Homemade Facewash That's AMAZING!

Back story: I've had bad skin ever since puberty and have tried everything under the sun, I almost have a virtual checklist of things that haven't worked that eliminates every product on the shelves in stores, and even several prescription topicals and pills. I have oily skin, an uneven complexion, acne, and permanent dark purple lines under my eyes. On my way back from California I bought several magazines to read on the flight. One of them was Whole Living magazine, the front cover was colorful so I bought it on a whim. Apparently it's all about green living which is right up my alley. In the magazine I found the article about this facewash and I had to try it.

This article caught my eye cause it sounded completely preposterous. Basically it was saying that most facewashes you can buy strip the natural oils from your face; of course, that's the idea right? Only problem is it can make your skin over react and cause your face to produce even more pore clogging oil. Well they recommended actually using oil to clean your skin, specifically oils that attach themselves to the sebum on your skin while not offsetting the natural balance. There's even several "oil cleaners" on the market, but they're pretty pricey.

Luckily this magazine is all about DIY and it includes a kinda recipe: a 50/50 blend of fresh, cold pressed olive oil and castor oil. If your skin's particularly oily like mine do 75 castor/25 olive, or for dry skin 75 olive/25 castor. Later in the magazine it had an article on "Nature's Remedy" that included Lavender as an antimicrobial and Eucalyptus as a potent anti-inflammatory and anti-microbial; it also includes Cornflower as good for eye puffiness and Rose for an even complexion, but I couldn't find those two in my town.

So I took 3/4 cup castor oil, 1/4 cup olive oil, 1/4 teaspoon lavender oil, and 1/4 teaspoon eucalyptus oil. I massage it in for 2 minutes all over my face like the magazine said and use a warm wash cloth to gently wipe away the oil cleanser. I've been doing it for a week and was almost startled at the results. My complexion is already improving, my skin isn't near as oily as it used to be, my acne has had a dramatic improvement and the dark purple lines under my eyes are almost completely gone!(and not from getting more sleep, if anything I'm getting less cause classes have started back up).

I just had to share since it's been working so well. It smells fantastic right before bed, feels great, and it's been working so well! Not to mention saves me a ton of money which is great for our budget!

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I'm an Aunt!

I was lucky enough to have the opportunity this past month to go to California to be with my sister while she got ready to have her first baby. I ended up being out there from July 21st to August 21st because the little squirt decided to go 1 week overdue. It was such an amazing experience. I love that I got to spend such an important time with my sister and help out as best I could, and it was sooooo much fun getting to spend a week with my niece, even though I did have to share her with 7 other people :P I know I have a built in bias, but she is the most beautiful little girl I've ever seen, I'll be happy if our kids are even half as pretty as she is :) Now I just gotta get my life in order so that she can be proud to call me her aunt :) :) :)

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Day 1 Of the new me!

I use the excuse that I've been trying to figure out through looking at studies and reading books exactly what the ideal healthy lifestyle is and as such have not made the steps the change the way I am now into a healthy person. So here I go, no more delays! There's no day but today and this is the starting mark. One of the most basic tools in diet choices is a food diary, try as I might I can't seem to keep up with one, so what's one thing that'll keep me accountable and will help me keep track of what I'm eating? This blog! Since I always have my phone on me I'll be posting pictures of what I'm eating so I can keep track of it and it'll give me a layer of accountability since everyone will be able to see it. My goal has always been to be able to show people that you don't have to do a fad or crash diet or pills to get to your goal, just make healthy choices. So now you'll be able to see the choices I'm making and see if it makes a difference.

So here we go. My name is Melissa Crooks, I'm 24 years old and I am 251 pounds. My goal is to be 140 pounds or lighter and live a healthier more active lifestyle. Welcome to my journey.

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Ready for a Grown Up Home

As I've already said, as of the 21st I will have been married for 3 years. When we got married we took on a lot of second hand items to furnish our first apartment, so pretty much none of our stuff matches. May of next year G and I will be switching places, he will become the student and I will be the bread winner til he's done with school. With his chosen major (Veterinary Medicine) and an extreme dislike for A&M, we will be moving out of state, he has til next January to settle on a school and be accepted so that I'll know which state to become a Registered Nurse in. Once we make that move I've decided that we're selling all our furniture except the tv and the dining room table (I love my table and it was free :P) and buying all new stuff that ACTUALLY MATCHES! Having a well decorated and cohesive home is something that in my head is like a right of passage in order to be considered an adult, so I'm very excited to get it all. I've picked everything out already, right down to deco for the walls, now I just have to wait and hope it's all still available when we go to get it :) Time to start saving!!!

Here's some of the pieces I'm in love with (our colors are dark espresso and blue with a beach theme[Did you see our wedding pictures? We love the beach]) :

Our Bed, Sofa and Loveseat, Dining Room Chairs, Wall Deco

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Why, oh Why?

The hubs and I had an adventure today, we drove the 2 hours to Austin just so he could take a test in a computer lab that took him 30 minutes to complete. Had it not been for us getting to have dinner with his family the trip would have been pretty much completely pointless. However it was really nice getting to spend time with him with limited distractions. I always seem to have the best 1 on 1 time with him when we're in the car together, at least when he's driving the car he doesn't fall asleep while I'm talking to him when I drive he always falls asleep :P (of course then he complains about my driving, but it can't be all that bad if he's comfortable enough to sleep while I'm doing it, and then he complains when I fall asleep cause he gets sleepy too :P) Ah the joys of married life!

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Go figure!

June has arrived and with it our anniversary. As of the 21st I will have been married to my best friend for 3 years, we've had our ups and downs, but all together it's been a fun ride :)

Now for the not so sentimental side of this post: it can pretty much be said that 3 1/2 years ago I sat down to do my wedding registry. At that time I was adamant about not wanting any fancy china because it would be a waste of money. Now that I have 3 1/2 more years of maturity on my side, and a growing love for entertaining (see the last post about eating out), I've come to appreciate what a good quality set of china can be useful for, and I must say: I WANT ME SOME CHINA! It somewhat started a few months ago, and then a few days ago we were in Dillard's and I could have died I loved so many of the pieces I just couldn't stand it! I've already decided that I'm going to be inheriting my grandmother's china, it's absolutely beautiful and my sister said she isn't interested in it, but I still want a set of my own. My grandmother's set is very fall, with beautiful maple leaves and fall colors on it which is perfect for Thanksgiving, but I want a set I can use year round that I can call my own and pass it on to my daughter or daughter-in-law if they want it. But alas, due to me being so against it when we were getting married I'm gonna have to pay for it myself, at least I get to take my time picking it out. I want something simple yet elegant, like something you'd see at a not-very-fancy-but-still-nice dinner at Buckingham Palace or something. We're not talking those crazy pieces people spend thousands of dollars on, I'm not that crazy, just something around $100 or less for a 5 piece set, I want these to last a lifetime so I gotta find quality and you don't get that with the cheap stuff.

Alas my search continues. There's so many I like it's hard to pick just one!

Here's links to the ones I like that I've found so far:

Option #1, Option #2, Option #3, Option #4, Option #5, Option #6

Right now I'm really liking #1, but I also really like #5, and #4, and #3, honestly I really like all of them :P

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La Dolce Vita

I've noticed lately that there is a wonderful past time that Americans are missing out on. We do it so often that it's ceased to be something special and simply become a task. People in other nations have gotten it right so why are we missing out on it? I'm talking about the art of going out to eat. In my life we go to a restaurant, order, chat a bit, get our food, pay the bill, and leave with 45 minutes elapsed if there wasn't a wait. It's almost just something to check off the to-do list. It's not the most enjoyable experience. We have the dinner and a movie mindset, whatever happened to just dinner being the event of the evening? In some countries you'll be in a restaurant for up to 3 hours or more. You chat, you order an appetizer, you chat some more, you order your meal, you chat some more, you get your food and you continue chatting while you eat, and before long you realize you do have room for dessert while your chatting and you go ahead and order that too. What's the difference? You take your time and enjoy the company. Stress levels are a huge contribution to a plethora of medical issues ailing Americans. So why don't we set aside an evening once a week or more often, get together with friends, share a good meal, and RELAX? I've noticed when I spend more time talking I spend less time eating so that I eat less and feel more full when I'm done.

Within so many of us there's this little voice that just keeps saying "What're we doing next? What're we doing next?" How about for once we just tell the voice "Nothing, this is it, sit back and have a great time." We need to sit back and enjoy La Dolce Vita, otherwise we'll wake up and realize that we have very few friends and have wasted our entire lives rushing from Point A to Point B without stopping to enjoy the sweeter things in life.

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