food. diet. fitness 101

i have lost about 20 pounds since the beginning of the year. i am 20 pounds away from my goal, but as travel season begins i am concerned about how i will maintain my weight lose, eat healthy, and possibly lose some more weight will i am on the road.

it is so tempting to just drive through a fast food restaurant and order a chocolate shake (esp. since i am not paying for it)! but for this year, i have a plan of diet and fitness that will hopefully allow me to maintain everything that i have worked hard for.

diet

planning what you eat before you actually eat is what will always save your waistline. i go to every restaurant website to map out the calorie content of all my meals. call it crazy, but it works for me! i also bring along healthy snacks for long driving. blue diamond almonds are the best! so filling!



a co-worker turned me onto the daily plate. it's a website where you can log everything you eat. it gives you the nutrition information for just about any restaurant or meal you eat. an additional bonus is that it tells you how many calories you can eat in order to keep your goal. for example, i want to lose about 1 pound a week, so the daily plate calculator estimates that i can eat about 1900 calories in order to meet my goal!

fitness

i really rely on hotel gyms and fitness centers to workout before i begin my day. but a lot of the time the equipment is out dated and out of order, so i've started to bring my own equipment (i promise i'm not a dork). my two favorite fitness tools are the kettle bell and a resistance band.



the kettlebell is a strength training tool and a cardio workout in one. rather than lifting the kettlebell, you swing it in order to exhaust your muscles in a new and unique way. it develops more lean muscle, rather than bulk. also, kettlebells can be found at target where a dvd of a workout routine is included!



resistance bands are also a good choice for a concise workout. once again this tool creates lean muscle mass. with resistance bands you can do bicep curls, tricep kickbacks, donkey kickbacks, the list goes on!

stay fab


blue diamond almonds (bluediamons.com); the daily plate (thedailyplate.com); kettlebell (ironcorekettlebells.com); resistance band (simplefitnesssolutions.com)

another one bites the dust

as you can tell by the title, it's that time of year; when disgruntled employees in admissions offices worldwide finally get the nerve and courage to pack up their travel packs for the last time and quit. i was desperately hoping that this would be my year to chuck the deuces at admissions life (or at least my current admissions office), but my time has not arrived. so far we've had three admissions counselors leave. two are going to grad school and one is simply moving to a different department.

all this turnover has got me to thinking about my own future....yeah, after two years, i'm finally taking serious thought to the future. and i'm thinking i should finally do what i've always wanted to do and write professionally. although writing is not something you necessarily need to go to school to do, i have decided to get a masters in creative writing. i honestly never thought of myself as ever going back to school to get my masters, but with some time and thought and my little pay, i figure i have nothing to lose and everything to gain. picture it, me as a grad student!

so, i've bought my kaplan GRE study guides and i've realized that i do not remember any math! it's funny....i've always been fairly decent at math, but now that i am reviewing basic arithmetic and algebra i am seeing that this GRE is going to be a loooong road!




kaplan book (amazon.com)

who's that girl

does anyone remember robyn?




the blond swedish pop/ r&b singer who arrived in the 90s with the two singles "show me love" and "do you know (what it takes)" ? unfortunately, robyn is not widely known here in the states, but in her home of Sweden she is a sensation!during the height of her success robyn was forced into hiatus due to the exhaustion of promoting her album. well after several attempts to come back into the limelight, robyn is back with her self titled album.



well, i've always been a fan of robyn....i can still locate the cd singles of "show me love" and "do you know (what it takes)," so i'm hoping her next musical efforts will show some growth and maturity, but the same insightful lyrics! in fact, in 2005 robyn created her own label called konichiwa records in order to set herself free artisically.

when searching for pictures of robyn the only images i found of her showed her with that scarf wrapped around her neck. this scarf trend is really taking over....i mean it's cute....but it's summer....dunno. here's some cute scarf wearers!





jessica alba, lindsey lohan, and kanye west (love him) are just a few celebs making this trend hot (pun intended).

even rachael ray wore a scarf and caught some flack for it as many critics claimed her scarf represented terrorism



stay fab



wikipedia.com; celebrityfashion.contentquake.com

my green life

my best color is green, so i am excited that being green is of the now! here are some ways that i am trying to be more green in my everyday life.

of course i use the reusable canvas bags when i shop. for example, my favorite reusable bag to use is the publix shopping bag for only 0.99!



here are the facts:
over 30 BILLION plastic bags are used in America each year!
it takes 15 to 1000 years for plastic bags to break down in the environment!
plastic bags kill many animals such as birds, turtles, whales, and seals; and what's worse, when the animal dies its body decomposes, leaving the plastic bags to be released back into the environment!

i have even gotten into the habit of using environmentally friendly products for cleaning around the house. seventh generation products include a complete line of products for the home. these include laundry detergent, dish washing soap, cleaning supplies, paper products, and even feminine hygienic products. these items are all non-toxic, 100% recycled, organic, chlorine and phosphate free! on a side note, this explains so much whenever i use tampons, i swear i feel sick...i think i will switch to the seventh generation chlorine-free organic cotton tampons (and no, it's not the menstrual side effects).






seventh generation products can be found at most grocery stores (publix included) and target. also, you can order products directly from their website.

here are some other ways to adopt a green lifestyle:

use fans to cool off in the summer

use the sun to dry your clothes (this isn't as bad as it seems. i spent many a summer in the caribbean and this is a method that i used)

rethink transportation (carpool, walk, public transportation)

don't print everything if it's not necessary. or print/ copy on both sides

unplug appliances when not in use (i do this, not to be green, but at night when i'm trying to sleep every single light bothers me)

rechargeable batteries

and because green is my signature color as well as lifestyle here's an extra! i found this green miu miu inspired handbag for only $18. not only is it green, but it's inexpensive!




stay fab



publix (publix.com); planet ark (planetark.com); seventhgeneration (seventhgenereation.com); bag (rollingstyle.com)

august already?

after a looong week at the office it is so good to be able to rest. what makes the week so loooong is the fact that i have absoultely nothing to do. ideally, i need to be recruiting students and getting those last minute deposits in before the fall semester starts in two weeks. but i figure if it is taking this long for a student to get it together and apply then 1). they aren't too interested in attending our particular college 2). they aren't college material.

but anyway, the office is just buzzing with activity since we had a merger of the non-traditional admissions office and the traditional admissions office (my department). along with all this hoopla brings a new VP (our other VP was moved to student affairs and is now the VP of that department.....can you say demoted??). unfortunately, we are still stuck with Director, but here's the gotcha.....she has no more supervisory power (dissed!)!!! so, from here on out everyone basically reports to the new VP; director even has to travel now and has a territory like the rest of the admissions counselor....all this is because of her poor managerial skills and overall lack of professionalism. while this must be a major upset to her, it got me to thinking.....she's simply a glorified admission counselor, but i'm sure she is making the same pay, along with keeping her same title....hmmmmmmm!

ultimately, life is not fair, but alas this is the life of a 20 something entry-level underpaid and overworked employee.

but, eveything is not a total bust...i did get a little (little actually means little) raise, which was much deserved...it's funny how a 10% raise sounds like so much more money until you actually see it on your pay stub.

well, despite my net gain (ha) i am laying low from the shops and any online shopping, but i did have the opportunity to purchase a fabulous new laptop bag. i disdain the solid black laptop cases (just not my style)so i was delighted when i found this chic case at soleil bella. you like?



stay fab!

photo: soleil bella.com

i cheated

i am a loyal person, a very loyal person. but this weekend i did the unthinkable and i have been living with guilt since....ok....here it goes....i cheated on my hair lady.....whew, that was difficult!

ok, all dramatics aside, i really do feel guilty. i have been faithfully going to ms. sherliene every two weeks for over a year. i trusted her to provide me with great hair and in return she trusted me to be a steadfast customer. despite all this trust and loyalty; however, i strayed.

her salon does not run on appointments, which is a fact i love. however, since the salon does not run on appointments, ms. sherliene frequently closes whenever she pleases. and that's what happened this weekend. i woke up early to get my touch up and she was closed. i was so upset and so desperate that i drove to the first salon i saw and got my hair done by a stylist named victor. and i loved it! i got a shea butter relaxer with accompanying treatments as well as a blowout for $50! you can't beat that. and on top of that it looked way better and youthful! victor found a way to effectively utilize both my new highlights and new bangs....i left the salon feeling like a star!

before entering the salon i had never heard of shea butter relaxers. since i have damaged hair with plenty of breakage victor explained to me that shea butter relaxers are milder and gentler than the regular lye relaxers. we all know the moisturizing benefits of shea butter so combining the gentle of shea butter with the harsh effects of a chemical relaxer definitely helps your hair out.

in two weeks when i get my wash and style i will let you know which stylist wins!

untitled

it's summer at my job and you know what that means right? Staff is dropping like flies.....

so far, 2 of my co-workers have left, with another leaving in early september. this year i promised that this year it would be my year to leave, but honestly it's not looking like that. i have had some interviews that haven't turned into much...i actually have another one this wednesday so we'll see what will happen. but i'm kinda bummed....this is suppose to be my year to shine and the only shine going on around me is the shine from my oily skin....but i'm still truckin', hustlin,' and grindin.' i will keep you all posted on what happens!

but anyhoo, i just wanted to update on what was going on.....but something that is lifting my spirits is this cute and modern trench i found at bebe.com....i'm waiting to buy this (waiting on the price to go down just a little bit or payday...whatev comes first).



this trench is only $119 and i found it at bebe.com!