It upsets me that companies can falsely advertise and get away with it. This especially upsets me when I see beauty advertisements for skin and hair products.

If your anti-wrinkle cream helps the appearance of wrinkles, stop digitally erasing the model’s natural facial lines. If your mascara gives you the fullest lashes known to man, stop adding false lashes. If your shampoo adds strength and shine, stop putting insane lighting and digital effects in the model’s locks.

To me, this is lying. It’s wrong. Personally, I check consumer reviews on a product at places like Makeup Alley before buying it and do my best not to be swayed by advertisments. I wish women wouldn’t put up with the type of advertising being done. Companies put out what we want to see. We have more power than we realize. But I guess too many people would still rather believe in seeing the impossibly full lashes, impossibly shiny hair, and flawless face.

Make Up Forever recently debuted their first ever unretouched ad. I think it’s a step in the right direction.

What’s your opinion on beauty advertisements?

Image Sources: 1, 2

Back when I lived with my parents, organizing my shoes was not much of an issue. We had a huge shoe rack in the garage we would all place out shoes on while going in and out of the house.

When I moved out, I had a few options to think about. In the end I went with this small shoe rack from Target. It limits me, which is a good thing, but still fits perfectly in the space I have available. In this case, the best space I had to put the shoe rack is on top of our built-in drawer system.

I generally organize them by type of shoe, so you’ll notice they’re grouped in categories. I find that I’m looking for category when I’m reaching for a shoe. For example, if I’m wearing my longer pants I’ll reach for a heel. If I’m going to hang out with friends, I’ll reach for a sandal. These are all the shoes I own, which total to 16 pairs. Did you know the average woman owns 17 pairs of shoes? I was shocked and figured I didn’t have nearly that many. Turns out… I’m pretty darn close! I plan on weeding through these by replacing old pairs and seeing which I rarely wear. As always, I find less is more.

How do you organize your shoes? How many pairs do you own?

This post was inspired by Benita. I love being nosy when it comes to others — What’s in your purse? What’s on your vanity? What’s your day like? So I’ve decided to answer that last question and take you through my weekday, which has changed dramatically over the past few months since I went from freelancing to working full-time at a web development company.

7:00 am:

• Jump out of bed at the first high note of Josh’s crazy alarm clock while he deals with it.
• Personal note: I really do literally jump out of bed the second it rings. I loathe the sounds of alarm clocks. I previously used a progressive zen alarm app (light, natural sounds) but Josh won’t get up to those. I slam my hands to my ears every morning — I hate alarm clocks!
• Shuffle to the bathroom and probably trip over one of the dogs.
• Feed the dogs.

7:40 am:

• Eat while hovering over my iPad to check emails, Facebook, and Twitter.
• Grab a nutrition bar and my favorite coffee mug.
• Kiss Josh goodbye.

Sometimes we can try to be as productive as possible, but we have problems getting up in the morning and staying enthusiastic throughout the day. An easy way to combat this problem is getting enough sleep! But I’ve noticed a lot of people don’t know how or think they’re stuck when they just need to take action. Here are my tips.

1. Cut the Caffeine

How much do you drink? Drinking 4 cups or more of coffee a day can lead to problems with your body, along with this big one — insomnia (1).  Now you may think… “I definitely don’t drink four cups a day!” We’re talking units and not physical cups. Your mug could hold multiple cups of coffee. A medium size coffee at Starbucks or McDonald’s could, too.

Caffeine is a drug and it is addictive. People react to it differently. For me, a cup of bold coffee from the gas station gives me tremors and heart palpitations. I’ve even had it trigger major anxiety. But not everyone reacts the way I do.

Make a change. If you start drinking decaf and caffeine-free sodas you’ll eventually start realizing that you can fall asleep faster and wake up more well rested. I did! You may even find your body going through withdrawal after cutting it out, which should make you realize how much you were actually dependent on it.

2. Count the Hours

How long do you sleep? Doctors recommend getting between 6 and 10 hours of sleep each night. This number varies from person to person. Some are fine running on six to seven hours of sleep each night, others (like me) need eight to nine or else we pass out during the afternoon because we’re exhausted. You need to find out what your number is and stick to it. Do something we often forget — listen to your body!

Only need five hours? Your body needs more than that to properly repair itself and keep itself running in top shape. It’s not true that you can make up for lost sleep. A short nap can certainly help but research has shown that uninterrupted sleep is the best type of sleep to develop cerebral skills such as memory retention (2). Give your body time to do what it was created to do! Plus, if you’re taking long or multiple naps each day you will have a hard time falling asleep when you should.

3. Note the Time

Your body has an internal clock. If you’re always going to bed and waking up at different times, you’re confusing your body. It’s best to go to bed and wake up at the same time every day. Granted, I sleep in an hour or two on the weekends… But it’s best not to, or at least keep it as close to “normal” as possible. This helps when it comes to your internal clock. Your body will eventually get tired at the same time every day and wake up automatically. You’ll feel a lot better and probably get more sleep!

4. Limit Distractions

Try to relax before bed. Josh is a big “tv in bed” fan and I’m not at all. But I do put up with it. I’d recommend not watching TV at all at least an hour before bed. It stimulates your mind and makes it harder to fall asleep. Same goes with playing a fast-paced game or reading an exciting book. Try to keep it on low key activities to help ease you into sleep.

5. Don’t Snooze

The snooze button is not your friend. Yes, that’s right. The sleep you’re getting (and interrupting) every five to ten minutes by hitting the snooze isn’t doing anything for you. In fact, it’s probably making it even harder for you to actually get up.

Cut back slowly. If you hit the snooze button five times each morning, cut it back to four times for two weeks. Then three times the next two weeks. Eventually you should be getting up right away. Still can’t do it? Look at this app — it sends out an embarrassing tweet every time you hit the snooze button as a punishment. Now that’s worth getting up over!

Image sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5