Cardio Fail & An OOTD

I AM SO OUT OF SHAPE! Yes, that deserved to be in all caps.  I was all confident about my fitness since starting Pilates again, but my utter and total lack of endurance has made cardio extra hellish for me.  I tried to use my elliptical today and made it to just about 15 minutes before I thought I'd literally plop over and collapse.  I did some strength stuff after that (thank goodness for YouTube videos on the iPhone) but I didn't get the greatest workout since I could barely breathe.

I guess it's going to take some time to get into the swing of things when it comes to cardio.  It's always my least favorite part of working out. I'd rather do twice the strength training and NO cardio at all if it would get me the same results.

So basically today's realization was that no matter how many crunches and other awesome pilates moves I can do, I am clearly out of shape since I got winded after two minutes of being on the elliptical. Phew.

I was feeling uninspired today so I wore pants. I always wear pants when I have one of those "I don't feel like dressing up" kind of days.  I did wear my new top from Forever 21 though and I love the neckline on this one. So pretty!

 

Top-Forever 21
Pants- Express
Shoes- Aldo
Sweater- White House Black Market

Does anyone else have a hard time with cardio like I do?  What are some tips to make it easier? Please share them in the comments below!

xoxo,

Veronika.

OOTD Friday: Day & Night Looks

I just got back from a delicious dinner with my husband and some friends. I had my yearly review at work today so we went out to celebrate :)

I'm writing this pretty late at night, so if I make any mistakes, you'll know why! I am exhausted but I have some plans during the day tomorrow so I wanted to blog this since I'd be out all day.

Here's what I wore to work today. I usually wear jeans on Fridays but I had a client meeting today so I wore dress pants.

Polka-dot top- Club Monaco; Sweater- Forever 21; Pants- Express Editors; Belt- Forever 21; Shoes- Aldo.

I finally broke out the Paris Hilton Senorita Bow pumps tonight for dinner. They are too cute! I kept looking down at them because they are just so adorable! They make me smile :)

Here's what I wore to dinner:

Jeans- GAP "always skinny destroyed"; Shoes- Paris Hilton Senorita Bow Pumps; Top- VS PINK dress worn as top (I rolled it up because it was way long); Jacket- White House Black Market.

For makeup, I just played up my eyes a bit and used a light pink gloss (MAC's "BabySparks" Dazzleglass, which is my all-time fave gloss.)

I used MAC's retrospeck eyeshadow on my lid, Benefit's "Eye Bright" on the inner corners, and MAC's "satin taupe" as a liner (with Bobbi Brown "black mauve" eyeliner tightlined on top and bottom lashes.) I used my tried and true L'Oreal Volume Collagen mascara on lashes after curling them.

Thank you so much for reading and I hope you had a wonderful of a Friday as I did!

xoxo,

Veronika.

OOTD, The Bachelor Fashions & P90X, Clarisonic Update

Today I wore my new ruffle sleeve top that I blogged about yesterday in my Forever 21 haul. I just love this top. It's a great top because it's comfortable like a tee, but when you take off your cardigan, it doesn't feel like just a plain ol' t-shirt. It still feels put together and pretty.

It was gross and rainy here today, so I wore my trusty Express "Editor" pants.

Top- Forever 21; Pants- Express "Editor" Pant; Necklace- Tiffany & Co. "Return to Tiffany" heart pendant and Forever 21 key pendant. On Nails- OPI "Lucky Lucky Lavender. Watch- Michael Kors. Shoes- Aldo.

I am actually blogging as I watch The Bachelor finale live. I just love this show. I've know who was going to "win" for several weeks now since Reality Steve broke the news. I get sucked in nearly every season, and every season I always find out who wins way before the finale because I just can't seem to keep away from the spoilers.

One of the reasons I love the show, of course, is because of the abundance of fashions, hairstyles and makeup looks. 25 women all on one show is bound to bring a lot of different styles together (not to mention personalities, drama!)

I stumbled upon a blog recently that has a lot of Bachelor fashion posts so I thought I would share it with you all. It's called The Possessonista. She has an interview with The Bachelor's Rozlyn and I even found a link to Corrie's blog from the show (she is a fashion stylist IRL- link to her personal website here.)

I've always thought it must be really fun to get chosen as a contestant for The Bachelor because think of all of the beautiful dresses you'd get to buy (and you'd have a place to wear them- hello rose ceremonies!) I always find myself buying all of these cute party dresses with no place to wear them since I'm not really into the whole club scene/going out and partying scene anymore. I'm going to make it my goal this summer to wear my fun dresses on date nights with my husband.

Speaking of The Bachelor, Jason and Molly from last season got married over the weekend. Their wedding will air on ABC next week, I believe, but here are photos from their big day in the meantime. You can see them here and here. I really loved Molly's Vera Wang gown. The skirt of it was just stunning.

Did you watch The Bachelor this season? Let me know what you think in the comments below. I am a Tenley fan, have been from the start.

Before I go, I'm going to give a few quick updates.

#1- P90X- After my food poisoning, I thought it was actually a blessing in disguise to cleanse my system before fulling embarking on the P90X journey. My husband and I took the nutrition guide with us when we went grocery shopping on Sunday, and although we are not following the diet to a "t," we are using it as a very strong guideline to make better choices.

Today, for example, I ate strawberries and peaches along with a string cheese stick for breakfast, with a cup of green tea. For lunch I had a turkey sandwich on whole grain bread with one slice of cheese. I had a few more cups of green tea after lunch and also ate some almonds as a mid afternoon snack. For dinner we had whole grain rotini pasta with marinara sauce and shrimp (yum!). For dessert I had a 140 calorie ice cream cone (the Nestle lil' drums- I highly recommend them, it's a big payoff for very little calories.)

I am not big on diets. I think they are way to restrictive and I absolutely love sweets so I need to keep them in my diet or I feel completely deprived. I eat some form of ice cream, candy or cookies on a daily basis, I just try to keep my portions moderate.

We did day one of the classic program today (arms, back and chest.) I think we did well. Push ups are always hard for me. I can only do them on my knees right now, since my upper body strength is not very good. I'm really looking forward to toning my arms more.

#2- Clarisonic- I absolutely love my Clarisonic. I feel the cleaning power you get from a Calrisonic really does clean deeper, which is why my pores are smaller. I definitely can't imagine not washing my face with it before bed. It is a wonderful tool. I never experienced any breakouts and overall my skin has improved. I still get dry patches and red areas, but they have decreased since I've started to use it. I also notice I am not reaching for my facial self-tanner as often as I used to, which I guess it due to the more even-toned skin I'm experiencing after using the Clarisonic.

If you have any questions about P90X or the Clarisonic, or you'd just like to gossip about The Bachelor, please leave me a comment below.

xoxo,

Veronika.

The Shoes with the Bow & OOTD's

The shoes have arrived. I came home to a cute white and hot pink bag/box that contained the Paris Hilton shoes I had been anticipating for the last week.

They are adorable. The bows are a little crushed from shipping, but I'll fluff them back out with foam inserts.

OK so let me say this...the left shoe is a tad bit big and the right shoe fits but is very tight. They are the same size (no mess-ups.) I don't know if my right foot is swollen or just massively larger than my left, but I can walk in them and that's what counts, right? I got a size 10, my normal size.

I do love them. Here they are (please ignore my toes, they need a pedicure)




Pretty, huh? I'm excited for when it gets a bit warmer and I can wear them. I'm going to need to get an insert for the left one, because my heel slides out a bit when I walk.

As I uploaded the shoe pics, I had some OOTD photos I had forgotten about. Here are some from this week. Not super exciting, but hey, it's what I wore.

Top- Forever 21 silk blouse w/racerback; Cardigan- Express; Skirt- Express; Pearls- Charlotte Russe; Tights- Hue @ Macy's; Shoes- Jessica Simpson.

Top- BCBG; Cardigan- Express; Pants- Express; Shoes- Aldo.

Like I said, nothing too exciting, but we can't be exciting everyday, can we?

Before I go, I'd like to thank everyone who's taken the time to write a nice comment or email to me lately. I read every email and every comment and I always appreciate you ladies sharing your thoughts with me, it really means a lot.

xoxo,

Veronika.