Getting Into The Skinny Jeans Workout

You all know I recently caved and finally bought my first pair of skinny jeans. I have worn them a few times already, but I know there still is work to fabulous wearing them. I need to tone my legs and hopefully keep my tummy from pouring over the top. Luckily for me, I recently discovered that Equinox offers The Skinny Jeans Workout, designed to, what else, help zip up and be comfortable when wearing these second-skin denim styles.

The name of the class came from the notion women wanted the “long and lean” look and to look fabulous wearing their skinny jeans. This workout hits all the major muscle groups with high rep, low weight exercises, perfect to create that long, lean and toned appearance.

I’ve always loved working out, but I can’t seem to get my huge legs lean enough to feel comfortable with anything form-fitting. So I was curious about this new class and hoped it would help me smooth out those dreadful extra curves that always cause anxiety whenever I try on any new denim styles.

This hour-long class was started by Equinox's West Coast instructor Molly Fox. It's a low-impact, whole body workout that mixes cardio fitness with a number of other workout styles, including ballet moves and strength training exercises. It focuses on your core muscles, including abs, thighs and your behind. It also works on your balance and posture because who doesn’t look thinner when you are standing straight.

The first part of the class involved a TON of lunges and squats, mixed with arm and back exercises using light (3 and 5 pound) weights. That’s right, we got down and dirty with thigh blasting, butt kicking moves. I felt the burn hit and before I knew it my legs were shaking. The second half was dedicated to ab work and good, old-fashion mat exercises that had the class on all fours, thrusting our legs into the air. Also, this class just so happened to feature lots of Madonna music, which helped me to really concentrate since she has such incredibly strong legs that I’ve always wanted.

I asked the instructor about the class, and she said regulars say they have dropped a pant size from the workout. She said the class really works because it targets those areas that go into jeans.

I will look fabulous in my skinny jeans!!! This class perfectly combines fashion and fitness to the beat of great music and makes working out fun. Working out is always rewarding and we all know the health benefits. But this class also has fashion in mind. Come join me in getting fit and fabulous.

Fabulous Fridays: A Rainy Weekend For A Good Book

The weekend is here! YAH! But the weather looks darn right frightful. Cold and rainy. It’s a great time to curl up with a good book. There is much to be said for fuzzy slippers, a nice, hot cup of soup and spending the day lounging on the couch with a great read. I found an amazing one. It’s not an Oprah book, but one I found when reading an interview with the queen of pop Madonna in Elle magazine. Drum roll please. I’m highly recommending The Book Thief. I promise you this book will stay with you for a long time after you put it down. I couldn’t even think of my next book after I finished, it had that kind of effect on me.

This absorbing, heart-wrenching and award-winning book was written by Australian-born Markus Zusak and published in 2005 when he was just 30 years old. The book can be found in the young adult section of the book store, but it really toes the line for adult readers due to its length (550 pages) and heavy subject matter.

The book is set in Nazi Germany just before World War II and its narrator represents Death. Death expresses its (his) difficulties with the gruesome nature of his job. Sounds morbid, right? Well, read on my friend. The bright spot of the book is from the book thief herself, Liesel Meminger, a 9-year old tomboyish girl. Her story begins when she is sent to live in a foster home (her parents are carted off because they are Communists) with Rosa and Hans Hubermann. Liesel’s foster family lives on Himmel Street, a poor area on the outskirts of Munich. (Himmel means heaven in German)

On her way to her foster home, Liesel’s brother dies and at his funeral she meets Death. It is also here that she steals her first book: The Gravedigger’s Handbook. Stolen books become the backbone of the story. Life for Liesel in her new home is very difficult, filled with daily horrors of the times and nightmares about losing her brother and missing her mother. But her foster father comforts her by reading strangely enough The Gravediggers Handbook. Though not an ideal first book, it opens the door for Liesel’s passion for words and books and ultimately encourages her to steal some more.

Death follows Liesel around, telling the tales of her unusual vice and her relationships with the other characters in the book. A budding friendship between Liesel and her neighbor Rudy Steiner, who likes Liesel and is always asking for a kiss. They form a close friendship and go on stealing sprees together. A close bond between Liesel and the mayor's wife, who hides from the despair in the library and provides Liesel with books. Her friendship with Max Vandenburg, a Jew her foster parents are hiding in their basement. Liesel steals newspapers for Max to read and to do crossword puzzles together.

This book is so riveting and despite its horrific background, there is as much love as there is dispair. A copy of Mein Kampf is transformed into a picture book. A snowman is built in a basement that hides a Jew. The mayor’s library window is left open so the young girl can continue to steal books.

The Book Thief is a book about ordinary people doing extraordinary acts of kindness in the face of a world that's crumbling.

There are few books I have read that has moved me to this extreme and have literally taken my breath away. The language is poetic, filled with both horror and beauty. This book is that rare treasure you pick up and want everyone to read as well. The other books that could be added to that list are To Kill A Mockingbird and Sophie’s Choice.

Eileen Fisher Wants You To Wear Her Clothes

Eileen Fisher is knocking at our doors with her new designs. No, not literally. But she does want us to buy her newly updated fall collection. I’m on the fence because my mom and her friends are loyal customers of Eileen Fisher.

The designer, known more for her kimono-shaped cardigans, organic cotton shirtdresses and wide-leg, pull-up pants, is hoping to attract a newer, younger audience like us (women in their 30s and 40s with blossoming careers and busy families) by making clothes like skinny tank tops, leggings and jeans and slimmed-down cardigans. And this fall’s advertising campaign features mostly younger, more hip models that look like they just left the yoga studio than the previous silver-haired, hippie women from previous years. When I was a fashion copywriter, writing about this collection, I saw the collection was styled with skinny jeans and chic boots.

Last Sunday, the new york times ran a story on the front of the style section where the veteran fashion designer and manufacturer said, “About a year ago I was feeling sad. I thought we’re so much cooler than we appear. We have made the clothes look hipper, but nobody knew that.”

However, with prices like $228 for a merino wool cardigan, $218 for skinny ponté pants and $318 for a jacket fly off the shelves in a world of Forever 21 (See my post on $12.50 skinny jeans @ http://tinyurl.com/ygcanoq) and H&M?

The surplice dress with obi belt is super flattering and I love it with the tall boots for a great look day or night.

This plush mohair blend jacket adds a touch of sophisticated warmth to any ensemble.

While I do like this collection, I'm not sure if I would purchase anything at these prices and I'm wondering if you would consider buying Eileen Fisher in the near future?

To Love, Honor and Your Money

My husband Michael and I are coming up on our one-year wedding anniversary next month and we are still trying to figure out how to better manage our money together. Before I was married, I spent many, many years living out my life, paying my own way, deciding for myself where I wanted to spend my hard-earned dollar and establishing my own financial goals. After I got married, I wanted to remain financially independent. I worked full time and felt strongly that I wanted to fully contribute equally to our household bills.

Finances are a hot topic for any couple and can become a real argument if you don’t work out a strategy you both feel comfortable with at some point between falling in love and picking out your China pattern. And with today’s economy, many couples do require two incomes. So what are the best ways to work out financial responsibilities. I gathered some interesting data from various financial web sites. Here are some suggestions:

Joint Finances

In this system, all of your earrings are combined into one account and all of your household expenses are paid out from here. There is no division of who it belongs to.

One benefit of putting all your money into one pot is it is just easier. There is no “Mine, Yours and Ours”. Another benefit of sharing everything is it could put you on the fast track to achieving your financial goals. You will be able to invest more and create savings plans more effectively when you put your money into one joint account.

The disadvantage is if one spouse is a saver, and the other is a spender. Having all your purchases scrutinized can be a nightmare.

Tips:

• Agree on a budget
• Discuss spending money for each spouse
• Discuss purchases made over that threshold (car, gifts, vacations)
• Set mutually agreed upon savings goals
• Keep regular discussions on your financial situation

Yours, Mine and Ours

In this scenario, you manage your money independently from your spouse, but share joint household bills. This is how Michael and I still manage our money because it gives me a sense of independence. There are two different methods:

Even Steven: This is also known as college roommate style. Deposit your paychecks into separate checking accounts and share the cost of all your bills fifty/fifty. Here, you’ll each contribute half to the mortgage or rent, utilities, groceries and other monthly bills. The advantage of this system is fairness, each contributes equally to the household expenses and still has money to call his/her own, while the disadvantage is the unfairness to the person who earns less and therefore gets stuck paying a higher percentage of his or her income on household expenses and has less to spend on discretionary things.

Proportional Contribution: This method is similar to the “Even Steven” contribution, but works for a couple with vastly different incomes. In this case, each person has their own account and each pays a percentage of their income towards the bills. You need to determine what percentage of income you bring to the household and then contribute that amount to the monthly expenses. For example, if one earns $100,000 and the other makes $60,000, you’ll contribute three-fifths and two-fifths of the total cost of the bills.

The advantage of this system is that each pays an equal percentage of their income. The disadvantages are similar to the “Even Steven” system in that the person with the higher income will still have more money to spend on discretionary purchases.

Tips:

• To make life easier, you can calculate a total contribution each month required by both of you for bills and transfer that amount to a joint account.
• Make sure you both contribute to a rainy day slush fun for savings and emergencies each month.
• Be aware that one may be spending all of the leftover money, while the other decides to save it.
• You still need to discuss and agree upon long-term goals and retirement plans
• You will file income taxes jointly so plan for this accordingly.

Independent Finances

Here, you can still manage your finances separately without contributing to joint bills together. In this scenario, each spouse pays for different bills out of their own account. For example, one spouse is responsible for the cable, insurance and entertainment, while the other spouse pays the electric and groceries.

The benefit of this are the simplicity of each being responsible for certain bills and you only need to keep track of your own account.

As long as you find a way to divide the responsibilities in a way you are both happy, it can work. Just make sure you periodically check in to be sure the system makes financial sense and you are both are still in agreement.

No matter what strategy you decide, there will be bumps along the road. When that happens, you need to take a step back and cool off. Money matters are always a highly sensitive issue for any couple. Avoid making any decisions in the heat of the moment. Always check in with your spouse on money issues. Even if you do your own financial planning, independent of each other, there are always joint expenditures like children and vacations. Michael and I may have different spending and saving ideas, but they are slowly and surely become one.

Getting Dressed in 30 Minutes or Less

Have you ever been late to work because you couldn't put an outfit together? Are you late meeting up with friends because you can't find a half-way decent thing to wear in your closet? If you are like me, it takes forever to get out the door for work or a night out. During the week, I’m either getting my stuff together for the entire day half asleep or I’m putzing around my house. On the weekends, a whole army of possible tops, bottoms and shoes come flying out of the closet. My husband has learned to adopt to this ritual and just grins and bears it.

I know being stylish takes time, but I’ve had plenty of practice getting out the door. Here are some of my words of wisdom on getting dressed in 30 minutes or less and still look fabulous.

1. Keep your closet and drawers organized. Place pants with pants, shirts with shirts and dresses with dresses. Sort your clothes by color. You might also want to keep your workday and weekend clothes separate. This narrows your choices and makes it faster to see what works together and what doesn’t.
2. Don’t waste time going through your closets and drawers for the perfect pair of leggings or underwear. Fill your drawers with plenty of basics in a variety of shades, good bras and essential underwear.
3. Put clothes away in read-to-wear condition. If a piece needs to be dry cleaned, is missing a button, needs to be ironed or even losing its hem, keep it out of your closet. You don’t want to be wasting time putting on a wardrobe malfunction. You'll only end up wasting precious time on multiple fashion changes when you should be heading out the door.

Style guru and author of Style Rx: Dressing the Body You Have to Create the Body You Want, Bridgette Raes said the surest way to get dressed in a pinch is to simplify your wardrobe. She said to shop for clothes that you can mix and match and avoid pieces that don’t function with what you already have. “The clothes you pick must earn their place in your closet,” Bridgette said. “Be sure to get some mileage out of each item so that you don’t have 10,000 things going on in the morning. Rather you want to pick pieces to build your wardrobe.”

In addition, she suggested to lay out your clothes the night before. She said to be sure you take the the few minutes needed to think about what you are going to wear and pull them from your closets. Often times, women put themselves last behind their children and husbands. Stop putting yourself at the end of the line and start putting yourself first. It just takes a couple of minutes every day to make clear what you need to wear. Lastly, she said to keep a clothes diary or take photos. Knowing what outfits work great is a real time saver.

Fabulous Fridays: Forever Your Girl In Skinny Jeans

I was never much of a fan of skinny jeans. I thought this trend couldn’t last more than a season. I say this because I believed no one (namely me) could possibly look half way decent in them. I saw skinny jeans on skinny, younger women. So I bought bootcut, flared and wide-leg styles to match my curvy body. But that firm belief came to a crashing end when my ever-so stylish friends Lisa and Tina told me about the skinny jeans at forever21. On top of that, these skinny jeans retail for about $15, depending on level of detail. That’s a cheap wonder and a great way to try out a trend that looks like it's going to stick around for another couple of seasons. So on my first visit to Forever 21 I tried on my first pair of skinny jeans in a clean black wash and holy cow were they awesome! This rocker chic style was only $12.50 and felt like any of my designer ones that sell for far more. They were soft, lightweight and had the right amount of stretch. Even better, the waist on these jeans were roomier than I expected and could be zipped up with ease. I topped the look off with a dark grey knit top with sparkling metallic sequin and beaded trim that retails for $27.80. I’m wearing the jeans with my patent leather Mary Jane’s by manoloblahnik. And the jeans will also look fabulous tucked into high boots.

Me in my new fabulous black skinny jeans:

If you are already in the know about this slender style, Forever 21 has a whole bevy of cool fall washes, treatments and prints to pick from. I’m already eyeing the grey pair.

I'm CoCo For Coconut Water

Have you had your coconut today?

I just discovered the most refreshing, all-natural, low-sugar drink that will make you feel you are on an island in the South Pacific. I present to you the humble coconut.

I had a recent encounter with this superfood at the wholefoods on the Isle of Manhattan in Union Square and my jaw dropped. Two dapper young men were lovingly holding their 3 pound, prized possession. Of course I had to ask if they were adding rum to it. These city slickers scoffed and said with a total sneer that this was really a healthy drink. My bad.

I had to try one. I went back downstairs to the produce department and picked up a coconut for $2.99 and gleefully went home to try. I chilled it in the refrigerator for about an hour and then attempted to hack off the top using a chef’s knife. This proved to be much harder than I thought and had to call up my new cabana boy a.k.a. my building's superintendent for assistance. Whole Foods does offer to do the job themselves, free of charge.

Inside, was a clear liquid with a slightly sour, somewhat nutty taste. Still, it was very light and definitely refreshing and instantly made me feel I was no longer in an urban jungle but a tropical resort.

Barely processed, containing no refined sugars and its single ingredient, coconut water is the newest drink served up by the young, hip and fashionable urban elite and no longer contained to the beautiful beaches of the world.

Coconut water is naturally filled with five essential electrolytes (just like those found in Gatorade and other sport drinks that get you re-hydrated and re-energized after a long workout or bike ride (I like mine to cure a hangover). These electrolytes also work to boost performance, so making a snazzy coconut drink prior to your workout is a smart warmup choice if you’re looking to increase your endurance. It also has more potassium than a banana to prevent cramping and to promote recovery.

Coconut water is also a superfood, meaning it is filled with essential minerals, vitamins, antioxidants and amino acids to keep you moving. But unlike popular sports drinks, coconut water is low in sugar and high in nutrients.

Even better for those counting calories, coconut water is naturally low in fat and calories. Other benefits are coconut water can improve our digestion by helping our intestines function properly. Its potent nutrients also help give us glowing skin. It’s no wonder people living in the tropics looks so darn happy all the time.

These days, coconut water is becoming more available. When you are shopping for coconut water, look for 100% pure coconut water. If you aren’t able to grab the real thing, here are companies that package the drink and are sold in many grocery stores and come in a mouth-watering flavors like mango, pineapple, passion fruit and acai/pomegranate. Check your local grocery store for zico, onenaturalexperience and vitacoco.