Turn Any Light into the Spotlight!

Posted on May 20, 2013 by Julie @ ROJ Running

Last week I had the great pleasure of attending the “Turn Any Light into the Spotlight” event at Charles Scott Salon in Rocky River. The event was hosted by ELLE magazine and Wella Professionals. I learned about it from a new Blogger outreach service called Canopi. In exchange for attending and writing about my experience I was treated to a night of pampering.

I drove about an hour to my location, where I was relieved of the annoyance of driving by valet service! Once inside I walked to the reception area, looking around and being amazed at the beauty. Well beauty except for the ELLE cover featuring one of my top 5 celebs I wish would just go away and not come back. Haha. (Not being a hater, not wishing anything bad upon her, just don’t care for anything about her).

Everything was black & white with pops of color. Even those working the event were wearing little black dresses with bold heels. There was a lovely sitting area, the nail salon section and the various hair stations. I would learn the spa and makeup area were toward the back and left. It was a little time lord science with how expansive the inside was compared to what you might expect.

After entering, I was offered champagne with strawberries, but asked for a bottle of water instead. I was brought tap water and after confirming 3 times it was “plain water” I tried it and told one of the ladies it tasted “funny”. She told me it probably had strawberries and other fruit in the serving bowl. Trying not to be too irritated I explained I have allergies and it would be great if I could have the bottle of water. They of course apologized and I wasn’t too upset, but the fact remains I asked if it was normal water, they said it was normal water, it wasn’t normal water. The rest of the night I was too nervous to trust the food, and for sure missed out on some wonderful treats! I know from other people there was a desert area, but I missed it completely!

Soon I felt better as I was being treated to a fabulous night. My hair dresser curled my hair and showed me a fun new cone type tool. I really liked the wave effect it had on me, and wish I had some type of spray or gel to hold it. All their products were scented so I had to pass.

Once my hair was done I decided to skip makeup and wondered around talking to various blogger friends. I saw Julie and Julie. Met a girl named Katie and saw a girl I already knew named Katie…who had a very special 25th birthday on Friday! I saw Kimberly, but didn’t get to talk with her and there was also Crystal who I always love talking with because she has one of the warmest smiles I have ever seen. Oh and I saw Jess too, a girl I met my first year of running and have only seen via social media the past several years.

Other highlights included meeting the owner of the salon, professional pictures with a backdrop (one of my weaknesses), and a live DJ. I joked around with my blogger girls that I should start a new blog called “Don’t let the Coach purse fool you: I don’t belong here”. The thing is though, no one was making me feel this way except myself. The staff was warm and welcoming, the attendees were warm and welcoming, not a single judgment was passed, except by me on myself. OK and by me when I saw “Color for your hair down there”.

Tell me that isn’t funny to you! Anyway….after I calmed down and enjoyed the experience I opted to have my nails done. I have only had my nails done professionally one other time. When I went to Kansas City to see my friend Jen last January. I blame it on trail running, but really I miss having my nails look nice. I used to spend HOURS in middle school and high school painting them and decorating them with toothpicks and fun design. I took to Twitter and Instagram for some help in picking a color and settled on yellow. It’s been fun having bold, bright, spring time nails. It was certainly a step outside of my comfort zone and I’m glad I went for it.

Wella and ELLE also gave us nice little gift bags when we left featuring samples of their hair products, a water bottle and the latest ELLE issue. Canopi will also be sending a special gift to my house. I’m excited to see what other goodies I will receive!

It was a lovely evening and I’m glad I went. I know this isn’t really a fashion blog, but I’m still a female and for me embracing being a female approaching 30 sometimes involves pampering and looking pretty. Thank you ELLE, Wella and Canopi for the experiece. Ladies (or men) in the Cleveland area you should check out Charles Scott Salon & Spa (two locations) and Bloggers you should look into hooking up with Canopi for the inside scoop to your local events. I leave you with this picture, which I found on Q104′s site (a local radio station) following a link to their review. Obviously, I wasn’t tagged in it, but I’m still excited to be in an image used by someone/something important.

Make sure you check Twitter and Instagram with @WellaHairUSA or the tag #ELLEMagazine for other moments from the event.

Friday Food : Cherry Limeade LaCroix

Posted on May 17, 2013 by Julie @ ROJ Running

Most of you know I am obsessed with Cherry Limeade. You may have figured this out when I made Cherry Limeade Sugar Cookies this Christmas. Well now I have done it again with Cherry Limeade LaCroix! Well, technically it’s just Cherry Limeade water, but have you tried LaCroix water? It’s a sparkling water, but it doesn’t have any artificial colors or sugars. And I mean no sugars at all, not even tricky natural sugars like stevia that still sucks. Haha. I love it because the bubbles and can trick my mind into thinking we’re drinking pop, but we arrrreeeennn’t! They even have their own recipes section.

Cherry Limeade LaCroix

What you need:

1 cup cherries (I used frozen, pitted)
1 can LaCroix lime water

Directions:

Combine cherries and water in a blender, pulse or blend to desired consistenc

Comments:

Okay I admit this is a rather “easy” recipe, but for all the people flocking to homemade “-ades” this tastes just as great and doesn’t have any sugar in it other than the sweetness in the cherries. I also see all the fast food places like McDonald’s or Dunkin’ Doughnuts advertising their frozen drinks. This makes my teeth and stomach hurt when I think of all the weird stuff tossed into those mixes. Try this instead and throw in ice cubes. You’ll have your own frozen delight in just minutes and at a fraction of the cost, both to your wallet and your health.

LaCroix comes in a lot of different flavors including lemon, lime, coconut, raspberry, orange, and just original “water” type flavor. If you don’t get a flavored version consider adding lime or lemon juice extract to make your -ade?.

How about all of you. Do you like flavored water? How do you trick yourself when you need a treat? Maybe you don’t need to trick yourself at all?

Oh and for those wondering, I’m not connected to La Croix, I just like ‘em!

Under Armour What’s Beautiful 3.0

Posted on May 15, 2013 by Julie @ ROJ Running

Do you remember last spring when I set out to discover how I define What’s Beautiful? Over the 8-10 weeks of the first round of Under Armour’s campaign I fell in love with a brand’s message and rediscovered what it was for me to be a female athlete. We shared smiles and tears and fears via pictures and videos and I almost made it to 100 pushups! When I started I could barely do 3! Well Under Armour is at it again!

When round 2 popped up I was not in a place to compete due to health issues, so when I saw there was going to be a round 3, I was over the moon! And thanks to FitFluential I also have the opportunity to promote the movement on a deeper level. You can find my profile here or make your own. Side note: Yes, there are a lot of us with FF promoting this event, if you feel in any way this makes our posts less truthful I may suggest following my friend Julie of Am I There Yet? She is also participating and is not affiliated with anyone other than herself.

In addition to liking their clothing. I am SERIOUSLY obsessed with my tech tee. I also support their message. A few weeks ago I was a the Under Armour outlet near my house and read a poster about the new #IWill tags floating around. Did you know UA was founded in 1996? By a 23-year old! The women’s line debuted in 2003, the same year they began the motto “Protect this house”. 10 years later a new generation of athletes have emerged and they are responding by saying “I Will”. I will protect this house. I will achieve new goals. I will support others.

Under Armour continues to redefine what it is to be a female athlete and to reach out to all of you….all of us…to tell them what it means for us and what it means to be beautiful. Is it beautiful to run a new marathon PR? Is it beautiful to perfect your lotus pose? Maybe you want to became a coach for an organization like Girls on the Run? Or you simply want to step up and be a part of a nationwide movement of support and happiness. If so I invite you to join me in the round 3 campaign.

If you visit the website you’ll see all the details, but I know many of you are asking, what IS the deal with all of this? Essentially it is a competition. Over the 8 week period you submit various videos or pictures to your profile to chronicle your journey toward your goal. Some of what you submit is based upon prearranged “challenges” such as “From the Mountain Top” when you first declare your goal.

They now have a challenge archive where you can track the current options you’ve completed, as well as pick previous challenges if they appeal to you. Or for me, it is nice to look back on what I uploaded last year and try to improve on my progress. After the contest period is up 10 finalists will be announced. Of those 10 finalists 3 will be selected as ultimate winners. What do they win? Well, for the website itself:

Three winners will be flown to Costa Rica to attend a four-day yoga and surf retreat. In addition to the lessons led by world-class instructors, winners will be treated to transformative massages, spa treatments and healthy, locally-sourced meals prepared by personal chefs. All while staying in plush accommodations looking out at the ocean. A retreat worthy of the women who earn it.

The first time I did this promotion I know I was way too caught up in the idea of winning. I was jealous over my friends completing their goals. I stayed up at night thinking of ways to make my images or videos better. There was a side of me turning ugly all for the sake of recognition. This time around I honestly am not even thinking of the prize. It isn’t I don’t think I’m “good enough” to win, but I know I lost so much of the fun of what’s been put together when I let the green eyed monster shine through.

Under Armour’s What’s Beautiful campaign should be about coming together as a community and supporting each other to try new things and push to new limits. Within safety and reason. UA must have recognized this because in this round of fun there is a feature to make TEAMS! In addition to your own goal(s) you can join in with friends or strangers and create your own challenges and support. I know I’ve already joined teams to support trail running, yoga, and new PRs. My personal goal happens to be a new PR in every category of running, but I love yoga so why not also be a part of that team? It’s all about having fun and growing!

I also need this campaign for my mental and emotional health. We all know I’ve been struggling. A LOT. And there are still good days and bad. There may be for a while. There may be forever. I want things to embrace on the good days though and this is one of those things.

I do hope you’ll join in again as we all move forward in this campaign You’ll probably be hearing a lot about it over the next few weeks.

For those who follow all various social media you can find this campaign on Twitter with the tag #WhatsBeautiful or #IWILL. You can also follow Under Armour or Under Armour Women on Twitter or visit/like their Facebook page.