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Saturday, July 12, 2014

Find your Aloha!

I have the horrible conflict of wanting to be fit and healthy, while also being a foodie who loves to eat. I can eat far more than you might think possible, and while I try to "eat clean" most of the time, I don't always make that mark.

When I don't feel like I'm getting the proper nutrition from the foods I eat, I like to supplement with vitamins, herbs and other good-for-you stuff. I've recently found an awesome product that has become part of my regular supplement arsenal:

Aloha "The Daily Good"  packs a powerful amount of nutrition in one small packet. With organic spirulina, spinach, wheatgrass, moringa, blueberries, coconut water and Hawaiian ginger included in it's superfood ingredients list, this little packet does everything it promises and more. It can be mixed into smoothies, or with any juice. I like to mix it with my orange juice in the morning:

It blends easily without a bunch of lumps or sludge (that's my super-cute mini whisk that is great for whipping up smaller items!) and it really tastes good. I don't get the spirulina aftertaste that so many green drinks seem to have.

Best of all, each packet is only 40 calories, so you aren't taking in a lot of unnecessary added calories (I'll save those for important things, like ice cream!)

Aloha also offers a 5-pill supplement pack called "The Foundation", again offering a nutrient rich, whole food, organic supplement that helps optimize energy, memory and beauty. Prices vary depending on the package size you choose. Best of all, they will deliver right to your door!

Not everyone likes supplements or feels like they need them. And maybe some people don't. But for me, living in a world where we fight so many toxins, pesticides, pollution and stress, I find that adding extra good things to my diet is helpful. And we can all use a little more Aloha in our lives!




Monday, June 9, 2014

Oh the Places You'll Go....

It's been just about forever since I last posted. Daily life has a way of sucking the free time right out of you, doesn't it? Not to mention things like work-as much as I enjoy blogging, sometimes I have to put it aside in order to complete the writing jobs that are "jobs", as in they help pay the bills!

I also was gone adventuring for a bit. My son and I traveled to China last month, and I can't stop thinking about it. We went through a tour company, Gate1 Travel, because I figured navigating a place like China might be more difficult than other vacation spots, and because the price was so darn affordable, I couldn't NOT book through them.

Honestly, I don't know how this tour company makes any money. Almost everything was included, from round-trip airfare (and airfare between cities), bus travel, meals and hotels. The cost was about the same as what I would have paid for ONLY the round-trip ticket between Los Angeles and Beijing. An eight day tour, (10 total with travel time), we got to see all the top sites, stay at nice hotels, and enjoy great food. We had a tour guide who was with us the whole time, and she was informative, organized and gave us a lot of insight into life in China.

China is an interesting place. It's changed a lot in the last 30 years, becoming more modern and updated. A contradiction in terms, it is horribly polluted (especially Beijing) and breathtakingly beautiful. The people have no sense of personal space and push and shove everywhere they go, but are friendly and engaging. The traffic is one of the most frightening things I've ever seen, yet somehow people manage to drive in it daily without dying (this one I do not get!) There is complete freedom of religion, with temples,mosques and churches in abundance, while the government owns all the land and if you buy a home, it's only yours for 70 years-period.

My son, now 15 years old, got to experience things many people never see. We climbed the Great Wall. We viewed the Terra Cotta Soldiers. We saw Shanghai at night (and almost got trampled in a crowd rushing to get on the tour boat in Shanghai), we met new people and tried new foods (jellyfish?!), fought through polluted air and melted in the 100 degree heat. We stood in the Forbidden City, walked Tiananmen Square, rode the Metro, bargained with shopkeepers and lit incense in a temple.

I've posted before about the importance I place on travel and how I've always made it a priority in my life. When I was a teen, I would save my babysitting money all year just to buy a plane ticket to go visit friends and family in the summer. As an adult, I worked for an airline in order to get flight benefits, and I make sure that any job I have can accommodate my need to travel 3-4 times a year. I think travel can expand one's horizons in ways nothing else can, it gives us new perspective and helps bridge the gap between understanding different cultures and people. We learn acceptance and tolerance by seeing both the differences and similarities in all of us.

My son summed it up perfectly while we were there. At one point he said. "It's so different here." I agreed with him. Then he said "But things are also kind of the same. People are the same." Again, I agreed. Wherever you travel, you will find people living their lives, loving their families, working, trying, existing, doing all the same things we do at home.

At the end of the trip, he said something that made me feel like all the trips I've taken him on have paid off in very important ways. He said "You know, this has given me a new appreciation for where we live. Our country has its share of problems, but I'm very grateful to live in a place where I have the freedom to do and be who I want."

Maybe that's something we should all take a moment to think about, and be grateful.







Saturday, March 22, 2014

Put Some Spring in your Hair!

I recently picked up a new beauty tool (new to me anyway) that says it will give those loose, glorious ringlets we see all the Hollywood girls wearing these days:

This curling iron, by Plugged In is supposed to make creating those curls an easy task. I thought I would try it out.

My hair is super-stick straight and fine, so getting it to curl for any length of time is a challenge....

But I gave it a try!

I found it a bit awkward to use. It comes with a little glove you can wear to keep from burning your hands, but I didn't bother with that. The premise is simple, you just wrap your hair around the wand and hold it there for about ten seconds. The key is getting it to hold! My fine hair wants to slip out of even the fanciest of curling irons and flat irons, so this wasn't the easiest method of curling hair in my opinion.

The results weren't bad, I like the soft waves and it does give my hair some much needed volume:




But I'm not sure it's something I'd use every day. In fact, I know it's not! I don't have an inordinate amount of time to mess with my hair (which is why I am contemplating cutting it all off again! Stay tuned...) and I just don't know that I'll use this very often. In short, I think it is a nice little addition to one's beauty arsenal, but not something you should buy if you want it to replace your regular curling iron!

But in the meantime, it's always fun to try something new. Don't be afraid to try different products and tools, you never know- you just might find your next "must have".




Friday, February 14, 2014

It's Valentine's Day~Get Naked!!

There's nothing like some nudes for Valentine's Day, or any day for that matter. No I don't mean that kind of nude!! I mean these beauties:

These are three of my favorite nude polishes, from RGB, Color Club and Zoya.

Nude colors are great because they not only go with everything, they tend to last a little longer as chips are less noticeable. The three colors I like may seem similar, but they are all different. The RGB polish in "Buff", is very sheer. I like it in lieu of a clear coat (I tend to just slap a clear coat of polish on my nails during the workweek, as I have no patience for chipping, polish removal, etc.) It goes on smooth and dries quickly, but you'll definitely want at least 2-3 coats to make it show much at all. 

The Color Club polish, which is in the fabulous "Mod in Manhattan" shade, is a pure cream color. Not quite white, which means you can use it as a regular polish, or use it for a french manicure if you like. Color Club always has top-notch polishes with minimal chipping.

Zoya is my personal favorite of the three, and often a go-to color. The shade is "Farah" and it is a perfect neutral khaki. It looks very finished, but can easily transcend from dressy to casual:



So get in the mood for nude this Valentine's Day. Wishing you a day full of hearts, love and chocolate-oh yes, always chocolate!


Wednesday, January 15, 2014

A Blank Slate...

We are officially two weeks into the New Year, and what have you done so far? Me? Seems like a whole lot of nothing. Normally, New Year's is my favorite holiday. A fresh clean slate, like a blanket of winter snow across my life, making everything new again and bringing clarity, hope and determination. This year, well this year just seemed to get off to a rough start.

Christmas seemed especially hectic, with a full-time job and two part-time gigs, a teenager to shuttle around (no he's not old enough to drive yet!) and a household to run. In retrospect, I don't think it was any more hectic than usual, but for some reason this year it bothered me a LOT more. I've been dealing with random bouts of free-floating anxiety, magnified by lack of sleep and stress. Christmas, work, family, etc. all felt overwhelming this year as opposed to joyful holiday happy fun time. And that stress spilled over into my favorite time of year, making my usually lovely New Year feel old and tired. Rather than a fresh blanket of snow, it was like a bad April melt with dirt and slowly defrosting dog crap. I made my usual resolutions list, did my normal reflection and re-evaluation of my life. But it didn't feel good. It didn't feel real.

The other night I was driving home from work, and I noticed a bumper sticker on the car in front of me. Bumper stickers here usually scream out some kind of crazed political message that I don't care about, or a pun that is only half-funny the first time (Visualize Whirled Peas...). This bumper sticker, however, said something that immediately hit home for me:

Remember who you wanted to be.

When you were five, who did you want to be? I know I wanted to be a singer, dancer, artist, writer, saver of lost dogs, lost children and pretty much world famous. I wanted to make a difference, leave my mark, change things. Maybe not in a way my five year old brain could imagine, but I knew I wanted something. Even at five, I felt a strong desire to do something, be something, find something.

As I was driving, all these thoughts filled my head. Who I wanted to be, who I have become. Understanding that I am still growing, changing, never stagnant. Trying to figure out my place in this world, even though I've been occupying space here for nearly half a decade. Realizing that my biggest problem was an inability to get out of my own way, stilling the fearful voices in my head and letting my drive and determination take me to the pinnacle of who I wanted to be.

There's a book I read, and sometimes still read again, called "The War of Art". It talks about Resistance. Resistance is that voice in your head that says "you can't" or "I don't have time" or "If only..." Most artists will tell you that the voice of Resistance is one of the most difficult to shout down. But shout it down you must. If you want to see your dreams realized, see the person you wanted to be become the person you are, you have to fight past all the procrastination, all the daily nonsense and drama, all the things that tell you NO. You have to fight past it, and tell yourself YES.

So now, as we hit the 15 day mark of 2014, my New Year vibe is finally starting to pick up. I'm finding my stride and my flow, reassessing my goals and ideas for this year. I reviewed the half-hearted resolutions I wrote down during my dark December, and saw that most of them come down to the concept that hit me when I saw that bumper sticker.

Get out of your own way, and remember who you wanted to be.

Make 2014 the year for YOU. Whatever it is you want, find it, grab it, get it. Don't just remember who you wanted to be. BE that person. It's all on you. And you can do it.