Of recent happenings :) Fitness and Art

Greetings! In Mushu's verbiage...

Been quite a hiatus for me and blogging. This sounds dramatic but it almost feels like I'm at some cross roads in life so I have been focusing on that.... that and keeping up with my health and fitness goals for Tough Mudder.

Speaking of Tough Mudder, training recently has really been dominated by Zuzana's Workouts as can be seen on her YouTube. She is amazing. AMAZING. We have dramatically increased our overall fitness and cardiovascular endurance as a result of this training. And you don't have to work longer (in fact, we have worked shorter sessions), you just have to work harder and smarter. Our workouts are now 30 minutes on average, most of the time more around 20, but it's ridiculous and we're completely exhausted by the end, can not do another rep, and will be sore the next day. As people who work full time (and as an artist during the other times..), the more time efficient things we can do, the better!

Here's one of my favorite workouts from Zuzana.

!!!!
Burpee Torture!! 

Remember, good form! And it's totally OK to modify movements; I still have to modify a lot of my movements to keep my form good / to avoid injury. Filming yourself or working out with your partner is a great way of becoming more aware of your form. Most of us have no idea what we actually look like until we see ourselves from a different angle; totally normal-- it's a learning process!

We've increased our workouts to 5-6 days/week, mainly actually  because it just feels great, not because we're trying to push push push or whatnot.

Our diet has also undergone a few changes. We are eating a more protein based diet with less simple sugars/carbs. Avoiding carbs (like white rice) at dinner if possible. We feel really, really awesome.

Dare I say.. bf and I are getting addicted to these workouts?

Next post I'll share my super healthy (yet delicious) banana bread recipe with you all.

Meanwhile on the creation front I have still been busy!

I was recently accepted as a member of the Artisan Group and have joined a gifting to Mariska Hargitay, from Law and Order: SVU!

When I was a freshman in college, the roomie and I used to watch SVU all. the. time. So much it was kind of ridiculous actually. It was kinda fate that I was able to prepare the following goodies to gift her:

I went on a cuff binge over the weekend and created these cuffs:

I think it's funny how art comes in phases.

Also these earrings have been in the works for a long time, but I needed a few hours of free time to sit down and make them..

I have had requests to do Super Nova earrings for seriously 2 years now. I am finally committing to the idea, and am so glad I did. These are quite intricate, very flashy. I'm going to have to find an excuse to make myself a pair in crystal clear and wear them to work with a plain shirt...

I also have some potentially exciting news but since I don't know anything for certain yet I can not share :X

HOW IS EVERYONE?!

Lisa
SHOPHEQI
lisaHQCD@gmail.com

Giveaway Reminder, New stuff, and a jumble of thoughts!

Hello Ladies =) (and gents!)

Firstly, this post is going to be quite disorganized and jumbled-- I want to get all of my thoughts down so the order of stuff is going to be all mixed -- hang in there with me!

Hope you all are doing well-- after the busy days at the Whole Earth Festival, my body's a little spent, and I'm pretty exhausted. I had two midterms this week, and have fallen a little behind on my online orders-- I do apologize~ If you need your order faster or something like that, please drop me an email right now: heqicrystaldesigns@hotmail.com

I also apologize deeply for not being able to read your blogs as I have been able to over the summer-- I'm pretty busy nowadays. I'm thinking that things will slow down the summer, and I can do some major blog catching up... 

BTW, remember the pet duck I mentioned in my previous post? Sarah, the owner of Pippin found my blog, and dropped a comment! She has a Youtube channel of Pippin which you can check out HERE. If if weren't for her, I wouldn't have ever known that it was even possible to keep a duck as a pet. Yay for Pippin, and THANKs, Sarah, for finding me and sharing the link!

And a hello to all my new follows! Thanks for your interest in my .... little piece of life =)

I want to do an inventory clear out soon. I sold oodles of stuff at Whole Earth, but in order to keep bringing in new designs, I need to get rid of my old inventory. This means the clearance section of my store will soon be STOCKED UP (probably over the next two weeks or so). I'll TWEET about it when that happens...

I also wanted to take a quick moment to thank all of you who drop by-- and a big shout out to those who have known me since the Soompi days! Your support means so much to me, and everyday I think about how lucky I am to have such a strong group of admirers. You guys make my day.

Also, a gentle reminder:
I'm slowly transitioning my prices to include Free World Wide (first class) shipping. If you see a listing that hasn't been updated, please give me an email to let me know. I don't expect the changes to go into full effect until about a week or so later. Also, prices will be raised no more than $1.50 for any piece, and most pieces have not raised in price-- so it's a win-win situation, I get the convenience of not dealing with extra little fees to consider, and you get a discount. Keep in mind boxes, packaging, time and gas all cost money! However, all CA residents are still responsible for paying sales tax, sorry! It's all a part of purchasing from a legit company =)

I made these piece a couple of weeks ago for the HK addicts :P
I didn't get a chance to take photos of it till now =)

Found these charms in the "Sanrio" section at the UCD bookstore... lol :X

Two new Super Novas!


This particular one is a Montana Sapphire Crystal-- unique, but comes as a button. So it has a hole through it, but very un-noticeable. I couldn't help but use it because of the beautiful, unique color!

And a clear one, with AB crystals on the outside. I find this one to be surprisingly shiny. The clear crystal has a silver backing on it, so it actually reflects tons of light.

It's a shame that clear is so hard to capture on camera :X

Revised my two remaining triangle lux bracelets.
I think the two hearts give them something extra.... extra cute =)

Emerald Goddess:


Black and Gold:


I love these earrings!
The sterling silver leaf posts really make these beautiful:


Ballerina earrings =)


I found my last CZ bows, so here's the LAST PAIR of these earrings:

And also the last pair of faeries:

Both of these above are available at a special price on the website!

Some Eiffel Towers I made, not as elaborate as the old version:


And lastly, a new signature piece-- beaded crystal ball drops!
I still need a formal name for these... "ball drops" just don't sound appealing... these are classy!


^ I think these are my new favorites... darn, I keep having new favorites. I wore them to the bars on Friday night, and have continued to wear them. Honestly, they match everything, and stay on well. I even slept with them on, and slept ON them for a good part of the night... and no problems because they're triple beaded for extra durability =)










Many colors for you to choose from =)

BTW, don't forget to enter the GIVEAWAY!

till next time,
Lisa
heiqcrystaldesigns@hotmail.com
Shop HQCD HERE