckets of tears, great clients, happy tears, and a particular client that punched me in the nose, which of course ensued more tears. I learned about diseases, disorders, and differences, but learned even more about caring for people. In August I will begin my adventure working with children with speech and language disorders! Dream come true :)

I am thankful for Keith's family who understood when I needed to lock myself in the back room at Bill and Mema's to work on projects. You never once complained about my anti-socialness when I had to study for my board exam instead of hanging out. I'm thankful for my family who understood when I had to turn them down in order to study. Instead I had family who encouraged me through all of the difficult times and continually prayed for me. Without your love and understanding I would not have made it through graduate school!

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!!!