Oil face cleanse? trust me.

As I was checking out blogs on my phone in the back seat of my car one day while bored with the Kentucky scenery I came across the oil face cleanse! I saw it on Carynn Mae's blog in her Food on Your Face Friday post. And I was like um ew, oil cleanse, yeah right not on my skin that you could mine for oil on. (ok that was kinda gross, sorry...but for serious it's bad.) But I was curious so researched it some and it started to make total sense! And my skin has been so bad since last August that I'll try anything lately, especially when it's natural! Now being a child blessed with the bad skin gene (as was my big brother, but strangely enough neither of our parents had bad skin growing up, rude) I'm no stranger to acne, I dealt with it all through high school but finally had it under control part way through college and was totally fine and nice clear skined until last summer. Then it came back with a vengeance. Who knows, I given up trying to understand the ways of the body a long time ago, especially mine which doesn't seem to like to work like normal persons. Getting away from the point!

Oil cleanse! So what you do is mix together castor oil (this is the base of any oil face cleanse because it's the oil that draws out the toxins and dirt) and whatever other oil you like, olive, jojoba, grapeseed, sunflower etc... And if you have super oil producing skin like mine you want more castor oil than the other, but no more than 75%, it can actually be a drying oil. But you can do anywhere from 25% to 75% castor oil, you want some in the mix because it's the one that does the cleansing.

So mix that up, put it in a little bottle or whatever you want for easy daily use and put a nice blob in your hand and massage it on your face for a good minute! Guess what you guys, since oil dissolves oil it'll get rid of any blackheads you have! AMAZING! Ok after you've massaged get a wash cloth good and steamy-almost-can't-stand-it-hot and wring it out and cover your face with it until it's cool. This will open your pores and let the castor oil do it's thing!

I do this cleanse morning (mornings I put it on in the shower and let the steam do its thing until I'm done then wipe it off with a wash cloth) and night, and you guys my skin isn't nearly as oily as it was a month ago!!! I don't have to constantly blot during the day! Who knew oil could help with oil! ha! also my skin is starting to get clearer (also thanks to finally getting my face meds again...I'm hoping it'll be back to being pretty skin again soon!) and my mom said my face seems less puffy, I guess castor oil also helps with swelling! It's been so amazing, I love it! I don't think I'll ever use harsh soaps again that strip my face of all it's natural oil so then it produces even more to compensate!

Also I started using a natural toner, I mixed apple cider vinegar with witch hazel and a few drops of lavender essential oil. I love that too! It's not so harsh as store bought toners and makes my face feel light and happy and fresh. And I don't even use a moisturizer anymore! The oil is just enough! Talk about money saving huh?!

Go research it before you try, but I had to share because I am just in love with my new face routine!

4 more days!

I only have 4 days of this quarter left! I couldn't be more excited to be leaving it behind, it's been stressful and exhausting, and when it's over it means I get to road trip it back to the West coast (the best coast). This will be my 4th or 5th time driving cross country...I can't remember, I think 4th. Ashlee and Heather are flying in today to help me pack and clean hang out until my classes are done and we leave Friday! I haven't seen them since before Christmas so I'm pretty excited! I'll only be home for a few weeks then I have to come back here for a couple weeks for the beginning of Summer quarter and my final thesis project. But I'm doing most that at home since it focuses on my town there! Hooray! More time in Washington and less time in Georgia (so glad to I don't have to spend most of the summer in the sweaty humid heat of the South)! Well better get back to studying for my art history final.

Happy Summertime!

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Hooray!

After weeks and weeks of anxiety I finally had my M.A review for candidacy tonight, and I passed! I didn't think I wasn't going to pass exactly, it was just the unknown and there's so much riding on that one presentation! I'm so glad its over!!! Luckily our two profs on the "panel" (we only have two in our program) weren't too harsh on me, just some suggestions for my final project next quarter which I'll gladly take and try to integrate into it!

It's just a huge relief to have this presentation and process over with! And now I can focus on classes for the next three weeks and not have this looming over me! Except now I'm having minor anxiety about my final project, but that will all sort itself out as it goes. Now I'm just looking forward to when Ashlee and Heather get here in two weeks (almost) and then a few days after that we leave on our road trip home!!!

Hope everyone has a good weekend! Mine will be full of contextual research (gross) and writing a research paper on the homes of Jane Austen (fun).

Celiac awareness month.

This month is Celiac awareness month. I was diagnosed with Celiac disease 9 years ago. I actually have Celiac sprue in which gluten not only attacks my gut but also my skin. Hooray! Celiac is an autoimmune disease and is genetic.

It is NOT an allergy to gluten, a Celiac's body literally cannot process gluten, it attacks us! And the only cure is to go on a gluten free diet. Its not as bad as you think, I always laugh when people exclaim to me "WHAT DO YOU EAT???" I say well the same things you do! But it was hard in the beginning, I won't lie.

It was a tough road. I was still a teenager when I was diagnosed so once I moved away to college and I didn't have mom to feed me and I cheated on my diet a lot. It took it's toll on me. After college I became very sick and the doctors couldn't figure it out. I eventually got better after being diligent on my diet and taking tons of supplements and vitamins. But two years later I again got really sick but luckily this time the doctors finally figured it out, I developed another autoimmune disease, eosinophilic esophagitis. Being that Celiac is an autoimmune disease my immune system is always going to be compromised so during times of high stress on my body it's very easy for me fall sick or even to develop new autoimmune disorders as in this case. Fun. My tummy doctor, as I like to call him, was amazing, and I was one of the lucky 50% who went into remission from eosinophilic esophagitis after being on medication for 6 months.

I haven't intentionally eaten gluten since 2007 and I really don't miss it anymore. I did miss it the first five years (because I was cheating so still couldn't get the loveliness of wheat flour out of my head) but since going completely gluten free and never ever cheating (seriously I haven't even once! my tummy doctor was impressed with how clean my gut was last year! I was pretty proud of myself) I don't miss it at all! I can't even remember what a cookie made with wheat flour tastes like, or what "normal" bread tastes like! There are such amazing gluten free products now, and I've learned how to bake gluten free that I don't need that poison!

If you think you might have a gluten sensitivity or intolerance please don't wait to get tested! I promise it's not that scary! There's a huge community of us out there with recipes and tips and insights to share! 1 in every 133 Americans have Celiac disease, don't be one of those who get misdiagnosed or don't get tested, it can be deadly if you don't (it can result in cancer if not treated) and who wants to go through life with a constant sick stomach and diarrhea and low energy and headaches and who knows what else! not me!

There's much much more to my story than I wrote about, but I hate talking about my health and I don't want to bore you with the details. I just want to encourage those who think they might have Celiac to get tested and those who don't have it please be sensitive. Believe me, we are not trying to just be difficult people by not being able to eat certain things, and we hate having to be the ones to veto a restaurant or meal choice. I can't stand it when I have to speak up about my diet, I literally hate it, but there are times when i need to so I can eat. We aren't trying to be party poopers, and if you are a true friend (like mine are, luckily) you'll care more for your friends health and just being in their company than where or what you eat.

Happy May and happy Celiac awareness!

Faith-not emotion

I liked yesterdays My Utmost for His Highest. It was a good reminder. Basically it's saying we must walk by faith with God and we can't just sit around and wait for him to make things change. He won't do anything if you aren't doing anything. But if you have faith and start taking steps and moving he will light the path and move your feet in the right direction.

It was a good to read this when I'm starting to think about jobs as I will graduating on September 1st from my Master's. I have no idea what I want to do with this degree and sometimes it paralyzes me with fear because what if I hate a job I end up getting or I can't find a career job right away (we all know its not a great job market out there) and have to just toil away in a retail job or something? But I know that if I go by faith God will steer me toward the perfect job for that time.


My Utmost For His Highest
Oswald Chambers
utmost.org

For a while, we are fully aware of God’s concern for us. But then, when God begins to use us in His work, we begin to take on a pitiful look and talk only of our trials and difficulties. And all the while God is trying to make us do our work as hidden people who are not in the spotlight. None of us would be hidden spiritually if we could help it. Can we do our work when it seems that God has sealed up heaven? Some of us always want to be brightly illuminated saints with golden halos and with the continual glow of inspiration, and to have other saints of God dealing with us all the time. A self-assured saint is of no value to God. He is abnormal, unfit for daily life, and completely unlike God. We are here, not as immature angels, but as men and women, to do the work of this world. And we are to do it with an infinitely greater power to withstand the struggle because we have been born from above.

If we continually try to bring back those exceptional moments of inspiration, it is a sign that it is not God we want. We are becoming obsessed with the moments when God did come and speak with us, and we are insisting that He do it again. But what God wants us to do is to “walk by faith.” How many of us have set ourselves aside as if to say, “I cannot do anything else until God appears to me”? He will never do it. We will have to get up on our own, without any inspiration and without any sudden touch from God. Then comes our surprise and we find ourselves exclaiming, “Why, He was there all the time, and I never knew it!” Never live for those exceptional moments— they are surprises. God will give us His touches of inspiration only when He sees that we are not in danger of being led away by them. We must never consider our moments of inspiration as the standard way of life— our work is our standard.

Its no secret...

That I love anything British (as in I seriously should have been born in England...and probably in the 1700's), so it's not surprising I'm super excited about Prince William and Kate's wedding tomorrow! Yes I'm waking up at 4 to watch it. And no I'm not ashamed at all. I think the whole royal lineage of England is so interesting! I'm a total dork and have read this,

My mom loves history too and we have had many conversations about who reigned when and how they came to be king or queen.

And one of my all time favorite movies is this,

Its so romantic, she and Prince Albert were so in love with each other, and I think she was a great queen even though she was a bit stuffy in old age.

And even though it was rather racy I LOVED this show

I'm in love with Henry Cavill who played Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk.

Oh and this movie was wonderful,

I think King George was one of the greatest kings of Britian, he knew his duty and wasn't going to give up no matter what it took and no matter how much he was told he couldn't do it. 

So yeah, I'm pretty excited for the first Royal Wedding of my lifetime. Its quite a fairy tale and is lovely to dream about (even though it makes me laugh when they say Kate is a commoner when her family has a multi million dollar business, I'm sorry but in the US that's not a commoner, but I know in Britain technically it is).

And here's a wedding picture of Queen Elizabeth for good measure. 

(I've always thought Prince Philip is very handsome, even now.) 

So happy wedding day tomorrow! 

   

"Loneliness does not come from being alone, but from being unable to communicate the things that seem important."
Carl Jung

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