100happydays | All That Glitters

Day79ATGFINAL

{Day 79: New seasons call for new sunnies.}

Happy Friday (the 13th – beware!) guys! A productive week here.

I finally put a big project to bed, feeling great about how I overcame a few obstacles along the way to see it through, while professionally satisfying my creative side to my delight. I somehow managed to also impress everyone with the results!

I also had the pleasure this week of learning just how out of shape I am when I accompanied a work colleague on a mid-day “hike” to enjoy the great outdoors for a class. Admittedly, I would say I’m not in the greatest shape at the moment; but I would say, fair, at best. What I thought was going to be a slightly rigorous hike, turned more into a boot-camp style class (at least that’s how it felt to me as we intermittently stopped for calisthenics and body resistance exercises along the way.) Suffice to say, I was NOT at all prepared for that aspect to things, or warned about them in advance.

I tend to go through spurts with fitness. Around this time of year up until the beginnings of fall when the sun is out until 8:00pm, I have such motivation and commitment to a firm workout schedule, because I’ve always been more of an evening person when it comes to workouts and taking classes. However, once the time changes and it’s dark around 5:00pm – the only motivation and commitment I have is to getting home as soon as possible…to my couch.

At this point, you might be asking: “Why don’t you just work out in the mornings then, Candice?” To which my response would be (as I roll my eyes and snort): “HA!”

(I’m NOT a morning person.)

The good news is that I saw it through (though I think part of me died on the side of that hill yesterday between lunges, to which I’m now waiting for that thigh-area soreness to kick-in). I made a mental note to myself that I really need to get back to the gym…that’s conveniently located less than 100 steps from my apartment…in the heart of my complex….provided by management…that’s already included in my rent. (I know, I know.)

Outside of putting the polishing touches on my work project and realizing it’s time to focus my energies on being more active – this week was rather uneventful. That being said, it’s time to look toward the weekend – which is coming down to time spent around that beautiful thing we call cinema. The LA Film Festival is in full effect, and it wouldn’t quite be a start to summer without spending some time there.

With that, I’m off to order a pizza…I mean, hit the gym!

Have a nice weekend. xx

Day74ATGFINAL

{Day 74: A homemade breakfast on a quiet Friday morning done right. SO excited it’s watermelon season!}

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{Day 77: Woke up with a clear case of the Monday Blues. I had to dig out my ol’ MJ CD on the way to work. Blues gone.}

Day75ATGFINAL

{Day 75: Just because Gerber Daises from the BF.}

Day78ATGFINAL

{Day 78: Perhaps we’re all more successful than what we’ve been taught to believe as success.}

{Day 8: The sun, the clouds, blue skies, and fresh clean air after an unexpected overnight rainfall.}

I can’t believe I’m already penning another Highlights post – this week flew by! And what a week it was. Knock on wood, things are going well in life. I can’t complain (well, I can always find something to complain about – ha!).

I think what has been a fun addition to life lately, is partaking in the 100 Happy Days Challenge. I’m on day 11 today, posting the challenge exclusively to Twitter and I’m adoring it. Not only for the challenge of completing 100 straight days of posting (because we all know I love a challenge), but because it forces me to find something happy to post about. It’s pretty funny, how I stop a few times a day and ask myself what my “#100happydays” post will be for that day.

I’m not too surprised at how easy it is to find one thing a day that brings a smile to my face. In part, this is why I started blogging to begin with. As a blogger, you’re always looking for inspiration and ideas for posts, forcing you to pay attention to the world around you, go out and interact with said world, look for what speaks to you, and write about it. It’s also specifically why I started the “Highlights” series, where I share the highlights of my week. So the idea of joining this challenge is icing on the cake. While blogging forces perspective, it doesn’t have to always be in the good or the positive necessarily, you can write about something that gets under your skin or you disagree with altogether, and that’s awesome too.

However, this challenge is strictly in the happy only. So the last 11 days find me constantly looking for what that might be, snapping a quick photo (sometimes slapping a sexy filter over it), and sharing it with people from all over the world.

It’s also fascinating to follow the “#100happydays” posts on Twitter and Instagram to see what others are posting. As expected, it’s usually in the small things: indulging in ice cream, appreciating a cup of tea, spending time with a loved one, starting a new book, going jogging (though I don’t personally see anything happy about that!); or a little bigger: booking travel, dyeing your hair pink and green (no joke), and I even saw someone post a picture of an ice pack after some sort of mishap (still, no joke).

In effect, it’s nice to see people from all walks of life looking for the good, capturing it, and spreading the joy. It’s quite infectious.

You’ll likely start seeing many of my “#100happydays” posts as apart of my Highlights blog posts because some of the moments captured will likely also be Highlights of my week, naturally. As I move toward my 3rd week on the challenge, I thought I would share my top 5 “#100happydays” photos thus far.

Have a great weekend! And do let me know if you’re taking the challenge, I’d love to follow you.

{Day #1: Just because flowers from my guy are always the best kind of flowers.}

{Day #9: Still loving my Gosia Meyer single initial delicate necklace, a little gift to myself earlier this year. It’s one of my favorite pieces.}

{Day 4: A memorable afternoon spent visiting the Journey of a Dress exhibition, celebrating 40 years of DVF’s iconic wrap-dress. Full post to come next week – this was too much fun! Stay tuned.}