All Posts By

Mandi Wasmer

Design Your Life

How to Look Gorgeous Instantly

02/08/2010

Do you want to catch the eye of everyone around you? Do you want to appear happy and healthy (even if you’re plagued with the flu and totally bummed out)? Do you want to look absolutely gorgeous without makeup, without a chic outfit, and without any effort? Well here’s how!

The first step to instant beauty is CONFIDENCE. Even if you aren’t confident in yourself, looking confident makes you feel confident. At the beginning of each day, take a minute to pause and say to yourself, “This is MY day. I can do whatever I want with this day, and I’m going to succeed.” Starting each morning this way will give you a confidence boost that will last all day long, and can give you the spring in your step needed to appear confident to the outside world.

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Another thing that makes you look instantly gorgeous is SMILING. Make it a goal to smile every single day. Smile at strangers. Smile at friends. Smile at family. Even smile at your pets! Smiling makes you seem approachable, down to earth, and friendly. And nothing is more attractive than that! Also, simply smiling makes you happy. Smiling also leads to laughing, which can make you even happier.

A third key that can instantly improve your appearance is POSTURE. People that walk around with their shoulders slumped and their eyes to the ground don’t look very appealing, do they? Instead, roll your shoulders back, keep your head held high, and look straight ahead. This makes you look ready to take on the world, and feel that way too!

My last tip is to drink a lot of WATER. This will keep your skin glowing without any makeup. Drinking water helps clear your body of toxins, so your skin will look fresh and gorgeous. It not only makes skin look ravishing, but it’s also incredibly healthy and can help with many other things.

Try these tips and you will see an instant difference! You don’t need expensive makeup, fancy clothes, or dramatic hairstyles to look beautiful. Just be confident, healthy, and enjoy your day! People will definitely take notice.

Design Your Life

Book Review: ‘The Secret’ Starts Motivation

01/21/2010
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For the past few weeks, my life hasn’t really been what I’ve wanted. I was starting to feel distant from my friends, unmotivated in my classes, and just generally down in the dumps. The end of the semester left me drained, and I was looking for something that would turn my mood around. When I heard The Secret(by Rhonda Byrne) mentioned on a talk show, I became instantly intrigued. From how it was described, this book talked about how thinking positively can bring about instantaneous changes in your life. If you live your life based on The Secret, you can have whatever you want, whether that is love, money, health, or opportunity.

So I thought to myself: Love? Money? Happiness? Just by thinking? Count me in! I picked up a copy of The Secret from the bookstore on campus and started reading it right away. It starts with introducing what the secret is. According to this book, the secret to living is the law of attraction. Thoughts attract like thoughts. If you are thinking about being sad, the Universe will think you want MORE sad things to think about, so those will be delivered to you. Well, that made sense to me, so I kept reading. It then proceeded to explain how thanking the Universe in advance will bring things into existence. For example, if you are sick, say to the Universe “Thank you for making me healthy.” The Universe will see that you are grateful and deliver on that health. Also, if you pretend you have what you want, you will soon have it in real life. If you visualize the life you want to have, that will be the life you WILL have. Sounds easy enough right?

Well I decided to put the secret to the test. I figured I would just aim for small things, since those come into existence quicker. For my first test, I wanted to see if I could get attention from a boy I have been interested in. I visualized myself with him for a few minutes then went back to my day. About ten minutes later, I got a text from said boy. Coincidence? Maybe. But wait, there’s more. Over the past few days, he has been paying a lot of attention to me. More texts, hanging out, instant messaging. Other than the visualization, I haven’t done anything to attract this attention. So for test one, I declared success.

My other test was incredibly small. I was having some pain in my foot as I went to sleep last night, and the pain was keeping me awake. I began thanking the universe for keeping my body pain-free. Almost instantly, the pain in my foot went away. By this point, my faith in the secret was definitely building.

I plan on utilizing this secret more and more, and I’m interested to see how things turn out. If you believe in the power of positive thinking, I would recommend picking up a copy and trying it for yourself. And if you have any interesting stories about how the secret worked for you, I would love to hear them!

Design Your Life

How to Look Good and Feel Great

12/20/2009

One important way to getting your life on track and going the way you want it to go is by keeping healthy. But for a second, forget about all the vitamins, potions, and shots that everyone says you need to keep going strong. The one easy (and fun!) way to keep yourself running like a tank is by exercising. And exercising not only keeps you healthy and fit, it can keep you looking hot!

I know, I know. You’re tired of people telling you to get your butt to the gym all the time. You think lifting weights is boring. I agree. You think running on the treadmill (literally) gets you nowhere. I also agree. I used to DESPISE going to the gym. And I do mean despise. My hall mates actually had to pick me up out of my bed and carry me to the door to get me to go to the gym with them. But when I realized I was falling victim to the dreaded “freshmen fifteen” last year, I knew something had to be done.

Getting in the habit of exercising is all about finding what exercises not only work for you but which ones you love as well. It could be all well and good that the StairMaster whips your thighs into shape, but if you dread doing it then you’ll be more likely to quit working out. I’m not gonna lie, it will take a little bit of time experimenting to find out what exercises you enjoy.

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Have a cat? Cat Yoga!

It took me a few months to finally discover my thing, which happens to be cycling classes. But once I found them, I seriously fell in love. I go almost every day, and cycling not only burns a TON of calories, but the classes are fun too! They go by really quickly, and when I leave the gym I have so much more energy than I had when I got there.

Overall, I still despise the gym in general. But never again will I have to resort to attempting to lift weights in a room full of overly-buff boys, or spend 45 minutes running to nowhere on a treadmill. I found what works for me, and I really enjoy it. Since I’ve started working out on a regular basis, I have a lot more energy than I had before. Not only that, but in the midst of this awful flu and cold season, I haven’t gotten sick!

Many gyms have free trial memberships where you can check out the various classes they have to offer. Take my word for it. Go to your local gym, pick up a trial pass, and see what works for you! It could be something totally unexpected, like belly dancing or karate, but if you enjoy it and you’re getting a good workout, that’s all that matters.