You put what on your face?

Oil. 

You read that right. Oil. But wait a second, isn't that nearly the last thing that would be good for your face? Aren't we avoiding looking oily? 

We are avoiding oily, but there are a plethora of oils that are exceedingly beneficial to our skin. Currently, there is a bit of a fad around beauty oils, so they are fairly easy to come by. Let's take a deeper look into the ones that I have tested and the ones that remain in my skin care repertoire.

What?

Olive Oil: Hight in antioxidants, Vitamin A, Vitamin E, prevents cell destruction, moisturizes and softens skin and hair, promotes hair growth (you probably won't grow a beard), and won't clog pores.

Coconut Oil: Reduces premature aging, hight in antioxidants, Vitamin E, promotes hair growth, antibacterial properties, soothes bug bites, and hydrates skin quickly.  

Grapeseed Oil: Not a fan, so who cares about the benefits. 

Avocado Oil: Rich in antioxidants such as Vitamins A, D and E. Boost scalp health, increase collagen production, and reduce age spots. 

Rosehip Oil: Softens and revitalizes hair, rich in essential fatty acids, fights signs of aging, proven to help with dandruff, can sooth a sunburn, nourish brittle nails, and give your skin a healthy glow.

Macadamia nut Oil: High source of Palmitoleic Fatty Acids which may delay skin and cell aging, light weight, hydrating, promote healing after sunburn, mimics your skin's natural oils. 

Maracuju Oil: Light oil which is soaks into skin quickly, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and anti-itch. 

Jojoba Oil: Light weight, non-greasy, anti-inflammatory properties, may reduce breakouts, and mimics skin's natural oils. 

Argan Oil: Rich in vitamin A and E, Omega-6 fatty acids, moisturizes and eases inflammation in the skin, boosts cell reproduction, and softens hair. 

Tea Tree Oil: Natural topical antiseptic and anti-fungal treatment, relieves itchiness, keeps pests away, naturally cures bad breath, and many, many more. 

Brazilian Buriti fruit Oil: This is the newest oil that I have acquired. It is said to sooth burns as well as filter out harmful UV rays. It is high in vitamin C and A.  

Almond Oil: Rich in vitamin A, B and E. Soothes irritated skin, reduces dark circles, removes dead skin cells, ideal makeup remover. Almond oil is also a great carrier oil and is gently enough for young children. 

Why?

Reasons to use oils: all natural and no chemicals or preservatives. No guesswork with crazy ingredients names that you can't pronounce. These oils are pure. Let's simplify your skin care routine to help you have glowing, clear skin. 

How?

In what ways can oils be used? 

As a cleanser. Use any of these oils to remove impurities, makeup, sunscreen and sweat from your face. 

Use it as an emulsifier for your exfoliant. Add brown sugar and your favorite oil to create your own simple scrub. 

Moisturizer. Help your skin maintain its water content with oil. Gently press it in to your skin after cleansing. If you have exceptionally dry skin, like I do, use oil as a serum and then ten minutes after application, use a cream over the top. This is the most beneficial at night. 

*Winter routine: after putting on a thick layer of moisturizer after applying oil, I will lay a thin layer of a cotton pad that has been dampened with water over the top. Lay down and rest for 10-15 minutes. This will slow the evaporation rate and really allow the nutrients penetrate your skin. 

Where?

All over! I've put the entire list above on my face. Not all at the same time, mind you. That might be fun though. 

Olive Oil: I mix this and coconut oil together and make a mask for my hair. 

Coconut Oil: I have added this to my moisturizer of raw cocoa butter. I also use it when my heels are painfully dry or if my knuckles are starting to crack in the winter. If you get rashes due to stress, this is good as well to sooth the itch. 

Grapeseed Oil: I tried it on my hair once and I couldn't get it out for days. I haven't tried again since. 

Avocado Oil: I have put this in my hair and have used it to remove makeup. If you try this or any of the oils to remove makeup, don't scrub at your skin. Instead, use cotton pads to press the oil gently into your skin. I hold the cotton there for a minute or two and then everything easily slides off. 

Rosehip Oil: I use this as a moisturizer. I like to make an oil cocktail. This with cocoa butter, Argan and Maracuju oil makes your skin so smooth and glowing by morning. Also, several of my favorite facial mists contain Rosehip oil. 

Macadamia nut Oil: This is my favorite to add to my hair. Just a few drops and it makes hair shiny, less frizzy, and no more tangles. 

Maracuju Oil: Great by itself or mixed with others to moisturize. 

Jojoba Oil: Perfect for dry elbows, eczema, and winter skin. 

Argan Oil: If you have curly or hair prone to fly-aways, Argan is perfect for you.

Tea Tree Oil: I only use this when I need to. The scent is pretty strong, and it isn't my favorite. It's really great for cleansing and natural remedies. 

Brazilian Buriti fruit Oil: This is the only oil I use in the morning. 

Almond Oil: I've added this to my moisturizer, lip scrub, and lip balm.

Who?

I think that EVERYONE can and should use oils. It doesn't matter if you have dry, normal, combination, oily, breakout prone, mature, baby, or sensitive skin. 

When?

For hair, I deep condition my hair with coconut and/or olive oils about twice a month or when I feel it's drier than it should be. To tame frizz, add shine, and decrease tangles, I use macadamia nut oil after heat styling. 

For all over skin, I use oils nightly as a cleaner and moisturizer. 

For my lips, I use a homemade lip scrub every other day and a balm multiple times a day. 

For feet, as often as exfoliation is needed. Every other week in winter and nearly daily in summer. 

Cuticles. As needed and after a mani. 

Hope you are now feeling a bit more brave about trying out oils!

Enjoy!

~a

Journey of a Résumé

Recently I have needed to update my résumé. This is something that one should probably revisit on a yearly basis, or at least every time your job title or role changes. I have neglected to do so for 4 years. I shall hang my head in shame for a few minutes. 

Shame-fest over. Let the fun begin! Where to start. Luckily, I was able to dig up my out of date résumé from 4 years ago. If you have to start from scratch, I pity you. Maybe you should take a look at your archiving methods after you tackle recreating your résumé. I know that I need to improve mine. That will potentially be a post in the distant future, as I plan on procrastinating on that one for some time. For my résumé, I have a giant file that contains way more detail than a résumé should have. I call this MASTERAMANDA.docx and MASTERAMANDA.indd. I have a word document and an InDesign document. If you do not use InDesign, that's fine. You can do most of what I do in Word alone. I have an InDesign file so that I can make things prettier with less effort. I can do all the same things in Word, but it takes me ages. AGES and chunks of hair. So in this MASTER file, I have all the detail I can possibly write for each job position that I have had for my career. That way I can tailer it down for the specific job that I am applying for. 

Sounds easy, yes? It's not. It's like pulling teeth for me. I wish they could give me anesthesia, but then my résumé would well, be worthless. 

I think that résumés' should be as clear and concise as possible while still painting an accurate picture of your abilities. Be honest. If you fudge and get the job, they will figure it out eventually and you will look like a jerk. Let's face it, you probably are. Everyone has things that they are really good at and things that they need to improve upon. Play up the things that are your strengths! Not detail oriented? Well, maybe you shouldn't say you are and then misspell something. Maybe you are detail oriented but not worthy of a spelling bee trophy, then get someone who is to proof-read! Thanks to Spanish and French lessons, my spelling isn't as good as I would like, so I get help! Not just the built in spell checker, as it won't notice that you used there instead of their. Which, by the way, isn't excusable. Neither is messing up the difference between your and you're. But I digress. Find a grammar Nazi and get their help. It will probably cost some cookies or something though. Spell checking is hard work. 

To the point of being concise, I like to babble out what I am thinking first: 

I journaled on how to successfully navigate through space in time. I made it look all nice and dandy. I didn't kill my co-workers when they asked questions that they should have known the answers to. I sat through conference calls with the leaders of Neptune12 and didn't gag on the local cuisine. 

Then make it better. sentence by sentence: 

Successfully created a beautiful guide to successfully navigate the universe. Encouraged teamwork and personal growth with colleagues. Exemplified diplomacy and etiquette. 

By doing this, it quiets the blank screen's mocking, aka writer's block. Please keep in mind that the above and below examples are not entirely accurate of real events or abilities. 

Once you have gone through and exhausted everything that you have done for each position that you have had, SAVE! Well, save in between the beginning and end, not just the end. That is a practice that will inevitably lead to disaster. Now, from that MASTER file, save as a new file. Maybe you are going up for an ambassador role now, instead of a journalist, so we will save it as AMANDAambassador.indd, in my theoretical case. Now to make edits. Go through line by line and remove anything NOT ambassador related. Once you have cleaned it up, then go through and make sure everything is consistent. Typeface, spacing, type size, punctuation, etc. Now, let's look at the length. Two full pages?! Too long. As someone who has looked at a fair number of résumés, they all go gray after awhile. Do the person who may read your's a favor and keep is short and sweet. I try to keep mine to just a page, mind you it's 10pt type, but it's all there. If you have to go over on to the second page, it's not the end of the world, but try as best you can not to. 

Next, zoom out so that you can see the whole page without having to scroll up, down or sideways. How does it look? Glorious or Bleh? Probably closer to Bleh. Mine sure was. Now for the fun part. No, wait. Now for the step right before the fun part. Research! 

I did some research on résumé design. Nothing too fancy. There are all kinds of awesome designs out there, but most of them I had to cross of the idea list, as it didn't allow for much info. My résumé is detail HEAVY. I don't have the room for fancy graphics that will dilute my list of skills. Now, if you are going up for any position art/design, ignore what I just said. You will set yourself ahead of the stack if your résumé instantly looks pleasing to the eye. Make a list of the features of the résumés' that you like and/or will be suitable for your résumé. Bulleted overview of your skills and or qualification? I like bullets. They are the writer's version of polka-dots. Ok, maybe not, but they draw your eye to an area and they break up text that can make the eyeballs weary. 

Areas of Expertise

• Intergalactic Travel
• User Experience Design
• Team Collaboration 
• Verbal & Written Communication

If you don't like bullets, maybe consider the good 'ol |. I believe it's called a pipe. It's that nice straight line that is hanging out with the backslash over the Enter key on your keyboard. Example:

Areas of Expertise

Intergalactic Travel | User Experience Design | Team Collaboration | Verbal & Written Communication

There are also many other possibilities. I would also like to mention that you it looks and reads best if you vary your list. What I mean is, don't have: Good at Intergalactic Travel, Good at User Experience Design, etc. Instead, break it up with Synonyms. Try to not bore your reader. Maybe you are exceptional at intergalactic travel, and phenomenal at team collaboration. Back to design. Do some digging and see what stands out to you. List references? Research specific résumés for what you are going to apply for. You may not need references for a design job, as your portfolio speaks for itself, but you might for a sales job. Also, do you like the look of single column, double column design? what about split in half horizontally? Maybe a combination? Make some notes and then start playing with your own résumé to decide. Add some color. Not tons, just a little for interest. I would suggest a muted color. Neon orange might be your favorite color, but on a résumé it says ... I don't know what it says, but not professional. Also, please do not use more than 2 fonts. More, and you might as well commit and write it "ransom note" style. Please note, you should not copy the layout exactly as someone else's. That's not cool. Even if it is a form of flattery. 

Now that you have great content and design, it's time for the finishing touches. Depending on the job you are applying for, they may want a .pdf .docx, etc. If they ask for a .jpeg, um, well, that's sad. We will try not to judge. I prefer .pdf files. That way, your design will stay put and when they open it, it won't change to the default typeface, like Word will do. Also, in case you didn't know, you can export to a .pdf from Word. If you are mailing it in the snail way, print it out on slightly thicker paper than copier paper. It says that you take pride in this thing. It's the equivalent to wearing dress shoes instead of tennies to your interview. Also, splurge and get the big manila envelopes so that you don't have to fold it. Not that folding is the end of the world, but it's that extra little step of care. Don't forget a cover letter! And some hundred dollar bills. Just kidding, don't send cash in the mail. But really. Send a cover letter. 

That's it! Easy peasy. Or tedious and arduous. Good luck if you venture forth on updating or creating your résumé. I'd love to hear comments, suggestions, or tales of bravery!

Enjoy!

~a

DIY: Painted Wall Stripes

Painting Stripes. I have always loved stripes. I even attempted to paint stripes on my bedroom wall when I was a teenager. Let me tell you, I was not terribly successful. I had paint bleeding through the tape, which led to not very crisp lines. I also just free handed the tape lines. My lines weren't exactly precise. With all the Pinterest viewing and H&G shows, I have since regained the thought that this CAN be done! 

This was my journey. 

(Please note that most of the true work was completed by my husband, but I consider his work part of the generic "My")

Step one: Pick your wall. 

Step two: Determine the direction of your stripes. Horizontal? Or Vertical? Both have their purpose. I chose vertical to make the ceiling look higher as well as vertical lines are better, in my humble opinion. 

Step three: Pick your color.

I went with black stripes on a white wall. I love high contrast, especially, black and white.

Step four: Go supply shopping!

We purchased our black paint, frog tape, and chalk line at Home Depot. We already had a ruler, pencil, ladder, level, mini roller brushes and regular paint brushes.

Step five: Decide the width of your stripes. Research told me that 8"-12" is the best visually. 

Step six: Measure out your first line. To do so, make a small mark near the top of the wall and then near the bottom. 

Step seven: Use your chalk line to carefully make a line between the two marks you made in step six.

Step eight: Use a level to make sure your line is straight. If not, use a damp rag to wipe off the chalk and try again. Repeat Step seven and eight until you have a straight line (it gets easier, the more you go along).

Step nine: Repeat Step six through eight until you have the entire wall mapped out.

Step ten: Recognize your wonderful helpers.

Step eleven: Carefully follow the chalk lines with tape.

Step twelve: Mark which stripes to leave unpainted. The below picture shows that the tape lines were inside of the space to be left white, as well as a piece of tape to represent DO NOT PAINT.

Step thirteen: On the inside of the stripe that needs to be painted, seal the tape with the base color, in this case, white. That way, if there are any gaps in the tape, the color that bleeds through will be the same color as that stripe. This is the key to crisp lines. 

Step fourteen: Allow to fully dry.

Step fifteen: Paint your stripes!

Step sixteen: Allow to fully dry.

Step seventeen: Decide if a second coat is needed. Paint second coat or move on. Allow to dry.

Step eighteen: Pull off the tape! Quite a satisfying gesture. 

Step nineteen: Correct any boo-boos if there are any.

Step twenty: Stand back and admire your handiwork! 

Happy painting!

Please note that no animals were harmed in the painting of this wall.


 Don't forget to wash your hands at some point. 

Wanna be Couch Potato

Torture. When it comes to exercise, I am the best at justifying my laziness. I can easily find other, less horrible ways to spend my time, such as cleaning the fridge or gluing my eyeballs to pinterest (where I pin exercise tips, of course). Even if I start out on the elliptical, or free weights, I give up easily due to fatigue, or any other pathetic reason. The best way for me to truly get a work out, is to be forced into it. Don't get me wrong, I don't mean at gun point or on pain of death, but it has to be something that I can't just easily stop half way through. For example, hiking. This one will work after you get me to the hill and or trail. Once you start, you pretty much have to complete it. If you sit down half way, you're stuck there until you get back up. This has been the case for my entire existence. When I was younger, it didn't really matter, since I had time to play and burn calories that way. Now that I am a somewhat full fledged adult however, most of my responsibilities are sedentary. In the last 5 years I have been slowly putting on the pounds. So slowly in fact that I didn't really notice all that much until just this last year. Now that I have fully noticed and am horrified, I am finding it difficult to loose said poundage. I have embarked upon a salad diet, which I am loving. I have figured out a way to have salads more frequently without most of the hassle, which I plan on sharing. Also, did you know that salads don't have to be boring? I have never thought them to be boring, but I know a lot of people think that they are. Salads are one of the most customizable food in existence. But I digress. 

Back to the wonderful world of exercise. Salads just aren't making my progress quick enough. There is hope! My mindset has changed, as have my tactics. I have decided that I need to find an activity that is fairly easy to do that both my husband and I can do together. By easy, I mean not complicated. We kayak together but you have to load up the kayaks and drive somewhere and pack a lunch, yatta yatta. Biking. My husband loves biking and has had one for years, but I have not. I have been saving for a mountain bike and plan on making the purchase in the next month or so. I shall keep you posted on that front. Also, I am waddling towards running. I am not there yet, but have researched the safest and most likely to succeed steps towards going from couch potato to runner. I love the idea of running. I am just too out of shape and fat to enjoy it now. I have started walking 3 times a week for this and last week for 20-25 minutes. Next week I will move on to 4 times a week for 25-30. From there I will start including short running jaunts for 30 seconds to 1 minute. We will see how long I stick to this. This method is supposed to start you out slow enough to minimize injury, as well as not burn one out as well. I have been taking my oldest dog, Marshall with me for moral support and theoretical safety. He's large and people usually give us a wide birth, as he looks like he can swallow most attackers whole. Plus, his gate is just about perfect. He walks a little faster than I do, at all times, so I either have to rein him back or walk faster to keep up. Also, he never snickers at my splotchy red face, or wind wrecked hair. All he does is trot next to me with a big ole grin on his face. 

As far as goals go, I don't really have a weight number in mind. I just don't want to look quite so chubs in pictures and I want to feel more energetic. That being said, it is fairly difficult to measure success without some sort of number. Once I get further on my path I will track by measurements. It's a little too depressing to do so now. I hope to loose some inches in my upper legs, hips and waist area, while gain a few in my calves and bicep/tricep area. So far, with just the introduction of heaps of salad and my week and a half of walking, I have lost 6 pounds. Yippee! I have a lot more to go, but the improvement is encouraging. I think it would be cool to get to the point where I look forward to exercise, whether it is cycling or running, instead of full on dread. 

Wish me luck, and if you see me out there, please don't honk. 

A Study in Releasing Your Creativity

I like to think that I am a very creative person. I have been since I was knee high to a grasshopper's knee cap. As time has gone on though, I have conformed. I am not as edgy or outlandish as I once was. I remember one of the first times that my creativity was staunched. I was in third grade and we had an art assignment to color a horse, which we then were going to cut out and make its legs move... It's difficult to explain. Anyways, I wanted my horse to be pink and purple, with multicolored curly hair. I was pretty proud of the finished color job, but when I took it to the teacher to move on to the next step of attaching the legs with brads, my teacher scolded me for my color choice. Real horses aren't pink and purple with curly hair. Go color over it. I colored over my lovely colors with brown. BROWN. Brown is an ok color, but over pink and purple? Barf. I had a barf colored horse. It looked awful and I was so sad and ashamed. There have been small, similarly inconsequential attacks to my creativity ever since. Little by little, I have been shoved into a cookie cutter of "normal". Well I say, no more!

To help me shake off the burdens of conformity and standardized thought process when it comes to creativity, I am going to go through the Wreck This Journal challenge. It is supposed to take you outside of your comfort zone and breakdown those barriers. 

The box set of 4 journals is currently perched precariously on my knee. Still all shiny in its vacuum sealed cling wrap. Is that what it's called? Soon I will be releasing it into the wild, also known as my living room. 

My goal is to do at least a page a day and document my journey here. 

If you are interested in going through this adventure also or even with me, I purchased the set on Amazon here. I paid $32 for it and it's suggested retail is $60. Not too shabby of a deal. 

Here are pictures before I destroy the plastic. 

 Stay tuned for the delightful creations and adventures that this journal will redoubtably take me on.

Until next time!

New Recipe: Blueberry Lemonade

Lemonade. Probably the most appropriate drink of summer. Although, I love it year round. This recipe is an experiment that I thought turned out quite well, and I can say that it was a hit with the whole family. It is a twist on the traditional method of making lemonade, where you squeeze the lemons to death, then add sugar, then your fruit of choice, in this case, blueberries. Instead, what I did was this: scrub and slice up the lemons , and one lime for a little something extra into a big pot or bowl, wash and dump in your blueberries, Pour in sugar, then smash away with a potato masher. Once they are good and smooshed, Pour in cold water, then let steep in the fridge for 20-30 minutes, depending on how long you can wait. I suggest not going much over a half hour as the lemons and lime still have their rind, so it can get a bit bitter. Once steeped, strain and enjoy! 

Lemonade

5-6 lemons sliced

1 lime sliced

1 - 2 cups fruit of choice {I used blueberries, but this would work with pretty much any fruit. Strawberries, pinepple, mango, raspberries, ... you get the idea. 

3/4 cup sugar

6 cups water

This was about 6 lemons, 1 lime, and a cup and a half of blueberries in a big pot.

Add 3/4 cup of sugar

Strain! This part would have been easier if I had used cheesecloth, but I couldn't find it. 

Pour over ice and enjoy! Isn't it a gorgeous color?

I also steeped two batches with the same "pulp". 

It is very refreshing! Hope you enjoy! 

Hair: Bangs

Bangs. 
They can either make you feel like you look like a five year old or like you are charming like
Zoey D. I can't tell you how many times that I have had bangs in my life, but almost every time, I have regretted the decision to have them about 24 hours after they are cut. Why? Naturally,, my hair is a disaster. It is neither curly, straight or wavy. Nope. It's all three, all of the time. It can be frizzy and dry and always fairly coarse and poofy. It is a treat, let me tell you. All of that aside, I had the bright idea to try out bangs again. Two months into the decision, I have yet to regret it. I think I have actually somewhat mastered having bangs. There are a few things that I have in my arsenal to assist with coaxing my delightful hair into submission. 

Tools for unruly Bangs:

• Scissors {My hair grows faster than I care to go to a hair stylist.
• Bobbi pins {For days that they just won't. Twist twist twist until they are up and out of the way. 
• Curling iron {I use the lowest heat setting possible on my Conair so I don't get a hard curl. You just want to re-train your hair to lay the way you want.
• Small to-go bag for your purse, handbag, etc. that has:
• Bobbi pins {Sallys sells their bobbis in small handy tins, which I love.
• Dry shampoo {Currently I prefer Oscar Blandi or home made.
• Blotting papers {24/7 makes very nice ones that won't break your piggy bank.
• Mirror Compact {My compact has a comb with it. It's one I have had since I was a little girl.
• Comb
• Blow Drier {I use my fingers to tousle my hair back and forth so that they aren't dried in a certain position. I also think that your blow-drier should be high quality. It cuts your dry time down a lot and it also won't over-dry your hair, which causes damage. I have the one I own down below.
• Headband or duck clips {For getting them out of your face while you put on makeup, or wash your face. 

Small to-go bag

T3 Featherweight Luxe 2i Dryer

Other tricks:

• Wash just your bangs {Takes two minutes. Blow-dry. You're done, you probably don't even need to use a curling iron on them!
• Find the style and length of bangs that suits your face shape. If my bangs are too long, it makes my nose look even longer than usual. No one wants that.

Bangs really are easy when you know these simple things. If they refuse to behave, pin them back or twist them into a side braid. 
Be adventurous. You might stumble upon a hair style that you love more than any previous one. 

Hope you enjoyed and may all of your hair days be good ones.