Holiday Spice Body Scrub

No doubt about it, the holidays are one of the most stressful time of year. And, as women so often do, we spend a lot of time making sure everything is "just so" for everyone else but ourselves and that invariably leaves us burnt out by the end of December.  This year reclaim your holiday sanity with a little something special.  This yummy body scrub is easy to make (and I mean EA-SY!) and might just make you linger in the bath or shower for a few extra relaxing minutes!  It makes a wonderful gift, too! Just package it in a small jar, wrap some raffia or ribbon around it and you're done! 

Ingredients:

• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 tbsp vitamin E oil (optional)
• 2 tsp nutmeg
• 2 tsp ginger
• 2 tsp ground cloves
• 2 tsp cinnamon

Directions:
Mix all of the ingredients well.  Massage scrub over your body and rinse with warm water.

Get Soaked

I'm not sure about you, but I'm a water baby.  Being in water, whether it's a pool, lake, or other body of water, just makes me feel calm.  So, it's no surprise that I love a good bath.  There's just something about sinking down to my chin in warm water that makes everything right in the world.

That's why I'm so in love with our bath salts and our milk & honey bath powder.  If I'm physically worn out from a day of working in the garden or just chasing the kids, the mineral rich bath salts ease away the aches and pains of the day.  You wouldn't think that something as simple as that would work, but it really does!  

And, when I just want to feel indulgent, the milk & honey bath powder does it for me.  We all know that milk baths are great for the skin (Cleopatra taught us that), but do you know why?  Milk contains lactic acid which is a wonderfully natural exfoliant.  It will leave your skin silky soft without all the harsh scrubbing (because, really, I find loofahs rather scratchy).  So, why include the honey?  Well, honey is a humectant.  That means it helps retain moisture.  Combined with the milk, the benefit is skin that is not only soft but will stay that way!  Plus, it smells divine!

Try one (or both!) today; but beware.  Once you try them, you may end up loving the bath so much that you may not want to get out!