Even though it was bitterly cold this morning the sunshine certainly made it feel like spring is on its way!

I started my day with 5 minutes of yoga / meditation. I’ve been doing this for the last few days and it has been amazing. I just sit in child’s pose and go over the day ahead and try and focus my mind a bit. Then I do a few yoga poses, whatever feels right each morning. This morning I went into down dog, then low lunge, warrior 2, bound side angle pose, chaturanga, up ward facing dog and back into down dog to repeat on the other side. I finished off in child’s pose again and just said a few affirmations. Honestly it makes me feel so much better taking that 5 minutes to start my day.

Breakfast was some quinoa porridge (1/2 cup of quinoa flakes, 1 tsp chia seeds, 1 tbsp of oat bran, 1/2 cup of vanilla rice milk, 1 cup of water and brown rice syrup) with 1 chopped apple, fresh blueberries, pecans and maple syrup:

I also enjoyed a maple walnut coffee, so good!

I’m trying to drink more miso soup so I started lunch with a mug of barley miso then had my salad which contained lettuce, spinach, carrot, sugar snap peas, beets, alfalfa sprouts and a sliced wild garlic tofu fillet:

I also had an orange and more blueberries:

Mid afternoon I snacked on a couple of delicious cookie dough balls:

I then hit the gym and did 30 minutes of HIITs on the cross trainer and step machine followed by my abs and core – almost unbelievably I managed a 2 MINUTE PLANK HOLD! I was buzzing, I’ve met my goal of holding a 2 minute plank already! I then did my 30 minute spin class :-)

Dinner was 2 big mushrooms stuffed with some veggie loaf and baked in the oven. I also had some parsnip chips and steamed greens with braggs, mixed seeds and herbamare seasoning:

Dessert was 2 chopped apples and 3 strawberries topped with a Total strawberry spilt pot yoghurt and some grape nuts:

This was lush! I was worried the strawberry sauce would have been too sweet but it was perfect, especially with the fresh fruit.

Spring wardrobe review

Now that the weather should hopefully start to warm up I’ve been thinking about my wardrobe and what existing clothing and accessories I’ll be trying to get some wear out of as well as what wardrobe updates I’ll be on the look out for. As I’m on a budget I need to make the best use of what I have!

At the moment I’m living in leggings, boots, longer length tops, dresses and cardigans. I’m looking forward to breaking out of my style rut with a couple of new looks. Things that I love that I already own include my neutral colour blazer, my breton stripe tee (I adore breton stripe!), grey converse and my denim shirt dress. Matched up with a few new pieces and I should be set for spring!

 Loafers: Dorothy Perkins £32, Wide leg trousers: Topshop £42, Pointed pumps: ASOS £25, Red ballet t bars: urban outfitters £28, Floral skirt: New Look £21.99, Swallow bird earrings: Republic £4.99

I love wide leg pants as a change to all the skinny jeans and slim leg trousers I’ve been wearing. I also love the floral print skirt for wearing with the striped tee or plain vest tops, tights and cardigans until it gets warmer. I’m desperate for some new shoes and the pointed flats and red shoes have straps across the foot which is great as normal pumps just end up falling off my feet! I quite fancy a pair of cheap loafers too and I’m always looking out for animal themed jewellery like these swallow earrings!

What will you be wearing this spring?

Still buzzing from my 2 minute plank hold :-) Catch you later!

Nude Blazer H&M £24.99

Perfect basic white tee H&M £6.99

Denim Shorts Dorothy Perkins £15

Neon Strawberry Pendant Accessorize £9

Nude Court Shoes New Look £24.99

As I’ve been harping on about recently, I’m really trying to reign in my spending in a big way. I do want to update my wardrobe with a couple of things for spring but I can’t afford to go out and spend a fortune. I’d love a neutral coloured blazer that would go with almost anything – I also love blazers for flattering a curvy figure. I would also like a basic loose fitting white tee for pairing with black trousers and bright accessories for work, or jeans and printed skirts at the weekend. I’m completely obsessed with neon pink right now and I love this cute strawberry pendant – luckily I have an Accessorize gift card from Christmas so I can indulge a little! I also need a new pair of denim shorts as my current pair are getting more than just a little bit snug. It could be that I’m too optimistic about the weather but I’d love to be able to wear those shorts bear legged with ballet pumps and a baggy tee. I’ve been after a pair of nude court shoes for a long time and with all the family parties and weddings I have coming up I know I’d get a lot of wear out of these matching them with any of my various floral printed dresses. I am going to check out EBay and charity shops to see if I can find perhaps a blazer and the shorts, other than that I may have to choose one or two pieces a month to treat myself to.

Here’s a few of my favourite spring looks from my Pinterest Style Board that I’ll be using for inspiration:

1, 2, 3, 4

What’s on your spring fashion wish list? If you could buy just one thing what would it be?

Well my head must be up in the clouds today as I have left my camera at work so have no food pics for earlier. I think I'll just do a double post tomorrow instead!

So, I thought that while I have the opportunity I would talk about some plans I have around saving money, being a bit greener, and trying to be a bit more creative!

Over the last few months my spending has been going through the roof. This has mainly been spending on clothes and I have been using the excuse of losing weight and having no clothes that fit to justify my spending. To be honest, most of this spending was justified and losing weight to fit into fab new clothes was one of my main motivations for losing weight in the first place so I feel like I deserved to treat myself!

However, now the time has come to try and start to reign things in a bit. I'm setting myself a challenge, for the months of July, August and September spending is OUT. With the exception of planned holidays and special days like my birthday which have already been budgeted for, I won't be buying any more new clothes, accessories, DVD's, books, stuff for the house, nights out and I will be sticking to a stricter food budget. I will allow myself to buy second hand and vintage finds and materials to use to make or customise things but this will all have to come out of a set monthly budget of around £50.

I wanted to do this on the blog as I know that writing the blog keeps me very focused. Hopefully you will all find this challenge an interesting read! I'm actually really looking forward to being a bit more creative, I have loads of clothes that are just crying out to be customised and re worked into something else, luckily I'm not too bad with a needle and thread!

Before I start the challenge I do have a wish list of things to get before July starts:

Whey and Soy Protein

I'm running low on my favorite chocolate true whey from MyProtein, and luckily its on offer this week. I also want to get some Spirutein as soy protein powder is apparently better to use in cooking. I'll be getting the cookies and cream flavour after I have tested it out at the weekend thanks to the sample the lovely Sarah sent me to try.

Sports Bra

I really need a new sports bra. My current ones are a size too big. Bouncing boobs are not good! I like the Shock Absorber range.

Neutral support trainers

I need some running shoes that have neutral or dynamic support so that I can insert my special insoles as if I put them in my current running shoes that already have over pronation features it could push my feet too far the other way. These are Nike LunarElite+

Foam roller

To try and work my tight IT band in my legs which I'm pretty sure is contributing to my sore knee. This one is from Amazon.

More Tea Pigs

I've found a deli in Newcastle which stocks the whole range and I just can't help my tea addiction!

River Cottage Everyday Cookbook

I had a look through this at the shops and it seems to be full of some really good simple straight forward, thrifty and healthy recipes, or at least plenty of inspiration for me to make up my own recipes based on them.

I'll probably do another proper post to set out the rules of the challenge a bit clearer in the next couple of days. What do you think of my challenge idea?

Hi Everyone, this is a bit of a monster post so please bear with me! Hope you’ve all had a great weekend so far. Saturday morning I was up bright and early for my first run since last weeks Great North Run. I have to admit when I looked out the window and saw the howling wind I very nearly decided to just leave it and go to the gym instead. I stuck at it, fuelled up with some orange nakd raisins and went out and did 6.66 miles in 1hr03.

It was so cold my fingers were actually really sore and aching. It was not the most pleasant run but I’m glad I didn’t let the weather stop me! I think I’m going to continue running shorter distances (4 – 9 miles) and doing speed work on the treadmill at the gym over the winter to keep my fitness level up. I came home and did 15 minutes of yoga stretch (from a Davina DVD) then made breakfast. I had some delicious protein pancakes made with egg whites, cookies and cream spiru-tein, baking powder, soy milk and apple and berry fruit puree. These didn’t cook properly for some reason but I covered them with hot berries and almond butter sauce and they still tasted great!

Lunch was a salad with cos lettuce, spinach, cucumber, red onion, carrot, green pepper, 2 goats cheese babybel and some balsamic dressing. I also had a 2 small chopped apples and a sliced pear with cinnamon.

I had an afternoon of catching up with the family then hit the town for some shopping. I picked up some goodies from Waitrose:

I was chuffed that I managed to find some of the 2% Total Greek Yoghurt to try and some of the Lindt Dark Chocolate with Sea Salt (more on that in a mo). I also got some organic brown pitta breads to pop in the freezer and two packs each of basil tofu, sesame almond tofu and some tofu sausages that I fancied trying out. I also picked up some natural almond flavouring.

I stopped by Holland and Barrat for some nuts and nut butter:

Walnuts, brazil nuts, raisins, ground almonds, cashew butter, almond butter and some sprouted wheat bread that I’ve been dying to try. Its high in protein and only has one single ingredient – spouted wheat, sounds good!

I looked about for other items from my wish list but just couldn’t seem to find anything. I ended up in Peacocks and was very surprised to find these:

Grey flat studded ankle boots, charcoal grey skinny trousers and some soft and oh so comfy hareem style belted pants that I’ll be wearing round the house with big jumpers, so cosy! I just wanted some cheap boots and skinny trousers that I can sling on when its raining outside (hate wet trouser bottoms!) and that will do for work too, these seemed to fit the bill.

I also picked up my new blender!

Isn’t it pretty? I know its no Vita Mix but hopefully it should do me for a while.

After meeting up with the hubby and snacking on some dried apricots to keep me going, we came home and I made my first ever curry without using a pre made curry paste. I was very proud of myself :-)

Chickpea and Vegetable Curry (makes 4 portions)

• 1 tablespoon of olive oil
• 1 chopped onion
• 3 finely chopped cloves of garlic
• 1 inch piece of ginger root peeled and grated
• 1 tsp of garam masala
• 1 tsp of hot chilli powder
• 1/2 tsp of ground cumin
• 1/4 tsp of ground coriander
• 1/2 an aubergine
• 1 small sweet potato
• 4 runner beans, chopped
• 1 tin of chickpeas
• 1 tin of chopped tomatoes
• 1 tin of light coconut milk

Start by chopping the aubergine into bite size pieces and lightly stir frying in some olive oil for a few minutes until browned. Set to one side. To speed things up I also cheated a bit by microwaving the sweet potato for 3 minutes so that it was semi cooked. Chop the sweet potato into bite size pieces and set to one side with the aubergine. In a heavy bottomed pan (or frying pan – I actually just used my big wok) heat the oil over a medium heat. Fry the onions for a few minutes until translucent, then add the garlic and ginger, followed by the spices. Fry together for a few minutes taking care not to let them burn. Add the aubergine, sweet potatoes and chopped beans and fry for a minutes before adding the drained and rinsed chickpeas followed by the chopped tomatoes and coconut milk. Leave to simmer for 10 minutes then serve.

I served mine with some cauliflower ‘rice’ (cauliflower put through the food processor and them steamed) and a drizzle of soy sauce. It was delicious and so good for you! The beauty of this is that you could add any veggies you have hanging about in place of the aubergine, beans and sweet potato.

For desert I had some of my strawberry frozen yoghurt topped with agave syrup and flaked almonds.

This has kept so well in the freezer, such a great alternative to regular ice cream. I also couldn’t resist trying a square of the Lindt Sea Salt Chocolate.

Oh. my. god. This is the best chocolate I have ever tasted. I was divine. It took all my will powder not to eat the whole bar there and then. I love the sweet and salty combo and this is a perfect example of that. Yum! I’ll be stock piling bars of this every time I’m at Waitrose.

This morning I had a bowl of Dorset Cereal Fruit and Fibre style cereal with a chopped apple and some soy milk.

Was nice to have some cereal for a change, very tasty!

Mid morning I was just itching to try out my blender so I made a strawberry and mint smoothie using frozen strawberries, skimmed milk and a few fresh mint leaves.

The blender worked really well and the smoothie was delicious and refreshing.

I roasted a huge tin of veggies (broccoli, sweet potato, red pepper, red onion, aubergine, runner beans) to last me for a couple of days. For lunch I made a spelt wrap and filled it with hummus and some of the roast veggies.

I love roast veggies and hummus in wrap, perhaps my favourite filling! I also ended up making myself a big bowl of vanilla and matcha green tea protein ice cream topped with coconut and agave syrup.

I wanted to be sure the blender could handle the ice cubes and I’m very pleased to say that this bowl was perfect – no lumpy bits at all!

I’ve had a bit of a soup making day, I have a big pan of low carb Leek, Potato and Bean Soup on the stove right now. I’ll post the recipe up tomorrow or this will end up being the longest post ever!

Have you had a good weekend? What’s your favourite soup? I’ll be a soup making machine this autumn and winter – it makes the perfect healthy lunch when the weather is cold! I like to add beans to my soups to make them more filling too.

Oh, and in case you missed it yesterday I posted Part 1 of what I learned doing my Big Budget Challenge. Check it out!

Don't know whats wrong with me this week but every morning I'm waking up just wishing I could stay in bed for the rest of the day! After about two hits of the snooze button I got up had a cup of warm water and jumped into Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred Level 3 and the last circuit of Level 2. As always this DVD kicked my arse, I was knackered! For breakfast I thought I would go oat free again so I tried out a sample I'd been sent with an old order of Maximuscle products from a while ago. It was a sachet of strawberry flavoured Cyclone.

It looks like pretty hardcore stuff with 30g of protein and over 200cals per serving plus it contained creatine which is also suppost to do good things for your muscles. I blended it up with some frozen blueberries and skimmed milk. It made a yummy shake, but its not something I would buy as it wouldn't fit my needs as well as my regular whey protein powder.

Work wasn't too bad this morning but I have been finding it very difficult to focus for the last couple of days. I have Friday booked off so hopefully that will give me sometime to get my head together for next week. I was starving by lunch time and scoffed down my apple and Asian Chicken Broth in no time!

After losing the will to live in my afternoon meeting I had some greek yoghurt with orange and green grapes, simple but really delicious!

I had another semi late night at work again - this time I needed to man a display at the 100 Days of Learning Event being held in the local Leisure Centre. Luckily I managed to get away a bit earlier than expected. My dinner was more yummy turkey hummus lettuce wraps with some carrot and cucumber followed by a bowl of frozen raspberries with vanilla rice milk

Drinks - water, green tea, decaf tea

Been having more of a think about my wish list and what I'm going to prioritise from it. I think the running shoes are fairly essential now that I'm doing more running, as the last thing I want to do is get injured or bugger my knees up by continuing to run in my cheapo trainers. If I find a shop that sells a good top and leggings for a good price then I'll probably get them too. I need to get my dermologica face wash as I'm nearly out and even though I probably don't need the superfoods stuff, I really want it, so I can try them out and see what all the fuss is about! I could also really do with the tea towels and canisters for the kitchen as what I have at the moment is crap. So there I go, my priority purchases for next month!

Well I'm heading off now to make a cuppa, catch up on some blogs and get ready to watch Sophie Dahls cooking show on BBC2. I love her cook book, and suprisingly a lot of her recipes are on the healthy side such as spelt flour pear and ginger muffins, goats cheese, spinach and watercress salad etc. In the cook book she talks a lot about her life and her perspective on food, she even went raw diet for a while! I don't know if the recipes on the show are also going to be on a more healthy theme, I guess I'll have to wait and see! Anyone else planning on watching Sophie Dahl? Who is your favourite of the TV chefs? I do like Nigella and Jamie as well. Hope all of your weeks are going well!

I spoke in yesterday's post about whether anyone has a pay day wishlist (my pay day is this Thursday, yey!)

Thanks for your comments, its really interesting to hear what your all lusting after!

I thought I would do a quick post to share with you how I write my wish lists as they are not as straight forward as they may seem. I have developed a bit of a strategy since I decided that I needed to get my spending under control this year! Also, as times are incredibly tough at the moment I think the importance of being organised when it comes to spending is really important. Its also worth remembering that we all deserve a treat every now and again. It might seem a bit over the top, but I am a total organisation freak when it comes to stuff like this, hope you find it interesting and useful!

1. Write down a list of all of the little things and you want and need. I tend to add both the need things and the want things to the same list.

2. Have more than one list
I like to have more than one list for different areas such as clothes, stuff for the house etc. That just makes it easier to assess what it is that you need / want.

3. What do you want and what do you need?
Look at your list and ask yourself what on this do I really need and what do I really want? When you come to setting your budget then this will make it easier when deciding what to get and what to leave till next month.

4. Set your budget
Obviously this depends on your own financial circumstances. At the begining of the year I decided to set myself a monthly 'pocket money' budget that was realistic and would allow me to get a little shopping fix instead of restricting myself to nothing then hammering the credit card and going on the shopping equvilent of a binge. Its also worth thinking at this point if your birthday or Christmas is coming up and whether or not you can do some tactful hinting of pressie ideas from your wishlist!

5. Do your research
When you have a better idea of what is that you consider buying then its time to do a little bit of research. I always start with the internet. I use Evernote which is a brilliant tool (its free) for clipping information / pictures from the internet and storing them so you can look back and compare things, different makes / models / online reviews etc. I also use Evernote for clipping ideas and recipes from blogs etc, its brilliant! A bit of internet research also gives you an idea on what you can expect to pay and what quality product you will get for this. I always bear in mind price v's quality v's level of use. Its worth remembering, for example, if your after a black pair of trousers your going to wear every day for work it might be worth paying for the best quality you can afford with the hope that this way they'll last you longer. It can sometimes be the same with make up. A foundation may be great but if you need to use loads to get good coverage then you could be worth spending a little more for a better quality longer lasting product. It will save you money in the long run. Whenever I buy clothes I always think about what other items in my wardrobe they will go with. Theres no point in spending £20 on a skirt if you then have to go and buy a pair of shoes, shirt and jacket to go with them (unless the outfit as a whole is on your wishlist!)

6. Shop!

My current wishlist includes -

Fitness stuff - running leggings, running top, running trainers, water bottle, belt (in the style of a superhero) for carrying keys etc, HRM
Super foods - chia seeds, maca powder, nutritional yeast, almond nut butter plus any other bits of (out of the ordinary) yumminess I can get my hands on.
Stuff for the flat - new kitchen towels, tea, coffee and sugar canisters, new plates and bowls to replace boring white chipped ones, cushions for the living room, pictures for the walls, general stuff to brighten the place up
Clothes - tracky bottoms, vests and hoodies for when chilling round the house (I think I bought enough normal clothes in Feb!)
Beauty - under eye conclealer, Dermalogica face wash, body butter, fake tan, hair cut, hair dye, bronzing stick

I still need to go through stages 3 onwards for this stuff but hopefully I should be able to manage a few key bits and pieces. Stuff like the Dermalogica face wash isn't cheap but my bottle has just ran out and I bought it last May!

Happy Shopping! xxx

I was up nice and early as usual this morning to do the Davina Super Body DVD – Super Sculpt with additional Super Pump section to work my upper body even harder. I love doing this DVD it still leaves me feeling like I’ve had a great workout!

I made a lovely bowl of porridge for breakfast this morning – Chocolate, Pear and hazelnut. I made up the porridge using 1/2 cup of Rude Health Porridge mix and 1 cup of water then mixed in one small chopped pear and a scoop of chocolate protein powder. I topped the porridge with another small sliced pear and a few hazelnuts.

I love chocolate and pear together, makes me think of chocolate and pear tart!

Lunch was a big bowl of leftover veggie chilli with some spinach, carrot, cucumber and beetroot salad on the side.

Loving this chilli, perfect for cold winter days. I also ate an un pictured peach.

Last night I have been thinking of what to have for my afternoon snack today and I decided to try something new out:

Peanut Butter Mousse with Black Cherry Jam

• 1 pack of mori nu silken tofu
• 2 tablespoons of smooth peanut butter
• 1 teaspoon of agave syrup
• 2 teaspoons of naturally sweetened black cherry jam (I use St Dalflour brand)

Blend the silken tofu, peanut butter and agave syrup together in a food processor until smooth. Pour into two containers and chill in the fridge. Top each portion with a teaspoon of the jam. Enjoy!

Please don’t be put off by the tofu, it has a neutral taste and and lovely texture plus its packed with protein. If your still not convinced you could use Greek yoghurt instead. I love it for making healthy deserts. For all the peanut lovers out there you’ve got to give this a try – I may even try making a chocolate peanut butter cup version!

After work I met up with the hubby at the supermarket. We had decided that tonight would be ‘anything goes night’. I usually try and meal plan as much as possible to save cash and reduce food waste, however what this doesn’t allow for is some spontaneity and the opportunity to raid the reduced section at the supermarket occasionally! We probably didn’t get to take full advantage as it was still fairly early but I was really disappointed there was nothing very nice at all. I ended up coming home and making a quick cheese and red onion omelette with red pepper, carrot and cucumber on the side.

Boring! For desert I had a couple of delicious frozen chocolate avocado cups with coconut and as I was still hungry I also had an old favourite – frozen raspberries with vanilla rice milk.

So disappointed there was nothing nice reduced, its typical I always see things I fancy when I’m not able to get them!

Shopping List

Since I have been on my Big Budget Challenge I’ve realised the importance of having a budget when shopping and sticking with it. I get paid tomorrow (yey!) so I’ve been thinking about the things I have on my wish list that I’d like to get this month. Only problem is that this list is pretty long and when added all up well over my set budget!

So I’ve had to do some prioritising, here’s what I’ve came up with:

Hair cut and colour

I am desperate to get my hair cut and coloured. Luckily I just colour my hair at home pretty cheaply but my hair cut is a bit more pricey. As I’ve found a good hairdresser I’d like to stick with them, they charge £40 for a cut and blow dry.

Massage

I have been dreaming about getting a massage for months! There is a salon just up the road from me which offers a full body 1 hour massage for £30. I think I’m going to treat myself.

Blender

As I discussed in this post I’ve really put a fair bit of thought into which blender to get. I’ve finally decided to get this Kenwood model. I feel that it has all the features I need, it has good reviews, and looks good. It will do me until I can afford a Vita Mix!

Slow CookerI’ve seen this very cheap model on Amazon. it has fantastic reviews and for just under £8 you can’t really go far wrong. I’ve always wanted to try one out and the hubby loves stews so this should be useful for preparing quick dinners when I’m working late over the winter.

Eye shadow

Sarah blogged about this Urban Decay eye shadow pallette and I was instantly in love. Its £27 but contains shades that are all perfect for my colouring and that I can use to create a few different looks – including my favourite smoky eyes.

Work out gear

I feel like I’m constantly buying workout gear but considering I spend a fair bit of time in it (and washing it) I can understand why. I’d like some plain black leggings and a longer line vest top plus a comfy hoody that I can wear in the gym and for my new yoga class. I could also do with a new yoga mat as my current one has bits dropping off it! I’m going to try shopping around a bit for these.

Magazine subscriptions

One thing that I’ve learned through my big budget challenge is that I just can’t help myself when it comes to magazines! As I’m always going to end up buying them I’d might as well save myself some cash and make a few subscriptions as you tend to save a fortune getting them this way instead of buying them in the shops

Clothes

I added these items to my autumn fashion wish list a few weeks ago -

Grey Knitted Pointelle Jumper £35 Topshop

Beanie £14 and hand warmers £12 Warehouse

Hand warmers are a must for iPhone users! I think I’m also going to have a look around Primarni ;-)to get a couple of fun cheap things to spruce up my wardrobe a bit.

The stuff that didn’t make the cut

It may seem like there's quite a lot of stuff there to start with (thanks to making money on ebay my monthly budget is a bit more substantial than it usually would be).

Things that are still on my wish list include a new coat and boots. As I have a couple of perfectly good coats I can’t justify a new one right now, same with the boots :-(

How do you go about prioritising purchases?

Still disappointed with my boring dinner. I think I might go and snack on an apple in a minute as I still don’t feel that satisfied! Do you ever shop from the reduced section? What's the best thing you’ve ever bough from it?