Chemical Free Home!

Hi guys! So if you're anything like me, life has been crazy recently. I thought things were supposed to calm down this time of the year, not speed up?! In the ever unpredictable nature of our days, one thing is definitely constant-- my need to clean. Yes, it is an absolute need. And I have a total love/hate relationship with it.

On the one hand, I am a total Type A person who has to stay on top of all my household projects to avoid total anxiety. Plus, having a dog who sheds and a husband with terrible allergies, daily cleaning is an absolute must. But on the other hand, I really do not enjoy doing it, not only because it can sometimes be boring, but because of the irritation chemical cleaners bring to my body.


For awhile now, I have been experiencing bouts of redness and skin irritation on my face, and more recently on my back. It has been really frustrating, itchy, and at times, painful. I discussed it with my doctor, who told me that the chemicals in household cleaners/soaps/detergents I use are likely culprits for my health issues. I was surprised, because I never get cleaning products on my face or back, but she told me that  coming in contact with certain cleaners any way, whether it be touching with my hands or breathing it in, can cause a reaction anywhere in or on the body, often times without us even being aware of it.

I found that extremely frustrating, as I absolutely need products that get the job done, and can't get by with a spray bottle of warm water and baking soda.

My cousin in law, Meg, kindly sent me some Plant-Based Young Living essential oil cleaning and household products to test out, and see what I thought about how well they worked (with adorable hand-made labels too!). To be honest, after years of using high powered clorox/ammonia products I had my doubts about how well they would get the job done.


The first item I tested out was the "Thieves Household Cleaner" which I used to clean my kitchen counters and bathroom. My first reaction was-- wow, this smells amazing. My second reaction was-- wow, this really works!! Meg mentioned that this could really be used anywhere, and she was right. I used it on my marble countertops, stainless steel sink, porcelain sink, laundry machines, etc. and it left them all shiny and clean without any leftover residue. I even ditched my usual elbow length rubber cleaning gloves to experiment on how it would affect my skin/body, and I had absolutely no sensitivity to it whatsoever. Victory!

Next I experimented with hand washing dishes with the "Thieves Dish Soap" which I diluted down with some water, at Meg's advice that a little goes a long way. Again, I ditched the gloves, and was really impressed by how gentle it was on my hands, but how well it worked on our dishes. It also smells absolutely amazing. 


The last cleaning product I tried was the "Thieves Laundry Soap," and this was definitely the one I was most skeptical about. Meg told me that with HE machines you only need to use 1/4th of the jar she sent, which to me seemed like so little. I'm used to liberally filling up an entire cap and hoping it gets the job done. Again, the smell was so delightful and fresh, and I peered in mid-way through the cycle to see how it was looking and based on the sudsy-ness, I knew 1/4th of the cap was spot on.

She also sweetly sent me Lavender Hand and Body Lotion, which seriously smells like you're waking through a field of fresh lavender, and an Allergy Trio Roller (with diluted Peppermint, Lavender & Lemon) for application straight to the chest/ under the nose to help with breathing. Both awesome.

My doubts about how well these items would work compared to the chemical ones (many household cleaners have up to 62 toxic chemicals) were definitely proven wrong. Not only did they work, my peace of mind using them was really wonderful. I didn't have to worry about protecting myself, my husband, or my dog from any of these products. Now that is something special! And how cleaning should be, in my opinion.

If you are interested at all in learning more about detoxing your house or just non-toxic cleaners in general, please join Meg and I on Tuesday, June 14 at 8:30pm ET/ 7:30pm CDT for a chemical free home event on Facebook! Everyone is welcome, whether you just are curious to pop in and learn more, totally skeptical, or ready to start incorporating non toxic cleaners into your life. Meg is incredibly knowledgeable about all of this, and can give you lots more information if you are interested!

I've been using these for about a week now, and It feels so good to know that I am not hurting my body, but still able to get everything done around the house that I need to.

Hope to chat with you on Tuesday, and have a great weekend!! A big thank you to Meg for sending me these wonderful products!

xo,
Grace


Our Wedding: Flowers!

Let me begin by saying I truly could not be more in love with how the florals at our wedding turned out.  Yes,  am "that girl" who thinks that neutrals are the most beautiful colors in the world, and wanted to show off my love for them in a fun and beautiful way. I definitely think we succeeded!! To lots of people, neutral flowers may sound boring or blah, but personally I think they turned out to be beyond gorgeous. All of our florals were through our wedding planner at A Charleston Bride where they do all the florals in house.
My Bouquet

The flowers of my bouquet were the first example of our florals I saw all day and I fell in love instantly!  To make my bouquet extra special and personal, we had lace from my mother's wedding dress and my mother's rosary wrapped around the stems. 
 Bridesmaids Bouquets

For the overall decor, we layered different textures, sizes, heights, and shapes to create a vibrant space. 


I hope you enjoyed this post! Have a wonderful Thursday!

xo,
Grace

Reception Venue: The River Course
Coordination: A Charleston Bride
Photography: Virgil Bunao 


Our Wedding: Paper!

Today's post marks the first in a series about Our Wedding!! For those of you who don't know, I got married in January of this year on Kiawah Island SC. It was the best day of our lives and I'm really excited to finally share some of the little details of it with you. Throughout the entire planning process, we worked so closely with our incredible wedding planner Haley at A Charleston Bride, so I have to give tons of credit for the wonderful design work and execution to her and the ladies there for every single detail!!
Invitation

Wedding printed materials were one of the design elements we were most excited about.  My mom has always told me that the invitation sets the tone for a wedding, and I couldn't agree more. After all,  it is usually the first insight your guests get into the style/formality/mood of the event.
Invitation

We used Studio R Design for all of our paper materials, and I couldn't have loved them more!! (Other than the Save the Dates which we ordered through Minted). The ladies there designed our custom logo and used it on many of our printed materials as well.

It was important to me to have a formal invitation to reflect our formal wedding, so we opted for extra thick paper, the traditional separate reception card apart from the invitation, and response card, all in gold and ivory. The envelope liner we used was a robins egg blue.
Invitation
Wedding Ceremony Program 
Cocktail Napkins
Welcome Bags

In our welcome bags, we included a custom golf ball, cheese zingers, two cookies, and custom logo water bottle with jute tote bag. I loved how they turned out!!

I hope you enjoyed this first post about our wedding! Stay tuned for more to come and let me know if you have any questions about vendors we used, the process of picking things out, or anything you'd like to see or hear about :)

xo, 
Grace

Event Design: A Charleston Bride, Photography: Virgil Bunao, Printed Materials: Studio R Design







All About Glasses: Eyeglass Discounter!

This Spring/Summer season is all about accessories, my personal favorite being glasses. I've always loved sunglasses, and then (thanks to too many all-nighters reading off backlit screens in college), in my late teens I began having to wear eyeglasses. Thankfully, these days glasses are super cool and even if I didn't need to wear them, I think I would want to anyway!

When I was introduced to Eyeglass Discounter I was so impressed by the variety of discount glasses they offer! The selection includes high quality prescription glasses and sunglasses, featuring incredible designers like Prada and  Persol-- to of my most favorites, at unbelievable prices.

They also have very affordable options, and the Hipster Frames category has loads of them to choose from. The Pacific Coast Eyewear Tortoise Eyeglasses  and  U.S. Eyewear Scholar Series Boston Green Glasses (shown below) are my top picks from that category-- when I saw the prices I did a double take … it doesn't get better than that!

Here are some fun Spring/Summer outfits featuriring some pretty fabulous glasses!





I've been obsessed with Heart Shaped Sunglasses since the 90's when Britney Spears wore them and made them crazy popular. I still love them and lucky for me, they're back in style!!!


I hope you all have wonderful weekends!!!

xo,
Grace




Full Disclosure: This is a sponsored post. However, as in all sponsored posts, all opinions expressed are 100% honest and my own. 

Brutus Update!

You may remember a few months ago that my husband and I got a sweet puppy bulldog, Brutus. He is now four months old (what?!) and got his last puppy shot yesterday.  While my family was visiting for Easter, my dad snapped some shots of him I thought I'd share with you so you can see how much he is growing!







LIKES
  • Taking long naps
  • Snoring
  • Chewing on bones
  • Playing with other dogs
  • Climbing up and down the back of the sofa like a cat
  • Climbing up and down people
  • Being held
  • Chewing on cardboard
  • Eating…. anything
  • ALL people
  • The Vet
  • Riding in the car
  • Baths
DISLIKES
  • Aluminum foil…he is TERRIFIED
  • Clapping. He puts his tail between his legs and runs away
  • Being left alone, although he is learning to love his crate
  • Getting his ears cleaned
My sister visited us for over a week last month and brought his sister, Rosie, with her! They had a great time playing and being reunited.

AND don't forget to check out my exclusive storefront for the Global Premiere of Standfor Below!



xo,
Grace


Standfor- Talk Your Walk Exclusive PRESALE!

Hello wonderful readers! Today I have some very exciting news about a collaboration that Style Art and Grace is bringing you with the BRAND NEW shoe brand, Standfor.

I could not love the idea behind the brand more-- "every step you take has a meaning." This is the perfect way to combine art, social awareness, and fashion into one beautiful example and basically sums up what I am all about.



Each collection focuses on brining awareness to a particular global issue. The first line is "Smokeless" and it happens to be an issue very close to my heart as I have lost multiple family members to lung cancer.
Lace ups and sneakers are only becoming more and more popular for spring/summer and this is perfect opportunity to shop this amazing new brand before these shoes become available to the general public! If you're anything like me, the thought of being one of the FIRST people in the WORLD to experience this super unique, incredible new brand is incredibly exciting. 

So check out my storefront, available through April 19, and I hope you find something you love while supporting a great cause :)



xo, 
Grace

This world premiere is brought to you
by STYLE ART AND GRACE in association with Standfor.
Our two parties have joined forces in order
to bring you this exclusive presale campaign
for the blog’s readers. 


Full Disclosure: This is a sponsored post. However, as in all sponsored posts, all opinions expressed are 100% honest and my own. 


The Oscars: Best Dressed!

My most favorite TV night of the year is The Oscars. I love movies, I love glamour, and I love guessing what some of my favorite stars are going to wear. I was actually very surprised at how many amazing dresses there were this year!! It was so hard for me to narrow down my favorite looks to a top five list, but somehow I managed to do it!

Number 5: Gwyneth Paltrow in Ralph & Russo Couture

Number 4: Reese Witherspoon in Tom Ford

Number 3: Sienna Miller in Oscar de la Renta ( the PERFECT Oscar de la Renta moment to honor his life this year by the way… this gown is so perfectly representative of him).

Number 2: Julianne Moore in Custom Chanel. Stunning.

Number 1: Rosamund Pike in Givenchy… unexpected, classic, beautiful, and a million times better than her Golden Globes look.  Perfect hair and makeup too!!

What were some of your favorites?

xo,
Grace


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