Tag: health

Plant Nanny App

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A while back I wrote a few posts about drinking a gallon of water each day (LINK, LINK). If you’re not drinking from an actual gallon jug or bottle, it can be a little difficult to keep up with how much water you’ve already had. I’ve recently discovered a mobile app that can help with that. It’s called Plant Nanny.

It doesn’t force you to drink one gallon a day

Plant Nanny uses the information that you provide about your height, weight and lifestyle to determine how much water you actually need to be drinking each day. A gallon may be too much or not enough depending on your body and how you live. Basically, the more active you are, the more water you’ll need to consume on a daily basis.

The app is cute


The premise is that you are watering a plant. Hence the name “Plant Nanny”. You start out with a “baby” plant and as you water it (with the water you drink), it begins to grow. Continue reading →

From Neutrogena to Clarins

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A couple of months ago I decided that I wanted to change my skincare regimen. I was already on my last tube of Neutrogena so I knew that it was time to start looking for a replacement skincare line. I had been using Neutrogena’s Oil-Free Foaming Cleanser for about five or six years. Although it worked and kept my face clear of breakouts for the most part, I feel like my skin was so used to it that it really wasn’t doing that much for me anymore. I’ve tried a couple of Neutrogena toners but I didn’t like either of them. So now I have started using Clarins products.

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I received samples of their exfoliating cleanser, toning lotion and moisturizer from the spa that I go to every month. I tried using the samples first because Clarins is way more expensive than Neutrogena so I needed to make sure that I really liked it before I spent any money. I ended up loving the samples, so I bought a kit from Belk that included a gentle cleanser and toning lotion for normal to dry skin ($26.00; they have the same type of kit for people with normal to oily skin too). I had to buy the moisturizer separately ($49.50). The prices seem scary but you truly get what you pay for. Continue reading →

Staying Committed to Your Workout – There’s An App for That

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One of my New Year’s resolutions was to get back in the gym and be in the best shape of my life this year. I am not one of those people who just LOVES going to the gym. I can think of fifty million things that I’d rather do than go to the gym and workout. Even though I pay for my gym membership every month, until this month I hadn’t been to the gym since June 2015. If I’m lazy enough to waste my money then that says a lot.

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I downloaded an app a while ago that is supposed to help you train for a 5K. It’s called Couch Potato to 5K. I first heard of Couch Potato to 5K in a Buzzfeed article about people who had lost over fifty pounds. The guy in this article used this app and he lost 74 pounds in a year! This month, I decided to actually use the app and… I LOVE IT. Going to the gym is still somewhat of a chore but it’s been more enjoyable with this app. Continue reading →

One Gallon of Water (UPDATE)

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I’m still going strong with my gallon of water “challenge”. After a couple of weeks of drinking “the right amount” of water, I noticed a few things.

Pimples

I kind of knew this was coming because other people who have posted about drinking a gallon daily had mentioned it. Drinking that much water in a day (every day) cleanses you and removes a lot of toxins from your body. Removing toxins is a tricky thing in that it makes the toxins rise to the surface before they can be removed. It’s the same concept as using a new facial cleanser; it gets worse before it gets better. So I had maybe three or four small pimples in those first couple of weeks and they all cleared up within a few days.

I only wanted water

You would think that I would get sick of the taste of water after the novelty wore off but NO! Continue reading →

2015 Recap/2016 Resolutions

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2015 has been such a good year for me.

I started the year off working a three-month long temp job assignment, I was in a long distance relationship with my then-boyfriend, and I was living at my parents’ house. By MARCH, my temp job had turned into a full-time permanent position with the company. My boyfriend who came down South to visit for Valentine’s Day ended up never going back to his hometown in New Jersey. In MAY, we signed a lease for our own apartment and we moved into our first place together in JULY. In AUGUST, I went to Las Vegas with my girls for the first time. Shortly after, I started cooking the recipes that I saw on Pinterest and playing fantasy football with my boyfriend and his friends (my record was 10-3). In SEPTEMBER, I went to Washington DC for the first time (I know, I should’ve been there years ago) for a family reunion. My “boyfriend” became my fiancé in NOVEMBER. And now here we are at the very end of DECEMBER where I just had an amazing Christmas with my soon-to-be in-laws.

It may be hard to do, but I believe 2016 will top the amazing year I’ve had in 2015.

These are the things I am claiming for my 2016:
– Get back in the gym! I really slacked off on my workouts in 2015, but I’m trying to be in the best shape of my life in 2016.
– Build up my emergency fund. I have a good cushion in there right now, but you can never be too cautious.
– Get MARRIED! Or at least set a date and know the details of my nuptials.
– Have a 750+ credit score. I’m already in the 700 club, but there’s always room to improve.
– Get on a good schedule with my blog posts. This is another area that’s been neglected in 2015. I really like blogging, so I have to do better.

One Gallon of Water Everyday

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Last weekend I freaked out because I thought I had crows feet. Well, it turns out that I really just have smile lines so… no big deal. But it really made me decide to get serious about this whole anti-aging kick. It’s something that has been on my mind since I left Las Vegas, but now I’ve decided to take action. Instead of reaching for expensive anti-aging beauty products (my mom and grandmother believe they are a waste of money and that your skin eventually becomes dependent on them), I decided to use Gabrielle Union’s anti-aging “secret”… WATER.

One gallon of water everyday. It seems easy enough. I sit at a desk for most of the day so I really have no reason to not be able to do this. I bought a gallon of drinking water at the grocery store because seeing how much water I have to drink in front of me helps me. I can’t just carry one small water bottle and keep refilling it throughout the day. The first day was pretty chill until after lunch when I felt like the water in my jug was rising instead of getting lower. Continue reading →