simply complicated

I am sure by now you all know that I sell Scentsy. I have been a consultant since April 1, 2011 and I absolutely love it! When I first started, I was in college, just married & just trying to make ends meet. I knew I loved the product but I didn't know that it would be something that I would end up selling & building a community within. I figured that I needed to buy the product for myself, so I might as well make some money off of it. At the time, there was nothing like the product out there. Now there are things all over the place that look like Scentsy, but they are NO WHERE near the quality of Scentsy. It truly is a great product and company.

In case you aren't familiar with the idea of Scentsy, you can click here. If you have not tried it, please let me know...I'd love to send you a catalog!

I wanted to let y'all know of an amazing deal that is going on right now!! You can get the Premium Easter Egg warmer {so precious!} & 3 Scentsy Wax Bars {Jumpin' Jelly Bean, French Lavender, & Coconut Lemongrass} for just $30!!!! This is an AMAZING deal. The normal value for all these is $50. Click the photo below to order!

Ever since I moved to the AL/GA line, so many people have asked where I am originally from since I don't have a thick accent. When I tell them that I am born & raised in Houston, Texas they usually laugh {or occasionally gasp} & ask how I got to such a small town. I usually reply with a laugh & say "my husband got a job here as a Youth Pastor". & that is true...Nathan does have a job here as a Youth Pastor. But that is not the whole reason of why we moved half way across the country from the fourth largest city to what seems like the fourth smallest.

A couple of weeks ago I posted this picture on Instagram & asked my followers to post a question that I would answer in a recent blog post. Well...here it is! :)


Amy Charming asked: "Why did you start blogging? What are your goals for blogging and life? Favorite meal? :)"

This morning we were talking in Life Groups about things that we have given up for lent. Most things that people have given up for lent are food items. A lot of sweets, candy, chocolate, soda, etc. Mostly all "snack food". I LOVE snacks. I told Nathan a couple of weeks ago when we were talking about what we were going to give up for lent that I cannot give up chips. Period. I love chips. I could probably live off chips. I know they are not the best things for you (hence all the sodium) but they are just so delicious! Well, yesterday I was watching beauty YouTube videos (I know...shocking...but I actually hadn't watched any in about 2 weeks!) & one of my favorites (Melmphs) did a taste test on the Nature Box. I normally do not watch these types of videos because I feel like they are just trying to sell me more crap. But, I did watch. & she did sell me more.

The Nature Box is a monthly subscription that has healthy snack options for you! You can choose from a variety of snack options (sweet, salty, spicy) & also a variety of health options (vegan, gluten sensitive, no nuts). There is NO High Fructose Corn Syrup, NO Artificial Sweeteners, NO Artificial Flavors/Colors, & 0g Trans Fat. There are 3 types of subscriptions you can get:

1.  5 snack bag box for $19.95/month
2. 10 snack bag box (5 different snack bags @ 2 each) for $29.95/month
3. 20 snack bag box (5 different snack bags @ 4 each) for $39.95/month

All the bags include free shipping & will arrive to your door in about 7 business days. You have a window of time where you can log onto your "dashboard" & pick the snacks that you want them to send, OR you can get a "surprise" box each month where they send their best sellers. The coolest thing to me is that if you get a snack that you don't prefer, then they will swap it for you! They are guaranteed to "snackify" you. :)

I signed us up for the 10 snack bag box to see how we like it. Why? Because I have a COUPON CODE of course!!! Use code "snackhappy" when checking out to receive HALF OFF your first Nature Box! :)  I fully plan to do blog posts with reviews on the snacks that Nathan & I chose. I am super excited to try everything!  Go HERE if you would like to learn more and sign up.

I feel like back in the day only people who practiced Catholicism "gave up" something for lent. Now I am finding that more & more non-denominational Christians are giving up things for lent as well. I think it is a healthy practice not only to give something up but also to add a behavior or act that would benefit your life as well. I have heard of people adding positive things like: a random act of kindness everyday, eating dinner as a family at the dinner table, working out regularly, or even something as simply as praying more. I believe that the practice of giving something up and adding something positive are great practices during this time of lent.

In light of that, I have decided to give up a behavior, give up an item, & add something as well. I am hoping that these 40 days will start healthier habits for my life & in some way positively impact others. So what are the three things you ask? Well I'll tell ya! :)

The behavior I am giving up is cussing. This is probably not a good thing to admit that I do considering my husband & I work with our youth group on a regular basis. So...let me explain. I do NOT cuss in front of students. Cussing is not something that I do in a normal conversation. Typically it slips out when I am with family, or am really mad in front of close friends. I in no way encourage it. Which is why I want to work on giving it up. It is not something that I want our students to think is acceptable or okay.

The item that I am giving up is sweets. I normally am not drawn to eating sweets. I would much rather have chips or something salty, but here lately I have had my fair share of cookies, chocolate, & other delicious sugary things. This is going to be difficult to give up because the week before Easter Nathan & I are going on vacation and we all know that typically when you go on vacation, all bets are off on diets. So we will see how the no sweets thing goes!

Lastly, the behavior that I am going to add during the 40 days of lent is working out [at least] 5 days a week. I have started this already this week & so far so good. I joined my local gym on Sunday & have been attending a 5:15 a.m. (lasts for about 45-50 minutes) workout class for the last 3 days. Now let me clarify...this is just any 5 days of the week. That means if I miss the 5:15 a.m. class, then I can still hit up another class at a later time in the day. I am very excited for this! I am thinking between the no sweets & working out 5 times a week for at least 45 minutes I will really start to see results!

What are you giving up for lent? 

What do you think you might add for lent? 

A couple of posts ago I confessed my obsession with beauty products. Well, I thought it might be cool to tell you every so often what my most used beauty products for the week are. If they are on these posts then you can pretty much bet that I love them. Let me clarify too...these are not NEARLY all the face products that I use on a day to day basis. I tend to rotate some of them out day to day, but these are the ones that I used EVERYDAY this last week. Ready? Ok!


#1 | Rimmel Stay Matte Primer : About $6 at any store that carries Rimmel (I got mine @ Ulta). This is the weirdest consistency of primer I have ever used. Its kind of a cream product & its a little tacky. I love it for prolonging the wear of my foundation! I use it all over my face & make sure & rub it in really good. It doesn't have a weird smell or texture. I used the Benefit 15 hour primer stick & it was HORRIBLE! This is about an 8th of the primer of the Benefit primer & it works 8 times better.

#2 | Maybelline Baby Skin Instant Pore Eraser : About $5 at any store that carries Maybelline (I got mine @ Kroger b/c its the only place I could find it in stock). I apply this product BEFORE the Rimmel primer mentioned above. They have been comparing this pore eraser to Benefit's Porefessional...well...I didn't love Porefessional to be honest. But I am really loving this. You don't have to use much. Its more of the consistency of what a normal primer is. Its silicon filling and kind of thick. I don't rub this in, I press it into my skin so it will fill the pores a little more thoroughly. I wouldn't say that it holds your pores being filled all day, but definitely most of the days. They don't seem as big from when I apply it, to about 3 p.m.

#3 | Covergirl Outlast Stay Fabulous 3-n-1 Foundation : About $10 at any store with Covergirl (I got mine @ Walmart I believe). If I do another post with my most used Face Products, this will be in there again. This is my FAVORITE "drugstore" foundation. Its smooth, easy to apply, beautiful finish, lasts most of the day on my veryyyy oily skin. Its not thick feeling. It doesn't feel like you have a cake face, & it doesn't look like you have one either. You can't really go wrong. I have it in a variety of shades because of summer/winter skin colors. I apply my foundations with a beauty blender or Sigma F80 brush.

#4 | Neutrogena Shine Control Powder : About $13 at any store with Neutrogena (I got mine @ CVS). This is kind of a high price for a powder from the drugstore, but its pretty darn good. It DEFINITELY helps with shine, & at the same time doesn't make your face look powdery or thick. I apply this powder with an E.L.F. Kabuki Brush (picked it up from Target). Make sure that you apply powder products after anything cream/liquid that you put on your face. This is my last step before I contour & apply blush.

#5 | Concealer & Corrector by BH Cosmetics : $6 online (follow link). Okay...if you have not discovered BH Cosmetics, I'm going to ahead & apologize to your wallet (but not too bad because its SO inexpensive). What a hidden gem. I picked up this concealer palette online around Thanksgiving when they were having a huge Cyber Monday sale. I think I paid $3.50 for it on sale. I LOVE it. The concealer really conceals, which sounds weird but most concealers that aren't much money don't do jack. This works great. I use it under my eyes as my under eye concealer. Its covers up all discoloration & it really brightens my under eye area. The other nice thing about me having the "light" shade is that it has the light colors for brightening under the eyes but it also has most of my skin tone colors to be able to conceal blemishes on my face. It also has a yellow, green, & salmon correcting color in it. I highly recommend this palette.

#6 | Physicians Formula Shimmer Strip in Riviera Strip : About $12 anywhere that sells Physicians Formula (I got mine @ CVS when they had the brand on sale). Okay, I have to admit, I have had this product for awhile & I just started using it a couple weeks ago. When I first bought it I thought I would be using it as a blush. Well, I quickly realized that I was too bronzed & shimmery when I applied it as thick as a normal blush. My cheeks looked very muddy. So I put it away for awhile & kind of gave up on it. Well, a couple of weeks ago I started using it like this... I will contour under my cheek bones, then I will put a little of this on my cheeks where I put my blush. Emphasis on A LITTLE. Then I apply my usual blush. I have found that I makes my cheeks look very glowy & sun kissed. I really like the look it gives.

These are my most used face products of the week. Maybe soon I will try a 'most used eye products of the week' post. What do you think?

What were your most used products this week?