The Oily Life with Kristine McGuire

I'm very pleased to announce the opening of my Etsy store: URBAN APOTHECARY GOODS Hand crafted jewelry made from new and re-purposed materials with which you can use as a personal essential oil diffuser. Each piece of jewelry incorporates lava stones which absorbs essential oil and hold the scent for up to two days. So far, there are a number of earrings, necklaces and bracelets available. Essential oils have been part of my life for over fifteen years. There are dozens of ways to incorporate essential oils into our daily routine and health regimine to benefit our lives. Jewelry has been a love of mine since I was very young. In fact, there has never been a jewelry counter or table at a craft fair I could pass by without perusing. My goal is to create jewelry which is beautiful, affordable, and functional. So, please visit Urban Apothecary Goods Please, also share the link and tell your friends and family.  Help a lady out. This is my income now.

I've gotten into a bread baking kick. Why, you may ask? Well, it's cost effective and a great stress reliever (kneading bread dough is serious work) and it offers a sense of accomplishment. Plus baking bread is fun and the results (hopefully) taste good. For my first loaf, I found a recipe for 100% whole wheat bread . No white flour whatsoever. You'd be surprised how many wheat bread recipes have more white than whole wheat flour in them. The bread baked perfectly and tasted wonderful. Mission accomplished.  Encouraged, I decided to try baking a loaf of classic white bread (because the family loves it no matter how many whole grains I introduce to them) and the result turned out to be satisfactory. My husband and oldest girl-child decided this particular effort was best suited for sopping up "italian butter" (olive oil and spices).  My own thought's for the classic white bread (what was leftover after those two nibbled) veered more to

As a child, I remember watching my mother cut grapefruit in half, sprinkle it with sugar, and then eat the juicy pulp section by section as she scooped the fruit from the rind with a spoon. One day I asked my mother if I could eat some grapefruit for breakfast too. She seemed to like eating grapefruit so I figured--why not? My mother must have agreed because she carefully prepared a portion for me as a light Saturday morning meal. Unfortunately, the sharp taste of that citrus fruit did not appeal to me as much as the sugar I could put on top of the pulp. Mom and I decided cereal might be better as a quick "go to for breakfast" choice for me until my tastes matured. Even as an adult, I'm not one to slice open a grapefruit for breakfast. However,  I do  love the fresh citrus taste (sans sweetener) which a couple of drops of  YL Grapefruit Vitality provides to my ice water. My favorite time to use grapefruit oil is on a hot day when I feel dehydrated from bei

For the past few years, I've been learning more about 3, 5, and 8 Free nail lacquers (such as Butter London ). What this means is that the polish doesn't have substances considered to be toxic/carcinegenic (even though used in standard cosmetics for years): Formaldehyde Formaldehyde Resin DBP Toluene Camphor Ethyl Tosylamide Xylene TPHP Butter London started the trend in 2005 for nail polish but other cosmetics companies are joining in to add their own products. This includes cottage industry companies such as the one from which I now buy my nail polishes-- Dragonsworn Cosmetics.   The colors are gorgeous, the lacquers free from harmful chemicals, and I get to support an artisan (something I really enjoy doing). So, if you care about the type of cosmetics you use on your face, nails, hair then check out some of the great products you can find (such as Dragonsworn  or do some research and make your own (you can check out the video on my blog on how to make your own