Hats, Boots, & Chocolate

    In my last post, I mentioned I'd give some tips for anybody considering walking barefoot for the first time. So, here they are! :)     1. If you're the sort of person who wears shoes inside the house, start there. Take your shoes off when you're inside your home and get used to the feeling of feeling the different textures of carpet and tile beneath your toes.     2. If you're the sort of person who avoids wearing shoes inside the house, start on your lawn, if you have one. Grass is one of the most forgiving outdoor surfaces to start going barefoot on, and you'll want to get your feet used to that first. It's relatively rough compared to carpet, but still so much gentler on the feet than going straight to concrete. You will want to watch where you step if your yard tends to have twigs or pine needles in it, though--I've been going barefoot for years, and I still avoid the lawn directly around our spruce trees.     2.5. If you live near a beach...

    Hello there!     Today's post is a summer version of this one , in which I went through the techniques I use to stay warm in chilly winter weather. Like in that one, I'm going to add a caveat that I don't live in the absolute coldest or hottest place ever (though I am in Utah, which is a desert, and we do get pretty toasty), so for the absolute extremes I may not know everything. Also, since I'll be talking about hydration, I have to add that I'm not a medical professional--I've just made some observations in my own body and done a bit of research and taken some basic science classes.     Here we go!     The most important thing to do during the summer is to stay hydrated. Just a few minutes before starting on this post, I heard a statistic on the radio that said that up to 75% of Americans suffer from chronic dehydration. I don't know the source used for this statistic; I'm sure it's Googleable. Still, it's pretty worrying, and since I work ...

    If you're one of the very, very few people who have been here since the beginning of this blog, you may wonder why I decided on the name Hats, Boots, & Chocolate  for it.     Honestly, I've been wondering the same thing for a long time.     The most obvious answer is, of course, that I love hats, boots, and chocolate! I love wearing beanies and my cowgirl hat, and my cowgirl boots are some of the most comfortable shoes I've ever owned. Chocolate is also a staple favorite around here; the very first blog post I ever wrote was a recipe for home-made hot chocolate lumps that store in the freezer and come in very nice, pre-portioned serving sizes perfect for making a rich, creamy cup of hot chocolate.     But I think that's not all--and I think God knew it wouldn't be all from the start. Sure, I initially chose this name because I couldn't think of anything that described me better--I'm a person who likes hats, boots, and chocolate a lot!...