I think this is my most exciting Motivation Monday…ever! My gorgeous friend Maja was the first to ever be featured in Motivation Mondays and for more than a year, I begged her incessantly to start a blog.
Maja is a huge inspiration to me because in addition to living an extremely healthy lifestyle (she and her husband even grow their own vegetables), she is also incredibly kind, intelligent and beautiful inside and out.
I annoyed Maja enough and I am thrilled to tell you that she finally launched her very own blog, HautePNK!
Maja’s blog focuses on health and fitness, with a little style and beauty mixed in. The best part is that she shares her workouts (her body is amazing—and she works hard for it!) and also shows photos of how to do each move. If you ever don’t know what to do at the gym, you can use your phone to pull up HautePNK and try one of Maja’s workouts.
In celebration of the launch of her very own blog, I asked Maja to share with us some of her fitness updates, favorite foods and overall fitness advice and motivation.
Over a year ago, you were my first Motivation Monday feature—I think you pretty much inspired the entire series—so what made you finally decide to start your own blog (after me badgering you for well over a year?)
I am a big blog reader, but had never envisioned being one myself until that first Motivation Monday post. Veronika’s Blushing is what really sparked the fire! The one thing I admire most from you and other blogs I follow is that they really earn my trust. You see a real person with real life experiences and over time you trust their feedback. In parallel, I had a growing number of friends seeking advice on workouts, recipes, products I use, etc. It kind of all clicked together and realized I wanted to take the love I had for blogs and action it with something I am passionate about. I love the community, support, and the feedback from like-minded people. I think most of all, I wanted to take the opportunity to share all that I’ve learned (and am learning) through real life experiences to reach anyone who is looking for it.
What is the overall goal of your blog?
As cliché as it sounds, if my blog reaches even one person and positively impacts them or helps them reach their goals in any way shape or form, I feel I’ll have fulfilled the intent. The thought of someone changing their lifestyle to get in shape and eat better while using some of my feedback as a guide, blows me away. I want to create a positive community where we can support one another and share feedback.
As your blog grows, what kinds of posts can we expect to see from you?
HautePNK is still in its infancy stages. I tried to start with a vast taste of what’s to come when I launched. In short, it will have a strong focus on workouts, diet and nutrition, tons of tips and tricks that work for me – it’s what I LOVE most! I’ll also plan to post reviews of products I love (and ones I don’t). Also, some outfits of the days/nights and maybe the odd shopping haul. It’ll almost be a mash of all the things I find most interesting in the blogs I follow. I am hugely open to feedback and requests too.
Will you also blog about style and beauty? You have amazing makeup/hair/everything!
I most definitely intend to! Some of the most common questions I get are about hair and makeup, so I figure I’ll consolidate my response and just make a blog post about it. I’m not one of those quirky people who can pull off various different unique/adventurous styles, but I think there is still something nice and classic about the girly girl conservative look. Maybe this blog and the people I meet through it will eventually take me out of my comfort zone and I’ll try some new things.
I love how you show photos of how to do all of the moves—it’s so easy to look up the workouts on your iPhone when you get to the gym—what inspired you to make your blog so user-friendly?
When I really started thinking of a blog, one of the things I wanted to put lots of attention on was planning out was the site map, usability and most importantly reader experience. I have spent the better part of my career in technology, so it was natural for me. It doesn’t follow the standard blog format where the whole post is on the landing page, but I had this vision all along, so I went with the tiles. I wanted to make a nice browsing experience (I feel it’s easy to browse through older posts), and I put lots of attention in the details (i.e the animations when you scroll over the post name, the custom twitter bird, swipe feature from a smart phone/iPad etc).
What is the best fitness advice you’ve ever gotten?
This is an easy question because there are a couple of definitive things that I was told and think of every single day – I mulled over this and couldn’t pick just one, so here they are:
What are some of your current favorite snacks?
I snack a lot! When I post food journals to give a glimpse into some of my daily meals, you will find that I snack in between every meal. Some of my favourites are baby carrots, bananas, apples, berries, salads and of coure; homemadeoat bars.
How about dinners?
FISH! I love cod, haddock, tilapia, and salmon the most. I will post some great healthy recipes for baking fish and their benefits. Other than that, I find some tiny pleasures in having breakfast-y items in the evening, so I might make some omelettes or scrambled eggs. Alongside, I will always have a salad, zucchini or some kind of veggie. For carbs, it usually a small sweet potato, rice or something like that.
Tell us about your vegetable garden? What made you decide to grow one? What vegetables do you grow?
I grew up with my dad planting a huge garden every summer. I distinctly remember the difference in taste between everything we grew at home and what we were forced to buy in the winters from a grocery store (same with my husband when he grew up). So when we got married and bought our first home we immediately converted over half of our back yard into a vegetable garden. We don’t use any pesticides and all the soil and seeds we use are certified organic. We grow TONS of lettuce, kale, swiss chard, cucumbers, tomatoes, zucchini, peppers, eggplant, hot peppers, green onions, beets, radishes and spinach. Again, I plan on doing a whole tutorial on the garden and how little of space you actually need to grow a large amount of vegetables.
Your husband is so supportive of you—what is his involvement with the blog?
He’s amazing – I am truly blessed. From the first minute I mentioned that I wanted to start a blog he’s always offered his advice and infinite support. He owns a full service design and advertising company and he took me on in his spare time, then had his developers build “the dream”. The team did an amazing job through design, build and testing. I am so thankful to all of them!
Where do you see your blog a year from now?
If someone told me I’d even have a blog one year ago, I probably wouldn’t have believed them. So thinking a year ahead, I am hoping that I will have developed a community that can learn and share with me. I have no intention of slowing down and will continue to always share my honest opinion, feedback and tips.
What other interests do you have other than fitness that your readers might want to know about?
I have a deep appreciation for art and music. I love high fashion. I love movies, but not TV (we don’t even have cable or the basic channels at home). I aspire to be an advanced seamstress one day and admire anyone who is really good at sewing. I adore baking! I never bake for myself, but jump on the opportunity to bring a treat when we are invited to a party or dinner. I’m also very crafty and put a lot of effort into something as little as decorating a cake or wrapping a gift.
Thank you Maja, for motivating us this Monday! I am personally so thrilled that we will all have your blog as such an amazing resource to learn more about fitness and health so thank you for all of the time and effort you put into it!
Beauty Style Growth says
I want those abs. ;). I know it takes paying the price
K
Coco in Pink says
great post V! Can't wait to start reading Maja's blog!
The Fashionable ESQ says
Congrats to Maja! I similarly encourage my friend to start a fitness blog too and I sent her your blog link so that she could see Maja's feature.
xx
The Fashionable ESQ
https://www.thefashionableesq.blogspot.com/
Meg O. says
Well, I feel like a fat a** after seeing those abs. Did I mention I am currently eating ice cream?
In all seriousness, what an inspiration!!!
Schnelle says
I have major ab envy- especially since I'm rockin' the preggo belly right now. I'll definitely check her blog out though, it will be a great inspiration to drop the weight post pregnancy and get my body back! Not to mention she's gorgeous and I really want to see a hair tutorial:)
Linda says
You muuuusssttt do a post about your hair…love it…
Lynn says
I like her blog and plan to follow her. I got the plaid jacket and burgundy skirt that you got at Target. Thank you for the advice and for your blog/videos.
kristen says
you looks just amazing, V. so thrilled to have found you!!!
xoxo.
MsHark says
She's gorgeous. I feel like a fatty now too, especially because I think I've eaten like 15 cookies in the past 2 days. I KNOW! I made oatmeal chocolate chip cookies yesterday… what a mistake…. lol
Mrs. V says
My favorite MM yet! Looking forward to reading Maja's blog!
Gayle GWishlist says
Yay, love healthy lifestyle blogs full of inspiration!
saadiaorganics says
Congrats Maja! The blog looks great. Thanks for featuring it, Veronika. 🙂
Brooke says
You look great!
Ella Pretty Blog says
Looks like such an amazing blog! I tried following her on Google reader but for some reason it was not working 🙁
She's gorgeous and very inspirational – am inspired by her to have more meals and snacks and start the day off with a good breakfast.
Jayne Becca says
This looks like such an amazing blog! Certainly one I will be reading 🙂 My kind of blog – great mix of everything! Thank you both for being so inspiring! x
Rachel says
Thanks for sharing! Her blog is great!!!
Angela B. says
Such a great post! Thanks for sharing V!!! : )
A.Co says
She is FREAKIN' GORGEOUS and her body is slamming. I loved her answers and like how you included the pop squats photo and mentioned she includes exact moves on her site for workouts. I'm heading there now as that has me sold. GREAT interview!
TheUrbanUmbrella says
Wow I am SO glad you posted this girls blog – I am totally going to be a new follower of hers! I have been trying to get back into being healthy and fit though I'm finding it really hard this time – she may be the motivation I need!
I really, really need your help – I entered a competition and I need to gather some "Likes" on an outfit I compiled – If you visit my blog there are more instructions there! I would SO appreciate your help!
xoxo Bree
The Urban Umbrella
https://www.theurbanumbrella.com/
Diane says
Wow, feeling so inspired after reading this post! Definitely subbing to her 🙂
Grass Skirt says
I'm a health blogger myself and find Maja to be so inspiring! I love the blog so much.
https://thegrassskirtblog.com
Jennifer says
Her body is insane! I will be following Maja's blog so I can fine tune my fitnes routine and hopefully sculpt some abs like that (damn!)
stopfaddingaround says
she seems like a very inspirational role model and appears to be so sweet for sharing her workout routines, the fact that she also combines beauty and fashion into her blogs are amazing as well, as most people seem to think they are disconnected (weird i know).
Ahsan Hussain says
We, the general readers always look for good blog articles for information on various things. Whenever we get such an article that meet our needs, we feel happy. No doubt article writing is a noble work. Thanks for your great service.
Farjana says
Very informative and helpful post. I earnestly request you to submit an article like this one to help the readers like me. Thanks for your great work.
Rachel Page says
Great blog! I'm still not in my ideal shape but I'm getting there.
Kompas Kesehatan says
writings inspired me. I love this blog. I am still struggling to lose weight, weighing 2 kilos.