Current Faves, Part Three

So it's been a while, but I'm finally getting around to posting part three of my "Current Faves" series! (You can see parts One & Two here and here.) I always love hearing what other people are currently loving, so I'm going to continue highlighting things that I love here on the blog. Enjoy!

1.)  Ed Sheeran's New Album, Divide

I just can't even handle how much I love this album. I love Ed Sheeran, and this album did NOT disappoint. I love every song, but Castle on the Hill, Perfect, Galway Girl, and Supermarket Flowers are a few of my favorites. All the feels, you guys. All of them. Who wants to see him in Philly July 11th with me?!

2.) Presto Belgian Waffle Maker

Fact: I've always been more of a pancakes girl than a waffle girl. Matt and I received a waffle maker as a gift when we bought our first house seven years ago, and after using it maybe once, I sent it to Goodwill so it would go to a house that actually used it. Fast forward to a few weeks ago, when I started getting weird, intense cravings for thick, Belgian waffles. Matt loves waffles, so he was totally on board with this new obsession of mine. I started researching various waffle makers, and after reading a bunch of reviews, I landed on this one. We made our first batch of scratch-made Belgian waffles in our new waffle maker last weekend (using this recipe, which I would HIGHLY recommend), and I'm in love. Now I'm exploring Pinterest for other things I can make on our new waffle maker: Egg & Cheese Hash Brown Waffles, Pizza Waffles, or Banana Cream Pie Waffles, anyone?

3.) Rocky Mountain Essential Oils

I promise I'm not going to go off the deep end and start being one of those people who sells doTERRA or Young Living or whatever, clogging up your social media feeds trying to sell their product and raving about the benefits of essential oils (was that too much? Not trying to offend anyone, it's just a little pet peeve of mine...), but I wanted to invest in some good essential oils for several reasons. If you saw my hand scrub/lip scrub post, you know I want to start exploring DIY-ing some other beauty products, and essential oils are a great way to add scent and various benefits to these products. I did a lot of research and decided to go with Rocky Mountain Oils. I used this blog series on Essential Oils, among a few others, to make this decision. I'm excited to play around with the new oils and see what other homemade home & beauty goods I end up making!

4.) Contigo SnapSeal Travel Mug

Simply put, this is the best travel mug I've ever owned. We bought four of them in various colors and threw away all of our other travel mugs. It doesn't leak, the lid mechanism is great and easy to clean, and your coffee/tea stays hot for hours. Win win win. Go buy it - You won't be disappointed. 

5.) Hue Ultra Legging with Wide Waistband

I live for these leggings. I, no lie, didn't jump on the whole leggings bandwagon until this year. I just didn't think they were for me, and now I am so sad that I missed out on years of wearing these glorious pieces of clothing. Paired with a dress or good tunic and a cute pair of wedge booties, I feel like I can rule the world when I wear these things. And this is the only brand I'll wear. I have one pair of black LuLaRoe leggings that I'll wear around the house, but the wide waistband, thick fabric, and high quality construction of these Hue leggings definitely make them the best in my mind. Go grab a pair if you haven't already!

So that's it! Five of my favorite things at the moment. Stay tuned for part four!

xoxo,

Steph

Hand & Lip Scrubs

Hi friends! Today I'm sharing two recipes: one for a homemade hand scrub, and one for a homemade lip scrub. I don't know if anyone out there is as obsessed with scrubs as I am, but I love them so, so much, and I find them totally necessary in the winter months. I work in healthcare, and therefore I wash my hands approximately five gazillion times a day. Between the months of November and March, my hands are usually so dry and cracked from being over-washed that they're often on the verge of bleeding. I've tried just about every hand lotion/cream out there throughout the years (my all time favorite and daily go-to is this Organic Mandarin - Blood Orange Shea Butter Whip from Pure Suds Co in Scranton), but I still find I get the best results when I regularly use a good hand scrub in addition to a quality hand cream. I've purchased various scrubs over the past few years, but when I started seeing a few recipes for DIY-ing them at home, I figured I'd give it a try. I can't believe it took me so long to make my own! These recipes are suuuper simple, and it's highly likely that you already have all of the ingredients in your pantry! So grab a little mixing bowl, and follow these directions for softer, smoother hands (and lips!).

What you'll need:

(Don't be intimidated; there are ways to adapt the recipes to what you already have at home.)

Hand Scrub:

Ingredients:
1 c. White Sugar
1/4 c. Oil (I used Grapeseed Oil, but you can use Olive Oil or Coconut Oil)
Approximately 20 drops of Grapefruit Essential Oil (add more or less to your taste)
Optional:
A Squeeze of Fresh Grapefruit Juice (for added scent/color)
A Few Drops of Beet Juice (for added color)

Notes:
You can totally adjust the scent to your taste. If you don't like the scent of grapefruit, you can certainly use another essential oil. Or, if you don't have any essential oils at home, you can use a teaspoon of vanilla extract! And I only added the grapefruit juice and the beet juice (I boiled a few beets in water and then froze the leftover liquid in ice cube trays to use as a natural food coloring in the future) for natural coloring and added scent, but this is optional. You could use food coloring if you'd like, or just keep it color-free!

Directions:
Mix all ingredients together, and then store in airtight container. Wash and dry your hands before using scrub. Scoop out a small amount (to your preference; I use an amount slightly smaller than a grape), wet your hands/the scrub slightly, and then massage into hands. Wash off with warm running water. Pat dry. Do not re-wash afterwards. Your hands might feel slightly oily, but the oil will absorb into your skin quickly. If you wash your hands after applying the scrub, you will wash away all of the oil that is mean to moisturize and nourish your skin.

Lip Scrub:

Ingredients:
2 Tbsp. Sugar
1 - 2 tsp. Oil (Coconut, Olive, or other)
1 tsp. Honey
10 Drops Essential Oil (I used Grapefruit, but again, use what you like)
Optional:
Grapefruit and/or Beet Juice for Natural Color

Notes:
If you're skipping the grapefruit/beet juice, you may want to add slightly more oil to get the scrub to the consistency you like. I prefer my lip scrub to be slightly more liquidy, while I'll keep my hand scrub more dry.

Directions:
Mix all ingredients together, and then store in airtight container. Apply a small amount of scrub to your lips and rub in until sugar begins to dissolve. Let sit on lips for 30-60 seconds, and then wipe off with clean towel.

There you have it! Easy, right? These scrubs are guaranteed to give you smoother hands and lips, and they make great gifts as well. I'm so glad I took the plunge and finally tried out these recipes - I can't wait to experiment with other DIY beauty products!

Happy Scrubbing!
xoxo,
Steph

Milo

Five years ago on this date, we adopted this little weirdo.

We weren't searching for another dog at the time. We already had our shih tzu/lhasa apso mix Murphy at home, and we had never really discussed wanting to have two dogs. Matt apparently had other plans. He went to the Lancaster Humane League one day after work after he heard that they had gotten a large number of dogs in that had been rescued from a puppy mill. He immediately called me and started sending me pictures of this sad, pathetic dog with his nose in the corner. It was game over. I drove to the the Humane League, and suddenly, we were a two dog family.

Nose in the Corner at the Humane League

The Day We Adopted Him

Milo & Murphy - Bonded Since Day One

It took days weeks months years for Milo to come around. He had been kept in a cage for all of his 1-2(ish) years of life up to that point, used solely for breeding at a disgusting puppy mill. He had never gone up steps, he had never walked on a leash, and he sure as heck had never been house trained. He was (is?) one of the shyest, most skiddish dogs we have ever seen. And that's saying a LOT, because Murphy was a hot mess when we first adopted him. Matt and I always tend to gravitate towards the saddest dogs we can find. Our hearts just go out to them, and we feel this overwhelming desire to "fix" them. But Milo has come a LONG way in the last five years, and adopting him really was the best thing for Murphy. These two love each other and are basically attached to each other at all times.

Love.

Back in November, Milo got incredibly sick. When we took him to the vet, they did blood work and an X-ray and told us he had a tumor growing on his bladder. We are now fairly confident that it was just an infection that showed up looking like a tumor in the X-ray, but at the time he was really, really sick. Like, not eating, not drinking, can't move, screaming in pain sick. We were sure we were going to have to put him down. Thankfully, this all occurred Thanksgiving weekend. It was tough enough to find a vet who was open and could see him, but then we had to wait it out Saturday night and through the day on Sunday, sure that we were going to have to put him down first thing Monday morning. Friends, we MOURNED that dog. Matt and I were a crazy, crazy mess. We didn't sleep much Saturday night, just trying our best to keep Milo comfortable while saying our goodbyes. When we woke up Sunday morning, he miraculously seemed slightly better. Throughout the coming days, with the help of the antibiotics and anti-inflammatories he was on, he started to get better and back to his old self. Within a week or so, he was totally back to normal, as if the whole thing was just a bad dream. I can't even tell you how grateful we are that we didn't put him down back in November.

We love this little guy, and he's been the best addition to our little family. Happy five years, Milo! Here's to many, many more years with you!

Money Tip #1

Fun fact about me that you may not know: I'm a huge financial nerd. I'm slightly in love with money guru Dave Ramsey, and I'm not ashamed to say it (except if he's talking politics, then I'm just slightly ashamed). I've read all of his books and I download his podcast every day. One of my most precious possessions is my crazy Numbers (Mac's version of Excel) budget worksheet, which I diligently update pretty much every week. I keep a close eye on our finances because I have a lot of lofty goals for our future (travel, vacation home, etc.), and I don't want money to stand in the way of us achieving those goals. We plan to be totally debt free at some point this calendar year, which I'll talk about in another post. 

Because of my quirky love for all things financial, and my love for teaching people about those things (quick note: I am not an in your face, over the top, must tell everyone about Dave Ramsey until everyone hates me because they're so sick of hearing about it type of person, but a decent number of our close friends and family members know of my passion in this area and have approached me with questions about it over the years, and in that situation I truly love sharing my knowledge with them), I figured I would start a little series on the blog with various money tips. So now that we got all of that out of the way, here's my first money tip:

Money Tip #1: Start Saving for Next Christmas Right NOW.

Maybe that's not the most earth-shattering, awe-inspiring money tip to give as my first ever tip, but give me a moment to explain.

It's January. Although it feels like the holidays happened forever ago (or is that just me??), really they were just a few weeks ago. Maybe this month you got your credit card bill and were shocked by your balance. Maybe the first week or two of January were a little tighter than you'd like, because you drained down your bank account buying Christmas gifts. I've been there. Another thing about myself: I'm a giver. I love gifting people with presents, and Christmas is my Super Bowl. I spend an inordinate about of time planning out what I'm going to get people, scooping up little hints and mentions throughout the year and tucking them away until December. Along with spending a lot of time figuring out what to buy people, I also usually spend a decent amount of money making sure I buy the most perfect gifts that I can think of. In the past, this was an issue. You see, we all know that Christmas comes every single year on December 25th. Without fail, there it is. But somehow it sneaks up on us financially because we just don't plan for it. Logically, we know it's coming, but we don't properly prepare. We overspend, and then we regret it. Can you take a moment to think about how nice it would feel to have a whole lump of cash saved up, so that this year when Black Friday rolls around and the mayhem surrounding Christmas shopping begins, you already have all the cash laying there and ready for you? What a good feeling. And it's possible! You just need to start today. So here's what you need to do:

1. Create a separate checking account to label "Christmas" (if your bank allows you to do this, which hopefully they will).

I love having several separate checking accounts with our bank. I currently have five of them: Checking, Savings, Vacation, Christmas, and "Special Savings". Being able to keep these accounts separate (but all under our joint account, so that I can see everything when I log in to our online banking and easily transfer money from one account to the other) is an awesome tool for being able to save for certain items. If I kept all of our Christmas money just in with our regular checking account, chances are I might end up spending it. Keeping it separate makes that nearly impossible. Check with your bank, but we've done it with every local bank we've ever had without any issue. 

2. Figure out your total Christmas budget. 

This sounds a little daunting, but I promise it will be less painful than you think. Maybe you already have some numbers in mind (i.e. you usually spend $50 on parents, $20 on friends, etc.), but if not, you can just go back through your bank statements in the month or so leading up to Christmas (or whenever you did the bulk of your Christmas shopping) and try to get a rough total. If you spent, say $1,000 on Christmas this year, then that would be your budget. If you know everyone that you buy for and have a rough idea of what you spend on them, add all of those numbers together and get your total number. It doesn't have to be exact - just get a number in mind. 

For example, this is my personal Christmas budget:

Parents: $75 per parent, x5. Total: $375

Siblings: $30-$50 per sibling, x4. Total: $120-$200

Grandparents: $15 per grandmother, x3. Total: $45

Cousin Gift Exchange: $30, x2. Total: $60

Random Friends or Other Gift Exchanges: ~$100

Grand Total: $780

(Matt and I also buy for each other, but we typically just use our own "fun money" for that, so I don't necessarily include that in my Christmas Budget.)

3. Determine how much money you need to save each month to reach your grand total, and then transfer that amount into your Christmas account.

Simply take your grand total from above and divide it by 12. $780/12 = $65 per month.

(Side note: I usually put between $50 and $75 in per month, and sometimes I put in as much as $100. I like to have a little extra padding, and then that helps pay for things like Christmas cards, random hostess gifts or other unexpected gifts you end up buying, or even a new outfit for a Christmas party. If I have $1,000 in that account by the time Black Friday rolls around, I know I am good to go.)

4. Do this every single month until Christmas, and then complete your Christmas shopping with the peace of mind that comes with knowing Christmas was paid for in cash and that you won't be experiencing any buyer's remorse come December 26th! 

So anyway, that's my first money tip for you. Start today, and I promise you won't regret it! Stay tuned for more tips in the future. 

xoxo,

Steph

Six Months

Six months ago I opened up and wrote a lengthy post about our struggle with infertility. I was overwhelmed by the amount of people who read our story and reached out to us in person or via calls, texts, Facebook messages, and comments on my post. I was so touched by all the kind words, and found a lot of comfort and hope in hearing stories from family and friends who have gone through a journey similar to our's. Not much has changed in the last six months regarding our situation, aside from the fact that we started seeing a new fertility doctor and he has given us a lot of hope. I have started new medications, and next week I will go for a laparoscopy so that our doctor can go inside and get a better look at a possible issue with one of my Fallopian Tubes. Until then, we continue to be hopeful and ask for prayers and good thoughts that we will one day be able to get pregnant.

While not much has changed in the last six months regarding our pregnancy status, a whole lot of life has definitely happened. I'm feeling renewed and recharged in this new year after a slightly trying 2016. I am hoping to get back into blogging, posting about our life with a bit more regularity. Thanks for sticking with me, friends. I'll post again soon.

Xoxo,
Steph

Two Years.

This month marks two years. Two years since Matt and I began trying to get pregnant. Two years of visits of gynecologists and fertility doctors and specialists. Two years of tests and procedures and pain and tears and new diagnoses and new medications. Two years of too many negative pregnancy tests to keep track of. Two difficult, heart-wrenching, excruciating years.

It's been two years, but it feels a bit more like a lifetime.

Friends, I was so naive at the beginning of this process. We "officially" started trying to get pregnant in July of 2014 because I figured we'd get pregnant right away, and I had done the math... Nine months from July is April, and I thought April would be a really nice month to have a baby. I shit you not, that was the actual thought process that my brain went though. I knew so little of the whole ovulation process and what goes into two people conceiving a child. I took for granted that I would be able to just snap my fingers and get pregnant whenever I wanted to. If teenagers can "accidentally" get pregnant after a night of unprotected sex, it wouldn't be hard for two people who are in love and have been together for over ten years to get pregnant, right? Wrong.

It's been hard. Really hard. It's been a silent struggle that we've been dealing with for two years, only sharing with the closest of friends and family. I feel so helpless, so vulnerable. There has been a lot of tears and sadness, and a lot of anger. Excessive weight gain and a neglect of my heath in a time where I should be doing my best to improve my health. It's been a hard season of life.

I've been diagnosed with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome, aka PCOS. I had never heard of PCOS until we had our first visit with the fertility doctor. I won't bore you with all the details, but basically, my ovaries are filled with small cysts. This throws off the hormone levels in my body, and my eggs don't have the opportunity to fully mature. Essentially, I just don't ovulate, which obviously makes it very difficult for me to get pregnant. The list of symptoms for PCOS is basically a checklist of things I've struggled with for years, so it was almost nice to get the diagnosis and finally have an explanation for all of those issues. After going through some additional testing to make sure nothing else was impeding my ability to get pregnant, I began medication to help me ovulate. The hope was that this method alone would be enough to allow me to get pregnant, but so far, no luck.

Recently, a couple that we're very close with announced at a big gathering that they were pregnant. Matt and I accidentally missed the official announcement, so they pulled us aside to tell us in private since they knew what we have been going though. I tried my best to look excited and congratulate them, but then I immediately went to the bathroom, locked myself in, and spent the next 40 minutes sobbing. I was happy for them, but so, so sad for us. Not exactly my proudest moment.

I know that Matt and I will eventually be parents. Aside from a brief period of time a few years ago when I was feeling selfish and thought maybe I'd rather not have children, instead spending my time and money traveling the world, I've always wanted to be a mother. And if you have ever met my husband, then you know he's going to be the most incredible dad ever. Seriously. I know that without a doubt, and I can't wait to raise kids with him. I want nothing more than to experience pregnancy, and to experience it naturally, but I am frustrated by how difficult this process has been for us. I'm not a big fan of things that aren't "natural", and I already hate that I have to take medication to help me attempt to get pregnant. Our next steps beyond this would be IUI (intrauterine insemination) or IVF (in vitro fertilization), both of which can get a bit costly and aren't really ideal in my book. Combining sperm and an egg in a petri dish in the hopes that they fertilize? Not exactly my idea of a romantic conception. Beyond those options, we would begin to explore adoption.

This has been a tough thing to go through not only because of the obvious reason (aka the whole not being able to have a child thing), but also because infertility is just something that's not really talked about. Unless you're a woman trying to get pregnant and you happen to have a friend that has also gone through this same thing, you feel like you don't really have anyone to talk to about it. You feel alone. There's almost a negative stigma attached to the issue of infertility, and it's just not a common topic of discussion. I am asked all. the. time. whether I have children and/or when Matt and I are planning to have kids. Can you image how people would react if I responded truthfully? If I said I don't know, I've been wondering the same thing myself? That we've been trying our hardest for two years and we're heartbroken that it hasn't happened yet? I guess my main reason for putting all of this out there is to just to open the discussion, say that I'm not ashamed of the "infertile" title that has been slapped on me, but also admit that I need help. That I, we, need your support during this time. Whether it's through prayer, happy thoughts, texts, phone calls, emails, or offers to join me during a fertility appointment to hold my hand when Matt's schedule doesn't allow him to join me (KB I love you always), we will take it. If you've been through this, reach out to me. If you have suggestions or tips or recommendations, send them my way. If you would pray for us, please do. It's been hard, and although I want to believe that this will all work out in the end, somedays it's hard for me to see beyond the negative pregnancy tests.

Thanks for being an open ear, friends. Much love to all.

Steph

Summer Mayhem

The last month and a half has been nuts. Two weeks of vacation in OCNJ, one week of counseling Senior High Adventure here at the Plateau, and working 50ish + hours on the weeks in between. One week of vacay, one week of work. One week of vacay, one week of work. One work of "vacay" (not entirely sure spending a week leading a group of senior highers and getting 3-5 hours of sleep a night while running around non-stop during the day is really considered a vacation, but...), and then back to work. Despite having three out of the last six weeks off of work, it's still been a crazy time and I feel like I haven't been able to get a single thing done. Combine that with the fact that we've had so many visitors over the past two weeks (23 members of my family were here for a weekend, part of Matt's family was here from Indiana this past week, camp friends have been coming and going and occasionally staying in our guest rooms, etc.), I am behind on everything. I never got my July birthday cards done. One of my closest friends had her third baby and I haven't even started the baby quilt. Things are shoved into nearly all of our closets from when I was quickly "cleaning" before our next set of guests arrived. But I wouldn't really trade this busy season for anything. Spending time in Ocean City, NJ with my family is my absolute favorite, and adding a second week with Matt's family for the first time this year was so much fun. This year of Senior High Adventure was one of the best to date; My co-counselor was fantastic, our campers were awesome, and the rest of the SHA "staff" (program director, assistant program director, nurse, and the other counselors) are some of my favorite people to spend a week in the woods with. And I love hosting people and would never pass up on the opportunity to have people visit or come stay at our house. So here's a brief photo recap of the last six weeks. We've packed a lot of fun into all this crazy.

Ocean City, NJ with the Kleins! Super windy and kind of chilly, but still a great week.

Left OCNJ and drove to OCMD to spend the weekend with my girls! Good times. 

BEYONCE CONCERT IN HERSHEY! Totally lost my mind and had the most amazing time. 

The next morning... Post-Beyonce Hangover.

Back to OCNJ with the McCanns! 27 of us. Best week of the year.

Favorite View. 

Running the boardwalk in OCNJ is my fav. Ran 7 miles one day. Considering another half marathon this fall.  

Pocono Plateau's Senior High Adventure 2016! Stony Cove!

2016 Site Olympics Champs!!! 

Some of our visitors the last couple of weeks! Loved having visits from the McCanns, the Andresens/Ryans, and the Franks!

I hope your summer has been just as crazy and just as fun!

xoxo,
Steph