Current Favorites | Anna Grace: Current Favorites

Tuesday, March 17, 2015

Current Favorites

Lately I have hesitated to blog because I don't really have anything new to say.

Life continues on, and Scott and I find ourselves in a season of waiting. 
Waiting for our sweet daughter's arrival, waiting for orders, 
waiting to see what course our lives will take next.

Scott is due for another assignment, 
but he is hoping to separate from the Air Force and join the Air National Guard. 
The application is in, and we have been waiting for a reply for a little over two months. 
I have never liked waiting.
 I am always impatient for answers, but the Lord is ever faithful.
He is always so good to us. 


This morning I thought it might be fun to share a few the products and items that I have been loving lately.  I have always enjoyed seeing other bloggers and vloggers share their favorite items, so I'll give it a try. 


First of all, I have been trying to branch out and find some new recipes to add to our staple meals.
Here are a few recipes that have quickly become favorites:



We typically have pizza every Friday night, and it's always fun to find new ideas to try. 
So I gave this recipe a try a few weeks ago and it was a huge hit. 
So yummy! Scott is definitely a big fan.


This meal has absolutely become one of our go-tos. 
It is so easy, quick, cost effective, and tasty.
Scott always gets excited when I tell him this is on the menu for dinner.
We have also added pineapple, onions, and bell peppers to make it a little different.
I know that this one will continue to be a favorite in our home.


This bean dip is so easy to make in our VitaMix. 
The first time I made it was in the beginning of my pregnancy when I was really having a lot of major food aversions.  I made this to put in Scott's lunchbox, but after tasting it I threatened to keep it home and eat it all myself.  For some reason it tasted amazing to me right then.
We still love this dip, and it is a staple lunchbox item for Scott.


I am a tea addict. 
I'm confessing right here and now. 
I probably drink somewhere between two and four cups of tea every day.


Recently I have been enjoying this Irish Breakfast tea.
Usually my all time favorite is Tazo English Breakfast, but one day my grocery store was out so I picked this up and I have really been enjoying it. 

I'm just going to include this here because it speaks to my heart:


Thank you for indulging me.
 Okay, moving on! 

As far as reading material goes, I cannot keep myself from browsing longingly through this Cottage Gardens magazine over and over. 
How I would love to have a beautiful little English garden behind our little house!
But.... we live in New Mexico, so that dream is impossible. Maybe someday, somewhere else.
But for now, I love to admire the gorgeous gardens of others.




The Diaper Free Baby.
This might be rather controversial, but I have really enjoyed reading this book, and we plan to try it with Mary Joy. 
Elimination Communication (EC) makes a lot of sense to me.
When I first heard of the concept, I was intrigued enough to look into it a little further.
At first I was quite skeptical and resistant.
Potty training an infant who isn't even mobile? 
It sounded like so much work.
But after reading this book, I'm pretty well sold.
I am looking forward to trying this once our little girl is here, and I will update you all then.
In the meantime, I HIGHLY recommend you read at least part of this book
 if you are even slightly curious.


A Being So Gentle.
 I first became interested in the life of Rachel Jackson when we visited the Hermitage in Nashville Tennessee with Scott's mom in September.
When I read what Andrew Jackson wrote on her tombstone, 
I knew immediate that I wanted to know more about this woman.
The Jacksons had a very sweet marriage, and when Rachel died this is what Andrew wrote:

"Here lie the remains of Mrs. Rachel Jackson, wife of President Jackson, who died December 22nd 1828, aged 61. Her face was fair, her person pleasing, her temper amiable, and her heart kind. She delighted in relieving the wants of her fellow-creatures,and cultivated that divine pleasure by the most liberal and unpretending methods. To the poor she was a benefactress; to the rich she was an example; to the wretched a comforter; to the prosperous an ornament. Her pity went hand in hand with her benevolence; and she thanked her Creator for being able to do good. A being so gentle and so virtuous, slander might wound but could not dishonor. Even death, when he tore her from the arms of her husband, could but transplant her to the bosom of her God."

This epitaph really drew me in, and I have really enjoyed learning about Rachel's life.


These are the two books I a planning to read next:


I am excited to get started!


Next are a few of my favorite products that I have been so thankful for the past few months. 
We live in the desert, and our desert is also coming out of a drought.
It is always dry here, but during winter my skin really suffers more than ever.


The Mary Kay Satin Hands lotion and Satin Lips balm have been the two products I have reached for more than anything else this winter.  I really feel like they have worked better than anything else to heal my cracked hands and lips. And the peach scented hand cream smells sooooooo lovely!


I have also been loving this Burt's Bees lip balm. I have had other Burt's Bees lip balms in the past that I wasn't so in love with, but for some reason this one is my absolute favorite.
I really enjoy the coconut and pear scent.
I usually take this with me everywhere I go, around the house ad out and about.
I love, love, love this lip balm. 
I might even be the first person in the world to ever FINISH a tube of chapstick. 
Honestly, if anyone ever manages that they should get a medal.


Next up. 
I have the nesting/spring cleaning itch.
I have always enjoyed keeping a clean house, but right now the hormones have kicked in and I find myself taking my oven door apart to clean in between the glass windows. 

This book by Real Simple makes me so very happy. Sometimes, I just like to look through the pages. All of those spotlessly clean rooms are so beautiful, and they make my heart sing,
Honestly, pregnancy hormones are a weird thing. 

Norwex. 
It has happened.
I drank the Kool-Aide and I'm never going back.

If you have talked to me recently, there is a good chance that I mentioned Norwex in the course of our conversation.

I was introduced to Norwex in January by my dear friend and kindred spirit Sarah.
I went to a Norwex party in her home and decided to try a couple of these cleaning cloths.


Aren't they so beautiful?

If you have never heard of the brand Norwex, look them up. 
Basically, they are a Norwegian company who makes high-quality microfiber cleaning cloths. 
Most of their cloths are embedded with silver, which has antibacterial products. 

Even if you are skeptical about there antibacterial qualities, they clean really, REALLY well.

I have the two basic cleaning cloths, the Enviro and the Window Cloth. And I also have a set of their kitchen/dish cloths. I really feel like that is all I need. 
I love the simplicity of cleaning my whole house without using any chemical cleaning products.

I have really fallen in love with these cloths, and I absolutely recommend them.


Last on my list are a few of my favorite things for pregnancy.

As I have mentioned before, fruit has been my number one craving.
I have been snacking on lots of fresh fruit, and applesauce pouches have been a favorite too.
The fruit pouches are especially useful to stick in my purse or grab for midnight hunger strikes.


I have also really been enjoying slicing up fruit to put in my water.
Nearly every night I fill a pitcher with water and some kind of sliced fruit, usually lemons or strawberries, or sometimes limes, kiwis, or grapefruit. This helps me to drink enough water every day because it becomes a treat rather than a chore.
So yummy!


Here are a few of my favorite products for pregnancy:

First off, I love these prenatal vitamins.
Like many women, the prenatal vitamins I was given at the hospital always made me feel nauseous and tired.  One day I started reading the ingredients label on the back of the bottle and realized that the pills I was taking were full of food coloring and preservatives. 
I went to our local health food store and asked them what they recommended and they gave me these.
These pills are made from whole foods.
I noticed a difference in how I was feeling right away.
These pills never made me queasy, and I had more energy than before.
These prenatals are on the pricey side, but I really feel like it's worth it. 
Especially in the beginning of my pregnancy when I was having a hard time eating much, I was thankful to know that my vitamins were chock full of good things for my baby,
The only downside is that the capsules are quite large, and you take three of them daily. 
I have never had trouble swallowing pills though, so it hasn't bothered me.


I have been using Earth Mama Angel Baby  body butter for my belly.
I know, that is quite the hippy name.
Although the scent of the product isn't my favorite, I do feel like it's been keeping my skin really well moisturized.  Stretch marks are mostly a genetic thing, but I like to help my skin out all I can to keep them to a minimum.

The very last product I will mention is this Double E Immune Booster tincture.
Everyone knows that your immune system is weakened during pregnancy and you are more susceptible to catching any bugs going around.
I managed to make it through the entire winter without getting sick and I do attribute that partly to this herbal mixture. You can buy it in bulk and use it as a tea or make a glycerin tincture like I did.



That's all folks.
I know this turned out to be a really long post, but thank you for sticking with me.
I would love for you to comment and recommend your favorite products to me.

I hope you all have a really lovely day!
Blessings,




3 comments:

  1. This was a fun post! All good things. I like the look of those books you are reading. My niece did Elimination Communication with her daughter. It was the first I had heard of it. I think that book about Mrs. Johnson looks very interesting. What a beautiful thing her husband wrote of her!

    I keep hearing about the Norwex towels and may have to really explore them.

    Deanna

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  2. That Ina May book was the first one I'd read when we first were learning about natural birth. It completely grossed me out but it is so informative. Another excellent one is the Bradley Birth Method (or something like that, I gave it away after c-section#2). We definitely recommend the classes if you can get to them!
    Love your posts, as always :)

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  3. Even though I love reading your blog it always fills me with an envious kind of sadness.

    But I thought I would add one of my favourite things: Spring! Even though my favourite season is summer, I also love spring. It always fills me with so much hope and happiness when I see flowers and warm sunny skies again. It's getting lighter for longer again now and this weekend (I'm in the UK) our English clocks go forward an hour so the evenings will be lighter. I can't wait to be able to wear sandals and summer dresses again.

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