Happy Holidays from 2 Broke LA Girls

Although sometimes family and friends can act a 'litto' crazy around the holiday season, here's to keeping your sanity, composure and looking flossy ;)

We thank you for reading our all our posts this year and we are so thrilled about next year :) We wish you & your family a blessed, MOST AHHHMAZING, Happy holiday season filled with love, sugar, and LOTS of wine ;)

(Not Pictured: Janea...had a little too much "punch" and forgot to take a "holiday photo" - whoopsie!)

XO, Heels & Kisses,

Janea & Nadia

Broke girls who can't afford to shop at Whole Foods

Its okay, I can't afford a whole grocery list at Whole Foods either. Although I would totally love to eat EVERYTHING organic, I simply can't afford it. With the New Year quickly approaching many of you will most likely make a resolution to get healthier. So the following are just a few tips that I implement in my life.

My first recommendation for you readers is to not think of it as a diet, but a lifestyle of eating choices. I am no doctor or nutritionist (so don’t sue me!!) but I have been working out for half of my life due to sports. So lets start off with my 'Broke' recommendations:

1. Don’t stop eating: DONT STARVE! It's not going to help, trust me I know. Put down the cheeseburger because you might as well inject the fat in those thighs. If you’re hungry, eat food. Have oatmeal, a banana, a glass of fat free milk, an apple, a handful of raw almonds, pretzels, a bean burrito, scrambled eggs (hold the butter) OR if you must have a burger, eat a veggie burger!! Haven’t tried one? As a carnivore-turned-Veggie Peace Girl, I think they taste way better than regular cheeseburgers. Or you can message me, I've had some pretty awesome veggie burgers all over LA. I know ALL the spots ;)

2. Indulge: Yes, you read it right! Indulge once in a while. Reward your self in proportion. Don’t leave the computer just yet to go indulge!!… calm down… relax, breathe, just remember; ‘Proportion’. Now go snack on something ;)

3. Fitness: If you indulged, do an extra 15 minutes in the gym. Remember, its about quality not quantity. You need to have discipline. I used to have about an hour every day to work out. Now, that’s not possible. I simply don't have the time. I work out for 35 minutes 4 days out of the week. If you don't have a gym pass, go hit the pavement, it's free. Do lunges using stairs. You don't have stairs?... Use the side walk! Improvise. If you only have 20 minutes to run. Do a set of 10- ‘50 yard’ sprints. You dont have time to leave the house because you have to take care of the kiddies? Try Yoga! :)

 (Read more after the "jump")...

Empowerment, and other drugs...

I think so far that last post by Nadia has been my favorite. What do you think?  Could you give up makeup for a week?  Especially with the holidays and all the parties?! Of course you can, and here’s why:

I agree that we do not owe our beauty to anyone – not to men, not to other women, not to society as a whole; the only person to whom one owes anything is to one’s self.  And to me, that arches over all aspects of life. You don’t owe anyone your time, your respect, your loyalty; you don’t owe them your trust, your body, your heart. You need to do what is best for you and don’t let anyone guilt you or force you into thinking you’re doing something wrong just because you’re doing it for YOURSELF.

Self-Empowerment – my favorite accessory!!!

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Moving on to less serious matters, but really depending on who we are talking to here (*cough* party girls *cough*) this is THE most serious matter – the most amazing party punch EVER.

It’s quick, and it’s easy, and best of all cheap.  I would call this the Pink Pleasure Punch, and please keep in mind that I never measure ANYTHING when it comes to booze, however I will try to approximate as best as I can:

The Hard Stuff
1 ½ cups mango rum
1 ½ cups watermelon vodka

The Easy Stuff
1 liter of lemon-lime soda or ginger ale
½ gallon or so of fruit punch or pink lemonade

It’s really just a basic drink recipe and is so good you’ll forget it’s spiked. Once I made it so strong that I ended up having to hide the real drink and put a bowl of virgin punch out on the table…whoopsie…

Anyway, just mix all of the ingredients in a fancy little punch bowl, put a bucket of ice on the side, and watch the party explode!  Cheers, my dears.

XO,

Janea

Its a Man's world...

(Picture from Anne Taintor)

Don't get offended by the title, you haven't finished reading the post.

I was reading Cosmo Magazine the other day and my all time favorite section in a magazine is the 'Q&A,' where the readers send in questions and the writer or expert replies. I was reading through all the questions and they all somehow related back to a man. One question in particular absolutely shocked me. This woman asked why her husband was not having sex with her. The person who replied answered with this; "He may be cheating on you or maybe it's you. Have you done something to upset him? Did you recently gain weight?"... Wow... I was absolutely speechless. That's when I put the magazine down and wondered WTF happened to women's magazines.

First of all, let's rewind for a bit... this is a women's magazine. 'WOMEN'S MAGAZINE'. The last thing I want to do when I pick up a Fashion magazine is read about how we can cater to a man & make his life better. Secondly, (this goes out to the woman that submitted the question) if he isn't having sex with you and doesn't want to talk about it... and it's because you gained weight or he is cheating on you, YOU NEED TO DUMP HIM!! There are plenty of fish in the sea and 'lady... why would you want a plain ol' fish when you could have a halibut or a salmon?' I'm appalled by the fact that these magazines (which by the way encourage 'girl power' and 'independent women') allow this sort of answer from writers/experts.

What makes me furious is that most reader's read this and laugh and not think twice about it. Its not funny. We compromise and degrade our gender by allowing this every single day. I really want to address this issue. Many of you wonder why an aspiring fashion blogger would write about this on a fashion blog. I write about this because women need to start being more confident. If we don't have confidence, we don't have anything. The core of who we are comes from confidence. I am no example or role model and I have learned from my mistakes, but get real. What are we teaching ourselves and our next generation of women? That despite fighting for women's right to vote, we are still catering to a man? This is only a man's world because we are allowing them to have it.

Did you know men get paid more? It doesn't matter how much more you study or what degree you have. Most likely, the guy sitting next to you at graduation (that looks hungover and dumb) will most likely get paid more than you. Doesn't that make you angry? I hope it does, so we can start making change.

The whole point of this post is to challenge you to give up make up during the week. I love make up and love that it is artsy and fun. But why are we subject to wear makeup to express our femininity and look 'pretty'? Who made up these rules? We are beautiful inside and out and we should not feel obligated to any one to wear make up. Let's be pioneers for our next generation of women. We are all examples to many young girls and we don't even realize it. Let's be the change that we want to see in the world.

Heels & Kisses,

Nadia

break time!

Warby Parker special offer!

Attention WARBY PARKER FANS: I have great news!  A dear friend of mine (@vanessavaguely) has graciously offered her WP Ambassador discount to our readers. Please feel free to contact us through our Twitter page (@2brokelagirls), through a comment, or through Vanessa directly for more details!

Warby Parker is a great way to give and receive. I love the one-for-one business model. Sounds familiar, and like a future feature we have in mind…stay tuned!

XO,
Janea

Nadia's version of 'Oprah's favorite things' list

Oprah has her 'favorite things' list every year, so why cant I? It's definitely not a long list because I'm broke and I only have a small list of 5 things. But still, you get the point. Back to my very small 'Broke' list. Here are my favorite things right now...

1. Aldo Outlet: 'Aldo outlet?' you might say?... YES! THERE IS AN OUTLET. I love, LoOVEe Christian Louboutin heels. Its my dream shoe. But lets be real here; I'm not Cinderella, i don't have a fairy Godmother, i ain't blond and i sure as hell don't have a prince charming. So the Aldo outlet is the next best thing. I love Aldo's and i think they have such stylish shoes for a reasonable price, so what's better than that? An outlet!! :) I bought these for $70 bucks! :D I saw these on a wedding blog and loved them. I got them for half of the original price. I go to the outlet in Huntington Park (aka "HP" you know! sorry, I had to. You say it with a ghetto accent) Here's a picture. Aren't they FAB?!?

http://www.aldosshoes.com/

2. Warby Parker: I have been a victim of brand name companies that rip me off for hundreds of dollars on eye glasses. Thank God for Warby Parker. Amazing, stylish, cheap, gorgeous glasses, for a fraction of the price ( I sound like an infomercial... ekk!) Frames and lens for $95 dollars!! This is such a great deal that 5 friends of mine have already bought glasses from Warby Parker in the last 2 months. I ordered my pair and I will never buy brand name glasses ever again. And what also makes this company great is not only the price but the fact that they donate a pair of glasses to needy people for every one you purchase. So I say to you, next time you want to spend $500 on a pair of new Gucci's, Prada's, D&G's, or whatever brand name you think is cool, just save your moola and buy a pair of glasses from Warby Parker. You wont regret it.

http://www.warbyparker.com/

2brokeLAgirls is now on twitter!

Follow us on twitter  - @2brokeLAgirls.

We're excited to share our updates with our social networks :)

XO, Heels & Kisses,
Janea & Nadia