Obsessions: Coconut Oil

Do you have that one product or that one thing that you use all the time?

I do.

My friends, I love coconut oil.

I love the fact that it's a natural product, it's safe for my daughter in case she was to ever ingest it, it smells wonderful, it tastes great when used in things, et cetera et cetera.

Here's just a taste of what I use it for:

- Moisturizer.  After I wash my face, shave my legs, or even just to touch up dry skin spots.  It works and smells amazing. 

- Everything baby.  Seriously.  Everytime Ellie takes a bath I lather her up in coconut oil afterwards.  It has been great for cradle cap, diaper rashes, regular rashes, and even when her legs were incredibly dry.  I love that if she were to somehow get it in her mouth, it's okay!  It's a natural product that doesn't contain a million unpronounceable chemicals.

- Butter replacement.  Want to make a recipe healthier?  Replace butter with coconut oil.  Tastes amazing.  It's even great on top of popcorn.  No joke.

- Any oil/fat replacement really.  We've used it to grease pans (instead of olive oil or butter or spray), replace butter in cookies, and sautee veggies (especially when they're going to be in a curry, the coconut oil adds a yummy new flavor to it).

- Eye makeup remover.  It really does remove mascara and eyeliner.  I use it every time I wear mascara.

- Scars.  I'm still a work in progress on this particular subject, but I have heard that it works really well to clear up scars and such.  I was blessed by my daughter with beautiful stretch marks.  I heard that coconut oil can help them fade.  I'll let you know if it's a success (in a few years, probably).


Do you use coconut oil for anything else?  Or do you have that ONE thing you have to use?

Planning...

First off, I hope you like the new look.  I liked my old layout, but the header was too big and I wanted a more subtle look.  I'm sorry if you were on it the past couple days and weird things kept changing/happening.  I may have flip-flopped between two columns and one.  Let me know if something looks/acts weird or funky.

...........................................

 
It's the new year.  Wait, you didn't know that? Well, yeah.  Everyone keeps mentioning it so I thought I should mention it at least once more, in case you forgot.

Bloggers are all talking about the new year, new goals, new blog posts, new planners, etc.  Me?  Well, I have goals, who doesn't right?  They are pretty consistent year-round.  You know.. work out more, be more spontaneous, read more, save more, blog more, be more organized, etc etc.  I think I'm always going to want the same goals, whether it's new years or not.

via

 
One goal I have, though, that I MUST share, is to get myself a planner that works for me.

I've seen such cute planners.  Erin Condren planners?  Well, that'd be nice, but $50?!  Ugh.  Why must you cost so much?

I do have a planner.  I even made myself a personalized one with a mini binder I found at Goodwill, but...

I'm having such a hard time getting myself to use, utilize, and remember my planner.  I'm trapped in this world of "oh yeah, there's my planner.  Let me write something in it and update it.  What? I haven't used it in two weeks?  Well, I better remember next time..."

I then went through this phase of using my Google calendar on my iPod touch.  The problem, though, is that I don't use my iPod all the time and I'm not about to get an iPhone because (1) I don't have the money to afford a nice phone AND a data plan.  Why can't I have an iPhone without a data plan?!  and (2) I don't NEED an iPhone just to take better quality pictures with Instagram and to access my calendar whenever I need to text someone. 

Am I right?!     via

Although, it would make my problem easier...

So now I'm stuck.  Do I stick with technology, even though I don't always have a charged iPod with me, or do I go back to a nice paper notebook planner and just try to drill it into my skull? 

What do you do as a planner?  Do you even use one?  I could seriously use some guidance from some professionals.