Take a shot-Thursday

I am an eternal lover of photography. And one of my dreams for this summer is to take more pictures, good ones, bad ones, totally random ones. (so, above, some pictures that I liked today)


By the way, it's good to make a summer-list - although lists often can stress you out, the kinda list I mean is not, quite the opposite... So take this tip with you and make your summer to do-list today. And make sure there are only fun things on the list! They can be as little or as huge as you want... But this is a list that will keep you in the fun-zone throughout the summer, for sure! (below just a few things from my list)

My summer 2012-list

- eat strawberries at my nearby field while watching the horses there

- a roadtrip

- wake up really early and go to the farmer's market in the city

- invent new smoothies every week

- relax at the coutryside

- make summer-videos to this blog

- go to summerfestivals, listen to good music & dance like a madman

- have flowers in my hair

- receive a yes-letter from a school I really wanna get into

 - eat only berries and ice cream for one day

... and so on...

What on your summer-list?

pictures: tumblr.com, Pinterest

tweet! tweet!

Wellabe is now on Twitter.

Do many of you use Twitter? Let me know, I'd love to have great peeps to follow!

Tweety tweeeeet...

pics: 29.media.tumblr.com,  a2.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net

Wednesday's look

Okay, so as the health nut-side of me has been more presented in this blog than my work as a beauty pro & my love for all things shiny/sparkly/colorful (that's probably why I wanted to become a make-up artist already as a kid), I decided now's the time for some girly action... (so if there are any men out there reading my blog - prepare to be bored)


So let's start the beauty talk - and what could be a better start than a great tip for an EASY & chic summer hair-do... A messy bun! Oh how I love this do. You have millions of ways you can do this, and this works with shorter hair (bob/shoulder lenght) or with long hair.

Here's my quickie tips for a great messy bun ...

(I love all kinds of messy buns, in the pic a more "higher" version)

1. Start off by sweeping the front/ top part of your hair to the top & clip it so it's out of the way. (This way you always have a top-hair section to work with even if you mess something up... with the top part you can cover the lower part of the bun & save many crisis-situations. Trust me on this one!)

2. Gather the lower/back-part of your hair into a loose pony (if your hair is longer) and secure with an elastic. The base of the pony should rest in the middle of the back of the head. Push your pony up slightly to create fullness at the top of your head. IF your hair is shorter, skip the pony, and just make a messy "bird's nest" out of the hair on the back with some bobby pins

3. If you have the pony done (longer-hair chicks), tease the pony & pin it loosely like you wish / curl the pony with a curler into few loose wavy curls, and then pin the curls. (The teased do is a different look from the curled one, which is a bit more"done" looking. Try 'em both!)

4. Once you’ve finished pinning the curls/the teased hair, use your fingers to gently loosen up the hair, making it look messy. Now take the top part of the hair down, and pin some of the hair back, but leave most of it down, to frame the face & make the look sexy and relaxed. You can also curl the front part loosely if you want to create a wavy look. (like in the pic)

Happy hair-days guys!

PS. If you want to be super-fast with your bun-making in the summertime, just do a messy bun using all your hair, secure with an elastic onto the top of the head, then add a scarf = voila! Now where is the beach? 

pictures: polyvore.com, tig-fashion.blogspot.com, Pinterest, my own

a summery TUNEsday

Summer-series of "Yummy Monday"-recipes begins

Summer = fab foods that make you feel and look glowy

So to get your radiance-groove on hop on to the train of summer-recipes with me!

I am gonna bring a fun, easy and delicious recipe to you every Monday during the summertime. "Yummy Monday" is here! 

 First recipe of this yummy-summer... (see the excited face above...cause this is soooo good!)

The Divine Eggplant Fries

(makes two big portions of fries)

Ingredients: 

1 eggplant

some good olive oil (about five tablespoons - i kinda eyeballed the amount)

himalayan sea salt (add some to the oil and some on top of the fries before baking them)

fresh black pepper, grounded

a good amount of herbs (dried or fresh... I used a blend of Mediterranean herbs)

sesame seeds, 1 tablespoon to the oil & then some on top of the fries (great calcium source!)

a squeeze of lemon

How to:

- Preheat the oven to 225 C. (437 F)

- Cut the eggplant in half, and then those pieces into half again.

- Then dice them into french fry-sized pieces.

- Mix the oil, salt, pepper, sesame seeds, herbs and lemon in a bowl.

- Add the eggplant-fries into the oil-bowl.

- Mix the oil and the eggplant in the bowl so that all the fries are covered in the oil&spice-mixture. 

(-Add some oil if all of the fries are not looking oiled up enough.)

- Spread the fries onto a baking sheet.

- Sprinkle some sesame seeds onto the fries and roll them around so that all of the fries are evenly covered with the seeds. 


- Sprinkle some salt on top.

- Bake, turning once, until brown & crispy (yet tender to bite). 

- Serve immediately with some nice ketchup or hummus... 


- Say with me... Yum-mee!

summerhead

So, lots of ideas for this blog and videos are popping in and out of my head all the time.. But right now there is also one tune playing in my head and that is.... the SUMMER tune.

Yep. It really is summer. 

I welcome: sunshine, flip-flops, beachsand between the toes, hammocks, garden parties, salads, boat rides to little islands near the city, festivals, hanging out in parks, having lunch outside, smoothies, ice cream, seeing friends everywhere (as everyone is outside enjoying the sun), birds chirping outside my window, summerbreezes (that warm wind! Love it!), happy sunkissed faces, hanging out laundry to the backyard, crazy dancing (well, you can do it anytime - but now outside as well!), hooping, fresh peas and cherries and strawberries and fresh everything, lake-swimming, riding the bike through the forests and the city, the summer nights, the early mornings...

ps. ...Did I mention I kinda like summer?




pictures: unknown via Pinterest, tumblr.com

for you other coffee lovers out there

Life is too short for bad coffees. 

So drink amazingly good coffee. 

Rather than gulping down mugs and mugs of lame-tasting caffeine drinks from the coffee machine at work, drink one GREAT cup of coffee in the morning. Buy that expensive organic espresso you've always wanted to taste and save it for those special mornings... 

I myself used to drink a lot more coffee than I do nowadays, but these days it's about quality. Because life really is too short for bitter tasting cups that clame to be coffee... Now I only drink my coffee in the mornings, if I have time to enjoy it. And now that I have found the world of real coffee, it is like a yummy treat I get to have - first thing in the morning! 

Now that's coffee.

Happy coffeelicious moments!

picture source: unknown

I am gonna be away for some days, I'll be on a lovely little trip, starting from tomorrow... 

I am so happy already because I am travelling with my very special sister and even though we'd have fun just about anywhere, it's so nice to hop on the plane tomorrow... Sometimes it's so great to have a little breeze of another country blowing on your face! 

But anyhow, whether it's a day-trip to another city just nearby or a flight to LA, it's always good to hop on that train/bus/bike/car/plane/camel/vehicle-of-your-choice and take a little trip. Nothing like it to clear your mind and see things from a different angle... 

So pack your bag babe... and GO!

PS. And even if you'd just go to have a picnic in the backyard, do it in a real show off-way to get into the travelling mood! It's not about the cash, travelling is a way of life.

Clean that temple baby

Spring is the ultimate body detox-time, because it is the time of renewal and starting things from a fresh, clean slate. 


There is a lot of information on detox-diets on the internet, but my tip for detoxing is this; do it everyday. With this I mean is, that your body is your temple - so one giant cleaning-week once a year is not the way to treat your magnificent grib. Plus people seems to eat even more after their detox is over, because a strict detox-diet can really wake the cravings up - big time. So personally I think detox can be a great way to extra-cleanse your body after you have already achieved a certain level of wellbeing and body-balance. (=you are already eating a healthy diet with lots of greens, fruits and vegetables and have a good "base" to do a extra-cleanse in the form of a detox).

Kimberly Snyder is one of my "nutrition gurus" and she also states in her book "The Beauty Detox" how important it is to eat detoxifying foods and let your body detox every day - not just once or twice a year... Makes sense, doesn't it? 

So think of your body as your house and do a bit of cleaning every day - then after you have the dust wiped off from the shelves and the floors washed, then you can go for a big spring-cleaning if you feel like that's what you need.


Well, what is the way to eat when we want our bodies to be full of energy all year around?


So to start off, make you your diet contains a good variety of vegetables, fruits and greens. 

Drink a lot of clean water during the day. (minimum of eight glasses - hydration's the word of the day baby! Keeps your body, skin, hair and nails looking good and your body functions fluid.)

Eat only when you are hungry. (listen to that body of yours! I don't believe in forcing yourself to eat, for example in the mornings. Just drink a smoothie or eat a fruit instead. Your body will tell you what it needs.)


And if you start to get hungry between meals, drink a glass of water before going for that Snickers. (that "little hungry"-feeling is often thirst)


Eat fruit on its own and try not to eat them as dessert. Fruits are digested often in about 20 minutes (except bananas, in about 40 minutes), so if you eat them after a meal (which takes always longer to digest than fruit) - the fruit is gonna get stuck in your system, which can cause bloating, discomfort and gas. So go for the monkey-style and eat a banana as a little meal of its own.

Try not to eat after 7-8 PM. This way your body gets time to process the food you've been eating and digest it before any new foods comes in. And it is also a fact that metabolism slows down towards the evening - so big meals at 9PM are quite a bomb for your body.

Skip the processed foods & snack foods. Eat real, pure foods. Your body's gonna say "Thanks, dude!" for this one.

Eat organic and local foods. (they have more vitamins & minerals in them and they have not been sprayed with pesticides etc. To say it the easy way - it's fresh and it's real food)

Feeling puffy? Oh no, did you munch on that baguette again honey?

Skip all the white bread, white sugar and white everything. (I like to keep it short and simple and not to preach about this, but just gonna say this: white, puffy food = white, puffy, dragging skin & body!) Sure, if you are on a holiday and want to eat that pain-du-chocolat, eat it and love every bite of it! But mainly, I try to stay far away from anything white and processed.


Exercise daily. (boosts your metabolism, affect weight-loss & fat burn, gets your mood high and thousand other positive things)


And because I am a smoothie-gal, the last tip of the day is, of course;

Try a smoothie for breakfast. (lets your body "wake up" to the day in a gentle way - versus a high-fat morning meal with hard to digest food like bacon or lots of bread)

picture sources: chantellegrady.com, kitchentablescraps.com, bing.com

color your day

My godmother has one of the most beautiful homes I've ever seen (plus a super-darling doggie that I adore). As an eternal sucker for pretty colors and fun details, I really get a kick from a home with color and soul... so here's some pictures from my godmother's amazeballs apartment. (I love the lime green door, the turquoise shades, the oh-so-gorgeous tiles in the kitchen and in the bathroom... just everything really.)

Never underestimate the power of color! So go and buy some tulips & put them in a pretty vase. Or paint that wall that should be bright-yellow or crazy-pink instead of plain old white. 

And if you still crave some color - throw some on your plate!

The Color Salad

a mango

an avocado

some goat cheese

some fresh mint

good olive oil

a pinch of himalayan salt

- Dice the mango & the goat cheese & the avocado. (or slice...according to your style)

- Add fresh mint on top.

- Drizzle some oil on top of all the yumminess and add a pinch of salt to make it perfect.

- Enjoy!

cause sometimes you need a word-hug

Always be a first-rate version of yourself, instead of a second-rate version of somebody else. -Judy Garland

picture sources: unknown via Pinterest

got milk?

I will share some of my own thoughts about milk soon - but to start this topic, I will share a few key points from Harvard's website-article on milk.

It's good to give this topic a thought - because most of the world's population cannot digest lactose and don't consume any milk products. So actually it is more of a cultural belief than a dietary fact that milk & milk products should be consumed in high amounts.

 So if you got that Michelin-man belly all the time (bloated after meals & have-to-open-this-zipper-NOW-feelings), or suffer from stomach cramps or other problems with your digestion track - keep milk off your diet for one week (or go with minimum milk-product intake for a while), and watch what happens... You may be surprised - cause it can have a huge effect. 

So, I will share more of my own insights on milk later, but now, here's a part of the Harvard-article, which I recommend reading in it's whole length: 

"Calcium is important. But milk isn’t the only, or even best, source. 

It’s not a news flash that calcium is key for healthy bones. Getting enough calcium from childhood through adulthood helps build bones up and then helps slow the loss of bone as we age. It’s not clear, though, that we need as much calcium as is generally recommended, and it’s also not clear that dairy products are really the best source of calcium for most people.

While calcium and dairy can lower the risk of osteoporosis and colon cancer, high intake can increase the risk of prostate cancer and possibly ovarian cancer.

Plus, dairy products can be high in saturated fat as well as retinol (vitamin A), which at high levels can paradoxically weaken bones.

Good, non-dairy sources of calcium include collards, bok choy, fortified soy milk, baked beans, and supplements that contain both calcium and vitamin D (a better choice than taking calcium alone)"

 "1. Look beyond the dairy aisle. Limit milk and dairy foods to no more than one to two servings per day. More won’t necessarily do your bones any good—and less is fine, as long as you get enough calcium from other sources. Calcium-rich non-dairy foods include leafy green vegetables and broccoli, both of which are also great sources of vitamin K, another key nutrient for bone health. Beans and tofu can also supply calcium."

picture sources: 19thwardchicago.blogspot.com, lovelypackage.com

Happy Mother's Day!

My mum is like no one else I know. She never stops oozing smiles and sunshine, and though life has thrown some hard things ahead of her, she still has the kindest heart I know. From her I have learned to see how everyday can be a party of its own and how important it is to keep your heart open to new people and experiences. She is also the master of laughing at totally silly stuff that makes no sense - clearly we are related!

Also, my mum is one of the few people I know who always greets everyone she meets, in grocery stores and well, about everywhere... And people can't help but loving her!

I love you mama!

People say I smile a lot... You should see my mum!

ps. And because she loves singing like I do (she used to wake me up singing when I was a kid - annoying then, supersweet to think about now) - some music has to be included in this post... here you go, one of my mum's fav songs:

picture sources: andrewandcarissa.com, my own