Give Back Shopping!

As we all shop for the holidays, with Black Friday, and Cyber Monday coming up, I believe it's important to shop with meaning and purpose. All of the sites and products below give back to the community in some way with each purchase, and where applicable, I have denoted how. 

Do you have a favorite give back shopping site?

Noonday Collection was started as a way to raise money for adoption fees and is based here in Austin. It's primarily jewelry and it's reasonably priced! The items in the picture below range from $12-$30 and are made by artisans involved with the Fair Trade Federation.

TOMS is the original "one for one" company. I recently read his book, Start Something That Matters, and was impressed. He was honest (or so it seemed) and passionate. Purchase shoes, they give shoes. Purchase eyewear, they help restore sight to someone in need. Also, right now if you pay with PayPal, you get free two day shipping.

Beyond Beanie is one I haven't shopped at yet but I am planning to for the holidays. Each purchase, a beanie, bag, and other accessories gives back to the community a certain amount. 1 beanie gives 5 meals, 1 bag gives a set of school supplies.

Sevenly is one of my favorites! I own a couple of shirts from this organization. Each week they focus on a different charity or organization and donate $7 from each purchase.

Warby Parker also operates on the buy one, we give one, business model but with eyewear.

MudLOVE is mostly jewelry. I actually own one of the bracelets and love it! The band is my favorite part; it stays exactly where you put it which is amazing for an adjustable band. Each purchase donates a week of clean water to someone in need in the Central African Republic.

Wear Figs is a newer one I have found. Each set of scrubs sold, they give one to someone who can't afford them; Threads for Threads. Prices are $25-$32 for women, and $25-40 for men. They also have scrub caps and v-neck tees.

FEED Project has been one that has gotten some attention lately! The bags seem kind of expensive, at $100 the first tote below, but once you read the fine print, you see that one purchase will feed a student for a year! That's amazing. Most of them only feed a person for a week, or a month, but this helps even longer. There are also bracelets that are $18 that gives 5 meals. The bags all contain inside pockets and they note in the description that the larger pocket will fit an iPad.

$80, provides 1 year worth of meals to a student. Image from the FeedProjects website.

$125, gives 100 school meals. Image from FeedProjects website.

Faucet Face are thick, glass water bottles with interesting designs. You can even custom design them with your own, uploaded image which might be neat for Christmas gifts for a family! Free shipping with 4 or more.

Through its 1 for 100 program, Faucet Face donates 5% of ALL sales of hose water, tap is terrific and hummingbird feeder glass water bottles, PLUS, a complete filter for each sale of 5 or more individual bottles to the clean drinking water charity Third Millennium Awakening (TMA).

Infographic from faucetface.com

Soap Box Soaps sells soap, body wash, and liquid soaps. A lot of us give soap related gifts at Christmas (like Bath and Body Works) so maybe something like this would be good gifts as well.

This is part of a Make a Difference post I'm doing as part of a link up with She Lives Free. Originally posted on my faith blog.

Yeah finally! New post

Life has definitely gotten hectic, but I'm finally working on some balance.

My job is interesting and I'm constantly learning new things. It keeps me engaged for the most part and they are a huge proponent of Work/Life balance which makes my life so much easier. If I, or my child is sick, I can stay home.

Updates. I tried the 21 day fix. Not for the workouts; I only did a week and a half of those before I got bored with them. I did it for the portion control aspect and it has been wonderful. It's really taught me about how and what I need to eat more of to feel better but mostly that I eat too damn much of certain things! I noticed an increase in energy and I did manage to lose a bit of weight.

I also bought a mountain bike. Living in Austin, being outside is absolutely necessary. There are trails, bike paths (both mountain and street), ponds, rocks to climb. So much! One of my favorites is in Johnson City, called Pedernales. Plus, I really hate running and machines are boring.

Look how neat this place is! This was taken a couple of years ago, but I can't wait to go back this weekend and take the munchkin.

I'm working on planning everything out for meals, workouts, Bible study/reflection, and time with my family. Adulting is hard. I like to plan, and I love having a paper planner so I'm using Passion Planner! It was a Kickstarter I backed earlier this year and I love it. She actually has printable sheets on her site if you want to try them out. Pretty neat and she's super sweet!

Blatantly "borrowed" from her site.

I'll update this post with my own planner pages too; I'm working on the rest of the months now. 

I've also been going to a Bible study group that some people at work started. It's an awesome way to start the day on Friday.

Accidental hiatus

Oops! Update time. I have been running around like crazy doing interviews. Those things are exhausting! In between filling out the application (pet peeve, why do we have to submit an actual resume, AND fill out every single detail of work history? Grrrr), interviews, emails, phone calls, and assessments, it is absolutely exhausting. A company contacted me about one position, then decided I was a better fit for another position, so as of Tuesday, I will be working in Austin! Completely overwhelmed, and driving back and forth from North Texas to Austin feels like it will never end since we are moving myself and my son in baby steps.

Job has normal hours (very important with a kiddo), full benefits, an amazing break room and everyone was super nice but also dedicated so I loved that atmosphere. Hopefully it works out. Most of you don't know, but I haven't worked in 3 years due to a tough time finding a job, and then just spending time with family so this will be a huge change for me with moving and starting a regular job.

If anyone has any moving tips, or healthy lunch at work tips, I am all ears!!!!!! Please comment or post it on my FB page.

I'm also excited to find new healthy activities to try. My boyfriend will be able to do them with me, along with the kiddo, but I will also be trying some new things on my own.

Food!

I thought I'd post some pictures of what I typically eat. Everyone loves food and I am definitely one of those "live to eat, not eat to live" people. Probably a bad thought process, but I'm working on it.

First are some examples of food I make at home taken from my phone.

This one was a simple meal when I didn't have anything thawed out. Grapes, asparagus and a whole yellow squash. I seasoned the veggies with olive oil and garlic, and baked them. Sometimes I add a bit of sea salt.

A spinach salad with strawberries, onions and fresh lemon juice instead of dressing. Main meal was two eggs, ground turkey and more asparagus.
















 I get bored and this happens! It's a roasted hash of sorts. The sausage is by Aidell's (no preservatives- I can pronounce everything in it!), onions, bell peppers, yellow squash, and zucchini. Zucchini and squash seasoned with olive oil, or coconut oil, garlic and red pepper.

More eggs, half an avocado, and an Ezekiel Sprouted grain English Muffin toasted with maple almond butter.

Restaurant food!

Kerbey Lane cafe in Austin. Bacon, home fries, biscuit, eggs and gravy. Was a 2 am and I had just finished a 4 hour drive.

Chicken mango salad at North by Northwest

TacoDeli in Austin. Brisket taco and something else. Pinto beans and Mexican rice. Delicious!

Kind of dark but it is a candied walnut mixed green salad. Was sooo good.

The best rotisserie chicken I have ever had. And I eat a lot rotisserie style chicken. I had green beans and a Caesar side salad. At North by Northwest.

A burrito bowl from Freebirds! Steak and chicken with corn salsa, lots of jalapeno's and onions, fajita cooked veggies, rice, cilantro, roasted garlic, and lime juice.

I eat a fairly wide variety of foods. Normally there is some pasta and rice somewhere as well. I eat more chicken then steak, and I get in moods where I eat a lot of fish. I'm trying to incorporate more vegetables into my routine as well. Lots of smoothies exist in my world too! I'll be doing a post later this week on them.

Rogue Running ATX

I saw that Rogue Running was having a Midnight Moontower Run (Dazed and Confused reference). Link to the Facebook event HERE. It sounds fun! They have it split into a 7-mile, and a 16-mile. Plus a party thing afterwards, and giveaways. My boyfriend has even agreed to do it with me! I'm a new runner, so this may kill me but I figured it was worth a shot. If I can walk 10 miles in flip flops, I can run/walk 7 miles in running shoes!

The maps are available here:
7 mile run
16 mile run

Goes through the middle of Austin, but honestly it sounds like a lot of fun! It says a supported fun run, so I'm assuming they will have drink stations and what not.

My boyfriend's runner friend saw we were going (he ran the Austin marathon a while back) and decided to go too! I might've backed out if it hadn't been for that now, but now I'm actually really excited to participate!

They partnered with Fit Approach for the Pub Run during SXSW, and I know they all had a blast, so I'm looking forward to being around so many runners, and especially at night when Austin is fully alive! Oh, and this even is also FREE! What better way to test my limits, so where I need to improve, and what works best during runs, than a free, supported run.

I'll let you know how it goes. My boyfriend may have to carry me back!

Pretty Muddy Women's Mud Run!

I registered a couple of days ago and will be in the 9:30 wave for the Dallas Pretty Muddy Women's Run. This is their first year in Texas, and Dallas will also be the first race of the new season. The other events will take place in Sacramento, CA, Chicago, IL, Columbus, OH, Richmond, VA, Atlanta, GA, Tampa and Miami, FL. I'm excited for this race!

This race is unique, in that, joining what seems to be a popular scenario, it is a race just for women to run. It is also untimed, so it's more laid back and a fun environment, as opposed to "we have to finish these obstacles as quickly as possibly!" I really like this mindset, especially for my first mud run. You can even redo an obstacle if you really like it! Here are a few pictures from previous mud runs. Lots of mud, costumes, and smiles!

I'm excited for this run, and excited to see what kind of crazy obstacles they bring to Dallas this year. Anyone want to join me?

Disclaimer: I was selected, along with several other Sweat Pink Ambassadors, to blog about the race before and after, in exchange for a free entry into the race. But I am so excited for this race that I would have paid for it if I hadn't been selected! All opinions are my own, and pictures taken from the Pretty Muddy website.