ideas – realiTEE

How to start your day faster & still look good.

Published on June 8, 2019June 8, 2019 by realiTEELeave a comment

Happy National Rosé Day. Surely this should be a bank holiday weekend right? We should be allowed an extra day off work to enjoy a nice chilled glass of rosé, although the British weather right now isn’t exactly screaming summer vibes. Okay I’m going off on a tangent here, lets circle back…

I don’t know about you but I am not one of those girls that can spend 3 hours + getting ready for a night out, if I’m going out I want to be out out! The whole, shower, wash my hair, blow dry, style, prime face etc etc just gets boring to me. I’m a one hour girl at most. I’d much rather be out drinking the rosé than reapplying my eyeliner for the 3rd time because the flick wasn’t right.

I’m an extrovert get me out of here…

My point is whether I’m going from the gym to the office, or from bed to the coffee shop or more importantly heading to a bar I want to be getting to where I need to be, not messing about with three different shades of blusher. But of course I ALWAYS have to look presentable, it’s just nice to take some pride in yourself right. So (no surprises here) but I have a routine, and I have this down to 45 minutes. It doesn’t matter if I’m getting ready at the gym or in my bedroom I know what products I need where they’ll be and I’m good to go.

Here are a 3 hacks I do to make sure my mornings start off right, if anything throws me off course too early it changes the whole tone of my day and I find that it will just throw me off, anyone else?

1) Sort it out the night before. Yes I’m hyper organised and if being a PA paid more I’d probably do that just for the enjoyment of organising peoples lives, but here’s what I do. I prep EVERYTHING the night before, & I mean EVERYTHING. Even the underwear I’m wearing. Because I think sleep is so important I like to get every last second I can in bed so all my meals will be prepped the night before, if I’m going to the gym my gym bag is packed all toiletries in the bag and gym clothes laid out on my chair so I can literally get out of bed, wash my face drink some water, brush my teeth get a peppermint tea to go and head straight out. This can result ion carrying about 10 different bags but it just makes life easier. I’ll also make an iced coffee the night before. I really try to limit how much money I spend on coffee a month and since I started getting coffee pods from Grind delivered (this is totally on point today as all their branding is pink, just like rosé) my home made coffees are just better. Sorry coffee shops but it’s true, I get the best London coffee straight out of my Birmingham home. Anyway, bags are packed food is ready and coffee is good to go. I’m out the door in 15 minutes.

2) Keep your stuff together. I feel like everyone is on the tidying hype lately with the likes of Mrs Hinch & Marie Kondo all over social media that organisation is in fashion. With fashion comes loads of cute boxes & storage options. I have two little boxes one for AM & one for PM (these are actually the boxes that my Grind orders arrived in, no plug I promise but they’re the perfect size, pink & really cute). As I’ve mentioned before I love to buy stuff in sample sizes because it’s just more gym bag friendly. This makes life so much easier when getting ready because I know exactly where my stuff is so I can just grab & go. Ironically there are three things I ALWAYS lose… headphones (I forget which pocket of which jeans/ coat/ bag I was wearing) glasses (which is annoying once I’ve taken my lenses out, now I need glasses to find my glasses) & keys…

3) Keep the makeup looking simple. Call me a basic bitch but I’m not a fan of a heavy made up face. I like to look like me, and if it’s a day I plan to go running at lunch or to the gym after work I really don’t want to spend ages removing layers and layers of makeup. Honestly once the skin care is done, I can keep it as simple as 4 products. IT Cosmetics CC cream, clear brow gel to brush my brows into place, bit of mascara (honestly I can live without this some days especially if I’m wearing my glasses, big glasses are great to hide behind) & Lanolips 101 ointment, 100% natural multi-balm for your lips. I love this product so much. You only need a little but it really softens the lips smells great and leaves a classy shine.

There you have it, my 3 little hacks to getting out the house and ordering that rosé so much quicker.

As usual nothing mention in this posted was gifted or sponsored but things I love and the options are my own, but I want to know yours.

What do you do on the go? Any top secrets on how to look completely put together in under an hour?

I want to know…

Love,

Tee

Gym hair don’t care!

Published on May 11, 2019May 12, 2019 by realiTEELeave a comment

I’m so protective over my hair it’s unreal. I can be like nooo my hair! But with good reason, I damaged it so badly a few years back with no stop bleach and heat that it was actually frizzled at the front. The only solution was to cut my hair into a lob, not like this made much difference considering it kept splitting anyway. So now I do everything to keep it long and healthy to the point where I just don’t wash it. It’s effort and I don’t particularly enjoy it. If you’re a regular gym goer than you know the struggle is real, because you’re most likely going to work up a sweat tomorrow so what’s the point. Gym hair, don’t care! I’ve also learnt is not smart to train arms the day you wash your hair because holding the hairdryer for so long will come back to bite you! Anyway it’s so much more fun to style dirty hair. What can I say washing my hair is not for me. However if you do a LOT of cardio you probably need to wash your hair at least twice a week to help your scalp.

I’ve recently stretched my washes out to once a week, and quickly learnt the dirtier the better. Anyway who has the time to wash their hair everyday? I’ve got this down to swimming once a week and then washing my hair straight away.

Here’s why I don’t wash my hair;

1) I pay for my colour, why wash it straight out? It’s true blondes have more fun but the more you wash your hair the more you wash out the colour. I’ve never been able to keep ashy silver tones in my hair because it naturally has a red tint (thanks dad) but since I started to wash it weekly and switched to Charles Worthington toning shampoo the colour has never been better. Exactly what I wanted, and that’s still the case 8 weeks later. When I do wash my hair I always opt for sulphate free shampoo, this one is currently still my favourite. (Added bonus shampoo and conditioner lasts sooo much longer when you use it less often)

2) It strips out your natural oils, it’s the oils in your hair that make it look shiny and healthy. Isn’t that what everyone wants? So why strip them out, makes no sense to me. You can also end up causing your scalp to produce more oils to try and replace what you’ve washed out, leaving your hair more greasy and you end up in a vicious wash cycle.

3) It’s so much easier to style. Yep, probably helped by the amount of dry shampoo I use but my hair has so much more texture and thickness to it that when I style it it actually does what I wanted, most of the time.

Hair style curls

Here’s some tips for keeping it healthy;

1) The sleep bun, doesn’t need to be a bun but keep it up/ tied back. Buns are great and I use these great crocodile clips which don’t leave a mark in my hair but braids work just as well. I’ve honestly noticed a huge difference in my hair since sleeping with it up more, when I sleep with it down it’s noticeable greasy the day after. Last time I slept with it down my boyfriend rolled onto it in the night and I was trapped, lesson learnt.

2) Hair mask, we all love a good hair mask but my hair is always so much nicer after a hair mask and gym session. Yes that’s right a hair mask and gym session, I heat from my workout helps the hair mask and it’s more efficient instead of sitting around waiting to wash it out. I will comb my favourite mask through my hair from root to ends and then tie it up, completely out of my face so no product touches my skin.

3) Grapefruit oil, I have a little spray bottle with a concoction of water and grapefruit oil. Post workout I spray a little water on my roots and blow dry them for thickness the spray a little grapefruit to make it smell nice. And I’m good to go.

It’s so much fun to get creative with your hair when it’s dirt, here’s a few of my favourite styles;

When it comes to washing your hair I’m definitely a less is more girl.

What about you? Hair secrets accepted below.

Love

Tee

Ps: nothing in this post was sponsored or gifted just products and things I’ve tried and liked.

Accountability & how to do it.

Published on April 28, 2019April 28, 2019 by realiTEELeave a comment

I can’t be the only person that seems to be living life at 1000 WTF’s an hour right?

Honestly, life is a juggling act right now, please don’t think for one moment I’m complaining because I know I asked for this to come into my life and therefore I’ve fully accepted it. However it’s still a lot of plates to keep spinning all at once, and I know I’m not alone.

You’ve seen the people posting gym pictures, flashing abs like ‘Hey look at me I just spent 1.5 hours in the gym and now I’m going to eat pizza!’ For those people that’s great and yes you deserve pizza but for the remainder of us, those with kids they have to pick up after being at work all day then entertain and clean up after, or if like me you work full time, study and write a blog or maybe you work two jobs (double hustle) maybe you commute across the country, or you’re just so slammed at work right now under staffed and passionate about what you do that you’re willing to work 50 hours + All of this while keeping on top of the everyday life expectancies of us all such as maintaining social lives, eating, and yes you know it… WORKING OUT.

It’s freaking hard work!!!

For all of us!

That’s why I wanted to talk about not only intention, but how I hold myself accountable. FOCUS GOES WHERE ENERGY FLOWS

Last year my job was not demanding at all, and I wasn’t studying. I had the luxury of going to bed at night sleeping for 8 hours feeling refreshed waking up going to the gym doing my 9-5 job heading home cleaning and food prepping. It was so easy it was boring, that said when I went on holiday last year, I honestly looked the best I’d ever looked.

Now my job is so much more demanding but engaging and fun, I’m studying a minimum of two hours a day, looking after a house hold and still trying to balance my meals and workouts, and honestly some times I just don’t want to go to the gym!

Now to give you an idea my weekly workouts include the below:

• 3/ 4 x weight training

• 3 x lunch time runs

• 2 x Pilates

• 1 x yoga

Exactly… no surprise it’s rare I actually successfully accomplish all of this a week, but that’s all changed!

Here are a few of my tips that have helped me stay accountable for my workouts:

1. Schedule it in! Yes that’s right I’ve started to schedule in my diary when I’m working out, not only that but I get specific, real specific. If I have to think about my workout and start to make decisions it’s easy to talk myself out of it. What do I want to train today? Well not really anything so I won’t bother. Where do I want to run to today? Maybe JQ, or Mailbox or JQ or Mailbox… Oh I don’t have time now I was too busy deciding…. Take the decision making out of the equation! My diary already has my workouts scheduled in and what I’m doing, where and when. Added bonus it means I can make sure I’ve got the right meals planned to help recovery. Run days I make sure I have plenty of carbs to come back to, whether it’s my favourite ‘sausage’ and pasta dish or my home made Vietnamese ‘chicken’ vegetables and rice.

2. Buddy up! 100% unless I genuinely feel awful I’m not going to let a friend down when it comes to a session. If you agree to train with a friend you’re holding each other accountable and helping one another. Don’t make some wishy washy plan, like ‘errm yea maybe. I’ll be there for like 7ish?’ NO! Set a time, agree a workout. Now somebody else has had to ensure they align their leg day with yours, it’s just rude to let them down now.

3. Tell the world! Okay you don’t have to announce it on social media, but if you can’t get a buddy for a day tell a friend what you’re doing and when. My cousin and I do this sometimes, I’ll message her and say ‘hey I’m training legs nice and early tomorrow!’ Every time she’ll text me around 8, ‘how was your leg session?’ Checking in with someone helps hold you accountable.

I hope you enjoyed these few tips, they’ve really helped me especially since hitting the books again. What do you do to ensure you stick to your workout? All motivation tips accepted here!

Comment below.

Love

Tee

I got stitch… duh!

Published on March 23, 2019March 23, 2019 by realiTEE3 Comments

Hi again, it’s been a while since I’ve done a full blog post so if you haven’t seen on my Instagram I have recently signed up to run the Birmingham half marathon. Yes I know it’s not until October but I thought while the motivation was fresh I’d start some basic training and get myself into running, fortunately for me there’s a small group of people in my office that do this for fun at lunch. Madness I know running instead of eating but I’m actually starting to enjoy it 🙋🏼‍♀️

From one everything girl to another… You know that rule ‘thou shall not eat an hour before you go swimming’ (or something like that)? Well turns out it applies to running also!

I’ve recently started running at lunch with a small group of people in my office and also seem to get a stitch. Turns out it’s that pre-run snack I’ve been munching down me, 15 minutes before I head out!

Life hack: you should leave a large meal for up to four hours to digest before you go running and a snack 1-2 hours.

Lesson learnt…when running I need blood in my legs not still digesting my food. The body is an amazing thing but it still has limitations. I love food so planning my workouts around my food plan is my idea of fun (yes I know I’m a nutrition geek!), getting in the kitchen cooking/ experimenting and knowing what food best to help recover after I train is an additional benefit.

Pre-run snack try and aim for slow releasing carbs to keep your body going we all know oats are a great source of energy and for anyone that says ‘I don’t like oats?’ I don’t believe you! There are so many fun delicious ways to eat oats you just have not found a way you enjoy yet.

My cousin Sara became a porridge connoisseur last year with a multitude of fun ideas and each bowl was a work of art.

Personally, my favourite part about my run, post run meal! Running uses up so much energy it’s important to get your carbs in post run to provide your body with a new energy source along with some protein.

Post run (or any work out) meal of the week:

• Red lentil pasta (you can get this in most super markets).

• Chicken sausages (I’m currently on a two week vegan challenge & have switched these for vegan friendly Linda McCartney sausages and they taste just as good!)

• Garlic

• 1 tin chopped tomatoes (I like the one with the herbs infused)

• 1 chilli

• Mushrooms

• Paprika.

This is such an easy meal prep idea the night before and a great refuel meal!

Simply cook your pasta and sausages to the instructions. I fry off the mushrooms until brown then add in all the other ingredients, once cooked stir in pasta and chopped up sausages.

Not a fan of pasta? Noodles work just as well as you can see. I use Myprotein zero noodles they’re great when you’re high on carbs already that day.

What’s your favourite post work out meal?