Dessert Guilt? And Make Up Monday!

Here we go... Monday again! :)

To finish up Sunday... I DID thankfully talk myself into working out after my last post. That's the MAIN reason I hate not working out first thing in the morning. It can be hard to get that motivation in later in the day! On the weekends, though... I really try to give myself one day to sleep in - if getting up at 7:30 or 8:00 am is really sleeping in! haha!

I did Day 1, Level 2 of the 30 Day Shred...oh.my.gosh!!!!! I was drenched in sweat! I used 3, 5 & 8 lbs throughout the work out... and was seriously still catching my breath after the cool down! I was determined to get some yoga in, too. I haven't done any type of yoga since my last workshop class in the middle of July! I have been craving it! So I stuck with the Biggest Loser theme and popped in Bob's Weight Loss Yoga DVD. I had to wait about ten minutes to get the feeling back in my body after Jillian's work out... yowza! I burned 350 calories between the two workouts...

I was beyond starving after yoga... but could not figure out what I wanted! I started with a couple of tablespoons of this trail mix from Trader Joe's....Then realized I was really wanting an apple... so I got this baby out and sprinkled some cinnamon all over it... okay yeah, weird... but oh so good!!! I am obsessed with Braeburn apples!!Love 'em!

For dinner we used our new Annie's bbq sauce that I won from Danica and grilled it up on some chicken... I sauteed some squash, asparagus, green beans and carrots in a little olive oil and sprinkled with some shredded asiago cheese... also had some mashed sweet potatoes on the side - the sweet potatoes rocked, if I do say so myself! :) And got rave reviews from the husband... which is a big deal ;)

I tried to cut myself off after that... but was REALLY wanting dessert!!! I finally settled on a vitamuffin with some PB&Co's Mighty Maple and PB&Co's Dark Chocolate Dreams...
Do you guys ever feel guilty about having dessert? I really tried not to because I wanted it... but it still bothers me that I "gave in"... I know I should not worry about this in the long run... but I let stuff like this get to me too easily!


Now onto a quick Make Up Monday!

How many times have you had this happen to you? You put your eye make up on before going to work or going out with friends, family, etc.... and by lunch time or a few hours into your event it has either creased, faded or completely come off? That would REALLY upset me! I started searching around and found these great primers to put on before applying your eye shadow!

Since using the primers, I hardly EVER have to retouch my eye shadow! No creasing, fading, etc!

I wanted to take some pictures showing you the difference primers make but I haven't had the chance as of yet... will definitely need to do it with lots of natural light... I will do it as soon as I can this week!

Here are a few of the primers I have heard of... I put the description the company has for them and any additional notes I have after :)

MAC Paint Pots - Description: A highly pigmented eye colour that goes on creamy but dries to an intense, vibrant finish. Long-wearing, colourfast. Creates seamless coverage without weight or caking. Blends smoothly over the lids. Cream-based, can be mixed with M·A·C shadows and liners.

Mandy's take: Paint Pots are GREAT! They have a ton of different colored paint pots that can be used to help your eye shadows "pop". I use the black paint pot to use underneath teals or purples... and it REALLY intensifies the colors!! They're amazing! You can find them on MAC's website or any MAC store close to you!

Urban Decay Primer Potion - Description: The genie in this bottle fulfills three wishes: eyeshadow that lasts, more vibrant and lasting color, and absolutely NO creasing. Apply Primer Potion to lids before shadow application. It dries down almost instantly (and invisibly), creating smooth lids that are super powered eyeshadow magnets.
Mandy's take: I LOVE this primer! It completely brings out the true pigmented color of the shadow you're using and last all day long! My #1 recommendation! You can find this at Sephora or on Urban Decay's website. I believe it's around $16!

MAC Creme Color Base - Description: Versatile and multi-purpose, Cream Colour Base can be applied directly to bare skin, or layered over foundation, moisturizer, or powder. Apply with a brush, sponge, or fingers. Colour effects range from a light veil to highly dramatic, depending on method of application

Mandy's Take: I do love the creme color base! But I actually like it more as a highlighter on my cheeks rather than for an eye primer. I use them for primers when I am using a pigment shadow or a loose shadow. These types of shadow need something that's a bit more sticky to really grab on to... and the creme color bases are perfect for that! Also, if you do use them... use a more matte primer underneath, like the Urban Decay primer. The creme base does tend to crease or get oily... using another primer underneath will keep this from happening!

Too Faced Shadow Insurance - Description: This is your full-coverage insurance policy against all fading, creasing, melting, blurring, oil slicked, and hard-to-blend eyeshadow accidents. Our silicone based eyeshadow primer transforms any eyeshadow into a perfectly blendable, color-drenched, intensified version of itself, then locks it down perfectly until you take it off. This soothing formula evens out the skintone on your lids and smoothes lines while securing a barrier between the oils of your skin and your makeup, so no shadow catastrophes will ever happen again.

Mandy's Take: This is probably my 3rd favorite primer. I can say that it is a little easier to blend the shadows with this one... but still doesn't seem to make the colors show as much as the Urban Decay primer does - for me! But definitely a good one to get!

That's all that I have tried... there are SO many out there! If you have tried any other primers, any of the ones I have mentioned, or use another technique - I'd LOVE to hear!! :)

Have a great night!

Make Up Monday... and a confession....

Happy Monday everyone :) I hope it was a good start to the week for ya!

Make Up Monday will be short and sweet :)

First... here are a few fun pics that my sister, Brittney sent me! She's great with playing with bright colors!! I so wish I could do that!

Thanks Britt! :)

I thought instead of posting my mug all over the page , I thought I would share with you one of my can't-live-without products!

My favorite mascara - L'Oreal Voluminous!

I have tried many expensive and inexpensive mascaras and ALWAYS go back to this! In my opinion, mascara is one of those things you can save your money on when buying make up. I think there are some that really stand up and even pass the quality of the high end make up lines!

Why this mascara ROCKS:

• It's cheap! It's around $7... I can usually find coupons for any L'Oreal eye products, too... and if you watch Walgreens or CVS, they have lots of buy one, get one free sales. When I find this, I buy one, get one for free and use my coupon... and usually end up only paying $3 for two tubes! Bonus!
• The volume and thickening is amazing! I only need a couple coats... makes my lashes feel so luscious!
• I put it on in the morning and no need to worry about touching it up throughout the day! It has great staying power!

I absolutely recommend this mascara!!

One great tip that every lady should follow before you put on your mascara is to curl your lashes! It will make your eyes look ten times bigger!

What about you? What is your favorite mascara? Please share! :)

Confession time....

I have mentioned before in the past few posts that my eating hasn't been so great as of lately. I don't know what has kicked me off my normal healthy routine! I am not going to go into how badly my eating has been... but will say that it's consisted mainly of sweets (big cookies, ice cream) at least twice a day, and not a ton of veggies or fruits at all... lots of junk food that I don't normally eat or want! And lots of it!

That being said... I was already up about 7 pounds from my "happy weight" that I had been at for over a year... and now just from the past two weeks, I'm up 13 pounds.

I even had to go out and buy new jeans and a couple of new shirts! I don't have the money to be doing that right now!

Ugh...

I wasn't having an issue with my workouts... until Brittney came.. .then our schedule was CRAZY! We were out of town and I was up much later every night than I normally am and it threw me way out of whack. I didn't work out for about two weeks! I finally started up again on Saturday... thank goodness!

It's been a constant hate battle with my self confidence. I have been avoiding mirrors and tight clothes at all cost because I'm so mad at myself! I've kept off over 100 pounds for almost 10 years now... and at my "happy weight" for quite some time after having Maddie (and in better shape than I was BEFORE having Maddie) and that weight seemed to come naturally and I had no issues feeling satisfied with food! But now that I've gained so much weight and so quickly... I am ashamed to let family, friends, co-workers see me! Most people who know me as "the weight loss girl"... the girl they come to for some advice when trying to lose weight... I feel like such a failure right now!

I'm trying to take a step back... and look at things in the long run - I haven't gained back all of my weight - just 13 pounds. Yes, it's a good amount... but not 100 pounds!

I need to stop yelling at myself! The guilt does NOT help!

I can either choose to continue to eat this way and make things worse... or I can keep my eats simple for now to help me "detox" a bit and get back on track...

This is all about my health... not JUST losing weight!

Now, I don't have a HUGE plan to change things...but wanted to be open and talk about all of this here... since I wanted to be honest and share what's REALLY going on with me!

I will talk more tomorrow about my small "plan"... it's nothing outrageous or a crazy, intelligent plan... but what I think will work for me!

I'm sorry for all of that... but thank you to whoever listened!!

The batteries in our camera are dead.... and we are out of batteries! I keep forgetting to snap pics of my food today because I'm not used to using my cell phone for it!!

So for breakfast, just imagine a whole wheat bagel, with cheese, eggs and a slice of turkey bacon...

For a snack, a banana/pb sandwich... half with PB&Co's Might Maple PB and the other with PB&Co's Bee's Knee's PB :)

Lunch was leftovers of my pizza from Saturday night... and a big side salad with four small strawberries, onion, tomato, carrots, and a sprinkle of feta cheese... I got some pics with my cell phone of this...

Afternoon snack was a big ol juicy braeburn apple... YUMMM... and a small serving of Trader Joe's Trail Mix... good stuff!

For dinner, I just threw together a bunch of things that needed to be used up.... I sauteed some onions, peppers, mushrooms, tomatoes and asparagus.... threw them in with some quinoa and some leftover chicken sprinkled with some parmesan cheese... simple but yummy!This morning, JR and I got up and did our Day 3 of Level 1 of Jillian's 30 Day Shred... then we added on 20 extra minutes of cardio... I burned a total of 446 calories!

Now I am off to do some more work... and then going to bed. I have a horrible headache!!

How did your Monday shape up? I hope it went by quickly!