My Favourites of the Month: March

So its nearly still as cold and wet as December but March is just about over. We are one month nearer to Summer! I've picked a few of things that stood out to me in the last month. Here it goes:

Beauty: Maybelline BB Eye Cream

After a few days of my Internship, I quickly realised makeup is not an option for me at 7.30am. I'm too tired in the morning to put makeup on but I also look so tired without makeup that I could possibly scare people if they looked at me. This is why Maybelline BB Eye Cream is my miracle this month! It rolls on so easily and it gives my skins a refreshing boost in the morning, something I don't get with thick layers of makeup. I pair this with Maybelline BB cream on my face, mascara and depending how tired I am, bronzer and eyebrow mascara.

Health: Dermalex

When I started my bar staff job back in October, I got contact dermatitis on my hands. In the beginning it was really awful. The skin on my hands was cracked and raw. I was in a lot of pain and no creams were working. I even had super strength prescription creams and they weren't doing a thing. I went to the pharmacy to get a gentle hand wash for sensitive skin (Elave Handwash) and the pharmacist took one look at my hands and recommended a new cream, Dermalex. Its not like the steroid creams that thin your skin out. It creates a barrier in the skin to stop moisture leaving the skin. I noticed a difference within a couple of days! I had a gross stage of scaly skin but after that it was fresh skin. Now I'm not fully healed, I still get a few cuts and raw areas and the palms of my hands are very red but Dermalex literally saved me from so much agony! I'm recommending it to all my friends who have a similar problem from working in bars.

Food: Fruit/Seed/Yoghurt Lunch

I bring in a snack to work with me everyday and I wanted it to be healthy. This lunch is perfect. It's basically soya yoghurt, flaxseed, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, any other seeds in the press and any berries we have in the fridge, usually grapes, strawberries and blueberries, mixed together in a lunch box. It doesn't sound nice but believe me it is! Plus it really fills me up and gives me energy for the rest of the work day. I really notice the difference in my work performance depending on what I eat. We got pizza in work one Friday and I combined that with a strawberry milkshake. Bad Idea! Within half an hour, I had a headache, I was so tired and I couldn't concentrate at all. Health food all the way!

Entertainment: Parks and Recreation

I havent gotten obsessed with a new TV show in a while so its about time a new one came along. My cousin, Hannah, told me to watch Parks and Recreation about two years ago. She said it was definitely my kinda funny and I'd love it. I watched a couple of episodes and it didn't do anything for me so I left it. I was bored a few months ago and started it again. OH MY GOD it is hilarious! If I had just given it a couple more episodes I would have known how amazing it is! Amy Poehler is one of the funniest women alive! Chris Pratt comes out with some 'one liners' that have me on the floor laughing. The relationships between all the characters is believable. They have long running jokes but don't over use them at the same time. Its just brilliant. I finished the final season last week and now I don't know what to do with life... so I'm rewatching all the seasons again :) If you want a taster of it, heres one of my personal favourite scenes were they go to a club promoting a new kind of drink: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_fyEarGbpXM

So they're my favourites of this month. Talk soon!

Uiscebawn x

Fitbit Flex Review

Like nearly everyone after Christmas, I set a goal to get fit and healthy for the Summer. I had been keeping up with yoga but I wasn't getting much more exercise than that and the food situation was not a good one. Plenty of takeaways, drink on work nights out and snacking on lots of chocolate meant I was getting a bit pudgy. I was in the local pharmacy and saw the Fitbit flex on sale for €79. It was an impulse buy but I was hoping it would help motivate me. I'm going to review the Fitbit Flex and the Fitbit app on my iPhone. 

Fitbit Wristband

The Fitbit comes in a several colours. I got it in navy and regret it so much! haha There were much nicer colours. But apart from the colour its perfect. I barely notice its on my wrist and no one has ever commented on it so I'm guessing other people don't notice it either. The actual tracker inside the wristband has a battery life long enough to last at least a week so you don't have to take it off every night to charge.

iPhone App

You need to download a free app to track all the information from the wristband. It uses bluetooth to connect to the phone. My advice is to turn off your bluetooth when you're not on the phone because it eats up battery life! My battery went twice as fast as usual when the bluetooth was on. On the app, there are different topics for you to track how much you're exercising, how far you've walked, how you've slept etc. Its easy enough to navigate through and it starts tracking your movements right away. You can change the settings to suit your body such as gender, height and what wrist your band is on. You can also put your weight in and your target weight. This way the app can calculate how many calories you need to eat and burn to get to your target weight.

Steps, calories and distance tracker 

Steps taken, calories exerted and distance walked are the top three options on the app. You can set a personal daily goal for all three. I find the Steps Tracker the most useful because I think it makes me get up and stop being lazy. If I still have a couple of thousand steps to go before the day end it forces me to bring my dog on a walk or do some home exercises. I think its also more accurate than the calorie tracker. I usually get my full 10,000 steps in a couple of hours of working at the bar and the wristband vibrates to let you know you've reached your goal. It's nice just to have this little achievement everyday.

Exercise tracking

Before I had the Fitbit, I used the Nike Running App to track my runs (my very infrequent runs.) I definitely recommend that if you don't have a Fitbit. But if you do have a Fitbit, the exercise tracker in the Fitbit App is just as good. It tracks running, walking and hiking. It's really handy for timing and tracking my location. I'm waiting for the weather to get nicer but I can't wait to try the hiking section out! Steps, calories and distance are still tracked while using this and it adds time to your active minutes. 

Calorie input and output

I have mixed feelings about the calorie section of this app. The positive aspect of it is, when I actually started keeping track of my calories, I lost weight quite quickly. I knew how many calories I had left for the day so I could evenly spread them out through out the day. The bad thing I found by counting calories is the constant thought in the back of my mind about what I'm eating. I've never agreed with being obsessive about what I'm putting in my mouth. When I want to eat healthy, I simply try to cut out the unnecessary crap and eat mostly healthy; good carbohydrates, protein, fruit and veg. So calories aren't my main concern and I don't think I'll stick with the calorie counting section of this app.

Sleep and water

I like the sleep and water tracker. The sleep tracker tells you when you were restless or awake during the night. Don't ask me how it does it, I haven't a clue! haha It doesn't particularly help in terms of weight loss but its just interesting. The water tracker was very useful. I did't realise I had only been drinking about a quarter the amount of water I should have been drinking so its great to keep track of it. 

Overall Thoughts

I don't think I have had the Fitbit long enough to really say whether I like it or not but I have found when I monitor the results of the app I am more motivated to be active, I'm drinking more water and I am not really eating out of boredom anymore. I have lost 2 or 3 pounds so far in the week I have kept it up, so that's a good sign! It just takes a lot of effort to keep it up which I suppose is what staying fit and healthy is! I would recommend it if you have the money to spare. If you have a Fitbit or are going to get one, let me know what you think of them :) Talk soon!

Uiscebawn x

My River Island Must Haves

Anybody who knows me, knows River Island is 90% of my wardrobe. This shop can do no wrong! I rarely leave the house without having at least one River Island item on so I decided to list out my River Island must haves! You'll notice most of my favourites are basic items that you can wear to a variety of places. Here I go :)

Button up jeans Lana Jeans

These jeans are probably my most worn item of clothing in my wardrobe. I bought these jeans for a special offer price a year ago and it was the best €25 ever spent! Once I bought them, I never saw them in the shop again. I loved them so much I even wanted to buy a second pair but they weren't stocked after that :( I think they are lana jeans with limited edition buttons rather than a zip. They basically go with everything, are comfy as jeans can be and they haven't worn or stretched at all in the year I've been wearing them. 

Molly Jeggings

I own a lot of Molly Jeggings but my black Molly Jeggings are my favourite. They are appropriate for my bartending job, my office job and when I'm heading out as well. Unfortunately my old pair finally gave up on me and a hole wore into them. So I bought a new pair of black Mollys. These are my first pair of Mollys since they improved the quality and the quality is amazing! It genuinely feels like Im wearing a fluffy pillow and they're a lot thicker but still stretchy and easy to move around in them. I'm already planning on buying many more pairs in different colours.

White Playsuit

I bought this playsuit yearrrsssss ago for my 19th birthday party but I haven't been able to say goodbye because I find its just perfect when I'm going somewhere special and I don't want to wear something boring. Its so comfortable, I don't have to be conscious all night that I'm showing too much boob or bum cause it covers just enough. I'm using a photo from the Summer cause Winter has not been kind and I'm far too pale at the moment for it :(

Red Shirt

My red shirt is my go to top if I'm having a lazy day but I don't want to look like a complete hobo. Its a pretty thick material so its warm enough to wear on its own. Theres not much to say about it, my wardrobe isn't too complicated. Its a classic red checked shirt, I feel comfortable in it and as an added bonus it doesn't crease easy :)

So there ya have it. My River Island Staples! Hope this inspires everyone to go buy a hundred pairs of Molly jeggings because they're the best jeans in the world! Talk soon!

Uiscebawn x

My J1 experience in Chicago

I spent my Summer of 2014 living and working in Chicago. I stayed with some great friends, made amazing new ones and had the best time of my life. If you are in college at the moment and are on the fence about going on a J1, I could not recommend it enough! You grow so much as a person, gain independence and have an amazing time! This is my J1 experience. It starts off with one bad experience that I think everyone should be aware of and then I'll talk about the fun stuff. Hopefully it'll help anyone going to the US or Chicago :)

Accommodation

We had a slight problem with our accommodation before we got to Chicago. By slight problem, I mean hundreds of other Irish students and I were conned out of their money by Amir Attaie and his company 'J1 Summer Living.' We were all saved by the hero of J1 Students in Chicago, Daniel O'Donnell. He paid for our apartments and didn't expect anything from us in return. He really saved our Summer! 
Now I've gotten the bad stuff out of the way, heres the fun stuff. We stayed in 777 South State Street in the South Loop of Chicago. We couldn't have chosen a better location. We were one street over from Michigan Avenue and Grant Park. It took a twenty minute walk to get to the very centre of town and a train station was just outside our building. the apartment was fully furnished, with wifi, tv and cable, a sundeck, laundry room and a gym! If you have to funds to pay for accommodation in full before you go, I highly recommend 777. It also means one less stress during the Summer because you aren't worrying about saving for rent.

Work

I got my job through a company called Hop the Pond. They organise jobs, trips and accommodation for J1 students. They are a great, friendly company and Kev Egan, who started up Hop the Pond, went above and beyond to make mine and my friends Summer the best it could be! It wasn't necessary to get a job before I went but it was just another thing checked off the list so I could concentrate on having a great Summer. I worked as a server in Lizzie McNeill's Irish Pub. There were about 12 other Irish working there and they were all lovely! Thats us below having a group hug on our work night out. The wage is terrible in America but tips are amazing and they certainly are enough to keep you going for three months.

The Lizzies Crew

Lollapalooza

If you are going to Chicago in the Summer, GO TO LOLLAPALOOZA! Ireland do not do music festivals like America. It was in Grant Park, literally a five minute walk away from our apartment. We would go to an act and run back to grab lunch before another act. It had a brilliant lineup including Eminem, Kings of Leon, Lorde, Arctic Monkeys, Rudimental, Kodaline and Hozier. My favourite was tied between Duke Dumont and Kings of Leon. Duke Dumont because it was a couple of hours of dancing like no one was watching with the sun beaming down on us (and probably the perfect level of alcohol in me as well ) Kings of Leon were amazing! The talent they had playing live was unbelievable and they really knew how to put on a light show. Lollapalooza really was the highlight of the Summer. My friends and I loved it so much, as soon as we heard it was coming to Europe, we booked our flights to Berlin.

Nightlife

I don't know about other cities in America, but Chicago was prepared for the Irish. They had an Irish students night nearly every night of the week in different pubs and clubs. Some of them are terrible, but some we they best nights out of the Summer. Tuesday night was reserved for Joe's on Weed Street. $2 pitchers. Do I need to say more? My friends and I also took a liking to a blues club called Kingston Mines. It didn't have an Irish night but it was so different from the other clubs playing the chart songs. 

Being Tourists

Spending a whole Summer there, we got to feel like locals. But we still wanted to see every bit of Chicago that we could. If I listed everywhere we went in detail I would be typing for days so I'll try keep this brief. Firstly, we bought the CityPass. This was a booklet that got us entry to five of Chicago's attractions including Shedd Aquarium, Skydeck, the Field Museum, Museum of Science and Industry and Adler Planetarium. You save over 50% so I would definitely recommend it. Lincoln Park Zoo is a must see as well. Its free entry and probably even bigger and better than Dublin Zoo. I even got a selfie with a Rhino standing no more than ten feet away from me. There are so many festivals, like Taste of Chicago, and attractions around every corner in Chicago, there is always something to do.

Me with my Rhino friend

To summarize, I had the best Summer of my life, I don't know anyone who didn't fall in love with the city of Chicago and anyone thinking of going on a J1 should consider Chicago. I luckily didn't get in any fights with my roommates, well one fight with the boyfriend at the time but that was bound to happen. But living with the six friends I went with made us grow closer and I don't regret a second of it! Talk soon!

Uiscebawn x

Bonus Photo!

If I could describe my Summer with one photo, it would be the one below. I've always loved this photo, as awful as I look. After work or a night out, we would get pizza, eat too much and literally pass out from a food coma on the couch. Shout out to Bebhinn who came home from work and found me on the couch like this!

Hot Yoga Positives and Negatives

Hot Yoga is a yoga practice preformed in a studio, humidified and heated between 35-40 C. It is an intense workout with multiple benefits but it is also very doable for people of all fitness levels. I started Hot Yoga very unfit. I never exercised and did not have a healthy diet. But I fell in love with the practice and now love the satisfaction of a good workout.

Downward Dog

In October last year, I went back to Hot Yoga. I had originally started Hot Yoga back in 2012, maybe 2011 and I fell in love! Being a poor student doing a final year project, I couldn't always afford to keep it up. So I went to it for a few months at a time and then take a break. Now I have been back for a few months and plan to stay at it, I can really feel some differences.

I'm gonna go through the many positives and the few negatives of doing hot yoga. I'm not saying a pro. I have a long way to go in perfecting my postures, these photos are just to make the post a bit more interesting.

Positives

• Flexibility: Within three or four classes, I always notice my flexibility has significantly increased. The heat allows you to move deeper into your postures than yoga in regular temperatures. After a few months back, I am very close to folding in half with a straight back!
• Energy: When I finish a class I always feel so much more energised than I did going in. It also helps me get a better sleep.
• Mood changes: Going to yoga always helps me relieve any stress I had. Whether I sweat it out during class or meditate it out at the end of class, doesn't matter. It works!
• Metabolism: Hot Yoga or any kind of exercise speeds up your metabolism. I always have less bloating as well when I keep up with classes.
• All over body tone: I was very surprised with how much body strength I built up with yoga. Just holding one posture for a few breaths can strengthen so many muscles. My core is the most notable change :D
• Immunity Boost: I feel run down less when I practice yoga. The heat is meant to boost the immune system. I used to get about four or five colds a year now I get about two at most.
• Patience, breathing, focus: This was a perk I didn't know I needed in life. Yoga teaches you a new way of breathing. During a class this breathing helps you focus and move deeper in a posture. I noticed I started to use this breathing technique out of class. When I'm in work and I have back pain I have started breathing and stretching the pain away. If my computer freezes I've started to not get as frustrated because of this breathing. It comes in so handy!
• Detox: The sweating detoxes your body of toxins. Also many postures detox your organs of all the bad stuff.
• Weight Loss: Weight loss is a small benefit compared to all the other reasons above. I began Hot Yoga for this reason and I stayed for all the other reasons.

Wide legged forward bend

Negatives

• Time: The class is just over an hour long but from the time I leave my house to the time I get home, its over two hours. Then I have to shower and with thick hair like mine, it takes forever to dry my hair!
• Dehydration: You sweat a lot in class which means you can get dehydrated easily. Sometimes its hard to get that hydration back. During class sometimes I can feel dizzy or nauseated. I just have to drink more water and take a break on my yoga mat to feel better.
• Limited times: In the Yoga studio I go to, they usually have around three classes a  day. One in the morning and two in the evening. Keeping to their timetable is a negative compared to being a gym member and going whenever I pleased.
• Price: I currently pay €150 every two months for unlimited classes. This is a lot compared to when I went to the gym and paid around €300 for the year!

As you can see I was really grasping at straws looking for negatives and they certainly shadowed by all the positives. I would definitely recommend Hot Yoga to everyone! Old, young, fit, unfit, men, women, EVERYONE! I am finally at a place in my life that I can stick with it and hopefully I can become the best I can be with time and practice. Hope this helped anyone who was thinking of joining Hot Yoga. Talk soon!

Uiscebawn x