Not limping!

Well, I'm not limping! I am sore, but not overly sore. My initial thoughts about Physique 57:
Pros:
-It is a good workout in the sense that I was sweating and out of breath without jumping around at all
-I had to stop doing a few exercises b/c I just couldn't do another rep
-My legs were shaking a few times like they used to after doing stadiums
-The time (57 minutes) went by pretty quickly
-I couldn't finish out any move in the abs section, which means I have some work to do there for sure
-My lower back was very "tight/stiff" (hard to describe) after doing the workout but felt fine as the evening went on and feels normal today. This indicates to me that it really called on some ab/lower back muscles that I need to be strengthening, so that's great.
Cons:
-Some of the ab work was hard on my neck, but I think as my abs get stronger, that will lessen
-A few of the moves are strange and you have to constantly check in with your form; it's easy to cheat if your form isn't just right. The moves happen quickly so there isn't a lot of time to adjust and get everything just right before the move is over. You'd almost have to pause the DVD to get everything "right" and then start it again.


All in all, I'm very happy with the first (main) workout. It will fit nicely in my rotation giving me a day off from cardio, but still very much making my muscles do some work! I will try the arms and abs specific video sometime this weekend.


It is GROSS weather here today; cold and rainy. Talk about not wanting to get out of bed/go to work/do anything besides sit on the couch!!


My outfit today:
Jeans: Lauren Conrad, Kohls, $32
T-Shirt: Mossimo for Target, $10
Sweater: St. Johns Bay, Pennys, $16
Flats: Steve Madden; my poor little "go-to" flats.


I was rushing to get pictures done today and therefore half of them were not in the least bit good, so here are a few. You get the idea. :)

Gonna be limping tomorrow! (But in a good way)

My leg muscles are SORE! I did a 45 min cardio workout Monday, a legs video (30 min) Tues, and yesterday decided I couldn't make it through a full 45 min cardio routine so I did a HIIT 20 min video. I am sore today!! Tonight, I'm going to try out my newest DVD workout, Physique 57. Its a Pilates/ballet barre inspired workout that I'm really looking forward to. It is very low impact, but supposedly quite tough. Kelly Ripa said it "changed her life." So, we'll see.... if it delivers as promised, I may not be able to walk tomorrow, but that's okay because tomorrow is jeans day and I can be as comfortable as necessary!


I'm hoping to have another quiet day today!

My outfit today:


Sweater: Old Navy, sale, $6
Top: Old Navy, sale, $12
Pants: NY & Co, sale, $20
Shoes: Bamboo, via Burlington, $15
Necklace: Bella Bella, $9


I heart bargains!! Very few of my pics this am really turned out well, so you just get a little sample :)

Wednesday!

I needed a little "jazzing" up today since I was dragging yesterday. I decided to build an outfit around my Michael Kors booties that I really like that I hadn't had a chance to wear yet, thanks to all of the unseasonably warm weather. I put this together Sunday and when planning it, had a more form-fitting black sweater with it, but I decided this morning to dress it down a little and wear this slightly over-sized sweater. I think it makes the outfit feel a bit more relaxed. 
I did a lower body workout yesterday. I am alternating cardio and strength days in an attempt to keep my knee happy. Today will be a 45 minute cardio session. :) Tomorrow, I'll be in more sore-muscle friendly shoes ;)


My outfit today:
Skirt: Loft, sale last year sometime (first time I've worn it) $24
Sweater: Ny&Co clearance, $12.99
Necklace: Burlington, $3.99
Booties: Michael Kors, $99


I hate how black doesn't photograph well/ when you take the picture, the flash makes the black look like an entirely different shade of black.

 These tights are black, not navy lol.

Little things that make me happy....

In reference to my title today, I love when little fashion things just "go", intentionally or even better, unintentionally. I love when I bring something home and realize I have something that will match perfectly, or just look great with it. Well, that happened last night. 
I knew I wanted to wear one of my $6.97 Banana dresses I found this past weekend, but last night I needed to pick out shoes. This dress has black and brown in it with taupe, mint green and yellow. I felt like I definitely would need to go with a nude/lighter neutral shoe because a black or brown would just be too harsh on my pale legs ;) Off to the closet I went to scan the boxes (have I mentioned that putting pictures on my shoe boxes was one of the best things I've ever done??) 
While skimming I was thinking, mint green, mint green.... holy crap... those Nine West pumps! I grabbed these pumps that I bought last spring/summer at a big sale at Nine West. I bought them knowing they were a little different, kind of a taupe-y grey color with a light mint green trim, but I really liked them. Well, sure as the world, the mint green (which didn't turn out well in any of the pictures) matches the mint green in the dress perfectly, and the taupe-grey shoe color is the same as the taupe spots on the dress. It was just meant to be!!! I was very happy!


And therefore, my outfit today:
Dress: Banana Republic super clearance, $6.97
Jacket: Wd NY, TJ Maxx, $14
Shoes: Nine West Clearance, $21
Necklace: Charming Charlie Sale, $7

 I think it's pretty cute for 7 bucks! Heck, I might've even paid ten!! :)

 There was no light/angle at which I could take the picture to accurately reflect the dress/shoe match! But I tried!!

Ho-Hum it's Monday

Had a nice weekend... Spent a little time with friends Saturday night. Planned to go to a party for the SuperBowl but ended up staying around the house with Jax. I just couldn't get motivated to do make-up and find a cute outfit. Being a girl is so hard! :)

Amanda and I Saturday night. I am LOVING the Santa-worthy belly thing my sweater is doing!

I did go to the outlet mall Saturday. I have a legitimate problem in that many of my work pants have gotten to be too big. Actually, I wouldn't call that a problem, but a triumph! However, the triumph led to me not having many decent work pants that fit. I knew Ann Taylor's outlet was taking an additional 60% off pants, so I figured I'd see if I could find any thing useful. Well, I did. I found the pair of pants I'm wearing today, which originally (outlet price) were $80, but for all intensive purposes are basically these pants, but in grey. I paid $21 for them. I also found a similar pair of heather brown pants for $22 and stumbled on the matching blazer for $34. I simply could not pass up a suit from Ann Taylor for $56. SO, I found two nice pairs of pants that fit really well. I then went over to Kenneth Cole and found a pair of grey cropped work pants and some nice dark brown tweed-type pants for $20 each. Finally I went to Banana just to poke around and found two dresses marked down to $6.97 each!!! One was originally $110 and the other was originally $84. And I didn't just get them because of the price, they are VERY cute dresses. One of which I plan to wear later this week. 
I did spend a little bit of money this weekend, which was not good timing after the Jax issues earlier in the week but to be honest it was/is a little stress reliever and something happy to do and I did truly need some pants :)


So, my outfit today:


Pants: Ann Taylor Outlet, $21
Top: Ann Taylor Loft, older, I think about $14
Shoes: Max Studio, Piperlime several years ago, $65

 I wanted to try to get an "up-close" shot of this shirt b/c it's really cool... It is a light light grey and the specs of color are brown and black. It could probably be worn with anything.

 I usually shy away from grey and brown, but I'm throwing that to the wind and embracing it today!