Houston, we have a problem . . .

. . . A boot problem:

You see, it all started here when I got my first pair of bearpaws for super cheap and revamped them with some awesome buttons. I finally got around to wearing them, when MN's crazy weather turned cold for a bit, and found out that they were the most amazingly COMFORTABLE boots I had ever worn. Yes, my friends, they feel like slippers on my feet. Which is to be expected from a company whose motto is : Live Life Comfortably.

For those of you who know me and how much I love things being comfortable (case-in-point: I wore sweatpants and hoodies for just about EVERY class in undergrad) you know that this was an amazing find for me. After wearing my brown boots a couple of times (and never wanting to take them off) I knew I needed them in another color. I choose grey because it would go with all of my black clothes and then I could essentially be wearing bearpaws anytime I wanted. Well DSW was sold out of my size so I searched them on google, come to find out I could buy them for WAY cheaper on Amazon. Since they were so much cheaper . . . I bought them in every color(and got all four for less than the price of ONE pair of sweater boot uggs!!):

Yes my friends, I am that obsessed with these lovely boots. They are truly amazing! Some people may say I have a boot "problem." I call it a healthy obsession :)

P.S. Why do I keep my boots on top of a bookshelf you ask? Well, when two of my heels were turned into chew toys I decided that shoes had to be kept completely out of reach of little puppy mouths . . . and this was the best spot for the boots!

Growing like a weed . . .

I have been missing my Artemis while he has been away at training these past two weeks, so I thought it would be fitting to post some of his "growing" pictures . . . man he has gotten big and he is only about half way to full size!

Tiny little peanut:

Getting bigger:

my big 35 pound baby:

We'll see how big he has gotten when he gets back on Sunday!

why we eat what we eat . . .

It has been about a year since we started our journey to eating organic/"real food" so I thought it would be a good time to write about our journey.

1. What is "real food"

Real food to me is something where you can read the ingridients and know what everything is on the list. None of this chemical crap that my body doesn't need. There are different scales of chemical crap. Some are in the "you should never eat this" category. Others are in the "there are some products that are always going to have this (thickening agents) so you are going to have to eat it sometimes" category.

2. What made you start thinking about eating real food?

It all started with water and sickness. You see, a couple of years ago I got pretty sick with some really bad heartburn and GI symptoms. It took them a while to figure it out, but eventually they found out that I had H-pylori bacteria. Two weeks of hardcore antibiotics later and I was "cured." My H-pylori came back twice over the next year and a half and it was really hard on my body. Specifically my stomach. I haven't had H-pylori since, but it left me with a much more sensitive digestive system. I could no longer drink milk or orange juice, and cilantro was off the list as well. If I ate any of these I would get horrible heartburn and end up drinking milk of magnesium for 12 hours. The next thing that ended up on my no-eat list was fried foods. I could take them in small doses, but a whole fast food meal always put me over the edge. This was just the beginning. I started having to look at ingredients when I bought food and I became more aware of what I ate. I also cut most fast food out of my diet (with the exception of Arby's, I could still handle Arby's)

Then came law school. I met a girl who always had water with her (Maureen), she said she couldn't be without it, she was always so thirsty. I thought that was really healthy of her, but I didn't think more of it until I showed up in the urgent care three times in a month with a sickness that they said could possible be prevented if I drank more water. I wondered how much water I actually drank in a day and decided to keep track. To my horror my running total EVERY day was . . . two sips, when I took my pills at night. I knew that could not be good. So i decided to be more like Maureen. I bought a water bottle that I liked (it had a straw) and made sure to have it with me at all times. It was amazing the difference it made. I felt better, didn't end up in the urgent care, and I also noticed a difference in my skin.

Those two events made me more aware. Aware that what I put in my body makes a difference. I wondered what else I could be doing that wasn't good for me.

My first chemical cut was high fructose corn syrup(HFCS). Why do I need chemicalized sugar when i've got the real stuff? It was shocking to me where I found HFCS, it was in EVERYTHING: Soup, stuffing, and other things you would never imagine needing sugar in!

After that eye-opening experience I started checking labels like a maniac and wondering what the other chemicals were. It was then that I decided to cut most of them out. I don't need antibiotics in my meat, or pesticides on my apples. So they look less red and delicious, they still taste awesome and I can feel good about eating them

3. Does it cost more?

Meat definitely does. Other than that our grocery bill hasn't gone up. Why do you ask? We make more "real" meals rather than just eating frozen, processed stuff. These meals last for a while with leftovers and are usually cheaper to make. I think it also makes a difference that I was never one of those "coupon cutter deal finder" shoppers. So our grocery bills haven't changed much.

4. Have you become a crazy nazi organic food person?

No. To each their own is my opinion. Eating like this makes sense for me and my health. I can know what I am putting into my body and if something affects me, it is easier to figure out what it is. However, we still order little Caesars pizza when we are feeling lazy, and it tastes as good as ever :)

(as a side note, **said in the kindest voice** now you also know why I get annoyed when pregnant ladies complain and complain about how horrible heartburn is . . . at least yours leaves in 9 months)

My Office

I get an office this year at school. Okay, not really, I just get a study carrel in the library as the schools way of saying "you are going to be spending so much time here this year, you should have a place to house all of your stuff."

Yeah, thanks school.

Here it is, the place I spend countless hours writing my long paper, editing articles, and studying:

It even has my name on it . . .

well, at least it is close to a window!

My Brain Hurts

It really does.

But I just watched the biggest loser last night for the first time and now I have been inspired. They pushed through all of their physical pain to get to 500 steps, or run a mile. They did it because they knew it would help better them in the long run. Even when their body said, "stop" they pushed through because they knew they could do it.

In comparison.

I know I can keep studying even if I don't want to or if I think I can't. I can push through the "mental pain" that my brain thinks it is having. I set a time that I can stop tonight, and I will go until that time because I know it will make things easier in the long run. It will be easier to study at finals time, easier to get that A, and easier to get the job because I have that A.

Okay, motivational post for myself . . . now back to studying Agency

Kitchen Chalkboard

We've had this old mirror sitting in the garage for about two years:

I found it in Chris' attic and thought that it would great addition to our house. It turns out the mirror was too far gone for me to be able to use again, but I didn't want to waste such an awesome frame. With inspiration from this girl, who loves herself some chalkboards, I decided to turn the mirror into a chalkboard for my undecorated 10ft kitchen walls!

I ran into some trouble when Chris informed me that this plan would not work. He said that if I were to paint chalkboard paint onto the mirror, it would chip off instantly. Putting anything in place of the mirror was impossible because the frame was so old and we knew it couldn't handle any changes. So I decided to do a "test frame" to see if my original idea would work. I took a tiny frame that I wasn't going to use for anything else and tried it out. Low and behold, if you put enough layers of paint onto the glass/mirror, it holds without scratching (ahh . . . it's nice to be right sometimes).

Here is the practice run:

After proving myself right, I set off to paint the big frame. First I sanded, then I washed, and then I sanded and washed again. Once all was dry I painted the frame a midnight blue to match my plates, and the mirror with chalkboard paint. (sorry I didn't get any inbetween pictures).

We decided to use the chalkboard to keep track of our "settlers season" winners (cause we're cool like that . . .)

I love the way it turned out:

It looks so great in my kitchen (and it covers up some of the holes from the old cupboards.)

As for the rest of my in progress DIY projects . . . my frames are waiting for pictures, which are going to be taken on Nov. 11, so seeing those hanging on the wall is going to have to wait until then. My "big" project just needs some wall decals (which are set to arrive this week) and then it will be complete.

famous . . .

http://www.leonard.com/careers/law-students

. . . okay, not really, but kinda cool anyways :)