We are finally kicking off our wedding series! A little late, but better late, than never! We wanted to share how Samantha asked her bridesmaids, and some gifts ideas you can give to your bridesmaids.
Since Samantha is having a destination wedding, she gave these personalized passport and luggage tags out to all her bridesmaids, and had everyone’s names embossed on top. These come in a lot of colors!
You all know that we love our fruit! We created this fun fruit tray with “2021” spelled out on it for a healthy snack/treat to celebrate the new year. We picked up everything we needed to make the fruit tray at Walmart using their Online Order and Pickup. It is so convenient and easy because all you have to do is place a quick order online, or using their free app, and then your groceries are ready for pickup shortly after that!
They place everything in your trunk, all contact-less, and their quality and low prices are top-notch!
See everything we used in our fruit plate below, and how much we saved shopping at Walmart vs Kroger.
In case you missed it, we dedicated an entire episode of our podcast, An Extra Dose, sharing all about CBD. You can listen to that here.
We are not experts in this area, so we have read up on a lot of what it is and what it does. Equilibria (the brand we have been taking for a year now), has a great blog post that explains the 5 CBD basics here. According to their site, “CBD is short for cannabidiol. It is one of over 150 naturally-occurring compounds (aka “cannabinoids”) found in the Cannabis Sativa plant. Cannabinoids are chemical compounds that interact with receptors in our Endocannabinoid System (ECS). The ECS plays a crucial role in regulating sleep, inflammation, mood, and overall homeostasis (a body’s state of balance).”
We know there are SOOO many brands out there, and it can be overwhelming. We have personally taken Equilibria for a year now, so we can give you an honest review.
They offer a FREE dosing specialist call one-on-one
Unlike other companies, they don’t just send you product, and wish you luck. They truly care about how your experience is, and want you to have all the information you need/want. They offer a free one-on-one call with one of their dosage specialists. This helps you determine what dose, products, and timing works best for YOU.
Not going to lie, we were kind of confused and total newbies at first, so the call helped us a ton to figure out which products worked best for us and which time to take them, and how much to take.
Equilibria is organic:
They source their CBD from an organic farm in Colorado and is fully-traceable so they know exactly where their product is coming from, and so do you!
They don’t use stalks, stems, seeds, or isolates:
Using only parts of the plant is the cheaper route, so we love that they use the flowers in their product.
Equilibria is women-owned and focused:
Men can definitely take their product, but we especially love that their products fit women’s needs. Their products help with all different cycles in a women’s life like childbirth and menopause, and all other events in between.
Their product is quality:
Equilibria’s full-spectrum CBD products are GMO, solvent, heavy-metals, pesticide, and herbicide-free. Each plant is hand-harvested and the oil is carefully extracted from flowers only—the purest source of cannabinoids. Their product has no fillers or junk in it, so you know you are getting quality ingredients.
Our experience using CBD
We have struggled with anxiety since high school, and it has gotten worse over the years. Also, our sleep has been not so great at certain points over the years. We have taken prescriptions, tried melatonin, and other herbal remedies, but they would only work for a short period of time, if they even worked at all.
Since taking their product, our anxiety and sleep has been a million times better. We feel a huge difference in our mood and thoughts, as well as restful sleep. We will say that you really need to be taking it consistently to notice a difference, and be in a good routine.
We personally take their daily drops (see later in the post where we break down every product they have) on a twice-daily basis, as well as use the rollerball.
We do enjoy the softgels as well, but prefer the daily drops over them. We just feel more of an “immediate” sense of calm after taking the drops.
What products does Equilibria offer?
They have a lot of great products, and we have personally used all of them:
Daily Softgels: (10 mg CBD per capsule) these are a slow-release product for long-lasting effects. You can take these before bed, and will allow for a more restful sleep throughout the night. Unlike the drops, these take more time to “feel” a difference.
Daily Drops: (10mg CBD per 1ml dropper) we take these at least twice a day and love the mint, and seasonal holiday flavors. These are faster-acting, and help increase a sense of calm and balance. We take ours morning and night, and sometimes in between.
Daily Treatment Oil:this is one of their newer products and we have been LOVING it. This oil has seven botanicals, and helps to refresh and nourish your skin deeply. It also has 500mg of full-spectrum CBD to moisturize and heal, as well as oils like Sweet Almond, Litsea, and Olive Squalane. We have been using this morning and night, and love how hydrated our skin feels.
Relief Cream:this cream is great for any aches, pains or cramps. We definitely use this on any sore muscles, or when we experience PMS cramps.
Dynamic Roller Ball: These rollerballs have 75mg of full-spectrum CBD, along with peppermint, jasmine, lemon, and lavender to help relax and soothe. We also use this on our temples when we have a headache!
Mindful Mineral Soak:if you are bath lover, this is for you! This has 30 minerals, 200 mg of CBD, and gardenia and jasmine oils to nourish you and relax you.
What does CBD help us with?
Like we mentioned earlier, and have shared on our Instagram stories so many times, CBD has helped us with our anxiety (which can be so awful some days), our sleep, and so much more. We are both pretty on top of taking it, and never missing a dose, but if we do, we definitely notice it!
The change in our mood and calmness is incredible, and we just hope if you’re suffering from those things that this could help you. We honestly wish we would have known about it sooner.
What we recommend + why you should take it everyday
If you’re new to CBD, and have never tried it before, we recommend:
Brilliance Box: this is a great place to start. It combines the Daily Drops, Daily Softgels, and the Relief Cream. You get a little bit of everything to try it out and see what you like best. This is what we started with until we determined which ones we used the most!
We recommend subscribing because: 1.) you save more, and 2.) you don’t have to worry about re-ordering every time you run out- aka the worst. Like we said earlier, you really need to be taking it consistently to feel and maintain the balance in your body, so if you run out, the balance will be thrown off.
PS- you can also cancel your subscription at any time (which we don’t think you will).
We have had SO many of you try them out and keep renewing your subscription, so we love that!
Balance Box: similar to the Brilliance Box, but this one just has the Daily Drops and the Daily Softgels. We would still recommend the subscription with whichever box you go with!
You also get 15% off your first order with adoubledose.
Do we have a discount code?
Yes! We do. Use code adoubledose for 15% off everything on their site!
You all know we are all about taking vitamins to complement a healthy lifestyle. Even if you eat really healthy and colorfully, you may still be lacking a certain level of vitamins in your body. We definitely supplement with vitamins every day to keep feeling our best.
We found these great and SUPER convenient vitamins from Shaklee a little while ago, and are so excited to share these with you!
What is Shaklee?
Shaklee has been around for quite some time, so you know that that they know what they’re doing. They have been in this industry for over 60 years, and they are actually founded by the creator of the multivitamin in the US!
What is special about their vitamins?
They are beyond organic, and they do over 100,000 quality tests every year on their products ingredients. They screen for over 350 contaminants, pesticides, and impurities.
Shaklee’s products are safe and gentle on the environment. They also NEVER test on animals, and their products are all gluten free.
In addition to vitamins, they also have clean beauty products, and green cleaning products, kids products, and weight loss products.
What is Meology?
Meology is a clinically-backed daily supplement pack that is delivered straight to your door (aka super convenient), and is designed specifically for YOU.
What makes Meology unique?
It is designed for you. All you have to do is take a short assessment aka “Nutrition Matchmaker” on their site. It reveals what you need and why, and then they ship them directly to you in personalized packets. Easy as that!
Their box and packaging is 100% recyclable and made from sustainable wind energy.
What does the quiz entail?
Their quiz is very thorough, and takes things into account like, “what would help me lower my stress levels”, “what could help boost my lagging energy”.
We love that they factor in things like your age, gender, health goals, family, diet sensitivities.
What if I don’t want to take a lot of vitamins?
They actually pick the fewest products possible to meet your needs, and also take into account how they will all interact together.
The Essentials plan includes supplements that are most important, and the Essentials Plus Plan includes foundational supplements, and more targeted solutions, as well as a breakdown of each supplement and the importance of them.
You can also use code ALEXIS10 for a discount!
How long does it take to see results?
Every person is different, but we recommend at least a few months. Also, they do offer a 100% money-back-guarantee, so you can always send them back for a full refund if you’re not satisfied!
Which supplements did we get?
After taking the quiz, they recommended a pack that includes:
Y’all probably know we LOVE our juicer, and it is something we use every single day (pretty much) for our celery juice. You can read more about celery juice in this post, but basically it is incredible! We wanted to share more about juicing, some other recipes to try, and answer some common questions.
What juicer do you use?
We use this Breville Juice Foundation. We have had it for year, and it still works super well. It is easy to put together, and also to clean up. Highly recommend!
What time of day do you drink your juices?
We usually drink our celery or green juices on an empty stomach. Usually we will wake up, drink some water with lemon, wait 30 minutes, and then drink our celery or green juice. After that, we will wait another 20 minutes before taking our morning supplements or vitamins.
What are the benefits of celery juice?
There are TONS of benefits to drinking celery juice. You can read more in this post, but the ones we have seen the most are better digestion, clearer skin, and energy.
Have you done a juice cleanse?
We have attempted to do a cleanse, but only lasted until 3PM. We just love chewing an actually eating foods, so we would rather eat fruits and vegetables, rather than drinking them. They are great for you, though!
Do you eat anything else with the juice?
We definitely eat food when we are juicing. After our morning juice, we always eat breakfast (usually fruit), and eat a lot the rest of the day. Even if we grab or make a juice in the afternoon, we will eat food with it.
4 fresh juice recipes to try
*pin to save for later*
Whether you want to try a green juice, or one with more color and flavor, we have you covered! We personally love the Fresh Greens because it is packed with greens, but also has the sweetness from the apples. The All Greens one is great to start your day with, or to pair with a snack in the afternoon.
The Orange Immunity and Taste The Rainbow are really delicious and more sweet and fun!
With so many of you all interested in eating more of a plant-based diet, we thought we would share some items to help you get started, and some we use all of the time!
Books/Cookbooks
Our two favorite books, if you want to get nerdy and some good info, are Medical Medium’s Life Changing Foods and Liver Rescue books. They both have such good information and the “why” behind certain fruits and veggies.
We love using wood utensils for cooking, rather than silicon or plastic because those can melt, and this zucchini noodle maker, or spiralizer, is so easy to use. It also can be used with other vegetables, too.
If you’re wanting a more affordable blender than a Vitamix, this Ninja blender has great reviews and is a lot less expensive. Great for sauces, smoothies, and more.
Last, but not least, a good set of knives is very much needed! This set is on amazon with great reviews.
