I write this from my hotel room in JB. Tomorrow I have a full day workshop in the fabrication yard. Last week I was stuck in a ridiculous training session for the whole week. Classes started at 7.30 am and ended around 6 - 7 pm.
To cap off the relaxing week, we had an exam the last day. The week was capped with an exam, AND I came down with food poisoning.
Valentine's Day was spent eating banana leaf rice (really excellent, by the way). We spent a lovely Saturday eating, shopping and resting. Then I spent my entire Sunday catching up on the week's work and ended up working until 1 am. The week before I spent 2 days in another mind-numbing workshop AND we had friends over for housewarming/CNY twice.
I am EXHAUSTED.
Yesterday was the first time I worked out in about 2 months. It felt wonderful moving again, but I am
sore.
What I am into these days:
1)
IntotheGloss - More like obsessed. I stumbled upon this super cool site
via one of my favourite blogs, then got really really hooked on reading about people's beauty routines. I love how they talk about their backgrounds, their philosophy when it comes to maintaining their skin (diet or product or both). Some of my favourite Top Shelf posts are this
haute hippie cold-pressed juice bar owner's, this simple routine by a
model-turned social entrepreneur.
I'm also lovin' this
BEST OF list. And this
fabulous post is really making me rue not opting for a bathtub in our home.
2) Oils - I'm really into them, - Cleansing oil, oil in my hair, on my skin.
I first purchased Neutrogena's cleansing oil, which was a mistake. My skin got red and splotchy, and I absolutely despise the synthethic scent. I switched to Shu Uemura's instead, looking up online on how exactly to use it (Massage it into dry skin, use water to lather and then rinse) and - and what a difference! Red patches GONE. My skin feels soft and lost its tight feeling. Neutrogena relegated to cleansing my feet and elbows now.
I also use coconut oil in my hair. I massage a good amount in my scalp and hair, potter about for a few hours, then rinse out with shampoo. My hair is all thick and glossy, for the first time in like, ten years maybe?
I still use my all-time favourite H20+ sea salt-almond oil scrub. The price (for a body scrub) is a little off-putting (a large jar costs RM150 but it does last at least a couple of months), but I do want to experiment with making my own salt-or-sugar scrub when it's finished.
Oh, and another product ITG got me hooked on - Fresh Sugar Face Polish. Use this after cleansing, and the brown sugar, strawberry seeds, plum and grape seed oils really do wonders. Glow I believe is the word we're looking for.
What I started:
1) Yoga. Started, with ONE class. But to be continued - with all the crazy work stuff ongoing I want to learn to unwind and breathe.
2) I also started listening to
this before bedtime (ITG again, I know). Anything to get more out my short(er) hours of sleep!
3) I made it a priority to do less social networking and more reading in bed. One of my greatest pleasures is reading in bed. I have finished 2 books so far this January - so excellent progress made there.
4) Oh, and on that same note, I have also been devouring magazines (January'14 issues of Fortune 2014, FastCompany, Vanity Fair, and Vogue India). I treated myself to a 1-year subscription of
Monocle Magazine.
