Hello everyone. Can't believe it's almost the end of May & soon summer will be here. I can't wait for this rainy season to be over. I'm officially sick of rain & ready for some sunshine.

The past few weeks have felt quite busy for me & for some reason I haven't been sleeping well for various reasons. It's times like these where my immune system weakens due to all these factors (no sleep/bad weather/stress) & I need a boost. That's when I turn to my trusty friend, the wellness shot.

Even if you're not worried about getting sick, wellness shots can be a great pick-me-up. Here in Austin you can find em at many juice places, but I decided to make my own to save money. This recipe is awesome & will get you feeling like a superhero in no time!

The ingredients you'll need are: ginger, turmeric powder & lemon. All of these ingredients are antibacterial & great for the immune system. The ginger & lemon can help with boosting the metabolism, as well as alleviating nausea or indigestion. The turmeric has many antioxidants and several medicinal properties. For sake of convenience, you can substitute the turmeric for cayenne powder instead. I purchased my turmeric at a health foods store where you can buy it in bulk.

Juice from 1 lemon (1 oz)
Juice from 2-3 inches of Ginger Root (1 oz)
Pinch of Turmeric (or Cayenne)


I happened to pick the most inappropriate-looking ginger root (see above.) I had trouble juicing the ginger since I do not have an actual juicer. To get around this, I tried a few different methods & only one seemed to work. I put the entire root into a blender & added an ounce of water. I blended & then strained the ginger to get as much liquid as possible. This produced about 1 oz of ginger juice, which seemed sufficient.

After squeezing the lemon, I mixed the two together & sprinkled a dash of turmeric on top (which ended up sinking to the bottom.) Make sure you have a chaser of some sort, such as a glass of water & bottoms up! The shot feels a little funky going down mostly because of the ginger, so just make sure you have a chaser.

Hope you enjoy the wellness shot & good luck. If you have any questions don't hesitate to let me know. That's all for now.

Mars

Hello everyone! I wanted to share with you a last minute gift idea that I tried recently for some of my friends & family. Since Christmas is right around the corner, some of you might be scrambling to get some last minute presents together, like me. Instead of making that hectic trip to the store, I suggest using a few things you might have right at home to make an affordable, meaningful gift.


All you need for this simple DIY is rubbing alcohol, a spray bottle, sharpies of your choice & scissors to cut the fabric or whatever you're coloring.

The sharpies can stain certain items, so I suggest starting off with laying a piece of plastic or thick paper down to keep the sharpie from bleeding everywhere. At first, I started with taking some scrap fabric & drawing on it with sharpie markers, then spraying it with the rubbing alcohol to experiment & see what kind of effect it has. This is how I played with different techniques & patterns.



Here are some of the pieces of fabric that I experimented on. I thought of sewing them together & making a psychedelic quilt.

The way it works is the alcohol will cause the sharpie ink to bleed & look almost like tie-dye. The more sharpie ink you use, the more it will bleed. I find that the amount of alcohol you use doesn't matter too much, as long as you're dampening it, but not to the point that it's dripping.


I cut out some fabric from old clothes to make bracelets & it turned out great. It's all about experimenting with combinations of different colors & designs.



Just to give you some more ideas, here are a few scarfs I made by cutting out some fabric & coloring with the sharpie, followed by spraying the rubbing alcohol.


You can change it up depending on your style or whoever is receiving the gift. I'll be gifting this headband to my mother who likes to wear headbands like these during her yoga practice.

Some other ideas that I haven't quite tried are using t shirts to create designs. Another idea is decorating pillows & sheets. Whatever you do will turn out great. I actually ended up spending hours & hours decorating tons of stuff. I cannot stress enough how fun & simple it is!

Hope you all get to try this clever DIY. Let me know if you have any questions & hope you are all having a wonderful holiday season!

-Mars

Hello everyone! Hope you are all having a fantastic month of September! So I guess it's officially Fall? My month has been super busy & I love it, although I've got a lot of work to catch up on. Anyway, today I wanted to share with you a mask that will help reduce those annoying pores that prevent a flawless finish.

Maybe you don't suffer from noticeable pores, in which case you're very lucky. Keep in mind that doesn't exclude you from having to exfoliate regularly. Exfoliation not only reduces the size of pores, it rids the skin of pesky blackheads & dirt/chemicals hiding underneath the skin.

I personally have oily skin, so my pores happen to be pretty noticeable. I exfoliate a few times a week, making sure I'm not too abrasive. First things first, before you start this mask, make sure you wash your face before, so you have a fresh canvas to work with.


The three ingredients for this mask are baking soda, lemon & clay. Since clay is rather hard to come by, I'm using a mask that contains clay called Mint Julep Masque by Queen Helene. It's okay to make a substitution if you're lacking an ingredient. I like this clay mask because it's super cheap & contains spearmint, which also helps shrink pores.

Baking soda, along with clay & lemon help draw out impurities in the skin & eliminate ba. All three work to tighten the skin, replacing the dirt/chemicals with vitamins to improve the complexion. I like the texture that clay produces because it helps with an smooth coating. Baking soda & lemon also help prevent acne, which is a major bonus for this mask.

Hello everyone! I'll be leaving for vacation in a few days & I don't want to have to deal with a face full of blemishes on my trip. I'm doing a kale & honey mask that will help clear my face & prepare it for the dryness of the plane & stress from traveling.

Kale & I have a love-hate relationship. Basically, I hate that I don't love it or even like it because I'm missing out on its rich nutrients.

I really wish I was one of those people who actually enjoyed eating kale. I have a hard time eating bitter foods because, well, I just don't like them. My sweet tooth is out of control, which makes me crave sweets all the time.