Romantic Getaway (and GIVEAWAY!)

In the spirit of love and the upcoming Valentine's day I thought it would be a perfect time to discuss the details of the romantic stay my husband and I just had at an Ohio Bed & Breakfast (our first time at a b&b!) Tuesday night for my birthday.  The Bed & Breakfast he chose, Hide Away Country Inn, was about a two and a half hour drive north from our house here in Cincinnati, OH in a town called Bucyrus, OH.  It was just outside of Delaware County, Ohio and was such a beautiful and scenic trip along the Olentangy River.

I want to give you a review of our trip and stay because the b&b we stayed at was generous enough to provide us with a gift certificate for $50.00 to be used in the following year toward your two night stay. I am excited to be able to pass this along to someone who would also like to try this place out. You won't be disappointed!

 Read on and see if this is a trip you would like to enjoy and I'll tell you how you can enter to win the $50 gift certificate and how you can enjoy a beautiful room, a private massage, room service, a private hot tub or private candlelit couples dinner and so much more!

My hubby blocked out his schedule from Tuesday (day before my birthday) at 12:30 through all day Wednesday. We had about a two and a half hour drive north to get to our bed & breakfast, Hide Away Country Inn, so we left around 1pm so we could take our time getting there for the 4pm check-in(we both love a relaxed road trip!).

We stopped at Dunkin' Donuts so I could grab my "free birthday coffee" before getting on the road.

 

I don't stop to get Dunkin' very much anymore (since I started drinking my coffee black I usually just make it at home now) so it was fun to be "treated" for my birthday even if I know longer enjoy their creamer in my brew :)

We decided to take the little longer route so we could enjoy the drive and the scenery through parts of Ohio that we had never seen before.

I had to throw in this pic of my super handsome date driving me to our "getaway"!

Along the way we made a few little stops like Cracker Barrel...not to eat, but to take a potty break and to shop through the little store without the kids!  I know that is silly, right?! Can I tell you how much I enjoyed that?!! There are always so many fun things to look at, but I can never really take it all in because I am typically chasing 3 year olds around telling them to put everything down. Sometimes it's the little things!

Back on the road we enjoyed the beautiful scenery on the Ohio countryside. It was so peaceful and we saw so many beautiful farms. It was just so relaxing and peaceful.

Do you see the train in the distance? It was so cool to watch it stretch across the horizon like that.

And around 4pm we arrived at Hide Away Inn....

The grounds were really beautiful...even this time of year! 

The home and farmstead was built in the 1930's and retained much of it's original elements which adds to the charm. You can read all about the history of it here. As Realtors, my husband and I both really love homes and especially historic homes. I don't want the upkeep of owning one, but I LOVE to visit them, tour them and stay in them when I can. This place definitely fit the bill for the history we love to take in. 

After checking in we brought in our bags, settled into our room (we stayed in the Serenity Garden suite) and started exploring. 

 Hall and side entrance where we brought our bags in after checking in at the main desk. 

Serenity Garden is one of the smaller rooms at the Inn, but we chose it because we liked the decor of the room over some of the others and it featured a private deck with a hot tub that would be perfect for relaxing after dinner! We wanted to stay in the main house, but there are many other rooms to stay in if you prefer a larger suite and don't have to be in the main house.

There are 4 rooms in the main or Manor House with our room being one of them. You can also choose from the original master suite called the "Smith room" or two other rooms located in the same hallway. 

There is another large building that houses several "loft suites" and even an apartment type 2-story suite. Prices start around $150 per night and range to about $400 per night depending on the room/suite. You can view them all here.

I would say that we had a really great experience with our room. The only downside was that the room is on the southwest corner and it was a very windy night. Couple those things with the fact that this is a home built in the 1930's and it was a quite noisy. Mother Nature made it a bit difficult for me to sleep very well.  Thank God for a super cozy bed and linens as they mostly made up for the relentless wind noise. 

Checking out the guestbook in our room while enjoying the wine and cheese. It's always fun to read about other people's experience when staying somewhere.

After relaxing for a bit we decided to change for dinner and head down to explore around a little in the main house.

The hallway and landing right outside our room. Mostly original interior including the floors and was decorated with many antiques that really added to the romantic ambiance of the place.

Stairway leading down to the main floor and entry area. Off of the vestibule you could take a hallway that led to the library, the dining room, the parlor or the breakfast nook.

This was the main dining area that had been set for dinner that evening. The Inn was full so there was lots going to be happening in this dining room soon! 

The door in the back of the room led to a pub built onto the backside of the Inn. It was complete with a full service bar and tv's.  Some of the guests were gathering in there for a drink before dinner. 

 And then it was time for us to head to dinner. We were escorted to another room down the hall - the library - which had been the original owners personal office. They had set us up a white linen covered table, a romantic fire in the wood burning fireplace, made sure soft love songs were playing and had the entire room lit with candles. It was over the top in ambiance and the most PERFECT setting for a romantic dinner for two!

This was something I had only seen in the movies and here I was with my amazing husband having this intimate and over-the-top romantic dinner. I would highly recommend that you do this if staying here for a romantic get away. We enjoyed the 5 course meal and spent 2 full hours talking and enjoying each other's company. Perfection.....

Let me talk a little about the food. First, I want to say that while we are not completely gluten free and I specifically do not have a gluten allergy, my son does, so we are a mostly gluten free family for him. I have learned that I feel SO much better when I avoid gluten but that is not always super easy to do when eating out because it's hard to be certain what they put in the sauces, etc.  The cool thing about Hide Away Inn is that the owner is gluten free so they have a *mostly* gluten free menu and feature a "farm to table" type menu. 

For our 5 course private dinner the executive chef chose our menu and did let us know that he kept it gluten free for us which was awesome! We enjoy smoked cheddar fritters with apples and strawberries, chicken satay skewers with a peanut sauce, salad with scallops for me and chicken for my husband and our main course was beef tenderloin in a wine demi glace and mushrooms with green beans and baked potato. Our desserts were creme brulee for the hubby and I had this beautiful flourless chocolate torte with vanilla ice cream on top and a raspberry sauce - it was so good! 

 My husband and I do a lot of dinning at very nice restaurants for our date nights (we own a "relationship improvement" based company, HDHK, and our second app to be released later this year is a dating app so we are busy doing research on all the great places couples can spend a date so it comes with the territory!). So I realize that we may be a little tough on places sometimes. 

Having said that, I think that most would find this to be a very good dinner with the emphasis on customer service and a beautiful and unique setting. 

My favorite dishes were the salad with scallops and the flourless chocolate torte. The executive chef at the Inn visited our table a couple of times personally throughout the meal and really wanted to know how we were enjoying ourselves. I think that goes along way. He truly seemed to care that we were enjoying what he was sending out for our special dinner.  

They also do wine tastings, cooking classes and their 1938 Restaurant and Pub is open to the public and quite well rated.

After dinner we headed back up to our room for some board games. Yep, you read that right. I wanted to play a board game!  My husband and I really enjoy playing a few different boards games and he had brought along one of my favorites for us to enjoy. It's fine, I'm a nerd and I'm okay with that :)We so rarely find the uninterrupted time to play at home (not sure it's possible with 5 kids at home!) so this was a super fun treat for me! 

This one is called Carcassonne and is one of the many Rio Grande games we love.

And just as we began playing there was a knock at the door. Angie, the girl who took care of during our entire stay, had brought us up some strawberries for my birthday! It was so sweet and they went very well with our after dinner wine :)

After the game we enjoyed some time in the hot tub on our deck. I have to say that while it was very nice it was also super COLD outside!  The Inn provides you with super luxurious robes which were perfect for trekking out in the cold to the hot tub, but the wind was brutal and we didn't stay out there long. Even so by the time we came in I had ice crystals hanging from the back of my top knot! I think it was in the teens and probably colder than that with the windchill. 

The next morning we were able to enjoy sleeping in long past the typical 6:30am wake time at our house and even enjoyed fresh brewed coffee that they had waiting just outside our door in a stainless steel 

carafe for us when we awoke :)

It even came with the sweet note - it was my birthday morning!! Coffee in bed....aaaahhhh, perfect :)

I did step out to the deck for one last view of the beautiful countryside and creek that ran alongside our room before heading down for breakfast!

Breakfast is served late here (9-11am) so we didn't head down to eat until about 10am. It was quiet and we were the only ones in the dining room at that time.  The breakfast nook is situated in the home's original dining room and adjoins the larger room where dinner is served so the french doors can be opened up to allow for more guests at once. 

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The views over the gardens and surrounding land here were really beautiful even during this frozen time of year.

A two course breakfast comes with your stay and it is chef's choice this morning. We enjoyed yogurt with house made granola for our first course and then scrambled eggs, bacon (super thick and yummy!) and home fries for the main course. I'm not a super big breakfast person so I really didn't eat more than a couple of bites of the eggs and all of the bacon :)  Of course, more super fresh coffee was served, too.  

I was even able to purchase one of the handmade Hide Away Inn coffee mugs to take home with me. One of the only things I collect are coffee mugs from places I have been - if I find a really good one that I love. This one is from Deneen Pottery and is the second Deneen Pottery mug I am adding to my collection (first one was from Another Broken Egg Cafe in Destin, Florida).

Check-out is at noon here so we pushed it to the last minute and checked out at pretty much noon on the dot! We wanted to take yet another scenic route on the way home so we mapped a new way and saw some really gorgeous scenery along the Olentangy River through Delaware County - this time from the other side of the river than the way we came in. 

 Bridge across the river was flanked by an old railroad bridge that was now converted into a walking trail. It was really beautiful in person.

 I feel like this should be an advertisement for Land Rover - ha!  Maybe I could get some incentives...are you listening my local dealership - Cincinnati LR?! :)

The Olentangy River to our right.... There were stunning homes and estates ranging from 100+ year old farmsteads to brand new construction for miles along this river.

We took a leisurely pace on our way home too and made a final stop at the Tanger Outlets about an hour and a half from home so that I could get some orange creams and raspberry creams from Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory! I haven't had these in a couple of years and was so excited to be passing by during hours they were open.  

Some of the most delicious chocolate creams are in the is bag! I can never decide on my favorite flavor. When I eat an orange cream I swear it is the best, but then when I eat a raspberry cream I always exclaim that is the favorite. This time I even bought one milk chocolate covered caramel. I haven't tried it yet, but I have a feeling there may be a new favorite :)

And then we arrived home just in time to take the family out to dinner at our favorite local Mexican place before coming home to enjoy some homemade "brookie" cake and my beautiful family singing me "Happy Birthday"! :)

Look at this amazing group! From left to right: Lily (3yrs), Morgan (our au pair), Max (12yrs), Gabby (3yrs), Parker (9 yrs), Tanner (14 yrs) and Derek (my incredible husband!).....singing before I blow out the candles on my famous (infamous?) birthday **"brookie" cake! 

**this is a homemade chocolate chip cookie and brownie cake that I top with my own homemade vanilla frosting. I have made a version of this for years for almost everyone's birthday. It is almost always the requested treat by all of my kids in one version or another. One of them likes it "double doozie" style (vanilla frosting in-between two layers of chocolate chip cookie cake). Another likes just chocolate chip cookie cake with vanilla and milk chocolate frosting decorating it.  Another one likes it like this with half brownie and half chocolate chip cookie where the middle overlaps and you half a section of "half & half" topped with vanilla frosting. The options are almost endless and we LOVE these!  This one was gluten free and totally amazing!!! :)

Okay, so that wraps up our completely relaxing, seriously fun and adventures romantic birthday celebration night away.  Now for THE GIVEAWAY!  

I have for you a $50 gift certificate to use toward a two-night stay at Hide Away Country Inn good for anytime until Feb. 2017 courtesy of  Hide Away Country Inn!

All you have to do to win is like Four Seasons Style Facebook page and either leave a comment here or on Facebook  or private message me on Facebook letting me know you would like to win the contest. 

I will draw one lucky RANDOM winner on Valentine's Day (it is the day of romance and love) and announce it here by Tuesday morning so check back! 

Thanks for reading and I hope you have a wonderful weekend of love! 

XO

Jessy

Face Care Essentials - P.M. routine

Hello again and welcome to Part 2 of my Face Care Essentials (P.M. edition)! If you missed Part 1 (A.M. edition) you can view it here. 

So let's just get right into it!

Night Time

1. Exfoliate:  After the day's worth of grime I just can't wait to really clean and scrub the junk off and out of my face. To do this I exfoliate. I use one of two methods. I will either use my face wash (listed  in Morning routine) with my Clarisonic brush again or I will use a cream exfoliating wash. My current favorite is also from Peaches - Peaches Perfecting Polish. It also has essentials oils in it which I think is a great bonus for your skin and works well to destroy bacteria gently. Your face literally glows after using this. Note that a little goes a long way with this so you don't need to use a ton and it will last you forever!

Peaches Skin Care Perfecting Polish ($28)

2. Face Mask: I do a mask pretty much every night. Yes, I know this is time consuming and you may be balking at this step and saying "there is no way I have time for this every night!". Okay, I get it. SO maybe just do a couple of nights a week to start with. I promise you though once you start to see the results you may decide, as I did, that you WANT to take the time to do it every night. I rotate my routine between 3 different masks. Don't laugh at the first one - it's Milk of Magnesia (be sure to use the "Original flavor"). You read that right. I use antacid to mask my face. Okay, stay with me here! MOM has a very basic pH level while your skin's pH is very acidic. For this reason, using MOM ask a mask (specifically in very oily areas on your face - think "T-Zone") can help to clear out some of the bad bacteria and oil that builds up in your skin. You can even use it by applying it directly to a pimple as you first see it appearing and then leaving it on overnight. When you wake you may notice it has reduced noticeably or gone all together! I would be concerned with using it all over your face because of the pH effect and fearing it could be very "aging". This is why I use it only in my t-zone area or specifically on a pimple. 

I also use Peaches Miracle Mask and use this in all the areas I don't use MOM. Miracle Mask contains beeswax and avocado oil which is super hydrating.  Because these two mask have very different qualities I will mask with both using the MOM in my oily areas and then Miracle Mask on the areas that tend to be dry. After about 10 minutes I will rinse them off and viola - gorgeously glowing skin! :)

One more thing worth mentioning about MOM is that I have heard it makes a great make-up primer. I know it works to control oil production but I do worry about whether the pH balance on your face it negatively affected by wearing it all day? I thought it should be mentioned though. I would be fairly certain that if you use a primer now that using MOM instead is probably a better choice for your skin health. 

Milk of Magnesia (-$5)

*I apply this by Shaking the bottle well, pouring a little into the plastic sup that comes with the product and applying it to my face with a make-up brush as you see in the pic above. I then wash the cup back out and place it back on the bottle for next time. No refrigeration required so it can stay right in your bathroom :)

Peaches Skin Care Miracle Mask ($29)

And the final one I LOVE LOVE LOVE is Alitura Naturals Clay Mask. I think every girl needs a good clay mask to use regularly on their skin - every girl! This is truly the most amazing mask I have ever used. My skin looks years younger and literally GLOWS after I use this. It is a true "miracle"product and is 100% organic, natural and made with holistic and sustainable products. Buy it and use it now and thank me later! :)

The Alitura Clay Mask ($59)

3. Toner: Refer back to this step in the A.M. routine here. I do this step right after whatever mask I have just used and rinsed off. 

4. Retinol Treatment: For this step I actually alternate between a retinoid (vitmain A) product from Peaches Skin Care called Retinol Night Creme and a skin brightening serum from Peaches Skin Care called Luminescent Lifting Serum (which has skin powerhouse CoQ-10!) to get the results I am looking for. Using a retinol product is great not only for acne (as it was originally FDA approved for) but also for ramped up collagen product and cell turnover which results in brighter and tighter skin with less wrinkles - awesome! :) 

Peaches Skin Care Luminescent Lifting Serum ($29)

Peaches Skin Care Retinol Night Creme ($36)

5. Moisturize: Refer back to this step in the A.M.here - I add this just before heading to bed. 

EXTRAS

Okay, so now that you know my a.m. and p.m. routines I want to share with you the "extras" that come into play from time to time. 

• Baking Soda - I keep an airtight/watertight container of this in my shower (so that the powder stays dry). When I shower, after washing my face, I will put a little of the baking soda in my hand and mix a little water into it so it's a paste. It can then be applied with a circular motion to any areas that you have a breakout of specifically milia (those little white bumps that form in clusters and never go away). I typically get those on my chin so that it was I apply it. Because of baking soda's high alkalinity I avoid using it all over my face (I have seen it recommended other places as a great all over face wash, but I am not so sure about that being a great idea unless you have acne covered skin and even then I think you need to start elsewhere). I do think there is great benefit in using it to help clean up some of the "problem areas" though and have seen a reduction in those issues in my own skin. 
• Clean & Clear persa-gel 10 - This was recommended to me to use by a dermatologist as a much better acne spot treatment than any of the expensive or prescription versions that they could sell me. I will use it on the occasional blemish. It truly does banish the blemish very quickly and without over drying. See the picture below and click here to buy on-line. 
• Primal Life Organics Banished Blemish Serum - this is an organic blend of natural products including essential oils for targeting acne. I prefer this to the above listed product. It will get rid of any size acne or blemish very very quickly. I only use this product at night by dabbing it on affected area lightly after my complete night time routine (meaning this is the last thing I apply before bed).  The bottle will last you FOREVER because it only takes a very tiny bit for a blemish. And once you start on this skin care routine you will find that you will rarely have a blemish to treat :) See picture below and click here to buy on-line. 
• Apple Cider Vinegar Capsules - great skin starts inside first and is very often is a clear sign of your gut health and balance of good internal bacteria. The two are in direct connection! If you know the role that ACV plays in your internal health and realize it has many health benefits, but just wasn't sure how to take it internally then this is your answer!  If your like me you may not be able to stomach taking a tablespoon a day (generally recommended dose for digestive health) then this is also a super good option for you.  I take about 4 grams a day which is typically 2-3 (500-650mg) capsules twice a day (a.m. & p.m.). See picture below and click here to buy on-line. 
• Apple Cider Vinegar (with "the mother") - and of course, as I mentioned in the A.M. routine, this is an important resource for face health! You want to make sure you are using an organic apple cider vinegar with "the mother" (that chalky, stringy looking gunk at the bottom of the bottle) because that is where all the nutrients and live bacteria that you WANT hang out! 

Clean & Clear persa-gel 10 ($26)

Primal Life Organics Banished Blemish Serum ($55)

Apple Cider Vinegar Capsules ($18)

Okay, I think that pretty much wraps it up! That was enough, right?!  I hope that there was something (or maybe many things!) that you found helpful and you will be able to use to help with your skin health. 

Do you have experiences with any of the things I have mentioned or have recommendations that you would like to pass along? I would love to hear them if you do so please don't hesitate to leave a comment below. 

Thanks for reading! 

XO 

Jessy 

Face Care Essentials - A.M. routine

Happy Friday and welcome to my blog!

So today I am going to share with you my face care routine. In order to not make this post super super long (it is already very long!) I am going to split this up into a morning and evening routines based post.  I should warn you that a lot goes into my routines AND most of the products are not able to be picked up on local retail selves - sorry!  I KNOW it is a major pain in the butt.....(sigh), but at least everything I list here can be ordered online and that can be a bonus!

A couple of years ago I did a post much like this but the products I used were SO different. I mean really really different. I used to base my use of skin care products and makeup by popularity or what a celebrity was endorsing - not so uncommon, right?  The problem was that my skin never got any better and I was always on the hunt for the next product that could make up for what the previous products lacked. I thought my skin was getting worse partially because I was getting older so every year I was just going to have to "try harder" or buy more products or spend more money or start doing in depth procedures to get the results I wanted. I had wrinkles, dry patches, oily patches, breakouts at least once per month, lots of milia (little white bumps) on my chin and sometimes my cheeks and probably worse of all, my dark skin patches and spots (hyper pigmentation) were getting worse and worse. I could clearly see these things every time I looked in the mirror or even a picture of myself. I knew at 30-something I did not want to have all these skin issues and if I didn't do something by 50-something I would look much older than my years.

The one day, by chance, I had been listening to a natural health podcaster that I listen to pretty regularly when they had a guest on, Trina Felber, who was talking about her new book, Beauty's Dirty Secret. While I was listening to her it just all started to click....my skin care and beauty care routines really mattered to my health and the health of my skin!
I had been changing my family's diet and my own diet over the last few years and we were seeing the enormous health benefits of it, but what I hadn't really considered was our personal care and beauty products. It was a big "DUH!" for me.  I had noticed certain things get better with my skin since making the changes in what I was eating but had become frustrated when those positive changes stalled or reversed. Now I was realizes it wasn't just about what I was putting in my body but I needed to pay attention to what I put ON it as well. I bought Trina's book. Read it in a couple of days and things have been looking up ever since :)

Check out this book - it is life changing!
Beauty's Dirty Secret

In the months since I began changing my skin care routine and products I have noticed big changes in my skin - and I'm not the only one. I have had friends and maybe most amazingly, my husband, (I say this because I can cut 4 inches off my hair and he won't notice, but he noticed my skin before anyone else did!) say that my skin looks great. I have been with my husband for the past 22 years and he has told me in recent months that my "skin has never looked better"! Really...never?! That's amazing since we have been together since I was a teen, but he is right, It has truly never looked better and it's the first time in my life I have not been slathering chemicals on my skin!

I really want to share with you what I use, why and how so that you can start to see what a difference it can make in your life, too. I know it's hard to give up the products we are currently using even if we don't really feel like they are working. We want them to work. We have faith they will work. And we are seduced by the pop culture that tells us this is what all the beautiful people use. Please trust me when I tell you if you move away from the chemical products your skin will get better. Just take baby steps. If you don't want to trash everything tomorrow then just try a couple of things for a while and see the difference. I think you will become convinced and you will replace the rest of it quickly. 

Okay, so for my routine, here is what I use: 

(please know that I am not being endorsed for the mention of or your purchase of ANY of the products in this post!)

Morning

1. Face Wash: I have three products I like and use on a rotation. First is Primal Life Organics BARE Face Wash.   I really can't say enough good things about this face wash. This was the very first thing I changed and man did it make a difference right away. The smell, texture and color may be strange to you at first, but the results will make you a believer!

Primal Life Organics BARE Face Wash ($26)

Not long after I began going the more natural route with my skin care I was introduced to a new skin care spa in our area called "Peaches Skin Care". It was opened by Lisa Pfeiffer, who had started the company (and their flagship store) in southern California before opening her second store here in Montgomery, OH. I noticed a difference in my skin immediately after the first facial at Peaches and have been going back ever since. I use many (almost all) of their products and will show you many of them in this post. You can order them online and I will link those below. 

I like this particular cleanser because it full of antioxidants - many of which are known to help with reversing signs of aging like dark spots which I have had for years. My skin's hyper pigmentation has faded so much that I no longer wear any foundation - ever! Considering 6 months ago I would barely go anywhere (even the gym) without some kind of foundation - at least a tinted bb cream - this is a very big deal! I know that the use of Peaches Skin Care line and going to their salon monthly for a facial has really contributed to that. All of there products are geared toward helping with hyper pigmentation and other common skin issues. 

Peaches Classic Cleanser ($26) - I use this every morning with my Clarisonic brush. 

And the other cleansing product that I really love it from Dr. Trevor Cates new skin care line Daily Essentials System called Clear. It is an amazing product and the most pure cleanser that works hard to maintain your ideal pH level on your skin with essential oils and incredible extracts that your skin will just drink up!  

One of the best parts of this product is that the ingredients are grown, harvested and manufactured in the UK which has very high standards that must be followed for beauty products. Something that the US does not have...unfortunately. It helps you to know that these products entire ingredient lists must be shared with you (yes, that's right the products produced in the US do not have to give you an entire ingredient list!) and they must be grown and harvested with some pretty strict standards that are designed to keep them safe for human and animal use, in addition to not being harmful to the environment. 

The Spa Doctor Daily Essentials Clear cleanser ($40)

2. Toner: I think this is a super important step that is often overlooked because we just don't understand why it's needed.  Basically our skin has a pH balance that is knocked out of whack every time we clean it with an alkaline cleanser (pretty much all over the counter products in our drug stores or cosmetic stores) making it ramp up oil production and cause all kinds of cascading issues from there.  We have to clean our skin so what do we do? 

Well, we can start by using one of the cleansers I have listed above which are very pH balanced and we can also use a toner after cleansing.  Even if you are using a great pH balanced cleanser,  a toner after cleansing helps to close up the pores on our skin to protect them from becoming filled with the days grime and dirt - bonus! If you don't want to buy a toner or just want to try the completely natural route you can use Apple Cider Vinegar, lemon juice or even cucumber juice. Put some on a cotton ball and gently wipe it on your face after cleansing being careful to avoid the eye area. 

I personally love to use ACV to restore the proper pH balance on my skin and removes harmful bacteria that can lead to breakouts. It is important to only use organic, raw and unfiltered ACV such as Bragg's. It also contains the "mother" which is a living organism teaming with helpful active ingredients and bacteria for your skin. This is where all the benefits come. I apply this typically at night, but you can use it a.m. and p.m. if you would like. I keep the Bragg's ACV on my bathroom vanity (no refrigeration required) and to use it I just shake the bottle well, apply some directly to a cotton ball and apply to my entire face (keep it away from your eyes). It does smell (this is why I typically only use it at night) and it may burn a little as it comes in contact with any skin impurities. You may want to dilute it with water the first few times you use it until you get used to it. I would allow the ACV to sit on your face for 10 minutes before applying any moisturizers, make-ups, etc.

Bragg Apple Cider Vinegar ($4)

If you prefer to purchase a pH balancing toner that smells good and feels good then I highly recommend the one from Peaches Skin Care. Their Perfect pH Toner comes in a spray bottle and you can lightly mist it on throughout the day even to refresh your skin if needed between washing. I take this in a carry on size bottle when I fly anywhere and always mist my face with it a few times throughout the flight and then after I have landed. It really keeps your face from drying out or becoming too oily during a flight and your skin just looks and feels so much better.

Peaches Skin Care Perfect pH Toner ($22)

3. Moisturizer: Even if you have oily skin it is very important to moisturize your skin. Your skin needs the nourishment and "drink" to continue to turn over cells and look healthy and hydrated. I have a two products that I like a lot. One I have been using for a while is  Peaches Signature Firming Creme. Lately I have also been turned onto The Spa Dr. Enriched Moisturizer and really love this product. 

I have been so happy with all the other Peaches products and when I couple that with the cost savings over other products I have used in the past I just can't see a reason not to continue using them. On the other hand the Spa Dr. Essential line is truly made with the most incredible and completely organic ingredients while the price is still minimally to moderately priced. I will try each for a month before making a decision and will update you once I have my results. If you use either of these or do after reading this post please let me know what you think!  

The Spa Dr. Enriched Moisturizer ($60)

Peaches Skin Care Signature Firming Creme ($29)

So that pretty much wraps up my A.M. face care routine. The much more "complicated" routine I have is my evening routine. I will follow up this post with my evening care routine so you'll have that as well. 

Before I go I want to leave you with one final thought. It is vitally important to keep your skin care products as natural as possible which many of you may know, but what you may not know is that it is just as important to make sure that the products you are using as mildly acidic - like the ones I have listed in this post.  Research shows that it is that delicate pH balance on our skin that goes hand in hand with skin issues like acne, rosacea, eczema and so many more. And your pH balance is also the number one thing that keeps our skin looking youthful and this is affected by want we ingest, as well as, what we put on topically. As we age our skin becomes more alkaline and that is an environment that can lead to our skin drying out and allowing the formation of wrinkles and discoloration just to name a couple of common concerns. 

I really hope that this post was helpful to you and you learned something maybe you had never known or thought about before. 

I would love to hear your thoughts and comments so please take a minute to let me know what you think.

Have a great weekend!

Jessy

Weekday Date Night

I can't believe it is Friday already...where has the week gone?!

Well, last night my husband and I had a weekday date night. We try to do these a couple of times a month, actually. It's often the only time during the week that we are actually able to talk uninterrupted during the week (remember we have 5 kiddos so we are super outnumbered at home!).

I thought I would share my date night outfit with you. It was a very casual date night so it involved some of my very favorite elements: a tunic, boots and leggings. *Gasp* I know, leggings on date night?! Seriously, I thought the same thing but we did a painting class so I thought they would work and I was happy to see 3 other very stylishly dressed ladies at the event also in leggings! :)  It would have been far less comfy to sit perched on the stool in front of my canvas in jeans for hours for sure! 

Please do give me some grace for the poor quality selfies in the mirror. The lighting was terrible in the full length mirror in my bedroom so I had to resort to the bathroom - sorry again!

Tunic/ Leggings/ Watch (Fendi "Zip Code" not available) other styles here/ Zara Boots (no longer available) similar here & here/ Stella & Dot Necklace "Sanibel" reversible pendant/ Coat (Loft - sold out) similar here & here

Soooo, I did make this work for our mid-week painting date night, but I also love wearing this to pick up the kids, run to the grocery, a quick girl's lunch date, etc. This is such a comfortable and easy outfit to wear and really works almost anywhere :) 

This tunic has been featured by about every fashion or style blogger out there so it is nearly sold out, but there are still a FEW sizes and colors available so I wanted to alert you in case you haven' yet heard about it.  

For me it is about a perfect tunic. Even though I am 5'10" you can see that it covers my bottom completely (see above pic)! It is very light weight which I love to have when I wearing a coat because otherwise I start burning up in the car, etc. And really you need it just because it is now on sale for just under $26.00! No kidding!

Note: for size reference mine is a small and I am not a "small" girl. I typically wear a medium in a tunic and sometimes I will go for a large even. I am 5'10" and have a pretty good sized chest so take that into consideration when choosing your size. They do run big.

Leggings (must get yourself a pair if you haven't already!) and boots are old standards of mine.  I LOVE these Zara boots from a few years ago and go back to them time and time again. I own several pairs that are so similar (like the ones I linked above), but these are just a favorite no matter what! 

My coat was a purchase from Loft a few years ago and I get more compliments on this coat than about any of them in my closet (I have a "few";)! And, it is by far the most comfortable one to wear. The perfect weight, length and cut for me.  I referenced a couple above that look very similar since Loft no longer carries this. 

Oh, my watch.  I can't say enough about how much I love this Fendi watch. Although it is no longer available through Fendi you can find similar ones.  I have had this for years and it continues to be my favorite one to wear. It dresses up or down easily and I love the size and uniqueness of it. 

And finallly, I wanted to let you see a few pics from the actual date. We spent 2 hours in an art studio, sipping wine, eating cheese and crackers and getting instruction on how to paint the Cincinnati skyline. It was so much fun! BIG points scored by my husband who arranged the entire thing....he did very good :)  

Our station set-up. Instead of going out to dinner before or after we just took our dinner with us. Merlot soaked Sartori Bellavitano  (Ah-mazing cheese that you must try!),  my favorite Genoa Salami (similar here) and a few of my favorite Carr's Table Water crakers. Seriously soooooo good!

My super good looking date; aka my husband, Derek :)

And here is my finished art (yay).  It was so much fun and I left feeling very artistic :)

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!  

Jessy 

I Declare!

So for today's blog I really wanted to share with you one of my very favorite things I do everyday.....I declare! And I use Joel Osteen's book "I Declare: 31 Promises to Speak Over Your Life" to do it. It is an amazing, amazing book with incredible truths that you NEED to know and have declared over you every. single. day. And the best part about spending my mornings with "I Declare" is that my children are also a part of my "I Declare" mornings!

I actually stumbled upon this book for my mornings so I can't take credit for this. My husband had bought it for himself (he is a huge Joel Osteen fan) and was reading it daily on his own. When the new daily devotions book I had purchased to do with the kids ended up being a dud he suggested that we just try and read this with the kids each morning instead. Our kids get up and leave in shifts (5 kids in 4 different schools and 3 different buses!) so it would mean he would read it with one "shift" and I would read it with the other. 

We read the declaration that coincides with the day of the month that it is. So for example today we read the "Day Twenty-Six" declaration.  I am typically reading with my 9 year old and my two 3  year old (almost 4 y/o) daughters every day.  I have my son read the actual declaration (you can see how it is laid out in the pic below) and then I read the short message that comes after it (usually a page or two with an uplifting message and/or practical application of the declaration).  My son really loves this and has come home several days this month excited to tell  me that he remembered what he declared before leaving school and he knows it helped him in a specific situation. **Oh, be still my heart**

We plan to continue to read this through each day of every month throughout 2016.  I do believe in the power of your words and how much more powerful can your words be when you are speaking God's Word into your heart. And to do it out loud with your children in a deliberate way like this is absolutely life changing! In just under a month of doing this we have seen my once very negative, always thinks the sky is falling child turn into a very positive, life speaking little man. 

We keep it here - a basket in the center of our breakfast table. Easy to go back to anytime of the day that you need to repeat the message to yourself!

I  can't recommend this book enough and specifically when reading it with your children - whatever their age. It is never too young and it is never too late to begin declaring greatness in their lives!

Have a fantastic day!

Jessy

Bust the "Snow Day" Boredom

In light of all the snow being dumped on many parts of the country right now I thought it would be a good time to share my "snow day boredom busters".  In our family we have a mix of 5 girls and boys ranging from 14 years old down to 3 years old so we need a variety of ideas to appeal to everyone.

When we get the call and school has been cancelled it can be a little terrifying to think of being locked down at the house for the entire day. Alone. With five kids. Did I mention alone?!  Okay, well it's really not that bad...really.  I actually quite like a snow day and I enjoy the break from the normal routine...the excuse to sleep in a little, stay in pjs and take it easy, and the best part is really just having an entire day to make memories!  These days are so fleeting and I realize as I look at my 14 year old "man-child" that I really need to cherish all the time I get with them while they are growing up.

I don't think we do anything to earth shattering on our days snowed in, but I am excited to share what we do with you and hope that your families can use some of these ideas to enjoy your next snow day together.

Our 4 youngest checking out their first "snow day" of the year just a couple of days ago!

• Get outside! Okay, so maybe this is pretty basic, but since you can't beat the snow you might as well get out there and join it, right?!  Build a snow man, have a snowball fight, make snow angels. Or maybe do you have a hill nearby that you can sled on?  And for the more practical; get out some shovels and start shoveling driveways!  Once you have tackled your own maybe you could offer to shovel a neighbor's driveway that could use a helping hand?  My oldest sons grab shovels and even a friend or two and will traipse around the neighborhood knocking on doors and asking if they can shovel driveways for a few bucks. They split $75 up 3 ways last snow day for a little under 2 hours of work....not bad!

Our oldest son (far left) and two of his friends going out to shovel neighborhood driveways.

We get everyone in on clearing the snow around our house - even the 3 year olds and our poodle, Tuscan, gets in on the fun!

• Make Snow Ice Cream.  What is snow ice cream you ask? It is a time honored tradition in our family!  My husband and his family made it while he was growing up and he would even make it for the two of us before we had kids (seriously, he is obsessed with the stuff!). And now our kids BEG for snow ice cream anytime there is even the slightest hint of a flurry outside.  Try it with your kiddos - I think it will become a hit for your family, too!                                      

           How to make Snow Ice Cream                                                                                 

             Ingredients:

            Vanilla extract

             Sugar

             Milk 

             Gather up a couple of large mixing bowls of fresh, white snow. Mix in about a 1/2 cup of                     sugar, a tablespoon or so of vanilla extract and a few splashes of milk.  We just add in the                   ingredients until we get the right consistency and taste. SO easy and SO yummy! :)
       

Our Family Making Snow Ice Cream - Lily, Morgan (our Au Pair), Parker, Tanner, Max, Derek(my husband) and Gabby

• Have a Treasure Hunt! Too cold to venture outside? How about an indoor treasure hunt? When I was a kid I used to play a game called "Huckle Buckle Beanstalk" with my dad all the time. Any one else play this? He would hide a small object (we often used this small horse trinket that I loved) somewhere in the family room. It has to be within sight (think not putting it inside, under or in something). As I would get closer he would say "you're warm, warmer" and "you're hot. On fire!" or if I was looking in the wrong areas he would say "you're cold. very cold." It is truly one of my favorite memories of time with my dad. So simple, but truly so much fun. Think your kids are too old for this one?  You might be surprised!  I add incentives - like the kid that collect the most "treasures" can pick what kind of cookie we will make (see the next tip :)  or I will add 50 cents to their allowance for winning or they get to choose a piece of candy when they win, etc. Sometimes it can be hard to get the older ones to participate and I am not above incentives so we can have a fun, all in kind of time together. When playing with multiple kids I will usually switch up the game a bit and actually write out a list of things they need to find around the house that they have to check off as they go and then bring the completed list back to me once it's finished.  Sometimes we do "teams". It can really be fun and  such an interactive way to spend an afternoon together. 

Here are a few ideas that I found online that maybe could give you ideas (I make my own, but they are nearly as pretty as these!).

• Make some Homemade Cookies.   I don't always make cookies as an "event". As a matter of fact, I usually try to make them alone so I can get it done, get them baked and get out of the kitchen.  Anytime I involve the kids it can be quite a mess and I can get a *little* frustrated (sigh).  At any rate when stuck in the house for a snow day it can be a great opportunity to get everyone together and take the time to let everyone participate in baking and then enjoying some yummy cookies! We love to make cookies and then some hot cocoa to enjoy with them. The two together can't help, but warm you up! 

Here is a recipe my family loves. We call them "snowball" cookies. I hope you enjoy! 

Ingredients:

1 cup of butter, softened

4 teaspoons of vanilla extract

3/4 cup of powdered sugar

1 cup of powdered sugar (set aside for decorating later)

2 cups of flour

pinch of salt

1 tablespoon of cinnamon

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  Cream butter in large mixing bowl. Add vanilla and gradually add in the powdered sugar. Beat until light and fluffy. Add flour into the butter mixture and mix until forms a ball. Roll dough into about 1 inch balls onto a cookie sheet and bake 15-20 minutes - until the edges are very light brown. 

Remove from oven and while still warm, roll in the powdered sugar that you sat aside. place them in the freezer for about 5-10 minutes (should be solid to the touch) and then roll again in the powdered sugar and serve. These are truly delish with a mug of hot cocoa! Enjoy :)

• PJs and a Movie. So with my family this is a biggie. We have a home theater in the lower level of our home and we love family movie nights. This is a snow day twist on our family movie night!  Everyone gets in pjs, we usually pop some popcorn and get cozy in front of a fun "snowy" movie. Some of our favorites are Home Alone, Polar Express and Elf. 

• Play "Heads Up"! Okay, so this requires an iPad, iPhone or other smart device.  The app is free to download. You can play many fun categories including "just for kids" for free and add others for a minimal one time charge. This is a kind of electronic version of  "Head Bandz" game but WAY more fun!  We LOVE to play this game and it is as fun with 2 or 3 people as it is with huge groups of people. It can also be a really active game, especially when choosing the "act it out" category and is always a ton of laughs from adults and kids alike! 
  
  
  
  

• Surprise Ride box.  This is an amazing craft box that you can have sent to your family monthly with a subscription.  We aren't always able to do our monthly box so we store them in our front coat closet and when we have a snow day or a low key weekend day or evening we pull one out and work together as a family.  There are several activities in the box so typically my boys will each pick something they want to head up and we will all help with each part. The boxes have crafts, books, snacks, etc. and they are really well thought out.  We often provide these for birthday gifts to our kid's friends. They really love the Surprise Box so much and often want to introduce their friends to it.  This is something you will have to order in advance so do it now and be ready for the next snow day :) You can check it out here.

This pic is actually almost 2 years old of my boys with a surprise ride box. We have been enjoying these for a long time! 

Well, I hope that my list helps inspire you with your kiddos on your next snow day and if you have a fun activity that your family does on a snow day please share it in the comments below!  I would love to have some new ideas to add to our list. With my youngest two at just 3 years old I think I am going to have many many more snow days in my future and your can't have too many boredom busters to chose from.

Happy Friday! 

Jessy 

I'm Back?!

Wow, it has officially been "A WHILE"!  Okay, so nearly 2 years....I think that qualifies as "a while".  It has been a very busy 2 years in our family to say the least.
We welcomed our youngest daughter and fifth child in Sept. 2014 and even though that seems like a long time ago I am truly not quite "adjusted" yet. I have had a really difficult time managing my time over the last year and a half and decided that had to change. Call it a New Year's resolution if you will.  It IS my resolution and I am sticking to it. There, I have declared it and now it MUST happen (can you tell I am trying to convince myself here? :)

And, who can blame me for not being able to manage my time away from this cutie? Could you?!

I have documented much of our family life over the last several years including the addition of our little Lily on my adoption blog here. If you would like to see what we have been up to you can catch up there.

(This was taken about two months after she came home - I was heading to a costume party - obviously!)

Now for this blog! I have really really missed writing and want to get back to it. I have also vowed to stop wasting my time on Facebook (not that you are wasting your time if you use fb, but I do - trust me!) so I thought this would be a much better outlet for my daily musings, recipes, lifestyle and beauty posts than signing into Facebook much too often.  I can't and don't post most of what I want to there anyway so the blogging world is a much better space for me. So after the encouragement of a few of my friends and readers over the last few months I have decided I am going to do just that.

I truly do hope that you will enjoy reading this blog. I intend to update it several times a week using my daily life experiences with everything from COOKING (I am constantly creating new recipes and dishes that I would LOVE to share with you and I am a self proclaimed foodie and home chef!), BEAUTY (what woman doesn't want some good tips for this?!), FAITH (I strive every day to grow my relationship with God and be more of who He wants me to be and sometimes I could really use a place to write out my struggles and successes in this walk and I am just starting up a new women's bible study in my home and can't wait to share some of the principles we learn through this!), STYLE (yes, as a mom with young kiddos I spend many days in yoga pants and a tee, but I love having an idea of what I can wear instead to feel just as comfortable and a little more pulled together so I hope to share some of those with you that you!), NUTRITION/HEALTH (I am kind of a nutrition and health/wellness nerd and my ipod is filled with dozens of health & wellness podcasts that I listen to daily), MOTHERHOOD (I am NOT an expert, but I do have five kids ranging from 3-14 and I am sure I can give you lots of pointers on what NOT to do at least and that's half the battle, right?! :), LIFESTYLE (we are a very busy and diverse family and I run across things I want to share from a helpful and inspirational standpoint almost daily and this is where I can share those things!), TRAVEL (as a family we traveled more than 40 total days this year. That may not be a lot to some and to others it may be a ton, but suffice it to say I love to travel and we do so as often as we can!) and MARRIAGE (my husband and I have been married for almost 19 years and I am more in love with him that I have ever been in my life and I am more than happy to share how I think anyone can accomplish this - plus one of the companies we own just happens to be a "relationship growth company" with an app out right now and a couple of more currently in the works! We are kind of really into this happy healthy relationship stuff :).

Okay, well, I think that about wraps it up for today. I hope to be back with a "real" entry before the week's end.  I am really so excited to be back!
Bye for now!
Jessy