Balance

What is wellness? Is it getting enough sleep? Living a balanced life? Well being? 

One of the things (I think) that people struggle with is having balance in their lives. We're taught to go to school, get a job, work until we're in our mid-60's, and THEN retire and live life. Why aren't we taught to always live? Why wait until we're 65?

I'm going to go with wellness being defined as having balance. Balance between work and personal life, and most importantly, doing something that you enjoy. With my job at the hospital, I work most weekends, am sleep deprived, don't eat as well as I should, don't exercise as much as I should, don't see as many friends as I would like to see, don't travel as much as I would like to, the list goes on and on. At the end of the day, I love what I do. I love helping people, but I think I would love it more if things were more balanced. See, it's good that I'm having these brilliant realizations before I dive into graduate education. 

As it says in the "about me" section of my blog, I am an Independent Distributor with Shop.com. This business is based on transferring your buying habits from buying in stores to buying through your own website and thus economically connecting households. I do this part time, in addition to working at the hospital.

My website www.shop.com/JuliaS has 40 million products, and has all of the stores which you're normally shopping at - Target, Best Buy, Gap, Victoria's Secret, etc etc. but now you're getting paid to shop. Yes, you read that correctly. Any customer can sign up to get free and unlimited cashback on things you're already buying, and you get 0.5% cashback forever on anyone that you refer and what they buy. 

My personal favorite is Drugstore.com because when you go through my site, you get 4% cashback, drugstore.com gives an additional 5% cashback to use towards future purchases, and you get free shipping on orders over $25. Honestly, does it get better than that?? I submit that it does not.

How does this factor into a balanced life? My business is all about the "2-3 year plan" rather than the "45 year plan." Why work 45 years for someone else's financial success, working 40+ hours/week, when you could work 8-12 hours/week for 2-3 years and HELP yourself and others make a significant ongoing income. Everyone has 24 hours in a day whether you're making $30,000/year or $250,000/year. 

Guys, work smarter not harder. Do the things you love and help others during this down economy.

Ah, the mid-week shlump.

What's a shlump, you may ask? Urban dictionary defines it as "The act of leaning with one's back against a smooth surface, and sliding down while keeping one's feet in the same place such that the knees finish tucked into the chest." I define it as "the middle of the week where one begins a slow, but steady decrease in energy and enthusiasm for one's job prior to the weekend." And shlump is more fun to say than "slump." Try it. "Shlump."

In an effort to keep my own energy from decreasing as the week winds down for most people (but not me! I'm working this weekend and therefore don't really get a weekend) I did a work out from "Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred." Man, that woman makes you work.  I've been a dancer for 20 years, and rarely have I felt as physically exhausted after 20 minutes of dance as I have with one workout from 30 Day Shred. And that's only level 2. Oy. I'm a little embarrassed to admit that.

Because I work in the psychology field, I think I have a natural tendency to wonder why society follows certain trends and not others, and why some things become "trendy" at certain points in time. For example, right now, it is trendy to work out. Various stores have popped up with yoga and work out clothes, people sit in front of their tv's for an hour and watch overweight people work out (I'll never understand this one, sorry if I'm offending anyone reading this), and yoga and zumba become increasingly popular across many generations. I suppose this exercising trend is better than...let's say the acid-washed jeans of the 80's. Who knows, maybe acid-washed jeans will make a come back and I'll stand corrected.

Do you work out? And if so, what do you like to do?

So what is Julia's Closet?

"Julia's Closet" originated when I dehoarded my clothes closet last year. I lived in a tiny apartment with a large closet, 2 dressers, under bed storage, and far too much clothing to know what to do with. Sound familiar? My roommate called it "The Closet Game" and we got rid of anything that was too small, didn't fit at the moment, wasn't flattering on my figure, looked worn, or went out of style. I gave most of the dehoarded clothing (6 boxes) to one of my close girlfriends to go through; she kept what she wanted and donated the rest. 

As I watched my friend wear several of my favorite pieces - Club Monaco button down blouses, dresses, Express pants, jeans, and sweaters, etc etc, I fell in love with the idea that we could share our closets and share stylish pieces that once made us happy. Our "Closet Game" later developed into a clothing swap with a bunch of my girlfriends where in the end, we all ended up with a lovely new wardrobe. 

Here's a tip: if you have a lot of clothing that you don't wear, have a clothing swap with your friends where you each dehoard your closet and bring it to swap. It's more fun with appetizers and a few glasses of wine.

I'm the kind of person that loves a deal and will rarely pay full price for anything. Buffalo Exchange and Second Time Around are two of my favorite consignment stores in Boston that have a variety of clothes, designers, and styles at excellent prices. The best thing is that no one would ever know that a good portion of my wardrobe was purchased on consignment. My most recent purchase was a leather Coach bag from Second Time Around for $50 with the dust bag still on it. Can't get better than that. 

If anyone has any other consignment stores that they love, please post and let's keep up the tradition of The Closet Game. 

Happy Tuesday, friends.

My Makeup Closet

Hope folks had a great Passover/Easter weekend!

Keeping with the theme of "Julia's Closet," let me open up my makeup "closet" to you. I'm a makeup artist who believes in enhancing natural beauty. I don't like the idea of covering up your face in a mask. Recently, I've been seeing a lot of pictures of models before and after makeup, and before and after Photoshop. I'll never understand why we feel the need to cover ourselves in a mask to create this "perfect" image. What is perfection? That'll be a separate discussion. Anyway, what we see in magazines isn't real - it's enhanced and more on the side of artificial. The worst part is that young women are comparing themselves to the models that they see in magazines and are disappointed when they don't see a reflection of airbrushed perfection. 

As a makeup artist, I use Motives by Loren Ridinger and Motives for La La. La La Anthony partnered with Shop.com and helped create a makeup line for Latina women and women of color.

I've been using Motives Cosmetics for years and I love them because they come in so many great colors, are non-comedogenic, and last all day. The "lasting all day" part really does it for me because I'm usually on the go for 16+ hours per day and don't have time to fix my makeup.

One of my favorite products of theirs is the Perfecting Face Primer because it creates an even canvas for my makeup. I always use a moisturizer and then put the primer on top before applying dabs of foundation. I've been a makeup junkie for a long time, have tried several different lines of makeup, and have really found this one to last all day and not clog my pores. Here's a tip: if you want to match your foundation correctly, match it to the dorsal (top) part of your hand (not the palm). 

In the past month, I've added a blush-bronzer duo to my makeup collection, this stuff is really amazing because it adds a bit of color to those of us who are pale this time of year, and doesn't create an orange line separating your face from your neck, as though you're channeling your inner oompa loompa. My recommendation: try it, you'll love it.