The 411 on My Charlotte Tilbury “Pillow Talk” Eyeshadow Quad GRWM

Below is all of the stuff I used in my Charlotte Tilbury “Pillow Talk” eyeshadow quad GRWM video, which I shared on my IG.  I wanted this eye palette the moment I saw it announced, but at the time, it was exclusive to Charlotte Tilbury’s website.

I wasn’t born yesterday, and I had a feeling that, even though it was limited edition, it would eventually make it to Nordstrom, which meant I would be able to earn points with my Nordstrom card.  Hey, points matter, because points add up to dollars off/savings on future purchases, y’all.

My Stupid Basic Macros Log

In my review of my custom meal plan from Gauge Girl, I mentioned that the plan sucked and was a waste of my money, so I went ahead and created a bare bones log to track my macros my damn self, in Google Sheets.

I should have known that a bunch of people were going to ask me for it, which I was loathe to do because 1.) like I said, it’s really simple, and it is easy enough to just make one yourself, and 2.) inevitably, people are going to complain about it, even though they didn’t even pay for it, and it wasn’t made nor intended for them in the first place.  (I’ve been in the YouTube game long enough to know how some people are.)

Coconut Flour Paleo Pancakes (w. Banana, If You Know What’s Up)

I fell in love with a certain paleo hack quite a while back (seriously, a while ago — back when I still used Tumblr for this blog).  And, that hack was the paleo pancake.

The most common way to achieve pancake [sic], whilst sticking to your paleo guns, is to use coconut flour.  As a basic bitch, I do what is common.

There are loads of recipes out there for coconut flour pancakes.  But this one is mine, which I adapted from other people’s.  The tweaks I’ve made over time have yielded the best results for me.  Here it go.

This Is Not a Paleo Turkey Vegetable Chili Recipe

Turkey Vegetable Chili (adapted from Noah Galuten’s recipe for Beef & Vegetable Chili)

My DIY Mud Wash with French Green Clay

My French Green Clay Mud Wash Recipe:

• 8 ounces of aloe vera gel
• 1/4 cup French green clay
• 2 tbsp oil (I used 1 tbsp neem + 1 tbsp kukui)
• essential oils (I used 15 drops of tea tree + 1/2 tbsp peppermint)

The Mind, Body & Soul Challenge with @Ghana_Goddess!

You guys!  It’s time for another challenge!  I hinted that I had something cool in the works, in my last post, and here it is.  This is my first ever Mind, Body & Soul Challenge, and the best thing about it is that it’s in collaboration with Ghana Goddess, a.k.a. Michelle LeBelle!

#UpYourGame 2017 – Day 45(?)

I’m beginning to suspect the universe is low-key conspiring against me.  Except, really, I am the one to blame!

Last weekend was supposed to be my quick reset button/juice detox situation.  Then, I realized that I have a cocktail show hosting gig this week, which obviously means drinking alcohol.  Which obviously means I’d be retoxing within a day or two of detoxing.

 

#UpYourGame 2017 – Day 12

We’re creeping our way through week 2, and today got off to a much better start than Tuesday.  With the 4 week program I’m following, I had two glorious rest days (Sunday and Monday), and then had/have workouts for Tuesday, Wednesday, today and tomorrow.

Tuesday morning’s workout was #5 from the series, and the workout was LIKE 85% PUSH-UPS?!  I’m fine with doing some push-ups, but by the time we got to our third push-up variation in a row (which would already be 9 sets of push-ups, since each exercise is done for 3 sets), I was wondering what in the actual fuck was going on with that workout.  The trend continued, and I was fully pissed off by the end stretch.  

There was one point where I said aloud to the television/my dog, “If the next move is push-ups, I shutting this shit off.”  The next set, was, in fact, push-ups.  I did not shut it off, because I ain’t no quitter, just an idle threat-maker.

Coming back from some delicious rest days to resuming workouts that I already dread, only to have the comeback be little more than a ridiculous series of over 150 push-ups in different variations was not a great start to my Tuesday.

Wednesday’s and today’s workouts made up for it, in that they were far more varied.  Wednesday’s was some conditioning movements that helped me work up a decent sweat.  Today’s was a leg workout with some core work, and I’m fairly content to squat and lunge all day long.  Real talk, though, I’m still thoroughly not enjoying this program and can’t wait to be done with it.  Workouts #6  and #7 are good when compared to workout #5, but I will be perfectly happy to never do them again.  

This series is just too boring.  It’s obvious that they just recorded de Grasse doing 20-25 exercises for 3 sets each, and then edited them together in different sequences for each day.  Now, that’s a solid way to build a program and progression, but it gets tedious extremely fast in a video format.  I mean, you could’ve just written the shit down, man.  Save us all a lot of aggravation.

But, I’m determined to get through these four weeks (I think!  I may be a quitter after all!).  So, onward we go, for now.  I’ve managed to stay away from sugar without too much struggle.  Now, I need to get more strict about cutting out the other stuff.  I mean, I could say that I used this week to cut out soy, but I don’t really eat soy anyway, so I’m kind of juking the stats with that one.  Next week, I’m going to get more strict with cutting dairy, which shouldn’t be too hard, since I barely eat that, too.  

Can you tell that I’m procrastinating on cutting the grains, since that’ll be the hard one?

#UpYourGame 2017 – Day 6

Man, I’m really going to miss my oatmeal!

Not bad at all, for the first week. Then again, I do still have a whole ‘nother day to fuck it all up.

I don’t think I will, though.  I do feel like I’m “in the zone.”  It’s a feeling I usually get when I’m super motivated with getting my health and fitness and life overall together.  And, it’s a feeling I never quite achieved in Fuck Yeah Fall Fitness, which, paired with the puppy, fully explains my failure in that challenge.

Anyway.  The workouts have been pretty boring, with the Fitness Is Function bodyweight program I’m following.  So, that’s a real drag.  The workouts are just really repetitive, puzzle piecing the same handful of movements into slightly different sequences, day to day.

And, it’s nearly all strength-based, with very little conditioning.  The production value is pretty much nonexistent, and while the coach/instructor, Mark de Grasse is really knowledgeable, there’s a lack of enthusiasm in his demeanor, which leads to a real dread factor each morning I have to put on my sports bra.  I’ll power through the next three weeks, in the hopes that the workouts might get a bit better, as they progress.  But, spoiler alert: I will be very surprised if I ever do any of these workouts again, after the 4 weeks are up.

Meanwhile, I’ve planned an incremental approach to getting my diet back to being 100% on point, and it was a great decision.  It’s been so much more manageable.

I’ve cut the sugar, to start, because that’s the worst thing of all.  It’s also one of the fucking rules of this challenge.  Then, week by week, I’ll continue to eliminate the other things like soy, dairy and grains.  Soy is super easy.  Dairy is even pretty easy, for me.  But, not going to lie, in this chilly weather, I’ve really been enjoying oatmeal at breakfast, with my eggs (only on workout days, though, to keep myself from overindulging in the carbs).  Oatmeal and eggs is legit one of my favorite meals, so we’ll see if there are any asterisks to keep them in rotation, once I cut out grains, for realsies…

Today was an awesome Saturday.  A perfect blend of getting shit done, while also having time for a quick nap on the couch with the dog.  Getting back into taking care of my diet and exercise has had a trickle down effect to taking better care of myself, overall.

I used today to do just that, and did some self care and errands/chores that were LONG overdue.  I washed my makeup brushes.  I returned some stuff to Nordstrom that I’ve been meaning to return for a while.  I got my toes done (they were looking TRAGIC).  And, I got my chocha waxed (was looking EQUALLY TRAGIC).

I’m planning to tidy up my vanity and do some skin pampering with a mask, as well, before I hit the sack.  Man, it feels soooo goood to be looking after myself properly.  I can’t wait to see where I’m at after month one is done.

I sure would love a glass of wine right now, tho!

#UpYourGame 2017 – Day 2

This bowl of chili is a ghost. It was demolished shortly before this blog post. 

I have to say, day 2 went much better than expected. On the other hand, the beginning is nearly always much easier than the during. I’m happy to have the juice detox under my belt, I took some “before” pictures early this morning, and I’m generally feeling very excited to be taking care of myself, again.

I had scheduled a morning workout, knowing full well that there was a 97% chance that I wouldn’t actually do it until this evening. But, I got up around 6:45, took RayRay out for her usual first walk of the day, and rather than get back in bed, I thought about how much nicer it would be to come home from work tonight, knowing that I wouldn’t have to do a goddamned thing– that is, if and only if I just sucked it up, and did my wod there and then.

So I did. It wasn’t even awful! I’ve had this epiphany about morning workouts 423,231,945 times before, give or take, but if you just drag your ass out of bed and get it over with, it is ALWAYS worth it. Especially since I’m currently working out at home, which makes it even more doable. Let’s face it: Lying in bed for another 30 minutes isn’t ever going to make a positive difference in my energy level throughout the day.

I’m really going to work on forcing myself to get back in the habit of getting my workouts done before work, because by mid-morning, it’s like it never even happened! You don’t feel like you missed out on any sleep, plus, you get to enjoy your entire day without having a sweat session looming over your head, fucking up your opportunity to have a much nicer evening of watching YouTube videos and eating that batch of chili you FUCKING NAILED making yesterday– the aroma of which was still wafting through your apartment this morning, while you were doing bear crawls. Okay, for a lot of that, “you” is very clearly and specifically me, but me get the idea.