Smitten Life

 It's that time of the year where we're all feeling a little bit down...it's cold, it's snowy and it's been grey a lot lately. After the high of Christmas, January and February are always a let down and tough to get through. Now there are lots of things that can help kick up your mood during these times but two of the best (I find) are exercise and getting some Vitamin D. Exercise releases feel-good endorphin's and it doesn't have to be high intensity. It has been scientifically proven that LOW & moderate intensity exercise can help reduce depression & anxiety symptoms, which can become even more accute in the winter months. Vitamin D also helps with these symptoms, so what better way to beat the winter blues than go out for a winter walk/run. Since Vitamin D is only absorbed through the skin you have to have some showing, perhaps not the best when it's -25 but take advantage of those warmer days and/or take a supplement. 

1. Set a fun playlist

2. Pick a loop/distance and set a time, this can change everytime you go or stay the same!

3. Start off slow, if you're not a winter runner start off walking

4. If you are into running it doesn't have to be high intensity 1 minute walk, 1 minute run. High intensity can actually make anxiety symptoms worse

5. Add some stairs in

6. Dress appropriately, you want to make this a pleasant experience not get frostbite!

7. Grab a friend, make it a social event or take your furry pal out too, they too can get the winter blues!

Hopefully this will leave you feeling great and like you can totally handle getting through the rest of winter!

 1. Reverse Lunges 12 per side 

Start with feet shoulder distance, step back sink into your hips and then press through the front leg and return to standing. Bring the knee all the way down, and focus on squeezing the glute when coming back to standing.

 3. Single leg hops 12per

Drive one knee up and hop bringing opposite arm up. 

 5. Single Leg Squat 8per 

 Sink into one leg bringing the bum to the ground and press up through the leg to standing. If this is too difficult, just do squats to the bench and jump up (12x)

1 set of stairs!

Outfit: Dress-F21 (old), Boots-Aldo, Jacket-Second hand via Lyndsey purse-Henri Beidal via Lyndsy, Necklace-Saraswati Designs, Rings-Vintage & The bay 

I have had my eyes on these boots since I first saw them in October, I have always been really into over the knee boots. After christmas I saw them online for about 1/4 the price! Ah I love me a good deal. And I'm really into these boots, they're flat which is super comfortable and they actually stay up. I love a good sweater dress and this one is always a go-to, I've had it for about 3 years and it's still just as cozy. I like this palette of black, white and maroon together, it's subtle but still pops too.

Jenna

This year, when I rewrote out my goals I put them into the following categories: Mental health, financial, blog goals, fitness goals, and work goals. There are so many different aspects of my life that I am currently working on, it really helps to categorize and work on certain things at certain times. 

For me some really important health/fitness goals I've focused in on so far are: 

1. Self Care.

2. Working on Mobility.

3. Box more.

4. Stay Hydrated.

 It looks like I'm going to be doing a lot of physical activity so best to stay hydrated, good thing I got the most adorable water bottle for christmas from a client!

Here is a cheat sheet from hims to help you stay a little healthier and reach your goals in 2018!

A couple more mobility flows to add into your warm up or your straight mobility days. These ones are great for stretching out tight hamstrings, hips, and help increase thoracic mobility. For a mobility day I'll throw a hoodie on and repeat these flows along with the first mobility flow several times over the course of half an hour. It's a great way to warm up and loosen all the muscles up. On those days I'll often add in any physio and corrective exercises as well.

Ingredients: 

1 lb shrimp 

1 red pepper

1 cup chopped up green beans

1 cup quinoa 

1 jalepeno 

1/2 cup crushed cashews

2 T sambel oelek 

3 cloves garlic 

2 T low salt soy sauce

1 T sesame oil 

1. Boil 1 cup water with 1.5 cups water until it becomes fluffy, while cooking start other steps.

2. In a large pan over medium heat, sautee garlic, chopped up jalepeno, add sambel oelek, soysauce 

3. Add ingredients to the pan and cook until shrimp become pink

4. Scoop quinoa into boil and add shrimp on top and sprinkle with crushed cashews

Outfit: Hat-Simons, Top-Gap, Skirt-Dynamite, Shoes-Aldo, Rings-Saraswati Designs (Miss Boss), Sunnies-Winners

These are my very first photos with my new camera. I'm pretty excited to try this baby out, it's a Canon EOS 750D, and I had the Canon 50D before, however it was 10 years old and not in great shape. It wasn't focusing, the images were coming out unclear, and sometimes it just would not take a photo no matter how you pressed and cajoled it. It's much nicer to have something more lightweight, capable of taking clearer images and with the ability to take video! 

Now onto the outfit, I am totally into shades of grey and black this winter, but this mustard pom pom hat is the perfect contrast. I love me a good pom hat, they're so cozy and I can often be found snuggled up in bed with the dog in one. This one in particular makes my heart pitter patter with it's extra large pom and the beautiful colour. Mustard is my Jam!

xJenna

This is a great mobility flow for tight hips, it's great to perform for those who sit all day or individuals like myself who do a lot of strength training. My hips have always been tight from years of playing soccer combined with training and not enough stretching. This mobility flow done as a warm up, or combined with other flows has really been helpful for me. Believe it or not this is my mobility now that it's improved, it still has a long way to go though!

Video at the bottom!

 3. Slowly lower down to floor

4. Bring upper body off ground, keep feet in contact with ground

 6. Kick one leg into air