It has been a great break and in spite of having below nine degree temperatures in my home country of Latvia, where I spent the holiday season. I also got to encounter the first wafts of spring in areas of fashion and lifestyle. Now I can’t wait to share them with you!

Men and women of all ages hit the gym like crazy to fulfill their New Year’s resolutions to get back in shape after indulging in way too many holiday goodies. I was one of them, sweating out chocolates, champagne and Christmas roast to make sure I didn’t have a bad surprise awaiting, looking in the mirror when the knitted sweaters and jeans will be stored in the closet and the swimsuit season arrives.

I visited my Shape magazine Latvia colleagues in Riga, where I interned last summer and now work as a freelance writer, to do some work and catch up. Because they produce magazines a couple of months before the issues will hit the stores, I got a great inspiration and a feel of spring soon knocking on the door. All the office walls were covered with colorful photos of beautiful models in short dresses, huge, juicy headlines and story ideas about the best celebrity diets and the most delicious spring recipes.

Some of my stories I wrote for the section Shape Guru were about successful, fit and famous people whom we can draw inspiration from. What I learned, or rather needed a reminder of, was a beauty quote from Lauren Conrad, a fitness inspiration from celebrity trainer David Kirsch as well as fashion quote from Iris Apfel that unfortunately will never be published because my editor didn’t think a 91-year-old woman was an appropriate subject for a Shape magazine. Whatever…

So ladies — and perhaps some gentlemen too — before you start hunting spring fashion deals and sporting them around the campus, make sure you remember the following by heart and are in good shape in all aspects of your life before the temperature starts rising.

In the interview for Allure magazine, Lauren Conrad said, “The best beauty advice I have ever been given is just to take care of yourself. Whether it’s your skin or hair, you should wash your face and moisturize and do all those other things. And don’t over process your hair and don’t over straighten it. Hair and makeup can do a lot, but it can only do so much.”

When you have taken care of that, take into serious consideration what the celebrity fitness guru Kirsch always tells his busy Hollywood clients that could be easily applied to ever busy students as well.

“Your fitness is not an all-or-nothing exercise,” Kirsch wrote on his personal website. “No matter how busy you are, no matter how stressed you are, there’s always some time to squeeze in at least some exercise.”

And when it’s time to put that sexy body and great skin into some little springy outfit, Iris Apfel tells how to do it the best.

“I say, dress to please yourself,” she said. “Listen to your inner muse and take a chance. Wear something that says ‘Here I am today!’”