The cure for S-A-D is C-O-C-O-A!!

Well, as my previous Heart and Soul post talked about, I have been feeling a bit down. Although I am feeling a bit more happy and excited, I am still feeling extremely tired and sluggish and not at all like myself. As I was googling S-A-D, I decided to check my email and I had this article in my inbox, sent to me from my Mom!

December 16, 2011 A Cup of Christmas COCOA Tracie Miles

They celebrate your abundant goodness and joyfully sing of your righteousness. Psalm 145:7 (NIV)

In the midst of the hustle and bustle of the holidays, there’s one thing that always calms my heart and quiets my thoughts – a cup of hot cocoa. Who doesn’t feel warm and peaceful while sipping a cup of steaming cocoa with marshmallows piled on top?
But, there is another reason I love cocoa. Each letter of my favorite winter drink helps me focus my heart on Christ at Christmas:

The Great Coconut Oil Debate

Coconut oil: I have never used the stuff, I didn't even know it existed until a few months ago. I was researching natural ways to cure a dry scalp and coconut oil came up as a really great method. So, I was chatting with a co-worker one day and she commented on how good it is for you to eat.

I ordered some from www.well.ca (to try on my scalp) and my Step dad saw it on my counter and said "I hope you don't plan on eating that, it caused many people to die of heart attacks and now they have banned it from movie theatres!"

So my question is "How do you get 2 very different opinions on the exact same product?" I did my research and although I am not a expert, here is what I found:

A Clean Makeover

Is anyone else finding it frustrating to try and buy "clean" make up in  Prince George? I know on-line shopping is a girls best friend but sometimes I need it now!

For example, I have a couple great (but dirty) mascaras, but I am getting down to the last smidgens of them and now I have a Christmas party coming up this weekend and I have no mascara! Huge problem (since mascara is my go to, feel good cosmetic)!! And I know I should have foreseen this but I am having a hard time letting go of my mascaras, it is so hard to find great mascaras but then to find GREAT and CLEAN mascaras, next to impossible.

So my goal is to hunt high and low for a fabulous clean mascara, and my standards are pretty high so we will see. I will update with my findings.

Do you have any favourites? Even if it is one I have to order on-line....for future tries maybe!

-Kristin 

Nuts for Soap Nuts!!

Soap nuts are a natural, low sudsing detergent. There are no added fillers, dyes or chemicals, yet will thoroughly wash all your articles of clothing.

I love soap nuts, I guess you can say I am nuts for soap nuts... ok I guess you can say that I am also pretty lame but regardless, I love doing laundry with soap nuts.

My goal is to start cutting out all the chemical type crap from my life. I had been discussing this with my sister one day (miss you Ashley!) and she told me about this wonderful new product she bought. She said it was grossing her out to watch her little baby boy suck on his blankies and such, knowing what kinds of horrible chemicals were all over that that freshly "cleaned" blankie! So she thought she would try out soap nuts and they work. So I was skeptical but I am up for trying new things, so I decided why not. Dana and I decided to try them out but splitting a pack.

Bring on the happy! (and the pounds)

My last few months have been less than great, so Dana, I am taking your advice and writing about it on the blog. With my husband being out of town, working long stressful shifts at the hospital, being on a health dietary cleanse that has caused me to lose weight when I need to gain weight and then not being able go to the gym (which usually makes me feel better)...I have been feeling quite low.  I am sure, not going to church or bible study isn't helping either.
But after a wonderful chat with my friends and with my husband about it, I have decided to make the most of a less than wonderful situation and try to focus on being happy and staying busy and doing what I love.
Now that I have some of my normal food groups back in, I have been able to start baking again! Here comes all that weight back, WooHoo!! In the last 3 days I have cranked up the Christmas music and made: orange cranberry chex mix, whipped shortbread cookies (it made me think of you Dana), cherry almond biscotti (Kimberly's recipe) and fudge puddles ( thank you Kara!!). Baking things that made me think of all my wonderful girlfriends definately improved my mood.
I have also tried to stop negative thoughts from forming.... easier said than done. I find that if I don't verbalize or acknowledge them, this makes it a bit more managable. I know that God wants me to be a happy person and I am really trying to focus on the good and fun things in my life:)

What do you do to improve your mood?

- Kristin

Delicious Food Blogs

Well here it goes, my first blog post ever and I have decided to choose the topic of food. Since my recent trip to the naturopath, food is all I am really thinking of...oh my goodness do I miss cooking! Anyways, my 2 top picks for favorite food blogs are...
http://ohsheglows.com/
and
http://www.dailygarnish.com/
Although these 2 wonderful ladies touch on other subjects other than food, I believe their recipes are by far the best! I really enjoy their blogs and you should check them out. They have both have a great perspective on life and it makes reading their blogs so much fun.

Anti Antiperspirant

I knew antiperspirant was bad news for a long time and really hesitated to make the big switch from antiperspirant (classified as a drug & always contains an aluminium-based compound that clogs sweat glands) to a natural deodorant (classified as a cosmetic & affects body odour caused by the bacteria from the break-down of sweat).

I had heard about how it was linked to breast cancer and Alzheimer's disease, but told myself -if I just choose brands with a "low" aluminium content, I was doing the best I could.....because how could I not use an antiperspirant?!?! I would sweat again! How inconvenient and uncomfortable! 

But after enough mocking from my husband who had already made the big switch years ago, (e.g. "Oooh, I can see Mrs.Healthy is still spreading cancer under her arms") and Kristin reassuring me that she had made the switch and lived through it, I thought I would give it a try!!

Life is too busy

I have always felt like Life is Too busy, but it has just been recently that I have realized that it is up to me to change that!

I read this "mini book" and found a lot of truth in it. It outlines that the problem isn't a shortage of time, but that our priorities are out of whack. We seldom make time for the important things in life, because we are dealing with the urgent tasks.