• Flexibility is Key—Creating with Chronic Illness: Thoughts on taking time to recuperate, redefining writing goals, and how to make time and energy for my creative pursuits like cardmaking and party planning.
    Blog,  Create,  Health

    Flexibility is Key—Creating with Chronic Illness

    Happy New Year friends! I’ve been thinking about the importance of flexibility with chronic illness, especially when it comes to taking care of my health and making time for my creative pursuits.

    January seems like the perfect month to share some updates, as well as what I’ve found helpful on my health journey recently. I hope these reflections are helpful for you too!  

    I’m thrilled to be participating in A Chronic Voice’s link up again this month. This link up is a way for chronically ill bloggers to connect by writing posts based on the same prompts. I love the creative challenge offered by the prompts and seeing what others write!

  • You can easily DisneyBound with chronic illness—a fun way to be creative with your outfits if you’re low on energy. Here’s my look inspired by Ursula from The Little Mermaid. As much as I love costumes, DisneyBounding is much more doable with fibromyalgia, ME/CFS, POTS, and other health conditions. | cassiecreley.com
    Blog,  Create

    DisneyBound Challenge 2: Villains

    It’s time for me to share some photos for our second DisneyBound challenge, right in time for Halloween! In case you missed the first challenge, I put together a look inspired by my favorite Disney princess. Be sure to check out which princess Olivia Wolfertz of Unpolished Ponderings chose and how she brought her character’s look to life.

    Never heard of Disneybounding? It’s basically dressing up using colors, styles, or the general aesthetic of a character. It’s like a simplified take on wearing a complete costume.

    PS I just joined Instagram and will be sharing more Disneybounds in October! Follow @cassiecreleyblog

  • 15 Shows about Fascinating People and Places—Learn something new about remarkable women, history brought to life, nature, and travel destinations from these fun and informative shows. | cassiecreley.com
    Blog,  Etc

    15 Shows about Fascinating People and Places

    I love when shows present real stories in an engaging way and bring incredible parts of the world to life onscreen. I think these 15 shows about fascinating people and places will capture your imagination and give you the opportunity to learn many new things. I sure learned a lot!

    What drew me to these shows is that they make it fun to discover something new. It can be challenging to feel a sense of growth when you’re chronically ill, so I try to prioritize continuing to learn. TV can be wonderful in the sense that I can feel like I’ve visited a museum or gotten a glimpse of another country without leaving my home.

    These 15 programs tell the stories of remarkable women, introduce us to amazing animals, bring history to life, and take us to new places.

  • You can easily DisneyBound with chronic illness—a fun way to be creative with your outfits if you’re low on energy. Here’s my look inspired by my favorite Disney Princess, Ariel from The Little Mermaid. As much as I love costumes, DisneyBounding is much more doable with fibromyalgia, ME/CFS, POTS, and other health conditions.
    Blog,  Create

    DisneyBound Challenge 1: Favorite Princess

    I’m participating in two DisneyBound challenges this year, and I’m looking forward to sharing these outfits with you! Olivia Wolfertz of Unpolished Ponderings and I will be putting together two looks—the first is inspired by our favorite Disney princess and the second will be inspired by a villain. A bonus? It’s easy to DisneyBound with chronic illness!

    First up: what’s DisneyBounding? It’s a fun way to dress up inspired by the colors and aesthetics of your favorite characters, without going for a full costume.

  • Thoughts On “Sun Guilt” And How To Enjoy The Outdoors With Chronic Illness: How can we take the pressure off and enjoy nature more despite chronic health conditions? Here are my tips for pacing and preparing so you can enjoy being outside more.
    Blog,  Etc,  Health

    Thoughts On “Sun Guilt” And How To Enjoy The Outdoors With Chronic Illness

    Don’t worry, this isn’t a post pressuring you to go outside more or insisting you should get outside every day. With chronic illness and pain, sometimes this isn’t realistic. So let’s talk about ways to benefit from and enjoy being outdoors with chronic illness. For me, planning and pacing are key.

    In fact, I’m giving myself permission to be outside less or not go outside at all, even on days when the weather is ideal. I’m trying to balance benefitting from nature with listening to my body.

  • My Go To Natural Skin Care Products – My favorite soaps, shampoos, conditioners, lotions, lip balms, toothpaste, dry shampoo, and more. These are the products I use because they’re free of common toxins, which is essential due to my asthma, allergies, fibromyalgia and chemical sensitivity.
    Blog,  Health

    My Go To Natural Skin Care Products

    I’m so excited to share this list of my favorite natural skin care products with you! It’s taken me many years to find lotions, soaps, shampoos, etc. that don’t flare up my health conditions. I’m really passionate about this topic because I think everyone should have the tools and information to avoid toxins and make healthier decisions in their everyday life.

    I hope that all the products I’ve researched and tried will help you on your journey to better health.

    What we put on our bodies matters, especially for those of us with chronic illness. These are the skincare products that don’t aggravate my asthma, fibromyalgia, and other chronic conditions.

  • Why You Should Use Natural Skin Care Products Especially If You Have A Chronic Illness. An overview of resources for finding more information, what toxins could be affecting your health, chemicals to avoid, and where to find safer alternatives. | cassiecreley.com
    Blog,  Health

    Why To Use Natural Skin Care Products If You Have A Chronic Illness

    Why choose natural skin care products? I’m going to share a quick overview of some of the potential health impacts of chemicals that you’d think are safe—after all, they’re in everyday products like lotion, shampoo, deodorant, and soap. I hope this post is a useful resource for learning more about the ingredients in skin care products so you can choose healthier options, especially if you have a chronic illness.

    If you’re already dealing with chronic illness or health issues (like I am—more on that below) it’s even more important to address irritants and triggers that could be contributing to underlying conditions—or just making overall health worse.

    And even if you’re healthy, there are many reasons everyone should avoid harmful chemicals lurking in skin care products.

    Here’s a quick look at chemicals to avoid, where you can find more research about those chemicals, and resources for finding healthier alternatives.

  • How To Throw A Fun And Interactive Virtual Escape Room— My tips for adding ambiance to a virtual party so it feels more like an in-person celebration. Here’s how I made my 1920s archeology-themed costume party come to life via Zoom.
    Blog,  Create

    How To Throw A Fun And Interactive Virtual Escape Room

    I’m excited to share my tips for throwing a fun and interactive virtual escape room! I’ve been wanting to throw a party tied to the discovery of King Tutankhamen’s tomb for awhile, and an escape room seemed like the perfect fit for my birthday celebration. Getting to play archaeologist and dress like Evie from The Mummy was something I’ve been looking forward to!

    Here’s how I made my 1920s-meets-ancient-Egypt party come to life—via Zoom!

    These tips can be used by anyone to connect with others from a distance, whether you’re socially distancing or looking for ways to catch up with friends and family who live far away. You could use these tips for customizing in-person escape rooms too.