all about the oils | wellness

It all started with Christmas presents to my sister and I. We were at Costco together and saw essential oil diffusers that we both wanted so we decided to gift them to each other for Christmas. Once I opened it and started diffusing, I knew I loved the idea. I loved the fresh scents and I loved the idea of the oils. I started doing a little Facebook research (the best kind) and got my friend's opinions on the different kinds of oils. I did my own research as well and knew the direction that I wanted to go.

A friend reached out to me about Young Living and I decided to purchase the Premium Starter Kit. Once the box arrived with all of the different oils and a diffuser for my office I knew I was hooked. While I had been waiting for the kit to arrive, I had already purchased a diffuser for the bedroom and now we have them in most of the rooms that we spend any kind of time in...we love them. The whole family is hooked.

The diffuser by the bed has helped me relax and fall asleep faster than I've ever been able to before. I've always been horrible at falling asleep, sometimes laying there for hours wishing it was just time to get up already. I am now able to get into bed and relax for a few minutes before I'm ready to curl up and fall asleep...into a much more restful sleep than I'm used to. 

We use the oils in our home for many things these days, trying out different combinations for the diffuser, coming up with roller recipes and other ways that we can bring the oils into our lives. My sister is fully on board as well and is so excited about making all the sugar scrubs and lip balms and fighting off the sicknesses with her Thieves tea.

As this blog is all about my life and the things that bring it joy - there will be more posts about oils and overall wellness as we continue on this journey. I would love to answer any questions that you might have and am excited to share recipes and ideas along with the design, photography and memory keeping posts that are usually here on the blog.

Happy Oil-ing
xo,
c

one little word | january 2018

The One Little Word project is from Ali Edwards and more information can be found on her blog here. There are many other people who follow a similar idea in choosing a guiding word for you for the year, rather than a resolution. I love this project and each year I choose a word. Some years I carry that word with me throughout the year and others it simply fades in and out. This year I have chosen a word and am following along in Ali's workshop with her designed prompts. I am looking forward to sharing my progress here on the blog in the year to come.

how does the word [home] translate for me?

For me, home doesn't just mean my house, where I live. It means more than that to me and there are many ways in which I will use this word in 2018 to drive my goals and intentions.

home | a place where one flourishes, is most typically found, or from which it originates.

PHYSICAL | house
PERSONAL | body
WORK | businesses
SPIRITUAL | wellness
EMOTIONAL | family

Within each of those categories and areas above, there are many facets that I want to explore and am excited to get moving with. 

I love that quote above and need to keep reminding myself of that daily. Give myself grace as I work towards my goal and understand that progress (any progress) is good...and keeps me motivated to continue on.

My One Little Word album progress for January

I'm loving this process so far and working towards my goals with intention. I've already started working though my February prompts and I'm excited to get that one finished as well. 

xo,
c

instagram recap | january 2018

I've always been a huge fan of documenting our daily lives. As the kids have gotten older, the photos tend to get fewer and farther in between...but the moments are still happening. I think that it is so important to keep taking those photos - even if they are mostly of the same things each day - and to really work on stretching myself to see these daily little pieces of our lives for the truly amazing moments that they are.

There is a lot of basketball in those photos - and swimming. This month I really want to work on getting images that tell a different story about those events. Getting out of my comfort zone. What angles do I need to take, how close up should I get - what little details can I capture? What will best show our lives as they are at this moment.

The thing that I'm most excited about these photos..is that they're printed (along with others) and going into my Project Life album for 2018. Not only is it important to take the images, but it's so important that they live outside of my phone and instagram.

Happy photo taking + life documenting - get out there and see how you can tell the story of your family today!

xo,
c

why I love the one second every day app

Have you heard of this app? It's really and truly wonderful. I remember seeing a friend of mine using it a couple of years ago and I thought how cool it was...but I was sure I could never keep up. I later saw another friend's finished video from her 2015 year and it was simply amazing. I knew that it was something that I had to try for 2016.

Watch my 2016 video below...with sound and you'll even hear snipits of voices and laughter.

There are a lot of days that seem the same in our home...kids to school, kids to practice, mealtime and homework. There are many days that we're up and out of the house when it's still dark and home from practice after dark...there are many days where I do wonder if we're really capturing anything with the silly little one second. And then I sit back and watch the video above and I'm so grateful that I make the effort. And when I hear that my daughter logs into Facebook just to watch it...that makes me happy too.

If you get a moment, check out the website, download the app to your preferred device (your phone...although I do have it on my tablet also as my devices are linked) and give it a try. There's a great support and idea group on Facebook and so many great things that you can do with this project.

TIPS + TRICKS

• Use the inspiration that you see on the site and other videos that you see online, but don't get too caught up in being perfect...the whole idea here is to start.

• Just start. Don't feel bad that you didn't start on January 1st...don't think you need to wait until the 1st of the next month. Just download the app and start today.

• Stay consistent with your video orientation...I always shoot in landscape mode.

• You can choose 1.5 seconds or 1 second per day

• You can add titles and music over your finished product, mine is pretty raw (I'd love to take the time to add a title) but I love the little voices that I hear throughout the video, so for me for now, no music.

• You can use the app to create custom "freestyle" videos - think about a video of snitpits of your vacation, or a sports season or any other great event in your life. You can have several timelines going at once and create some really awesome projects.

• Get your kids and family involved. My kids know when I pull out my phone (especially in landscape mode) that I'm taking a video. Sometimes I get the hand in front of the face and other times I get great cooperation. Both are good - that's where we are in life right now. I also have kids asking at times - "what will you do today for your 1 second?" It's great to get them to buy in.

I would love to see what you come up with for your video or if you have any fun ideas for this favorite app of mine.

xo, c

friday faves | february edition

With the start of the new year and getting back into Project Life and One Little Word I thought it would be great to showcase five of my very favorite memory keeping supplies...

february faves | memory keeping

1| hermafix tabs dispenser
2| ali edwards letter stickers
3| studio calico wood veneer shapes
4| ali edwards chipboard shapes
5| tim holtz tiny attacher

What are your favorite supplies when you sit down to create? I'm excited to put these favorites to work in my pages, happy crafting.

xo, c

good stuff | cats

Somehow...over the summer we took in four cats. Yes, four. (it's like the crazy cat lady starter pack)

The kids wanted cats...I thought it seemed like a great idea. At first it was just the big kid, then the girlie. I asked the little and at first his reaction was no, then he said "of course". So I set out looking for sibling kittens online. I found three adorable kittens who had a fourth sibling that was spoken for. Perfect! And they were orange.

We ended up with all four. And I'm more than ok with that. They're sweet, easy to take care of, love each other just like my three do and they're fun to have around. I almost wonder why we waited so long.

xo, c

planner love | get to work book

I've tried every kind of planner - electronic, paper, make your own, bullet journaling. I love them all for various reasons, but this one...this one works.

The Get To Work Book was designed and created by Elise Cripe and it seems to be everything I need in a planner these days. I loved the flexibility and creativity of a bullet journal, but I found that I really needed something that had my days and weeks written out for me. I love the area for notes, love the top three goals for each day and week. The monthly calendar is the perfect size for my editorial calendar as well as appointments. If you have a moment, check out the instagram hashtag #gettoworkbook for some great inspiration on how others use this planner.

And I love what Elise stands for. She's a girl after my own heart - great creativity and someone who believes 100% in setting goals and taking the steps needed to achieve them. She's also written a great book with 100 pep talks that I adore, definitely worth the read.

Happy February, time to get to checking things off my list.

xo, c

olw | january

WHAT IS OLW?

One Little Word is a concept made very popular by the talented Ali Edwards. She has incredible content on her blog explaining her process and shows examples over the years. She also teaches a year long class based on this idea of living with a word for the year. Head on over to her blog to get more details about One Little Word.

WHY OLW?

Resolutions are great - and I do still do a lot of goal setting and planning for the year. I typically find that over the course of a year I tend to struggle in one particular area or another...sometimes is needing to lean on my inner strength more, sometimes it's needing to focus on the task at hand more, sometimes it's needing to work smarter...and this year I just want to remind myself to begin.

MY OLW

Instead of focusing on the things that I wanted to stop doing or the things that I might want to change in my life, I decided that the best thing for me going forward in 2017 was to begin. To begin to do the things that brought me more joy. To begin to do the things that I need to do in order to have a happier home. To stop waiting for the right time and just begin.

“it has long since come to my attention that people of accomplishment rarely sat back and let things happen to them. they went out and happened to things.”

— leonardo da vinci

I'm looking forward to this year, to the new possibilities, to achieving the goals that I set out for myself...I know the only way to get there is to just begin.

good work | my scrapbooking desk

As I've been working on getting my Week In The Life album set up my desk tends to get a little...cluttered.

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But it's the good clutter. Creative clutter. I'm a big fan of that.

Anyone else getting excited about the week in the life project by Ali Edwards that starts next week? I've got my album almost all set up, I've looked through my schedule for next week (school starts!!) and have printed out my daily sheets. I'm ready. Who's with me??

As for my desks in my office, I'm pretty lucky to have two desks. One for photography work and one for scrapbooking and other paper stuff. I love having my office right off of the kitchen so when I need to be cooking or cleaning I can quickly slip into my office to get some things done at the same time. Yay for multitasking mommas.

xo, c

ps...if you want to see a tour of my office, check out this post about the tour of my home office on the Carrie Owens Photography blog.

instagram recap | july edition

July wasn't too heavy in the instagram department and I think that is directly related to my inability to stick to #thebethadillychallenge. Also, it was a busy month with a trip to Lake Powell - yay! - and the Utah State Swim Meet for my kids. I had been doing great with this project for months and I love it...but for some reason I've really slowed down and have become entirely too inconsistent.

Here's the collage of my favorite photos from July:

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Now that we're a couple weeks into August I can say that I'm somewhat back on track. But come September, I'm challenging myself to really focus! I love the challenge that Beth has put together and I find that it really does push me creatively on my photography. Who's going to join me? It's not too late to pick up and start any time. Make sure that when you post you use the hashtag #thebethadillychallenge on instagram when you post your image - and if you've got some time, scroll through the feed to find some great inspiration!!

Happy Instagramming!

xo, c

ps...are you already following me on instagram? If not - I am cophotography on Instagram