Heroes

I wasn't planning to post today...I have one that I am struggling to come up with words for on the go, and it's taking some time.

But then I was listening to the new Casting Crowns album, after one of my wonderful friends told me I needed to check it out. I thought it would make a nice studying soundtrack, so I drifted over to YouTube to give it a listen. Studying? Nope. Not happening. I had to share this song, because it so touched my heart.

I am overwhelmed with the heroes in my life...in every situation, everywhere I turn, when I am struggling and when I am celebrating, there are heroes. I am so grateful today for the incredible blessing of the people in my life...I could never articulate it fully.

These are the heroes, just ordinary people

Laying down their lives like angels in disguise

They're weak but always willing

They dare to do the hard things

And in the dark and desperate places no one else goes

You'll find the heroes

You'll find the heroes

I was listening to this song, and person after person came to my mind. I would hope that all the heroes in my life would know how they have impacted me, but I doubt it. Life can really stink sometimes, but where would any of us be without heroes? So for those ordinary people, willing to do the hard things, thank you. I wish I had more words, but thank you. 

Be someone's hero today.

Make the Switch: Food Storage

Today I want to mention a really simple way to make your lifestyle one step healthier, by removing some plastic from your home. One of the easiest ways to do this is to switch your food storage to something less harmful.

Why do I want to avoid plastic? 
1. Plastic often contains toxic chemicals. We know to avoid BPA, but many manufacturers just substitute with BPS, another toxin (or various other toxic materials). Furthermore, plastic is made from oil and chemically rearranged to make a basically indestructible compound. This doesn't sound good for our bodies to me. I could go on and on, but essentially plastic contains toxins and that's why I don't want it in leeching into my food.

2. Toxins make you sick. All of these toxins can cause a variety of problems, from infertility, to cancer, to asthma and more. One study even claims that plastic is contributing to obesity because it causes stem cells to change to fat cells.

3. Plastics are horrible for the planet. They don't react with pretty much anything, making them very difficult to break down. So nearly every piece of plastic ever made is still around. And when some plastic does begin to break down through photodegradation with sunlight, it can be ingested by marine life and wildlife. Not only does this negatively impact the environment, but also our food supply as well.

Kick it out. 
Knowing this information, we can see why it is important to limit the amount of plastic we let into our homes as much as possible. And yet, plastic is EVERYWHERE! We drink water out of it, store our food in it, carry our laundry in it, make our kids' toys from it, etc. I think the easiest and most logical place to start, is with how we eat and store our food since that is actually going inside of us. So I am going to share tips from my own experience switching to non-toxic food storage with all of you!

1. Glass. Glass is a great alternative to plastic - it lasts a long time, is doesn't get stained, it doesn't affect the taste of your food, and most types can be reheated in the oven. I switched out my plastic containers for glass one at a time and looked for massive sales or found them at thrift stores. Pyrex is definitely my favourite though and is great quality. I got a 10 piece set for 60% off after Christmas this year! If you are in Canada, Canadian Tire has sales on this stuff almost weekly.

2. Jars. Another great alternative is to use glass jars for storing food. I save pasta sauce jars, or other food containers, along with using Mason jars. Jars are especially useful for storing soup, homemade tomato sauce, or broth/stock. I have used them for all sorts of things though - chopped veggies/fruit, extra cooked meat, homemade bread crumbs, nuts, etc. I also use glass jars for most of my pantry storage and it works wonderfully - I can see what's inside and easily label them, and I like how it looks too :)

The humble mason jar...

3. Stainless Steel. There are also stainless steel food containers - like this one! I don't have any yet, but I'm sure they would be great for packing lunches because they would be lighter than glass, and don't have the risk of being broken as easily (although I haven't even chipped any of mine and I'm not overly cautious with them).

4. Reusable Snack and Sandwich Bags. I have a set of reusable sandwich bags that I made myself with an online tutorial that I found a few years ago (before I even knew what Pinterest was lol) and they are just simple fold-lock style bags with scraps of fabric I had on hand. Super simple and great for dry foods like crackers, bread, nuts, etc. I also purchased an Itzy Ritzy bag off of Amazon with my last textbook order, since I figured I was getting free shipping anyways. I have this one and I LOVE IT! I love that I can just throw these in the wash with my regular clothes and I'm good to go! Less waste, I'm not bringing plastic into my house, and it's one less thing I have to buy. That's one of my favourite side effects of a more simple and natural lifestyle - there are so many things I don't even have to buy at the store anymore (deodorant, face wash, food storage products, bread, etc.).

5. Packaging. Last but not least, consider the packaging of food you are buying. Try to avoid packaging that contains toxins (BPA lined cans, plastic wrapped snacks, etc.). Buy in bulk or buy whole foods with minimal packaging (think: fruits and veggies that don't have to be packaged at all, etc...I use reusable produce bags). My local farmers market is my favourite grocery store!

Start slow and switch things in your home one at a time - you will be shocked at the changes you have made in no time! What is your next simple switch?

Merry Christmas...In March!

I recently wrote a little bit about the new sheets I got with some Christmas money I had been given, which I love love love! But I think my most favourite Christmas gift I got this year finally came in the mail this week. Yep. You read that right. Gotta love shipping to Canada.

It's this beauty, right here.

Source

My new duvet cover! Apparently I had a theme going between the sheets and the duvet cover and the actual duvet that I got for my birthday last year...my 8 year old cousin thought I was really boring and told me growing up seemed lame. Amen, sista.

But really, I guess I did have a theme happening. I decided a couple years back that I wanted to make my bed more natural and free of toxins. After all, I spend probably about half of my day there between sleeping and studying and using it as a couch (welcome to tiny university rooms, people). My game plan was pretty simple - to start with what I needed most, and what went on sale first - and gradually make the changes that I wanted. The final aspect that I changed (as far as bedding goes), is this duvet cover.

Here it is in real life...in my tiny little room with no true window. You can thank my phone for this lovely little snapshot ;) 

I'm so excited!!! I got an organic cotton pin tuck duvet from West Elm, in feather grey. But it was a close call between the grey, amethyst, and white. I settled with the grey because I think it will be most versatile in the next while for me. Plus I just like it ;) I had been looking for pretty much exactly this for the longest time, and I'm so glad I waited and researched! I was losing hope that I could get something organic, with the look I wanted, for a decent price. Now it's been freshly washed with my soap nuts and dryer balls, and my bed is beautiful :) I have the shams too, but I didn't bring them to school, so they aren't pictured here (in case you are wondering). I also decided to go with a Queen duvet, which is why it looks a little big on my twin bed. I figured that I am almost done school, and the next bed I get will likely be a Queen, either when I get married or get a grown up place or just when I replace my rapidly dying bed that I have right now, so I might as well plan ahead and save a few bucks later on. I will say, it was pretty fun to open a Christmas gift this week with 3 weeks left of classes and a case of the winter blues - it made my day so amazing! Now that I have officially opened all my Christmas presents, I think Spring needs to just hurry itself along and show up finally. Soon, I tell myself, soon.

10 things I like...about myself!

I am finally giving in and posting my own list of 10 things I like about myself. I was inspired by my friend Sarah over at Camp Girl in the Real World, who wrote her own post in response to Christy's (the author of another (new) favourite blog of mine, Avoiding Atrophy - thanks Sarah!). Basically, the idea is that we (women in particular) tend to negate compliments given to us, putting ourselves down but disguising it as humility. We don't want to be vain and arrogant, but what we end up doing is bringing a whole pile of negativity into our lives.  Do you believe that people were created with individual uniqueness, value, and abilities? I sure do! And this includes you and me. However, it is also obvious that we are not perfect people, especially to ourselves.

"But if you believe that you were created and endowed with certain gifts and abilities despite those shortcomings, why oh why would you degrade them? Why would you make your gifts seem like less? How is that humility?" (Christy's words)

The point then, is that it's okay to like things about ourselves, and to appreciate our own talents, ideas, skills, personalities, etc. In fact, it's even a good great thing! And she challenged readers to do the same. I think this is a fantastic idea, so I am joining the party (albeit a little late). So, without further ado, here are 10 things I like about myself.

1. I am creative. I love that I can sew, rock the world of DIY, and come up with unique ideas and ways of doing things.

2. I am organized. I can keep track of things, make lists (anyone who knows me well knows that I even think in lists lol), and make use of small spaces. This skill is super useful as a teacher, student, and overall camp person too!

3. I picked a great guy. For real though. I am proud of myself for waiting until the right time and for the right person (let's be honest, very few people could handle all my craziness anyways). And I'm glad he picked me too ;)

4. I can make people laugh. The other day I told one of my housemates that I missed our other housemate and she replied with, "that's because they [she and her boyfriend] think you are funny!" And she's right - I like that we laugh when we hang out. (She wasn't being mean or anything by the way - she just knew it would make me smile).

5. I'm great with kids - I love kids, and I think over time that built into me also having a lot of skills in this area. That's probably why I am taking Children's Studies and Education and have spent every summer since forever working at camps (aside from the one where I nannied...more children).

6. I can cook delicious food! Being able to cook tasty meals is a fantastic skill to have...great for having people over, makes life exciting, and boys love it! Or, at least one does ;) So chances are high that other people would too. Plus, eating is one of my favourite activities so it's basically ah-mazing.

Baked potato, parmesan asparagus, and filet mignon
- date night at home!

Student life can taste pretty good sometimes...

7. I'm not afraid to have my own ideas. This was (and is) a hard thing to learn, but I like that I have done things that other people think are crazy - like make my own deodorant!

8. My interests make the world a better place - some things I love are to care for kids, take care of the environment, and encourage others, which are all things that brighten the world a little bit in some way.

9. I love my curls. Some people really don't like their hair, and sure, I bemoan the beast that sometimes appears on my head, but I really do love the fact that I have curly hair.

Apparently a random prom picture is the last one I have that adequately showcases my hair. We shall pretend I am not a baby in it and this is a recent picture...because my hair still looks like that, promise (and plus, I am not about to look through more pictures for...my hair). 

10. I build strong relationships, with my family, friends, and my boyfriend. I am definitely a relational person, and people are important to me.

What are things you like about yourself? I challenge you, too, to think about some things that are great about YOU, whether you write it on a piece of paper or journal, write a blog post of your own, or in any format you like!

I have to say, this was probably the hardest blog post I've written to date (even including my 'Why does it matter?' post, that took me pretty much forever to write), which probably speaks to the point Christy was making in the first place. Such a great idea :)

P.s. Check out the linkup over at Avoiding Atrophy and take a peek at some of the other posts linked there! And Sarah's post is the second one, after Christy's!

A present every hour

I have actually surprised myself at the fact that I haven't posted anything about my relationship with Wes on the blog up to this point. Normally, I love talking about relationships of all kinds with my friends and coming up with new ideas to make people smile and feel special. Of course, I don't always do this well, but it's definitely a life goal. But this post isn't a collection of genius advice or profound realizations or anything, so don't get too excited now ;)

This guy right here

It was Wes' birthday recently, and when I asked him what he wanted to do to celebrate, he said (I'm not even kidding) "Whatever you want to do!" What a guy. Anyways, since he had no special requests besides that it was low key, I decided to get creative. That's when I remembered an idea I saw a while ago (probably on Pinterest) that seemed perfect...

A present for every hour of his birthday! Each one was individually wrapped and had a little note with the time to open it written on the outside. This was so fun!! I was so excited wrapping them all up the night before - it kind of felt like Christmas ;) 

Inside were all different things (thanks, captain obvious). Some were little treats, and some were 'bigger' gifts like....

• Black liquorice (He LOVES this stuff, you guys)
• This CD (His car was in dire need of some new beats)
• A new book (From my mom, actually...but I take credit for the idea haha)
• Coconut water (Which of all the things, might have been his favourite...crazy kid)
• Some new PJ pants...made by yours truly, but I totally spaced on taking pictures to blog about that project. Blogger fail.

I'll admit it wasn't QUITE one for every hour. I figured that he would go to the gym in the morning and then swing by my house so I planned one every hour from 9 until 3, when I knew he would leave for track practice, and I saved the last bigger gift until after practice when we were going to have dinner. Honestly, I knew he would like it, but I didn't think he would love it as much as he did - he got so excited! It was really fun and I would highly recommend doing this sometime for someone you want to celebrate on their birthday. Who DOESN'T want a gift every hour on their birthday, right? 

Make the Switch: Sheets

Today I want to tell you about another simple change you can make to have a healthier home - organic sheets!

Why, you ask?
Cotton is one of the world's 'dirtiest' crops. It covers 2.5% of the cultivated land in the world, yet uses 25% of the world's insecticides, which is more than any other crop. On top of that, the particular insecticides that are used are very dangerous and produce toxic cotton. The farmers who grow this cotton find it wreaking havoc on their bodies.

“Aldicarb, cotton’s second best selling insecticide and most acutely poisonous to humans, can kill a man with just one drop absorbed through the skin, yet it is still used in 25 countries and the US, where 16 states have reported it in their groundwater.” (Source)

We spend over a third of our lives in bed, sleeping, watching Gilmore Girls and eating chips (or is that just me?), pretending you don't actually have school today, or complaining about your man-cold.

So if you are trying to reduce toxins in your home, your bedding is an important aspect to consider.

Now, I know what you are thinking. Really, I do! You, like me, are worried about how much these sheets cost. Am I right? I was too. If you have ever researched organic sheets, you would have discovered that they can be pretty expensive. Which doesn't exactly entice my student budget, if you know what I mean. But I used my Christmas money and THEN made a great find too. This great find is what I want to share with all of you today.

I got these organic sheets from Target - which is now in Canada!!! I bought a queen set (for home) for $45, and a twin set (for school) for just under $30 (Merry Christmas to me).

The sheets are 325 thread count, which is really high since organic cotton is softer and 250-350 is about the same as an 800 thread count regular sheet. And let me tell you, these sheets are SO soft. They just get softer with every wash. I still get excited to go to bed every night because I love them so much ;)

They are GOTS (Global Organic Textile Standard) certified, and even though it doesn't say so on their website, the GOTS logo is on the actual package of sheets.

I do have a few small criticisms though. While the sheets are organic, I'm not sure about the dye. I mean, the white ones are very white...which leads me to think they have probably been bleached. This is one thing you do miss out on because of the price point, I think. The second problem I had with these sheets was when I initially purchased the steel blue-ish coloured ones. I originally bought white for home and blue for school and when I opened them, I found that the label on the white sheets read "100% organic cotton," while the one on the blue sheets just said "100% cotton." This, paired with the fact that they felt different, led me to question if they really were organic. I called the company, and a nice lady talked to me and sent in a report to the "labelling specialist" (whatever that is) and said I should hear back in a week, max. I still haven't heard from them, and called back 2 weeks later and the same lady said her report had not gotten a response yet. If I ever hear back, I will edit this post, but I doubt I will. In the end, I went back and exchanged the sheets because I knew it would just keep bothering me. I don't know if this is a common thing, but a friend of mine had the same blue sheets and the label read the same way (we purchased them in different stores, about an hour and a half apart). Anyways, I am very happy with the ones I have now, and I have no idea what that was about, they may have just labelled them differently or something.

Regardless, I love these sheets, they are pretty affordable, and they are one simple thing you can switch in your home to make it just a little bit healthier.

Some other information/sources: 
Mary Crimmins discusses her top 5 contenders for organic sheets (ranked by price)
Organic Trade Association's discussion on organic cotton