Summer To-Do List: Take Healthy Baby Steps

In a previous post, Breaking the stress cycle, I mentioned how I wanted to form baby steps to help me on a healthier lifestyle path. (By the way, for the most part, I have succeeded in reducing my sugar intake. I have a nice sugary treat every once and a while, but my daily intake is much reduced - yay!)

This summer I've been trying to replace some of my regular cosmetics and cleaners with better options. Or, at least, on-my-way-to-better options.

Photo source: Martha Stewart

For cosmetics, I'm trying to switch to products with better ratings on the Skin Deep database. I haven't tried to go extreme on anything - i.e. I'm totally not ready to try the no shampoo trend yet - just make a few minor adjustments. Also, very important, my strategy has been to only replace products as I run out of them, that way I'm not wasting the money I invested in the past. Maybe not the healthiest option, but it makes me feel better about the frugality of these choices.

Switches I've made so far:

1. Loreal True Match Foundation --> Everyday Minerals Base
What I like: the quality of the Everyday Minerals product. It doesn't act like a mask on my skin like my previous foundation did. It has an "Overall Hazard" rating of 2 on Skin Deep, as opposed to a 4 for the Loreal.
What I dislike: The overall hazard rating of the Everyday Minerals may be lower, but it doesn't score better in every health hazard category.

2. Chapstick --> Burt's Bees
This really isn't that much better of choice (they have the exact same rating), but the Burt's Bees doesn't contain as many "moderate hazard" ingredients as Chapstick.

3. Suave Professionals Shampoo --> Yes to Carrots Shampoo
This was an overall hazard change from a 6 rating to a 2. Pretty good, right? Ya... If I actually liked the product. I've only been using the Yes to Carrots shampoo for a few days, but I haven't been happy with the effect on my hair. Hmm...

4. Dial Soap --> Dr. Bronner's Castile Soap
Really happy with this transition from a 4 rating to a 2 rating. Funnily enough, even though the fragrance in Dr. Bronner's isn't as irritating for people, I find its smell way more overwhelming than the Dial.

I'm also working on switching to better cleaners. I made homemade laundry soap for the first time recently. I messed up the recipe a little bit (added too much water), but I've been pretty happy with the results. It's not as tough on my clothes, which is good for the fabric, but not great if I slack on getting stains out before the wash.

I totally admit to not completely succeeding at this goal, though. I bought bug spray yesterday because I didn't have the time to find a better option. Eventually I will need to find more natural options to replace  even what I've discussed above. And yesterday I totally bought regular dishsoap because it was cheaper than getting something like 7th Generation. Ah well... Baby steps.

Summer Goal #4: Go easy on myself as I try to switch to healthier products.

Summer To-Do List: Plan Our Wedding

Yay!!! :)

Actually, I'm much much much more excited about being married than I am about the wedding itself. Planning the wedding is pretty fantastic, too, though.

Of course, this isn't just a to-do for the summer. Wedding planning takes a lot of work. I think I've read that women on average spend as much time a week planning their wedding as a full-time job. Sheesh... I sure haven't. But it definitely can be a major time commitment. During this process I keep wondering why it has to be this much work. Weddings haven't always been this consuming. They are momentous occasions, and of course they deserve time and thought, but the current state of affairs is a bit ridiculous.

It would perhaps be even more work to resist the trend, unfortunately. All this DIY business and cost-cutting measures end up costing time, which for me involves more worry, which I find much more unpleasant than just shelling out a little extra money or foregoing something entirely. Take, for example, reception centerpieces. A large percentage of Pinterest wedding pins are just centerpieces. Centerpieces! Again I say, sheesh. Yes, centerpieces can be an amazing touch. There are some truly stunning things on Pinterest. But really? Centerpieces are probably one of the last things that need to be planned for a wedding. And if you don't have them, is that really an issue? (NB: I am NOT saying I won't have centerpieces. I'm just trying to prove a point.) Would that really be that bad? Yes, the tables would look a little bare. Yes, it would be noticeable. But at the end of the day, if you're married to the love of your life, you're surrounded by friends and family, and everyone's happy and well fed, centerpieces can't ruin that. End rant.

Of course, when I go to Pinterest
to find a photo for my post,
I stumble on this, which I actually love.
Irony.

Photo Source: Pinterest

All this is to say that:
a) I'm so excited to be marrying my fiance,
b) Planning a wedding can be a lot of fun, and
c) It takes proactivity to prevent stress from ruining that fun.

There you have it.

Yay!!! :)

Summer Goal #3: Get a running start on wedding planning.

Summer To-Do List: Learn French

Photo Source: indulgy (wish I could find the real source of these pictures...)

Whoa, hang on a second... Don't get any ideas that I'm going to somehow come out of this summer speaking French or even understanding spoken French. No, that won't happen. I won't be able to think in French or compose sentences in French. The most I'll be able to do is point at something, maybe not even an *object* thing, more like a *pronoun* thing or an *idea* thing, and say what that is in French. Probably pronounced wrong and with the wrong gender article and the wrong ending. But, hey! I'm learning French! Correction: I'm learning to *read* French!

This summer I'm taking a graduate reading course for French, which basically trains us to be able to read (with the aid of a dictionary) scholarly works within our discipline in another language. The Ph.D. program I'm in requires us to demonstrate reading competency in one modern foreign language and competency in another related discipline (either another language or something related to our emphasis - I chose and already passed the requirement for Latin language). So, I chose French. It's pretty practical as far as academia goes, and it's a Romance language, so I figured I'd have an easier transition to it than to German. Plus (in general) it's so much more exciting to say that you're studying French rather than German.

Summer Goal #2: Pass my French reading exam.

Summer To-Do List: Wash Dishes

Photo source: Interior Decline Tumblr (original source?: 11/2005 issue of Living Etc., p. 86)

Yep... Washing dishes. You see, my roommate over the past year didn't have the best dishwashing skills. But she was really sweet, there was a language barrier, and, to be honest, my standards in that department are a little high, so I gave up trying to fix it. I asked her once to rewash a bowl, she did, and I still rewashed it later.

It got to the point where I was only using a quarter of my dishes as a result. My choices were to rewash the dishes she had already cleaned or just let her reuse them and hog the few I really needed on my side of the double-sink.

Of course, once she had moved out and I returned from summer travels, there were a bunch of dirty dishes stacked in the cupboards waiting for me. My dish-drainer isn't large enough to hold all of them, hence the first task of my summer routine: wash some extra dishes.

Summer Goal #1: All of the dishes in my cupboard will be clean.

*headdesk*

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Update: Only two pots and two mixing bowls to go!! I think...

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Update: All clean!

I'm still here!

Summer is always pretty crazy for me, especially because of the unpredictability. It makes it a lot easier to ignore updating a blog like this when I'm travelling every single week and just now getting ready to start summer classes. The good news is that a lot of things have been happening that could make for some really good reads ;) So, I'll be back...

Finals Week

Completed: Classes, 1 Paper, 1 Presentation

Remaining: 2 Papers

See you on the other side! :)

Friday Fun-ness

Phew! If I waited one more day, I'd be only a weekly poster! How sad is that?

I still have a lot to get figured out with this blogging thing. I really really really want to redesign. Already. Plus I need to brainstorm new content. Plus I want to integrate photos. Plus I want to create buttons to start swapping with other blogs. Good thing I'm only taking one class this summer!

For now, enjoy some stuff I stumbled upon (ironically without the aid of StumbleUpon) this week. Some of it may be old news to you, but humor me. :)

GoBarbra.com

Dance mix generator. Supply a phrase and you can "customize your own 'Barbra Streisand' song." I have fun plans for this. I'm pretty sure this will rival Wordle as my favorite way to celebrate a finished paper/presentation.

The Lizzie Bennet Diaries
Not a super great adaptation of P&P (I mean, who really needs another one), but I find the concept and execution hilarious. Especially all the fake Twitter accounts for the characters. I may just have to join Twitter now. Oh, and Jane Bennet has a Pinterest account - LOVE.

P.S. I just realized that the kerning of one of the fonts in my title graphic is awful. Thank you, web developer boyfriend; fonts will never be the same. Did I mention I want to redesign?