live by it.

I've been inspired by Candace Cameron.

And Becky, and Pinterest, and the doctor's office scale, and my own fatigue, and pictures of my younger self.

One of my favorite pieces of advice before getting married was to make sure and maintain health and fitness, in order to remain attractive and healthy for your spouse. As silly as it sounds, it's a great piece of advice. Showing your spouse your love and devotion by maintaining a healthy body is not only beneficial for both parties, it also lays the groundwork of discipline and healthy habits for a future family.

Fact: I don't want my kids to be fat. (Except at the very beginning, when it's still okay and super cute to be really chubby, in the cheeks and legs!)

The reality is, it's not that hard to implement a healthier lifestyle. I've been loving finding new recipes online, and I'm finding it even more exciting to begin a "healthy foods" recipe search. I'm already dying to try a taco recipe that includes sweet potatoes and purple cabbage. (If Dusty's reading this, he's cringing a little inside.)

Dusty is incredibly busy. We've been to Five Guys twice in one week, and have grabbed a couple of pizzas...well, I've lost count. And our pasta intake? Intense. The point? Fast is easy, and fast for us usually involves those lovely golden arches, or a big purple bell.

Nothing monumental, but I'm ready to change. My grocery list for this week is drastically different than last week's.

Last week: Milk, Beans, Pasta, Milk, Beans, Potatoes, Milk, Creamer, Bread. Peanut Butter.

This week: Cabbage, Spinach, Sweet Potatoes, Cilantro, Limes, Broccoli, Black Beans (I still gotta have my beans...)



Not that we'll be getting rid of our "poor man's food" staples ENTIRELY, but...it's a process.

It helps a lot that many of my law wife friends are extremely into health and fitness. While I won't be running any marathons with them any time soon (or ever), their dedication to family health is really awesome.

It's easy to eat our comfort food, miss our families that are thousands of miles away (which means they're not seeing us in our big comfy sweaters and sweatpants, because our clothes no longer fit), and be complacent because there "isn't time" to be healthy. Well, I'm gonna make time. These next three years aren't some giant pause button on my life. And I'm not taking thirty pounds with me to the end!

Candace, you and I can make this happen.

Long gone are the college days of eating blocks of cheese with Coke, while lying in bed at 1am and watching tv shows. Long gone are the days of sitting in the cafeteria from 12pm to 6pm, eating all the while.

The point is, I'm not going on a diet. I'm changing the way we eat, for good. I'm 23 years old, and not as spry as I was way back when, in my teens. :)

(Maybe the giant bag of candy I gave to Dusty for Halloween was a bad move....)

Alright, I'm ready for dinner now. Until next time :)

In love,

Cait

inspiration.

Today, I want to share with you an artist that I really admire.

Mae Chevrette.

I just recently came across her work, and have been addicted to it ever since. I think you'll see why!

I aspire to one day own an original piece of artwork from her. These are a few of my favorites!

She uses a mixture of her own photography and other mixed media. She describes her work:

"My work is a combination of colors, words, photographs and collage, creating one of a kind, contemporary mixed media pieces that are colorful, vibrant and expressive."







As you can see, it's hard for me to narrow down the ones I like the best. Check out her entire shop here.

She also has a really wonderful blog, which you can see by clicking here!

We're all inspired by hundreds of things in our lives, both big and small. Looking at the brilliance of artists like Mae makes me long for paint-spattered walls, brick-walled studios, sunlit windows, the smell of coffee and creativity - (if creativity had a smell, it'd probably BE coffee) - all that to say, I feel inspired by the things God has allowed us to put forth by bestowing upon us a taste of His own creativity. It's pretty amazing.

Thanks Mae!

In love,

Cait

all hallow's eve

What a busy month!

October has come and gone, taking with it many wonderful memories and the last bits of warm weather. The last week of October was a great one. On the 29th, we had a couple's retreat through the law school that consisted of brunch, fun games, and a speaker. We had a really great time. It was fun to hang out with other law couples!

One of the games we played was a newlywed-type trivia game. Dusty and I won! The prize was The Five Love Languages. My friend Sheryl won second prize, (we were probably the youngest couples there), so we were pretty excited!



Liberty mountain is absolutely gorgeous. I couldn't help taking pictures of the surrounding landscape. It was a freezing, windy day, but so gorgeous!

 



We had also decided to help out at our church's Harvest Festival, which took place the next day. We're so glad we did!

I made some delicious butterscotch oatmeal cookies for the auction, and we helped set up. Once the festival started, we were in charge of the hay ride! There were so many kids that were SO excited. I'm not sure where I stand on the whole "halloween is evil" idea for raising kids, but I do know that our church did a wonderful job reaching out the community in a very festive, Fall-ish and loving way. I was happy to be a part of it!

There was a chili cook-off, baked goods auction, trunk-or-treat, face painting, a hay ride, and a delicious table of hot apple cider and hot chocolate. (which Dusty and I set up!)

I had a lot of fun making something for the auction. I wrapped it all pretty, and surrounded a pumpkin pie candle with the bite-sized cookies. I also attached a super cute "scarecrow" card (that I got from a great shop on etsy, called JustQuillin - super cute stuff!).



The cider and hot chocolate station was well-visited by Dusty and I. We would take turns coming inside to get each other hot drinks. Once the sun went down, we were frozen!! There were so many flavors, though, that it was quite fun to try them all :)



We ended up bidding on a delicious Pumpkin Spice streusel bundt cake thing, which has been a delicious treat in the mornings for breakfast. :)

I really love our church. We've decided to become members. We love our small group, we love our pastor, and we feel so fortunate to be a part of such a loving, growing, active church body! We feel encouraged every week, and get up each Sunday morning excited to go :)

This coming Sunday, our pastor will be introducing us to the congregation as members! We're really excited.

Our actual Halloween was rather low-key. I put together a fun little gift bag for Dusty, with a card for our first Halloween together as a married couple! The bag (of course) included a lot of candy. We got in our pj's, and watched Secret Window for our "scary" fix. Surprisingly, we had NO trick-or-treaters! So now I guess we'll just have to eat all of this candy by ourselves.

Sigh.

I guess that's okay :)

I can't believe October is over. What a wonderful birthday month it was. And November holds a whole NEW birthday surprise! (Our trip to Connecticut and New York!) Can't wait to post about that one.

Until next time :)

In love,

Cait