• Bergamot is one of the essential oils that the Umstead Spa is featuring this month. Carolyn says this has a lemon/citrus fragrance and is perfect for relaxation. She says it has proven benefits to help one become calmer. Yes, we know the holiday season can cause us all to be anxious and stressed.  Bergamot is found in Earl Grey Tea, and they will be offering a great luxury pedicure which will be combined with a cup of tea. That's sounds like a spa treatment meant for me. 
• The Red Island Ritual is Carolyn's favorite spa treatment. This is a body treatment that enhances body exfoliation with orange and apricot fruit seeds, essential oils, spice and nourishing oil. It follows up with a relaxing body treatment with warm exotic essential oils that gets rid of tension and stress. 
• Moisturize. Moisturize. Moisturize. It's the best thing to do during the winter. 

Here are the new menu items at The Umstead Hotel and Spa.









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@Hinessightblog

I put on my pink rain boots during Hurricane Joaquin and got out of hibernation in my home (now that my children are in school, I'm becoming quite a hermit in my home because I love being home alone with no noise or distractions. Nothing pleases me more in my life right now than to be in my home) to attend a great conference in Raleigh sponsored by Vend Raleigh.



Motivational speaker and author, Lara Casey, was inspiring with her keynote address. VendRaleigh always puts on a good conference. She told us that we had to stop chasing perfection or it would run us into the ground. Her story is real. It hit home.



Lately, I've been beaten down. I'm tired.


Tired of what? You ask.


Well, I think the answer is simple after I heard her speak. I need to now refocus and reenergize. Isn't fall a time for renewal? Or is that spring? Regardless, the time is right now to make these changes.

I've tried to be a good parent. I've tried to be a good manager of our home. I've tried to be a good wife. I've tried to be a business owner who owns a blog. I've tried hard to be successful in everything that I do, but yet it, all of it has left me feeling exhausted and exasperated. Some may even say I am downright crabby, at times.  

Why? Because after hearing Lara speak at the #2015Illuminate conference, I realize I have been chasing the idea of being able to do it all. I haven't been growing my business instead, I've been spreading myself too thin. 




Being a stay-at-home parent has its own challenges, but owning and publishing a blog has a lot more behind the scenes to it than just writing a story and hitting publish. It's these behind the scenes things that are extremely important to the success of a blog that have run me into the ground.

I pride myself as an expert in North Carolina and on topics of Raleigh, but google doesn't know that. Only I know that and perhaps a few of my readers.  It's the technical things like "alt-tags", "SEO',  and the need to do always do something different that runs me into the ground. 

There is always something new to read and learn. Managing social media for a blog can be a full-time, draining, "suck the life" out of you job, and it's a vicious cycle where you feel like you are on a hamster wheel.

If you devote too much time to these tasks then you have no time to write content for the blog.  As you try to manage your children and your household, a week goes by and you still have no new content.

Honestly, time goes by so quickly and you feel as if you have accomplished nothing in a day, or at least, that is how I feel. My to-do list gets longer, and the pitches for stories increase daily.  And there is one more important detail we must not forget. No one is paying me to write unless I have a sponsor or an advertiser. As bloggers, we are self-published. We don't get a salary to taste that new pink cocktail at 5 pm after a business day like someone who may work for a magazine. 

There is also a good chance that I would have to pay a sitter to even attend so now we're spending our money to go an event to taste that pretty new pink cocktail. I just can't do it all, and I just can't do it all and not make some type of profit. I don't think they teach you to work for free all the time in MBA school. I do not have my MBA, but thanks to VendRaleigh speaker, Belinda Briggs, it was affirmed to me that every smart business person needs to price for profit. 




I love the community that I have built around HinesSightBlog and OutaboutNC. I love talking to each of you on the social media platforms, but it is time for me to get back to finding my "why" and "purpose" for doing this blog. This blog is an extension of me and who I am. You either like what I talk about or you don't. I can't work like a dog to bring you to this space. And this blog will either grow on its own or not, but I can't drive myself into the ground trying to build it. People have to come because they want to be there.

In the past four years, I was able to get beyond one reader, but I've spent so much time trying to market a blog that I've had no time to write.

As I approach my five-year-anniversary, I realize things have got to change. My purpose now is to nurture what we all have in common. I'm going to focus on what I think I do personally do best. Storytelling, finding hotels, and finding good hotel packages where your money goes farther both in and outside of North Carolina. 

I had lunch with this guy yesterday. My family is a priority. I wrote this to my personal facebook friends.



 I forgot how delightful my child is when he is just alone with no sibling and me. Great lunch at Cameron Village after his doctor's appointment and now back to school. Kids really do need time alone with their parent. I forget that way too often. I can always count on this one for a good lunch. He is just more expensive. No kids meal for him. He just devoured a chicken salad sandwich on a croissant. He told me he loved croissants and I told him we could soon fly to Paris...direct. Two peas in a pod conspire to spend Will Hines money in Paris.



Post Update: I was done chasing perfect that year. I slowed down on blogging, and felt more free. I became the PTA President of my children's elementary school, and even traveled without blogging. I spent a good bit of my time building an online community for my social media #OutaboutNC. and focused on my next steps for when I'm ready.  I took some classes. I got some support. I accepted that I could not be perfect.

In 2018, I've devoted more time to the HinesSightBlog so it can be a top North Carolina travel blog and I've decided to focus on giving my Southern spin on hotels, food, and life.  I still have a lot to say in this space.

I used to like to burn scented candles in the fall and winter. There is something about this time of year that makes me want to hibernate inside my home and take in pleasant aromas of nutmeg and pumpkin, Since I now own a diffuser, I rarely use candles now. Instead, I'm using my diffuser several times a day. The fresh scents in my home are now coming from essential oils. Here are seven great fall diffuser recipes I have discovered.

Bring Fall Into Your Home with these Diffuser Recipes


Essential oils have been a staple in high-end spas for years, and the use of essential oils have been very common in holistic family circles for quite a long time because of the oils therapeutic benefits to support overall wellness and health.  In today's world, the phrases "environmental-friendly, non-toxic and natural" are now huge buzz words for the mainstream population, including me.  We've been educated. We've read the research. We listened. Now, we are making changes in our lifestyle. I buy produce now from farmers via a local delivery service. I care about what I breathe and put into my body, and I care about what I give my children to put in their bodies. I care a lot more about them than me, honestly.

Young Living Essential Oils recently received a Better Business Bureau's A+ rating for its business practice, and I've been pleased with their seed to seal quality on the products I use regularly.


And yes, you can use essential oils that you buy at Whole Foods for these same recipes. It's just important that you know you are buying 100 percent therapeutic grade essential oils when you purchase so ask the clerk. Of course, I would love it if you purchased from me.  You can either do it at regular Young Living retail prices or at a basic membership price, which is always 24 percent off of retail prices. If you already own a diffuser or are only interested in wellness supplements then a basic membership for $45 may be the most economical. Once you are a member, there are no yearly renewals like at clubs like with BJs or Sam's Club. Members always receive 24 percent off prices, and there is a great Essential Rewards program where you earn free products back.



If you do not have a diffuser in your home or own any essential oils then I recommend the Premium Starter Kit with a diffuser and eleven oils, including the popular Thieves, Lemon, Lavender, Frankincense, Peppermint, Purification, RC, DiGize, PanAway, Copaiba, and Stress Away. 
($170 cost for $300 worth of products)  as the most economical way to get started as a member.



Once you order the starter kit then also order the Christmas Spirit essential oil at the same time. As
a thank you for ordering from me, I will send you a bottle of Clove Essential Oil as my gift to you.



 You will then be able to make the Thanksgiving Diffuser Recipe in time for the holiday. This offer is good until October 31, 2015.  It can take several weeks before a starter kit arrives after ordering so don't delay. 

EnjoyLifeOils.com has a great member Facebook page, and it's a great way to connect and learn about products.

Small Victories Sunday Linkup 

Be sure to check out Mom's Small Victories to see the most popular posts from our linkup, but you all know I like to pick out a few posts that caught my eye. 

Last week, I ate in a the Raleigh French restaurant, Coquette, and the person I was with ordered mussels. I'm not sure I know how to eat a mussel much less cook one. As a result, this post from Adrenne of Reviews, Chews, and How-tos on How to Prepare Mussels interested me. She makes cooking them seem very easy.