January Health and Fitness Challenge

(Image from Fiona)

January, the month where everyone feels a bit full, tired and groggy after December's festivities. The lovely Fiona has decided to help us combat this, and has developed a health and fitness challenge for the month. Each week she will set one nutritional and one fitness goal and we'll blog/tweet with our experiences.

Generally, I'm quite a healthy person. I'm vegetarian, don't eat processed foods very often, drink a lot of water/herbal tea daily, and work out sometimes. BUT, I'm not living the lifestyle that I dream of. I'm lazier than I would like when it comes to fitness and food. I want to be the woman who works out daily, and eats more things that make my body happy. I've not had a goal to work towards for a while, and this year I'm aiming to always have something to aim for. For, we are so much more productive when we have goals and have to be accountable for our actions, are we not?

This week's goals are to work out three times and eat at least 3 healthy vegetarian meals. I've not been to the gym in weeks, so a push to get my trainers back on and into the fitness studios is much appreciated. I've booked myself in for yoga and body pump classes, and I'm aiming to get back out on to the pavements to reignite my running love. The healthy, veggie meals should be easy for me, right? WRONG. Being veggie doesn't automatically mean you always have healthy meals, and over the past few weeks I've had more take aways, chocolates and crisps than I can count, and has left me feeling super sluggish.

I'm excited about seeing how I stick to Fiona's weekly challenges, and also reading about everyone else's experiences over the month!

Have you planned any health and fitness goals for January? What are they?

A Little Love

Sourdough Starter / My little shadow / chocolate hearts


This has been a week for hibernating. A week's annual leave for me, and a poorly flatmate meant that we have spent most days snuggled up watching Christmas movies and Parks and Recreation. On Tuesday we didn't budge from the couch and powered through The Holiday, Bad Santa, Miracle on 34th Street, Scrooged and Notting Hill (ok, that's not a Christmas film but it does meet the soppy requirements).

I've been coaxing my sourdough starter to grow in the hopes that I can soon make some delicious sourdough bread, although the white loaf that I've been making recently does disappear in a matter of hours. There's something deliciously comforting in fresh hand made bread smothered in butter.

Really, the thing I'm most grateful for this week is the time to relax. To read, to bake, to snuggle with the kitten and enjoy being cosy in my lovely little home.

A New Addition

As promised in my last post, here's a wee introduction to the little man who has been occupying most of my time over the last month!

His name is Harry (chosen because Harry's have a reputation for being cheeky boys, and he is definitely cheeky), he's now around 20 weeks old and he is just the softest, fluffiest little thing. I am definitely a crazy cat lady now, and have to stop myself from instagramming pictures of him all day. But I really do think that he's the cutest.

Currently his favourite things to do are trying to jump into the fridge to pinch some extra food, sliding around on our wooden floors and wakening me up at 5 am by lying on my face. He loves jumping into the shower when you're trying to wash and smothering you with cuddles if you've been out of the house for even ten minutes.

I'll wrap this post up here, as I really could gush about him all day and I'm sure most of you don't want to read that! Any other cat-fanatics out there? Let's be pals.

A Little Love

As it's been a while since I've done one of these, I thought I'd do a wee November round up and get back to weekly posts in December.

November started with me hosting a baby shower for my lovely cousin. My little 'niece' isn't due until Christmas eve, so the shower was a tad early, but it was an absolutely perfect afternoon. I spent the day before baking up a storm and I think the heart-shaped victoria sponges were the hit of the day. I also made some traditional cupcakes, a lemon drizzle sponge, chocolate cups and cinammon shortbread. Safe to say everybody left absolutely stuffed! This was also the perfect excuse to try and make the Pinterest famous pom poms, and my flatmate and I loved them so much that they are still hanging above our dining table.

I took advantage of some of the gorgeous, bright Autumn days we've been having and bundled myself up and went for lots of walks this month. And, of course I've had to heat myself up with some proper comfort food when I get home. Macaroni cheese has been the meal of choice this month, I've lost count of how many times I've had it. I just can't get enough! I also made my first loaf of homemade bread, and have since made it a few more times to dip into various stews and soups. Yum!

My mum came to visit last week and we walked into town to wander around the Christmas market. I won't say too much about the market, as I think I'll do a post on this during the week. After saying I'll do it for months, and then having to recover from surgery, I've finally rejoined the gym and am super keen to get back on the fitness wagon. I've said yes to a huge challenge next year, which I'll blog all about soon, but the gym will be seeing lots more of me over the next few months! And finally, how stunning have the sunsets been this week?

There's one other tiny little thing that has been taking up most of my time this month, and if you follow me on Twitter or Instagram then I'm sure you'll know exactly what I'm meaning. Check back during the week for a full post on my newest favourite thing.

Let go

I am focusing on...

Doctor Who marathons

Driving with the windows down

Toast spread with lots of nutella

Pastel coloured nails

Rediscovering old, great songs...Jack Penate, anyone?

Changes

Image from Pinterest

Happy Monday lovely people! I am the world's worst blogger, I know. I really need to get into scheduling posts and planning to write them on my days off. I work long, twelve and a half hour days so on working days I kind of go off the radar and forget about online life, so better organisation is definitely needed!

I have a big change happening in my life right now, and if you follow me on Twitter you'll already know that I've secured a new flat in Glasgow. This is an exciting move for me, as Glasgow's definitely where I feel most at home, and it's a step I've needed to take to improve my life and move away from things that have been bringing me down.

I get the keys on 1st of May, so, Glasgow bloggers get in touch and we can arrange some little meet ups!

How's your Monday been? 

Today I choose: Happiness

Image found vie Pinterest

Life for me right now involves a lot of positive thinking, a lot of thought alterations and choosing to be happy. I think that's one thing that's so hard to forget in times of crisis or stress- we can choose how we want to feel. After struggling for a long time with certain personal situations, last month I finally said "ENOUGH!" and I've not looked back once.

I caught up with a family member I'd not seen in 3 years the other day (ridiculous, right?) and after the usual non-stop chatter for hours until you're all up to date with each other's life, he looked at me and said "so, you're good?" and for the first time in what feels like SO long, I was able to genuinely smile and say "right now? Absolutely!".

I'm off today, and have a to-do list the size of my arm consisting of arranging flat viewings, renewing car insurance, the 30 Day Shred, food shopping, meal making and maybe even squeezing in a long bubble bath. How's your Monday looking?
 

April Goals

This feels like a super exciting month for me, with lots going on and many things to plan for -which I'm sure  I'll blog about over the next few weeks. One thing that I really find helps me when I'm busy like this is to make monthly goals of what I'd like to achieve, as it's so easy to lose focus when you're dealing with all of the little tasks that happen on a daily basis. So, here are my goals for April.

• Exercise every day. My life's been quite unsettled since the start of the year, and I've been lacking a proper routine especially for working out. I can't see things calming down any until at least May, but I've decided to stop using everything else as an excuse. A friend and I have signed up for a race a month this year, so I need to get back into training (I'll post about the programme I'm doing soon). I'm going to combine running with the 30 Day Shred again since I can't afford a gym membership right now, and I know that the shred definitely gives results!
• No fizzy juice. I'm a fizz lover for sure, but if you've read Skinny Bitch then you'll know just how awful it is for you, even if you think you're doing well by drinking diet. I drink lots of water anyway, so if I do get the fizz craving I'll try and substitute it with sparkling water instead. 
• Decide on and secure a flat!! I'm officially moving back to Glasgow in May, so a friend and I who I'll be sharing with are frantically flat hunting at the moment and are hoping to have picked one by next week. So look forward to some flat tour posts in the future!
• Pack all my belongings. Well, it goes without saying that if you're moving house you need to pack. UGH! It's one of my least favourite things to do, but needs must and I'll probably have a clear out and a wee Ebay sale to go along with it. 
• Read before bed every night. I've still been in a bit of a reading slump and this makes me sad, so I'll be trying to turn the laptop off and hide my phone every night before bed and read some delicious words instead of messing around on Twitter/Instagram/Tumblr.
• Reply to texts. If any of you know me personally you're already aware that I'm AWFUL at replying to texts. So, in aiming to be a better, kinder person I'm trying my best to reply to all messages. 

These are my main goals for the month, but like a lot of you, I do tend to write daily to-do lists and can't function without my trusty Filofax to keep me organised. 

What are you working towards this month? Anything exciting?!

Fresh starts all round

There might still be snow on the ground here in Scotland, but now that it's April and the clocks have went forward I'm officially dreaming of light nights, sunshine, outdoor time and less wooly jumpers.

The clocks going forward or back always seem like a bit of a fresh start to me, and after a very rocky few months I'm ready to start again (again!) and I finally feel like I'm making a bit of progress with life. I've been thinking lots about blogging again and trying to find my voice here, so bear with me while I try a little redesign and hopefully start posting much more regularly!

When you read as many blogs as I do, it's easy to compare yourself to others and think "I like reading about beauty and fashion, but I don't want to write about it. So who'll read what I have to say?" Well, we'll just have to wait and see. I know the types of blogs that get my heart racing and my head nodding and shouting "yes!" when I read them, and one day that's the kind of blog I would like to have created.

So here's to as many fresh starts as you need in life, because really, all it means is that you're always trying for more.

Shake it out

Forth Rail Bridge, South Queensferry

After a not so pleasant start to 2012, I found myself in a bit of a funk. Not miserable, not sad, just...a bit out of sorts. We all have periods like that, right? And we all have little things that we do to shake ourselves out of it.

One of my favourite things to do to clear my head is to jump in the car with my dogs and just drive. No destination in mind, just an Ipod full of good music and the open road. It certainly helped a little, and the wind and the rain definitely blew some cobwebs away and left me feeling a bit more refreshed.

I'm just about to indulge in one of my other favourite "cheer myself up activities" and go for a nice, hot bath full of Lush goodies.

How do you get yourself out of a funk? What helps put the smile back on your face?