A Happy Medium...

This past week.....

Training

4 days of strength training and a couple of treadmill sessions after training

Push-ups...I can easily do 20 military push-ups now. Muscle memory is wonderful!

Body Weight Dips...hmmm...got some work to do there. I was able to do 5 body weight dips...not fully lowering my body like i should. I did several sets to reach a volume of 24. I will keep working on these.

Chin-ups...Have not done any yet. Maybe tomorrow I will see if I can do a few

Nutrition

I have not logged my calories but I have done much better eating clean and getting my veggies in.

We bought a half of a half of a cow....good grass fed beef. We know the owner of the poor cow and we have 226 pounds of beef in our deep freezer.

I have been eating too many eggs... Whole eggs

I am eating primarily high protein, only allowing carbs (bread, rice, fruit) with dinner. That keeps my carb intake pretty low without being too restrictive with my diet. If I want a bun with my steak, I have it...but only one meal. I pick a carb choice for that meal and limit my carbs to that choice. For instance, today, I chowed down on some brown rice and pinto beans with my chicken. I wanted to add fruit, but I did not, trying to keep my carbs limited.

I am trying to find that Happy Medium between training and nutrition that will work together to help me drop the final 10 pounds.

My African Black Soap Skin Care Update...

It has been 10 days and I am washing my face twice a day with the African Black Soap (ABS)

There are times when my face stings when I wash it, and other times when it does not sting at all. My skin looks and feels smoother and my makeup applies effortlessly. I am using less and less of the foundation. The ABS has not stopped the hormonal breakouts. Agh!! 

I ordered some Tea Tree Oil to apply along my jawline when the breakout occur. I also ordered some ABS processed with more SHEA butter to make it a bit more milder. I will continue to use my current ABS but when I do my masks and any exfoliation I will use the milder ABS. I am afraid to exfoliate while my face still stings. 

ABS with Shea

Tea Tree Oil

So the ABS and Shea Butter is working.

My Happy Place with my skin

Random...

I stopped to grab lunch at a Cafe located in one of the hospitals that I work. I ordered my food and headed out when this man stopped me. He was sitting at a table with his wife. He asked me, "you travel everyday from Fostoria all the way here to work?" I smiled and said yes...and that I travel even further when I go to my Michigan hospitals. As I was talking to him, I was desperately trying to reach deep down in the recesses of my memory to figure out who this guy was. I spoke with him like I knew him for a bit and then he shared that he saw me that morning getting coffee at the Fostoria Circle K, a gas station that I stop at everyday for my coffee. Wow...what a small world and what are the odds that he sees me (an hour away from Fostoria in that Cafe) and that he remembered me. 

My Flower Diva's

Laurie....she added flowers to our wall 

Geri- Our Surgery IT Diva

Jenn...Sporting her bareMineral's look :)

My Messy Work Space Haha

My Blended Bag of Veggies

 Sad Moment...

An AMAZING man and pillar of our community passed away Thursday. His name is Louie and he worked 45 years at our local YMCA. I went to train yesterday and was shocked when I heard the news. I found it quite difficult to train, but I did. 

Louie left a positive impact on our community and he will be DEARLY MISSED, but I am comforted by the fact that I know Louie is with our heavenly Father.

Smiling about my Skin....

Training.....

No training to day 

Gonna Skype with my coach tomorrow and ask him the best way to incorporate push-ups, pullups, and dips in my routine.

Nutrition.....

Don't want to talk about it....about 1600 calories of unclean food

Skin....

I think I am going to love the African Black Soap and Raw Shea Butter skin care routine. Yesterday I mentioned the zit that I had that I was not going to mess with. Let me tell you something really cool. That zit came to a head within 4 hours. I could not believe it and when I washed my face with the African Black soap prior to bed, the yuk wiped clean with the rag. I followed the soap with my PTR serum followed by the Shea butter.

I can already see and feel a difference in my skin for the better. First of all, I expected to see darkened areas on my skin from the burning and redness that I had from the initial few days of using the soap. My skin did not darken. I think the Shea butter is moisturizing and has enough nutrients to help heal my skin from the irritation. My face feels smooth as silk and that zit...totally flat and barely there. 

My skin does feel oily for about 3 hours and then my face must absorb the access oil because the oiliness does get better. My makeup applies like a dream and I think I am less oily than usual. 

Another thing I am loving is that my night time routine has gone from 5 steps with 6 different products to only 3 products....cutting my 15 minute cleansing routine down to 5 minutes. I am stoked about that.

I used the Shea butter as a conditioner for my hair today and it turned out nice as well. It was easy to straighten with a flat iron.

Makeup....

I need an intervention

My daughter Erica with the hat

Daughter Kathy in Florida

Son Nick

Daughter Jessica

Grand Sons (Jessica Kids)

Bob (Hubby) and our dog Polp

Laurie and Annette Working...haha

My Gums are bigger than my teeth!!! I have BIG GUMS and SMALL TEETH

I love this tee!!

My grand son and daughter (Kathy's kids)

A few items from the MAC Holiday Collection 

Well...what can I say
Smashbox is another love

Kohl's extended their makeup line to some of my favorite Brands
And I can use my Kohls Cash... ahhhhhhh
This makeup palette is from The Balm as well as the makeup brush
The Powder Compact is #40 from Cargo

African Black Soap.....

Training....

Shopping

I also decided to see how many good military push-ups could I do....sad day. I only did 12 really good ones. A few years back I could do 40 with no problem...so I will start doing them again and get back to  the good.

When I am at the gym, I will see where I am with body weight pull-ups...we will see if I can do any and then check how many body weight dips I can do.

At least I will have a starting point with these 3 body weight exercises.

Nutrition....

Veggie 2 egg omelet

A bag of blended frozen mixed veggies

Mahi Mahi grilled fish..about 3-4 oz

Small apple

Let's talk about my skin....

I have extremely oily skin. As an adolescent, I had horrible acne...hormonal in nature. Between 5th and 9th grade my acne was unsightly. Around 10th grade after my hormones settled down, my acne cleared on its own. I recalled using noxema as my facial cleanser during that time. 

My skin in my 20s and 30s was oily with minimal breakouts...and I did not treat my skin good at all. I would wash my face in the morning and sleep in my makeup at times and was blessed to not break out despite my really oily skin. 

Now, fast forward to the past 2 years....

I am a HORMONAL NIGHTMARE as I am pre-menopausal and my skin has become acne prone again.  So, I have invested in high end facial cleansers to keep things at bay...but I can count on 3-4 acne bumps a week. And then I have the nasty habit of squeezing my zits. I know that is bad...but I just can't help myself...so the squeezing causes further inflammation and ultimately black spots (hyper pigmentation). So I have to put concealer to cover the black spots which clogs my pores leading to more acne. Agh!!!!!!! So I am a hyper pigmentation mess!!  

So.......

I am trying a new facial routine. If you read my blog you know I like my makeup and that will never change. I wear makeup daily on top of extremely oily skin. My skin is so oily that to keep the oil at bay I put a layer of Milk Of Magnesia on my face...yes...MOM regular flavor and it turns my skin white. Then I put on a layer of Lanacane anti-chafing gel over the MOM. The minerals in MOM absorb oil and the Dimethicone in the Lanacane acts as an INEXPENSIVE primer for my skin. I always read ingredients on products, and my $30 facial primers have the exact same ingredients as Lanacaine or Monostat anti-chafing gel ($4).

What's new in my routine is African Black Soap. I just started using it on Wednesday. I hope to replace some of my absorbantly expensive Peter Thomas Roth facial cleansers and moisturizers with all natural  products. 

I bought my African Black Soap from Butter N Bars along with pure SHEA Butter which I will use as my moisturizer. 

African Black Soap

100% Pure Shea Butter

So, I read a lot of reviews and I researched the products for hours and purchased them on Monday and received them by Wednesday. 

I used the Black African Soap and Shea butter Wednesday and the soap burned like crazy on my face. If I had to rate the burning on a scale of 1-10 (10 being unbearable burning) I would rate the burning a 6/10. Whoa!!!! WTH....so I researched that and found that the PH of African Soap is between 8 and 10!! Very alkaline. I decided to use my Peter Thomas Roth Face Serum on my face following the soap and then put the Shea butter on top of that. I felt the sting for about 3 hours. I figured I would wake up to red inflamed skin that will lead to deep dark marks from the chemical burns. That's what happens to my skin when I pick my zits or use something too harsh...my skin turns really dark in the inflamed areas.

Thursday morning, indeed my skin was red and inflamed around my mouth area, so I skipped the African Soap and used my Peter Thomas Roth facial products. Thursday night I BRAVELY used the African soap again and experienced the same burning....but less intense 5/10 burning.  So I followed it with the PTR serum and the Shea butter and woke up Friday morning with redness as I expected. I did the same thing and used my PTR cleansers in the morning routine. Friday evening, I decided to use the African soap again BUT I put a layer of Shea butter on the hyper sensitive areas of my face prior to using the soap...and yay...that helped significantly with the burning 3/10...no longer burning, just a bit of stinging.

So, since I don't have to worry about the bareMinerals November video shoot, I can be more daring with my skin starting today, I will use the African soap morning and night. 

This morning I started my routine with the Shea Butter on the sensitive areas on my face and then lathered up with the African Soap.  Instead of the stinging...I had a tingling sensation that I would rate a 2/10....woohoo.  But, I have a new pimple on my lower right jawline. I AM GOING TO TRY MY BEST TO NOT PICK IT!!! PRAY FOR MY STRENGTH NOT TO PICK IT. We will see if the black soap helps this. I am hoping that the black soap will prevent the breakouts....but we will see. 

I think I will ditch the cream/liquid concealers that I like to use to cover my black marks and will use my bareMinerals mineral concealers on those areas. I am going to miss my MAC Prolong Wear, which is my FAVORITE concealer because it covers like a dream, but I think it is contributing to my clogged pores and breakouts. So I will keep you posted on my skin.

Today's bareMinerals Makeup 

Random Thoughts....

I watch a lot of youtube videos...mostly makeup related stuff and the advertisements prior to the videos get on my nerves...but there are 2 commercials that I watch every time they come on...

The Best Feelings in the World

Raising and Olympian

Annette's bareMinerals News....

A couple of blogs ago I mentioned that I was being considered for a spot on an upcoming November  bareMinerals infomercial. If you read that blog, I posted my before and after pictures....before my makeup and after using bareMineral. Thank God for makeup...lol. Well, a little after 6pm today I received the bad news....... I was not selected for the November shoot, however, I will be considered for a spot in another infomercial that they are planning to do around January or February. 

So, I was indeed disappointed. Who likes rejection, right?

But, this is not a "bad" thing. I will use this rejection as my motivation to be an even better DIVA than I already am :) 

This news came just as I was thinking about Margarita Friday with my husband. Suffice it to say that my Margarita Friday date went out of my brain. Instead, I boiled a bag of veggies, then blended them in my blender and drank my 5 servings of veggies for the day. 

Instead of lifting a pitcher of Margarita on the rocks, visions of  push-ups, pull-ups, and dips entered my mind. 

By time January/February rolls around, I should be looking good. Now I have an additional reason to lose the final 10. I want to be picked to be in that shoot. Even if I am not chosen, It won't be because I am not looking my best. 

So here we go..... My birthday is in January. My new motto will be 49 and looking fine!!! Haha. Time to make that motto real!!!