Dreamy Wedding Photos

Does anybody else LOVE these wedding photos? I might just have to show them to our photographers to copy... that is if we had photographers... But really, they make me want to go look for a good field, some tall trees, and a long driveway out in Nolensville, which shouldn't be a problem since they are both in my front yard and there are several more around :)

These photos are from this wonderful blog.

Need a Little Help!

Harvest Hands (the place where I work in the summer) is currently 27th in the nationwide Christie Cookie $25,000 Charity Giveaway!

The top 12 charities on October 15th will win grant money from The Christie Cookie Company 1st: $10,000, 2nd: $5,000 & Top 10: $1,000 each

We need YOUR help!

Please help us spread the word to your friends, families, co-workers, classmates, Sunday school class, Bible study group, running group, etc.! Simply click here to vote and then send this info to your your friends to encourage them to vote for Harvest Hands!
One vote per email address. Deadline: October 15th

Thanks!!

Homemade Laundry Detergent

College life is staying pretty busy as suspected. It's taking some time just to get adjusted to the new time schedule, but all is well. I am in two art classes: drawing and digital photography which will both be great, but BAD NEWS, I am a horrible drawer. I knew this going into the class. I really just want to learn. So today I picked up my sketch pad and tomorrow I'll be getting my pencils to get my drawing on. This weekend I went to an art exhibit downtown and volunteered at the Memphis Botanical Gardens. They are fabulous so if you're in the area you should definitely check them out.

Anyways, my exciting adventure today was to make some All-Natural Laundry Detergent. Directions:

1 cup grated soap
1/2 cup borax
1/2 cup washing soda

Mix well and add essential oils if you want. You are supposed to use Ivory Soap, but I had some all-natural soap laying around so I am trying that. I haven't actually used this detergent yet, but I have heard rave reviews. It is much healthier than all of those chemicals in your typical store-bought detergents and much much cheaper. I will have to let you know how it works out!

Reception Table Centerpieces

Well, I am moved in to school and experiencing the very typical first week rush of going to classes for the first time, seeing all of the friends I missed so much, starting up work, and so on and so forth. Anyways, with all of this craziness and a long to-do list for tomorrow's student activity fair, I only had a minute or two to post so I grabbed this picture I had tucked away in a wedding inspiration folder. It is a picture of a reception centerpiece with different size/shape vases (you can kind of see them), which I love and will do for mine and Andrew's wedding. I have already started collecting said vases at thrift stores around the city in order to create these centerpieces. I have milk glass, green glass, and clear glass to mix it up. Hopefully they will look just as great, be a bit "green" with all the reusing and recycling, and add a great personal, unique touch!

And grazie to the readers... Thanks for all of the great "all-natural" ideas! Let me know how they work out (for those people that are just starting out). I would love to know so I can use them too. Also, one of my most wonderful friends gave me lots of new all-natural goodies today including some face wash, shampoo, and body soap so I will have to try them out and let you guys know how they go.

On the move...

I won't be posting for a few more days because I am headed to Memphis for school. I am excited to see friends and breath in the air of Memphis and taste some of its wonderful food! If you live anywhere close to Memphis, it is totally worth a weekend trip to check out its rich history not only in music, but also in Civil Rights as well as eat their really good food. Because it's really good! (Can I say that anymore? yes! :) ) So many local restaurants I could take out a small loan just for eating out. Anyways, just thought I should let you faithful readers know that I had not run away for another month of no posts. I also should let you know that I bought a wedding dress today and am so thrilled with it!!! I would post pictures and such, but I want to keep it a surprise :) It's a bit vintage, a bit modern.... very me. With that out of the way, I am ready to get some other things done. Until the next post... Happy Weekend to you all!

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

As promised, here is the recipe for the Oatmeal Chocolate Chip cookies that I baked the other night. I am not by any means a great baker, but these are a very tasty basic recipe. We've all been eating way too many of them, which I guess is proof that they are good. (I've even had them for breakfast the past two mornings. :) )

Ingredients

• 1 cup butter/ margarine, softened
• 1 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt (or a bit more if you use unsalted butter/margarine)
  
• 3 cups quick-cooking oats (I used all-natural whole grain oats, which tasted great and made the cookies healthy right?!?)
  
• 1 cup chopped walnuts (I used walnuts in only half of my batch so I used 1/2 cup. You can also try pecans.)
  
• 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F if you are not planning on chilling the dough or wait till after you make the dough if you are chilling it so you don't waste energy.
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar, and white sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs one at a time, then stir in vanilla. Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt; stir into the creamed mixture until just blended. Mix in the quick oats, walnuts, and chocolate chips.
3. Chill in the fridge for about 30 mins. You don't have to if you are wanting them right this very minute, but it will prevent the cookies from spreading too much as you bake them.
   
4. Drop by heaping spoonfuls onto ungreased baking sheets. Bake for 15 minutes in the preheated oven for the non-nut-containing cookies, a bit more for those containing nuts and a bit less (try 12 mins) for unchilled dough. Let them cool for a mins and enjoy!
   

Vote on my New Haircut!

I am planning on getting my hair cut before I head to Memphis for this fall semester. I haven't gotten it cut since May so it really needs a good shaping up. I've been sifting through pictures to find that perfect new "'do" and have come up with these two as my faves. They are both quite a bit shorter than my hair now, but I need a good change. They are also very similar. Let me know which one you like most or post some new pics for consideration!
PS- Speaking of hair. My No'Poo is still amazing me. My hair feels wonderfully moisturized without being greasy and has lots of body!

Face Wash

One thing I really want to change on behalf of my more natural routine is my face wash. I have very acne-prone skin and thus have run the gamut on prescription and over the counter face washes, topical gels, and even oral antibiotics. I've tried lots of different natural treatments, but none seem to work. My most recent attempt was Burt's Bees Soap Bark and Chamomile Deep Cleansing Cream (pictured above). I used this face wash for about 10 weeks. At first, I thought it was going to be the answer to my prayers. It seemed to reveal moisturized, balanced, acne-free skin, but after a week of using it, my face began to break out again. Hoping that this was just a "transition" phase for my face, I continued to use it. Ten weeks later, however, my face was horribly broken out and I was running back to my former and most successful face wash (in terms of clearing up my acne), ProActiv. (Note: This seems like it would be a great face wash for those without lots of acne.) While I wish I could say I am satisfied with ProActiv, I cannot. I know deep inside that it is tearing up the natural oils in my skin, which I want to protect. The chemicals in it are definitely NOT NATURAL and it's pretty pricey at that. So that said, I need some ideas.... calling all ideas for a natural facewash that is inexpensive and effective for acne-prone skin. If you know of any good ones, please let me know. Meanwhile, I will be researching some at-home concoctions that I can test out.

Gone for a long time....

Now back with two posts in one day! So as I mentioned earlier, I really want to commit to a more natural, homemade, hopefully simpler way of life. It will hopefully make me healthier, increase energy, help the environment, and save money (at least in some areas). Efforts thus far:

1. I have been looking for a good, natural deodorant for a while as I've heard that the aluminum in most deodorants has really bad side effects, especially in the long term. I have tried Tom's Original Aluminum-Free deodorant, but it didn't work at all. It definitely didn't fight my odor. But good news, Tom's has now come out with long-lasting formula (pictured here, sorry for the blurry pic) and it works! Or at least it has worked thus far. I have the apricot scent, which is wonderfully light and fresh, but they have about four different scents including unscented. So... attempt one at a more earthy lifestyle: success- at least for now. I'll let you know in a month if my pits have gotten stinky :)



2. In search for a natural shampoo, I found a recipe for some homemade shampoo and decided to try it out. Really though, this shampoo is "No'Poo." It's a shampoo free method that keeps those nasty chemicals in shampoo away from our bodies, but still cleans your hair. I got the idea from a friend's blog and did some personal research and then decided to try it out. The recipe and instructions:

1. Use an old shampoo bottle. Mix 1 part baking soda to 3 parts water. Shake well to mix (every time you use it since it will separate).

2. Squeeze the baking soda solution onto your dry scalp, then massage your scalp for about 30 seconds. Don't worry about cleaning your hair- just your scalp. Leave in for 1-3 minutes, then rinse completely.

3. Mix 1 part white vinegar with 4 parts water. You can also add essential oils or herbs - I added some vanilla extract. It covers up the vinegar smell, which is great since I didn't want to smell like a pickle.

4. Cover your hair and leave it on hair for several seconds and then rinse.
My No'Poo is above. I've only used it once, but my hair feels so good I had to go ahead and post about it! I can't keep my hands out of my hair. It is soft and clean! I'll let you know how this "No-Poo" goes. I know different people use different recipes with the same ingredients so I will let you know what works best for my hair. I've also read that it sometimes takes a couple of weeks or more for your hair to adjust so I'll keep you updated on that too. Let me know if you try it out and how it goes! Attempt two at all-natural: success.

For now, that's about it. I've also found a great recipe for oatmeal chocolate chip cookies which I tested out tonight on Andrew and his roommate. They can't stop eating them so I will be posting that recipe soon! Till then....

Dear Blog,

I have not forgotten you, but instead have forgotten to bring my camera to Knoxville where I am visiting Andrew *yay* so I feel that I should delay the post from our family vacation in Italy a bit longer. Sorry readers! Pictures are worth a thousand words and since I don't have time to write a thousand words, I need pictures. :)

In the mean time, I have decided that once I move to school (next weekend), I am really going to make a very pro-active attempt to go natural/organic on everything I use/consume (or at least as many things as I can). Last year was a good first try. I bought all organic veggies and some meat on my weekly trip to the local farmer's market- really increasing my veggie intake in addition to eating better, healthier veggies. But this year I am determined to do more- to not just use "green" cleaners bought at Costco, but make my own and I also really want to make my own shampoo. I have found what appears to be a decent recipe and I will let you know the results. Two other things I never made myself but really want to... Bread and laundry detergent. We'll see how those go and I will keep you updated on my adventures. I really wish I could keep a garden, but I don't think that will work out since I am in a dorm. :( Anyways, lots of pictures and such to come once life slows down a bit.

In other news, Sam has moved into Georgia Tech. It was a great move-in and I think he is really excited. He will love living in a big city with lots of opportunities to explore. My prayers and well-wishes go out to him and all of those other college freshman adventuring out for the first time. What an exciting period of life! Also, wedding planning is moving on a bit. I have decided for sure on wildflowers and am contemplating going DIY on all the flowers in the ceremony with my awesomely creative and generous Aunt Kathy! She is awesome and I think it would be a fun project to take on. In the mean time, I designed centerpieces for the reception tables which include lots of thrifted glass vases of different shapes and sizes. I've started collecting such vases with much luck thus far. So I am starting to get excited! (Will post pictures soon.)

But that about wraps it up for now. Hope you all have a great week!

PS- These posts on gourmet.com are great about frugal living. They make you laugh and have great ideas about taking life back to the basics.