A Better Me

With the new year comes all sorts of dieting, fitness goals and abrupt changes to accomplish being “a better YOU”.  I’ve never really been into resolutions for the new year or implementing new life goals for the new year.  However, this year my aunt spoke with me about the Daniel Fast and asked me to participate along with her.  Since she told me this 2 days beforehand, I agreed to fast but with modifications.  I had to mentally prepare for this thing you know since it started on New Years day.  I decided to eliminate all meats, bread and sweets for the duration of 21 days and I started this commitment on January 2nd.

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Just to give you guys a little background about me, I absolutely love food!  It’s kind of my thing being a foodie and all.  I jot down restaurants that I see on my drive home, follow other foodies and see their suggestions and pretty much indulge in anything food related.  So, to commit to this fast was a big deal for me.  The first couple of days were a bit tough because I didn’t realize how much stuff I consumed that had bread as the base and neither did I realize I ate so many sweets.  After the harsh first few days, my body became acclimated somewhat quickly.  The mornings were simple. My favorites were fruit and smoothies.  For lunch and dinner, I normally sautéed veggies and I ate a ton of sweet potatoes and avocados. While on this fast, I learned about various vegan and vegetarian restaurants in the LA area too.  I hadn’t paid attention before but there are a lot of options if you’re a part of the vegan community.

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On the last day, I called my aunt and told her I made it through the fast.  I will be truthful and say I had 2 French fries and 2 alcoholic beverages during the 21 days.  I didn’t commit to giving up fried foods or alcohol but those kind of fall in that “don’t eat category” when I thought about this fast so I just gave those up as well.  Water became my best friend and now I just go for water more now as my first beverage choice as I should anyways. I haven’t even indulged in coffee since the fast ended on 1/23 and I feel pretty good about that since I normally start my day with a fresh cup of coffee.  The fast helped me to see and appreciate a lot of principles that I normally don’t pay attention to.  Discipline, faith and commitment are the biggest ones I would like to mention.  We often doubt ourselves and say we can’t do or commit to something before we even try.  I was so proud of myself throughout this journey because to be frank it was quite tough to go out and order the “healthy food” or all veggies or NOT stop by neither of the 100 donut shops in LA you pass everyday.  I can say I feel better energy wise and overall I just feel more connected and in tune with myself.  Now I will not say I’m not eating meat again but I will be mindful of the intake of it along with other things that I was so use to consuming before.  I’m a continuous work in progress so here’s to a better me!

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LA Edition: Part 2

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To continue with my LA edition, I wanted to share yet another casual look fitting for Cali.  It was so easy to pack for this trip!  For starters, you eliminate packing a huge coat.  Also you’d probably only wear a pair of sneakers and need a casual shoe or booties for the nightlife.  On this particular day, the high expected was around 70 during the day and low 60s towards the night hours.  This was perfect flannel weather to me.  I decided to wear a blue and black plaid flannel along with a gray sweater cardigan on top of it, both from Old Navy.  The cardigan was light enough to not get too warm throughout the day but heavy enough for the cool breeze expected at night.  This paired nicely with a normal washed denim boyfriend jean with the small cuffs, also from Old Navy.  If you cannot tell by now, Old Navy is one of my go to’s.  Especially since it’s close by my job :-).  There’s literally a sale everyday so how could you not indulge?  To add to my casual look, I wore my favorites again; NMDs by Adidas.  These have to be some of the most comfortable sneakers I’ve ever owned (I probably told you guys this before too).  I think I mastered the chill, laid back look for my day in LA, not forgetting my sunnies and Prince pin.  Check out more pics below and be sure to follow along my LA journey.

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LA Edition: Part 1

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For those of you who may not be aware, my love for LA is insurmountable and forever growing.  Each time I visit, I fall more and more in love with this place.  The air is different, the people are genuinely nice and the warmer weather that exists, even with winter approaching, is a major plus.  I recently visited during the Thanksgiving holiday and decided to do an LA edition on the blog.  The style of dress will definitely be different when looking at ensembles for the City of Angels versus the Big Apple.  Known for having a more laid back vibe and chill atmosphere, this can be noticed in the pieces chosen for my LA trip.  You don’t really have to overthink it.  Simply a flannel or bomber jacket with nice jeans seems very fitting for the LA vibe.  Pictured here, I went with a cool bomber I purchased in New Orleans at Garb Boutique back in November.  Living in NY, I thought I was going to have to wait until spring to wear it but luckily I didn’t.  I paired the bomber with an over-sized Calvin Klein tee from Urban Outfitters, black denim from Old Navy and my favorite adidas. Comfy and stylish all in the same.  Normally I have jam packed days in LA, trying to soak it all in within the 5-day span, so comfort is key.  Check out more pics below and be sure to check back for other LA posts soon to come.

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Modern + Vintage

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As I’ve stated in the past, I absolutely love vintage finds.  I think this shirt was about $5 at an NYC thrift store purchased several years ago. I just loved the colors and the linked chains.  It was purchased a few sizes up from my normal size so I decided to just tie it to give me that 2000s vibe.  Oh how we loved to tie our shirts in the front and the famous back tie and tuck in high school!  The jeans I think may be from American Eagle.  I honestly cannot recall but they paired nicely with this over the top shirt.  To mix in a bit of a modern touch with this look, I wore the over the knee Steve Madden boots I’m overly obsessed with.  The hat pictured is from H&M, also purchased at least 2 years ago and still finds itself to accent many of my ensembles.  When you combine a little modern with vintage you get this lovely fall look!  More pics below.

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Summer in October

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When it peaks at 83 degrees in October in NYC, you get a little excited like myself.  Perfect timing for shorts right?  I purchased this Pablo tee awhile back at Dash randomly and was in search of a shoe to rock with it.  Steve Madden came through in the clutch once again!  I can let you know now I will be wearing these over the knee boots pretty often.  I was on the hunt for just the right boot and luckily these fit perfectly.  So perfect that I bought  2 pairs; one in black and the other in taupe.  You can’t go wrong with a $99 boot that’s comfy and is well made.  It actually stays over the knee and doesn’t bunch!  I even tried the boots on with jeans and they still fit comfortably.

Seeing that I am slightly obsessed with dad hats, I decided to add a denim one with this ensemble.  I thought it added a nice touch with the royal blue and black contrast.  NYC you never cease to amaze me.  I will appreciate any warm weather I can get, no matter the season.  More looks from the citygal below.

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Greene St Vibes

imageLiving in New York, you come to learn that dressing comfortably is key.  I eyed this t-shirt dress from H&M for awhile and finally decided to just grab a small and see how it fitted later.  To my surprise, this dress fit perfectly!  A great investment for the summer and definitely worth the $14.99.  I paired it with a quilted rose gold patterned ‘Van-like’slip on shoe from Steve Madden.  These shoes are pretty comfy as well.  Pairing these with all black seemed to highlight the shoe more in my perspective and went well with this street comfy style.  I was Soho ready with this look.  Check out more pics below.

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An Evening Look

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I am absolutely obsessed with jumpers this summer. I stumbled upon this little beauty in H&M of course; I think I’m a bit obsessed with this store as well. You can always find something cute to wear in here, even when you’re not necessarily looking for anything.  I wanted a nice look for a dinner but mainly wanted to focus on comfort yet staying stylish at the same time.  I’d been eyeing this jumper a few times and figured I would try it on to see how it actually fit.  It was perfect! Wide legged, made with the perfect material to keep cool on a summer night and was the perfect length with the right shoe.  This piece is something I feel you can wear for any occasion and can be dressed up or down, depending on where you’re going.  I paired the jumper with BCBG sandals that I hadn’t worn in quite some time but went perfectly with this.  With black, you can always add a pop of color with a shoe or accessory so I chose a hot pink sandal lined with black to compliment this outfit.  Dinner date ready! More full pics below.

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His & Hers

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Camo and denim are definitely in at the moment.  The camo shirt that I’m wearing happened to get a little too snug for my fiance and he suggested throwing it out when we were spring cleaning.  I said I would naturally so it would look like I’m contributing to getting rid of some things that we just don’t wear anymore but I secretly sneaked it back in the closet for myself.  Paired with black denim overalls and the oh so famous ‘dad hat’ that’s very trendy currently, I was able to pull off a nice and casual tomboy look for the day. I cannot forget to mention  I’m wearing the comfy NMDs made by Adidas.  Adidas for the win with these! So the next time your significant other asks to help with spring cleaning and toss things out, take a second look and see if it can be of use in your wardrobe.  We all have to stay resourceful and this definitely helped to achieve the look I was going for.

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Chic meets street

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Living in New York, the main thing that I have come to focus on is being comfortable.  A lot of my clothes are not that casual but I’ve learned I do not have to compromise my look .  It’s perfectly fine to incorporate sneakers and still be quite stylish.  Here I kept it pretty simple with a black turtleneck, faux fur vest and faux leather pants paired with the Jordan 11’s.  Now this is when chic meets street.

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