Monday Amenities // Post 20

A little link-list (for browsing over Monday morning coffee):

Dove Real Beauty Sketches : You are more beautiful than you think



I loved this. 

Paraphrasing from here: This is a short documentary featuring Gil Zamora, a former forensic sketch artist, who draws portraits of a series of women he can't see guided entirely by their own descriptions of themselves. Each woman was asked to spend one-on-one time with another participant, after which Zamora drew second portraits of the same women based on the other participant's descriptions of them.

Dove made a statement claiming that 'only 4% of women around the world consider themselves beautiful,' and, as the documentary reveals, are their own worst critics when it comes to describing themselves. The second round of portraits - the ones based on a stranger's description - were more beautiful, and more true to the individual.

After seeing both portraits, one participant said, "I should be more grateful of my natural beauty."

"If you can’t see anything beautiful about yourself, get a better mirror. Look a little closer. Stare a little longer."


Indie Gift Box  
About: We are a company dedicated to promoting independent artists and small businesses! We curate great items every month and organize them into themed boxes that you can purchase. Our goal is to help you discover new artists and companies, and to help those artists and companies grow their businesses.

You may have heard about this company before, but I only just found out last week and fell in love with the whole concept. Unfortunately it looks like they'll be closing after May unless someone new takes over. This is something I would love to incorporate into my someday-indie-artist-coffeehouse.


Leslie Sabella : art for the free spirited 
Beautiful southwestern and henna inspired illustrations by Leslie Sabella.


NoiseTrade : Free Music
About: Upload an album, EP, single, or live recording. Within minutes your content is available for discovery and download. And it's completely free for both artists and fans.   ... There is some good stuff on here, people. ♥


Fitness Blender
About : 100% free full length workout videos, printable workout routines, healthy recipes, & more.
I've been using the videos to supplement my runs. I especially like the 10 Minute Standing Abs Workout because crunches kill my neck.


10 Amazing Beauty Tricks with Coconut Oil : an interesting read. 
I just started using coconut oil lately, especially as a deep conditioner for my hair. I rub it in before my runs so it gets thirty minutes or more to really soak in and moisturize, and then wash it all out. Gives my hair a nice healthy glow, and is a helluva lot cheaper than buying conditioning products. Apparently I've barely scratched the surface on coconut oil beauty uses. Have you tried any of these 10 'tricks'?

source

Just don’t give up trying to do what you really want to do. Where there is love and inspiration, I don’t think you can go wrong.  Ella Fitzgerald