Deliberate Living

I live in a way that I believe majority of Americans, and most definitely Southerners live.  I buy my groceries at a chain food store, I clean with Mr. Clean, Lysol, Cheer, Shout, etc., I don't eat organically, I go to mainstream doctors, take Western medicines, and drink Coke and eat fast food on occasion.  I have never really felt I lived in an unhealthy way.  I always thought this was the norm and pretty much the only way to live.  Certainly I have known people who practiced different lifestyles than me, such as a friend who is vegan, but I just haven't been exposed to much of that.  Bening a person who is naturally curious (and maybe a little nosy), I have been fascinated with why people choose the lifestyles that they do and how their lives may be different than mine.  I watch a lot of documentaries, always have, but this has really increased in the last year.  Maybe it was certain things that I was exposed to in college, maybe it was the blogging world, and maybe it was the fact that many of my friends are growing up and the things I see on facebook aren't just trivial "going out for Thirsty Thursday" junk, but I feel like something is changing in me.  I have realized that there is a larger world out there and the choices I make are mine and I am the one who has to live with them.  Wow, what a obvious thing to realize, but as you get older, that takes on a different meaning.  Over the years that I have been an adult, I have felt very drawn to living in a deliberate way.  I can remember watching a documentary a few years ago about slavery in our century and how it is a problem.  They were discussing how so much of the world's cocoa and coffee supply was harvested from this slave labor and that people were only perpetuating the system by continuing to purchase slave harvested chocolate and coffee (although they didn't realize they were because it certainly doesn't say that on the label).  Another thing they talked about in that documentary were child sweatshops and that many people don't know that the clothing they are wearing or the rug in their home was made through these terrible means.  That documentary really stirred something in me.  I wanted to shout to everyone so they would know about it, but I also felt so tiny and like I couldn't really make a difference.  AND how am I to know where my t-shirt came from?  AND then for that matter, how do I know where everything in my life came from like my fabric I sew with to the banana I ate for a snack!  However, this was kind of a first step for me. 

Throughout the years I have had many more situations like these and being an introspective person, I have really wanted to determine ways that I can live to be a better person.  Attending church regularly, volunteering and supporting charity, recycling, etc. are all things I have thought about and things that I try to do, although I admit I fail at a lot of these often!  More recently I have been exposed to many friends having children.  I see talk on facebook, blogs, hear conversations, etc. about birthplans, nursing vs. bottle feeding, homemade baby food, baby led weaning, and the like.  Although I am not pregnant, and not planning to be for a while, I also find these decisions fascinating.  Cloth diapering is one in particular that I have really been interested in researching, which has opened a gateway of natural living blogs.  I see a recurring theme on these blogs in living a deliberate lifestyle.  Everyone has to make their own decisions, and should do the research to determine what they want in life in terms of how they eat, what type of medicine they use, etc. (wow, there are a ton of etc. in this post!).  Coming full circle, I have realized that a lot of these people grew up in typical American households like me, where they were not exposed to the "alternative" lifestyles they are living now. They had similar feelings as I have had about where do you start and how far do you take certain things.  I have really been soul searching for a little while about certain things in my life, particularly my diet, the chemicals we use in our home, and on a lesser extent my footprint on the earth.  I felt very overwhelmed when I started reading about holistic living and opened the door that talked about detoxing, acupunture, and all of that!  These things are so foriegn to me!  But yesterday, after talking a little on twitter with my friend Kate, she said something that turned on the lightbulb even though I knew it.  It's not all or nothing!  You take baby steps, and you choose what you want to do as you get to it.  You don't have to kick the coke habit, throw out all your salt and sugar and replace it with stevia and raw honey and himalayean salt in one day!  You just take baby steps.  Your never going to know it all, and everything you hear now is how this thing is bad for you and that thing is bad for you.  The main thing you need to do and I am going to start trying to do is living deliberately.  I have gained 20 pounds since my wedding, I feel like crap, and I eat tons of processed food and white sugar.  I have issues with IBS, anxiety, and acid reflux, and a lot of research I have found say that changing your diet is one of the best things to try before medication.  My first step in living deliberately and acheiving wellness is going to be to change my diet.  I am not running to the health food store and buying flax, raw honey, and going to find where to buy local raw butter and milk....not that it is bad!  It is great, but it is about baby steps and my comfort zone. 

I hope that this post might help inspire some of y'all that feel like you are living in a processed world and feeling overwhelmed on what are the healthy steps for you to be taking without falling into a black hole you don't know your way around!  If any of y'all have info on healthy natural living websites, or want to leave some comments about ways that you incorporate some natural living into your life...please leave me a comment!  Have a great wednesday!  I am working on editing the pictures for the camera strap slipcover tutorial, so stay tuned for that. 

Menu Monday - Buttercream Frosting

This weekend I had a hankering for something sweet.  I wanted cake with lots and lots of frosting.  YUM!  I used a boxed cake mix out of the pantry, but I didn't have any frosting ready.  I looked in my Better Homes and Gardens cookbook to get a recipe for frosting and found this recipe for buttercream.  It is different than your normal frosting recipe that uses confectioners sugar.  I found it to be a little less sweet than a normal buttercream, and very creamy!  This is not a "crusting" buttercream, and it needs to be refrigerated due to the milk in it, so I would use it for sheetcakes, cupcakes, and maybe simple layer cakes (not too many layers!). 

Buttercream Frosting - Better Homes and Gardens

Ingredients

• 1.5 cups granulated sugar
• 1.5 cups milk
• 1/2 cup all purpose flour
• dash salt
• 2 teaspoons vanilla (or any flavoring)
• 3 sticks (1.5 cups) softened unsalted butter

Directions

1. In a medium saucepan over medium heat, combine sugar, milk, flour, and salt.  Whisk together until the lumps are gone.  Heat until the mixture is bubbly and thick.  This should take about 15-20 minutes.  You have to babysit this mixture and stir often to prevent the sugar burning.  
2. When the mixture is bubbly and thick, turn heat to low.  Stir over this heat for about a minute.  
3. Take mixture off heat.  Cover lightly (allow the heat to escape by tilting the top for the saucepan) and let cool completely.  This will take an hour to an hour and a half.  
4. Once your milk and sugar mixture is room temperature, pour into a large mixing bowl.  Using a mixer (hand or stand are fine) on a medium speed, add butter to milk and sugar mixture gradually.  The mixture will look curdled at first, but eventually it will mix in evenly .  Mix until smooth and creamy. 
5. Frost your cake!  This recipe makes a lot! 

I hope you enjoy this recipe!  I forgot to get a picture of the cake, but tomorrow I have lots of pictures to share with you!  I got a Canon Rebel t3i this past weekend, and I put together a tutorial for making your own camera strap that I am planning to share tomorrow. 

A Day in my Life

On of my long time blog reads, Life is Beautiful, did a really fun post today.  Micah is about to have her first baby (a boy!) and did a post of her day yesterday.  I thought that was such a fun idea so that you can look back and remember what your life was like at a point in time.  I am going to take a cue from her and do one of these myself!  I hope you don't mind Micah!  Here is what my Tuesday looked like. 

7:00 AM: I get eased awake by Lucky walking up my side.  Thomas gets up to let the dog out, and I continue to sleep a little longer.

7:10 AM: Thomas tells me to wake up and then goes downstairs to eat breakfast.  I continue to lay there and doze on and off. 

7:25 AM: Thomas comes upstairs and tells me it is officially time to wake up.  I check my phone (email, facebook)  I then go into the bathroom to brush my teeth, put on my makeup, staighten my hair, etc.  I had a really hard time finding something to wear today.  I picked out one of my favorite skirts because I knew I had a lot of meetings today and wanted to look professional, but I couldn't find any tights to wear with it. 

8:00 AM: I'm ready, so I go downstairs to get lunch together.  The bed didn't get made today because I didn't get out of bed early enough, but I'm not too worried about it.  I grab my snacks for the day, and Thomas and I decide to go out to lunch since I didn't feel like making a sandwich.  We put the dog in his "room" (cage) and get in the car to go to work.  I usually drive to work in the morning, and today is no different. 

8:25 AM: Pull into parking garage.  I have to walk a decent distance to get to work, so that takes about 10 minutes.

8:35 AM: I'm walk into work, but I can't find my ID card.  I can't get into our building without it, so I send Thomas to check my desk to see if I left it there.  I am so embarassed because I did this a couple weeks ago.  I need to work on this!  Thomas finds the card, brings it to me, and I go to work. 

8:45 AM: check work emails, eat my morning yogurt, and get together materials for a meeting I have at 9. 

9:00 AM: Meeting with some new(ish) collegues and management.  We had a round-table discussion about professionalism and what we think that means.  We do these every so often to discuss different office concepts and what people that are new to our office or the work world think of them.

10:30 AM: Meeting is over, and I go back to my cubical to check email and get some work done.  I eat my nutrigrain bar and a string cheese for a snack too. 

11:30 AM: Lunchtime.  Thomas and I meet up to go to lunch.  We walk over to Panera.  I found out I have a free egg souffle and a breakfast sandwich on my Panera card.  Woo hoo! 

12:00 PM: Head back to the office to get some work done. 

1:30 PM: Another meeting!  This time I had a staff meeting for my team and some training. 

2:50 PM: Out of meeting, back to work.  First I really need a coke though!  I go to our snack bar and purchase a Pay Day and a coke.  I am so mad at myself for breaking down though because I have been eating really healthy the last two days.  Oh well, I ate it and it's done.  Moving on. 

4:00 PM: I need a break, so I get on the computer to check some blogs and facebook.   I start typing this post. 

5:00 PM: Pack up to leave work.  I meet Thomas in the lobby and we make the walk back to our car. 

5:45 PM: Home again, home again.  I take the dog out and give him a treat.  I check the mail, go change into my pajamas, and start looking at my new Martha Stewart magazine that came today.  I grab some leftovers out of the fridge for dinner and watch some HGTV.  Tuesday is Pizza Night for Thomas and the rest of the guys over at our friend Boykins house.  Trey and Ashton come over to pick up Thomas/drop Ashton off. 
6:30 PM: Ashton is here!  Girl time!!!  We watch some tv shows I recorded for us, and then turn on some Portlandia.  We think that show is really funny!  We also catch up on our girl talk! 

9:30 PM: Thomas comes home and Ashton leaves.  Thomas does some stuff on his computer and I go up to bed.  I am really tired!  I do my nightly beauty stuff (brush teeth, wash face, etc.) and get in bed.

10:15 PM: Thomas comes upstairs and we watch an episode of Malcom in the Middle (we are currently watching this series, but the series rotates whenever we finish one on Netflix).  Afterwards Thomas and I get on our phones to wind down.  I read some on my Kindle app on my iphone, and Thomas reads some stuff on the internet.  I am currently reading Twilight again (4th time?) 

10:45 PM: Good night!

What is your day like?  Feel free to join in! 

February Challange

Well, I caught the creepy crud that seems to be going around here.  I toughed it out at work yesterday and just couldn't take it anymore.  I stayed home and have been sleeping pretty much all day.  Lets cross our fingers I am healthy enough to go to work tomorrow!  

I saw Kate post that she did the January Photo Challenge and that she was going to try to keep up with it this year.  I am going to try to do this too.  I probably will end up posting the photos once a week, but since today is day one (and I am sick and have no energy to have any real content), I am posting my picture for today.  Feel free to play along too!  

Camped out on the couch watching old Glee episodes.  

Have a great day!  Tell me if you join in!