diy

MONTHLY LINK UP: JUNE GOALS

June 04, 2015

Monthly Goals

This is part of the monthly link-up at mysocalledchaos.com

Summer has finally arrived. The best part? It wont leave for another three months! I'm glad it's not leaving for a while, because I'm not ready for it to. I've already accomplished some of my goals already, and I've made some headway on others. Not only that, but I've found a good balance between works and friends. Can't wait to see what the rest of the summer holds! Summer is the best time to be productive and get stuff done. Do that project you've been putting off!

How This works:
  1. Follow your hosts My So-Called Chaos and A Peek at Karen's World to keep up with this link-up.
  2. Write up a post recapping last month's goals and setting goals for next month.
  3.  Make sure to include the button in your post by grabbing the code above.
  4. Link up your goals post with the monthly linky which goes live on the first Thursday of the month.
  5. Visit other links in the party to show support and offer advice for other goal setters.
  6. Have fun and make some new friends!


May Goals

  • Run outside twice a week - More like 6 days a week! Success!
  • Get a story ran from a press release at my internship - Not sure
  • Start renovating my room  - move my bed and buy storage bins - Switched my room around totally!
  • Get a sponsored post posted - Fail, but one is on its way
  • Write the vegan reflection post - Successssss
  • Present at Undergrad Research Symposium - Success

June Goals

  • Get up to 35 mile weeks of running
  • Decorate the walls of my room - inspiration board
  • Publish a sponsored post
  • Go into my internship twice a week
  • Post on here twice a week
  • Get under 24 in the 5K
Let's hope June is as promising as May was!



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bananas

LIFESTYLE: TWO FUN WAYS TO CHEAT CLEAN

June 17, 2014

I love eating clean... but I like cheating clean even better! I'm obsessed with making "nice" cream. It love it because it's so easy to make... it's virtually one ingredient minus add-ons. My parents are always like "Nikki... you're freezing those bananas again." I can't help myself!

I've been trying to get into recipes lately, so when I was re-stocking the cupboard  the other day I was inspired by some ingredients. Here's what came out of it: a chocolate coconut ice cream, and a chocolate popcorn. Your sweet tooth will thank me!





INGREDIENTS:
  • 1 or 2 frozen sliced bananas
  • a splash of almond milk
  • 2 tbsp. dark chocolate all natural peanut butter or carob chips
  • a handful of coconut shavings
STEPS:
  1. Freeze the bananas for 3+ hours or overnight
  2. Place the bananas, peanut butter or carob chips, and coconut shavings in a blender
  3. Blend on the "milkshake" settings, or any setting but puree or smoothie. It would get too liquid-y.
  4. If needed, splash in some almond mix and mix every few seconds to really get everything all smooth.
  5. Enjoy!
I love nice cream not only because it mimicks delicious ice cream, but because it's not from a bag or box, it's the perfect serving size. You can't see going back for more unless you want to put a lot  of effort into it.


INGREDIENTS:
  • 2 cups Boom Chicka Pop
  • 2 tbsp dark chocolate all natural peanut butter
  • 2 tsp. agave nectar
STEPS:
  1. Melt the peanut butter in a microwave-safe bowl for 30 seconds to one minute.
  2. Put the Boom Chicka Pop into a bag or bowl.
  3. Add in the melted peanut butter and agave nectar.
  4. Freeze until you're ready to dig in.
I am SO obsessed with Boom Chicka Pop. They have many varieties, but I would suggest the sea salt kind here so it can play with the sweetness of the other ingredients. Sometimes sweet and salty is better than sweet and sweet. Boom Chicka Pop is a pre-popped popcorn sold in large bags at most grocers. It's all natural and healthful. It's only 35 calories... PER CUP! Someone has to pull me away from a bag in one sitting. Agave nectar has been my go-to sweetener lately. I've been using it in tea and on yogurt I think it will go well here.

Hope you all enjoy these recipes this summer. Keep them in mind when your sweet tooth calls!

 I also love this from shop.com/asimplelife.  
If you're in the kitchen feeling crafty, why not try some juices? 
I have my eye on this juicer on sale here. You can get cash back if you sign up and use ohaixnikay@gmail.com as a reference! 


amazon

SHOPPING: PERSONALITY GIFT GUIDE

December 08, 2013

As far as blogging goes, I'm a gift guide virgin. I've never done a gift guide post because I feel like my advice wasn't good enough. However, I thought of an interesting angle to attack this post at. I used some inspiration from how I shop for myself and others.

When shopping, the two things I look for are a good price and it's functional. My philosophy on gift giving is to make sure the recipient will actually use it, otherwise it's useless. I always take things that I'm using that someone gave to me as a gift with special care. Hopefully your friends and family will do the same thing, with the help of this guide. To ensure this, I'm going to give suggestions based on personality types. If you want to give your bff who wear denim cut offs and listen to underground music something that's her cup of tea but you have no idea what, here's where I come in!

1. The Musical Type
This can mean anyone who either plays an instrument, sings, goes to countless shows and concerts (me), or has over 3000 iTunes songs (sadly, also me). These are general suggestions however you can customize it to their own favorite bands and artists!


1. Vinyls 2. Headphones 3. iHome  4. Band Tees

2. The Sporty Type
There's always your friends that are very athletic or like sports. They're always trying to blend athletic wear with street clothes. They're the ones that drag you to the gym. Show them you care about their interests!



3. The Techy Type
We all have those friends who know exactly what's new and next when it comes to tech. If they have the iPhone 5 and the iPhone 5c just came out, they're trading it in right away. Here's some ideas for them!



4. The Adventurous Type
Some of our loved ones just want an experience, simple materials things just won't cut it. So if it's an experience they want, give it to them!



 5. The Fashionable Type
This is where I satisfy all you readers who wanted a typical "gifts for him/her" section. These are all under 100$ and 100 % stylish to satisfy your friends who are aways on trend!

1. Kendall and Kylie Clothes 2. Killer Shades 3. Neff Headgear 4. Button-Ups

6. The Funny/ Random Type
We all know that there are a lot of useless but hilarious gifts out there. They always amuse me as they line the que in a store or catch my attention at the check-out. When it comes to online shopping, websites like Urban Outfitters have a 5$ section dedicated to these types. I found some gems!





Wow, that was tiring to make. However I did it to hopefully make your holiday shopping a little bit easier. I hope this helped. Happy shopping!

antioxidants

LIFESTYLE: THE BROKE COLLEGE GIRL'S GUIDE TO EATNG CLEAN

November 23, 2013

College can be one of the hardest times to stay on a healthy diet, however it may be one of the most important. College is a fish bowl of health risks, including stress that can strain a health lifestyle, over indulgence of alcohol, and the sheer fact of living in a dorm and sharing a bathroom with upwards of 40 other people is daunting for your immune system. Being overly stressed is linked to a bad immune system, and weight gain. Of course, college and stress adds to lack of sleep and it is proven to lead to weight gain as well.

 Some of us may not be as lucky to be student-athletes like me. When you run about 30 miles a week with a team, keeping the "freshman fifteen" is easier to keep off. However, whether your doing an organized sport or not it's important to stay active. Whether your active or not, however, eating key ingredients in each meal while you're living in  fish bowl of stress and germs will help you feel less, well, germ-y. Hopefully these tips help!
photo from http://www.dimellashaffer.com/

 PS - That's the dining and residence halls at my school! weee!
HOW TO NAVIGATE THE DINING HALL
If you ask most college students, depending on the college, they will give you very unflattering descriptions of the food that their dining halls serve. The food service at my school is "Chartwells," and students here have many creative, unflattering nicknames for the company. Students can go on forever about how to food is not fresh, undercooked, and there's no variety. However, this just required you to go outside of the box!

When I enter the hall, I usually survey the food of the day. I try to stick to pasta only once a week, because usually only white (not whole wheat) pasta is used because it's the easiest and cheapest to make. If the pizza or pasta has vegetables on it, like veggie lasagna or spinach-stuffed pasta of some sort, I'll go with that and some salad. However if there is nothing to my taste I have my go-to. Always have a go to. Usually, the grill that serves us hot dogs and burgers will have other options. I always ask for turkey burgers or grilled chicken. One of my favorite things to do is ask for two pieces of grilled chicken, make a salad at the salad bar and put the grilled chicken on top! Or, have grilled chicken and vegetables if there are any sauteed vegetables.
I have to say my all-time favorite go to is wraps! Here, we have wheat, white, sun-dried tomato or spinach wraps available. I choose any that's not white. In my wrap I like to put any type lean protein, be it hummus, tuna, turkey, or chicken and tons of vegetables. I love to put honey mustard on mine. I like to have these with either a salad, soup, grilled veggies, or if they have them, sweet potato fries! Yum!

As for drinks and desserts, I like to stick to getting desert once a week. One day they had apple crisp and I couldn't help myself. I usually like to stick with water or chocolate soy milk for a drink. one thing to remember when you survey the buffet at the dining hall - keep your meal balanced! Try to incorporate some sort of lean protein, vegetables and whole grain if you can. Think of your plate as an artist's palette.  
photo from yelp.com
CHEAP CLEAN SNACKS
I feel like I always have a black hole in my stomach. Maybe it's from being a runner, or just a college student in general. So, when it comes to snacks I always want to buy in bulk. My favorite part of Hannaford's or any grocery store is the dry food section! If you've missed it before, it's the section that looks like a candy store, but instead of flowing candy from the machines, it's granola, nuts, and dried fruit that flows from the machine. I just take my pick from the array, fill it up in a bag and check it out. So when it comes to snacks, try to stay within 100-200 calories. My favorite snacks are nuts, fruits, pita chips and hummus, or Special K chips. Any of those can be 3$ or under, however nuts can be expensive. That's why it's best to buy in bulk!

BEST FOOD FOR YOUR IMMUNE SYSTEM
As I mentioned before, living in a dorm is like living in a fishbowl of sickness. One great way to combat this, paired with enough rest, is adding these key ingredients to your diet.
1. BLUEBERRIES! Blueberries are very rich in antioxidants and vitamins, which combat illnesses very well. I love the naked "blue machine" smoothie. it contains 100% vitamin A and E. The "O-J" juice contains 5 whole oranges and 100% vitamin C.* Raspberries are just as good!
2. Vitamin C - The best way to get your vitamins is eat your colorful fruits. However you definitely need an increased intake of vitamin C. This is where a supplement would increase. I take a multivitamin gummy, however you could take a vitamin C supplement.
3. Coconuts and coconut oil. Not only is it yummy but it helps your immunity. Who knew?
4. Green Tea and Matcha Green tea is helpful for the same reason as blueberries, they antioxidants. There is a multitude of health benefits to green tea, including that it aids in weight loss and defying aging, however the antioxidant content helps you avoid a stuffy and runny nose. Matcha is a new food trend, I've noticed it on my queen Cassey Ho (Blogilates on YouTube)'s channel. Matcha is milled green tea powder. You can use it like you would whey protein, put it in smoothie and such. Matcha is used nowadays to flavor mochi and soba noodles, which are both deeeelicious! It contains the antioxidant EGCG which boosts the metabolism, that's why everyone is going matcha crazy.

I hope you all learned how to eat a bit healthier in college. I know it's hard to eat fresh, trust me. Food goes bad way too quickly in my dorm and I'm not allowed to have my car here, so I can't easily drive to the closest supermarket. However make do, just like in all situations!

*information from https://www.nakedjuice.com/our-products*

diy

STYLE STEAL

October 25, 2013


This is a classic 60's style Peter Pan collar dress. It is made from a smooth, silky synthetic fabric with lace accents at the collar and sleeves. It has puff sleeves, darts at the waist for a perfect fit and a long invisible zipper down the back for easy donning. I can make this dress in different color combinations and lengths, please inquire! Looks great with lace tights. Made-to-order by hand in New Orleans with a vintage pattern and recycled or new materials. *This item is available for wholesale order, please inquire at altarthelabel@gmail.com for details. Thanks for looking!

diy

Haute-O-Ween

October 23, 2013

Living in Salem, Massachusetts halloween has been on my mind since the beginning of September. Apparently, it's been on the fashion designers and brands' minds as well. This autumn has been a lovely three-way marriage of good timing: fall sweater weather kicking in, the trends of black and white and skulls and spikes, as well as Halloween actually starting. This marriage has produced the cutest "Halloweenie" fall trends. I found an adorable and affordable outfit exemplifying these trends!

This chic skull sweater is perfect for both winter and fall.  It's just like every trend this season: a mix of girly and edgy. You can find it at urbanog for $36.70!
I'm obsessed with these ghouly and girly bat leggings from Urban Outfitters for $19.99. They're almost ombre with the bats!

I know these are a little out of price range, but Doc Martens does the black bootie perfectly. These are on point to top this costume off for $120.
This is almost too cute to be spooky. This is a bone cuff from Karmaloop for $39.95. That is steep for costume jewelry, however it is from Karmaloop, a website that takes designer clothes and sells them at half of retail price. A gold yet eerie piece is perfect for topping off this outfit.

Coming from a girl that can't stand to watch any of the Paranormal Activity movies, I'm in love with this look and the trends. The irony of feeling cute in usually spooky things intrigues me. Maybe living in witch city has me biased, however it sells. Tis the season!

Listen:
Tonight's The Kind Of Night - Noah And The Whale
Another Is Waiting - The Avett Brothers



beauty

Style: FIRMOO 4 YEAR ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION!

September 04, 2013

Anniversaries can be some of the most joyous times of the year. However, this one will not be celebrated with your significant other, or at a job. This is Firmoo's 4-year anniversary!
If you've been an avid reader of my blog, you know that I've collaborated with Firmoo many a time, whether it be styling their oh-so-stylish glasses, or doing a giveaway for their products. Well, now we can all celebrate this emerging company's success and we can all benefit from their success.

How exactly can we all reap these benefits? By clicking here! 


The benefits I speak of, as you can see,is 40% off STOREWIDE! yes, that means the entire site, any frames are 40% off. There's something about fall that makes you want to put on some stylish specs to brace the chilly weather, right? Firmoo is your place to access this, just use the discount code 4YEARS at checkout. Hurry now to stock up for the fall, you only have until September 8th, then the party ends. Also, from September 2nd to September 8th, by sharing the page for their story and anniversary, you will be entered into their lucky draw. Will you have the luck of the draw?


I highly recommend clicking the link to check out their story, their styles, and most importantly check out a pair of glasses! Congratulations Firmoo, you've been great to work with and I hope to continue working with you. I wish you the best of success. Thanks for reading guys and check back often!


BTW - I'm typing this from my campus library! First day of classes look and dorm tour soon. Let me know if you want to see a college style series!

beauty

Lookalike: Crazy for Carly Aquillino

July 16, 2013

We all know and love her as the way she describes herself, "The girl with crazy colored hair covered in tattoos and the annoying voice." However, we wouldn't want her any other way. If you don't know who Carly Aquillino is, please tune into girl code on MTV. We love her SO much, we want to recreate her look today. After watching her on instagram and on TV, I found her style is similar to mine, a little edgy and cute. Mimicry is the highest form of flattery, it's girl code.

all pictures from instagram.com/carlyaquilino

1. The Outfit
As I said, thankfully Carly and I will have similar style. Maybe some of her charming and absolutely hilarious personality will rub off on me as well? Probably not! Anyway, for the outfit i'll be wearing my favorite purple and distressed high waisted shorts from Urban Outfitters, as well as my "Chill Out" croptop from "freshtops" one of my favorite online stores for crop tops! I figured I'd add a girly touch with the pink hair wrap and an edgy touch with my black crochet toms. I'm wearing my skull bracelet, and as usual my alex and ani bracelet with my pandora. I just left my hair down after it being in a bun. I figured it would be cute with the hair tie, and since she always has luscious curls I thought I'd attempt to recreate them. However, I can't recreate her firetruck chic hair, even though I'd love to. I still live under my mother's roof.

2. The Makeup
As you can see above, Carly is a natural beauty anyway. Her features blend together to make an effortlessly beautiful face. When makeup is used correctly, it can make those features pop. That's why the makeup will be natural with some big highlights. The face is easy, spread on your favorite bb cream and them highlight your cheeks with a bright pink blush. Fill in your brows so that they stand out with your favorite brow pencil. Then, secure them with either brow gel or clear mascara. Next, thickly your upper lash line with Revlon Colorstay eyeliner and wing it out. For Mascara, my favorite is either Benefit's NastyGal or the waterproof Falsies. Apply mascara to your top and bottom lashes. If you want, make your inner corners pop with white eyeliner. Lastly, apply the "Pink Punch" babylips by maybelline for a bright pink lip. 


3. Effortless Hair
I've seen Carly with her hair up and down, but with a color like that it doesn't really matter. Either way, have your favorite hair tie, mine is pink in the add drama that her hair color would normally add. If you're gonna bun it, make it big! If you're gonna have your hair down, make your curls big and luscious.


Aaaannd here's my attempt! If you tried, (which you totally should) then either comment below, message me on youtube, tweet me, or email me at ohaixnikay@gmail.com! Never be shy to contact me! :)




beauty

Beauty: Two Easy Beachy Hair Looks!

June 30, 2013




As I was spending my last week in the beautiful city of Honolulu, Hawaii, I was obviously in and out of the water. Wet, beachy hair can be some girls' worst nightmare, especially if beachy waves just don't happen for your hair. I share your pain, beachy waves just translates to frizzy locks for me. It's the struggle between wanting to dip in the beautiful aqua waters and go out after but not wanting to look like a wet dog. Here's two easy hairstyles that don't require any blow-drying so you can go from the beach and dinner in a reasonable amount of time.

1. The Queen's Crown
Don't fret, this look isn't as stuffy as it sounds. It's really simple. First, put your hair in a high ponytail. Then, either take a hair donut or the sock you use to make your sock bun, and bring it all the way to the root of your pony tail. Next, Try to spill your hair evenly over the donut, and secure that bun shape with another hair elastic. Braid the remaining hair and wrap it around your bun. Viola, your queen's crown! This is one of my new favorite looks. 
2. The Princess's Tiara
A headband can always be a quick fix for a bad hair day, but why not use your own resources? This looks will keep them wondering. Take a two to four inch piece of hair from behind your ear and braid it. Take this braid and put it over your head, and secure it on the opposite side of your head with a bobby pin.

Both of these looks work well with semi-wet hair, so you don't need to take the extra time to blow dry your hair. These looks are relaxed enough to go with a crop top and shorts but fancy enough to pair with a maxi dress and gladiators. Enjoy your summer, and look out for my Hawaii 2012 LookBook on my YouTube!

bare minerals

PROM 2013 LOOK!

May 26, 2013

Hellooo all! To all of you prom-goers out there, I hope you've had fun at yours, or if yours is yet to happen I hope you have a grand time! I'm lucky I'm blessed to get to go to two! One already happened, and mine is Thursday! I'm itching with excitement. Can it just be here now? Same with graduation, congrats to all my fellow graduates! I'm itching equally as much to walk across the boat (that's how we do it at Dracut) with my diploma in hand. It only means bigger and better things for me, and I hope to have blogging as a part of my future. What I'm doing here is just the building blocks of my career and I'm glad for all the continued support. Enough with the sappy stuff, down to business now. Here's my Prom 2013 tutorial on how to do my hair and makeup.


american eagle

HAUL: HERE COMES THE SUMMER

April 21, 2013

tribal pocket shirt from PacSun

I know I don't shut up about summer anticipation, but as a senior in high school with five weeks left, can you blame me? My shopping habits definitely show where my thought are. I posted a video on my channel with a spring/summer haul. I also did more shopping since then... (I smell a problem starting?... nahh...) Anyway, the other pieces I purchased since then are posted below the video. Watch the video for details, and check out the pictures. Hopefully this will inspire you to start, or finish your pre summer shopping!

Stores Mentioned:
PacSun
American Eagle
Claire's
Bare Essentials
Old Navy

VIDEEOOOOO


Here's an outfit described in the video. The top is the grey crop top with PacSun. I gushed over this, because I found the cut out skulls part so cool. It's paired with my new blood red shorts from American Eagle. I'm obsessed with how distressed they were. Wearing these with my black TopShop creepers (as below), or vans with a topknot or messy bun will make an adorable, easy summer day look!


I can't wait to dip into the water with these two Kira bathing suit tops from PacSun. The blue fringe Bandeau has so many adorable details. I'm obsessed with how on trend the nebula top is, and the design of it!

Okay, so now for the things I've picked up since then. They're all from Old Navy today. Old Navy definitely has the best deals around. Some of the clothes may seem basic, but I found some great pieces, and you can't beat the price! Here are two items I got for only $11.99 each!
I saw Cady Heron wearing army shorts and flip flops... just kidding! I know the camo trend has crept into summer, on tanks and tees so I thought these would be a great statement for any summer day. I'm in love with how structured they are and the zippers.

Finally, a pair of vans ish sneakers that are light enough to slip on. Great staples!

This dress was the splurge of the day for $25 but so worth it for beach days! 
Lastly, I'm  gushing over these highlighter yellow sandals. They match perfectly with the yellow accents in the dress above. I needed another pair of sandals, and decided to get these as opposed to boring white ones. Love my decision, I needed a pop of color.

Enjoy! :)




athletic

LIFESTYLE: HIT THE GYM WITHOUT LEAVING YOUR ROOM!

March 07, 2013



When most people think about getting active, they think it requires an expensive gym membership and equipment, or going out and playing a sport. However, all you really need is 10-20 minutes a day and your own body. Medicine balls, yoga mats, and weights are a nice plus, however to quote the one true principle of pilates, your body is your most important weight! If you’re in the mood to work out but don’t feel like facing the public, don’t sweat it! (Well, you will be sweating eventually.)

My room not only functions as my sleeping chambers and homework den, but a home gym as well! All you need is a TV/Computer (preferably a laptop) and your most important piece of equipment - your body! Here’s two ways to gym it up the Boo Radley way:

1. Blogilates: Youtube is a never ending beautiful black hole of helpful DIYs and tutorials. It’s almost made it possible to not have to actually buy anything or have professional training for anything. Like the amount of stars in our universe, I don’t think we will ever realize what an immense amount of DIY is available. My favorite star in that universe is Cassie Ho of Youtube.com/blogilates. She is a ceritified pilates instructor. Her channel is regularly updated with 10-15 minutes workouts of either Pilates, “HIIT” (cardio), HIITilates (A mixture of both), or specialized lower body, abs, or even prom body workouts, and even diet tips! The most you’ll need is a yoga mat and two hand weights, but that’s workout specific. I am obsessed with her and her workouts, she makes it easy to look great without a gym subscription - just a subscription to her channel. As she always says, “I’m gonna kill you, and you’re gonna love it!”

2. XFINITY On Demand: In the same respect, the Sports & Fitness Section’s “Fitness Workouts” of XFINITY On Demand is a black hole of DIY Workouts. However, the selection is much larger. You can choose from headings such as “10 minute Workouts”, “Abs”, “Cardio”, “Total Body,” and more. The workouts range from 10 minutes to an hour, depending on how much time you have. No matter what, there’s always time for a workout!

3.  Simple workouts that you can do in your room or anywhere: Whether you’re traveling or in the mood to try something out, you can simply google easy at home workouts and many come up. 


Here’s one from fitsugar.com:

That definitely sounds like I need to try it!

Weight loss is 80% diet and 20% exercise, so don’t forget about what you’re eating! Major diet changes aren’t necessary, but little changes can make a big difference. For example, switching your snacks from chips or candy to delicious greek yogurt or a pack of nuts will give you your protein for the day. Easy substitutions can be worked in to your daily diet without devastating you. Also, drinking a lot of water rids your body of toxins, keeps you hydrated and promotes overall health and weight loss.