E109: Holiday Party! Best of 2020

Hello, welcome back to the women’s empowerment podcast! Today we are having our holiday party!!! And by we I mean me, myself and I hahaha But how cool would it be if we could bring back a few of the guests from 2020 to celebrate the year together? Perhaps next year we can have a collaborative show! Or maybe some of the listeners can pop into the episode! I would love that too!!

This is our second holiday party and there are a few traditions that we’re going to continue on for the show.

The first is that I always have a holiday beverage when I record. Last year I was drinking a festive kombucha I made. I’m going to link to that episode for you because there are a few tasty recipes I shared.

This year I am drinking a Mistletoe Margarita, and I thought that I made this up but then I realized that other people had this idea too. Here’s the recipe…

Last year’s recipes
www.valerielavignelife.com/59

MISTLETOE MARGARITA

⅓ Cup Cranberry Juice
2 oz Tequila
½ oz Lime Juice
1 cup Cubed Ice (more as needed)
Sugared cranberries and fresh mint leaves for garnish

I like mine on the rocks, but you can blend yours if you like.

Rim the glass using a lime and ground himalyan salt (can also use kosher salt, some like to mix with sugar but I like it salty)
Blended: Pour all ingredients into a blender, blend until smooth
On the Rocks: Add ingredients into a cocktail shaker, shake a few times
Pour into glass and garnish
Drink up!

Hopefully you’re listening and joining me with a drink. Maybe a morning coffee, or post workout protein shake. Wherever you are, and whatever you’re drinking… Cheers!

[3:06] Now we don’t just drink on this episode… no no no! We also count down the top 5 episodes of the show this year. So let’s start with the fifth most popular episode [5] Episode 94: Natural Tools for Healthy Habits.

This is a great episode! It’s full of helpful tools, additional resources, AND I’m currently updating the freebie to this episode along with the rest of my website which you will all be able to see very soon! Seriously can’t wait for that.

In this episode I share dōTERRA’s Healthy Habit Collection and how to use the products in the kit. From essential oils to quality supplements, I go through each one. I also give you a list of previous episodes that are all about essential oils and how to incorporate them into your lifestyle.

As you probably already know I love oils SO MUCH, and use them daily! On instagram I share a daily diffuser blend, you can find me @vallavignelife

Today’s diffuser blend is called

“Santa’s Workshop”
2 drops Wild Orange
2 drops Peppermint
2 drops Cypress
2 drops dōTERRA’s Holiday Joy blend

A few more diffuser blend recipes:

“O Christmas Tree”
2 drops Siberian FIr
2 drops Wild Orange
2 drops Cinnamon Bark

“Winter Wonderland”
3 drops Peppermint
2 drops Bergamot
1 drop Cypress

[4:58] The fourth most popular episode of the Women’s Empowerment Podcast is actually a bonus episode with one of the special guests from the show. I was totally blown away by this episode and absolutely loved chatting with and learning from this guest. The episode was... [4] BONUS: The Power of Positivity & Building Social Engagement with Ingrid Deon!

Ingrid is such an inspiration and a wealth of knowledge on social media marketing. I met Ingrid this year in a virtual coworking community with Toronto’s Co-Working Space MAKE LEMONADE. We got to know each other through this community and she was one of the first people from this network to apply for a spot on my show and I’m so glad she did.

Okay, and the beginning of this episode I mentioned how cool I thought it would be to have a collective of people at this holiday party, so I decided to try the next best thing and I reached out to Ingrid to see if she could share her TOP 3 SOCIAL MEDIA TIPS for going into 2021! Here’s what she shared…

TIP #1: Make Use of the Available Features that Exist with Social Media

TIP #2: Humanize Your Company

TIP #3: If You’re Not Using LinkedIn Yet - DO IT!

More about Ingrid + Women’s Empowerment Podcast:
http://valerielavignelife.com/ingrid

[11:38] Okay the third most popular episode of the year is [3] Episode 102: Choosing Courage Over Fear with Tasha Romanelli. Tasha and I also met through MAKE LEMONADE and we kept virtually crossing paths in different workshops and zoom calls over the spring. Then somehow we found out that we lived only 15-ish minutes away from each other and decided to meet for walks. There are some nice paths and trails near where I live and she brought her dog Mala and we would walk for an hour and talk. A few times I said that our conversations would be amazing for the show and it’s too bad we didn’t record them!

However, we did eventually record an episode together and it was OMazing as Tasha would say! Now if there is one thing I can tell you about Tasha, it’s that she is a FORCE. She is this beaming light of love, kindness, and spiritual power!

She shows up very authentically in this episode and brings some really powerful and practical tools for choosing courage over fear, and letting your freak out!

I also reached out to Tasha and asked her if she could share a New Year’s Eve Ritual with us. Here’s what she shared…

HELP YOU MAKE YOUR DREAMS COME TO LIFE

#1 Create a Personal Totem

#2 Create a Dream PIllow

#3 Create a Vision Board

energyiseverything.ca

[20:53] Now the second most popular episode came as a BIT of a surprise for me, but it’s absolutely perfect. It’s [2] Episode 92: An Action Plan for How to Be a Morning Person. I shouldn’t be THAT surprised because I get this question a lot and it’s one of the reasons why I created this episode in the first place.

Now I really broke things down in this episode. I share the incredible benefits of waking up early. Then I go into detail of how to make it real for you. This includes the DO’s and DON’Ts of your alarm clock, and how to take advantage of all your extra time.

This episode also includes a lot of hot tips so that you can be successful in creating a morning routine, and I walk you through the step-by-step process of making an action plan.

Okay, so it’s a pretty value-packed episode… it’s no wonder it’s the second most popular episode this year! If being a morning person is something you’re working toward then I highly recommend starting with this episode. If you’re ready to go deeper with your morning routines, I’d like to invite you into my upcoming Healthy Habit Workshop: Morning Routines on Wednesday February 3rd, 2021.

You can find the details for this online workshop at WWW.VALERIELAVIGNELIFE.COM/WORKSHOP My goal for you for this workshop is to support you with getting clear and creating an action plan for your morning routine. It’s a virtual group workshop where I will teach you the best ways to build your mornings, plus there’s an opportunity at the end of the workshop to ask questions and get more support that is specific to your goal(s).

If you’re listening to this workshop past the workshop date, no worries! I am hosting healthy habits workshops on the first wednesday every month for 2021 and each month has a new topic! I hope to see you there! You can visit the show notes page to learn more at the workshops page at WWW.VALERIELAVIGNELIFE.COM/WORKSHOP

Now last year I had a list of 21 questions that I wanted to answer every year as a time capsule memory for fun, but this year I’ve decided that it’s not really beneficial to the show. So I will most definitely be doing the 21 questions in my own journaling practice, and they’re very interesting, especially if you’re looking back on them, so I will share the 21 questions with you this year in the show notes page. They are fun, personality-quiz type of questions and it’s pretty interesting to re-listen, or re-read to your own advice sometimes.

www.valerielavignelife.com/59 < List of Questions

[24:26] And now… our top episode of 2020 was… [1] Episode 81: 5 Tips for Positive Self-Talk this episode was published in the late spring of this year. To be honest, I’m not entirely surprised by this. We’ve all had a HUGE year and this episode more than ever is so flippin important.

Val Lavigne Life Women's Empowerment Podcast

Podcast Host

Valerie LaVigne

Valerie is the creator and founder of Valerie LaVigne Life and the Women's Empowerment Show. She helps busy and empowered women create healthy habits so that they can become the best version of themselves and transform their lives. Learn more about Valerie here!