Five on Friday | Kicking the Cold Bug

Fall is officially on the horizon – our house was hit by our first cold. Poor Blake was the first to get it and my husband was the next. I’m usually so much better about prepping our immune systems but I got lazy – and here we are! You better bet I’m pulling out all the stops for Aubrey and I so we can avoid it and get the other two healthy ASAP!

In light of the coming seasons, my Five on Friday is dedicated to ways we are staying on top of our wellness using essential oils. I’ve mentioned here and there that our family uses oils in our home, but this is a little more in depth! If you’ve been curious about oils or have your starter kit and want to expand to more this will be great! You can also read a little more about oils by going to the “Essential Oils” tab in my top menu! There is a general overview and information about joining me also! You can also follow along with my oily Instagram for more tips and tricks!

one | I spent an afternoon this week refilling all of our roller ball bottles with immunity boosting blends that we put on the bottoms of our feet each morning (& night now that we need some extra help). Our most used oil this time of year is Thieves and I can’t tell you enough about its benefits!

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two | Ningxia Red is boost of antioxidant power! Just what out bodies need right now! If I was a quick boost I drink it straight, but lately I’ve been adding a bit of sparkling water and either a drop of Lime Vitality or Grapefruit Vitality! Such a yummy afternoon pick me up! Aubrey’s been having it this week too…I just water hers down a bit so it isn’t as full flavor for her and she loves it and calls it her “vitamin juice”, haha.

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three | Sleep! Sleep is what we all desire around here and when we are kicking a bug or trying to stay healthy I try to get myself and give the girls as much as possible! We start our bedtime routine a bit earlier and I diffuse at their naps too (sometime I don’t always do). Out of the bath, we use the Seedlings Baby Lotion and it has the most amazing calming scent for the girls! (We also put the Immunity roller on the bottoms of their feet or along Aubrey’s spine for an extra boost) Peace & Calming blended with orange helps us wind down while we read books and I’ll talk about their bedtime, diffuser blend next!

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four | At bedtime while dad reads books with the girls, I fill their humidifiers (if they do have the sniffles) and their diffusers. At the moment we are loving oils from the KidScents line! Snifflease is perfect help support their little noses! I’ll add a couple of drops of that with a drop of lavender for a great sleepy time blend! Or for Aubrey who is staying healthy, I’m using Sleepyize with a drop of Cedarwood. LOVE!

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five | Clean clean clean! Even at 2.5 and 13 months, my girls put EVERYTHING in their mouths still! Blake is still exploring and Aubrey uses her mouth as a tool if she needs an extra hand. I use my Thieves Cleaner on just about everything! If they’ve been playing with a few specific things for the majority of the day I try to clean those that night, and I do an all over toy wipe down every few days when they’re sick or every few weeks normally! Also laundry. I feel like Blake’s sheets get all sorts of snot on them, so I’ve been washing them every other day and adding a couple of drops of Thieves oil into the load!

Hope you guys have a happy and healthy friYAY and a wonderful weekend!

BONUS: If you’ve been interested in essential oils or this just intrigued you and you’re ready to jump in, email me and mention this blog post. I’ll get you all joined up on our team with exclusive access to our wonderful support system and a FREE bottle of Thieves  Household Cleaner!

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xoxo

Whitney

Be sure to catch April, Christina, and Natasha!

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Make + Take

One of the fun parts of using essential oils is being able to create your own products to use in your daily life.  When you turn any project in to a party, its so much more fun in my eyes! I love hosting events, and getting to share the benefits of Young Living essential oils is an added bonus! I shared some details on Instagram a while back (@whitneymichaels_essentials) but wanted to share more details with you here!

Have no idea what essential oils are? Start HERE 🙂

Of course we displayed the Premium Starter Kit and had a few resources we love for our guests to look at. The Pocket Reference, Gentle Babies, Hello Glow, Lucy Libido, and some information cards from Young Living. We made it a little more personal by having bags for the gals to take home their goodies and a survey for the end. We learned their information for follow ups plus they entered for a little prize by filling it out!

When choosing what to make we wanted simple (to show that ANYONE can utilize oils), but we also wanted a recipe that was a little more involved since we had the perfect small group. Here’s what we made:

Bath Salts are something that make you feel like you’re at a spa, but are so simple! We used lemon and lavender oils, but adding about 10 drops of any oils to the base recipe is perfect! Another favorite of mine is 5-6 Stress Away and 3-4 Lime.

1 cup of Epsom Salt

1/4 cup of baking soda (if I’m just mixing it quick before my bath I don’t add this. Only when its going to be stored in a bag or jar.)

8-10 drops of essential oils

Rollers are probably the quickest, most portable, and least messy way to utilize oils in my opinion! For beginners a roller is a no brainer. Just tell them how and where to apply and they can use it right away! We offered two options: Immunity support or Energy support.

Immunity: 20 Thieves, 10 lemon, top with FCO

Energy: 9 Lemon, 6 Peppermint, 2 Frankincense, top with FCO

Our lip scrub recipe we found in the book, Hello Glow and I love the citrus scent!

1 TBS sugar

1 TBS coconut oil

1 drop of lime essential oils

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Last was the Grapefruit + Mint body scrub, recipe courtesy of Jessica Garvin @grapefruitandgold.  (We did one big recipe and then just divided it into 6 containers.)

1/2 cup coconut oil

1/2 cup sugar

zest of 1 grapefruit

10 drops of peppermint

30 drops of grapefruit

This scrub is a favorite of mine and all of our guests LOVED the fresh citrus scent!

We had a few snacks – chips and guac (with lime eo), taquitos (easy bake ahead), and fancied up some pre-made margaritas with a drop of orange eo in each glass…super yummy! They would have been even better if I remembered to make the Lime Salt I made for Cince de Mayo. Everyone was so intrigued by the fact that they were eating and drinking the oils as well! It’s a great way to teach about the different uses!

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We sent everyone home with their goodies they made in the personalized bag, plus a sheet spray as a thank you made by our host, Brooke @lovegraceandgoldenroots.

One guest signed up as a member that evening after I sent her the information email and another who had just signed up the week before wanted to pursue the business side! yay! So happy to spread the love of oils…

I hope you have so much fun planning your next oily event!

XOXO,

Whitney

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(I’ll have a link to all of my favorite oily supplies on the Essential Oils page at the top of the blog soon!)

Essential Oils {in our home}

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I have been using essential oils in our day to day lives for almost a year now. I started by just learning about oils from a dear friend, using them occasionally and now I use oils all throughout my day! I’d love to share just how I use them for our home in this post!

Being a SAHM with two babies, it shouldn’t be a surprise when I say there is always…I repeat ALWAYS…a mess happening in our house! I’m always cleaning up something sticky – whether I am wiping children, toys, high chairs, or counter tops. For this, Thieves comes to my rescue! With Thieves Household Cleaner I’ve made multiple spray bottles. One for everyday cleaning {high chairs, quick floor spills, general counter top cleaning, etc.} and one for de-greasing {stuck on counter top messes, the inside of my microwave, stove top, etc.}. I reach for these bottles at least 10 times a day and love that I don’t have to worry about leaving behind harsh chemical residue on the girls’ highchairs or their toys! I added lemon essential oil to the heavy duty bottle and cannot get enough of the fresh scent of my clean kitchen!

Another item I couldn’t live without now is a diffuser in the kitchen! The kitchen really is the heart of our home and I feel like I spend at least 60% of my day in there! The first thing I do when I come out in the morning, after coffee of course, is start diffusing essential oils. If anyone in our family seems to be feeling a little run down or on the verge of catching a bug, Thieves + Orange is my go to! If I am up early and expecting some quiet time before the zoo wakes up, Stress Away is the way to go! For the week of Valentine’s Day, Jessica over at grapefruitandgold shared a recipe for “Candy Hearts” and I couldn’t get enough! After dinner while the dishes get done, I am obsessed with diffusing Purification + Lemon. I love that it cleans the kitchen air, not just perfuming over it! If I do this in the day time, particularly if I’ve made a hot lunch with a lingering scent I like adding Grapefruit to the mix too!

Needless to say, I’m a bit oil crazed over here when it comes to keeping up with our messy home! Follow along with my Essentials Instagram to learn more about incorporating oils in your house. If you are interested in being apart of my amazing team, follow the link on the Essential Oils page at the top of the blog, or email me at whitneymichaelsessentials@gmail.com .