Monday, February 4, 2013

22. The Weekend Recap and The Obsession

Greetings readers!

Hope you all are doing splendidly.

With this lovely layoff bestowed upon me, doing much hasn't been very high on my list. My life has consisted of 10 cent wings with friends (which I'm not complaining about by any means), freeloading off of my friends' gym membership (she's allowed to bring guests for an unlimited amount of times), working out in my room as an alternative, and applying for copious amounts of jobs; therefore, a weekend getaway was exactly what the doctor ordered!

It was off to a lovely scenic area known as Newport, Rhode Island. My parents own a condo down there, so the best thing about this mini getaway was the fact that it was predominantly free!! :)

The Pinspirablers "Vacation."
The Pinspirablers "Vacation."
Crossing over those two bridges used to be my biggest fear since I hate heights and bridges, but now it's a sense of calming.

While in Newport, I spoiled myself with a pedicure, a bit of shopping (aka like 3 items), ordered my Maid of Honor dress for my best-friends' August wedding, enjoyed my date, hung out with one of my best-friends doing absolutely everything together, and just relaxing. It was absolutely perfect.

My goal today was to get back in the groove, especially after the Super Bowl as well; however, my friend and I both got too busy to go to the gym, so tomorrow is going to be one long workout session for me! AND, I'm experiencing my first Hot Yoga session tomorrow. Yikes!

Today, I went to lunch with my mom and her friend, had the best meal ever, did some returns with mom, and then loads and loads and loads of Bridal Shower planning. It was absolutely frigid today:

The Pinspirable.
On frigid days, I love to wear prints to remind me summer/spring will eventually arrive, along with jeans and boots. I like the idea of having a bold print and subtle/classy boots to tie along with it. Also, I've become beyond obsessed with that amazing sock bun tutorial I found last week. It's become my go-to hairdo! 

*Fun Fact: I promise, tomorrow I will give you an Inspiration and true Pinspirable.

Enjoy your evening and hope you all had a great Monday!

Items:
Sweater: $20 TJ Maxx, circa Fall 2011
Jeans: $30 American Eagle Outlet
Boots: $101 Macy's (exact, but not from Macy's)

Till next time,
Bells

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Monday, January 28, 2013

20. The Workouts and The Tacos

Greetings readers!

Hope you had a marvelous Monday and kicked off your week on the right foot.

I'm trying to be as positive as possible. Being laid off definitely has weakened my self-confidence and self-esteem, so attempting to look on the bright side is very important. My great friend, Liz Theresa, whom I went to grad school with, has taken me on as a "Research and Creative Officer" doing a lot of marketing/sales things for her entrepreneurship. Today, she thanked me several times and complimented me on my skills. It really brightened my day and assured me that I do have talent, buried, but nevertheless there, so thank-you Liz! Did you have any positive comments today? Or give anyone any? In grammar school, my teachers would always stress "Hold a door open for someone, you never know what a little thing like that could mean to someone" and going through a time period in my life like I am now, I fully and wholeheartedly believe in that piece of advice. You really never know when someone is down and needs that little reminder.

After helping Liz with some things, it was onto working out. Today's workout was not as intense as yesterday's, due to soreness. Tomorrow, I'm going to double up again. And another reason today was an easier day was because I was doing a million and a half things this morning. Since when am I completely busy being laid off?! News to me!

My morning in a nut shell:

  •  Edited about 5-6 emails for KiKi
  •  Freelanced/marketed for Liz
  •  Set up appointments for this weekend (dress measurements and much need pedicures for a friend and myself: I need it for relaxation, but most importantly it is for my friend who is going through a very rough time and sometimes a girl just needs some Hot Stone Pedicure Pampering!)
  •  Emailed all of the bridal party a 2 page email (yes, I type all of my emails in Word first)
  •  Called the local Nissan dealership to see if the part was in for my car (head desk: enough said)
  •  Called the Bride's Mom to run everything by her
  •  Compiled all of the ideas in a Word document and folders for the Bridal Shower
  •  Hunted again for Bridal Shower invitations
  •  Caught up on other necessary phone conversations for bills and such
  •  Job hunted


Can you now see why I worked out late in the day and cut it short?! Haha Busy Bee today!

Anyways... the workouts:
The Pinspirablers Workout (part 1).
The Pinspirablers Workout (part 2).

A wise note for all of you, when starting off this cycle (and once again, this was the order I did them), stretch a lot first because 150 Jumping Jacks kills your calfs fast! I didn't stretch like I normally do and I was paying for it BIG time, so after the jumping jacks, I then stretched. Oops! And no, I didn't do the entire "Ten Week Workout Plan," just Monday's routine. Tomorrow I'm going to start with Tuesday's and then add on some other things. Are you going to join in tomorrow and do Tuesday's routine?

Oh, and once again, for the "Do It Daily," I took out the "15 seconds side plank (each)" [sic]**, and instead added in 60 crunches. **Fun Fact: [sic] is used when a word is either missing, misspelled, or breaking a grammatical rule. It's to let the readers know that the author quoting didn't make the mistake, but the original source did. Did I mention I was an English major in college and received my Masters in English, too? ;)**

After these two workout routines, I then did a bunch of standard weight exercises using 5lb weights. I use lighter weights, so I can do more repetitions. My repetitions, depending on the exercise, end up being a total of 25 or 50.

Also, the other day I found this great calendar on Pinterest for an ab routine and although it says June, why not try it in February?

The Pinspirables Workout (part 3).
Who is up for the "June/February" Mean Abs Challenge?

After the workouts, it was on to shoveling. Why snow, WHY?! Can you please, please, PLEASE go away now?! I didn't even take a picture of today's outfit because it was thoughtless. I was not very happy about having to shovel after my shower. Shoveling with wet hair = grumpy Bells.

Upon shoveling, I ran inside to dry my hair, and get ready for Taco Night and to watch the Bruins! My friends and I switched up the 10 cent wing night for $1.00 tacos! Splurging left and right ;)

The Pinspirable.
I told you today's outfit didn't have any inspiration behind it, but here's a better picture of the sock bun! I did it for Taco Night and all of my friends loved it, especially with adding in a headband. I love the glitz and glam of the headband. Definitely needed a little pizz-azz today after shoveling!

Items:
Blue sweatshirt - very old from American Eagle, circa 2004
Headband - Forever 21, circa Spring 2012
Black and gold bow cuff - Christmas 2012 
Silver ring - Christmas 2012 gift 

Till next time,
Bells

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Sunday, January 27, 2013

19. The Weekend Recap: Hair, Workout, Repeat for 3 Days.

Greetings readers!

Ready for a Weekend recap?

On Friday, my parents and I were going to go out to a nearby bar for dinner, drinks, and to watch the Bruins game! It was my first time, this season, going out for a Bruins game so I was bouncing off of the walls. I thought my mom at one point was going to knock me out just to get me to calm down. Feeling a little amped up, I decided to do my hair in hopes of calming down.

The Inspiration
After doing all of the "Rope Braids" hairdos (see here), I was in the mood for some more braids. This look is very easy to do.

The Pinspirable (part 1).
Very very easy. I had a little too many fly-away hairs for my liking, but alas, the problem with short/ mid-length hair once again!

Earlier in the day on Friday, I had to run some errands, so I wanted a dressy/casual outfit.

The Pinspirable (part 2).
A scarf, a white scrunched blouse, a shirt/vest, jeans, and uggs. The outfit was perfect for running errands and to transition into night, swap out the uggs for heels, or add in some big jewelry pieces. I kept to the uggs because it seemed the most practical with snow still on the ground.

The Pinspirable (part 3).
At one point, I was so antsy that I kidnapped my mom's reading glasses and started posing. Like I said, she was ready to knock me out. :)

You'd think I would've been less energized after doing another Pinterest workout:
The Pinspirable Workout.
This "Cardio/Strength Workout" is no joke! I'm very list oriented, so Pinterest workouts work for me, especially when I do all of the "max result" reps at once. I did all of this 3 times through, but I don't do it all once, then start at the top and repeat two times. How I do these workouts is make everything 3 times all at once, so "90 jumping jacks, 15 push-ups, 75 high knees, etc..." For me, it works, but hey! Everyone's different. :) And for me, wall sits, just make me shake. I never really feel as though they do much, so I took out the "3 minute wall sit" and opted for 60 crunches instead.

Saturday was a very lazy day. After bouncing off of the walls on Friday and eating an Alfredo-based dish Friday night, yesterday I felt so gross. I swear the plague ("the ominous flu cloud") is swarming around me and I'm trying to avoid it like it's my job (probably a bad pun right now, eh?). Yesterday, nevertheless, consisted of lots of sleeping, "Property Brothers," movie marathons, and finally something to eat around 9pm. Probably shouldn't have begged to have Chinese, right? Oh well! Live and learn!

Today it was time to get back to the grind, so Pinterest workouts were it! Yes, I said "workouts."

The Pinspirable Workout (part 1).
The Pinspirable Workout (part 2).

The Pinspirable Workout (part 3).
Yes, I did all 3 of these and exactly in this order. The first workout, "Starting Ten," I did in a faster pace: immediately one after the other, banging them out. The "Starting Ten" was essentially my warm-up. Once again, like Friday's workout, for the "Early Morning," I doubled everything up. The only part I didn't do were the side planks because I have carpal tunnel in my wrists and moves like this make it virtually unbearable for at least the remainder of the day. Instead of the side planks, I did 40 crunches.

Not going to joke around with you, for the 3rd workout, I thought I was going to collapse every few moves, so I ignored when to take water breaks and just took water as I saw fit. After the 2nd time doing burpees (in column 2), I was convinced I was going to puke, but nonetheless, I made it through and I felt great! Pinterest really has some awesome workouts; all of the above workouts were ironically by BoP (Back on Pointe), but not all of Pinterest workouts are by BoP.

After being utterly drenched from these 3 workouts, I took a shower, and put my hair up. Since September or so, I've become fascinated with the sock bun, but have never found an easy way to do this until now:

The Inspiration.
Once again, my hair isn't as long, so doing the braids with the remaining pieces was not an option, so I merely pinned that part around the sock bun.

The Pinspirable.
How to Achieve This Look:
1. Place your hair in a high ponytail.
2. Cut the top part of a sock off where your toes would go; then roll the cut sock so it looks like a circle with a hole through it. *Note: the bigger the sock, the fuller the bun will look.*
3. Fan your hair out, making sure the sock is covered all around, and then put a hair tie over it.
4. Take the remaining hair and split it in half. Wrap each section around the bun and pin it.
**5. If your hair is long enough, braid each side and then pin.


Items:
White blouse - circa 2006 (I honestly have no recollection of where this came from, or how much it cost. It's been in my closet for so long and definitely has not been utilized to its full potential).
Black/gray flowered vest - $15 Forever 21
Black jeans - $80 Kenneth Cole outlet, circa 2009
Black uggs - $80 TJ Maxx, circa 2005
Coach scarf - gift
My mom's glasses - Kate Spade

Till next time,
Bells

P.S.
My neon pink belt, I bought at Marshall's, and featured here can be purchased at American Eagle. It was featured as an item today in my email:
The Pinspirablers Find.
How excited are you all for more Neon Brights, Spring, and soon Summer? I know I am!

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