I have the perfect Easter basket item!!

Recently I showed you the perfect little gift for Valentine’s Day (here).  While it was quiet here on the blog, it got great reviews overall and my customers loved it.  I’m dropping off my final load of Valentine’s gifts tomorrow for a sweet friend and can’t wait to hug her neck and show her how cute they turned out!

Today I’m thinking about Easter.  I know, I know…it’s early, but hey…I like to be prepared!  We just recently released a new Scentsy buddy.  I LOVE our buddies.  My kids LOVE our buddies!  They’re awesome.  But this one just SCREAMS Easter basket to me.

But before I show you… (I know the suspense is killing you right???)

I struggle with the Easter basket.  My kiddos don’t have a shortage of candy in their lives but for some reason it bugs me to hand them a basket full and say, go to town!  I usually do a few small candy items and then try to find some non-candy items to fill their baskets.  So here are my favorite non-candy Easter basket filler items.

1 – A toothbrush!  LOL… Just to brush away all the candy they will get this time of year regardless.  Plus my kids are silly over a new toothbrush.

2 – Activity books.  My favorite place to get little activity packets is the Target Dollar Spot.  They look like this…

Image courtesy Google and Mamacheaps.com

We adore the Play Packs.  They’re pretty much perfect.  I like to personally hoard them and pull them out at restaurants.  #mommytricks  But there are several activity book options for just a dollar.  A great filler item and the kiddos love them.

3 – Something soft.  It’s just one of those times that cute cuddly animals make us all happy. And THIS is where the newest Scentsy Buddy comes in!  She’s PERFECT!

Meet Lulu…the LAMB!!!  I cannot think of a better friend on Easter than a lamb!!!  And what a sweet way to tell our little’s the true story of the Lamb at Easter!  I love it.

If you love her as much as I do…then DON’T WAIT!!!  She’s not going to last long and she’s too cute to miss!  Run to my website quick and grab a Lulu for the little one(s) in your life!

And not to worry…we’ve got things for the not so little one’s in your life this Easter too!!

 Yup…we’ve got a warmer for that!!  😉

***If you want more information about my business or team, please contact me, or check out my facebook page and website***

“A year from now, you’ll wish you’d started sooner”

“A year from now, you’ll wish you’d started sooner”

As a Scentsy consultant we use this plug all.the.time.  Some likely think it’s just talk.  I probably would.

But amazingly, it’s not.

If you know me well, you know that previously regardless of my intentions, I started things without the follow through to keep them going…

Case in point… Couch to 5k… I think I lasted a week. <– in all fairness…I learned a valuable lesson.  I HATE to run.

I joined the Scentsy Family on January 28th, 2014 as a Grace Adele Consultant.  It wasn’t until April that I added on Scentsy.  But I have officially been a Scentsy Family Consultant for a year.  And I can tell you…I wish I’d started sooner!  This has been the most amazing year and I am so proud of where I am.

Here is what Scentsy did for me in one year…

1- Gave me, ME, back!  Pulled me out of my shell and got me energized.

2- Gave me something I do for ME that I enjoy.  This is so huge!  Yes, it’s hard work but it’s hard work I LOVE doing!

3- It brought me some of the most amazing friendships.  I cannot explain how special my Scentsy Sisters are to me.  Some are my closest most treasured friends, I am so grateful to have them in my life and be on this wild ride with them!

4 – Gave me a team of my own.  I honestly can’t believe it’s only been a year.  I love watching my team grow and seeing these awesome ladies create such thriving businesses!

5- Reduced my financial stress.  I did not start Scentsy to make money.  In fact, I was skeptical that I COULD make money.  In the beginning it was being able to go get my hair cut and colored without guilt.  Now I can at minimum pay my entire car payment plus another bill or two every.single.month.

And that’s just in my first year!!!  I expect my team to grow by leaps and bounds this year!  The possibilities are endless!!  Will you watch us OR JOIN US?!!

***If you want more information about my business or team, please contact me, or check out my facebook page and website***

Easiest Valentines gift ever!

Are you a fan of Valentine’s Day?

I have to be honest…it’s not really my thing.  I always feel like I have to get something for several people, and I despise giving a generic gift.  I like to give something fun and out of the box.

And this year…I’m taking the easy way out…and you can too!!!

How cute is this for the teachers, or volunteers, or friend gifts?!  I’m in love!!!  And for a $6 gift you can’t beat that!!

But I realize that not everyone is able to create their own adorable tag like this so I tracked down the original artist’s link to the FREE download!!!

Here’s the adorable tag!

Then all you have to do is grab your favorite Scentsy hand soaps or even shower gels, print the tag, cut it out, and punch a hole for ribbon where the “tag hole” is and tie around the pump! Anyone can do this!

And with scents like: Love Story, Sugar, Lucky in Love, ect…there is the perfect gift for anyone!

And just in case you’re worried…yes…we have a Men’s line just for your Scentsy Man 🙂

Need something a little bigger for your Valentine?  Here’s some other great options too!

Remember, Valentine’s Day will sneak up on us, get your orders in today so they have time to ship!  🙂  Happy Shopping Ya’ll!

***If you want more information about my business or team, please contact me, or check out my facebook page and website***

Let’s make Scent memories

Do you have any scent memories right off hand?

I do, I know that my grandmothers house always smelt of cinnamon and apples.  I loved it.  I always think of her when I smell those scents.  She recently moved and the new house doesn’t smell like the one we grew up visiting, but I still remember it exactly.

Our sense of smell is really an interesting thing.  It’s not just about smelling good but so much of the time there are very real emotional ties to scent.

Did you know that you can create your own scent memories??

I seriously love this!  I know so many people with kiddos leaving for college, or families with a love one deployed.  Can you imagine how soothing it would be to create a scent memory for them and then be able to send them a care package with the smell of home?LOVE!

Or a kiddo going to camp for the first time?  Warm a scent in their room for a bit before they leave…then wash their blanket in our coordinating laundry line for the smell of home as they drift off to sleep!  Or grandmas overnight?  Send them with a buddy with a scent pak that smells like home!

Here are my kiddos this summer on vacation. Bramble the bear went along with us…that something that smells like home can make big changes, like a family vacation, feel more familiar for kiddos.

I’ve also read that this can help for studying and testing.  If you were to warm a certain scent while studying and then recreate that while testing it would help to jog your memory.  One of the ways you could do that was with a sample of the scent or by wearing that scent from our coordinating layers line.

***If you want more information about my business or team, please contact me, or check out my facebook page and website***

January is so charming…

Each month Scentsy releases a new, never before seen, warmer of the month.  January is no exception.  This month was extra special because they released an entirely new TYPE of warmer.  Something we as consultants hadn’t even seen before.  They also come out with a new scent.  Here’s January’s…

I’ve had the warmer for about three weeks but hadn’t found the time to really play with it to see what I thought.  I have to admit…I was skeptical about this one.  I didn’t expect to like it which is probably why it took me so long to make the time.

I was wrong!!!!

Here it is dressed as intended…

Isn’t it gorgeous!? But realistically, the options are endless…virtually anything (that wouldn’t melt) could go between the panes of glass.  Here I used a piece of pretty scrapbook paper…

Why stop there?  Here I simply cut pinkie pie out of the front cover of my daughters coloring book.  While I was trying to take a picture of this she was freaking out…she wants it in her room now!

Finally, this is probably my favorite way to customize the warmer.  I inserted a birthday card and some random tickets to illustrate how easy it would be to make the warmer into a dual purpose warmer/”memory box”.  I’m not going to lie… I love it.

The best news of all is that for the remainder of January the Charmer warmer is on sale!  Snatch one up and use it with the hearts for Valentine’s day and then customize it to fit your March needs!  I would love to see how creative you all could get with this…shoot me a picture when you do!

OH!  And don’t forget that for January only a selected twenty scents have been paroled from the Scentsy vault for Bring Back My Bar!  I got mine in yesterday and had a little helper smelling them 🙂

He’s addicted and such a ham!  The minute he see’s them come out of the box he’s ready for a smell session!  I definitely had some favorites I hadn’t smelt before.  The cucumber lime is so fresh and clean and perfect for the upcoming spring.  Spiced grapefruit is unbelievably yummy, definitely added to my favorites list.  Watermelon patch is perfectly fruity for Em’s room and finally Banana Nut Bread…the one that started it all…I don’t typically like food smells as much, but this is amazing.  I’ll be stocking up while I can!  They’re only paroled through the end of the month so don’t delay!!

Here’s the entire Bring Back My Bar list 🙂

And just because I can…I have to share this cutie pie with you!

I’d ordered a Tucker the Tiger to have on hand because now that they’re limited edition it never fails that they sell out and someone needs one.  But my little guy saw the box and knew what was inside.  He was so cute with it I’m not sure I can take it away!

Happy Friday Ya’ll!! I hope you all have a wonderful and safe weekend!!

***If you want more information about my business or team, please contact me, or check out my facebook page and website***

2015 has arrived…

We are officially in the future!  <— If you don’t know what I’m referencing… I’m sorry…that’s so sad! LOL

One of the first things we did for 2015 was to create a vision board.  I’m a visual personal and if I don’t keep it it front of me, I’m more liable to forget.  My husband is forgetful regardless so I knew it would be in one ear and out the other if I didn’t get him involved in a different way.

I challenged the hubs to email me several pictures that dictated his goals/vision/plans for 2015.  He was also challenged to send me a separate collection of pictures for his five year plan.  We then combined our images on to one simple page and pinned them in the closet where we’d glance at them occasionally.

Here are our one year goals…

When I said simple…I meant it.  While I could have made it visually appealing – totally unnecessary for hanging in my closet.  It wasn’t until I decided to share it that I regretted that choice, lol.

Our Goals for 2015: NOT IN ORDER

1. Better home – this is meant more in the, take better care of our home, way.  We want to be more diligent about our housekeeping.  I’ll be totally honest, I’m no Martha!  I keep a straight house MOST of the time considering my kids can pull it apart in ten seconds flat, but I hate to clean.  And we have a tendency to get behind and then have to work twice as hard to catch up.

2. Date Night – We want to try to intentionally date.  Make the time to date and spend time just us.  We got a date in already for this month and are planning to use our churches Parent’s Night Out for next month!  So excited!

3. Vacation Money – We have a plan in place to save up for our yearly family vacation so we aren’t stressing about it as it nears…uh huh…

4. Lawrence, KS – I NEED to get back to my alma mater and see my people!  Until now, it is the place I’d lived the longest and I miss it dearly!! ROCK CHALK JAYHAWKS!

5. Fun Mom – I want to me more intentional about doing fun things with my kids.  I want to spend more time on the floor playing with them.  Doing two crafts a week – and planning a biweekly fun outing.

6. House Cash – We want several months of our mortgage and emergency money stashed for a rainy day.

7. Meal Planning – We want to live by a meal plan, shop by one for cost savings, and actually cook it.  Regular cooking/eating at home is a must for our physical and financial health.  I’m so tired of eating out but the convenience factor gets me.

8. Grout – Braden wants to fix our grout in the kitchen… I want new floors completely…we’ve got to find a compromise on this one first…

9. SUV – It’s been 15 months since we ditched the SUV for a more gas friendly Jetta.  I MISS my SUV and want one back dearly.  So hopefully this year we’ll be ready to take on a second car payment and trade in the Corolla but I kinda love having a paid off car.  Still up in the air on this one…

10. Exercise – Yea yea yea… We want to exercise.  Consistently.  Yuck!  He runs and wants to get out and run on a consistent basis.  I do NOT run.  I want to find an exercise I enjoy and do it.  I’m thinking about Zumba.  We’ll see.

11. Director – I plan to promote to Scentsy Director this year.  It’s a lofty dream but I think I can do it.  I’m going to hit the pavement and truly work my business every single day.  I love my team – those ladies have brought me so much joy and make me so proud  to watch, I’m excited to add some members and really see what we can do!

I won’t even get into our five year goals.  They are some pretty grown up and intimidating goals but I have faith that we can conquer them.  It will feel awesome to check them off as we do!

I don’t do resolutions — but I love making goals for myself.  Do you have any new goals for the year ahead?

Christmas 2014

I hope that you all have had a very Merry Christmas and a wonderful beginning to your New Year!  I finally had some time to sit down and get the photographs from our holidays off my camera.  I’m sad to say that I didn’t get it out as much as I wish I had…but I was in the moment and that’s just as nice.

Round one Christmas was with my paternal Grandparents.  We didn’t get to attend the full family version this year because of a sick kiddo, so we had a smaller celebration with them a few days afterwards.  I have to admit that while I missed seeing everything, the small – informal Christmas was very relaxing and fun.

Sweet Cousins

My 80 y.o. Grandfather making biscuits for the Christmas dressing.  He follows his Mother’s recipe and mixes by hand just like she did.  THIS is one of my most cherished parts of every year.  I have no idea why but I LOVE to go watch him make the biscuits.

These two had their first chance to open gifts together and I absolutely loved watching them help each other and “ooh and aww” over their presents.

We had my husbands family over for Christmas Eve and I didn’t get my camera out.  I wish I could be more upset about it but we had such a wonderful evening celebrating with our family and really being present together that I’m okay with it.

Christmas Day we had our own little celebration and then hosted my side of the family.

First the kiddos got to check out their Santa gifts and stockings.  Landon got this cozy coupe truck from his Grandpa Carl and Kimaw – Daddy had FUN putting it together late into the night Christmas Eve! LOL

He adores it!  It was DEFINITELY a huge hit!!!!  They both like it — they just don’t always SHARE it well.

Time to open our round three – Christmas morning as a family gifts!!

We had a hard time dragging the boy away from his basketball hoop to open more presents!

The girl on the other hand is always ready for the next one 😉

I love his face…he was so overwhelmed and happy, he didn’t know quite what to do.

Then it was time to get dressed, restock the tree…and do it all again with our extended family!!!

Just a few faces we love and enjoyed spending Christmas day with…

Cousin Kat and her husband Paul

Aunt Carol and Uncle Jerry

My Uncle Ted

Cousin Jonathon

Gigi and Great Grandpa Bill

Grandpa Tom

Grandpa Tom keeping up the McNeish photo tradition

We really were so blessed this season to celebrate the birth of our Savior with so many wonderful people we loved.  Our kiddos of course loved being spoiled rotten for Jesus’s birthday — we didn’t mind it either.  It was a fabulous Christmas, I’d go as far as saying our best YET!