♡ Overnight Oats! ♡

Hey there readers! This has been one of my go-to breakfasts lately. Here's how to make these overnight oats.

(these measurements aren't always exact. Sometimes I add less oats and more milk or vise versa. You have to play around with it a little bit.)

Overnight Oats
  1 cup rolled or whole oats
(about) 2 cups (or more or less depending on how thick or thin you like it) almond, coconut , or rice milk
a dash of cinnamon
1 mashed banana
1 teaspoon ground flaxseed (optional)

 Mix everything up in a small jar or other air tight container and store it in the fridge overnight.
In the morning eat chilled plain or with whatever toppings you like... I enjoy blueberries,
raspberries/ strawberries, peaches, apples, chocolate chips, nuts, ect. :)

♡ DIY Sea Salt Beachy Hair Spray (Natural) ♡

Hello my dearies, since it IS now summer I wanted to make my own sea salt spray, cause who doesn't love those beachy waves? (Speaking of which, I pin a ton of hairstyles on my pinterest)
So here is my sea salt spray and how it makes my hair look.

 D.I.Y Sea Salt Spray:
3/4 cup of warm water
1/2 teaspoon of sea salt
1/2 teaspoon of coconut oil
1/2 teaspoon of any hair gel or cream. (I used the Andalou naturals Argan & Orange hair styling cream)
and a few drops of essential oil (this is optional) (I used sweet orange oil(

I mixed everything together in a measuring cup, poured it in a old toner bottle, and shook it up and that's it! Very easy and cheap!

There's a few different ways you can use this...
For the first used i just sprayed it in 2 day old hair (meaning I hadn't washed it the day before, but the day before that. ), twisted sections of my hair and let it dry. Once dry i just shook it out. Here's how that turned out...

For the second style I washed my hair, let it dry half way, sprayed it down with the spray and put it in a french braid and then slept on it...

As you can see it doesn't have to be perfect.
Here's how that turned out...

 That one was a major fail...

And lastly I washed my hair, dried it, sprayed it down, twisted it like such...

Let it dry and shook it out.

 

So the first and last turned out the best I think! Once you sleep with it in your hair it kind of makes your hair look like you haven't washed it in a few days haha. Overall I love the spray though. :)

Fitness Update: Clean Foods & Bikini Booty ;)

Just a weekly fitness update: What I've been eating, and the workouts I've been enjoying most. :)

 Squash and Zucchini with lots of basil. (dinner)

 Layered pineapple, raspberries and grapes. (breakfast)

My Protein waffles with banana & raspberry. I promise I'll have the recipe up for them as soon as I figure out exact measurements. (breakfast)

For workout clothes I'm wearing this tank top from Walmart, yoga shorts from Walmart as well and running shoes from Kohls.

For workouts I have been enjoying...
Beach Ready Butt Workout
Bikini Booty Routine
Inner & Outer Thighs Routine

Blogilates & Tone It Up are the routines I like a lot. :)
How's your fitness/ healthy living coming?

♡ Burt's Bees Tinted Lip Balm Rave ♡

For anyone who has read my Get Ready With Me posts or been on my channel a while you probably know I love these tinted lip balms. So I wanted to show you the colors I have and why I love these.

 Pink Blossom, Sweet Violet, Hibiscus, Red Dahlia.

 Lip swatches in the same order as above.

These lip balms have the perfect amount of color and are so creamy. They are effortless and can be applied and re-applied very easily.. They are about $6 to $8 from Walmart, Target, or anywhere that carries Burt's Bees.
There isn't much else to say about them but they leave my lips soft and add nice shine. Very moisturizing!

♡ Natural Summer Haul

The season is changing. And when I walk out of my door it feels like stepping into a sauna So I figured I should get some summer beauty essentials to clear out my oiliness. ;)

From Target I got the Giovanni Tea Tree shampoo, one the back it says it's more on the clarity side (which is what my hair needs right now.) I also got the Pacifica Tuscan Blood Orange body butter. I had a a coupon for 15 or 20% off the brand at Target and I love this scent.

From the Vitamin Shop I got the MyChelle SPF 28, which was on clearance for $10 instead of $20! Also half off was the Kiss My Face Exfoliating Face Wash (normally $13 I got it for $6 something)




BLOG POST BONUS:
I made a Whole Foods trip after this haul was already filmed and edited so here's the beauty products I got from there...

 I got the Andalou Creamy lemon Cleanser, and a pink grapefruit soap. :) Loving both of these already!

♡ Ab Day!! ♡

I love a good ab workout that can leaves me feeling my abs for days after, which is what I'm hoping I'll have after today! Here's what I did and the foods I ate-

Exercise-
15 minute walk
Blogialtes Ab Time & 8 Minute Abs
Tone It Up Bikini Routine (They go through the full workout 3x in the video but I didn't want to hurt my knee after injuring it the other week so I only did it 1x)
Tone It Up Bikini Abs
100 crunches (not all at once)
40 squats (again, not all at once)
A little bit of dancing ;)
And some goodnight stretches. 

Food-
For Breakfast I had some watermelon, grapes, and half a banana. Oh and 1 piece of sausage (my treat ;P)

Then I also had a green smoothie a little later made with orange juice, spinach, banana, and frozen mango.

For Lunch I had a salad with romaine, carrots and raspberry dressing (no added sugar) and cucumber boats with tuna and grapes

 For Snacks I had some almonds with chocolate covered fruit (some from Target with dark chocolate and dairy free), some fruit snacks, some trail mix with almonds, cashews, and cranberries, and tonight my treat was some coconut milk yogurt with raspberries. (NOTE: Yes these were a lot of snacks but a very small amount at one time. I've been trying to eat smaller portions but more times a day)

For Dinner I had some boiled eggs, the rest of my tuna, and some romaine.

I also had 8 cups of water today, mostly lemon water.

What was your workout or meals today? Be sure to get me know in the comments or tweet me @taysnaturallife

Stay Healthy,
Taylor.

Food Affects Energy

I knew food affects our energy levels but I hadn't really experienced it for myself like I did yesterday... For the past couple of weeks I've been doing fairly well eating healthy and lots of raw foods, but yesterday I had french toast sticks for breakfast, pad thai for lunch, chocolate covered raisins, a starbucks chai tea, and a smore (all gluten free) and felt so tired! 
I tried to do a bogilates workout (that I've done before) and could barely get through it. When I did it before I did have to stop a few times but not as much as this time.. I was stopping every couple of reps. I felt drained, cranky, bloated and very tired.
It just goes to show natural raw foods give you so much energy. Packaged foods drain you. And honestly right now I'm not craving raw foods, I'm craving the junk.
Packaged foods are so "easy" sometimes...We can grab some french toast sticks for breakfast and it's fast, it keeps us full till lunch and honestly it does taste good. But how did I feel when I got to lunch? Drained, and slightly grumpy. Not happy and full of energy like I am when eating healthy foods.
A good gaol to set is to eat more raw foods than packaged, it makes a big difference trust me! 

♡ Challenge Yourself- Blogilates & Paleo waffles

Hey there! As you know from my May Favorites post I have recently found Blogilates on youtube, it is a blog as well and the writer Cassey creates monthly fitness calenders with different combonations of her videos for different areas of the body. As soon as I found her channel I totally fell in love with her workout routines! They are so fun and challenging. Which is great, one of my favorite fitness quotes is "If it doesn't challenge you, it doesn't change you", and that's so true. 
I think my body got used to my old routine, even if I switched up the moves I wasn't pushing myself, and if you don't push yourself you don't get stronger or leaner. I found her beginners calender on her blog and printed it out, since I'm the only one in my family who is this much of a fitness junkie I have no one to do it with around here, so Micah (my boyfriend) is doing it with me! Not always the blogilates workouts, but just keeping up with exercise in general. :) It makes me realize how strong I am and how strong I THOUGHT I was. :P Cassey is kicking my butt with these routines....Literally :P

They are great though! I just got through the first week and it was hard, but worth it. I feel so motivated to get my body to the place I want it to be. Please know I'm not doing this to "get skinny"...I don't want to be skinny. I want to be TONED. And my point of this is to take special care of my body.

Here are some of my favorite blogilates videos!
5 Best Thigh Slimmers
5 Best Butt Moves
Perfect Legs Workout
Hips, Butt, and Thighs
Toned Arms & Sculpted Back
Butt Lift & Slim Thighs
Feel Good Soul Stretches
What Makes You Bootyful

Along with the workouts I'm trying to be healthier in my eating habits. My main goals are to not eat so much, limit my sugar, and limit my intake of packaged foods. Pretty much just to keep a clean diet: Fruits, veggies, fish, lean meats, nuts and seeds. So..paleo pretty much. I'm still gonna let myself have those not-good-for-you foods, but just not as often or as much.
Here have been some of my favorite meals I've been enjoying over the past week...

 I had a tuna melt- tuna, extra sharp cheddar cheese, spinach and carrots on a GF wrap.
Raw carrots, and quinoa mixed with spinach.

 Yummy chicken salad with baby spring mix, chicken strips, oranges, carrots, and orange poppy seed dressing.

 One of my work lunches was a quinoa salad with lettuce, kale, broccoli, and carrots.

 Some broccoli and carrots before I steamed them.

 And here are the steamed veggies with some chicken strips. And a side of salad- baby spring mix, carrots, orange and pineapple.

 Okay this had to be my all time favorite salad. Baby spring mix, spinach and romaine with chicken, oranges, berries and pecans....I could eat a salad like this twice a day! So good!

 Here is a pre workout breakfast. A banana, peanut butter, pecans and applesauce.

I gotta say I think these are the best paleo waffles I've ever made! Here's the recipe...

Original recipe:

• 
4 eggs, separated
• 
2 Tbsp. coconut oil, melted
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/8 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp.  cinnamon
• 1/3 cup almond milk or coconut milk
• 1/4 cup coconut flour
• 1/2 Tbsp. honey

Mine: 
I used 3 eggs and 1/4 mashed banana. And since coconut flour has a gritty/dry texture I only did half coconut flour and the rest arrowroot powder and that made the texture SO much better!! Everything else I left the same but added chopped pecans and chocolate chips.They were soft, light, fluffy and AMAZING!! So please try using the arrowroot if you make these!
*You can also add 1/2 cup of oats to add some more protein. :)

What to do:
In the bowl of a large mixer, beat egg whites until stiff peaks form. In a separate bowl, sift together coconut flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. In a medium bowl, mix together coconut oil, vanilla, almond milk, egg yolks, banana, and honey. Stir the coconut flour mix into the egg yolk mix.
Mine only needed to cook for about 6 or 7 minutes, keep an eye on them cause they burn easy. 

So there is what I've been doing to challenge myself! I'd love if you joined me with this healthy life style. It's so worth it!!

Stay Healthy,
Taylor

♡ May Favorites!

Hey guys! Here are the things I've been enjoying in May!

Websites:
OMGHow- A community for women, a place for you to ask questions about anything and share advice and opinions with others.
Blogilates- Holy snap I love this girl. She also has a youtube channel with her workout videos. I have a whole post coming about this.

Youtubers:
Blogilates like I said,
Cloudy Apples- I love how natural and organic she is (yes I just "organic" to describe a person).
Rebecca Kelsey Sampson- Whenever I watch Rebecca it seems to always lift my mood. :)

I've been loving baking lately! Muffins, cake, cupcakes, anything like that. I've been trying new pancake and waffle recipes as well! Here are the pancakes and the waffles will be in a post coming soon. To find tons of healthy recipes here is my pinterest!

Books:
For books I enjoyed False Memory by Dan Krookos and The One by Kierra Cass- False Memory I feel like is kind of like a mix of the books Mila 2.0 and Mind Games smashed together in one book. But I still love it! Can't wait to read the next one.
I have never cried so much over a book more than I did while reading The One. Best of the Selection series and now one of my favorite books.

Beauty:
Only 2 beauty favorites this month but they are mega favorites! The Naked Bee lip balm is probably the best lip balm I've ever tried. Yes, it's THAT good! Some lip balms leave you lips kinda gritty after a while, but not this one! And I love the scent. The orange blossom honey might be my favorite natural scent. It's so sweet and earthy.

Tamanu oil is supposed to be great for acne and scarring, and since I have both I figured it'd be nice to try, and it is! This is a great skin oil. I can use it straight on my face without it being to heavy. It moisturizes and soaks in well. I haven't noticed any change in scarring and my acne changes with my diet.

What are your favorites lately?

Stay Healthy,
Taylor

What I Got For My Birthday!

Hey there everyone! I know it's mega late (what posts of mine aren't these days) but here's what I got for my birthday!

Everything above was from Micah. (those oils are Tamanu oil and Sweet Orange essential oil)

My sis Brittany got me the Frozen cd and a tank top from Target :)

My Meme (grandmother) got me this cute little owl pillow and earrings.

And my parents got me these lovely movies and books! I already read Mind Games and loved it so much I wanted to own it! :)

So there you have it! I'm so thankful for everything I got. You will see one of those boks in my May favorites coming this week. ;)