How to Motivate Yourself to Start Exercising

Hello smiley faces. I hope you all are doing great. Today I am going to share with you some tips to motivate yourself to start exercising. Exercising is extremely important to keep you healthy both mentally and physically. So here we go.

1. Talk to yourself – The first tip is to ask yourself “Am I healthy???” (Healthy doesn’t mean skinny). If you can walk for half an hour or jog for 15 minutes without getting tired, you are healthy but if not, you got to start exercising right now. You should feed this in your brain that “exercising will make you look much better than you already are”. I mean who doesn’t want to look good right?? Once your brain accepts this, nothing can stop you from exercising daily.

2. Join a gym or any exercise class –If you are in an environment where everything screams out “health”, you are more likely to exercise regularly. Also you have to pay money at the gym or exercise class, and no one wants to let their money go into someone else pocket unless you gain something from it. Right friends?? :D

3. Find a healthy friend or maybe even an enemy – If you have a friend who loves to exercise and look good, then he/she will surely motivate you to follow him/her. Friends, consider me as your friend if you need any motivation. If you have an enemy who is fitter than you, well in that case, you need no motivation to start exercising and following a healthy lifestyle in general. This tip works like a magic for we girls :D

4. Hang a dress that you want to fit in – The act of hanging an old favorite top that I no longer could fit into is what drove me to start exercising. Hang a lovely clothing that you want to fit in and tell yourself that “I am gonna start exercising because I want to look fabulous in this dress”.

5. Get new clothes to exercise in – I mean who doesn’t want to wear new clothes. Initially you will exercise because you want to wear the new exercise wear and post a selfie on facebook. Then slowly you will fall in love with exercising.

6. Read motivational stories/posters/wallpapers – Read some stories about people whose lives have been changed due to exercising. Also have some motivational posters (related to exercising and being healthy of course) in your room or wallpaper on your computer or mobile. Looking at that everyday will surely get you in the exercise mode. You can read my story of starting a healthy lifestyle here 

7. Gift yourself – Everyone deserves a reward after hard work. So if you are successful in maintaining a healthy lifestyle for a month, gift yourself something that you love. If I am able to maintain my exercise regime for a month, I gift myself a book and if I eat healthy for a month, I gift myself a makeup item or a nice t-shirt. I love all these things and I can do anything to get them, so every month I save some money to keep me going. J

So friends, these are some of my tips to start exercising. Always remember that exercising should be a habit not punishment or compulsion. I wrote this article so that I can help some of you to start exercising. For more health inspiration keep reading this blog. Trust me friends, I have lived almost all my life till now, being unhealthy. Ever since I started exercising, I have been so much better. If you have any tips to start exercising, I would love to hear those so leave them in the comments down below.

Goodbye my dear friends and I will see you on Sunday with a slightly funny article.. Until then Keep Smiling. Please do follow my blog, like the facebook page. (https://www.facebook.com/pages/A-Happy-Girl/292903830872974?ref_type=bookmark) and follow me on twitter (https://twitter.com/A_Happy_Girl2). If you have any suggestions or questions, please comment below.

Cucumber-Potato Face Pack

Hello smiley faces. I hope you all are doing great. Today I am going to share with you an easy face-body mask. It is made with cucumber and potato both of which have mild bleaching properties. Both of them help to reduce tan, dark spots and also help to lighten the skin. I am also going to show you a simple eye mask made with the remnant from the pack. This eye pack will help to reduce the under eye circles. So without further ado, let’s get started. Here’s what you will need.

Ingredients:      

1. ¼ cup finely grated cucumber

2. ¼ cup finely grated potato

3. 2 tbsp besan

4. 1 tsp lemon juice

5. ¼ tsp turmeric powder (haldi)

6. Rosewater (if needed)

7. Clean tissue paper for eye mask

Procedure:

1. Take a large bowl and place a strainer on the top as shown.

2. Now put the grated cucumber and potato into the strainer.

3. Add lemon juice to it and with the help of a spoon squeeze the mixture in the strainer. The juice should start coming out. For most of the time I use my hands to get the juice out of the mixture. If you do so make sure your hands are clean :D

4. Keep on doing this until all the juice comes out of the cucumber-potato mixture.

5. In a bowl add besan and turmeric.

6. Add the potato-cucumber juice to this mixture and mix everything really well.

7. Check the consistency of the mixture. If the mixture is too thick, add some rosewater. I added around 1 tsp rosewater. The amount of rosewater will depend on the amount of potato-cucumber juice. Make sure that the pack isn’t too thick or too runny.

8. Now your pack is ready to use. Apply this pack on your face, neck, hands and feet. Leave it until it dries completely. Then take it off using lukewarm water.

9. For eye mask:

You will need the pulp that remains after squeezing out the juice from the potato and cucumber.

a) Divide the pulp into two parts.

b) Put the pulp into a clean tissue paper and wrap it up as shown. Make two such wraps.

c) Put this into the freezer for about an hour.

d) Put this on your eye for 5-7 minutes and then wash your eyes with cold water.

Use this pack once or twice a week for better results. This pack is a mild pack that will remove the tan and dark spots. But just like any other natural remedy, it works slowly. But if you apply this pack regularly, you will see a noticeable difference in your skin. I usually use this pack on weekends as a pamper mask for my face and body. So friends, if you try this pack, let me know how it works for you.

Goodbye my dear friends and I will see you soon. Until then Keep Smiling. Please do follow my blog, like the facebook page. (https://www.facebook.com/pages/A-Happy-Girl/292903830872974?ref_type=bookmark) and follow me on twitter (https://twitter.com/A_Happy_Girl2). If you have any suggestions or questions, please comment below.

P.S: Always do a patch test behind your ear to test whether the pack is suitable for you or not.

Being thankful…….

Hello smiley faces. I hope you all are doing great. Today I am going to share with you an incident that taught me an important lesson in the book called life. This incident must have happened 3-4 months ago but even now I remember every bit of it.

I was with my mom at a local pharmacy when this incident took place. The pharmacy was crowded as it was the peak hour of their business. So I decided to wait outside and that’s when I saw an old beggar or should I say the one who changed my outlook towards life. There was nothing special about this beggar. He was just like any other beggar that you can find anywhere on the streets of any Indian city. He was dressed in shabby, fakir like clothes. To be frank his overall look was pretty bad.

He must have been hungry which is why he begged a fruit vendor for some food. The fruit vendor gave him few bananas to eat. He blessed the vendor and started moving towards a tree. I thought he would sit in the cool shadow of the tree and eat his food right away, but he didn’t. Yes friends, he didn’t.  He first touched the tree with his hands, and then he bowed before the tree with folded hands. I looked as if he considered the tree as his god. He then touched the tree with his food i.e. bananas as if he was making an offering to his god. And then he finally started eating his food after this ritual. Seconds after this incident, my mom came and we left that place. But I just couldn’t stop thinking about the incident even after we left.

For others, he was just a beggar. But for me he was a person who taught me an important lesson in life. I am not sure whether he thought the same while performing this whole ritual. But I thought that he bowed before the tree because he wanted to thank it because it was the source from where his food came. So friends the moral is “If you get something in life; always thank the person/ the source due to whom/ which you could get that thing.”

So at last I want to thank my family, friends and all of you my virtual friends for supporting my blog. Because writing articles for my blog makes me happy. So that in turn makes you all the source of my happiness. Thank you all once again.

Goodbye my dear friends and I will see you soon. Until then Keep Smiling. Please do follow my blog, like the facebook page. (https://www.facebook.com/pages/A-Happy-Girl/292903830872974?ref_type=bookmark) and follow me on twitter (https://twitter.com/A_Happy_Girl2). If you have any suggestions, please comment below.  

Healthy Fruit Pops

Hey Smiley faces. I hope you all are doing great. Today I have a very easy but delicious healthy recipe for you. It is a healthy alternative to Chuski aka Ice gola. I love ice gola but it has a lot of sugary artificial flavoring that is just not good for you. So I gave it a healthy twist by using natural sweetener i.e. fruit juice. You can use the juice of any of your favorite fruit. Summer is almost over and so is the watermelon season so I decided to grab the last of the watermelons and use it in this recipe. So let’s get started.

Ingredients:

1. 1 ½- 2 cups Fruit juice (depending on your moulds)

2. 1 tbsp tuti fruity

3. 1 tbsp grated (dry) coconut

4. 1 tsp chaat masala or as per your taste

                 You will also need kulfi mould or you can even jugaad with a regular glass and spoon/fork.

Procedure:

1. Mix the chaat masala with the fruit juice.

2. Put this mixture in the kulfi mould or into a glass and freeze it for around 15-20 minutes.

3. Now add in little tuti fruity and grated coconut into the moulds.

4. Put the lid on the moulds and freeze it for good 3-4 hours.

5. It you are using a glass, select a spoon that fits perfectly in your freezer. The picture would explain the jugaad.

6.  After 3-4 hours your fruit pops are ready to satisfy your chuski craving.

I hope you enjoyed his easy and quick healthy recipe. I hope you give it a try. If you do, let me know in the comments below which fruit you used for making the pops.

Goodbye my dear friends and I will see you soon. Until then Keep Smiling. Please do follow my blog, like the facebook page. (https://www.facebook.com/pages/A-Happy-Girl/292903830872974?ref_type=bookmark) and follow me on twitter (https://twitter.com/A_Happy_Girl2). If you have any suggestions, please comment below. 

My Everyday Makeup Essentials

Hello smiley faces. How are you all doing? Today is my first makeup article so I decided to share with you my everyday makeup essentials. I have lots of items to show you girls so let’s get started.

Let’s begin with the face makeup. The only products that I use for my face are Garnier BB cream and Elle 18 glow compact (Pearl). Both of them look subtle on my skin that in turn makes my makeup look natural (wink wink). I sometimes even use baby powder instead of Elle 18 glow compact to set the BB cream. Trust me girls it actually works.

 Next on my list are lip balms. I only have two of them and they are Maybelline Baby lips (Tangerine pop) and an old favorite Nivea fruity shine (Strawberry).

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Next I wanted to share with you my favorite lip products most of them are lip glosses just because I love lip glosses. Some of my favorite ones are

From Left to right - Faces Go Chic lip gloss (Rose petal 07), Faces Ultra lip plump in Poetic, Faces Go Chic lip gloss (Mochaccino 06), Avon Simply Pretty lip gloss (Caramel apple), Elle 18 Juicy lip balm (Juicy Mauve), Maybelline lip polish (Glam 3), Faces Go Chic lipstick (Petal me out 226).

Out of this my ultimate favorite one is Maybelline lip polish (Glam 3). Two of them namely Faces Ultra lip plump in Poetic & Faces Go Chic lip gloss (Mochaccino 06) are borrowed (just for a few days though) from my bestie.

I love my eyes so here is the tiny list of eye makeup that I own. For eyelashes I have the Lakme eyeconic curling mascara (Washable), Maybelline hypercurl volume express mascara (Waterproof) and Vega eyelash curler.

I really love kajal and sometimes when I have a little more time I use liquid liner as well.

From left to right Maybelline hyper glossy liquid liner (Navy blue), Lakme eyeconic kajal (Brown) and Lakme eyeconic kajal (Black)

And lastly my favorite part of makeup that is nail polishes. These are 5 pastel colors that I am in love with right now.

From thumb to pinky – Elle 18 (07), Maybelline color show  (Blueberry ice, Tenacious teal, Blackcurrant pop and Nude skin)

So friends that’s all I have to share with you all. I hope it wasn’t too boring or too braggy. These are just some of the products that I used regularly. If you have any everyday makeup favorites please share with me in the comments below. If you want me to review any item mentioned in this article, then let me know in the comments down below.

Goodbye my dear friends and I will see you soon. Until then Keep Smiling. Please do follow my blog, like the facebook page. (https://www.facebook.com/pages/A-Happy-Girl/292903830872974?ref_type=bookmark) and follow me on twitter (https://twitter.com/A_Happy_Girl2). If you have any suggestions, please comment below. 

5 Must Haves for a Clumsy Person

Hello smiley faces. I hope you are doing great. Did you know that there are only two types of people in this world? If not then let me tell you that the two types of people are clumsy people and non-clumsy people. A clumsy person can be defined as a person who can fall over anything and everything in this world. Yes friends, he/she can even topple over things that can’t be seen by naked eye. I am a clumsy person I can fall over anything and anything ranges from a tiny molecule of air to my own feet. I can even miss seeing a giant wall in front of me & just get hit by it. So if you are a clumsy person, you got to have a few essentials with you. And here they are.

1. A bit of Luck – If luck is not by your side, you are more likely to fall more frequently. On my good lucky days, I might fall down just 1-2 times in the entire day. But on my unlucky days, I end up having bandages on my arms and feet. Plus something in my house is definitely broken because of me. So luck is very important guys.

2. Presence of mind – It has been observed that when I have my senses 100% active, there are less chances of me falling down. I fall down mostly when I am busy with my own thinking or I am listening to a song and imagining myself as an actress of that movie. But the most common is when I do “Walk when you talk/message” stunt with my phone. So presence of mind is extremely essential.

3. Ability to take a joke on him/her – A clumsy person must possess an ability to take a joke on him/her. If you fall down in public, people will laugh at you but you should make sure you always get up laughing. You can always joke and roll down with laughter later remembering about that incident.

4. Loud voice – You should have a loud voice to yell for help if you fall down badly and you are unable to get up. When I fall down at home I yell “Mom, help me I fell down” (in Marathi of course) and my mom’s reaction is “Oh no not again!!!!!!”. When I fall in public, I don’t have to yell because most of the times at least one my friends is with me. And my friend’s reaction is an exaggerated version of my mom’s reaction.  

5. Mini First-aid kit – Let’s be real friends, if anyone falls down and he/she gets hurt, a mini first-aid kit comes in handy. It should consist of bandages, band-aids, pain relief creams, antiseptic creams, cotton, dettol and the magic antiseptic ‘turmeric’. So have a first-aid kit in your bag.

If you are a clumsy person or if you know a clumsy person (except me), just comment down below. Do share this post with any clumsy person you know. And friends always remember that even if you’re clumsy, it’s okay. That’s because even though little clumsy smurf caused so much trouble due to his clumsiness, he turned out to be the hero in the end.

Goodbye my dear friends and I will see you soon. Until then Keep Smiling. Please do follow my blog, like the facebook page. (https://www.facebook.com/pages/A-Happy-Girl/292903830872974?ref_type=bookmark) and follow me on twitter (https://twitter.com/A_Happy_Girl2). If you have any suggestions, please comment below.

My Tips to Start a “Healthy Eating” Regime

Hello smiley faces. I hope you all are doing great. Today I am going to share with you some of my tips to start a “healthy eating” regime. Without further ado, let’s jump right into it.

1. Give away all the unhealthy food – If you have unhealthy food around you, you will most probably end up eating it. So scan your kitchen (especially your fridge) for unhealthy foods and donate it to a needy and hungry person. If you can’t get rid of all the unhealthy food a time, just do it in steps. Start with the fridge, move to kitchen drawers and cabinets and lastly move to your “secret food storage” places (come on everyone has one :D)

2. Make a point to buy only healthy foods – On your next trip to the supermarket, skip the chips, farsan, fizzy drinks and frozen foods section. And go ahead and buy healthy cereals, grains, sprouts, oats, fresh vegetables and fruits.

3. Remember healthy food ≠ bland – Many people have the conception that healthy food is not tasty. That’s not true my dear friends. I personally think that all you need to make a food tasty is few spices and salt, maybe a little bit of oil too. In India, we have so many varieties of spices and masalas. Use them to make your food tasty. Also if the presentation of the food is good, anyone will eat it. So present healthy food in an appeasing way ;)

4. Find healthy alternatives – Finding healthy alternatives to their unhealthy counterparts is a difficult job, but it’s not impossible. Deep frying can be substituted for shallow frying or roasting in the oven. Sugar can be substituted for dates or jaggery or even honey. White flour (maida) can be replaced with whole wheat flour or multigrain flour and so on. I can write a whole article on this :D

5. Don’t ever go out on an empty stomach – Yes friends, this trick just works like magic. If you are fully fed, you won’t be tempted to eat at one of those unhealthy roadside food joints/ restaurants/ pizza stores/ ice-cream corners. Because if anyone overeats, he/she has to bear the consequences next morning (unless you have some magical digestive herb) :D

6. Share the unhealthy food – I have observed that if you eat alone, you tend to eat more. But if you share your food with some of your friends, you tend to eat less. So the next time you order a pizza make sure you invite 3 of your friends. This will make sure you eat just one portion of it and not the whole pizza. This trick will work only if you order the same amount of food that you were going to eat all by yourself, not 4 times of what you wanted to eat.

7. “All is well” mantra – Whenever you are tempted to eat the unhealthy food, just say, “All is well. You don’t need this food”. This mantra might work for all those who deal with the problem of emotional eating. Whenever I am tempted to eat anything unhealthy, I tell my brain and also heart, “The food is stale and it’s made with karela (bitter gourd)”. That’s because I just hate stale food and karela and that helps me to avoid that food :D

So friends, these were some of my tips for all the newbies who want to start a healthy lifestyle. I have been following these tips and they have worked for me. Even though I might cheat once in a while, but still I can call myself a healthy eater. You will see some more healthy tips and tricks and recipes on this blog in near future. So stay tuned for that. If you found this article helpful or if you have any other tips, then let me know in the comments down below.

Goodbye my dear friends and I will see you on Sunday with a slightly funny article. Until then Keep Smiling. Please do follow my blog, like the facebook page. (https://www.facebook.com/pages/A-Happy-Girl/292903830872974?ref_type=bookmark) and follow me on twitter (https://twitter.com/A_Happy_Girl2). If you have any suggestions or questions, please comment below.
P.S.: I am not a “health guru”, these are just some things I did to start a healthy lifestyle.