Word of the Day: Eloquent

Hey Kiwi's! I'm starting something new. Word of the day! I'm doing this to expand my and your vocabulary, plus it's kind of fun searching up weird and wacky words! 

I'll be using multiple dictionaries and such, so that you can see many different definitions and examples and maybe even be able to use the word in everyday speech.

I'm thinking about throwing in prefixes and suffixes. Maybe even words in other languages! For now, I'll stick with English words. 

Eloquent (el-uh-kwent) 

-adj.

1) vividly or movingly expressive

2) having the power of fluent, forceful, appropriate speech

3) expressing oneself readily, clearly, and effectively

4) fluently persuasive 

ex. "John gave a very eloquent speech at the conference"

ex. "Her speech was so eloquent that she persuaded me to join the organization"

Hope you enjoyed! If you have any suggestions on how I can make this better, just comment! Bye-bye!

Let's go running!

So I recently joined a running team (well, not too recently, I started this post a while ago and just never got around to finishing) and I've been scouring the interweb for tips and tricks to become a better runner! From tips on how to get more air in your lungs to great stretches, I've got you covered.

1) Be a belly breather!
I promise you, it'll help so much. Whenever you chest breathe, you're just tensing your shoulders and wasting valuable energy that you could've used to run. Chest breathing is a bad habit, and like most bad habits, it's hard to get rid of. Try focusing on your breathing through out the day, make sure you're belly breathing. Slowly, but surely, you'll transfer it over to your running. Now while you're running, make sure to take deep breathes. Really take your time to breath.

1 1/2) Nose breathing.
While we're on the subject, remember to nose breath. In through your nose, out through your mouth. I noticed whenever I nose breath while running, I can run longer without getting as tired. This is true since when you nose breath, you can get more air into you lungs quickly and efficiently. Like belly breathing, it'll take time to get used to nose breathing. I suggest taking a nice quick jog while nose breathing to get you used to the idea and try not to mouth breath, especially in colder weather, since the dry air can cause asthma-like symptoms. That is not what you want on your nice, morning run.

2) STRETCH
Stretching is essential! Something you don't even think about doing prior to a run. It helps your muscles to get loose and prevents injuries like muscle strains. Dynamic stretches are better for pre-running. Incorporate movement into your stretches. For example, in my running group we do a thing called sweeps. It's where you stick one foot out with your toes pointing toward you and you reach down to the floor and "sweep" upwards. Or another stretch like walking lunges. Yoga is also a great way to get loose, my favorite is this one. Here is a PDF with many great pre-run stretches, both static and dynamic.

compliments of skinnymom.com

3) Shoes are a runners best friend
Okay, so let me tell you a little story. For the first two weeks of my running career, my feet were KILLING me. My arch hurt, my ankles, my knees, everything. Me and my coach had a conversation that went a little like this:
 "These shoes are horrible, where did you get these?"
"Dick's Sporting Goods..."
"No, no, no! Don't do that."
"What? Why?"
"Because these shoes are not fitted to your foot properly. You need to go to a specialty shop to get a shoe fitting."
"Well, alright."
So later that day I went to my local specialty running shop (you can find your's at this here website) and got my very first shoe fitting. They measured my foot, put me on a treadmill so that they could see how I walked and ran, and got me my perfect shoes! All in under 30 minutes. To this day, I haven't had arch pain, knee pain, ankle pain (besides my sprained ankle, but that's a different story totally unrelated to the shoes) are all gone! The shoes can be slightly pricey, but it's well worth it if you plan on being, or are, an avid runner.

4) Hydrate yourself!
No, Gatorade does not count. Unless you have been doing vigorous, high level exercise, you do not need Gatorade. Water is just fine. Even better than Gatorade, actually. I suggest you wake up to and fall asleep to a glass of water. It's the best way to start getting yourself on track. Drink some water with every meal, even snacks. Don't wait until you get dehydration symptoms (things like headaches, dizziness, dry mouth, and dark urine are the most common) before you start hydrating (I learned that the hard way). Drink before, during, and after a workout. You can even add some lemon and cucumber to your water, as it adds needed nutrients and gives your water flavor! And avoid alcohol before exercise (or in general, but that's more your choice) since its a notorious dehydrator. Here's some other ways to spice up your water! I realize these are detoxing recipes, but hey, why not hydrate and detox at the same time?

5) Make a schedule

Sample schedule thanks to Dr. Phil

Maybe even an award system! Maybe you love cheesecake, so set a minimum amount of miles or exercise hours per week and reward yourself with a slice of that delicious Godiva cheesecake (man, that sounds really good right now). That way, you get your exercise done and get your cheesecake and eventually your brain will associate exercise with cheesecake so you'll be more compelled to exercise. Okay, I got off track. So about the schedule, set one! In your phone, on a calender, as your laptop background. Anything that will get you to see it. Maybe put some pictures around it, like your dream body or that cheesecake I was talking about earlier. Something to associate exercise and reward with each other. There are plenty of websites that can even generate a workout plan for you (oh, what a world we live in!).

6) And finally, your mind is powerful
Never underestimate the power of your mind. It's a powerful tool. I like to think of the Law of Attraction in this case. If you think about it, you will attract it. I don't mean I you briefly think about exercising, your dream body will magically come to you. Having the right attitude is key. Don't go around thinking you're a fat slob who will never look like those pictures (if you believe it will happen, it will happen. If your believing it'll happen isn't enough for you, remember that I believe in you), you need to have a winners mentality to get anywhere in, well, life! If you need to, come up with your own mantra. A mantra is just a sentence or statement you repeat to yourself  to get your subconscious to believe it. Here's a sort of "recipe" for creating a mantra. I believe, as do many others, that meditation is key in order for you to be successful in your running. It calms the mind and body. Creates looseness. Mind-body connection is very important in exercise.



Running is a great way to get into shape, no matter who you are. Whether its a light jog, interval training, or flat out sprinting! Choose your deal, get on a schedule, and follow it! Mix that together with a healthy diet and you'll have your perfect bikini body before the end of the year! Good luck to you all:)

Tsum Tsum's!

Okay, so I decided to do a review of a new Disney app called Tsum Tsum which translates to "stack stack" since the real life toys are shaped like stackable bricks. Basically, the story is that some toys in a Disney toy store where playing at night and now you have to get them to their right place since they're so tired. I'm not really getting that vibe from the actual game play, but it's still a super adorable game! 

In the beginning it shows a cute little clip of the story, you know the one where the toys are playing but then realize they need to get back to place. 

After the clip is shown, it takes you to the homepage which asks whether or not you want to log in to your Line account or play as guest (word of advice, if you choose guest and then decide to log in it'll erase all of your previous data)

The game is quite simple, yet very addictive! All you have to do is connect Tsum's together, the bigger the connection the more points you get. 

Once you've connected enough Tsum's together, an event called a "Fever" occurs ! Don't worry, it's a good thing! You get a bonus for every combination you make. 

This is your final score (well not yours, mine, but you get the idea). Once you're on level three, you get daily missions which upon completion give you 500 coins. 

Okay, on to the actual review! Overall, this game is adorable and slightly addictive. The only cons I have to this game is the wait time for "hearts" which allow you to play more rounds, and that you have to have a Line account to have your score recorded. Only minor inconveniences. My favorite part of the game is the cutesy graphics! The music is also very cute. I really recommend this game, but be warned it is addictive! 

Hair Volume, Thanks to A Model Recommends!

Hello, readers! Sorry I haven't written in a while, I've been a little busy. Don't fear, I'm here! Alright, so today I wanted to write about is how to get hair volume from flat hair!

I was searching around for this for a while, especially on YouTube. I found a great, great YouTube channel called A Model Recommends hosted by Ruth Crilly. She has lots of great how-to's and product reviews. If you aren't much of a YouTuber, she also has a website! For some reason I can't post the link, but a quick Google search will get you there.

Anyway, so onto the volumization (I just invented a word, haha) process.

Okay, so all of the products she recommends are from KMS. According to her, this is a very quick process. According to her hair, it gets you massive volume!

To start out, put in a few pumps of KMS' Silk Sheen Styling Cream all through your hair and blow dry. This makes your hair nice and smooth, a perfect canvas for almost all hair styles! But wait, I'm not done.

Next, after it's dry, you would put in one or two KMS' Silk Sheen Polishing Serum all over the surface of your hair to get rid of frizz. Once it's in, you would add KMS' Add Volume Root Spray to, as the name implies, your root. Really work it in. Tilt your head and blow dry!

Once dry, add in KMS' Hair Play Sea Salt Spray for the crazy volume. Just spray it all over your hair, tilt your head, and blow dry! Go back and add more product to it, tilt your head once again, and blow dry. According to the video, every time you do this your hair grows a few inches! You just continue on with this until you get your desired volume.

 Ms. Crilly says in her video, that the sea salt spray works great, but it kind of dulls blonde hair. I have a suggestion for that! I use Kerastase Elixir K Ultime. It makes my hair smooth and shiny, so I imagine this would work for this situation as well.

I'll post the links later, if it allows me! Good luck!

So I've Deided to try Coding...

Hello, everyone! Sorry for not writing for a few days I just kind of got lazy, but I'm back! So today I decided to do a more "tech-y" post. Lately, I've been interested in coding. I've been scouring the web for how-to's and tutorials, and I thought "Why not share this with my readers?" So here I am, sharing it with my readers, haha.

1) Tuts+ (here's the link)

So Tuts+ is a great site with plenty of tutorials on anything from coding,  to photography, to designing! I especially like their easy and fun tutorials for Adobe Illustrator (I know that's not what the post is about, but I just wanted to throw that in). It's very thorough in its instructions, and you can always comment and ask if you don't understand something! The best part is you don't have to sign up, there are plenty of free, easy tutorials!

2) Dash (find it here)

I really, really like Dash. It teaches HTML, JavaScript, and CSS. It's super easy to understand, plus you don't need any sort of programs like Dreamweaver to get started! You learn right there on the website. My downside to this is that you have to sign up, it's not that much of an inconvenience I just personally don't like signing up. Anyway, here's a screenshot of the tutorial:

3) HTML-5-tutorial (here it is)

Okay, so this one is a little bit wordy, but it really teaches the material. If you don't like reading too much, this won't be for you. I like it though, and I do recommend it (why else would I even mention it?) It has a glossary, in case you don't understand what they're talking about. Overall, nice website.

5) Microsoft Virtual Academy (the site)

This is a video series on HTML5 and CSS3 for beginners. What I like about this is that all the topics are broken up into its own video so if you already have some experience you could just skip down to what you want to learn next. The videos are sort of long (about thirty minutes on average), but you gotta remember that this is much easier to comprehend then if you sat down and started to read a book on it. This series has a total of 21 episodes,  all staring (I guess the word would be staring) Bob Tabor. You can sign up, it's not necessary, but it does help in tracking your progress and such. They also have this file you can download, which can help you self assess yourself and give you some extra practice. It includes material from all of the lessons, with material for before you start the lesson and after. It's not essential, but it's like a supplement to the core lesson.



Alright, that is it for now. If I find any other tutorial website on coding, I will be sure to add them on. If anyone else knows any other good HTML tutorials, please feel free to tell me about them and I'll be sure to test them out. Thanks for reading!

Yoga, good for the body and soul.

     I love yoga, its my absolute favorite. It's like a cleanser for your body and energy. I have complied some of my favorite yoga routines (and yoga websites), and I sure hope you love it as much as me!

1) From doyogawithme.com, its a pre-run yoga routine that I do, if not obvious enough, before I run. Here's the video link; http://vimeo.com/26634653

Its by a yogi named Fiji McAlpine, she films this at a beach so you can hear all the peaceful waves. It really relaxes me. I like to meditate a little before and after I do yoga, but with this one I only meditate before since I like to run right after my muscles warm up.

2) From yogajournal.com. They have a yoga sequence builder, which I love because I can customize it to my specific needs. You can save and print your sequence, even share them! I just like to have fun with this one.

3) Skinny Mom has a great list of yoga poses. The link is http://www.skinnymom.com/2014/02/17/70-yoga-poses-to-tone-and-strengthen-your-body/ It categorizes each based on what muscle(s) it works, which is great!

I'm not quite done with this post, I just wanted to publish to get you guys started! Good luck on your journey to spiritual enlightenment.

Namaste

Beauty Clay!

     Hello, and welcome back! Today I am going to do a blog on beauty clay masks, because who doesn't love clay masks? Anyway, I've made a list of cosmetic clay, and good ingredients to pair with it, for your own DIY face mask! Alright, let's get this started!

Let's start out with pink clay, also known as rose clay. Pink clay is a mild clay best used for normal, dry, and sensitive skin. Pink clay works for your skin by detoxifying, exfoliating, and healing your skin. This clay, as most clays, helps with acne. Its also known to heal sun damaged skin and improve circulation. Some ingredients that work well with yogurt, honey, almond oil, castor oil, and green tea. Rose petals are also great when paired with rose clay, essential oils such as lavender or rosemary.

You can buy some pink clay here, or here

Essential oils and other ingredients that aren't available in grocery stores can be bough here


Next up, we've got white clay. White clay doesn't pull oil from your skin, so its suitable for dryer skin. It helps detoxify skin, and improves circulation. It also limits the production of sebum, and mineralizes dry skin. Perfect for dry and oily skin. Some good ingredients to mix with white clay are milk, vitamin E oil, and nettle leaves.

White clay, or kaolin clay, can be bought here or here


Now let's talk about green clay. Green clay is used for increasing blood flow to your face, allowing for oxygen and nutrients to reach it. This is very, very important for skin repair and preventing wrinkles. This clay is best suited for oiler skin, normal, and combo since it removes excess oil and reduces the size of your pores. Good ingredients to mix with this clay is witch hazel and apple cider vinegar (I recommend Bragg Organic Apple Cider Vinegar, available at most groceries in the US) for acne prone skin. Raw honey is best for mature skin.

Buy it here, I also recommend this clay as its pretty similar in shrinking pores and evening out skin tone (mix with freshly squeezed orange juice).


Lastly (for now), is yellow clay. This is probably the most mild of all the clays. It, like pink clay, does not remove oil so this is suitable for drier skin. It's also a fantastic exfoliator! It draws out impurities and acts like a toner. It's actually so mild, it works well for sensitive skin. Ingredients such as jojoba oil, geranium essential oil, and rose water.

This is a good place to buy it.


You don't have to use those exact ingredients, they're just recommendation's. If I was you, I would play round with different ingredients, try to customize it to your skin type. Who knows your skin better than you do? Good luck!

You get a skin mask, and you get a skin mask, and you get a skin mask!

    

     Hello, Kiwis! I'm back for my second post EVER. Exciting, I know.

     Today, I'm going to do a DIY face mask post! I've compiled a list of my favorite face masks for all skin types. Oily, sensitive, combination, dry, and normal. (Please feel free to skip down to your skin type, I know I'd do that.) Let's start out with;

Oily

Oily skin, as the name implies, produces too much oil. Whether its because of hormones or harsh drying cleansers, which, believe it or not, are not good for any skin type. Especially oily, since harsh chemicals dry out your skin causing it to produce more oil. Which equals a big mess. Oily skin isn't all bad, wrinkles won't show up as quickly as dry skin or normal skin gals. Anyhoo, when it comes to your skin type, you need to absorb some (but not all) of the oil. Kind of balancing your skin. A strawberry facemask will do the trick.

Strawberries are full of antioxidants, which is good for any skin type, as well as their astringent properties which will get rid of excess oil. Now, onto the recipe!

5 or 6 fresh strawberries
1 tbsp. of oatmeal
2 tbsp. of fuller's earth (A clay type thing, I'm sure most cosmetic clays would work though)
A little rose water
*Optional, I added it* 1 cup yogurt

To prepare, put all of your ingredients in a food processor (I just used a blender, might not be as fine of a paste though) and mix them to the point of a fine paste. Apply your mask onto your face for 20-30 minutes, this would be the time to catch up on your reading or do the laundry, and wash off with lukewarm water.

If not all these ingredients are available to you, just mix;

1/4 cup of strawberries
1/4 cup of yogurt

The preparation is the same, so is the wait time.

Source: younghopes.hubpages.com


Sensitive

Your skin is most likely dry, a little tight. Most drugstore face washes cause an allergic reaction on you, so you either A) Spend countless hours on Pinterest looking for a DIY face wash or B) Spent quite a bit of money on a "sensitive skin" face wash that just doesn't work as well. I've got a weekly, or twice weekly depending on how much time you have, solution fort you. This mask is super simple, the ingredients are probably in your kitchen right now!

1 tsp. baking soda/oatmeal scrub mix*
1 tsp. of raw, preferably local, honey
1/2 tsp. water

Mix all the ingredients well in a little bowl. Slowly, and gently, apply the mixture onto clean skin. Do not rub it in, the mixture should sit on top of your skin. Let it sit for 15-20 minutes, rinse it off with lukewarm water and pat your skin dry.

*basically 1 part baking soda, 2 part finely ground oatmeal

Source: lifewithlovebugs.com


Combination

Your skin is a bit tricky, its probably oily in your T-zone (Your forehead, your nose, and your chin.) and normal to dry on your cheeks. You have some options, though. Your recipe is a little different. A ratio, actually.

About 1 part cosmetic clay, finely ground oatmeal, or turmeric (careful with turmeric, it does stain skin, but can be removed with a cleanser)
About 1 part milk, rosewater, honey, or yogurt
*Optional* A few drops of essential oils such as tea tree or sandalwood

Mix ingredients until they form a smooth, creamy consistency. Apply for 20-30 minutes, unless you're using turmeric in which case only apply for 10-15 minutes. Wash off with lukewarm water, pat dry and viola! Beautiful skin.

Source: cutoutandkeep.net


Dry

Dry skin doesn't produce enough sebum, leaving your complexion dull and with a tight feeling. To correct this, you must add some moisture back into your skin (The Oil Cleansing method might be perfect for you, I'll do a post on that later).

1/2 very ripe, soft avocado
1/4 cup honey
*Optional* The yolk of one egg, preferably local since they're usually the most nutritious
Mash up your avocado until smooth and creamy. Add the honey and, if using, egg yolk. Mix, mix, mix! Apply onto skin and leave on for 10-15 minutes. Wash off with lukewarm water. Enjoy your moisturized skin!

Source: beauty.about.com


Last, but certainly not least Normal

As deceiving as that name is, normal skin isn't actually so normal. As in its not common. You are very, very lucky with this skin. Not too oily, not too dry. Smack dab in the middle. Your skin might still lose its luster so its nice to refresh your skin with a nice face mask.

1 packet of instant oatmeal
Enough water for that pack of instant oatmeal
1 Egg white
1 tsp. olive oil

Pour one packet of oatmeal and the required amount of water for it into a bowl. Microwave it for as long as the packet says. Now take 1/2 cup of that oatmeal, and put it in another bowl. Do whatever you please with that other bit of oatmeal, I prefer it as a snack. Add the egg white and olive oil to the oatmeal and mix. Apply it to your skin and leave it on for 20-25 minutes, rinse off with Luke warm water.

Source: allladiesfashion.blogspot.in


Hope everyone enjoys their brand new, fabulous skin! Go ahead, admire it in the mirror. Show it off at that get together at your coworkers house. If you enjoyed this post, why not share it? Enjoy!