Mindfulness, Peace and yoga

Today I am writing about peace and mindfulness and how I make my peace. I wont say it is as easy as it sounds, it takes time to change and most people wont be into the full blown yoga part but this is what has worked for me.

I have touched on the topic before of self happiness in my post about confidence,http://forwardgraduation.blogspot.ie/2014/03/confidence-and-happiness-are-best.html,  but i wanted to spread the word further than the importance of having it, there is also alot of importance in lifestyle and choices one makes in order to have it. Life can be a crazy thing but i can truly say my life is amazing and I love it all. 

Where do I start...well I suppose I'll begin with self and how I stay grounded and 'in control' of me. I started yoga at the beginning of January and I wouldn't go back, I love it. I have always been curious so I said I would give it a go. My inner hippy loved it straight away. I'm not a believer in a god, I haven't been for quite some time. Yoga has given me a sense of something, energies in people and around us, that's what keeps my belief system happy. Energies and spirits, good and bad that surround us. In yoga I have learned to switch off, not think and be in total control of me, I know now where I hold bad tensions and how to get rid of them. I am more aware of myself, my mind and body. It does take a while to get into but if you are a earth girl at hearth like me you will love it. To give people an idea of it, its all to do with breathing, slowly and deeply. When you concentrate on it as you relax each part of your body you will be surprised how aware you will become. It eases your mind and releases tension. This goes on through the practice and each pose is designed to loosen and open up different parts of your body. Each practice will balance your energies, but you really do feel amazing after it. Best advise, go alone to a beginners class, if you go with a friend your not going to do it properly, ye will just end up giggling. So just take a leap of fate and go for it, you wont regret it.

 

I like to live life blissfully and freely, everyone likes that idea right? Well to actually get there, I mean really be 'free', your mind has to be right.  People approach life and thought in the wrong way. People need to stop the toxic thinking. You need to live in each present experience as it comes and not worry about the past or present one. People hold grudges, become madly jealous and get intensely angry for reason out of their control. Be mindful! Why waste energy on things that you cant control, life will unfold the way it is suppose to unfold and you cant do much to change that, there is no use in having negative thoughts. Trust in your decisions, trust in what you want to be while being true to who you really are. 

Simple things can make all the difference so take baby steps. You don't have to jump right into yoga as I did, learn to be still. Some evening go to a quite place in your house or outside and make peace in your own presence. To be comfortable enough to just be on your own is a great thing. Just sit there and close your eyes,stare at the sky/stars whatever you like just put the phone away and take in your surroundings. Be in the moment. 

Fill your space with things that make you happy. My room is my space because still live at home. I have filled it up with photos of loved ones, candles, ornaments, I even have a vintage coat hanging on my wall. This stuff make me happy so its good to see it every day. 

Surround yourself with beautiful people, inner beauty that is :D People who make you happy are great and people who don't, don't and that's fine too, don't get bogged down by it. They are them and you are you, if you don't get along, that's fine, we all wont. So don't let it make you angry, just move on.  

So that's kind of it really, its hard to totally express my mind in writing so I hope iv done it justice. This is how I live, how I think, this is my peace. 

Love and Light,

sally xxx

like me on facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Forwardgraduation

Instagram: http://instagram.com/sallyanne92

 

IBrow update.

So it's two weeks later since my iBrow shape and tint, still loving them. The tint has abviously faded since day one but my before and after is still looking pretty good. I still fill in my inner brow where there is less hair but otherwise I'm good to go. Getting loads of compliments on my brows from clients in work so Rachel did her job well. Thanks again Rachel and I'll see you again in a week or two for a touch up. 

See my review on iBrow brow bar here: 

http://forwardgraduation.blogspot.ie/2014/04/ibrow-transformation.html

Peace and love,

Sally xx 

Like my Facebook@ forwardgraduation.facebook.com 

Stella & Dot jewellery review and lookbook

So today I have a different style of post for my peeps. I've come across the amazing high quality costume jewellery company called stella and dot. It's huge in the USA and uk and now it's finally here in ireland. Ahhhh. Great thing for us cork girls is that there is a fabulous woman in cork, Sian Horn selling this fabulous blingage and holding trunk shows for the company. https://www.facebook.com/pages/Stella-Dot-by-Sian-Horn-Independent-Stylist/629585900453830?ref=ts&fref=ts, like her Facebook page :) 

  The company itself sells high quality costume jewelery,bags and scarves and they make it fun through the way they let their customers interact in the trunk shows and down to the packaging. The trunk shows are a great way to get your girlfriends together, have a laugh and buy some pieces. At them you can see what the jewelery, bags, scarves are like, try them on and do so with a drink in your hand ;). I can't wait to have one myself. Its a great night in or even pre party before heading out. If you decide to hold a trunk show, you earn points when people shop and those points go straight to your stella&dot pocket meaning you literally get stuff free!!!! How bad- just have a party, have fun, try on some jewelery, have drinks, all while being with your girlfriends and get free stuff!! 

I love the packaging!!!!! 

What I really loved about stella & dot besides the gorgeous jewelery was the packaging, I love the little details. As if getting a package isn't exciting enough but when you open it up and there is a positive quote saying something nice about you. I loved this because I think feeling good about you is so important and this brand really seems to support that too. It made me smile :D 

So this review has all been brought on by the Sutton necklace, you can wear it 5 ways but I created a 6th :). I love it, I'm actually obsessed with the idea. One piece, so many options, I just love that. So easy, so handy. It's great cos this chain is so versatile, you can dress it up for a formal event or wear it with a super casual outfit. The necklace comes as one and breaks into 3 parts, the main chain, the blingy chain and the pieces that ties the short chains. It's hard to explain in words so I put a few looks together, just keep scrolling ;) 

1:Just chillin with stella&dot

This is the main chain, with all pieces together. I love contrasting dressy and casuals.

2:Peace and love 

  Here I'm wearing the chain long, all pieces together. Loved it with the shirt(river island) because the gold buttons picked up the gold in the chain. Ah I love these photos, all zen in my garden. 

3:Playing video games 

I felt a bit like lana del rey here, hence the title haha. Here is the second short chain option, without the bling part. 

Even without the bling, it still has a hint in it but I love the different textures in the chain, very unusual. 

4:Hi ho hi ho, its off to work I go.

I was heading to work this morning but snapped a quick outfit pic of myself, I'm wearing it like the last outfit above but long. I wore it with a gold collar brooch to again highlight the gold. 

5:One and only 

Wear it as a single statement, classy and clean. Very diamonds are a girls best friend :) 

                  

And finally the 6th way: 

Layer it up layer it up

Seperate the bling chain from the rest and layer them, a 6th look. 

Oh I had so much fun doing this. I love love love this chain, its fabulous because you can wear it as the statement or wear it with other accessories. It's great, you could get a whole week out of it and people would never realise it's the same one. The different colours and textures in this chain make it what it is, a stella&dot stand out piece of jewelery.

  I really enjoyed putting this together for you all so I hope ye liked it. Have a look at the Facebook page, like it for keeping up to date on offers and new season pieces. 

Shop here>>> https://www.facebook.com/pages/Stella-Dot-by-Sian-Horn-Independent-Stylist/629585900453830?ref=ts&fref=ts

Happy shopping! Happy styling! 

Love and light Sally xxx 

https://www.facebook.com/Forwardgraduation?ref=hl<< like my Facebook 

Poached coconut chicken salad

Another food post :) I had to share with everyone. I love eating healthy and doing the salad thing but let's face it I'm not a rabbit food eater by no means. So I made this warm roast veg salad with poached chicken it's carb free and  still feels like your eating a solid meal.

 For the chicken.

Start my making your poaching liquid 

For mine I used the following:

  1tin of low fat coconut milk

  1 tins of water(I uses the empty tin as a measure)

  1chilli chopped 

  2cm of fresh ginger

  2large garlic cloves smashed

  Cloves

  Fennel seed

  Cardamom pods

  4 shallots halved

You can add and take away from the above you can even use a stock cube instead of the coconut milk. Whatever flavours you like just create your own.

To cook:

  All the ingredients above into a pot and let boil then simmer for about 15/20mins. Then add your chicken breasts, I cooked 3 for 15/20 mins. 

 When the chickens time is up let it cool in the liquid for 20mins and then remove from the pot.

The roast veg:

Butternut squash

Carrot

Onion

Parsnip

All chopped in chunky pieces.

  Coated the chopped veg lightly in oil, smoked paprika and cumin. Pop into the oven at 180 for 20-30 mins, till the butternut prices are soft. 

Put a bed of spinach on a plate and top with the roast veg, shred the chicken and sprinkle on top. 

Happy cooking. Peace and love

Sally xx 

  

 

iBrow transformation

  Today I went and got my brows done. I was super nervous about anyone going near my eyebrows because they "were" non existent. So I saw a new place that opened in cork called iBrow, I was seeing it all over Facebook so I took a jump of fate and booked an appointment and I am so happy I did.  

https://www.facebook.com/rach.shar.9

  The place itself is gorgeous and very well decorated with quirky lamps, pillows and flowers/plants scattered around. They even have a wall of brows, it's a wall of different pictures of fabulous eyebrows framed with quirky picture frames. So first impressions were good, I was even offered a chocolate :) so I took a seat  and waited for my iBrow expert. 

   Nerves began to kick in as I could see that I was next to the hot seat but I was quickly put at ease by the lovely Rachel who welcomed me with a smile. She straight away was on the same page as me with my measly brows, too short and too fair but claimed there was hope, I was estatic. I love bold eyebrows and she knew that straight away by looking at my style. So I was delighted. I originally only booked for a tint simply because I thought that there was no hope for waxing them as they were so small. She explained to me what she would do, tint them first and them let me look and decide about waxing. She said I would be pleasantly surprised after they were tinted. So I sat there and let her tint away. 

   Tint off and OMG I couldn't believe that I had eyebrows, as u can see in the before picture above, I've never had much brow to contend with. I was so excited and delighted that there was brow to shape, woohoo. So Rachel waved her magic iBrow wand and the end result speaks for itself, amazing! 

I have odd eyebrows naturally so she explained to me that she would work with that over the next few sessions without thinning my eyebrows. They are still slightly odd but I don't mind at all, the waxing will stimulate   a bit of growth which I never had before, which will eventually give me even,thick brows that I've always wanted. 

   To top off the experience, I thought it was a nice touch that she had concealer on  hand to cover the unsightly just waxed red skin. So I still felt confident going out the door. 

   Overall I have been seriously impressed by the girls in iBrow and would highly recommend a trip to any girl nervous about getting  there brows done. They know exactly what they are talking about and train each member of staff to there highest standards of being eyebrow artists. 

 Before the tint and shape. 

  After my tint and shape, no filling needed! I have iBrow brows. 

Like my Facebook page @ forward graduation. 

Peace and love, Sally 

https://www.facebook.com/Forwardgraduation?ref=hl

My messy curls

So at the moment I'm leaning towards a far more chilled out, trying to look natural but not natural curls haha. So this is what I use and what I do!

I use avedas pure abundance shampoo and conditioner. These are for adding volume by thickening your hair. I'm obsessed with these products! My hair is fine in texture but I've a lot, it generally falls quite flat for me but not since I've started using this range . I'm amazed by it. They have really worked, my hair has more substance and oomph :) And the best thing ever since I started using avedas hair care is that my hair doesn't get oily as fast. They have less chemicals so I only have to wash my hair every 4 days which is amazing.

I then blow dry my hair using pure abundance style prep on the root area and either kerastase elixir oil or mythic oil. I find I get better shine with the kerastase oil and more softness from the mythic oil. I alternate the two simply because I'm a product junkie. 

Blow dry your roots up, turn your head upside down... just dry them to the opposite way they will sit after.  This works amazingly for natural oomph!! 

Ta daaaa!!!! Volume and thicker looking hair. 

Wand it, half your hair from temple to temple and grab random medium and finer pieces (alternate sizes) and curl them. The longer you hold the hair on the wand, the tighter a curl you will get. Also the finer pieces will be tighter faster because there's less hair to heat. Don't get too fussed remember the end look is messy and texturised. 

One thing I will say is if you can..around the face try curl away from the face, this just makes it more wearable so your hair isn't lying across your eyes. 

Next thing after your head is curled just get your fingers into your hair and shake out the curls. To add more texture I use redkens wax blast for mess that last all day, I love this stuff.  The curls will be like foxy cliopatra first but give it a moment, do your makeup and it will chill out, as seen below. 

So ladies I hope this was informative and all that jazz. Any questions don't hesitate to ask or else mail me on my Facebook page forwardgraduation.facebook.com.

Happy styling. Peace and love

    Sally xxx

https://www.facebook.com/Forwardgraduation?ref=hl

All tied up

Today I've an outfit post for ma peeps. Went a bit daring and wore a tie today, loved it. Got a few odd looks but I think I looked pretty cool. Haha lol. 

 So the tie was the statement of my outfit and I worked everything else to complement it. The green jacket and denims (H&M)picked up on the colours in the tie (ted baker)letting the colour pop then against the crisp white shirt(river island). And as always with my style I love a weird shoe so these white ones just topped it off.  

When I can I like to have fun with clothes, wearing statement pieces that are usually a bit strange to other people. I love to have fun with clothes while I can still pull it off! (as my mom says) 

If your going to wear something weird, wear it with ur best accessory, CONFIDENCE otherwise it will wear u. 

 Love and light,

   Sally xxx 

https://www.facebook.com/Forwardgraduation?ref=hl

Guilt free chocolate cupcakes with an almond vanilla topping.

       

   So after a very unsuccessful first try of this recipe I decided I would tackle it again and change the quantities and make some additions. These have even got the seal of approval from family members who thought my healthy brownies were fairly unsatisfiying. I am very very pleased to say that it has been more of a success than I thought it would be and these are actually really quite tastey. This batch makes 8 cupcakes which is grand because when your eating better you don't need 24 cupcakes haha. 

Ingredients. 

 2 eggs

 1 banana 

 1& a half tablespoons of coconut flour

 1 tablespoon coconut sugar

 1teaspoon of organic caoco powder

 Half table spoon of coconut oil

A smidge of baking soda 

Almond milk

Frozen berries(optional but recomended cos it's amazing)

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees.

     First put your banana, eggs and coconut oil in a bowl and blend with an electric hand blender. Then mix in the flour, sugar, caoco powder in with the blender also. The mixture will be quite stiff so this is where I mix in some almond milk bit by bit till the texture is so that some will stay on the spoon and some will flop off. A spoon able texture if that makes sense haha. 

     Line 8cupcake cases in a cupcake tin and spoon the mix into each case. If you are including the Rosen berries, spoon a small bit in places one frozen berry in the centre and spoon more mixture over it to enclose it. Chocolate and berry is an amazing combination.

     Pop the filled tray in the oven for 20mins. 

     While these are cooking make the topping,

you can use any nut you prefer, I used almonds. 

Put around 15almonds, 3teaspoons of boiling water, 1teaspoon of coconut oil, a splash of vanilla essence and a squeeze of honey into and electric blender. And blend, till you can get it to the smoothest texture possible. Mine was fairly crunchy but I like it. 

     When the twenty minutes are up take them out and let them cool before you put on the topping. 

  Hope you enjoy your baking. Eat well, live well :)

Light and love Sally xx 

 

My cold/flu/cough soothing tea.

  Sooo, I have a head cold and I'm not mad on drugging myself up unless I literally can't function so this alternative remedy is super comforting to drink, tastes good and well I just love the warmth. I'm loving it the last 3days so I said I'd share the love. The ingredients are not set in stone you can swap the lemon and ginger bag for fresh lemon and ginger, whatever is easier. You don't even need the tea bags at all, you can leave out the green tea if you want but I just like it. 

   So ingredients are... Drumroll please haha 

  

  1 ginger and lemon tea bag. lemon is high in Vitamin C. It is also full of phytochemicals. These are plant constituents that help boost the immune system. 

  1green teabag.  

 3cloves, which is a powerful antiseptic. Cloves are warming, and useful for people who are prone to colds. Cloves are also an excellent natural anti-inflammatory, when used locally on swellings it can be quite useful if you have a sore throat from coughing. 

 Half a cinnamon stick, natural antiseptic

 Squeeze of honey, honey contains a natural "ingredient", which kills the flu germs and will prevent the person from getting the flu.

Loads of info in the link below for honey and cinnamon. 

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/039963_cinnamon_honey_healing.html##ixzz2xfibYeh

So boil the kettle. Put all the ingredients into your mug and fill with water, simple. After I've finished my mug I keep the stuff unit in it and just top up the honey and water to get a second mug out of them.

 That's my easy peasy tea anyway, so sit down chill out with a pack a soft tissues for your poor nose and drink this wonderful comforting tea. Woohoo.

Enjoy, happy drinking, happy sleeping. 

Sally xx