b r e a k f a s t

i am excited to say that the homemade moisturizer i made yesterday did not do anything weird to my face over night. when i spoke to james on the phone last night and told him what id done he seemed pretty convinced that i would wake up with hives all over my face. but in fact, my skin feels amazing! i can't believe I've never put coconut oil on my skin before. you would think it would be greasy and make your skin feel like it couldn't breathe but it goes on incredibly smooth and absorbs in right away. my makeup went on much smoother than usual and a lot of the redness from my most recent breakout has gone away completely. not to mention it smells amazing! my dogs seem to think it smells good too because they were trying to eat my face all night...

one thing that goes hand in hand with this spring cleanse and my use of essential oils is eating healthier. i always step up my game before bikini season, but the older i get the more i realize that this should probably be a year round thing. after all, I'm not talking about eating rice cakes or waiting until you feel like your going to pass out and then eating one cube of cheese (Devil Wears Prada...). I'm talking about eating real, organic, healthy foods that taste amazing. also, eating smaller portions of those foods and drinking A LOT more water. 

some typical daily meals for me include;
breakfast: coffee, half a grapefruit or an apple
snack: frozen blueberries, peppermint green tea
lunch: toast with an egg and some avocado 
snack: hummus and chips or peppers
dinner: leafy green salad with salmon and glass of wine

i have pretty consistently been eating renditions of these exact meals everyday which can get old, but its much easier to grocery shop, and it saves a lot of money that i would normally spend on going out to eat and drink. hmmm drinking, thats the other important part of this cleanse. i am not drinking during the week with the exception of a glass of wine after dinner occasionally. and surprisingly, it has been incredibly easy to give up. 

now if i could just get myself to chug more water during the day...

c o c o n u t o i l t i m e

another gorgeous day! sunshine, birds chirping, people out and about. sweet baby D and i have already looped the wall twice, run up to whole foods for some groceries, picked up some boxes from the smitten kittens, and made lunch. now its time to relax (or in Dillons case, nap) and sit outside on the porch. 

its crazy how much more motivated i am to do things when its nice outside. although i would love to be sitting on a beach with a HUGE umbrella drink right now...

anyway, the season changes are always especially difficult for my skin. i've tried different over the counter meds, prescription lotions, you name it. thankfully my skin has never been that bad, but getting these random breakouts drives me crazy! so, I've decided to take matters into my own hands and do this the all natural way.

today i made my very first essential oil & coconut oil moisturizer. I've been researching what to do for a few days now and figured i would go ahead and give it a whirl! coconut oil is an amazing little    ingredient. it can be ingested, applied topically, used in cooking, and is good for your hair, skin, nails and all around health. 

the essential oils i chose to include were; frankincense (anti-aging), tea tree oil (breakouts), lavender (inflammation), lemon (dark spots) and sweet orange (dewy glow...and it smells amazing). i prefer my oils to be more diluted than most people so i only added 3 drops of each to my coconut oil, mixed it up, and put it in a four ounce container. since coconut oil is one of the thicker base oils, i plan on using this mainly as a night cream.

can't wait to try it out tonight!