Long time no see!

Gosh, I can't believe I was not here for so long...

I'm so so so sorry I was gone. For SO long! Wow! I know many of you still read my blog - and all the info here is for you to use, learn, and so on. :) Feel free. Thanks to all of you, who have written in the past months and who have lost me for a while! I appreciate all your support and insight!

I have TONS of updates, and I won't be able to fit it all in here. But to explain why I have been relatively absent in the past 3-4 months - well, surprise-surprise, it is all my PhD. I know, I have been bragging about it for it seems like half a year. And it seems that for a year by now I have been saying "Hold on, Liuba, it's just a little left!" Then suddenly my supervisor wants me to do a new study - in December! I was supposed to finish everything in December. The worst thing is I really wanted to do that study myself, so I did it. Sigh.

Anyway. I will be back and relatively soon. I am - YES! - planning to submit in May and am working really intensively now revising, revising, revising! After that I will be back. And I will have a few new things to share with you. 

First, I'm gonna add another part to this blog - on health and going natural, as this is what I am doing this year. This was one of my NY resolutions, and I am going to share my journey with you. It will be a mix of some diet and make-up tips and stories.

Second, I have stopped doing TA after Continuity level 6. I never started level 7, though I really love TA (this blog is the proof enough right?!). But I simply couldn't find the time and energy besides my PhD. I am doing some exercise 3 times a week, but it is really low-intensity stuff, like Tracey Mallet barre method (I will try to do a review sometime). Why? Don't get me wrong - I still love TA immensely, but I really like to do it systematically. And when I can't - I feel like it is not worth it in a way. I DO want to proceed from level to level, and if right now I don't have a chance to be consistent and do one level in two weeks, well I'd rather leave it till I can. This is only my thing, and some people don't mind being inconsistent. But I will get back to Continuity in May-June.

Third, I am planning to get a personal trainer on top of TA. Yes, I know, it is not recommended. But I want to learn about this stuff - so that I can understand my body better and know the differences between different workouts. Otherwise, how can I claim that what I'm doing IS the way forward? Huh? :)

So this will be the updates to this blog, check back in soon! I have already prepared some stuff on natural make-up, mineral make-up and make-up for acne-prone skin. So, stay tuned!

Finally, some updates. I moved to Prague! Wohoo! One of the most beautiful cities in the world! But right now - I am having a research stay in Trondheim, Norway (I know it is confusing, but forget about Norway, I'm thinking of myself as based in Prague already!). Trondheim VERY northern, but extremely pretty - any season. In the past months I also did a lot of travelling  we my BF (obviously besides packing up my stuff, selling furniture and leaving my beloved Bremen) - we travelled to Amsterdam, New York, Frankfurt, Heidelberg and Strasbourg. Lots of great memories, wonderful time, great food (YUM!). I am a food freak - I know that now. I LOVE FOOD! French food - delicious! Steak - WOW! We had some nice steak in NY almost every day, as well as had a great one at (not next to AT) the Grand Central at the Michael Jordan Steakhouse. It is quite pricey (like most things NY-style!), but very good and with a very fine view I have to say. :)

NYC skyline... Not just beautiful - breathtaking! I wish camera could really capture it!

Well I just couldn't NOT post this :)))) Funny. It is actually at the Madame Tussauds. 

Have a great rest of the weekend you guys, I will try to check in here more often. Keep your fingers crossed for me!

I am BAAAAACK! :)

C 1.1.6

Day: 2

Hey there! :) I am a little back. Not for long. I might disappear again for some time. Or may be not. Right now I can't really say. But I decided to write a little update.

I have been a very bad girl. After my last post I haven't much exercised. I basically had a month-long break from working out. It is not good, but I could not help it. And it is really hard now too.

First my sweetheart took me to Seuchelles for Christmas. It was a wonderful and great holiday. The beauty of that place is amazing, and only the story of sharks made me uneasy. The food was great and oh how I loved the fresh fish. We once went for a trip on a little yacht and the owner would catch fish right in front of us, and we would then eat it for lunch. A M A Z I N G! I have never had such good food. Generally though the Creole cuisine is pretty strange - lots of influences from Africa, India, a bit from France of course. But if you are a fan of seafood - it is for you. We had lobster for Christmas dinner, and it was my first lobster, I have to say I didn't much like it. All in all, you can imagine, I ate too much and didn't have time or opportunity to exercise - seriously if you have only 7 days in a pradise like this, you would not workout!

As you can see, I did add some weight, but not too much and I still fit everything. Back to workout damn it!

Next we flew back to Germany and I head out to Russia to visit my parents for the New Year's celebration. Stayed there for two weeks and in all festivities I again overate like crazy. Both me and my sister were nearly crying from all the yummy foods. But it was good to be back with the family - not too short, not too long, just enough. Obviously, when you don't have enough space, there is no way you can workout - even though I had my Continuity DVD's with me... But I simply never got around to doing it.

Well, after all the travels and going from +30C to -30C I got a flu or cold. And was sick for one more week. And so here I am - this was a fast-forward of my workout-empty life - on the 22 January 2013 (seriously???? when did THIS happen???), Tuesday, and I have restarted workout on 21 January.

I have decided to slowly go back into DC - started with 10 minutes yesterday and will try to get up to the full 30 in about 20 days: I will go by 5 minutes up every fifth workout till I reach 30 minutes again. I think the main thing is to take it easy. Also, if I don't feel like DC, I would do something else for the same time + 5 min.

MS. Instead of repeating anything (after all I was off exercise for a MONTH!), I decided to continue. This decision was made for several reasons. First I was feeling if I go back and start with for instance Continuity again, I would get completely stuck and be completely unmotivated. And for me right now it is really hard to keep the motivation up. Second, I didn't find the level 6 too hard, so I decided to give it a try and see if I can manage. Tracy says in that level that we have to come to ALL the reps in that level as soon as possible. BOY! I realised I sometimes didn't come to all the reps in the previous levels!!! Even by the end of them! So I decided to work really hard. And after 5th day add weights for the second half of each level.

So, level 6 is hard, but to be honest - not undoable. Really. Even after a month break I could do it. Yes, I was sore the next day and doing MS the today was a true torture, but I managed - both times. It is similar to the levels where there is no real standing abs and no weights in the arms section (from level 4). So in the end of the day, it is not horribly bad. The moves are good, and I have to say most of them even enjoyable. Except for one - which is done in plank position. And boy - it is HARD! I only manage to do like 10 out of 20 reps, so beware! :)

Well, I'll keep you posted how it goes, and I really hope to get going with it better than before.