We are well into January and maybe your resolutions (plans? ideas? desires? whatever you want to call them...) to get fit have started slipping. Maybe you live where it's cold. Really REALLY cold and you don't want to go outside to run or walk. And perhaps you've grown tired of your usual routine at your local gym. You know you need to do something active but you're bored with the same ol' same ol'.

Have you tried a barre workout? Here's a workout you can try at home.



If you like it then see if there's a Pure Barre studio near you. It is a low-impact, high intensity workout focusing on very tiny isometric movements. You do not have to be a ballerina (or look like one) to do a barre workout. It can be done by people of all shapes, sizes, ages and gender. It's a great full-body workout - strengthening and stretching the muscles - which will complement any other type of workout.
I'm a runner, but doing Pure Barre the last month has helped with tightness in my hamstrings and glutes which also helps with my plantar fasciitis, making me a better runner. It has also increased my core strength and overall flexibility.
 Shorts and an exposed midriff are not allowed so if you do go to a studio, you should wear leggings, yoga pants or capris. Most of the ladies wear a tank but I've also worn fitted tshirts. Also required are socks - sticky Pure Barre socks are what all the ladies wear in my classes. (I just wear regular socks.) The sticky part helps keep your feet from sliding.
The studio provides all the equipment you'll need so all you need to bring is yourself clad in the correct clothing and a bottle of water. You can leave keys, phone, wallet/purse, shoes  When you walk into the studio, you will see what equipment you'll need for that day's class: a stretchy band, small rubber ball and/or hand weights. At the end of class, we wipe down "everything red" with a wet wipe.
Have I mentioned the teeny tiny movements? At first it's hard to tell exactly what part is moving. Often the movements are "up an inch, down an inch" and at first you don't feel anything. But after a few minutes of these small movements, the focus area begins to burn and often the area will quiver or shake. This is good! It means that the muscle is reaching fatigue which translates into a long, lean muscle. After the shake, you will be able to stretch the muscle while it is still warm. The total body workout focuses on your seat, thighs, abs and arms, running you through each part for a total of 55 mins.

So if you are looking for something different this New Year, try a New Workout!

And if you want some support getting healthy this new year, consider joining a health challenge. The one for January is wrapping up but there's talk about one in February. Follow along on my blog to find out more!


Sheila is a regular contributor for The Blended Blog.  She is a mother, homeschool teacher and lives an inspired life.  She blogs at Making the Most of Every Day

Each year I don't necessarily set resolutions, but I set some goals. 2012 I worked on jewelry, as in I wore none of it, so I wanted to try and figure out the whole jewelry game. 2013 I worked on my wardrobe, also when I met all of the fabulous ladies for The Blended Blog! 2014 I worked some more on my jewelry and wardrobe together and 2015.

Which brings us to this post, and what I'm working on this year. This year I've decided I'm going to work on our house. We moved in 6 years ago and our walls are still pretty bare. We spent so much time working on getting all of the holes out of the walls that it felt so hard to put them back in. This was our Master bedroom/bath




I know we won't get done everything that I want to do, you know the whole money thing, but I think we'll be able to get some of it done. Here's what I want to do...get some pictures on the walls! I would love to get some really big pictures on our stair case (yes when I took this picture we were in the process of taking our Christmas tree down).


And do something with this space, probably a picture or something above our entry way table.


Along with above our bed. I'm thinking I want to move the picture that is above our fireplace above our bed and then do some sort of three picture mural picture above the fireplace...thoughts?


(Yep that's a castle and a fisher price door and a slide in our bedroom. You know, just a daycare in our bedroom, haha!)


Another spot I think is doable to change is the drapes in our Master bath. When we moved in and got the bathtub, we just wanted to use it and not flash the whole neighborhood, but were somewhat house poor, so we bought some SUPER cheap drapes from Big Lots and called it a day. I've tried everything to gets those fold lines out of there, nothing has worked! (and of course you can't see them in this picture). But we want to get some better hardware and some better drapes in here.


The last thing on the list (but I think it's going to be the first thing we fix) is our kitchen. We want to get someone to refinish our cabinets (the previous owner painted them an awful off-white color and you can actually see paint drips, and all of the hinges are crooked, which makes non of the cabinets line up. So we'd like those replace those, along with the hardware. We also need a new kitchen faucet (our current one broke and is barely hanging in there).

Oh and on the eventual list we are going to replace that back splash. We'll see what we have in the budget this year...but this is what is on my list I'd like to get done this year. Fingers crossed...



Anyone else planning some home improvements?


Sarah is a regular contributor of The Blended Blog. She is an engineer and Mom of 2 just trying to bring out her creative side through her blog, Foxy's Domestic Side.

I like to say I'm not into resolutions and such, but who am I kidding, I love setting goals.  Luckily as a teacher I feel I have two times in a year that I get to reflect and reassess: January 1st and the end of August.  For me, that's two chances to make new plans (and two chances to sometimes not accomplish anything and wallow in self-pity.)

January, however, is my favourite goal setting month as we tend to spend so much time indoors.  You would too when the wind chill is -40 degrees.  This always gives me ample time to get stuff done.  Last year I only did one project because it was a quite a substantial one, the media room.  You can see it here.
In other years, my projects have been food related.  There was the year I tried to not buy a loaf of bread and make it instead...I got as far as March. You can read the posts here.

This year I have a couple challenges lined up for winter.

#1 is food related.  I have many cookbooks and have challenged myself to cook every.single.recipe out of my Barefoot Contessa books.  I picked two for this series: her Home and her in Paris.  I'll start posting my recaps and reviews on Fridays on my blog starting this week, you can read my intro to the series here.

#2 is DIY crafty.  I have an ongoing project in Lucia's room where, at the end of each year, I pick my top 1 or 2 pictures of the year, blow it up to an 8x10, mod podge it to a canvas and hang it on her wall.  I have yet to do her pictures from 2015.  This is what I have so far:


#3 is more of a to-do list.  I have been realizing more and more that I am very fortunate to live somewhere where we have so much space, so few people and so much beauty to grasp.  Yet, I haven't even experienced half of the awesome that can be done in Saskatchewan in the winter.  My sister suggested that I make a 101 in 1001 list, she's great for idea generating.  And chocolate cake making. And child minding.  So I have been inspired to make a list of 101 things I want to experience in my surroundings in the next 1001 days.   You read more about the movement here


I think it is important that we challenge ourselves and set realistic goals that motivate us learn and to grow and to become the best version of ourselves that we can be.  What are you pushing yourself to do this year?

Deena blogs at Shoes to Shiraz and is a regular contributor for The Blended Blog.  Her passions include pretty shoes, big glasses of wine, reading books and playing ball.  She lives in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan on an acreage with her husband and two kids.