Crazy, Sexy, Cancer Say What?

So a couple of months ago I came across a documentary called "Crazy, Sexy, Cancer" weird name right? Yeah I thought so too, but it isn't I swear.

Here she is in all of her glory. I am loving the hat!

It is about this lady right here and her crazy journey. Kris Carr's journey began after being diagnosed with stage IV incurable cancer. After getting no further help from the modern medicine world she basically decided to try some more natural solutions and a good old fashioned lifestyle overhaul. This meant a diet turnaround aka no more fast food and late night chinese takeout and many other life changes like quitting smoking, that HAD to go.

So that's is what she did! The documentary was pretty good I thought and after watching it I was inspired to go out and pick up her book Crazy Sexy Diet and let me say I was not disappointed.

Let's get one thing clear though this book really isn't a diet. It isn't eat this and shun that. Or eat that and workout for 5 hours after. Kris simply gives you information that she has learned about food, shows you how to apply it and let's you make the decisions from there. She even tells you why she eats the things she does and why she tries to save certain foods (like McDonald's french fries) for special occasions. Really this book is a win win.

Not only that but I simply can't get enough of the way she speaks/writes. I say speaks/writes because anytime I read something I imagine that person speaking it to me. Is that weird? I hope not. Anyways what I love best is that she is frank. She is simply a funny woman trying to share her knowledge with the world, and boy does she have a lot.

If you can't tell the book is going to be a staple on my shelf for years to come and I am so grateful that she decided to write it! So if you are interested go out to your local Barnes and Noble and pick yourself up a copy.

Namaste,
Lisette Rossman

Review Of Zum Clean

While thinking about what to write it kind of hit me that I had been trying all sorts of clean new products! I thought why not share some great and not so great finds. So here goes! For this first review I decided to talk about Zum Clean Natural laundry Soap. I tried it in the sweet orange scent and my review on a scale of 1-5 is *drum roll*.....3 stars! Okay let's get into the nitty gritty of why!

Here is a little background on the soap from the company itself:

"Tired of the chemical detergent spin cycle? Clean up the way you clean your skivvies with a handmade laundry soap. We're talking a nudist colony of coconut oil soap for cleaning and 100% pure essential oils for an all-natural scent. Plus baking soda to remove stains and smells. You won't find these dirty words: detergents, optical brighteners, chlorine, parabens, phosphates, petrochemicals or sulfates."

What a cool product right? Alright let's get on with the things I liked:

1. The Smell: I must say one of my favourite things about the soap is the way it smells, it's divine! It is clean, it's light and it's not at all overpowering! And what's better is there are no nasty headaches like I would get from chemically composed scents like garden fresh or tropical breeze. Rock on!

2. It's great for sensitive skin: It is so so gentle! A big plus is that since it has essential oils you don't have to use fabric softener! Your clothes come out of the dryer (or off the drying rack) very cuddly.

3. It's HE approved: It was made with HE washers in mind! So feel free to run out and get some ASAP.

4. The price: At 21 dollars a pop this stuff was not expensive at all! When you consider the fact that you get 64 loads that is pretty hard to beat. And tide is around the same price so that kind of puts things into perspective.

Here are some things I didn't love so much:

1. The need for warm water: I try and make my washing sessions as eco friendly as possible which means washing with cold water. But I found that my clothes were not nearly clean enough for my liking when I did this and sadly had to resort to using warm warm to get them clean.

2. Gym Clothes Oh No: This stuff was not great for gym clothes or clothes that you do any sort of dirty or sweaty activity in. Let's put it this way my equestrian clothes would never get clean with this stuff and if they did it would be after multiple washes and some help from shout :(

So overall I think this soap was a good try. I am still looking for something with a little more cleaning power and good fragrance (Biokleen I hear is a good option). As soon as this bottle runs out I am off to try that one! I'll let you know!

Namaste,

Lisette

Bag it: Is Your Life Too Plastic?

Have you ever stopped to think about how much plastic you are using in a day? Or where it goes when you are done? Or what recycling really means? I hadn't either until I watched the documentary Bag It: Is Your Life Too Plastic?

Would you like to know my first reaction? Well I literally felt like I had been punched in the gut. I felt so disgusted at the way I had been looking at plastic and how easy it had been for me to dispose of it without thinking of the consequences.

Let me preface this by saying that I try to be a good person. I am a vegan whenever possible. I don't ever eat meat. I buy organic body products and use natural laundry detergent. I air dry my clothes and read books on the environment etc etc (you get the picture). But not once in my quest had I ever thought about my plastic consumption. And to be honest as much as I hate myself for it, I didn't really  know.

The industry has done a great job of selling plastic and leaving the consumer unaware of what is really going on. In my head I thought since I recycled I was fine, but that just isn't the case and not only is plastic is in  absolutely EVERYTHING, it is harming our environment and killing species.

So you might be saying to yourself well so what, it's not so bad we can just keep making more. But that is the problem. We can't. Plastic is a non renewable resource and if we don't start making changes soon we are going to have some serious problems in the future.

I think it really hit me when I ACTUALLY thought about how much plastic I use in just a day. If you really think about it you will realize that it is absolutely insane. Here let me give you an example of part of my daily high school routine (back in the day when I wasn't vegan and didn't know anything about the environment).

545: Wake up and pack a lunch. What did this entail?
1) I would get my bread to make my sandwich! Which came out of plastic wrapping. So there is that.
2) I would put my meat on it which of course I had taken out of plastic wrapping. (Oh dear!)
3) All of that would go into a plastic Ziploc bag.
4) I would then cut up some strawberries which surprise surprise I had gotten out of a plastic container, which also went into a Ziploc bag and so on and so forth.

By the end of it I had taken every item out of some sort of plastic encasing and then put them back into another one. Once I had done that I would pack all of those Ziploc bags into a plastic grocery bag to take to school where I would promptly throw it away after eating my food. YIKES!

This folks was just my preparation for lunch, I didn't even factor in the plastic forks and knives I used at school, the plastic bottle my diet coke came in and the plastic liners that coated our trashcans that held the plastic bags I threw away. That is mind boggling right? And it isn't even a full days worth.

I won't spoil the movie and give away tons of facts but I will say that it opened my eyes to a lot of the ways in which we use plastic, and once at that. A ton of energy and fossil fuels go into making that plastic and for me to use it once just isn't good enough. It doesn't add up, and so my challenge for myself and you is to cut down on plastic for good!

The documentary was great and I encourage everyone to watch it! Together we really can conquer our plastic addiction!

Namaste,
Lisette

My Great Gatsby Review

Last night I went to see The Great Gatsby and *drumroll please* my review is....let the haters be damned! I loved it!

But first let me start off with a little history. The Great Gatsby was a book that I had to read in high school and like most of you I am sure I wasn't particularly fond of it. I hated looking for symbolism, e.g.; what does the green light mean, what do the glasses overlooking the city of ashes symbolize blah blah blah, I hated it! But then something really weird happened. I went to college, I had life experiences and somewhere along the way a book that once made absolutely no sense to me suddenly became a masterpiece. I understood why Gatsby loved Daisy so much, I understood why love just wasn't enough for Daisy. Basically love isn't easy. 

So when people say they didn't like the dancing in the movie because it wasn't authentic, I say so what?  Most of us have seen Moulin Rouge or Romeo + Juliet, we all know that director is just a little bit quirky. If you didn't like his style pick another movie. People also said they thought the storyline was boring. Okay well my answer for you is pick that up with Fitzgerald. Also if you understood the beauty in the book it wouldn't be boring to you trust me. 

Maybe I am biased or maybe I'm just a romantic but the movie was great and the storyline melted my heart just like I knew it would.  So with that in mind and summer right around the corner I leave you with a thought.

In the words of F. Scott Fitzgerald, “and so with the sunshine and the great bursts of leaves growing on the trees, just as things grow in fast movies, I had that familiar conviction that life was beginning over again with the summer.” 

Namaste, 
Lisette 

Mobile Assignment

The Office of New Student programs helps incoming students transition into life at Mizzou

The Office of New Student Programs is located in the lower level of the MU Student Center and is composed of a staff of directors, graduate students, reservation staff leaders and Mizzou's 36 Summer Welcome Leaders.  Since its creation it has been vital to incoming students and their transition into MU's student body. 

To make sure that Mizzou is adequately meeting the needs of incoming students, the center offers three different orientation programs. Former Summer Welcome Leader Caleb Philips had only great things to say about the orientations.

"Here in the New Student Programs we host the new student orientations. So we host Summer Welcome for both freshman and transfer students enrolling in the fall semester as well as August Orientation and Winter Welcome. So yeah the programs are great."

Each of these individual programs are put in place to familiarize students with the campus and to help students make life long friends. Philips says his favorite part about New Student Programs are the people. 

"I have so much fun. To be on reservation staff you had to have been a Summer Welcome leader and so there is no better experience than being a Summer Welcome leader and then getting to work here."

I Am Back!

Hi guys,

I can't believe it! I have come back from the graveyard of bloggers that once were to give this thing another shot! This time around though things are going to be a little different. A lot of changes have happened since my very first post on this blog last year and I really want what I write about to reflect that growth! (And who doesn't love growth right?!)

I will occasionally post about fashion and clothes, heck I might even throw in some beauty product reviews here and there, but what I am really passionate about is health. Healthy mind, healthy body and healthy soul! That passion is something that I hope to share with you guys in these upcoming months so that is where my focus is really going to be!

So with that being said welcome to my new blog! I am so excited to share my journey with you guys! Get excited, I just know great things are in store.

So as my yoga teacher Julia used to say..... 

"From my heart to yours Namaste,"

Lisette

T is for Theta!

Happy Happy Monday everyone! I am oh so excited because it is FINALLY starting to feel like Fall! I am doing a happy dance as we speak! I am ready for apple cider, pumpkin carving, cable knit sweaters and riding boots! I want to cuddle up right this second just thinking about it! But what I am really ready for is homecoming! I love the atmosphere around greek town and the anticipation when the results are read! But enough about that, here is what I have been getting up to!

Crush Party!

On Thursday night we had our crush party! Our theme was T is for Theta! I had tons of fun! I brought two of my favourite boys M and D! They are always great to take to the events because they are such gentlemen! I always have a great time with them and they are just goofy guys which I love! No weird pressure or anything like that! My roommates and I funnily enough all dressed as something different! J on the left was a tooth fairy, G was a taxi, J was "Total Sorority Move" (which I thought was such a great idea) and I was a toddler and tiara. Mine was pretty generic but I already had the tutu and wasn't super hot on the idea of going out shopping for an outfit on such short notice!

Goof Balls

Posing!

Our venue is always kept a secret right up until we get there! *Drum roll please* the event ended up  being held at a bowling alley! We had a DJ and everything! My dates and I played a whole game and then went to the dance floor! To make matters worse they are both great dancers and D was having a dance off with my sorority sisters! On Saturday we had our first official football game! We are in the SEC so it was fun seeing all of the away fans on our turf! Even though they were our opponents, I must say their outfits were great! Tailgating that day was a lot of fun too!

My Little AXO

At a Fiji tailgate!

Baby B

Needless to say I am pooped! But as the saying goes I won't remember the days I got plenty of sleep, but rather the days that I made wonderful memories! Did you guys have a good weekend? What are you most excited about for fall?
xoxo,
lRn