Celtic Roots

I remember sitting in my sons bed, writing out my 2015 New Years resolutions, with a heavy sense that this year was going to be one of change. The list consisted of becoming a blogger, spending more time with my family and growth as an individual. Little did I know that creating a blog would open the door to writing articles, create an awakening within myself to see what drives and motivates me. What started off as a lifestyle blog, became more of documentary of what was taking place within myself and I felt inspired by what was around us, obtainable, beautiful and free. My time spent at home consisted of creating decor or personal remedies through nature. Time spent with my family consisted of being outdoors and recognizing the glorious bounty of land, trees, plants and open space to breathe. I was creating and sharing my creations with my best friend Sara, whom started to create within her home as well, all from natural ingredients and essential oils. It was therapeutic for me, it was reeling me back to a time as a young girl when my imaginations drove me to create special lotions or cook fresh herbs on a cast iron pan heated by the sun alone. I was always living in a slight magical world! My imagination only grew as I read Anne of Greene Gables or Little House on The Prairie, all of which were spun and woven with natural remedies and living off the land. My heart still skips a beat thinking of living a life like that!

 {Our Lady Bergamot body cream, smells heavenly!!!}

{Foraging Cedar for our smudge bundles within my backyard :)}

As long as I have known Sara, which boasts a friendship well over 13 years now, she has always been curing herself or her family with natural remedies. Her grandmother passed on this beautiful legacy through old worn herbal books and passing her infinite knowledge of old culture ways to Sara. Aligned, creating products, sharing our love of nature, herbs, medicinal and therapeutic...something within us stirred and within a moment of clarity we forged what was once a beloved hobby into a young blossoming business. Combining  our Irish heritage, my Celtic sir name Mahoney and Sara's, O'Malley we both agreed upon the name Celtic Roots LLC.

{My business partner (and bestie) Sara and I in her gorgeous garden}

Our goals and dreams are to bring back what once was, what was simply second nature at one time. Surrounding us, in our yards, roadsides, pathways and forests thrives an abundance of plants which are medicinal, that at one time our ancestors foraged and prized as potent healers. A lot of these herbs are considered weeds. We want to create and offer salves, home remedies, personal remedies all from what we have foraged and crafted from our land. To teach you, share our knowledge as we grow and learn ourselves, to become acquainted with what has been freely given to us.

         

       {Celtic Roots facial grains;  a great way to exfoliate and cleanse in one product}

We live in a world that has been mesmerized by quick and easy ways to get what we want, but are laced with pesticides, toxins, hormones, the list could go on. Our hope is to introduce a "living off the land" mentality, to connect with nature yet again, to simply get back on a path that leads us to health and knowledge. Where we can help ourselves. Our business is still young, we are still paving our way and fine tuning. But we have stock to sell from within our homes. You can find us on Facebook, Celtic Roots. Feel free to like our page, leave us a note or send us a message! We have some amazing products that we have hand crafted; lotions, foot scrubs, cleansing grains, face cream, lip
balms....check us out!

{Our Rose Petal facial moisturizer}

We are currently working on opening up shop on Etsy, eventually we will own our own apothecary nestled within our community, our attic adorned with fresh drying herbs and shelves lined with blue bottled tinctures, the fragrance when you walk through our hearth will be heavenly (which of course is our real dream!). But patience and hard work is key to success, as well as passion, which is like a mountain spring within Sara and I. We hope to hear from you, meet you at local fairs and become friends! We hope you fall in love with our products as much as we do. There will be something for everyone; women, men and children! Lastly, If you have a dream, follow it, never dull what you are passionate about!

{Cedar smudge bundles}

A Re-Cap :)

Thought I would share my life currently via snapshots! Just when I thought things were going to settle down, life offered me an opportunity of a lifetime and its been a whirlwind of creativity! As my father told me "we do not allow grass to grow under our feet". Taking after my dad, I move from one project to the next, I love to grow and to have my head deep within a plethora of subjects, knowledge is food to my soul. But I am hoping to create deep roots within this new role and stay for a while, a LONG while. There is SO much to learn, so much so that I will never comprehend it all within my lifetime.

I will save all the details for my next post. In the meantime, life has been sweet. Time spent with my family out playing in the water this past weekend was loads of fun. It was the perfect afternoon together. I hope everyone is enjoying these hot summer days doing whatever it is you love and making the best of them!! I am relishing every minute :)

Sea Salt in My Hair

I've been off having a sweet savory affair with summer, but now that my calendar is less full and I am more available, my thought process has to catch up and I  need to revel in the shallow tide of free time. Having nothing penciled in for the next couple of weekends, it is time to return to life as I know it from a much needed getaway to Rhode Island. Although my thoughts continue to drift to miles of pristine coastline, rolling blue surf, gorgeous desert like vegetation, crabs and clams by the bucket full, feet in the sand, cocktails in hand and lots of sunshine. I am fully rejuvenated!

 My husband surprised me with a sweet little camper, which instantly won my beating heart! At last, those faint whispers in his ear at night "buy a camper" took root and I am sincerely the happiest wife on the planet . I just adore her! Of course, if you know anything about me by now, I at once viewed her as my newest little project. Since he had purchased her a few weeks before our voyage to the sea, I had limited time to decide as to how I was going to glam her up, thus the terminology glamping.

 I really wanted to refurbish the material on all of the cushions, but time was not on my side so I had to scale down the project and settle for throws. Sticking to my thrifty vintage/boho theme,  I decided to see what Amazon had to offer and I was thrilled to find Mexican Falsa blankets at decent prices. Another cool offer, if you were willing to allow the seller to surprise you with the color combo then the price would be even less! I am always for surprises and lucky me, I was given my favorite color as well, purple :)

I had on hand two gorgeous grayish blue Aztec pillows that I had purchased some years ago. But I had torn them open with zero class to empty the stuffing and wash the covers at least a year ago and had never put them together again Silly me! So after a little bartering, my friend Debbie sewed them up like new and I used those to pretty up the dining and seating area of our camper. They worked out perfectly!!!

My husband stumbled across a box that we had stowed away in the attic of our garage. It contained a pot and pan set that had been handed down to me by a close friend, which I had completely forgotten about. It was such a wonderful find, since they totally went with my vintage theme. Perfection!!!

I made a quick trip to Goodwill to see what I could find in the home section. I have to confess, it was one of those finds that made my day complete! There are so many great little finds, I was having a field day collecting all sorts of necessities for our camper, including another vintage throw, a woven ikat rug, charming glass spice jars, rope pot mats.....I left there with my cart overflowing, I was in heaven!

I splurged on some indulgent candles at TJ Maxx (of couse!!) that made our tiny home on wheels smell like heaven. I then  hung a few canvas prints on her walls that I had from home. Lastly placing a bowl of fruit and veggies on her counter tops, she truly felt like home. It was one of the best vacations we had!

Being back has been bitter-sweet, but towards the beginning of summer there was so much to be accomplished at home. It is time to revisit those plans and get the ball rolling! I am someone who needs to be able to see rather envision, so on my current things to do, I am going to be creating a mood board to help myself organize my thoughts visually. No worries, I will be sharing once I have created my board. I would love to see yours as well! A few things that will be included are paint chips, colorful pokey cacti (current little obsession), white moon flowers, wildcrafting...the rest will be a surprise!

Right Now....

{A picturesque view of one of the many bay's in Rhode Island. It was exactly what was needed.}

I bid a sweet farewell to our dear social media friend Facebook last week. And I haven't looked back nor regretted my decision whatsoever. This was something I had been really reflecting on, flip flopping on whether I should stay or go. It was rather pathetic that I was having such difficulty making my decision. A part of me wanted to stay to keep connected with friends and family that live far away. But the more I logged on, I started to see (much)  more negative than positive being the trend. And if you have been reading my blog, I have been avidly trying to surround myself with as much positive vibes as possible. It was a personal choice of mine to cut tie's with being distracted with what other people were doing and to focus more so on my current life, the people that are important within my home, who need my undivided attention. I felt that it had become a habit to constantly check in, see what was new, keep tabs. A waste of constructive time that I could be playing with Logan, creating art, taking a walk, enjoying just BEING present. A huge part of this decision had come from my blog. Writing is very therapeutic for me, which I would have never known if I had never taken that initial step to write! What is written comes straight from my heart. When writing, I find that my heart is speaking to my mind and I am listening to myself speak. It's a moment when my soul is calm and my thoughts are fluid. When I am not writing, my mind is a rampant jungle of idea's, feelings, emotions. It is hard to hear myself clearly. When re-reading my blog posts and then logging onto Facebook, I realized that what I was living and what I was writing weren't always coinciding. My heart and soul wanted calm, I yearn for peace, oneness, to focus, create positive energy within every corner of my life. That is what has been written. Being distracted with social media, focusing on other's lives and inadvertently paying less attention to mine was becoming a draining factor.

{Enjoying every living second with my boy}

Again, this was a personal choice. I do not pass judgement to anyone that has a Facebook account. I just felt it was something I needed to do to truly live a life of peace and harmony. I still enjoy Pinterest, as it inspires me to create projects, become creative within the kitchen as well as its plethora of knowledgeable tidbits shared by other folk. I also like Instagram, I like to follow other bloggers out their and happen upon other great bloggers. Its a great way to connect without words getting in the way. Its visually arousing, lol! And of course, like I stated above, I have my blog, which is therapeutic.

{If you haven't noticed, I am currently infatuated with Ram Dass, he is a beautiful individual.}

On the blog side of things, I have spent months pondering as to what avenue my blog was taking. Whether I would turn it into a money making machine (haha!), a DIY crafty blog or a lifestyle blog.  I have purchased a few guides as to how to kick start your blog, how to draw in the crowds, to focus on topics that will keep your audience intrigued.  As with other things in my life, I settled on not placing a label on it. All these rules really bog me down. If there is one thing I know about myself, I do not adhere to rules very well, nor instruction. I like to pave my own way through life. So once I listened to myself, I claim this; my blog is for me, a place where I can allow my words and thoughts to flow freely. It's not always going to be on one certain topic and it might not always be airy. At times I do feel like I may go a little too deeply on a topic, but I give free reign to whatever path my heart and soul takes. The main reason I am here is to be genuine. I am not putting on a show or trying to entertain. I give you my raw thoughts. Of course I love all of my readers, but my greatest hope is that you are here because what you are reading is hopefully rising within you inspiration and the courage to be nothing but yourself.

{My current read. Food for my soul.}

On that note, I send you love and happiness. Just BE. Like my newest favorite quote states, "we're all just walking each other home" {Ram Dass}.

Savor The Calm

Feeding our bodies, allowing our taste-buds to fall into a deep satisfactory state, becoming aware of what we place into our mouths and relishing the nourishment our food provides us, is harder than it sounds. I have a nasty habit of rushing through the process of preparing our meals and consuming what I place before us as fast as I possibly can. It's easy to do so when the time I have with my family at night is limited, but my goal is to slow down. Live within the moment, within every second BE present. I do not want to pass down my state of anxiety or nasty habit of rushing through life to my son. I want him to be satisfied with the here and now.  I grew up being "bored", using my imagination was such a vital part of who I was as a child. My sisters and I lived outdoors, the world was our playground. Being bored isn't a bad thing, it  allows our children to cultivate and nourish their imagination, playing a fundamental role in finding who they are. How have I lost this concept? Rushing and being entertained at all times is such a huge player in our society. In my life journey, this is another concept that I need to let go and nourish the roots that once satisfied the person I was. The person I am now wants to be grounded, needs to slow down, be present...I am letting go, slowly, of all other distractions. What is it that you could cut ties with that would allow yourself to live within the current moment? Last night, as I was preparing dinner, I once again found myself on rush mode. I managed to find that calm place within myself, breathe, turn on some music that allowed me to unwind and most of all BREATHE. Its going to be work and a lot of self control, but I am determined to succeed.

It's so important to feed our ourselves with what nourishes our soul. Fresh food from the garden or what is in season helps to keep us feeling vibrant and healthy. I like to take all cooking outdoors whenever possible (hello rain), these precious summer months only grace us for so long until we are hibernating once again come fall and winter. I will share with you a couple of my favorite go-to recipes that have become a signature dish within my home. Mind you, these are my very own concoctions, so there are no measurements, I pretty much taste or eye-in the ingredients as I go along. I apologize for not making these recipes fancy, I am certainly not a food blogger!

I hope all of you are enjoying your summer! Sending you happiness and blessed sunshine your way!

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Soul Food

Coming down from a whirlwind of festivities this past weekend, I have given into my body's need to relax. No plans, nor schedules. Just surrounding myself with good people and focusing on my new journey into yoga and taking the time to read good books. 

After a long year of planning and prepping, my family and I celebrated the marriage of my youngest sister to her best friend. I am so incredibly happy for them, they make the best (and cutest) couple EVER! I loved every second of every minute within each and every hour. Between the prepping, family get together's, the sister time, it has been such a bonding experience as a family. To see it all transpire in a perfectly momentous day and to return to reality, my ultimate goal is to continue to nourish these relationships I have with my siblings. My sister's are my kindred spirits. 

 Catching up with my girlfriends has taken precedence during the week. Lunch dates at some of the best places around our little town has been so nice. One of my favorites, this simple Mexican food truck "Once Upon A Taco" which serves the best taco's around and fresh squeezed watermelon lemonade! HOLY! Its a few blocks away from work, so taking the time to sneak in a walk and good food is an awesome treat. These little things in life are sometimes taken for granted. But I am acknowledging how blessed I am to live in a thriving town that has hidden gems throughout :)

Thursday I spent the evening at the Won Dharma Center with some of my favorite ladies, finding inner peace and tranquility. The grounds alone are breathtaking. It was exactly what was needed to restore my soul and find balance.

Even though work has been interlaced throughout it has truly been a fabulous week spent nourishing my soul with family, friends and good food!! 

 

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Glitz Defined.

Stowed away in a small town rumored to be a dark dank culture in itself, given nicknames that bestow nothing of pristine beauty.....I found a gem, a retreat that won my heart and yearn to revisit for years to come. A place where I can get away, breathe, find the quiet within my soul to purge the negative and submerge myself with vital positive energy. This quiet cove lies within our backyard, hidden and treasured by those who have been introduced to it. It's breathtaking trails, namesake waterfalls and peaceful pools of water lie in Philmont, NY, High Falls Land Conservancy of Columbia County. Like the saying goes, don't judge a book by its cover. This town may have its faults, but underneath its rogue outward appearance,  lays a majestic inner beauty. It's much like the human race. 

With life happening at such a rapid pace, mostly good along with the handful of stress, I am drawn to nature to find peace, channeling positive energy. I have been practicing breathing through difficult times, as well as simple mantras I can fall back on when I feel off center (...mind over matter...). I am a strong believer in finding that calm within ourselves when we feel our world isn't grounded. As a child, I  always believed in a higher transcendent. Growing up Christian, those beliefs have laced with what I now believe and practice. I am constantly searching for knowledge regarding finding ones true self and peace with who we are. Along with research, surrounding myself with those who  are driven with the same goals and outlooks helps to keep me focused.

I  believe that we have the capability to call on good energy, rebuke the bad and heal ourselves by touch and surrounding ourselves with those who reflect the same outlook on life. I am still in the process of understanding energies and how to channel them, but I feel that we must be careful when choosing who to work with as our guide. Making sure your teacher is of good heart, has strong knowledge on the topic and that you are both on the same page as to what your beliefs are is a must when it comes to searching for a guru. A great book to read regarding this is The Essence of Reiki 1, written by Gary Malone. I cannot put this book down, it is so well written for those just beginning their journey. I highly recommend!

In a world of pressure to be a certain way, we lose ourselves, the goal or mission that we as human beings are marked with the day we are born. Why am I here on earth? What is my purpose? I think most of us struggle with this question. A captivating read on this topic is Yoga for Life: A Journey to Inner Peace and Freedom by Colleen Saidman Yee. I am hooked, as will you be :)

I truly feel that I have stumbled onto the right path in my life. I feel as though my birthright is to inspire, motivate, strike cords with those around me through writing. It's my vocation to embrace my need to inspire people, to harness my natural positivity to shine through others, to cause you to see the world in a different light. I would love to be the inspiration for you to go out and find YOU.. Embrace the difference you bring to this life, allow yourself to follow your intuition. Your soul knows best what your body and mind need. We just need to quiet the mind. We can come to love who we are, respect our soul and in turn to love others, even those who we come in conflict with. Instead of viewing negative situations as negative, we may be able to view them as lessons learned and handle them with love. Rather than accept the negative energy from the situation, we have channeled the positive. In my mind I envision placing my hand out, refusing the negative from my life. The best representation of placing a hand out to rebuke the bad is the Hamsa symbol:

{Pinterest}

For me, this is my glitz. Finding yourself, treasuring the simple things in life that spark an awakening, the drive towards happiness and the core of your being telling yourself that you are on the right life path. I am placing value on being human, coming to terms with making mistakes, claiming them and learning positive lessons. These are the jewels of life. It's the journey we have been blessed with. 

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