Recently The Beard had a birthday and like any good girlfriend I wanted to make sure we celebrated in style! So I covertly booked us a room at the Alexander Hotel downtown and put it in our shared calendar.
Calendar Side Note: If you and your significant other don’t have a shared calendar system on your phones I highly recommend it! We use the google calendar app and that allows us to share our schedules with each other. Add that unexpected meeting, or that extra work shift, that doctor’s appointment, or block out a weekend on the calendar so nothing else is schedule because we are having a date night! It eliminates confusion, frustration and the argument that you did indeed mention that we are having dinner with your parents.
The hotel turned out to be amazing and we would gladly stay there again! It was a chic art boutique type hotel. Was that enough adjectives for you? Basically it was awesome! Let me give you a tour of our room.
See I told you it was amazing! I also brought along some flameless candles for ambiance.
So back to the birthday celebrations! I picked up some GF cookies from Baked and his favorite cold brew from Uel Zing for in room feasting.
We dressed up and went downstairs to the Cerulean Restaurant.
Being a special occasion we wanted to try lots of things on the menu, although to be honest we usually do that anyways. Pork, Lamb, Goat, basically all the major food groups.
Present Time! I wanted to make something special for The Beard and this year I decided to make him a table with all the GPS coordinates of our hikes.
Good news: He loved it! I also included a pair of Navy and Leather Chukka Boots, a new dress shirt from express, a mustache trimming kit and a Tile Tracker Wallet Edition.
If you’ve never heard of the tile tracker, it’s a pretty amazing invention. They make them to attach to your keys, purse, inside your wallet etc., and their location shows up on an app on your phone. Once you are within the vicinity they make noise, allowing you to find your misplaced items! Occasionally The Beard plays hide n seek with his stuff and this little device will help him win the game! Tile TrackerTile Wallet Tracker
We had breakfast at Yolk, a cute cafe attached to the back of the hotel. The food was delicious but my favorite was the strawberry orange juice!
Some of the art in the parking garage.
We had a great birthday get-a-way. I’m a lucky girl to have such an amazing partner and I will never stop making the effort to make him feel special!
A few months ago I wrote a blog entitled CBD & Me: My Journey to Colorado. In it I discussed the profound effect that CBD & THC had on my health, not just helping pain, but actually eliminating it! However, since marijuana is illegal where I live I’ve been looking for alternative options.
CBD, short for Cannabidiol, is derived from the stalk and seed of cannabis plants. Cannabidiol oil is a natural botanical concentrate that is high in the compound CBD. Of the more than 85 cannabinoids so far identified in the cannabis plant, CBD is the second most common after tetrahydrocanabinal otherwise known as THC.
Hemp plants are naturally abundant in CBD and unlike their cannabis counterparts are low in THC. Thanks to a special extraction process, they are able to yield a highly concentrated CBD oil that also contains other nutritious materials suhc as omega-3, fatty acids, terpenes, vitamins, chlorophyll, amino acids, and other phytocannabinoids like CBD, CBG, CBN and CBCV. But best of all, CBD oil derived from hemp plants is legal in the US.
Hemp oil can be used in many forms including, cbd oil liquids, tinctures, capsules, gum and topically. The past few months I have been experimenting with the different methods of delivery to try to see what works best for me.
I started with Dixie Botanicals 100mg Dew Drops in Cinnamon Flavor. This is a pump system that you place two pumps worth under your tongue and hold till it all starts to dissolve. While it is cinnamon flavored, the hemp flavor is very strong, but after awhile you start to get used to it and forget that their was a time you didn’t know what hemp tasted like! When solely using this I averaged two pumps every few hours. At this dosage it did help take the edge off the pain, but did not eliminate severe flair ups.As with most things in life it’s a trial and error process to determine what dosage and delivery system will work best for your body’s needs. Purchase Dixie Dew Drops
Most drop systems tend to take 45 minutes to an hour for your body to process and for the effects to set in.This means that you need to take these in a preventative form instead of reactive. If I wait till I’m doubled over in pain, waiting for the drops to kick in in an hour from now isn’t going to help me at that moment. In light of this I decided to venture into the world of vaping.
The first thing I purchased was Blue Moon Hemp’s BlackKat 100mg vape liquid. As described on their site it is “A Classic breakfast cereal flavor, like Lucky Charms with a touch of Cinnamon Toast.” Basically it’s delicious and I love it! The benefits of vaping is the quick delivery of the vapor into your system. I no longer had to wait and hour for it to take effect. According to their instagram, Blue Moon Hemp has now released a 400mg dosage of BlackKat as well. Purchase BlackKat Vape Liquid.
While the 100mg of BlackKat tastes delicious and the quick delivery did help my pain, once again it wasn’t touching the severe flair ups I was frequently experiencing. So I decided to up my dosage to 1000 mg. Go big or go home am I right? I purchased the blueberry flavor which is light and subtle and perfect for someone who has issues with nausea. I counted over forty-six flavors available on their site. If I could request a flavor I would opt for ginger! There are several things I like about this particular company. They have free shipping on orders over $25 which is great because a lot of companies selling CBD hemp products charge a minimum of $10 on shipping. They also offer a rewards system based on your purchase history and after my first order I qualified for $25 off my next purchase. When I received my shipment they also included coupons and a free 15ml bottle of blue raspberry. Purchase Napa Valley Vape Liquid
Now, I bet you’re wondering what I am vaping with! I started with a G1 vaporizer and while I like it’s size, portability and carrying case, ultimately determined I needed something that would produce a better vape.
After doing some research I decided to Purchase the Minion Vape Mod Kit. This was a major upgrade compared to the G1 vaporizer. The tank holds a substantial amount of liquid so you don’t have to worry about running out throughout the day. It also holds its charge for about a week depending on usage, which is amazing! If you’re thinking about venturing into the world of vaping I recommend starting with a quality vape kit. Don’t waste your money on cheap pens because you will end up upgrading!
The Beard has also starting vaping using Hemp Hookahzz Pineapple Express in 600mg. He has found it to help reduce stress and help with overall relaxation. The 600mg dosage did help with my pain, however due to my nausea I could not handle the strong flavor of the pineapple. I confirmed this one day when I had a migraine and was vaping and gagging, vaping and gagging. I could feel the migraine lessening with each pull but my stomach was saying stop it!
Side note about nausea: I probably spend around 70% of my life nauseous. If my pain levels are high so is my nausea. The two are best buds. I switched to an electric tooth brush years ago because manually brushing my teeth was a daily battle of trying for good dental hygiene and trying not to throw up. While the hemp oil does help with pain, it does not provide the same nausea relief I experienced with the 1 to 1 ratio of CBD and THC in Colorado. I had more of an appetite during my visit to CO than I have had in years. So to help with my general nausea I’m a big fan of ginger, hence why I would love a ginger flavored vape liquid!
In the mean time we have discovered a few ginger products that are like gold in my house.
The Beard discovered these at Fresh Thyme and my first experience with them I wasn’t sure. But just like the taste of hemp, it rapidly grew on me and now I love them! You can also purchase these on amazon in a 6 pack. That’s right, we don’t mess around. Purchase Ginger Mints.
My other go to is Q Ginger Beer. As it says on the can, “Sharp Ginger Bite, Not Too Sweet.” I have found this to be a major life savor for my nausea. As opposed to ginger ale which sometime has this thick sweet syrupy consistency, this is crisp and punches you in the mouth with ginger! Also, you can’t beat the list of ingredients: Carbonated water, organic agave, ginger extract, extracts of lime, coriander and cardamom, citric acid. This can also be found at Fresh Thyme or on Amazon. Purchase Ginger Beer
As always, I’m not affiliated with any of these brands or products, I’m just sharing what works best for me in hopes of it helping you or someone you know. My goal isn’t to just manage my pain, my goal is eliminate it. And if that involves trying different dosages, delivery systems and even moving across the country that’s what I plan to do. For now, enjoy some of these awesome shots the ever talented Beard took.
Beauty And The Beard 