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Cooking is not the activity I enjoy a lot. However, trying to be a good wife and mother I have to learn to do that. Maybe its crazy but i googled about how to become a good cook)))) The articles that came out didn't seem too ridiculuos to me though. If they can be helpful for someone as they were for me, I will be happy!

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So, let's begin:

It is a satisfying experience to make tasty meals for friends and family. Home-cooked meals are a wonderful way to make dinnertime a pleasant and memorable experience. The aroma of simmering marinara sauce or freshly baked bread spreads through the home and entices the senses. Anyone can learn to create magical food sensations. Cooking and baking are learned skills that improve with practice. Start cooking and learn how to make your favorite meals.

Instructions

1. Purchase a good set of cooking utensils. Without the proper cooking utensils, it is difficult to make good meals. For starters, you should purchase a full set of pots and pans. Stores that carry kitchen cooking utensils usually sell pot-and-pan sets. A good set includes small and large saucepans with lids and small and large frying pans. Buy a measuring cup, measuring spoons, mixing bowls, pot holders and a strainer to complete your starter cooking set. As you get more experienced as a chef, you will find more kitchen utensils that you wish to purchase.

2. Watch cooking shows to learn cooking techniques and recipes. You can also take cooking classes at your local community college for a more thorough, hands-on learning experience.

3. Buy a cookbook with step-by-step recipe instructions. Look for a cookbook that includes a lot of pictures. Pictures are helpful because they show what the food should look like at different stages of the cooking process.

4. Plan out your meal before you make it. Make a grocery list of ingredients that you will need. Purchase all the items on your list.

5. Practice making a new recipe. Read the entire recipe before you start to cook so that get an understanding of the cooking process for the recipe you have chosen. Set out all your ingredients so that they are in easy reach. Before you start to cook, do any required prep work such as chopping vegetables and preheating the oven. Having everything in reach and prepared will make the cooking experience go more smoothly. Read the directions as you go along. Follow each step carefully. Do not skip any steps

Tips & Warnings

Start with easy recipes at first. As you gain experience, move on to more difficult recipes. When buying a recipe book, look for one that rates the difficulty level of each recipe. Go along with the old saying, "If at first you don't succeed, try, try again." Cooking is a learning experience. It takes time to become good at cooking. With practice, you will be making tasty recipes that your friends and family will clamor for.

Water aeribics is believed to be a greta and safe way of exercising for almost everybody, including pregnant women. I've got interested in the subject after my obstetrician recommended me to try it.

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Here is what Wikipedia says about:

Water aerobics or "waterobics" is the performance of aerobic exercise in shallow water such as a swimming pool. In some areas it is known as AquaFit or "aqua aerobics", and is a type of resistance training.

Benefits
In addition to the standard benefits of any exercise, the use of water in water aerobics supports the body and reduces the risk of muscle or joint injury. The mitigation of gravity by flotation places less stress on the joints when stretching, and can allow a greater range of motion. The mitigation of gravity makes water aerobics safe for individuals able to keep their heads out of water, including the elderly.[1] Exercise in water can also prevent overheating through continuous cooling of the body. Most classes last for 45-55 minutes.[2] Another benefit is that you do not even have to be a strong swimmer to participate in water aerobics.[3]

Disadvantages
Aqua aerobics requires access to a swimming pool via facilities, and in addition to any membership fees to access facilities, classes may cost extra. Although aquatic exercise greatly reduces the risk of injury, not as many calories are burned as would be in some other activities.[4] Though aquatic activities in general expend more energy than many land-based activities performed at the same pace due to the increased resistance of water, the speed with which movements can be performed is greatly reduced.[2]


Has anybody tried it? Can you share about the results?

We all have to do things we don't like. And sometimes it is really difficult to get motivated for that.

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Read 10 great tips on how to get movivated and achieve success:


1. Determine Your Goal

This might seem like a given, but if you’re looking for ways to get motivated to something, you’ve gotta narrow down your objective and set a realistic time period to achieve that goal. If you have a laundry list of things you want to do, let’s take them on one at a time to make it easier and it’ll also be much easier to get motivated when you focus on one thing at a time and you have a clear picture of what you want to accomplish.

2. Get Inspired

A sure way to get motivated is to look for inspiration! If you want to lose weight, check out weight loss blogs and sites to see before-and-after pictures and inspirational stories. If you need some encouragement to study, think about your career goal and how this class and a good grade is all part of the big picture. Read up on some people you admire, I’ll bet you anything that they had to do tons of stuff that they hated doing too!

3. Get Some Support

Getting support is crucial when you’re looking for tactics to get motivated. Enlist the help of your friends and family to help keep you on track. Let them know what your ultimate goal is and what changes you’re making in order to accomplish that goal. Now your boyfriend won’t ask you for a late night burger run when he knows you’re trying to slim down. If your friends or family are trying to accomplish the same goal, join forces to motivate each other to stay on track!

4. Make a Commitment

A great way to get motivated and stay motivated is to make a commitment and make others aware. This is step is similar to getting support but this step entails making a commitment with yourself as well. Put it writing and stick it on the fridge, tweet it or do whatever you feel will make the goal stick. I have friends who purposely post on Facebook that they’re going to the gym so they won’t back out. Making your pledge public will make you more accountable and you’re less likely to back down.

5. Start Small

While you’re looking for ways to get motivated, remember that you’re much more likely to succeed and stay interested and driven if you approach your goal in small steps. Take each step small and slow, you don’t have to read your entire textbook in one sitting and try to memorize it all. Take it a chapter or two at a time and do a little each day so you’re not stuck cramming the last minute. Starting small will also make it easier to hit all your small targets and build confidence!

6. Focus on Your Goal

One of the best ways to get motivated to accomplish your goal is to think about it regularly. Don’t obsess about it, but take some time each day to think about it, assess your progress and think about what else you need to do. Think about it in bite-sized pieces or you’ll be overwhelmed with everything you still need to do. Just remind yourself of your goal so you don’t stray and stay motivated!

7. Understand The Process

Realizing that finding a system of getting motivated and reaching your goal is a process will help you avoid feeling overwhelmed and frustrated. The entire process of getting motivated to reach your goal will be a gradual progression and you won’t see new habits and changes overnight. It takes awhile for a person to develop a new habit and make it part of their routine so don’t expect miracles in a matter of hours. Give yourself time to adjust and make mistakes!

8. Celebrate Your Successes!

While you’re on your way to get motivated, don’t forget to celebrate small victories and milestones. Any step you take towards accomplishing your goal is huge and is worthy of a small parade! If you’re trying to stop smoking and you’ve gone so many days cigarette-free, treat yourself to a nap or a new lipstick. This way, you’ll look back on how amazing it felt to reach that target and how you’ll feel even more incredible when you’ve accomplished your goal!

9. Change Your Thought Pattern

Another helpful way to get inspired is to change the way you think and view your goals and obstacles. Don’t let your goal be the end all be all and don’t allow a roadblock to stop you from moving forward! Alter your view on these two things and you’ll feel so much better knowing that your goal doesn’t make you or break you and it’s natural to fail once in awhile. If you obsess about your goal and not losing 10 pounds this week means you failed, it’s so much harder to get motivated and start again.

10. Stay Positive

Getting motivated means being remaining driven to do something and the only way to get motivated and stay that way over time is to be positive. Look at every step in the process as a learning opportunity and a way to challenge and get to know yourself better. Don’t let negativity get in the way of accomplishing your goal! Focus on the end result and why you want to get inspired to do it in the first place and have confidence in your abilities!

There are many reasons to get inspired to do something and I hope this list of 10 effective ways to get motivated helped you construct a plan of attack! It can be difficult to get motivated to do certain things when we have a lot going on in our lives, but if you made the decision to want to achieve that goal, it’s definitely worth it and I know you can do it!

I understand that in the modern world beauty standards are a little distorted and stick thin models are considered to be perfect while someone - totally healthy and slim - like THe Hunger Games star Jennifer Lawrence are said to be fat. BUt there is another extreme side, too. Women, whose 'curves' can't fit into even the largest size of the dress are becoming normal, these are the women who often suffer obesity. What makes me really annoyed is that obese ladies think they should celebrate their curves rather than work on them by cutting off sugar, pastry and fast food from their diets and exercise on the regular basis.

However, i have to admit that fashion industry does discriminate such women and clothing for them often looks ugly and derivative rather than interesting and original. And i do consider that starting a magazine focused on fuller figures might be justified. But this magazine should also be focused on making women aware that being fat is not really good. ANd i doubt that 'Slink' magazine will do that as people don't like to be reminded of things they do wrong.

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This is what DailyMail writes about it: 'Slink' is published bi-monthly and costs £3.85. It is 100 pages of fashion and beauty devoted to the fuller-figured woman. The editor is 26-year-old Rivkie Baum. As a teenager, she was a size 22, mainly because ‘I didn’t stop eating’, but this didn’t stop her falling in love with fashion.

‘I loved the Evans teenage range, which I wish they would bring back, but mostly it was so hard, so frustrating,’ she says. ‘I would scour Camden Market looking for clothes that were big enough.’

Did she read glossy magazines? ‘I read all of them. I loved the images and really wanted to fit in. But there was nothing for young women who are bigger. The only answer was for me to get smaller.’

Today, Rivkie is a size 18 and happy that way. When younger and never able to find anything to wear, she decided to train to be a fashion designer. She studied pattern-cutting and design at the London College of Fashion. But, again, she was excluded.

‘We would cut patterns using a standard block, which was a small size ten. In four years of study, do you want to know how long we spent learning to make a pattern to make a garment that would fit a woman above a size ten? One afternoon.’

Her dream is still to design her own label, but in the meantime, she is putting all her efforts into the magazine. She has just given up her job in sales to work full-time on the publication, which she launched online a year ago before deciding to take the plunge into print.

She says Slink is aspirational, not warts and all — referring to the Glamour photograph of Lizzie Miller, which she feels was exploitative, sensational and designed to get publicity.

‘I think the Lizzie Miller shoot was crass, as was the shoot in Heat featuring a naked and curvaceous Gemma Collins, The Only Way Is Essex star. We are not voyeuristic.’

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Rivkie has banned ‘straight’ models (the industry term for girls size 10 and below) from her magazine. This poses a problem, given this means she can’t fill her pages with snapshots from the catwalk. To get round this, she has commissioned a fashion illustrator to ‘supersize’ the catwalk looks, showing exactly how they would appear on a fuller figure.

Alongside these drawings are all the pieces that can be bought in sizes up to a 30 that will replicate the designer look. ‘So the reader feels she is getting the look from the catwalk . . . and is not made to feel she can’t even try to look like that,’ she says.

We all love jeans and have at least three different pairs of those in our wardrobes. Jeans are functional, stylish and very comfortable. JEans fashion doesn't change a lot but every season we see new trends coming and some of those we have already got accustomed to going away (but we keep those till the new season comes when they can become fashionable again, don't we?). During Spring/ Summer 2012 fashion season there are only a few new denim trends, some of which you will definitely love (like i do).

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Spring/ Summer 2012 Hottest Jeans Trends

Bright Colors. In spring and summer color is probably one of the most important things, which is totally understandable since everybody longs for brightness after winter monotony. Jeans in red, pink, aquamarine, green and violet colors have flooded stores and streets. You can play it safe and wear your trendy pair with a simple white, black or silver top, or go bold and do color-blocking with other bright tones.

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Pastel hues. Pastel hues are a must during Spring/ Summer 2012 season. Look for cream, mint, salmon, and lemon jeans to wear with romantic blouses, wedges or espadrilles, and beautiful wide-brimmed summer hats.

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Prints. This trend has affected all categories of a woman’s wardrobe, including jeans. Florals, stripes, leopard and snake skin, wide African prints as well as kaleidoscopic patterns are key this season. Wear them with tops that feature a different print to really stand out, or complement your look with something less daring but still attractive.

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Skinny Crop. Skinny cropped jeans will look terrific on a slim girl with long perfect legs. In case you don’t fall under that category you better stay away from this jeans trend as all the problem areas you normally try to hide will become clearly visible. For those, who do have the assets to demonstrate, should look for mid rise, straight leg and ankle length.

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Bleached jeans. This type of jeans has kind of retro feel but you can make them look modern by wearing with faded t-shirts, cut off vests or fringed tops.

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High-waisted jeans. With bra and cropped tops so popular now there is no wonder that high-waisted jeans and pants are also getting trendy. Cover your belly button with a pair of perfect jeans that fit you well. It can be wide-leg, too.