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8 ways to calm an anxious mind

November 27, 2018 2

An anxious mind can be hard to deal with. Your mind spins a mile a minute and you can feel paralyzed by possibilities and options and worries. I’ve been working on identifying moments where my mind feels like a runaway train and working to learn how to pump the brakes of my brain. I’ve been working on taking back control and I’ve found 8 ways to calm an anxious mind that have been helping me a lot, so I thought I’d share.

These ideas aren’t about crippling, debilitating anxiety disorders. If what you’re experiencing is beyond the realm of having some anxious thoughts, and is recurring and scary, please see your doctor. I live with obsessive-compulsive disorder and as a result have understood the true weight of a brain out of control, and I don’t ever want you to think that these suggestions replace a professional diagnosis and treatment.

Here are 8 ways to calm an anxious mind.

1. Cut the caffeine
The moment I start to identify that I’m starting to lose it (for me, an inability to sit still or think of something else and feeling like I can’t figure out what to do next), I will immediately cut off any and all caffeine. Coffee is my most favorite drink in the world, but coffee + anxiety is a terrible combination, so it’s good to stop right away. Drink some water (you can always heat it up and add lemon).

2. Make a (realistic) list of things you need/want to do
I find that when anxiety hits me, I cannot begin to figure out what I need/want to do so I will just sit staring blankly for hours if left to my own devices. Instead, I make a list of what I’d like to accomplish to feel like I’ve done something. Sometimes I’ll write “get dressed,” because little victories are still victories. You can also reverse this and make a list of what you’ve ALREADY done, so that you’ll be able to see quickly that you were able to (get out of bed, wipe down a counter, put something away, read, etc).

3. Diffuse some essential oils
I first tried essential oils to help with my emotional wellness, and in the past few months dōTerra has released an essential oil that has given me a lot of support with my anxiety. The Magnolia touch roller is my current go to – I apply it on my neck, wrists and behind my ears when I’m feeling anxious. Some other good ones are lavender, basil, bergamot and frankincense. Smells send molecules to the limbic system, which is emotional control center. Smells are powerful. I choose mine plant based.

4. Listen to familiar comforting noises
John Mayer, Ernie Halter + a playlist I made called “Peace” are all incredibly comforting sounds to me. This + the aforementioned things all combined is a powerful PAUSE to my system. I breathe deeper, feel a little more grounded and I honestly think that music can change the atmosphere. It’s one of the easiest, quickest ways to calm an anxious mind. You can find the Spotify playlist here or play it from this page 🙂 You are very welcome.

5. Journal

An open journal with comforting sounds and smells with a warm decaf tea can help you flush out what you’re feeling. Journals don’t tell you to get over it, give you advice, or glance at text messages. Much like we throw away expired and smelly foods, sometimes just the act of getting something out can be enough. While writing what’s bothering us, what we want to happen, and why we’re stuck, we can sometimes even identify more of our own personal ways to calm an anxious mind.

6. Pray
This one is here for me more than anyone else. The past year has been hard for me, spiritually. Justen’s asked me point blank if my current state of insecurity, unease, anxiety, etc. has anything to do with the same reasons I’ve not been going to church. and since then, I’ve not been able to shake the reality that they’re connected. So now I’m trying to retrain my faith muscle and pray and remember the ways God has spoken to me about the #1 of all ways to calm an anxious mind (spoiler: really digging in and trusting Him).

7. Go for a walk
Fresh air + sights and sounds + exercise can all help, even if the walk is down the street and back. Sometimes you just need to get out of the space that’s closing in on you for a minute. Exercise gives you endorphins, which trigger a positive response in your body that last for a few hours. Find some encouraging, uplifting podcasts and walk around while you listen. When looking for ways to calm an anxious mind, this is a lot of bang for your buck. 🙂

8. Take a nap
Put that stuff to bed, literally! Set an alarm, but allow yourself to sleep some things off. Often the things that make it hard to fall asleep because I worry about them look so much different in the morning. Sleep can be miraculous, even for 45 minutes.

Every day I’m trying to be a little bit better than I was the day before. Learning how to identify and figure out ways to calm an anxious mind (mine!) is great preventative maintenance before a massive breakdown occurs. Also, share your successes! Drop some things that work for you in the comments. Tell your best friend, parent, spouse or pet when you’ve quieted your mind. It’s a big deal. <3

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essential oils wellness

November dōTerra LRP order

November 14, 2018November 11, 2018 0

Two years ago if you had asked me “do you think you’ll ever spend money every month on essential oils?” I probably would have laughed at you and said heck no.

and yet here we are.

I thought it would be interesting if I started showing what I’ve been ordering and what I’ve been using up. People often post pictures of their massive essential oil display, but let’s be real… sometimes you have to wonder what they even do with a bazillion bottles of plant juice, haha!

This is what our November dōTerra LRP order looked like. Let me tell you this: I ALWAYS place my monthly order on November 1st, and that’s when they launched their holiday products and I literally spent 6 hours trying to place my order. It was… fun. So I definitely watched the tracking information and darn near cried when it finally arrived!

This is what the insides looked like. I’d also like to note this: right before I tore open these boxes, I put a piece of bread in our toaster oven to have toast. While I was taking these photos, I started noticing a weird burnt toast smell. There were people working on our roof so I attributed it to that. A few moments later it hit me like a ton of bricks: I was probably smelling actual burnt toast. And I was. So I ate the crispiest, toastiest, burnediest piece of toast while doing this.

This month, in addition to my normal monthly order, I also took advantage of some of the holiday items in our November dōTerra LRP order – and I’m glad I got them when I did, because most of them have sold out already! Dang.

First and foremost, I got these two dōTerra throat drops. We’ve had them for awhile but in the past month I’ve really started to appreciate them. The breathe ones are great for sniffles and coughs (which Justen and I have been passing back and forth for the past week or so) and I LOVE popping in an OnGuard drop before I go to the Goodwill outlet to source items for my Poshmark closet. It may just be in my head, but it helps me feel safer from any germs and nasties that are lurking around the big tables full of discarded stuff. I was so excited to get more, because we ran out towards the end of October.

These, along with the drops, are things we use on the daily so it’s more of our normal monthly stock-up. The hdclear is a face wash Justen uses every day in the shower. Honestly, I’m sometimes amazed by the way Justen has really embraced essential oils and EO products. One day a few weeks ago, Justen wasn’t feeling good and when I got up he began telling me all the ways he’d been using oils to help fight off whatever was wrong. I was laying in bed, half awake, really proud.

The fractionated coconut oil is a carrier oil to help when we’re topically applying oils. We also use it when we make our own rollerballs.

And then you can see our really boring, but super important little stash of oils. Peppermint roller because it’s so great to help soothe headaches and a bottle of peppermint because hello holidays. TWO lemons because we go through lemon like crazy. It’s the one oil that really made everything click for me. I use it to get sticky stuff off of anything I get at the thrift store, we use it daily on our face with witch hazel, and we sometimes put a drop in our tea or water.

We’re out of purify because Justen uses it every day in his shoes (though we’ve now found something else we like better). But it’s great for cleaning the air of stinky smells .

Did we need a new diffuser? No. But did I really really want the Harvest Spice blend? Yes. Did dōTerra then release the Harvest Spice blend on its own? Yes. HOWEVER. We put this new diffuser in our kitchen, and it’s been great. It’s a very Justen diffuser, and he loves the Harvest Spice blend. I’m glad we got it, because the diffuser + blend combo sold out. We love the Harvest Spice blend so much that we’ve already ordered it on its own in case it sells out before next month.

FINALLY! EVERY TIME I have gone to order these dōTerra misters, they’ve been sold out and they were finally in stock! Praise hands emojis flying all over the place. I’ve already made a linen mist for night time (Serenity + Vetiver + Cedarwood and it is DIVINE) and a bathroom spray (Lemongrass, Bergamot, Grapefruit I believe). If our apartment was any bigger, I’d seriously make a spray for every corner of this place.

Ugandan Aroma Bracelet + Beautiful Roller. This was a holiday item that’s also sold out. I love this bracelet and I love the Beautiful blend. It’s a limited edition oil that everyone loves, but I’m honestly more excited about this adorable bracelet and the opportunity to support women around the world.

aaaand another holiday item! Earlier this year, I bought a cute little dōTerra clutch for carrying around my rollers and I LOVE it. I thought this clutch was really classy and good for grabbing just a few of them. It came with the limited edition Radiant and Dream rollers, and I’m in love with the Radiant blend.

and my last items. This OnGuard chocolate bark. Last year they had truffles that were so good, so I figured we’d try these and have enough to share with our friends. It’s really rich, and the cranberries on top give it an interesting texture.

So that’s our monthly order! A lot of these items were limited edition holiday purchases, so you’ll probably never see them again. I’m looking forward to sharing what we order and actually use up to give you an idea of what life with essential oils actually looks like.

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jm travel

1st Anniversary Trip to Seaside, Oregon

November 7, 2018November 8, 2018 0

On October 22nd, I asked Justen, “does it feel like we’ve been married for a year?” and he replied “sometimes it feels longer,” and I reminded him that answers like that are fine and dandy… until we get him set up with life insurance and then he’ll need to watch himself.

I joke.

Side note: it actually terrifies me to talk to him about getting life insurance because if something happened to him shortly after he got life insurance, I WOULD BE THE PRIME SUSPECT. Like come on, I’ve seen Forensic Files. I know what’s up.

Anyway. We snuck off to the Oregon Coast for a weekend away to celebrate. Justen booked us a room at THE CUTEST little hotel room at a place called The Tides. It’s a bunch of individually owned rooms in a bigger property. Ours was the coziest little room ever, AND he told them it was our anniversary so they left us the cutest little gift bag.

Our room was about a mile from the main Seaside area but it was RIGHT ON THE OCEAN! We walked out of our room and down a little pathway and we were at the ocean! We arrived Friday night and left Sunday and Saturday morning it was so beautiful before turning SO STORMY (it was perfect). We walked along the beach for awhile.

Justen taking some senior portraits for this seagull, lol

took a really cool shot of these people and their dogs, haha! Framed so nicely in the background.

We can’t take nice pictures, like ever.

It was so beautiful, but you can see the storm coming in! Which was also so beautiful. After the beach we wandered around downtown Seaside which is full of so many cute little souvenir shops and made our way into this store which made me (stupidly) wonder why I was suddenly overcome with the desire to decorate for Christmas. IDK, you take a guess…

We went to Mo’s for some clam chowder, grabbed coffee and a Redbox and then stayed inside playing Sequence and watching our movie + Law & Order: SVU. It was great and felt so special – it sometimes feels like we rarely ACTUALLY make time for each other, to just enjoy each other’s company. I feel like I’m constantly worrying about wanting the apartment to be a little more clean, or stressing out about Poshmark, or WHATEVER. But for the weekend, we had no agenda and no real worries.

After clearing out of our cozy little slice of heaven, we took a detour to Tillamook on the way home. In case you don’t know, that Tillamook cheese and ice cream y’all have comes from Oregon and they have a big ol Tillamook creamery. We went and grabbed some ice cream before heading back home. The drive was super rainy and sometimes scary but I actually love that weather for trips!

Justen made a little video of our trip and I uploaded it to my *new* YouTube channel (y’all should SUBSCRIBE! pls?) so you can see it with your own eyes.

All jokes aside, it’s so hard to believe we’ve been married for a year already. It’s been my favorite year of my life, I think <3

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decluttering poshmark series

My Favorite Brands to sell on Poshmark

August 15, 2018December 18, 2018 2

If you’re new to selling on Poshmark, be sure to check out my post 10 tips for selling on Poshmark!

As of today, I’ve sold 1800 items on Poshmark.
Which is so bananas, y’all.
Last year I started my Poshmark closet as a way to start a side hustle and get out of debt.

Two actual jobs, a temporary move across the country, getting married and having new responsibilities and Poshmark is the main source of my income and my work-time.

I’ve been excited to see so many friends start their own Poshmark closets to earn a little extra money! I personally buy a lot of my clothes to resell from the Goodwill Outlet (aka the bins!) and it can be SO OVERWHELMING to walk in and see all the clothes and figure out what’s good and what’s bad. So here’s a list of my favorite brands to sell on Poshmark.

Before I share my list, I want to let you know about how I run my closet. There are people who have closets full of high end designer brands. When they make a sale, they make $25. I’m okay to make a $5 profit. The way I plan on making my money is by having a high quantity of items and making MORE sales than having less items for a higher price. Neither way is “right” or “better,” because it’s all about 1. how much space you have, 2. how much work you’re willing to put in (and in what part of your closet you want to put your work in), and 3. what kinds of items you want to sell.

That said! My ideal is to make $10-15 from EVERY sale. I’ve been playing around with what items I’m putting in my closet, so this list is ALWAYS changing. It’s personal to ME, MY STYLE, and what items I want to offer for people at a discounted price!

Here’s a small list of my favorite brands to find at the bins for reselling on Poshmark:

Anthropologie
It doesn’t sell as well as it used to but I personally love it. Here’s a list of Anthropologie labels.. they RARELY actually say ANTHROPOLOGIE. When in doubt, check the tag labels for the RN #66170 – that means it’s either Anthropologie or Urban Outfitters.
Free People
lululemon
Joie
Eileen Fisher
NWT Mossimo/A New Day/Universal Threads
Our bins get a lot of NWT Target clothing, and I often can sell them for a $7-$10 profit. I’ll take a $10 profit any day!
LuLaRoe
Some people have stepped away from LuLaRoe because of its over saturation, but I PERSONALLY love LuLaRoe, and I know there are a LOT of LLR fans, so I always pick up LuLaRoe at the bins. They often sell in bundles.
Lilly Pulitzer
Living in the northwest, Lilly Pulitzer is fairly unknown, but I once paid $22 for a pair of Lilly Pulitzer pants at TJ Maxx and sold them for $85. If I find Lilly Pulitzer, I get REALLY happy.
Torrid
Torrid is a really popular, trendy plus-size store that is SO EXPENSIVE. I like being able to offer these items at a reasonable price!
Maurices
I’m not sure why, but Maurices tends to sell really well for me! I always make sure the styles are trendy and the item is in great condition.
Sundance
Soft Surroundings

Brands I don’t buy:

Brands exclusively sold at Sears, JC Penney, Walmart, Fred Meyer, etc.
Boutique brands
Nike
So weird, I know! But unless the style is SUPER new and SUPER trendy or classic like the tempo shorts, I tend to just sit on Nike items for literally a year.
H&M, Forever 21, Charlotte Russe, Hollister, Abercrombie & Fitch, Rue21

This is not at all an exhaustive list, and this is also not a list for people who are looking for high-end brands. This is my list of what I’d call “bread and butter” items – items I love to fill my Poshmark closet with.

I’m going to start sharing more about my Poshmark journey on my blog because there are so many people looking for information about Poshmark and I love sharing what I’ve been learning, so let me know if you have any questions!

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101 in 1001 physical wellness

How we ACTUALLY use doTerra products in our every day life

July 7, 2018 2

A few years ago I remember getting my first kit of essential oils and kind of staring at them, wondering what I was ACTUALLY going to EVER do with all of those oils. I started with the doTerra Home Essentials Kit (which was so great). After 8 months of ordering one new thing per month, something just CLICKED and I really started using the oils in my every day life.

At first I thought that using oils every day would look like pouring little drops onto my hand and placing it in magic places or something, but that’s not at all what it looks like for our household.

Today I processed our monthly order and I realized that almost ALL of the order was restocking items we use on the regular, so I thought I’d share the ways we use doTerra products in our every day life!

OnGuard Foaming Hand Soap
Of all the items we use daily, this one we probably use more than any other one. Both of our sinks have bottles of OnGuard foaming hand soap. after buying the two dispensers, I now just buy the refill bottles. One of the refill bottles fills up two dispensers, and we tend to go through one refill bottle a month.

OnGuard Toothpaste
Another daily product for us. This was one of the first products I started using from doTerra. We use the OnGuard toothpaste every time we brush our teeth, and when I find myself having to use Crest or Colgate, I realize how much I really love the OnGuard toothpaste.

Peppermint Beadlets
We’ve discovered that these peppermint beadlets are super multi-functional. Upset stomach? Pop a beadlet. Bad breath? Pop a beadlet. Head starting to hurt? Pop a beadlet. They’re really affordable and help with any daily problems our bodies might have.

Purify Shoe Spray
Shoes can get so stinky, and after months of trying to just deal, I put some Purify + witch hazel + water into a little spray bottle (we’re in the process of getting bigger spray bottles) and spray it into the shoes every night.

OnGuard Hand Sanitizing Spray
Listen, I make a living digging clothes out of giant piles of discarded donations. There’s some NASTY AF stuff in those bins. But I use the OnGuard hand spray afterwards. It’s my go-to hand spray.

Purify
Not only do we use purify as spray, but after using the bathroom we often straight up just put a few drops of purify straight into the toilet to help neutralize any stink left over. It’s kinda funny because purify smells like cilantro so our bathroom smells like cilantro most of the time.

Serenity pillow spray + blend
I used to use Lavender on my feet and THEN I got the Serenity blend, which has lavender but also a bunch of other relaxing oils in the blend. It’s my bedtime jam. I made a pillow spray with witch hazel + Serenity + water. Shake well to combine and then spray on linens. I also made the serenity into a rollerball – Serenity oil + Fractionated coconut oil. The Serenity is put on my feet and my spine. Basically I sleep all covered in Serenity.
Lemon + Witch Hazel Toner
For YEARS I’ve sworn by the lemon + witch hazel toner magic, and I’ve seriously seen a HUGE reduction in my breakouts since I’ve started using this. We usually just squirt a little witch hazel on a cotton swab and then put a drop or two of lemon on top and wipe it across our faces.

So there you have it! I think it’s easy to buy oils and get overwhelmed at how exactly to use them, so I hope this helps y’all start thinking of ways to incorporate essential oils into your life. If you use essential oils, leave me a comment and tell me what you most commonly use them for!

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101 in 1001 jm life

10 things that make me happy

June 1, 2018 2

One of my May Goals was to take photos of 10 different things that make me happy as part of my 101 in 1001 list. I’m rounding up those 10 photos right here. Hopefully they’ll make you happy too 😀

We were walking around our neighborhood the other day and I saw this plant that IMMEDIATELY reminded me of a unicorn. It is the perfect start to my pictures of happy things because I cannot get over how happy this plant makes me.

Any day where Space Mountain fast passes are involved 🙂

Finally taking my rose gold ears to Disneyland… and capturing this great picture of a stranger and his girl.

This is Justen sharing my Poshmark closet for me. Almost completely out of nowhere, Justen got really into working on my Poshmark closet in his free time.

My new River Maiden shirt! I have 0 shirts from local coffee shops, and I was so excited to buy this. River Maiden had a pretty rough year this past year, and I’m proud to be a customer of theirs <3

I spent MONTHS trying to find these Sam & Libby sandals on the internet. I finally found them on Poshmark and bought them and I am SO GLAD I did. The big huge bows just make my freaking day. Also my distressed embellished jeans were like $11 at JC Penney, which ALSO makes me happy.

Piles and piles of Poshmark packages really make me happy. I look at this and I get dollar signs in my eyes because this is my JOB, y’all. How unreal. It makes me so happy.

My new pajamas! Halfway through the month I developed a pretty severe, distressing eye twitch. It was on and off all day for over two weeks. at one point we called the advice nurse who gave us a bunch of suggestions, one of which was to allow myself to oversleep. While we were out, I bought a new pair of pajamas and an eye mask and really started to take the whole oversleeping thing seriously. HOW CUTE is the print on these pjs, y’all?

Freaking PEONIES! I picked these up at Trader Joe’s, but I’m just all the heart eyes over peonies and I’m on a mission to figure out how I can keep them alive forever and make a bed out of them. I guess that’s a bit extreme but hey that’s me.

Starbucks Happy Hour with my Justen. We’re not frapuccino people, but when they’re half off then sure. We walked the 1/2 a mile down to Safeway to get these and enjoy the warm afternoon.

My camera roll was full of more moments and photos of things that make me happy and THAT made me even happier. 😀

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