Hi everyone, hope your having a wonderful Sunday. I’ve had the best weekend!

I enjoyed this lovely soya latte with raspberry syrup at one of my favourite cafes Intermezzo in Newcastle

I started the weekend with a quick run, as usual I just went out and ran with no idea of distance or pace, I think I probably did about 3.5 miles. When I came home I made a smoothie:

This contained spinach, cantaloupe melon, vanilla sun warrior protein powder, maca, ground flax, water and ice then topped with some Kashi crunch. I hadn’t been planning on starting my green smoothie challenge until today but I couldn’t help myself!

Then I got ready for my day out!

OOTD: floral jacket: Warehouse, striped dress: Tu @ Sainsbury’s, belt: Dorothy Perkins, black quilted bag: Topshop, tights: M&S, ankle boots: New Look

I was also excited to show everyone my finished tattoo!

I’m so happy with it, I know tattoo’s aren’t for everyone but I love them and this one means a lot to me. I’ll explain the meaning behind it soon! I think its pretty tasteful and delicate and I love the colours.

Once we got to town we went to Olive and Bean for a bit of brunch:

I had granary toast with peanut butter and jam and a large soy latte and James had the continental platter. You can’t beat good old peanut butter on toast sometimes!

After that we had a look round the shops and went to see The Hunger Games at the Tyneside Cinema. I think I’ve posted a pic of their screen before but I just love its old fashioned style so much:

I really enjoyed the movie and thought they did a pretty good adaptation of the book. I also indulged in a little budget friendly shopping, I got a neutral coloured blazer and a bright pink sleeveless top from H&M and a fab pair of boot cut jeans from a charity shop for £4! After that James got the train home and I went to my parents. Its my wonderful friend Kate’s 30th Birthday today so me and my other best friend decided to surprise her. I fancied a drink so thought I would stay at my parents which is closer. My friend Claire bought Kate this epic cake:

Oh and yes, I did enjoy one of those cupcakes and a large slice of the cake (of course it wasn’t vegan but I’m enjoying my more flexible approach to that right now) plus a few glasses of Cava, Southern Comfort and lots and lots of crisps and chocolate. We had a great time! I’ve been friends with those two for over 17 years and they are the best friends ever, we had such a laugh just chatting and catching up. This morning I paid for both the alcohol and the sugar with a nasty hangover, but nothing a green smoothie can’t fix!

That was a very cleansing green smoothie with spinach, chinese pear, celery, vanilla sun warrior protein powder, ginger, maca, ground flax, water and ice. Along with a pot of kuricha green tea it sorted me out a treat!

It was lovely that both my friends commented on how much better they thought I looked with a bit more weight on and they were happier that I seemed to be more relaxed about eating ‘unhealthy’ foods and enjoying myself :-) At the end of the day I have to keep reminding myself that I eat healthily 90% of the time and a few drinks and sugary foods enjoyed with my friends is one of life's pleasures!

Today I’ve just been enjoying chilling out. I made myself a lovely big salad for lunch with romaine, cucumber, red pepper, sprouts, basil tofu, olives and home of my green goddess dressing:

I just love that tofu!

So I have started my green smoothie challenge – one green smoothie a day for at least 7 days. As I was saying on Friday I just feel the need for them at the moment and after recent indulgences I think my body will appreciate it. Like I said if you’d like to join in the challenge let me know and I can link back to your posts. Here’s some green smoothie recipes for you and my ultimate green smoothie recipe. I’m also feeling very attracted to salads and simple Buddha bowls right now while at the same time really wanting to do some baking! I think I’ll be enjoying the baking next weekend :-)

Have you had a good weekend so far? Do you have a favourite cinema or cafe? What kind of foods are you attracted to at the moment?

Happy Friday everyone! Have you had a good week? The best thing about my week has without a doubt getting my tattoo started! Here’s a sneak preview:

I’m back for another 2 hour session in two weeks time to add more colour and to extend the design down my arm and shoulder. When its finished I’ll explain more about the design, its meaning and why I’ve chosen to have it done. The tattoo itself really didn’t hurt that much thankfully. I already have 3 tattoos so I knew what to expect but it wasn’t half as bad as I remember it! I absolutely adore it :-)

In addition to that awesomeness I’ve enjoyed some lovely food this week. I’ve had lots of salads:

1. Cos lettuce, red cabbage, carrots, red onion, raw beet, pinto beans, crumbled blue corn chips, dressing of hemp oil, lemon juice and hot chilli powder 2. Romaine, lentils, peppers, parsley and home made balsamic dressing (blueberry balsamic vinegar, agave, Dijon mustard, hemp oil, garlic powder, water) 3. Romaine, raw beetroot, avocado, chopped salted almonds, dried cherries and balsamic dressing. 4. Romaine, carrot, red cabbage, cucumber, crumbled Raw Health Italian cracker and balsamic dressing

I’ve also had the usual green smoothies, here’s a couple of my faves from this week:

Chocolate Cherry Beet (spring greens, beet greens, beetroot, frozen cherries, chocolate sun warrior protein powder, ground flax, maca powder, water, ice) topped with more cherries, buckwheaties and peanut flour sauce

Chocolate Ginger Pear (spinach, pear, chocolate hemp protein powder, small piece of fresh ginger, maca, ground flax, chlorella tablets, water, ice) topped with raw cacao granola and pumpkin seeds

On Monday we had a planning day at work which meant lunch was at Oldfields again. I had the usual butterbean hummus with epic amounts of fresh warm bread to start and then this wonderful dish with spinach, mushrooms and fennel in a tomato sauce:

It really was so good, I have to try recreating this as fennel is something I’ve never tried much before. I also had lemon sorbet for dessert.

The last couple of evenings I was on raid the freezer mode so used up some soya mince mixed with mushrooms and frozen peas in a tomato sauce (passata, garlic powder, dried oregano and fresh basil), firstly with some courgette ‘spaghetti’:

Then with a baked sweet potato and tons of spinach and nutritional yeast:

Various snackies have also been had…

dried apricots, almond butter and dark chocolate turtles

Raw coconut flour mixed with water, chopped apple and raisins with some agave syrup

Trail mix (inspired by Jemma): roast lemon salted almonds, dried mango, dried cherries and pumpkin seeds (for iron!)

Yesterday I had a fabulous breakfast of a slice of my Banana Coconut Bread made with chocolate chips (slice taken from the freezer) and topped with maple peanut butter (made from peanut flour) and two chopped pears plus coffee of course:

That bread is awesome, I swear it is the best banana bread ever!

Workouts this week have just been the usual:

• Sunday – AM gym – 30 minute relaxed treadmill run (3.25 miles ish) 15 minutes cross trainer, kettle bell class
• Monday – AM 5 min cross trainer warm up, strength workout B from Base phase of Female Body Breakthrough, 10 min HIIT step machine, 10 min HIIT bike
• Tuesday – PM Yoga Class 
• Wednesday – AM 5 min cross trainer warm up, strength workout A from Base phase of Female Body Breakthrough, 10 min HIIT step machine, 10 min HIIT bike
• Thursday – PM Yoga class
• Friday – AM 5 min cross trainer warm up, strength workout B from Base phase of Female Body Breakthrough, 10 min HIIT step machine, 10 min HIIT bike

The yoga has been fun again, in last nights class we were doing poses that all had to be done against the wall. I have to admit I used to think that using blocks and straps were only for people who weren’t very flexible but now I realise that they actually help you to get deeper into the pose and stretch more.

On my weekend send off Love List this week…

Teavivre dragon jasmine green tea pearls

I am obsessed with this tea! I go through tea ‘phases’ sometimes its chai, then peppermint or perhaps liquorice (regular green tea is a daily staple for me though – at least 4 cups a day!). Right now it’s this fragrant and beautiful tea that transforms in your mug. Love it! Also…

The tattoo obviously ;-) // 8 Tracks (James music obsessed that he is, has introduced me to this check it out for a wealth of unique mixes to suit your every mood) // managing to do 14 push ups for the first time ever this morning!

What are you loving this week?