Category Archives: Internet Goodness

On my new find….

Posted on by

As my daughter and husband are off in a third world country, helping hundreds of orphans, let me take a quick 1st world time out and talk about something important – my nails!!!!

Although I love a good pedicure, the manicure part of a nail salon is not for me. I’m uncomfortable and then I get mad at myself 20 minutes after I leave for chipping my nails that I paid good money for. My new favorite obsession (thanks to Tara!!!) is Gelmoment – a gel manicure system that is non-toxic and the fastest way to do nails. With this system, I can literally do my nails in less than 5 minutes and they’re set and ready to do anything – wash dishes, unbutton my pants (how I usually chip a fresh mani), you name it! Anyways, if you are into this kind of thing too you should totally come over and try it – I only have 5 colors right now but will be placing an order soon for more.

As many of you know, I love all things Momboss and direct sales – supporting people versus companies feels really awesome and it gets new products into my home that I’m excited about.
Also, the girls are totally into it as well. Wouldn’t it be cool if they could come to events with me and give $5 manicures to peeps while they learn about oils or hang out? I would pay $5 for a cute girl to do my nails any day…..just saying.

Some of you already know about gel moment and the starter kit with LED lamp and one polish is only $66 and totally worth it – if you want to add to my order this week, let me know!!!

on Wonder….

Posted on by

For those that know me as a school counselor, you know my love and obsession with the book Wonder. For those that know me as a Mama, the inspiration for my kiddos’ blog nicknames came from this book and even calling them Wonders seems like a huge understatement for the magnitude of their bravery and resiliency. 

I love this book, the message and the character Auggie with my whole whole heart and can’t wait for the movie to come out soon!!!! Every time the trailer comes on tv, my family looks at me to spot the first tear escaping my eyes but I’m saving them all up for the theatre. 


Isn’t this poster the awesome-est?!?! You can make your very own here.

A few favorite things from August

Posted on by

These little guacamole cups make for awesome avocado toast first thing in the morning. Costco for the win!THIS SHOW…..stole a lot of sleep from me this past month. Similar to Orange is the New Black but way darker and sometimes a little hard to watch. And hard to NOT watch. There are 5 seasons on Netflix and he 6th won’t be out until June 2018. Toooooo long. My beloved little Prius was getting a little squishy for our fam so we upgraded to Toyota Highlander and we love it so far. The best part? There is a speaker system in it so when I speak to the kids in the back seat my voice gets pumped over the music through the back speakers. No more hollering “leave your sister alone” over and over when a softer voice into my steering wheel will do the trick.Still loving my 31 gifts Zip Top Organizer Bag for work related stuff. It can fit my laptop and multiple files along with my varied beverages, keys, and lip glosses in the pockets. Want one of your own to personalize and take with you? Click here. This view hasn’t gotten old and doesn’t disappoint on summer nights like last night. Swoon. 

On my favorite doublehoods…..

Posted on by

Anyone that knows me knows I love my hoodie sweatshirts. I especially love the new doublehood trend but have had a hard time finding ones that fit me (ahem….Apricot Lane in the mall carrying nothing bigger than a large…..boooooo). 

Enter a shopping site called Mindy Maes Market (thank you Katelin) and I’ve already scored three!!!! They have a ton of sizes (I order an X-large for reference) and I always get a Ton of compliments/questions when I wear mine. They also have super cute florals and other clothes. Back to school shopping anyone??? Please use this shopping link when shopping (I get a little perk back for sharing…..which I still would share even if it wasn’t benefitting me because I llllloooovvvveeeee them so so much). 

Intentional Summer 2k17

Posted on by

We loved our intentional summer and daily schedule calendar so much last year that my wonders were super excited to fill it out this Memorial Day weekend for a fun annual summer kick-off tradition. Aside from the benefit of seeing a visual overview of our individual camps and family adventures (and when Daddy works), the daily schedule keeps us all accountable for the structure WB and WG crave. I, for one, want nothing to do with structure during my summers of rest and rejuvenation…..but in order to get that R&R, my kiddos need to be regulated. Win-win for all of us. I am sooooo looking forward to this summer season in our new house, enjoying our new surroundings and exploring a new side to the county during these beautiful PNW months. 

Want to get your own calendar? They are available for purchase from the brilliant Elizabeth McKinley here. Many friends asked about this last summer and I’m so excited she created some of others to purchase!!!!

on my “new lips”

Posted on by

I have totally become smitten with the Lipsense products and have been experimenting with different lip colors at work. Usually I wear nothing to work so sometimes this “fancier” me is shocking to students. When I wear my favorite color (BELLA), students often notice and comment. The other day, my favorite compliment was “Mrs. Hoelzle I LLOOOOVVEEEE your new lips.” Hehe….yep, my lip transplant with a darker color really hit the mark with this 3rd grader.

I have never been a big fan of chapstick and really never thought it actually worked. This arsenal of products keeps my lips nice and soft and adds a little pop of color to a minimal makeup routine. Here is my run down of favorite products:
Elf Lip Exfoliator (got from Target): This is a lipstick made of all sorts of shmutza that help exfoliate your lips. I usually do this after the shower to keep all of the rough skin away.

Correct-X: This stuff is liquid gold (but only costs $12) with amazing oils like lavender, frankincense, and helichrysum I use this on my lips when dry and my cuticles too. It is similar to Neosporin but is all natural and in my opinion, works way faster.

Lipsense: I’m sure many of you know about this product but it’s lip color that stays on all day with natural ingredients, made in the USA, everything about it is awesome, etc. etc. etc. So far I only have Bella and Bravo but am looking for a more purple-y/wine-y color for my next purchase (like at my upcoming #momBOSS party coming up June 14th my house). I have been super impressed with these colors so far and I also enjoy supporting all these fun ladies selling it to make a little fun money on the side as well.

On continuing education….

Posted on by

…for this trauma mama journey I’m on. This podcast is an awesome weekly reminder to keep practicing small steps in a completely overwhelmingly large journey towards trust and healing through relationship with our kiddos. 

Based off of the Trust Based Relational Intervention approach by Dr. Karen Purvis (TBRI), I love how calm these speakers are and how easy some of their suggestions can be. Shorter episodes, huge content…..great for family members AND educators and anyone working with children. Even without trauma, these practices are just good solid parenting skills. Hope you’ll check it out!


Quote from the above episode that I love love love: “Healing is always disruptive and always has side effects you don’t want.” Let’s get our messy healing on shall we???

March favorites

Posted on by

Here are a few things that I am pretty darn excited about this month (hint: there will be absolutely no SNOW included):

Facebook articles that confirm my parenting (and coaching) beliefs – Love this one by a Stanford dean. We love our kiddos and want the best for them but by high school they need to start experiencing the hard stuff and finding their own solutions to practice before they are truly on their own!

Canon all-in-one printer – can’t wait to print photos on this highly-recommended printer. My last HP all-in-one was seriously the most amazing printer and I had it for a good 10 years so I have been mourning it’s loss for a while. A little trip to Best Buy last weekend connected me with a lovely salesman that highly recommended this one. Happy day!

Oily Vinyl Kit Club – Elizabeth and Amy have teamed up to produce and create vinyls for your DIY rollerballs and sprays to use around your house or gift to friends and family. Here is a sneak peek of April’s vinyl kit:

Pinterest husband -a  few side by side comparisons of my pin to his finished product.  We are very self-aware to know that a renovation or house building project would be the end of us so this little arrangement of my sharing a picture and him building works out perfectly. He’s so lucky he has me to keep him busy on his days off. ?(still need to add hooks and a cozy cushion)

Snippets of daily life

Posted on by

My weekend consisted of lots of down time, extra big mugs of coffee and dowsing myself in this amazing Hope oil. Although I know many people think our life is go, go, go…..in reality our weekends are intentionally bare for us all to recharge and connect before the workweek/schoolweek begins again. I know this might change once WonderBOY starts getting into more sports so I am appreciating every relaxing moment of this season.Speaking of relaxing moments, this photo is in response to my prompt, “you must eat two bites of cauliflower before moving on with your day”….avoidance tactic of choice today? WB takes a 3 hour nap. Parents are so mean…..until he realized that the same cauliflower tastes kinda gross 3 hours later.
Sometimes, self-care means escaping to the mall to get storage bins from Target and coming home 2 hours later with some new shoes. Also, trying to ONLY get one item from Target is like eating one red vine from the Costco sized red vine bucket… simply impossible.
With some heightened emotions around our house for a number of reasons, I am loving giving both Wonders this teeny tiny box and letting them choose what they need to calm down and move on. Aromatherapy and kids is such a magical combination due to their heightened amygdala response to stimuli – if you haven’t tried it yet with kiddos, I highly recommend (and can point you to a good starting spot if you’d like – message me if you want more details).Sharing each step of our big moving adventure (more details to come soon) with the kiddos has been so very exciting! It’s amazing some of their misconceptions and confusion around moving for a positive reason and with ALL of our stuff. Their past experiences with moving involve mostly negative situations, new parental figures and relationships, and according to them, with only the amount of possessions they can fit in a backpack. WonderGIRL and I have bonded over pinning many many pictures of potential room decor ideas – this color combination is currently in the lead!!!