It was very early in the morning when we met with Stephanie to get her ready for such an important day, but looking at these happy faces you would never guess what time the bride had to wake up to be all glammed up! Loving the photos that Stephanie shared, photographed by Exclamation Imagery Hair and makeup by Alina Karaman
How random/crazy/small world is! 2 days ago, I was participating in bridal event at BHLDN Georgetown, and told brides that asked about long-distance travel that we do come to the location and that we went on 4 hr drive last month for a wedding. After the event I’m walking 1 block in Georgetown and meeting THE bride we went out to!
Today, at first event I worked at, we are talking that it is so random that I referred them to the salon that may work with wigs, and they actually go to this salon on a regular basis! And we were talking about Hawaii – that they want to go there
At the second event – another bride that lives in the absolutely different direction randomly mentions the same salon we were talking about at the first event! AND she is going to her honeymoon to Hawaii!
At the third event I see that the bride has BHLDN bag and I’m asking her about it. Turns out, she got her dress there, from all places! And she saw my name at the vendors list for the event that was 2 days ago
The circle has closed
Matrix
A quick post here about what keeps me motivated, and how do I keep up with exercising
1. Make exercise a priority, not an option. I have my week planner open and plan gym 2 weeks ahead, making it 3 and sometimes 4 times a week. If I see that some week I will make it there only twice, then the week before or following week I have to go 4 times. I try as much as possible to plan my work around the exercise routine. Office people will ask me – well, you are a freelancer, easy for you! And here is what I will say – when I used to work at the office, I went to the gym during the lunch time. When I went to university full time (9-5pm every day, including some Saturdays), I went to classes after – at 7 pm. Or how about exercising at home with DVD? It never worked for me, but I know some people who are mentally strong enough doing it at home. Kids? I have one too. On weekends we go to the gym together, and if I did exercising at home, she would totally do it with me
2. I look at motivational photos all the time. I follow about 7 fitness groups with mostly visuals, but they have good technique and nutrition topics there as well. Also, I follow couple of famous fitness people and read their tips; understanding that they are the same people as we are, helps. Looking at something every day sooner or later can help you to get there
3. Food log – every day, for a year and a half now. Every single thing I eat, I log in. It keeps me on track with proteins/carbs that I’m watching now, plus calories intake. This way I’ve lost all the weight I wanted, and keeping it there without going up or down much
Hope it helps someone!
I started this at my FB but don’t want to overwhelm people who really not in the topic. It starts like this
The more I read/learn about fitness and exercising, the more frustrating it gets. Clearly just exercising is not enough if you eat too much; dieting itself is not enough because you lose muscle with fat and become “skinny fat”. Only weights, only cardio, low carbs/no carbs/high protein/low protein – it’s all so complicated. Can we add some vegan lifestyle+nut allergies+no gluten challenge here? I guess to be able to get to the point where I want to be I need to become pro nutritionist and get a degree in something. Why it is so hard? Or the satisfaction is in the process of getting somewhere, no matter what is the destination point?
So I’ve lost the weight that I wanted, a year ago, now what? Reading about the rules and what needs to be done makes me feel like my body is a science project. No carbs after certain time. Fruits are carbs too, and I love fruits! You are telling me now I cannot have my fruits at night, while some other people are eating candies and cakes. Not saying they are right at what they do, but the fact…
Eating more to grow muscle. Now I want to grow muscle at certain parts, do I eat more those days? What exactly I should eat if I’m used to certain amount of food a day already? I read those protein shakes don’t really help, and carbs are the key…now what do I eat if I try to eliminate gluten? Do I stay on lentil soup and quinoa till the rest of my life?
Adding more greens is great, in a form of smoothies. But they are low in calories (I don’t add much fruit) – it lowers my calorie intake a day, and I’m already not eating much, mostly under eating.
Everywhere you go, you will read that abs exercising won’t do much and you need to lower your body fat to see the muscle. Now, why there are so many abs exercises then, in all magazines? I’ve never seen so much of a variety of squats, or upper body advertising. No one cares about those body parts anymore? I lowered my weight and body fat, now where are my abs? Why every time I eat, my stomach feels (and looks) like a balloon and every time I’m afraid to be called pregnant again? Is it a separate problem I need to address to the doctor? Or should I do more of those exercises that everyone says don’t work? Or is it because I didn’t exercise while being pregnant and my muscle tone is lost there forever? Last time I had stomach flu, my stomach looked great after. But I didn’t eat for a week, that’s not the way clearly
Just today I read about some squats and looks like I’m doing half of them wrong. How great is that. Do I need to work out with the trainer now? I don’t like to talk when I’m at the gym and I need some music, hate the thought of someone standing next to me telling me what to do.
Those are just a few concerns I have…
I’ve been trying the whole gluten free thing, not sure if it’s working for me…
It’s called “almost vegan” because it has honey. I don’t know what to call myself, probably vegan that eats seafood and honey, allergic to nuts, temporarily gluten-free. It’s complicated, I know
Meanwhile, finding recipes is a struggle. Here is one of the good ones, with modifications. Found on Kitchen Stewardship blog, the photo is from there too. This recipe is a bit different from the original on the blog, still tastes great, if you ask me.
Instructions
Mix all dry ingredients, then add liquid, mix all together. Add flax seed egg replacement in the end, when it becomes gooey. Preheat the oven to 350, bake it in muffin pan for 15-20 min
My personal tip – if you use measuring cups for oil and honey – pour oil first, then use the same cup for honey. This way the honey will not stick to the sides.
Good luck, my gluten-free friends!
May 31, 2014. What a beautiful day it was! Not too hot, clean air and a little breeze – all you need for a perfect wedding day! We met Maggie again, and all her wonderful friends, what a great day it was! Please enjoy the photos, by A.J.Dunlap Photography Hair and makeup by Makeup and Hair by Alina G Karaman (makeup – Alina Karaman, hair – Joy Greene)
I had to come up with Elsa dress for my daughter’s birthday. There was none left at any stores I went to, but she gave me no chance in replacing it with some other option. So I had to browse some ideas, and took this one with some changes.
I am very lazy in hiding edges and doing very detailed work when it comes to projects like these, so I tried to simplify the process as much as possible. My designer friends, be easy on me please
It took me a while in Jo-Anne fabrics to figure out what I need; not having much knowledge about measurements I was left with some fabric leftovers. The whole dress costed about $25-30 in materials. Priceless in memories it created
Materials needed:
-plain white t-shirt, or with lace sleeves (ours from Target, $7), or with long sleeves (short sleeves are better for summer);
-stretchy jersey that will go over the t-shirt – 1 1/2 yards;
-lace for waist;
-ribbon for waist;
-2 buttons;
-tulle – as much as you want. The more – the bigger the skirt. We had 3 pieces about 1 1/2 yards each
Top part process:
1. Lay out the jersey over the t-shirt and with pen draw the front – where you will be cutting it. Draw the heart shape (add 1/2 inch above the actual shape because you need
to hide the edges).
2. Cut out the front and hand stitch it to the t-shirt. I worked with one piece of fabric, the back piece is not a separate piece. Too much work to cut it all separately
3. Stitch the sides of the fabric to the sides of t-shirt
4. After the front and sides are attached, turn the t-shirt, and cut the back where you need it, leaving 1/2 inch to hide the edge.
5. After this is done, you can stitch it with machine. I don’t have one, the machine part was done by my mother in law when the whole dress was stitched by hand. Jersey needs to be stitched using zi
gzag
I did not cut the jersey part that was longer then t-shirt. In our case, it was kind of an under-skirt, because tulle is see-through. If your child won’t be wearing pants underneath, you need to create under-skirt. We didn’t have time for that.
Skirt part process:
1. Stitch ribbon to the lace.
2. Put on the ready top part on you child and make 3 dots – 2 on hips, one – where you want the lace to come together when you create a V shape.
3. Stitch tulle to the lace and ribbon. The more tulle you will use, the puffier the skirt will be.
4. Stitch ready skirt to the top, following the marks you’ve made.
In our case, the tulle came in short pieces 1 1/2 yard each, but it wasn’t an issue. Skirt had openings, but wearing pants underneath was a great idea. And having party outside we needed them in any ways.
5. Add buttons to the center of heart shape and v-shape
The whole dress took me about 3 hrs to hand stitch, and about 1 hr for my mother in law to titch it on the machine. I’m sure for individuals with experience it is a faster task
Did I mention we made the cape too?
So you are juicing every day (or every other day? Once a week?) like me and don’t know what to do with pulp or leftovers?
Here are my few solutions.
If you use carrots – juice them first, take this pulp away and use it for
-baking cookies (use apple pulp as well);
-veggie burgers;
-thick soups (never tried, but I’d add it to lentil soup)
Lately I’m juicing fennel bulb, and all the fennel that is left simply is not possible to use fresh. So I collected the fennel from 2 bulbs, dehydrated it (temperature under 40 C to make sure it’s “live”) – for about 8 hrs. Then I milled it in a coffee grinder, collected in a jar, stored in the refrigerator for better times. It is a very fine powder, I think I’ll use just a bit for anything I will be cooking.
Hope this works for you too!
I see this happening at absolutely every wedding I work at, when bridesmaids come from the salon with curled hair that starts to fall down in a couple of hours (and for those with natural hair – I mean not colored – it starts even sooner then that). They take the hardest spray available and spray whatever is left like nobody’s business in a hope it will help. No, it will not, ladies! It will actually make it worse. Hard spray weights your hair down and you end up with straight hair that looks greasy and undone. If your hair does not hold the curl, and you know it ahea
d, try different style if to begin with!
If curls start to fall, let it go! You can brush them with soft brush to have soft curls, you can re-curl them (if it doesn’t have too much product = doesn’t feel plastic). But no spray, please!
Alina G Karaman 
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