Sleep is for the weak, get some Peppermint!

[nerdyoils-blog]

Lately I’ve been able to travel a lot, out of the county and in. Just a week ago I returned from Salt Lake City, Utah and it was so different. But please keep in mind while reading this I am a flatlander, so this was my first time to see ‘real’ mountains as my friend says.

I have an Aunt who lives on the foothills of the Appalachians, and I always thought they were amazing and huge.

However, my friend who is from Washington state always tells me they are baby hills. So when I got the chance to see the Rocky Mountains I was texting her all the time. My mother found it interesting since she’s used to the Smoky and the Appalachians were trees hide just how big it really is. I’ve never seen either of them, my parents always wanted to take me. But it just never worked out sadly, I hope to go one day they aren't even that far really; just over five hours.

We had planned on driving but it’s like a twenty-nine hour drive from South Georgia. So we opted for fly tickets, and I’m so glad we did. Flying over Colorado was amazing. Even though I knew the science behind why there was snow on the tops of the mountains. I just couldn’t wrap my head around it. I know, stupid right.

But for someone who has never seen anything like that, and coming from a place where one inch of snow leaves people awestruck and excited, it was just strange. While I didn’t get to see the Salt Lake, I thought it was more worth my time to see the mountains. And it was, we went to Snowbird and took the tramp up to the top, 11k above sea level. I hardly live 500 feet above sea level and when we moved to Georgia from Texas I thought the hills were mountains! I was such an innocent soul anything could excite me, I’m still like that to be honest.

I wish I could travel more, but that cost money and it’s money I just don’t have. Making a car payment is hard enough right now, but while things are hard I refuse to freak out of it. I know it’s going to be okay in the end, so why worry?

[nerdyoils-blog]

Does your makeup REALLY love your skin? Probably not. 

Women put an average of 168 chemicals on their bodies daily. And did you know the FDA doesn’t require any pre-market testing or approval before beauty products hit the shelves? So many ingredients in U.S. products have been banned in Europe and other countries, as scientific studies suggest that they could be linked to cancer, reproductive harm and neurotoxicity. The FDA knows this, but allows it to happen. When I started making my own makeup, I looked into selling it. Because of this, I spent days reading the entire FDA’s website for cosmetics. I was horrified by it. I had always thought some testing went into it. But honestly, someone could go outside get mud off the ground and sell it as foundation!

So I went on a hunt. I’ve used so many different foundation brands in my life. I picked up one I know I lot of my friends use, Urban Decay Naked Skin. I loved this stuff as a teen, but I had issues with it. I never knew why till I got older. My skin would always be really red (a lot redder than normal. I had breakouts all the time despite using acne creams, and it burned my skin. And in those ingredients were concerns for organ system toxicity (non-reproductive), a danger to sea substances that are harmful to the environment, hormone disruptors, synthetics, parabens, and adverse effect on the structure or function of the central and/or peripheral nervous system. And all that was just from one ingredient, the others weren’t much better!

And even if one ingredient is bad and others aren't does not make the product safe for use. And just because you don’t see signs of damage now doesn't mean a few years down the road you won't. Believe me, it’s happening and it’s something you should worry about.