My Go To Lip Colours

It took me quite awhile to feel comfortable wearing a lot of colour on my lips even though I love it on other people. I always felt like that's all people were looking at when they talked to me (Hello Lips!) but I moved beyond that and even if they are, who cares...I love a great pop of colour.

Having said that I don't wear bright colours everyday simply because of the maintenance factor and the need to reapply often to keep your lips looking good.

My everyday lip colour is a pretty nude shade that goes with everything, it's made by Rimmel from the Lasting Finish Nude Collection by Kate Moss. I have colour number 42 and on top of this I apply Revlon Super Lustrous lip gloss in 170 Coral Reef, so pretty and very low maintenance. It's kind of a your lips but better look.

On days when I want to wear some colour I turn to this great shade from Flower beauty, it's their Sheer Lip Tint in Dewy Rose. It looks a bit intense in these pictures but it's actually very wearable and you can build the colour up from a light wash to what you see here. It feels like you have nothing on your lips, very comfortable.

What are your go to lip colours? Do you like rocking a bold lip?

Fabletics

I posted yesterday to The Pulse Facebook page saying how much I loved Fabletics and there were some questions on what outfits I had etc.. so I thought I would expand on it a little in a blog post. I first decided to try it out because it had either come up through my Facebook feed or while I was surfing online. I had heard about it of course as it's been around for awhile but what really drew me in was the fact that your first outfit is only $25. That to me seemed like a very inexpensive way to decide if I liked it or not. I mean, that's cheaper than Wal Mart right?

This is the first outfit I chose:

I even posted a picture of it to Instagram before taking it out for it's first run.

I was very impressed. One of my biggest pet peeves about workout bottoms is that they roll down when you run...I hate that! These are high enough waisted that they comfortably cover your tummy and tight enough that they stay there. They also have a nice wide waist band, and inside the band is a little pocket where you can store a key and/or some money etc.. while you run.

I wore the top a ton over the summer just casually with shorts as it's breezy and flowy and I loved the colour.

My next outfit consisted of these two pieces (they no longer had a picture on the website of the two together as an outfit):

The top is comfy and good for working out or casual wear but does feel a little cheaply made (thin), so is probably my least favourite purchase but I still use it all the time. The bottoms are the same as the first outfit just in a different colour, and I love that bright colour. I wore these to the Coastal Black  Solstice 5K Fun Run. 

This was my third outfit and the first time I decided to go for a sports bra:

This bra is awesome. It was listed as high support and it's true, great for running and cute too. Highly recommend.

This is the fourth outfit I received:

Fabletics had a graffiti artist design several pieces for their August collection and these crops were one of those pieces, super funky.

 I love the low back on the top which shows off the fun design of the sports bra. The bra was a medium support and while obviously not as supportive as the high support I can still run in it.

I hope that gives you a better idea of what Fabletics is all about and maybe you'll try them for yourself. They get two enthusiastic thumbs up from me for sure!

Green Juice Challenge For September

Hello! Can you believe it's almost September? Umm...summer? Where did you go? Mine pretty much went by in a blur of beaches, road trips, dog shows, and visits but I loved it. This is the final week before school starts and both my littles will be going this year which means this is the first time in nearly nine years that I will be without children for a good part of the day, just putting that down in print feels so strange... 

With the kids being gone at school this is the perfect time to get myself back on track after an indulgent summer. The beginning of the summer was pretty good for me for the most part, fairly on track with healthy eating and running quite a bit but the heat rolled in and things got very very busy and I went waaaay off track. I have definitely put on weight and feel pretty yuck..so, I thought what better time than now to start the Green Juice Challenge. All that is required in the Challenge is a commitment to drinking one green juice (homemade or store bought) every day for the month of September. Easy right? This is a great way to get ourselves back on the right track to being healthy and feeling good. I really hope you will join me as it's always easier to commit to a challenge as a group.

If you need a little inspiration on what to juice up here are a few ideas:

Green apples and cucumbers go a long way, you get a lot of bang (juice) for your buck.

Spinach and kale are both so good for you and while you don't get a ton of juice from them, the juice that you do get is very nutritious.

Celery also has a pretty decent juice content and is anti inflammatory so throw a couple of stalks in.

I love adding lemon and ginger to my juice for both flavour and the amazing detoxing properties of both.

The best thing you can do is experiment and see what you like. If you don't have a juicer or just want to have the ease of pre made juice I have been getting a great green juice blend (you may have seen me post this picture to Instagram) from Pressed Juicery at Costco:

Raw juice is getting quite popular so you may be lucky enough to have a company near you that is making them. These juices from Good Life Juice are delicious...I really want to try the Fancy Fennel:

This company delivers right to your door which I think is so awesome and something I'd like to sign up for.

I really hope you will join me for the month of September. Let me know in the comment section below if you're in and don't forget to post your juice pictures to the The Pulse Facebook page.

Here's to our good health and getting off on the right foot for September!

A Random Fitness Update

I have the best of intentions to blog more, I really do, and I have all these blog posts in my head but for some reason finding the time to sit down and type it out is evading me. Today I thought I'd just kind of let random things come out and fall where they may.

I've been working hard on my fitness lately. My weight loss/getting fit always seems to happen in spurts...I kind of imagine it like a ball dropping. When you drop the ball it never bounces up as high as the bounce previous to it, so goes my weigh loss...down 15, gain a couple back, down 10, gain a couple back...but I never go back to the old weight which is good. I'm getting there..albeit slowly, but the slow weight loss is usually permanent (or so I'm told), and that must be true because as I said I'm not going all the way back.

 I'm part of a Facebook group that has been a good place to talk about food and exercise and keep me on track. Because of that group I have lots of food pictures so thought I would share a few here. These are my typical breakfasts. I've cut out sugar for the most part although I do have a teaspoon in my morning tea...because gosh darn it..I like it. In order to make this a lifestyle change I have to keep things doable and having that sugar in my tea in the morning is my concession.

I try to get in some complex carbs in the form of good bread (loving Silver Hills brand...Mack's Flax, Squirrely, The Big 16...all delicious) with either coconut almond butter or avocado, and protein in the form of eggs or cottage cheese. I usually have a little something on the side as you can see by the orange and green beans to round things out.

I found a couple of Pinterest recipes recently that I've really been enjoying. The first one isn't really a recipe as it's so easy...just melt down some dark chocolate (70% or higher cacao), spread it out into little circles on parchment paper and top with chopped dried fruit, nuts and seeds (I used cherries, strawberries, apricots, almonds and chia seeds here), cool in the fridge and enjoy as a healthy treat.

This edamame and feta salad was so good I made it two days in a row...once for us and again the following night to take to dinner at our friends, delicious.

Edamame and Feta Salad

I've been trying to run at least three or four days a week and was finally able to get outside for a 6k when we had a change in the weather. It's been so hot here that I've been very thankful for my treadmill inside with AC. I'm also super happy that in this picture I put my arm up and then didn't flex at all..... #mushybicep... :S

I have two main fitness goals at the moment. The first is to run 5kms without walking at all and the second is to do a pull up. I have never been able to do a pull up, or at least not since I was a little kid and honestly maybe not even then, but this year I will do one. 

I found this little gem at Wal Mart for $40 and now I feel a lot closer to making that goal happen. I also feel my very sore arms from practicing....sore is the new sexy right?

I have never been really fit before. I have been thin, but not fit, and this year I'm working hard to make the latter happen.

 Currently this is where I am in that goal:

Give it all you've got....grrr!

First Week Back At It

Things have been going very well this last week. I have been hitting the running pretty hard and have two different places I've been going. One is the track which is so convenient because there is a playground right there for the kiddies to play on while I go around and around, and it's also lit at night in case that's the only time I can go. The bad part about running at the track is it's kind of boring. The other place I've been going is a very hilly loop near my house, the loop itself is only 2k, but I can go around three times and get in 6K and an excellent workout.

My sister in law introduced me to the Strava app and it's fantastic. It keeps great track of your mileage and speed and you're able to keep in contact and follow friends on it which I love, very inspiring. I run in simultaneously with the RunKeeper app.

This is a pic of the Strava app screen. You can even see where I broke off once to talk to the kids on the playground..lol.

My diet has been really good, lots of veggies, lean protein and no carbs after lunch. I am limiting myself to 1200 calories a day and using the My Fitness Pal app to track them.

This is sort of a typical lunch. I always have lots of veggies and I vary the protein....cottage cheese, tuna, leftover meat from last night's dinner like this chicken breast here and eggs etc..

I'm also drink lots and lots of water. I have a 2.2 liter jug that I drink everyday a long with a few extra random glasses.

Monday was one week in and I was thrilled to see I had lost eight pounds! Clearly I was bloated. I also lost a half inch at every measurement (chest, waist, hips, thigh, arm). A very encouraging start.

Anyone have some great meal suggestions that would fit into my eating plan? Please share!

Update

 My last post was in November of last year and talked about change, about how I felt things changing in my life. Most of that had to do with dogs (for those of you who don't know that side of me you can check out my other blog: www.braebrookdobes.blogspot.ca ) and those changes have kept me very busy which hasn't left much time for blogging here. I do enjoy this blog though and have missed it. It's kind of like a diary in a way where I can just chat about things going on in my life. I also like being able to share the things I enjoy (books, products, great quotes, food etc..), and hearing from you about the things that you find.
I want to send out a big thank you to those who've taken the time to email and ask where I've been. It's nice to be missed.
 I'm going to try to get back to blogging here again. For starters I'm not going to have set days for new posts but my plan is to get two posts out per week. To keep up with these posts you can follow by email or like the Facebook page (links on the right hand side) to get notifications.
 Starting tomorrow I am beginning my getting fit plan (hmmmm....I think I've been here before....). This has been a constant struggle for me but I will continue to get back up, shake it off and try again. Being out of shape is the pits, it doesn't feel good in anyway...short of breath, aches and pains...a general malaise. I am currently looking for a 5K local race as my first goal, any suggestions?

And does anyone want to join me? It's always better with a buddy.