I worked through the morning and took a 60-minute break around lunchtime to do something physical and get my body moving.
To the gym!
I began my workout with 20 minutes on the elliptical while reading an extremely old magazine that featured a plethora of pictures of Kate Middleton. In nearly every photo she was wearing a fascinator, one of those fancy little hats.
(Photo credit: Indigo/Getty)
I started to think about my family’s trip to London last year and cannot recall seeing even one woman wearing a fascinator. I’ve read that they’re rather formal, so maybe the people I saw just didn’t have anywhere fancy to go. London friends, do you wear fascinators or are they just a royal family thing?
They seem like a decent way to disguise greasy or super-flat hair, so I’m all for bringing them to the U.S.
The majority of my time at the gym was spent in the weight room targeting my biceps, triceps, shoulders and abs.
I did three sets of 15 reps of each exercise in the following workout, using a weight that challenged me:
I did all of the bicep and tricep exercises you see above first before moving onto my shoulders and abs. The first superset in the shoulders and abs section was killer thanks to three 60-second planks. Phew!
Lunch
Lunch today was a simple stir fry.
I started by sautéing onion, zucchini and broccoli on the stovetop in some olive oil. We had some leftover chicken on hand from Sunday night’s dinner, so I added it to the veggies, along with some cashews, chicken broth and light soy sauce.
From fridge to plate in 10 minutes!
I’m off to work for a few more hours before hopefully venturing out this evening with Ryan. Apparently there’s a Fourth of July celebration in downtown Ocala tonight and I’d like to check it out!
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She is absolutely gorgeous, even with such a hat…:-)
Just out of curiosity: Are you following a new eating plan?
i agree! and nope, no new eating plan over here. 🙂
Ha, I’m sure the hat works well with flat hair, but I imagine it’s a pain to pin on their just right!
*there 🙂
Ahhh, zucchini in the stir fry, a personal favorite! I can’t think of a BAD way to eat a zucchini – I’m always envious of people with gardens when they complain about how they’ve got more zucchini than they can handle.
Our city’s July 4th celebration is tonight too! Have fun!
I LOVE fascinators! I actually just lent of mine to a friend to wear to a wedding here in Minnesota! I definitely get some funny looks when I wear them, but I think they are great for going out and formal occasions.
I have the BIGGEST girl-crush on Kate.
I think fascinators are just the coolest things ever. I had never seen them until the royal wedding last year, at which point I decided I want all women attending my wedding to wear them…haha a girl can dream!
I went to my cousins wedding in Ireland last summer and all the women had fascinators on..it was so beautiful…I took a pic with a bunch of women who had them on. 🙂
My sister lives in London, and although she doesn’t wear a fascinator on a day to day basis, I know she did wear one to the Henley Regatta a couple of years back! I’m not sure they’d suit me, but I do like the whole greasy hair coverup idea…. Right now, dry shampoo is serving that purpose quite nicely! 🙂
I lived in London for 8 years and only saw people wearing fascinators at the Ascott!
I’m totally on board with all of her fashion decisions, minus the hats!
Haha we definitely don’t wear fascinators every day here in the UK! They’re just for weddings or formal occasions. Oh and they’re very popular at Ascott.
I am all for bringing the fascinators to ‘Merica!! 🙂 A quick, chic, easy fix for days when the hair just won’t cooperate… aka, Im too lazy to fix it! Love it!! And that lunch looks incredible! Happy Tuesday! 😀
Julie, after meeting you the other night at the Junior League event I had to check out your blog! I love it! I especially loved your post “Things I’ll miss about Orlando” I completely agree. It’s such a difficult transition. Hopefully, you’ll be able to write a “Things I love about Ocala” someday (wishful thinking). Have fun at the event downtown tonight. I think we’re going too!
I see a lot of people wearing fascinators around here (Seattle Wa). But they are a little edgier than Kate’s. I almost bought one with a skull in the middle but I decided I’d never wear it.
I know they are popular at weddings both for the bride and the bridemaids. But I’ve been seeing them more on people everyday. I say you can bring them Florida, Julie!
How have I missed this! LOL! Actually, it is because I live in the Snoqualmie Valley and don’t get into Seattle often. 🙂 Now I am going to be on the look-out.
Sooo maybe I’m weird but I’ve from Virginia (but have lived in Miami and now in Vegas) but I wear fascinators ALL the time and have for years. I think the new obsession is kind of funny. 🙂 I think they add so much to an outfit. More people should wear them!
ahhh I never knew those were called fascinators. I just always thought of them as “bird lady hats” or somethin’ like that. 😛 Reading from these comments, it’s so strange that many states have people wearing them! But in CA I have seen zero. Maybe today I’ll run into someone?
I honestly don’t think I could possibly ever wear that hat.I can’t even pull of a normal hat..
Yummy lunch! Have fun celebrating tonight! we are headed to some fireworks as well!
I’ve been looking for some upper body workouts to mix up my routine, so I’ll be doing that one this week! Haha and I think those hats are definitely more for fancy events, like weddings and luncheons and what not. Lol I don’t know what events fancy people in London go to.
I think I look bad in hats, so I don’t think that would fly for me 😉
That workout looks awesome. I love a good BURN 🙂
I love fascinators! I actually wore one to the Kentucky Derby this year, as did lots of other ladies. We looked so fancy and British.
Julie- I love your blog! One question about today’s exercise routine: Did you do each superset 3 times before moving on to the next superset or work your way through each superset once and then repeat 2x? Thanks! Happy 4th!
Definitely not a fan of those fascinators. I would look like quite the fool wearing them. I’ve never seen anyone where one, not sure if I want to either. Broccoli and cashews are the best combo are they not! I just love ’em together.
Speaking of lunch, I made an egg scramble with hummus in it. I couldn’t wait to try it after I read your earlier post so I didn’t…..it was DE-LIC-IOUS!!
People were them to weddings in Ireland and the UK, they’re usually worn by older woman, Kate Middleton could just get away with anything. Also worn to the horse racing 🙂
I lived in Edinburgh for a while and people really do wear the fancy little hats, just not for everyday reasons. I worked at a castle where we had a lot of weddings, and the women nearly always wore hats. I lived above a fancy hat shop! It was THE BEST!
I married a Brit and all of his family wore them! My MIL went crazy looking for one to match her dress…finally had my sister-in-law send one over! 🙂
i was walking by a wedding in Madrid the other day and the women were all wearing fascinators! it was fabulous!
Mmm that lunch looks super yummy! And today TOTALLY feels like a Friday.. love it!
I love Kate Middelton…she is just so classy. Love.
they actually are worn! not in every day life though, but to special events like weddings or christenings. the English like to properly dress up 🙂
Only for weddings or the races! i wore one for Ascot last month!
Heyy,
I’m a UK newbie to your blog, but I’m hooked already! Loved your guest post on fitnessista yesterday! Fascinators are worn instead of a hat for formal occasions (us Brits love fancy hats for weddings, races, polo, etc), just a new more modern and fun version really!
xx
Stir fry is on the menu for dinner tonight here!
I cannot tell you how happy this post made me! I am actually in the United Kingdom, specifically Scotland at the moment! I went on a five mile run today and ran into some issues when reaching a particular part of the run … where I was completely distracted by such fancy hats! Evidently the Queen was holding some special award ceremony. Or so I’m told!
In New Zealand we tend to wear fascinators to the fancy horse race days, and you see some people wearing them (or fancy hats) at summer weddings, but that’s about it. They’re definitely not for everyday wear!
I would feel funny with a hat like that on my head haha. But then again down here in SE TX, we wear cowboy hats and some people may think that looks silly. 🙂
And lunch looks delicious!
Great workout, 3 full minutes of planks sounds pretty killer! Looks like a hot and delicious lunch too, can’t go wrong when it only takes 10 minutes to put together!
Um, I am truly SO excited to try this workout. Thanks!!
Just thought about fascinators for hiking and for dogs. LOL. That would be a crazy trend to get going.
Both of my Grammy’s (Catholic) bemoaned the loss of Easter bonnets. That may have been the closest thing that we had.
I was just in Spain and saw a few weddings while I was there and all the women were wearing fascinators. I actually bought one because I thought they were so cute and I plan on rocking it at a wedding I will be attending soon!
I think fascinators are for fancy occasions. My best friend married a Brit, and all of the women from his side of the family wore fascinators. So, it’s not like they walk around to the grocery store wearing them. It’s only for certain events 🙂 They are super cute but I would feel absolutely ridiculous with one!
My mom is from England and is part of the “British Club” in our local area. They wore them to celebrate the Queen’s Jubilee while watching it on tv, but otherwise they don’t. I have had cousins (in England) who had more formal weddings who requested them to be worn.
Thanks for sharing that arm/core workout… it’s already saved, and I can’t wait to try it out soon 🙂 Hope you and the hubby have a wonderful 4th of July!!
You always seem to know awesome flavours for sauces and dressings for your lunches- this is usually where I get stuck. Maybe a post in the future on easy flavourings to wake together?
Fascinators are usually worn to weddings or to events, not an every day thing 🙂 Horse racing events are big for hats and Fascinators. Great for those of us who look terrible in hats.
Steph x
I study in London and have never seen anyone in the street wear them either. It is definitely something of the Royal Family and or for fancy posh events like Polo, weddings, Horse racing etc. 🙂
Fascinators are for special occasions like weddings or a day at the races! I love wearing them, they make you feel so fancy 🙂