My love affair with HONEY...

Yes, it's true...I am involved in a serious love affair with honey. Are you aware of how wonderful this stuff is?? And, let's be clear here, I am not referring to the honey most of us find in our everyday grocery stores...that stuff has been so overcooked and "sanitized" to the point that it no longer possesses the precious elixirs it has naturally. No, I'm talking about that delectably delicious, gorgeous raw, unprocessed, local honey that you can get in some grocery stores, but will mostly find at your farmer's markets or places like Whole Foods.

I've always been a fan of using honey as a natural allergies queller, but I'm not so good at being diligent when it comes to that 1-2tbs a day ritual...you would think it wouldn't be difficult to remember to lap up that yummy goodness every day...but, alas, I generally forget to do it half the time - we'll see how bad allergies end up being for me in the Frozen Tundra :]

But here is where I have fallen head-over-heels, get ready for this one, kids:

Honey makes the best face mask eVeR!

I'm just sayin'....

So listen to this: You take a couple tablespoons of honey and add 3 or so tablespoons of cinnamon to it...aaaand then add a couple tablespoons of nutmeg to that and you have a recipe for the most divine, soothing, skin perfecting face mask on the face of the planet. Spread that amazing mixture all over your face and then sit back and relax for 30min to an hour...amazing. (Some people like to leave this on over night, in which case you can stick some toilet paper to your face so the honey doesn't get all over everything. I haven't done this, 'cause, with my luck, I'll still get it all over my pillow and sheets or something.)

This is my little nightly ritual of awesome:

1. Wash my face using the OCM, which I love as well.
2. Follow that up with a nice little exfoliating sugar scrub (every few days). This is just a simple blend of granulated sugar and brown sugar; pour a little onto your fingertips add a touch of water and gently massage it around your face...niiiice.
3. Now that my face is all clean and my pores are nice and open I slather my honey mask all over the place (yes, it is messy but so worth it)...and laughing promptly ensues as that orange-ish-brown face that I end up with always looks funny. Small price to pay ;)
4. Finally, I brew myself a little mug of tea, usually chamomile or some other soothing brew and sit back with a book and settle down for the night.
5. 30min to an hour later (depending on how tired I am, but never less than 30min) I rinse it off with warm water and follow that up with a splash or two of cold water to close up my pores for the night.

BEST NIGHTLY RITUAL EVER...for serious. Aaaand...it isn't a big deal if you get a little on your lips cause, yep, it's just honey, cinnamon, and nutmeg...basically dessert, haha.

I will say one thing, though: I would test this out before covering your face with it. Some people can have an allergic reaction to one or all of the ingredients...I didn't/don't, but I'm not allergic to any of those ingredients on any level. If you are uncertain how you will react and don't want to risk some sort of reaction just test it out somewhere inconspicuous and see what happens.

This particular recipe is great for soothing acne-prone/scarred skin...I have noticed a serious difference after going through this ritual regularly (I've missed a few days here and there, but this week I've been totally on the ball!). My skin is much smoother, my skin hardly seems to get oily anymore (WHOOP!), acne is chilling the heck out (finally!), and my skin just looks and feels healthier in general.

I'm a huge fan.

Back to my love of honey for a sec before I close: there are all kinds of recipes you can use for different needs you might have. One article that has some good stuff is this one if you're interested in trying something else. You can put oatmeal in it, eggs, lemon, whatever your facial needs are, pretty much.

Yeps, so there you have it...I'm in love with honey. I think this relationship will be long-lasting.

And with that, I'm off.

Shalom!
~MW

Oh, haylo!

Happy Friday, all! I trust you are having/have had a blessed day in our Savior. I know I certainly have...it's the little things, fo sho.

Anywho, how are you? What's new and exciting in your life? What can I be going to the Lord in prayer about for you? How are you??

I have a confession to make...wait for it...wait for it... Ok, here it is:

I am incredibly out of shape...INCREDIBLY.

That said, I have something to, errr...brag {?} about... I STARTED WORKING OUT THIS WEEK!! Whoop! So, I knew I was terribly out of shape before I started working out, but when you do a very rigorous modest workout circa 9am and are already feeling that tell-tale achy soreness by oh...4pm that afternoon, that's when you know - you're pathetically out of shape - there's just no other way to describe it. But, even though I am still in ridiculous pain today...I still did my workout! I'm not gonna lie...I almost decided against the multi-stop push-ups today, though...We hatesss them precioussss! But, I am proud to say that I pushed through them! {Haha...pun!} I'm contemplating adding in running next week...we'll see how that goes :D

Yesterday, after our weekly breakfast date with Chamilton, Catia and I hit-up Town Talk to peruse their latest loot! Them was dangerous waters, they were...! But, we were very proud of our discounted purchases...and our exercised restraint when it came to saying "no" to some of our desired booty. I came away with some delicious bries and some hummus and some **fresh** rosemary {Oh, it's heavenly}, and teas. All for just over $6!! I was impressed.

A little mini-rant corresponding to the rant in my previous post: If you can't make/grow it yourself, buy fair trade! All but one of the teas Catia and I came away with were fair trade products - the other was an ethical trade product. So, there is a difference between fair trade and ethical trade. Ethical trade doesn't, apparently have any real regulated standards - they are generally left up to the producer, from what I understand. Whereas fair trade has heavy standards instituted across the board for any company that wants to carry the fair trade label. Ethical trade is still better than nothing, in my opinion, but I guess that's left up to the individual consumer. Anyways, the fair trade teas we ran away with are Saphara teas - soooo good. And, the ethical trade tea we got is actually Celestial Seasonings. Now, CS put a little blurb under their ethical trade "stamp" that says this:

We've been working to establish Sustainable harvests and fair wages for more than 30 years. By buying this product, you're supporting ethical trading practices that benefit the people and areas that produce our ingredients. THANK YOU!

Sounds pretty legit...and, after skimming their website, it seems the be a pretty well grounded statement. Anyone know any specifics about Celestial Seasonings? Other than the fact that they have a number of just plain awesome teas, haha.

Health Au Naturel! As many of you know I've been testing out numerous natural hygiene product recipes. I felt it was probably time to give you all a little update on how that has been going.

• Hair care: I started this out following SimpleMom's hair care regimen, but I just couldn't do it. The transition period was just too much for me. By day 9 or so my hair was in an absolutely horrid state - I couldn't comb through it and it felt like straw...but weird insanely greasy straw. It was just gross. So, I caved and washed my hair. I'm at a loss in the realm of all natural, at home hair care. In all honesty, I'm afraid to try another regimen...though I've contemplated giving SimpleMom's another whirl the beginning of May...we shall see
• Face care: Here I also used SimpleMom's regimen for the Oil Cleansing Method. Now, this I like. It's WAY cheaper than throwing countless dollars away each month to harsh chemicals in pretty bottles on supermarket shelves. While I still experience breakouts {like this week...ugh!}, and so must admit that I keep a supply of acne spot treatment {I haven't tried putting tea-tree oil in my cleanser yet, though...} on-hand, I am overall quite pleased with this one. My face feels awesome after I cleanse it each night and I only need a little splash of water in the mornings to "wash the night away." As far as using coconut oil as a moisturizer, I think I'm going to try getting my hands on some raw shea butter or coco butter instead...while I like the idea of natural antibiotics/antiseptic qualities (which shea and coco butter are supposed to have too) in the coconut oil it seems to be a little drying...how an oil can be drying, I don't know, but that's my take on it.
• Deodorant: This one just breaks my heart, y'all. SimpleMom's homemade deodorant recipe, which I have seen all over other blogs on the interwebs, is awesome. I mean, I absolutely loooved it. Yeah...loved it.
  Everything was going wonderfully - I didn't smell...at...all...and I felt like I hardly sweat at all...even though I really was. But, then...I started to break out in this horrible, horrible rash. I mean, it was bad - I'm still getting over it. I finally, after trying to just use Tom's natural deodorant while I figured out what to do about my little problem, decided I need to give my underarms a bit of a breather from any kind of anything under there, cause I was still either experiencing crazy burning or breaking out in one way or another. So, I've been deodorant-less for about 3 days now. Gross, I know, but honestly, I haven't been too wet, and unless I really get my nose up under there I don't smell. Ha, the J-Man discovered I haven't used deodorant for a few days and got uber grossed out - it was priceless. But, since it has been lovely weather and I really haven't been sweating all that much I know that once summer really hits I'll probably need a little something extra under there to help out.
  Here are my thoughts: either my skin doesn't like the baking soda (which I'm not entirely convinced is the main culprit, since I even tried decreasing the baking soda significantly) or my skin doesn't like the corn starch. I've heard that some corn starch has talc in it and that the presence of talc may have been the issue, but I made sure I was using a brand without talc in it...and like I said, even after significantly, significantly decreasing the baking soda (I mean, it was almost non-existent in a few batches), I was still breaking out. Oi, it was so painful.
  So, what is my next order of action with this issue? I'm dropping the corn starch all together and switching to arrowroot powder instead. I realize that if I really wanted to figure this out scientifically I would try just using corn starch, then just using baking soda, then just using coconut oil {oh yeah, I'm 99.99% certain that the coconut oil isn't the problem as I haven't broken out anywhere else on my body that I have used it, and I'm not allergic to coconut...}, etc., etc. until I find out which ingredient starts the reaction over again, but I'm not that patient right now, haha. So, to the arrowroot powder it is!! I'll let you know how it goes. Other than saying upfront that arrowroot powder is pricey! I paid almost $6 for about a quarter pound of the stuff...and then freaking Tobi ate like half of it...ooooo, I almost kabobbed that doggie when I saw my precious powder strewn around the living room carpet and his white little face to add to it all! Oh, that was a fun morning, haha.

Well, I suppose that's all for now, folks. It's time to call it a night - I'm judging an elementary school science fair tomorrow, so I need to get some shut-eye so I can be on top of my game with the kiddies at 8am tomorrow...barf.

Oh...I GOT MY OFFICIAL OFFICIAL ADMITTANCE LETTER FROM U OF M TODAY!!!! It's all official...I got my salary/employment papers yesterday, my departmental acceptance letter the day before that, and my totally 100% official university acceptance today...WOW.

G'night & Shalom!
~MW

P.S. - Happy Fightin' Texas Aggie Ring Day to all you Aggies! So proud of your incredible accomplishment!
P.P.S. - Do you like the new sidebar?? I decided to break it up and organize it all...it was fun, I won't lie =D
P.P.P.S. - Josh threw up his first Man Talk post tonight! Check it, men and boys on your journey to becoming men!