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Friday, November 23, 2012

5 Ways To Get Motivated To Work Out

So Christmas is right around the corner and the weather is getting colder by the day and I feel absolutely no desire to get out of bed, let alone work out. I figured now would be a good time to share with you the ways I keep motivated. As you may know, I play tennis for my university, but during the winter we have no practices or anything. I still need to stay in shape for when the spring season starts, plus I need some way to get rid of all the Christmas calories I'll be consuming. Here are 5 ways I convince myself to get out of bed and get moving:

1. Pinterest Inspiration:
     One thing you can do while you're still in bed is look at the health/fitness section of Pinterest. You can find workouts, motivational quotes, and healthy recipes. After I pin some things to my fitness board I feel extra excited to try the foods or the workouts.

2. Cute Workout Clothes:
     It's much easier to convince myself to get dressed and go to the gym when I have a cute new workout outfit that I haven't worn yet. I love the way I look in my cropped workout leggings, so I at least have that to look forward to. Picking out an outfit makes getting ready to work out a little more enjoyable.

3. Try Something New:
     If you're anything like me, running on a track sounds like one of the absolute worst ways to spend an afternoon. Running and lifting weights are so boring to me. I like to do something with a purpose other than making myself sweat. Try signing up for a tennis league or grabbing a friend to play racket ball. If you make it interesting, it won't even feel like a workout! Not into any sports? Try something like Zumba; it is just as good a workout as playing a sport, trust me.

4. Get Organized:
     I always get more motivated when I have a workout plan laid out. If you're not sure where to start on making your own, try fitness magazines or looking online. My dad is very into tennis and weight lifting so he designs mine sometimes. When you set goals for yourself you're much more likely to work towards and achieve them.

5. Reward Yourself:
     If you try your best and do all your workouts for a month, reward yourself! You deserve it! Buy something you've had your eye on or treat yourself to a spa day. Avoid rewarding yourself with junk food, since that's kind of backtracking your progress.

Those are my tips for staying motivated, even in the cold winter months. I hate winter weather; it makes me want to hibernate. Working out makes me feel much better though, once I convince myself to do it. How do you keep yourself motivated to stay fit?

Thursday, November 22, 2012

New Obsession: Sinful Colors Magnetic Nail Polish

I was browsing Target the other day when I saw that Sinful Colors magnetic nail polish was on clearance. I grabbed Captivate Me, a maroon color, and a dark green one that I can't remember the name of right now. I really only grabbed the green because it was the only one that didn't have the magnet missing, but now I am very excited to wear it for Christmas!

I'm not exactly sure what technique to use to make that perfect star shape; some of mine turned out well but some just looked swirly. I am definitely a fan of this polish, especially the maroon one. Actually it looks like more of a shimmery grape color in real life; think the exact color of grape juice. I love it. What's your favorite magnetic polish?





Wednesday, November 14, 2012

November 2012 Birchbox Review

I looked at my box online a couple of days before it actually came in and I got SUPER excited! It looked like the best box yet! I'd been wanting to try the Oscar Blandi texture and volume spray for a while, and the cupcake bath bomb looked adorable! The theme this month was giving, and they sent a little pillow pack to use as a gift wrap sort of thing. It's very cute. There is also a coupon for $15 off a pair of $88 shoes from Chromatic gallerie. It's cute because there's a code you can give to a friend as well.
I was so excited to see this FULL SIZED mascara! If I'm going to splurge on anything, it would either be hair products or mascara. Good job birchbox! It does make your lashes longer, but not necessarily thicker. Maybe a couple coats would do the trick.
I was actually sort of disappointed with the texture and volume spray. It seemed to work okay, but it smelled terrible. Like bad enough that even if it worked really well I wouldn't buy it. It smells like my grandma, and i's pretty strong. It made me a little dizzy when I was enclosed in my car. I'll still try it at least one more time, maybe it'll grow on me.
Miss Me by Stella Cadente was probably my least favorite perfume sample I've receive from BB. It sort of smelled like baby powder. Not necessarily bad, I just won't be purchasing it.
I am excited to try the Caldrea hand soap. I love the little sample sizes, and I am going to put them in my purse and try them instead of yucky public bathroom soap next time I'm out.
I am also very excited to try the Smitten bath bomb. It looks adorable, and I hope it smells as delicious as it looks. Unfortunately I don't have a bath tub, so I'll have to wait til I'm at Ben's this weekend to try it out.

All in all, this may be one of my favorite birchboxes ever. They sent me stuff that I never would have purchased or tried on my own. That's why I even signed up in the first place. Oh, forgot to mention, they also sent a SoyJoy cranberry bar. It was sort of yucky. Just not my thing. I am very jealous of the people who got chocolate. If you were one of those lucky people, did you like it?

Monday, November 12, 2012

Lomography La Sardina Camera Review

I ordered a La Sardina camera from Lomography a couple weeks ago and it finally came in last week! It took so long because of Hurricane Sandy, but I'm actually very grateful for that because the weather has been absolutely perfect for the last 3 days. I already own the Fisheye 2 and I was getting kind of bored of fisheye pictures. To me, the La Sardina seems like the next step up from Fisheye--there are 2 different focus settings now, and the flash has different distance settings. Other than that, though, it's very simple. It has a wild angle lens, bulb and normal settings, multiple exposure switch, and it takes 35mm film. The flash does take a weird battery (CR123A) but I found it at Walmart.

 It's one of the beach editions so it's very summery looking and sort of makes me sad because summer is such a long way away :( But the weather has been lovely lately so I made my sister come outside with me and shot about half a roll of film outside. I found that, like the fisheye, it takes its best pictures in bright, outdoor settings. I didn't get to experiment with the flash much inside but I like it so far. One problem I ran into when taking outdoor pictures was that I kept forgetting to focus the lens properly, so a lot of them turned out soft and blurry but I kind of like it. That's the fun of lomography, after all!


There's a couple examples of badly focused ones. I still like them. The colors turned out very nice.


Here's one taken inside with no flash. I think if the light had been coming in the window at a different angle it would've shown up better. But I'd say you need a flash inside 90 percent of the time.

These two are my favorites. I actually remembered to focus the way I wanted to and they turned out as I planned for the most part. All in all, I love this camera and I cannot wait to take more pictures with it. It takes beautiful photos, and even the accidents turn out pretty (which is good because my photography skills could use some work). I would most definitely recommend this camera for someone who is new to lomography or new to film photography. Unless you're a complete perfectionist, you are going to find at least one charming photo in your roll that makes you want to go out and try again. That's exactly what I'm going to go do, since the weather is gorgeous.

Thursday, November 8, 2012

Mary Kay Makeup: I'm Not A Fan

I went to a Mary Kay party tonight. It was the first one I've been to since I was a really little kid and my mom had them. I am just not a big fan of Mary Kay. I believe their makeup is overpriced. They try WAY too hard to make you buy things. When they're not trying to sell you a skincare kit for $135, they're trying to convince you to become one of them.

They'll talk you into thinking that selling Mary Kay will make you beautiful and popular. They boast that they can give you self-esteem, a new outlook on life, and a pink Cadillac. It's for bored housewives who have nothing better to do. They sucked my mom into it. She suffers from depression and has generally low self-esteem. They made her think selling Mary Kay would make her more confident and empowered. She spent a ton of money buying the starter kit or whatever you want to call it, and then she ended up not selling anything. Why? For one, my mom is a bit shy as it is, and she's not gonna push unwilling people to buy makeup they don't want. Also, we live in rural WV. The majority of people you run into look like they haven't even brushed their hair that morning, let alone went through their $135 skin care regimen.

Also, at the Mary Kay party they handed out a form. If you fill out the form entirely, you get a prize or something. One of the questions on the form was "What type of payment method will you be using today?" and you could check "cash" "credit" etc. The last option on the list was something like "Husband Plan" and she explained that you could use a combination of cash and credit so your husband/spouse didn't have to know how much you spent. That made me a little sick to my stomach. It reminded me of when I was a kid, I wanted a laptop really bad. I'm not even sure why I wanted my own laptop that badly. But finally I talked my mom into taking me to the store to look at them, and of course, we left the store with one that was like $700. I already felt incredibly guilty at that point, and she told me not to tell my dad about it yet. She said she would tell him. I knew she wasn't going to that day, and I felt like I had done something horrible. Dad was going to be so angry at us and it was all my fault because I had to have that laptop so bad. Of course he would notice a brand new laptop lying around. He found out a day or 2 later, and was beyond angry, just like I thought. I still feel guilty right now, as I'm writing this. What I'm getting at is that it's not right to hide financial decisions from your spouse. If you don't have the income to buy things, don't do it. Any company that encourages keeping secrets from your own husband/boyfriend is not a company I'd want to buy from, and especially not somewhere I'd like to work.

To me, Mary Kay seems very materialistic. I mean, I guess that makes sense because it's a makeup company and all, but they really try to drill it into your head that buying and selling Mary Kay can improve you. It's all about more, more, more. If you throw a party, you get a bracelet. If you work your way up high enough, you drive a pink Cadillac. When I think of Mary Kay, I think of spoiled women wearing too much makeup promising you a pink car, too. I think of women whose entire lives revolve around themselves, justified by feminist reasoning.

Wow, when I started writing this I didn't intend for it to be a long, angry rant. I meant to say how I didn't think Mary Kay was right for many people, even though they'll do everything to convince you it's The Thing For You. I also didn't even get around to telling you that I don't even think their products are that great. I've disliked everything I've ever tried (and believe me, I've tried a lot of them). To me, a good makeup company hands out samples, not job applications. The right type of person can succeed in this business, but not everyone. My aunt and uncle actually divorced because my aunt was trying to be a Mary Kay consultant, along with a few other similar businesses, and she just kept losing money. For me, I'll stick to medical lab science. I am not the business-woman type, no matter what Mary Kay has to say about it.