Sweat Roundup of the Week!

When I began my blog back in October 2012, many of my posts were about my workouts and the things I was doing at the gym throughout the week. At some point, those types of posts just dwindled - mostly because I figured that no one wanted to read them.

However, I recently decided that it was actually good for me, personally, to write my workouts out "in the open" in a blog. While I've kept detailed logs of my workouts in a document on my computer for years, I'm pretty sure it'll do some degree of good for me, accountability-wise, to post my weekly workouts here too.

SEW! Here's what I've done with myself at the gym this past week - and you can click on most of these exercises for a demo of what they are (if you don't know already):

5/20 (lower body)

5 mins elliptical

40 bridges

40 "inch steps" from bridge position

30 deadlifts, 15 lbs each hand

60 side lunges + plyometric pushoff, 30 each side

40 static lunges, 20 each leg

40 calf raises, 15 lbs each hand

40 bodyweight squats into calf raises

40 bridges

40 "inch steps" from bridge position

30 deadlifts, 15 lbs each hand 

5/23 (upper body and abs)

25 mins elliptical

12 overhead press, 12.5 lbs each hand

50 Brazilian crunches

15 deltoid flys, 7.5 lbs each hand

40 weighted side bends, 12.5 lbs each hand, 20 each side

15 tricep kickbacks, 7.5 lbs each hand

30 lying overhead raise + double crunch, holding 5 lbs

on exercise ball, 12.5 lbs each hand

- 15 chest press

- 15 close grip chest press

50 reverse crunch + leg raise

15 deltoid raises, 7.5 lbs each hand

1:00 swimmers

50 alternating medicine ball flys (prone) holding 4 lb medicine ball 

5/24 (lower body and abs)

10 mins elliptical

20 deadlifts, 20 lbs each hand

30 lying overhead raise + double crunch, holding 5 lbs

20 calf raises, 20 lbs each hand

50 plank knee to elbow

40 static lunges, 20 each leg

30 weighted crunches on exercise ball, holding 12.5 lbs

30 jump squats, alternating wide and close stance

40 dynamic side planks, 20 each side

40 bridges

- 1:10 plank

- 30 cobras

50 alternating medicine ball flys (prone) holding 4 lb medicine ball 

5/25 (upper body)

20 mins biking, 5 miles

12 chest press on exercise ball, 15 lbs each hand

15 deltoid flys, 7.5 lbs each hand

:30 plank

12 bicep curls, 10 lbs each hand

15 tricep extensions on exercise ball, 7.5 lbs each hand

:30 plank

15 deltoid raises, 7.5 lbs each hand

:30 plank

I don't want to speak too soon, but I may make this a weekly thing on Sundays - outlining all of my workouts from the last 7 days. 

Are you into working out? I am in general, but also have the added incentive of getting as fly as possible for my date as a bridesmaid in my friend Jenna's wedding in August. I'd love to hear what your favorite online fitness resources are!

Chambray & Polka Dot Nails With a Bow Accent

Yesterday Emily over at Isn't That Charming posted an adorable Canadian-tuxedo outfit that inspired me to create the below nail polish look.

Emily's outfit used a chambray style polka-dotted denim skirt, a light-colored denim button-up top, a cream-colored belt with a bow clasp, and a knotted pearl necklace. Here's my mani, inspired by her outfit. I even had a polish that looked like medium-light colored denim!

I used an off-white, Jasmine-scented polish from Forever21's Love & Beauty line and a light blue Wet 'n Wild polish called Rain Check:

This blue polish was totally buried in my stash - I haven't noticed it in god knows how long. Each of these polishes took 3 coats before they were adequately opaque.

The polka dots are a little bit wonky this time - sometimes I have the shakes while trying to use my dotting tool and it can turn making round polka dots into quite the unpredictable shit show. My polka dots aren't always this skewed. Check out something a little more pristine here:  Pink and Yellow Polka Dots Mani

Have you seen my brand new Facebook page yet? Check it out here ~> Facebook.com/akaBaileyBlog

Why My Blog is Called "aka Bailey"

Maybe you're wondering. Maybe you're not.

Maybe you just KNOW EVERYTHING ALREADY. GAWD, WHY ARE YOU EVEN READING??

For anyone curious from whence the blog name "aka Bailey" came, this shit's for you.

The name is sort of two-fold, because I am a writer and I prefer EVERYTHING to have layers. Onions, metaphors, inside jokes, outfits, haircuts, dip - give them to me with all of the layers.

Firstly and chiefly, my initials are B.A.K.A. Yes, I was blessed with two middle names and I'm not even afraid who knows it. I love both of them, but quite often just go by the "A" because most formal documents only allow space for one middle initial. Seems quite narrow-minded of them but hey, if we're saving paper and ink by only allowing space for one middle initial, then I suppose I'm down. (You know how much I support living green.) I've digressed.

So if you're with me here, you might see how I got all clever and took my "Bailey A.K.A." and flipped it to be "A.K.A. Bailey" instead. It just seemed like a waste not to spotlight this colloquialism, since it's IN my name, for god's sake.

Now this is a very little known fact, but "A.K.A." generally stands for "Also Known As."  Enter the second layer of this two-fold blog name!

It's meant to signify that I am a combination of many interests and influences that all describe one me. You'll see a bit of what I mean if you look closely at the header that's up at the top of my blog: nail painter, sister, artist, spell-checker, traveler, hip hop head, writer, doodler, eater, laugher, fitness lover, girlfriend, hiker... just to name a few thannnnngs that you could call me. To name a few more: Bail $, Blizz, Bleezy, Bay-Bay (or Bébé, depending on who is doing the spelling), Crunky, Poo (I don't want to talk about that last one... and this is the censored version of that nickname).

Or... as I'm also known... just "Bailey."

So there you go. I hope that was thrilling for you. How did you come up with YOUR blog name? I'd love to know!

ALSO - hear ye, hear ye - I finally made a Facebook page for my blog! GO LIKE IT OR I WILL DESTROY YOUR ENTIRE LIFE, ok?  :)

>> Facebook.com/akaBaileyBlog  (aka Where All the Cool Kids Are Hanging Out) <<

Homemade Art: Collage for the Bedroom

Remember that cluster of "frames and things" I hung up in my bedroom a few months ago? Some of the frames remained empty until now because I was being a super slacker about filling them with some artwork. Last weekend I decided it was a great time to make a collage for one of the empty frames.

Here's what I came up with:

Here's where it needed to go:

I spent probably about four or five distracted, multi-tasking hours making this collage and decided to take some progress pictures while it was coming together, from gathering the collage pieces to getting them glued down. Here's how it all went down:

.  just getting started  .

.  getting some of the pieces laid down  .

.  a little further along  .

.  pretty much all laid out where i want it  .
.  time to glue down!  .

Once all of the pieces are laid out in an arrangement that I like, I take several close-up pictures of the layout so that I'll be able recreate it as closely as possible:

Then I have to take all of the pieces off, wipe my paper canvas completely clean, and begin the slow process of glueing each piece down, one-by-one, in the correct order. This is harder than it sounds, since all of the pieces are overlapping each other in some way. They need to be put back in exactly the right order to maintain all the desired overlapping, with the correct layers on top. I always take a moment at the very beginning of the glueing phase to identify the very first pieces that need to be glued - the bottom-most pieces.

Here, I've got all of the pieces glued down, but haven't trimmed the edges yet:

Looking at it, I felt like it could use a little more depth, so a few more pieces were added... Can you spot the differences? ;)  Here is the finished and trimmed version:

Finally, the collage just needed to be put into its new frame home:

If you're curious, whenever I make a collage these are my go-to tools:

• tons of magazine scraps in different colors and textures and designs
• an X-acto knife
• a rubber craft cutting board
• a ruler
• rubber cement

I used to churn these kinds of collages out like crazy - giving them to all my friends for their birthdays and spending hours going through magazines, looking for pictures with interesting colors and textures. My collage production has definitely slowed in the last couple of years but it's something I still really enjoy doing when I have the time or the free workspace to spread out on. It would be amazing to someday live in a home with a spare room that could be used as a craft room! #CraftDreams.

Check out a couple other collages here:

• DIY: Hanging A Group of Frames (two small collages in this post)
• Step-by-Step Collage
• One Picture Inspiring All Sorts of Creative Projects

Spring/Summer Maxi Dresses that I Want... Real Bad.

Last week DailyLook just busted out with a whole buttload of awesome maxi dresses. I think all three of these may have even come out on the same day! These dresses are so expensive for me to buy and have shipped to Canada.... but I want them so badly. UGH. Maybe you can do something with them:

Floral Watercolor Maxi Dress: 

I don't own anything like this at all, but I love the colors, the print, neckline, the cinched waist and the dual long-short layers.

.  also, gimme that clutch  .

Colorful Cutout Maxi Dress:

So many things. I love the lacy overlay on the top, the cutouts on the sides are cute and not over-the-top, and the print on the bottom is so bright and summery!

YEAH WE GET IT, YOU GET TO WEAR ALL THE CLOTHES.

Racerback Maxi Dress

While I kind of wish this was just solid on the bottom, instead of a sheer layer over a shorter one, I still love the color of this dress - like a minty kelly green. And the white banding around the top has kind of a sporty feel.

Alsoooo, check out the back on this thing! Whaaaaat??

.  so freaking feisty!  .
.  no bras with this bad boy  .

The song "Dress You Up In My Love" by Madonna just popped into my head but I swear I have no interest in dressing this model up in my love. I just like the dresses she got to rock on this particular day of her career. #JealzBellz. HASHTAGIWANTTHEMALL.

Are you a member of DailyLook.com? It's an outfit of the day website where you can also purchase the items that the models are wearing each day. It's also just a great way to get outfit ideas and inspiration, even if you're not buying anything. If you want to sign up for free via my sign up link, then I'll get LookPoints whenever/if ever you buy anything. And with enough LookPoints, they start giving you cash to spend on the site. So basically.... #AlmsForThePoor. Sign up for DailyLook.com IFYEWWANNA!

What is your favorite site for dresses this spring and summer? If you're seeing some amazeballs dresses, I want to see them too!! 

P.S. Today I'm linking up with a Summer Style Link-Up from Haircut and General Attitude (one of my very favorite blogs!)

iTunes Genius Playlist: BlakRoc

Here's an interesting iTunes Genius playlist that I put on while cleaning the house the other day. It's based on the BlakRoc song What You Do to Me, which inspired a pretty eclectic mix of songs! Because BlakRoc is such a clever mash-up of hip hop and The Black Keys, Genius had a little bit of a wonderful seizure while trying to figure out what genre What You Do to Me fell under.

The result was a playlist that included The Black Keys, The Gorillaz, Fiona Apple and Bob Dylan. Behold:

1. What You Do to Me - BlakRoc
2. If You See Me - The Black Keys
3. White Flag - Gorillaz
4. Fame - Citizen Cope
5. I Try - Talib Kweli
6. Bukowski - Modest Mouse
7. Myxomatosis - Radiohead
8. Extraordinary Machine - Fiona Apple
9. Burn One Down - Ben Harper
10. Circles - Soul Coughing
11. Ain't Nothing Like You (Hoochie Coo) - BlakRoc
12. I'm Not the One - The Black Keys
13. New Genious (Brother) - Gorillaz
14. Delicate - Damien Rice
15. Penitentiary - Citizen Cope
16. Every Single Night - Fiona Apple
17. A Punch Up At A Wedding - Radiohead
18. Amen Omen - Ben Harper
19. Everywhere I Go - The Black Keys
20. Shelter From the Storm - Bob Dylan
21. Glitter Freeze - Gorillaz
22. The Garden - Mirah
23. Stop Me - Mark Ronson
24. Hope You're Happy - BlakRoc
25. Better Version of Me - Fiona Apple

Are you familiar with BlakRoc? If not, you should definitely check them out. It's essentially a group of artists collaborating on a music project with The Black Keys - participants include Nicole Wray, Mos Def (aka ya boy Yasiin Bey), MOP, Raekwon, Jim Jones, Q-Tip and others. The album, BlakRoc, is definitely one of best albums I've purchased in the last 5 years. You can watch tons of videos of them making the album here: BlakRoc.com

Here's the video for What You Do to Me, which is the song that made me purchase the entire album.



Check out the songs in the playlist - I hope it helps you either discover some new music or remember some of your old favs! Browse other playlists here:  iTunes Genius Playlists

Pink Leopard Print Accent Nail

By now you may have noticed that I love rocking a good accent nail. I've been really craving another leopard print look (check out one of my other leopard print nail looks here) but since it's been so long since I've done it, I was a little nervous to go full steam ahead on all of my nails. The leopard print accent nail was a perfect way for me to reacquaint myself with the technique.

The good news is that it's even easier to do leopard print nails than I remember it being!

There is no bad news. Isn't that awesome?

Here's the really simple step-by-step. You'll just need a few polishes and a toothpick.

1. Start off by painting all of your nails pink, except for your two ring fingers.
2. Paint your ring fingers white.

.  you can't just ask nails why they're white  .

3. Once your nails are totally dry, go in with your pink polish on your ring finger and make a handful of dots around the nail. Make sure to leave plenty of space around each pink spot.

.  yous about to be a leopard  .

4. Again, let that totally dry. Patience, ladies. Put a couple of drops of your black polish onto a little piece of scrap paper. Dip your toothpick into the black polish and use it to trail some polish in bracket ( ) and C shapes around each of your pink dots.

Technique Tip: It's best not to drag the toothpick along the nail, but rather to leave the tip of the toothpick just slightly above your nail and trail the polish along that way. It makes for a smoother-looking line and doesn't scratch up the polish beneath it.

Add in some random black dots in the empty areas.

After some clean-up, you should be left with something that looks like thissss:

.  rarrrrrr  .

And that makes me happy.

Photo vom!

.  meeee - ow  .

.  vogue  .

Just like the polka dot accent nail I did last week, this leopard print can be done in endless color combinations. What's your fav combo?