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After workout routine
Products marked with an ‘*’ asterisk were sent for review. Opinions are my own.
Comin’ atcha from the weekend. It’s pretty rare I actually sit down and blog on the weekends so I thought I’d put another post together. Many bloggers talk about their workout routine but what do you guys do after you workout?
Do you like my green Lululemon Wunder Under’s? I bought them back in May. Come to think of it, I should have bought them in black too (they do have a dark charcoal). If only I had known they would be my go-to workout pant for climbing and yoga. I haven’t sweated in them profusely so I can’t be a judge on how well they wick away sweat. I would imagine since they are cotton, it wouldn’t that nice on the skin after a big ol’ run.
You guys know I’m always on the go, whether it be gallivanting out on a hike with my friend, hitting up the climbing gym for a boulder sesh’ or relaxing and doing some kinda painful yin yoga practice which conveniently is available at the climbing gym. I wear make up to the gym. Do I apply directly before I go? No, but I do my make up after I get a shower each morning. I like looking put together and not as though I had 3 hours of sleep (which I have you know, that I get plenty of sleep — but me going sans make up makes me look a little rough for wear). So I thought I’d put together some of my favourite products to use and ways to get comfy when you’re home after a workout.
Grab an Iced Coffee: I don’t pop by every time. However, often I’ll be craving an iced coffee after I go for a climb. By luck, I found this one spot and will often splurge on a three dollar vanilla iced coffee. The people who own the spot are so friendly and always compliment me! They know how to keep a customer, hey? Although they put far too much ice and not enough iced coffee, it’s one of the best places I’ve found.
Take Alfie for a Walk: As soon as I get home I know my little buddy has to go out for a piddle. Once I walk in the door I grab his harness and off we go.
Put my hair up: You know how some people need to remove their bras the second they walk in the door? I’m not one of those at all (since… y’know: I.B.T.C and all), I’m one of the people who need to put her hair up as she steps in the door. Anyone else? I grab a hair tie and put that hair in a messy topknot. I get all that hair out of my face and secured with a lululemon headband.
Have a snack: Whether it be a handful of nuts, some plantain chips or an apple — something needs to go in my belly as soon as I get home otherwise… hangry.
Add the layers: I’ll almost always put on my grey H&M hoody once I get in the house.
Blast the music: We don’t have a cable TV here at the house, so instead I opt for some tunes on an internet radio station and blast the music. It’s either a Songza play list, or Audio Box Live (from Montreal, Canada!).
Take my makeup off: These Neutrogena Cleansing Towelettes* wipes are reserved for right after a workout when I’m super sweaty and need to cleanse my face immediately after coming home. I received these to try and I remembered why I wasn’t the hugest fan — while they’re great on the face, they sting my eyes. Up & Up are my usual go-to wipes which is much better on my wallet. I can continue using the Neutrogena one’s, I just can’t use them around my eye area. They both remove all the make up and don’t leave any slick residue on my face. The worst. Lazy girls tip — keep make up wipes on the night stand because some days you’re too tired to do the nightly make up removing regime. If I’m cleansing my face and not using wipes, purity by philosophy has been my number one cleanser to break down any make up I have on. This is safe enough to use around the eyes and doesn’t leave my skin feeling sucked dry of moisture. That my friends, is why I have been using it since 2011.
Wash the body: If I feel like taking a shower after a climb or yoga sesh, which let’s be honest — isn’t always. I hop in and lather up my loofa with the philosophy body wash. Currently I’m using Love Sweet Love, it smells super girly, I love it. Never once have I used this for anything but body wash (you can use it as shampoo or pour some into a bath), I have a couple of these philosophy bottles stacked in my bathroom ready to use. If I want something more citrus-y, I use the Neutrogena Body Clear Body Wash in Pink Grapefruit*. The tiny beads in the body wash is supposed to fight acne. While I don’t have any and I think this is probably geared more towards teens than someone in their thirties, I’d absolutely buy this again, especially now that I’m on a stricter budget and can’t afford the $30 philosophy body washes every time. Isn’t it funny I love a good pink grapefruit scent but feel ill if I taste the real thing? It doesn’t make sense. Why you so bitter, grapefruit? You smell and look so tasty.
Alright, that’s it. My after workout routine from grabbing an iced coffee or some food, putting my hair up and either removing all my make up or hopping in the shower.
What do you usually do after your workouts?
What time of day do you workout?
Bonding with sister-in-laws
We woke up the next day after my sister-in-law’s left and we both felt a little down. After two weeks of go-go-go, we were bummed that we didn’t have plans for the next day. So instead, we caught up on lost e-mails, internet news, and went back to our regular routine.
In the 9 years that The Guy and I have been together, I haven’t been around his two siblings and him at once. It sure was an interesting, and incredibly fun time while they were here. My Mom kept leaving me facebook comments on pictures, asking how much trouble us girls were getting into, and “poor ol’ Guy”.
I suppose it describes us pretty well to a tee.
For the first bit of Shauna’s solo visit (younger one, who was at our wedding) we were together for a few days as The Guy was working, and Krista hadn’t arrived yet. We ended up doing quite the amount of stuff together. I took her shopping to the Gilroy outlets, and helped her pick out some clothes and shoes as per her request. She didn’t do too bad, I must say. I scored some cute Italian ballet flats that are made of suede (my favourite kind of shoe) for $19 at J.Crew outlet — it was in the clearance section. The first pair I spotted and tried on, I didn’t think much of them until Shauna gasped and told me I needed them in my life. So of course I picked those up too, for about $40. Pretty amazing deal considering they retail for $130+ in their regular priced stores.
I passed on these beauties, even though I thought they would’ve been perfect for our first American Fourth of July.
Shauna and I were invited by an old colleague who still lives in Waterloo, Ontario (Canada) but was down in my neck of the woods for an event.
She invited us both to the Canadian Ex-Pat Event at the Stanford Faculty Club! It was fantastic seeing a familiar face, as I always think of my old co-workers back in Ontario, missing them terribly. I still send them weekly e-mails about my previous week to keep them updated. They all seem to still enjoy it. So it was great seeing someone I knew all too well, and catch up on the last few months.
One night, Shauna and I had planned on eating at this new-to-me donut/sandwich shop, except when we got there it was closed. We decided to walk next door into a Mexican restaurant which was pure boredom when it came to food. It wasn’t very nice.
Over the weekend, The Guy, his sister and I drove down to Santa Cruz for the day. Unfortunately we didn’t realize pets weren’t allowed in the amusement park area nor the beach, and we brought Alfie. So we only saw the outside area of it all. Did manage to spot some amazing surfers! I took an Instagram video of one of them.
I loved the bonding experience I had with Shauna, because I never really had that before. When I was home in Newfoundland last summer, I hung out with Krista quite a bit. But never with his younger sister. I taught her how to apply makeup, and we went around to a number of different stores to get some makeup and skin care samples for her, run home and try it all on. I also taught her a bit about self-tanner as we were applying it together (for her first time).
Once Krista arrived, we only had one girls-day together with all three of us. We all wanted to get our hair done, so I booked an appointment for the three of us. The salon experience was much left to be desired as we had booked the appointment as soon as the salon opened. Only for the owner to be the only person there, and running behind, as she worked on another clients hair. My stylist didn’t arrive until 25 minutes after the appointment, and the other one was a complete no-show. It put a bad taste in our mouths. Krista cut a bunch of inches off her hair, which looked great on her. I had my hair dyed all over with a semi-permanent hair dye a little darker than I had it originally, I like it. Shauna got hers dyed too – which she didn’t like – she was trying to achieve a more bolder, fun colour. Ah well, lesson learned. I won’t go back to that salon! Ha.
After our hair was done, we drove out to another outlet called Livermore Premium Outlets, where we scored some more deals. The nude heels were $21, and the black one’s were $10! I passed, they would’ve killed my feet, since they were poorly made.
The next few days, The Guy had time off work, so those days were spent going to the California’s Great America amusement park in Santa Clara. SO FUN. I forgot how much I enjoyed roller coasters, and drop towers – scares the crap out of me.
While the sisters were here, we of course celebrated our first Fourth of July here in the USA. We drove to San Francisco mid-afternoon and spent the entire day there being tourists. What I didn’t expect, was it to be bitterly cold with that bone-chilling wind.
A few of us were under dressed me being the worst because I was GOING to wear my red, white and blue (and 2/3 of that outfit was my blue+white shorts!). I was not going to back out of that and wear plain ol’ jeans. I’m being patriotic! Here’s Shauna and I warming up in a little hole in the wall by the street clothing vendor we later purchased hoodies from.
Needless to say, by sundown, Shauna and I had to buy some warmer clothes. Thankfully there were some street vendors selling hoodies and blankets for $10, which I snagged and kept me warmer than what I was, while we watched the fireworks.
Backing a little up in the day, while in San Francisco, one must get sundae’s from Ghirardelli Square.
So that’s exactly what we did. Each time we entered their retail store, they handed us a chocolate. Fine by me!
Once the sun set, we waited for the fireworks, and enjoyed our time together. Especially posing with Boudin’s breadbowl garbage pile up.
Their trip seemed like it flew by quickly, and before we knew it, it was their last day with us. We kept their last day mainly low-key with a walk down to Santana Row, as Krista hadn’t seen the area yet. Sooo many photos were taken on their trip – mainly because we’re all camera-crazy, and half because they never get to hang out all together at once.
You know you have visitors when your front hallway is filled with shoes. Love that picture. Our last meal was a decision made by The Guy and I — a place we’ve only been to, together once before. But knew we had to share it with Krista and Shauna. So off we went…
We were back at BJ’s Restaurant (since The Guy and I enjoyed ourselves the week prior) for the girls last supper.
Shauna had an early morning flight to which we said our goodbyes before we all went to bed, and The Guy like the best brother he is — drove her to the airport. But, Krista’s flight was mid-afternoon, so the three of us grabbed some coffee then sipped and chatted before hanging out in the pool and hot tub a little bit before her flight. So sad to see them all go! It’s an empty nest now… until next time.
Tips on applying make up primer
I now get why people consume caffeine in the mornings. It actually makes them into morning-people at a decent hour. I never fully understood that until I started drinking iced coffee this summer. Now that dollar drink days at McDonalds is over, I’m back at being a grump in the mornings. Just can’t help it. I don’t want to get into the habit of relying on coffee to perk me up, so I’m resorting to peppermint white mocha’s at Starbucks this week. It’s a vicious cycle.
My make up routine plays into this somehow. I swear. I wear make up on a daily basis, and my routine is fairly quick. Though, on those mornings I don’t feel like waking up early to pretty myself up and head to Starbucks to grab a PWM, it dwindles down to a pretty simplified routine which takes 3 minutes, if that. This is what I depend on during the tired mornings where I hit snooze 3 times:
On the days where I get up the moment my alarm clock goes off, and somehow don’t require caffeine, I put more effort in my physical presentation I use up to this many products:
I don’t always wear the a primer, but occasionally I do if I have special events going on at work, or on the weekends where I’d like my make up to last longer than the usual. You’ll notice in my second make up photo above, that I have a black little compact. It’s the Stila All Day Prime & Anti Shine Balm. Why am I reviewing it if I don’t have oily skin, you ask?
This is my first time using a non-liquid/gel primer and the adjustment has been pretty smooth. Apologies. Feelin’ kind of punny this morning. You don’t necessarily need to fit all the requirements in order to use this product. It states that it’s an anti shine balm and it doubles as a face primer before applying your make up.
I always reiterate here on my blog that I have dehydrated and some dry skin, so while I don’t have oily skin, I can and will still use this product by Stila. Sometimes you just want your make up to last. Plain and simple as that. And that’s exactly what Stila’s product does.
