Organizing by Color!

Have you ever been out shopping and discovered a piece of clothing that you just “had to have” only to get home and find that you already have four items just like it? Or ever stood in front of your closet staring at the things hanging in front of you and thought, “I have nothing to wear”? This was me and I got sick of wasting my time in the morning searching for something to wear only to find myself pulling out the same pants or blouse several times during a week and I was tired of feeling like I was wasting my money when I went shopping.

This was because my clothes were all hung in various forms of disarray based on how I last did laundry or where I could find space at the time.  The result is that my long sleeve black shirt was hanging next to a yellow dress which was next to a pair of green skinny jeans.  No wonder I was spending 20 min staring at my closet pondering what to put on for work that day! I couldn’t find anything and I didn’t really know what was in my closet, because I couldn’t see my clothes clearly! 

Now imagine instead that when you go to your closet, all your black tops are together, all your blue tops are together, all your grey tops are together, you get the picture.  Now next to those colored tops you see all your pants hung in the same way.  When I did this, I discovered I had way too many things in one color which resulted in not having enough variety in my wardrobe to give me options.  No wonder I was frustrated every morning!  When there’s ten blue tops, two white ones and one grey it becomes obvious why I felt like I was wearing the same thing over and over which lead to the “I have nothing to wear” syndrome. 

I encourage you to try it and see what happens! Here are some tips to get started:

  1. start simple.  

You are not required to take everything out of your closet and take inventory of what you have. Start moving the already hung clothes into groups of colors.  You’ll quickly find out what you have to work with.  If you’re on a roll, start moving all the pants to one side of the closet and keep your tops at the other end.  

  1. arrange things by season

Think of your clothes in terms of Summer and Winter. Take the items that are for the opposite of what you’re currently living and put them away for later.  For example, if it’s currently summer when you do this, take all the winter items out and store them.  Staring at a comfy long sleeve sweater in the middle of summer will only frustrate you.  This will not only free up space in your closet, but you’ll discover if you lots of cold weather items and not enough summer ones or vice versa. 

  1. keep dresses separate from shirts and pants

By keeping the dresses separate from your shirts and pants you’ll be able to focus your attention when you are searching for an outfit to wear to work or to a dinner party.

  1. hang all your pants 

It’s easier to see what items go together when they are all hanging in front of you.  I even hang my jeans.  This frees up space in my dresser for workout clothes, undies, pajamas, etc.

Happy hanging!

Burcha Mix

Now that summer is winding down, school is starting and the holiday season is fast approaching, keeping my body healthy is a top priority. I’ve spent the summer eating fresh veggies and whole foods, the last thing I want to do is derail that work as the holidays approach and sweets are lurking around every corner.  As the days get shorter and the weather cools down it’s easy to get complacent.

I came across an article last year about a flat belly superfood. What I loved was how versatile it was! Don’t care for walnuts? Use sunflower seeds or almond slivers! Can’t find hemp seeds? Leave it out!  Too much sugar in dried fruit?  Use fresh or frozen berries! You get the picture.

Once you’ve made your mix shake it up so everything is blended together!  Now you can use it to sprinkle a couple of tablespoons on yogurt as pictured, top your avocado toast with a teaspoon or two, blend a tablespoon into a smoothie or just pour some milk over a 1/4 cup and eat it cold or heat it up and have a warm meal on those cold fall and winter mornings! Below is my burcha mixture:

Start with a 1/4 cup of each grain and adjust the qty if needed. 

Tip: Cinnamon goes a long way, start with a tablespoon.

 

Family Friendly Las Vegas

Erik and I recently took a trip to Las Vegas and brought the kids 😲.  Believe me, I got my share of surprised eyes, shocked reactions and even the occasional, “Are you sure?”.  I could hear their thoughts, “Las Vegas is no place for kids!” and normally I would agree with them, but I was determined to make this a fun trip for everyone. Those who know me, understand the level of planning I bring to anything I do and this trip was no exception, but to stay focused I gave myself a couple of rules.

Rule #1: Do not fill every min with things to do.
Those who have ever traveled with children are probably horrified right now, but hear me out. It’s easy to believe that kids need to be constantly occupied or they get bored. On the contrary! This just wears them out and makes it hard to enjoy each other because when we get tired, we start bickering. Nobody wants to spend their vacation upset and irritable. #amiright? 

Rule #2: Consider keeping the vacation short.
For Vegas, this meant no more than four days. It turned out to be just the right amount of time; one more day would’ve been too many. If you feel you didn’t have enough time, plan another trip later to see what you missed!

We balanced scheduled activities with lounging by the pool and left plenty of time for adventures. Our hotel was one of the only ones that didn’t have a casino in it which gave us two benefits.  First, no casino means no smoking allowed inside the hotel and second, more families are likely to stay there so the hotel may have activities that cater to kids.  

Here’s a rundown of what we did:

Day 1:  An early morning flight meant we arrived at 8am which gave us the whole day to explore. After checking into our hotel, we went straight to the pool because (holy cow! 🐮) it’s 110 degrees out. After a few hours at the hotel pool we rested before heading to dinner at Rainforest Café, a budding tradition for us when we travel.

Day 2:  With tickets to see Penn & Teller in the evening it meant we wanted to make sure everyone had enough energy to last through the night, so spending the day walking in the heat did not seem to be the best option. Mandalay Bay is famous for its pool and with cabana rentals available at lower prices Monday – Wednesday, it’s easy to book one ahead of time and spend the day floating the lazy river, jumping in the wave pool and ordering daiquiris from the cabana host. For us, this was the only way to survive on days over 100 degrees with UV levels at 9 by 12pm, but you should pick something your family is interested in.  There’s many options: Shark Reef Aquarium, Zipline tours, Siegfried and Roy Secret Garden, to name a few.

Day 3:  We’d had our fair share of pool time by now, so we took a small tour of The Strip during the day to see the sights and pick up a souvenir or two.

Pro Tip: To make venturing out easier on littles with short legs pick one area to focus on.

We chose the Venetian and it’s Grand Canal Shoppes along with M&M’s World. It’s part amusement park, part high-end shopping. When you’ve felt that you’ve throughly explored the entire area, you can head back to the hotel for some rest or put your feet up at a local restaurant until your show. We decided to rest at the hotel and capped the night with Cirque Du Soleil – Beatles Love.

Day 4:  Our last day we picked one activity to do together and use the rest of the time to explore more of the town close by. We chose the High Roller, a taller version of the London Eye. It’s located at the LINQ, right in the middle of the strip and gives you a 360 view of the city. Instead of having a specific time to ride you pick either a daytime ticket, which you have until 7pm to use, or an anytime ticket to use which gives you access after 7pm. This is ideal for families because you can work your ride into your schedule as you go.

Day 5:  Time to go home! Pick a not-so-early flight back. A 12pm flight out was perfect and allowed us to not feel rushed in the morning and still get home at a reasonable time. 

Things to keep in mind
  •  Vegas is known for it’s dry heat but we were not prepared for the wind and how drying the combination was. For those with already dry skin make sure you bring thick creams or skin oils and apply them often! 
  • It goes without saying to stay hydrated in the heat, but dehydration can sneak up on you so keeping yourself and your littles drinking water all day long should be top of mind every day.
  • Souvenirs don’t have to cost a lot. Pick up a reusable shopping bag that has the city name printed on it and every time you use it at home you’ll remember your trip.

Easy DIY Hair Gel

Over the last year and a half I’ve become much more aware of just how much the beauty industry has saturated the market with the multitudes of products for makeup, skin care and hair care – especially hair care! Whether you’re looking for more shine, thicker hair, retaining your color, increased volume (Dallas, I’m talkin to you); there’s something for everyone.

It’s easy to spend a lot of money through trial and error. So, when I discovered this secret ingredient made hair gel I tried it immediately! This is so easy – dude, you need TWO INGREDIENTS. Plus, it’s customizable!

All hail the Flax Seed!  This incredible little seed gives you shine, definition and incredible moisture without weighing your hair down. It’s good for every hair type! Flax seed gel nourishes your hair with Omega 3’s and promotes hair growth. It will leave your hair soft and shiny, no stiff and crunchy 80’s look here girls!

Since this is all natural with no preservatives it will only last 3 – 4 weeks, so store it in the fridge to get the most out of it! I compensate by making small batches so I don’t feel like I’m wasting product, but the cost is $0.06 per ounce vs similar products like Shea Moisture Curl Enhancing Smoothie ($1/oz) or Garnier Fructis ($0.50/oz), so I’m still saving money even if I don’t use all of it in a month!

Curlygirl 101
Apply this gel to wet hair and use twice as much as you normally would. (…don’t worry it’ll be ok)

DIY Flax Seed Gel
2 tablespoons whole flax seeds
2 cups water

Instructions:

In a sauce pot bring flax seeds and water to a boil, stirring occasionally.
Once you see white foam start to form on top keep stirring until the back of the spoon remains coated and the consistency reminds you of snot (Ewwww) or raw egg whites (about 5 min). It’s going to look a little gross, but hang in there!

Pour the gel and the seeds through a mesh strainer into a bowl or measuring cup. I’ve found this is the easiest way to separate the gel from the seeds without burning your hands.

   

At this point you can let it cool, pour into a bottle and use as is, or you can have a little fun with it!

Let’s get creative!

  • Add your favorite essential oils.
    Nobody wants products that smell weird. By adding a few drops of essential oils it makes your gel smell great and provides a little bit of preservative to make sure it lasts the full 4 weeks. I like to use lavender, but if you love the smell of grapefruit use that!

    • Add some protein
      Maintaining the right moisture/protein balance in your hair can be made simple by incorporating it into your hair care products (a tip I got from curly expert @marisacurls) Split the newly created gel into two bowls. In one bowl add 1 teaspoon of unflavored gelatin and stir until completely dissolved. I keep track of which gel has protein and which doesn’t by putting different essential oils in each, but carefully labeling the bottles works too!

 

Truth and Misconceptions of being Dairy-Free

When I tell people that I don’t eat dairy, the questions start.  Am I vegan, do I eat eggs, how do I handle butter or live without ice cream, etc.  There are many misconceptions out there about what it means to not eat dairy.  Since I’m not a vegan and I’m not abstaining from dairy for political or moral beliefs, I still eat baked items that have milk in them, butter still goes on my bread or pancakes and contrary to what some believe – eggs are not dairy, so yes I eat them all the time!  What I do not do is have dairy ice-cream, put yogurt in my smoothies, cheese on my burgers or put cow’s milk in my bowl of cereal.  You get the picture.

It can be intimidating at first and even though it’s been almost three years, I still get concerned that I’ll be viewed as high-maintainence from family, friends or restaurant staff, but for me the alternative is so much worse. My choice to be dairy-free stems from the fact that my body goes into nuclear revolt when anything containing whey, casein or lactose hits my system.  Oh sure, I used to take those little pills that promised to break down the lactose for me but they never really worked and inevitably I’d end up in the bathroom wishing my body could just behave “normally”.

If I had made this choice ten years ago, it would have been so much more difficult, but in today’s world of plant-based eating there are so many readily available options for us dairy-free people! Even living in Austin, I can find options everywhere!  Here are some of my favorite dairy substitutes.

My Curl Journey

Like a lot of women, my hair has gone through many stages.  I was born with white-blonde curly hair. As a toddler and young child, strangers would walk by me in stores and reach out to touch my head. By the time I was in third or fourth grade my hair was super thick and heavy which lengthened my curls into soft waves.  I thought “ok, this is cool, now my hair looks like all the other girls”.  Everywhere I went, people would comment on my hair telling me how lucky I was to have such thick blonde hair; how pretty it was. Then I got to high-school and the curls started coming back.  Remembering all the compliments I received when my hair was straighter, I started blowing it dry every day.  When I didn’t have time to style it, up in a ponytail it would go.  What I didn’t know at the time was that I was stretching out and damaging my curl pattern and I hadn’t even started coloring it yet!  The damage went on for years.

Several times I have tried to not heat style my hair and accept my natural curls for what they are, but I could only handle it for a couple of weeks.  My curls were poofy and frizzy and eventually it would all be too much and no matter what smoothing treatments or products I tried, my hair seemed to get worse.  I had one co-worker that would tell me how my hair looked “fuzzy” and those days I thought it looked pretty decent!  After a while the only way I could handle my curls would be to blow-dry my locks straight and then (ironically) take my curling iron and put curls back in.  Yep, you read that right.  I’d force the curls into my hair where I wanted them. Can you say control freak?  Then one day as I was trying to seek approval that my curls look ok my boyfriend told me he actually preferred my natural texture versus straight hair.  Wait, what? I decided to try natural again, but this time I’d do things differently and I started researching what to do with curly hair. Thank you Google and Youtube (those are words I never thought I’d say). What I learned CHANGED MY LIFE!

Curly Hair, Don’t Care

So, I’m sure many of you know (especially if you’re a curly) that sulfates and parabens are bad for your hair but what about silicones and mineral oil?  Guess what, those are bad too.  Have you heard of hair porosity? Neither had I, but it’s very enlightening.  Naturallycurly.com has a great article on it.  In short, porosity has to do with how your hair absorbs and retains water.  Curly hair already tends to be more dry than straight and my hair was definitely dry but it was also frizzy and therefore I assumed that meant it was weak and brittle and therefore lacked protein.  What I found out was all the damage I did from heat styling and bleaching my hair caused it to have high porosity, which means it absorbs water very easily but it’s not able to retain that moisture the way it’s supposed to.  I needed stuff to hydrate my hair like jojoba, aloe and shea butter to help lock the moisture in.  And towels – forget those terrycloth ones, don’t use them if you have curls because they create frizz.  I got myself a deva towel which is large microfiber towel to dry my hair and started experimenting with different products which boasted curl definition and volume and I learned not to fear gel. If you don’t want to go out and buy a new towel, or you just can’t that’s ok!  I’ll let you in on a secret I learned…use a T-shirt.  Yep, just a regular 100% cotton T-shirt. This is now my go-to.  The trick with the shirt is to put in all your styling products while your hair is soaking wet (I do this right in the shower) then flip your head over, pile your wet hair in the middle of the shirt, then start wrapping the shirt around your head and tie the arms of the shirt around your head to secure it. Now you’re free to go do your make up, get dressed, have another cup of coffee and take your hair out of the shirt when you’re done! Air dry the rest of the way or diffuse your curls and go!

By far, the biggest piece of info that made a difference in my attitude towards this whole process is that it could take a long time for my natural curl pattern to emerge depending on how much damage the heat styling did. This allowed me to give myself permission to wait and see what happens. It also reassured me to keep going. If you are going through this process or are thinking about starting, Do Not Give Up! It takes a while, but the results are worth the wait.

2 months
8 months
1.5 Yrs

So now, my routine in the morning has completely changed and I’m finding what works and what doesn’t.  It’s definitely a process with trial and error and no two curls are alike, but as I find what works and what doesn’t it gets easier.  No heat has touched my hair in a year and a half and I now have at least 30 mins back in the morning! More time for coffee!!

Here are some of the products I love to use.

Pacifica Pineapple Defining Conditioner

Goddess Curls Gel

Organic Jojoba Oil

In-shower Head Massager

Deva Curl Frizz Free Volumizing Foam

Homemade Cashew Milk

Soak 1 cup of raw cashews in 4 cups of water overnight.

Drain soaked cashews and discard the liquid.

Place cashews in high speed blender with 3 cups of fresh water and blend until smooth.  If you like flavored milk, you can add that at this time.  If the milk is too thick for your liking, add some more water and continue to blend.

There’s no need to strain cashew milk like you would almond milk. 

Put cashew milk in air tight container and place in fridge.

Since there’s no preservatives in this, I suggest using the milk within a week or two.

Homemade Cashew Milk Ice Cream

INGREDIENTS

2 cups raw cashews
½ cup plus 2 tablespoons organic or granulated sugar
1 cup very strong coffee
½ teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Special Equipment Needed:   Ice cream maker

 

  • Place 1 cup of cashews in a large bowl and add 1 cups boiling water. Cover and let sit at room temperature at least 12 hours (hydrating the cashews thoroughly is key for a silky, smooth ice cream).
  • Place the other cup of cashews in a measuring cup with just enough water to cover them and let sit at room temperature for the same amount of time as above.
  • Put the cashews from the measuring cup with their soaking liquid to a blender and purée until smooth to create a thick cream.  Transfer cashew cream back to original measuring cup and set aside.
  • Take the cashews from the large bowl with their soaking liquid and place in a blender. Add coffee, sugar, salt and vanilla extract. Purée until smooth, about 30 seconds to 1 min.
  • Add all the cashew cream to mixture and purée another min.
  • Process cashew mixture in ice cream maker according to manufacturer’s directions. This will take longer than a traditional dairy-based custard to reach soft-serve consistency. You can chill the mixture before processing or not, it’s up to you.
  • Transfer to an airtight container and press plastic wrap directly onto surface. Freeze until firm, at least 4 hours.