Sparkle By Cara Alwill Leyba: The Girls Guide to Living a Deliciously Dazzling, Wildly Effervescent, Kick-Ass Life
Like most women I am in a never ending battle with learning to love my body. Ever since I was about 13 years old I remember worrying about my weight and what others thought of me. Whenever something goes wrong in my life I always bring it back to the fact that it is because I have a muffin top, or chubby arms or perhaps because I still slightly resemble a Cabbage Patch doll.
I’m not good at dieting, I once (actually not long ago) did a 6-day detox, I lost about 4kg in those 6 days but boy was I miserable. After having my first glass of wine after those 6 long nightmarish days I told myself I would never put myself through that again. Hell I would rather run 10kms a day than do that to myself. This was about the point when I started to understand that being healthy long-term is better than dropping kilos at ridiculous rates and depriving myself of my love for wine and food which is a huge passion in my life. I seriously get giddy about blogging and taking photos of my wine and food adventures for you all!
I guess this mind-set is what lead me to start reading about The Champagne Diet. The more posts I read on the blog or through The Champagne Diet social media accounts, the more I wanted to lead this healthy lifestyle that would allow me to enjoy my passion by the glassful. My passion is wine blogging, and if I can’t touch the stuff or match it with tasty dishes then there isn’t much to blog about is there! It’s the thing that makes me sparkle. After being at my day job all day I can’t wait to get home and become the Travelling Corkscrew, it’s my jam! Plus eating and drinking is such a social thing, whether it is meeting for Champagne cocktails with the girls or snuggling up with Mr. Spittoon with a bottle of red in winter – why would I want to cut those things out of my life?
Cara Alwill Leyba is the amazing NYC woman behind The Champagne Diet. She is a woman of many talents and is a qualified Wellness and Life Coach. After her blog took off and was featured in various publications (such as Cosmopolitan South Arica, Shape, Glamour & The Daily Mail to name a few) Cara published her first book: Sparkle. The cover alone sold it to me, everyone who knows me knows that I love pink – jeeze my phone, iPad, laptop everything is pink. I love being girly! So when I caught a glimpse of the bright pink cover of Sparkle I knew it would be in my handbag soon. However I’ll be honest, I am not a big book reader. Unless it’s good, then it will sit on my bedside table for months gathering dust. I also was a bit apprehensive of the book as “self-help” books do not really come under the “young-adult” (aka. Twilight, Divergent, etc.) genre which seems to be where I head these days, I’m still young at heart okay!
You can’t buy the book here in Australia so I had to order it via Amazon. Since Cara recently released her second book I figured I may as well get both (review to come!). The two books and the 2nd quickest shipping option cost only AU$50. With the cheapest shipping it would have been AU$40. Absolute bargain! Or you could grab the books for your kindle and then you don’t have to worry about all that gubbins! Find the books on Amazon here.
I began reading Sparkle on a Friday night with a glass of rose Champagne in hand (naturally) and I finished it that Sunday morning over a Champagne brekkie! Haha the book was instructing me to drink, so I made sure I clearly followed it!
I truly enjoyed the book, I wouldn’t class it as “self-help” so don’t you worry your Champagne flutes off about that. It is written in such a chatty tone that makes it so darn readable and hard to put down! It’s about embracing your inner sparkle and shining to your absolute fullest. It inspires you to follow your passions, to take the time out to love yourself and importantly to embrace the want to be healthy over size 0.
Cara shares her experiences throughout the book in such a witty and funny way that I found myself laughing out loud at times and during other parts of the book I found myself looking at myself and my life and thinking about where my sparkle comes from and how I can shine even brighter by bringing that bubbly outlook to all areas of my life. This is a “self-happiness” book, and my copy now has a ton of pink highlighter through it marking my favourite quotes. Next time I have a shitty day and feel fat in every item from my closest I will re-read those quotes for a dose of instant happiness.
Plus Cara is 100% right, a glass of bubbles whether it’s French Champagne, Spanish Cava, Italian Prosecco or Sparkling Wine from somewhere in the world is the best and tastiest way to get your sexy on!
“Some people pray. Some people meditate. I toast”- Here’s to you Cara!
For more information on Cara and her effervescent adventures check out The Champagne Diet blog here.
