30 Chic Days: days 3 and 4

A quick recap: I am taking part in the 30 Chic Days challenge, which means recording:

• what you wear
• what you eat
• how you move
• what you read
• your focus of the day

It's not too late to join in. Click on this link to the How to be Chic blog for more details.

Day Three (Monday)

Outfit - day 3

Summer is the hardest time of the year for me style-wise. I'm short and rectangular, so during the cooler months I like to wear a column of colour to look taller and slimmer. This could be navy trousers and cardigan with a contrasting top underneath or a grey top and trousers with a contrasting cardigan or jacket on top. Simple. But what to do in summer? In the day 3 outfit above, my pendant matches the colour of my trousers and shoes, but it's far from ideal.  More importantly, I'm wearing a light top and linen trousers so I feel cool, even though I may not look slim. I have to admit that for me comfort beats style, especially in the heat!

Breakfast was the same as on previous days, Lunch was scrambled eggs on toast with a banana for dessert. Dinner was a piece of pizza with vegetables (broccoli, cauliflower, carrots and potatoes). I know pizza isn't ideal, however it was a very hot day and we had a Spanish class in the evening, so neither of us fancied cooking when we got home!

I don't usually have any problems with reaching my target of 10,000 steps as we go out walking several times a day. In the mornings we either meet friends for a coffee or walk to a local cafeteria on our own with our dog Lisa. She enjoys this as the staff know her name and always make a fuss of her. Apart from Sundays, when the supermarkets and food shops are closed, we shop on a daily basis. On Mondays we go to our Spanish class, so that adds to my daily total. However I do spend a lot of time on the PC, so my focus for the day was to have more breaks, including going out with John and Lisa for an extra walk. My total number of steps was 10,865.

Today I read part of a kindle book called The Champagne Diet. Living in Spain it's more likely to be cava for me and, as I said before, I prefer to concentrate on healthy eating rather than diet foods. This book though is suggesting the same, so I'll report on it later in the month.

Day Four (Tuesday)

Outfit - day 4

Callie, take a look at my skirt! It looked fine when I checked it in the mirror and also when I saw it on my camera. I'm just hoping that I didn't spend the whole day walking around like this. Did I tell you that I'm an amateur fashion blogger compared to the others in the blogosphere? I think this photo proves it! I am wearing the same pendant as on day 3, partly because it matches my skirt and partly because I was running late when I got dressed.  Note to self: decide what you're wearing the night before like the professional fashion bloggers do, and make sure that your skirt isn't turned up on one side when you put it on. By the way, what do you think of my hat? I'm not really a hat person, however my hair has been feeling a bit dry so I thought I should wear a hat to protect it from the sun.

Breakfast was my usual summer yoghurt mixture. I enjoy it and it stops me getting peckish mid-morning, so why would I change?  Lunch was sardines on toast plus a banana. Feeling guilty about our pizza the day before, I made a smoked salmon omelette for dinner, which we had with a selection of vegetables. On both days we had some crackers with cheese and vegetarian paté as our starters. Did I mention my chocolate for dessert? I'm having 70% chocolate and only one piece, so it counts as "healthy" in my book.

It was my turn to walk Lisa before breakfast, so that was a good start to the day.  We met British and Canadian friends for coffee in the morning, sitting outside in the sunshine. It's not a bad life, living here in Spain! As it was so hot we walked around our local area, keeping in the shade as much as possible, instead of in the countryside. My daily total was 11,077 steps. Although I have always kept pretty active, it can be more difficult when temperatures rise. I do have a couple of DVDs, including my favourite Zumba ones, so if it's too hot outside I'll put on one of those for my exercise fix.

The focus for the next couple of days is tidying and cleaning our house, as we have friends coming round for drinks and tapas on Thursday.  The main problem is lots of white dog hairs!