Breedlove Hoops

While I can't remember what movie used that line obsessively, the phrase has pretty much stuck with me. Recently, "make good choices" meant don't skimp out on your workout. Commit to it completely and don't slack off. What I should have taken from the phrase is that I need to pay attention when things don't feel right.

On Wednesday I decided to use the "grease-the-groove" method for pull-ups. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the phrase, it means that you do at least one pull-up every time you pass your pull-up bar. I have always struggled with pull-ups and figured that would be a great way to improve my strength. While doing a few negative reps (starting at the top and controlling your descent) I felt my right elbow pop and I temporarily lost control of the movement. I climbed down and bent my arm a few times, but everything felt fine. I decided to brush off the experience and continued to do pull-ups throughout the day. That night was a completely different story.

I went to bed and probably slept for a few hours before I woke up with an excruciating, shooting pain around my elbow. It hurt regardless of how I positioned or contracted my arm. This continued to happen throughout the evening. After doing some searching I am pretty sure I am experiencing tennis elbow. According to what I read, rest is the best option.

As of right now, my current lifting program is being suspended until further notice, and I guess I am going to take up running?

The moral of the story: If things pop/rattle/click, get them checked out before continuing with your workout. Also, don't google your problems like I did, go see a professional.

I know it's a little early to be busting out Autumn and Halloween stuff, but at least I'm not pulling a Costco with Christmas decorations!

Today I have Bobbing for Apples from Model City Polish's Halloween collection. The polish is made up of medium sized red circle glitter, small red circle glitter, and a ton of holographic glitter.



The application was incredibly smooth and required no fishing to get the larger glitter out. This is one coat of Bobbing for Apples over two coats of Lucerne-tainly Look Marvelous by OPI, topped with Poshe top coat.







I opted for the scented set of polishes which came with a cuticle oil. Bobbing for Apples is apple scented (duh), The Great Pumpkin Massacre has a pumpkin bread scent, and Witch's Brew smells like fruit punch. While I couldn't smell the apple very much, I wasn't disappointed. I don't recommend sniffing the liquid polish in the bottle like I did. My neighbors probably thought I was huffing >.<

Model City Polish always makes lovely colors, but Bobbing for Apples is truly stunning.

Keep an eye out in the upcoming weeks for my review of The Great Pumpkin Massacre and Witch's Brew!

I started weightlifting seriously in November 2012. Thanks to my work discount, I was finally able to pick up a weight bench and olympic bar. This motivated me to choose a program instead of picking random dumbbell exercises. Not knowing a whole lot about fitness, I decided to try Stronglifts which is a modified version of Starting Strength. I enjoyed the program for some time because I was getting stronger. When you start by only squatting bar weight the only where to go is up. Eventually, the program left me super fatigued despite meeting my daily macro nutrient requirements. That's when a kind soul over on Tumblr introduced me to Wendler 5/3/1.

Wendler 5/3/1 is a basic weightlifting program centered around powerlifting. It's structured around four main lifts: military press, deadlift, benchpress and squat. Each of the main lifts gets a separate day. You can either focus solely on the main lift or you can add supplemental work. Regardless of what you choose, the goal is to progress your main lift and to keep your workout under an hour. I like a lot of things about this program, but I really appreciate that he focuses a great deal of time on preventative care, stretching and proper form.

I finished up the program two weeks ago and was very satisfied with my progress.  All four weeks were enjoyable and challenging. I added 10 pounds to my deadlift and a few pounds to the other three lifts. While that may not sound like much, I definitely see it as a success.

What program have you seen the most success with?

Last week I invited my younger sister to go to the mall with me. It's usually not the best idea to invite a teenager to the mall, but sometimes I forget that. While she was spending an outrageous amount of time staring at a wall of rings in Forever 21, I ducked into Spencers to see if they had any new polish. Lucky for me, they had a few sets of Color Club polishes on clearance. I picked up two of last year's Autumn duos. From left to right, Port-Folio, Showtime, Editorial, and Personal Stylist.

I was really indecisive on what I wanted to do, so I decided to stick with simple polka dots. I started with two coats of Color Club Show Time. The opacity of one coat of Show Time could have stood alone, but I was concerned that Matte About You might remove some of the pigment, so I added an extra layer. Once that was dry, I topped it with Essie's Matte About You and then added polka dots in Color Club Editorial. 

Editorial looks as though it is a green/gold duo-chrome with a hint of blue, but it appears gold when applied. I was rather disappointed it wasn't a true duo-chrome but I am happy with the gold color. Unfortunately, the wear time on this mani was very short lived. I didn't even last two days before a significant amount of polish had chipped off my thumb. It's safe to say that the chipping was caused by Matte About You, and not by Color Club. 

Pros:

• Great color selection
• Long wear time (for Color Club)
• Excellent application

Cons:

• Matte About You shortens the life of any mani
• Color Club Editorial is not a true duo-chrome

Short & Sweet: I LOVE my new Color Club hues despite them not appearing the same out of the bottle. I'm still unsure how I feel towards Essie Matte About You.

I am vanilla to put it politely. My boyfriend always teases me about my rather "plain" food choices. I enjoy things like curry and dim sum, but if it contains an ingredient I am unfamiliar with, I probably won't try it. I don't do bean sprouts, pickles, or mushrooms, and I was VERY hesitant to try a majority of the stuff in my Kona Kase. In all honesty, the only reason I agreed to try it was because the wonderful people at Kona Kase decided to send me one for free in exchange for a completely honest review.
In case you aren't familiar with Kona Kase, you pay a $15/month subscription fee in exchange for a box of fitness geared "goodies". The products rotate each month allowing you to try a variety of things you are not normally be exposed to.
Here is what the box looked like when it arrived:


The goods:

I'm not a big seed/nut person, so the Health Warrior Chia Bar, Enjoy Life Seed & Fruit Mix, and the GorukoBar went to my boyfriend. From what I understood, he thoroughly enjoyed everything. We both tried the Perky Jerky and it was ok, but not something we would replace other jerky brands with. The Caveman Cookies (unlabeled on the top left) were amazingly delicious. I believe they were gluten free among other things.
My absolute favorite item in the box was definitely the Pro Bar Bolt Organic Energy Chews. The flavor was spot on and greatly exceeded my expectations. I would love to try their other flavors!
Overall, I feel like the $15/month subscription fee is very reasonable considering all of the high quality products they offer.
Pros:

• Affordable
• Great variety
• High quality ingredients

Cons

• No consistency in products
• Monthly commitment unless canceled

Short & Sweet: I loved the idea of the box, but I didn't love everything inside. Pro Bar Energy Chews were definitely the front runner. I would consider ordering a Kona Kase in the future.
Have you ever tried a subscription based box? What did you think of it?

After taking a whole week off from lifting, I am getting back at it. My allergies planned a sneak attack and took me out last Tuesday. All last week I was itching to go lift, but my body said otherwise. I was dizzy, congested and flat out couldn't breathe. The funny thing is that after a week off, I was feeling decent yesterday. The problem was that I didn't want to lift. After having a "vacation" style week, I had become complacent.
I LOVE lifting, and pretty much everything about it, but occasionally I'm just not feeling it. There are several ways I break through that mental plateau. Yesterday, it was all about getting out there regardless of what I ended up doing. I focused on my regular routine and added in some up-beat, high energy music. Some days I decide to do more, and others I just stick to the bare bones. The important part is getting to that higher level of activity so your endorphins kick in and remind you why you love being active.
How do you deal with working out when you lack motivation?

Happy Canada Day to all my Canadian friends! Today I have a quick tutorial for some 4th of July nails that anyone could do. For this manicure I used OPI I'm Not Really a Waitress, Sinful Colors Blue by You and Sally Hansen in Timeless White.

You will need:

red, white, and blue polish

topcoat and a basecoat

make up sponge

q-tips

nail polish remover

a small glass of water (not pictured)



Start by painting your nails with a base coat followed by a coat of white. As you can see, the white does not need to be opaque.

Once the white coat is completely dry, wet your makeup sponge in the glass of water and wring out 80% of the moisture. Next, paint stripes of color onto your sponge so that the colors will be enough to cover your thumb nail. You can paint them horizontally like I did, or whatever direction you feel like.



Align the sponge over your nail and rock it back and forth, side-to-side until you get the desired amount of coverage. As you can see, I didn't use enough polish on the first nail I tried.



Reapply polish to the sponge after each nail and complete the rest of your nails to the desired opacity. At this point I decided to do my clean up in order to avoid smudging the topcoat. Take a q-tip dipped in nail polish remover, and gently touch up the sides and cuticles.



Wait until your nail polish is completely dry before using a topcoat to avoid smearing colors into the white areas. I used Poshe Super Fast Drying Topcoat.



If you wanted to jazz this up even more you could apply silver or gold stars before sealing with a top coat.



I am really pleased that my first gradient turned out so well. Are you rocking something festive for the 4th? Link me up and share the pretties!