Why I've been MIA: Fitness, D3, Murder Presents, Crafting

I've been MIA this last week from virtual reality..

And here's why.

Last week, Brian, some friends and I decided that we were going to get in shape to do the Tough Mudder next September (2013).

What is the Tough Mudder?
Per their website:
"Tough Mudder events are hardcore 10-12 mile obstacle courses designed by British Special Forces to test your all around strength, stamina, mental grit, and camaraderie. With the most innovative courses, half a million inspiring participants, and more than $3 million raised for the Wounded Warrior Project, Tough Mudder is the premier adventure challenge series in the world."

A great video that highlights the Tough Mudder Philosophy:

So... what the heck? Why are we doing this?
We want to challenge our minds and bodies. We think marathons are boring, unfortunately. I personally just do not care for running 26+ miles. I think it's wonderful that many people partake in marathons and admire them all, but it's just not my thing.

This is our attempt to make a long term, positive change for our health. Strength and endurance will be built over time by eating well, being active, and taking good care of our bodies, including getting enough sleep. The Tough Mudder is going to be a great way for team members to bond and hold each other accountable for long term goals.

The awesome part about Tough Mudder that I love: no man left behind. You can't finish until your whole team finishes. And the whole point of this is camaraderie, so it promotes teamwork. It's not a race. Sure, it's tough and extremely physically/mentally exhausting, but that's just one part of the whole point of this thing. People from different teams are also encouraged to help each other.

We're taking baby steps. None of us are in poor shape, per se, but we have seen better days in college. Working 8-9 hrs/day in front of a computer does nothing for our health. The terrifying thing is that it's getting easier and easier for me to sit for longer periods of time. It's quite disgusting. I have caught myself sitting 3 hours with no break and... it's not a good thing.

And it really doesn't help that Diablo 3 is one of our main sources of entertainment this last 2 weeks :). Check out  my new setup! I bought a new monitor and am using a desktop for gaming ... eventually I'll upgrade it and use it for everything ... eventually.

It's hard to play games with Loki decides to lay in front of the keyboard...

(Well, it's hard to do anything when he does that, and he loves to do that...)

Oh, and here's our whole setup in the office room... haha. 

We do spend a lot of our free time in this room...

Anyway, back to Tough Mudding.

By making this commitment as a group, we are going to keep each other motivated. We're slowly changing our diet to include more whole/organic foods. It's not going to be a strict diet; it's going to be one that will properly fuel our body for the training we're putting it through. All junk in moderate amounts. No one plan to deprive themselves.

My personal goal is to get leaner and lose some body fat. Get some buff arms. I'm not worried about gaining bulk--  I don't have enough testosterone.

I'll probably occasionally post work outs, meals here just in case anyone is interested in what we're up to :)

My coworker and I area also joining 24 hour fitness. We tried it out with their 3 day free pass Mon - Wed-- we're going to be taking the classes, not using the equipment. The idea is that I take these classes, and along with the Tough Mudder recommended workouts, I will get in super shape.

Has anyone here done a Tough Mudder and have training advice or tips? Would love to hear your thoughts.

Asides from gaming, I've also made a few creations.

I'm bringing back my poly clay rose studs due to high demand. I found pearlescent Fimo clay and mixed that with a red and fuchsia to get this pearly baby pink:

And the Sailor Jupiter studs! Back by popular demand :)


I also found Swarovski flatback butterflies, so wanted to make studs with them as there are no holes through the beads. They're cute!

These Disco Ball earrings have been in the works a while, but I'd always forget to order the materials when I place orders with my supplier. I finally remembered:

Super shiny checkerboard round beads!

I launched a series of Chevron necklaces-- inspired by the geometric trend that's going on right now.
Instead of using beads, I went ahead and make my own from polymer clay. Took a while to get the shape right. I think I will do a tutorial on these when I have the time. You are free to request other combinations if you'd like!

A mint and gold:

A pearl pink and gold:

This granite one is a little different. It's very modern and chic; it looks like you're wearing granite. It's poly clay mixed with some black and silver speckles. Very cool :)


Some Floral hoop earrings:

I've been on wire wrapped loops binge lately.. 

The redesign of the Sugar Scrub jars have been in the works for months now. Finally found a jar I like, fits a good amount of product and is easy to ship! Enjoy the new Vanilla Latte scrub I have available as well:

I love. love. love. the way this smells. I'm addicted to making my own Vanilla Lattes, and this makes me really want one. ( I'm.. actually sipping one right now... haha)

And the Matcha Mint, which people have grown to really enjoy:

Last but not least, I leave you tonight with photos of Achilles' (our housemate's) murder presents for us left over the last two days:

He actually had 2 today, but I'm not posting the other one because it's purely guts.
One of the ones pictured above was left over from yesterday's presents. Yesterday, he also brought back a dead, but fully intact rat-- he left it for us! But we didn't touch it, and a neighbor's cat came by and took it off our hands, hahah.

Achilles has been quite the hunter lately.

Have a wonderful and safe long weekend, everyone!
I have a 15% coupon going on this weekend with code: heqimday2012

Lisa

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heqicrystaldesigns@hotmail.com

Enjoy!

New Creations + Go see Avengers now.

Last week I made some leather fringe (in the shape of leaves) earrings! These are becoming more popular and I wanted to try my hand at working with leather:

 

They're pretty cool looking. Mixed media always produces interesting results.

They wear like such:

Visit the page for the Modern Pocahontas HERE.

I brought back an older design that I had only 1 set of... in a different colors this time:

See the Double Helix HERE.

And many of you have been asking for studs, so these two were made for you:

I love the new Large Aquamarine Butterfly studs:

No Holes-- foiled backing for extra shine. Really stunning. See them HERE.

Lastly, little light rose pear drops in matte, brushed heart studs

 

Lastly, I generally don't gush about movies I've seen, but..

... 

....

...

.....

If you haven't seen the Avengers in theaters, go see it NOW.

It was surprisingly well done. I'm a huge Iron Man fan (what can I say, tech gets me excited), and was very pleased at how well they allotted each of the main characters (and they seemed all to be main characters in their own way) plenty of screen time. Clever lines, great action and little quirks really made this movie amazing. Well done. One of the better movies I have seen in a while.

Anyway, I must be off. Enjoy the new Gift with Purchase on the He Qi Website!

Lisa

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FACEBOOK

heqicrystaldesigns@hotmail.com

DIY: Rose Water Tutorial

Hi All--

I don't do tutorials very often, but I vow to do more! Today I'm going to walk through how to make rose water.

What is Rose Water?
Rose Water is the aqueous solution, or hydrosol of essential oils obtained through steam distillation of rose petals. It will smell and be "flavored" like roses. Rose water is a revered skin care product, often used as a toner and in facial care products. Rose water can also be ingested; adding sugar to the rose water and creating rose flavored simple syrups allows for a myriad of uses, including adding to teas to make rose flavored tea.

I'm personally not a fan of eating rose. I don't care much for the floral flavor. However, in the last few years. I've developed a fondness for its scent. My plan for the rose water was to experiment and use it as a part of a facial cream I'm trying to develop... and maybe drink a teeny bit because I'm curious about fresh rose water. Else, I would use it as a facial skin toner as well!

My backyard is full of rose bushes: red/yellow/white

I looked at these and thought it would truly be silly for me to not utilize any of this amazing stuff.
So I picked some!

 

And this is one medium sized mixing bowl worth of roses. I would say about 20 roses. Try to get roses that aren't fully in bloom-- younger petals = better.

To make the rose water, you will need: A big pot, with a little ramekin or other small heat safe bowl to place in the middle of the pot. Fill the pot with water almost up to the top of the ramekin/bowl. You may also use a brick.

Take the rose petals off your roses, and scatter generously on top of the water portion like this:

I used almost all my roses. If you gathered too many roses, no worries. As you boil the mixture, you can add more petals over time.

Now, set a stainless steel bowl on top of the ramekin in the center of the pot:

Put your lid on the pot, UPSIDE DOWN. This allows for steam to collect and drip into the bowl nicely. 

                     

Turn your stove on to at least medium or medium high, and allow your concoction to boil.

When the water has started to boil, add either cold water or ice cubes to the top of the upside down lid; this will help steam collect and drip most efficiently; the drippings = your rose water! These drippings are accumulated in your stainless steel bowl you set down on your ramekin.

Now as your mixture continues to boil, the ice will melt, or the cold water will get warm. You will have to babysit this and continuously replace the ice cubes/cold water as it warms! Yes, this is a tedious process.
I like to scoop the water off of the upside down lid with a large shallow spoon or even little cup.

Discard the water you scoop from the lid.

Keep your mixture boiling, and keep replacing the ice on the lid-- do this for at least1.5 hours! About an hour in, you can CAREFULLY lift up the lid a TINY bit and toss more rose petals in as you desire. Keep going. Repeat, repeat, repeat. Please DO NOT walk away from this at any point since it's pretty dangerous to leave hot water exposed on your upside down lid.

After about 1.5-2 hours, I stopped the process and peaked at my loot-- check out all this heavenly smelling rose water!

                     

I got about 2 cups of rose water. Enough for a few batches of facial cream. 

I completely expected the scent to be overwhelming. I suffer from extreme allergies so I tend to shy away from strong floral scents... generally because flowers = insta-congestion. Surprisingly, during this process, the scent was mild and never very strong-- but very present.. and pleasant!

And this was what was left, after all that boiling:

I will talk about making facial creams some other time. If you're not using the rose water right away, store in a clean, airtight container and put it in the fridge.

If you end up making rose water, document your process and tell me what you do with it!

Hope you've enjoyed! Toodles!

Lisa

www.shopheqi.com