Book Review: Back to Beauty

Book Review: Back To Beauty: 57 Natural Beauty Recipes For Flawless Skin And A Radiant Glow
By: Michele Moreau

 

I love makeup and beauty products. I use them every day, like many women and men. These products are not always the best for our skin and health. This book discusses the problems with conventional beauty products and the harmful ingredients that can be found in your lipstick, moisturizer, facial cleanser, and foundation.

This book includes recipes for skin cleansers, facial masks, body scrubs, lip balms, herbal shampoos, and deep conditioners. These are all natural products, but not all of them are vegan and some of them use odd ingredients.

Moreau spends the first third of the book detailing her history with natural beauty and commercial makeup. She has very negative things to say about the beauty market (mostly that they are only out for money, which most businesses are, and that they don't care about their customer's health, which they do because a dead customer isn't a customer any longer). She spends a lot of time detailing which chemicals can give you which deseases, which isn't necessary in a book of recipes. Despite her rant about wasted money and her anti-commercialism leanings, this book is helpful and a great introduction into natural beauty products.

This book is 89 pages long and available for download for Amazon Kindle for $2.99. I bought mine when it was free, but I would definitely spend $2.99 on it now.

4/5 stars

Book Review: Vegan Possible

Book Review: Vegan Possible: An Introduction to Living and Embracing a Vegan Lifestyle
by Barbara Johnston

 

This is a very brief introduction to Veganism. As in less than 20 pages. Yup, that short. What is in this very short book?

Why you should be Vegan.

This talks about animal suffering and factory farming. Most of the things you can find anywhere on the internet. Nothing too special here, but important information.

What makes someone a Vegan.

This discusses dietary changes (ceasing to eat meat, shellfish, eggs, honey, dairy, and so on) as well as changes to lifestyle with clothing and household products.

What to eat and what not to eat -

Lists of things to eat and not to eat. Again, nothing too special but good as a quick reference.

Vegan recipes to cook at home

These are pretty basic, easy recipes. Nothing too hard and using basic ingredients. Good for some staples in any cook's basic arsenal.

I loved how easy this book was to read. It was clear cut and precise in its delivery and doesn't waste words. This is a good introductory book for people who know absolutely nothing about veganism, but I wouldn't recommend it for people who already know something about the vegan movement. If you want to read everything there is on veganism, go ahead and get it. Otherwise, look for a more comprehensive book or website.

This short book is available for Amazon Kindle at the price of $2.99. I got it when it was on promotion and free. I wouldn't buy it now that the price is higher only because most of the information is available on the internet for free.

4/5 stars (3/5 for price).

(This is review is NOT for the book Vegan Possible by Bridgett Tulloh. That is a different book!)

My New Years Resolutions

New Years Resolutions

Hey everyone! I hope 2014 is treating you well so far. My brother just left to fly back to school and it is quiet here at home. I am posting my resolutions here so you can know what I'm trying to do this year. It's not too exciting, but it is my life (which is what this blog is all about!) so here it is:

1. Clean out my closet/ room- I have lots of clothes that are falling apart or really old and don't fit anymore (from middle school!) that I need to get rid of or give away. I need to clean and organize my closet and my room. It is getting out of hand.

2. Lose weight- for my health and so I can fit into some of my older clothes again.

3. Read everyday- read for at least 20 minutes everyday. I want to read more classics and finish reading the Complete Sherlock Holmes. I also want to read more books in foreign languages.

4. Don't buy ANY makeup- I have tons of makeup that I really need to use. I tend to buy lots of similar products (I have about 15 light pink shimmery eye shadows) and not use all the products I have. I want to try to not buy any makeup or beauty products this year and use up as many products that I have already as I can. (I will probably have to buy conditioner since I only have one of those and I use it everyday, but I have 4 unopened tubes of toothpaste, so I think I'll be fine with everything else. This will also help me with #1 because I will have more room to store things.)

5. Teach more people about Veganism- This means posting more on my blog, reviewing more books on Shelfari, posting about veganism on Facebook and Pintrest, telling my family and friends about it, and living a better vegan life.

6. Love myself more- try not to think negative thoughts about myself and don't put myself down all the time. I am hard on myself. Relax a bit.

7. Finish reading the bible.

8. Write in my journal more- I don't tend to write in my journal when I'm feeling down. I need to write to get stuff out.

9. Exercise!

I've been doing pretty well with this so far. It has been almost half a year since I went vegan and I'm still going strong! My choir director gave me a vegan cherry raspberry cobbler/pie for my Christmas present and I cried it tasted so good! I LOVE cherries, but so many cherry pies are super sweet and I like tart cherry pie. This pie is perfect. (I'm pretty sure I'm just going to eat it for dinner because it tastes so good).

Yesterday my mom and I cleaned out my brother's gecko's cage and I started thinking about pets. I have never had pets (except for the sea monkeys and fish that my brother killed) but I love animals and love taking care of my friend's pets when they need me to. Bobalina (my brother named her Bob before he found out she was actually a girl. Bob-uh-LEE-nuh.) is about 10 years old. She spends most of the day sleeping under her log cover and eating crickets. She likes to play with my brother and gets excited when she sees him. She lives in the same terrarium as her cricket friends/food and I suppose she lives a pretty great life since nothing is trying to kill her. When I was catching the crickets and placing them in her travel carrier, I realized how much I really do care about them. It doesn't bother me that they are being eaten by Bobalina. She is made to eat crickets. It's natural for her. But the idea of killing the crickets myself makes me sad.

How can people with pets eat meat? How can you eat a sentient being that just wants to love you?

Moving on.

Crickets stink! They are so smelly. Mom and I scrubbed the cage and put in new sand and it was still smelly! Ugh! I am so glad that Bobalina lives in my brother's room.

In other news, bible study is starting up again this week! I'm super excited because I really love going to bible study. It is really fun to hear what other people think about what we read and to make connections because of other people's comments. I have been trying to read the bible cover to cover for the past few years. I started in both the Old and New Testament and read a little in each every day. I now have only Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, and Revelation left! It has really helped me get the chronology of everything in my mind.

That's all for now! I'll post more tomorrow!

Walk to Mordor Weeks 9 through 14 Update

Update Weeks 9 - 14 Walk to Mordor

Week #___9- 14___ WTR Goals: Mileage___5___ Weight ___?___ BMI___?___ Location* ____?______

Starting Weight	Current Weight	Goal Weight	Projected Goal Date	Days Left**
270	271	175	The Future	Infinity

 

Date	Activity	Duration Miles	Beginning Mileage	Ending Mileage	Location*	Anaerobic Exercise	Duration
11/25/13	walk	.89	23.35	24.24	Road		18:00
11/25/13	walk	2.16	24.24	26.40	Rolls up		41:09
12/2/13	walk	.81	26.40	27.21	& down		16:00
12/4/13	Walk	.88	27.21	28.09			16:00
12/6/13	walk	.84	28.09	28.93			15:00
12/09/13	walk	.76	28.93	29.69	Road zig-zigs to top of a steep bank and goes down for the last time. Can see across Woody End to the River.	STOP TO REST, EAT, and REST more!	15:00
12/16/13	walk	.95	29.69	30.64			16:00
12/30/13	walk	.87	30.64	31.51			15:00
12/30/13	walk	.91	31.51	32.42	Road ahead runs fairly straight and level. Behind it curves slightly.	BLACK RIDER SIGHTING. Sam and Pippin hide in a hollow. Frodo behind tree by road.	16:00
1/1/14	walk	.90	32.42	33.32			16:00
1/3/14	walk	.94	33.32	34.26			18:00
Totals	This week:	10.91	Total Miles:	34.26		Total Time:	(11:21:23)

Hello All!

After a month, I am still on day 2. Wow. That is really frustrating. I didn't work out at all over the holidays, so I wasn't expecting much. I'm trying to get back into gear now that it is the new year and part of that is going to the gym at least 3 times a week. I do cardio for about fifteen minutes when I go to Koko FitClub and 30 minutes of strength training, so I walk a little under a mile every time I go to the gym. I haven't been walking much outside of the gym because I go to ballet on the days I don't go to the gym and my legs feel like jello when I'm done.

I went back to the gym with Meagan today! It was really fun to see her and catch up with her since we hadn't seen each other in a while. I have a strength test on Monday. I will let you know how I do!

That's all for now... I promise to update more soon!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!

I was MIA for the month of December. I was pretty busy with church, ballet, therapy, getting ready for Christmas, and seeing people I don't normally see.

Christmas was great and I got some fun vegan books that I will review here once I read them.

My Walk to Mordor was put on a semi-hold over the holidays, but it is back on now and I will update at the end of the week.

Talking about Mordor, I saw the Desolation of Smaug on Monday... OMG it is Beautiful! I can't believe how spectacular a movie it is! I highly recommend the movie and I promise to wax poetic about Smaug in a later post.

I'm still working on my New Years Resolutions, so I'll talk about them a bit later.

Now, if you live in the UK, go get excited for Sherlock and don't post spoilers please!

I hope you all have a great beginning to the New Year!