Tips and Tricks!

Mental note: Must wear hair like this to work tomorrow.

  Sometimes we don't understand people.  Like the kid who sped his bicycle across the busy street...10 feet from a cross walk. Or the man that drove the wrong way down a one way street. Or what about the lady who, not once, but twice, tried to change lanes without looking and each time was honked back to her original lane? I don't get her.
   All those things happened in one car ride to work. Crazy, right? People! Those are extreme examples of not being able to understand someone but in reality, we really don't know what's going on in their mind. Let's take the man going the wrong way down the road for example; my first thought was, "Idiot!!!" then I caught myself. After hearing a sermon my dad preached awhile back, every mean word that comes to my mind stands out strongly and I've realize I can be very harsh person and judge quickly. So when I immediately thought what an imbecile this man was, I then wondered what could possibly be his reasoning for doing that. Maybe it's as simple as he wasn't paying attention, or he saw there was no cars and it was a quicker route being that he was late to work...but what if...just what if...he just got a phone call that something happened to his son, or daughter, or wife and they were rushed to hospital minutes earlier? What if turning that direction (seeing as there weren't any cars) avoided an accident from a car that ran a red light in front of him, that I didn't see? I'll never know and for that reason, I'll never have the right to decide whether he or anyone is a careless human or not. Really, who am I to decide that anyway? Look at my driving! I'm sure I make half the world angry when I get behind a steering wheel but yet I get to decide who the idiots are?!
    So, this whole scenario got me thinking; just because someone doesn't LOOK put together and fashionable does not mean they don't WANT to and that they're lazy good for nothing women. Maybe, just maybe, they woke up late (as I often do), or they can't afford the newest stuffs (as I often can't), or they just simply don't know the techniques to use! Hence the reason for this post. Below are some easy tips and tricks to make getting ready quicker and easier.

1. Shower the night before. Crazy right? Not so much. From a hygiene point of view, when you sleep, you shed thousans of skin cells during the night. In showering before going to bed, what with your loofahing, exfoliating, and towel drying, you will be getting rid of most of those dead skin cells meaning you'll be less likely to attract bugs or mites into your bed. Don't forget how fresh your face will be as washing your face in the shower is 47% more effective than in the sink when you are not washing the rest of your body. It also leaves your face clean for the morning, so it's much easier to apply your make up, rather than trying to scrub it off the next morning, running out of time and slapping new make up on over the old stuff. Also, warm water relaxes your body and prepares it for rest, so you'll wake up feeling more refreshed.
Not only that but if you wash your hair in the night and sleep with it in a braid or loose pony, it will dry through the night, leaving your hair ready for your flat iron or curler the next morning, eliminating the need for a blow dryer which will 1. save your hair's health a little bit and 2. save you time. (sidebar: for goodness sake, use a heat protector spray before applying heat to your hair...it'll save you from having to chop your locks later, like I had to; more about that in another post!)

2. Ready your clothes the night before. I find that when I lay out what I'm going to wear the night before, it takes me way less time to get ready in the morning, but also I tend to find cuter outfits than when I'm half asleep and running late in the morning. I have time to pick out my accessories and the right shoes, etc.

3. Make a shake the night before. Berries, protein, milk or yogurt, vanilla and cinnamon. Or whatever your shake consists of. Make it the night before and put it in the fridge, ready for you to grab and go. Breakfast kick starts your metabolism. We've all heard it: "Breakfast is the most important meal of the day". Why don't we just listen and obey!
Might as well throw in making a lunch the night before here. Let's save some money eating out girls so we can buy some cute accessories to make our outfits awesome! Or even worse...make sure you actually eat at lunch time and don't just wait til you get home because you forgot to bring food and don't want to spend the money!!! Snackies are never bad either. Just sayin'.

4. Ready your purse the night before. Keys are my nemesis. They always make me late. I have a wonderful husband that hung up a key hanger as soon as we moved in so it's not an issue anymore. Well...for the most part. If you don't have a key hanger, always put your keys in your purse and that will illuminate having to look for them and locking yourself out of your house. Trust me, it can be a problem.
Readying your purse also includes readying whatever you need for work. Doing that the night before makes your entire next day less stressful. You won't have forgotten anything you need, you won't be wondering if you've forgotten something; you'll just have a slightly easier day since you'll be prepared.

5. Lastly, bangs. This is kind of out there, but as a stylist I see a lot of foreheads and a lot of hair and I'm a firm believer that everyone can pull of some sort of bang. There's so many different kinds, I know they work for everyone. The nice thing about having bangs is when you don't have time to do your hair, you can throw it up in a messy bun or top knot, pull down some pieces by your ears and give them a little curl or straightening, if necessary, style your bangs and you're good to go!


What do 4 out of these 5 tips have in common? Utilizing the night before!! If you do that, you can sleep quite a bit longer and have a better day and we all know the cheesy fact of life- a smile can make the biggest difference in what you look like and how you feel!