Michael Kors Clothing/Fashion Haul

I love holiday shopping!.....well hold on, that is an understatement in it self. I love shopping in general :)), but during holidays there are lots and lots of good deals and promotions and the designers come out with their best it seems. One of those is Michael Kors of course. For some reason my closet is getting full of his pieces, especially dresses and coats the last few years.

I'm not partial to any designer, in fact there are quite a bit of things I dislike and would never buy regardless wether they are designer or not. Similarly there are a lot of things I do like that are not designer .....I guess it depends if it appeals to me or not and wether the quality is there.

MICHAEL Michael Kors Long-Sleeve Animal-Print Dress

The first dress I got was the blue one. I saw it in Michael Kors store and later also at Macy's for a much better deal. When I tried it on, I loved how it fit me. The color was a beautiful  vivid cobalt blue. I don't have many blue pieces in my closet, so I though this is something unexpected in terms of color and print combination. The beautiful animal print also didn't hurt since I never mind standing out  in a crowd anyway and actually am a notorious sucker for animal print to begin with. Well the tasteful, beautifully done kind. The length was on the shorter side but not to extreme and still tasteful ....and worn with tights in colder months or just with bare legs during summer will work great because the dress is made of non-wrinkle stretchy material  that is not to heavy. So you can wear it all year long ....dress it up or down. I feel like this is going to be one of those  go to dresses I will grab for travel since the care is really easy....or for pretty much any occasion since is so versatile. Couple of weeks later I saw the other two colors at Nordstrom and couldn't pass them up. One was in my favorite color sexy red and the other a classic blackish grey and white combo. Mine, mine MINE! I had to have them all! LOL


MICHAEL Michael Kors Satin Trench Coat

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The second thing I got was a satin navy trench coat, also by Michael Kors. I purchased the same coat in a beautiful wine/maroon color earlier and was toying with the idea of getting the navy one too.....after few weeks passed ....and after all the compliments I have received on the wine/maroon one ...I got the navy one as well. I remember when I initially purchased the wine one I was excited but hoping it would be just as beautiful in person. When I got it delivered I busted open the package and when I saw the color ....was exactly what I wanted I was over the moon. In fact it was so much better than I expected. I was running in circles and jumping up and down squishing the coat with joy ...LOL (yeah, I seriously did that). I needed a navy trench coat anyway and was in the market for one and this one was very different. It had a beautiful sheen due to the satin fabric and rich color. It was not plain but more on a dressier side but not crazy over the top and I thought it fit my style perfectly. It was not to heavy but not light either ....kind of mid weight, well constructed and of good quality and excellent fit. 

So there you have it. As of right now I haven't seen anything else that grabbed my interest from Michael Kors but I'm sure that is bound to happen very soon :). 

Happy shopping and take care,

Laila

What I ate: January 5th 2016

Today I woke up pretty early (about 4am) even before my alarm went off. I was still feeling a bit down  from yesterday but I had to prepare for an important phone call which I had in the early part of the morning so I could not really think about anything else. I feel like I ate quite a bit today. I wasn't feeling hungry at all and for the most part had to make myself eat throughout the day. However, when I look at the calories .....i barely had enough.

Here is what I had today:

For my breakfast I had a blueberry bagel with 2 tbsp of light Greek yogurt cream cheese and 2 tbsp of my usual  low sugar black cherry raspberry blood orange jam. I had coffee with creamer and stevia sweetener and bottled water to drink. Breakfast Cal  Intake 380

For brunch/lunch I had 2  sliced hard boiled eggs sprinkled with salt and pepper and a whole banana. To drink I had a honey vanilla chamomile tea and bottled water. Brunch Cal Intake 245

For dinner I had toasted Ciabatta smoked salmon open sandwich with tbsp of salmon spread, tbsp of feta cheese crumbles and spinach. To drink I had coffee with creamer and stevia sweeteners and  bottled water. Dinner Cal Intake: 333

For snack I had a Dannon Light & Fit Strawberry Cheesecake Greek yogurt and bottled water.
Snack Cal Intake: 80

 Today's total calorie intake: 1036


And that was it for today,
Until tomorrow,
Laila

What I ate: January 4th 2016

So today I feel a bit more emotional and somewhat more tried than usual. I didn't get much sleep last night. There is never a good time to say Goodbye to the ones you care about and  to those that care about you....even when its only temporary. So to be honest I feel somewhat sad today but I'm keeping positive when it comes to my weight loss journey and today I thankfully also seem to be on track, unlike yesterday. I used to be quite an emotional eater, which means feeling sadness like I am today or being upset over something would send me into a crazy sugar/junk food calorie overload binge. I have worked quite hard over the years at keeping myself from doing that. I think understanding yourself and your reactions to different stresses in life makes it easier to control and eventually concur and stop overeating because you finally understand why you do it instead of just mindlessly punishing yourself without much thought. That is why I have always said that one has to deal with what's inside before any changes take place on the outside. I wrote more in depth about that and my weight loss journey and personal struggles in my previous weight loss blog posts so you are welcome to check through those if interested.

I apologize in advance if some of the things I am having are somewhat repetitive but those are the things that I love to eat at the moment  that also keep me on track. Whenever I reduce my daily calorie intake I try to cram as much of food that I like but also the nutritionally healthy food in this small amount of calories. Some days I feel I'm better at it than others ....but it's all about learning as you go. I will be keeping it real everyday on here so if I eat same or similar things few days in a row and than go crazy creative with my food few days after that please don't mind. I kind of go through motions like that with my cooking/eating .....

Here is what I had today:

For breakfast I had a croissant with a pat of light butter and a teaspoon of black cherry raspberry blood orange low sugar jam. To drink I had my usual coffee with creamer and stevia sweetener and bottled water. Breakfast Cal Intake: 390

For my lunch/brunch I had a cup of Special K Vanilla Almond cereal with a cup of  unsweetened  coconut almond milk and 1/4  of a cup of blueberries with a coffee with creamer and stevia sweetener. Brunch/Lunch Cal Intake: 272

For my snack I had a chocolate cupcake with chocolate frosting and filling. I had not finished drinking my coffee with my lunch/brunch earlier so I had my leftover coffee with the cupcake. Snack Cal Intake: 200

For dinner I had a  baked salmon burger  with a teaspoon of salmon dip and spinach with a side of cucumber and a diet drink. Dinner Cal Intake: 400

 

Today's total calorie intake: 1262


And that was it for today, I feel like I need to have an early night tonight  and give myself time to rest so that I can wake up refreshed and feeling better since I have an important day to tackle tomorrow.
Until tomorrow,
Laila

What I ate: January 3rd 2016

So today my day didn't quite go as planned. A member of my family is going away for about two months tomorrow, I had quite a bit to do during the day because of this and so my meal times where completely off. I went over the 1300 calorie limit by 160 calories or so because I had a pizza night with my family as a Goodbye dinner before they left. I feel  pretty bad about going over 1300 calories but  in reality it isn't as bad as it could have been considering I had pizza. Hopefully tomorrow my meal calorie routine will go back to normal because  nobody is coming or going as far as family and friends go any longer and holidays are behind us so  there will be nothing else going on for a while making it easier for me  to stay on track.

Here is what I had today:

For breakfast I had a croissant with a pat of  light butter and teaspoon of black cherry raspberry blood orange low sugar jam. I had coffee with creamer and stevia sweetener and  bottle of water to drink. Breakfast Cal Intake: 390

I didn't have any lunch since I knew I was going to have pizza later. I also didn't feel that hungry to begin with. Lunch Cal Intake : 0

For dinner I had 2 slices of Pizza Hut Jalapeño rectangular pizza (dinner box), 1  1/2 breadsticks with marinara sauce and 3 cinnamon sticks with icing. I had  bottled water to drink.
Dinner Cal Intake: 1030

I didn't eat anything for my snacks today though I was tempted to have a chocolate chip cookie because  everyone around me was having one after dinner with their coffee but Im glad that I kept strong and didn't give in to the temptation. Instead I only had my coffee with creamer and stevia sweetener. Snack Cal Intake: 40

Today's total calorie intake: 1460
Weekly weigh in: it doesn't make sense for me to do this week's weigh in since I started 2 days ago, instead my first weigh in will  be posted next Sunday night (January 10th 2016).

And that was it for today,
Until tomorrow,
Laila

What I ate: January 2nd 2016

Today is the second day of my weight loss journey and I have to say that so far I'm feeling pretty good. I felt like I ate frequently enough so I wasn't really feeling deprived or hungry during the day. I did manage to keep my calories and portion sizes in check....which I feel pretty good about. Here is what I had:

For breakfast this morning I had a serving of plain oatmeal with a cup coconut-almond milk topped with half banana and mixed berries and sprinkled with cinnamon. For my drink I had coffee with creamer and stevia sweetener. Breakfast Cal Intake: 300

For lunch or should I say brunch :) being that I don't really do lunch, I had two toasted English muffins with low sugar black cherry, raspberry, blood orange jam and coffee with creamer and stevia sweetener. Lunch/Brunch Cal Intake: 400

For dinner I had a toasted Ciabatta spicy scrambled egg, spinach, salsa  panini/sandwich with a thin slice of melted Brie cheese and a diet drink. Dinner Cal Intake: 380

I decided to try out a healthy recipe today and I ended up making healthy 100% natural whole grain oat apple blueberry low sugar bars. So that was my snack today. I had one of those bars with a cup of Honey Vanilla Chamomile Tea. Snack Cal Intake:215

Today's total calorie intake: 1295

And that was it for today,
Until tomorrow,
Laila

What I ate: January 1st 2016

So the holidays are behind us finally, and everyone is talking about their new year resolutions and about all different ways we would like to improve ourselves and our lives. So have I in fact :). I have just written about mine few moments ago in my previous post here on my blog. Though I love holidays and all the yummy food during holiday season, I feel like I have gained 10 pounds in just this past week LOL. My resolution number 8 was that I wanted to loose those last 20 pounds I had to loose.

" 8. Loosing 20 pounds- I have lost a lot of weight and for doing that I'm pretty proud of myself. However  during last year my life became a roller coaster on more than one ocassion and I kind of stayed in the same weight range even though my weight loss goal was to loose those 20 pounds all along. So this year I'm ready to do something about that. I feel it's time....starting today Jan 1st 2016! I have already developed a weight loss plan which I intend to follow for 2-3 months straight ....it's won't be easy but it's what I  truly want  and when you 
truly want something anything is possible :) ...I honestly believe that because I know it for a fact. " 

So like I wrote above I started  my weight loss journey today. I intend to post everything I eat daily  here on the blog. I will post usually in the evenings after I had all my meals and snacks for the day. The posts will include pictures of my meals and my approximate calorie intake for the day. I will focus on eating no more than 1300 daily. I will also record my weekly weight loss each Sunday.

So while I'm posting this to stay accountable before anything else, I'm also posting it so that those of you out there struggling with weight who would like to follow along on my progress during my weight loss journey are able to do that and hopefully get inspired to start a weight loss journey of your own along with me :).

So this won't be easy, but anything worthwhile never is.  I am fully aware of this and expect it to be harder at times, But speaking from experience  it's possible for sure. I have done it before. The key lies in willpower, discipline and keeping up with it and not giving up when times get tough. Remembering you are worth it and you can actually do this ....is crucial here.

So here we go, here is what I ate today:

For breakfast I had a croissant with a pat of butter and a teaspoon of low sugar cherry jam  and coffee with creamer and stevia sweetener. Breakfast cal intake: 425

I wasn't hungry during lunch time, instead I had  full fat milk hot cocoa with everyone else. I haven't had hot cocoa in years so this was a rare occasion for sure. Lunch cal intake: 375

For dinner I had a salmon burger with a teaspoon of salmon dip, some spinach,  1/2 a cup of cucumbers and a dab of  jalapeño ketchup. Dinner cal intake: 450

Before I went to bed while working on today's blog post I had a cup of coffee with creamer and stevia. Snack cal intake: 40 

Today's total calorie intake: 1290

Until tomorrow evening,
Laila

My New Year (2016) "Resolutions"

This  last year  (2015) has been a heck of a year for me. Full of learning of all sorts, sad difficult moments  and heartbreaks but also personal growth, happy moments and progress. I have been through a lot. I have learned a lot ....about myself and others around me. I am sure  that the learning never stops....and I am looking forward to it never stopping. However, I'm also hoping for not necessarily easier, less challenging year......but a happier new year for sure. Happy New 2016 Everyone! I sincerely wish that the new year brings  all of you everything you have hoped for. 

I'm not the type of person who likes to set the rules in stone as far as the  New Year's resolutions are concerned because we all change and evolve as the year goes on and our priorities, needs as wishes change and evolve with us as well. Therefore you might start with a certain plan and end up having a completely different one few months down the road.... but I do have  a few things that I would like to improve on as we all do so here are my "2016 New Year Resolutions".

1. Finding more inner peace- I think being at peace with yourself and your surroundings is of huge importance. Sometimes it's hard to be at peace when everything in your life gets out of balance but I find it's hugely important to understand that no matter what happens in your life  ultimately  everything will be okay. I for one as I mentioned above, have had quite a difficult and  mentally and  emotionally draining year ....so making sure to stay positive this year is very important to me.

2. Being more thankful- remembering to be thankful humbles you in more ways than you would ever expect. It makes you realize how truly lucky you are and that there are so many out there who would give anything to be in your place. Being thankful changes how you see yourself and your own life during those moments when you feel you have nothing good going for you. 

3. Living MY life- not the life everyone is expecting me to live. Living the life that genuinely makes ME happy without  giving  much thought wether others would approve. Im not the people pleaser and have never been one to begin with though there where many times I did do things to make others happy without taking myself into consideration, but the older I get the more I understand why this is so important. You only have this  one life, which goes by in a blink of an eye it seems. No matter how much or what you do to please others there is always going to be that one person who thinks  you should have said or done something different.....so let it go and live YOUR life without apologizing for it. 

4. Writing more- writing makes me happy,  Even though I always loved to read since I learned how to practically, I never imagined I would feel so fulfilled by writing nor that I could write so much few years back. I never thought it was "my thing" :). I feel like I can express my feelings, inspirations, ideas and thoughts on paper quite easily. Writing is  very  powerful and definitely something I'm looking forwards to doing much more of this year. 

5. Bringing more of my inspirations to life- I feel like during 2015 there where many moments where I was so inspired but couldn't express my creativity with my work as much or the way I really wanted to due to whatever else was going on in my life that was dragging me away from that. This year I plan to focus much more on it though.

6. Getting away from negativity- we all have people who drag us down and suck the energy out of our life. People who are very negative and try to project their negativity into our lives. Sometimes these types of people are hard to get away from because many times we care for them. But if you tried to improve you relations with them on many different occasions and nothing changed on their part/side it's time to cut the cord and take your life back. 

7. Deciding what truly matters-  for me  at this particular time in my life and going after that. Don't let anyone sidetrack you from your happiness, goals and dreams ....it's easy to say but sometimes very hard to do. This year, I want to be more stronger willed when it comes to this particular  area in my life.

8. Loosing 20 pounds- I have lost a lot of weight and for doing that I'm pretty proud of myself. However  during last year my life became a roller coaster on more than one ocassion and I kind of stayed in the same weight range even though my weight loss goal was to loose those 20 pounds all along. So this year I'm ready to do something about that. I feel it's time....starting today Jan 1st 2016! I have already developed a weight loss plan which I intend to follow for 2 months straight ....it's won't be easy but it's what I  truly want  and when you truly want something anything is possible :) ...I honestly believe that because I know it for a fact. 

9. Traveling more- some years I'm all over the globe and some I'm pretty much in one place for a long period of time. Last year was one of those years where I kind lived more of a sedentary life than I would have liked,  but this year my aim is to change that :). 

10. Having the best relationship  I possibly can with myself- this is so important. It has nothing to do with being selfish but with understanding that you are important ....

11. Enjoying the moment I'm in RIGHT NOW- I think many of us are caught up making a living and often we forget to actually live our life and enjoy living in the moment. Being more spontaneous and appreciate every moment while I'm living it is something I need to work on more this year as well.

12. Being more productive- I think we all have periods we wish we where more productive in. I think it has a lot to do with setting up a proper routine for a lifestyle one aspires to have ....I am no exception here. My daily routine could use some fine tuning and when better to work on that than the right at the beginning of the. year. 

13. Getting back to working out- months back I went to the gym 5 days a week with the weekend off ....I wanted to loose some more weight and felt that an hour at the gym, intense exercise, and low calorie intake was too much for my body to take so I stopped going .....just until I lose those 20 pounds I thought. But a lot has happened last year and somehow I unfortunately accomplished  neither. This year from today until the beginning of March my focus will be working on my 20 pound weight loss. Light gym routine will be a part of that journey. 

14. Crossing over some of the things on my bucket list- last year. I went for a mini cruise, a  hot air balloon ride and visited Canada for the first time. This year I'm hoping to do more of the things I have been wanting to do for a while instead of putting my bucket list.  on my fridge and saying "someday". 

15. Give more back- I take great pleasure in helping those less fortunate than me. I think more people should help out  the needy as well if and when they can by volunteering and donating. I think the satisfaction you get by understanding you made someone's life better in some way surpasses any satisfaction you can get from buying or getting anything material. 

16. Spending more time with those I care about- it goes without saying :). Sometimes I get so caught up in everything else that I forget that time is passing, my son is getting bigger day by day and I am getting older......spending time creating beautiful memories with not only your children but with all of those you care about is important. Letting them know you love and care about them is important. 

So there you go. Those are some of the things I feel I need to work on or improve on this year. What about you? 

Take care,

Laila