Palate for Style

Happy Valentine’s day my gorgeous readers ❤️ and welcome back to another post in the #crazystupidselflove series! Love is the most wonderful feeling in the world. I love love my family, love love Mr. M, love love my friends, love love you all and most of all love love love love myself. *saying love multiple times is the new fashion. yo!*

This year I am going to be my own valentine. Red roses, spa day, retail therapy and everything else that involves spending shit load of money to make myself feel amazing.☁️ Okay fine.. in the real world, I’ll be doing dishes, laundry and alot of other things that are far far from glamorous. And about spending $$$? oh well, this girl is still dreaming of buying sneakers in different colors and not repeating clothes every single day. Need I say more? 🙈

But in all seriousness, you don’t need alot of money to treat yourself well. One of my intentions this year is to take care of myself- body, mind and soul. I have been incorporating small changes into my life that are either free or super inexpensive. So here’s my guide to CELEBRATING YOU without stressing you financially. *Groundbreaking work by yours truly!*.

Wallpapers that inspire and radiate positivity –

I like to surround myself with positive affirmations. I strongly believe that you get what you send out to the universe. *That’s why I keep sending thoughts like Monika is the bomb dot com. It still hasn’t worked but hey good things take time!* 🙈. 

My phone is with me 24*7 and it just makes sense to have something positive to look at when I use it. There are tonnes of amazing wallpapers with uplifting quotes available for free online. Download a few and get your magical life started!

Music that heals and centers

I try my best to start the day with relaxing music. I actually listen to something soothing throughout the day; especially when life gets too stressful and it never fails to put my mind at ease. Just type relaxing music on Youtube and you’ll find tonnes of playlists. *Proof that Youtube can be used for something constructive. I mean watching vlogs of teen parents is not really teaching me alot.*

Smell that relaxes and calms

Lighting candles and incense is therapeutic for me. The ambience created when you have candles and incense burning is always so relaxing. My perfect evening involves candles all over the room, a book and hot chocolate with marshmallows. Is it christmas time yet?

There are tonnes of affordable candles that you can pick up from Ross, TJ Maxx, Homegoods, Walmart! And for my babes in India, nothing beats a chandan/sandalwood incense.

Meditation to feed your mind

I have recently started meditating regularly and it is slowly and steadily becoming the favorite time of my day. I do it for 5-8 minutes atleast 4 days a week. I want to increase the duration and frequency but for now, my baby steps will do. 👶🏽

I am a newbie but I highly highly recommend meditation to all of you. Taking a few minutes out from a stressful and crazy day to focus on your breathing or to just let your mind be is so so relaxing. I recommend getting started with the app Headspace as it eases you into the world of meditation beautifully. The first 10 days are free and after that you have to pay for the services. There is another app called Insight Timer which is completely free and has tonnes and tonnes of guided meditation sessions.

Books to feed your soul

Books make me the happiest! Period. Ok wrong use of ‘period’ because I definitely have alot more to say! 😋

This year is also the year of picking up more books and spending atleast a few minutes everyday reading. *2017 is definitely under a lot of pressure*. For people who do not enjoy reading much, give audio books a try. You can check out Audible as it has a great selection of books and will be a great introduction to the magic books are. 🌟

PS – Big magic is my all time favorite book. I have heard the audio book and read the paper copy as well. Love both but if you do get a chance, check out the audio copy in the author’s voice. It is no less than big magic.

Face Masks to your rescue 

Self-care is incomplete without taking care of your body whether it is through exercise or skincare/haircare.

Face masks are my favorite way of winding down in the evening. I try to apply face masks atleast twice a week. Apart from all the goodness it provides, I just feel super fancy, cool and totally like a goddess. Don’t ask me why. I just do.

There are so many great ones out there from the high end brands like Glamglow  to drugstore brands like these. I am also in love with pure chandan/sandalwood powder that I mix with rosewater to create a mask. You can also make so many homemade ones using honey, lemon, banana and other common ingredients. Putting in the effort and time to take care of my skin and hair is something I want to make priority and a necessity rather than luxury.

Dance is life 

The gif clearly shows how I feel when I dance. My soul comes alive and I am the happiest kid in the world. If there is absolutely anything that makes you feel this way, do more of it. 😊

This and every other valentine’s day, make yourself priority. Give yourself unconditional love. I sound like a broken record. Can’t help it. I am all about being your biggest cheerleader. So let’s continue. Accept your wonderful body. Treat and nourish it with love and care. Feed your mind positive thoughts. Do things that uplift you.  Be your valentine always and forever. ❤️

This valentine’s day, CELEBRATE YOU! 

What are you doing for yourself today? What are some of your ways to relax? I would love to hear your thoughts in the comment section. Thank you so much for reading and I’ll see you all next week. Ciao – Love, M ❤️

Blog Secret – I couldn’t find heart shaped string to use as a decorative piece in the pics so I bought apple shaped ones. If you really squint your eyes, they do look like hearts…Ok they most definitely don’t but maybe apples were always meant to be the symbol of love, after all who doesn’t love apples! We shall roll with this theory. 🙈