Get Up And Glow

Clear and beautiful skin is every woman’s dream but with our busy schedules, polluted environment, and the suns harsh rays it is more difficult that one might imagine maintaining a healthy glow. No to mention that every woman’s skin is different; some of us have dry skin, oily skin, or a combination of both, but no matter what your skin type over 24hrs dirt, makeup, and oil are going to build up. The first step to clear skin is washing all the buildup off at night.

If you wear makeup on a daily basis be sure to invest in a good makeup remover. I like Cetaphil’s
Gentle Skin Cleansing Cloths. This will ensure you have unclogged all your pores and will not leave bacteria on your pillow. When washing with soap, be sure to use a gentle one that cleanses but doesn’t strip your skin of its natural moisture. I like Cetaphil daily facial cleanser for normal skin. Be gentle around your eyes because the eye area is too delicate for cleansers. When rinsing off your face be sure to splash with water and then pat dry. Do not rub. If you have oily skin, follow with a toner to remove excess oil the soap missed and to close your pores. If your skin is dry then using astringent can actually cause acne oil glands to overcompensate. This is why you should use a light and natural toner. I like Thayer’s Alcohol-Free Witch Hazel with Organic Aloe Vera Formula Toner (Rose Petal) and Kiss My Face Balancing Antioxidant Toner. Apply a few drops to a cotton ball and swipe over your face. Follow with a moisturizer. Use a light moisturizer during the day. I use Cetaphil Daily Facial Moisturizer with sunscreen Broad Spectrum SPF 15. This is very important, every time you step outside you need to wear SPF. Following this rule will leave your skin dewy and supple for years to come. It only takes 15 minutes to burn and the tan is not worth it. I know a great tan looks amazing but lucky for you we have so many products that offer a glorious tan without the sun. I like….If tanning lotion is not your cup of tea, then try a tinted moisturizer with SPF which will give you light coverage and color. At night use a heavier moisturizer. I like Cetaphil Moisturizing Cream. Be sure to apply moisturizer all over the face including the neck.

If your skin is extremely dry then you should exfoliate once a week to clear all the dead skin cells. Some facial scrubs contain scrubbing agents to gently remove the top layer of skin on your face. Broken pieces of seeds, like apricot seeds, or nutshells are commonly used. However, the University of Maryland Medical Center warns that these ingredients may damage skin. Instead, choose scrubbing cleansers that use micro beads, which are less likely to scratch skin.

You can turn your regular facial cleanser into an exfoliating cleanser with a few simple steps. Add a small amount of white sugar or corn meal to your cleanser, then rubbing it gently onto your face to avoid scratching your skin. Additionally, cold coffee grounds and baking soda added to your regular cleanser will help to exfoliate and remove dead skin cells. Oatmeal is also effective as a gentle scrubbing agent, and scrubbing your skin with a soft washcloth or other fabric with texture will remove dead skin cells as well.
Along with an exfoliation once a week you should also apply a face mask once a week to create a flawless and glowing complexion.

The skin is composed of many layers and tissues, and each of them needs certain requirements according to age. The first requirement is energy, and this is supplied by sugars in honey and fruits, and medium chain triglycerides present in milk.

Certain vitamins play an integral part in the health and integrity of the skin, like vitamin A which acts like a hormone on the skin cells, vitamin B complex which is necessary for all the metabolic processes when the cells are active, and vitamin E which acts as an antioxidant to guard against the harmful effects of free radicals. Fruit acids (alpha hydroxyl acids) requirement appears with age, when the superficial layer of dead skin cells is required to be shed off more quickly, and this is done by fruit acids when they reduce the stickiness of the cement material that holds the dead keratinized cells on the surface of the skin. There are some phytochemicals present in plants that have specific effects on the enzymes of the skin cells. To sum it up for you, Face masks that supply energy, vitamins, and membrane components are going to show the best results.

It is hard to find a facemask that fits your skin tone perfectly and some of the facemasks on the market today are quite expensive. With that being said below are a few recipes for homemade face masks that will leave you wanting more.

1. Neem, gram flour, and curd face mask

The yogurt softens and moisturizes while the neem helps to create a natural glow.

You will need:

• Neem powder

• 1 tsp. gram flour

• 1 tsp. curd

Put curd and gram flour in a bowl to create a paste. Slowly add the neem powder and mix thoroughly. Apply this mixture to a clean and dry face. Wash with cold water.

2. Almond, Honey, and Saffron Face Mask
This pack gives a glowing effect. The saffron helps to lighten your skin tone and reduce the appearance of spots, while honey tightens the skin. The almond and lemon aid in the removal of dead skin.

You will need:

• 4 to 5 Almonds soaked in water or milk overnight

• 1 tsp. Honey

• Some strands of Saffron soaked in 2 tbsp. warm milk

• 1 tsp. lemon juice

Grind the soaked almonds into a paste. Next, add the saffron infused milk, honey, and lemon juice to this paste. Apply to dry, clean skin and let sit for 10-15 minutes. Once dry, wash off with cotton pads soaked in milk or cold water.
3. Banana and yogurt face mask
Lemon is a natural bleaching agent (you can also use it on blond hair to accentuate highlights) Banana is great for glowing skin (the skin of a banana can be used for teeth whitening)

Yogurt is a moisturizing agent

You will need:

• 1 Ripe banana peeled and mashed

• 1 tsp. Honey

• 1 tbsp. yogurt

• 1 tsp. lemon juice

Add the mashed banana and yogurt to a bowl and mix. Next add the honey and lemon juice and mix into a smooth paste. Apply to the face and neck, let dry, then rinse off with cold water.
This is just a sampling of all the wonderful homemade facemasks you can create. Why depend on expensive packaged face masks when you can get better results from your kitchen.

Are you tired of your loose caboose? Follow my tips and you’ll be tighter from tush to toe.

Everyone wants a little junk in the trunk, but little is the key word here. While some women are just blessed with curves others have to work at it. First things first let’s start with your diet. This is the most important step because you can work out all you want but it won’t do any good if you fuel up on the wrong foods. It’s important to flood your body with vitamins and antioxidants that will crush the free radicals that age your body. This is easy to say but hard to do. It’s tough to eat the recommended amount of daily veggies especially if you barley have time to cook. There is an easy fix to this dilemma and its called juicing. You can eat up to five pounds of leafy greens in one sitting and juicing removes the fiber in veggies so the nutrients will enter the blood stream at warp speed. An important thing to remember is to go raw in order to preserve the nutrients in your veggies. Spinach, kale, and leafy green goodness is low in sugar and high in polyphenols and carotenoids which protect the body from sun damage. Add some fruit to your veggies and get your daily servings of fruit and veggies in one sitting. Just remember to go raw and all natural. Make your daily dose of juice with fruit and veggies only do not add sugar like a lot of store bought smoothies do. If you must go with a store bought version be sure to read the label. Juicing is a great start to a healthier body. Making healthy choices can be hard but the benefits are worth it.

Once you have your diet on track you will need to add some tush tightening exercises to your daily regime to tighten and lift your butt. Butts are the new boobs and you don’t have to go under the knife for this lift.

Exercise #1: Get Down On All Fours

Wearing ankle weights, get down on your forearms and knees (similar to the hands-and-knees position, but you bend your arms and support your weight on your forearms instead of your hands). Keep your back straight and your head in line with your back so that your eyes are looking down. Keeping your back straight and leg bent, slowly swing your right leg back and lift your right foot toward the ceiling until your thigh is parallel to the ground. Your foot should remain flexed throughout the exercise. Hold for 1 second, then return to the starting position. Do one set with your right leg, then switch and repeat with your left. Don't arch or hunch your back during the exercise. This will prevent you from putting stress on your back. You can also make the exercise easier by doing it without ankle weights. If you don't have ankle weights, you can do the exercise with a light dumbbell held behind the knee in the crook of your working leg.

Exercise #2: The Dog Walk

Get down on all fours with your arms fully extended, your palms on the ground, your back straight, and your head in line with your back so that your eyes are looking down. Contract your glutes and, keeping your knee bent, raise your left leg out to the side at a 90-degree angle until it is parallel to the floor. (The position resembles a dog lifting its leg on a fire hydrant, hence the name Dog Walk.) Pause, then return to the starting position. Do one set with your left leg, then switch and repeat with your right. Remember, while doing this exercise, keep the rest of your body still; swaying back and forth can put unwanted stress on your back.

Exercise #3: The Side-Lying Side Kick

Lie on your left side, resting your head on your upper arm, and place your right hand on the floor in front of you for support. Bend your lower leg back for balance, and bend your top leg toward your chest, holding it in front of you so that it's parallel to the floor with your foot flexed. Keeping the rest of your body stationary and your top foot flexed, slowly straighten your right leg up and out at a 45-degree angle from your body. Pause, then slowly bend the top knee and return your leg to the starting position. Do one set with your right leg, then roll over and repeat with your left. Lift Tips Avoid swaying forward or back during the exercise; keep your body completely stationary, except for the working leg. You can make this exercise more challenging by adding light ankle weights.

Exercise #4: The Standing Press Back

Wearing ankle weights, stand facing a sturdy chair with your feet about hip-width apart. Hold on to the chair for balance and keep your knees soft. Keeping the rest of your body stable and your hips stationary, contract your glutes and slowly extend your right leg up and back at a 45-degree angle. Pause, then slowly return back to the starting position. Do one set with your right leg, then switch and repeat with your left. Resist the urge to bend way forward while raising your legs. Standing close to your supporting chair can help.

Your Workout Plan:

Perform the exercises 2 or 3 days a week (just not on consecutive days; your muscles need a rest), and you'll feel significantly stronger after just 3 to 6 weeks. After 6 to 8 weeks, you'll start seeing and feeling an improvement in your butt's firmness and appearance

Blogging for Beginners: Tips and Advice to get the Blog Rolling

I recently received a comment on one of my posts asking me if I have any recommendations for aspiring writers who would like to start a blog. Instead of commenting back I figured I would answer this question with a post, a sort of how-to on blogging. If anyone reading this posts thinks they can’t be a blogger, think again it’s a lot easier than you may have thought. All it takes is a little inspiration, a love of reading and writing, moderate level computer skills and a lot of free time to dedicate to your blog. The blogosphere is your oyster.


Step 1: Choose a platform

The first thing you need to decide is whether to go with a hosted platform or a non-hosted platform. A hosted platform sits on the platforms server. For example, if you have a blogger blog it will be hosted on the blogger server. A hosted platform is either on your own server or a web host server, which is a third party you usually pay to host your blog.

There are pros and cons for each type of platform.

The pros of a hosted platform are:

They are very user friendly making them easier to get started and they are inexpensive. Type pad offers tiered pricing depending on your needs and some, like Blogger, are free of charge. If your site becomes popular and you begin to get thousands of hits they will actually pay you to put up a few ads on your blog. Hosted platforms are self-intuitive so you will not become overwhelmed if you are not a computer whiz. For example, hosted sites control your HTML and CSS codes for you and offer a tab allowing you o see your HTML code if needed.

The cons of a hosted platform are:

They do not offer domain names. You can change various parts of HTML code but not all of it and your theme customizations are limited as well.

The pros of a non-hosted platform are:

You can control your HTML and CSS codes but you will have to pay for this option. It isn’t very expensive, it only costs about 5$ a month. With a non-hosted platform, you own it, you control it, you do it all this may seem overwhelming for all of you newcomers but don’t fret. There are tons of sites out there ready to lend a helping hand. Sites like Wordpress.org, Codex, Cyberspace, and Wordpress101.org to name a few. The internet is also abundant with plugins and widgets which will help to add functionality to your blog.

The cons of a non-hosted platform are:

The biggest con for this platform is the fact that you do everything. This is not a good way to start as a newcomer.

I started on a hosted platform and found it very easy to get started. As a beginner to the blogging scene you will be able to get a taste of what the blogging world has to offer. Once you have mastered this platform you can buy a domain and move to a non-hosted platform if that is something you are aiming to do.

I hope this post has been helpful for the blogging newcomers. I am going to leave you with a few key words of advice for a new blogger: Write from the heart about things that make you happy and interested. Most importantly, take baby steps so you don’t become overwhelmed and give up. There is a blogger inside each and every one of us, you just have to learn how to let it out.

Friday Night Fashion: How to Dress Sexy and Chic

Whether you are going out with the girls or even your typical birthday party, anniversary, or special event, these occasions call for the proper Performance Gear.  And when I say Performance Gear, it's a tongue-and-cheek way to describe your right outfit for the right event.  These events are special and you want to look your best for the occasion.  Specially at serious events like weddings or graduations where life-long pictures will graze the pages of Facebook.  The art of subtle, sexiness is the  best way to go when trying to pull off that sexy look.

The clothes you choose should accentuate your silhouette without revealing too much of your body.  There is one main rule to follow in these situations, choose one body part to show off.  For us women the main go-to in these scenarios is show off your chest or legs.  I agree both of these can accentuate the sexiness factor, but my advice is to stick with one.  Pushing the boundaries with too many revealing body parts can fall into the "trashy" category.  You always want to leave them guessing, so showing off just a little will tease your audience enough to inquire more about you!

Make sure your clothes are fitted; not too big or too small.  Tight does not always equal sexy!  Do however wear a form-fitting outfit with very few layers.  Keeping lines consistent with few layers will help accentuate your curves.  A sweater or jacket are fine if it's cold, but be sure they are fitted well enough.  A chic way to top off a sexy dress is with a fitted blazer.  There are loads of options out there, you just have to experiment to what works with your specific body-type.  And remember don't get discouraged!  Rome wasn't built in one day.  Sometimes getting together the right outfit is like putting together a puzzle, once the foundation is built, the pieces fall into place!  

Health and Fitness Fact sheet: 32 Tid Bits of Knowledge to Improve Your Overall Health

There is a plethora of information out there to help you lead a healthier lifestyle, but who wants to take the time to look for it? That's what I'm here for, to give you some health and fitness information.  All it takes is a few subtle changes to your diet or fitness routine to improve your overall health. Enjoy!                                           

Oatmeal, citrus fruits, and honey can improve sec drive and boost fertility. Oats produce a chemical that sends testosterone into the blood stream which increases your orgasm and sex drive as a result.  Vitamin c ups a males sperm count and vitamin b produces estrogen who his key for arousal and blood flow. 

Getting in plenty of fruits and veggies can help the body produce it's own form of aspirin. A study done by the Journal of Agriculture and Food  proved this. The test subjects ate fruits and veggies containing benzoin acid causing them to produce there own salacytic acid, the main ingredient in aspirin. 

Garlic can help cure athletes foot and Honey can soothe a hangover.

It’s harder to put on 10 pounds of muscle than it is to lose 10 pounds of fat. It takes a deficit of 3500 calories to loose a lb. 

Once an adult, fat cells can be created, but they cannot be lost – only shrunken. 

Eating late at night does not make you fat – overeating does.

The perimeter of the grocery store is where 90% of the healthy food is. 

Thyroid hormone output and exercise intensity are positively correlated.

Healthy levels of testosterone are good for both men and women. 

Unless you weigh less than 100 pounds, it’s unlikely you need less than 1000 calories a day to loose weight. 

There are 3 types of skeletal muscle fibers – type I, type II-A, and type II-B.

80% of people who begin an exercise program will quit.

The body has 3 energy systems – ATP-PC, anaerobic glycolysis, and aerobic. 

Dehydrating a muscle by 3% can cause a 10% loss of strength. 

The more muscle mass you have, the more calories you burn at rest.

You can lose weight and still gain muscle; likewise, you can also gain weight while still losing fat.

Consistency and patience are key to long term successful weight loss.

Carbohydrates, protein, fat, and alcohol have 4, 4, 9, and 7 calories per gram respectively.

It takes about a 3500 calorie deficit to lose 1 pound.

Insulin and growth hormonehave an inverse relationship.

The average person can store 500 grams of glycogen.

Only fat and protein areessential macronutrients – carbohydrates aren’t (but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t eat them).

Muscle glycogen is about 3 parts water to 1 part glucose.

The fat burning zone does not burn more total fat calories – only a higher percentage of calories from fat.

You’re never too old to dosquats.

Weight loss is not a physical challenge – it’s a mental one.

You can eat anything you want and still lose weight – but weight doesn’t always equal fat.

You can’t target fat loss – fat loss is systemic.

Muscle does not weigh more than fat – it’s just denser than it.

0 grams of fat on a label doesn’t always mean there’s no fat in the food product.

Whole grain bread can be highly processed – pick one that has few ingredients.