You so fem

Well I'm on a roll! and also I just saw that I misspelled bladder in my post yesterday so forgive me
A thought just came to my mind as I was browsing some of the blogs I subscribe to and something caught me and it's actually something I've kind of noticed for a little while now.
Heels. The fem ideal.
Now nothings against heels or the 'fem ideal" (hey hey rhyme! yes I'm a dork)
But it's something that's kind of been drawing my eyes is in basically all ads girls are wearing heels. I like heels, I love wearing them from special occasions but honestly they are not by any means realistic to my life. Are they realistic to anybody's life other than like the office woman or the glamorous women?
But yet it seems to be truly "fem" and dare I say even beautiful the girls are to be wearing heels.
Why I'm blabbing about this I'm not sure, it just caught my eye.
I mean yes when I think of the "ultimate beauty" version of myself I'm wearing heels. But by the same token it's almost demeaning in a sense because what about the rest of the time? Heels aren't good for your body.
It's funny I have tons of heels but barely any cute flat shoes, I'm usually wearing wearing flip flops or my toms shoes 98% of the time
Anyways just a little curiosity I thought I'd point out

Health care is more like not even there

I just wanted to vent a bit about what's going on in my life. I don't wanna over-dramatize it because really, by the grace and mercy of God, what I'm dealing with isn't that bad and when I needed it, I got the best help ever with kind doctors.
But what's just so frustrating is the inconsistancy and lack of standards and not really caring the health care system is. Now for the more serious cases I imagine it's better but yet not really.
I've been blessed with finding a naturopathic doctor which is what I believe a doctor should be, an educator and teacher about your overall well-being and health and how to maintain it. Fortunately there's a great facility in SF with fantastic naturopathic doctors but as far for other places in this country, I don't really know. all I can say is look into it!
But what really frustrates me is the modern western general hospitals/doctors that majority of people have to deal with. Unless it's a dire emergency they really don't care too much to truly help you and give you peace of mind. what I've experienced is more of a "well you made it through the emergency, our bodies are meant to recover completely so here you go, a back up antibiotic with no refills, an appointment every 6 months and no real way to reach me in-between; good luck!"
Which frustrates the living crap out of me! Hello people! I have a chronic condition! It's not just a baldder infection that went wrong, it's a whole history here people!
I'm treated as somewhat of an animal actually, now that I think about it.
But as I've said, in my moment of real need, God supplied fantastic doctors who did the right thing and genuinely cared.
I've also been blessed with an extremely close friend who knows the medical field, wants to be a doctor that reforms the system, knows how to research and find things for me that help my problem.

I can't imagine living in constant fear every day questioning whether or not I'm gonna be ok. Yes I admit I do have freak outs and sometimes even panic attacks but they are getting less and less as I learn to trust God because He is my ultimate healer and He has placed good people and resources around me. Yes the journey gets long and extremely frustrating and sometimes I say what progress has been made? What good is this? For what reason? How long do I have to endure this? But I know that God is going to take care of me, He is taking care of me, He is in charge, He has ALL the power I need, more than any meds or doctors.
Thanks God.
Hope this brought some enouragement or something....

Just go stuff it

Ok I know it's been awhile, I admit, my gung-ho chilled out and I found myself with nothing to really write about. I will try to do better, at least a once a week update.
Anyways my topic of the day is shoes!
I don't know if any of you have ever had the dilemna of super cute shoes that just don't fit quuuite right or the shoes are a dream but give you blisters in a certain area preventing you from wearing them as much as you'd like
I have found the solution!
Lamb's wool and moleskin (hooray for animals apparently!)
I had vaguely remember reading in a dance magazine I used to subscribe to that dancers could use moleskin to get a tighter fit on a pair of pointe shoes (you know those shoes that enables them to stand on the top on their toes? and no they're not made of wood, just paste) so I thought I'd try that but I knew when it came to regular shoes there had to be more.
Here was my scenario - I had some super cute heels that were actually a size too big (but they were on sale! and cute! and they fit in the store!)
So when I wore them my feet were constantly slipping out of them. I thought if I wore socks that would help. I did, but not a whole lot. Then I tried stuffing kleenex in there but that was uncomfortable and numbed my toes and still didn't work.
So I was at Rite Aid wandering around the feet care aisle seeing if there was anything that could work.
I saw a pack of lambswool (sorry that's the dancer's spelling of it haha) and I thought I could try it because it's soft but fluffy. And the moleskin could be used at the back to grip my heels.
So I got home and stuffed the toes with lamb's wool and cut the moleskin to size and stuck it on the back of the shoes and voila! It fits with comfort!
Thankfully these are just heels that I will only be wearing for occasions, not as a regular thing.
If you're going be wearing super cute heels with the idea of it more of a regular thing, they do need to fit properly (all shoes do really) but this is a solution for the pair that you're only gonna wear like once a month or so.
And as for shoes that do already fit but give you blisters (even after they've been broken in) just cut the moleskin to size and place in appropriate area and sweet comfort abounds

Holy stuff Batman!

Does anybody even know the old batman references anymore?? (Old-school Adam West!)
Anyways I just wanted to vent/share idea/blabber for a minute about stuff.
Stuff. Crap. Things.
It just hit me how inudated with STUFF our society really is. I mean I know I've got crap from years and years ago!
It's weird cuz some of it is kinda sentimental value or I just find it to be unique/cool and to my personal liking.
It's funny though cuz I do catch myself being consumed with wanting more, especially in this resurgance of the DIY trend. While I'm not a big DIY'er I do love looking around online and seeing this cute whimiscal stuff on etsy that makes me want more stuff
I honestly don't really have too much of a point, just thought I'd point it out.
I do think it's important though to do a "spring cleaning" every so often and truly evaluate what stuff you got and get rid of it! It's honestly a good cleansing feeling.
After thinking about how much crap I got, I had an idea of what to do with the unnecessary/unwanted stuff.
Now don't get me wrong, I think etsy is awesome an all but I don't feel like taking the effort of signing up and posting pics and description and shipping it and the whole thing.
My idea was, get your friends/aquantinces/people you know/neighborhood/whoever/whatever together and do a swap meet!
Just clean up your stuff, put it on a table and have people take what they want! And you go to the other tables and take what you want! (Ok maybe not if your ultimate goal is to get rid of stuff, but maybe somebody will have something you need)
I like this, it could be a cool neighborhood/friends event where you pick a backyard or house or whatever location, set up tables and chairs, put your stuff out and swap!
Then when you're done, maybe have a potluck to continue the theme of swapping or have a BBQ or what have you and sit together hang out and eat!
This is gonna be a goal of mine, to actually do this and see what the results are.
Any ideas or thoughts or feedback?

In the land flowing with milk and honey

Well, more like fruits and vegetables.
Lo and behold - the farmer's market! (gotta love old timey expressions, my grandma still uses lo and behold haha)
I thought I'd take the time to go to the famous ferry building farmer's market in SF that happens 3 times a week: Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. the website is here: http://www.ferrybuildingmarketplace.com/farmers_market.php
There are also several smaller farmer's market in different SF locations which I found at this website:
http://blogs.sfweekly.com/foodie/2010/04/sf_farmers_market_map.php
hopefully that link works for you. if not maybe go to sfweekly.com and search for seasonal farmer's market. The ferry building and the civic center ones are the only ones that are yearround.
I went and had a great time! I got totally dazzled by all the options, there's something just exciting about an abundance of good food for you.
The trip was quite successful and I'll show you a pic of my purchases:

I got some regular peaches, white peaches (You'd be surprised how many varieties of peaches there are!) some nectarines, arugula, some type of beans, some bell peppers and some argentinean squash that is supposed to be like cucumber but sweeter.

Next time I go I will try to compare quality and prices because there's a lot of vendors selling similar foods but I just got swept into the whole thing. I paid around $25 for all these (I didn't lay allll the produce out, just enough to show what variety I got) so it's not bad.

Good wholesome food is really healthy for you. Yeah yeah everybody says that though. To me, a basic rule of thumb is if it doesn't grow naturally, it's probably not that good for you (yes that includes bread and the like, you actually need smaller portions of carbs like those and higher portions of veggies.)

However I don't condone that excuse for weed so leave me be with that.

My doctor told me the best way to eat healthy is half of your plate should be veggies (mainly at dinner but try for lunch too!) and then small portions of carbs and proteins. Also get a lot of different kinds of veggies and colors (eat the rainbow!) for more nutrition and definitely those leafy greens.

Fruits should be more with breakfast and as dessert and snacks. (I love fruit!)

My next goal is trying to find out about (relatively) easy healthy breakfasts because I'll admit, I'm a die-hard cereal eater. Yes I do eat whole-grain cereal but it's still not my best option, so more on that in another post.

I hope this post was informative (possibly fun?) for you and not too much to read! I just had a lot to say on this topic.

I highly support you going to your local (or next local because maybe your town doesn't have a good one) farmer's market and buying from there. The products should be amazing and colorful and you're really helping farmers out. And all in all, it's better for you too!

Cleaniness is next to godliness

Ok who came up with that line and more importantly, why?? I mean was the idea that if you spent all your time cleaning you'll be too busy to get caught up into trouble? Or is it like a double metaphor thing where if you're clean it's like you're godly 'cause to be godly is to be cleansed?
anyways...
I wanted to recommend to you my favorite brand of soap that I've been using for years and absolutely love
It's called Dr. Bronner's magic soap. (Why it's called magic I have no clue, maybe he was feeling whimiscal) This line is carried by Trader Joe's but I don't know where else. I'd assume Whole Foods but I haven't checked.
Nonetheless you can go to the website http://www.drbronner.com/ and browse the products.
 I've been using the peppermint organic all castille bar of soap and absolutely love it. First off the smell is amaaazing! and it lathers well, lasts long, leaves me feeling totally clean (enough to last 2 days) and helps significantly reduce back acne and chest zits haha.
Also they're certified fair trade, completely biodegradable, and vegetable based. Not tested on animals, and certified organic. They have many different scents and some other products that you can check out at the website

Allow me to introduce myself

Hi blogging world!
I thought I'd start off with a bit of background story and what this blog is about.
My goal with this blog is to share and learn about living better. I know, how many blogs and other stuff out there is like that? But I wanna simplify it and also mix it up by throwing in personal flavors like my adventures and things I see such as dance shows and the like.
Another reason is because after going through a pretty traumatic health scare and not having the best past with the medical world I wanted to share some tips, advice, etc. Eating healthy and finding out about your body shouldn't be difficult, though everybody else makes it out to be.
Anyways that's a very brief snynopsis of the inspiration for this blog =)
I'm Kaitie, I used to be a dancer for 13 years dancing mostly classical ballet and contemporary ballet/modern dance. After my surgery I decided to put that aside and fully recover and learn more about my body and also pursue other ventures. I love photography and art and dance and San Francisco haha. Also books. I had a severe bladder infection that called for surgery which started me on this journey that I wish to share with you. I'm a christian who's passionate about loving Jesus and following Him and trying to be the best example I can be to the world.
I'm not the best at grammar and the like so please forgive me, I tend to write run-on's and stream of conscience but I will try to work on that =)
Here we go!