• Driving Tips And Tricks Not Taught At Driving School

    Driving schools are able to teach you the basics of how to drive and what you need to do to stay legal on the road. The problem is that there is a lot of driving tips and tricks that they forget about which can make you a better driver. These driving tips and tricks will help you control your car and be a safer driver.

    Pull The Steering Wheel Instead of Pushing

    When you have to turn your car, you should pull down on the steering wheel instead of pushing up. This is something that many people automatically do, but there are a lot of people who push the steering wheel to turn it. This is a problem because of the muscles in your body.

    There are 2 types of muscle fibers and the ones used for pulling will react faster than the ones used for pushing. This means that you will be more dexterous when you pull compared to when you push. When you are driving, this will result in better control of the vehicle.

    Lower Your Rear-View Mirror At Night

    A lot of people do not realize that their rear-view mirror actually has two modes which you need to use. There is generally a switch at the bottom of the mirror that will switch it between the day and night mode. You need to take the time to change your mirror at night because it will stop you being blinded by the car behind you.

    If you have ever driven at night and the car behind you has their high beams on, you will be blinded by the light reflecting off your mirror. This is very dangerous, but when your mirror is in night mode, the light will not reflect onto your face.

    Adjust Your Mirrors

    A lot of people adjust their mirrors so they can see the edge of their car. This area is already visible from your rear-view mirror and you need to adjust your wing mirrors to reduce blind spots. The driver-side mirror should be set so that you can barely see the edge of your car. The passenger-side mirror should be adjusted in the same manner. In these positions, the mirrors will reduce the blind spots around the car and make your driving better.

    There are a lot of driving tips and tricks that you should know about. These tips are generally not taught at your driving school but will make you a better driver.

    If you find yourself with a flat tire, locked out of your car won’t start, do yourself a favor by contacting professional drivers form a tow company.

  • Means Of Traveling Around Hawaii

    Hawaii is a fantastic place to visit. The sunny beaches present an ambiance and scenery like no other. There are many ways of exploring and getting around Hawaii. You can opt for air, water or land transportation when traveling around Hawaii. Here are some options to consider:

    1. Renting A Car

    These are available at airports in Hawaii. You can opt to rent a car to drive around Hawaii. These cars can also be rented while on the main islands. This can be done within the cities. This is an easy way of traveling around Hawaii. Prior booking of cars will guarantee that you get the best deals and discounts. If you experience a car-related problem or if you need a tow service, hawaii-equipment.com has employees that are all skilled professionals with years of experience.

    2. Taxis

    These are available in the cities within Hawaii. Honolulu, the Big Island, and Maui are some of the places you can find taxis. Hotel staff can help you get a taxi for you to move around with ease.

    3. Public Transport

    Buses cover many routes across Hawaii. They are available all over the Big Island, Maui, Oahu, and Kauai. TheBus covers the whole island of Oahu. Tourist destinations are covered by the Waikiki Trolley. The Maui Bus operates throughout the week covering 13 routes.

    4. Flights

    Various airlines offer transportation from one island to another. Island Air, Hawaiian Airlines, ‘Ohana by Hawaiian and Mokulele all offer flight services. These airlines can be used to fly around the islands from airports including the Honolulu International Airport.

    5. Tours And Cruises

    Guided tours are available in Hawaii. They take you around the beautiful island for you to sightsee and enjoy the sceneries. They are available on the main islands. They arrange for your trips all over the islands; picking and dropping you off at the hotel you are staying in.

    These tours can involve cruises in the ocean. The Norwegian Cruise Line offers a full week cruise. This cruise involves visiting all the 4 main islands of Hawaii.

    Helicopter tours can enable you to get to the Kilauea volcano. Here, you will be able to see lava flows. They can also take you to destinations such as Pali coast.

    6. Ferry Services

    Traveling around Hawaii should involve you taking the Expeditions ferry from Maui to Lanai. This passenger ferry has 5 departures one a daily basis. Both one and two-way tickets are available.

    There are diverse options in regards to traveling in Hawaii. You should weigh the options and decide on the best fit. This also depends on the budget that you have. These alternatives will make you have a fantastic time as you transverse the beautiful Hawaiian islands.

  • The Important Of Tracking Your Weight Loss Progress

    One area that has really helped me stay focused while creating my healthy lifestyle has been the tracking and measuring side of my weight loss journey (read more at https://skinnybonny.com).

    I’m not a huge numbers person, I don’t even really keep track of my Google analytics for my blog, but what I have learned is that if I don’t track and measure my weight loss and subsequent maintenance program, then I find it far easier to “fall off the wagon”.

    One of the easiest ways to track your progress is to simply jot down your measurements. I don’t actually weigh myself on scales; instead I take the measurements of my arms, waist, hips, legs and chest area.

    This tells me how many inches I’ve lost, which relates to body fat.

    This is a far better indicator of weight-loss progress than what you see on the scales, because muscle is heavier than fat, so when you’re just starting out, your fat is being turned to muscle… it can take a little longer to reflect weight loss on scales.

    So, do yourself a favor and measure your body fat instead. It’s rewarding to see inches falling off week after week rather than checking the scales and seeing no change at all.

    Here are some of the apps you can use to track and measure your progress:

    Simplenote App – if you want to “write” your details down, this is a simplistic app that takes away all the fuss. I use this app to jot down what I did during my exercise session rather than taking down my measurements. (Play store link)

    Tracker – Fitness and Nutrition Tracking – this app is great to not only track your workouts and weight/body fat, but you can also track your nutrition, which is great if you’re struggling to stay on top of the food you’re eating.

    Weight Loss Tracker – this will purely track your weight and body fat, based on the information you provide it. It’s a nice, simple app for anyone that is looking to just track their weight loss or keep an eye on their weight for maintenance purposes. iPhone and Android compatible.

    Fitlist – Workout & Fitness Tracker – this is my favorite. You can enter in your own workouts and track your progress over time. This is what I’m currently using in conjunction with my spreadsheet. iPhone and Android compatible. (App store link)

    I can’t reiterate enough how important it is to keep track of your weight loss/maintenance progress. Tracking and measuring are important to the success of your weight loss and it will also drive your maintenance program.

    If you struggle with doing something like this, then definitely use one of the suggested apps, preferably Fitlist, Honestly, if I wasn’t tracking my weight, I wouldn’t be able to gauge my progress and I also wouldn’t be able to monitor and make sure I am maintaining it.

    I know that I spend most of my time during the day sitting, so I need to exercise to ensure the longevity of this body I’m residing in.

    I don’t believe you need a gym to achieve the body or healthiness you’re looking for, and evidently, neither do you – or you wouldn’t have read this far!

    I acknowledge that some people need a gym to achieve a certain look, and kudos to them, they can spend all the time they want at the gym. Me, I’m going to continue finding and developing different ways to stay fit that fit in with my lifestyle and that I can do in under 30 minutes a day.

    I know that I’m preaching to the converted here, but seriously, why does society really feel the need to make us all work out in a confined space and dress in a certain way? Beats me.

    In conclusion, this article is merely a representation of my own personal experiences and the guidelines I try to follow in order to become a happier and productive person.

    Everything I said is exactly what I do because it works very well for me, but this is not to say that it will work for you.

    Modern life seems to trick our minds into thinking that…

    “This is the way I should behave, sleep eight hours, work eight hours, eat when I can, have sex when I can, try to raise a family and repeat…”

    This is the cycle that traps many people and before they know it they are unhappy with their lives, likely due to the fact that they are unhappy with themselves. Just because our species has evolved in exponential ways over a brief period of time, doesn’t mean we can forget our roots and genetics.

    Our species conquered due to our rapid evolution of intelligence and fitness.

    Remember, it’s survival of the fittest, not the mere existence of the complacent. We are at the top of the food chain because we have the physical abilities to act upon our ideas.

    It’s a well-known fact that human beings are the best long distance runners on planet earth. Yes, it’s true that cheetahs could catch and eat us with ease. It would also not be wise to place a wager on a human at a horse race.

    Humans could, however, run down both of these animals over a long distance until their hearts exploded, the reason? Sweat! Humans are able to sweat and when this sweat evaporates, our overall body temperature is cooled.

    Many people hate sweating but I embrace this vital trait. In fact, sweating it out is a major catalyst if you ever want to lose weight.

    So, sweat lets me know that I’m exerting myself in an effective way and burning calories. Imagine if primitive humans behaved in the ways that the average person behaves today.

    Lying around in caves, entertaining themselves with futile activities. We would have never made it out of that era and likely gone extinct if that was the case. The reason that didn’t happen was all due to a lack of choice.

    There were no T.V.’s, cell phones, iPods or things like that; there were only the priorities of food, shelter, water and reproduction. If you weren’t mentally and physically fit enough you would perish, period.

    Ironically, we seem to have great interest in the way humans ATE in that time, thanks to things like the paleo diet or the caveman diet (Here’s a nice paleo guide on my blog – https://skinnybonny.com/paleo-caveman-diet-plan/).

    Choice has quickly become societies enemy and has forever altered our priorities. Distractions have become so normalized that people forget what’s important.

    It should be abundantly clear that we are not genetically designed to be sedentary all day.

    Your body doesn’t release endorphins if you beat a video game or finish a season of Breaking Bad. Endorphins are released under moments of stress, pain (like repeated exercise), and extreme pleasure.

    I think of Endorphins as a natural reward for doing something that will increase your chances of survival. If sex didn’t feel so damn good, I guarantee we would have a less populated planet.

    If you don’t make time for physical activity in your life, you either will or currently are feeling the consequences. I think that if you trap and suppress your physical needs, your body has a tendency to “short circuit” and fulfil this physical need in other ways, such as violence or forced drama in your life.

    I wish I could do an experiment on every single person on earth who suffers from depression, or who is just generally unhappy. I bet a large majority of these people do not exercise and I bet that if they did a lot of them would throw their prescriptions out the window.

    I’m not trying to discount mental illness in any way. There are a lot of people who desperately need medication in order to function, due to major chemical imbalances in their brains.

    My point is that in some cases, people’s feelings of emotional imbalance could be fixed or ameliorated through greater fitness levels and significant fat loss.

    Let’s stop lying to ourselves, I mean who doesn’t want to look into a mirror and say, “damn, I look great and all my hard work is paying off”? That’s an awesome thing to desire and I think we all should.

    Break your monotonous cycle and make room for your own fitness. Not only will you look better, but I guarantee you will feel more mentally and physically balanced as well.

    If I have a difficult decision to make in my life, if I’m frustrated about something or if I just need some moving meditation, I go for a run or a swim and it helps immensely.

    I think there’s something hypnotic about continuous movement. The ability to feel control over your entire body allows you to transfer this feeling of control to issues in your life.

    This article will hopefully serve as your brief, yet difficult guide to a greater level of general fitness. Allow me to reiterate: Weight loss is not a simple thing to achieve or maintain and anybody who tells you otherwise is lying to you, likely to make a quick buck off of you.

    Weight loss in an ongoing battle, it must be achieved, maintained and constantly improved upon. It is a lifestyle choice that will make you a happier person. You only have one body, so why not make it the best physical specimen that you possibly can!

  • Tulum

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    Tulum is everything!
  • Puerto Rico Color and Palm Trees

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    I wish I brought a top rated masks for scuba divers for this trip. The falls were amazing and the water is so clear!
    I miss that colorful, palm tree filled island.
  • Half Moon Bay

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    (*Back in Novemeber 2014) Half Moon Bay is an hour drive from San Francisco and a perfect day trip from the city.
    We’re always looking for dog friendly weekend activities and Half Moon Bay is a very dog-friendly city.
    A jaunt on one of the dog-freindly beaches, a walk around town and then warming up with clam chowder and beer under the heaters at Half Moon Bay Brewing Company.
    A great Sunday!
  • Puerto Rico Engagement

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    My sister got engaged during our family trip to Puerto Rico.
    I led her to a cabana by the water pretending like I wanted to take some pictures of the beach before dinner and I needed a model.
    Her (now) husband, jumped out of some bushes and got down on one knee.
    Once she realized it was Ruben and not a homeless bush dweller, asked how he got all the way to Puerto Rico, and if he was staying for the rest of the trip, she said yes!
    My hands were shaking so much trying not to cry, I’m surprised any of the 500 pictures were half way in focus. Ps. Notice my dad’s very firm hand shake 😉
    We then re-grouped and took some less emotional/ugly cry pictures on the beach.
    And then some more around colorful Old San Juan.
    I love this photo because it shows how pretty my eyelash extensions are! I got it from my trusted lash extensions salon.
    A pretty beautiful place to get engaged!
  • Puerto Rico

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     Puerto Rico:

    Where we stayed: (Obviously we didn’t stay in one place, what kind of family vacation would that be?!)

    •  Old San Juan – Condado Palm-Best Western – Stayed here for the first few nights so we could explore Old San Juan. The hotel isn’t in Old San Juan but we could walk (a long one) into Old San Juan.
    • Rincon- we rented a condo right on the beach in Rincon. Unfortunately this wasn’t the right place for our family. Not able to walk to restaurants/places, stories of recent burglaries, and the water not being very swimmable, my mom was on vrbo and doing her thing.
    • Palmas Del Mar- Another 4 hours in the car and we made it to Palmas del Mar in Humacoa. This was our jam!! A great last minute deal on a beautiful ocean view condo in Marbella. The pool and hot tub were amazing. The beach club next door was perfect! The boys thought they were in an actual water theme park. Palmas Del Mar is HUGE and everything is incredibly clean and well maintained. There are restaurants, golfing, tennis and even casinos on the property. Definitely not a locals experience of Puerto Rico (more country clubby) but it was perfect for us for the last week of the trip.

    Highlights:

    • The fish tacos at the Beach Club… OOOMMMGGGG
    • My sister got engaged!
    • Swimming in a waterfall in El Yunque Rainforest
    • Old San Juan
    • Luquillo Beach Kiosks- yum!
    Wish we had:
    • Made it to Culebra or Viejas
  • Yoga on the Beach

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    A pretty glorious way to start the day in Cabo
  • The Food of Salamanca

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    The food of Salamanca.
    Don’t ask me what the names of anything are.
    All I know is Spaniards really like meat, rice and potatoes
    (and i’m not complaining)
     
     This was the most delicious meat! I could have eaten all five skewers.
    I absolutely did not expect the incredible food in Salamanca.
    Of course, it helps to travel with locals to show you the best places, but oh my gosh I didn’t have a bite of anything that I didn’t think “was the best thing ever!” 😉
    Plus, because it’s a university town, it was all so cheap.
    Everything you see came with our drinks!
    The no 1 traveller discount codes my sister gave me also helped, Less than 2 euros apiece, drink included. I love how clean the restaurants here in Salamanca. I have a friend here that owns a restaurant. Their kitchen is clean as well as the utensils and other facilities. They regularly clean their kitchen and grease traps from their trusted grease trap cleaning services.