I need some FEEDBACK!

Hey my loves,

I need some feedback from you guys.  Would you be interested in "health, fitness, and healthy eating" component to my blog?  I have recently made some changes to my diet (meaning what I eat... Im not on a 'diet') and I have been hitting the gym at least 4-5 times a week.

Please leave a comment below telling me if you would be interested in recipes, workouts, etc.

Thanks!!

Love,
K

Berry-licious Smoothie

You might be wondering why I am writing about a smoothie on a beauty blog... but there IS a method to my madness :)

Do you know how amazing blueberries are for you??? 

1) They have the HIGHEST antioxidant capacity of all fresh fruits!
2) They neutralize free radicals in the body.  In turn, this helps you look and feel younger! (not to mention prevent diseases)
3) Last, but certainly not least, blueberries can keep your brain and eyes sharp!

Smoothies are great for the morning rush and they are so healthy (if you make them right ;) hehehe)

Recipe:

1 cup frozen blueberry/raspberry/blackberry (frozen fruit mixture)
2 tbsp plain greek yogurt
1 swirl of honey (optional)
1 mint leaf (optional)
1/2 cup fresh squeezed orange juice (or you can use bottled OJ... jsut stay away from anything that you have to mix... try to stay fresh!)

Note:

If your smoothie is a little on the thick side, add some water (or more OJ) to the blender and mix again.

Enjoy!  It's DELICIOUS! :)

New Year's Resolutions

Everyone makes them, but do we actually stick to them?  That is the question...

Here is a list of my New Year's Resolutions!

1. Make more time for ME!  I am so busy with school and work that I find it challenging to do anything "for fun" without feeling guilty.  So this semester I am only taking 3 courses instead of 5, this way I will have more time to do the things I want to do :)
2. Get back to the gym!  I was going every other day for 1-2 hours and it was incredible!  Then school got in the way and I only went once a week ... BAD!!!
3. Start a youtube channel; well I have the account started already, but I would like to start making videos!
4. Save up enough money to buy a car!  I have a feeling that 2011 is the year for me to actually go buy my own car hehehe
5. Do more research on LASIK eye surgery
6. Vow to drink more water daily!
7. Stop and smell the roses more often... I find that sometimes I wake up wondering where the last week has gone!  I dont want to miss anything in life, so I want to slow down a bit and really absorb what is happening around me
8. Work with a few more charities in the Region and make a difference in 2011. 
9. Cut out coffee entirely
10. Take a photography course once school is done

There we have it... those are 10 of the many things I want to accomplish in 2011!  I hope you all have a safe and fun New Year's Eve wherever you are in the world :)

Cheers!

Perfection Does Not Exist

This blog post was inspired by Kandee Johnson's post about perfection...

Every day we are blasted with perfectly airbrushed and photo shopped models covering the front pages of magazines and plastered on the sides of city buses.  We are part of a society that places so much value on perfection and I just wanted to say that perfection is over rated and unattainable!  If we look at those models in the magazines, they are all terribly thin and the unsuspecting teenage girl or boy (or even adults for that matter) will be fooled into thinking that is what the model ACTUALLY looks like.  Here are a few statistics to show just how much weight and image issues affect our youth:

According to a 2002 survey, 28% of girls in grade nine and 29% in grade ten engaged in weight-loss behaviours.
Boyce, W. F. (2004). Young people in Canada: their health and well-being. Ottawa, Ontario: Health Canada

Thirty-seven percent of girls in grade nine and 40% in grade ten perceived themselves as too fat. Even among students of normal-weight (based on BMI), 19% believed that they were too fat, and 12% of students reported attempting to lose weight.
Boyce, W. F., King, M. A. & Roche, J. (2008). Healthy Living and Healthy Weight. In Healthy Settings for Young People in Canada. Retrieved from http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/dca-dea/yjc/pdf/youth-jeunes-eng.pdf.

In a survey of adolescents in grades 7-12, 30% of girls and 25% of boys reported teasing by peers about their weight. Such teasing has been found to persist in the home as well - 29% of girls and 16% of boys reported having been teased by a family member about their weight.
Eisenberg, M. E. & Neumark-Sztainer, D. (2003). Associations of Weight-Based Teasing and Emotional Well-Being Among Adolescents. Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, 157(6), 733-738.

These statistics show that we need to place more emphasis on attainable things in life... Not looking like the models on the covers of magazines... because let’s face it; those models do not even look like that in real life!  They have cellulite and stretch marks and all of the same imperfections we all have.  I hope that one day we can move past this fascination with “PERFECTION” and realize that it is our differences and unique qualities that make each and every one of us special and important.  Wouldn’t it be boring if we all looked the same? 

The next time you think about telling somebody that they look nice or their hair is pretty, stop yourself and think about how you can compliment something more important... Compliment their kindness, their awesome goal during last Saturday’s hockey game, or their dedication to a goal they are trying to achieve :)