Zariel: December 2014

Wednesday 31 December 2014

WELCOME TO 2015! | Zahra

Hi.

Hope you all had a really good Christmas and ate loads of food and spent time with great people :)

It hasn't really occurred to me how we've already reached the end of 2014, I'm pretty sure I started secondary school like 2 minutes ago or something, but OMG has time flown by.

But really, this year has gone so quickly and so many good things have come out of it:

~I started a blog with my sister

~I started youtube

~I feel extremely happy (most of the time) *cringes*

~I went on holiday (even if it did get so hot I cried)

There have been a few bad things though...*'The Haircut'*...but to be honest this year's just been positive and full of sunshines and rainbows.

Next year I have some resolutions that I am DETERMINED to accomplish because I think nearly everyone makes a list and ten goes 'oh I'll start tomorrow' but in reality they never get round to it.

Well....Here's the list:

Dress size 10-12/8-10
Drink more water
Do NOT overeat
Eat clean- maybe try being a vegetarian
Be happy :)
Keep working- don't get distracted
Try something more adventurous and new
Enjoy myself
Save money (pfft, that's really likely)
Be more active on YouTube and ze blog
Look after my skin more
Finish 'The Book' (the one I'm currently writing)
Be more confident
Read more
Don't be scared to wear dark/ bright lipsticks (random but true)

These are most of them, I would include them all but I have a feeling that this would be a very long post and I don't want to bore you all to death, so technically I'm doing you a favour.

Maybe this post has given you some inspiration as to what to add to your lists.

Tell me what your New Year's Resolutions are in the comments :)

Happy New Year, hope it's a good'un

And yes that is my writing that I can't read

Thursday 25 December 2014

Merry Christmas | 2014

This post is purely just to say...

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Picture from Google.

Sunday 21 December 2014

The healthy blog post | Ayesha

It's been a whirlwind of commuting and working some long days in the run-up to the holidays, which is why I haven't posted in a while! Hello again!

This isn't something I like to talk about much, but I'm in serious need of motivation to do some exercise and cut down on chocolate. Where we lived before, it was just over a mile away to work which meant I was able to get in about an hour a day of walking. The weight I had before dropped off quite quickly, and motivated by this, I even did extra toning exercises in the evening. I lost about 3 inches on my waist and I didn't even have to try very hard! Then, the summer holidays came. Now, I still kept active by doing some sort of exercise, but I did also meet friends and have the odd coffee from Starbucks. 2 WEEKS LATER, yes, 2 weeks, I had expanded and some of my clothes felt tighter on me. I couldn't believe it. I'm really conscious of weight as diabetes and high blood pressure run in my family and if I want to have a baby, I need to be at a healthy weight to reduce the risk of gestational diabetes, which could cause lots of problems later in life.

It's been hard trying to shift the extra weight I've put on and since I've been commuting on the trains, I am not getting the exercise I got before. This has resulted in me feeling quite sluggish and not as confident as before, but it's helped me understand my body more. I am somebody who puts on weight very quickly. It's easy for someone to say, "oh, go on, a slice won't hurt!" but this is the most frustrating thing, because it does hurt and I start expanding dramatically. What also annoys me is when people say "oh, but you're fine, you don't need to exercise!" Everyone knows what their limits are and a way I have felt really good about myself is when I've exercised and felt stronger because of it. Exercise isn't just about losing weight, it's about keeping fit and it does your body an amazing amount of justice.

I can't stand calorie counting, and want to enjoy life, and food is a big part of that. This is why I need some serious motivation to cut back on the more calorific fatty things and introduce more exercise. My husband and I generally eat quite healthily, but we both have a sweet tooth. A day cannot go by where we don't have a cookie or something after eating some food. It's like someone who loves to smoke a cigarette after their meals; I never understood it until now - sweet things are my vice.

What is going to change is my outlook. I love eating sweet things and instead of having a massive slice of cake, or a whole bar of chocolate, I'll just have a bit. My husband and I have started what we call "1 bad thing a day" and we wait until we are together to eat that bad thing. It means we still get the fix we need but without going overboard.

The other thing is to keep up with healthy eating and fitness blogs. I discovered Blogilates a while back but every time I visit her site or YouTube page, I feel all the more motivated. She posts all sorts of videos on ways to make food more healthy without sacrificing on taste, and also loads of exercise videos. I've downloaded her beginner's workout plan which gives you a daily exercise video to do. Something like this will help keep me motivated and get into a good habit of exercising daily. The great thing is that her videos are actually a lot of fun and really short - 10 minutes maximum!

So, here's to trying. Wish me luck!

*Just to point out that in no way am I trying to tell anybody that they should give up sweet things or lose weight themselves. This is purely about me and what I need to do to make myself feel like I did before the summer holidays, and to avoid weight-related problems that run in my family. You do what you want!*

Friday 5 December 2014

The Wishlist- Winter 2014| Zahra

I just want pretty much everything ok?

On the CT wishlist, I have quite the number of wants (so quite frankly, everything) but I've managed to narrow it down to 5 which is....MINDBLOWING....yep

Charlotte Tilbury

1. Eyeshadow Quads:

The Dolce Vita

The Golden Goddess