Fancy Pants
These pants!!! I am obsessed with these pants, not only is the pattern on point for this season but they're so goddamn comfy. They feel like pajamas!! But look so much more put together! A simple black tee, some pale pink boots and I'm good to go. Simple pieces that feel super comfortable and look put together are all I want in my wardrobe.
Outfit: Jacket-Dynamite (old), top-Lululemon, Pants/Sunnies-Simons, Shoes-Aldo, Ring-Saraswati designs.
Outdoor Workout
It's finally nice out!! With positive temperatures for the first time in 6 weeks, we're all itching to get outdoors and enjoy ourselves. This body weight workout/ stairs workout is whole body & can be adjusted for every fitness level!
1. Side Plank/Hip Drops 30 seconds per side
Top foot elevated on a bench, hips nice and level, hold the plank. If you want to challenge yourself even more, drop the hips to the ground and pulse them up, back and forth!
Alternative: Bottom leg down, half side plank, will take some of the pressure off
2. Plank/ Hip Drop 30 seconds per side
Similar to the above one, except forearm plank, for beginners: Hold position in first picture, if you want a challenge, kick hips/leg back up into the air and drive knee towards ground back & forth.
Alternative: Plank from forearms, tap leg side to side instead of kicking straight up. Less pressure on the shoulders
Alternative: Plank from forearms, tap leg side to side instead of kicking straight up. Less pressure on the shoulders
Curtsy Lunges 30 seconds per side
Step back and behind with one leg, put your weight into the front leg pushing off that leg and squeezing the glute.
Push up 30 seconds
Feet elevated makes this harder, turn yourself around and put hands on bench to make it a bit easier! Hands under shoulders, elbows drive back, slowly lowering yourself down and keep everything tight as you push back up to plank position.
Alternative: From knee perform push ups
Alternative: From knee perform push ups
Single Leg Hops 30 seconds per side
Be careful and ensure your knee doesn't fall inwards as you perform this exercise! If you aren't confident in your ability here, do a lateral step up as you go.
Alternative: Lateral step ups without the hop
Tuck Jumps 30 seconds
Again, if you don't feel confident, perform squats instead! For jumps, sink into your squat position and jump up tucking your knees into your chest.
Alternative: Bodyweight squats, less pressure on knees
Alternative: Bodyweight squats, less pressure on knees
Run/walk a set of stairs!
Perform circuit 3-4x, taking a 2 minute rest between circuits
Spring in my Step
This leather jacket has been such a good addition to my wardrobe, perfect thing on top of any dress, top, or romper. And I love the combination of leather and lace, something feminine with something more masculine is always a great combo to me. This lacey top has got some 70s vibes that I'm totally feeling for spring/summer this year.
A pop of colour with these short pink boots is the perfect balance to this otherwise neutral outfit. Sometimes I get very distracted by colours and patterns etc, but a simple outfit like this is anything but boring.
Thank god it's warmed up enough to not wear 10 parkas and sweaters, I can't wait to bust out more of my spring items!!
Outfit: Top-Zara, Jeans- Dynamite, Leather Jacket- Bamboo Ballroom, Purse- Rebecca Minkoff (via crossroads trading), Shoes-Winners, Shades- ILUMIX
Past Spring Favourties
It's official, I've decided I'm done with winter. I'm over it, I know it's technically still early in the year for us Canadians, but mentally I'm making the switch. Now I know we're going to get more snow, but I think the minus one million temperatures are done. I am busting out some spring clothes and letting mother nature know that I'm moving on. I thought that was the perfect time to take a stroll down memory lane of some of my favourite spring years from years past.
I'm clearly super into denim and coloured leather....let's wait and see if that trend continues, all I know is my wardrobe is desperate for some colour!
Practicing Positivity
Sounds simple enough and it actually is but like any new habit it takes practice. If our automatic response is to see negative, it takes work to look for the positive.
Now why is this important?
1. "Happy thoughts and positive thinking, in general, support brain growth, as well as the generation and reinforcement of new synapses, especially in your prefrontal cortex (PFC), which serves as the integration center of all of your brain-mind functions." Sweet, we want our brains to grow, yes? It's very important to keep well as we age.
2. Looking for the positive actually makes us more resilient, less likely to become depressed and overall have a better quality of life. Even when faced with adversity and stress, this type of thinking can help keep us going when the going gets tough.
3. Positive thinking can help strengthen your immune system and make you less likely to become ill. Now this doesn't mean it's the cure for cancer, however if you're focusing on negative things all the time this can spike your cortisol levels which when this happens chronically can weaken your immune system. Therefore positive thoughts can help keep cortisol levels even and keep your immune system up.
4. Positive begets positive. The moment you start looking for the positive you see more of it, this affects the way you see everything, the weather, your job etc. So for individuals suffering from low level Seasonal Affective Disorder or low level depression this can be quite helpful mitigating the negative symptoms they experience. A lot of depression can be chemically based and require medications but there is nothing wrong with adding this in with that.
Okay now to the technical side: how?! Practice makes perfect
1. Write 3 positive things in your day planner/journal every day. Start with 3, guaranteed you'll be able to see more and more as the weeks go on. When I started my first week most of my things included naps, sleeping etc. It's branched out from there.
2. Use the buddy system. With your partner/bff at the end of the day tell each other 3 good things that happened that day. Ask them to call you out when you're being too negative.
3. Set reminders. A simple alarm going off on your phone reminding you to look for the positive can be very helpful when your day is becoming overwhelming.
4. If you don't have anything nice to say.....We've all heard this one. Now I'm not saying you can't vent about a stressful situation at work, etc, but if you keep bringing it up well that means you're just going over it over & over again. This isn't helpful, bringing it up to vent or get someone's opinion is healthy, stewing is not.
Good resources: rewire your brain, self talk
I've read the first, and the second comes highly recommended.
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