TOP 10 Reasons Why February is Going To ROCK!

Reason #1: February is International Boost Self-Esteem Month. Every single day I will be complimenting myself, and enjoying every minute of it ;)

Reason #2: My Art Class. I started taking a Beginners Oil Painting class here in Round Rock, and I absolutely LOVE IT! Right now I am working on a seriously sweet painting that I plan on hanging in my home as soon as it's done. Really, the teacher is an incredibly talented man. Very excited about this class.

Reason #3: February is the month I will no longer eat any form of cane sugar at all. I've been putting this off for a while, but have now devised a fool-proof system! I will allow myself minimal amounts of agave nectar and fruit to help curb the horrific cravings I know I will be getting. And if I make it the ENTIRE month of February, I get an entire new outfit, down to the shoes!



Reason #4: February 8th is my sister, Valerie's, 22nd birthday! I love Valerie, and I intend to do an entire blog post dedicated to her on February 8th! Stay tuned...

Reason #5: KITCHEN CABINETS COME IN ON FEB 4th!!! Which means that my ENTIRE KITCHEN WILL BE DONE or at least ORDERED by the end of February! I have to say, People, I never thought this day would come.. and I'm feeling very emotional about it right now. :)

Reason #6: My Bathroom will ALSO be finished this month! I can feel it! The tile is well on it's way, and I think I want the vanity shown in this picture. Opinions?

Reason #7: Valentines Day :D Valentines Day might be tempting with the whole sugar issue, but I'd like to focus on the true meaning of the holiday, and just enjoy snuggling with my favorite hubby and kitty Akira

Reason #8: I found an online, organic, locally grown grocery that delivers to my front door for a reasonable price. February is going to be the healthiest, best post-Food Inc. month ever.

Reason #9: Gabriel Iglesias comes to town February 18th, and I got tickets for Jeff and me to go see him! He's a really funny comedian and we're only like 7 rows back! Woohoo!!!!!!

Reason #10: This is the most important one to me. This month, on February 23rd, Jeff and I will be celebrating our 2nd anniversary! That means 2 years of marriage and we are doing GREAT! I love my husband so much. I can't wait to brag about him in my Anniversary post!

Blog Out!

Food, Inc. and healthy eating

Last night, Jeff and I decided we'd like to educate ourselves together, by watching a movie recommended to us by SEVERAL people. The movie is called "Food, Inc." It's about how little we know about the food industry, ie. where our food comes from. In the movie, it shows us the conditions the animals we eat live in, how basically all farmers and food producers are controlled by 5 major companies in the US, and how most of the FDA and people in such leadership positions in the government were once really high up in those 5 food companies. It's not a "conspiracy theory" movie... it's facts presented by an investigative reporter. Quite frankly, it scares the hell out of me.

So we start the movie, and Jeff instantly regrets "letting" me watch it. Haha. He thinks he has a say.. it's cute, isn't it? After the first section about chickens, I was bawling like a baby. I can't seem to control the compassion I feel for animals in general. Perhaps it was my extremely close connection to my childhood poodle/best friend Muffin. Perhaps I view animals as helpless as children, and therefore feel the need to protect. Or maybe... just MAYBE I respect life, and feel as though just because I'm bigger and stronger, does not mean I have the right to cruelty and inhumanity to creatures smaller and less intelligent than I am.

These chickens... ugh. Chickens were once a wild animal that could fly. Birds. We have taken their ability not only to fly, but also to walk. They grow chickens abnormally fast by injecting them with hormones and unnaturally feeding them. Because of this, they grow so fast their internal organs, muscles, tendons, ligaments, etc. can not support their weight. They walk a few steps and fall back down. They are kept in such close proximity to the other chickens, they are pooping and peeing and eating all over each other. Most don't even get to see DAY LIGHT. They are kept in windowless dark rooms. Basically, they live and die in chicken hell. From the moment they hatch, they are manhandled, sometimes sent down shoots and tagged with stamps on their heads. Sick chickens aren't made better, they are taken to the slaughterhouse with all the others and end up in our food. It's not right. I feel that chickens should live the best life possible, the most natural life possible, until it is their time to become dinner. It made me sick. Physically I felt ill.

I could go on and on with this post. The chickens were actually not the worst of it. The cattle have it the worst in my opinion, and the pigs as well. The way this movie effected me is significant. I can't just sit here and let this happen. You know, after hearing from my sister the way the Koreans treat dogs, I was disgusted. They torture them before eating them, thinking that the adrenaline will somehow make the meat taste better. It's sick. But now I wonder, are we any better here in America? We let money and greed take over the food industry. We let people mass produce animals, intentionally making these animals overweight, living horrific lives, and then we eat them. Is this not, in a form, torture? I WILL NOT STAND FOR THIS. How did I not take the time to learn about this before now? I have always been a proponent for Organic living. I've eaten organic for most of the last 2 years. I try to eat things in their "whole" and "natural" form. This to me, makes a lot of sense. I also had enough common sense to realize that pesticides that can KILL bugs, really probably aren't something I want floating around in my own body. I also realized that chemically altered corn was probably a bad idea (high fructose corn syrup... see my other blog) But now... now I see that it's not the only reason I should be eating organic.

This movie did have a few bright spots to it. It showed us a farmer, Joel Salatin, located in California. I've actually read about him before in a book called The Organic Food Shoppers Guide. He has several pastures, and rotates his cows from pasture to pasture, where they eat natural food and refertilize the soil themselves, in the natural way. He slaughters his chickens humanely, and they live outside and are able to roam about freely. His pigs are not overcrowded, in fact they look happy. And this man's food is not crawling in bacteria like the food coming from the top 5 meat companies. In fact, they tried to shut him down, because he cleans, guts, and packages his meat in an outdoor location. So he made them do a culture testing for such things as E. Coli, Salmonella, etc.. They compared it to one of the companies meatpacking plant samples. Where they found over 3,000 measurements of bacterium in the meat company's Petri dish, they only found around 150 measurements in this guy's Petri dish. Why? Because he's doing things the natural way. The way GOD intended. The way NATURE intended.

Another book I recommend, that I started to read was The Complete Organic Pregnancy. I've ordered both books already and plan to use the hell out them. No, I'm not pregnant. But I plan on getting pregnant in a few years, and would like to start preparing my body for it now. I want my child(ren) to have the most healthy, happy lives possible, and I owe it to them to make sure my womb is the healthiest environment I can make. It also gives you tips on baby food and nursing if I remember correctly.

I am not going to let this go. I am going to make it my mission to find a way to do my part for the health of this nation. I am serious. I love people. I want all of us to be healthy. When I see the line at the drive-through of McDonalds, it takes every ounce of self-control that I have not to run over there and stop these people. These people who are trying to eat and not break their budget. The dollar menu is tempting, people, but the cost... is not worth it. The cost to your health. The cost of the diabetes you may currently be creating due to the things you're putting into your body. Our bodies were not designed to deal with the massive amounts of sugar and unnatural CRAP that we continue to put into them. Thus we are seeing diabetes run rampant and auto-immune diseases cropping up like a plague. Some statistics that really disturbed me last night in the movie: 1 out of 3 children born after 2000 will develop Type 2 Diabetes. 1 out of 2 African American children will. HALF. THAT's HALF of our African American population born after the year 2000. ONE-THIRD OF THE CURRENT 10-YEAR-OLDS WILL HAVE DIABETES??? If they don't already have it, that is. SICK! What does that tell you? Perhaps that tells you our current food system ISN'T WORKING! Maybe if Obama would stop worrying about the health care and do a little to PREVENT this stuff from happening in the first place. I think I'll write him a letter and ask him to watch Food, Inc. lol.

Anyways, I'm done with my rant. I hope you guys will at least watch the movie. Sorry I didn't go more into detail, but I feel the movie tels it beter than I ever could have. Sure, some of you may think it's a load of crap, and that I'm really gullible. I don't care. If you are unwilling to realize the wrongs of this system, it will never be made right. So I choose to open my eyes and see. I will be eating differently from now on, I can promise you that.

Blog Out.

Kickboxing

Today was an awesome day! I slept 12 hours last night, woke up, and had time to eat breakfast and chat with my Jeffrey. :). I then trained my 2 morning clients, and both of them were very talkative, which helped me get my "social" fix. I have to mention that I currently LOVE every single person I train. I am the luckiest girl ever!

I've been in a funk recently. The last few weeks since Christmas, I was just really unhappy. I think it may have been having all my family with me and them having them ripped away. FINALLY I have recovered a sunny outlook on life, despite the rainy/cold weather outside!!!

The BEST part of my day today was..............

KICKBOXING!!!

With Nigel egging me on, I finally achieved what I have been trying to achieve for MONTHS now, and knocked the entire kickboxing bag over. Now, I'd just like to mention that this is not an easy thing to do. This bag weighs 250 lbs, and I weigh about half of that. I also would like to mention that I have ALMOST knocked it over the last 3 sessions, and had it go all the way on it's side only to right itself once more. But today I knocked it over first with a sidekick (right foot). I then got it 3 TIMES with my LEFT foot (the weaker side!!!)!!! Then Nigel had me do power kicks to the front, and I knocked it over AGAIN 3 times with my left and 2 with my right. I beat the HELL out of this bag. We repeated both exercises later in the session and sure enough I was still able to knock that bag over. I am so proud of me right now. I'm totally bragging, and I know that, but I had to tell everyone. :D Nigel told me I am the first client of his to do this that weighs under 200 lbs. :) this makes me feel so cool.

When I told Jeff he got really quite and then told me he feared for his life.

MUAHAHAHA

Haute Look

http://www.hautelook.com/invite/CHartung471

Those of you who love clothes and fashion, especially those with expensive taste yet not the money to throw around to afford it, please check out the link above. It's called Haute Look, and it's one of my favorite web sites to online shop at. It's got the best deals out of all 3 websites like it. There's also ideeli.com, and gilt.com... both of which don't have as good of prices. I just ordered 2 dresses and one top from haute look and wanted you all to benefit too. Plus they are having a promotion for every friend I get to join thier website, I get entered into a shopping spree drawing. Not that I think I'll win, but it can't hurt to try!

Enjoy!

Baby Fever

OK, I've avoided this subject... mostly because I feel incredibly conflicted on the subject matter, and I am tired of people telling me how to feel about the subject. So I'll introduce why the subject is even on my mind as of late, aside from the fact that I am a woman, and have been looking forward to having a baby someday since the day I held my first doll.

When Jeff and I got married almost 2 years ago, we planned on waiting at least 2 years to have babies. Well... it's been almost 2 years now, and it came time to discuss it. We do have a baby of sorts... Akira... who absolutely satisfies my inner mothering instincts most of the time. I love Akira, she brightens my day instantly the moment I see her adorable little face. I've taught her not to pee in corners anymore, and we play fetch together almost every single morning. She nuzzles me, has learned not to use her claws on me, and is a very sweet girl. She really has made my life better.

We also have our 2nd "baby". Our house. We've had it since last April, and are finally getting somewhere with it. We finally installed a working tub (whirlpool!!!) and all we have left to do in the master bath is tile the entire bathroom up to the ceiling, install shower doors, put the toilet it, paint the toilet room, and get sinks... ok it's still a lot... but the bathtub is in dang it and I'm happy about that. As for the rest of the house, we just ordered the cabinetry for our kitchen, and once that's in we will order the granite and kitchen sink. We also still need to buy stair railings and do some touch up painting, but things are moving along finally and I'm very pleased about this. Baby #2 is VERY stressful for me to think about, but it's amazing that I'm 23 years old and a home owner with my own business, which leads me to baby #3.

Baby #3 is my own personal training business. Since starting out on my own, I have been learning A LOT about business. I have to say it has not been nearly as easy as I thought, but I really didn't think about it.. I just DID it. And I really love my job. I love my clients, I love seeing them progress!!! I also love what it does for me. I get to choose my own hours, I get to choose who I work with, and I get to do what I love! I get to talk about fitness and health ALL DAY LONG and I'm constantly learning new things. It's a wonderful baby of mine.

BUT... these "babies" are still not what I've had on my mind constantly for the past few months. I have SO MANY pregnant, nursing, and toddler-bound friends... it's not even funny. 2 of my best friends are pregnant, and I will be an Aunt in August. Babies are coming at me from all sides, BABIES EVERYWHERE! And to be honest, I want one. I know, I KNOW what people are going to say about this. OH MY GOSH, Caitlin you are TOO YOUNG. Caitlin, do you realize what kind of responsibility financially and emotionally a child is? WAIT and have fun with your husband, enjoy life a little longer. As though bringing a child into this world will somehow ruin my life??? I'm not an idiot. I know it changes things. I know the toll a new baby takes on it's parents. I've seen it first hand, and I've babysat enough children to know it can be emotionally taxing. I realize that once you have this baby in your life, it grows and stays with you for 18+ years. I know it's expensive, and changes your social life, it takes time, money, blah blah blah. I get that. I KNOOOOOWWWWW.

And I am the last person who wants to admit that it's what I want to people. I just feel like people will continually tell me it's a bad idea. And I'm not saying I'm going to start trying to have kids tomorrow. This is just something on my mind, something I'm starting to think very seriously about. I know I have time... and I realize that Jeff might need more time to be ok with the idea. I just so envy my friends that get to hold thier sweet little babies, and feel an amazing love that I have yet to experience. I know how much I love my Akira, and I can't imagine the force of the love I will feel for my own flesh and blood some day.

I may be rambling, I just wanted to get my thoughts out today. I just wanted to say that I want my own child someday soon. I don't want to wait forever. I worry if I do, I won't be able to have kids... I just know some of the family genetics are against me, and if I wait too long I may never get what I want. So I'm hoping that in 2 years from now, I can grow my family, and it will be the happiest, most adorable family ever!

2010 Resolutions

Today, I went searching to see if I'd made resolutions for 2009. Guess I didn't. So this year, I have decided to make a few resolutions, things I really feel like I can make happen in 2010. So here we go:









- FINISH THE HOUSE... ALL OF IT... DOWN TO THE LAST CURTAIN




















- Significantly reduce my Sugar intake (ie. pretty much taking sugar out of my diet)











- Make more time for Akira, teach her new tricks














- Make new friends and maintain old friendships better

- Enjoy one of my last childless years with my husband










- Take a Yoga class









- Take Pilates








- Be a better wife
















- Aquire a wardrobe that actually fits and looks good on me/ get some pants tailored rather than rolling the cuffs up...














- See all 4 of my sisters at least once this year and call my brother more often









- Clean my house more regularly (IE once a week, not once every month or two)












- Become a better trainer











- Figure out where I stand on my religious beliefs










- Move to Denver











- Learn to Cook more than just Salmon and broccoli ;)

















































haha... just kidding about Denver... sort of