Feeling Like an Athlete…Looking Like an Athlete!

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I love athletic lines with solid positive energy behind them.  And it’s really important to me that companies know that fitness and athletes come in all shapes and sizes.  I really appreciate the great vibes of Katie K Active and Reitmans whom I partnered up with on my recent Reclaim My 5K event at GoodLife Fitness.  (And, ahem, a fitness chain that shares this philosophy gets 2 thumbs up in my books as well!)  Fitness clothing that comes in a variety of sizes for the weekend athlete or the hard core one?  Yes please!

I wore Katie K Active on legs 1,3 and 5 of my race and Reitmans on days 2 and 4. I know pieces are impressive when the females around me say something along the lines of,”Oooo…that looks so soft….can I touch your arm?” or,”Does that come in my size?”  Functional and sweet looking….great combo.

Katie K Active

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Wearing pieces from Katie K Active for Reclaim My 5 K

I first need to gush about the Katie K Active Signature Capri  .  When I first put these on, it was an unexpected and amazing fit.  They offer semi-compression which means they hold you in, they hold you up…quite a great feeling! They have soft grips around the waist band which are so comfortable but also mean these stay in place. I am so used to having to hike up my leggings during exercise but this didn’t happen once. They stay put. You can’t see in the photos but the capris are offered with a variety of patterned waistbands. They look great – and keep you feeling secure.  Perfect placement and cut! These are so soft and comfortable it’s ridiculous. One last fave detail…there is a pocket that is so perfectly sewn that you might miss it if you weren’t looking for it on the right back hip.  Perfect spot for a key or iPod.

Speaking of soft, I am a little smitten with the Signature Jackets I wore in Citrus and Vivid Blue.  Being tall, I have never found a top with thumb holes that fit my body type! Very fun. And….a ponytail hole in the hood! Smart!  When you have 2 other women gush about this feature, you know it is brilliant.

And I love my Signature Short Sleeve top in Vivid Blue Zebra with a pocket in the lower back area and the Signature Racer Back is smartly cut flattering the belly area. The last thing I want to worry about is a top tugging in all the wrong places at the gym!  Didn’t happen once.

Can’t say enough good things about this line – you can tell a lot of thought has gone into the creation of the pieces.  Katie K Active has extended a race discount to all of you. Until April 30th, 2015, enter code LOL15 for a $15 credit towards an order of $25 or more (cannot be combined with other offers, sale items or used for gift cards). When you get something, give me an update!

Reitmans Hyba Activewear

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Wearing pieces from Reitmans Hyba Activewear for Reclaim My 5K

When I visited a Reitmans store to check out the line, I loved that there was a great mix of athletic pieces mixed with fun, casual ones.  On the casual, comfy end, I particularly liked this hooded top and these sweat pants.  The racer in me went for the Printed Tank and the Wicking Tank in pink and black. It was hard to decide between that and it in blue. Perfect length!  I can’t tell you how many exercise tops I have bought over the years that barely hit my waist… Make sure to check out the back view on both as they are pretty fun and I appreciate the side shirring on the Printed Tank too. Nice touch.  I was impressed with myself for wearing 2 colourful patterned tops instead of going for solids which I often do. The line makes it easy to be comfortable stepping out of your comfort zone! The Wicking Jacket may very well be my fave piece of the collection. It got a lot of comments, the colour is fabulous and I am all for the subtle reflective bands on it. Fashionable safety.

The selection in Hyba Activewear  pants and leggings is stellar. I will be going back to get some track pants in the long length of 34″.  The rest of the selection includes 28″, 30″ and 32″.  For my race, I went with 2 styles of the Capri Leggings – super comfy while sitting perfectly around the waist area. Looking forward to trying them out during my next pilates class! A last minute surprise was discovering the Hyba sports watch, something I had been looking for. It lights up for night walks…and eventually a jog I hope!

Can’t thank these fantastic companies enough for helping me rock my body and Reclaim My 5K feeling like an athlete!

 

 

Welcome to a New Liis on Life!

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Thank you so much for visiting Liis on Life! I am so happy to share this space with you and am looking forward to connecting often. Yes, this website is a play on my name… but it really does reflect a new energy for me, a new direction, a new purpose in life. If we are meeting here for the first time then a big hello to you!  And if some of you know me through my over 20 years in the fashion industry, I am happy to connect with you again.

Sometimes you blissfully walk through life thinking your future is going in one direction then all of a sudden a giant hand swoops down and declares, “Change of course! You are now going this way!” You find yourself on a completely different path, one you never envisioned or chose.  You protest, you reflect, you rage, and then a moment of calm clarity comes about and you realize the universe chose your experiences for a reason, that you attracted in your experiences for a reason – or a million – a million really, really important ones.  And you realize all your experiences are meant to be shared in order to help someone else in the exact same spot you were just in.

Looking back I was physically falling apart for years – but always with a smile on my face, always while keeping busy and moving onto the next project in my life. (Sound familiar anyone?) There were warning signs that my body was crying out for help. There was a growing disconnect with my mind, body & soul – they weren’t having the same conversation. The universe kept bellowing:

Hey Liis!

Can you hear me now?

Can you hear me now?

Can you hear me now?

HOW ABOUT RIGHT NOW?!

It wasn’t until I completely fell apart and started putting back the pieces that I realized all this, until I heard the universe LOUD and CLEAR. I was diagnosed with Hashimoto’s, an autoimmune thyroid dis-ease in 2011, endometriosis in 2012 and the clincher, the rare dis-ease cerebellar gluten ataxia in 2013. My list of symptoms was enormous and the daily pain was off the charts.  Were there good times in there? Absolutely. Some great times in fact. Some travelling and some nights of dancing even. Some amazing career projects. But to say I have done a lot of soul searching, health homework and deep reflection would be an understatement. I feel as if I just completed a university degree I didn’t realize I had signed up for!

I like to call the last few years my “spiritual time-out.”  In all the pain and all the frustration, there were so many lessons, so much knowledge gained, so many moments of amazement and wonder. To the general public who have seen me on numerous TV appearances and in fashion campaigns, it may not have seemed like anything was wrong but every event – even if only one or two hours – required meticulous planning and then recuperation. From first adopting a gluten free life in 2011 to embracing a Paleo lifestyle in late 2013, I have grown to realize the healing energy of food, meditation and positive thinking and the power we have to change the course of our dis-ease, our happiness, our lives.

As I sat in my time-out chair, I did reflect on a lot, and came to new levels of understanding on so many platforms.  After labour, mothers will always say of course they would go through it all again in order to have their children. Although not a mother, I can relate to that sentiment – I have come out the other side with a new lease on life I wouldn’t trade for anything in this world.  There is no going back to “before.” I have wept so many tears of gratitude and sit in such gratefulness every day.  My friends now lovingly say, ”Aww Liis, are you crying from happiness again?”

I have created this space and welcome you here to learn, to grow, to laugh, to embrace your inner child and hug the hell out of her. To reach out to your future self and proactively take care of her right now, this very instant – and let her know how amazing she is. To love yourself today, just the way you are in all your amazing perfection. To live in joy daily. To shake up your routine. To ask questions. To not only think outside the box but live like it never existed. To cry tears of total joy. To surprise and amaze yourself. To do your health homework because it is really, really good for your mind, body and soul!

Let’s lose the obsession with what size is on the label of our jeans and daily weigh-ins and always calorie counting shall we? My shape and size has changed dramatically through all this and it is but one  small part of my story. My curvy body allowed me to travel the world with a career I loved, connecting with incredible people around the world. I honour my body throughout time, whatever shape or size. Weight and size is such a small part of who all of us really are.  This site is about body love for everybody and every BODY.

If I can help others from going through the same health issues and rude awakening I did, I sure want to try.  As this site grows, and as I continue to grow, I hope you will join me. I am so looking forward to it!

 

Has Your Look Evolved Out of Conscious Creativity or Habit?

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My closet looks happy. It looks like this website – bright, serene and colourful and reflects all aspects of my personality.  I like to think I have created a website that is peacefully energetic and think my clothing looks the same. But this wasn’t always the case and it took purging my closet and preparing the photos for this site to really wake me up.

Staring at my closet has caused me to ponder the evolution of my wardrobe which in turn meant the evolution of “my look.” Because I am a Taurus, my closet has always been really well organized and ahem, colour blocked. This wasn’t as much for my closet to look neat and tidy, it was more like in a mad dash, I really wanted to be able to find something quickly. For many years of my modelling career, I would literally have to drop everything and rush to the airport to catch a flight. I often would not know in the morning that by evening I would be in another country. Crazy but true.  Often times I had a bag ready to go in the trunk of my car and my passport in my purse.

So what did I pack? Black everything. Black pants. Black top. Black boots. All black. The textures generally coordinated and everything mixed and matched and any piece I hurriedly threw in my suitcase would look great. It worked then. But…I hadn’t been in that dizzying travel space for years…yet my wardrobe stayed in that energy. This hit me when I was looking for outfits to wear for the shoot for this site. I knew the vibrancy of my life , the upbeat energy I was now sitting in after a long health journey and the energy I wanted to project through my website – and my wardrobe was energetically out of alignment. I frequently encourage women to think outside the box with their fashion choices and I wasn’t following my own advice.

Something bigger hit me.  I owned several pieces that had become a crutch for me throughout my health journey. Because my size could radically change due to inflammation, and my body became so sensitive to fabrics, there were months that I actually looked pregnant and nothing fit or felt good. I wore one pair of stretch jeans, a couple baggy black tops and leggings constantly simply because they fit and didn’t hurt. This was not a consciously created look – it was “a look” created out of necessity. I realized this clothing held a lot of painful energy. Interestingly enough, when I made this realization, my jeans literally split in half – and not in a way that could be salvaged in a seam – right in the fabric. Time for change. Hello! The universe is knocking…on my closet door!

As my size evolved throughout my health journey, I started to slowly change my wardrobe. I donated items to charities and consigned others. I made a point of not buying anything black.  I asked sales associates to bring me items they thought would look good on me but only in bright colours. I didn’t balk at any item that appeared and was intrigued to like colours and styles I would not have picked for myself. The black section of my closet started to shrink and more colour started to appear. I would actually stare at it and smile knowing this was another part of me coming out of my dis-ease – living life in colour so to speak.

Do I still wear black clothing? Yes. I do love the look of all black and having dark basics to mix and match is just smart.  But when you hear excited comments from every single person you know along the lines of, ”You look great in that colour,” you should listen to those that know you best! Black is now but one amazing colour in my wardrobe equally balanced by several others. There are days I am in the mood for bold red, stripes, bright blue and many others, and yes, there are days I am in the mood for black. We all have many facets to our personalities and it is important to honour all of them. Wearing that bright yellow jacket in photos on this site is me owning my shift – leaping into a new energy…or more importantly, an energy that has been in me the entire time that needed to be awakened.(And I so enjoyed freaking out all my friends who never would have expected me to buy a yellow jacket) (Still laughing about it)

So, I ask you, are you making a conscious statement in your clothing or are you dressing and buying items, styles or colours out of habit? Does your wardrobe fit the energy you want in your life?  Without spending a lot of money, what small changes can you make to honour all of you through the outfits you choose to wear?  Let your beautiful self shine through every day!

Fashionably Speaking: Mo and His Bows Will Win Your Heart

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I am quite smitten with any child who creates a company so when I saw Moziah Bridges, the dynamic, passionate and sharp 11 year old CEO of Mo’s Bows winning over the tough judges on Shark Tank I couldn’t stop grinning. I admired the fact that the sharks turned down his investment request because they said he was already on the right path. Daymond John, the founder of FUBU, strongly suggested he not take any financial offers and extended his mentoring service instead. I cheered out loud in my living room.

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Mo – the nickname he uses – was accustomed to seeing his father and grandfather looking dapper in three-piece suits growing up. He asked his grandmother to teach him to sew at the age of 9 after being inspired by singers like the Jonas Brothers who would sport bow ties and because he couldn’t find any he liked. And now at the ripe old age of 12, his bow ties reflect his sunny disposition and he selects the fabrics himself offering a variety of colours in polka dots, plaid and several other patterns for $40. And don’t think his creations are just for the guys – Mo’s Bows are worn by males and females of all ages.

Mo has just expanded into pocket squares with the goal of creating neck ties and other accessories in the future. Did I mention he has already surpassed $30,000 in sales, uses some funds to send kids to camp and sells in shops and boutiques in 7 states as well as online? This kid rocks. Watch the video below and try not to grin. I dare you.

So, if you need a bow tie or know somebody that does, consider supporting Mo and his company. We need to encourage amazing entrepreneurial kids like this so they can in turn inspire more kids – and the world.