DIY: Makeup Storage for your Everyday Makeup

Lately I have become quite unhappy with the way my makeup took all the space in my apartment’s tiny hall making it look messy and lacking system. I do my makeup in the hall because I have installed a bigger mirror there and the room has better lighting than my bathroom. So my makeup just spilled all over my shoe cabinet making the hall a very unwelcoming place which I didn’t want any longer. My apartment, including my hall, should be a homey and friendly place where I and any visiting friends or family should feel welcome and not overwhelmed by the mess in the entry room.

So I thought about a nice and decorative solution for my problem, which should be simple and inexpensive. And I came up with one!

Here is a list of inexpensive things you are going to be needing, supposing you want to have one of your own:

• one wooden mini box system with drawers (from: IKEA)
• one complete stamp set letters (from: your nearest art supply shop)
• stamp ink in one or more colors (I bought a whole set but ended up using only the gold color)

The rest is easy as pie. I sorted my makeup collection using the six drawers. The biggest one at the bottom is for my everyday makeup routine. It contains my favorite products such as my MAC eyeshadows, my foundation, blushes and mascara. The other drawers I use for everything else that is left. For example I have one drawer for nail polishes and nail remover as well as one drawer for all my lipsticks and lipglosses. After I sorted everything out, I fitted the products into the drawers. Which only leaves for the fun part. The STAMPING! To make the boxes more practicable for me I wanted them to show from the outside what would be on the inside. That is why I searched for a quick and easy but also decorative way to label my drawers. So I just used the letter stamps with the golden stamp ink I got from an art supply shop near me to stamp labels on my drawers. They are now reading from top left to bottom right as: LIPS, CHEEKS, EYES, RANDOM, NAILS and FAVORITES.

Stamped drawers to help me stay organised.

But do not worry if you do not use say lipsticks then use your drawer for some other stuff in your makeup collection. Make it fit for you as I did for me.

For my brushes I got out an unused but beautiful cup from my kitchen cabinet. And this is what it looks like now. All tidy and sorted. Also the stamps and the ink might come in handy for some other artsy projects such as stamping gift wrappers or cards for family and friends.

The masterpiece in my hall on top of the shoe cabinet.

What does your makeup storage look like? Have you sorted it all out? If not maybe this idea is for you.

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BOT (Back on Track) Day 2

Yesterday I posted about getting back on track with my eating and exercising habits. I hope to be more successful if I come back here as often as I can to post about the foods I ate and the workouts I did. This is a recap of my second day, which was yesterday.

Day 2 BOT

Breakfast: espresso with skim milk, oats, flaxseed, joghurt, blueberries, strawberries

Mid-morning Munch: rice waffle and peanut cream (no butter), one apple

Lunch: red lentils, broccoli and green beans, scampis

Afternoon Snack: a grapefruit and a handful almonds

Dinner: one hard boiled egg, 1 slice of whole wheat bread with one slice low fat cheese, salad made of cucumber, tomatoes, corn and a little feta

I also tried to drink more yesterday, which made me visit the loo a lot, also during work hours. I binged on a handful of cookies a dear co-worker brought to work. And that is a thing I don’t know yet how to deal with. I can keep my home clean of sweet treats but I cannot keep my workplace or our kitchen there clean of it. And sometimes it is really hard to say no. Especially as I felt very tired yesterday and my brain tried to tell me that a little bit of refined sugar would really help.

Starting tomorrow I’m going to inlcude pictures of the things I ate as well as recipes if I feel like sharing them.

Back on Track? Eating clean Round 2.

It’s hard to stay on track lately. With everything. My eating clean habits have been non-existent the past months. And my exercise lacked because of a constant cold that plagues me since Easter. Up and coming are two weeks off work starting next week. And I have plans for this time. Apart from a trip to Munich I want to get my eating and my exercise in order.

I want to commit to eating clean again starting today. Or actually yesterday. And I want to work out regularly starting as soon as I can breathe through my nose again.  Journaling is told to have a great positive effect on making changes and having positive results. I think this blog could be the right spot to keep a journal, make plans and setting goals, again. I have neglected it a lot, but since I will have some free time on my hands starting next week, I’ll try and come back here as often as I can.

So here is a breakdown of what I ate yesterday. I am especially proud I did not grab sweet or salty snacks.

Day 1 eating clean again (Monday 05-05-14)

Breakfast: Espresso with skim milk, 3 tbsp oats, 1 tbsp flaxseed, 3 tbsp amaranth, 3 tbsp non-fat joghurt, 4 strawberries, some blueberries

Mid-morning munch: half an apple, a handful almonds, one rice waffle with peanut spread

Lunch: red lentils, scampi and vegetables (broccoli and green beans)

Afternoon snack: one grapefruit

Dinner: salad (cucumber, cherry tomatoes, red bell pepper and canned tuna), 2 slices whole wheat bread, low-fat cheese slice, one hard boiled egg and mustard

 

I started my weight-journey roughly one year ago and I have come very far since then as I started out with 83 kg (183 lbs). I have lost more than 30 pounds since then. Still, I hope to drop some weight with all this again. I am now at 69 kg (152 pounds) and I’d like to drop another 5 kg or roughly 10 pounds.

Cut the crap. No refined sugar for 2 weeks (or more).

Dear blog,

I haven’t posted in a long while. Again. It seems I would most often find my way back to you in times of trouble rather than in times of joy. Because as you may know by now, weight loss is not as easy as pie.

A few weeks before Christmas I reached one of my long time goals: weigh less than 70 kg once again. Hitting that goal I felt only joy. Then Christmas came along and with it a lot of food. And I allowed myself that food consciously, knowing that what I would gain, I could, no, I WOULD lose again once the new year would knock at my door. But unfortunately this is not so as of today. And this is not because I got lazy, at least not with my workouts. I have been working out at least three days a week, using my all time favorite vids by Fitness Blender, getting engaged in their fourth installment of a workout plan. But I still don’t see the longed for changes.

Reading myself through a load of MyFitnessPal threads, I now am sure that there can only be one reason why the scale won’t budge. It’s my nutrition. Although I was making an effort there, too. At least that is what it felt like. The solution to my problem must then lie in my food intake. And as I don’t want to count calories, I will do what helped me get the weight loss started initially. And that was cutting the crap from my diet.

I decided to go cold turkey on refined sugar again for the next two weeks, tracking what I eat (not counting the calories of what I eat) to see if that can make the difference again. The only times I will allow myself some sugar is in fruits and vegetables where it is contained naturally and otherwise in dark chocolate and a spoonful of the sweet condensed milk that goes into my morning coffee (which all in all yielded good results last time, too).

I will cut:

• sweetened beverages, especially cocoa milk and chai latte fresh India (Krüger)
• birthday cake (I had a lot of that last week, due to my BF’s B day)
• chocolate cookies and gummi bears (sweets in general)
• jam and other sweet bread toppings

First step in this venture already was carried out today. I took all the sweets I had left from Christmas to work, giving them away to my co-workers.

As this is a really challenging thing to do for me, I will use this blog to come back and report how it goes, what the pitfalls are and whether it gets me the results I want.

Thanks for being patient with me.

Sincerely,

Bri

P.S.: Did you ever go cold turkey on refined sugar?

Why do I or don’t I blog?

I have issues with blogging consistently. I started this blog because I thought it would be fun to share my journey from fat to fit with people who are interested in the same thing. And I started it because I wanted it for myself, to keep track of what happened when and why. This journey is not yet over and still… I am an inconsistent blogger.

The main reason for this is that writing posts does not always come easily. Sometimes the words just flow. But there are also the other days when  you know you should post something and either you have no idea about  what or you have trouble to find the right words. Also we all have busy schedules and next to inspiration finding the time is often an issue.

Thank god, it’s only blogging I fail to have time and inspiration for, because I still like to do fitness and try healthy recipes and read other peoples’ blogs, too.

But I want to get things going on here again. Because yesterday I took the time to read some of the old posts I did back in March and it’s interesting for me to recap how far I have come. That is why I want to post stuff I do and share it with you guys again.

There are already two months of updates missing on here. That is why I will include one right away.

On the 8th of July I posted that I had overcome a long-lasting weight-loss plateau. I weighed in at 75 kg that last time. Last week I weighed myself in at 72.8 kg (or 160.5 lbs), which means a loss of 2.2 kg in the last two month. I am happy about that and about the fact that I soon will hit the 150ish lbs region.

ALSO THIS IS OVER 10 KG or 22 lbs DOWN SINCE MARCH! YEAH! 

What did I do to reach this? I may have told you already but I took up a new job in June. I am very happy with this job as a sales person because it’s a very active job. I don’t sit all day long as I did in previous jobs or in university, which also upped my activity level from sedentary or lightly active to very active. In conclusion I also burn more calories because my Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE) increased. And although I haven’t been good eating-wise the last two months I still shed pounds. The reason for my bad eating habits are practically a time thing, because I have to take food to work and sometimes I don’t have time to prepare something healthy. Besides a lot of people I know are happy enough to celebrate their birthdays in summer, like BFF, father, brother, mother and other friends. There was practically no weekend without a party and a cake.

I have gone to taking my measurements once a week and working out at least three times a week. My newest obsession is Fitness Blender’s 8 week fat loss program. I like it because it is so versatile and their workouts include a warm-up, some sort of routine like HIIT, Barre, weights, kickboxing, etc and a cool-down and sometimes even yoga or Pilates. Their workouts mostly take about 45 to 60 minutes and keep my body guessing (great for not hitting that plateau again).

To sum things up and bring this very long post to an end: I am still on track and I miss blogging and that is why I want to share more with you again.

Adopting to clean eating.

In one of my last posts I mentioned that I totally love Blogilates with Cassey Ho. She is not only perfectly fit but also kind of an health advocate. In one of her videos she first introduced me to the concept of clean eating. It is not a diet but a life style to help people get lean and stay so. I was hooked and bought The Eat-Clean Diet Recharged by Tosca Reno. Now I am adopting clean eating into my life. Basically that means:

• To avoid sugar and white flour (Oh my!).
• Having breakfast every day (I really didn’t in the past).
• Eating up to six small meals every day that are a combination of lean protein and complex carbohydrates as well as healthy fats (If I can get the hang of it, so can you).
• Drinking 3 liters of water every day (Boy, that means more runs to the potty.).
• Adhering to proper portion sizes (Using handfuls to help you eat maybe less but enough that you don’t get hungry).

Sooooo long story short. Here is the result of the lunch I cooked today. Clean Quinoa and Avocado Salad with Exotic Chicken. It really tasted fabulously fresh.

For the Quinoa and Avocado Salad please visit The Gracious Pantry, where I got this recipe.

Recipe for the Exotic Chicken:

Ingredients (serves 2):

2 chicken breast, 2 gloves of garlic finely chopped, 2 tsp honey, juice of 1/2 lime,  1 tsp cinnamon, 1 tsp nutmeg, 1 fresh ginger the length of the first joint of your thumb peeled and grated.

I put all ingredients in a small mixing bowl and into the fridge over night. So that means you have to prepare it beforehand. I roasted the chicken breast only in a pan using one tbsp of olive oil until it became golden brown and honey caramelized.

What do you think? It’s a fab meal to start into spring giving you all the energy you need, isn’t it?

Also, stay tuned for an update on my weight loss journey.

Zumba is Fun, Cardio and Dance combined. I like it.

Today I went to my local gym Fitness First and had a free trial training (actually I can come back anytime the whole next week). My friend invited me to join her in her fun Zumba class. And though I never did Zumba before I really liked it and was able to keep up with all the other fitness junkies. Zumba is a combination of aerobics and dance elements and most important fun. The instructor was a tiny but lively Cuban woman urging us to smile and roll our hips.  And also class was free for all genders mostly women participated in today’s class. I saw two men and they really did well. 

We did short choreographies including elements from Reaggaeton, Cumbia, Salsa, Mambo and Hip-Hop matching the songs that were played. In between songs we had little breaks of less than one minute to catch breath or grab the water bottle.

One hour of Zumba is really exertive and supports the loss of body fat. It is supposed to burn at least 400 calories. So it is really great for getting fit and losing weight.

A perfect cardio training. Although I am not sure whether to join the gym or not as it is really expensive. Really.

I do what I can. Pilates with blogilates.

It has been two weeks since I came across blogilates with Cassey Ho. I wanted to add some physical exercise to my life to make me tone up my muscles and ultimately feel stronger. In search of inspiration I typed “Pilates exercises for beginners” into Google. Why Pilates? Because I heard of it related to shaping up and was curious to try it. It gave me Cassey and her Pop Pilates videos on youtube. Cassey is really a lovely and bouncy person who just makes you want to exercise with her and keeps you focused to get what you want. A strong body and a happy you that is. I have linked here to her beginner’s video, which I have already done several times until now to get a hang of all new to me Pilates.

Her videos are great for strengthening the lower and upper body as well as the core. I love it! I have done it about five times a week for two and a half weeks now. And I still want more. And that’s news with me. Usually I can get all excited about something new only to let it go a week (or even less) later.

Sooo… I do what I can to keep up with my personal trainer Cassey (only kidding… but it really feels like it doing the exercises while watching her videos), who is urging me to keep a position only a little while longer or suck the belly button in.

I already feel my muscles growing and am happy when I look in the mirror and see my butt has lifted a tiny bit or my tummy is already more flat. For melting the fat I do Cassey’s cardio exercises like the Fat Melting Routine or HIITilates (High Intense Interval Training).

Well, if you are looking for a great way to shape up without hitting the gym I recommend you to check out blogilates. It certainly works for me.

I’m walking those stairs.

I live on the top floor of an apartment house with an elevator. And let’s face it, pushing that button that opens the doors to the elevator with a swooshing sound is just much easier than walking up four flights of stairs. But in order to change my appearance and living a healthier life I’m going to take those stairs. Starting today.

Incorporating walking stairs in my daily life is like doing some mini exercises in between. Just like opting for a healthier snack than a chocolate bar.  It’s not hard. To the contrary it tones the muscles of the butt, thighs and calves all at the same time. And you can do it, too!

Now, there are no stairs in your apartment building or you live on the first floor? What about the stairs in your office or the mall? Just take the stairs that cross your path in your daily life.

Also you could start a stair climbing routine incorporating it into your workout. Just remind to warm up first going slowly for several minutes and increasing speed as you go. I will start with going all four flights of stairs in my building at slow speed before exercising (Pilates mainly). When I feel I get stronger I’ll increase speed and the number of times I climb those stairs.

Summarizing the benefits:
+ Climbing stairs tones butt, calf and thigh muscles.
+ It strengthens your cardiovascular system as it gets your heart rate up.
+ It does not cost any money.
+ It can be done throughout the day whenever stairs cross your path.

Just remember to start slowly only increasing speed when you are starting to feel stronger.