24 Thursday Jan 2019
Posted in belle perks, healthy belle, what's ringin' our belle
Tags
These are our absolute favorite leggings from Lululemon.
We can’t get enough of the scalloped bottom and we have them in several colors.
Go ahead and get yourself a pair or two!
Via Lululemon
We just bought the grey and adore them!
a&a
19 Tuesday Dec 2017
Posted in what's ringin' our belle
Tags
coffee, cold remedy, Damsel in Dior, dip, Food52, health, m.gemi, Pine Cones and Acorns, refinery 29, salad, shoe
This dip from Pine Cones and Acorns
Great cold remedies via Damsel in Dior
How many cups of coffee are healthy? Via Refinery 29
a&a
16 Friday Jan 2015
Posted in friday friend 1-1, what's ringin' our belle
While we are both southern in our hearts, we we have also always been in awe and enamored with the seemingly effortless chic of the French belles.
For Christmas, Santa brought us a great book Forever Chic by Tish Jett
Now, fair warning, you may want to wait until you have a wee bit of free time on your hands before you begin reading…cause once you start, you won’t want to stop. Filled with realistic, practical, fun, motivating information about how those French women keep themselves lookin’ so good…inside and out. By the way, they do have to work at it, they just don’t talk about it. This book is a real insider’s guide to what those women are really up to, and they have a few tricks up their sleeves we’d like to try. These French philosophies will inspire you to take the European approach to health and beauty…avec attitude !
bonne chance belles!!
a&a
27 Sunday Jul 2014
Posted in just sayin'
30 Monday Jun 2014
Posted in healthy belle
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Ok…time for a mid-year check-in. Yes, believe it or not, as of midnight tonight, 2014 will be 6 months down, six months to go. Heavens to Betsy! Remember those resolutions you made back in January? How’s that workin’ out for ya?
Now, we must admit…each year, by about January 31 (or before), we usually can’t remember whatever it was that we resolved to do in the heat of the moment as the ball dropped in Times Square just a few short weeks earlier. (Sound familiar? We thought so!). Well, we have discovered yet another “perk” of blogging…we now have a published record of all that we have shared with our fellow belles…including any advice that we might have given about diet and fitness (two MAJOR themes of the typical New Year’s resolutions, duh)
One such post had to do with the Fitbit fitness bands we started wearing at the beginning of the year.
We were loving the friendly competition the bands had inspired in us and we were intrigued by the information we were suddenly able to gather about our bodies and fitness routines. And, guess what? We are still going strong! Our goal was to become AWARE…we wanted to know how many steps we got in a typical day, how far we could push ourselves (at the end of a 20,000 + step day, we are dragging!), how efficient our bodies are at burning calories, how restful (or not) our sleep is each night…
For example:
– It takes petite belle about 15 minutes to fall asleep…and once she’s out, she’s out!
– sadly, even on a very active day, we don’t burn as many calories as we thought…we now know that little treats are wonderful…we just can’t go overboard (good to know!)
– we have walked around 2 million steps and covered over 800 miles on foot since January
We now know all of this and more! Armed with all of this information…and being accountable to our Fitbit friends, we are ready to tackle the body changes that seem to come as we age (yes…belles DO age…they just try to do it as gracefully as possible).
So…you still have half of 2014 ahead, belles. It’s not too late to revisit that resolution and accomplish that goal!
Go for it, belles!
a&a
27 Thursday Mar 2014
Posted in belle-icious
We see so much of kale lately! There’s a kale-this or a kale-that on almost every menu…but finding the perfect recipe for at-home prep is a bit of a challenge. “Cooking it down” as greens have been subjected to in the South since the discovery of the collard green just doesn’t seem to cut it. (“they” say it destroys all of the good stuff in it) Most salads we have tried are a bit overwhelmingly “green” – if you catch my drift. Enter our good friend and gastronome, Cathy, with the Perfect Kale Salad!! Dilemma solved…and belles ringing!!
6 c. kale chiffonade
1/4 c. panko, toasted
3 cloves garlic, pressed
1/4 c plus 2 T parmesan, grated
4 T evoo
juice of 1 lemon (and we like to add some zest!)
3/4 t salt, 1/2 t pepper, and 1/4 t red pepper flakes
Place garlic, 1/4 c parmesan, evoo, lemon juice, salt and pepper into blender. Blend. Toss with kale. Just before serving, toss in panko and remaining parmesan.
Delicious perfection! Ring-a-ling!!
a&a
21 Friday Feb 2014
Posted in healthy belle
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“Workout” and “exercise” can sometimes sound like dirty words. Granted, a good run alone or a walk with the dogs can be great for clearing your thoughts and boosting the mood, but doesn’t it seem so much more pleasant (and less of a chore) when you have a partner (or a few) to keep you company and share the misery?
We kicked off our new year by wearing our new Fitbit fitness bands to help keep us on track, but we had both already bought into the whole “take care of you” idea. We support each other and other friends on our quest to stay fit by planning activities together and holding each other accountable. On Sundays, we have a group who meets for a power walk and talk session. Honestly, I think we could solve the world’s problems with this group of get-the-job done girls in no time flat!! We also each have a workout (there’s that dirty word again) partner. We both actually go somewhere with a friend and PAY someone to make our muscles ache! Now, we aren’t saying you have to do the same…we just want to encourage all of our sweet belles to pair up and get busy if you aren’t already doing it. You won’t believe how great it feels!! Strong body, check. Clear head, check. Girl time, check check 😉
You go, girl!
a&a
30 Thursday Jan 2014
Posted in healthy belle
One really cool new find is this sporty piece of bling we recently started wearing. Even though we work out like crazy women and do a pretty smart job of eating well (while enjoying more than an occasional treat), this little jewel is pretty nifty at keeping us on track and even more aware of just how well (or poorly) we are treating ourselves. With a quick set-up and the download of an app, we can now keep track of steps, sleep, distance covered, water intake…all of the little things that add up to success in taking care of these bodies!
It inspires a bit of internal and external competition, too! If we happen to notice that we might fall short of one of our goals, we are quick to remedy the situation with a quick walk, some stair running or some jumping jacks. Whatever it takes to stay ahead (and not be outdone by the other belle or, heaven forbid, one of our husbands!). Go get ’em!!
a & a
the RARE belle 