Traveling back in time

Hi Folks, happy Monday or Grump day. Today especially seemed to be the most grumpy of all Monday's for me. I just couldn't seem to get out of my funk. I didn't want to get out of bed (but that's most mornings) and not even my vanilla latte could cheer me up. Which is nuts because fru fru coffee always seems to do the trick. Well enough with me being all MAEgative even with my funk at work today I still managed to have a nice relaxing night. I started making my St. Patty's day shirt tonight and it's looking pretty spectacular. More on that to come once the project is complete. 

Today's post is an outfit post. This post brings me back to a much more simpler but more dramatic time in my life. When I was thirteen I was obsessed with Metallica. When all the girls were deciding on if they were N'SYNC or Backstreet Boys fans I was all about Metallica. The strange this was that I wasn't a stereo typical metal head. I didn't listen to a lot of metal bands just Metallica. I liked R&B, Pop and other rock bands but Metallica was my favorite band and really the only metal band I listened to. Below are the pics of an outfit I wore to work recently. I proudly was sporting my Metallica Master of Puppets shirt thinking about how excited thirteen year old Mae would of been if she owned this shirt. All I could ever find at hot topic when I was a kid were XL t-shirts that I swam in. I still would rock the shirts every chance I could get way back when but wished I could just find a Metallica shirt that actually fit me. So here's to me at thirteen and may I never get too old or too serious. May I every now and again let the teenage girl I once was make decisions for me from time to time... hopefully they wont be life altering!

Just in case you're wondering yes, I do realize I'm pretty f-bomb white for a Cali girl.

Ring (left): F21, Ring (right): Express, Bracelet: Old

Button up: F21, T-shirt: Amazon, Skirt: ASOS, Boots: Go Jane

Someone said you sound like an Owl. (Who)

Happy Sunday Funday! I hope everyone is having a funtastic weekend. I'm having a pretty relaxing and productive weekend thus far. I ran a lot of errands yesterday, watched a movie with my Babe and caught up on my beauty rest this morning. Oh how I love sleeping in on the weekends.

Today's post is an outfit post. It's all about this outfit I wore recently to work. My brother bought this dress covered in owls as a gift two Christmases ago that I absolutely adore. I still wear it and it still looks as good as new. Below are the pics of my adorable owl outfit. Enjoy. ☺

Dress: Lauren's Closet, Cardigan: F21, Belt: Nordstrom, Shoes: Steve Madden/Macy's

Ring: Fashion Q, Bracelets: Handmade by ME! 

That's all folks! More posts to come your way next week. Until next time thanks for stopping by!

Best,

Mae

Oh so simple yet oh so sweet.

Happy Thursday! I know I've been MIA for over a month now things have been a bit hectic at work. Now that things are back to normal I have time to catch up on some posts I've been excited to put on paper or in this case on the Internet. ☺

Tonight's post is an outfit post. I usually like to wear a lot of patterns and bold bright colors but every now and then I like to wear neutral colors and more simpler pieces. It's nice to try something new. Sometimes simple can be oh so chic. Here's a few pics of an outfit I wore out on the town recently. So sit back and enjoy.

Necklace: Homemade by me.

Top: Express, Jeans: BDG cigarette jeans/Urban Outfitters, Shoes:Kathy Jean

That's all for now. More blog posts coming very soon. 

Thanks for stopping by.   

Best, 

Mae

Seafoam Green

Good Evening! Happy Hump Day! In honor of this special day I think we should all stand up and start doing the Humpty Hump dance.... or better yet lets pretend that I didn't just say that. Anywho, I hope everyone's work week is so far so good. I have been crazy busy all this week and last. The weekend seriously could not come soon enough.

Tonight's post is an outfit post. It's all about my seafoam green pants I wore over the weekend. I believe seafoam green was big in the 1950's especially in kitchenware. I bought these pants over the summer when the mint craze all began. I couldn't find a pair of mint jeans that weren't ridiculously expensive or were super low rise. One thing you should all know about me is that I'm a bargain hunter and if I am going to pay full price for something it better already be affordable or else that item is not coming home with me (I'm shaking my head and snapping my fingers). The second thing you should all know is that the coin slot look does not look good on me... or anybody. I retired any low rise jeans/pants in my college years and there they will stay. So last summer I found these seafoam green pants online at Zara that were reasonably priced. I liked them because they were close to the mint color but they also were pretty nifty because they weren't jeans and they had a snazzy side zipper near the ankles. I have to be honest... even though I adored these pants I haven't really gotten around to wearing them until last weekend. The main reason is because over the summer it was nasty hott (yes with two T's) I stopped wearing pants in early June because it was soooo hott. I didn't wear them in the fall because around early October is when I was diagnosed with Interstitial Cystitis (IC) and I was given advice from my OBGYN that wearing loose fitting clothes can help ease the severity of IC symptoms. So for a couple of months I would only wear long maxi dresses or loose fitting skirts with thigh highs so I wouldn't irritate my bladder. Since I feel that my symptoms are much more manageable now I allow myself to wear fitted pants and leggings a few times a week just as long as my symptoms are under control. So that's my story and I'm sticking to it! 

Below are some photos of my outfit and a nice little surprise at the end.... you'll see  ☺

Sweater: H&M, Pants: Zara, Scarf: Charlotte Russe, Shoes: Cathy Jean

 

Necklace: Sammydress, Bracelets: LuLus

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and what you all have been waiting for....

Brian just being super..... SEXY.

Ha Ha, the last one was a special treat for all of you. I hope you don't get a toothache from taking in Brian's oh so sweet pics. Brian was mimicking my poses. He thinks he's hilarious... he kind of is... SOMETIMES!

Well that's all she wrote... literally. Boom! Until next time, thanks for stopping by! ♥

In the Navy

Good Evening Folks! It's Monday... yay. I had quite the eventful day at work today. The most confusing, hectic and ridiculous Monday I have had in a long time. It beats being bored I guess! I hope everyone had a great weekend. I enjoyed eating delicious food with my boyfriend Brian and going on a hike (even if I couldn't breathe half the time due to my allergies). We also had a pretty funtastic time watching football and going to see Mama (I'm happy to say I did not have a nightmare like a five year old... at least not yet).

Today's blog is an outfit post. Apart of my hello stranger posts I sometimes due. It's a fun way of posting outfits I wore to work without showing the very little effort I put into my hair and make up during the work week (hence why my head is always chopped off). This one is focused on a new skirt I bought over the holidays from the Gap (online). They ended up sending me the wrong color it was suppose to be black and not navy but when it came in the mail I thought to myself. "Self you don't own any navy... Why is that?" I couldn't come up with a good explanation, it's a neutral and my Dad was in the Navy whenever I actually watch college football I cheer for the Navy. The Chicago Bears colors are orange and navy... I must have some navy in my life pronto! So I decided to keep the skirt and below are some pics of a snazzy little outfit I put together debuting my one and only navy skirt.

Enjoy. ☺

Cardigan: Nordstrom Rack, Scarf: Charlotte Russe, Top: Urban Outfitters, Skirt: Gap, Shoes: LuLus

Jewelry - Bracelets: Handmade by ME! Ring: Fashion Q

Sticking to your diet

Happy Hump Day America! He, he, he that was fun. I do not discriminate, so anyone who is not living in the U.S. and reads my blog happy hump day to you as well. I hope everyone had an aMAEzing day. I spent half of my day at work and the other half at the doctors office... Yay! Why yes that was sarcasm.

Today's blog is about how to keep your weight loss goal aka majority of Americans New Years Resolutions. I have one advice that I think will come pretty handy. Keep a food journal. Like I mentioned in an earlier blog I was recently diagnosed with Interstitial Cystitis. I have been struggling with this condition since late September and one thing that has helped me lessen my symptoms and feel like I'm on the fast track to feeling normal is by keeping a food journal.

These 3 items helped me stay on track and stick to my IC diet. The IC Survival Gudie, My food journal and a binder of the Interstitial Cystitis Network Diet.

The great thing about a food journal is that it can work for everyone. Whether you are trying to loose weight or if you are trying to stick to a challenging diet for health reasons a food journal works! I used the food journal to help me figure out what foods trigger my symptoms and what foods I was able to eat without feeling any pain. During this process I ended up loosing ten pounds without even really trying to loose weight. I would eat a lot of organic food and foods without artificial flavoring and foods that are listed as bladder friendly and food worth trying within the Interstitial Cystitis Network diet (this link will direct you to the interstitial cystitis network diet list)    

http://www.ic-network.com/diet/2012icnfoodlist.pdf. I would make two different categories for each day one category was called How I'm Feeling and the second was called the Foods I Ate. 

How I'm Feeling:

Every morning I would write down how I slept the night before and whether or not I had any symptoms that night. I would also write down how I felt that morning and I would jot down if I had any symptoms come up through out the day. I would also keep track of what medicine I took and if I had any urgency or frequency. I think that this category could also work for someone who wants to loose weight. Eating healthy and being more active can lesson stress and can help you get a better nights rest. You could keep track of how you slept what kind of mood your in that day and what food you might be craving and having difficulty staying away from. As the weeks go by you will notice that the amount of fattening foods you crave will lesson the longer you give the process time to work.

What I ate:

I would write down everything I ate and drank all day. Breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks. Having to jot everything I ate down helped me stay honest and stick to my diet. The last thing I would want to do is write down all the bladder friendly foods I ate and all of a sudden there's a dark chocolate chip cookie written in my journal staring back at me and making me feel so guilty. Writing down what I ate also helped me figure out what foods upset me even if they were on the food you should try list within the Interstitial Cystitis Network diet. I would write down the food that caused my symptoms and I would also write down how it made me feel. 

Hopefully this will help you guys stick to your weight loss goals. For those of you who are needing to stick to a strict diet for health reasons trust me if I can do it so can you. I was a chocolate, spicy food and coffee junky and I stuck to my diet. Best of luck and have a wonderful night.

New Years Resolution

Happy Monday Everyone! Or at least as happy of a Monday a Monday can be. I hope everyone had a funtastic weekend. I had a great weekend up to late yesterday afternoon. I ended up having a migraine and a tummy ache. I hope I'm not catching something!

Today's post is about New Years Resolutions more specifically my New Years Resolutions. I feel that my resolutions are pretty do able and I have a feeling that I will be able to stick to it. I don't believe in having a New Years Resolution that is completely on the other end of the spectrum like living your life in a complete 180. If you are someone who doesn't eat healthy your resolution shouldn't be to eat nothing but vegetables and lean meat 7 days a week. If you never exercise don't expect that just by opening a gym membership you are all of a sudden going to workout every day of the week. Goals like these just set people up for failure. If you want to eat healthier that's great but be realistic. How about starting with portion control and preparing healthy lunches for work to make sure you stay on track and allowing yourself to have a cheat day or two on the weekend. If you want to start exercising that's fantastic but how about starting with writing down on a calendar an exercise routine. Maybe start with exercising every other day. My suggestion would be to do cardio one day and light weights and toning on your next exercise day. Starting up with a realistic goal can help you stick to your over all goal of being a healthy more active person.

As I'm going on and on about setting realistic goals I realized that I haven't even expressed what my goals are. Oh geez, silly me! My two new years resolutions are (drum roll) to live a more balanced life and to have less road rage.

Live a more balanced life: 
 To dive more into this goal for me living a more balanced life is to change characteristic of myself for the better such as by the way I eat, my activities, taking care of myself, and by the way I carry myself, as well as challenging myself etc. I don't expect to become a perfect person who only eats organic, who exercises daily and all of the activities I take part in are meaningful and productive. Living a balanced life is to set out to choose to live a healthy life style but also to be realistic and to allow myself to enjoy the little things in life like a warm chocolate chip cookie and a glass of milk and not beat myself up about it. Of course enjoying the little things doesn't mean that my entire diet should exist of delicious fattening foods every hour of the day. My goal is to challenge myself to choose the right choices majority of the time and when I have a craving for something delicious and naughty I will go ahead and indulge myself because lets face it sometimes eating or drinking something that tastes so good it makes you smile as you're eating/drinking it is well worth it. A big part of me wanting to live a more balanced life is due to a health condition that I have called Interstitial Cystitis (IC). IC is a bladder disease that causes urinary urgency and frequency. It feels a lot like a Urinary Track Infection but the difference is that with IC there is no infection and IC can't be cured it's a chronic condition that I will have to deal with for my entire life. The good thing is that IC doesn't lead to anything life threatening. For some patients it changes their lives dramatically because the pain can be very intense at times. I am fortunate that I can control my symptoms by eating bladder friendly foods and when choosing to eat something that can harm my bladder like highly acidic foods I can take Prelief. Prelief helps my body break down acidic foods that normally cause me pain. So for me I not only aim to eat healthy but to also try and eat bladder friendly healthy foods. Another thing that helps lesson my symptoms is by living a stress free life. So I am going to try my hardest not to sweat the small stuff. Going on walks, hikes and doing the stretches my Physical Therapist taught me can help me manage my symptoms. Besides trying to control my IC symptoms other reasons for me to want to live a balanced life have to do with making sure I don't over indulge in things. For instance a few months ago I challenged myself not to spend any money on clothes, purses, jewelry, shoes and accessories for three months and I passed the test! But ever since then I have been a bit careless with my money I guess you can say I was making up for loss shopping time. So instead of going overboard with my spending and going to the other extreme of not shopping at all I will come to a healthy medium and allow myself to spend money on one or two things a month. 

Less Road Rage: 
Now this goal is a must and just as challenging as the one above. Not having road rage in Los Angeles is basically the equivalent of being a saint. St. Mae.... nah! I'm no saint! But seriously though I do need to control my little girl syndrome when behind the wheel. Two things tend to help me have less road rage. One trick is to listen to my learn Italian cd's while I drive. I'm so focused on trying to perfect the accent that I am no longer butt hurt about the guy who merged into my lane without using his turn signal. Listening to Bob Marley while driving also helps me chill out... for the most part. If someone does something really crazy on the road I quickly snap out of my Bob Marley trance and become a trucker mouth fool who is a little heavy on the horn. So my plan on having less road rage is to find more helpful aids in not distracting me from driving but to distract my little girl syndrome from popping up while I'm driving. 

Below are some pics from New Years of Brian and this girl! Enjoy ☺

Why yes I am tickling Brian. It's the only way to guarantee that we will smile for the camera.

Brian in mid chew and me as happy as can be.

 


So that's that! My New Years Resolutions for 2013. Realistic but at the same time still challenging. I hope that all of you are able to keep up with your resolutions. Have a happy and healthy 2013 everyone!