Blue Fall Scarf

Yaaay! Beautiful sunflowers outside my work!!!

Fall is upon us!!! The skies are sooo blue! The sunflowers are still blooming, bright as ever! I love this time of year, because the sun's still shining hot, but the air is starting to get cool and crisp in the mornings and evenings. I saw these beautiful flowers growing in the parking lot at work, so I picked a few to take home for my kitchen table. :)  

Fall also means: scarf weather! My sister Leslie is a genius at scarves, but I have a hard time wearing them, they never feel right. 

I was happy because today it just felt right!

I wrapped it around with one corner pointing down like a cowboy and tied it on the side (you can only do that with rectangular scarves).

Also, confession: I kept trying to get a non blurry photo, wiping my camera lens over and over... not until later did I realize it was because I was taking selfies with my FRONT facing camera...not the camera lense on the back...*facepalm*

Yay scarves!

Washington, D.C.

Washington D.C.!!!!

I went to Washington D.C. last weekend for a work conference. I do all the marketing for my podiatry office in American Fork and this was a meeting with our nationwide podiatry marketing group, Top Practices. It was awesome! I learned so much. And we also got to do  some fun sight seeing along the way! 

Dinner and Hiking

I went on a dinner/hike date. It's a little tricky deciding what to wear for dinner and a hike, since those are pretty opposite, nonetheless, two of my very favorite activities:)  

I decided on a red plaid flannel shirt, grey stretchy pants from forever 21 (hello, $8), and a white statement necklace. (Which I actually FINALLY found the perfect white statement necklace! Guess where? Walmart. $5.)  I wore beige boots that I could hike in but that looked cuter than wearing my running shoes to dinner. For the hike, I ditched the necklace and braided my hair. 

I think I'm sooo sassy

Cardboard Boat Regatta!!!

So, I came across an article online about cardboard boat racing. And my roommates and I got the crazy idea that it would be a good idea to try it:) We decided to get to work and make boats for our next roommate date night!




To start out, we got some giant cardboard boxes from our friend who works at a furniture store.  We cut out boat shapes and stuck them together with duct tape (for waterproofness) and masking tape (for paintability.) I made a little bench in the middle of mine to reinforce it from collapsing in on the sides.

This was Molly's boat in the cardboard process

After they were fully sealed, we covered them with Kool Seal roofing patch. This rubberized the cardboard to make it more water resistant.

Then, we spray painted them with waterproof spray paint, but mostly it was to make them look beautiful ;)  Didn't Aphrodite turn out pretty!?!?

We took them out on the lake! Some of them did better than others, and I'm happy to report Aphrodite did excellent.

As we shifted our weight around, some of the taped up seams started coming undone, resulting in the inner layers of cardboard getting soggy. But still, she held up pretty well!

This is David and Cait. Unfortunately, they went down! You can see us paddling around in the background:)

It was really a fun adventure, and I'd fully recommend it to anyone who wants to try:)

Afterwards. She was getting pretty soggy!

BTS Cake

Made this tasty cake for my friend's birthday the other day. It was fun, since BTS cake is loaded with milk, I can't really eat it, but it was fun to get to make it:)  I used this recipe but used packaged heath with chocolate bits rather than candy bars, and I made the whipped cream topping from scratch rather than buying it. Working with cream is one of the biggest things I miss since I was diagnosed with a milk allergy, so it was really fun!

#5aDay

Nutrition is complex.

It's hard to know what to eat and how much and when.

But one thing is for extra-double-super-duper sure:

Fruits and veggies are good for you!!!

I know people get hung up on the fact that they aren't manna and they're not perfect for you. They have pesticide residue, or natural sugar, or are starchy or cooked in butter.

I think when people think of fruits and veggies, they go into health nut thinking mode. Yes, grapes have sugar, but you know what? They're still waaaay healthier than cookies:) Yes, broccoli may be sauteed in butter, but you know what? Buttered broccoli is still waaaay healthier than Cheetos.

I don't think I really realized the virtues of fruits and veggies until I started studying nutrition in college. I always thought it was a waste of time to eat a veggie that was high in only one vitamin instead of all of them (once again, veggies aren't manna:). But now I understand it's not only worth it, but essential for optimal health.

Some of the benefits of fruits and veggies:

• High fiber content- aids with digestion 
• High water content- hydrates you as you eat them!
• High in many micronutrients (vitamins, phytochemicals, etc.)- staves off a bunch of diseases caused by vitamin deficiencies, improves immunity, improves functioning of every bodily system. 
• Low in calories- no one ever becomes overweight because they just ate too many apples. It's virtually impossible to gain weight from eating fruits and veggies. They are super low calorie and high volume, so filling up on fruits and veggies gives you less calories than filling up on almost anything else. (Of course, those with diabetes may need to be careful not to consume too much of certain things at once.)
• It's easy:)- It does take some intentional effort to add fruits and veggies to your diet, but it's much easier than say, cutting out sugar or starting a new workout routine. But the health benefits are huge!

For the month of September I'm doing the #5aDay Challenge by eating five servings of fruits or vegetables every day of the month. I hope you will too!

TIPS:

• Eat a variety of fruits and veggies. They are all different and have different benefits
• Eat fruits and veggies in the way you like them. Not in pie and fries;) But notice which ones you like and which you don't. Notice whether you like broccoli better steamed or fresh. If you like grapes, but dislike rasins. If you love steamed spinach and hate peas. It's okay if not every fruit or veggie is something you like, you don't have to eat it. And if you looove cauliflower with a little cheese sauce, don't be afraid to eat it. Sustainability is more important than ever so slightly healthier choices.

*Eating 5 a Day is just a start. It's still important to get lean protein, whole grains, vitamins/minerals and water from other sources. And it's important to limit harmful things in your diet as well, such as trans/saturated fat, refined sugar, refined carbohydrates, SODA, and alcohol. There is no silver bullet for health. But eating at least 5 servings of fruits and veggies a day is a great place where most people could use improvement and the benefits are huge!

If you liked this post, you might also like: What Is Caloric Density?

Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy

I'd heard about this book from my Bishop, a good friend, and an article on LDS.org. I finally checked out the free preview on Amazon. Feeling Good, by David Burns. It's probably the best book on cognitive therapy I've ever read.

You have my permission to skip the entire intro and first chapter (I did), it's a little boring.
What first caught my attention was the checklist at the beginning of chapter two.
I've included a picture of it below if you want to complete it.

 Dr. Burns explains that a normal, happy, functional person would have a score around five, and anything below ten is considered normal. Someone who scores higher could use some of the techniques and exercises in this book to improve their level of happiness.

What I loved about this checklist and book is that it didn't just focus on feeling "sad," and it didn't focus on feeling depressed "for no reason," two things we commonly think of when we think of depression. It focuses on negative thinking being the primary cause of feelings of anxiety, guilt, pessimism, procrastination, low self-esteem, hopelessness, and other feelings of depression. It also addressed how most of these things come from how we perceive real problems and challenges in our lives. By changing the way we think rather than feeling we can't be happy until we change the situation, we are able to find happiness at all times throughout our lives and ironically find more motivation for change. (Where have I heard that before, OH YEAH, the gospel of Jesus Christ. And it's also a key principle of existentialism:)

Dr. Burns presents 10 common negative thinking patterns that cause one to feel those negative feelings. I hesitated to list them here, because I really just want you to read the book. It explains so much more.


1. All or Nothing Thinking. This refers to your tendency to evaluate your personal qualities in extreme, black or white categories.
2. Over-generalization. You arbitrarily conclude that since something that happened to you once will occur over and over again.
3. Mental Filter. You pick out a negative detail in any situation and dwell on it exclusively thus perceiving that the whole situation is negative.
4. Disqualifying the Positive. Transform neutral or even positive experiences into negative ones. (Including mind reading and fortune telling errors.)
5. Jumping to Conclusions. You arbitrarily jump to a negative conclusion that is not justified by the facts of the situation.
6. Magnification and Minimization. When you look at your own errors, fears, imperfections and exaggerate their importance, and when you think about your strengths, you may to the opposite.
7. Emotional Reasoning. You take your emotions as evidence for the truth.
8. Should Statements. You try to motivate yourself by saying "I should do this" or "I must do that."
9. Labeling and Mislabeling. Creating a completely negative self-image based on your errors.
10. Personalization. You assume responsibility for a negative event even when there is no basis for doing so.

Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy by Dr. David Burns Pages 60-70

One reviewer said the book was almost too "cheerful" for someone who is depressed to take seriously. I loved that description. :) It is very cheerful, but the scenarios and conversations recorded in the book make it accessible and relatable. Dr. Burns explains that it is, of course, normal to feel sad and have some of the above mentioned symptoms sometimes. But he makes a sharp distinction with examples between normal sadness and depressive hopelessness. He also explains how learning to think realistically takes time and improvement may ebb and flow, but that improvement will happen. He shares how he still does exercises from the book and how it helps him be happy in his daily life to deal with feelings and internal dialog in a realistic, honest way.
The book also goes into detail about the use of anti-depressant drugs in the last section, which may also be helpful for some cases.
David Burns also wrote a book on relationships and loneliness available here for free that is really great.


*Disclaimer: while I strongly recommend this book for it's superb presentation of cognitive therapy, I don't necessarily support all of the opinions and attitudes expressed by the author on other topics. :)