Best in Shoe (heartbreak editon)

These boots were so incredibly awesome. As soon as I opened the box I fell in love. But moments after unwrapping the tissue paper my heart was broken.

These Ralph Lauren boots had to be returned because they did not fit. 😦

I wasn’t blessed with my mother’s sized 8 shoe, rather I got my father’s big feet so findings shoes have always been a challenge. I’m finding it’s more of a challenge now thanks to wider feet. Ugh. Why don’t shoe designers of affordable pretty, fashionable shoes make shoes in wide sizes???? Surely I’m not the only sized 9 1/2 – 10 wide that wants fashion forward shoes and not bland, boring shoes. I may be over fifty but I’m not ready say goodbye to awesome shoes.

 

Friday Faves

Happy Friday! It’s been a crazy week. My schedule was tossed upside down and tomorrow we’re expecting a snowstorm. How many more days to spring? While I’m waiting on spring to arrive, I did visit a few blogs this week and below are links to some of my faves. If you have a chance you may want to stop by and visit these blogs.

Since I felt like I needed a little spring, you know warmth and sunshine, I was pleased to find Glenda from So What To Twenty showing off a beautiful green dress. Her dress just said spring to me. Definitely check out her leopard print shoes. I’m crushing on them.

Last month when I fell down the rabbit hole known as YouTube where I watched countless numbers of videos on planners I discovered a blog which I fell in love with and this week Alexis from Strange & Charmed shared her black and white basics for winter. Hint, there’s a planner involved. 🙂

There’s a photography challenge going on over at Everyday Eyecandy. This week’s theme is guilty pleasures and LeShawn shared hers. Curious? Check out her post and while you’re there check out her photography tips. While I’m not participating in the challenge, I am visiting for some tips as one of my goals for this year is to improve my photography.

I’m super-excited that tonight Love,Lust or Run premieres. Stacy London returns to TLC with her new makeover show. From the commercials I’ve been seeing the past few weeks, the show looks like so much fun with very colorful contributors.

Before I wrap things up, I do want to mention that my plans for this weekend include shoveling and migrating this blog over to it’s new home, AModernTranlsation.com. I’m excited about this change and I feel like a big blogger girl now. 🙂 I’m hopeful that all will go well with the move over to self-hosted and next week will find me settling in to my new home on the web.

Those are my plans for the weekend, What will you be up to?

It’s The Only One I Get

For today’s Wednesday Wellness link-up, hosted by Maureen of Scoops of Joy and Rina of Cute Coconut I selected the the prompt of why I love my body.

We’ve all had the “I hate my body” moment. For some of us, those moments are fleeting – they go as fast as they came. Unfortunately for some women that moment extends to days, weeks, months and sometimes even years. They become depressed or fall victim to disordered eating or give up on themselves entirely. I find it incredibly sad when a woman bases her self-worth on the size of jeans she’s able to fit into.

Where there’s no self-worth there is no self-love.

If you constantly point out your muffin top or your thunder thighs when you look in the mirror, you’re missing the most important thing that is standing in front of you and that is YOU. We only get one body, one life. Are you really going to waste it because there are some lines on your face and some cellulite action happening on the back of your legs?

I’ve been fortunate, I haven’t spent my life hating my body. Sure, I’ve had those “I hate my body” moments. Some moments did last longer than others, but I snapped out of it. How and why?

I only get one body. I only get one life. And if you verbally abuse yourself long enough, and you treat your body like a garbage can dumping all sorts of crap into it day after and day and refuse to give it the opportunity to move on a regular basis then as you age you will have a body that cannot function and you will be spending the best years of your life sitting on a chair watching the world pass you by. I know this to be a truth. I see women every day who are younger than me or just a couple of years older than me live with aches and pains and low-energy levels. I don’t want that kind of body or that kind of life.

I love my body because it carries me through the day. My body picks up my dogs to hug and my body walks so I can lead our little pack. My body can curl up on a sofa so I can cuddle with my husband. My body can fill up the bird feeders every morning so I can enjoy a little bit of nature. My body can carry those 40 pound bags of bird seed so the little guys don’t go hungry. My body can stand in the kitchen for hours so I can bake Christmas cookies. My body allows me to live each day to its fullest. That’s why I love my body.

Loving isn’t always easy. We have to love the body we have and not hold out that love until our body morphs into the body we want. That song lyric “love the one you’re with” applies here. Love what you got.

Feel free to share why you love your body. Is there a particular part you love? Me? My legs.

Also, check out the other bloggers who are joining us this week by visiting Scoops of Joy or Cute Coconut.

Dress Code

I love wearing dresses. They are so easy and in the winter they are ridiculously easy to wear with boots. Morning routine? Dress. Check. Tights. Check. Boots. Check. See how easy that was? On a busy, crazy, chilly morning a dress and a pair of boots can save my sanity. Another bonus? You look fabulous.

Dress Code by debras220 featuring michael kors boots

I prefer above-the-knee or knee length dresses to pair with my boots and I adore taking my spring dresses and slipping a cardigan over them to stretch out their season. The beauty about dresses and boots is that you can be very polished or very boho depending on your mood. And that’s what is fun about fashion. So when you combine fun with easy to wear you have a great start to the day and a great look.

How about you? Do you enjoy wearing dresses? Do you have a particular style you gravitate toward?

Song of 2015

Earlier this month I selected 5 words to define 2015 to me and I’ve been seeing a lot of other bloggers doing something similar. Some have chosen to select one word, others are choosing several words. I think this is a great thing to do. It helps keep us focus on our goals for the year. On the way to work this morning a song came on the radio, a song that I first heard a few weeks ago and immediately downloaded.

On the way to work this morning I heard the song on the radio and right then and there I knew the song would be my Song of 2015. It’s Colbie Caillat’s Try. This song speaks to every woman. The lyrics remind us that we have to love ourselves first and that we are good enough just the way we are.

The song is beautiful and the video is equally beautiful.

Enjoy!

My Blonde Moment (yeah, I have them)

For this week’s Wellness Wednesday I selected to share my healthy living goals. Goals come in all sizes and degree of difficulty. No goal is to small if it moves you toward the bigger picture. With that in mind, I’ve decided on two new goals for 2015.

First, lets start with my blonde moment which relates directly to my first goal. I’ve made the goal previously to workout consistently. I used to do that and I also used to work 8-4, which was a perfect work schedule for me. But the evil day job (EDJ for short) switched my hours to 9-5 and my consistency went down the tubes (okay, fine, I can’t blame the EDJ entirely for that but it’s worth a shot, right?). My goal was to workout every other day but on Tuesdays and Wednesdays it is impossible for me to workout at night (and no, I don’t do morning workouts). I struggled, I was frustrated, I was at a loss of what to do because I wasn’t meeting my goal.

Fast-forward to last night when I face-palmed my forehead and said, “duh”. My “week” doesn’t have to begin on Monday and I don’t need to workout every other day if I switch up the workouts (cardio, toning, stretch, repeat). Ugh, what a blonde moment.

My workout schedule will be this – Thursday to Monday, alternating workouts on those days. Tuesdays and Wednesdays will be my rest days. Don’t even ask how long it’s taken me to figure this out. 🙂

Goal #2 is to drink more water on the weekends. I do drink water during the day at the EDJ but on the weekends? Not so much and I do feel the effects of being dehydrated by Sunday night. So water will be my first choice of beverage come Saturday and Sunday.

There you have it, my two goals for this year. They’re easily attainable but pack a punch if I succeed each week.

I’d love to know what your healthy goal(s) are for 2015. And be sure to check out the Wellness Wednesday link-up.

Simply motivated with some tips for success

For the first Wellness Wednesday, hosted by Scoops of Joy and Cute Coconut, I’ve decided to answer the question – What motivates you the most to start living a healthier lifestyle? But I do have to tweak it a bit. I’m answering the question – what motivates you the most to continue living a healthier lifestyle?

The biggest motivator for me is actually very simple. I don’t want to be forced to sit by on a beautiful day because my body is riddled with aches and pains and medical conditions that were preventable and not be able to take a walk just because I chose not to make healthy choices. Wow, that was a long sentence. 🙂

Short and sweet and the truth.  But sometimes we all need a little extra motivation, a little extra kick-in-the-butt, a little pep talk. Here’s 5 tips to help keep you motivated on those days when you just need a little extra push.

Now it’s your turn? What is motivating you to lead a healthier lifestyle? Do you have a favorite tip for staying motivated?

Back to Paper

On Christmas day I went looking on You Tube for a specific video, I found it and I also found another video the writer had filmed about her brand new Filofax. I had some time to spare, so I watched it. Then I watched a bunch more videos from the suggested videos shown to the right of the original video. Yep, I fell down the rabbit hole. I didn’t climb out until Sunday night.

Video after video (I did manage to breakaway for Christmas dinner and chores that NEEDED to get done over the long weekend, but at every chance I was watching videos on putting together a planner) I watched in awe of those vloggers with their decorated, organized planners. I’d never heard of Washi tape but by Sunday night I had a roll. 🙂

Let me back up a moment. I used a DayRunner planner religiously for years (in fact I had four) then about two years ago when I was using the compact size planner I made the decision to go digital after all I had an iPhone and an iPad, surely that would be most logical thing to do – why carry an iPad & a planner?

During the first year I used a small calendar and my mobile devices so it seemed like it was working for me. Then in 2014 I ditched the paper completely and by the end of the year I realized how lost I felt. Then seeing all the decorating that can be done to a planner (I really had no idea) and how it could organize my life (I’d forgotten) I was hooked.

I immediately went to the cabinet in my office and pulled out my planners.

Only two were left from my pre-digital days. The pink one is a Filofax that my girlfriend gave me one birthday and I love that it’s pink. Love it! The black one is my DayRunner and I have been working with that since December 26th. I’ve made the decision to give the planners 3 months and if by March I’m using them consistently and they are keeping me organized I will purchase a Filofax in either the personal size or the A5 size.

I’ve been having fun working on my planner and I think like the bloggers I’ve been watching on You Tube I will make a video when I make the switch over to the Filofax (yeah, I’m guessing that the planner is going to be a must-have for me going forward.) I already feel so much more organized. 🙂

What surprised me the most was the number of young women I saw using paper planners. I expected to see bloggers who were in my age range, since we used these planners when we were in our 20s & 30s, but seeing college-aged women using paper planners when digital and women who obviously used digital in their day-to-day lives did catch me off guard. Also, the amount of time spent on customizing and personalizing the planners surprised me. There are videos on their nightly planner routines! There’s a blogosphere full of printables out there for your planner. Yes, I even printed one. These gals also added charms to their planners. Wow! I have to admit, this time around I’m open to having my planner be less serious. 🙂

Now, I’d like to take a moment to share some links of the fellow bloggers I discovered while down the rabbit hole. I was amazed that there are blogs solely dedicated to Filofaxs. Who knew? Be warned, you visit these websites at your own risk. I am not responsible if you fall down the rabbit hole. 🙂

Alexis from Stange&Charmed wrote about Reaching Planner Nirvana with 2 Flouro Pink Planners. She has a lot of good stuff on her blog and definitely checkout her You Tube channel.

Kristina from Pretty Shiny Sparkly compared Filofax to Erin Condren planners. I have some girlfriends who are big Erin Condren fans. To each her own.

Jennifer from My Purpley Life has amassed a significant collection of Filofaxs and her weekly updates on her planner is awesome.

Philofaxy is a wealth of information on Filofaxs and even includes spotlight interviews on Filofax fans and their Web Finds post is filled with great links.

Charming inspiration is what I found over at Becky’s Paper Route. This is a blog I’ll keep an eye on.

I loved this detailed post on planner organization over at A Bowl Full of Lemons. While you’re there, check out her posts on home office organization. Yeah, that’s a whole other rabbit hole.

Oh, while I was sinking deeper and deeper into You Tube land I came across something that I just absolutely had to have and by Sunday it was ordered and arrived on Wednesday. A pen case from Kipling. It was the monkey charm that did me in. At least now I have a place to store my Washi Tape. Oh, boy, I think I need a 12 step-program.

I think now would be a good time to end this post before I end up missing the whole day. 🙂 I’ve shared my plan on becoming more organized for 2015 and the tool I will be using. What about you? Do you use a planner? If so, what kind? Digital, ringed or spiral-bound? Or do you just use a small pocket calendar and a wall calendar?