Thrive Simply

I remember when the world "clove" reminded me only of making pomanders in school by pushing clove buds into oranges around the holidays (maybe that's why I love my wild orange and clove sugar scrub !). My, how things have changed! Now when I think of cloves, I think of OnGuard, dōTERRA's protective blend (more on that later), which is in the cleaner concentrate we use, my toothpaste, and even drops I such on when my throat needs soothing. The other thing that comes to mind is the relief of dental-related discomfort. Yep - think of drooling, teething, unhappy little babies and toddlers. Clove oil works for them, too!! I still remember the day that my clove oil arrived. I cracked that bottle open and threw a drop into a roller bottle of fractionated coconut oil before you could say "apple pie!" We roll that heavily diluted clove oil on the teething todder's jawline and even put some on a finger tip and swipe his swollen gums! It brings him nearly in...

ZenGest is by far one of my favourite blends from dōTERRA. It's a digestion blend that is a combination of ginger, peppermint , caraway, coriander, anise, tarragon and fennel. It has a sweet licorice scent to it because of the anise and fennel, but it's mild enough that a black-licorice-hater like me can handle it! haha When I was getting my oils from a different company in the past, I had tried the other company's digestion blend, but I really didn't identify with the scent of the oil. This one, on the other hand, is instantly comforting and is extremely effective. Essential oils are used aromatically, topically and internally. Aromatically, ZenGest is great for motion sickness and a friend of mine has had great success using it  aromatically (by diffusing it) to calm her morning sickness in early pregnancy. Topically, I use ZenGest in a roller bottle on my abdomen when I feel bloated or "just not quite right." My husband uses it for the same, and we...

Since my children don't love to eat meat and pulses and they go to a nut-free school, it's challenging to come up with protein-rich foods that they'll happily take in their lunches. I also find it challenging to keep my tank full with the running, cycling and Ultimate that I do. These wild orange energy bites are fantastic for give us the power and protein boost we need. They're also sweet, so they satisfy our sweet tooth, too! The original recipe is from the dōTERRA blog and it's delicious when you follow it exactly as it's written.  I tweaked the recipe a bit because I need it to be nut-free and also because we don't need them to be quite as sweet and I like having more coconut to keep them from sticking.  The ingredients are pretty simple - Wow Butter, dried cranberries, shredded coconut, chia seeds, honey, pinch of salt and some wild orange essential oil.  To make these guys, you just combine all the ingredients (except for approximately 3/...

No one likes having a cold, but they are especially annoying when they come on just as the weather is  becoming beautiful. Everyone else is enjoying the smell of blossoming flowers and feeling excited about the sunshine while you're all frustrated and stuffed up with a sore throat wishing you could crawl into a hole! Well, this year, just as the temperature was rising, the birds were singing and the sunshine was starting to show its face every morning, I started to feel the tell-tale tightness in my throat. NOOOOOOOoooooooooooo!!!!!!! Fast forward a week, and I was feeling back to my normal self ... completely!! Here is how I did it: As soon as I felt that weird, tight, sore-ish throat, I started rolling oregano essential oil diluted with fractionated coconut oil on my feet at night and in the morning. In the mornings I sipped on a drink of  1 drop of lemon and 1 drop of OnGuard (dōTERRA's protective blend) blended into a 1/2 teaspoon of honey, dissolved in hot water....

I know, I know ... a magical post-tournament recovery? What is this make-believe? So, for those of you who don't know me, I love to play Ultimate Frisbee. I've been playing for a little over ten years now and it is simply my favourite team sport. It is spirited, it makes you run, it requires some intellect to play it well, and it's reasonably inexpensive. I have formed so many great friendships through playing this sport that I cannot imagine my life without it. Like any sport you may love, it's like a dose of exercise, social interaction and self-care all wrapped into one. This summer I am honoured to be a co-captain of a women's masters touring team in southern Ontario. The leadership is a group of four amazing women and our team is a collection of talented and spirited players from London, Toronto, Burlington, Milton, Hamilton, Ottawa, and even the east coast! This weekend was our first official tournament and it was so much fun! We played a one-day tournam...

Sleep has always been difficult for me. I go through waves of insomnia-like sleep problems from time to time. When that's not happening, I still often have difficulty falling asleep, and I don't necessarily wake feeling rested. My husband snores and I have three kids under 7. I'm a jaw clencher and I grind my teeth. Sleep is not easy around here. But it IS getting better. A LOT better.  The older kids (4 & 6) sleep through the night unless something strange is up (sickness or nightmares). The youngest one is 16 months old and has been sleeping well since we did sleep training with him in December when he was 11 months old. I know, I know - I always said I would never sleep train my kids. I couldn't bear to hear them cry, I wanted to be an attached and available parent ... but I also couldn't handle a third round of not sleeping til my kid turned two. So, in December I clicked on a sponsored Facebook ad for Dana Obleman's Sleep Sense program, paid up...