It all started with an article..

So a few months back I was on Facebook, and a friend had posted a link to an article about how dryer sheets are toxic and super harmful to us. I got to thinking, could this be true? Are those lovely little sheets that make my clothes soft, fragrant, and static free really doing me harm? I had hubby read the article too and he was all for ditching the sheets. I was not as happy because I had recently bought a big box of them from Target :/ But I did it, I chucked the sheets. Then the static followed, every time I pulled the clothes out of the dryer I got shocked or everything was a stuck together. The solution to this? Felted wool dryer balls. Now I read a few different blogs to see how they were made and it's a pretty simple process. (Or you could buy them pre-made on Etsy, but that's not as fun) So the key to these is making sure that the wool you use is 100% wool (aka not machine washable, but that is how you get it to felt and stick to itself) I used Patons wool and for my first set I bought it from Amazon but found it to be a little pricey, next round I went to craft stores (like JoAnn's and A.C. Moore) and they happened to have a discontinued (hideous) color that was pretty inexpensive! Unfortunately I cannot find the pictures I took during my little dryer ball making session but here are two blogs that I used as resources for the process!

Crunchy Betty

DIY Natural

Some people suggest putting essential oils in the dryer balls as a more natural way to scent the clothes. I didn't do this because I read some articles about the EO being causes of dryer fires. I'm not sure how true this is but I didn't want to find out! 

I love my dryer balls! They have definitely reduced static in my laundry :) The best is trying to find them all after the clothes come out of the dryer...they love to hide!! 

So now that the door had been opened about chemical properties in dryer sheets and harmful ingredients, that caused a sort of domino effect on just about everything. I can't write about it all in this post because it would take ages but a few things that I have recently started changing about my lifestyle are: making my own cleaners and laundry detergent, starting to learn about essential oils, becoming a no poo-er (not as gross as it sounds), trying the oil cleansing method and oil pulling, and other stuff that I can't think of right now. 

There is a lot I still want to try (homemade deodorant!) and some things that I am not ready to give up yet (makeup!!). I spend soooo much time on other people's blogs trying to learn what they have and read about what their thoughts are on all the bad stuff that is in so many of our every day items. I hope to share what I've learned and my experiments (successes and failures) so here it goes, the start of my journey to a chemical free, greener, eventually healthier lifestyle. 

xo 

Em

Days 17 - 21!!

So yes I have fallen behind in my blogging but I successfully completed my shoe challenge!!! WOOOHOOO and now I'm right back to wearing {almost} the same pair of shoes every day :P Not really but sorta...

So 5 days in one post is a lot but I've had a lot going on. With date nights and the weekend adventures and then more snow and an ice storm that caused us to lose power, I've just got tons of excuses :)

Anywho Day 17 I wore a brand new pair of shoes to work that I just got from DSW as a part of my Christmas gift from my mother in law. I love these suede Steve Madden booties and I think they are super cute!! They are not super comfortable for a long period of time but I did get many compliments on them at work. I tried very hard not to get any salt on them to mess up the newness of them. It was hard but I think I succeeded.

On Thursday I wore this pair of flats from Target and it is by far one of the most uncomfortable pairs of shoes I own. I really like the color and the shininess of them but good grief do these things pinch toes! The first time I ever wore them I could barely walk at the end of the day because my feet hurt so bad.

These blue green flats are from Kohls and they are a part of the Lauren Conrad brand. I love all the items in her line, everything is so feminine and romantic. I wore these for my long Friday of work and I matched them with a blue green button up blouse. 

Saturday I wore these boots I got from Target ages ago. They are so worn on the back they are starting to look a little gross. I love the color of them and the softness of the material. Sometimes the tall part of the boot falls down but that's all apart of the slouchy boho look of these boots.

And on my last day of the shoe challenge I wore my oxford inspired lace up wedge booties that were also a purchase from Target. I love the detail on these shoes, they are pretty comfy and look great with flared jeans.

Hope you've enjoyed seeing a glimpse of my shoe collection! 

xo

Em

Boots, boots, flats [Days 14, 15, & 16]

Sunday was a sunny/cloudy day that even had... what a surprise... a few snow flurries! I went out to see August: Osage County with some ladies from bookclub and then we went to dinner and had a great time. I wore my second pair of Uggs that were given to me as a Christmas present back in 2011. I love these boots so much and they are definitely great in cold weather (although not wet cold weather but I managed) I paired them up with my leg warmers to keep me extra toasty and I was very content :)

Monday, I decided to wear heels to work and I chose a pair of short boots that my mother in law bought me from DSW. They are nine west and I love wearing them with work pants and they are pretty comfortable. The floors at my job are kinda slippery and I kept feeling like my heel was going to slip out from under me while walking around on the non carpeted floors. So I tried my best to stick to my seat and surrounding area.

These red flats were a super cheap steal from Payless. And I used them as my change of shoes on my wedding day. I wore these throughout the reception and they kept my feet quite happy. They are a good width and now well worn in that they feel almost like slippers.

I can't believe my 21 days are almost over!! I can see in the end in sight and I know without a doubt I can make it until then without doubling up on shoes. In other exciting news I received my first Birchbox today!! Can't wait to try out my products :)

xo

Em

Plain Jane and more snow [Days 12 & 13]

So Friday I went with my boring black flats. But I do love these flats, and they are very comfortable. They are from Target (duh) and I purchased them after searching for a pair of plain, no frills, black flats. This is a harder task than you might think. It seems like most black flats have either sequins or spikes or tassels or something gold on them and sometimes you just need simple ballet inspired all black flats. So I was quite happy with this find, although they were a little pricy, the reviews said they were quite comfortable as opposed to the cheaper plain black flats which people complained were more uncomfortable than heels! (Sometimes I find this very true)

Saturday I worked (again) so time to make up my dress code again :) I went with sweater clogs that I'm pretty sure are considered slippers that I purchased from Target a while back. They are cork bottoms with absolutely no tread on them so coming out of work on the newly covered snowy ground was a little treacherous and I did feel myself slipping around. Curses on this east coast snow and frigid winter. I was glad when I made it home and could just snuggle inside in my real slippers. 

Hope everyone is staying safe out there in all this mess.

xo
Em

Suede & Spikes [Days 10 & 11]

So yesterday I did not have the day off but we did go in 2 hours late which was very nice. It gave me a chance to cook a nice breakfast for Dan and I and to also straighten my hair. [something that does not happen often] I decided since I only had a 4 hour work day I would wear some heels since my options for flats are becoming limited, or so I think, I haven't actually counted. This whole challenge is a guess. Anywho, I wore rain boots there and changed at work because there was no way I was trekking through the snow and ice in heels. These heels I found at a thrift store but I know they are a target brand, and I can't fully remember but I'm pretty sure they still had their new tags on them. I have worn these a lot and I really like how they give my feet an elvish look. The suede is getting kind of ruined though :/

I wore my flats today without first wearing rain boots to work. I was pretty brave to do this because there is still a decent amount of snow on the ground. By the time I got in the building at work, my feet felt as though I had walked barefoot across the snow that's how cold they were. But I digress. These spikey beauties I found when I was once again browsing Kohls.com at work (hopefully no one I work with reads this..) I loved them instantly. I still like them but I did have an incident of tripping over myself and kicking myself in the ankle which caused one of the spikes to gauge a piece of my skin off and bleed, so ever since then I've been more cautious when wearing these. When you buy shoes with spikes I guess that's just a risk you are willing to take. 

xo

Em

Fringe and Boots [Days 7, 8, & 9]

So this weekend was a little busy and I slacked off on my daily blog but don't think I slacked off on changing my shoes. Oh no, I am more than 1/3 finished my shoe challenge and going strong! Especially after Sunday's DSW excursion.

So I will start there, Sunday I spent the afternoon shoe shopping with my mother in law. We had a lot of fun and I picked up 2 new pairs of shoes that I will be sure to wear once there is no longer snow/ice danger. So the shoes I wore to our shopping outing were a pair of moccasins that Daniel bought for me for my birthday {he took me shopping and I picked them out, it was a great trip and a rare occurrence because hubby doesn't enjoy the shopping like I do} I love the color gray of these shoes and how cute and tiny they make my feet look! They were purchased from Macy's and they were on sale!! Gotta love a great deal :)

Monday, Daniel and I were both off and we spent the day in NJ visiting my family which was a lot of fun. I wore these boots that I purchased from Target over the summer. I first wore them to a Miranda Lambert concert which was a mistake to break them in on such a long event. By the end of the night my poor feeties were crying out in pain. I wore them to my cousin's country wedding in September (the reason I bought them). They are more broken in now and definitely more comfortable. 

Today, with snow in the forecast I knew I didn't want to wear flats to work. So I decided to wear my newest go to favorite pair of winter work shoes. I got them on sale for super cheap from Kohl's in November. They go so well with a lot of pants and you can't even tell that they are boots for the most part. However, I did bring my rain boots (which I use as snow boots) because I was quite positive that the weather people were not wrong about the impending doom the snow was bringing. And I am so glad I had my rain boots! Luckily we were let out of work early so I have been inside since 1 pm and so grateful!! Now just to wonder about what tomorrow will bring. Maybe my day 10 shoes will be slippers! (I've definitely jinxed it now...)

xo

Em

Days 5 & 6

Yesterday I wore a pair of flats that I bought after I started working at the bank and no longer wanted to wear the one pair of comfy sensible heels I had purchased just for the start of that job. So these flats were a Kohl's find, they were on clearance and I purchased them while I was at work (the internet is a bad tempting thing on the job). Once I broke them in they were much more comfortable. And is it me, or are heels sometimes more comfortable than certain flats? I have some flats that feel like knives cutting into my foot right below my big toe. I'm sure that's not good.

These flats go with most outfits but sometimes the gold buckles throw me off and I feel like they won't match. But I still love them!

Now onto today, I wore my uggs to work today which isn't necessarily allowed but I feel as though Saturdays are a bit more flexible with the dress code (at least I make it more flexible for me). I went through a stage where I thought uggs were ugly and dumb (but I still had knock off ones) and then I went through a stage where I had to have them and so that is how I became the owner of these frequently worn winter time boots. I bought these with my hard earned, saved up cash. I was so excited when I walked into Nordstrom (Ha! All my shoes aren't from Kohl's or Target) and picked out my Big Kid sized uggs (That's right I got the kids ones because their size 5 is the same as a woman's size 7 and they used to be waaay cheaper but I think Ugg has caught on because now they are still a little less expensive but not by near as much anymore).

My Ugg boots are my go to shoe in the winter time. They keep my feet so warm and snuggly. The only downside is I have the tendency of wearing them when it all of a sudden starts raining and I get worried that they will be ruined :( I wish they were waterproof (I put stuff on them to protect the suede but I still get nervous about it).

xo

Em