30 Chic Days - half-way there!

I'm over half-way through the 30 Chic Days challenge, so it seems a good time to reflect on any lessons learnt so far.

My style recipe is "colourful casual chic with a little bit quirky and a Parisian influence". I'm fine doing the colourful casual bit - as I'm sure you will have noticed! -  but I'm hoping to add in the chic element so it becomes second nature to me. The little bit quirky tends to be achieved with my accessories and it usually depends on my mood on a particular day. The Parisian influence is closely tied in with my wish to be chic. Will a month of trying to be chic improve my style? I certainly hope so. What I've noticed is that choosing the right accessories can take an outfit from ok to chic,so I will use that as a starting point.

As mentioned at the beginning of my 30 days, I try to eat as healthily as possible and I am also keeping an eye on my weight at the moment. However I don't believe in diets that make you count calories or restrict certain foods without considering how balanced your overall diet is. I do need to make better choices when eating out (not helped by the fact that I don't eat meat and don't like tomatoes) and resist the temptation to buy pizzas and pasta for a quick dinner at home when we've been busy and I'm feeling a bit tired.

Making sure that I move a lot each day (my target is 10,000 steps) isn't too difficult unless it's particularly hot and we don't have plans to go out on a particular day, but that's not the full story. I am also trying to improve my sense of balance and know that I need to work on my strength too. When I was living in London I used to go to gym classes, as well as being a member of a running club, to ensure that my workouts covered strength and flexibility as well as cardio fitness. I must try to do the same now that I have retired to Spain and not just concentrate on walking, even though walking is one of the best forms of exercise for over 60s.

Day 16 (Sunday)

Outfit - day 16 

On Sunday we went out with our friend Charlie for lunch at a local bar/restaurant. Luckily I was able to make some healthy choices: a starter of fish soup, which was very tasty (though I really shouldn't have added the croutons!), a salad to share, a main course of grilled sea bream with vegetables and coffee flan as dessert.  I should confess at this point that on Monday we had pizza, though I only had a small piece and served it with vegetables. Hopefully I will do better in the second half of the challenge.

Day 17 (Monday)

Outfit - day 17

Although I do love my colourful tops, such as the one I wore on Sunday, I think that Monday's outfit of a green top and beige trousers is more flattering on me. There is less contrast, making me look taller, whereas Sunday's outfit had the effect of splitting me in two and highlighting my thick waist. The red top though felt more festive and appropriate for going out to lunch so I was happy to wear it.

The focus for these two days was on reflection and analysis of my choices over the first week or so in the hope that I can be more successful over the last few weeks. My reading was split between looking at my favourite blogs and keeping aware of the latest developments post-Brexit.  I'm aware that I spend too much time blogging and should read more books. A friend has recommended a book that I plan to buy for our holiday in August (we're travelling by train so will have several hours to spare): "All the Light We Cannot See" by Anthony Doerr. Has anyone else read it?

I have decided to post my average number of steps over the week, rather than doing it on a daily basis. My first week's average was: 11,756 steps and the average for week two was 10,605 steps.

Don't forget to check how Fiona and Juhli are progressing in their challenges too.