Happy Thursday!
For some reason I always start my blog posts with small talk. The weather... the fact that it's almost the weekend... the fact that it's Monday and my weekend flew by, you name it. But today actually CALLS for small talk about the weather. The universe knows that it's like, 3 weeks until May... the summer, right?? Yes, of course it does. SO WHAT THE HELL IS THIS!?!?
OOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHH MMMMMMMYYYYYYYYYYY GGGGGGGGGGGGOOOOOOOOOOOOOODDDDDDDDDD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Are you KIDDING ME???
I've been watching the snow storm all day from inside my office building, and I've been watching people shovel the friggen sidewalks! Is this real?? Am I in a coma and dreaming?? If that's the case, someone friggen WAKE ME UP because I HATE snow!! I think I was destined to live on a beach... le sigh.
Needless to say, today's snow storm did not go hand in hand with my plans to run outside in the nice, sunny, spring time weather, so I opted for a workout in the weight room instead. I don't know about you, but I feel like doing cardio in the gym is a waste of time. Come on.. I mean, if you live in Canada and have winter like 75% of the year, then I totally get it and I totally agree with it. Running indoors when it's crappy out is totally necessary. However, now that it's getting nicer outside and it's getting warmer I think that gym time should be used for building and toning and outside should be used for cardio. Does anyone else agree? :)
Let's make a pledge, and vow to only do cardio outdoors this spring/summer, and see if we can hold ourselves accountable. If you don't run, why not power walk? If you're wanting to start running, well then why not start now? Not only does running ROCK in the summer time, but running outside helps get you in shape quicker (thank you natural inclines, wind resistance and pedestrians to dodge) than running on a standard treadmill (goodbye no wind in your hair, a plain flat service and the sound of the guy next to you panting like a dog). What do you say? Leave me a comment and tell me if you're IN!
Yesterday I took the day off and worked through my lunch. I was in a kick ass zone and didn't want to break it. However I did end up feeling pooched by the end of the day but that's ok. Why? Because, well, I went to the mall. And I have a confession.... My tax return got put into my bank account yesterday and I knew what I had already saved it for.... Can you guess? If you haven't already seen my tweets or my Instagram, then you're able to guess. I've talked about them on many occasions. I've been saving my butt off for them, and trying to pay down debt to justify buying them.
YEP!!! I finally bought my dream shoes. The Simple Pump designed by the one and only Christian Louboutin. For a little while before I did the purchase, I was a bit nervous. But then I realized that this wasn't just something I bought on a random spur-of-the-moment type shopping trip. I've been thinking about these shoes for years. I've been wanting them for as far back as I can remember, I've been saving, and finally when I got my return it topped everything off and I finally went and pulled the trigger. I've went into David's (the store in the mall where these types of shoes are sold) on 4 different occasions to scout out these shoes before I actually bought them. I knew down to the penny how much they were going to cost, so nothing was a surprise and I could prepare myself for it, both financially and mentally.
These shoes aren't just shoes to me. My whole life I've struggled with actually saving money for something big. I always end up spending it on little things and I just never had the self-discipline to actually save money. So this is the first "big" gift I've ever bought myself. The wonderful lady at the store told me how a lot of people have buyers remorse and I was nervous that I might as well, but after realizing that I did it, and I saved and finally treated myself to something nice, I don't regret it at all! I'm actually super proud of them, and I can't wait to wear them for the first time out!!
So enough about shoes. My last post about natural ways to treat acne seemed to be very popular since yesterday I got a serious thousand hits to that post (thank you to everyone that liked it and shared it!) so I figure that natural beauty tips is something that is to be shared! I can't blame the world for wanting more ways to keep beautiful naturally, so that gives me A LOT to work with! I'm kind of into the whole "beauty/fashion" thing when I'm not looking like a wet rat in the gym so I thought it would be a neat idea to share a recipe for an all natural face/body scrub for you to try AND for myself to try!
I wrote an article a while back for a website about chemicals in products you probably wouldn't think of, like makeup and laundry soap. I realize that the products I use are literally all chemicals and I put them all over my body and my face every day. I'm an avid user of ProActiv due to my acne prone skin, and I don't go a day without putting make-up on, so I thought if I could make even the slightest change to how I care of my skin, it's probably worth it. However, I did spend a ton of money on my ProActiv and without going into silly details, ended up with two accounts and double ordering the kits for a while, so I have some product to use up. So once I finish the current kit I'm using now, I'm going to make a slight switch. I'm going to make my own face scrub/exfoliant and toner.
What? Seriously?
Yep. Totally. Here's what I plan on using... Thanks to Maria over at Lift Love Life for this recipe!
Grapefruit Brown Sugar Salt Scrub
Ingredients
Juice of 1/2 a grapefruit (in keeping with my blog theme of course!)
2 tbsp of Epsom salts
1 cup of brown sugar
1 tbsp of Vitamin E oil
1 tsp of softened coconut oil
Directions
Scrub your face and scrub your body! Make sure your skin is wet first, I'd probably only do this in the shower because I'm sure it would get messy anywhere else. Rinse off after you've scrubbed. When you've gotten out of the shower and dried off your face, tone your skin with apple cider vinegar.
Does it seem weird to treat your skin with food items? I think it makes perfect sense! I'm so excited to try it! You know, writing this out makes me want to try it this weekend and not wait until I use up all of my current product. I'm so doing it! I'll take pictures and let you know how it turns out!
On another completely random note, last night I finished reading my book How To Be A Hepburn In A Hilton World.
I have to admit, it was a really easy read. The only reason I didn't finish the whole book in 2 nights was because I have a bajillion things to do, but I could have easily done that. However, with that being said, I loved everything about the book and I think every woman, young and old should read it. Not only does it speak as to why women now a days think it's cool to be "stupid", and why it's not ok to think that and why we need to present ourselves as classy, articulate and smart. It gives tips on how to find your own personal style, it gives tips on how to do your makeup during the day vs at night and it gives ideas on how to develop yourself into an articulate, well spoken woman! And it makes multiple references to Audrey Hepburn... So in my books (no pun intended), it's definitely a keeper! I linked the title above to the Amazon page where you can purchase it if you're interested!
Last but not least, there's 1 day left to enter the giveaway for the Uberfit t-shirt! You can enter via the rafflecopter below!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Q: Do you ever make your own beauty products? (Mary Long, I know you're daughter is kick ass at this... encourage her to keep it up! :P)
Q: What's one purchase that you're proud of? Have you ever splurged and bought yourself something incredible and absolutely loved it?
