I’ve always been a fan of a great at-home bar. I strongly believe it’s a must-learn life skill to mix up classic cocktails, and as an avid host, it’s important to provide an array...
Looking back on Easter as a child, I remember how excited I was to dig through my Easter basket. Full of chocolate bunnies, malt ball Easter eggs, Peeps, golden coins, and my favorite Cadbury...
Lets be honest, salads can be boring. So I’m always trying to think outside of the box to come up with salad recipes that I’ll thoroughly enjoy, but are beyond easy to make. Enter...
Lets be honest, salads can be boring. So I’m always trying to think outside of the box to come up with salad recipes that I’ll thoroughly enjoy, but are beyond easy to make. Enter...
After talking with our friend Anna recently about thoughtful holiday traditions for the family, we got to thinking about a few new memories we can make this year to commemorate the holiday season. Anna introduced us to St. Nicholas Day (Dec. 6) where her kids leave out their shoes for St. Nick to fill them up with candies and goodies, and both MKR and I just loved that. The tradition immediately made me think of Three Kings Day (Jan. 6 aka Epiphany), a holiday we celebrated in southern Spain when I lived there for a few years as a little girl. It was always a delight waking up to find chocolate coins and taffy in our shoes!
Does your family partake in any cherished holiday traditions this time of year? Do you set up an Advent Calendar or watch the same marathon of Christmas movies with holiday hot chocolate? As the team sets out to start their own holiday traditions this year, we’d love to hear about any you do to add to our list! And these aren’t just for the little ones..we included our new favorite southern cream liqueur in the mix…proof that kids of all ages can have a little fun with these new holiday traditions! Cheers, Kat
There are old Christian traditions surrounding St. Nicholas’ feast day on December 6; kids leave their shoes out overnight in front of the fireplace, on the windowsill, or outside their bedroom door so that St. Nicholas can fill them with special fruits like tangerines, candies like chocolate coins and taffy, as well as other small gifts and treats.
We especially love this tradition for kids of all ages (hence the Jackson Morgan southern cream liqueur!). And if you have little ones at home, encourage them to leave carrots or hay in their shoes St. Nicholas’ donkey to eat too. St. Nicholas will replace it with treats to enjoy in the morning!
An advent calendar is a fun and easy way to signify the countdown to Christmas Day. While advent calendars come in all shapes and sizes these days, the original advent calendar can be traced back to the 19th century, when religious families made a chalk line for every day in December until Christmas Eve.
Fill your advent calendar with small chocolates and treats to keep the excitement of the season alive for all.
We love the idea of adding one special ornament to the tree each year to commemorate times spent with family and friends. Plan a trip to pick out your ornaments together, or have them ordered by the time you decorate the tree. It will be such a treat to pull them out each year and remember the memories tied to them!
Opening just one gift on Christmas Eve is a fun tradition to do in eager anticipation for Santa Claus to arrive the following day. Invite your family to share this memory as you settle in after the presents are opened, reading holiday stories and cozying up with holiday hot chocolate.
Three Kings Day, aka“Feast of the Epiphany,” on Jan. 6 marks the day on the Christian calendar when the three kings brought gifts to baby Jesus (and also the last day of the 12 days of Christmas). The traditions originated in Spain and Latin American countries, though many in the US celebrate it now too. The tradition goes: children line their shoes outside the front door, in which the three kings leave candies and small gifts. Many people leave a box of hay or grass too, for the camels of course!
This DIY all natural lip scrub and body scrub have my name written all over them. Well, Kat’s too because she’s obsessed with any and all kinds of scrubs these days. But seriously, this may be our favorite DIY since our flavored salts way back in the day.
These scrubs prove to be excellent exfoliators and moisturizers (thanks to the Coconut Oil), with ingredients you can feel good about. They’re great for yourself of course (at-home spa night, anyone?!), but they also make a thoughtful and affordable gift idea this holiday season.
What you’ll need: organic evaporated sugar crystals (don’t worry, you can find them in your grocery store and on Amazon), Christmas Spirit (my favorite essential oil by far…it smells like all the Christmastime feels with its sweet, spicy blend of orange, cinnamon, and spruce essential oils), peppermint essential oil, orange zest and coconut oil. Easy as that! If you’re pulling together your ingredients and find yourself sans Christmas Spirit or peppermint essential oil, first be sure to enter our GIVEAWAY this week, but then go ahead and snag your Premium Starter Kit to get covered on that front. And if you’re totally new to essential oils, make sure to read why we’ve become obsessed with oils HERE.
Anyway, back to the DIY at hand. The actual process of making the DIY all natural lip scrub and body scrub is simple. For the lip scrub, I simply combine all of the ingredients together in a bowl with my hand (it’s easiest to get your desired consistency that way). I store it in an small airtight jar like this one. And if I’m gifting it, I just tie with a bow and voila…the perfect little “happy”!
As for the DIY body scrub, I mix coconut oil and sugar in a stand mixer until I have a paste. After transferring it to a bowl, I mix in the orange zest and essential oils. Lastly, I add a few drops of cranberry juice for the coloring…though I do it super slowly to get the palest of pinks (it can get red fast!). Like with the DIY all natural lip scrub, I store the body scrub in an airtight glass container or apothecary jar in my fridge. It’s a super easy (under 10 minutes), thoughtful, homemade treat this time of year that I’ll definitely be gifting! Truly, MKR
P.S. Enter our essential oils giveaway HERE. And check out my picks below for great apothecary and cosmetic jars. xo
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2 tablespoons of organic evaporated cane juice crystals
1 tablespoon organic coconut oil
2 drops peppermint oil
1 drop Young Living Christmas Spirit*
Zest of 1/2 orange
For the Body Scrub
14 oz organic coconut oil
3/4 cup standard sugar (I used fine crystals because I don't like my body scrub to be super rough, but it's your preference)
zest of 2 oranges
10 drops peppermint oil
About 15 drops of Young Living Christmas Spirit*
A couple drops cranberry juice (amount based on what shade of pink you want)**
For the Lip Scrub
Blend all ingredients to your desired consistency (I use my fingers to really get a feel for the consistency!).
Store in an airtight container or jar in the fridge.
Tie up with a bow, and gift away!
For the Body Scrub
In a stand mixer, mix coconut oil and sugar until you have a paste.
Transfer to a bowl and mix in the zest and the oil.
Mix it all together, and then add a few drops of coloring (slowly...you don't want it to be red!).
Store airtight in a glass container or apothecary jar in your fridge.
Tie up with a bow and it's ready for gifting!
Notes
*If you don't have Young Living Christmas Spirit, or can't get it (it's super popular!), sub this ingredient out for orange essential oil and a warming spice oil like cinnamon, clove or nutmeg.
**You can also use beet juice or pomegranate juice for a natural pink coloring to your body scrub.
By Mandy Kellogg Rye @ Waiting on Martha
Welcome by Waiting on Martha https://waitingonmartha.com/
There’s seriously nothing worse than a night spent tossing and turning in bed. Good news is that it’s actually easier than ever to have a better night’s sleep with a few simple sleep hacks. These sleep hacks prove that you CAN take your sleep quality into your own hands, whether that’s by using insightful apps that track your sleep quality and patterns, trying out basic breathing exercises, diffusing relaxing essential oils or simply listening to ambient sounds that have the power to lull even the busiest mind to sleep. So instead of groaning about it all day at work the next day, try doing something about it BEFORE you hit the hay with a silk face mask and these eight better sleep hacks. Cheers, Kat
P.S. If you’re up for taking it even deeper, check out this list of sleep biohacks by Ben Greenfield (my boyfriend introduced me to the Pzizz app Ben mentions…and it works).
P.S.S. Get started with the basic, most-used essential oils HERE.
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Nix the Nightcap
That nightcap drink may not help you find that shut-eye after all. Alcohol decreases the amount of REM sleep that we get, and its effects can seep into the next day, decreasing your ability to concentrate. For the best sleep, avoid drinking alcohol 2-3 hours before you turn in for the night.
We've all heard the recent advice to eliminate glowing screens on laptops, tablets and phones an hour before bed. But according to the king of life hacking, Dave Asprey, you want to start shutting them down two hours before bedtime.
Reading before bed will not only help you sleep better, you'll lower your stress levels, be able to concentrate better, be more emphatic and become more creative (sign me up). If you're still not convinced why you should pick up that book, read on here.
Finding a good sound machine or sleep app is key to easing your mind to relax, while also drowning out distracting noises so you can sleep in peace. Here's a list of the top apps for 2016.
Lavender essential oil has an incredibly soothing, relaxing effect, and it can help put even the busiest mind to rest. Consider ways to enjoy this natural, affordable sleep-aid by using an oil diffuser or by sprinkling drops of the oil onto the pillow before bed.
Have you heard of this "4-7-8 breathing trick"? You breathe in through your nose for four seconds, hold your breath for seven seconds, and exhale through your mouth for eight seconds. Somehow, the combination of numbers has the perfect effect on our brains to slow down the heart rate and put you right to sleep.
