Hi everyone, hope your having a great weekend! We’ve had a fantastic time in Brighton this week. We had been planning on coming home yesterday but we decided to stay another day as we were having so much fun! I haven’t enjoyed the weather very much though, I don’t think I’ve ever been so cold as I have this week!

The Royal Pavilion

We travelled the 330 miles down to the south coast on Monday night so woke up Tuesday morning feeling refreshed and ready for our holiday!

Tuesday

Me and Tam and tasty food from Aloka

I met up with the gorgeous Tam who very kindly took me to my first ever Bikram Yoga class. I absolutely loved it! I’m so sad that no where in the North East does Bikram Yoga, I would definitely be a regular if I had the opportunity. After the class we went for lunch at the wonderful Aloka. I had a big plate full of the delicious dishes available, the red lentil, tempeh and cashew cheese lasagne was incredible! We couldn’t resist the raw desserts either, and I had a tasty raw cherry and pistachio macaroon. After that I met up with James again and we hit the shops – I made a beeline for Infinity Foods of course!

We finished Tuesday by going back into Brighton for a few drinks with some of James twitter pals which was a lot of fun!

Wednesday

Vegan scone and strawberry jam for breakfast, tasty treats from InSpiral cafe and Wholefoods

We decided to make the trip up to London on Wednesday so we got up early and I enjoyed a delicious vegan scone I’d bought from Infinity Foods the previous day, it tasted so good! We got the train to London and headed to Camden for a look around. It was so cold we didn’t do much looking around the market but thanks to a tweet from Emma I knew that InSpiral Cafe was close by. James warmed up with a latte but I couldn’t resist the opportunity to get a Green Goddess juice and a slice of the amazing chocolate peanut butter pie! I had a look at both the Camden and Soho Wholefoods as well as some of the shops on Oxford Street before came home. I got a totally lush salad bar box from Wholefoods to eat on the train which I also enjoyed with a huge vegan and gluten free peanut butter chocolate brownie that was to die for! Once we got back to Brighton we went to Fat Leos for an Italian meal and more red wine!

Thursday

Me looking half decent for once after getting my make up one at Benefit, Vanilla spice latte, chocolate chilli sorbet and a delicious Indian meal

On Wednesday we had a walk back into Brighton and had a big shopping day! I wanted to get some make up from Benefit and the staff wanted to show me some of the new products so I basically ended up having my whole face made up! We also stopped by Starbucks for about the 8th time that week to get a Vanilla Spice Soya Latte to warm up between shops. For lunch we stopped by Aloka again so I could get a take away box for lunch, but not before heading to Boho Gelato (thanks to Christina for the tip!) for a vegan sorbet. I got the Chocolate Chilli and my god that stuff had a kick, but it was very tasty! For our evening meal we came back into town and tried an Indian buffet restaurant. I had rice, tarka dahl, saag aloo, onion bhaji and naan bread, it was yummy! We also had more red wine:

We had found a bottle that we really liked in The Mesmerist so decided to go back and enjoy!

Friday

Tasty simple breakfast, Falafel sandwich from Infinity Foods Cafe, apple and maple cake and coffee from Iydea and an early valentines day gift from James

We had a nice lie in and I had a simple breakfast of banana, apple and peanut butter before we made our last trip to town. We got some gifts to bring home as well as stopping at Iydea for the most gorgeous apple and maple cake and a almond soy latte. The icing on that cake was incredible! I’d had a huge craving for falafel so we stopped by Infinity Foods Cafe and I got the Falafel sandwich with chilli hummus, tahini and red onion with salad which was lush. While looking in Montezuma’s chocolate shop James bought me an early valentines day gift of some dark chocolate hearts with cacao nibs and dates which were so delicious! Later in the day we had a walk around Hove and got some flowers for my Auntie before getting in an early night ready for our 5am alarm this morning so we could drive back and beat the traffic!

It’s lovely to be home but I am really going to miss Brighton! I feel like all I’ve done this week is drink coffee, eat vegan cake and guzzle red wine! Apart from the Bikram class I haven’t worked out at all, although we must have walked at least 4 miles a day just back and forth between Hove and Brighton! I did bring my running gear but it has been too cold to even attempt it. Overall I’ve really indulged myself this week, I’ve eaten delicious food with abandon, haven’t worried about exercise, and apart from a bit of twitter action I’ve been pretty unplugged from the internet too. I think its been just what I needed! Of course a lot of shopping has been done too, shopping haul post coming up soon! Now I’m just happy to start getting myself back into my routine again.

Hope you’ve all had a great week and are enjoying your weekend!

Yesterday I was off down to London for the My Special K website event. I’ll post more about the actual event and website next week (as I have lots of notes to go through and lots of my thoughts to tell you!) but I just wanted to catch up with some of my eats, and of course a Wholefoods haul!

I won’t post pics of Thursdays eats as they weren’t that interesting – chocolate banana green monster for breakfast, lentil and root veg stew with greens plus two plums and an apple for lunch, broccoli, courgette and olive hummus with a RAW cracker, carrot and cucumber for a snack and then as I had a late meeting, just 2 packs of bear granola and many many apples for dinner! I also did yoga and core exercises in the morning.

Friday morning I was up at 5am to catch the early train to London. I was going to have a 9 bar for breakfast but then I remembered that there’s sugar in the carob topping (not inline with my monthly kick start plan!) so I swapped it for a Berry Trek bar which I ate along with two apples and a green tea.

When I got to London I had some time for a bit of a look around and passed the Wholefoods branch in Soho – I decided to pop in and get a fresh juice:

This was a small Green Machine juice and it tasted amazing!

After the Special K website presentation we went to the Sanctuary Spa for lunch and our pampering session. All I can say is oh my god, if you ever get the chance to go to the Sanctuary Spa go, it was amazing! Here’s a quick pic I caught of the reception area. The place was beautiful:

I asked for the vegan option and got some roasted vegetables with avocado and rocket on a white bagel. I left the bagel but the roast veggies were delicious!

After a couple of hours in the spa including a dip in the Jacuzzi and sauna plus a fabulous back, neck and shoulder massage, I made the journey to the big Wholefoods on Kensington High Street. I snacked on some unpictured nakd raisins I had in my bag as I was feeling a little light headed after the sauna! Here’s what I purchased from Wholefoods:

Spelt pizza bases, wheat berries, orange and coconut tea, kukicha tea, organic Japanese shoyu, tempeh

 Siesta carob bars in mint and orange flavour, pulsin raw chocolate brownie, Broadberys rose flavour raw chocolate, crunchy peanut butter clif bar, booja booja raw chocolate truffles

Raw cacao nibs, organic mesquite meal, organic maca, braggs liquid aminos, sunflower seed butter, raw brazil nut cacao bliss, spirutein sachets

These are all random bits and pieces that caught my eye that I’ve read about in other blogs or in cook books and fancied trying out. Unfortunately there was no Dark Chocolate Dreams Peanut Butter (the horror!) so the raw brazil nut cacao bliss caught my eye instead and actually looks pretty damn tasty! Really looking forward to eating my way through this lot!

I also hit the infamous salad bar. I went for the biggest box available (obviously) and filled it with a range of stuff including chickpeas, wild rice, quinoa, couscous, edamade, carrots, cucumber, red lettuce, sweet potato, mung beans, spinach, rocket, curried cauliflower, pumpkin seeds, olive oil and braggs. This was a true salad beast. I ate half at Wholefoods and the other half on the train.

 

I enjoyed every single bite! I also picked up a pot of mixed berries and pineapple which I ate on the train home along with two unpictured apples and a banana bread nakd bar.

All in all a very good day. I found the whole experience very interesting and it was especially nice to meet fellow bloggers Becky from Becky Blog and Helen from Clear Your Heart amongst others. I’ve been reading Becky’s blog for a while and it felt like we already knew each other! I also got on really well with Helen. I have to say that the girls from Kelloggs were very lovely too.

Have you been to a spa before? If so what was your favourite thing to do? I loved the deep clean I got from the sauna! Have you visited Wholefoods before?

Tomorrow will be Keeping Slim and Getting Stylish 1 year anniversary! I will be posting details of a celebratory GIVEAWAY including some of my favourite products plus some new things to try, so don’t forget to check back!

Hope your having a great weekend! :-)