Add a little color to your life

I live in New England. We New Englanders aren’t known for our sense of color or style. Most of my wardrobe is black, grey or beige, with an occasional bright shirt thrown in for kicks.

As most of you know, my latest fitness obsession, er interest, is walking routines from Jessica Smith. She films the workouts in sunny Miami and wears pretty, bright workout clothes. Since I workout alone in my basement of 4:30 am, there is no reason for me to wear fancy clothes. Plus, the fact that I am cheap, er frugal, and can’t see spending money for something that I’m just going to sweat in. Well, I was at a local discount store the other day and just couldn’t resist some pretty bright tops and socks.

The turquoise color is just like the one Jessica wears in one of the DVDs. I am so cool. 🙂

And since I’m partial to pink, I just had to have this combination:

The rectangular things on top of the shirts are headbands. Those odd shaped things lying on the shirts are socks. Note everything is perfectly color coordinated with the shirts.

Something funny happened when I started wearing these clothes. I became even more motivated to workout. And that is saying a lot since I love to workout and finding motivation to do so is not a problem.

I am on a roll with this color thing. I even bought a new life vest at LLBean. Isn’t this neon green cool? And, I think it glows in the dark, so if I were to capsize in my kayak at night, I could be seen. Never mind that I never kayak at night. I was even happier about this purchase since I used my LLBean coupons and a gift card. So total cost to me was $0.00!

Color isn’t just about what you wear. It can be about what you eat. Here’s a sampling of the berries I put in my morning oat bran. It’s a mix of raspberries, blueberries and blackberries. Yum!

An easy way to eat better is to try and eat colorful foods. That should be naturally colorful foods that is! None of the electric blue Gatorade or bright orange Doritos!

Oops, how did this get in here? This is Mr. Ken’s new watch, aptly named the “orange monster.” All I can say is that it is very orange.

I learned a lot from these little experiments. What I learned:

1. When you brighten up your day, your mood automatically improves.

How can I be tired or sad when I am wearing bright turquoise or hot pink?

2. A small change can have big results.

Something as simple as a pretty new top, completely energized me.

3. You don’t have to spend a lot of money to make your life better.

My new exercise clothes cost all of about $30.00 total. My life vest was free. The berries are seasonal and very inexpensive.

4.  Do not leave your computer unattended when Mr. Ken is around.

I never know what he will do to the computer.  In this case, he inserted a picture of his latest possession, the Orange Monster.  I am surprised that a picture of a festively decorated donut didn’t make its way here as well.

So what about you? How have you added some color to your life?

* Photographs were taken with my smartphone. I am becoming quite the photographer! Although I don’t think I should give up my day job just yet.
* Orange monster photo is from Mr. Ken.