DIY Spring Breeze Room Freshening Spray

Use this super simple DIY to freshen your room and linens for spring!

Whoohoo, we've officially made it to spring! All of our leaves are back on the trees and the flowers are blooming down here. So are my allergies. But a runny nose and itchy eyes aren't going to stop me from enjoying the the last few weeks before it's absolutely miserably hot here! I'm going to enjoy this season while I can. Hashtag Texasprobz, for real. Anyway, I've crafted up a really easy, really fresh smelling room spray for you so that you can enjoy your spring to the fullest, too.

First, the essential oils! Revive oils are my new go-to. Yup, I used to be with Young Living, but the expense of those oils were insane. I asked some of my oily gurus who they got their oils from and learned about Revive. They're therapeutic grade, indigestible essential oils that are NOT a multi-level-marketing structure. You can go on their website and buy them like you'd buy something on Amazon - no need to sign up for some membership! They have packages with diffusers and single essential oils, plus roller bottles and other lifestyle items. Use code Paige10 for 10% off your order and experience the same quality of Young Living or doTERRA without the obnoxious price (and minus the sales people always trying to get you to buy things...)

The key to this spring breeze room spray is the lime, hands down. Yes, lemon is a fresh scent that reminds just about everyone of what "clean" smells like. Yes, the peppermint cools down the citrus tones. But the lime? That is what really makes it smell like spring! Which is funny because I don't associate limes with spring necessarily, but I'm telling you - it's spring in a dang bottle.

And it's strange because if you smell the lime essential oil right out of the bottle, you wont think spring immediately. It's when the oil is diffuesed or sprayed that makes me (and others who have walked into my home) go, "ohhhh, that smells so good, what is that?" It's lime, that's what it is. Who knew right?! Well, now you do, so that makes two of us.

Here's how you make this nifty room freshening spray. It literally (like literally, literally) takes less than a minute. You'll need:

- 2 or 3oz glass bottle. I really like these because the spray pump goes all the way to the bottom, so you don't waste a drop of anything you put in them!

- 5 drops lemon essential oil

- 10 drops lime essential oil 

- 2 drops of peppermint essential oil

- 1/4 tea spoon Himalayan salt or Epsom salts

- distilled or filtered water

Put the salt in the bottom of the glass bottle. Then add your essential oils. Put the lid on and give it a good shake, distributing the oils amongst the salts. This step is important because if you think back to grade school science class, you'll remember that water and oils don't mix. So you want to put the oil on the salt and let it absorb so that they'll be distributed in the water evenly, and the spray will smell the same each time you use it. 

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Ok, so after you've shaken the oils and salts together, fill the glass jar up with the water. Shake again and spray the spring breeze everywhere! Just remember to give it a little shake before you spray it each time so that the salts and oils get mixed back in with those water molecules. Your house, your linens, your towels - whatever you'd like will smell fresh and spring-y!

Lemon-Thyme Pasta Salad

This zesty and fresh pasta salad works as a side or a vegetarian main dish

You know those dishes that just get better and better the longer they sit in your fridge? This is definitely one of those dishes. The more time the marinate has to soak into the fresh veggies and pasta, the tastier it gets. The lemon and thyme are perfect for spring and summer; the veggies freshen the already bright flavor and whole wheat pasta adds texture to this lemon-thyme pasta salad.

No need to cook the veggies - the acid in the lemon juice softens them. I did, however, blanch the asparagus because who wants to bite into raw asparagus, right? Another key to this really easy, highly versatile dish is to use al dente pasta. That means that you under cook it. Just like the acidity will soften your veggies, it will soften your pasta too. So to avoid a mushy pasta mess, take it out of the water while it still has a little bite to it.

Bring this lemon-thyme pasta salad to cook outs. Add chicken to make it a main dish. Or keep it vegetarian with the chick peas. It can sit out since there's no mayo, and it you keep it vegetarian, there's no meat to spoil (ughhhh, just writing that grossed me out. Spoiled meat. Yuuuuuuuuck!)

Lemon-Thyme Pasta Salad

- 3/4 box of whole wheat pasta, cooked al dente

- 1 small summer squash, cut into bite sized pieces

- 1 zucchini, cut into bite sized pieces

- 1 bunch of asparagus, cut into bite sized pieces

- 1 container of grape tomatoes, cut into halves

- 1/4 red onion, finely diced 

- 1 can chick peas, drained and rinsed

- 1 can artichoke hearts

- 2 lemons

- 1/2 cup olive oil

- 1 teaspoon each of salt and pepper

- 2 teaspoons thyme

- freshly grates Parmesan cheese to garnish

Bring a large pasta pot of water to boil; salt the water. Blanch the asparagus in the water for about 3 minutes. Drain the asparagus, set aside and cook the pasta in the same salted water, making sure to drain the pasta before it's fully cooked.

In a large bowl, add the olive oil, salt, pepper, thyme, zest of one lemon and juice of two lemons and whisk together. Add the vegetables and chick peas. Once the asparagus and pasta have cooled to room temperature, add to the bowl and fold together. 

You can enjoy the lemon-thyme pasta salad immediately, but it's better if it has a few hours to sit so that the lemon juice can soften the veggies and adsorb into the pasta. Better yet, make it the night before you want to serve it and let it rest overnight in the fridge! It will get better with age, and keep for several days in a sealed container refrigerated. 

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This lemon-thyme pasta salad basically tastes like summer in a bowl. It's so fresh! If you have an herb garden, it'd probably also be great with a little fresh parsley. Happy cooking!

Making Sweet Memories

Pilsbury products help make sweet family memories easy and delicious

This post is sponsored by Pillsbury on behalf of Acorn Influence. All words and pictures are my own.

Growing up, holidays were some of my favorite memories. There was always a big meal that was served around 2pm. To tide us all over, my dad would make Pillsbury cinnamon rolls in the morning. I remember my sister and I taking turns licking the excess icing out of the little round container after my dad would frost the warm rolls. We'd then be on a crazed sugar high as we put on our Easter dresses and hats (and, winter coats because I grew up in Minnesota and let's get real, most the time there was still snow on the ground for Easter). Now that I have my own family, I'm excited to share the tradition of making sweet memories with my boys.

I've told it to y'all once and I'll say it again: I'm a terrible baker. I hate how I have to measure everything, and if you don't get it just so, it won't turn out. I'm more of a throw everything into the pot, season it, taste it, season it again and voila! It turned out kinda cook. But you can't really taste things as you're baking them. Or errrrr, you're not supposed to after that raw egg goes in. So I'm taking a page out of my father's book (see what I did there?!) and letting Pillsbury help me make these sweet memories much easier with their Easter Bunny sugar cookies.

My kids LOVE sugar cookies. Neither one is a fan of chocolate, so chocolate chip cookies are a no go here. But sweet butter and sugar and vanilla? Oh yes! Cookies in fun shapes? Yes please!

Henry is getting really interested in what I do in the kitchen, and I hope he remains interested in learning how to cook. He pulls his stool up next to me so he can see over the counter and watches intently, asking what I'm doing, repeating what I say, and helping out on tasks he can manage. Otto, in true younger sibling fashion, doesn't want to be excluded and tries to scale the cabinets or hangs from the oven door handle in attempts to get in on the action. Can't leave that one alone for a second. He'd probably climb into the oven to get after one of these baking cookies! He's a little too short to see, so daddy had to help hold him to get in on the cookie action.

I love that the cookies are already made for us, so all we had to do was get them situated on the cookie sheet and bake them. No mess to clean up after, FTW! Don't worry, Henry still managed to sneak a few bites off a few of the cookies while my back was turned dealing with a feisty Otto.

Honestly, the hardest part of these adorable bunny sugar cookies was waiting for them to cool. The kids circled the kitchen like vultures, waiting to get their mitts on the amazing smelling baked goods. Finally, they were cool enough for the kids to shove them in their faces right by the stove. Who needs to sit down to enjoy a warm cookie?!

If you're like me and don't enjoy baking from scratch, these Pillsbury cookies are perfect. Walmart has them fully stocked in all sorts of adorable spring or Easter varieties. Get a batch and make some sweet memories with your kiddos!