I’m happy to say that I’ve had another pretty productive week! I seem to have peaks and toughs with my productivity, but this week I have done a lot of thinking and planning – see my thoughts on writing a personal mission statement at the end of the post. A few things are starting to come together, at least in my head, and I think that’s half the battle sometimes.

A random lovely thing from this week has to include my new house plants:

I got these at the weekend to replace one that had died and another than was over growing. I love having plants around the house, I think a room feels lifeless without at least a bit of green or some pretty blooming flowers in it!

This week I’ve been loving my breakfasts! I generally love breakfast in any case, its certainly my favourite meal of the day, but this week they have been exceptionally lovely:

Slice of toasted sunflower and chia seed bread with almond butter and black cherry jam with a simple green smoothie on the side

Have seen a few Cinnamon vanilla socca on various blogs so gave it ago! Stuffed with almond butter and fresh peaches

Fresh peaches, strawberries and honey pear with a bowl of tofu cream and granola plus a spoonful of sunbutter for dipping

Plus coffee with all of those, there is always coffee ;-) I’ve just been craving sweet fresh fruit all week! Other meals have tended to be the usual stuff:

A very green ‘clean out the fridge’ salad with romaine, quinoa, cucumber, edamame and avocado

Lentil soup and home made raw crackers – glad I saved that for lunch yesterday seeing as the weather was so dreadful a warm bowl of soup was much needed!

Raw courgette noodles topped with roast kabocha squash and tahini miso sauce – always good!

Green smoothie snack – with romaine, courgette, chocolate chip cookie dough spiru-tein protein powder, water and ice topped with dried figs and tahini

Strawberries, pear, tofu cream and Dorset Cereals Strawberry and Redcurrant Granola

Last but not least, a rice cake slathered with Justin’s chocolate Hazelnut butter!

This weeks workouts:

• Saturday – REST
• Sunday – Just over 9.5 mile run
• Monday – Gym – this strength and HIIT workout
• Tuesday – Gym – 30 minutes cardio HIITs on the cross trainer, bike and rowing machine, Body Pump (new release!)
• Wednesday – Hot yoga class 
• Thursday – AM 3 mile run, PM yoga class
• Friday – Gym – 5 min warm up cross trainer, 15 min treadmill speed run, 25 minutes of random strength exercises focusing on upper body and abs, 5 min bike cool down

Its been a fun workout week indeed! Running though to my parents house on Sunday morning made a great change to the usual out and back or loop running routes. Tuesday’s new Body Pump class was awesome, I loved the new body weight squats and squat jumps, lots of fun! Then I went for another hot yoga class at Yogalilies – it was brilliant as usual, extra sweaty! We even attempted some head stands and side crow pose but I think I need to work on achieving those! In this mornings workout I stuck to upper body strength exercises to give my legs a bit of a break ready for this weekends long run.

On the Love List this week…

Matcha loving!

When I saw that Tea Pigs had a 20% off offer on their Matcha Green Tea I couldn’t resist! I can’t wait to make some iced almond milk lattes! Also…

This post from Gala Darling with 100 things to do instead of wasting time on the internet – I’m already planning a wardrobe edit! // writing my own personal mission statement // exciting developments with my business! // Summer Solstice – I may not have done the 108 sun salutations but it was a beautiful sunny day and finishing it off with Hot Yoga and a chocolate avocado smoothie when I got home was perfect // anticipating the great weekend ahead – hair and wardrobe makeover!

Have you ever considered writing a personal mission statement? Or do you already have one? I’m quite into personal development and I’m so glad that I got round to spending some time developing my mission statement. If you haven’t done it I strongly urge you to have a look, its really helped to clarify a lot of the stuff going on in my life and help me to focus! Ditto with inspiration boards, I’m also a big fan of those!

In case you missed it:

• Check out my Dorset Cereals GIVEAWAY for a chance to win some of their lovely muesli!
• I talked a bit about foam rolling
• I gave you some of my tips to avoid the dreaded hangover!

How has your week been? What’s on your love list?

Happy Summer Solstice! I can’t believe its mid summer already, I’m hoping that the weather will improve for the remainder of the summer!

Of course as its Wednesday that means only one thing, WIAW! If you haven’t come across this before its basically a big link up of healthy living bloggers posting a full day of eats. I love doing it as it reminds me of what my blog originally was – a food diary. I also like to be able to look back and see how I was eating plus I’m a noisy cow and like seeing what everyone else eats!

These are my meals and snacks on Monday. I had the usual warm water with a squeeze of lemon, foam rolled and then headed off to the gym. I did my full body strength workout followed by some high intensity intervals on the step machine and bike. I really do love that workout, I’ve been getting some serious DOMS after it! I was in and out of the gym in just under an hour, then home to get showered and have breakfast:

I made a green smoothie with romaine, frozen apricots, frozen strawberries, vanilla sun warrior protein powder, ground flax, maca powder, ice and water and then topped with some Dorset Cereals High Fibre Flakes - don’t forget to check out my Dorset Cereals Giveaway! I also had a fruity green tea:

I don’t usually fancy fruity teas but I because the smoothie was quite fruity I thought they would work well together.

Finally we had a little bit of sun on Monday so I took the opportunity to wear my favourite sandals without getting soaking wet feet:

OOTD: necklace: New Look, basic grey tee: H&M, cropped trousers: Topshop, metallic sandals: Next, bracelets: various

I’d packed myself a lovely lunch to eat at work:

A bowl of my raw carrot and coconut soup and a brand new recipe to be shared soon – cherry rice salad! The soup was so simple to whip up in my blender at the weekend, it took just minutes. The cherry rice salad is so full of flavour, I can’t wait to share the recipe! It was a lovely meal but a bit lacking in protein so I was hungrier than usual for my afternoon snack:

A large sliced red pepper, pink lady apple and sunbutter for dipping. Oh my god that stuff is heavenly. The last jar I bought was just plain sunflower seed butter but this is the stuff with a bit of naughty added sugar and its gorgeous!

On my way home from work I stopped for a few essentials:

Courgettes, hummus, lemons, reduced organic spinach, broccoli, cucumbers and strawberries. Delish! I used the broccoli in my Buddha bowl for dinner:

I cooked some quinoa and added frozen soya beans and roast kabocha squash then dumped on top of steamed broccoli and spring greens. I added a bit of fresh parsley and shoyu on top. So good although I think anything with kabocha tastes wonderful!

After cleaning up the dinner dishes I made myself a sweet and salty treat:

Montezuma’s dark chocolate buttons and pretzels, you can’t get much better than that! I snacked on those then went and picked up James from work. When I got back I made a big bowl of raw protein ‘ice cream’ with mixed frozen berries, vanilla sun warrior, crushed ice, water and a pinch of xanthan gum. I topped it with a few cacao nibs:

I’ve been eating bowls like this almost every night! Can’t get enough :-)

I’ve found that I’ve settled into a nice pattern with my meals and snacks recently. I tend to have breakfast, lunch and dinner with snacks in between (unless I’ve eaten breakfast later after a morning workout as was the case on Monday, then I skip the morning snack), a small ‘dessert’ shortly after dinner and then an evening snack which has tended to be a smoothie or protein ice cream. Its working really well at keeping my energy levels up and my weight staple - I’ve made a conscious effort to increase calories now that I’m running more, and seeing as I quite like eating, this suits me perfectly!

I’ve also found that I don’t mind repeating meals and snacks – I think in the past I used to have a ‘thing’ about making sure I had a lot of variety but at the moment I have a few similar type meals on repeat that just hit the spot.

Do you have a regular eating ‘pattern’? Are there any meals or snacks that are on repeat for you right now?

Hi everyone! Hope you are all having a great weekend so far. I’ve had a lovely relaxed day getting myself ready for the Great North Run tomorrow! My kit bag is all packed, my running gear is all laid out ready, I have safety pins, timing chip, powerade, tissues, a big bag of dried dates, my stop watch and my fully loaded iPod shuffle (I’m not taking my iPhone in case it rains!)

This morning I was up and off to Sainburys for it opening to stock up on fruits and veggies. When I got home I enjoyed a lovely big breakfast of Dorset Cereal Really Nutty Muesli with a chopped apple, some fresh raspberries and soy milk.

This may just be my favourite muesli out of all the Dorset Cereal muesli I’ve been sampling. Its packed with big chunks of almonds, brazil nuts, cashew nuts, hazelnuts and big fat raisins, dates and pieces of dried apricots.

For lunch I toasted a thick slice of my home made soda bread and smothered it with proper butter (got to love buttered toast!) I also had an omelette made with 1 egg, 2 egg whites and filled with two sliced babybel light. I also had some sugar snap peas on the side.

I then made myself a berry smoothie using frozen strawberries, frozen mixed berries, a heaped tablespoon of Greek yoghurt, soy milk and a couple of ice cubes. I topped the smoothie with another big spoonful of yoghurt, some agave syrup and a few fresh raspberries.

Just delicious!

Mid afternoon I had a mug of teapigs chocolate flake tea along with a mystery flavoured Nakd bar!

Oh my this was good! I wish I could tell you what flavour it was but basically its one of my favourite flavour combos and it was everything I was hoping it would be. I can see me bulk buying some of these when they come out, delish!

Dinner was of course, pasta! I made up some wholemeal pasta and added some sautéed courgette, spinach and red pepper along with some chopped basil and tomato, beef mince and mushroom sauce which I’d had stored in the freezer. I also had a salad of cos lettuce and sugar snap peas that I couldn’t finish from lunch.

For desert I made my now ritual pre long distance run favourite of banana softserve made with two frozen bananas, soy milk, 2 ice cubes, some matcha green tea powder and 3 chopped dates all blended up and topped with a further two chopped dates.

Rocket fuel! I’m now pretty stuffed :-)

Thanks for all your well wishes and advice to yesterdays post. I really feel I’m as ready as I’ll ever be. The plan tomorrow is to be up bright and early, breakfast on porridge with banana then make my way to my parents house who will drop us at the metro station so we can make our way to the starting line. My hubby and parents are going to meet me at the finish line and one of my friends is coming to cheer me on – I just hope I spot her! After the race we are all going out to my parents favourite Italian restaurant for a meal. I think the thought of a proper Italian thin crust veggie topped pizza will be more than enough to get me through the race!

I’d forgot to mention this before but if anyone is interested in sponsoring me here is my Just Giving Page. I’m running for Cancer Research UK, a cause very close to my heart as we lost the Hubby’s Mum to cancer 3 years ago (she was only in her Forties). I’ve also lost a good friend to breast cancer. Right now my cousin is fighting Lymphoma – she’s only 29 years old. I’m honoured to be running in memory and in celebration of these people.

Completing the Great North Run is not only achieving one of my ‘life goals’ but its almost the culmination of my healthy living journey so far. I never dreamt I’d be fit enough to run 13.1 miles. I know I’m certainly not the fastest runner, and never will be (lets just say I don’t have a typical runners figure!) but just getting to that finish line will be a huge achievement for me. Like I said yesterday I’m not going out with any target time in mind as I just want to enjoy the day. I’ll save setting my PB for another race…oh my god I just said another race! I think I may be hooked on this running thing ;-)

Good night everyone, wish me luck x

We had a great time last night seeing Joe Bonnamassa, he put on a really great show and his guitar playing is amazing. We had a Subway and a coffee while we waited for the gig to start.

 

I had a small turkey sub with lettuce, cucumber, green pepper, red onion and sweet chilli sauce on wheat bread and a massive skinny gingerbread latte from Costa. The coffee was delicious but perhaps a little too sweet. My outfit for the night:

Hat: Accessorize, Blazer: Topshop, Jeweled Bib Necklace: Topshop, Black T Shirt: Gap, Skinny Jeans: Topshop, Bag: H&M, Boots: Peacocks

For breakfast I had a bowl of Dorset Cereal Fruit and Fibre with a chopped nectarine, teaspoon of ground flax mix and some soy milk.

Really tasty and totally hit the spot. Mid morning I snacked on some hummus with carrot and cucumber for dipping.

This was the hummus I bought from the deli in Durham and it was delicious, the best I’ve tasted I think.

Lunch was some chickpea and olive salad followed by an orange.

 

Before I left work for the gym I had a some pieces of dried pineapple and a few almonds.

I had my usual Monday night gym workout of 30 minutes of HIITs, abs exercises and 30 minute spinning class which exhausted me!

For dinner I had half a large sweet potato with cottage cheese mixed with cucumber and spring onion plus some spinach on the side.

I really love this combo, sweet potatoes are the best! Desert was a smoothie in a bowl made with a scoop of nutty berry spirutein powder, soy milk and ice cubes topped with some coconut and a sliced braeburn apple.

Yesterday before the gig I had a bit of a mooch around Newcastle including calling into Fenwick the department store to tease myself in the food hall. I got so excited when I spotted these:

Canned pumpkin! I have only seen these available on the web for £3.99 a tin, these where £1.99 each and I bought three. I also got a graham cracker crumb crust. I’m thinking of trying to make a pumpkin pie!

I also bought the jumper dress I’d seen in Miss Selfridge on Saturday :-)

Today I received a little parcel of goodies from Goodness Direct:

RAW Spicy Orange Chocolate bar, dried figs and a mango and brazil bar. Can’t wait to try all of these. I really like Goodness Direct, they have a fantastic range. Once I’ve started to work on my stock pile of healthy goodies I’ll be placing an order.

Have you had canned pumpkin before? I can’t wait to try out some different recipes: pumpkin porridge, pumpkin yoghurt, pumpkin bread the list goes on! I still have my big pumpkin to eat first though :-)

Today I reached over 100 blog followers! Big thanks to Sarah who has really championed the blog over on iheartcosmetics. A big welcome to my new followers, hope you enjoy the blog! I really believe that beauty starts with good nutrition and exercise so hopefully you’ll find some inspiration here. I know not everyone that reads is signed up as a follower so if your a new reader a big welcome to you too!

My day started with a lovely breakfast – 1/3 cup of Dorset Super Cranberry, Cherry and Almond Muesli, 2 tablespoons of Total Greek Yoghurt and some of my apple, berry and cinnamon compote:

Apple, Berry and Cinnamon Compote

• 3 apples that are past their best
• 1/2 cup of frozen mixed berries
• 50ml of water
• 2 tablespoons of agave syrup
• 1 teaspoon of cinnamon

Core, slice and chop the apples (keeping the skin on) add to a small pan along with the berries, water and agave. Simmer for 10 minutes or until the liquid as turned syrupy and the apple has softened. Use a hand blender to blend the mixture to desired consistency – I left mine a little chunky. Allow to cool then store in the fridge for up to 5 days.

 

This tasted wonderful with the muesli and yoghurt. It would also taste great with some raisins or soaked goji berries added to it. I was also really impressed with the muesli. It contains toasted wheat, barley and oat flakes which I find lighter than muesli that is oat based. As always with Dorset Cereals there were plenty of dried fruit, seeds and nuts in the mix too.

Mid morning I snacked on a little pot of my home made hummus with carrot and sugar snaps for dipping. I used a really straightforward recipe for the hummus:

Straight forward hummus

• 1 tin of drained chickpeas
• 3 tablespoons of olive oil
• 2 tablespoons of tahini
• Juice of 1 lemon
• 1 clove of garlic
• water

Add the chickpeas, olive oil, tahini, lemon juice and garlic to a food processor. Blend to a smooth consistency adding a tablespoon of water at a time if required. You may also need to scrape down the sides of the food processor too. I added a pinch of ground cumin and finished with a good grinding of oak smoked chilli paprika and pepper.

 

Mine turned out thicker than a shop bought version and with more texture which I really like.

Lunch was a bowl of my home made Roast Tomato, Pepper and Chilli soup which was perfect for this horrible wet and rainy day along with a juicy pear.

Before leaving work for the gym I had a Beet It Shot.

At the gym I started with a 5 minute warm up on the cross trainer then continued with my usual HIIT (high intensity interval training) session on the cross trainer, step machine and bike. I finished off with 5 minutes on the rowing machine and some abs exercises. I didn’t push it too much with the Great North Run coming up but I still got a good workout in.

I just wanted something quick and easy for dinner so I made a cheese omelette using 1 egg and two eggs whites filled with a little grated edam cheese and served with a huge salad of spinach, yellow pepper, carrot, cucumber and red onion – got to get those raw veggies in!

For desert I made up some mint chocolate protein ice cream by blending a scoop of chocolate whey powder with 3 ice cubes, soy milk, natural mint extract and 1/2 teaspoon of xanthan gum to thicken. I topped it with a few raw cacao nibs.

Yum! This was lovely and filling as always although I wasn’t very happy as while making this one of the blades in my blender broke! I can still use it but I’m going to have to invest in a new one. Any recommendations? I need something pretty hard wearing that can deal with ice and daily use. I also had an un pictured apple.

Unique fashion and home wear

Over the weekend I spent some time browsing on a few websites that specialise in offering products that are more unique, either because they are one off or because they are customisable. I love things that are a bit different – I think they can add so much individuality! My favourite websites for products like this are Not On The High Street and Etsy. Here’s some the items I spotted:

Personalised Printed Cotton Shopper Bag – Not On The High Street

 Engraved Heart Charm Necklace – Not On The High Street

 Silver Leather Hobo Bag - Etsy

 Night and Owl, Pair of pillows - Etsy

Soft Leather Ballet Flats – Etsy

Wooden Gold Gilded Letters – Graham and Green

Have you bought anything from Not On The High Street or Etsy before? What’s your favourite website for finding more unique items? I’m so in love with that heart charm necklace, I may have to leave a few hints for the hubby in time for Christmas!