WILW {6.11.14}

good morningggg and welcome to What I Love Wednesday. 🙂 i’m all over the place with this one so basically be prepared for a random dump of things!

*these perfect push-up handles. i’m a big fan of push-ups (my trainer always used to tell me i had the best push-ups of any of his female clients which may or may not have been true, but i’m going to believe it anyway because i’m a glutton for workout compliments and i’ll take what i can get!) and try to add variety: regular ground push-ups, against a bench, claps against a bench (because i’d face-plant if i did them on the ground), tricep push-ups, and these prop-assisted babies:

these are tooouuughhhh but burn oh so good and really force you to do some pretty darn perfect-form push-ups. and if you look at yourself in the mirror while doing “the perfect push-up,” your shoulders and arms look amaaaazing. it’s quite the nice little morning confidence booster. 🙂

can’t.stop.with.the.gym.selfies.

i can only eek out about 10-15 of these (as opposed to 20 regulars) but i definitely can feel it and would recommend getting your hands on a pair of these if you can. good way to challenge yourself and switch it up.

*my new Kate Spade purse. i’m totally not the girl to spend a lot of money on purses but i managed to snag this Southport Avenue Linda during a 75% off sale and am loving it for the summer. i have about 4,326 things to throw into a purse to jaunt around the city on a daily basis (not the least of which are shoes because who wants to commute in heels??), and this bigger tote-size is perfect. plus i just love the yellow accents — anything summery makes me a happy girl.

*Wild by Cheryl Strayed. i’ve been tearing through books like a banshee lately — this is the 4th in 2 weeks — and i love how entirely different they’ve all been from one another. i just started this book and already know i’m going to thoroughly enjoy it (despite the heart-wrenching beginning that basically encompasses my worst nightmares). the author embarks on the daunting task of hiking the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) entirely solo at age 26, and i’m so stoked to read about her crazy adventures and live vicariously through someone who is as utterly outdoorsy as i wish i could be. a young girl brave enough to take on the wilderness and hike a 2,663 mile long trail with no guides or companions? so stinkin’ epic. i definitely couldn’t do this without friends or a great boyfriend or like superhuman powers that made me suddenly not scared of things that creep and pounce in the night.

*first book club tonight. some girlfriends and i decided a girls’ book club was definitely in order, and i’m excited about our first meeting tonight! we’re pairing a different novel with a wine bar each month, so this way we get to expand both our literary horizons and our knowledge of adorable vino locales smattered throughout this city. considering how much i love both wine and books, this is pretty much my idea of an ideal pairing.

tonight we are meeting at Lelabar in the West Village, which i’ve posted about before and which has awesome happy hour specials, to discuss The Book Thief. some of us had already read this (either solo or for other book club type purposes) and everyone else wanted to, so we figured it was a good starter book. i’ll keep you posted on what we’re reading next, in case you want to join in remotely and talk via blogosphere. 🙂

*this quote. for every reason in the world.

what if we dared to lead such full lives, such lives of intention and purpose, spent chasing all that we love and all that we dream of being and doing, that people were taken by our very passion in our everyday living and found us inspiring, found us fascinating, found us unprecedented?

just the very thought of that sends my little heart soaring.

Questions:
What’s something you’re loving lately?
Push-ups: yay or nay?
Tell me a good book for our next book club choice!