We've Moved to Wordpress! - The Scarlet Jamie 2.0

Thank you for the love this blog has received in it's journey here on blogger for the last six years. I am pleased to announced The Scarlet Jamie 2.0 has graduated (finally) Wordpress from it's own domain.

TSJ began as a hobby makeup blog but has transformed to a lifestyle blog with more personal content. The 2.0 version will reflect these new goals. Many of the older makeup posts will not be transferred to the new space therefore this site will remain in order for people to access those.

I'm very excited to begin this new step and hope you will join me!

My KETO Journey with PCOS: Week One. Weight loss and Periods

photo from March 2018
I debated for some time about whether or not I wanted to discuss this on my blog or on youtube because for me, my weight loss journey is incredibly personal. Weight has contributed to my self esteem issues since I was 13 years old, before I ever had anything to worry about. But, I really like the accountability that sharing this provides and I know I find these types of progress blogs especially helpful when trying to motivate myself to continue.

If you're new to the idea of the keto diet, its basically eating a low carb, moderate protein, high fat diet. Women with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome or PCOS have seen success with this diet due to insulin resistance improvement. I'm going to continue with this series kind of assuming my readers already are familiar with keto and PCOS so if you're interested in learning more about this I encourage you to read the articles I've listed below.

My husband and I started our keto journey on July 30th with two different goals in mind  - mine was to lose weight and battle PCOS his was to simply to eat healthier as he is already on the low low end of BMI for his height and weight. So while its nice to make healthy choices with someone, our approaches are obviously very different when it comes to calories and protein.

As I type this, I have been eating a low carb diet for about 10 days.  After the first five-ish days, I'll admit I was foolishly discouraged. I didn't feel like anything was life changing. The scale was fluctuating a lot and I wasn't even completely sure I was in ketosis. I hadn't suffered the infamous "keto flu" as many do during their first week of starting the diet and I was just overall skeptical.  I ended up ordering some ketosis strips off of amazon despite hearing that I wouldn't need them because it would be obvious that I was in ketosis. It wasn't obvious. (I'll link any products I mention below). I've only tested with them twice so far, and the first time was even with diluted urine. My strips were dark. So I'm definitely in ketosis. This was the first little push that I needed. It meant that I was doing it right, my macros (although I'm still tinkering with these) were okay, and I was getting somewhere. It was kind of a big deal.

Fast forward to today, I do a midweek weigh in (I really only want to be weighing once a week) and the scale shows a number I'm very pleased with. My starting weight was 205.2, the number on the scale today was 199. While this is only 6 lbs and it is likely just water weight, I have had the biggest problem breaking that 200 lb threshold since I gained all this weight. (Until PCOS started acting up, I weighed 150 for years and years).

Skipping ahead just a little more (tmi warning) to tonight - I'm weepy, angry and emotionally all over the place which is not the norm for me lately. I go to the bathroom and low and behold there is pink on the toilet paper. Aunt Flow has arrived.  My last normal period was in November of 2017.  I had spotting for two days in June (six months later!?) and then was back to nothing. So while it may sound weird to be excited about something like this, its a huge deal. It means keto is working, my body is healing, my blood sugar is stabilizing, and I might, just might, be able to actually start charting ovulation and restarting my TTC journey.

I know its early and progress will slow down, but I'm very excited about my results thus far and I know things can only improve from here. I'm wrapping up this post but will do a one month check in post in a few weeks with another weigh in and measurements so please visit again if you'd like to follow my journey.

My Stats:
Starting Weight: 205.2 lbs
Current Weight: 199.0
Goal Weight: 140.0

Starting Measurements:
Bust: 37.5 in
Waist: 42.5
Hips: 44
Arms: 14
Thigh: 28
Calf: 16

Products I'm Using This Month:
Carb Manager app -
Ketosis Strips - Nurse Hatty - Ketone Strips 150ct.
Protein shake for breakfast - Advantage Shakes, Cafe Caramel 4 x 11 oz
Affiliate links. I never recommend anything I don't believe in.

Sources:
1. The effects of a low-carbohydrate, ketogenic diet on pcos. NCIB. link.



Cheap Glasses?! -- Zenni Optical Review

[This post is not sponsored, I paid for these with my own money and opinions are my own. It does contain affiliate links]

If you're like me, you put off going to the eye doctor. It's expensive and takes a lot of time. Prescriptions in the US expire one year after issued by a doctor and US based websites usually require the doctor to verify your prescription before ordering your contacts or glasses. This means, if
you need new glasses but your prescription isn't current you are out of luck.  Luckily, there are websites based out of other countries that allow you to put in the values from your prescription and order lenses without going through a doctors approval. While I recommend always making sure your prescription is up to date - eye sight does change! - sometimes that isn't always feasible.  Zenni Optical is one of these websites. Not only is the prescription process easy, the frames are so cheap and include lenses.

If you've followed me on instagram for awhile, you'll know that I usually use glasseslit.com to purchase my frames. They have a smaller selection but almost all of their frames are under $20. Zenni has a wider price range but has a lot more styles to choose from. I chose to give them a shot after seeing them recommended by some facebook friends.  GlassesLit is great, but I searched their website for months waiting to snag a pair of basic black wayfarers that never came back in stock. Zenni had plenty of this style to try. I compared the measurements listed to my previous frame orders so I would know exactly how I would like their fit. Their website has so many infographics if you want to learn more about this.

The frames I chose were called "Square Glasses 2020121" in matte black.  They were $15.95 and were one of the cheaper frames of this style. I opted to ad anti reflective coating for $4.95 as well as clip on sunglasses (?!?!) for $3.95. Honestly, I was over the moon about the sunglasses ad on option. Lack of sunglasses is my number one complaint for wearing glasses. I found a coupon code for 20% on retailmenot so total including shipping I paid $24.95.

The order took about two weeks to arrive from my order date which was to be expected. My order included a blue plastic glasses case as well as a microfiber cleaning cloth.  The sunglasses add ons fit perfectly overtop of the frames and look just like sunglasses. They are easy to carry around in the little case. I'm so excited to have these for the beach and driving.  The frames themselves fit great and were exactly as ordered. The prescription was accurate and I didn't need to do any tweaking for them to fit correctly.  These did not come with adhesive nose pads like all the glasseslit orders do but due to the shape of the nose area, these didn't slide down so they weren't needed. Overall, I'm very pleased with my purchase and will definitely be ordering from them again. When frames are so inexpensive,  I like having one or two extra pairs to be able to change my look.

If you're interested in ordering from them it would be bomb if you used my referral link so we both get $5 rewards! :)

Yayy glasses!


Fertility Charting for Beginners

Today's post is going to be a guide for fertility charting for those who just want to be educated about their bodies, ultimately with the goal of conceiving. I took Human Reproduction as my capstone senior year of college and that was the first time I realized how little women are taught about their own bodies, so when it comes time to try and conceive a child we can often be surprised when it doesn't happen after having unprotected sex for the first time.

When trying to conceive (TTC) I feel like there are generally two different categories of people - the
"not trying, not preventing" crowd and the charting crowd, which obviously can be split into various degrees. Both ways are valid ways of conceiving but for women with various health conditions or have had trouble conceiving in the past, charting can be a more definitive way so see what's up with your cycles.

This is going to touch on some of the basic things that you can chart when starting your TTC charting journey. This isn't going to go in depth on things like menstrual flow changes or luteal phase or other things. You can make charting as simple or complicated as you want so today we are just going to cover some basics. I really recommending using a paper chart from the book "Taking Charge of your Fertility" or the Fertility Friend website and app.

PERIOD

The first most basic thing you'll want to chart is the day your period starts and stops. The first day of your period is considered  "Day 1" of your cycle. The textbook example of a cycle is usually 28 days but there is a lot of normal (and abnormal) variation that can make this number inaccurate for many woman. If for some reason you don't have a period (like me, due to PCOS or other issues), you can still track the following changes, just note that you may or may not ever be ovulating. We might cover this in another post.

TEMPERATURE
Your basal body temperature is another thing you'll want to keep track of daily. Subtle changes throughout the month can clue you in on the start of each new phase of your cycle. In order to get the most accurate results, its important to record your temperature first thing in the morning. For the first part of your cycle, you may see some changes from day to day but overall you'll hover around the same average unless you're ill. During ovulation, the temperature will drop slightly followed by a rise in temperature the next day that is sustained until the end of the cycle.  It's a common misconception, I think, that the spike in temperature signals ovulation but actually, it signified that it has already happened. The rise in temperature after ovulation is the start of your luteal phase.

You can use any kind of thermometer to chart temperature, typically the infrared forehead kind are not recommended. I find orally to be the easiest for me. Readings with two decimals are preferred but the cheaper thermometers usually only go to one decimal place which can be sufficient for most.

CERVIX
For many woman, temperature charting, or temping, can be enough to help you determine your most fertile days. For others, temperatures aren't so clear and other signs are useful in determining when ovulation has occurred. Checking the cervix requires getting up close and personal with your body on a daily basis so if you weren't comfortable with touching yourself before, you will be after charting. No pun intended. There are three main things to take note of when checking the cervix - position (and opening), texture, and fluid. Often it takes a cycle or two to really get used to the changes and what they feel like.

To check your cervix, you'll want to insert a clean finger into your vagina at about a 45 degree angle towards your back. The cervix is round and honestly sort of looks and feels like the head of a penis. First take note of the position. If the cervix is high, you'll have to insert almost the entire finger to be able to reach it. At a lower position, it is much easier to reach. You'll also want to feel around for the opening - is there a small hole or is it closed? Next, gently press on the cervix and note its texture. Is it soft like a flaccid penis? Firm like a hard penis head? Or somewhere in the middle? If you don't know what a penis feels like then perhaps think of the difference between your lips and the tip of your nose. Finally, swipe a finger around the cervix and inspect the mucus. Cervical mucus is categorized as either dry, sticky, creamy, watery or egg white. In general, around ovulation the cervix will be soft, high, open, and wet. Watery and egg white mucus are considered fertile, with egg white being the gold standard. Egg white mucus is easily distinguished by its ability to stretch between your fingertips without breaking. This should not be confused with arousal fluid, which is different although it has a similar consistency.

OVULATION TESTS
Ovulation tests are typically referred to as OPKs or ovulation predictor kits. Most drugstores sell some form of these but typically its more cost effective to buy the strip tests in bulk online from somewhere like Amazon.  These work very similar to pregnancy tests in that you dip the stick into a cup of urine, wait a set amount of time, and read the result. The different is that for the strip type tests, two lines does not always equal positive for ovulation. Ovulation would show the dark control line as well as an equally dark test line.  If one of the lines is fainter than the other, this is not a positive test.  OPKs are useful if you find your cervical signs and temperatures don't match up. When the ovulation test shows positive, it usually means you will ovulate within the next 24 hours, not that you are currently ovulating.

WHEN TO HAVE SEX
All the statistics say that sperm can live in the vagina up to five days but really this is under ideal conditions which not everyone has. Experts agree that you have the highest chance of conceiving when you are intimate two days before, the day before, and the day of ovulation.

RESOURCES
Taking Charge of Your Fertility book
Cervix photo gallery (NSFW)
Lots of great resources and community for voting on your test if you can't tell!
Fertility Friend log

30 Day Challenge - Desktop Tracker



So I have decided to tackle Jillian Michaels 30 day shred in order to make myself suffer (and maybe lose some weight). I didn't like the style of calendars I saw on Pinterest for this purpose so I decided to make my own that is generic yet beautiful to look at and desk top sized. This tracker is 5120 x 2880 which fits 27in Macs and below. If you need help with another size let me know.

There is a trick to using this as a tracker. There might be a simpler way, but this is how I get the little hearts that cover up each day.  These instructions are for Mac. Get Windows instructions here.

  1. Head on over to Iconfinder and pick out an icon you like.  Save it as a .PNG to your desktop. (Or download the one I used here). PNG preserves the transparency so you won't get any ugly white or black backgrounds.
  2. Put that image in a new empty folder. So its easy to find.
  3. Open the image in preview and it Edit -> Select All -> Copy.
  4. Right click on the folder we just made and select Get Info.
  5. Click the mini version of the boring folder icon so that it is high lighted.
  6. Go to Edit->Paste. Your folder should now look like your picture.
Any time you want to cover up a day, right click and select duplicate. You'll need a unique name for every new icon. I use spaces so that it looks cleaner. You do have to use a different amount of spaces each time to count as unique.  

If you're icons look too small, right click-->Show View Options. And move the icon size slider as desired.

When you're done with your tracker, just delete all the little hearts by dragging your mouse across the screen to select them all and moving them into the trash. 

Ta-da!
This totally isn't ideal BUT it works and I think it's pretty. So if you'd like to have it too, download below!

Sand Cloud VIP Box Review - #savethefishies

So lately I've been engaging in hour long instagram browsing sessions.  During these times there are two online stores that I continuously see ads about - Sand Cloud.  Normally, I get mildly annoyed with seeing the same ads over and over for products I can't afford so I never really looking into it much but recently, I bought a couple things because I'll be honest, they do have super cute stuff.  I thought I would do a review of the products today and share some discount codes(!!) with y'all.

Let's talk Sand cloud.
Sand cloud is a company that I think originally started making turkish-style (the really thin-easily traveled with) towels.  Now they have tshirts, hoodies, long sleeved shirts, water bottles, and some jewelry items.  They focus on feminine and boho designs usually featuring at least one of three themes - tie-dye, zen-tangle, and/or sea life,





The best part about Sandcloud is 10% of every purchased is donated to charities that help marine conservation. #SaveTheFishies is their whole thing.  Charities donated to include Marine Conversation Institute, Surfrider Foundation, Pacific Marine Mammal Center, and more.  Shirts ranged from $28 to $48, Towels are around $50 but you can get an XL version for more. They have a glass water bottle with a cute wooden screw top that is on sale for $28. It's one of their best selling items. They are always offering sales of some amount or another and you can find discount codes everywhere (including one in this blog!). They also have a rewards program where you earn points per dollar spent and can cash them in on future purchases. You can also rack up points by sharing on facebook and following them on instagram. It's super easy to earn $5 towards a purchase.

Recently, they launched a VIP box which I decided to try out. The VIP box is a monthly shipment that retails for $30. Downside to that price is you aren't able to use your reward points or discount codes. It's still a great deal. It comes with a long sleeved shirt (although it might switch to tshirts as summer is coming) and a pair of socks.  Some claimed theirs came with a keychain or button pin but mine did not. I did however receive a few cute promo stickers. Here's what I got:
A post shared by jamie.goes.places 🦀 (@ambassador.jamie) on
March's theme was a polar bear. I wasn't honestly stoked about this when I heard as I recently moved to Savannah and it's not quite polar bear season well...ever. However, I actually loved this design as soon as I saw it. The sunset colors are gorgeous and it doesn't feel too winter-y. If you've had long sleeved shirts (or hoodies) that are unisex adult sizes and are usually sold with like school emblems or something. This shirt fits like those but is an ever-so-slightly thinner material. It features the pretty design on the back and the circular sand cloud logo on the front. The socks are thick like well-made thick not make-your-feet-sweat thick and they actually fit me a lot better than other tube socks do.  I wear a size 11. I did see some people with like size 7 and 8 feet complaining that they were a tad big on them, so keep that in mind if that's something you're picky about.

For transparency, let me just say that I am an affiliate, and I do get points/commission if you buy from their site using my links or codes or whatever. BUT. I literally am obsessed with this site and everything on it. I'm a member of the private rep group and this company is super involved with keeping customers and reps up to date on launches, constantly coming up with new products, and educating/facilitating things like beach cleanups. It's seriously the coolest thing to see. I've never been a part of such a positive community.  They are based in CA which tragic because I would definitely like to get more involved with the company if they were in the southeast. Either way, I've already been inspired to do my own mini-beach cleanup and I'm becoming more aware of the single-use items I use that I could do away with (#saynotostraws).

You don't just have to live on the beach to buy things from here. But loving animals is recommended. If you're done ready and ready to check out their awesome merch you can CLICK HERE to go to their website.  And if you'd like to save %15 off your purchase, use the code JAMIEADA15

Leave a comment with your an item on your sandcloud wishlist!
Curious as to what's on mine? - this shirt is number one, the water bottle linked above, this awesome aztec blanket, and the silver whale tale ring. And probably a lot more tbh. xD

P.S. I live 20 minutes from the beach now?! so stay tuned for more beachy posts. :)


How to Choose Hair Extensions

Thinking about hair extensions? There are so many things to considering when shopping for hair extensions - synthetic or natural? Are they for special occasion or long term? In this post, we'll talk about how to choose the right kind of extension for you and how to do so on a budget.

Start looking at what you would like to achieve using extensions. Are you currently searching to improve the level of your natural hair? Would you like to increase the length of your hair? Are you looking to have longer, thicker hair for a special event? Are you currently searching for the way to enhance your hairs natural appearance while it grows out? Once you've made the decision to purchase extensions, figuring out your goal will help you determine the best length and kind of extensions to purchase, making certain you accomplish the outcomes you're wishing for and reducing the chance of disappointment continuing to move forward.

Next think about the texture of your hair. Fine? Course? Straight? Wave? Identify hair texture and type and you can begin searching in the hair extension options open to you. For those who have very fine hair, then clip in extensions probably aren't the best option for you. You'll find with fine hair, micro ring extensions provide you with long-term locks that will actually stay put.

Always match the color of the natural hair where you waill apply the extensions to make sure that regardless of whether you choose clip in, micro ring or weave, they'll match your natural tone seamlessly, giving you the most natural look. The goal of extensions is to look like full, healthy, natural hair and not obvious that you're wearing extensions.

Choose the size of the extensions carefully. It's better to buy extensions that are too long rather than too short. You can always cut your extensions to your desired length.  Remember that the longer you select, the heavier your hair will probably be.  The main difference is when you're selecting weave or micro ring with longer hair, it will pull in your natural hair, where if you would like lengthy hair for a shorter time, consider clip ins that will cause less damage over time.

Only buy hair extensions from the trustworthy supplier that has a great status within the hair extension industry. The organization should stock just the highest quality extensions, providing you with a range of 100 % natural hair or synthetic hair.  Choose natural vs synthetic based on your goals and budget.  If you only want to wear extensions occasionally, then synthetic would be the least expensive option, where long-term solutions along with a more natural finish, natural hair would be the better choice.

Expert Extensions is a leading hair extension specialist company located in the Uk. This well-established company offers over eight years of industry understanding and experience supplying their clients using the greatest degree of service and support. The organization offers only the highest quality products with affordable delivery and secure payment options. Additionally they provide their clients having a money-back guarantee to give them complete reassurance when placing an order.  They provide just the best customer support and good value products, making certain they exceed their clients expectations on a daily basis.

Do you wear extensions? Share your favorite type in the comments below!