Sometimes its like MAGIC ...

If you follow me on The Eclectic Mama you notice I post about Interior Design AND Holistic Health, specifically essential oils. My website also talks about this. When I'm not busy with my family, cooking, cleaning, etc. THESE two passions take up the majority of my time and I love them both.

A couple weeks ago my husband had to go to Houston on business and we decided to join him for work and pleasure. One of my oldest and best friend's mother lives there. We stayed with her last year at Christmas and I did some design work in her main living area and one of the guest bedrooms. This trip we decided to work on the other 2 guest bedrooms while adding some finishing touches to the third. Today I am going to feature one of those bedrooms which is called "Jessica's Room".

I honestly sort of felt like this picture when working on this space as it was all coming together!

You should see me as I shop and load up carts! It's so fun as I see it all starting to come together. I get some pretty good stares as well! Especially if the boys are with me. Luckily I was solo on that particular Friday and it was so much fun!

Cheryl wanted to keep the existing furniture in this space.

As you can see the furniture is very french and timeless but picking the right color pallet was going to be tricky.

So naturally I went to Home Goods (my favorite store!) and started visualizing what I thought would work. It was finding a few pillows in some neutral fun patterns and adding a few more metallics to them that I decided this room needed lots of sparkle!

Which was great because even though it's a guest room that is totally Jessica's personality and I knew when she came to stay she was going to love it! I had so much fun working on this room, it was almost magical as it all came together. I'm glad Cheryl trusted me and even had her own fun ideas like the cheetah chair we put into the corner of the room!

Mom - its IKEA!

This is a blog post from last year that I never ran (it took me way longer to launch Eclectic Mama than I thought) but I recently took a picture of our "art area" that I shared and discussed my favorite orange wall. I also wanted to share these fun boxes that have been used on the shelf there. Of course since it has almost been a year, Ikea no longer carries these boxes but regardless here's the story of how they came to be! :)

Last weekend (oh gosh, it felt like the weekend but I think it was on Tuesday). This whole Christmas break with husband home from work has my days of the week feeling all sorts of weird in my brain. Anyway ... we decided to run a bunch of errands one day. Eddie Bauer, Columbia, Under Armour, Ikea and THEN Costco. A long day with my twin boys! I had a return to make at Ikea. As we rounded the bend on the freeway we were up above Ikea on an off-ramp to which one of my boys shouted "Mom, its IKEA!" Even before I saw it! My boys crack me up. They know their stores. They love Ikea because we bought their train set from Ikea. We told them we needed more tracks (which was the truth) but I also knew they would be well behaved as we strolled through the GINORMOUS showroom if they were on the lookout for tracks. They were very good and we made it in and out in record time. Don't get me wrong, I could spend hours there but we had a big morning behind us and we still had to make it to Costco.

I'm in LOVE with these new Ikea boxes. I am using a few of them to put the boys art supplies in.

 

Images via Ikea

Why I use doTERRA Essential Oils

Network Marketing? I didn't think it was my thing. Natural Health? Yes, please! doTERRA Essential Oils? Seriously … life changing!

When my boys were 4 months old they were experiencing some tummy problems. I had a friend who suggested trying doTERRA Digestzen oil, and she even dropped off a bottle for me to try. It was that experience that led me into wanting to know more. A few months later, I attended my first essential oil class and received a free bottle of wild orange. It smelled amazing. I purchased a book that night and from there I went down the essential oil rabbit hole. I liked doTERRA oils but I wasn't sold on the network marketing business model and I figured all essential oils were the same. Little did I know how wrong I was. I now understand how doTERRA oils are truly the purest and best sourced oils, and the only ones I would consider using. See this short great video that shares my sentiments.

doTERRA essential oils for our family have been beyond wonderful. I have found more uses for the oils than I could ever imagine. I cook with them, clean with them and I use them medicinally. My 3 year old twins have never been on a prescription medicine or been to the doctor for a sick visit. I have been able to treat everything with essential oils and natural medication. I learned early on at my babies well visit doctor appointments that I wanted to be in charge of my family's health. I wasn't comfortable with what traditional doctors were recommending for my new babies. I soon after found a trusted naturopath that I loved. Between her and my functional medicine practitioner coupled with the health food store, a few books and a lot of internet based research, I felt very comfortable with managing my family's health and saving the big stuff (like stitches) for my doctors! Make note - I do believe Western Medicine does have its place.

After using the oils for 3 years, I found myself talking and sharing doTERRA oils with friends and family and decided to look further into doTERRA as a business. doTERRA's business model (network marketing) works for the oils and after a few conversations with some friends who were already doing doTERRA as a business I decided to give it a try and I’m now partnered with some amazing mentors and leaders. I'm so grateful for my friend who introduced the oils to me, and I hope it makes a difference in the lives of those I introduce doTERRA to.  I love showing people there is an alternative approach to most health ailments.

doTERRAs deep commitment to quality and sourcing the purest essential oils is something that connected with from the beginning. Sure I could buy other brands of oils cheaper, and I did that initially, but they were definitely not the same. I buy local grass-fed meat and raw dairy products whenever I can. I buy organic as much as I can from our nearest health food store and the farmers markets. I love knowing the oils come from where they are grown indigenous and are 100% pure. These farmers have a better way of life because of the partnerships they have created with doTERRA. The cause is bigger than myself and something I am truly proud to be a part of.

If you are overwhelmed by the thought of using essential oils and aren't sure where to start, please see the resources I recommend below.

If you are interested in trying doTERRA essential oils and would like a free sample, please contact me. If you want to jump right in and start using essential oils, let's chat about purchasing a kit (the biggest cost savings) or creating a custom order. I teach classes locally in Dallas and my team has pre-recorded webinar classes as well as live online classes (all classes are free to attend).

My job is not to sell you oils. My job and passion is to help you learn more about the powerful healing benefits of doTERRA oils and the impact they can make on your life. And let me set the record straight-you don't have to sell the oils to use the oils.

Natural Health is here to stay. doTERRA oils are as simple, natural and as good as it gets! They truly are a huge part of my everyday life.  

Christi Luke - The Eclectic Mama Resources

My website - www.christiluke.com

My facebook - https://www.facebook.com/christilukeeclecticmama?ref=hl

My doTERRA website - http://www.mydoterra.com/christiluke/#/

doTERRA Resources

doTERRA Facebook page - https://www.facebook.com/doterra

doTERRA Blog - http://doterrablog.com/

doTERRA Consultant Tools - http://www.doterratools.com/

doTERRA Everyday - http://www.doterraeveryday.com/

doTERRA YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/user/doTERRAcorp

Scientific Essential Oil Resources

http://www.aromaticscience.com/

http://doterrascienceblog.com/

Summer 2015 Road-trip Roundup

2 months (60 days) on the road with 3 year old toddlers. Sounds a bit crazy to some, awesome to others, brave or maybe all of the above. 

15 months ago our family moved to Dallas, TX. I'm a girl who grew up in the Northwest who loves the four seasons and anything outdoors so I knew it was going to be an adjustment. But guess what? No one ever told me how HOT Dallas was! It's so hot and I don't like the heat. We lived in Arizona for 18 months while Ryan was in grad school and I thought that was hot ... Dallas is super HOT with little relief. So last year I decided I wasn't going to stay in Dallas during the last 1/2 of the summer. So fast forward to the Spring of 2015 and I decided "what if I just went on the road with the boys, like what if I sort of just put a plan together?" It could totally work or it could be horrible. Twin boys, 3 year old twin boys at that in the car for long hours. I decided to just go for it. So I made some tentative plans. My parents live in Salt Lake City, UT and my in-laws are two and a half hours from there east. Before moving to Dallas we lived in Seattle and I really wanted to go back and visit as the boys often talk about our "old house" up there. So the middle of July rolled around and I left on July 20th. A week before I bought a Subaru Outback, borrowed a roof rack and was ready to do it. I think I'm a pretty organized person but there is SO much to account for when traveling with young ones. Packing was pretty intense but once we hit the road I felt confident in what I was bringing along. 

Our DOG (gasp, as if I didn't have my hands already full), a new GPS, a portable DVD player, books, bikes, sleeping bags, clothes, lots of snacks and food and we were on our way! 

To read the details of our trip click here.