Spring Allergies and a Natural Fix!

I love the spring. I love the warm sun, the bright green leaves, the flowers blooming, the longer days, sitting on the deck, and the promise of summer. I don't love allergies.

I was recently contacted by AllergEase to see if I was interested in trying their all-natural allergy lozenges. I'm big into all-natural products, and I suffer from seasonal allergies, so I was excited for this opportunity. 

AllergEase is an all-natural lozenge which works to help fight seasonal allergies. I was pleasantly surprised with the flavor of the drops. In my mind I had compared the drops to Cold-Eeze, which do not taste so great (they give my mouth a weird numb feeling and bad flavor). AllergEase however tasted kind of like drinking a cup of minty honey lemon tea. Pretty tasty for an all-natural herbal supplement. 

I have not used enough of the drops yet to make a statement about their effectiveness, but the reviews and research out there are promising. 

I have decided to share this product with you all by giving away one box of AllergEase all-natural allergy lozenges. The box contains 21 lozenges, so it will get you well on your way to allergy relief!

To enter the giveaway, leave a comment below with your favorite spring time activity you enjoy when allergies aren't getting you down! The giveaway will close in one week, on Monday, April 11, 2014 at 8:00 pm EST. U.S. entries only please. 

source

Dreaming of Spring

We have had an unusually snowy winter here in Richmond this year. As a teacher, I have loved getting some snow days, but now I am ready for sunshine, warm breezes, leaves and flowers sprouting, and spending some much needed time outside.

I hung my spring/summer wreath on the front door yesterday, a simple DIY you can find here, and I am not embarrassed to say I have had my spring mantle up since I took down my Christmas decorations. The time between Christmas and spring is a weird time for decorating anyway. By the time Christmas is over I am done with winter and am ready for spring, so I figure why not bring spring inside. 

Here is my spring mantle look. I created it with items found around my house, which is the best kind of decorating because its free! 

I love the pops of greenery for a fresh bright look. The yellow birdie was a Hobby Lobby find a few years ago (although I feel like they often have things like that), and the fresh tulips are from Trader Joe's. I was lucky and happened to be in Trader Joe's when the tulips were on special for $1.99 a bunch. Prices like that make splurging on fresh flowers an easy decision!

Even though there is leftover snow outside of my window right now, a weather forecast of temperatures in the 60s this week, and coming home to this cheery front door, give me hope that spring is closer than I think. 

Hello, Spring {Mantle}!

Finally, what I have been waiting for since January....spring! Sure it may not feel like it (it was snowy here this morning), but the calendar telling me its spring means we are one step closer to the real thing.

I don't have any spring decorations to speak of, but with a change in the seasons I was in the mood for some bright pops of spring around the house. If it doesn't feel like spring outside it might as well feel like it inside, right?

One spot that could use a little decorating love in my house is my mantel. It looks good in the fall and at Christmas, but during the rest of the year we are in a fight. I am never happy with how its decorated. When I got this recent urge for spring decor, what I really wanted to do was go to Hobby Lobby and explore all of their fun springy decorations. I knew they would have what I needed to create some fabulous over the top mantle decoration, but for a girl on a budget that wasn't an option.

I got resourceful (as a kindergarten teacher and budget savvy diva are prone to do) and scrounged around the house to see what I could find.

Here is what I came up with:

The yellow bird has lived on my mantel off and on for a year or so now and he came from Hobby Lobby. The beautiful daffodils came out of my yard and the Ball jar out of my cabinet. The robins eggs are votive candles that my Grammie brought me as a hostess gift in January. The raffia nest was part of the packaging and the ribbon on the Ball jar came tied around the candle box (that is why it is kind of crinkly and wonky). I nestled all of those things in a fruit dish, also from my kitchen cabinet.

So, what do you think? I am very happy with how it turned out. It is simple and sweet, although once the daffodils die I am SOL again since I cut all of the good ones out of my yard, but for now it is a happy promise of the warm spring weather to come.

Do you ever go shopping in your house when you get the urge to decorate? It is fun to see what you can come up with!

Happy spring!