Maria Sself Chekmarev

Work Week Life in Pictures...

Just wanted to share with you a few more products I've been using EVERY day for the past few months...

"Valentine's Day is in TWO days?! What?!" I feel like I've been living under a rock or something, but I somehow totally missed it. So today I had to create at least something love-related to prepare for Friday. Nothing screams V-Day more than chocolate, hearts and... homemade gifts. So here it is: my 5-minute all-natural chocolate candies that can make a perfect last-minute gift for our loved-ones♥♥♥

There's a ton of amazing apps out there, yet discovering them can get really hard and time-consuming. That's why every time someone shares his/her favorites I get really curious, since that's pretty much the best way for us to get introduced to new cool apps - at least for now. Anyway, here's the ones I've been using on a regular basis lately.

Going vegan may sound like a healthy decision, yet it can end up detrimental to our health if we don't find vegan substitutes for the nutrients found in animal products. Those nutrients include protein, calcium, iron, zinc, vitamins B3, B6 and B12. Here's how I made sure that I still get those from my new diet....

Going to this resort at least once a year has become a real tradition of ours, but this year I was ready to break it. When Andrey booked it for us and a few friends, I simply had no choice but to say "no" because of disastrous lack of time... And I stayed home at first, but... then ended up driving there all by myself a day later - traditions should be respected, after all;-)

I didn't really plan it as a NY's resolution - I've been wanting to plan out my "fruit calendar" for months now, and it just happened so that I finally did it on... December 31st;-) So why not calling it my first EVER New Year's Resolution?;-) I thought I'd share with you the calender I put together - I hope it will give you some ideas also!

Recently I read on WebMD site that indoor air quality is almost always worse than the air quality outside. It turned out that all the pollutants that float in the air outside eventually make their way inside our homes and office buildings. Yet indoors we have plenty more sources of pollution that add greatly to all the "goodness" we breath in - both at home and at work (where we spend almost 99% - if not 100% - of our time!) Some of the indoor air pollution sources include heaters, bathrooms, gas stoves, carpets, household products and materials used in the building such as asbestos, lead and formaldehyde. In addition to some common sense measures like regular cleaning, proper ventilation, using non-toxic products and installing carbon monoxide detector, I've been using four natural "helpers" in purifying the indoor air. I've mentioned some of them before in my other posts, but I thought I'd do a quick summary of the top four.

This Sunday I woke up not feeling very well, but since I didn't want to take any medications I thought it would be great to start this Christmas season with a natural "healer" that also happens to be a very popular Christmas drink in Europe - Hot Mulled Wine (aka Glühwein). A few years ago while Andrey and I were in Russia during Christmas holidays he was able to treat my extremely bad cold with this miraculous drink within just one day! And it tastes just like Christmas - can it get any better?;-) Oh, yeah, it can, cause it's also very easy and fun to make!

Only ONE week is left til the official start of Christmas season! (I know it feels like it now starts in September, that's why I underlined OFFICIAL;-) And that means I will have every excuse in the world to spend hours watching Christmas movies on Sundays sipping on hot drinks and snuggling under my blankie (can I get an amen on that one?;-) I already put together my movies list for the season and thought you might steal some of the ideas for yours;-) Well, at least that's what I did - I read a ton of "Favorite Christmas Movies" blog posts while compiling mine;-)

Christmas season without the scent of a real pine tree is just... not complete:-( Yet for the past 7 years I didn't have a real Christmas tree - they just take SOOO MUCH effort to bring, install and maintain (lazy me, what can I say?:-). But even when I did go through all that trouble a few years ago, the tree would not smell neither strong nor long enough. So I always wanted to find an all-natural spray that would smell identical to the Christmas trees we used to have when I was little. I finally found it!!!! Well, made my own to be exact;-) And not only does it smell like REAAAAL Christmas and is all-natural, it actually has some amazing aromatherapeutic properties - don't we all long for those in winter?;-))))

Over the past month I've been using our toilet bombs in literally every single situation I could! And almost every time the bombs DID work for the purposes I was trying to use them for - UNBELIEVABLE! What I love the most is that in some cases I was reusing the same bombs for more than just one application: for example, I would put the bombs on the shelf to deodorize the room, and once the essential oil scents faded away I would use those same bombs in a fruit soak or as a nail cleaner;-)) I was so amazed by how multifunctional those babies are that I decided to share with you my list of top six "other" toilet bombs uses. Warning: some of them are weird;-)

Andrey has been "threatening" me with this trip for five months already: he loves Oregon yet I can't seem to handle long road trips well. That's why he told me about it only a few days before we left, so that it would be too late to cancel the reservation (he always does that;-) Yet at the end I was glad he made me take this short vacation - it was definitely much needed!

When I heard about Anti-Puff Eye Rollers for the first time I knew RIGHT AWAY that I needed one! Well, who doesn't?! No wonder there are more and more of those on the market, yet their natural versions are still hard to find and hard to afford, that's why I had to come up with my own;-)))) It turned out quite easy to make plus I decided to add some moisturizing, firming and anti-aging ingredients to it so that I don't have to apply any eye cream after that - yes, I'm lazy like that;-) Ok, let's get it rolling?

New Beginnings and New... Church.

Week of Prayers at Bayside Church

Ever since I moved to the US I wanted to find a Christian church where I'd feel I belong... And I recently found it - finally! It is Bayside Church in Granite Bay - this place is amazing and unlike many other churches, they seem to get it just right! Even though I didn't know anyone when I first came here a few weeks ago, I immediately knew this church is THE one for me;-) What's even more amazing is the way God just pointed me to this place - it was nothing short of a miracle!!!

Who is ready for Christmas? I most certainly am!!! I know it may seem too early but I've been waiting to do this Gingerbread Candle project since May - I can NOT wait any longer;-) Plus ginger+cinnamon+clove is a signature scent of fall, too - it's even in the pumpkin spice blend! But this candle is even yummier, because it also has vanilla - Christmas isn't complete without the warm vanilla cookie flavor, right? And my favorite part is that these candles are made naturally with essential oils. Ok, let's make them!!!