My Adventures with Essential Oils

For months my friend Chelsey at Essentials Everyday posted about oils.  I have known Chelsey for about 7 years now and she has always been a fabulous resource for all things natural, organic and healthy.  She and I live pretty similar lifestyles and I have always trusted her recommendations on products.  But the oils took me a bit longer.  Fast forward to my girls weekend in April when I had a headache and tried peppermint oil for the first time.  A few drops rubbed onto the back of my neck and it was gone.  Instantly.  I was AMAZED!  So here I am.  Using essential oils everyday and I LOVE them!

This is where I started.  The Family Physician Kit.  It is the perfect start for anyone wanting to learn about incorporating essential oils into their families lives.  With this kit I have been able to remedy everyday ailments and clean my home naturally.  I have replaced my laundry detergent, dishwasher detergent, lysol, disinfecting wipes, toilet cleaner, window cleaner, air freshener, ibuprofen, allergy medicine and many more everyday household items!  In the past, if I have a headache I just got over it.  I don't take medicine so I would just tough it out or go to bed.  Upset tummy?  Down for the count again.  These oils have allowed me to naturally treat these things and many more.  

Over the next few weeks, I'm going to highlight my favorites and how I use them.  You can check out my doTERRA site for more info.

Next up:  My 4 Favorites and how to use them  =)

Am I hungry?

Last night, I was a hostess for my friend Ashley's event called Dine and Dash. She is the owner of Homegrown, a local event planning company that has created some of my favorite things to do in Huntsville. Dine and Dash is a once monthly event that runs from April-September in Downtown Huntsville. The tour highlights 4 restaurants with small plates and a cocktail pairing. It's always a blast and I'm so lucky to be a part of it!

In conversing with one of my guest, I mentioned being a real estate agent and his response was "Great! Do you want to list my house for 2%?" I told him no and his response was "Oh. I guess you're not hungry enough yet." Well first off, I don't discuss my paycheck with strangers. I think that's tacky. And secondly, your home is one of the largest investments you ever make. You work hard to save your down payment and then spend a large chunk of your monthly income on your mortgage payment. You work hard to build that equity and when the time comes to sell your home, you want to get as much of that back as possible. I get it! I want you to get as much of it back as possible too! But let me ask you this. If, in our first meeting, I am willing to discount my services then how quickly do you think I would negotiate away your equity? If I do not feel that my services as your agent are worth what I ask for, how quickly would I see the value of your investment in the same manner and expect you to discount it as well? 

It's not a matter or how "hungry" I am. I hope that I am always blessed with as much business as I can handle. I want to be able to give 110% to each client and I don't ever plan to discount my services.  I promise to answer when you call, even when it's late.  I promise to take time away from my life and family to help better yours.  I promise to help you find the perfect home and get the very best deal.  I promise to market your home and protect your investment.  I promise to be an invaluable resource to you throughout our time together.  If you'd prefer less service, I know it's out there and I wish you luck.

Sweet Potato Hash

One thing people always seem to ask me is "What do you eat?"  I am a retired NPC Bikini competitor and since then I have adopted CrossFit and I eat about 80% Paleo.  When I was competing, my meals were super structured and rigid.  I weighed every ounce of food.  I ate plain tilapia and asparagus for several meals a day.  I was miserable!  Since stopping competing, I have found more of a balance in life and I have found that as long as I eat REAL food, I maintain my weight right where I want to be and I don't have to measure a thing!

One thing I didn't abandon was my food prep.  I still prep food every Sunday evening for the week.  I usually cook up a bunch of chicken, a veggie side and a carb.  I also eat red meat but I have found I don't like it as much reheated so I usually cook that and eat it right away.  More weeks than not, my carb of choice is sweet potato hash.  It's super simple and reheats beautifully.  I eat it for any meal and sometimes just as a snack.  Sometimes I'll throw a couple of eggs on top for breakfast.  Sometimes I mix my chicken into it for lunch.  Sometimes I just eat it alone.  You can make this sweet or savory.  It's very versatile and that is one of the major draws for me.

This week, I just went basic.  Once you master this super simple recipe, you can change it up many different ways.  So why are we still talking about it?  Lets see it!

Ingredients:
1/2 lb uncured Bacon, diced
1 medium organic yellow onion, chopped
1 large or 2 small organic sweet potatoes, cut into small cubes
2 T. grass fed butter, I used Kerrygold
Sea Salt and Fresh Cracked Black Pepper to taste

Throw your diced bacon into a dutch oven and crisp it up.

While that is rendering down, dice your onion.  When the bacon is crisp, remove it from the pan and saute your onions in the bacon fat.

Saute the onions until they are soft and golden brown, about 5 minutes.  Add your cubed sweet potatoes and 2 T grass fed butter and stir together with your onions.

Cover and cook for 15-20 mins or until potatoes are fork tender.  I like mine a little soft.  Season with S&P to taste.  Stir in your crispy bacon and it's ready to eat! 

Plate this up and dig in!  Sometimes I skip the bacon and add cinnamon and a diced apple to make it sweeter.  Sometimes I add additional veggies.  Most weeks, it's just this and I love it!  Let me know how you make your hash!  

My first Facebookless week...

Well I have been without Facebook for a few days now and I haven't died.  =)

Yesterday my appointment cancelled so I had an unexpected off day.  I spent the day with my parents and helped them choose paint colors for their living room.  They are remodeling their entire house so there will be lots more paint choosing in the future.

After the Lowes trip I spent the rest of the day laying by the pool.  When I was pulling into my parents driveway I took a good picture of the bradford pear trees that line it.  It gave me an idea.

One of my favorite blogs to read is Mix and Match Family.  Shay is the blogger and she is also Sean Lowes (The Bachelor!)  sister.  I found her blog via Reality Steve when I was watching Sean's season of the show (the first season I ever watched start to finish!) and I have been hooked ever since.  I love her family and her travel stories and her yummy and easy recipes on her Mix and Match Mama food blog!  She does #shayeveryday on Instagram and I want to start that for myself.  Some #dailysunshine if you will!  It will give me the ability to look back and see what I was doing or what was making me happy on that particular day.  I hope you'll follow along @sunshinewilhite on Instagram!

Blogging failure....

I am basically a blogging failure.  I have good intentions.  I want to document things.  But I just can't stay regular.  I want to change that though.  I am deleting my Facebook.  HOLD ME!  One of the things I love about my Facebook is that I can look back and see post I have made or pictures I have uploaded and reflect on what I was doing on that day.  My goal is to blog about my life and keep Instagram updated so I can still have the reflection with less of the time suck and drama associated with Facebook.

So stick around.  I have recently started my real estate career and while I don't wish this to be a real estate blog, I'm sure it will creep in here and there.

Hello Old Friend...

It's been a while.  =)  I have had a ton going on.  I'm currently studying for my real estate licensing exam and we just got back from an amazing vacation.  More on that later!

I have decided to change up the way I meal plan.  I feel like we are always eating the same things over and over again.  I know mini hot dogs in a crescent roll are yummy but really?  I consider myself a pretty advanced home cook.  I'm not scared to try anything so why don't I?

Enter my new way to meal plan.  Theme nights.  Plus a weekly culinary challenge thought up by myself and some lovely girl friends of mine.  To begin, my themes will be Meatless Monday, Taco Tuesday, Slow Cooker Wednesday, Pizza Thursday and Challenge Friday.  I generally have something going on one night during the week so I may end up playing catch up on the weekends and we usually eat out 1 night per week as well.

I started last night so here is a sneak peek of a IG picture from last night.  I took pics and plan to have it up on the blog very soon!

It was delicious!  Tonight, I will be making BBQ chicken tacos.  On deck for the rest of the week I have Slow Cooker Beef Stroganoff on Wednesday and Portobella Mushroom Pizzas on Thursday.  We are in a wedding this weekend so Friday will be the rehearsal and Saturday will be the wedding so I will be skipping the challenge.  I may throw something together Sunday though.  

I hope you enjoy my new series as much as I have enjoyed planning it!  Until next time...

All Natural Coffee Exfoliating Scrub

As a fitness competitor I have been eating clean for a couple of years now.  It wasn't until this year that I really thought about where my food was coming from.  Who is farming it?  Who grew those veggies?  My answer was that I didn't know.  I had no idea actually.  That chicken, packed on a tray and slapped with a colorful label.  The veggies in the bins with 100s of other veggies.  And then there is shampoo, skin care, the list goes on and on.

I have decided to make an effort to use products that are as home made and natural as possible.  One thing I love is a good scrub.  I love to exfoliate my legs before I shave but I have always used something off the shelf with a million ingredients and god knows what kind of chemicals.  This is how my Coffee scrub was born.  It's nothing fancy.  It's just 3 ingredients.  I have them on hand at all times.  The result?  Amazing.  Better than any scrub I have used off the shelf.  And I can feel good about using it.

You'll need a container.  I use a zip lock storage container with a screw on lid.  It sits on the edge of my shower and I have found a snap on lid doesn't seal quite tight enough and it will let in water.  Add equal parts coffee grounds and brown sugar.  White sugar would work as well.  Or sea salt.  I've used all of the above.

Melt enough coconut oil to wet all of the scrub.  I used 2 T sugar and 2 T coffee and a heaping (very heaping) tablespoon of oil in this batch.  Pour it in and stir.

The finished product will be a rich black scrub that will leave your skin super soft and moisturized.  I also slather on some coconut oil post shower for even more softness.  You could really use any oil you want but I find coconut oil works the best for my skin.  This would also be great packaged in a mason jar as a gift.  Enjoy!