It Resonates
You might've noticed that new updates have been a little sparse around here lately.
Twice a week.
It is unacceptable.
It should be three times a week. Or more, even.
But something has been happening to me, and …
Conscious Living
Your Own Crunchy Shopping List – Free PDF
Absolutely the A-number-one road block to living a more crunchy lifestyle is: Not having the ingredients. When I don’t have something in the house (baking soda), I’ll be more apt to turn to the stray store-bought …
Break Free from the (Advertising) Matrix!
"... the only moisturizer with 100% softening power."
"... and your wrinkles will be a thing of the past ..."
"... with a splash of natural juicy pomegranate fragrance to keep you fresh ..."
Somewhere, in all those …
Pursey Galore Does Manitou Springs
Sunday was epic.
Picture this: 15 homemade chocolate peppermint lip balms, 15 homemade bath sachets, friends, a camera, and a legendary purse. Add in 50 unsuspecting visitors to Manitou Springs.
We rocked the town. …
A Traditional Chinese Medicine Chat
This is Ashley.
She's the one without the fancy hat.
She's a pharmacist, she's studied Traditional Chinese Medicine IN China, and she's traveled the world. She's also one of the most spiritually grounded, open-hearted, …
Removing the Reigns From the Hands of Defeat
It sucked me under last week. Today. Feels like forever right now.
The rising tide of bad news and disappointment and just straight hardcore defeat. I started questioning this blog. I started questioning the fight.
(Is …
Forget Brand Loyalty. Let’s Talk About Brand Transparency.
I won a Dr Pepper T-shirt.
When I was 5.
For some reason, the memory converges with the old soda commercial* where the man is crawling through the desert and finds a vending machine. In my mind, my family and I were …
Don’t Be a Pinched-Face Lady: Kick Your Bias to the Curb
"Aspen?" a lady in a United uniform called. "Who's going to Aspen?"
About 20 people raised their hands, including a lady with a pinched face and a ginormous fox stole. She must not have gotten the PETA memo.
The group …
How to Not Visit Detroit and Ford Motors
Remember how I was going to Detroit for the Ford Driving Green Technology Event? Remember that? Remember how I tweeted yesterday - from the Colorado Springs airport - about how I was waiting for the plane? Remember how I got …
The Nonexistent Car (or The Blazer of Shame)
My car died some months ago.
The precious, precious burgundy 1997 Mercury Sable I had purchased before Napster was even a twinkle in a pirate's eye.
Many road trips happened in that car. Many moves. Kansas to …
Improving On The New Year’s Resolution
Does anybody even make New Year's Resolutions anymore?
Did you?
Secretly?
(You don't have to tell me. But I'm curious if you think you'll keep them.)
It's been at least five years since I've bothered to make a …
Am I Saying That I’m Not Enough?
When my children walk into the bathroom and watch me going through the feminine rituals of shaving and makeup, I wonder if I’ve let them down. If my conforming to these cultural ideals makes me a cog in the wheel of less …
Who Really Cares What the Neighbors Think?
We went to my parents' house for Thanksgiving, only it was just the three of us: Me, Fiance, and my 13-year-old son. My parents deserted us for the other daughter's family in Kansas City
Their house is lovely, tucked in a …
How Thanksgiving Warms Your Heart, Mind, and Soul
Grandma was always frazzled at Thanksgiving.
Maybe frazzled's the wrong word.
Frenzied. Worked up.
Psychotic.
She'd whirl around the kitchen like a huffy-puffy tornado, pulling this, stirring that, blindly …
Should We Bother Believing the Experts?
"Blasting Nerves in Kidneys Lowers Blood Pressure, Study Finds"
"Energy Drinks: Gateways To Alcohol Abuse"
"One In Five Adults Suffering from Mental Illness"
"Antibiotic Benefits Slight in Kids' Ear …
Wanted: Ambassadors of Crunch
Remember when I got all indignant and weird about how companies are selling dry shampoo with all sorts of chemicals and calling it some kind of breakthrough - when you can use your own dry shampoo from stuff in your …
Healthcare’s Dirty Little Secret : Offshoring Private Medical Records
Imagine you're at the emergency room. You have severe stomach cramps and you're throwing up every 10 minutes. While you probably just have the stomach flu, you're in so much pain and misery, you just want to make sure you're …
This is Not Beautiful, But It Could Be
This is difficult for me to write.
Please understand that, first and foremost.
It brings back old feelings, old hurts, and all kinds of vulnerability, and it scares me, because I'm never sure if my "old friend" will …
5 Little Tricks to Get Yourself Into a Great Mood
There's a child outside who's been crying for the last 10 minutes while her mother says, "Just be quiet" eighty-thousand times.
Waaa. "Just be quiet." Waaaaaah! HUSH! Waaaaaaaicecream!
There's a lesson in this …
Want to Be Smokin’ Hot? Find Your Passion!
What makes someone attractive to you? I know you’re envisioning Brad Pitt, George Clooney, or that vampire from…what’s that movie called? Oh, yeah. Twilight.
Attractiveness IS all about the physical: Brad …
The Best of Crunchy Betty (So Far)
Maybe you're new here.
Maybe you've stopped by a time or two.
Or maybe you've been with me from the very beginning. (Bless your little pea-pickin' hearts.)
Regardless of where you are in your crunchy life, I thought …
Buddha, Freakonomics, and the Placebo Effect on Homemade Beauty
Quite some time ago, a guy named Buddha said something like this:
"Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common …
Life, Death and the Alzheimer’s In Between
"Everything's got a moral, if only you can find it." - Lewis Carroll
On paper, you would think his life was a happy one.
As a rule, he did most things right. He and his wife took long walks daily - fresh air when it …
Ask Crunchy Betty – What’s Your Ish?
Let’s do something different today. Something wild. Something wacky. Something that has nothing to do with the fact that I have writer’s block. Nope. Nothing at all. Yay! Today is all about comments. It’s …