mom

Cream Cheese Danish

/ embracingspirit / 1 Comment

These easy-to-make breakfast pastries are as delicious as they are beautiful! Fruit and cream cheese danish are ideal for relaxed weekend mornings, Sunday brunch, and I bet your mom would love these on Mother’s Day!

One of my favorite things to add to anything with berries it a little drop of Lemon Essential Oil. To me lemon and berries go hand in hand make the freshness of the berries burst with goodness. Be mindful thought to only use essential oils that are tested for purity and you know for sure have not been adulterated with synthetics. This gorgeous free ebook explains the difference and why using pure essential oils is so important.

INGREDIENTS

  • 1 box of puff pastry dough (2 sheets), thawed
  • 1 8-ounce block of cream cheese
  • 1 tablespoon sour cream
  • 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
  • 2 teaspoons lime juice
  • Lime zest from one whole lime
  • 2–1/2 teaspoons vanilla
  • Fresh blueberries, rinsed and dried
  • Fresh strawberries, stems removed and cut in half
  • 3 tablespoons melted butter, for brushing
  • Sanding sugar
  • Optional garnish: additional lime zest
  • 2 drop Lemon Essential Oil

INSTRUCTIONS

  1. Adjust your oven rack to the center position. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
  2. Unfold the thawed puff pastry sheets on a lightly-floured board. With a large 4.5-inch biscuit cutter, cut out 4 rounds of dough from each piece. Lightly score the rounds with a slightly-smaller biscuit cutter or drinking glass. Transfer the puff pastry rounds to baking sheets lined with silicone baking mats or parchment paper. Gather together the remaining scraps of dough. Roll out the dough and create two or three more danish pastry circles. Add those to the baking sheets.
  3. In the bowl of a stand mixer, add the cream cheese, sour cream, granulated sugar, lime juice, lime zest, and vanilla extract. Mix until all ingredients are fully incorporated and the consistency is smooth and creamy. Place two tablespoons of the cream cheese mixture in the center of each puff pastry circle. Using the backside of a spoon, spread it out, leaving a 1/4-inch rim.
  4. Arrange blueberries on half of the rounds. Artistically arrange strawberries on the rest of the batch.
  5. Bake for 15-16 minutes, or until the rims of the puff pastry desserts are lightly golden brown.
  6. Allow the cheese danish to relax on the baking sheets and cool down to room temperature. If desired, add a light sprinkling of lime zest to the middle of the strawberry breakfast pastries.
  7. Serve with coffee, milk, orange juice or tea.

These simple and super buttery little pastries are so good and look gorgeous. These are perfect for any special occasion or just to treat yourself!

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Community

/ embracingspirit / Leave a comment

Community; a feeling of fellowship with others, as a result of sharing common attitudes, interests, and goals.

Life sometimes becomes so busy and hard that I have learned to take a step back and let the dust settle when I feel like I am one step too close to the edge. At least that is what has been going on in my world. While most things in my life are extraordinarily amazing, some of it has been equally stressful and emotional. I know that the best thing for me to do is get outside, get my hands dirty, and be productive. Some people freeze under stress and I am the exact opposite. The more I can accomplish in a day when I feel like I am going to explode, the better I feel. Not sure what that coping strategy might fall in the fight/flight/freeze realm, but getting stuff done is where I cope.

Literally a month ago I softly uttered the words —maybe I should open up one of my Fridays to see more students since my schedule is so packed and the demand is so great. Within a week of saying that a huge agency asked if I could add TEN memory care assisted living homes to my already swamped schedule. Sometimes when we speak something vague the universe hears it and runs with it! There is no way I could do ten homes in one day, so I chose to go from zero teaching on Fridays to every Friday teaching in four homes. And, another local agency serving adults with traumatic brain injuries doubled their services with me.

Wow.

Last week was my first week of doubled time locally and full days on Friday. I am going to be honest….by Friday at 3pm I decided that if I had to say “take a breath in and blow out a candle” one more time I was either going to lose my mind or cry.

Complicate my exhaustion of driving over 850 miles in four days, teaching 18 hard classes, and dealing with constant pain, I also needed to step up in the mom arena these last couple weeks. For the record, when a young mom complains of the demands of a toddler I kindly tell them to fasten their seatbelt because being a parent to an adult child is one of the hardest things you’ll ever go through. You have to trust that your wisdom will be heard and accepted–much different than putting them in PJ’s and sending them to bed at 7pm.

I realized today as I was having my productivity ass kicking session of washing both my cars, planting lettuces, spinach and arugula, trimming trees, fixing fountains, coloring my girls hair, finalizing contracted social media work, and cleaning the house, that I am so grateful for the community that I have.

In hard times it’s great to know that I am surrounded by people who care and are interested in becoming their best selves. If you are a reader of this blog you are either here for amazing recipes, or essential oil uses, or maybe you are here for inspiration and hope. Whatever brings you back, I realize that in a huge way this outlet gives me the support I think I need to carry on.

I also realized today that I have done hard things before. Many times. Whether it is raise three kiddos alone, navigating the unknown territory of developmental disabilities, or building a business from nothing, or leaving a loveless and controlling relationship that gave me financial safety and security to venture out with just a truck full of belongings and start all over at age 43.

I have done hard. And I have not only survived, but I have thrived. I know that this too shall pass with my kid and I will find my rhythm in adding a huge amount of demanding work to my schedule.

After all, I am not alone, right? I know that I have thousands of people all over the world whose energy comes to me through platforms like these and that in my hardest days, I can still feel that energy. Community and feeling connected is where we survive hard times. I know that I cannot do this life alone and continue to make a difference in the lives of others. Isn’t that essence of community anyway?

So, thank you. Thank you for carrying me on the tough days and allowing me an outlet to write, cry, laugh, cook, inspire, create and mostly, to love.

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Nurture

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Nothing say nurture more than a loving Mother’s energy. Plus, the renewal of spring reminds us that Mother Earth is soaking in the rain and nurturing her beautiful land and animals. 

This perfectly crafted blend is earthy, reassuring, soft, and feels like a giant hug. I love to apply this to my wrist and my heart so that I can smell the aromas all day long. Did you know that Myrrrh essential oil is often referred to as the oil of the Divine Mother because it offers feelings of safety, healthy attachment, trust, feelings of being nurtured, loved and secure? Pretty amazing, right?

I added myrrh first to be the bottom note of aroma. Magnolia is often said to bring out feelings of compassion so gives you another layer of goodness at the end of this blend. Layered between these two essential oils are earthy, warm, love inducing essential oils with lavender petals and amethyst. Amethyst is a powerful and protective stone. It alleviates sadness and grief, and dissolves negativity. Amethysts are said to promote serenity and calm and is the perfect addition to this blend. 

Need some nurture in your life? Pop over here to grab one.

Roller Skates

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I was about twelves years old and shopping with my mom at my local K-mart when I learned the most valuable lesson she may have ever instilled in me.

For months prior to this day, I was becoming obsessed with rollerskating and spent every Friday evening at the local rink wishing the boy I was crushed on would ask me to slow skate with him, eating lemon heads with my girlfriends and basically feeling what freedom away from your parents felt like. I watched as some of the other girls started to show up with fancy white leather roller-skates with pink wheels and that amazingly cool toe stop. I noticed that some girls even got snazzy shoe-laces to make their cool skates look even cooler. These girls were no longer renting the smelling unisex brown and red skates that usually had a sticky wheel or some other defect, instead they looked like movies stars skirting around the rink. In my mind I was also convinced that they got asked to skate the slow skates with cute boys because of the skates, but I could have been wrong.

The late afternoon day at K-mart I was eyeing the same white leather with pink stopper skates that all the popular girls where bringing to the skating rink in a cool bag. I had been wearing old metal skates around my neighborhood that you just wore with your sneakers. Lame. I wanted to glide around my neighborhood and carry them into the rink on Friday like the popular girls. I wanted so badly to have these skates.

My mom found me in the aisle and I begged her with all my begging ability to buy the skates for me. They were priced at $10.97 and they had my size. They fit perfectly and I was about as excited as a girl could have been.

Nope. Her response to me asking was, “Save up your money and when you have enough, I will bring you back”.

She was not going to buy me roller-skates when I had “perfectly good ones at home that fit just fine“. She did not want to hear that other girls had them because that was the last thing she cared about (another amazing lesson). My mom was the type of mom that you did not ask twice if the answer the first time wasn’t what you wanted. You just learned to accept the answer no matter how crushed you might have been.

I was crushed.

I remember fighting back the tears and feeling so frustrated that she would not buy them for me. I was mad and jealous all at the same time. Why did I have to be the stupid paper girl tossing newspapers onto people’s porches, smelling like ink and being laughed at? Why couldn’t I just be the pretty girl that had fancy new skates with sparkly shoelaces and whatever else fad that came along?

Because my mom was teaching me the value of earning what you think you need. She was teaching me the value of waiting until you can get it yourself. She was teaching me the reward of working hard and saving up for something. She was teaching me that I can provide for myself.

What a gift that was and one that has served me so well. In fact I would rather work hard, save up for something and know that I earned it, than be given something. It feels richer knowing that I made choices to get something I wanted and I certainly learned to take really good care of what I worked myself to get.

The lesson that day is one of what people call a defining moment.

I will say that walking into the skating rink the next Friday night felt pretty amazing. The skates glided and I felt so good. I would love to say the boy asked me to skate, but he didn’t. That is okay because I gained so much self-value that I didn’t need a silly boy to hold my hand to the slow songs of Lionel Richie.

From that day forward, I polished my skates off after each use and prayed that my feet didn’t grow too fast. Oh, and my mom did end up buying me the sparkly laces and even made me a pom-pom to go on top.

Self-Care Series

/ embracingspirit / Leave a comment

School is back in session for most and that means many parents will have a little more time to think about themselves. For many, many, MANY years I neglected my own well being thinking that I was being a great mom by giving every ounce to my kids. Wrong.

Before long I was overweight, angry and exhausted.

Long ago, when someone mentioned to me the idea of practicing self-care, I had no idea what that could be and I had an immediate reaction that is was selfish.

Boy, have I ever come a long way.

Not sure what self-care looks like for you? For each of us it can mean so many things. There is no one-size fits all when it comes to self care.

The good news is, if you are not sure what self-care can be, I can help! I have an amazing virtual self-care package that includes a variety of tools to help YOU take care of YOU. And the best part? It is self paced and can be done on YOUR time, in YOUR space, but with my loving support.

Check this out! I’d love to walk alongside with you on finding YOU again.

Nurture Essential Oil and Crystal Blend

/ embracingspirit / Leave a comment

Nothing say nurture more than a loving Mother’s energy. Plus, the renewal of spring reminds us that Mother Earth is soaking in the rain and nurturing her beautiful land and animals.

This blend is earthy, reassuring, soft, and feels like a giant hug. I love to apply this to my wrist and my heart so that I can smell the aromas all day long. Did you know that Myrrrh essential oil is often referred to as the oil of the Divine Mother because it offers feelings of safety, healthy attachment, trust, feelings of being nurtured, loved and secure? Pretty amazing, right?

I added myrrh first to be the bottom note of aroma. Magnolia is often said to bring out feelings of compassion so gives you another layer of goodness at the end of this blend. Layered between these two essential oils are earthy, warm, love inducing essential oils with lavender petals and amethyst. Amethyst is a powerful and protective stone. It alleviates sadness and grief, and dissolves negativity. Amethysts are said to promote serenity and calm and is the perfect addition to this blend.

Need some nurture in your life? Pop over here and grab one.

Seasonal Support

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I hate to see people suffer! If you or a loved one struggles with seasonal threats and are looking to promote a healthy respiratory system, then the package below is a must for your LRP.

TriEase® Softgels (20 PV) – TriEase Softgels can be consumed safely on a daily basis during times of seasonal discomfort to promote clear breathing and overall respiratory health. **10% off this month!!

d?TERRA® Breathe® (20 PV) – d?TERRA® Breathe is a remarkable blend of essential oils including Laurel Leaf, Peppermint, Eucalyptus, Melaleuca, Lemon, Ravensara, and Cardamom which maintains feelings of clear airways and easy breathing while minimizing the effects of seasonal threats. d?TERRA® Breathe can be applied topically to the chest, back, bottom of feet, or diffused at nighttime to calm the senses and promote a restful sleep.

TerraShield® (10.50 PV) – TerraShield Outdoor Blend contains powerful essential oils and other plant oils known to provide outdoor protection in a natural, safe way. This newly updated formula contains a select blend of essential oils including Ylang Ylang, Cedarwood, Catnip, Lemon Eucalyptus, Litsea, Arborvitae, Nootka, and Vanilla Bean Absolute—all of which possess specific chemical compounds known to protect against environmental annoyances.

Lavender Oil (21 PV) – Lavender is often considered a must-have oil to keep on hand at all times due to its versatile uses, including calming and relaxing, promoting peaceful sleep, and easing feelings of tension. Put a few drops on your feet and chest or belly to promote healthy histamine levels against seasonal threats. Diffusing lavender with peppermint is also amazing!

d?TERRA® Breathe® Respiratory Drops (14.50 PV) – d?TERRA® Breathe Respiratory Drops are formulated from specific oils from d?TERRA® Breathe proprietary blend and are wonderful aids in promoting clear airways and supporting respiratory health.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

*These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.

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