Charleston Trip Part 1

October 24, 2014 by Aliesha

To celebrate five years of marriage, Tad and I were so blessed to be able to take a trip back to Charleston, SC, where we honeymooned! We had an amazing time together. Tad’s parents were so kind to watch all three kids for the whole weekend. We didn’t worry about the kids at all!

We had been saving for the trip for a while, and we paid cash for everything on the trip. We got our hotel through Priceline which helped us get a great deal!

Our drive down on Thursday night was beautiful. We got to see a gorgeous sunset and have uninterrupted conversation!

When we checked into our hotel, the woman at the front desk thought we couldn’t be older than 21. We thought that was pretty funny!

The next morning, we left early to head into the city! Our hotel was in North Charleston, so we had a 15-20 minute drive into Charleston (no biggie!).

We stopped by the visitor’s center first to grab a few flyers and take a fun picture!

I did TONS of research before our trip of all the best places to eat, so I had every meal and snack totally planned out. 🙂 Our first stop was Callie’s Hot Little Biscuit.

This charming little biscuit shop is tiny and adorable, and it has an excellent (well-earned!) reputation for delicious biscuits!

We got two kinds of biscuits: black pepper bacon and blackberry. They were both flaky and buttery with unique flavors. Tad also got a cup of French press coffee, and he says it was the best cup of coffee all weekend!

Callie’s is located on King Street, so we wandered down King for most of the morning. There were so many fun little “alleys” and gardens!

The William Aiken house is so pretty!

I got to browse Anthropologie for eye candy and inspiration! We browsed several other fun shops on King as well.

THEN Tad suggested we go in Urban Outfitters because the front of the building looked cool and historic. We were pleasantly surprised to see the inside was an old theatre!

The architectural details were simply amazing.

That chandelier!!

Later we went online and read about the history of the building. It used to be the Garden Theatre (opened in 1918) and it originally showed silent films. The foyer was filled with hanging plants and flowers and birdcages with real songbirds! Very fascinating.

We snuck into the photo booth for a minute.

I love the juxtaposition of industrial and ornate. This theatre must have been elaborate in its day!

We drove to Butcher & Bee for lunch (while it was also on King St., it was not within walking distance).

Butcher and Bee has a really cool vibe with big tables, old chairs, sweet tea in mason jars, and a changing menu.

Tad got a lamb pita with Israeli salad, cabbage, and tahini. He said it was fantastic!

I ordered a roast beef sandwich with onion jam, mayo, and chimichuri. They make their bread in house, I believe!

This cool art display was hanging above our table. So, overall, Butcher and Bee had delicious food and a great atmosphere and we’d go back again!

After lunch we found parking on the roof of a parking garage, so we got to take in this beautiful view of the Arthur Ravenel Jr. bridge!

Charleston is known as the Holy City because of all the church steeples!

Again, there are so many amazing gardens!

We loved all the wrought iron gates.

We walked through Philadelphia Alley several times. It’s not wide enough for cars to use, so you can only take it in by foot.

Waterfront Park is a beautiful place to relax and enjoy a nice breeze!

This fountain was beautiful and we saw several kids playing in it.

We walked out on the pier, then we walked further down to the famous pineapple fountain. It wasn’t turned on when we were there because they were doing work on it.

One of the many churches with beautiful architecture.

I was just in love with all the amazing typography and branding of every single restaurant and business.

Tad and I visited Paolo’s for some gelato in the afternoon! We went there many times on our honeymoon, so it was fun to go back!

They make fresh flavors of gelato each day.

I had pink lemonade gelato and Tad had mocha.

We walked back by the William Aiken house and could see it was set up for a wedding on the grounds! SO pretty!

Even though we just had gelato, we had walked like 8 miles so far that day, AND we were on vacation, so we went to Jeni’s for some splendid ice cream!

It was cute inside!

They have TONS of unique flavors that you won’t see at just any ice cream shoppe!

Tad and I split two scoops of black currant lambic sorbet and riesling poached pear sorbet! They were so good together!

I definitely want to visit Jeni’s again!

While we were walking again we saw this cute patio behind a restaurant. Looked like it would be fun to eat there!

Even the manhole covers are beautiful in Charleston.

I thought this heron gate was pretty!

Before dinner, we sat on a bench (back at the waterfront park again) and talked to the kids briefly.

Window boxes are a huge thing in Charleston. They were all so gorgeous!

Tad and I made a few quick changes and we were ready for dinner!

I took of my chambray shirt, took my hair down, swapped out my sandals for heels, and added red lipstick and more mascara! BAM… ready for our dinner date!!

We ate at Cypress for dinner and we enjoyed the atmosphere, professionalism of the staff, and delicious food. We started off with artisan bread.

We ordered tableside Caesar salad, which our waiter came and prepared (dressing and all) for us! Delicious!

For the main course, we had grilled rib eye with black truffle demi-glace! It was out of this world. We could cut it with a butter knife!

For dessert we enjoyed peanut butter bread pudding with ice cream and toasted peanuts! It was so sweet of them to add this little anniversary wafer.

That was the first day! I think all told we walked ten miles on Friday.

I’ll share days 2 and 3 in future posts!

Adoption Fundraiser Giveaway

October 23, 2014 by Aliesha

I am SUPER excited to tell you about a really great cause/giveaway that is going on at She Builds Her Home! Natalie and her family are adopting, and they are currently raising money for their home study fee. Tons of awesome shops have donated prizes to the giveaway (including Artistic Renditions!) and you can hop on over to the blog to learn how you can enter to win by supporting Natalie’s adoption fund!

One day left… so hurry on over!

My Top Three Essential Oils

October 22, 2014 by Aliesha

I know for me, when I was starting my essential oils collection, it felt very overwhelming to know which oils to buy. I wanted to get the ones that would give me the most benefit while I tried out this whole essential oil thing! Even posts about “must-have” essential oils were overwhelming, because I didn’t feel like I could go and get 17 different oils all at once! I’ve built my collection slowly.

I thought it might be helpful for you to know the top three oils I recommend getting first! These oils mentioned in this post have tons of uses and are very diverse. Many of them are safe to use with kids, so they’ll be helpful for your whole family.

You may want to read my previous post on which essential oil company I recommend and why.

One quick thing – all of the essential oils I mention in this post will last 10 years when stored in a cool, dark place! No need to worry about them going bad before you can use them! Also, each of these are available in two sizes, 5ml and 15ml. The 15ml is a better deal, but when you’re trying to save money, the 5ml is a great option.

Top Three Essential Oils – Singles

Lavender

I’ve been using lavender oil for years and years, but more recently I’ve discovered more uses for it! I love putting a drop or two on my pillow at night to help me fall asleep. I often diffuse lavender in our bedroom while I read before bed. The girls love it when I rub it on their backs before bed too! Lavender is great for burns and I have personal experience using it on both a small burn on my finger and on sunburn. Lavender also provides relief from insect stings and bites. I got stung by a bee or wasp (I didn’t see it closely) and using lavender oil on it helped relieve the sting right away! I also like rubbing lavender on my temples or the back of my neck for headache relief. There are many oils you can use for this, but lavender works well for me. You can read more about lavender’s uses here.

Melaleuca

This oil is extremely diverse in its uses! Melaleuca is anti-bacterial, so it’s great for infections, as well as cleaning up anything “icky”! I use melaleuca for treating acne or other facial blemishes (it even works on the “boil” type acne). I also clean with melaleuca all the time (it’s in my “for anything nasty” homemade cleaner), especially when dealing with mold, bacteria, or spilled bodily fluids (hey, I have kids, so it’s pretty common!). Since I don’t use bleach, melaleuca is my go-to “chemical” for disinfecting! Another use is for cleaning the seal of a front loading washing machine, which can get a little stinky. Melaleuca cleans it right up! When I feel like I’m coming down with a cold and my lymph nodes on my neck start to feel sore, I massage melaleuca onto my neck to fight off the infection. I also used melaleuca to fight off mastitis. I massaged it into the affected breast and placed a warm, moist compress on it also. I didn’t have to go on antibiotics! Melaleuca has a very strong, medicinal scent, so it takes a little getting used to. But it’s one of my top three EOs because it can be used in so many different ways! Find out some more ways to use melaleuca here.

Peppermint

I have been a little cautious about peppermint oil because it is not generally regarded as safe to use with children under 13 (based on the studies I have read, but feel free to do your own research), and when used in large quantities while breastfeeding it can deplete the milk supply. (I have used peppermint in small amounts while breastfeeding without any problems, but proceed with caution if you’ve had milk supply issues.) But I do think this is a great oil to have in your stash! Rubbing peppermint on your temples can relieve headaches. It’s lovely when added to a number of homemade products, such as lip balm or foot scrubs. I like to inhale peppermint (out of the bottle) to eliminate queasy feelings related to motion sickness or anything else. You can put a bit of peppermint oil on a cotton ball and place it in a room that needs a fresh scent! Peppermint is very invigorating, so you can use it when you’re feeling droopy in the afternoon. I’ve added it to coffee before and it’s really tasty (one drop for a whole pot is plenty!). When you’re congested, you can inhale peppermint out of the bottle to open up your passageways. Learn more about peppermint here.

Bonus: If you can get just one more, choose Frankincense.
Frankincense is a wonderful oil and is so great for your skin. When diluted it will last a long time, so it’s a great investment. I use frankincense every night on my face (it’s great for dry spots, acne, scars, wrinkles, and many other things!). I have had acne scarring on my face since I was 17, but after using frankincense on my face this year, it has faded considerably! I love how frankincense smells and how calming it is! I like to use it when I need to calm down and refocus. I also use this one on my lymph nodes when sick or starting to feel sick. See how else to use Frankincense here.

Many essential oils come already blended together with other oils, allowing the oils to work better together! Here are my three favorite blends from RMO/NAN.

Top Three Essential Oils – Blends

First Aid

This oil blend is fantastic, and if you have kids, you should definitely get it! We use it all the time for scrapes, cuts, and minor injuries. The clove bud oil in this blend acts as a topical anesthetic to relieve pain almost instantly. I’ve even used this on painful insect bites when I didn’t have lavender with me. The helichrysum italicum in this blend heals the wound quickly. I used First Aid on a toe injury (the toenail fell off) and it healed more quickly than I expected. We use this oil a lot!

Tummy Rub

This oil blend is amazing too, and I carry it with me everywhere. Because we eat so healthy at home, when I eat out I often feel a little “off” digestively. I just apply a little bit of this oil to my stomach, and I have relief from queasiness, bloating, or gas. I have used it (heavily diluted) for the kids too when they’ve had tummy issues. I think it smells great, so just inhaling it can help me feel less queasy too.

Breathe Ease

I do not personally use this blend with children since it contains eucalyptus oil (feel free to research this yourself), but my husband and I have used it for head congestion and colds. If you’re familiar with “steam treatments” (where you fill the sink with steaming hot water, close the plug, put your head down, and cover your head with a towel to trap the steam), you can add a drop of this blend to the water to help open up your nasal passages. (Don’t open your eyes, though, as it could sting.) You can also put a drop on the floor of your shower while you take a hot shower. This blend will help relieve lots of different respiratory conditions! A great alternative that’s a little more kid-friendly is Deep Breathe.

You can find all these oils at Rocky Mountain Oils and at Native American Nutritionals.

For deals, specials, and coupon codes, I recommend signing up for the newsletters at Rocky Mountain Oils and Native American Nutritionals. They offer different deals, so sign up for both! I love all the coupon codes, free oils with purchases, and sales on different EOs. There’s always something fun going on!

If you’re new to essential oils, what questions do you have? I’ll do my best to find an answer for you!

If you’re familiar with essential oils already, what are your top three favorites?

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links, which I will always disclose to you when using. If you choose to purchase anything through these links, it will help support our family and this blog. Thank you! All opinions in this post are my own. Also, I am not a doctor, so please consult your physician for medical advice.