9 Tips For Having A Kickass 2019

January 20, 2019January 20, 20191 Comment

We’ve all heard the same old phrase in regards to starting a new year. Many of our friend rush to social media to exclaim “new year, new me!” It’s basically become a running joke on Twitter, Instagram, and even Facebook at this point. While many people find this to be ridiculous, I do think new years can serve as a good time to start fresh. I don’t personally believe in “new year, new me” but I can totally get behind “new year, new habits” or at least that what’s I’M trying to incorporate into my 2019. My goal of establishing some new habits for the New Year inspired this post. Here’s my list of what YOU should do to make sure you have a KICK ASS 2019.

Do Something for YOURSELF, Every Day

2019 is the year of making sure we take care of ourselves! No more putting ourselves and our joy in the backseat on the journey of this thing called life. This year I challenge you to make time for yourself every day. Even if it’s only ten minutes of reading a fiction novel you’ve been trying to read for the last few months or five minutes of meditation, take time for YOURSELF. Your year will be so much better if you commit to this one goal.

Express GRATITUDE As Often As Possible

I’m not sure about you but I’m someone who believe that The Universe gives us whatever it is we are focusing on (Law of Attraction anyone?) I noticed that last year I had really good experiences when I made expressing gratitude for the things I had or were going to have. When I focused on what I didn’t have, it left me always needing more. One way I like to express gratitude is telling people that I appreciate something they have done for me. Not only do I get to express gratitude, but they also feel appreciate and sometimes that’s enough to brighten someone’s whole day.

Speak and Write Things Into Existence

The power of our words is powerful. Over the last two years I have been very mindful over not speaking negatively over my life. Not saying that I’m perfect and only say positive things but it is something that I try to practice as often as I can. The strength of the written word is powerful as well. There have been many times I have manifested my wants by speaking them out loud or by writing them over and over in my journal. Pro-Tip: you MUST believe what you are saying is possible and you must do the work as well. Faith without works is dead, okay?!

Practice The Art of Brain-Dumping

If you’re anything like me your brain is like a computer with 20 tabs open all at once. This sometimes makes focusing on one thing during the day impossible and even more impossible at night when my thoughts are free to wander. One way I have cut down the tossing and turning at night as I try to fall asleep while also contemplating what I would have said in that conversation I had three days ago is by brain-dumping. A brain dump is when you have a blank sheet of paper and just write down everything that’s on your mind thus dumping it out of your head and onto the paper. Sometimes this sparks a need to journal but often times just getting it out is helpful and allows me to focus on whatever I was trying to do. By getting in the habit of doing a brain-dump whenever you find yourself struggling to focus, you will be able to be more productive with your thoughts and time.

Take Care of Your Body and Your Skin

Whenever I tell people to take care of their bodies the first thing they think of is working out. While working out is one way to take care of your body, it’s not the only way. One of the most obvious ways is by being mindful of what you eat. I’m not saying you should only eat kale and acai but incorporating more veggies into your diet can’t hurt. Often times taking care of our bodies is the complete opposite of working out and we need more rest or to simply stretch. Your skin covers your entire body so taking care of your skin is important too. If you wear make-up, make sure you take it completely off before bed. Change your sheets and pillow cases often. Drinking water can have some benefits on your skin too, so I’ve heard, which brings me to my next point…

Drink MORE Water

THIS YEAR WE ARE STAYING HYDRATED, PERIOD. If you are one of those people who “doesn’t like water” or doesn’t drink water…please love yourself. Sorry I’m not trying to be judgey but water is an important part of our well-being. Our bodies are mostly made up of water and if you are dehydrated it is impossible for you to being functioning at your highest potential. Yes it’s annoying to have to pee every 20 minutes but once your body gets used to it that won’t happen anymore. Also, drinking more water keeps you from mindlessly snacking sometimes so it’s a double win!

Mind Your Business

My quality of life improved so much when I stopped worrying about wtf other people were doing. I can’t really pin point exactly when that was but it’s the truth. Honestly minding your business can go past not engaging in gossip or whatever else. Minding your business means not comparing yourself to your friends or random strangers on instagram. Comparison is the thief of joy and judging others won’t make you better than them or make you any money, so just don’t do it this year, or ever.

Show Up and Show OUT

Last but certainly not least is SHOW UP AND SHOW OUT. This can have many meanings but when I say this I mean be present when you are doing things. If you go out to dinner with friends, focus your attention on spending time with them in the moment. If you have a job interview be on time and be confident. When you engage in your creative endeavors give it everything you’ve gotten. We are leaving being distracted and uninspired in 2018. Say bye bye to self-doubt and know that you are BOMB all 2019. If you approach your year with this attitude I’m 95% sure your year will be more enjoyable.

Get MORE Sleep

I’m going to keep this one short: you can’t be your best self if you are sleepy or relying on caffeine to function. Similarly to how we need water, our bodies neeeeed a certain amount of sleep to live up to our full potential. Our culture romanticizes “I’ll sleep when I die” type of attitude and honestly that is so bad for us. Get some fucking sleep.

While the New Year can be a great time to start anew and build better habits, keep in mind neither Rome nor Beyoncé were built in a day. Don’t beat yourself up about it if you don’t succeed at adapting these overnight. Practice and consistency are going to be the determining factor of if you can establish these lifelong habits for a better year and hopefully an overall better quality of life. Now get out there and KICK SOME ASS!

Which of these habits are you looking forward into incorporating into your daily life? Which ones do you already do? Sound off in the comments!

The Best Way to Spend 24 Hours in LA

January 13, 2019January 13, 2019Leave a comment

A month or so ago (for the first time in a while) I decided to leave Vegas and bring in the New Year somewhere else. The first place I thought of was my second home, San Diego, CA. Before I made my way to SD, I decided that I wanted to make a stop in none other than Los Angeles. I had wanted to hike the Hollywood Sign all year and I hadn’t been to LA as an adult for non-sorority related things…ever. I messaged two of my line sisters and told them I was coming and I already had an itinerary in mind. I flew into LAX Friday night, my LS Adriana picked me up (bless her heart), and we went back to her house in Ventura County where we rested until the next day. Our Saturday was going to be full of activities. Here is what I recommend to make the most of a day trip to LA: a hike (or other physical acitivity), brunch, a nap, and a night out in downtown LA.

The first thing on my list of things to do was to take a picture in front of AND hike The Hollywood Sign. Stretch before you start your hike so you don’t pull your groin like I did. Finding the picture I wanted actually took much longer than any of us anticipated, only because I had forgotten the instructions of a Youtube video I watched telling me how to get the perfect picture. Luckily we weren’t too far off and we were able to make it to the actual location. The pictures came out super cute!

After we took these pictures, we kept going on the hike. However, we made wrong turn and came to a dead end. It worked out those because this is where I got my favorite set of pictures from the hike. After convincing my LSs not to abandon the hike for brunch, we finally made it in the right direction of the hike. Make sure you stretch afterwards to prevent injury.

After the hike, we checked into our hotel and made our way to brunch. After I did my research for Bottomless Mimosas for 40 mins the night before, I decided to have the girls and I check out Eat This Cafe. Our wait was very short and we were in the restaurant within 10 mins of getting there. (Pro Tip: go on Yelp and utilize their “wait in line” feature.)

The cafe was much smaller than I imagined but I liked it that way. Sometimes it’s better to have a more intimate setting when you know you’re going to be boozin’ it up with bottomless mimosas and catching up on our lives for the last few months. After we were seated, we looked over the menu and I couldn’t decide what to eat. At brunch, I usually order eggs benedict (my favorite) but I also had a sweet tooth so I compromised. I ordered crab cake eggs benedict and a mini cinnamon roll (really much of a compromise haha) and BOTH were delicious. I also appreciated that our waitress kept refilling our glasses with mimosas. I would definitely come back to Eat This Cafe and try some of their other items! Brunch came to an end and we went to the liquor store to grab some stuff to pregame before we were to go out later that night.

After a much needed nap back at our room, we woke up, showered, and got ready. My best friend Alex drove from Vegas and met us there. She brought us food so that we wouldn’t drink on an empty stomach before going out. Once we were dressed to the nines, fed, and tipsy, we ordered our lyft and headed out. Our next destination was The Continental Club.

I loved The Continental Club! I’m not sure if there was a theme night or what but the DJ was playing late 90s, early 2000s (my favorite type of music at a bar or club). There was an event of some sort so it was really crowded but once I went to the bathroom and collected myself, I got used to it. The drinks were made really well and like I said, the music was great. I’d love to go back another day and see if I feel the same way. I may have drunk a little bit too much because the next morning I had one of the worst hangovers of my mid-20s. Thankfully Alex drove to LA and she just had me in the backseat of her car as we made our way sunny San Diego.

Overall, I enjoyed my day trip to LA. While I do prefer longer trips for the most part, I believe my day trip to LA was perfect. The only thing I wish I could have added was another brunch for the road but being sick the next morning made that impossible. I do want to go back for a longer period of time but I have other cities I’d like to see before I do that.

What’s your favorite city to take a day trip to and what do you like to do there? Leave a comment and let me know!

How I Chose My Word of the Year for 2019

January 6, 2019January 5, 2019Leave a comment

We are almost a week into the NEW Year and it has been interesting already! While the practice of making New Year’s Resolutions is common, that doesn’t mean that it is the most effective method of achieving your New Year’s goals. I personally haven’t really been in the practice of making New Year’s Resolutions for the last two years. When I have made New Year’s resolutions in the past, it often discourages me from trying at all if I don’t move towards them quickly enough. In the last few years I have chose a word of the year that guides all of actions towards reaching the goals I hope to accomplish in the New Year.

My word for last year was DISCIPLINE. I chose the word Discipline because that is what was lacking from my reaching some of my goals in 2017, especially in regards to weight loss. I hired a trainer, I meal prepped more, I went to the gym more often, even when I didn’t feel like going. I also was more disciplined in putting out content for my blog (before my Nana passed away, and I started law school). After a few a set-backs, I stopped really embracing the word discipline because I was really just trying to…get over the sadness from different things that happened earlier in the year. I realized that at times I was disciplined but at other times I wasn’t. That led to me choosing my word for 2019.

My word for 2019 is CONSISTENCY. This is what was lacking from my life last year in many areas from health + fitness to blogging to even studying for school. Similar to the reason I chose the word discipline last year, I need to consistently do things (even when I’d rather not) in order to reach the goals I’ve set out for this year. The times I did manage to remained disciplined, I lost a decent amount of weight, I got into law school, and I posted some quality content. (Read my favorite posts from last year HERE). By being consistent this year, I know I will be better off when the countdown for 2020 happens.

This doesn’t have to be the way you choose your word. What’s important is that YOUR WORD is chosen by YOU after reflecting on your principles, values, and goals for this year. Once you do this you can take out the sense of overwhelm with long lists and just ask yourself “does this action align with my guiding word for this year or bring me closer to my goals?” If it doesn’t, you know you might need to make a better decision. It won’t be easy at first, but it might be easier for you than keeping a laundry list of resolutions.

So get out there, reflect, and choose your guiding word for 2018!

Did you have a word or two in mind when you read this? Leave your word(s) in the comments and tell me why you chose it!

The Musings of Mara

Creating the life I love through honest self-reflection & introspection and inspiring others to do the same

Month: January 2019