Confessions of a Cola Addict: July 2015

BEAUTY | LAZIEST DIY EVER = LIP SCRUB

It's Wednesday night. It's been a long, dull day. All I am looking forward to is getting home, putting on sweats and vegging out in front of the telly to recoup.

Not much to ask from life, right?

WRONG!

Just when you give telly the importance of making a genuine contribution to your life, it will surely, most certainly, disappoint. Here's looking at you HBO playing Shaolin Soccer for the 999th time this month!

Now what is a girl supposed to do to kill time and extract some joy from dull day? Why, make a lip scrub of course!

My late in life lipstick euphoria is because I am blessed with dark pigmented lips. Now, for almost 25 years, my lazy ass couldn't be bothered to care (for it or about it). But as age is catching up, random whims are surfacing. Lip care being the latest.

It started with me discovering apple cider vinegar a couple of years ago and dabbing my pout with it every night until, lo and behold, the blackness started to wane!

Moral : Want change? Make it happen. My lazy ass sighs.

I have wanted to try a lip scrub for a while but didn't really want to buy one. I've read that its a marketing hoax and all you need is a toothbrush to do the job. I have tried it and let me tell you, its a lie! Toothbrush, no matter how gentle I am always leaves me with burning, scraped skin that bruises.

So anyway, last night, when I forced myself to settle my pantry, the first thing I looked at was this packet of raw sugar and EUREKA moment happened!

(Note: pantry never saw any settling)

All the ingredients I used were found in my cupboard:

Raw Sugar

Honey

Coconut Oil

Cinnamon Powder

I found a premixed jar of cinnamon-sugar, I had made for sprinkling on top of french toasts, so I just used that.

How to make Cinnamon Sugar > Add cinnamon powder to jar of raw sugar > close lid > shake
How to make Cinnamon Powder for 1/10th the price of store-bought> Buy a pack of cinnamon sticks from any general store and blitz it in the small jar of your mixer grinder.

Its DIY level 0, this scrub. All I did was...

Take 3 spoons of the cinnamon sugar

Add 1 spoon of the raw sugar

1 spoon coconut oil and

1 spoon honey.

Mix (not too much or the sugar will melt)

and TADA!

I used a small ice-cream spoon instead of a teaspoon. I didn't want to end up with a lot of this stuff which would then go to waste. I stored it in a small, plastic, salad-dressing jar that comes with Subway, Paninaro etc.

The raw sugar is very fine therefore very gently abrasive. The honey and coconut oil was super softening. The cinnamon made the whole thing fancy and yummy. And bonus, it was edible! I did smack my lips off once I was done. I am not ashamed.

I followed it up with my Forrest Essentials Sugared Rose Petal Lip Balm which was my birthday present to myself and I love it. The product as well as the packaging.

(Actually, I like the packaging more. See how pretty!)

I'd be shocked if I actually manage to make a routine of this, but a girl can dream, can't she?

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HEALTH | AUGUST AGENDA

fitness

05:25
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NUTRITION | HEALTHY SNACK BOX IS FINALLY AVAILABLE!!

box

Mondays are just never, ever good news for me (is it for anybody?) Especially when I have had the most fun, lazy, TV Marathon and good food kind of weekend, which I wish didn't end. And to then wake up to a morning that looks like dusk and finding I am out of coffee is just ominous. I basically just dragged my ass to office yesterday against my free will, all in the name of adulthood.

(Awesome Illustration by Gemma Correl)

There I said it.

On such a Monday, the only possibility of being cheered was the arrival of my Nibble Box trial pack!

I have followed this New York blog for years, and I distinctly remember feeling envious every time Joanna gushess about the awesome snack service she subscribes to and loves. I mean 4PM hunger pang is not really an urban myth but a super legit and hard to cater to demand.

I am terrible at pre-planning for any sort of mid-meal hunger terror and on most days I go hungry till the next meal. This then leads to over eating and then meal times go for a toss.

So when I saw the Facebook ad of Nibble Box, my heart flipped twice over and I bought the trial box almost immediately. I am thrilled that my beloved city is catching up to international concepts and it is about time someone designed a snack delivery system.

Without further ado, here's presenting my first, Nibble Box >

I received my box at 11 am, just as I poured my first cup of coffee. 1 breakfast cookie was demolished before I could even think blog :D

WHAT I GOT

There are 4 items in individual packaging and each pack contained:

1 Pumpkin Spice Latte Granola Bar
3 Pumpkin Pie Spice Breakfast Cookies (mini)
Half a handful of Cayenne Kippie Bag
Half a handful 1 pack Figgy Fugitive

DELIVERY

Ordered on: 23rd July, Thursday
Received on: 27th July, Monday

Not bad.

VALUE FOR MONEY

The MRP on each unit is 100 bucks. Which means I am getting 400 bucks worth snacks at 250 which is not bad, but I would have liked the box to include 5 snacks instead of four to cover the work days.

TASTE TEST

I have pecked into all 4 items and I liked all. The quality is really really good! The soft, chewy, coco-nutty breakfast cookie is delicately sweet and my clear favorite. I expected the Cayenne Kippie Bag to be spicy and much to my delight it infact was not at all spicy, very tasty and unlike most store bought salted nuts, these are very lightly salted.

NUTRITION

The package says: No processed sugar, artificial flavours, added colour or preservatives. From what I ate, I take this to be waaaaaaaaaaay healthier than

PACKAGING

Not very important but a total novelty; the simple, sturdy cardboard boxes are purposeful and reusable. The DIY worthiness is so high, I might subscribe just for the 4 cardboard boxes.

OFFERINGS

There are almost 100 options to choose from, though there are more sweet options than savoury. The way I see it, there are two sections.

One, a good selection of breakfast options that can be stored and eaten at the desk.

BREAKFAST COOKIE: Very clever concept. The 11AM cookie- coffee combo was quiet nice and I am excited to try the chocochip ones.

GRANOLA: I am not a fan of granola; Muesli is a much healthier option because granola is usually baked with some kind of oil or fat. Another reason for the dislike are the dried fruits (prunes, raisins, apricots etc.) that turn soggy and eeky in contact with milk or yoghurt.

I have kept the only two raisin-less options to TRY > Choco-Hazelnut and Seedy Soulmate.

GRANOLA BARS: Great for when you are running out of the door with toast in hand. I usually kept away from these because of the high sugar content but I am looking forward to try a few from this section.

And then there is a section of midday/ afternoon nibbles.

RAW BARS: An alternate to granola bars perhaps. I have TRASHED both these because I am not a fan of dates and frankly, these look like mithai

SPICED TRAIL MIXES: The only savory section. I wish there were some lesser decadent / spicy options. But the range is MASSIVE!

NFS COMBO: I like nuts and seeds; hate dried fruits. I have very limited option here. But for the less fussy, this is a handful of health.

In peroration, Nibble Box is a blessing for career girls (or boys) who intend on eating right at every meal but are left at the mercy of office canteens. I plan to distribute the monthly kitty between my work desk, gym bag, bedside table and hope to make better snack decisions while watching GoT at 1AM!

HOW TO ORDER

Upon making the payment, go to the Our Food section. The system automatically keeps all items on your TRY list. So whichever you don't want, TRASH them. After trying, you can rate the item under LIKE or LOVE which basically ensures you get them again I presume.

Delievered via FedEx.

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HOME DECOR | STYLING MY FIRST APARTMENT

alone

Yesterday is going down in history.

In Facebook language, it will commemorate a major Life Event.

From this year onwards, 21st July shall be known as the day I bought my first furniture = a bed.

No wait.

A sofa cum bed!

#living alone issues.

10 years of living away from home has taught me to adjust to the lack of various facilities. A proper bed being one of them. Moving around as a hostelite to paying guest to a tenant with three flatmates, I slept on alternates like sofas, folding cots, mattress piles... And for someone who moves this much, buying furniture was never even a thought. (The only furniture I have owned all these years was a second hand steel almirah. I finally parted with its rusty remains, this summer)

But now that I am starting to fall in love with my controversial little pad, it is slowly turning from a crash pad to my private little sanctuary, that I am happy to enter at the end of a long day. There couldn't be a better time to rectify this bed situation.

Truth be told, it started from a major pissing off factor. My current makeshift bed (mattress stack) is conducive for both sleeping and sitting. Which means I sleep, read, talk, watch TV, sometimes eat all on my BED! I was hate, hate, hating it. Often, my Saturdays would be spent in the horizontal and it is the absolute worse. Basically I needed two solutions with no space to accommodate both.

Enter, my new acquisition.

Procured from OLX, it is an antique, solid teak-wood piece in fantastic condition AND added bonus, it comes with storage at the bottom. Cannot wait to get rid of those pillows lying around all the bloody time!

Up ahead lies the crucial task of reupholstering said sofa, which means I need to answer the million dollar question...colour!

Thanks to Pinterest, inspiration is abound and thriving!

The walls in my place are *whitey-white-white* therefore I have been adding splashes of colour via upholstery and decoratives.

This yellow sofa is such a beauty but I wonder if it will be a little overwhelming for my tiny space

In its current form my room looks somewhat like this one below, replete with a stark white gallery wall.

While I am digging the minimal & pristine look, a white sofa seems a little too dull for my happiness. And who am I kidding about maintaining it!

Maybe I'll throw caution to the wind and go in this direction...

I absolutely LOVE the bold braveheart who owns this piece.

While I am not thinking grey, I have my eye on the circular wall-hanging thing. My gallery wall has a spot open and I want something other than framed art. DIY project?

I cannot wait to put the finishing touches to the space before showing it off.

Sneak peek...my favourite side of the wall :D

Would LOVE to hear if you have any suggestions...

07:20
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WEEKEND HANGOVER

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04:50
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FITNESS FRIDAY | THERE IS MORE TO WORKING OUT THAN WE THINK

after

5 very simple pre & post workout rituals to get the most out of your investment

It is great that so many people are getting mindful about health and fitness these days. With the kind of urban lifestyle we lead, health is usually the pawn for accomplishments. Unfortunately, most people, including myself surmise that exercising (as regularly as possible) will make everything better. But reality pointing otherwise.

From my experience, I have learnt that exercise needs to be complemented by some dietary reforms : basic (check water intake, cut back unnecessary sugar intake, add a fruit, have some milk etc etc) or drastic...to each her own. But I am a bigger believer of moderation. I have suffered tremendously by pushing my body and mind to extreme limits and sadly, the only results I got were injury, burnout and stress. If there is one thing you take away from this, then let it please be: understand your limits and set realistic goals.

I recently resumed working-out after a long hiatus thanks to a knee injury. So this time around, I wanted to figure out what could I do to not reach my earlier stage ever again.

For most of us, its not easy to make it to make time for workout religiously. Mornings are often rushed and evenings usually run long at work. At such times, reaching the gym is laudable. But I figured that there 5 very crucial things we should do to make the utmost from workouts.

Hydrate before working out

Most of us are cognisant of the merits of hydrating during exercising. But what we don't do or perhaps know is to hydrate before the workout. I arrived at this while researching why I get excruciating headaches after a workout and turns out dehydration is the culprit.

When we drink water during workout, we are replenishing what is being lost then. But if we are dehydrated from earlier, our muscles are fatigued which makes the body susceptible to injuries. According to this article "dehydration lowers hormone levels necessary for strong muscles.". It is therefore recommended to drink an ounce (30ml) of water for every 10 pounds (450gms) of body

weight an hour or two before workout.

Following this math, I drink approximately 1 litre of water over a span of 2 hours and stop half an hour before the session. Since I have adopted this ritual, my headaches are gone and I feel a LOT more energetic while working out. To test this out, try this for 5/6 consecutive days and don't on day 7 and see if it is making any difference.

Fuel the body before straining it

The day I first played squash, I landed at the court straight out of bed. No water, no breakfast, no warm up. At the end of two hours I felt like dead meat. It was horrible! I had a throbbing headache, I felt groggy, I had gone past the stomach grumbling hunger stage; my body basically just wanted to collapse.

But next week, I had a banana and toast an hour before the session and man the difference! This advice is not new but often ignored. I cannot stress the importance of fueling the body before working out. If we don't supply fuel, there won't be any energy. Without energy, how can the body go through all that strain?

Having said that, I absolutely detest eating in the morning! After much suffering, I have narrowed down 5 options that I choose between and that's as much as I can eat at 8AM.

> 1 slice wholemeal toast, 1tsp of peanut butter, half a banana slice. I sprinkle a pinch of cinammon powder when I'm feeling up to it. Tastes good either way.
(Note: I ate up my toast before taking a picture. The yummy photo above is from here.)

> 200ml soy milk and a tbsp of peanut butter (this happens when I'm super super late)

> 1 apple and 6 almonds

FUN FACT: I first read somewhere that it should be 1 apple & 4 almonds. Then another time, the writer swore by 1 apple and 10 almonds! I chose to screw both and take the off-middle ground of 6. (Note: I don't like 5. It made me pick 6 anyway)

> 3 boiled egg whites (I hardly ever do this at 8AM. This is mostly on Saturdays for my 12PM class. Also, 2 eggs make me hungry mid-session)

> 1 banana smeared with a teaspoon of peanut butter. Apples work too.

These snacks are cheap, easily available and require minimal effort (except the chewing part ) and will do a good job of fueling the body:

NOW LISTENING | ALEXEI MURDOCH

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FITNESS | DON'T QUIT YET

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02:17
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BEAUTY | THE PERFECT LIPSTICK FOR BEAUTY BEGINNERS

affordable

Let me state it upfront, I am not a beauty blogger and this is not one of those blogs. I am not a beauty expert. I don't know it all. And I sure as hell don't have the money to experiment with brand after brand, shade by shade of beauty offerings out in the world. To be very honest, I don't even understand half the things that are out there these days! There is a BB, CC & a DD cream? Is it some kind of a psychological joke? How is an illuminizer different from a highlighter? Eye lash primer! Really?

Confession: my (fairly) recent interest in makeup stemmed from a slight desperate need to appear somewhat adult-like to the world. You see, I am the kind of girl who gets asked for photo ID at bars and movie theaters and I turned 28 last month. While it is mostly flattering, it has kinda started to piss me off at work.

Scenerio A: Meeting with a new client who at first glance dismisses me as a trainee until I make (sometimes forcefully) my presence reasoned pretty well.

Scenerio B: my 22 years old reportees, who are either sporting a rock or giant baby bellies are asking me to "settle down." I am blaming hormonal funkiness for letting this assfacedsmugness get to me when honestly I wouldn't have my life any other way (rock/ baby-less, thanks). But I digress.

So as I was saying earlier, I am a total late bloomer in the beauty department. But while I am trying to make up (pun unintended) for lost time, I have a few clear ground rules which I presume only comes with age. Or when the money you are spending is the money you have hard earned and are therefore more aware of ~~wasting~~ spending.

Two ground rules relevant in qualifying this gem of a find to I MUST LET THE WORLD KNOW status are >

Quality - I know I need to go out there and find my makeup mojo, But I am absolutely NOT going to screw my face with poor quality products for the sake of experimenting. This basically means I need to be really sure of what I buy and not be too wild with my picks. Which is great, because I think I have missed the boat on being able to pull off, this:

Affordability- So the thing is, I like my money. I work damn hard to earn it. And I'd rather spend it on life's greatest pleasure than plaster my face in goo. I also find it criminal to pay this much money in general, on products and especially when I am not 100% sure I am going to use them regularly

Yikes! That's a lot of context! Presenting, without further ~~bullshit~~ ado,

Oriflame Pure Colour Intense Lipsticks!

These are babies are going down in history as my first lipstick love.

Oriflame is not a brand I would have remotely considered to experiment make up from. I hardly ever made a purchase from the brand really even though they have a pretty good rep in general. But it all turned when our very sweet receptionist told me she was dealing in Oriflame and if I'd like to check the latest catalogue. I took it out of politeness and let me tell you, Universe sometime recognises good deeds :D

My first order was Daring Berry. The range was on discount so I took the chance to a little...daring with my lipper choices. My requirement from make up is to appear clean not clown and therefore I play it safe to the point of being chicken. But at 179 bucks ( $3 approx.) I was my bravest best. The universe lauded my balls and did not disappoint me. I wear it daily to work as a stain not full blown and I love how the little pop of colour makes me appear more put together than I actually am.

After love at first swipe, I wanted more. Warm Rust is my trusty & safe brown ideal for wearing full blown daily. Fabulous Fuschia on the other hand is a little wakaow for any time of the day, as far as I am concerned. I am gonna will myself to sport it one of these days.

Taking a cue from all the beauty bloggers out there I tried to do a swatch thing. Intending to give the truest impression, I wanted to do the colour test on 2 skin tones. So I seeked helped from my fair (pun totally intended) friend and had a gallon of fun! I totally think she could be a lip model man.

As seen below, colours vary as per skin tone. These colours are not too bright for me (1st row) but on her, (2nd row) they were pretty out there.

Therefore, in peroration, 5 reasons to try these >

1) The crazy, good pigmentation. Above photos are all after one swipe. God promise
2) The smooth texture that doesn't feel like an elephant is sitting on your mouth
3) Super moisturizing almost like a very pigmented lip balm
4) The supremely affordable price for such good quality
5) The size is perfect for newbies who are searching for their colour mojo. Even if you don't like the shade, you won't be stuck with it forever. Mine got almost over while playing!

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LIFE | BEST GUIDED MEDITATION

app

I am deeply humoured by this video not just for the boyish crudeness but because it adds the much needed lightness to the complex monstrosity some people are making meditation out to be these days. I have tried many a guided meditations only to either get annoyed mid way or crack up. It was good to laugh and remember that meditation is supposed to destress you. Not the other way around.

But for times when I try to meditate seriously, I go to Calm. Its a wonderful and free app available on Play Store.

I absolutely love the app interface. It is clean, beautiful and simple to navigate.

The audio options available are simply beautiful. Non interfering and soothing, these sounds are probably my favouritest feature of the app. For the longest time I was using the app as a sound machine of sorts. I would put it on a 10 minute timer and keep the phone next to my pillow listening to Rain on Leaves while I drift off.

Currently, I am listening to Into the Horizon which is a slightly advanced audio with mild chanting in the background. It is a deeply soothing and calming, even if you don't chant along.

The app offers three kinds of meditation options.

1> Preset programs to follow daily. I have passed on this because I am simply unable to commit to it daily and entirely unable to focus for 10 minutes at a stretch. I picture my thoughts going somewhat like this in my brain the moment I sit to meditate...

I am serious, this is exactly how I feel. No jokes. I have just gotta try harder.

2 > There is the guided meditation section and I am yet to get to these. I feel these guided meditations are more advanced and require a stronger mind to follow along the instructions.

3> I am a total kindergartener when it comes to meditation. My babystep is to try and control my thoughts for 5 minutes at a time, without anyone jabbering in the background. I also love that they have the option of as little as 1,2,3 minutes. For someone who is starting out, trying to focus for 30 minutes straightaway is pretty unreasonable I think.

The app keeps a tab of how much time I have clocked on the profile. As you can see, mine is pretty appalling. But I'm trying. And I'd be dishonest if I didn't mention that the mornings when I manage to clock 5 minutes of Calm, the energy is definitely different than the other days.

Do drop a line on your experience, if you try the app.

05:55
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BEAUTY | LAZIEST DIY EVER = LIP SCRUB

HEALTH | AUGUST AGENDA

NUTRITION | HEALTHY SNACK BOX IS FINALLY AVAILABLE!!

HOME DECOR | STYLING MY FIRST APARTMENT

WEEKEND HANGOVER

FITNESS FRIDAY | THERE IS MORE TO WORKING OUT THAN WE THINK

NOW LISTENING | ALEXEI MURDOCH

FITNESS | DON'T QUIT YET

BEAUTY | THE PERFECT LIPSTICK FOR BEAUTY BEGINNERS

LIFE | BEST GUIDED MEDITATION

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