Compassionate Women - Page 13 of 34 -

My Favorite All Natural Beauty Products

December 27, 2016 by Jillian Leave a Comment

I’m all about using natural foods as beauty products – apple cider vinegar toner, turmeric facial masks, coconut oil for skin and hair – and I would love to hand make everything myself, but that’s just not realistic right now. I’m sure at one point in the future I’ll be making my own shampoo and lip balm and even makeup. It’s actually not that difficult once you have the ingredients and tools. But for now, I’ve found my favorite store-bought beauty items that are vegan, cruelty free and contain lots of all natural ingredients as opposed to chemicals.

Here are my favorite beauty must haves!

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Getting Spicy with RawSpiceBar!

December 22, 2016 by Jillian Leave a Comment

Imagine a world with no spices. What would food taste like with no salt? No cinnamon for cookies or cakes or coffee. What would Indian food be with no cumin? Or Italian food without basil, thyme and oregano? Throughout history, the spice trade has established vast empires and compelled explorers to travel across the globe. Today, countless beauty products and holistic medicines contain spices.

Needless to say, food and life in general would be pretty bland without spices.

Enter RawSpiceBar. A company that uses high quality ingredients and careful techniques to deliver a unique trio of global spices straight to your door each month. For me personally, trying RawSpiceBar allowed me to get out of my spice rut and think outside the box. I tend to stick with the same handful of spices for all of my cooking and baking. But this reminded me that spices are vibrant, full of personality and can motivate creativity!

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2016 Wrap Up

December 20, 2016 by Jillian 2 Comments

This little guy was definitely one of my best memories from the past year.

And traveling.

And food of course!

Wow. 2016 has been an interesting year for me both personally and professionally. I spent most of it in Beaumont, a small town in southeast Texas near the Louisiana border. It provided me with a bit of culture shock to say the least. I’ve lived mainly in Austin and Dallas where people are very health conscious, animal friendly and open minded, so being thrown into a southern town where most people are behind in these areas was quite an adjustment.

But I survived! …and in the process, learned a lot about myself and others.

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Key Lime Pie & Chocolate Peanut Butter Energy Balls

December 9, 2016 by Jillian Leave a Comment

It’s finally starting to get cold down here in Texas! I’m currently in the southernmost part of Texas, the Rio Grande Valley, which is right along the Mexico border. It’s normally all sunshine and warm breezes, even in the middle of winter, but today was super cold and tomorrow will be even colder! I’ve been eating a lot of soup and drinking lots of fresh pressed juice to keep away my allergies that are trying to overcome me. When I feel any kind of cold or sore throat or allergy coming on, I literally just drink warm lemon water all day long and it prevents me from getting sick. It’s pretty amazing.

These delicious energy balls are also pretty amazing. The key lime pie balls are light and sweet with a touch of tang, and the chocolate peanut butter balls are dense and rich with flavor. They both contain some of my favorite foods, like almonds, cashews, chia seeds, coconut and peanut butter. Instead of using sugar or a processed sweetener, these energy balls are naturally using dates. Yum!

Making energy balls is really fun and easy, and you can make them in big batches to munch on throughout the week. Whether you make the key lime pie or the chocolate peanut butter or both, you’ll fall in love with these vegan, gluten free energy balls!

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Warren Loose Conservatory & Cattail Marsh

November 30, 2016 by Jillian Leave a Comment

I’ve been to almost every corner of Texas and I have lots of favorite places in this great big state. One of my recent favorites is the little known Beaumont Botanical Gardens, located in historic Tyrrell Park. The park contains the gardens, a conservatory, banquet hall, horse stables, golf course, walking trail and a marsh with a boardwalk 🐎🌷⛳️

To see my photos of the lovely gardens, check out my post on the Beaumont Botanical Gardens. This week’s post is all about the conservatory and the awesome marsh. Below are my favorite photos of these extremely peaceful, beautiful places ☮

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