Book Review: The Acid Reflux Solution.

I stopped being personal on my blog long ago, but I think it's time I returned. My name is Aisha and I have acid reflux and gastritis.  As I have searched for sources of information on acid reflux and gastritis, my friend the Internet has really let me down. There are a lot of reputable sources such as WebMD and the Mayo Clinic but they don't explain how to live everyday with these conditions. Then there are also blogs and patients forums but I found these to be overwhelming and not very practical. So I went back to the basics, I went to the library and got a book, The Acid Reflux Solution: A Cookbook and Lifestyle Guide for Healing Heartburn Naturally .
Written by a Gastroenterologist and Registered Dietitian this book covers the science of acid reflux and translates that information into recipes. Dr. Rodriquez shares his own journey with the disease including the reasons why we should all be wary of taking the prescription solutions for a long time. This book posits eating a low fat diet, eating small portions, and staying away from the trigger foods as a solution for acid reflux. It also states that the resulting weight loss from the diet changes will also help to relieve symptoms.

As I mentioned earlier I had already read about what not to eat, the so called trigger foods. That lead me to believe that I had to eat nothing but bland plain foods. The trigger food list in this book is quite a shorter than others. He distinguishes between:

1. Trigger foods:  Foods you should avoid because they cause your lower esophageal sphincter to relax and acid to escape from the stomach.

2. Acidic foods: Foods that are highly acidic that may irritate your esophagus and stomach. This includes things like onions, garlic, citrus, and tomato. Everyone reacts differently to this set of foods. 

The recipes in this book are just what the foodie in me needed. While some may find the recipes in this book complicated, I wanted to be able to enjoy food again. I was looking for more complex flavors that would also not cause flare ups for me. Recipes such as:

• Butternut Squash and Pear Bisque,
• Asian Barbeque Chicken, and
• Mushroom Risotto 

are neither bland or plain but they steer clear of the foods on the trigger list. The recipes also help give me a bit of a clue as to what I should eat when I go to restaurants. 

That said, many of the recipes do contain small amounts of acidic foods. For instance garlic and tomatoes are in some of the recipes.  If you are "in the middle of an acute inflammatory stage" the author recommends avoiding acids and spices. Meaning if you are already having symptoms then stay away from these foods. I have enough cooking knowledge to make modifications where necessary. 

If you are looking for ways to add additional flavors and vary your meals while deal with your acid reflux and gastritis this is the book for you. As always I recommend checking this out from your local library before purchasing the book. 

*This post includes affiliate links.

What I learned from being sick

Remember when I said that I was going to show you how to cook with no kitchen? That didn't happen because I got sick and I didn't really eat anything other than yogurt and chocolate milk for much of the renovation. I made a leg of lamb in the crockpot. That was about it. But I am thankful that I have pulled through this whole thing. But while I was down and out I was always with my trusty iPhone so I learned a few things.

 1. Apple Cider Vinegar is Everything. One of the myriad of things that I went through over the past month was acid reflux. They put me on some medication to help and I developed chest pains. If had not just seen the heart doctor I would have thought I was having a heart a attack. I did some searching and found that apple cider vinegar might help me out a bit and it did. I put a tablespoon in my water bottle and got to sipping. Not sure of the science but I all really needed was n=1 to let me know it worked. It's worked for my hair and my allergies so I wasn't hesitant to try it.

2. Greek Yogurt and Bio K+ = happy tummy. One of the persistent things through this whole ordeal was nausea. A friend of mine recommended that I eat Greek yogurt to help put some good bacteria back in my stomach after a course of antibiotics. I was trying to stay away from dairy but I was desperate to feel better. I started eating Fage every morning and it really helped to settle my stomach and get me out of bed. Plus I had to admit that Fage has a great texture so I stopped eating the store brand varieties. However, the nausea didn't fully go away. Another friend recommend I try Bio K+ from Whole Foods. She said it was expensive so I was immediately turned off especially having recently read this article. But I found myself in Whole Foods one day and I picked up a bottle. It's essentially a super dose of probiotics, again something to put the good bacteria back in my stomach. I took it for a few days and by day three the nausea was gone. I don't know if I was nearing the end of my sickness or what but I'll stick with it for now.

3. Just rest if you can. Sometimes you just have to accept that you are going through it. I didn't want to accept this so I wouldn't rest. I kept trying to declare myself cured and just get back to it. Only to have leave places in hurry because I thought I was going to pass out. That's not fun for your friends. I had to realize it's okay just be. I think a meditation course is in my future.

 4. There's got to be an app for that. Growing up I got all of my medical care through Kaiser Permanente. All I needed was my medical record number and I could call and find out when and where I needed to be. Then I got Kaiser in DC and it wasn't the same. The doctors just sucked and the facilities aren't big enough to have everything in one place. So I went the PPO route. While my choices of physicians are better I don't have a single medical record, each doctor does their own thing. I think I had 10 encounters with medical facilities. I was carrying around all these papers and I had to remember all the instructions for preparing for each test. Then there were the medications. Calls to the insurance company. Bills in the mail . I have worked in public health all my life and even I was drowning. I totally understand why people don't adhere to doctor's orders when they have complicated care regimens. I know that there has to be an app to help people but I didn't even have time to figure that out for myself. I was just trying to get better.

So friends take these lessons and tuck them away for a later time. Toodles.

Kitchen Renovations: Meal Planning

In two days we will start our journey of 30 days or more without a kitchen. Yep we are ripping it all out and putting in new cabinets and counter tops. We are doubling the amount of cabinets we have and getting rid of those unsightly wire racks. The racks are nice. The amount of crap we have on them isn't so nice. One of the challenges we have is to be able to eat good meals and to not eat out all the time. My blood pressure has been high lately so I need to minimize my salt intake.  So processed foods are out the door. B also needs variety or he will just eat out. So I have set up a mini kitchen in the basement. While we have more than we need accessible most of the stuff we can't use because there is no stove and we are trying to keep the use of dishes and appliances to a minimum. It will be like living in a dorm again. So here is what we have to cook with:

Vitamix
Microwave
Slow Cooker
Foreman Grill
Waffle Iron
Outdoor Grill
Utility Sink
Mini Fridge


Breakfast

My plan is to try and eat breakfast at work. We can take oatmeal and cook it in the microwave or I can do a batch of slow cooker oatmeal at the beginning of the week and eat it all week. Greek yogurt parfaits would be good too but I think it flares up my allergies. Although we don't use the waffle iron a lot, I can see myself making up a batch of waffles and putting them in the freezer at work. Some grilled chicken sausage on the Foreman and we are all set. Of course fruit and nuts make a good breakfast as well. Most of this will minimize the amount of dishes I have to do at home.

Lunch & Dinner

I have been looking on Pinterest for easy dinner recipes. While the slow cooker is great it's nice to have some variety. Here are some of the interesting things I found:




Groupon, Living Social, & Gilt City Let's be real, we are going to want to eat out some days. There will be those days when we just don't have the right ingredients to make something happen or we are just lazy. It's allowed. So I decided to buy about $50 worth of coupons. Most of them are for fast casual food but I did get at least one for a nicer restaurant.

Chai Tea Misto

If you go way back on this blog, you will see that there was once an Indian guy and gal on my life. The former was addicted to Starbucks Chai and the latter made homemade Chai. Thus my obsession with Chai. I weaned myself (and my wallet) off Sbux in 2012 but recently I was back on it. Upon return, I realized that that the Chai was just way too sweet for me. It has 42 grams of sugar and nearly 240 calories. So I asked if I could have my chai latte made with a tea bag. Oh yeah nearly sugarless Chai. I can taste many more of the flavors in the chai itself and the vanilla steamed soy milk takes it to the next level. This week I learned that in Sbux lingo it is a "soy chai tea bag misto." It also cheaper and way less calories. You only have the 60 calories in the vanilla soy milk. Such a great find. Yes I could make it myself for way cheaper but for some reason I don't want to. I will do it soon I promise. I have to because those Morning Buns, cinnamon rolls, and glazed donuts call out to me.

You have how many unread emails?

My name is Aisha and I had 5000+ unread emails in my Gmail inbox. About a year ago I started keeping track of the number of unread emails in my inbox. It was a cry for help. I was hoping someone would take pity on me and offer to clean it up. Yeah no takers.

I had a feeling I was missing important email and I was starting to look like a flake to some people. I'm on three nonprofit boards and I was not doing my duties when I couldn't find things in my email. I read a  lot of productivity blogs and they often feature many email solutions. This week I read a lot about email so I figured it was time to take control of my email.

First I used theswizzle.com to help me get off a bunch of mailing list and delete the messages associated with those list. Great, but I seemed to still have a lot of email lingering. I also now had The Swizzle sending me a daily email. That seems like the opposite of what I wanted.

Then I signed up for  Mailstrom.co after I saw them on Lifehacker. It sounded great but then I was in the queue for over a week. During that week I didn't know if it just wasn't working, was slow, or just sucked. So I gave up. About a week later I got an email saying that my inbox was ready. What? I already broke up with you before we started. I tried to log in and got a message saying it was broken. Yeah that's not cool either. We were over before we got started.

While I was waiting for Mailstrom to get its act together I found Sanebox. It basically goes through your inbox and auto sorts things into to stuff that needs to stay in your inbox, archived, or you can read later. Just had to press the button and say poof! It's gotta free trial then after that it's like $2/month. I also like the feature that it strips attachments in future emails automatically and saves them into Dropbox. Losing attachments was a real reason I couldn't get a hold of my inbox. I'm not afraid anymore. This may mean I need DropBox Pro at some point.

But I still had a lot of old email that was sitting there. After Andre told me that it was a Baltimore startup, I went back to Mailstrom.co . I guess it started working because Sanebox had already helped me get the box down. It has a multiple sort functions. So I could see that had I 1500 emails from just three people, none of which I probably needed to keep. Poof!  Deleted or Archived.

So within the last week I have deleted about 25K worth of email.

Now I need to do this for my two other email accounts. Le sigh. 

Springing Forward My Health

As you all know I go on and off of trying to be healthier, though I  don't obsess about numbers on the scale anymore.  I am more concerned about the fact that I seem to bust my ass once a month, that I am tired after one flight of stairs, and  a two year old would probably put a hurtin' on me in a fight. I have been thinking very hard about trying to change but I needed to reflect on my past a bit before I came up with a plan of action. 

Family History

First things first. Both my parents had high blood pressure and my dad died prematurely because like me, he faked at eating right. I would come home for visits and all I saw was rice milk, tofu pups, and eggs. I thought he was eating pretty well. I guess I should have wondered what about lunch and dinner. When I moved home temporarily to take care of him, I found out the truth. From his bank statements I saw he was eating El Pollo Loco and Ms. Marilyn's Soul Food, a lot. I also learned that my dad didn't know how to cook. I remember growing up he would make oatmeal and waffles. My mom made everything else. I just figured that it was a gender role thing. Nope he didn't even know his way around a tuna sandwich. 

My mom on the other hand fed us lots of foods, both good and bad. We were only allowed to eat Cheerios and Kix because the other cereals were full of sugar. However, Pop Tarts were a perfectly acceptable breakfast food. I guess icing doesn't have sugar. Totally mixed messages. Given my mom's background she was making sure we had enough food, no matter what it was. We always had vegetables but mostly from a can. We always had fruit too.

I have a pretty decent knowledge of what's good for me and what's not. Where I struggle is that I focus on what makes me feel happy or comfort. I need to focus on what makes me feel alive, healthy, and strong. I eat the right foods all the time, but I also eat a lot of cupcakes. I am working on it now through Weight Watchers. 

Weight Watchers Simply Filling Technique

Danica's Daily  does a great job of explaining the technique so I won't get into that.  For me this technique was appealing because I didn't need to count the oatmeal, bananas, and the grilled chicken. On the regular Points Plus plan you track everything! What I need to do is track the cupcakes and french fries. I would always forget about the bottle of wine I had the night before. That's why I think the Simply Filling technique will work for me. 

This is week one and it's easy and hard at the same time.  It's easy to have delicious meals made of the right stuff. It's hard when you didn't tell your husband you were going to do this and he brought home a pound of prosciutto and the gelato you bought last week is still here. It's easy to pack a lunch with the right foods in the right portions. It's hard to not eat your entire Chipotle burrito bowl. But overall it's easier for me right now because the alternative was to not track any of it all and expect to magically look differently.  

Body Pump

If I am going to be able to wrestle that two year old I need to get stronger. That starts with working out.  I got a little present from a past mystery shop in the mail in last month.  I temporarily joined a gym for a mystery shop a few years ago but I guess I was still in their database of old members. This gym normally cost about $100 a month but they were offering a Family membership for $60. While their locations are not that convenient during the week I thought I could start by committing to one class of Body Pump per weekend. That alone pays for the membership.

It's a challenging workout for me and by the next day I am super sore. You get a decent cardio workout as well. I am committing to once a week and will try to add in at least one more workout. The gym is also near one of my favorite bike trails so when it gets a little warmer I might be able to do both things. 

Next Steps

I am not exactly sure. I am going to track how I feel about the Simply Filling technique. It seems easy but I think others might be able to learn from my experiences. Also my husband is a fabulous cook and I want to share his recipes. Many of them are simple but interesting. Deer with sautéed collard greens anyone?

Breathe: Naturally Tackling a Cold/Flu

A couple of days ago I woke up with a killer sore throat and a stuffy nose. I forgot to take a flu shot and CDC said that it wasn't that effective this year anyhow.  I am always super slow to react any signs of flu/cold but this time I wanted to get on top of it. So here are  few tips.

Step 1: Listen to your mother

If you are sick, eat a lemon. Growing up in Southern California , I had no idea how spoiled we were to have fruit trees in our backyard. We had a lemon tree that bore fruit year around. Whenever a cold appeared, the first thing mom tell us to do was eat a lemon from the tree. Just peel it and eat it like an orange. I found that it would dry up mucous with a quickness and take extra does of Vit. C doesn't hurt.

Honey, Lemon, & Ginger

Building on that advice, I drank lots of Naked Power-c machine this winter. I figured it was cheaper and tastier than Mucinex.

Step 2: Have some tea

Any type of tea will do. The hot liquid will soothe your throat. It helps if you add honey or lemon. I found this recipe of a honey lemon concentrate that I plan to keep on hand. 

Step 3: Make some chicken soup

This is where I diverge from moms advice. She would pop open a can of the name brand chicken soup concentrate and added water. It's pretty easy to whip up some homemade chicken soup if you start with store bought broth. I'll ask B to give me the recipe.

Now if it is really bad here a few other things

Step 4:  Steam!

Use a steamer or take a hot shower. That will help to break up the mucous. 

Step 6: Use a Neti pot.

Years ago my friend Gibran told me about Neti pots.The idea of putting water up my nose was terrifying. Well one day I was so miserably stuffed up that I said what the hell. Gross but effective. Put some lipgloss on afterwards so you feel less gross. ( Visit Gibran's tea shop)

Step 5: Apple Cider Vinegar is a boss

Drink 2 tablespoons in 16 ounces of water.  Grab a box of tissues because you will be blowing your nose soon. 

These are the things I have found effective. Do you have anything else to try? 

Do you have to let it linger?

There is one habit I need to change. The title of this song is something I ask myself all the time. I have no idea why I am not motivated by a sense of accomplishment. I had three things to do this weekend and I did everything but those things. So I am looking for a song that describes where I want to be and not where I am. #foward

Weight Watchers/ Easy Breakfast

Hey Folks! I'm on the Weight Watchers band wagon again. I lack self motivation so being in an environment of accountability helps me. It helps me with awareness. Today I present to you an easy, quick, 5 point breakfast.

 Bob's red mill 10 grain cereal (made with water), fresh peach, dollop of greek yogurt. 

Make the cereal with water in the microwave according to package directions. Top with with a chopped peach and 2 tablespoons of non-fat greek yogurt. You can add cinnamon or a little agave necatar for extra sweetness. The peach on its own is good enough for me.

Perfect Vacation Horoscope

Sagittarius 

Someone or something capable of holding you back will have less potency after the 17th. Focus on plans, trips, or ventures that bring out your daring side. It's possible to live a more fulfilled life, so don't let the negativity of others keep you from moving ahead. Motto of the Month: Courage cannot be tested cautiously. 

Mastering my nails

As I have gotten older I have decided that I want my outside to represent the way I feel inside. That has meant more make-up and grooming amongst other things. I also no longer wanted to hide my feet under thick white socks. I didn't want to be embarrassed when I shook someones hand. That led to regular manicures, pedicures, and a trip to the podiatrist. I have tried to paint my nails so many times but I am usually rushing so it looked like a 5 year old did my polish. Paint all over the place. I didn't have the patience for it. So I dutifully went to Vickie's Nail Boutique twice a month. At $45 plus tip, it is not very budget friendly. There are less expensive places in the city but after having to call the health department after going to an unsanitary establishment, I decided to be more discerning. It would be silly to lose a toe to an unsanitary pedicure. 

Source: pinterestlov.tumblr.com via karol on Pinterest

With one pedi and two manicures a month, I was spending more than I liked. Every couple of months I start looking for things to slash from my budget. I thought the mani-pedis should be a part of that. After all, sometimes I just need a polish touchup. I could also save money by not going to Georgetown which also means peaking into Zara, Lulu, or Anthropologie as I needed a way to justify going in circles to find a parking space. 

I read a few websites and watched a few Youtube videos to learn better technique. I bombed the first few attempts.  After just a few more tries, I have been pretty successful. I even had a stranger comment on my tootsies today. Woot! So let me share my process with you. 

My Arsenal

Sally Hansen Gel Cuticule Remover

Orange Sticks

Cuticle Nipper

Nail Clipper

Nail File

Diamencel #20

Coconut Oil

Toe Separators

Sally Hansen Nail Corrector Pen

Base Coat, Nail Color, Quick Drying Top Coat

1. Trim nails down to the desirable length. 

2. Soak feet  and hands in water to get everything soft. I just fill up the tub with a little water and soak for 5 minutes. 

3. File nails

4. Apply gel cuticule remover and let it sit for 1-2 minutes. It will dissolve excess cuticle

5. Use an orange stick to gently push cuticles pack and to clean around the edges of the nail

6. Rinse to remove cuticle residue

7. Use a cuticle nipper to cut off any dry skin or hang nails

8. Check the shape of the nail and fix any mistakes

9. If your feet are rough apply gel cuticle remover to rough areas and let it sit (pedi only)

10. Use your Diamencel #20 to scrub off rough feet (pedi only)

11. Rinse and apply lotion

12. Use polish remover to remove excess polish from nail bed

13. Using this technique apply your base coat, color coat and top coat. Waiting 1-2 minutes for each coat to dry

14. Use the corrector pen to clean up any messes. 

The key here is to give yourself 90 mins to do a pedicure and manicure. You want to include adequate drying time so that your hard work isn't in vain. Don't look at your toes 20 minutes before date night and decide that you need a pedi. Or do your manicure and then realized that you need to wash a sink full of dirty dishes. Look at your feet closely once a week to check for maintenance. If my polish is still on point but my cuticles are raggedy, I just apply some gel cuticle remover and very gently remove excess cuticle with the orange stick without disturbing the polish. That makes my toes look as good as new without redoing my polish. 

I spend the same 90 minutes on doing my nails but at home. It  cost about $80 for all of these supplies. If you use coupons you can always get free polish and other beauty tools.  If your feet aren't as rough as mine you can surely skip the Diamencel and find a cheaper foot file but this works so well and will last forever. I also use only Essie or OPI so cheaper polishes will bring down your cost. I also didn't buy all of this stuff at once. I have accumulated the supplies over the years as I tried and failed repeatedly to paint my own nails.

I am pretty satisfied with my current results and I know I can get it perfect with even more practice. Take that recession!

The week of crying and inspiration (Part I)

Two weeks ago I was at the AIDS 2012 conference. I am sure the conference was awesome and inspirational but I was so tired from preparing for the conference. During the event I was mostly confined to the media center. I left the conference tired and I felt like I really missed out. The next week at work was really hard and I was left wondering if I was on the right career path. I woke up every morning not feeling very well and I think my body was shutting down. I love public health but sometimes I get jaded when I can't convince myself that my work is helping people.

Last week I went to the CDC Health Communications, Marketing, and Media Conference. I made it a point to get to know people at the conference, to build my personal brand, and build relationships with colleagues.  Maybe that would help me not feel so jaded. I did meet at least four new people that I will be in contact with post conference.

On the morning of the last day of the conference, a former colleague invited me to his workshop on inspiration. I thought this was about inspiring your audience to behavior change. That is after all the goal of health communications. I was so wrong.

The session was simply about what inspires each of us everyday. Four panelist did ignite style presentations and shared their lives with us. I was blown away. One person in particular that spoke to me was Alexandra Bornkessel. Earlier in the year I met her at a conference where she talked about building relationships through social media. Little did I know that she would make me question my very existence on this planet. She spoke about having passion behind everything that you do. She gave examples of people who took risks to follow their passion. She also told the story of her father and how raising money for Multiple Sclerosis (MS) led her family to start a nonprofit for MS Research.

That set off a lightbulb and the waterworks. I was totally a mess. You see my father was a big inspiration to me but he's phsically gone now. He touched so many people and I hope my light can one day shine as bright has his. He spent a lot of time doing things he was passionate about but also a lot of time doing things he was not passionate about in the name of getting rich quick.  That always made me sad.

Doug Weinbrenner, another one of the panelist, quoted Dr. Howard Thurman.

Dr. Thurman was one of my father's greatest inspirations. He loved to read his books and would talk to me about his scholarly works way before I could appreciate it. So I found myself in a room where my father was speaking to me. What are the chances that someone would quote Dr. Thurman at a health communications conference? Infinitesimally small.

I spend a lot of time doing things that I am only sort of passionate about so the workshop got me thinking that I need to change that.  The workshop had a lot of other  quotables that I am going to remember. Lest I forget,  I made my first Storify to document the moment.

The Weekend In Links

1. Farmer's Market
2. Domku
3. Bellevue Library
4. Apple Refurbs Rock
5. Frank Ocean
6. Kai's Birthday at Mie n Yu

July 30 for 30

I am trying the Kendi Everyday 30 for 30 Wardrobe Remix again. I have 30 items to wear and I must wear a different outfit everyday. This month I wanted share my outfit remixes. However, I don't think I can manage to take a picture everyday so Polyvore it is. This will be the busiest month I've had in a while so I thought I would challenge myself even during this time. So here are the items I have selected this month. In most cases it is the actual item but in some places I have picked items that look similar. Remember belts, scarves, jewelry and other accessories don't count in the 30 so let's go.

Summer 30 for 30/Project 333 by aishalm featuring stretch pants

Challenge, Challenge, Challenge

Wardrobe Challenges and Remixes 


It's time for my quarterly update for all three of my readers. A lot of people know that I love to shop. I have a lot of nice clothes but I have a basic uniform. I wear that shirt with those jeans. I wear that dress with that cardigan. You won't really see me in earrings, never a necklace, barley a bangle. The function for a belt was to hide a waist gap. I like to look good but I wanted to also look effortlessly put together like my friend Bew Radley. So I took some time to study up.

1. I used Project 333 to learn how to pick a capsule wardrobe. I didn't want to have bunch of clothes that I never wear. I made it  through six months but I think it reinforced my tendency to have a uniform. I wanted have style and pizzaz.

2. Then I went on to the 30 for 30 Remix. I used 30 pieces of clothing and shoes and wore a different outfit everyday for 30 days. Accessories weren't included so it helped me learn how to stretch myself.  People at work noticed that I was so well put together and I felt great getting dressed everyday.

3. The next challenge I plan to do is the Freckles in April 21-Day Challenge.


I used Polyvore to try and plan out my outfits. I would have worn the gray skirt and a white collared button down shirt. Plain Jane. Instead I wore this outfit. What do you think?

Spring Office Look One by aishalm featuring handcrafted jewelry

If you are interested in trying to create your own personal style or feel like you are in a rut,  here are some great blogs from everyday people and Fashionistas.

Wardrobe Oxygen

Merrick's Art

Kendi Everyday

Putting Me Together

A Great Father and Friend to All

December 15, 1943 - March 21, 2012

Working on the Spring Capsule Wardrobe

I've been on Pinterest putting together my Spring Capsule Wardrobe. Given that I am only supposed to wear things I love, my first instinct was to go shopping. I stopped myself and went to the clothing I put away three months ago to see what I could pull out and I noticed a few trends about my Spring wardbrobe.

1. A lot of it doesn't flatter me. 
I immediately put most of it into a to a donate pile. I hate walking around tugging at my clothes. I hate feeling fat. So all of the stuff that that doesn't work for me I just got rid of. Some the stuff is the right size but it's not the right cut so I could never wear it comfortably. I rather walk out the door feeling fab instead of feeling like I need to fix something.

2. Old Navy Tanks Need to Go

I have a lot of Old Navy tank tops from when I was in grad school. I love color so I went through a phase of double layering their ribbed tank tops for my weekend outfits. Not that my boobs were any smaller then, but I probablly need tanks with more structure.

3. I Love Anthropologie

I have lots of girly-girly items from Anthropologie. The store's style fits with my need for bold colors, prints,  and interesting details. Many of these items are keepers.

4. I Love Bright Shoes

Espardilles in orange, wedges in chartuese, mary janes in red. I have no neutral colored shoes for spring and summer. I will need to wear some kind of to shoe work so the search starts for neutral flats.
5. I Need Neutrals

I seem to overdose on neutrals in the fall/winter and brights/colors in the spring. So I need a bit of balance. I'm in search of a faltering all season pant, a capri,  neutral flats, and neutral cardigan. I also against my better judgement I  want a white blazer

Manicures: From Salon to DIY

About two years ago I started getting manicures every two weeks. I spend a lot of time meeting clients so manicures seemed like a necessity for the business I am in. On several occasions I have tried to paint my own nails. It seemed like what I should do to cut down on expenses. It never seemed to work. I always got paint everywhere and my cuticles just look so tired. I have a full set of supplies for a manicure but I haven't attempted one in about two years.

I realized that part of the problem was that I was always doing a manicure in a hurry. I would only realize my nails looked horrid 20 minuties before I needed to be at an event. Yeah that's not going to work if you are trying to file, clean up cuticles, paint and then dry. Last week I set out to try to get this right (meaning not doing it while I was rushed). Using my CVS Extracare  Bucks I bought the following items:

Sally Hansen Instant Cuticle Remover.

I have cuticle nippers but I know I should only use them for hang nails. But my cuticles are so messed up I needed to find another way to deal with them. According to the internet, gel cuticle removers help to dissolve over grown cuticles. This product was on sale so I decided to try it. I spread it on my cuticle, let it  sit for two minutes and used an orange stick to push my cuticles back. I did have to clip some cuticle with my nipper but it did a great job. 

Revlon File and Smooth

I need to watch a couple of videos about how to file. I found this file to be very ineffective. It takes off too much nail at one time and when filing the side of my nail it takes your skin off. I think I will go back to my regular files. 

Burts Bees Lemon Butter Cuticle Cream

The easiest way to deal with nasty cuticles is to prevent them. So I tried this special cuticle butter. Now I am sure I could have used my coconut oil for this but I am in love with citrus products. I have been oiling them twice a day for a week and my fingers look much better. 

So I am on a manicure vacation for a while and hopefully I can keep this up. If I give up at least one of the manicures per month I will save $204 a year. Now if I could only figure out how to thread. 

Getting the Linen Closet Up To Snuff $10

It's happened to all of us.

Damn I can't close the linen closet!

Damn where is my favorite lotion!

Damn we are out of toilet paper and I need to wipe my bum right now!

Big fail. After the wedding we bought nice fluffy grown up towels but getting them into the linen closet was a big chore. Fold this way, fold that way. Even youtube couldn't help me. We had so much junk in the linen closet. Random lotion gift sets, four neti pots (don't ask), and plenty of stuff from my coupon hauls. I've organized it before but with the shelves only being 8inches deep, everything always manages to be in the way or I just knock everything over. It was kind of out of control and I should have taken a picture of it. Instead I visited my friend the internet for some inspiration.

Source: simplifiedbee.blogspot.com via Deb on Pinterest

Source: closets-organizer.com via J. on Pinterest

I figured the container strategy was my best bet. Each thing would have a home and I would have a harder time knocking things over.

I'm really digging the tags on that first pic and I am jealous they have room for a hamper. My first instinct is always to run to The Container Store but things can get pricey pretty quickly. However, I know everything is quality (and cute!). But sometimes you don't great quality you just need practical. Enter Dollar Tree. I discovered this store during the wedding and they do have a decent selection of things I need. I hate how disorganized it is and how grumpy the employees are but sometimes I just need what I need. Plus everything is a dollar. My toilet paper doesn't need a $7 basket.

What I need to make this all work were storage containers.

Dollar Tree ($1.00) Container Store (starting at 2.99)

Source: containerstore.com via MonoNoAvare on Pinterest

I think I managed to find practical and cute solutions. The boxes aren't that sturdy but I don't need them to be. Most days they will just sit on a shelf. But having the boxes isn't enough. You have have an organizational system.

My strategy is to put like things together.

• Hair Products
• Feminine Products
• Oral Care
• Razors Handles
• Razor Cartridges
• Hair Ties
• Toilet Paper Basket

For my makeup I further broke things into smaller bins so they would be easy to grab in the morning. I actually managed to get most of the medicine cabinet and the under the bathroom sink into the linen closet. The best part is that I did this for $8 total. Now I'm off to make cute little tags for the baskets.