Sunkissed Truth :: Plant Medicine

Ever since reading this sentence in The Yoga of Herbs by Dr. David Frawley & Dr. Vasant Lad, I can't get it out of my head! It's so beautiful, full of so much (sometimes forgotten) truth, and also kind of goes hand in hand with my idea of "bottling up sunkissed ingredients" for my natural skin care line- which makes me REALLY happy. 

Amazingly gorgeous herb/flower mandala via The Chestnut School of Herbs

We all know that plants get food & energy from the sun...well that energy is then transferred to us when we "partake" in them- whether it's food, teas, seasonings, oils, face scrubs, lotions, tinctures...the list could go on.
So, plants are really a little love note from the sun, from the stars, from the Creator to us.
A message reminding us of where we've come from, what we should hold onto, and what will keep us healthy and balanced (physically and emotionally). Deep thoughts from me today...=)

Visit my Etsy shop and see what I've been honored to create with the power of plants!

Until next time, keep dreaming. xoxo

Sunkissed Escapades :: Oregon Roadtrip

My husband and I took a road trip up to the beautiful state of Oregon this past month. We've been planning it for a while now and we're both so stoked to go exploring and adventuring up there.

We packed my Kia Soul full of everything, including his surfboard, and headed out for a week of escapades. 

If you have a chance to visit, I'd highly suggest it. Here's a bunch of photos from the driving, eating, hiking, relaxing and all the little stops along the way.

First stop: Shasta Lake, Mt. Shasta

Yaks on the 5...literally the best burger I've ever had, not to mention their coffee is delicious and they give it to you in a french press!

The home we stayed at the first couple days had visitors on the lawn everyday. Precious deer and wild turkeys! It was fun doing yoga together. 

Outside of the cutest little breakfast place called The Teapot on Wheels, right by the river.

Views from a few of our hikes. These first photos are from Lower Table Rock Trail, the last 30 minutes of the trail you're walking on top of a plateau and you have a 360' view of the mountains and city below. It's unbelievably gorgeous!

Stopped at the tasting room at Del Rio Vineyards. Yuuuummy wine and friendly staff. They do everything on site- it's a great local winery in Gold Hill.

Jacksonville is an old little town with a lot of charm. We got there around 6 on a Sunday night and a lot of the stores were already closed, but we enjoyed walking around and had dinner then coffee and dessert at a great local cafe. 

This day was probably my favorite :: CRATER LAKE. I've been wanting to visit this gorgeous phenomena for some time now, and this bright blue lake is completely everything it's cracked up to be!

View from the top of Garfield Peak, I'd HIGHLY recommend hiking this trail if you're there.

Found the PCT! One day, I'd love to hike at least a portion of the Pacific Crest Trail. We saw it from the highway we were on, and pulled over to check it out.

On to Portland...the city of a million cafes and another million local restaurants. Not that that's a bad thing- it just made it harder for us to choose where to eat with all the delicious options and only one day!

Laurelhurst Cafe- get the quinoa salad or the Donald Trump sandwich.

Blue Star Donuts - locally sourced and made from scratch daily. I got the lemon poppyseed- sooooo amazing with a glass of ice cold milk.

On the way back down from Portland we stayed at Lakeshore Inn, right on Lake Oswego. We woke up to gorgeous views of the lake and the amazing houses on it; the hotel was lovely and we found a great deal! I wish we could've stayed there a few more days- there's a heated swimming pool downstairs that is overlooking the lake that I would've loved to swim in!

Had breakfast at Down to Earth Cafe on a rainy morning. (Seeing rain was so great).  It's a small family owned restaurant with organic ingredients and tons of delicious options. Their coffee was great as well. These eggs benedict and potatoes were delicious. With all our heavy meals, I was still trying to keep it balanced (trying is the key word), so I got a smoothie to go with fruits, ginger, greens and seeds. (Pretty sure I gained like 10 lbs on our trip...that's what vacations are for though, right?)

Speaking of packing on the pounds, we also HAD to stop at Tillamook Cheese Factory for some free samples, a tour of the place and a deliciously cheesy grilled cheese sandwich.

So many beautiful little stops on our 15 hour drive back home. It didn't seem like that long (probably because I wasn't driving), and the gorgeous views from the passenger window were keeping me pretty occupied. 

Yes, that's a huge Elk standing on the side of the highway. I thought it was fake at first, then it barely moved its head and my husband and I both yelled "it's real!" So glorious and strong.

Our humble ride. My husband drove the whole time (I swear I offered), such a loving guy- he said he wanted me to be able to enjoy the sights.
I can't wait to travel up there again, maybe next time we'll take a tent or trailer and camp instead, there's campsites about every 10 miles it seemed like! Thank you Oregon, US Interstate 5 and US Route 101 for the beautiful memories.

Until next time, keep dreaming. xoxo

Sunkissed Quotes :: John Muir

Beautiful words from John Muir on this Thursday afternoon.
If you ever want to read beautiful things about our beautiful, natural world, get one of his books or look up his quotes on google.
Photo is from my spot on the beach yesterday- my husband and I snuck away for the morning to Santa Cruz. I did yoga on the beach for the first time - it was amazing and I wish I could do yoga on the beach EVERYDAY! 

Have a beautiful and fun Labor Day Weekend, dreamers!
Until next time, xoxo

Sunkissed DIY: Macrame Herb or Plant Hanger

Apparently macrame is making a come back, or has been for a while and I just recently noticed it....

My parents used to have macrame hangers with fake plants in the living room when I was younger- yes back in the 80's. I never knew what they were called, and when I saw this diy on Pinterest a few months back, I immediately remembered those beaded hangers from when I was 4! 

Reading the instructions to make one, I was very confused and thought no way...then when I decided to try it and had all the supplies in front of me, it was actually so easy! I was doing them on my own after following the instructions just once.

I've been growing a lot of different herbs this spring and LOVE having them right there for when I need to add some to our meals or desserts! Fresh herbs are so much better than the dried ones you buy in the spice aisle at Safeway...obviously. Anyways, I figured this would be a fun way to show off the beauty of my herbs and add a little more of "me" to our rental house...plus we have a huge pile of sticks behind our shed that I thought could be put to good use.

|| SUPPLIES |

• Jersey knit fabric or a T-shirt of stretchy-ish material that you don't mind cutting up. (I didn't have an old shirt of this material, so I got some from a local fabric store. It was fun being able to pick out bright & cheery designs!) I got one yard each of three different fabrics.
• 3 Terracotta pots, like this, or any other smaller pot you'd like to use, I got mine for really cheap at Walmart.
• Strong twine or cotton rope- like the kind used for clotheslines- something not too flimsy! You could also use wire.
• A stick. Make sure it is thick enough to screw into and sturdy enough to hold up the weight of a few pots full of soil. You could also use a piece of thick scrap wood. My stick is about 3 feet long and an inch around.
• Screw eye hooks like these. You should get larger ones if you're using a larger piece of wood or bigger pots.
• Long screw driver of any kind
• Hammer & nails

Now you can get to work on your macrame! I followed this DIY on Brit + Co, but if you're up for it, you could make something fancier or more detailed. There's A TON of instructions for beautiful macrames on the web and Pinterest! I made all three of mine different lengths to add more dimension to my hanger.

Once you have your lovely fabric hangers complete, I'd suggest filling up your pots with soil and whatever plants or herbs you are going to fill them with first. Mine has basil, rosemary and dill...mmmm. I kept putting the macrame on the pot and taking it off to make sure it fit- but the great part is, since the fabric is stretchy, you can adjust it once it's on the pot- so just try and put it on once, when you're ready to adjust and hang them.

|| STICK TIME |

• You'll want to insert the first screw eye in the middle of the stick so you have a good starting point for the other two (unless you're only doing one or two pots).
• Grab a nail that is about the same width as the screw eye and hammer it in about 1/4" to 1/2" where you are going to insert the screw eye in the stick. This gives you a hole to start with in order to get the hook into the wood. Now pull the nail out and start screwing the hook into that same hole, you'll have to put a little muscle behind it! 
• Once I got my hook in far enough to stand on its own, I inserted a long screw driver sideways into the circular hook part and used it as a kind of lever to screw the hook all the way down. Just spin the screw driver (horizontally) around and around until the hook is nice and secure in your stick. 

• Do the same with the next two hooks, you want them spaced far enough apart that all the weight isn't in the middle of your stick and so the pots have space to breathe! I spaced mine about 9" apart, which left a nice amount of room at each end of my stick.
• Depending on where you are hanging this planter, you'll want to measure out your twine, rope, or wire for the length that you need it. I used twine and knotted it a few different times on all 3 attachments so I could change the hanging length if I needed to. Again, make sure it is strong enough to hold up your hanger, I wove my twine together a few times to make sure it wasn't going to rip!
  
• Now you'll want to set up the nails or hooks that you're using to hang the planter. Make sure you hammer them in at the same distance apart that your hooks are so you can easily hang the twine or rope.
• Once you have those in and your rope or twine attached, it's time to add your hanging plants! Place one in the middle on one side of the middle hook. The other two can be placed next to each of the other hooks, I put one on the inside and one on the outside. The stick is strong enough and if your hooks are spaced apart equally it shouldn't slope to one side or the other.
• Holding your stick in the middle, so the pots don't slide off, hang the middle rope first, then each side- if it's too heavy, ask someone to hold it while you hang it! Its kind of an awkward piece of decor to hold....:)

Voila! You're done! Now stand back and enjoy your creation! Looks great in a patio, living room or kitchen if you have enough space! Just make sure it is somewhere that gets a good amount of sunlight so your herbs can grow big and strong!

Until next time. xoxo