I am simply astonished by the out-pour of love through comments, tweets and emails you have all sent me with regards to my divorce post.  Thank you, thank you, thank you!  I'm really feeling the love and support, you are all such wonderful, compassionate people.  I'm so lucky (thank you!).

So yesterday was Shrove Tuesday (aka Pancake Tuesday!), which is a religious holiday (although I'm not very religious) where you have pancakes for dinner.  That means Lent starts today (from what I understand), where you give something up for 40 days.  A few years ago, for fun (and to see how strong my willpower was), I gave up bagels... and it was pretty easy.  After that year, I never participated again.  I do not want to give up bagels anymore.  Would you give up an indulgence for 40 days? 

 

I wasn't planning on posting these photos (ha!  Note the different shoe on different foot?  Ghet-toeee).  I took them one morning before work when debating between the two pairs of booties, hoping seeing it in photos would help me decide.

Do you guys ever really, really want to like something or wear something with your outfit but when you put it on, you know it's just not working?  Same for me with this outfit.  I really wanted to wear the Aldo wedge booties, but ultimately decided on the other ones as they felt more fitted to the outfit.

Which booties would you pick?

As promised, I pulled together some looks for Valentines' Day.  Hopefully this is some kind of help to someone as I really didn't feel like doing this (ha!).  It was late by the time I got home last night, I'd been to the gym, for a (spray) tan and out shopping and running errands.  Playing dress up was the last thing I felt like doing, but I like to keep my word, and in the end, it's good inspiration for me as I would wear each and every one of these looks (...well, maybe not the first one simply because it's so damn tight and that doesn't really work for me lately since I'm obsessed with all things flowy... and I like to eat...).

All of these looks are inexpensive and easy to recreate, with pieces you already have in your closet.  I love the idea of using red and pink together for Valentines' Day, it's so girly and fun, so why not?  Also, don't be afraid to swap out the jeans for black (or grey) pants, a top and skirt for a dress or heels for flats (although I did include one flats option!).  Furthermore, I will be wearing tights with my outfit as I live in a cold climate, so improvise: black opaque, patterned or nude fishnets all work.  Be creative!

Happy Valentines' Day!

1.  Scrambled egg (whites) with broccoli, onion & cheese

2.  Baked salmon, quinoa & broccoli/carrots

3.  Chicken Kiev (from a box!) and a spring mix salad

4.  Grilled chicken, quinoa topped with black beans & a spring mix salad

1.  Purchased roast beef salad with tomato, hard boiled egg, mayo & lettuce

2.  Breakfast wrap from the caf at my work (eggs, bacon, a hashbrown, lettuce & tomato in a whole wheat wrap.  Oh.  Ya.)

3.  Spring mix salad with dried cranberries, unsalted sunflower seats, feta cheese, grape tomatoes and ground flax (no dressing)

4.  'Gourmet' hot dogs (wrapped in a flax seed pita with mustard, swiss cheese & then I added spinach) with veggies 'n dip

Smart Set denim jacket, F21 tank, Bongo jeans, Aldo wedges, Cutey charm bracelet, gifted bangle & Pandora bracelet 

While getting dressed yesterday morning I pulled out my pink denim pants that I haven't worn since Christmas 2010 (and that was the first time I'd wore them after they sat in my closet with tags on for close to six months).  I'm not sure why, they just didn't scream at me to wear them (I certainly wear my red pants quite a bit though).  However, after pulling this outfit together, I think these pants are going to get a lot more play.  I felt so good in this outfit and although pink pants aren't something I've seen others wearing, that just might make me love them even more.  

Are you rocking the coloured jean trend (yet)?

  

Now the fun part: Cutey contacted me and asked me if I'd be interested in owning one of their charm bracelets and hosting a give-away for you (my uber wonderful readers).

I was pretty pumped as this was before Christmas and before I got my Pandora bracelet.  Since I wear my Pandora everyday (so rare for me with any jewelery, but I love it that much), you can see both bracelets in the photo above, however, Cutey charm bracelets are fraction of the price and already come with several charms on them!  They even have different clasp styles to choose from (depending on the bracelet) so you can pick your favourite, too.  This is definitely something I would wear frequently and layer with other bracelets, a watch, even my Pandora (as I am here).

Want to win one?

Entering is easy:

* Visit the Cutey website

* Leave a comment telling me what your favourite piece is (+ your email address)

Winner will be announced this Friday!

_______________________________________________________________

The winner is Kate!!  Congratulations & thanks to all for playing.  xo

I know I don't normally talk about fitness on my blog, a snippet here and there but not frequently, however, I had one of the best workouts of my life the other day and I wanted to share why.

As I was finishing up my work day, I was really unmotivated and did not want to go to the gym (again/as per usual). I told myself that I was going whether I liked it or not because I needed the workout.  I didn't have a gym partner, I wasn't really motivated by the idea of going running or going on the eliptical, or doing a body rock TV workout.  I simply just did not want to go.

So as I am leaving and walking in my car from work, a thought was sparked in my mind as I stepped out into the cool, winter air; it feels good to move. I've been sitting all day long. Then I started thinking about how fortunate I am that I can move.  I can walk, I'm not in a wheelchair, I'm so lucky and yet I'm so unmotivated to go to the gym and move my body when I've been sitting all day.  'Like, how much lazier can you get?' I said to myself.  Just then, I decided to take advantage of this fact, the fact that I can move; I'm so blessed!  I told myself I would just do a light workout and at least I'll feel better and I will have moved my body and gotten some sort of activity after sitting for eight hours straight.

And do you know what happened next? I got to the gym and I had the best workout of my life.  I have never run for so long or so fast; my previous record was right was running for 18 minutes straight (which honestly, is huge for me, I don't consider myself a runner and I was literally doing the dance of joy afterwards as I was so proud) and that took place in the late summer.  Before that, I had run 11 minutes straight a month or two prior, and before that I never ran longer than three or four minutes because I do interval training (one minute walk, one minute jog, one minute run, one minute sprint & repeat).  All that to say, running 27 minutes is absolutely amazing for me.

About six months ago, when I was doing my monthly resolutions, I had resolved to run for 1km without stopping.  In the same month I manage to run for 2km without stopping, which is a great great feat in my head.  But the other day, I squashed that record and more than doubled it as I ran at least 5km.  

A simple thought the other day turned into a brain explosion as I walked to my car.  We often forget how grateful we should be, something as 'simple' as going to the gym and having the ability to move could be something someone wishes they could do.  For me, it's easy.  That alone gave me the motivation to push myself, to get my butt to the gym, and to kill it.  

 

J. Crew, Mona $198

What I love, love, love about these shoes are two things: the selection of colours they come in, and the fact that the heel is under 4 inches!  Do you know how hard it is to find lower, stylish heels?  

Another episode of 'This or That'!  You guys killed it in the comments section of my first post like this so I'm making this a reoccuring post.  I love hearing your opinions (some were good, some were like, 'I don't like that skirt - sorry,' and that's totally cool!  We can't all like everything everyone wears, the thing that matters is that the wearer loves it and feels good).  

Oh, and someone asked me if I wore the last TOT outfit to work, and the answer is yes.  Almost all my outfits on my blog are worn to work and I love getting creative with them.

This week, I decided to go with the all-black look, monochromatic (something I've been know to do before...) to keep things seamless.  However, the punch of a colour is sometimes nice in an otherwise colour-less outfit.  Which shoes do you prefer?