The Weighted Hula Hoop

The weighted hula hoop.  One of my favorite quick and easy workouts. It's exactly how the name describes it as, a hula hoop that weighs five pounds. I normally hula hoop for 20 minutes a day on the days that I've worked out and the days I've taken a break from the gym, I go for 30 minutes.  30 minutes of hula hooping can burn up to 200 calories so it's a great workout! Not only does it burn a decent amount of calories, but it provides an awesome ab and core workout. Since you are combining a strengthening exercise with aerobic activity, you will see results sooner.  Another benefit that hula hoop provides is balance; strengthening your ab muscles will provide you with better balance and coordination.  And who doesn't want better balance?! 
My trusted Hula Hoop :)

This is the link to the website I bought my hula hoop from.
http://www.sports-hoop.com

In addition, there are a TON of other exercises out there that you can do with a hula hoop! A youtube search will pull up hundreds of videos! It's a great workout for a low price! Definitely the best $20 I've spent! I love my little hula hoop! :)
Have a wonderful Thursday!
xoxoxo

My Favorite Skin Products!

I used to use a brand of face products by Mario Badesu but as the bills got to be more expensive and I graduated college I slowly turned to the cheaper over the counter products.  But, I've come to realize that, like make up, the expensive products are often worth the money.  Especially for people like me who don't have perfect skin.  I have a couple products by this brand that are my absolute favorite and I thought I'd share them with you today.

1.) Whitening Mask which is a hydrating mask will help brighten uneven skin tones and gently minimize the look of old acne scars and discolorations from the sun. Skin lightening, natural ingredients make this a gentle mask, that even works for my super sensitive skin.  Now, the directions say to use it 2-3 times a week and leave on for 10-15 minutes, but I've found that it's gentle enough to leave on overnight and you get better results. It doesn't dry out your skin and it smells great. A must have mask. 

 2.) Silver Powder-For excessive, stubborn blackheads, this oil absorbent powder will help to unclog congested pores. Prevents blackheads and promotes a healthier complexion. You dip a damp cotton ball into the powder and apply to problem areas.  Give it about 10 minutes to soak into your skin and then take off with toner or astringent. I love this product, it noticeably shrinks your pores and leaves your skin feeling super smooth.  It's great for people with oily skin, like me because it absorbs all of the access oil from your face.  It's also great for eliminating blackheads.  This is a great product, well worth the money spent. 

3.) Vitamin C Serum-  This Vitamin C Serum contains 7.5% Ascorbic Acid (Vitamin C) to reduce discoloration and brighten skin. Formulated with Hyaluronic Acid to retain skin's natural moisture and Collagen to enhance skin's firmness and elasticity. This product is on the more pricey side ($45.00) but it is well worth the money spent.  It is amazing. By far my favorite product.  It evens out my skin tone while giving you a healthy glow and firming it up a little bit.  It makes my skin feel really soft, smooth and helped to fade the dark spots on my skin.  Be sure to follow the directions and only use 2-3 drops on your face every other nights. 

4.) Special Cleansing Lotion C- Acne, Oil Controlling Formula with Sulfur is an aggressive astringent that will cleanse the skin of surface greasiness. One of the best acne fighting products that deep cleans, disinfects and dries up acne affected, oily skin and removes build-up that may cause future pimples.  This is an amazing toner.  I've used my far share of toners and this is by far the best one I've found.  It leaves my skin feelings super clean. 

 

I hope this information was helpful to you!

xoxoxo

 

Cobra on the Lose?

The Bronx Zoo has a cobra on the lose! AAhhhh better watch out New Yorker's, his venom will kill you in FIFTEEN minutes flat! But besides the fact that this is just a tad scary; although the zoo seems to think he's in the reptile aquarium, is the fact that the corba is now tweeting during his escape.  I can't possibly be the only person who finds this somewhat funny and entertaining.  And second point, if the zoo people think he's hiding in the reptile aquarium, why haven't they found him yet?! There can't be that many places for a big old snake to hide! Well, until he's found be sure to catch up on his daily adventures via tweets!

Hello Again Monday :)

This weekend by quickly but it was a good one.  Chris was home for the entire weekend and so was I, which hasn't seemed to happen in quite awhile and won't happen again until the end of the month.  It was nice to spend time with him, just the two of us and our girls! Girls being cats in case any of you get some crazy ideas.  Friday after work I went to gymnastics and the gym, where I ran three miles did a little weights and went home.  We had pizza for dinner and watched some TV.  I was out by 10pm and Chris stayed up to watch the basketball games.  Florida State University took a tough loss against VCU which is now in the Final Four.  I suppose they are considered to be this  year's Cinderella Story.  So we'll see what happens, although I could really care less. I have no interest in basketball at all, it's boring.  Saturday I had gymnastics in the morning and then an eye doctor appointment to get my eyes checked and the contact prescription refilled.  My right eye has gotten a little worse which the doctor claimed "happens with age." I don't know if he looked at my chart, but I'm on 25 not 74! Chris was out most of the day doing some things.  So i went to the gym got a nice little workout in, went to Target and Michaels.  Came home and played around with our centerpiece until I got just what I wanted .  And let me just say, I think it's super cute and follows our theme to a T! I'm very happy with it and can't wait to see the finished product on all the tables!! We went to dinner and then saw the Lincoln Lawyer, which was awesome! If you haven't seen it, I would highly recommend going out and seeing it! It's definitely worth the price of the movie.  And I don't say that about a lot of movies.  Especially not a late night (late night being 945...yes I know, i'm lame) movie. But I was (barely)able to stay awake for the whole thing and it was definitely a movie I'll be buying once it comes out of DVD.  Sunday was a relaxing, lazy day in the house.  Nothing to exciting except that I did meet with my florist and we got all the flowers for the wedding taken care of, so that's one more thing I can cross off my list.  Ohhh we also picked our first dance song and other major important music for the ceremony/reception.  That was a MAJOR task for us so I'm really glad to have gotten that taken care of! It's such a feeling of relief to be able to cross things off my wedding to do list! It's slowly approaching us and I can't wait for it to be here and finally be married to my best friend :)
xoxoxo

Bikini Body :)

So I came across this workout the other day and thought I would share it with you all :) It's a short and simple workout but look at the bodies on those girls. Talk about the perfect bikini bodies! It has some interesting moves on there that I think I'm going to incorporate into my workouts. Always looking for some new workout moves, I tend to get bored doing the same thing.  Plus, it's better for you body to switch it up every once in awhile so your muscles don't get too "used" to the same workouts! 
Hope you Enjoy it!
Xoxox

Happy Hump Day :)

So much has been accomplished on my wedding checklist. Mainly the centerpieces and bridesmaid dresses.  The bridesmaid dresses have been a nightmare to try and get.  We ordered them way back in October and they are just NOW getting them back to me.  First they ordered them in all turquoise, which is not what I ordered.  When we ordered them I must have asked the man about ten times if he need to write down what part needed to be black and he kept telling me it comes like that.  So I go to pick them up and they're all stained and then he blames ME for not telling him I wanted the straps black! So they return them and a couple weeks later I get them back and give them to the girls when 3 of the dresses are stained! ahhhh by this time I was beyond annoyed with them.  So I took them back and after 15 minutes of insisting the stains were my fault (mind you, they were all stained in the SAME place, as if something had leaked on the) she finally agreed to clean them for me.  So now, the girls just need to get them altered because no one's fits at all. Do not ever use Roslyn's Bridal Boutique in Falls Church, they are horrible with the worst customer service. So glad to finally be able to check bridesmaid dresses off my list.  Chris and I made our sample centerpiece...well actually I made it while he watched :).... this weekend and I love the way it looks! Simple, classy and elegant! Now I just hope it looks as beautiful on the tables as it does in my dining rooms! We are still trying to figure out our first dance song, we can't agree on one.  It doesn't help that I listen to a lot of country and he is refusing to even consider a country song, even if it is sung by uncle, which is extremely annoying. But I supposed we'll come to find out sooner or later, we still have some time to figure that out! Him and his grooms men finally went and got fitted for their tuxes a couple weekends ago which was a huge relief, I'm glad they got that all taken care of! It seems like things are slowly falling into place. I'm starting to get so excited for our wedding and our honeymoon! I just wish it would hurry up and get here!

On another note, I haven't eaten any candy or drank any soda since Ash Wednesday and I'm doing a lot better than I did last year! It's not nearly as hard as it was for me last year and another benefit is that I've lost a pound just from not eating any candy! Not that I'm trying to lose weight but a pound is a pound! Gotta look tip top for our amazing honeymoon that's coming up in less than two months! 

xoxo

Frumpy Monday

This Saturday my stepsister got married in New Jersey on Saturday morning.  Her venue was a hotel that was located on the beach and they got married in front of the window that overlooked the ocean. It was a very pretty and nice wedding; she looked like a beautiful bride.  And a very happy one at that! It was a fun wedding, a true celebration of love!

Yesterday Chris and I spent the day just hanging out and relaxing. I caught up on my DVR and cleaned up the house while he watched March Madness.  I tried a new recipe for Mac and Cheese and it was pretty tasty :) Chris liked it as well, not as much as he likes his grandmother but at least he said it was good!  Here's the recipe...
Ingredients: 
* 1 box mararoni (I used rigatoni)
*3 cups shredded sharp Cheddar cheese
*1/2 cup grated Parmesan Cheese
*3 cups milk
*1/4 cup butter
*2 1/2 tablespoons all purpose flour
*Breadcrumbs
*Paprika

Directions:
*Cook the pasta and drain.  Place the pasta in a casserole dish
*In a saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Stir in the flour to make a roux.
*Add the milk slowly to the roux, stirring constantly.
*Add the cheese and cook over low heat until all the cheese is melted and the sauce thickens.
*Pour over the pasta and mix well. (the sauce might be a little runny, it was for me, but don't worry, it thickens up in the oven!)
*Top with breadcrumbs and paprika.  I also added a little cheese on top to make it even more cheesy! :)
*Cook for 30 minutes in a preheated oven at 350 degrees.

This was delicious! I made it with chicken and broccoli.  I think the mac and cheese would be even better if you had a little bacon or ham in the mix! 
xoxox

Prayer For Japan

Day of Silence for Japan

In honor of all those affected by the recent disaster in Japan, Friday, March 18th, 2011 I will be participating in the Blogger's Day of Silence.

The aim is just raise awareness and respect and acknowledge the devastation going on in Japan.
Just follow these simple rules:
1. This coming Friday, March 18th, no posts at all on your blog.
2. Please post a blog post about what you will be doing this Friday whenever possible in hopes to spread the word and whoever else would like to join in.
3. Tweet and Re-Tweet the link to http://forjapanwithlove.com/
4. Encourage your readers to contribute to donate shelter to Japan.
Whatever anyone can contribute will be appreciated. 

Please join me this Friday March 18th in the
Bloggers Day of Silence.
My blog will be silent, which means no posts will be featured to honor and respect that has happened in Japan.

If you're interested in participating info@utterlyengaged.com for more information.

Thank you so, so much Hopsy over at Monograms and Manicures for this truly wonderful idea!

Lent

Ash Wednesday is upon us :) This year I've decided to not only give up candy but to also give up my one diet coke a week. ahhhh the struggles the next 40 days will hold for me is not looking very fun. I gave up candy for lent last year and it was quite the challenge.  For those of you who don't know me that well, you obviously don't know that I eat candy everyday all day.  It's a horrible habit and I'm not really quite sure how my teeth haven't rotted out of my head by now.  It must be all the brushing I do.  So this year I added a little challenge to the challenge...no diet coke.  My weakness. Now, I very rarely drink soda but when I do, I go straight for the diet coke.  There's nothing better than a cold diet coke. Ahhh goodbye for now diet coke and candy. My diet is officially closed off to you for the next long 40 days.  Although this is going to be a challenge, it might actually be good for me.  I'm trying to eat healthy, well balanced meals between now and my wedding.  So no candy means I'm a little bit closer to my attempt to eat well.  Now, all the junk food and sweets I eat, well that is a bad habit that I will probably never grow out of, but I am trying to control my urges.  So far, it's been going pretty well. But after the wedding, it's back to candy and sweet treats. But for now, the goal is to survive 40 whole days without any candy or diet coke. Day 1...almost down, only 39 more to go :) I can do this. 

xoxox

What I'm Currently Lusting After

It's Monday and who REALLY wants to be at work on Monday. So I've been wasting my time pretty wisely to shop around online and what better to share with you than the things I'm desperately in need of. 
1.) Nine West Peep Shoes

Yes, I have to have these gorgeous shoes.  They don't go on sale until March 15th but I'm for sure getting these suckers.  They are the perfect spring shoes and we all know that I love my heels!
2.)Victoria's Secret....everything on their website. 

 I mean, so what if I just got 3 new bathing suits, a girl can always use another one! Especially for our honeymoon...I think I need a new one for each day that we are going to be there :) And those sweat pants, I live in them so I'm always wanting the new spring colors.  They are the perfect workout pants or lounge around the house and be lazy sweats.  So, I'm going to need at least 2 new pairs of them :)
3.) Wedeges

These are the perfect shoes for summer, you can wear them with anything. A dress, jeans, skirt or shorts. They can be dressed up or dressed down. Plus the colors are pretty neutral so they are perfect to wear with practically any color outfit.  Those are on the top of my list.

4.) Rouched Sleeveless Dress from Express
ttp://www.express.com/rouched-sleeveless-dress-32846-22.pro?Mcatn=Dresses&Mpper=3&Mcatp=cat_2&Mcat=22&Mpos=1&Mcatg=category_root&Mpg=SEARCH%2BNAV&Mcatpn=For+Her&user_att_name=Interest&user_att_value=Email&Mrsaa=*&Mrsavf=SIZE_NAME&Mrsavf=category&Mrsavf=Color&Mppg=0#jsLink 
Unfortunately Express doesn't let you copy pictures from their site but this dress is amazing. I love it and can think of about 4 different occasions I can already wear it to and I don't even own it yet.  But it's on sale, which is a definite plus.
5.) Chanel Spring 2011 Collection

 I want the whole dang collection, more specifically the new eye shadows because I love my eye shadow and need the new spring colors. Eye makeup is my weakness and the Chanel makeup is the best.  t might be expensive but you definitely get what you pay for. I really want the black pearl nail polish but am having a hard time convincing myself that it is ok to spend $25 on a bottle of nail polish.  It better stay on my nails for weeks with no chipping for $25.

Well back to work I suppose.
xoxox

S'more Brownies :)

Yes it's Saturday at 8:37 pm and I'm blogging. It's cool, I know I'm a boring old person and that's fine with me. Actually, Chris is at drill this weekend and I've had a super busy day so I'm not even going to stay awake past ten tonight. As usual, I teach gymnastics for 4 hours every Saturday morning and the kids in the saturday morning classes are young and a handful. But, boy are they cute.  And some of them are little chatterboxes...about absolutely nothing.  But they're adorable; and if I have to work on Saturday mornings, I'd rather it be with them.  Then I proceeded to take my ring to Jared's.  A little side stone fell out of it about a month ago and this is the first free moment I've had to take it in to be fixed. And now it's back on my finger where it belongs looking new and shiney! I love when they clean it for me, it looks so sparkly and beautiful! So I went to the gym, target and did a million errands while I waited for it.  I hate errands, they are a waste of time and annoy me but I do love target! hahah! I managed to control myself today though, very proud of myself. I had a pretty decent workout today, I ran for 3 miles without stopping and then walked/ran the last mile.  I'm trying to get back into running  because when it's nice outside I'd like to be able to get a workout in outside.  Needless to say, I can already feel my legs getting sore.  And like the god Susie Homemaker that I am, I came home and cleaned the house, did laundry and made s'more brownies. Which are as good as they sound and take only a couple mintues to make! Definitely something you should try if you have a couple spare minutes in your day! Here's the recipe I used and a picture of the final product :)
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchens/smore-brownies-recipe/index.html

Marshmellow as usual, was being quite the little helper and managed to help me find some of the ingredients I was looking for :)

As I'm blogging I'm also watching Joan and Melissa; Joan Knows Best. If you haven't checked out this show yet, you definitely should. It's hilarious. I stumbled upon it one rainy Sunday and there was nothing else on and I ended up watching it for a couple hours.  I love it. Joan Rivers is hilarious and it's a nice break from all those other crazy reality shows.  I highly recommend watching it if you get a chance :)
Enjoy your Saturday evenings, I'm going to take a bath with a good book and Marshmellow.
xoxox

Are You a Gleek?

Fabulous news! I won a pair of tickets to see Glee in concert on June 9th! Wahoo after trying allll week, I was finally a winner! I never win anything and the fact that the winner was chosen at random must be a sign from above that I was meant to go.  So my sister and I will sitting super close wearing our super awesome homemade t-shirts jamming along to the Glee Cast signing their fabulous songs at the Verizon Center on June 9th! I'm so glad I won them because they sold out in about 2.5 seconds and I had no hope of getting decent seats. But no worries anymore!

Lemme just say that it took my sister quite a lot of convincing to get me to watch Glee at first, but she was right.  It is an addictive and awesome show.  It is easily on my top 5 favorite shows. One of those shows were you can't wait until the next day to watch it on DVR so you can fast forward through the commercials.  It's one of those shows I HAVE to watch at 800 on Tuesday evenings.  I just love it.  I don't know about anyone else, but some of the songs they sing (examples: Katy Perry Teenage Dream or Justin Bieber) I strongly dislike but when they sing them I catch myself singing along to them.  So whatever you're doing Glee Cast, keep on doing it and keep on rocking out! I'm so excited to go see them and hope that their performances on stage are just as fabulous as their performances on the television!

Westboro Baptist Church

Well, yesterday the Supreme Court passed a ruling that the protests these church members do at fallen soldiers funerals is allowed.  I understand that they are entitled to their Freedom of Speech, but I also realize that those soldiers and their families are entitled to their rights first and foremost. I know that 95% of people are outraged at this ruling and I am most definitely outraged.  It's not only because my future husband is a soldier, it's because the Supreme Court didn't have the courage to step up and say "no this isn't right, we need to protect the rights of fallen soldiers who have gave up their life so we can have this right."  They should have put a stop to it right then and there, I guarantee a lot more people would be happy about the end of this case.  I understand that everyone is entitled to their right of freedom of speech, but this Amendment does not give them the right to brutalize private individuals at a private family event.  This is taking the First Amendment to a whole new level and I for one don't like where it is heading.  It's letting people get away with anything and I don't think that's a good place for us to head.  People need to know that yes, we have freedom of speech but you can't take that meaning you can attack private citizens.

I honestly don't understand how members of a CHURCH and their LEADERS think that God wants them to picket a funeral of a fallen soldier.  These men and woman are on the front lines fighting so that you have the right to protest what you want,  be a classy human being and show their families the respect that they deserve.  It just boggles my mind that are protesting homosexuality at a funeral of a soldier.   One has absolutely nothing to do with the other and it's just cruel.  Every time I hear a news story about this church it makes my blood boil. I just can't believe that members of a church would be out there protesting at a funeral. It's just cruel and I really hope they don't actually believe that they are going to heaven.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/03/02/AR2011030202548.html 

xoxoxo

Celebrities have gone off the deep end

I don't understand why the news channels seem to think that Charlie Sheen (along with all the other celebrities who have gone off the deep end in the past couple months) are worthy of being on the news.  With everything that is going on in the world today, this completely boggles my mind.  They can't find anything(or anyone) better to talk about that people are actually interested in?  How about doing a news story on the heroes who have come back from fighting a war to protect us.  Or doing a news story on the support groups that raise awareness and put together care packages for our soldiers?! How about doing a news segment on the families that are left behind when a loved one deploys and how the deal with the loneliness/worrying on a daily basis? How about doing a news segment on the non profit groups that save abused animals everyday? I've only been thinking about this for a few minutes and I've already been able to come up with more than enough options for news segments.  So I can only image the kind of  news stories a professional would  be able to come up with.  Save this type of annoying nonsense for Entertainment Tonight and the gossip magazines. No one cares that Charlie Sheen now wants 3 million dollars per episode or that his comments are making him like he is 100% nutty.  I just think with everything that is going on in our country as well as the middle east, there are far more important things to be covered on the news that a celebrity who is a whack job. But then again, that's just my opinion.

On a brighter note, it's beginning to look a lot like spring outside and I am ecstatic about that! I can't wait to be able to wear flip flops and going outside into warm weather inside of an artic zone.  Not to mention, that warm weather seems to put people in a happier mood and it's 10 times easier to wake up in the morning. Especially when I want to work out! But I'm also excited because it means we're getting closer to our wedding!! And i can NOT wait to marry Chris! Also, to be done with all this crazy planning! It's insane how much work it takes to plan a wedding and make it happen; so overwhelming! Good thing I have my mom lending a helping hand because she has been awesome.  I have to admit, I 've been a slacker since Chris has been home.  It was nice while he was deployed because it gave me something to do and kept me occupied but now that he's home, I would rather spend the time with him and leave it all to my mom :)

Well, enjoy this sunny Wednesday!
xoxox