Trifecta of Fun

Hi guys and dolls! The weekend started off with a Saturday filled with surprisingly enjoyable hard labor. “How is this possible,” you might ask. Well, for starters, it was required for part of my scholarship, so I figured I might as well have a good attitude about it. Secondly, I wasn’t alone in my heart-pounding endeavors, but was instead joined by several good friends. There were choices for which site we would like to volunteer at, and Biff and I chose Hatter Harvest, a student-run organic garden located on campus. We spent the next hour and a half with pitch forks in hand, turning mulch piles. Who needs a workout when you can garden? Note to self: Must have garden in old age. Unfortunately, my camera had mysteriously vanished, making me unable to document this event in photo form. Just imagine dirt, sweat, ripped jeans, and pitch forks. You get the idea.

When I returned home, battered and bruised, I was informed that we would be eating out that evening. Sweet reward. We went out to Carrabba’s. If I ever have to pick a chain restaurant to eat at, you can count on it being this one. Seeing as though they have a sizeable gluten-free menu, I was in Italian heaven.

Cozze in bianco. Steamed mussels with a wine, butter, and basil sauce.

Garden salad

Steamed broccoli, chicken Bryan, chicken marsala, and pollo rosa maria.

Vanilla ice cream topped with caramel and candied pecans.

 My tummy was significantly happier after this.

The next day, I awoke to an antsy Gigantor and a little something in the air. It was a national holiday. Superbowl Sunday. Football is second only to religion in my household and the Packers are our team. No further explanation needed. Our entire day was centered around the TV and the food. There is never any guilt when consuming large amounts of food on days such as this. It’s completely merited.

Scone, Chobani, cucumber, and hummus. Hummus glutened me. Never. Again. Curse you, Sabra!

Mutilated guac.

Toast with cream cheese. No plate. Yeah, that's right.

Huge-mongo salad.

Shrine to Biff for giving me this Newman's Own Organics Dark Chocolate! And wine, of course.

 At 6:00, everyone gathered around and watched as the Packers proceeded to kick steel butt and win the title! C’est magnifique! Happy times.

Monday morning, Mons and I decided we wanted to create vintage looks that we got from http://www.classicretroglamour.blogspot.com/ for our day out on the town. But first, food.

Scone, banana, and black coffee. The yooj.

 It was raining, so we polluted the air with our gallons of aerosol hairspray (like I care). Gotta be authentic, right? We had a super time and looked super cute. I’m loving it. I will be trying on Mons hairstyle next.

Mons not cooperating.

Posies.

Cute little retro bow.

I am a hair genius.

How did you spend your Superbowl weekend? Which team were you rooting for?

A Blustery Day in Florida

Tuesday, my day got off to an early start. Since my senior thesis professor thought we needed to have a little pep talk, my usual school errand time had to be moved to BEFORE school. What a schlep. I had breakfast of leftover, toasted banana pancakes and a banana. I’m going to turn into a banana. No pictures of this fruity breakfast. I blame the low barometric pressure. A storm was brewing in Florida. 

I finished my running around (getting forms signed, etc.) and so I took a walk in the dreary weather. Perf. Got up, had breakfast, drove to Collegeville, ran errands, and got some exercise in, all before 10 AM. 

Classes were boring, as per usual, and I had to have a quick lunch between classes 3 and 4. 

Salad with eggs on top.

This was possibly the worst salad I have ever had. It’s not that the veggies tasted bad or anything. I think maybe I am just sick of salad (I don’t know).I didn’t finish it. The apple that followed seemed like the best thing to hit my taste buds since 2002. 

I attended class 4 and with the Journey’s End poopers. After an hour of jumping around like monkeys and entertaining the dogs, Biff and I began to notice the weather worsening. I cut my time short and rushed home. There were a few touch-and-go moments in the tornado warning weather, but I managed to arrive home in one piece. The first thing I thought about was food. I was starved. I had breakfast. Again.

Papaya, French toast, and yog.

 Taking advantage of the rainy weather, I am currently curled up on the couch watching The Bourne Identity with the fam and the poopers. Can you believe I have never watched it before? I know, I live under a cultural rock. However, I always have time for interesting, albeit time-wasting, materials. Enjoy.

•  Smokey Eyes in Seconds
• Emily Blunt’s Charming Braid Hairstyle
• Simply Fruit and Nut Bars (substitute whole wheat flour with something GF, of course)
• 6 Healthy Habits that can Make You Sick

Practice What You Preach

As I sit here watching one of my fave shows, What Not to Wear, I find an over arching theme throughout the show is being happy with your body and knowing how to work it. Ok now brace yourself- we’re gonna get a little personal here. 

Over the past few days, it has come to my attention that I have lost my curves. Before I cut gluten out of my diet, I weighed 150 lbs. Now, after working out 5 days a week, closely monitoring my portions, and always eating healthy, I weigh 25 lbs less. I feel great, healthy, and fit. I have never wanted to be a stick figure and have always been one to appreciate curvey women. But quite honestly, I’m starting to miss my own.

For me, diet and exercise is an ever-changing process. I often find myself modifying and changing my routines and eating habits to tweak my figure here and there. My number one reason for working out and eating healthy is to BE HEALTHY. Duh. But my number two (and maybe even tied with number one?) is the desire to have a great body. For as long as I can remember, I have had my “figure” goals (i.e. I want have a body like so-and-so. I want to have a __ in waist). Obviously, being content with your body and being healthy are so important. However, I will admit that I often succumb to the images portrayed by the media. I constantly have to remind myself that celebrities have personal trainers, personal chefs, are airbrushed, and are wearing Spanx, but those perfect figures still bombard my consciousness. Come on, what girl doesn’t think about that?

My mind holds a hodgepodge of contradictions, placed there by culture, media, peers, etc. Clothes look better on a thinner frame. Having curves is sexier than being a bean pole. Flat stomachs look best in a bathing suit. A little pudginess on the tummy is soft and feminine. It’s like having an angel and a devil on my shoulders.

But what if I let my body take over and tell me what it wants to do? What if I ate and exercised purely for health and enjoyment? How would my body change? 

Well, I want to conduct a little experiment. I feel confident enough to let my genetics take over and see how it turns out. Over the past two days, I have sort of embraced this natural body beauty idea, and I am fairly certain my caloric intake has made a significant jump. I am going to just go with it.  It’s time to practice what I preach, right?

Wrinkles Are In!

In skimming through my daily dose of health and beauty articles, I came across this article about Lauren Hutton and her campaign for beautiful aging.  She is the face of J. Crew.

I was totally inspired by her comfort with age. I really hope that one day, when I am beautifully aged, I can be comfortable with my wrinkles, and not-so-perfect body. I attempted to search for her secrets for staying beautiful without turning to plastic surgery, but it seems that Ms. Hutton is simply blessed with genetics.

However, I continued my investigation into secrets for looking beautiful even with age and came across a few other stunning “mature” women who have stayed beautiful naturally.  

Jerry Hall

Meryl Streep

Helen Mirren

Unsurprisingly, all of these women have their own secrets for staying gorgeous. Helen Mirren made a good point when she said, “It’s ridiculous to pretend we can stay young forever.” So, I have combined all of these little tips and words of wisdom into a list I like to call:

Getting Hotter Age

• Exercise, Exercise, Exercise- Meryl Streep swears by low impact exercise like swimming. Helen Mirren and Jerry Hall both do yoga. Jerry Hall says, "Exercise releases endorphins, which give you that inner glow." Muscle tone keeps skin firm and cellulite free. I think that’s awesome.
• Drink lots of water- We hear this all the time, but it’s true. Water keeps everything hydrated, making your skin more elastic, keeping your organs functioning the way they should, and keeping your brain sharp.
• Stay positive- negativity and stress age you faster. Taking some time out of your day to meditate, pray, or just close your eyes in a quiet environment for a few minutes will keep you balanced and relaxed.
• Fall in love- A common denominator in each of these women’s lives is love. And we all know that love keeps you from aging.
•  Eat as naturally as possible- By eating natural and whole foods, your body had an easier time digesting and utilizing the nutrients. More nutrients means a healthier body.
• Indulge and enjoy life-  Be happy and enjoy yourself. This is pretty self-explanatory

Which is what I did today...

Happiness



My treat from my mama for being good at the grocery store.



Chocolate Lovin'

•  Sleep- Helen Mirren sleeps every chance she gets. Being tired drains your body and makes you age quickly.
•  Moderation- This actually goes hand in hand with “enjoy yourself”. Eating and drinking whatever you want is the way to go. Jerry Hall eats dark chocolate every day and drinks red wine. But it’s important to moderate your alcohol especially. It’s a major skin killer.
•   Take Care of your skin- It’s like your packaging! It’s the first thing people see. Stay out of the sun, use SPF and always moisturize.

You might be saying, “These are all common sense things,” but sometimes you need to hear them all together, thrown into a nice little list. Personally, I don’t care if they’re boring or run-of the-mill ideas, I am going to do what these lovely ladies do. Don't mess with the formula for success. We shouldn't be terrified to get older. We should take a lesson from Ms. Hall- "I've spent 25 years looking young and wonderful, it's only natural that now I'm getting wrinkles." I think it’s so important remember that aging can be graceful.

Wrinkles are in girls, and they’re beautiful.  

Healthy is Beautiful

While reading through my daily health and fitness articles, I stumbled across this article about Brooke Hogan and her secrets for staying fit.

 She admits that "real people aren't supposed to look this way". Thanks, Brooke, for your words of encouragement. To get in shape, she worked out twice a day and was on a very strict diet. That's madness, in my humble opinion. How do you expect to enjoy life when you live every day worry whether you have gained an ounce?

People are always looking for way to get thinner and more toned in less time, with less work. I admit, I am sometimes one of those people. But fitness doesn’t come without work. And perfect bodies are practically impossible to attain (If you're feeling crappy right now, don’t worry, I am going somewhere with this).

Tuesday night, one of the biggest beauty events of the year took place-the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show. Every year, these models strut their skinny, toned selves down the runway wearing wearing very little clothing. And I am sure that every year, millions of girls around the world watch that show, go to the bathroom, lift up their shirts, look in the mirror, suck in their stomachs and think, How many calories should I cut or ab workouts should I do to look like that?

Well, if you’re one of those girls, STOP IT! First of all, these teensy weensy girls make up approximately 2% of the population (probably less). The average American woman is a actually a size 11-14. Second of all, before these fashion shows, not only do the models drastically cut down their calories, but they also go to fitness boot camp the month prior.

Celebrities have trainers, personal chefs, weekly spa days, you name it. To look beautiful and slim, they have anything they need at their disposal. But even with all of those luxuries, some of them still don’t have “perfect” bodies. But who’s to say what’s perfect?  You don’t have to look like Alessandra Ambrosio or Candice Swanepoel to be absolutely gorgeous.

Alessandra

Candice

Here are a few pictures of beautiful celebrities with normal, but beautiful bodies:

Penelope Cruz

Catherine Zeta Jones

Katherine Heigl

Eva Mendez

Cheryl Burke

America Ferrera

Kate Winslet

When I eat right and exercise, I always feel awesome. I am not a size 2 and I don't want to be. I think it's important to remind myself of that every day.  As long as you are making the effort to take care of your body every day, you should feel awesome about yourself. And remember, a healthy body is a beautiful body.

Life's Little Indulgences

After a long day of interning (and by long I mean 7:30 to 5:00 long), no one wants to come home and work out. Especially me. But on Tuesday, I persevered, finally conquering the No Gear Here Women’s Health workout. Phew. After that, self-pampering of some sort was deserved. I evaluated my current physical and mental state, assessing what type of treatment was necessary. I reached the conclusion that my hands were in need of some TLC.

The onset of Fall is already ripping into my poor little hands, creating this monstrosity.

Dry, cracked, alligator-like skin. Yuck. It doesn’t look that severe in this pic, but take my word for it. I am a pretty regular lotion-putter-onner, but I am also a major hand-washer. Lotion is defeated. And even when I put lotion on, it only masks my little flakies.

I needed a remedy. ASAP. Homemade salt scrub= Excellent idea. I decided to try to mix salt with Jojoba Oil to slough of the nastiness. I swear by Jojoba Oil for face moisturizer (make sure to tissue off), body moisturizer, make-up remover, lip balm and hair oil.

It’s similar to human skin oil, so it absorbs right in and lasts all day, without being oily.

For some reason, I thought using Epsom salt would be a good idea for this project. Wrong! Have you ever gotten a good look at Epsom salt? It looks like a bunch of tiny razor-like crystals.

 

Not suitable for skin exfoliation- unless you plan on removing all of it…

 

I quickly changed my mind to using regular granulated sea salt. Much better.

I mixed it with enough jojoba oil to make a runny paste. It looked so promising, that I ended up making enough for my whole body. After I showered, I scrub-a-dubbed myself (still in the shower) and rinsed off the salt. Yowsa! My skin now looks and feels awesome. And, my hands are no longer shriveled and pitiful.

To top it all off, I put on some Desert Essence Organics Pumpkin Hand Cream. It smells divine.

After this little experiment, I conducted a product review. I was feeling inquisitive and experimental. My wonderful step-dad brought home a mud mask for me to try. Bhaktiveda Pure Ayurveda Mud Mask.

• Smell- check. This has sandalwood essential oil in it which makes it smell absolutely incredible.
• Look- Horrible! This looks like, well…

• Taste- Ok, I did not intentionally taste this, but it got on my lip. It’s not going to be my next snack, but I didn’t puke.

This is such a hot look for me. *To my wonderful fiancé: Aren’t you happy to know that this is what you’ll be waking up to every morning?

You leave it on until it’s dry and then rinse. It solidified my face, so I was quite excited to rinse it. But the results- Fan-tab-u-la-stic! My face feels smooth and silky. I followed up with some Jojoba oil. Nice.

I give it an A+. I will definitely be using the whole bottle. Always love me some SWAG... and spoiling myself.