Bare Minerals and Primer Review!

Okay, so I have ALWAYS been a drug store make up girl. I have thinking of branching out and trying a more expensive brand after receiving a sample of Smashbox foundation in one of my ULTA orders. So last weekend I took the plunge, after researching for about a week online I decided on Bare Minerals. I also bought a Sephora Primer and a Sephora foundation (in medium). I have never used a primer before but a friend of mine recommended if you are using Bare Minerals to use a primer to make it last longer. I also got a Covergirl Trumagic Skin Perfecter tester from work, and also Maybelline Baby Skin pore eraser too.

Okay so let me start off by saying, of ALL the 3 primers, I like the baby skin the most! And it was the cheapest of all 3. I have HUGE pores, it sucks, and it covers the best. The Sephora is nice, but it feels like it takes at least 2 pumps to cover my face, almost like it evaporates before I can get it on. At $15 bucks a pop, I will not be buying it again. I have not tried the Sephora foundation yet, I hope it works well. 

Now for my favorite, Bare Minerals! I bought the Real Technique brushes to use with my Bare Minerals and love it. I bought my foundation and mineral veil at Sephora and I was on the fence about if I should get medium or medium beige, well I went with medium, which has a cooler tone. When I got home and used it for the first time with the plain mineral veil I felt like it left me a little white, so I pulled out the free sample sephora gave me of the tinted mineral veil and it is PERFECT! I love it. I also have the Medium Beige coming in too, so we will have to see how the warmer color goes with the veils. Overall I love it, and will stick with Bare Minerals!

My eyeshadows are also Bare Minerals. bareMinerals Smoky & Sultry and Bare Minerals Meteorite. 

Here is the finished product! 

 Happy Friday Eve!

Smoothie Madness

Good morning everyone! Now that the holidays are over it's time to get back on track, I know it was for me, I gained about 4 pounds over the last few weeks of December, and lost it and 2 more pounds, in just 9 days.

One of the only things I asked my husband for for Christmas was a Ninja system, it has the single serve, blender, and food processor. I have been using it daily since December 26th! I drink a smoothie a morning along with a few egg whites on a piece of bread (omitted the bread this am for a cleaner breakfast).

Anyways, back to the point! SO many people have asked me for recipes, and the truth is, I don't follow not near one! I literally just throw stuff into my single serve and blend away! I do have a base for every smoothie I make, which is

1 cup of unsweetened vanilla almond milk -30 calories

1 to 1 & 1/2 tsps of coconut sugar - 15 calories PER TEAspoon

A handful of spinach -like 5 calories? lol

Then add your frozen fruit! (1 to 1.5 cups)

(also if you want a chocolate kick, add raw cacao)

My favorite so far is anything with frozen pineapple! So delicious! I have also pre packaged all of my smoothies fruit wise. I buy the big bags from Sams Club and then get the quart size freezer bags and measure out different fruits in each bag, like this morning it was blackberries with a little bit of mango. You just grab the bag and throw it in your blender! Also, I like to nuke mine for 30 seconds just to thaw it a bit! 

I will try to keep with my favorite smoothies of the week on here! Hope everyone has an amazing Tuesday! 

MIA

Okay, okay, I know, I have been gone from the land of blogging for way to long! The good news is I am still doing great with my weight loss journey. The past few months I have realized it has gotten harder, getting married, moving into a new home, and now the effing holidays! All just little bumps along the way, as of this morning I weighed in at 173lbs. 62lbs gone FOREVER! Only a month and a half until my first healthiversay!

This month I am doing the Skinny Snowman Challenge with my WWSisterhood sister Brooke! She has lost over 140lbs, and is truly amazing!! Alsoooo starting January 1 I will be joining this Sexy Bitch over at Operation Skinny Jeans for the P90x3 challenge! I am so excited for this since I will ALSO be a beach body coach! A lot of family have questioned my choice to try and work out from home, but I think it will work out perfectly! I ordered these babies from amazon,(have to wait until Christmas to get them -_-) I have been using them at my local gym and fell in love.

I hope Santa also brings me a kettle bell and a set of dumbbells ;) (hint hint) I am so optimistic for the future and what I can achieve, Yesterday I tried on a pair of size 10 Lucky Brand jeans, can we just stop for a minute. Holy crap. A size 10. From a 20. Holy mother. My current goal is to get into a pair of jeans my mother (who has been effing tiny her whole life) a pair of size 8 Levis (that I also have in a 12 that I am wearing now) My goal is to wear those jeans on my birthday May 1. Seems doable right? ;) 

Now time to make breakfast for the husband, (egg whites for me) I will be trying to make these! Be on the look out for more blog posts, I promise it won't take me 6 months to write the next one ;) 

Enjoy your Saturday <3

T minus 15 days and Counting!

So where have I been hiding? Underneath a pile of wedding plans! That's right people, 15 whole days until I get hitched. AND it still hasn't hit me yet. Crazy huh?

Well, back to weight loss and healthy things. Looking back, the last entry I did on here I was a whopping 204 lbs. Still it amazes me how FAST time flies by. Here is what I am at today.

Can you believe it? Some days I can and some days I can't. Some days I am like, Holy shit, i've lost almost 60lbs, and other days it like dude, look at that stomach pooch, you still have another 50lbs to go. Some days are better than others yes, But each day is a new day, a new beginning. Speaking of new beginnings, Let me share with you what my daily intake consists of these days. First off, I have had people track me down on facebook and pester me for my daily intake and what I eat. All of that is available on Myfitnesspal, and my name on there is Trackingtraci, just add me and snoop away :). I just started my version of macros (remember everyone is different) My goals, based on some internet research I did was 40% protein, 35% carbs and 25% fat. So far I am loving it. I am eating 5 meals a day, meals 2 and 4 of which are protein shakes.I have only tried BSN Protein Powder from amazon so far, and I love it! If you have any other suggestions on protein powder please let me know! :) On my very first post on here I wanted to be at 170lbs by my wedding, Its two weeks away and I am at 178.4. I KNOW I am not gonna hit that 170 number or the 175 number that I really want to see. But I am THRILLED WITH THIS

Um yea, Those are SIZE TWELVE pants. I have never been in a 12 my whole adult life. This was my MAIN goal for the wedding. To be in a size 12 and I did it! From a 20w to a 12. I am happy with how my progress is now, slow but steady. Lets see if I can be at 160 by Christmas? Time to kick some ass! What are some of your goals for the future?

Happy Mothers Day!

First Off, Happy Mothers Day to all the moms out there!

I have  been teetering on this post for a couple days, What to say, How to say it. First let me begin by saying  people need to STOP judging people by their looks. Its wrong, and As a woman I am guilty, Society has trained us this way and it is pathetic. Every person is amazing and beautiful in there own way. EVERYONE. Yes you, You are fucking gorgeous, Don't worry what ANYONE else thinks or says. Recently I have come to face someone who doesn't know me, that has judged me. Why does it bother me so much? I still have yet to figure that out. I guess I am too much of a "girly girl" for their liking, which is okay, but it still drove me crazy to think someone wouldn't like me because I take pride in the way I present myself, I mean shit it's obvious I am fat, the least I can do is make my fat ass look nice. Hiding behind make up and nice clothes gives me a bit more confidence. Is that so bad? And once again, society has made us think if we are not 5'10 and a size 0 then we are not good enough, when in reality is society that is not good enough.

 Some of my weight watchers sisters have lost a lot of weight and still feel bad about themselves from time to time, which happens to all of us but, Really ladies? ONCE AGAIN, you are fucking amazing. Inside and out. Every woman needs to hear this AND believe it. Tying this post into weight loss is easy, many times the over weight is easy, when a person looses weight, they will still see themselves as bigger, this would be called a mind fuck. I am the same way, Every day is still seems that I have not lost any weight and that I've seen no progress, but the scales and measuring tapes show different. And some days, I feel smaller. Our brains are a crazy thing. 

On an end note I want to say, next time you go to judge someone, stop, take a breath, and a step back, think about what you're doing, and how it can impact others, treat everyone the way you want to be treated. Hurt people, Hurt people. -Mama Laughlin. Don't compare yourself to others, you are not them. You are you, the amazing badass that you are, love it, embrace it and appreciate it. If everyone did this, the world would be a much much better place.

Inspiration, Motivation

I am baccckkkkk! and wanted to share a couple pics from our vaca away to FL

I am obsessed with how amazing they turned out and can't wait to see the rest! 

Now to the important stuff!

This morning, after a birthday, vacation trip to FL, craw fish boil, bud light,  fast food, and cake,I carried my fat ass back to the gym! Its been almost 2 weeks since my last visit. Pathetic I know!

 I was surprised, that I did not officially gain while gone, my last official WI was 205, Skipped a WI and looked when I got home Tuesday? 204.2. Great! But I must admit, it was harder to get back on track after vacation, than it was even starting this life style change. Today is day 3 back on track and I am doing great so far. Tried a Walden Farms Dressing with lunch, Def recommend trying it!

Now back to why I even started this post today, after a few days of eating shit, I felt like, well shit. It's so true, you ARE what you eat. I dreaded dragging myself to the gym this morning, at the ass crack of dawn, even dreaming that I had overslept and was talking myself out of it, and then I woke up, 6am on the dot, no alarm nothing, just mother nature telling me to get my ass outta bed and go work out! So I did! Got there about 6:45am, and first thing got on the elliptical, it is like as SOON as my feet hit the machine I had this HORRIBLE urge to pee, 15 mins, and a mile and a half later cleaned my machine, peed, and actually felt great, hot, sweaty, but great. Got on the bike, did 7 miles, in 30 mins, with my rpm getting up to 114! These short little legs kicked that bikes ass! After that did some leg workouts, and actually felt stronger, I felt like, shit, I got this, I CAN do this. Sometimes, you have to be your OWN motivation and inspiration! There are days I feel like I haven't made any progress since I started, and then today, it was nothing big or extravagant  just moving that leg lift up 10lbs and doing it with ease, and it gave me that extra UMPH I needed. That satisfaction! No matter what happens in your road to healthy, DON'T GIVE UP, ever. With time and hard work, you can reach your dreams!

Staying On Track With Birthdays and Vacations!

Good Monday Morning!

(Anyone else hate Mondays as much as I do? Yea thought so.)

I hope everyone had a great weekend, I spent all weekend gearing up for my big trip this coming Thursday! We are driving 9-10 hours (yes driving -__-) to Florida  Do not get me wrong, I LOVE going to Florida I just HATE the driving part! Let me take you back a couple days to Friday, Which is my weigh in day! 

I was down to 205! Which puts me at 30lbs lost! See Above ^^

This is no small task, I see these pictures and still 9 times out of 10 I still feel like I am 235lbs and in a size 18-20 pants when I look in the mirror. Anyone else have this problem? I felt like I kinda fell off the wagon this weekend with eating, granted I didn't eat like shit, I just ate portions that were 2-3 times what I really should have eaten. I guess I am getting myself worked up for this trip, because I know there will be SO much temptation. The Fiance is already hollering about Whataburger and eating there a lot since we do not have them down here in Virginia. Last time when we went to Florida in Sept of 2012, we went to whataburger at least 4-5 times when we were down there, Did I mention we were only down there Thurs-Mon? No wonder I gained so much weight! Haha. 

I have turned to my WW Sisters for a lot of support and advice since this will be my first time away from home since starting this journey. Let me just take a minute to say, My WW sisters are amazing! Talk about the best group of girls! Supportive, Helpful, Funny, and just plain amazing! Thank you girls, Love y'all!

Now back to my Vaca! Here is my plan:

Thursday:Driving allll day- pack food for lunch and snacks! NO FAST FOOD!

Friday: I have a feeling the FI will want Whataburger for lunch, Maybe ill make myself a Boca Burger and tell him to just go get lunch and bring it back to the house! Then lay by the pool until our engagement pictures with this amazing person, seriously, go check her out! Jenn Gunthrie Photography!

No that is not me, I just wanted to show you how fucking AMAZING her work is, Girl has got skill! :)

Saturdays plans: The FI fathers Navy retirement party and seafood boil. I hate seafood. Have I ever mentioned that? Shrimp is alright, but I have my fingers crossed that someone will have chicken! :)

Sunday: I think we are going to some kind of festival  I am thinking I will eat before we go, and take pop chips as a snack. No temptation there!

Monday:Back to Va again, another packed lunch and snacks for the ride home! 

So there you have it. If anyone has ANY advice on eating healthier while on vaca PLEASE leave me your tips! <3 <3 <3