New Year, New Body?

Like 99.9% of women out there, I am forever monitoring my figure.  When the jeans start to fit a little snugly, as they often do after the holidays, I know it's time to be more careful with my diet and start to exercise again (I often fall off the exercise bandwagon...like once a month.  Whoops.).

Life is crazy and demanding already, so I try to look for ways to incorporate changes that don't require a complete overhaul of my routine or preferences.  Here are some of the things I'm going to try to help lose the pounds I put on over the last month or so:

• I love tea but not all teas are created equal.  While green tea is known for it's metabolism boosting properties, I cannot stand the taste of it, so I was happy to hear that peppermint helps with digestion.  I think drinking more peppermint tea instead of the black tea I normally drink will be an easy change to make.  Bonus:  peppermint also helps energize you.

• They say to eat breakfast like a King, lunch like a Prince and dinner like a pauper.  Well, since I'm often famished in the mornings when I wake up and starving by the time noon rolls around, this suits me just fine.  Since protein is so filling, I am going to aim to add more protein to my breakfast in the form of a shake with Vega Whole Food Health Optimizer or even just a boiled egg.  

No I'm not getting paid to promote them but it's from experience.  Vega is amazing.  More info at http://myvega.com/

• Schedule exercise into your weekly planner.  I hate just going to the gym on a treadmill so this is an easy one:  sign up for fun exercise classes and throw them into your iPhone calendar (with reminders!).  You can change things up when you get bored with certain classes because there are so many different options out there.

I start Zumba in less than a week.  Looks like so much fun!

Hopefully these little changes help my body get back to what it was before the holidays.  We will see in a month or so!

If You've Got It, Flaunt It!

I am not a big action movie fan, but Paula Patton from Mission Impossible 4 (it recently came out in theatres) has definitely caught my eye lately.  Why?  Well not because she kicks ass with Tom Cruise in the 4th installment of the action series, but because she has shown up at almost all the press events for the movie in minidresses that show off her amazing legs:

It got me to thinking, sometimes in the doldrums of daily life, when we are really dressing for function more than style, we forget to flaunt our assets.  So, whether you have a teensy waist, or great cleavage, or fabulous legs or an amazing ass, when you ring in the new year tomorrow night, don't forget this one very important thing:  If you've got it, flaunt it!  If you can't do that on New Year's eve, when else can you do it?!

Happy New Year from Miss M!

Winter Wonderland

In a few days, I'm uber excited to be heading here to ring in the New Year:

Beautiful Whistler, BC

Now that the hotel is booked, travel arrangments are made and dinner reservations confirmed, it's time to decide what the heck to pack.  I am from Vancouver, but if you weren't aware, we aren't known for "real" winter weather.  In fact, we are called the "wet coast" because of the massive amounts of rain we get, not for the massive amounts of snow.  Given that, there is no necessity to really have a lot of winter clothing, so now I'm wondering what to wear.

My inspiration so far?  Lots of fabulous boots, grey tones, icy blues and a bit of brown too.

I've also just recently purchased these adorable hiking inspired booties in black.  I won't be hiking in them, but I will be looking fabulous in them!

Forgive and Forget

A few months back, a good friend said something that really offended me - it was a general statement based on her experience, but it is one of those things that when anybody heard it, they would think "how small minded of her".  What made that generalization even worse is that the group of people she generalized about was a group that I directly belong in - female managers.  When she said "I don't think women are good managers", I was so angry/shocked/hurt that I had to cut her off as she tried to explain why she felt this way.  I think that was wrong of me but I was on the edge of a) telling her off or b) storming out of the restaurant.

We haven't seen each other much since she made that statement, mostly because I have been avoiding her.  But I have been thinking about it a lot - why did she say this?  What made her say it again (since she had said this to me once about 5 years ago)?  How could she say this and think that I would not be offended?  Why had she not got past her bad feelings towards female managers after all these years?  It really was baffling.

We finally got together the other day for brunch.  I approached her to get together because I knew I didn't want to start 2012 with feelings of resentment towards anyone without them knowing it at least.  Things started off fine - we caught up on general things and by the time the food arrived I thought, ok, time to approach the subject.  I told her how hurt I was by what she said and how I could not understand why she would still think that way.  She apologized, but defended herself, saying that she always gives everyone an equal chance to make an impression and would never think that way without a good reason.  I said, regardless it isn't fair to lump everyone together and how can you know if you are giving someone a fair chance when you are coming into the relationship with that mindset?

Long story short...she apologized but was firm to point out that this is her experience. I appreciate the apology (and I told her this), but there are still lingering feelings of resentment there.  I'm finding it hard to let go of those feelings and move on.  Part of me thinks that perhaps we are just too different now to really understand each other's perspective anymore. I used to be able to give her the benefit of the doubt, but now it is getting much harder to understand why she feels the way she does about this, and lots of other things.

I suppose the best thing in this situation is to continue to remind myself that I have forgiven her for what she said and that isn't dependent on whether or not I understand or agree with her.  It is difficult but it is needed if I do want to salvage our friendship...which I guess is the next big question here.  Like anything in life, I suppose if our friendship is meant to be, it will last the test of disagreements and hurt feelings over time.  We will see what happens next.

Merry Christmas!

Wishing you and your loved ones a wonderful holiday season, from Miss M!

PS:  Contrary to what Charlize Theron believes, I totally think it is ok for grown ups to like Hello Kitty.  How can you not love that adorable little face??

Glymm Beauty Box: the Arrival!

A few weeks ago I wrote about the Glymm Beauty Box I signed up for.  I promised to share the contents of my box with you all, so here it is!

An adorable jar of white and red jellybeans, Lise Watier eye cream & "flash" radiance serum, AHAVA mineral handcream  , a YSL mini perfume and a full size Sula Natural lip gloss.  Love it all!

I am in love with the idea of receiving a little box of goodies each month for a mere $10.  I can see this (hopefully) helping me cut back on drugstore purchases that I don't need because I have the beauty box to look forward to.

I also have to share that my new rose gold watch came by courier today.  Nordstrom delivers at amazing speed!  Very impressed with this and that the watch is everything I wished for and more.  

My new baby!  So pretty.  Sigh.

Signature Scent

I have been a perfume "whore" for a long time.  What does that mean?  Well, I jump from one fragrance to the next without thinking and never seem to settle on just one.  That changed when I discovered Jo Malone fragrances last year.

I was in Ireland on an exchange program and after 15 heavily scheduled days of a 30 day, 11 stop exchange, I finally had an afternoon to myself in Limerick.  I ended up in the beauty section of a department store called Brown Thomas where I honed in on the large Jo Malone counter.  I had heard the name before and was curious to find out what Jo Malone was all about.   What I learned was that the scents in her collection are very unique - from Lime & Mandarin to Wild Fig & Cassis - and so are the recommended ways to pair two or more of the scents together.  I ended up buying two fragrances that day and I have been a devoted Jo Malone customer since.  I have my special scent and though I don't tell anyone what that is, I often hear "you smell amazing! what IS that?"

If you are looking for a "signature scent", Jo Malone is the place to find it.  The fragrances are categorized from Citrus to Light Floral to Spicy, and more.  There is definitely something for everyone.  You can shop Jo Malone on their website as well as most higher end department stores like Nordstrom in the states or Holt Renfrew in Canada. Or, if you are ever in London check out her luxe new store in the West Village.