The End of The Year

How awesome has this week been? I always forget how much I love this time of the year. It’s like total dead time and it’s pretty magical. Everyone’s back at work, but everyone’s still in holiday mode until the new year fully starts and I’ve been taking full advantage.

This week I slept in, worked out, spent some time writing at Soho House, and have plans to get a facial at Cowshed on Friday and take a little trip to the Garfield Park Conservatory by myself. I wore this almost all-neutral look to Soho House earlier this week. When in doubt, a black tee (I have it in grey too, it’s under $35), black jeans (these are only $69!) and a touch of camel never fails! I made my outfit a little bit more exciting, by adding these velvet pumps and these fun earrings, which are actually clip-ons!

But let’s go back to working out real quick…. guys, I started BBG! Thanks to all of you who gave me so much encouragement and the motivation to finally take the plunge. Oh, and if you don’t know what BBG is, it stands for Bikini Body Guide and it’s a series of circuit workouts designed by Australian fitness guru, Kayla Itsines. I heard about it on Instagram and have been intrigued for quite some time. I was pretty intimidated at first, but happy I took the plunge. I grew up playing volleyball year round and though I’m not super competitive these days, I have no problems pushing myself through a tough workout. Thankfully, Rob’s parents have a workout room in their basement, so I’d go down there every other day and do my workout. On my off days, I’d walk on the treadmill, or outside, depending on the weather. The workouts are soooo hard, but I love how quick they are! They only take 30 minutes and that might be the best part. Have you tried BBG before?

Changing topics real quick—I’m all over the place today, but can you believe there’s only two days left in 2016?

It’s about this time of year that I think about last year’s resolutions and usually realize I forgot about them by the end of January. But just to double check, I did go back to my first post of 2016 to see what I accomplished (and didn’t). Even though I didn’t get to everything on my list, I’m not going to fuss over it. New goals always come up during the year that end up taking precedence and one of them that continued to come up for me this past year was growth. I made some major changes to my business, which was scary at times, but I’m trying to just go with the flow.

It was also a year of personal growth. I took a serious look at my life and have been trying, slowly, to make changes to live a more balanced, less stressful and more joyful life. As we go into a new year, this will remain a top priority for me. Because a happier healthier you always leads to better things, doesn’t it?

I’m checking out early for the weekend and will be back Monday! But before we go, take a moment and think back at this last year, what did you accomplish in 2016? What are you proud of and what are you looking to work on in 2017?

P.S. Thank you so much for filling out my reader survey! Congrats to the winner (you know who you are)—happy shopping! It means so much to me that you all took the time out of your busy days to give me feedback. I got some great ideas from it and also realized that some things could be working a little better, so the site will be down for a bit over the weekend as I make some updates! Check back on Monday to see what’s new! Other than that, have a fun, safe and happy New Year’s Eve!

photography by Jules Kennedy