Jacquie Severs

This past winter has felt like the longest of my life. It's the first full winter I've spent in the Ottawa/Montreal region, and it was in the range of -30 for two months and I've never wanted to feel the warmth of the sun more intensely. I surely would have escaped to a all-inclusive vacation destination by now if I wasn't planning and budgeting for a wedding this summer!

Here are a the ways I'm improving the ongoing experience of this slow and painful ascent into springtime temperatures.

Learning to run using the Couch Potato to 5K app.

I'm not in terrible shape. I can complete an hour long high-intensity zumba class, I don't get out of breath running up stairs, and I routinely do some sort of exercise on a weekly basis. But when it comes to jogging, I last literally one minute before I get tired and just simply do not want to go on. It's partly motivation and partly technique, I'm sure.

This past fall we purchased a treadmill which has ended up being a great decision. Winters are cold and long and extremely snowy where I live, so getting outside to exercise isn't easy. So upon recommendation of my friend Heather (sidenote: check her design work out here) I am trying the Couch Potato to 5K app. The program is based on a book of the same name from the 1990's, and it is designed to get just about anyone running 5 kilometers or 30 minutes in 9 weeks. The philosophy is to get you running a little bit at a time, to ease you into the routine of doing it, stretching your skill and ability over time, until you've taught your body how to run. For me, it's been working quite well, and I'm finding that exercising to the point of sweaty exhaustion has been the best way to beat the winter blues.

The app is $2.29 and it has a number of great helpful features to get you moving and keep you motivated. Check it out here.

Retail Therapy/Buying floral denim. 

Speaking of the 1990's...

Floral denim is a perfect wardrobe transition item because they feel spring-like and fresh but they're also warm enough when it's only +2 outside and you probably should still actually be wearing winter clothes. Like these ones? Check out Maker's Denim, a Montreal-based denim company online for where-to-buy.

Virtual travel

Still life with flowers in a glass vase, Jan Davidsz. de Heem, 1650 - 1683

Travel isn't prioritized in the budget right at the moment on account of various tent rentals and catering deposits, but I'm still travelling online and a favourite destination of the moment is the Rijksmuseum. The Rijksmuseum is a Netherlands national museum dedicated to arts and history in Amsterdam. Their website is an incredible and vast resource of inspiration for me. And speaking of floral print...the Rijks has undertaken an ambitious digitization project, putting over 130,000 images of their collection online royalty-free.  What is especially cool about the Rijks Studio project (check it out here www.rijksmuseum.nl/rijksstudio) is that users are encouraged to download the high-resolution images and create products with them, remix them, or use them however they wish.

Listen to New Music

The XX album is one of my favourite things of the past few years, and I never tire of listening to it. Jamie XX's  debut solo album In Colour is due out June 1, and some tracks have been released online in advance. Check out the video for "Loud Places" below.




I can't wait to go on a nice summer evening walk and listen to the whole of this album through earbuds.

Other things I'm into right now:
Broad City  - watch full episodes online in Canada here.
Bucket handbags. - practical and fresh
XXYYXX - XXYYXX - a good album to listen to in the office.
Chanel Spring 2015 Couture - colour/shape/graphic