Every Day Is Valentine's Day

This year is a year of change and challenges. I've come back from an awesome overseas holiday and I'm returning to full-time student life (to finish my degree this year) after a year of working full-time. It's always a bit of a shock going from full-time work to part-time/casual work (this will be the second time for me). So, I am giving myself a challenge.

FRUGAL FEBRUARY!

Frugal February will be a month of thriftiness. Shopping is my biggest weakness (I LOVE SHOPPING) - I'll shop when I'm emotional, when I'm bored or just the standard when I feel like shopping. Every time I shop, I pretty much always buy something. Safe to say, I know where most of my money goes. 

My challenge will be to not buy clothes/shoes/accessories/makeup for the entire month of February. If I need basics like makeup remover or toothpaste, that is acceptable. I need clean skin and teeth. Other than that, nothing! I have so many clothes and I am constantly adding to that pile. I really enjoy buying new things and because we are coming into the new season, the shops are full of goodies and new trends. It's going to be a challenge but it has to be done. One - as a reality check going back to student life, two - I need to start wearing all the clothes I have rather than just a select few pieces and three - because Frugal February rhymes.

The more I think about this challenge, the harder I think it's going to be. On that note, I encourage others to do this with me - I don't want to do it alone! It doesn't have to be shopping; it could be just makeup (if you're a makeup addict) or not going out for meals for the month. Whatever, it's your life.

So, I'm attempting to do this whole "healthy eating" and "cut out sugar" lifestyle and I thought I'd start with making an awesome breakfast muesli! I looked up a recipe from a website called Nutrition Stripped but I've adjusted it ever so slightly. 

Here it is!

I love Pilates! Why?

That last point is really important for me. I feel that we are forgetting the real reason for Pilates. It's become this awesome fitness/best way to get Miranda Kerr's body craze that blogs, websites and magazines are writing about. Wouldn't we all like to look like Miranda, but it's so much more than that! Did you know that it was originally created as a form of rehabilitation? I did a bit of research and found out that soldiers returning from the war and ballet dancers were the only ones who ever really used it: rehabilitation.

I had a back injury several years ago and these days, I have recurring back problems. With my initial back injury, I was constantly doing Pilates, however, once I thought my back was all better, I stopped it and decided to do other forms of exercise. I stupidly and naively thought that Pilates was just there to help relieve my back during an injury. This has been the cycle for the past few years: stop Pilates, back problems, go back to Pilates, stop Pilates when my back is better, back problems. 

(Image from Q Pilates website)

It's only now, after years of this cycle and after years of being told by my mum and physio that I need to maintain Pilates, that I'm realising that it's not just a form of exercise that you do sporadically. I need Pilates every week and pretty much for the rest of my life to stay on track and keep my core and back strong, injury or no injury. This year, I will be maintaining Pilates through Q-Pilates and my gym, Pure Health Clubs. Yes, I'm hopefully going to look like Miranda, but all I know is once I stop Pilates, my back is going to cop it and I'm sick of that happening. I need Pilates to rehabilitate and get back on track. 

So this year, I will not put up with the winning of the sore back! The only thing that will be sore, is my core!

Pilates for the win! Go team.