Fit Friday: Goal Update and Current Workouts

I've been a little absent on the whole gym/fitness front lately.  To be honest, I've just not got my rhythm going and unfortunately I've just taken any excuse lately to not go to the gym.  The early, dark nights made me want to just go home and be warm instead of sweating it out in the gym.  But it's getting lighter in the evenings now, and the clocks go forward on Saturday (handy reminder there!) meaning it'll be lighter for even longer, so I'm feeling much more energised after finishing work recently.  It's so nice being able to drive home without needing my lights on!

I spoke of my new goals for 2015 back in December, and I'm so pleased that this week I managed my first ever unassisted pull up!   I've been trying to do that for so long, and I was so proud of myself when I managed it on my own.  I can't do any more than the one without putting my feet down between pull ups, but hey...one step at a time.  Maybe next month I'll be able to do five in a row?

Talking of my 2015 goals, running has not got well for me at all.  I've been once this entire year and that was also my first ever outdoor run that I did off my own back.  My route takes me down the lane, along the riverbank and over farmers fields along public walkways.  I ran using the Nike Running app, and ran for sixteen minutes and forty seconds for supposedly 1.43 miles.  I'm pretty sure that's a terrible time for such a short distance, but I say supposedly because my route that it mapped out seemed to cut out a chunk?  I ran down a straight between the two red sections on the map, so I don't know if it ran out of signal at that point and stopped recording or what?  If anyone uses it then please do let me know if I did in fact run further...please say I ran all of a smidge further!  

I'm very lucky with the area that I live in that I have such a pretty route to run, so I can't excuse why I've only been once.   Needless to say, it was tiring, but I'm pleased I went - even if it did feel as though my ankles were bending the wrong way for a few days afterwards.  I feel like I need a running buddy to spur me on to turn this into a routine, and so far I've only had Liam volunteer to bike alongside me, which is nice but I'd feel like I was in a scene of Run Fatboy, Run.

Image Here

For my workouts, I've still been mainly doing weights over cardio and I'm really enjoying seeing my strength building and my body changing.  I've actually maintained my weight, but have managed to lose a few inches on most of my body!  The jeans I got for Christmas are even starting to feel loose around my waist, so I'm definitely pleased.  I won't lie that I'm disappointed I'm maintaining my weight, but my diet hasn't been great recently.  I'm finally out of Christmas chocolate now though so hopefully things will improve a little.  I really need to start trying to ignore what I weigh and go on how my body feels.

This week I've been picking out a couple of workouts to do that I've found on Pinterest and I've really enjoyed them.  I find that I work best when I have a plan of what I need to do, otherwise I end up floating around not really knowing what to do next.  I'll continue with these workouts a little longer and then come and report back on them, but in the meantime here is my Fit Board if you wanted to check that out!  I also cracked on with Carly Rowena's Leg and Butt Routine...my legs were like jelly afterwards, and going downstairs as I was leaving the gym proved pretty difficult!  It's definitely one to give a go, and a workout I'll be slipping in every week!

What does your work out routine look like?  How are your goals coming along?

Making A Change: 2014 Mission Complete

It's been a while since I've spoken of my weight loss aims and progress.  It must be almost a year ago that I decided to bite the bullet and actually commit to making a lifestyle change; I wanted a body that I could be proud of, one that I'd worked for, and one that was healthy inside and out.

I threw myself in at the deep end and joined the gym and signed up for work out classes.  I went after work, and I've probably tried most of the classes that were available after 5:30pm.  I've done HIIT, VIPR, Spin, Fight FX, Body Combat and Body Pump classes, and even started doing Yoga.  Whilst I enjoyed most of them, I hit a plateau on my weight loss.  I started my journey weighing in at twelve stone ten, and stopped losing anything once I hit twelve stone - a weight I've regularly lingered at.  My classes got boring, and over Summer when the timetables were hit and miss, I ended up stopping going altogether.

Five weeks ago, I found my motivation again.  I started a new work out routine which I found on Simply Shredded and it's The Ultimate Female Training Guide.  I'll start by saying that shredded isn't what I want to be, and if you read the article and training routine you'll understand that I'm not going to turn into a massive muscley beast following this plan.  I've been doing less cardio (not even as much as this plan is suggesting, which I'm aiming to slot in soon!) and a lot more weight training and I've finally fallen off my plateau.  This week I've hit the lowest weight I can ever remember being.  I'm down to eleven stone making this years weight loss one stone and ten pounds!

I feel like it's been a long time coming, but I'm finally feeling spurred back on again.  My aim was to get to eleven stone, and I've made it!  My strength has improved through out the year, and I can actually do press ups now.  My next goal is to master the pull up unassisted!  It's the little goals a long the way that help you keep going if your weight goals seem so distant!  I don't want to focus my next goal entirely on weight - sure I'd love to have my weight start with ten stone because I don't remember being that light, but I want to improve my fitness, and improve my body shape through eating cleaner and focussing on my exercise because it's not all about the numbers on the scale.

In the New Year, I'm even planning to start running...my Dad is always asking me to join him in little races, but I've never dared.  It was actually Anna from Vivianna Does Make Up who has inspired me to start getting a move on with some running - her fitness journey has been amazing to watch, and I've loved seeing her go from a gym hater to someone who is getting up ridiculously early to exercise.  I don't know if I'll ever do that, but well...we'll see.

So, come January I'm cracking out my new Polar watch that I got from my Dad for Christmas, and I'm going to start using the Nike Running App that I've had on my phone for months and never used.  2015 will be my year.

What are your fitness goals for 2015?

Guess Who's Back...

Hands up...who continued singing along with my title!  It's been a while hasn't it...sorry about that!

I don't really have any legitimate reason for being absent for so long from my blog.  It's been very busy at work the last few months which definitely had something to do with it, but I could have made time to at least drop in a hello so I'm sorry about that!  Thank you all for sticking with me, and hello to the new followers I've gained despite not actually updating!

I feel a bit crap that I've missed out on all of the Christmas posting opportunities again this year.  My laptop has completely died now - sad times.  I'm currently tapping away on Liam's laptop hoping that he won't notice that I've downloaded plenty of new imagery and a copy of GIMP onto his laptop to edit my photos.  I had Photoshop on mine, along with all of my layouts for my wishlist posts etc so that makes me a bit sad that I'll have to recreate something similar!  I don't really know how GIMP compares to Photoshop either having used that for so long - anyone use this?  Please leave your tips in the comments below!

Apart from that...I do have some pretty good news!  Liam and I celebrated our ten year anniversary together at the beginning of the month.  2014 has been a pretty awesome year.  We bought our first house, celebrated ten years together and, just throwing it out there...Liam asked me to marry him.

Bath & Body Works Peach Cilantro Twist Candle

Earlier this month, I was sat at home on my weekend pretty much doing nothing...food shopping, a bit of cleaning, watching The X Factor, lazing in my PJ's and drinking copious amounts of tea.  Meanwhile, my Dad was living it up with his friends in Las Vegas.  Something a little wrong with those situations, isn't there?  It should have been the other way around!

But you know...silver linings and all that.  I wasn't going to be able to afford to go to Vegas, or America at any point in the future, so I made a very concise shopping list (two things!) of what I would like my Dad to bring back!  My Dad is very much a manly man, and I couldn't see him browsing the aisles of Sephora or Wal-Mart so I could get some American Beauty bits - instead, I simply asked for a nice candle from Bath & Body Works, and a Las Vegas mug.

The candle he chose was Peach Cilantro Twist and I am so pleased with it!  It's the second candle I have had from them - my first being Leaves!  It smells absolutely amazing; really fresh, fruity and the scent really fills the room and the whole house if I leave the door open.  It also lightly scents the room if I leave the cap off the candle.  It's just so nice, and even Liam enjoys it when I burn it.  Before we moved in together, he was demanding that no candles were bought as they "just sit there and gather dust," but I think he is a candle convert!

The candle is a clean burner, but I do think that it's disappearing rather quickly!  I'm trying to use this candle sparingly - it really is so nice, and it's such a shame we can't get Bath & Bath Works easily in the UK!  My Dad said he loved the store, and even stocked up on some body lotions (?!) and aftershave for himself!

Have you tried anything from Bath & Body Works?  What's your favourite candle?

Autumnal Baking: Peach, Apple & Rhubarb Crumble

The last few weekends, Liam's Mum has given us a big bag of home grown rhubarb so the obvious choice  to us was to make a Rhubarb Crumble!  I initially browsed for some other recipes to use it in, and came across a Rhubarb Upside Down Cake which really took my fancy, but Liam wasn't a fan.  Even though he doesn't really do puddings - he loves the classics, and now it's coming to Autumn, a hot treat seems reasonable!

I didn't realise just how easy it was to make a crumble, so I thought I'd share with you how I did it!  I added in some extra fruit, because our smoothie maker broke last week so we've had a lot more fruit left at the end of the week - the first time I made one, I added in victoria plums, and this week I added in a couple of apples, and some flat peaches!

I'll point out now - I'm no food photographer, and to be honest, I hate it when you follow a recipe and it turns out looking nothing like the photo from the recipe.  Here you've got a proper home cooked recipe, complete with photos of how mine turned out from a novice baker!  (I'll stop with my baking excuses now!)

You will need:
     SIX STICKS OF RHUBARB
     TWO APPLES
     FOUR FLAT PEACHES
     SIX TABLESPOONS OF CASTER SUGAR
     FOUR TABLESPOONS OF WATER
     110g BUTTER
     110g DEMERARA SUGAR
     180g PLAIN FLOUR

You want to start by pre-heating your oven to 180, and then start chopping up your fruit.  I chopped my rhubarb to around two inches in length, and was sure to peel my peaches and apples.  After throwing everything into my crumble dish, I sprinkled six tablespoons of caster sugar and four tablespoons of water across my fruit.  The recipe I was following did ask for eight tablespoons of caster sugar, but it was way too sweet the first time we tried it - especially with all the sugar from the fruit!  I will probably try lowering the amount of sugar again next time just to see if it's even needed at all!  I roasted my fruit for around ten minutes to soften them up a bit.

Whilst your fruit is roasting, you can start on your crumble topping!  Add your butter, demerara sugar and flour to a bowl and start massaging it through your fingers until you have that crumble texture and all of your ingredients have been mixed.   By the time you've done that, it should be almost time to take your fruit from the oven.  After your ten minutes are up, sprinkle your crumble topping over the top and bake for around forty minutes or until the topping has changed to a golden brown!

Well...I love puddings, so I really enjoyed this; I served mine with some hot custard!  I'd definitely make another, and next time I might try an apple crumble with a bit of cinnamon in!  Leave a comment below if you've got any recipes for some Autumnal cooking as I'm starting to feel very cosy, and have been craving all sorts of traditional home cooked meals!

What's your favourite Autumnal dessert?

The DIY Gift So Perfect, I Cried

I've been in my first home now for...five or six weeks I think!  How fast has that gone?!  We've settled in now, and have all our necessary furniture in but we now just need small decorative bits and pictures up to make the walls look a little less bare.  We first got our keys on the 27th May, and it's so surreal to think that this house is our house.

The evening that we first got our keys, we were sat on the carpet in our empty living room, eating McDonalds and just staring at each other and smiling.  Except, I actually ended up crying because Liam presented me with a tiny black box with the cutest, most perfect moving in present.  

It was this keyring; a personalised keyring, handmade by Liam and it's made from two penny coins.  I didn't realise what it was it first, until he told me to check the dates; a 2004 penny for the year we first got together, and a 2014 penny for the year we bought our first house.  I've never really cried at a gift before, but this was so nice I just couldn't help myself!

They were much more polished when I first got it, but y'know...it's been on my key and I've only now had time to blog about it!  I think I'll polish them up again and maybe seal them with a clear varnish to stop them from tarnishing so easily.  I know you'll be reading Liam, so thank you so much for my keyring!  I absolutely love it!

Adventure Time: Holbeton & Grandad Michaels Mount

Dealing with the death of my Grandad was something that the whole family struggled with.  He became ill very suddenly, and by the time doctors realised what was wrong, there was nothing that could have been done to help him in time.  He passed away a few years ago now, but only recently did we take him to his final resting place.

His ashes were living at my Grandma's house, until his sister who lives in New Zealand was able to come over to help scatter his ashes, as she was unable to come over to the UK to attend his funeral.  It wasn't until my Grandad became so poorly, and even after his death that I really knew much about his side of the family.

My Grandad and his family came from Devon; Holbeton in fact.  My Great Grandparents moved to Lincolnshire during the war; my Great Grandad was given a choice of three places to go, and chose Lincolnshire as it was the most rural, and they hoped it would be where the least destruction was.

I had never been to Holbeton before, so driving down last Thursday was completely surreal.  It was so strange going to a place where such strong family ties lie, even though I knew nothing about the village, but felt so drawn to the village itself.  It was absolutely beautiful - the cottage we rented for the few nights we were down there was the cutest thing I'd seen in my life, and the view from the top of the hill was just fields as far as the eyes could see.  It was completely serene, and like I said, it kind of felt like home.  I didn't feel out of place at all, kind of like I belonged there secretly.

Whilst we were there, we took the opportunity to visit the church yard to see my Mum's Grandad and some more family which I didn't know I had.  It was actually quite sad to see that the graveyard, pictured above, was so overgrown on the areas that were away from the road.  Our family were hidden amongst the overgrown areas, so my Great Aunty spent some time tending to her Father's grave.  We also spent the evenings in the local pub, where we met even more family - my Grandad's cousins who still live in the village, and again, who I didn't even know existed.  We also walked past the home where my Grandad was born and raised, but obviously didn't 'visit' or take photos seeing as it's somebody elses house right now.

The most special part of the whole journey was visiting St. Michael's Mount.  My Great Grandad and Nana both used to work at St Michael's Mount as a Footman and a Chambermaid, where they met.  Family legend has it, that my Great Grandad scaled the drainpipe at St Michael's Mount, crept into my Great Nana's room and my Grandad was conceived there.  My Grandad's name was Michael, after the Mount, and here is his final resting place.  

 

I'd never visited the Mount before, but from now on I'll be sure to take my own family one day to tell the stories of our family, and of course, to visit Grandad Michael's Mount.

Making A Change: Weight Wins

Before I start on todays post, I just want to apologise for my lack of posting the last few weeks.  As you know, Liam and I moved into our house a few weeks ago, so everything has been a bit hectic, I don't know where anything is and have no internet or phone signal to be very sociable!  So sorry again, but thank you for still hanging around!

A few weeks ago, I was reading Sophia's blog, Tattooed Tealady, where she spoke of her Non-Scale Victories.  As we all know, I've been trying to slim down and lose some weight to get into the healthy category of my BMI, as well as just feel generally happier in myself.  My weight this morning was eleven stone and thirteen pounds, which means...I've finally made my small starter goal!  My next target is going to be eleven stone seven, so hopefully I'll be meeting that one day this year!

Image Here

Now I've made me first weight loss goal, I thought I'd take a bit of inspiration from Sophia, and share with you some of my non-scale victories!

1. When I first started the gym, I couldn't do a push up.  At all.  Not a chance of that happening.  Now, I think I can push out around five.
2. I recently started Spin Circuits class.  When I first started last month, I absolutely hated it.  I was out of breath within the first minute and wasn't able to keep up with the gears, never mind actually staying stood up or hovering.  This week, I managed to be out of my seat when every else was, for as long as they were, as well as being able to be on the same gears.  I might not be as fast as everyone else, but it's certainly improving!  I also thought Spin would be right at the top of the list of classes I'd never do, but I challenged myself and I actually think I like it!
3. Before blogging, I would be in a size sixteen jean.  The waist would always hang loose because my thighs and ass were right out there, so I needed to get the size up!  I then managed to slim down a little and fit comfortably into a pair of high waisted, size fourteen jeans - all areas fitting.  Now, my size fourteen jeans fit my legs, but hang loose again around my waist again.  Maybe one day soon, I'll manage to fit into a size twelve!  
4. I need new work out clothes because the ones I have at the moment no longer fit.  I am spending half my time in these classes hitching up my gym trousers!
5. I'm not tired all the time.  Exercising really does give you energy!  In fact, I've started waking up naturally at around seven o'clock, every day.  This time last year, I was at University napping at every chance I got, laying in bed all day and generally doing nothing despite having had a gym membership for two years.

It's important to remember that the scales aren't everything!  My scales are very basic; I'd love to own a pair of scales which details muscle mass, fat percentage and water weight so I can get a scale confirmation of how my body is changing, even if my weight isn't!

How are your weight loss/health goals going?

(I still won't have internet for at least the next week, but hopefully soon all will be back to normal with posting!  I've got so much to show you all!)

Adventure Time: We Bought A House!

Today is the day I've been waiting for for what seems like years!  Liam and I have finally bought our first home together!  I've been absolutely dying to tell everybody the news, but we both decided to keep our plans under wraps until everything had been confirmed.  Well...I'm pleased to write that everything has all gone through, and we finally have a date for our move in!  We should get the keys to our first home on Friday!

Honestly, it has all come out of nowhere.  We had always planned that we would start looking for a house this year - it's been a year since I left University, and my job became permanent and contracted at the start of April.  We had intended to start looking, but did not at all expect to find something we loved so soon!

I might have given away some clues as my Pinterest board has been brimming with home décor ideas and DIY decorations and furniture the past few weeks, but I am so excited!  I can't even put it into words.  Liam and I have been together almost ten years, so finally living in a place of our own has been a very long time coming!  We've kind of lived together before, and by kind of, I mean I crashed at his flat when he was at University for five days a week so I could see him more as well as walk to college instead of having to get the train every morning.  But now, we have our perfect little house!  Well actually...we have a perfect little cottage!

With both Liam and I coming from a creative background, we both have so many ideas for what we want our house to look like!  Our cottage is eighteenth century, so we feel like we have a theme to keep, but we also want it to represent the two of us...'shabby chic' (I hate that phrase so much!) and vintage style just isn't our thing, so we're looking forward to giving a good twist on what is expected!  I don't know how you feel about design and interiors, but you can expect to see lots of wishlists, ideas and DIY's being thrown your way!  Now...bombard me with great websites for homewares as we are starting completely from scratch!

Any advice you'd like to give us?  Where is the best place you've found for bargain homewares?

Psychedelic Space Cake

It was Liam's birthday on Friday 4th, so I spent a couple of days last week baking and decorating his birthday cake!  I don't make him a cake every year, because he doesn't have a need for cake in the same way that I do.  But seeing as we went camping over the weekend with our friends for his birthday, I thought I'd put in a bit of effort and make him something everyone can enjoy to get into a real birthday mood!

He recently bought himself a telescope, and has a huge interest in space and Physics, so I decided to make his cake space themed!  I wasn't sure how exactly I was going to do it, but I luckily managed to spot a hemisphere cake tin which bakes cakes into half spheres.  It made for a perfect moon shape!  I got mine from Lakeland, but you can find them on Amazon and on eBay - they're all pretty similar in price, I tried my best to find a bargain, but cake tins aren't the cheapest!  I also decided on baking some cake pops, which would be little aliens to accompany my moon!

Liam has pointed out to me in the past the super bright rainbow cakes, and said how cool they were, but I never got round to making one for him.  Gel food colourings bring out the brightest colours, so I tracked down some Wilton gel dyes which I bought from Amazon.  For the inside of the cake, I chose to use the neon set which gave an amazing vibrancy and such unusual colours.  The purple took a lot more dye than the others to stop it looking grey, so I think if I made another, I probably would bypass the purple!  I also bought another set of twelve colours, which I used on my cake pops!  These were so good, and maybe even better and brighter than the neons!  You can see the inside of my cake pops on my Instagram feed!

I just used a standard victoria sponge recipe, filled with strawberry jam and butter cream.  Because I picked the large hemisphere tin, I had to use a six egg recipe to make sure it filled the pan.  I dyed some of the icing the bright neons, and made a little spaceman to sit on the cake.  I also cut out some stars with a little star cutter and sprinkled on some gold and white glitter to make it really spacey.

I finished my cake pops with a coating of white chocolate, and some neon sugar!  I attempted to draw some faces with some of those icing pens but they just kind of melted down...don't really know what happened there.  Admittedly, the aliens didn't turn out as pristine and perfect as I had hoped but oh well!  For all we know, aliens might look exactly like these do...

We went camping on the Friday night through until Sunday, which was lots of fun even though field mice managed to break in and eat our breakfast buns and our Sunday lay in was cut short because major winds snapped our tent...  But despite it all, it was a very fun weekend!  Even if we did in the end forget to take the cake altogether...more for us!

So...what do you think?  Am I a master baker?

Easy, Healthy Lunch Idea: The Fajita Salad

Working in the middle of a field really does have it's benefits; fresh air, nice views from the office and most importantly, no shops nearby so I can't nip out and get a sneaky Subway for lunch.  I make a packed lunch every evening right before I go to bed, so that I get maximum sleep time and just so it's done and out the way.

Recently, as we know, I've been trying to make a lifestyle change.  Whilst I've got going to the gym down, and I'm sorted on the fitness side of things, my eating habits definitely need some work.  I've been trying really hard to eat well whilst I am at work.  I usually have a sandwich or a wrap, but it gets a bit boring and there are more healthy options to be had!  I'm a bit of a salad dodger - I can think of a million and one things that I'd rather eat than a salad.  And I always end up hungry through the afternoon.  I wanted a lunch with all the healthy bits in a salad, just...nicer.  I'm quite good at throwing things together and hoping for the best, but here I am writing my second recipe post which is this fajita salad - all the ingredients of a fajita, but without the high calories.

You will need...

           35g BROWN BASMATI RICE

           CHICKEN BREAST

           SMALL RED ONION

           1/2 RED PEPPER

           1/2 YELLOW PEPPER

           1/2 TOMATO

           2 CLOSED CUP MUSHROOMS

           HANDFUL OF SPINACH

           GROUND CUMIN

           HOT CHILLI FLAKES (OPTIONAL)

Weigh out your rice - it's so easy to go overboard on rice, so weighing it out is the best way to ensure a perfect portion for lunch.  On the packet, it's usually 75g of rice for a portion, but seeing as this is just a lunch, I halved my portion and found it to be just right.  It's important to get brown rice, because it has a low GI meaning that it will keep you fuller for longer, and it's just better for you than white rice!  You'll want to put your rice on now, as this takes the longest to cook - usually around twenty five minutes.

First things first, you'll need to chop all your ingredients.  I sliced my onions and peppers into fajita style slices, sliced my mushrooms and diced my tomato.  My chicken breast was ready chopped, but if yours isn't, just roughly chop your chicken into bite sized pieces.

To avoid extra calories, use a non-stick frying pan so that you don't need to use oil!  I dry fried my onion and my chicken breast.  If you absolutely must use oil, try using the spray one calorie oils to make sure you don't go for it on oil.

Add your peppers and mushrooms to the pan and stir fry until they soften.  I add my diced tomato last just as a bit of an extra flavour.  The main part to the fajita flavouring is your ground cumin.  If you give this a sniff, it's just screaming fajita to me - I give this a good sprinkle across the ingredients and stir in.  If you are wanting a little extra spice, add some hot chilli flakes or some fresh chillis.  Remove the pan from the heat and wait for your rice to finish cooking!

When your rice is done, drain and rinse with boiling water to get rid of all the starch.  Add your rice to your fajita pan, and stir in to mix with all the ingredients and coat it with the fajita flavour.

Put the pan back on a low heat, and add a handful of spinach.  Stir until the spinach has wilted slightly and then remove from the heat and put in your lunch box to cool.

You can eat this cold, but I prefer to reheat mine again at lunch the next day.  I literally don't know how I would make this an amazing food photograph, but you'll just have to trust me that it's nice!  I always get compliments on how good it smells, and not to blow my own trumpet, but it tastes pretty damn nice as well!  The best part that it is really filling and comes in according to My Fitness Pal at just 270 calories!  If you wanted to, you could also serve this with a bit of guacamole on the side!  You can find my recipe for that here.  So there it is...my one pan, low calorie lunch wonder.

What's your favourite thing to eat as a healthy lunch?  Will you try my Fajita Salad?

Adventure Time: Valentines Week

Well I have been taking the mick a bit haven't I!  Sorry for the lack of posts lately, but I have been a very busy bee!  The week before last, I had a very busy week at work and lots of deadlines to meet, so blogging was the last thing on my mind when I got home, I just wanted to sit and do nothing which, apart from going to some gym classes, I did!

Last week, Liam and I both booked the week off from work so we could spend some time together and just mess around doing whatever we fancied!  We usually don't do much for Valentines Day because we're just not bothered, maybe a meal out somewhere or something, but this week off fell on the week of Valentines Day, so we called it our Valentines Week!

One of the things we had planned to do was finish our snow boarding lessons, so we booked those at Xscape in Castleford.  Our predictable hotel choice was Premier Inn - we stay in one at every possible opportunity!  It was great for getting to Xscape because it was just across the car park.  We didn't have snow boarding booked until the Monday, so we managed to get some cocktails in on the Sunday evening!  We started at Burgers & Cocktails by Giraffe where it happened to be Happy Hour!  We had an amazing Peach Melba Ice Cream Smoothie thing when we were there last, so thought we'd try out their alcoholic treats!  My favourite was definitely the Bubble Gum Slurpee!

We then had our tea at TGI Fridays (and again on Monday...) and a few more cocktails in there.  We don't have a TGI Fridays nearby where we live, so going there is always a treat for us!  We had nachos to share, and my usual choice of garlic chicken with a cheesey mash, and Liam had a burger.  Once again, I broke a blogging rule and didn't photograph my food before eating it, but I have zero self control.  After our meal, we went to the arcades and played on a few penny pushers and a toy grabber where I WON.  Never in my life have I won on one of these, but here I am with my prize.  I literally screamed when I realised it wasn't going to be let go.  What a saddo!

Snowboarding was amazing, but so tiring!  You aren't allowed a camera in the SnoZone area, so unfortunately I have no pictures!  We did our first two levels in April last year for Liam's birthday, and because I started working seven days a week shortly after, it got hard to get back to Castleford to finish off our lessons!  It was three hours of falling over, skidding about and knee bending with maybe a little skill thrown in!  To top it all off, ITV News were filming there during our lesson because of the Winter Olympics so if you're in that region, you might have seen me in the background of an interview with my boarding boot stuck on my board!!

Liam managed to pass both his level three and four, but I have to go back and do my level four again because the steeper slope was just too scary!  When you snowboard, to slow yourself down you need to lean into the slope because if you lean away from the hill, you speed up - it was a bit hard to get my head around, but on the smaller gradients I was feeling pretty confident!

Over the week, we didn't really do much, just enjoyed spending time together and watching cartoons!  But we did start to enjoy ourselves cooking our evening meals.  I got Liam a burger recipe book for Christmas, and we used it for the first time this week.  We made cheese stuffed burgers, but also slipped some bacon in with the cheese.  I swear they were the best burgers I've ever had - so tasty, I don't even have an after photo, but that just gives me an excuse to make them again and share our adapted recipe with you all!

On the Wednesday, we decided that we would take a trip to Cleethorpes for a day by the sea.  We didn't go for long, but had some seaside fish and chips and spent our afternoon in the arcades on our favourite ever penny pusher - PacMan Pac Ball.

Saturday was another busy day for us!  Our friend Katie has just moved house, so we went over for a house warming party and a night out in Sheffield.  We went to Leadmill, had a few too many drinks, went on a bucking bronco (twelve whole seconds I managed...pretty impressed!) and then got taxis back to hers!  The next day we didn't leave until quite late, but spent the day eating, obsessing over milkshakes and then played some Nintendo 64!

I'm back at work now, which is horrendous having had an amazing week off, and I can see this week going really slowly, but I have lots of things to blog about so I'm sure I'll end my days on a high!  Apart from when I am at the gym, working off the possible half stone I gained whilst eating like a King for a week.

What did you do for Valentines Day?

Making A Change: Excuses & Plans

Well I'm back to give you an update on my weight/fitness goals.  To put it bluntly, it hasn't gone anywhere.  In December, I joined the gym so that I could battle the obvious weight gain that was going to happen over the festive period, that way, I wouldn't have as much to lose after Christmas.  You can see my post full of intentions and positive attitude here...however...things just didn't go to plan.

THE EXCUSES

The first few weeks of joining the gym I was doing SO well, I'd book my classes in advance and went every week, even the evenings when I really didn't want to go.  Then around two weeks before Christmas, I got the worst sickness bug and spent five days being sick and all the rest of it that comes with a sick bug, so I never went back.

Then, when I was better and felt ready to leave the house, all the classes were limited because it was Christmas and they didn't come back until almost a week after New Year.  When I did check in the gym, it was literally just to help my boyfriend do his work out, with a few squats thrown in, nothing spectacular or worth while.  I then left my gym card at his and kept forgetting to pick it up, and then it was my birthday and nobody goes to the gym on their bithday.

Excuses, excuses, excuses...

THE PLAN

I have gained 5 pounds since my last post, the opposite of what I wanted to achieve.  I expected some weight gain, but almost half a stone is more than I anticipated so I'm done with making excuses for myself.  I've got my gym card back, I've even grabbed some new gym gear, and I am busy pinning away healthy recipes for what I can do to help my diet.  I've booked my usual classes, and I am back on with my fitness starting this evening.  Hurrah!

I still hate the gym.  I only go to my classes because I have to book in advance so feel like I have to go.  But I guess that's the best way.  I just need to keep reminding myself that I want to get into my healthy weight targets, and have a healthy body.  I need to be realistic with my goals, because I always think that if you set unrealistic targets, you'll be disappointed when you don't get them, or give up because nothing is happening.  I'm never going to have the thigh gap, I've never had a thigh gap - the only gap I've ever had when my feet are together is a small hole below my knees, and a gap for my ankles.  My build isn't one that could get that body shape.  I'm leggy, I'm curvy and I'm a pear.  A big ol' juicy one.  All I want is to lose some weight, and have legs like Beyonce.  (Come on guys...got to have something to aspire to!)

If anyone has any healthy recipes, good healthy blogs to follow, please share them with me in the comments below.  Link me up with your posts too if you have them!  You can also stalk what I'm pinning on my Pinterest account - but, be careful...some recipes on my recipe board aren't so healthy!

Who wants to join me on my mission to get healthier?  What are your top tips?

Holy Guacamole!

Today is my anniversary with my boyfriend Liam.  We've been together for nine years today!  How very amazing, and I'm very happy!  So happy in fact, that this evening I've been preparing a Mexican feast for us both to indulge in as soon as he finishes work.  Liam and I both - to put it bluntly - bum Mexico.  We have been to Cancun twice with our group of friends and it's literally the best place ever, it is worth every single penny!

 

Aside from the sun, sea and nightlife, one of the things that I love the most about being in Mexico is the guacamole.  There are literally no words to describe how amazing this stuff is over there - I've never found guacamole as good!  The next best thing to Mexican guacamole is home made guacamole.

 

 

It's so simple to make, and is so much nicer than shop bought guacamole and it takes no time at all!  To make this bowl of guacamole, I used;

           TWO RIPE AVOCADOS
           ONE RED ONION
           ONE TOMATO
           THE JUICE OF ONE LIME
           ONE CLOVE OF GARLIC

All you need to do is chop your Avocado's in half, scoop out the middle and mash.  Finely chop the tomato and the onion and add to the mashed avocado.  Add the juice of one lime, stir that in.  And mince your garlic clove and crack that in there too!  I also added a bit of salt and pepper just for some seasoning, because all pro chefs add salt and pepper...

I swear the photograph that I've included doesn't do the guacamole justice.  Just give it a go, you will not regret it!  You can even spice things up a little by adding in some chopped chilli!

So...will you be trying to make your own guacamole?

Making A Change: Fitness

Today is a slightly different post to what I normally write about.  If you follow me on Twitter, you may have spotted that I joined the local gym on Friday.  I know what you're all thinking..."you're starting the gym before Christmas?!"  It shocked me too, but yes; I like to think of it as damage limitation because Christmas is just full of indulging in your festive favourites, and if you're aiming to lose weight, why make it harder for yourself when it gets to January!

I am in no way a fitness expert/fitness freak.  I hate exercise.  There's nothing I love more than tea and cake, and doing nothing but sitting on my bum all day long.  Whilst I was at University, I was a member of the gym, occasionally made regular visits, and over summer did pretty well with Insanity DVD's, but nothing ever stuck. Since moving home in July, I have literally done no exercise and well...I can tell, and it's just not healthy for me to do literally nothing.

At 5ft8 and 12 stone, my BMI is 25.5 according to the NHS website, just sneaking into the overweight section.  I'm a size 12 on my top, and can just now fit into a size 14 on my bottom with jeans!  I wouldn't say that I am unhappy with how I look, as much as I moan on about my huge thighs and bum, I quite like having a pear shape.  My main aim for joining the gym is to tone up, and obviously I would like to be comfortably in my healthy weight zone.  I know BMI is a bit dodgey to go on, but my goal weight has always been between 11 and 11 and a half stone, I've just never made it there!

At my heaviest, I was weighed in at almost 14 stone.  If anyone is interested, I can share how I initially lost my weight on another post, so let me know if you'd like some quick tips.  That was three years ago, and I managed to lose the weight and keep it off much to my surprise as I'm not the healthiest of eaters now, so I can't even imagine what I must have been eating like to climb that far up the scales.  I've just never managed to make it below the 12 stone mark; this last stone just will not shift.

So!  I thought I'd share with you my plans in the hope that I stick to them now that I have publicly announced it.  You know what I'm intending and I know what I've got to do - I will aim to post updates as often as I can!

Is anyone else thinking of getting fitter soon?  What are your top fitness tips?

Adventure Time: Graduation

I am pretty late doing this post considering that my graduation was actually at the beginning of September!  You might have already seen some photos if you follow me on Twitter or Instagram, if not, links are to the right, come follow and I promise you get to see pictures of my dog, cups of tea and some make up thrown in for good measure.

It's Freshers week at the University of Lincoln this week - this is where I went and I loved it.  In fact, I beyond loved it.  I almost wish that I had failed a year just so I got to go back for another year - and not even to be a lazy, bed-ridden student!  I want to go back to my classes!  If you're looking for a uni this year, look no further because Lincoln is amazing and you need to go.  Plus, you get to graduate at Lincoln Cathedral - amazing.

I graduated on the 5th September and it was the sunniest day ever!  So hot, especially under all those layers.  I spent ages planning what to wear and I knew I wanted a dress, and some pointy heels.  Obviously you get your black cap and gown, but the Lincoln colours for the hood was bright blue and yellow.  Lucky for me, cobalt blue has been a trending colour this season so there was plenty to choose from!  I went with a dress from Oasis, and you can find it and see it better online here - it was £45 but I think I got it with a student discount offer.

I wore ASOS Pasha Heels which were exactly what I was looking for, and for a bargain price of £25.  I even managed student discount on these too!  But...wide footed ladies, these are not for you.  Christ these are narrow, I had to full on talc my fat feet up to wedge them in the shoes because I didn't have time to find other shoes which were perfect in all aspects, including fit!  They were killing my feet by the end of the day!

I kept accessories simple, and opted for a gold cuff necklace from Dorothy Perkins.  I can't find this on the website to show you, but I believe it cost £10, and I've had a lot of wear out of it since I bought it!  Before I took these photographs, I actually had my first proper use of my Enrapture Heated Rollers, which I loved!  I am a total hair novice, but these were amazing and after a bit of practice, were pretty easy to use!  Sadly though, my hairspray didn't keep the curls in and they dropped pretty quickly...but my hair did look briefly amazing compared to my normal bolt straight hair.

Are you applying to University, or have you just graduated?  What do you think of my outfit?