Holiday Fun: How to create memories with your loved ones

Pretty Pink Roses

Hi Lovely, 

Happy Holidays and a very Happy New Year to you are yours! For many we quickly begin to think how to implement resolutions to the New Year and in essence, we look forward to create a better version of ourselves. Here are my thoughts:


New Year's Resolutions--> Change the idea of making new years resolutions once a year and make it a once a day kind of thing where you have the power to change the way you live, think, and work on your truth at your own beautiful pace. Also choose to fall in love with moments more than rushing to get somewhere away from appreciating the NOW.

 　

Unwrapping Presents

This year Christmas day falls on a full moon which hasn't happened for 38 years! What does that mean? If you recall feeling extra emotional whether happy or sad, take it in and breathe. The full moon gives us ample opportunity to appreciate the moment, expand on our individual growth, and learn how to be better, kinder people to ourselves and our fellow humans. It is a time to be grateful. Plus it was around 80 degrees in NY and my grandma flew in from Florida so we say she brought over the warm weather.

When you get together with your grandparents or any family members over the Holidays, here are some tips on how to have fun and make some sweet memories while bonding together:

-Make a homemade soup (my mom makes Russian borscht and my grandma absolutely loved it!)

Sweet Homemade Desserts

- Watch Classic Movies (check out the Turner Classic Movies Channel, my grandma's favorite) (CBS usually has annual I Love Lucy episodes on Dec. 23rd at 8pm)

- Watch old comedy movies (Funny Farm, Foul Play, Seems like old times)

- Get out the karaoke! I love karaoke but I never thought my grandma would love it too. So I printed out the lyrics for her to sing along and we started singing her favorite songs from the movie Al Jolson (April Showers, Anniversary Song)


Have a great year, keep an open heart to your emotions, and get your sweets ready with some bubbly!

XOXO Lusciously Levi
Click here to visit my Health and Wellness Website for healthy recipes and self-love tips!

Tis the Season for Holiday Movies!

Hi Lovely,

As the Holiday season enhances joy and family time, let us celebrate that with movies! Here is a quick list of Classic Holiday Christmas movies to help get you jolly and merry and into the Holiday Spirit. These movies are so beautifully cozy that you, your friends, and your whole family will all have a ball watching them! So gather around your dinner table to enjoy these Holiday Classics while sipping on some eggnog <3
  
Miracle on 34th Street (1947)
A White Christmas (1954)
Charlie Brown Christmas (1965)
Frosty the Snowman (1969)  
The Year Without a Santa Clause (1974)
National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989)
Home Alone (1990)
All I Want for Christmas (1991)
The Santa Clause (1994)

XOXO Lusciously Levi
Click here to visit my Wellness Website :)

Be Grateful this Holiday Season

Hi lovely,

 

This time of year can prove to be quite stressful for the majority of people, from shopping for presents to stocking up on food. We sometimes get lost in the real meaning of Thanksgiving. Thus, we end up taking things for granted. We even get greedy at times, when in reality, we might have everything we need right in front of us. There is a lot more to celebrating the Holidays than what is perceived. While the major things to be happy and thankful for are our health and ability to work, we can expand beyond that and delve deeper into the true meaning of the Holiday Season. Let us all take a step back this year and for many years to come during the Holiday season to really get back into the authentic holiday spirit that encourages unity and peace for us and our loved ones.

 

1) If you have family and friends who love you, be thankful.

Love is something so dear it should be a privilege for all. The simple pleasures can actually bring us closer together during the holidays. We get caught up during the year as we go to work, school, take care of our family, spend time with friends, and pay the bills. This cycle of busy work makes us forget the real meaning of family: spending quality time together. Sitting around the table with your loved ones is a perfect start to create that unity with each family member. We can go around the table to express what gives us meaning in life, while relishing the aroma of the scrumptious holiday pumpkin pie baking in the oven. There are many lovely stories or poems to read during the Holidays including singing hymns that are lyrically joyful that will put a smile on everyone’s face from your baby sister to your grandma. These intimate conversations will generate affirmative interminable memories that can easily be preserved and treasured for future generations to come.  

2) If you live under a roof, take a moment to be thankful for that.

Having somewhere to live means the world to people who do not. On this holiday season remember the meaning of your home, your sanctuary: a form of shelter to which you can go to at anytime. Having a home is your protection; it is something to appreciate on this holiday season, let alone on a daily basis.  This fortification can supply you with a refrigerator to store food, a faucet for clean water, and a bathroom so that you can take care of your hygiene and take showers. The next time you finish taking a shower, say thank you for the ability to be able to shower in clean water. Having a roof over your head means that you have some place to sleep, and this is another privilege to be honored by. Being grateful is as simple as it seems. It is the opportunity for all of us to truly appreciate and value all that we have, at this present moment in time.  

3) If you use any form of technology, be thankful as this genius invention helps us stay in closer contact with our loved ones.

Technology is precisely at our fingertips where we can conveniently scoop out information by “googling” any question imaginable. 50 years ago that was only a dream. Let us take a step back to fully appreciate the fact that the Internet invariably offers us solutions to which we would be lost without. We are often on the Internet, either on Facebook or some other social network. In reality the Internet provides us with so much more than viewing someone’s updated status; we find quick tips on healthy eating, how to fix things, etc. We use it to our disposal, so the next time you send an email to your friend or Skype chat with your grandmother, say thank you for this astounding capability.

4) If you are celebrating Thanksgiving as well as the whole holiday season, be grateful for the American history that has endowed us with the freedom that we continue to have to this day.

Our forefathers brilliantly demonstrate that by having almost nothing, we can actually realize that we have everything we need. There is a fine line between the two. Our progressive forefathers commenced a new tradition of sharing food and time with all people. So on a day like today, it is only the beginning the holiday season, which exemplifies Thanksgiving in a new light. The liberation of women and slaves as well as the enhancement of civil rights continues to flourish. Let us be thankful for the progress for peace, the ultimate goal. Happy Thanksgiving <3

XOXO Lusciously Levi

Click here for more self-love tips*

 

4 Apps to Help Maintain a Healthier Lifestyle

Hi Lovely!

Today's post is all about Apps! There are some great apps out there to help keep you motivated, organized, and ready for a healthy balanced lifestyle. Look on below for some unique Apps.

Daily Arm Workout- Personal Trainer for the Upper Body

Your virtual personal trainer is present! You can bring him/her everywhere! Working out is great to keep up your health and energy on a daily basis but sometimes it gets overwhelming and you just get lazy to go to the gym. This superb app has many unique features including videos developed by certified personal trainers that assist you with 5 to 10 minute upper body workouts. If you literally have only 5 minutes each morning before work, there is no more excuse, so try this app for the arm, chest, and shoulder routine. There is no Internet required for this particular app so feel free to do all the workouts in the comfort of your own home! The workout series is essentially a guide to improve your muscle strength and overall energy levels.  

Find Me Gluten Free

The Find Me Gluten Free app fundamentally assists your healthy lifestyle by providing you with directions to restaurants that serve gluten-free food! Whether you love gluten-free baked goods or even fast food, this app will be your best bet to uncover that suitable gluten-free menu in your given area. Especially if you travel for work or are always on the go, this app will benefit your preservation of a healthy daily life as more and more people are being diagnosed with a gluten allergy these days. If you are near your home or in between states, this app will be your friend of choice when deciding to eat your next gluten-free meal!  

Fit Brains Trainer

Brain trainer is an indispensable part of brain exercising. As we get older, we do not always take persistent care of our brain in an intelligently motivating way. There are so many shortcuts that we end up thinking slower and concentrating less on a daily basis. However, with this unique app, which is free to download, it can boost specific areas of the brain including memory, concentration, problem solving, and more! These customized brain-training games include puzzles and games, which challenge your ability to think, grow, and learn. In addition, you will come out of these enjoyable and valuable exercises with improved cognitive performances as well as overall brain health.

Relax Melodies to improve your sleep schedule 

If you are the type of person who does not fall asleep at the snap of a finger, consider the Relax Melodies app: Sleep Zen sounds & white noise for meditation, yoga and baby relaxation. In this app, it will aid you in your falling asleep process all the while relaxing you through the combination of sounds and melodies, all chosen by your preferences! You get to produce the mix you prefer and adjust the volume and timer, so you can effortlessly lean back to relax, listen, and sleep! This app is quite diverse as it fits almost any group of people, whether you are a parent who needs help to put your baby to sleep soundly, or if you work at a stressful night shift and you need something to help you unwind and improve your mood. Even if you are into meditation or yoga, this can contribute to your lifestyle as it provides a customization for an exclusive and individualized experience.

There you have it folks! The 4 previously mentioned Apps will uniquely provide you with positive health benefits if you take the time to commit to them individually. Your health is ultimately based on your actions, so with that be sure to sleep deeper, eat better, and relax in between! Click here to visit my health and wellness website for more healthy tips, free recipes, and more!

XOXO, Lusciously Levi 

A letter to the child within you

Dear Self,

You are enough. With all the people competing and comparing around you, YOU are enough. Right now, right here, with all of your feelings and emotions, it is all beautifully fine. People will still judge you, they will talk about you, but it is not your business to associate with that. You just keep growing, keep spreading kindness, and keep expressing yourself through your heart. I just thought you needed to hear this.

I know you are trying hard to fit in; sometimes you try so hard that you lose your morals and adapt to concepts of ideals of what you "should" be doing, but I understand that you will do what you need to do at your own time and pace and it will have nothing to do with what people want you to be or not to be. Follow your authenticity, for it is what makes you free and not trapped by others who might feel the same way but are too frightened to get inside their own hearts so they enforce those ideals as a defense mechanism for their own insecurities. 

The best thing we can do for ourselves is feel, understand, let go, and grow. So go ahead and let yourself feel, this is the reason we are here, to feel and heal it all.

Now I challenge YOU to write a letter to yourself, through the eyes of your childhood. What were you like? Your hopes, dreams, fears? Did you feel loved, unloved, jealous, hurt, angry, happy? We need to reconnect with our childhood if we have any desire of evolving into truly loving and successful human beings without holding any defenses against others in our daily interactions. All that internal pain and blame is the root of it all. If you are not living from your heart and sharing joy with yourself or your loved ones you need to uncover a hidden layer of emptiness that is heavily placed over your beautiful heart. Maybe you didn’t get the love you needed as a child, or maybe you did. Whatever circumstance you experienced does not limit or inhibit you in any way to achieve the highest level of love in your heart, because now it is up to you to find that love inside yourself, on your own. It is a process and it is possible: LOVE for you by you from you to YOU. <3

To get more info about understanding self-love check out my health and wellness blog.



XOXO Lusciously Levi

Wrapping up the Summer with a September Super Moon Poem

There's just something about that bright round moon
Feeling its' full presence from midnight to late afternoon
Shining down upon your overwhelming heart
Encouraging your joyful laugh or tearful cry; the full moon evokes it all, tearing you apart

This is not a bad thing, being exposed to how you feel
For hiding any ounce of your truth is like apologizing for being real
The summer sky holds memories and much more
What are we willing to surrender to, as we feel opened or closed, looking for a loosely hinged door

Just know how ever lonely you feel when you look up
So many others follow in your footsteps, we are all one, waiting for our close up
Searching, finding meaning, understanding others, and oh the feeling
Breaking all the rules for a while; temporarily protected by what we're concealing

This is the journey that must be taken
To unravel each layer of frustration, to feel your inner soul slowly awaken
From the pain and confusion of the past
So that it will smoothly fade away, not ever needing to stand by or last

The super full moon is a powerful force that shakes us to our core
Instilling thoughts and concepts that govern our actions; wild they may be, unable to ignore  
The moral of it all is to feel your feelings and let them come and go
Like the rapid waves of the ocean; its' sole purpose is to remain steady in the moment, as only then will you begin to grow

XOXO Lusciously Levi

Image Credit: http://voices.nationalgeographic.com/files/2013/06/supermoon-may5-2012-x.jpg

The Ultimate 2015 Summer Playlist

Hi lovely!

Now that summer is coming to a close, let us wrap up with all the beautifully emotional experiences that we have had with a connection to music. Music feeds the soul, helps release the stress, and essentially provides one with some sort of outlet for expression; it enhances one's ability to feel when in any given mood and evokes  a sense of truthfulness, which in essence, brings forth clarity within yourself. This unique bunch is a classic mix of oldies and pop with the utmost appreciation placed on the combination of lyrics, melodies, and overall sound. So here it is! 

My Ultimate Summer 2015 Playlist

Oldies:

Tom Jones: Man who knows too much
Tom Jones: You Know Me
Robbie Williams: Supreme
Boney M: One Way Ticket
Boney M. Sunny
Harry Nilsson: Without You
Chris Thompson: If you Remember Me
BLUE SWEDE: LONELY SUNDAY AFTERNOON
Air Supply: Goodbye
5000 Volts - I'm On Fire
The Rubettes: Sugar Baby Love  
The Turtles: Happy together
The Partridge Family: I think I love you 
Marie Laforet: Roman d'Amour  
Earth and fire - Memories
Jane Birkin: Orang Outan 
Slade: My Oh My 
Florent Pagny: L'air Du Temps
Al Jolson: LIZA (TILL THE CLOUDS'LL ROLL AWAY)
Uriah Heep: Easy Livin'
Tony Orlando: Tie a yellow ribbon 'round ol' Oak tree 
Three Dog Night: Eli's Coming 




Pop: Zedd: Beautiful Now
Selena Gomez: Good For You 
Tori Kelly: I was made for Loving you
Tori Kelly: It shouldve been US
Tori Kelly: All in my Head
R5: Can't say I'm in love
R5: I know you got away
R5: Lightning strikes
R5: Heart made up on you
R5: Pass me by
Pia Mia: Do it again
Hilary Duff: Tattoo
Russian Red - Fuerteventura 
Girls aloud: The promise
Bridgit Mendler: Top of the World  
Elle King: Ex's & Oh's



Enjoy :) and comment what your favorite summer songs are!

XOXO Lusciously Levi

Ballet Barre Workout Preview

Hi lovely,

Now that summer is in full swing and we are in the intense heat of mid-August, our minds can get a bit off balance and our bodies might soon follow too especially if we are not taking care of that internal mind/body/soul trinity connection. To help get you more on a relaxed wavelength I have decided to begin doing ballet workout barre exercises. Here is a short preview of what kind of combinations will pop up from time to time. The goal is to do these exercises repeatedly both on the right side and then on the left side in order to gain a sense of communication within your body as well as muscle strength and flexibility. Let me know if you have additional ideas about the combinations!


Ballet Barre Workout Preview

XOXO- Lusciously Levi <3

June Favorites

Hey lovely! 

Summer is officially upon us, can you feel it? We have sun, rain, and everything in between with the unpredictability of the weather. So many wonderful things this month, so let's get started!

Favorite combination of moments: 


Here we go folks: On June 21, 2015 we have Father's Day, the first official day of summer, and the summer solstice (in the northern hemisphere) which creates the longest day of the year because the sun is at its highest northernmost point in the sky. The solstice marks the onset of summer, and basically it means the "midnight sun"; that is, the sun is able to shine on earth all day (at noon the sun appears to be at its highest elevation or altitude above the horizon, occurring at the moment the earth’s tilt toward the sun is at a maximum).* This noontime position changes very minimally for the days directly preceding and following the summer solstice. I think it was the latest sunset of summer, at around 9pm: fun in the sun all day, literally! Solstice means "sun stands still", so we here on earth feel as though we are a bit woozy (reminisce if you were feeling drunk Father's Day weekend without any alcohol in your system!)

 
* http://www.srh.noaa.gov/abq/?n=clifeatures_summersolstice

Favorite song(s): 

This one is great and inspired all by my amazingly musical loving dad (which works great, since it's Father's Day as well!) First off I gotta say YouTube is totally awesome. Once you finish listening to a particular song, YouTube follows it up automatically with a similarly themed song that was previously played. Highly sensitive and specific, it really is superb. The first song that I am in love with is called: "Torneró"(1974) by the Italian group I Santo California . The second song is "Ti amo" (1977) by Italian singer Umberto Tozzi. The third is: "Mamma Maria" (1982) by Ricchi e Poveri. I see there is an Italian theme going on. Take a listen to these and let me know what you think.

Favorite tea: Lemon ginger tea has been a great tea to drink in the summertime. It tastes a bit bitter in the best possible way! If you have a sore throat, or if you just love the combination of tangy flavors, your best bet is lemon ginger tea!

Favorite movie:

How to steal a million (1966) is such a refreshingly smart comedic movie without too much unneeded drama and emotional tension like today's movies possess. Such a lovely movie with Audrey Hepburn and Peter O'Toole partnering up in crime and in love. Gather your family and friends and make a night of it.

Favorite quote:

 "We interrupted each other to say the same thing"  

Don't you love being on the same page with someone to the point where you both want to literally interrupt each other to say the exact same thing! So hilariously funny, this quote was coined in the moment of true friendship bonding.

Have a great summer y'all! 

XOXO- Lusciously Levi