Holistically enhance your weekend with our Balanced Babe Guide.
I love weekends. Well really who doesn’t. It’s that precious carved out time on your calendar that you gleefully leave blank. Often times I work naturally throughout the weekend (when you’re starting your own business, who doesn’t), but my Sunday is b-l-a-n-k!
Weekends are generally the times when we can reflect and unfold from weekly mind chatter. I use my weekends to enhance my new-found yoga practice, take the time to slow down and indulge in my holistic rituals, and dress up to the nines for a night out on the town (because sleeping in on Sunday’s is just magical).
To give some inspiration for having your best balanced weekend, I’ve put together a quick little Balanced Babe Guide.
The Balanced Babe Guide: How to Holistically Enhance Your Weekend
Saturday:
Try A New Class: I’ve made it a goal in 2016 to dedicate more time to engaging in activities that stimulate my mind and creativity outside of my work. AKA finding new hobbies. Not only does taking the time to try a new class or new form of self-expression help maintain your Balanced Babe lifestyle, it helps broaden your horizons and way of thinking. I like using this new platform, Verlocal, to find new classes to try over the weekend. They have cool classes like Techno yoga, vegan cooking classes and more. I’m even hosting my own workshop through their platform too!
Dress up: Let’s face it ladies, we always feel our best when we are healthy, glowing, and full of energy. What gives us that extra confidence boost? Dressing the part. I usually save date nights or evenings out on the town for the weekend when I don’t have to give myself a curfew, so dressing up over the weekend is really special for me. Of course I also turn the art of getting ready into a ritual as well. The photos for today’s post showcase a dress that Rent The Runway gifted me temporarily, and I can’t tell you how fabulous I felt in a lime green dress! Obviously Rent The Runway is the bom.com for finding dresses you know you will only wear once. The more you put effort into how you present yourself and what you wear for special occasions, the more confident your stride will be.
Try This Natural Beauty Routine: As I mentioned above, I always turn getting ready for a big night out into a ritual. I make sure that I allow enough time to leisurely enjoy the process of pampering myself, and I follow this routine:
- Draw a detox bath with an Epsom salt blend
- Prepare myself a hot oil hair mask using jojoba oil. I let it soak in as I’m taking the detox bath – I usually soak in the bath for between 25-40 minutes. (I always watch Real Housewives during this time – it’s my vice).
- Once I rinse and cleanse in the shower, I then prepare a hydrating face mask using olive oil since I just sweat out a lot of water in the tub – it’s essential that you hydrate after a detox bath via consumption of water and topical products. My olive oil mask also ensures that my skin is glowing all night.
- I then create an eye treatment using a cotton pad dipped in an equal parts blend of fennel tea and aloe vera juice. Both are cooling and brightening for eye puffs. Speaking of eye puffs I went on a tangent about this common problem here.
- Moisturizer is typically a homemade serum made with sesame oil which I also use as a body balm.
- I then light my favorite candles, turn on my salt lamp, play my favorite Pandora Station, Todd Terje, then I get to work on hair and makeup!
– Sunday –
Sunday Morning Gratitude Ritual: Upon rising on Sunday, I make my coffee, whip up my lemon water tonic, and start a breathing exercise with my balcony doors cracked to let in fresh air. I practice breathing exercises every day in my yoga class, but mornings are essential when it comes to centering yourself for the day ahead. So this Sunday when you wake up, try one of these cool breathing exercises: Dr. Weil’s rendition of breathing exercises, and Equal breathing.
Then, I sip on my coffee and read my current book for about 30 minutes which is: Feed Your Face I then practice a quick sun salutation yoga series to inspire circulation. It’s a simple way to have your *you* time in the morning and can really bring inner peace and clarity for the rest of your day.
Cleanse and Reset: If you’ve been out dining at restaurants Friday or Saturday, Sunday needs to be your self-care day. One way that I like to de-puff my face after a wine night is through Lymphatic drainage and dry body brushing. We’ve got a great facial lymphatic drainage massage here and a step by step guide to body brushing here. For my tummy, I usually take it easy and eat completely vegan Sunday. Actually, I do my best to follow a vegan meal plan Sunday – Thursday so that if I slip up over the weekend, I won’t beat myself up over it.
Sunday Gut Reset Meal Plan: Speaking of eating vegan on Sunday’s I put together an example of what I would eat to help me cleanse and reset after an indulgent night.
- Breakfast: Green Juice or Soup
- Lunch: Big salad bowl (leafy greens, olives, nuts, capers, sundried tomatoes, oil | vin) + protein (beans)
- Snack: Protein Smoothie + grapes
- Dinner: Vegan Macro Bowl (Usually consists of a healthy fat + complex carb + veggies + plant based protein)
Sunday Night Intentions: Every Sunday night I organize my week ahead so that I’m not running around on Monday like a chicken with its head chopped off. I schedule all of my workout classes, establish which projects will take priority, and write down what tasks and milestones I would like to accomplish at the end of each day. It really helps me set the tone for the week and saves me time with strategizing every morning!
How are you going to have a holistic weekend?!