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Running with the enemy

Hi guys, and to all those who are enjoying/have enjoyed a lovely Thanksgiving, I hope you’ve had a great day!

In light of this event, I thought I’d have a think about what I’m thankful for. So I’m linking up with Jessie‘s Thankful Thursday post. Seems appropriate, even though I’m not American, to get involved!

It’s easy to dash through day-to-day life without stopping and taking stock of what you’ve got. It’s often the case that is when something happens that you realise how much you really appreciate something. For instance, you’re car breaking down. It’s an absolute nightmare situation – how do you get to work? How do you get to the shop to buy food for the week? You forget how easy a car makes your life.

Definitely my family is top of my list of what I’m thankful for. I know that whatever happens they’ll be there for me. Ben consistently supports me in anything I do and I always know he’s there if something goes wrong.

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The great thing about Ben is he is so selfless. He would drop anything and everything if I needed him. I can’t be thankful enough for him. He’s teaching me to be a less selfish person – it’s baby steps!

Obviously I’m also thankful for my parents and close family. I’ve been extremely lucky to have had a great childhood and a good upbringing.

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Both my sister and me are polite and well-educated and this is largely due to my parents hard work with guiding us through life (sorry this sounds a bit sappy I know).

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And the best mum in the world. I’ll let her off for sending me to school with a broken arm (oh did I mention she was a nurse…?) The heart the size of the country, a wardrobe the size of a small planet. Luckily we have the same size feet and the same love for Accessorize Smile

I’m also thankful for my health and fitness. There are so many people in the world not blessed with the ability to even walk, so I’m thankful for having a complete working body.

I’m thankful for my job as I know a lot of people are unemployed and are struggling at the moment. So I’m thankful for both Ben and my income that has allowed us to live in our little house and start building towards a lovely life.

There are so many other things I’m thankful for and I could write all day, but I’ll leave it there.

So today I will be running with the enemy, aka our current customer. No I am joking, they are lovey. It’s just I’m a little nervous as I’m just used to being in meetings with them and having arguments professional disputes with them regarding different factors. There’s quite a few of them and they invited me out this lunchtime and honestly I’m scared. I don’t know how fast they are. I don’t know if we will chat…or if it’s purely running. It was easy with the guy I was running with before as he was on my team and we laugh and joke all the time in the office. Well, I’ll keep you informed!

Speaking of my last run (Wednesday lunchtime), I got drenched and muddy. Lovely. Perfect for half-way through a working day. I did shower but I don’t wash my hair after a lunchtime run so it wasn’t the best look I’ve had for the afternoon. But it was a good run and though I grumbled and complained when he persuaded me to run (I had originally looked out the window and said “hell no” because of the weather), I’m glad I went. I didn’t take a photo of my Garmin, but we ran 3 miles in 26 mins. Not too bad.

This weekend is the start of my Pilates class on Saturday. I’m really looking forward to this as I had a couple of one-to-ones and loved it. And then Saturday night we’re off to Ben’s mums for a nice meal. Sunday I’m hoping to do a run but we’ll see how Saturday night goes I guess hehe.

What are you up to this weekend?

What are you thankful for?

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Christmas, coconut flour and Ben & Jerry’s

Hi guys, errrrm how is it 21st November? I’ve been married now almost two months. That is mind-blowing!

I’ve really being feeling Christmassy. I love Christmas – it’s my favourite time of year. I love how everyone has that Christmas feeling; that expectation and excitement. I love the music and the decorations. And, obviously, I love the food.

What I hate about Christmas is this sudden fear of the dreaded holiday weight-gain. All these articles start appearing about “How to avoid the Christmas bulge” and “What foods to avoid at a Christmas buffet” etc. It sort of takes the fun out of it. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not going to throw myself into a giant-sized box of Celebration chocolates with abandon. But I’m not going to sit here and deny myself the treats that I so look forward to. Mince pies? Yes please. A slice of stollen? Ohhh yes. I just wish the media could tone things down a bit and stop making people feel so damn guilty about eating the food of the season. Come on people, let’s relax a little shall we?

As I’ve mentioned before, I’m working at the customer site at the moment. It’s quite a good team we have; there’s only seven of us and it’s nice and relaxed. The work is tough as the system that’s being developed is fairly complicated but we’ve got a good atmosphere. However. Outside our little bubble the normal business-as-usual life of the customer is working around us. And I don’t think they like us. They practically growl at us when we laugh. Raise their eyebrows when we have moderately loud conversations. And the worst part? They have the radio on. And it’s the same station. All. Day. Long. If I hear Skyfall ONE MORE TIME I might cry. Whew, sorry about that. Got that outta my system.

Right, so it’s What I Ate Wednesday – though this is Sunday’s eats. Let’s get started, shall we? Thanks to Jenn as usual!

Breakfast: I’ve been experimenting with breakfast. OK, still my usual porridge/oatmeal. But I’ve jazzed it up with my new favourite ingredient: coconut flour.
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OK, it doesn’t look any different. But let me assure you, this has a heaped tbsp. of coconut flour added to it. It adds a lovely subtle coconut taste and makes it very thick and stodgy. Perfect porridge consistency in my books. And it’s added a lovely smooth texture to it now. So with this at 7am I’m good to go until midday (with coffee as well, obviously).
Lunch: during the week I either have a mixed bean chilli or a salad, but at the weekend I can be a bit more exciting. Usually in the form of something eggy. As enticing as that sounds…
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I whipped up three eggs, some chopped cherry tomatoes, chopped onions and half a cup of pumpkin puree. The pumpkin was a great add. Really thickened it up. And made the eggs a lovely, er, colour Winking smile And I’m obsessed with Brussels’s sprouts at the moment. Might need to tone that down before I overdo it before Christmas – and what’s Christmas without sprouts??
Dinner: I decided to try a Thai-style coconut curry. Unfortunately I didn’t have any coconut milk but I thought with my new favourite ingredient I could attempt it anyway. I didn’t really follow any recipe. I just threw things together.
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Coconut Chicken Curry (serves 2)
Blob of coconut oil
Clove garlic, diced
Inch of fresh garlic, grated
2 chicken breasts, diced
2-3 mushrooms
1 cup of frozen mixed veg
1 white onion, diced
1 cup Greek yogurt
2 tbsp. coconut flour
1 tbsp. unsweetened shredded coconut
1 tsp. chilli powder
1.5 tsp. dried coriander
– Heat a pan with the oil, then add the onion and fry until the onion is golden. Add the mushrooms and fry for 1 minute before adding the garlic.
– Add chicken and brown.
– Add the yogurt and mixed veg. Cook for 3-4 mins.
– Add the coconut, herbs and spices.
– Once the chicken is cooked and the sauce has thickened up serve.
It was really tasty. The coconut flour helps to thicken it up and the yogurt makes it very creamy. Perfect. You can add other spices to make it more interesting if you fancy – I was just using what I had to hand.
Snacks: yeah…I might have had some Ben and Jerry’s Chocolate Brownie Frozen Yogurt. My favourite flavour and it was brilliant to have alongside watching Erin Brockovich. Anyone else love Julia Roberts? Brilliant film!
Fitness: I ran on Monday and though it went really well in terms of speed it really didn’t agree with me.
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I finished the run feeling like I was going to be sick. It really wasn’t fun. I wasn’t sick, thankfully. I think it was a mix of pushing myself a bit too hard and I’m thinking the ice cream the night before didn’t help things.
I plan on running this lunch time with Mr Ego so we’ll see how that goes. He’s toned down a bit now which is nice. We motivate each other but I’m still finding the runs a bit too easy as his pace is slower. But you know, I’m not too bothered as it’s just good to get out. I like to have the company and it’s so refreshing to get out of the office. Though we tend to chat about work while we run which isn’t so good!
Important question: too soon?
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Oh, also – check out Ffion’s blog (Chocolate and Respberries) for a great Christmas-themed giveaway! Delicious Hotel Chocolat Advent Calendar 🙂 Hotel Chocolat do amazing chocolates…toss up between them and Lindt for my favourite.
What songs are really getting on your nerves?
Are you feeling Christmassy yet?
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“You’re so lucky”

Hi guys! Hope you’re all having a good week. Hurrah it’s Friday!

Right, I have a bit of a rant. OK, maybe rant is a bit strong. A reflection then.

You might have noticed I enjoy exercising (most of them time when it’s not stupidly early and I’m feeling grumpy). As much as sometimes I’d just rather have more sleep or sit on the sofa watching TV, I ultimately enjoy what exercise brings me. I love the rush of endorphins. I love the satisfaction of completing a challenging run or finally being able to hold a plank for three minutes. I love setting goals for myself and striving to complete them. I’m competitive with myself. And others. If I hear someone I know has run further than me I have a strong urge to race out the door to beat them.

I love feeling healthy and strong. Knowing that I could out-run a lot of people (who don’t exercise regularly) is a good feeling to me. Aesthetics aren’t everything I know, but I like the way I look because of exercising. Let’s be honest, I wouldn’t be over-weight if I didn’t exercise. But I wouldn’t feel as confident with myself.

I eat healthily as well. No I’m not on a diet. No I don’t stop myself eating certain food groups. Yes I do have preferences for certain foods and yes they’re highly likely to be on the healthier side of the scale. I have a massive appetite and eat a lot, but generally it’s mammoth salads and monster veg portions. That’s my thing. I think about food a lot. What’s for lunch? What’s for dinner? Do I have enough apples??

                                                      Source: muffintop-less.tumblr.com via Jordan on Pinterest

 

So why do people feel the need to tell me “I’m so lucky”. When I reach for the a biscuit or a slice of cake people say to me, “Oh you’re so lucky. You’re so slim. You can eat anything”.

Hang on. Yes I can eat anything – anyone can pretty much eat anything. I just don’t eat anything all the time. That biscuit isn’t my fifth biscuit, it’s my first. I might go back for a second or third if I particularly enjoyed it, but I don’t do that every day.

Lucky? I like to think that luck has a small part to play in the way I am. Maybe it’s lucky that I have a small frame – genes? Maybe it’s lucky I have a tendency to enjoy fruit and veg. I’ll give you that.

But I put a lot of effort into being healthy. Every day. I love exercising but it’s tough. Mentally and physically. Consistently exercising every week and pushing yourself so you’re not just ‘ticking the box’. Just getting out of a warm bed earlier than you have to is tough!

I make sure I eat well. It’s so easy to eat rubbish. Cheap microwave meals ready in 2 minutes. Fast food restaurants on every corner. Buy one get one free. Now, don’t get me wrong. I eat rubbish too. Mainly sweets (pic ‘n’ mixes are my nemesis) and desserts. But I prepare and cook all my meals. Lunches are pre-packed in the morning or weekend. Dinners are made when I get in from work. I’m not talking crazily exciting meals with a hundred ingredients and hour long cooking times. Omelettes, stir fries, salads…I plan at the weekend the meals we’ll have, buy the food at the supermarket and then make the meals in the week. It does take effort and time to plan ahead but I think it’s important.Healthy foodThis isn’t luck. I’m pretty sure if I ate rubbish and didn’t exercise I wouldn’t look so slim. My hair probably wouldn’t look as shiny. My skin would break out in spots more often. Yes I can eat anything – I just choose not to. I smile and nod and looked flattered when people say I’m lucky. But inside I’m proud. Because I earned that biscuit.

 

 Does anyone else get annoyed at things like this? I just needed to shout about it!