Our Grass is Dead.

Ten years ago, if you'd asked me what I wanted to do for a living, I always had a plan. Finish college, work for a magazine, be a traveling nanny, start a wedding planning business- it was endless. It was optimistic. It was exciting. It was daunting. It was so far away. Fast forward to five years ago. Ask me the same question and what was my answer? I wanted to work from home. That's it. I wanted to wake up, watch an episode of Real Housewives, answer emails from my phone, head to my home office and be my own boss. Five years later = today. Today, I am living my dream, and it is everything I could've asked for.

The last year has been so easy. Which is strange to say because I never realized how incredibly HARD my life was until I made the choice, along with my husband and family, to move away from the people I was allowing to make it so hard. And suddenly- I felt free. Like I could do anything without fear, without judgment, without asking for permission or acceptance. I rekindled friendships with girls I hadn't talked to in years. I took chances on new female friendships that have become the strongest support system I've experienced. But most importantly, I took a chance on my dream. 

Sometimes you have to close a door and open a window. For me, a door needed to close on a chapter of my life that was part of a lifetime I now can barely remember. I needed to let go of people not only for my sake, but for theirs. Sometimes you outgrow people and it's not a bad thing- it's just the universes way of saying "they've taught you what they were meant to teach you. Now on to the next lesson." The next lesson was learning who I was with other people, and I love that person. I love the person my friends describe me as. I love finding out their dreams and goals and helping them achieve them the way they helped me achieve mine. I am so genuinely grateful for them and the fact that they forgive me when I text back... Three days later... At midnight. And even moreso for my husband, who eats dinner when it's finally ready at 8pm, listens to me bitch endlessly about crappy customers, and believes in every single one of my harebrained schemes.

For the first time in my life, I feel like God has given me the chance to do exactly what I was meant to do. To hustle, to create, to share myself with the world. I get to wake up and work from bed every morning and when it's time to actually "go to work," I just walk upstairs. My life is fully supported by people purchasing something I made. It blows my mind every second of every day that God has blessed me with this opportunity and I do everything I can to show Him he made the right decision. 

The funny part about the quote is that when we filled in our pool and had our fence built, our grass got destroyed. So I am literally too busy watering my own grass to notice who else's is greener! But I hope yours is. I hope whoever you are reading this, that your grass is green and your heart is happy. I know mine is.

xo,

Cady

Guess Who's Back!

Hooray! Thanks to some convincing from sweet readers, I'm going to start blocking out more time to blog again. It's a nice release and also a way to share all the things I love (and hate) without clogging up my Instagram feed!

With Enjoy Essential now being a major Instashop, I have very little time for blogging but now that I have two assistants starting next week, I hope to schedule in some time to make this thang happen. So much has changed in my life in the past 6 months and I can't wait to share my life with you!

I will be posting my new skincare regime and favorite products for skin soon, as well as a post about my hair and how I got it to grow 6 inches in just a couple of months. I have so many new makeup products I want to talk about too... Hopefully I don't get too ahead of myself!! If any of you have requests for posts or things you want me to talk about, feel free to email my marketing coordinator with ideas! She will be putting together my blog content calendar in the coming months. 

marketing@enjoyessential.com

Can't wait to get back with you guys soon! Xo

Why I Quit Deodorant.

Gross. No deodorant?! I know what you're thinking- stay farrrr away from this chick! But trust me, I have my reasons.

After seeing so many tv shows about the "breast cancer gene" and about people getting cancer from hot water bottles left in the car too long and my own family history of breast cancer and so many girls I know who've had cysts, I got scared. Even though my breast exam seemed normal, I still decided to take measures into my own hands. If you've been reading long enough, you know about my absolutely MISERABLE experience with facial oil cleansing (do not do it!), and I've also tried oil pulling (I'll post on that if I can ever stick to it), so cutting out deodorant seemed like a natural next step for me.

What's wrong with deodorant?

The active ingredient in deodorant is aluminum. Basically, deodorant and it's active aluminum-based ingredients from a temporary plug in the sweat glands to keep sweat from coming to the surface of the skin. By applying this chemical so close to our breasts, there has been research that shows the aluminum can travel into the glands around our breasts and stimulate estrogen which in turn stimulates breast cancer cells. Not cool. It is so hard for me to fathom the idea of GIVING myself breast cancer, so it's time to put a stop to the nonsense. 

I read a bunch of articles about alternatives, but none of them every said "I smell amazing even though I'm not wearing deodorant." So that's kinda scary. Nevertheless, I'm doing it. We have a local store called Eco Chic that promotes chemical-free EVERYTHING. I knew these ladies would be the right ones to ask, and they recommended Funk Fighter by Pure Pursuit, a local vendor. I checked it out and the main ingredient is coconut oil- not too shabby. Not a chemical to be found! They told me I would likely detox for a couple weeks, so I prepared myself for the worst.

My armpits are pretty sensitive, always a place I tend to cut or find ingrown hairs. Immediately upon trying the Funk Fighter, I felt them become softer, and for the first time ever, I could exfoliate them a little after a couple of showers. The first week I smelled totally normal- I had expected to detox right away! But I guess those "aluminum plugs" took a couple of weeks to make their way out of my skin and BOOM! Right in the middle of my Hawaii trip, beginning of week 2, the detox started. I had to apply the Funk Fighter 5+ times a day in order to keep the fresh scent going. I've never, ever been a bad smelling person and the one day I didn't have a chance to reapply, my husband said "Babe... You really need some deodorant." Kill me. So embarrassing. So I ran up to the hotel room and applied like five layers immediately. Major detox happening.

So here I am, week three and I smell... Pretty good. I'm thinking the worst days are over but who really knows. I feel better knowing I am actively contributing to bettering my health. While $9 may seem expensive for "deodorant" I highly recommend you at least try it. You can buy thru EcoChicLife.net and also check out mypurepursuit.com for more awesome info! She also shares her homemade shampoo recipes- that's my next project! Pinterest has make-at-home recipes too ;)

Juice Plus Review: Part One

If you've followed my blog for awhile, you know I am willing to try just about anything when it comes to health and beauty. I've done it all (not surgery, yuck) and am always open to new products. So when a girlfriend called me and gave me the spiel about her new job with Juice Plus, I was immediately willing to try it, but not willing to pay over $200 for a 4 month supply. I wanted to give it the ol college try before committing to it, so I will start with the disclaimer that Juice Plus is sponsoring these posts, but that all opinions are my own-  I am 100% unbiased and will promise to be brutally honest about my thoughts on this product. So let us begin...

My girlfriend became a distributor after trying Juice Plus for 6 weeks because she loved the product so much! But I am alllllways skeptical of any account that this fine by someone who sells the product. I'm in sales! I know how it works. Which is why I did my research before commuting to work with JP. 

What is JP? Basically, it's a bunch of organic fruits and veggies, flash dried and ground up and put into capsules. Sounds pretty good! There's no chemicals or fillers, which is great. So for someone like me who is a meat and potatoes kinda gal and never gets enough fruits and veggies in her diet, these sound like a winning situation. 

What do they offer?

More energy, naturally. Weight loss. More nutrients. A balanced diet. 

What did I find online?

I went on Amazon and kept seeing all kinds of reviews saying "Juice Plus is cool, but Juice Festiv is a knockoff and works just as well. So what did I do? I spent the $20, ordered the Juice Festiv knockoffs and took them for a month and literally nothing happened. I looked at the ingredients and they contain gelatin (which the capsules themselves are made of) and a bunch of fillers too. I'd been swindled. Crap. 

So my girlfriend said, try Juice Plus for free for four months and I promise you, you will love it. She was so sure it would be a wonderful, lifechanging thing for me and was willing to prove it by sending me the product to try, and share with my followers. 

So now the journey begins. I will document everything as I go, and I hope to see changes in my weight and in my energy levels as well! I desperately need more nutrients in my diet and if JP helps, then I'll be one happy lady! Have any of you ever tried JP??

Wearing it for Charity.

Since I started my clothing line, I have been super inspired by bloggers who have reached out to me for help in bringing awareness to different causes. I did a little fundraiser for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (tanks still available here) a couple months back. I am doing an Alzheimer's Walk team tee design in honor of my grandmother in New York (another of my grandparents diagnosed, so scary!), and I am currently working on exclusive designs for bags and tees for Breaking the Silence, which is a group working to bring awareness to domestic violence.

MEET BRENNA

But this weeks design is also very special. This design is in honor of little Brenna, a two year old living with ichtyosis, which is a horrible skin disease causing her body to produce skin at 10x the normal rate, forcing her to consume that many extra calories a day so her tiny body can keep up. The condition requires her entire body be coated with Aquaphor every couple of hours and then daily exfoliation. You can tell by their photos that the family is incredibly positive and uplifting and doing the best they can to raise their little lady as normally as possible given her health conditions.

To find out what life is like for Brenna and her family, here is a Q&A her mama did for her blog, Blessed by Brenna.

None of this would be possible without the help of Go Shout Love, a blog launching in June that is dedicated to helping children in need of fundraisers, research and awareness. Check them out here.

Tee sizes 6m-4t, $17.99

100% of profits go to the FIRST Skin Foundation.

Purchase HERE

If you have a special cause and would like to do a tee fundraiser, please feel free to contact me any time. Let's make it happen! enjoy essential [at] gmail.com

Fresh Powder

We got to experience fresh snowfall for the first time last weekend. Big snowflakes falling- and quickly! We left the hotel and walked one block to Stateline Brewery and I was covered in fresh powder!

It seriously was one of those moments in life when you're like "WOW, Mother Nature, you are truly amazing." It's not every day that you get to see snow in California, let alone see it actually falling from the sky. I won't forget this trip purely for that moment when my husband stared at the snow and said "I've never seen this before. It's like a movie. This is so freaking cool." And it was. 

Locally Grown.

I haven't had a chance to share some of my fun new successes on here recently, but a quick update: I am retailing in two local stores, both of whom are carrying exclusive designs for their customers. It's so exciting and fun! This is one of my favorite designs, printed on high quality toddler tees. Available at Eco Chic in Vacaville in a variety of colors, or online at enjoyessential.com if you're not local. Plus, we can change the state up for ya!