Things are fairly positive in my life right now so I actually don’t have much ranting to do, long may it last!
Rave: I’m really proud of myself. I’ve been reducing my excessive intake of squash. I’ve mentioned before on the blog how I tend to drink a lot of squash. Mainly out of boredom at work if I’m honest. It’s not great as I get the sugar-free variety which though is, well, free of sugar it is not preservative-sweetener-colour-crap-free. It’s not that I don’t like the taste of water, it’s just when I’m at work and I fancy something but not necessarily an actual snack I go for squash. Anyway, I’ve switched a few of these times for something a bit better for me: herbal and fruit teas.
I’ve always drank peppermint tea (my absolute favourite) but I’ve added in a few more to keep things interesting. I’ve yet to crack into the salted caramel green tea though as I’m terrified it’ll make me feel sick (green tea always does this to me). I’m thinking though that because it’s mixed with other things it might be less potent to me? Anyway there was a Twinings offer in Tesco so I risked for a biscuit…or a fruit tea in fact.
Rave: I just love him so much.
It’s OK Alfie, I don’t need much space on the sofa…
Rave: trainers! I have so many pairs it’s ridiculous. I love Strava for keeping me solidly tracked on their mileage as well. I’m a bit of a trainer whore as I don’t really favour any brand in particular. In general I love a good stability shoe as I’m fairly flat footed (though less so than when I first started running due to weekly exercises).
Mizuno are usually my go-to shoes but my current love are the ASICS Luminus. I tend to cycle through the trainers depending on what I’m doing (i.e. my Boosts tend to be for speed workouts or shorter distance races), how wet/muddy a pair currently are and where in the Cupboard of Doom they sit:
It’s a balancing act in there…
Rave: if I fancy a kind of naughty snack but not really a full-on face in cake moment I’ve been having these Protein Works Mug Cakes (I wasn’t sent it to review and have no affiliation with them, just bought it as I heard it was nice).
Granted it looks pretty terrible in that photo but it’s actually very tasty. Nice and chocolaty with a good texture. It has 148 cals per serving and 20g of protein so it’s nice to top up the protein as well. It just h its the spot when I fancy something quick and tasty in the evening. It takes like 30 seconds in the microwave and you just add water – my kind of baking 
Rave: I’m listening to a really interesting audio book called The Diet Myth. It goes over all those silly diet trends and looks over scientific data and research surrounding them. It’s really very interesting and has a lot to do with the microbes in our body, which to be honest I’d never even thought about. It’s one of the reasons I’ve switched artificial cheese (like Laughing Cow and Babybells) to real cheese like stilton, Camembert and Brie. I haven’t finished the book yet but from what I’ve heard so far (it’s an audiobook) is variety is key, whole foods are best and avoid artificial crap. No great surprises there, but the rational and science behind it is very interesting.
Rave: my flat is pretty much sorted now. I just need a rug for my living room and I’m there. I’ve tried really hard to make it into a lovely home that I enjoy being in (which I truly do) and a reflection of who I am.
My new armchair is a perfect addition. Actually it’s not really an armchair as there are no arms… I also have lots of photos and wall art to give it a nice individual touch. My favourite wall piece is something that was handmade by a family friend, Sue. From an old book she took all the pages and made this:
I love it. I’m a big reader so for me it’s absolutely perfect. There’s nothing I find more relaxing than getting lost in a book.
A single rant: my neighbour had a party in his flat last week. On a Thursday night. A Thursday. I mean seriously, what the hell? I suppose I’m fairly lucky that I’ve had very few problems with my flat so far but this really ticked me off (as, I’m sure, it would most people who work Monday to Friday).
It really agitated Alfie who hadn’t a clue why there was suddenly a lot of door banging, loud music and loud voices coming through our walls. Our flats aren’t even directly next to each other – there’s a corridor we share and that’s it, but I could still hear the music. Alfie would bark every time he heard a loud noise and eventually cuddled right up to my face in confusion (he’s normally down the bottom of the bed). *Sighs*. I only had one ear plug as well as I lost the other one so had to be choosy in which ear got the preferentially treatment.
The next morning I put my radio as close to my door and the wall closest to his flat and whacked up the volume. Now when I get up at 5am in the morning I don’t try my hardest to tiptoe about the place, oh hell no I’m like an elephant. Do not mess with the early riser.
What have been your rants and raves recently?
Do you have considerate neighbours?
Do you read a lot of books?
I’m dying to know what the salted caramel green tea tastes like! I’m not a fan of green tea but I do like the fruity herbal teas. But I love salted caramel…..can’t imagine it in a green tea?!
I’m chuckling to myself about the radio at 5am. I used to do that a lot with my neighbours in my old house who liked to party mid-week. I found that opera played very loudly worked best! (I don’t even like opera, but I think it can be one of the most irritating sounds if you’re very tired and very hungover *mwa ha ha ha*)
The green tea is very subtle. There is definitely overtones of the salted caramel-ness though not overly sweet. And it didn’t make feel ill which is a huge bonus for me.
Bahaha opera is genius!!
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Don’t worry, I don’t think any mug cakes photograph well. Apart from those that you see on Pinterest and even then I am sceptical, as I think they cook a regular cake and carve it and fit it in to a mug for photos haha
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Haha I did wonder because honestly it looks pretty poor every time!
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I still need to try that salted caramel tea…can’t believe that I haven’t yet! Lovely to hear that you’re all settled in your flat. Making it a home and feel more like yours is the best part!
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It’s definitely very tasty and refreshing. You’ll like it I’m sure.
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I wouldn’t be quiet either after someone having a party on Thursday…that’s absurd! I don’t have many complaints about my home, I was lucky to find a house to rent while going through the divorce process. Now I am just stuck there until the lease is up! 🙁 I love to read! And I love how she did that with the pages!
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Glad you have few complaints. It’s awful when something annoys you about your home!
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A party on a Thursday? I find weekend once annoying because I’m also getting up early the next day for a run!
Our neighbours are OK with regards to noise- they used to have a few outdoor parties and once we had to speak to them as they had let their little kids get in their car and they were constantly beeping the horn- very irritating. The parking is our problem as they don’t use their numbered spaces, or they park in front of our garage so I have to knock on doors to ask people to move their cars.
That page bouquet thing is so pretty. Love the cushion too!
I hope you like the green tea- I keep trying it but I just don’t like it to have stopped trying now. Clipper do very nice fruit teas- their blackcurrant and acai berry is really nice, and actually tastes like it smells, unlike a lot of fruit teas which are a let down.
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That makes me angry about them parking in front of your garage. It drives me mad when people can be so thoughtless and selfish. I’m lucky I have my own parking space and no one can park behind me. But we have a communal bin area and that requires people taking responsibility over their rubbish and leaving it in a decent way. Not all people seem to be doing this…
Oooh I’ll have a look at Clipper thanks.
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I’m intrigued about the salted caramel green tea – although some of the flavoured green teas I’ve tried in the past haven’t been as nice as the picture on the box would have me believe! I love that book wall piece – what an amazing idea! x
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Oh it’s no where near as good as the picture on the box but it is pleasant and refreshing. A nice twist on the green tea.
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Oh man, I had the noisy neighbour issue back in Uni – I had a weekend job so whilst a couple of others had big parties in the kitchen (directly above my room) on a Friday and Saturday night, I then got my own back with the hairdryer and music first thing the next morning. Small things can be so satisfying in a situation like that! But it’s such a pain at the time. Sleep deprivation is the WORST.
Also, the salted caramel green tea is amazing. Almost as good as the gingerbread one 🙂
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Oooh I’ll need to try the gingerbread!
I just hate people being thoughtless and selfish, like I said to Maria above. I have been so careful about making noises and paranoid about my dog barking, now I wonder why I bothered!
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You’ll have to say how you get on with the salted caramel green tea. I keep thinking about buying one (the other I like the look of is the cherry bakewell one), but I can’t get on with green tea much. It always tastes so bitter. I have a big tea related rave – Tea Pigs liquorice and mint tea. I thought it would be gross because while I like liquorice, I thought it would taste weird in a liquid format. Nope. It’s my new favourite sweet tea.
Neighbour-wise, we’re VERY lucky now. We have really thick walls, so don’t hear much at all, but when we lived in the flat, that was a different story. I had to be up at 5am to catch a flight to Manchester, and they were partying until 3am. I went out and kept my finger on their buzzer until someone came down. I asked for their mobile number, or I was happy to speak to the council and their landlord (this wasn’t the first time). Funnily enough, they became much quieter after that. Prior to that, I had a bass guitar and decided to play it loud, pointed at our fireplace (which shared the chimney with them), early on a Sunday morning. 🙂 Satisfying!
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I love the Salted Caramel Green Tea! They do a Cherry Bakewell one which is pretty awesome too 🙂 And I’m a big fan of your home decor- very cool.