Adam Levine | Susanne's World

It’s Monday, but I missed Self-Care Sunday yesterday. Sorry. That’s the being late part of today’s post. My Sunday was over-filled, and I didn’t get a post written before midnight. I needed sleep. Sleep is an excellent self-care strategy. Being late isn’t always an ideal option, but in this case I needed sleep more than my readers needed to hear from me. That’s what I’m telling myself anyway. Did anyone notice that I didn’t post yesterday? I didn’t post on Saturday either, and although ideally I would like to post daily, it doesn’t work out that way with everything else I have going on, mainly family time on the weekends. But the time with my family goes is so rare, precious, and fleeting. I know since my oldest daughter is already in college and not living at home anymore. My middle daughter who is turning thirteen in a few weeks will be following in her footsteps before I know it, and my eight year old son not long after that. Being present when they are home is important, so being late is ok sometimes.I was busy all day because, well first of all I slept late. Then I forgot I told my daughter I’d take her to Ft. Worth to see a dance competition. She wasn’t competing, but her studio was, so we went to support all her dance friends. I’d already made plans to meet my husband and son at the gym to try to swim laps in the pool since we weren’t able to on Saturday due to lightning. I hurt my knee last week and haven’t been able to get much exercise this week, and I hate that! So anyway, I was planning on doing my self-care thing at the pool, hot tub, sauna, and steam room but instead I spent the rest of the day and evening in Ft. Worth with my daughter. I felt like I gave up what I wanted to do for what she wanted to do, but I decided to put her first. Sometimes being selfless is healthy because it helps to humble ourselves and do things to meet other people’s needs. I absolutely loved watching all the talented dancers on stage, and it was fun for Zoe to see her friends and for me to see their moms. We went to Pei Wei to eat together. Girl time is always fun, and doing mother-daughter activities is healthy for our relationship.

When I got home, I took a long, relaxing bath. It helps my muscles relax, and it helps decrease eczema. Especially during these colder months, my skin gets so dry and rashy, and my allergist recommended frequent baths and moisturizer. I also stretched for a while after I got out of the bath to work out some of the kinks in my muscles and joints. Nothing crazy, just some forward bends, slight back bends, and side to side stretches after some seated leg stretches alternating bending my left and right leg to open up the lower back and hips. I have to stretch at least a little every day or else I get super stiff!

Music is also good for the soul. I listen to music all the time. Especially after a long day, I love to soak in the bath tub and push shuffle on my iPhone and listen to whatever songs come up. I’m in love with Justin Timberlake’s new songs, Suit and Tie, and Mirrors. Here is a link to the video for Mirrors and an article describing the song:

http://www.policymic.com/articles/30896/justin-timberlake-mirrors-music-video-worth-the-8-minute-length

He recently performed both songs on Saturday Night Live. It’s his first album in seven years. I’ve been a fan of his since the beginning when he was the lead singer of the boy band, N *Sync. Over the years, it’s been fun to watch him grow up into an adult as he embarked on both an acting career and a solo singing artist. My husband and I also love going to see live concerts. We got to see Justin Timberlake last time he was here in Dallas (touring with Timbaland).

Justin timberlake wiki (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

And last week, we got to see Maroon 5 for the first time. It was an excellent concert. While they clearly feature Adam Levine, the lead singer, the rest of the band is also quite talented. My husband said after the show they should have called it the Adam Levine Band because clearly he is the face of the band and most of the performance was focused on him. I’ve only seen him on television before, from the waist up. I love the shirtless pictures of him and all his tatoos. And although I could tell from his upper body pictures that he is a thin guy, I never noticed before how skinny his legs are (he is also a little bow-legged). I was also really surprised he kept his shirt on the entire concert because he took off his shirt during the monologue of SNL, and he is quite popular for how he looks sans shirt. But his voice was amazing, his effort was over 100%, and he along with the rest of the band entertained the crowd for hours with their popular songs. I was also inspired by his guitar solos. I think music is a really positive way to improve how you feel any day, especially when there is the opportunity to see it performed live.