Clarisonic Mia Review

I've only been using my Clarisonic Mia for 3 weeks but, it has really been a game changer for my skincare. I had a good skincare regimen before getting my Clarisonic and for the most part was pretty happy with my skin. However, my pores were not as clean as I would have liked and it took a lot of maintenance to keep my pores clear.

With the Clarisonic Mia, my skin looks smooth, I hardly get any breakouts (I have very acne prone skin), and my pores are really clear. I look forward to using my Clarisonic because it feels really good and makes washing my face each night a little more fun!

I have sensitive, oily, and acne prone skin. I can't use harsh products on my sensitive skin or else it gets really dry, red, and peels. The amazing thing about the Clarisonic Mia is that it's really gentle but so effective. The brush vibrates instead of spinning. The bristles are really soft. When using the Mia you don't feel like you are scrubbing your face, or like you are harshly brushing your face. The vibrations of the brush are somehow able to get more dirt and whatnot out of your pores than just cleansing but still do it gently enough to not cause redness and peeling.

Ever since I was about 12, (I'm 24 now) I've had some sort of acne issue. Some days during my teens and twenties my skin would be covered with acne and just when I would be close to getting it under control it would break out again. The never ending cycle of almost clear skin, full blown acne, and just clogged unclear pores was maddening. As I got into my twenties the process got a little better but I still was not happy with my skin.

For about 9 months leading up to my wedding in 2010 I got to got to the esthetician for a monthly facial. She put together a great skincare regimen for me to follow each morning and night. While getting a monthly facial and following her skin care regimen my skin looked better than ever. All of the pores I couldn't quite keep clear were cleaned out by her each month so my skin never had a chance to get too bad.

After my wedding, I missed my monthly facials and my skin looked ok when I followed the plan laid out by the esthetician but still not amazing. I got an at-home microderm machine which you can read about here. That was a great addition to my skin care but still, my pores has the chance to clog up each month and need a major clean out.

The Clarisonic Mia gets my skin much cleaner on a daily basis and I am so pleased with how smooth and great it feels. Now that I've added it to my nighttime skin care regimen I think my skin looks awesome.


Now every morning I wash my forehead, nose, and chin with my MD Forte I cleanser, moisturize with PCA Re balance, and finish with PCA Sunscreen.

At night I remove my eye make-up with home-made eye make-up remover that I found on pinterest (check out the link here). Then I apply MD Forte I cleanser to my whole face, then I use my Clarisonic all over my face as the directions say and rinse off the cleanser. Then I moisturize with PCA Re balance. If I have a pimple I use benzoyl peroxide on the spot.

I am really happy with how my skin looks and feels right now. I think for right now I have found what works for me!

Is Counting Calories Worth It?

Calorie counting sounds awful and so restrictive which is why I refused to try it out for a long time. Recently I’ve decided to give it a shot for a few reasons.

1.       I eat different now that I got married! When I only looked out for my own eating, I didn’t even consider buying queso, I bought spinach, sardines, and other healthy foods that people thought were weird.  I used to live by saying I could eat as much of something that I wanted as long as it was healthy. I thought that if I was eating wholesome foods then my body would be nourished and I didn’t need to count calories if they were coming from good food. The thing is, I don’t eat just healthy food! I looove queso, burgers, ice cream, regular coke, and sweets and it is present in my kitchen now. Since my eating has changed from lots of healthy food to more normal person food, I had to start paying better attention (I also learned that even if I eat lots of healthy food, calories are calories and they still add up).  

2.       I don’t exercise like I used to! Now I have a job that allows me to sit on my booty allllll day. When I get home, I work around the house but I’m not intentionally getting in a lot of workouts. When I lived in an apartment with a workout room I used it often but now at our house I only have weights and the street outside to go walking or running. Now that it is winter it is too cold to go outside and I haven’t been going for walks or running like I did in the summer and fall.

3.       I don’t want weight to creep onto my body and then have to loose a bunch later in life. I hear the same story from a lot of women who are now in their 30’s 40’s or 50’s. They say they were skinny in their twenties but year by year the weight snuck on and never came off.

So, I downloaded the loseit! App on my iPhone so I can keep track of my calories each day. When I downloaded the app I put in my height, weight, and age and told it the weight I wanted to be. Then it calculated how many calories I am allotted for each day.

To keep track, every time I eat I enter what I had into my calorie counter. If I exercise I enter what I did.

The calorie counter tells you how many calories you are allowed to have for the rest of the day.

I have found that I am more careful about what I eat knowing how many calories are actually in it. Because my calories are limited I am always looking for food that I can eat a lot of without adding a lot of calories to my calorie counter. Some great choices are carrots, spinach, hummus, tuna, coffee, and unsweet tea (tea is 0 calories and I love tea).

I also allow myself two indulgences everyday but must budget for them in my calorie intake. Those include regular coke and ice cream. I get strong cravings for both everyday and feel deprived if I don’t get them. The ice cream is harder to budget for so I usually end up eating a small portion of ice cream but eat it slowly to enjoy it longer instead of eating a huge bowl.

The first week of calorie counting was hard. I felt a little deprived and struggled to feel like it was worth missing out on all of the food I could be eating!  After a week though, I felt good. I’m not hungry or deprived feeling. I look forward to my indulgences and savor them. Also, juuuust when you think, "Forget this! I'd rather stuff my face," you look in the mirror and think, "hmmm, I am looking pretty good, I guess this keeping my calorie count under control thing is working..."

In my own life, I have seen how weight can creep on. Since my freshman year of college I have put on about 15 pounds. I don’t look too different now but when I look back at pictures of myself in college I can see a difference.

I know I will thank myself later for taking care of my body and not giving up on keeping my eating under control. I would looove to eat a huge bowl of ice cream every night and chocolate candy throughout the whole day and never break a sweat working out. But, I know even a year from now I would be annoyed at myself for not taking better care of myself.

I plan on giving myself a break on Saturday/Sunday to not count every calorie but still mentally keep in mind how much I’m eating. Also vacations, my birthday, and Christmas will be days when I can go crazy and eat whatever and as much as I want.

I change my health and fitness strategies often with the seasons. The same thing doesn’t work for me year round but I think counting calories is here to stay for a long time.

Losing weight or maintaining weight is simple for me. Calories in have to only reach a certain level or my body can’ t use them all and it turns to fat. Calorie counting may not always be the most fun way to stay in shape but it is simple, cut, and dry.

Without the app on my phone I don’t think I would be as into calorie counting.

What about you? Would you ever consider counting calories and keeping track of everything you eat day to day? Is it worth it to you?

Downton Abbey: Season Two

I'm sooooooo thrilled that Downton Abbey is back! I watched the two hour premier Sunday night and look forward to the next episode.

Downton Abbey is a PBS series that airs on Sunday nights. The show started last year and I was absolutely sucked in. When the series was over I was really bummed because I loved the story, the beautiful clothes, and scenes in the show.

Now the show is set in 1916 I believe and WWI has just begun. The whole show is about an aristocratic family in England and now that the war has started, we are starting to see that the old ways of life are dwindling away as men go to war and women have to change their everyday roles to keep on living.

This show is so well done and I can't wait to see what happens next!

Living Room Drapes

The living room drapes are done!

Saturday morning, my husband and I cleared the living room out to give me plenty of space to lay out my fabric.

Next we hung the curtain rod. We got very lucky at Lowes the night before. A lot of curtain rods and rings were on clearance! We were prepared to paint a metal pipe and add our own finials to keep the price down since curtain rods can cost big $$, but luckily we were able to get a pretty rod for only $15!

We got the one in the middle of this photo

All day Saturday I measured, cut, serged, lined, sewed, and then hung the un-hemmed drapes over night with clips.

 

On Sunday I took the drapes back down and sewed on the rings.

Finally on Sunday night I hemmed and ironed the bottom of the curtains.

I loooove the fabric and had fun using my serger and sewing machine!

I have made 2 pillows for the couch so far and still have one to go.

The pillows and drapes have added the pop of color we needed in our living room!

I'm so happy we no longer have a plastic drop cloth as our front window treatment:)

Today i'm linking up here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here!