What's Up Wednesday

Happy Wednesday friends!

I'm linking up with Shafffer and Shay and sharing What's Up! 

1. What We're Eating This Week:

Monday: Panko Crusted Chicken with Squash and Sweet Potatoes
Tuesday: It's our busy night, we'll eat whatever we can find
The rest of the week? Well, we'll play that by ear, because I haven't planned ahead.
#whoops
#tellmeImnotalone

2. What I'm Reminiscing About

How fast this little girl is growing. 

We were cuddling in my bed last week, and she wanted to hide under the covers from her daddy. She was 100% convinced that he would never find us. Her little giggles were the best, and it just reminds me how fast time flies. 

3. What I'm Loving

First up, the weather. We were able to get outside all weekend and it was gorgeous! 

This diffuser combination when I need to hustle and get some work in! 

This chocolate I recently discovered at Target. 

These diffuser bracelets from The Wildbloomery. 

4. What We've Been Up To

This past weekend we drove to Fredricksburg, Tx, but first, we stopped at the original Salt Lick BBQ to eat, and let the girls play. 

Fredricksburg is an old town in Texas that was settled by German immigrants. I've heard that it's a quaint little town, and great for a day trip, so we took the day to explore. 

We walked through the shops, treated the girls to some candy, and went to the National Museum of the Pacific War. 

The girls enjoyed learning about Pearl Harbor and World War 2. 

5. What I'm Dreading
Um, nothing at the moment. 

6. What I'm Working On

We're kickstarting a cleaning & home organization challenge in March, so I've been busy putting it together! If you're a Young Living member on my team, then you have free access to this group and the giveaways, but if you're not a member, and you want to join, then let me know and we'll order you a bottle of Thieves Household Cleaner, and I'll send you a free lemon essential oil! Then, you'll get plugged in to the group and learn how to use this plant based cleaner, and get some home organization tips too! And yes, you'll be entered to win the giveaways ;) 

7. What I'm Excited About

Spring practice begins next month, and we're looking forward to heading to The Bubble to watch UT practice on Saturdays. 

8. What I'm Watching/Reading

I finished Becoming earlier this month, and wrote a book review here, and I have a new book review coming soon :) 

9. What I'm Listening To
We watched A Star is Born and Bohemian Rhapsody this weekend and I could basically have both of the soundtracks on repeat right now. 

10. What I'm Wearing

I'm obsessed with these jeans, and I've had these slip ons on repeat lately. Mine are out of stock, but here's a similar pair, and this jacket.

Our weather has been all over the place lately. I'm thankful I get to wear yoga pants to work, because I'm often on the floor with kiddos. This tee is thick and comfy, and I paired it with a scarf, and my Hunter boots because of the rain.  My scarf is old, but here's one that's similar.

It's those jeans again, and a soft navy 3/4 sleeve tee from Loft.

I've worn this cowl neck sweater on cold days with my favorite leggings. 

11. What I'm Doing This Weekend
It's suppose to be rainy on Saturday, and we have no pressing plans. Who knows what we'll end up doing.

12. What I'm Looking Forward to Next Month

The girls and I are also taking a road trip to Arkansas for Spring Break. We can't wait to go back to see my parents and family, and the girls will be flower girls in my niece's wedding. 

13. What Else Is New
Not a lot of anything.

Megan starts a new gymnastics company and will be on their show team, and we're super excited for the change...... Gretchen's busy with school, and she's trying to save animals (more on that later).... and Addy's just being Addy, and trying to keep up with her big sisters.

Be sure to follow along for anything else that heads our way over on Instagram. 

Costco Finds

Whoops! I did it again! 

We made a Costco trip last week, and bout #allthethings. 

For real, I walked in to Costco knowing that we needed toilet paper, uncrustables, and a few other goodies, and $300.00 later this is what my trunk looked like. 

Maybe it wouldn't be so bad if Costco had bags? 

I've been sharing my Costco finds with y'all, and even created a new Pinterest board full of my finds and favorites! You can follow along here. 

DJ asked me if he thought we were saving money, and I told him that we were definitely saving time because we've been busy and frankly, I don't feel like we're slowing down anytime soon. We're also saving my sanity :) and yes, I think in the long run, we're saving money. 

I mean, in a house full of 4 girls, we go through toilet paper like crazy, and now I'm not buying it every month, because Costco sells huge packages of it! 

Alright, here are a few other finds: 

I love Costco's hummus and that it comes in little convenient single serve cups. Adalyn and I both love hummus, and I love being able to grab one of these out of the fridge with pita chips and carrots for a quick lunch while I work. 

Gretchen is our potato lover, so I picked these up for a quick side dish. 

I finally bought Costco's Spinach Avacado dip, and grabbed these to go along with the dip. The girls have been eating them as a snack too. I prefer heating them up just a little and then heating up the dip. So yummy!

And, if you're throwing a party, these are an easy appetizer with the dip. 

We're always looking for quick breakfast ideas around here, so I grabbed these frozen waffles. I love Kodiak Cakes brand, and I love these topped with Justin's Peanut Butter. 

I'm obsessed with these chicken burgers. They have 21 g. of protein, and I'll eat these in a wrap, or cut them up and eat alongside some veggies. These are super juicy. 

Gretchen loves tacos, so I picked these up for her to eat for lunch on the weekends, or on busy nights when I don't have time to cook. 

I also picked up these chicken skewers for my lunches. I will typically fix the girls lunch in the evenings, but in the mornings I tend to just grab random things out of the fridge for mine, so I thought these would be an easy grab and go for me. 

We love Stonyfield yogurt! Since, there's 24 in the package, I'll put half of them in the freezer and half in the fridge. These are a perfect after school snack or for lunch boxes.

And everyone was chatting about these chicken street tacos, so I picked up a package so I wouldn't have to cook :) They were yummy!!!! The girls loved making their own tacos, and we even had enough left over for two more lunches.  We did need to add extra cheese, and I added spinach too. I'd definitely grab these again for a quick meal! 

I bought these dog treats for Bailey. Poor girl doesn't get treats often- I just never think to buy them, but she's enjoying these! 

And, that's it! A few more of our Costco finds!

What are your Costco favorites? What should I grab the next time I'm there?

Is Your Moisturizer Safe? Part 1

Well, this topic didn't start out as a blog post idea, but it kind of turned in to one.

A few days ago, I polled my Facebook friends and asked what moisturizer they were using. I really just wanted to search for a few on the Think Dirty App and compare ingredients for my Young Living members. 

You see, each month, in our oily group, we do a Ditch & Switch Challenge, and everyone that participates is entered to win $20.00. We talk about the harsh ingredients in our current products and how Young Living often gives us better options. 

As I was beginning my research, I realized that I had forgotten many of the common brand names for moisturizers and skin care, and I was drawing a blank when I was trying to look them up.  Thus, my Facebook poll was born, and then I thought I'd share all of my research here, because some people were asking...... In the end, I had over 60 comments with lots of different opinions, so I'll be digging in to several (not all of them) and I'll share over the next few weeks. 

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We often trust our skincare products, because they're approved by the FDA and surely cosmetic companies do their research and wouldn't knowingly expose us to toxins and harmful chemicals. Right???

According to a survey of more than 2300 people, the average adult uses 9 personal care products each day, with 126 unique chemical ingredients.

Here are some tough facts to swallow:

1. 12.2 million adults – one of every 13 women – are exposed to ingredients that are known or probable human carcinogens every day through their use of personal care products.

2. One of every 24 women,  are exposed daily to personal care product ingredients that are known or probable reproductive and developmental toxins, linked to impaired fertility or developmental harm for a baby in the womb or a child.

3. One of every five adults are potentially exposed every day to all of the top seven carcinogenic impurities common to personal care product ingredients — hydroquinone, ethylene dioxide, 1,4-dioxane, formaldehyde, nitrosamines, PAHs, and acrylamide.

4. Women use more products than men, and are exposed to more unique ingredients daily.

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I used several websites to check several ingredients in the moisturizers researched. The Think Dirty App is great if you're just getting started with looking in to your skin care products, but it's also not the absolute best. About a year ago, the app was bought out, and several products that use to have a high rating, now have a lower rating. My general rule of thumb is that if "fragrance" is listed as an ingredient, I won't use the product at all. You can ready why here. I also used www.ewg.org, and my search engine.

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Alright, let's get down to dissecting these moisturizers we use.

Olay Regenerating Micro-Sculpting Cream Moisturizer

On the Think Dirty App, it's rated a 7. On the bright side, this moisturizer does not appear to have a fragrance, until you look closer. 

Methylparaben is a fragrance ingredient which contains preservatives that mimic estrogen and can act as a potential endocrine system disruptor. Some studies of breast tumors show a build up of methylparabens in the breast tissue. 

Propyl Paraben is used as a fragrance and preservative, and can cause allergies. And guess what- it's also been found built up in breast tumors, and is a possible endocrine system disruptor.

The 4th ingredient C13 14 Isoparaffin is derived from petroleum. It can cause allergic reactions and is a possible carcinogen. This ingredient also causes possible organ system toxicity.

(Friends, I should add here, that I'm not going to dissect every ingredient, you'd completely loose interest and it would take several days to blog it all.)

Mary Kay Timewise

I had lots of friends share that they used this moisturizer. First, it's rated as an 8 on the Think Dirty App. The closer to 10 a product is, the more toxic it is for us. 

Let's chat about Diazolidinyl Urea, yeah, don't worry, I can't pronounce it either. Urea allows chemicals to penetrate deeper in to the skin and is added to products as a preservative and anti-microbial. Urea can increase your risk for contact dermatitis and has also been shown to release formaldehyde- a carcinogen. This ingredient contains formaldehyde releasing agents, can cause skin irritations, allergies, and may trigger eczema. 

Talc...... many products I researched contained Talc. Talc is used as an abrasive, absorbent, anti-caking skin protecting agent in cosmetics. It's recommended to avoid using the chemical around the mouth and nose. Talc causes respiratory and skin irritations, and possible carcinogens. And friends, one of those carcinogens can cause ovarian cancer. Yes. Cancer in the Ovaries. 

The next two ingredients, Methylparaben and Propylparaben are found in Olay's and were shared above. 

Murad

Retinol is used as a medication for acne, and can also lead to developmental or birth defects. 

The next two ingredients, Talc, Methylparaben, are talked about above, so we'll skip those and go to phenoxyethanol. First of all, phenoxyethanol is a synthetic, antimicrobial preservative used in cosmetics. There are NO reports of this compound being found in natural extracts. Friends, it was formulated in a lab. The FDA stated that phenoxyethanol can depress the central nervous system and may cause vomiting and diarrhea, and cause skin irritation.

Rodan and Fields isn't listed on the Think Dirty app, so I had to do some digging. I had several friends mention that they use this company, however, they didn't mention the specific regime they use, so I just went with the Soothe Moisture Replenish Cream. 

Here's a screen shot of it's ingredients. 

First up, Water.

Next, we have Dimethicone. According to EWG.org, dimethicone is a low overall hazard, and does not cause cancer or allergies. However, it can contribute to organ (non-reproductive) toxicity. (source)

Glycerin is generally safe, and only a small number of people have reactions to it. 

Pentylene Glycol, is a synthetic ingredient and often used as a thickener or softener in cosmetics. If used on damaged or broken skin, it can cause irritation and system toxicity. In addition, it can reduce the skin's moisture level and speed up aging. 

Okay, I had to do some digging, as I went through these ingredients one by one..... there are some good for you ingredients in here.... Echium Plantagineum Seed Oil, Chamomilla Recutita Flower, Grape Seed Oil.......

But, this also has phenoxyethanol (see above), Benzyl Alcohol, which has a moderate hazard on EWG, and can lead to asthma/respiratory concerns. It can also cause dryness, irritation, and breakouts. Potassium Sorbate, which has a mild-moderate toxicity, and can lead to swelling, redness, irritation especially at mucous membrane, and if you inhale this, then coughing and wheezing are common. BHT is generally recognized as safe, but some data has shown that it causes cancer in animals. 

Overall, this may not be the best product to use, but it's definitely not the worst, and from what I can tell, this specific moisturizer doesn't have fragrance listed as an ingredient, but remember that Rodan and Fields has several different regimes, so if you use this product, I'd encourage you to dig in to each ingredient one by one. 

Arbonne RE9 Advanced Day Creme

This was a lot easier to find since it's already been researched on EWG.org . Overall, the toxicity rating is a 4, but  it's ingredients can lead to cancer, and developmental/reproductive toxicity. And, Retinyl Palmitate is rated a 9. I dug a little deeper, and found that in one study, it enhanced photocarcinogenic activity in mice, and according to the EWG, it can cause developmental/reproductive toxicity, cancer, organ system toxicity, and cause biochemical or cellular level changes. I'm assuming if Arbonne would remove this ingredient, their product would be rated a lot better. 

We'll chat more about Retinyl Palmitate soon, because I've done some more reading on that study with mice. 

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Okay, that's 5 ingredient reviews for you!! If you'd like for me to research your specific moisturizer, leave me a comment and I'll do my best to include it in the next post.  

Friday Favorites

Hey friends! Happy Friday :)

I'm linking up today and sharing my favorites from the week with Andrea, Narci, and Erika. 

First up, a clean nightstand. I did some deep cleaning in our bedroom and bathroom on Sunday, and I love when everything is clean and the clutter is removed. 

Also, these oils are my favorite, especially for night, which is why they're always on my nightstand. Tranquil and Rutavala are my go-to essential oil roller bottles to help me sleep. 

I also keep a stash of a few others, and these typically rotate around, but Roman Chamomile on my face or in the diffuser...... Grounding, which I'll diffuse during the day when I need to relax... and Panaway for those times that I'm able to squeeze a workout in.... which hasn't been too often lately ;) 

Can we also chat about this Selenite column. 

There was a town nearby when I was growing up, that had "rock shops" and I always thought they were so strange. Who would buy rocks when you can go outside and find them? 

Then, I remember watching Spencer Pratt on The Hills and his obsession for crystals beginning, and I thought he was completely quack. 

About a year ago, I had a friend start sharing about crystals and how they've helped her emotionally, and I slowly started listening and researching. Eventually, I started buying crystals, and I'm hooked. 

Selenite is by far my favorite, because as soon as I hold it, I immediately feel an intense release of emotions. I can literally feel them escaping my body. It's the most freeing sensation. 

And look, I get that crystals sounds a bit like #witchcraft, but hear me out.

If we as Christians, believe that God formed the Earth and everything in it, and that every thing has a frequency, and that God gave us everything we would ever need. Then it doesn't seem so far fetched that God would give us crystals to help our bodies re-align and center to how He designed us to be. 

I wear them on jewelry, I stuff them in my bra- yup, sure do! and I hold them close when I need to let go and re-center. 

Just call me a hippy :) 

(You can find my Crystal Pinterest board here)

Like I said, I deep cleaned our bedroom/bathroom this weekend, and friends, our shower was nasty. Cleaning tubs is one of my least favorite chores and it doesn't happen often. Thankfully, I was able to scrub all of the grossness out of it with this combo. I sprayed Theives cleaner all over, sprinkled baking soda, and added a few drops of Lemon essential oil to the floor, and our shower looks brand new again. 

Scrubbing Bubbles, you better watch out. 

Our favorite drink?

Ningxia Red.

Adalyn walked in to my bathroom, and had helped herself to a pouch.

Some days, parenting is hard, and other days, I feel like I can win at this game :) 

These diffuser bracelets from The Wildbloomery are my new favorites. Like, I'm seriously crushing hard over these. The quality is amazing, and I love the natural elements. I purchased the Rose Quartz and the Geometric Brass. I've worn them every day this week, and friends, they hold oil unlike any diffuser bracelet I've had. In fact, one of my speech kiddos grabbed my hand when it was near his face and smelled it! Ha!

It's been rainy here in Austin this week, and my Hunter rainboots have been a favorite. I recently bought these in a short pink pair, and I love them so much better than the tall version. 

Tuesday night was busy, busy for us! We decided to just eat whatever was in the fridge... Adalyn wanted toast and fruit. Some nights, it's okay to just throw in the towel, and let your kiddos eat whatever makes them happy :) 

I was eating pita chips and hummus for lunch, and I pulled one out of the bag that looks just like Oklahoma! 

I sure do miss Tulsa sometimes! 

Her giggles this week were my favorite. I was lying in bed finishing up a Netflix show, and she crawled in and insisted that we hide from daddy! She just giggled and giggled and thought she was the most clever thing ever. I hope I never forget these sweet moments. 

And finally, I found this candy at Target last week, and oh my, it's so yummy!!! The Caramel version is definitely my favorite, but the peanut butter  is a close favorite! 

That's it for today friends!! I have no idea what our weekend plans will be, but I'm ready for it! 

Weekend Wrap Up: Sunny Days

Friday afternoon, was unbelievably warm here in Austin. 

The girls came home from school and the weather was in the 80s. We decided to walk home from the bus stop, and I sent the girls straight back outside with a popsicle. 

Within a few minutes, they decided it was warm enough for swim suits and changed. They also begged me for the water sprinkler, but it was a hard no, since it is February. 

They jumped and played for a while before it got dark and we called it a night. 

Saturday morning, I had the cutest breakfast helper. 

I haven't cooked breakfast for the girls in a long time, but we were all home with no rushed plans, so Adalyn and I made French Toast for everyone. 

We had strawberries and powder sugar too :) 

After lunch, we went to Ikea to pick up a few things. Needless to say, the girls were getting a little delirious. And, if you've never been in an Ikea, it's a maze of home furnishings, linens, decor, and more. Once you're in, you pretty much have to walk through the entire store (except for a few short cuts) before you can get out. 

Saturday was cold, so I changed and drove downtown to meet a friend for dinner. 

Lauren was in town for work and Austin marathon, and I was so excited that she was here. We ate dinner at Magnolia Cafe on South Congress, and enjoyed catching up. 

I made it home, and changed in to jammies and watched some Netflix with these girls. 

Meanwhile, DJ and Gretchen were downtown watching the Three Musketeers. 

They got home after 11, and she loved the play and spending the night out with her dad. 

DJ had to run to work on Sunday, and we spent the day cleaning house, and putting together our Ikea finds. 

It was a low key weekend, and we enjoyed every minute of it.