Links You’ll Love
Fashion:
Whether you’re watching the US Open or America’s Cup, a stylish spectator outfit is a must – US Open 2012 from Net-A-Porter.
Are you starting to prepare your wardrobe for Fall? A great skirt with tights & killer boots is always a fabulous option so check out WhoWhatWear’s suggestions for Fall 2012 – Market Watch: Fall Skirts.
One thing that I always look forward to when Fashion Month rolls around are the Garance Dore and Net-A-Porter Fashion Week video collaborations Pardon My French. She talks to fashion greats, reviews the collections, meets designers, interviews fashion insiders, and just generally gives you a great behind-the-scenes look at all of the Fashion Month madness.
- Pardon My French/Anna Dello Russo Dancing
- Pardon My French/Amanda de Cadenet
- Pardon My French/Lunch at Miss Lily’s
You know how much I adore a versatile piece in my wardrobe - especially when it comes to packing for a trip. Refinery 29 clearly agrees – Oxford Shirt Styling Tips: 1 Oxford Shirt, 3 Easy Ways To Style It.
One of the fun Fall trends this year will be finding pieces that have your favorite artwork translated onto them – Whether you’re a fan of the Renaissance Masters or Graphic novels, there are pieces out there for everyone! This Time Tomorrow – Wearing Your Art On Your Sleeve.
Health/Fitness:
Don’t have time for a run? Not interested in the membership fees at your local gym? Why not head online to find the perfect workout for yourself – Fit Club: The Country’s Best Virtual Workouts.
Are you looking for some healthy meals to feed your family to ensure that they’re getting all the vitamins, minerals, and nutrients that they need? Here are some great recipes to try:
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The Wannabe Chef’s Grain-Free Muffins
No matter how much time you spend in the kitchen familiarizing yourself with new tools – or re-familiarizing yourself with tools you haven’t used in a while – is an important part of staying on top of things so check out The Blissful Chef’s Cooking Tool of the Month Series.
Medicine and bosu balls are two of my favorite gym toys – If you use them right they can keep your workouts both challenging and fun. Don’t believe me? Check out FitSugar’s Don’t Let the Medicine Ball Intimidate You — 5 Easy Moves!
Links You’ll Love
Fashion:
Looking for a pretty new up do for the Spring & Summer weddings you’re attending or participating in? Refinery 29 has you covered with their 3 Pretty ‘Dos For Wedding Season.
Not sure what to keep in your closet and what to donate? Miranda Kerr’s stylist tells us just how to Spring clean this season – Modelinia.
Or if you’re interested in jumping on the ombre train, Fashion Fazer has you covered – Ombre and Dip-Dye Hair.
Love that collar necklace? Ya, me too. Check out Fashion Love Affaires for her DIY Diaries: In All My Glittery Goodness.
I’ve clearly shown that I’m a fan of Olivia Palermo’s personal style, I did Style File posts on her adorable polka dot maxi skirt AND her chic outfit for the menswear shows last fall. She recently started a blog and I wanted to share her little piece on closet organization – Glam Tip: Keep Off-Season Clothes Fresh.
Refinery 29 doesn’t want to see your old college sweats or your ratty t-shirts at the gym. Ever. Chic Gym Gear To Replace Your Sweats. Its time!
Are you in the mood for ladylike glitz and glamour this Spring? Me too. From Elie Saab to Christian Dior, Cristina’s got you covered. Read on!
Health/Fitness:
Did you sign up for a race to meet a New Years Resolution and get so busy and distracted this Spring that you’ve hardly started to train? Read the No Meat Athlete’s 3 Steps to Planning the Perfect Running Getaway to Re-energize Your Training or Stuck Running on a Treadmill? Make the Most of It with These 3 Workouts.
Not sure when to nosh? What about which foods will be best for you? Check out Fit Bottomed Girls’ Foods to Fuel You- A helpful list of what foods will help fuel you before, during, and after your exercise sessions, Women’s Health’s Eating Well: The Best Fitness Foods for Women, and OhSheGlow’s 3 Ready-in-a-Jiffy Warm Weather Snack Recipes!
Not sure which oils to use for what? Read through Wake Up World’s 160 Uses For Coconut Oil.
If your Spring has been anything like mine you’re a busy busy bee. Don’t let that get in the way of staying healthy and meeting your fitness goals though, these mini workouts will keep you motivated:
- A 10-Minute ‘Move Confidently’ Workout from Fit Bottomed Girls & Dove
- A 10 Minute Full-Body CrossFit Workout from FitSugar
- A Pound Melting Pilates Workout from Women’s Health
- 10 Crunch-Free Moves for Killer Abs from Shape
Or check out all my links over at A Healthy Mentality!
A Healthy Mentality
With bathing suit season nearly upon us I think that now’s a good time to turn our thoughts to health and fitness. Rather than crash diet or give ourselves 10, 15, or 20 days to reach specific goals in the upcoming months, why not change our habits and lifestyles so that we can stay healthy, happy, and in-shape all year around?
So with that goal in mind here are some health and fitness-related to links to get you motivated and in the mood for positive, healthy life changes. It’s a well-rounded list of reading materials, from interesting new workouts to healthy daily changes you can make to recipes you should try out. This is a great first step in a healthier direction!
Workouts:
Whether you’re a fan of free weights, classes at the gym, running, or yoga, we all know the importance of staying active in maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Getting your heart rate up a handful of times a week is vital and adding walking to your daily regime will make all the difference in the world. I promise. You can even try low-intensity fasted cardio and get some walking in first thing before breakfast. Or ride to and from work each morning on your bike! Below are some ideas for different types of workouts to try, ways to mix up your trips to the gym, DVDs you may be interested in trying, and running tips.
- Fit Bottomed Girls shares their 10 Favorite Workout DVDs From a Guy Who Knows His Workouts. This list includes virtually everything you can think of – martial arts-inspired workouts, circuit training, yoga, and dance DVDs. Quite the comprehensive list!
- If you’re dedicated to the gym be sure to keep your workouts interesting and challenging by mixing things up each week so that no muscle groups are overlooked and you wont plateau on your goals. For inspiration on creative ways to mix up your workouts read FitSugar’s From Total Body to High Intensity: Elliptical Workouts For All, Mark’s Daily Apple’s The Importance of Pull-Up Bar Training, Prevention’s 7 Reasons You Need To Try Kettlebells Now, Self’s The Insanity Workout: 20 Minutes to Totally Toned, jump roping, and 3 CrossFit Total-Body Workouts. Add some new moves to your circuit workouts or try a new tempo on the elliptical, whatever it takes to keep your body, and mind, engaged and enjoying the results!
- Were you brave and ambitious enough to sign up for a race this Spring? It doesn’t matter whether it’s a 5k, 10k, half marathon, or triathlon, just getting out there is what really counts. Here are some tips and tricks and no-no’s: Most Common Running Mistakes, 25 Marathon Training Tricks, The No Meat Athlete’s How to Run Long (and Strong!), How To Start Running: Couch to 5k, and From Training Schedules to Meal Plans: Everything You Need For Your First Race.
- Want to try a new-to-you workout on for size? Whether you’re in the market for a new daily exercise regime or just something fun to do with a friend, here are some interesting choices: Ballet Boot Camp: Barre Fitness, Pilates, P90X, Cycling, Spinning, The Hunger Games Workout, yoga, or CrossFit.
Food:
How we fuel our bodies is the single most important thing that we do for our health on a daily basis. We make countless decisions every single day about food and beverages, and its easy to make the wrong choices if you’re not paying attention, haven’t educated yourself, or even if you procrastinate and wait until you’re starving before reaching for something. Fad diets will come and go, but eating a healthy, balanced diet is always going to be the best approach. Always.
- A big part of starting a healthier way of eating is making better choices, whether you’re swapping calorie-dense processed foods for fresh fruit and vegetable-based snacks on a daily basis, reducing your portion sizes each meal, or giving up refined flours and sugars. Cooking in your home is always going to be the best way to ensure that you’re eating the healthiest that you can eat – Here are some tips and ideas to get you started: What can you make with avocado, 7 Nutrient-Rich Juice Recipes, 6 Healthy, Crowd-Pleasing Spring Soups, know your good fats from your bad fats, summer salads, 10 healthy raw recipes, oven-roasted vegetables, 10 healthy egg recipes, vegetable quinoa pilaf, 5 healthy hardboiled egg recipes, and Recipe Roundup: Bars, Kale Chips, and Other Ideas for Quick, Easy, High Raw and Vegan Snacking!
- Interested in trying out a plant-based this Spring but worried that you’ll miss out on your favorite foods? Check out Vegetarian Comfort Food Recipes from Women’s Health, Fitness Magazine’s Endurance Athlete Brendan Brazier on How to Fuel an Active Lifestyle the Vegan Way, FitSugar’s Filling Veggie Meals That’ll Boost Your Metabolism, or even hit the grill with vegan-friendly burgers or Bourbon Tempeh Sliders!
- Try a healthy, nutrient-dense, filing breakfast to start your day out right: Vegan Overnight Oat Parfaits- 12 Recipes To Kick Off The Season, Smoothie Love, Mouthwatering ways to improve your oatmeal, Green Juice & Smoothie Recipes, or Scrambled Eggs with Smoked Salmon, Asparagus and Goat Cheese.
Motivation:
Finding the internal motivation to lace up your sneakers or grab your gym bag can be a challenge sometimes – when you have a bad day, when your schedule is hectic and you swear you don’t have time, when you’re tired, or it’s that time of the month…
- Sometimes it’s the little things that motivate get us to the gym – Wanting to show off our new gear, being excited to listen to a new playlist, meeting a buddy for a workout… Don’t be embarrassed, use anything you can think of to get yourself to the gym! Read Rachel Wilkerson’s Lesson #115: How to Bribe Yourself to Work Out, FitSugar’s Foolproof Ways to Motivate a Weekend Workout on Friday Night, Prevention’s 7 Home Workout Excuses to Bury, Shape’s 12 Sayings to Get You Moving, Lifting, and Laughing, and Real Simple’s Friday Find: Style Firm.
- Different ways to motivate yourself: 5 Crazy Fit Female Athletes, 3 Motivational Musts That Get Me To The Gym, Motivational Quotes to Get You Moving, 9 Ways To Use Your Smartphone To Stay Motivated, Move It or Lose It! How to Motivate a Lazy Friend to Exercise, Why Eating Right and Gym Motivation is Mental, and How to Jump-Start Your 2012 Workout Action Plan.
- I love looking at inspirational sayings and pictures to amp me up before a workout (or to encourage me to hit the gym when the couch sounds amazing…) – Check out Pinterest for all the motivation you can handle!
Extras:
- If a great playlist is a must have check out Gala Darling’s Workout: A Mixtape!, Fit Bottomed Girls’ 80′s Workout Playlist, Women’s Health’s Workout Playlist: Pop Music, or FitSugar’s Top 100 Workout Songs.
- Want some new workout duds to spice up your workouts? Check out FitSugar’s 5 Places to Find Cute, Cheap Workout Clothes, Refinery 29′s Cute Workout Gear You Actually WANT To Wear, or MCLV’s Workout Gear vs Streetwear for some great ideas.
And if you’re just starting out in the fitness arena and feeling a bit unsure of where to begin read through my Gym Goddess posts for workouts, inspiration, and things to keep in mind for beginning gym-goers:
- Want to Achieve Gym Goddess Status?
- Gym Goddess – Part II
- Gym Goddess – Part III
- Gym Goddess – Part IV
- Gym Goddess – Part V
What are my personal health and fitness goals for this Spring and Summer? Finally get through my spinal injury, start running, hitting the gym for circuit training, going to Pilates classes, and get up the courage to check out boxing and martial arts classes!
And just to make you guys laugh, here’s Shit Girls Say At The Gym!
Workout Gear vs Streetwear
Whether you fit your gym sessions in before, during or after work, you’re always faced with a very specific quandary – what do you wear as you traverse between locals?
This is something that I’ve always thought about and is one of the things I notice most during my walk home from work. If you go abroad you’ll notice how rarely you see anyone on the street in tennis shoes, let alone full head-to-toe workout gear. And in car-centric cities where you drive to the gym, this isn’t really an issue.
I prefer to keep my street clothes on the appropriate side of the spectrum so when I see girls walking around in spandex shorts and a sports bra it gives me ulcers. On the other hand, I have to confess that when I used to head straight from work to Pilates, which is near my apartment, walking over in my workout gear was the most convenient option.
So that begs the question - what’s a girl, or guy, to do? With an endless number of adorable workout gear companies, there are tons of chic choices that can go straight from the street to the gym.
{Spandex done right – Gents, take notes! I also love the bag & old school kicks, fun additions to the look}
Whether you like mesh shorts, running tights or cropped pants there are great options available, from high-end to basic. There are great speciality stores like Lululemon Athletica and Raw Threads as well as more readily available stores like Old Navy, GAP, Adidas, Nike, or other porting goods stores.
{Old Navy – Left: Men’s Active Track Pants – $30 & Right: Women’s Boot-Cut Yoga Pants – $20}
{One of my personal favorites! Groove Crop – $90 @ Lululemon}
{Karolina Kurkova paired her bright pink highlighted running tights and orange shoes with a snug wool coat.}
Especially during fall and winter you need some extras to keep you warm and outerwear is also a great way to cover up during your pre and post workout time and keep your sweaty shirt and sports bra straps out of the public eye. 
{The Cover-up Game: Left - Run Baby Run II Athletic Jacket – $75 @ Roxy & Right – The North Face Men’s Sargent Full-Zip Hood – $65 @ Zappos}
{Not sure what the best way to accessorize is for your next gym trip? The Sartorialist’s Gym Dandy knows just what to do… And here I thought no one worked out in Italy!}
{Gym bag for him: Left – Cheap Monday Gym Bag – $75 @ Asos.com & Gym bag for her: Right - Kipling Adara Large Tote – $110 @ Macy’s}
{This is one of my gym bags – I got it off of Ideali years ago – and I alternate between this and one of my smaller Longchamp Le Pliage totes}
{Victoria’s Secret model Alessandra Ambrosio at Pilates – Cropped yoga pants, tank, leg warmers, a high ponytail & a long-sleeved shirt to throw over everything!}
While you may not be in the mood for leg warmers, because let’s admit there’s really a time and a place for those, there are plenty of non-tech gadget accessories that can make your workouts run smoother. 
{Toys for the boys: Top Left - Coal Knit Beanie – $25 @ Nordstrom & Top Right - Saucony Ultimate Run Glove II – $20 @ Zappos, Toys for the girls: Bottom Left - Fuel Belt H20-2 Bottle Belt – $40 @ Zappos & Bottom Right – VSX Sexy Sport Headbands – $15 @ Victoria’s Secret}
Now you’ve got the gear it’s time to get your booty to the gym, and that way you’ll be in amazing shape by the time New Year’s Eve rolls around…
MCLV’s Gift Giving Guide
The holidays are stressful enough without having to worry about what to get who and last-minute scrambling to come up with creative ideas. So in the spirit of enjoying the holidays rather than worrying about them, I’m here to bring you a brief list of suggestions for your friends, family, co-workers and party hosts.
Fashion-minded: Do you have someone in your life who lives for fashion? Whether its your sister, best friend, mother-in-law or boyfriend who likes to stay up to date on the trends, here are a few ideas for their holiday gift.
- Magazine subscription – Style.com, Harper’s Bazaar, Elle, Vogue, Vanity Fair… Easy for you & much appreciated by them.
- A manicure, pedicure or spa treatment – The holiday’s are stressful for everyone so why not treat your loved ones to some much deserved pampering?
- One of my best friends got me the greatest birthday gift the year before last, something I highly recommend for anyone who loves their clothes and wants them to keep them in perfect condition. A handheld garment steamer!
- Winter accessories are fun to pick out and the perfect gift for the gals, guys or kids on your list – From girl’s knit gloves and boy’s fleeces to women’s hats and men’s scarves.
- Some fashion books that I highly recommend are Nina Garcia’s Little Black Book of Style and The One Hundred, Parisian Chic: A Style Guide by Ines de la Fressange, Style A to Zoe by Rachel Zoe & Influence by the Olsens
- Gift certificates for great stores like Bloomingdale’s, Nordstrom, Neiman Marcus & Barney’s – Tip, make sure that the gift certificate can be used online if you’re not sure whether they have access to the store in question in their town.
Fitness-minded: If you have a friend or family member who loves their gym time and is always looking for a new and exciting workout or sport to try out, here are some ideas to please them for the holidays.
- Check out Groupon, PopSugarShop, LivingSocial & similar sites for deals on gym memberships, fitness classes and workout gear
- Gift certificates are always appreciated since the recipient gets to pick out exactly what they want, try LuluLemon or Nike to make them squeal!
- A BPA free water bottle like Klean Kanteen, Lifefactory or Nalgene
- A Yoga mat, Pilates set or barbell/kettlebell sets
- Workout videos are a great choice since you can find one for virtually ever type of workout - Jillian, dance workouts, Pilates, weights, yoga… So many choices!
- An eco-friendly tote to carry his/her things to the gym/grocery store/office is versatile choice as well – Try Green Girl World, World of Good or EcoBags.
Foodie friend: We all have them in our lives, the people who absolutely live for their food & wine. They always know the best restaurants to go to, always shop at the greatest stores and always serve up the most gorgeous spreads for their guests.
- Wine Club – This is a pricey gift, but a great one if you feel like splurging for a wine lover. A couple organic vineyards to look into are EcoVine Organic, The Organic Wine Company & Benzinger.
- Cooking class – This is something that I’ve always wanted to do but have never gotten around to, so if your friends are anything like me, they’ll be thrilled by a gift that gets them out of their apartment and doing something that interests them.
- A food basket or “food of the month” club
- A beer making kit like this one is perfect for someone who likes to get their hands a little dirty for a fun weekend project.
- Gourmet coffee & a cute mug is a great gift for a coffee lover, especially if they’re an office worker since it’ll brighten their mornings!
- Cookbooks like Alice Water’s Chez Panisse Vegetables, Sarah Matheny’s Peas and Thank You: Simple Meatless Meals the Whole Family Will Love or Alicia Silverstone’s The Kind Diet are great choices for friends and family who are looking to eat a little healthier this upcoming year (and let’s be honest, who isn’t?)
Host/Hostess Gifts: I usually keep a handful of host/hostess gifts around during my busy social seasons so that I don’t have to run out at the last-minute when I could be putting the finishing touches on my outfit for the evening instead.
- Flowers/potted plant – I love white arrangements (baby’s breath excluded – of course) so I prefer bouquets featuring white tulips, lilies, posies & peonies. If I’m taking a taxi or train to get to the party I like to get a potted plant since it’s a bit more durable for the journey.
- Wine – A bottle of wine or port is a timeless and easy to carry thank you gift. I love to support California vineyards and keep bottles of my favorites on hand for just this sort of occasion, if you’d like some Sonoma suggestions I highly recommend Sojourn, Eric Ross, Valley of the Moon, Benzinger & Audelssa.
- Cheese cutting set – I received this as a gift from my Aunt and absolutely love it, it’s both beautiful and functional.
- One of my favorite gifts to give is the Vinturi Wine Aerator - It’s always a success, trust me!
- Diptyque’s scented candles in a sweet little bag are another nice choice, they’re elegant and simple.
Enjoy your shopping trips and be sure to hit LIKE on MCLV’s Facebook page so you can get all of the great sale alerts that I’ll be posting later this week!
