ask G, part 2.

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1. Makeup tutorial.. You look flawless day or night… So maybe some tips on what you do or recommend with your routine for either? – Dana

Wow, thanks Dana! Honestly, I’m not super talented or experimental in the makeup department, and my routine has been the same for as long as I can remember. If you check out my beauty category you’ll find a handful of posts I’ve done in the past about makeup reviews, my routine, etc. But to sum it all up, here are my top makeup tips!

  • in general, but especially for daytime, less is more.
  • I know this isn’t for everyone, but I try not to use foundation. My face feels better and my skin happier when I stick to some concealer under my eyes and on my nose, plus some blush or bronzer.
  • use eye shadows that compliment your eye color. For my blue eyes, that means I stick primarily to shades of brown (for liner, mascara, and shadow).
  • my go-to look for nighttime is smokey eyes. To do that I get a thin eye shadow brush and apply a dark drown shadow to my eyes as if it were an eyeliner.
  • if I want to have some fun or be a little more experimental with my look, I do so by changing my lip color rather than my eyes. Would rather not mess with a good thing, and a good shade of lipstick goes a long way!

And some of my favorite makeup products that I always use are:

  • mascara: Rimmel Lash Accelerator
  • bronzer: Benefit Hoola
  • concealer: Pur Disappearing Act
  • face: Almay Smart Shade Mousse
  • eye shadow: Urban Decay Naked and Almay Intense i-Color (bold nudes)
  • eye liner: I try new ones all the time, but always stick to browns
  • lip balm: Maybelline Baby Lips
  • lipstick: NARS Schiap (bright pink), Sephora Rouge (red), and Loreal Colour Riche Mering Mauve (light pink)

(FYI, most of those products can be found on GML’s Amazon store!)

2. How do you change your life when you realize it’s not working anymore? I’m 27, very unhappy, in a job I don’t like but more importantly I don’t like the relationship I have with myself. – Anonymous

I’m so sorry to hear that :( I’m definitely not an expert and can only speak from times that I’ve felt I wanted to change something about my own life. For me, the most important thing was having someone to talk to about it. Simply letting our what I was feeling was the first step in making a change. I confided in people close to me so I knew that I could trust them, and they knew me well enough to give sound advice.

As far as your job goes, have you tried looking into other options? It can’t hurt to just see what opportunities are out there and maybe sending your resume out. Changing jobs can be a really scary and difficult thing to do, so it’s okay to take your time and really think it through. But when I was in that position with a previous job, I came to the conclusion that my quality of life was more important.

Lastly, I would suggest you start journaling, if you don’t already do so. Journaling as been pivotal in my own life because it helps me pinpoint what areas of my life I’m happy with, which ones I’m not happy with, what I want to change, and how I plan on doing so. Simply starting to write down your feelings can really help bring clarity to your situation.

3. Do you still use fresh diet? – Anonymous

I wish! I can’t afford it right now.

4. Where do you get your hair cut? – Anonymous

Nowhere. I have my mom or a friend trim it for me about once a month.

5. How long did it take you to build a blog audience? Would you say that is one of the harder parts of blogging? –Andrea

Yes – absolutely. The difficult part isn’t just building the audience, but also keeping yourself motivated to keep up with it even when barely anyone is reading. When I first started blogging I was constantly asking myself “why am I doing this again?” I decided to stick with it no matter what, and it paid off after about 6 months.

I would say that the most important things for building a blog audience are 1) consistency 2) relatability and 3) aim to make friends, not just readers.

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Please note that I’m *not* an expert and that this advice is based solely on my own experiences and thoughts.

Have a question? Feel free to leave it as a comment on this post or ask me anonymously.

the fresh diet.

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Since moving to New York, my eating habits have taken nearly a 180 from when I used to live in Pennsylvania. Due to factors like transportation, cost of groceries, spontaneous dinners out, and primarily just having a more on-the-go lifestyle, I don’t cook meals from home nearly as much as I’d like to.

This used to bother me because I really do love to cook! But, at the same time, I’m so happy with how my career and social life keeps me busy. For a while I was making it work by buying a lot of frozen meals, but – as I’m sure you can imagine – they get pretty old after a while.

Last week I had an “aha” moment when I remembered how many great meal delivery options there are in New York. Back in June I tried Chefs Diet for a week, and it was right up my alley, so I knew a program like that would be perfect for where I’m at in life right now.

Enter: The Fresh Diet.

From the start, the customer service at The Fresh Diet has been great. The representative I spoke with helped me review my goals, set up my profile, answered my delivery questions, etc.

So far, what I really love the most about The Fresh Diet is the customization options. When I log in as a member on their website, I can put foods I don’t care for on on a “dislike” list. Even better is that I can choose from 4-5 options for every one of my meals and snacks for each day. Not to mention there is so much variety to choose from with the meals. I love knowing I can switch up my menu from day to day.

What’s also great about The Fresh Diet is its convenience. There’s the obvious convenience of having my meals delivered to my door every day, but there’s also the fact that The Fresh Diet (weekly plan) is available in all 50 states (with their daily plan available in and around most major cities). The Fresh Diet is also the least expensive out of the “higher end” meal delivery services I’ve come across, with deals and discounts offered often.

Each morning I open my door to a cooler full of my freshly-made meals, complete with a menu.

So far so good, right? The thing about a meal delivery service, though, is that it really all comes down to the food. Thankfully, The Fresh Diet has not disappointed.

Long story short: the food. is. awesome. It actually feels like I’m eating meals prepared by a personal chef for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

(Cornmeal Dusted Pork Loin with Balsamic Poached Raisins, Spiced Tomato Saffron Couscous, Water Chestnut and Brussels Sprout Puree)

My only concern about the meals when I first saw them was that the portions were pretty small – a lot less than what I usually eat. But after eating each meal, I found that they were actually more filling than what I normally eat (which is probably thanks to their 30/40/30 nutrition concept). Not to mention I found myself eating more slowly because the food is just so satisfying.

Right now I’m on day 3 of The Fresh Diet, and I’m particularly excited about what’s on today’s menu (hellooo lasagna). I’ll be sure to share my review of more of the meals throughout the 14 days!

Please note: I was not compensated for this review. The Fresh Diet provided me with a discounted rate for 14 days of their program.

Have you ever tried a meal delivery program? Is it something that would benefit your lifestyle?

chefs diet review.

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From Monday through Friday of last week, I received three meals and two snacks each day from Chefs Diet.

A representative for the New York-based meal delivery service reached out to me a few weeks ago and asked if I’d like to do a trial of Chefs Diet, and I instantly jumped on the opportunity. I mean, free healthy food delivered to my door for a week? Don’t mind if I do.

Each morning I woke up to find that a big cooler bag full of freshly-made meals was sitting right outside my apartment door. The package came complete with a menu describing the meals and how to prepare them (which was generally just to serve chilled or heat in the microwave). There was also the added touch of the weather forecast for the day, which is attention to detail that I really appreciated.

To be honest, my biggest worry was that it wouldn’t be enough food. I tend to eat a lot (and often) so thinking that I was receiving “diet” food was my main concern. But - not only did I have enough food that left me feeling full all throughout the day – the food was seriously delicious! Each meal was better than the last, and it was sometimes difficult to even imagine that it was healthy. Some of the many meals:

Other than how delicious and filling the food was, Chefs Diet was incredibly convenient. As a busy 25-year-old trying to manage a full-time job, launch a company, do volunteer work, and squeezing in a social life…well, let’s just say that I definitely benefitted from having delicious meals delivered right to my front door every day.

What I’d consider the only downside of Chefs Diet is the cost, which is about $43/day. If you’re like most New Yorkers who eat out almost every meal, then this might actually be a bargain. When compared to a normal grocery trip and cooking from home, though, it’s definitely more pricey. But – to me - if you’re in the New York area and are looking to lose weight, or have considered using a meal delivery service for any reason at all, then I’d 100% recommend Chefs Diet.

The final verdict: I LOVED Chefs Diet. For the services they provided, I actually couldn’t speak any more highly of it.

You can learn more about Chefs Diet by visiting their website.

Have you ever tried a meal delivery service? What are your thoughts on them?