Posted on by AnnaTheApple

Rants and Raves #9

Spring is on its way. I can feel it. OK maybe not every day but it is definitely soon(ish…maybe…wishful thinking?) When I come back from the gym in the morning and walk Alfie (about 6.45am) it is LIGHT. It is also light on my commute home. This is progress!

So another week, and another line-up of my rants and raves. This week I really had some genuinely ranty moments. Poor Ben. But let’s start with a positive…

Rave: At work I like to have a mid-afternoon snack (between my lunch and my 4pm apple and banana, not that I’m a creature of habit or anything…). Usually it’s something from my graze box or a handful of pistachio nuts. I ran out of my graze box (I get it every other week) and I wanted something sweet but filling. I saw a pack of these in Tesco so bought them and I’m addicted!

Nakd cocoa crunch They’re basically very similar to the normal nakd bars but they have this added crunch and more protein (5.5g total for 30g and 106 calories) which as a snack is really important to me as I want to be kept full and not reaching for something more afterwards (not that this always works mind you).

Rant: I have the lovely Kelly from my running club to thank for spotting this really infuriating detail of my next 10k race (Eastleigh 10k) I’m doing. Can you spot it?

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The fact that the first 10 men will be award prizes but only the first SIX women. Er…what? I’m sorry but we’re missing four accomplished females here. It’s disgusting that there is still gender bias in races. Is the 7th/8th/9th/10th woman not as good as the equivalent placing man? What message does this give out to aspiring young female athletes? The argument of lack of money or that maybe more men enter the race than women does not work I’m afraid. Lower the number of prizes for men or raise the number for women. I could rant until I’m blue in the face about this one.

Rave: I did the worst possible thing: I let a strange man into my house when I was home alone. He asked all the right questions and spouted all the right things and I led him in – I’m that kinda girl 😉 No seriously, he was from Hello Fresh and his offer just sounded amazing and I was sold. I signed on the dotted line, gave my card details to him and boom I now have a subscription. I hang my head in shame…BUT I’m fully happy with my snap decision. Like I previously said, a proper post is on its way about what it is and what I think. Ben was somewhat surprised though getting in and seeing a strange man in the living room with me!

Rant: I saw a snapshot of The Sweaty Betty London Fashion Week catwalk advert on Facebook as I was scrolling through my time feed the other day and was shocked.

Sweaty Betty Catwalk

Is this representative of the target market buying these workout clothes? Where are their muscles? They barely look healthy. I’m not trying to thin-shame at all – I appreciate that slim people wear workout gear too and that you don’t need bulging muscles to shop at Sweaty Betty or to be healthy. BUT there were no athletic models at all here and just shows mixed messages about their company values. (For the full line-up check it out HERE).

Rave: I love films and I love the buzz around the award season, wondering who will win what. I also enjoy looking at all the beautiful stars dressed to the nines. However (and again we’re going to hit on gender inequality) I despise how most reporters will ask women “who are they wearing?” as one of their main questions. Not “how did you prepare for the role?” or “what was the hardest part of playing this character?” or something related to their actual ability as an actress, rather than the superficial quality of what they’re wearing. However, Reese Witherspoon refused to answer their questions about her dress but said “ask me about my role”.

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She was championing the #askhermore Twitter campaign which is fantastic! Nicely done, Reese. For a funny twist on this check THIS article about how male stars react when asked similar superficial questions on the red carpet.

Rave: I believe it was Maria’s blog where I first saw these amazing marshmallow creations from Marshmallow Deli. As a surprise pressie for Ben for Christmas I bought two different marshmallow flavours. Due to high demand over Christmas we didn’t actually receive them until mid-January, but it was worth the wait.

Marshmallow deli - caramel swirl

I got him Salted Caramel Swirl (right) and Peanut, Choc Chip Caramel (left). Ben really enjoyed them. I tried both and preferred the salted caramel because the peanut one tasted similar to Snickers chocolate bar and I hate Snickers!

Another rave: This little face.

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Just casually waiting at the top of the stairs. What would I do without him?

What are your rants and raves this week?

Do you get annoyed by gender inequality?

What snacks are you enjoying at the moment?

26 Replies to “Rants and Raves #9”

  1. Yes on the race – that’s disgraceful. I suppose they’d say more men enter than women but again, how sexist! They should be encouraging more women to join if that’s the case. Hmph.
    Haha I had a Hello Fresh man in the house too yesterday. I didn’t sign on the dotted line but it did look delicious.
    Those marshmallow.. I need to order some pronto!
    Claire @ Flake and Cake recently posted…Eats and FeatsMy Profile

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  2. So to summarise: We all rave about food, but still have to put up with gender inequality in every aspect of our lives and the unhealthy stereotypes that are placed upon us. After listening to Patricia Arquette at the oscars, and also the BBC2 documentary at the moment about the women’s suffragette movement, I’m pretty pumped up against all this stupidity.
    If Sweaty Betty wants to promote their brand like that it’s fine by me… My bank balance is too small and my booty too big for that. lol.
    Love these posts by the way.
    xx

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    1. Nice summary 😉 Food is always a rave for me!
      Good outlook on Sweaty Betty. It just annoyed me when I saw it. GRRR.
      I’m hoping MarathonTalk (the running podcast) will do something on the show about it as I tweeted them (rather excessively) and they also tweeted something about prize money discrepancy for women as well…
      AnnaTheApple recently posted…Sometimes weekends need to be like this…My Profile

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  3. Sweaty Betty has always struck me as a fashion brand aimed at people who want to look pretty while working out as opposed to being of any practical use for when you’re drowning in your own sweat and about to pass out on the floor, so I suppose that image with 90s heroin chic models as opposed to fitness models actually suits them perfectly.

    Ugh, races definitely can’t argue that more men run them than women – if anything the reverse is starting to be true. I have so many rants about inequality for women in sport, in work and in so many other areas of life that I could probably spam your comments section with all of them, but I’ll refrain from doing that.

    Those Nakd bars are great. I don’t find them that filling really…I think the added protein probably has a psychosomatic effect more than anything else, as 5g really isn’t much at all, but they are tasty and to be honest I don’t think there is a snack bar in existence that would keep me going for more than an hour. Oink.
    Jess recently posted…Posts That Piqued My Interest #5My Profile

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    1. Yes I agree about Sweaty Betty. Very pretty pretty but not necessarily that functional.
      Haha yes that’s probably true about the 5g of protein. I tell myself it’s a better snack then an apple though (of which I eat to excess…) but in reality it probably doesn’t make much difference! I also eat out of boredom at work which doesn’t help either…
      AnnaTheApple recently posted…Sometimes weekends need to be like this…My Profile

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  4. That winds me up too about the prizes for only 6 women, as opposed to 10 men. Complete bullsh*t.
    I have to say the first thing I noticed was B&Q Eastleigh- takes me back to my uni days, I used to drive past that all the time when I lived in Southampton and went to Eastleigh for my doctors appointments.
    Your dog is super cute, my Mum’s dog puts his head on the steps like that, waiting for her 🙂
    Can’t believe you have only just discovered those Nakd Bars- you are usually my first port of call for new foods 😉 they are good though, I like the crunchy bits.

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  7. That race is disgraceful! I think I would be emailing the sponsors and race directors and asking them why. If the reason is that less women enter, how do they know the ratio anyway? And that is no excuse- perhaps in the Olympics men should get gold/silver/bronze but women just gold and silver because less women take part??? Awful!
    I get very annoyed with gender things- one of my friends is expecting a baby girl and her husband bought a little star wars baby gro (R2d2 I think) and the amount of people going “no, get her a disney princess one”- argh! Or the pink lego sets. Or the range of clothes that M& S sell- girls are all pink and impractical, and boys get the hard wearing stuff. I feel like we are taking steps back as a society at the moment.
    I have never bought any workout gear from Sweaty Betty as it always looks to be like sort of gym poser wear- the sort of thing Colleen Rooney would wear while going around the shops, and not what people wear to actually work out (and in those photos some of those clothes look so annoying, all drapey bits going everywhere and getting in the way. The 4th one looks like it would cause an accident on a treadmill. Plus it’s very expensive.
    Glad you like the marshmallows- I don’t think I would get them again, it was a bit of a novelty for me to have them, but I would buy more of the sauce- the butterscotch sauce is amazing and I have been having a little on pancakes at the weekend.
    Maria @ runningcupcake recently posted…Jantastic week 7- high mileage!My Profile

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    1. Oh I know, the whole gender thing is just absurd. I even get annoyed when watching action films where 9/10 the girl is there as eye candy and a damsel in distress. I always think it’s great when Mark Kermode mentions that Bechdel test (had to google that!!) about female characters and if they’re actually a dynamic character rather than just another female cliche.
      Ha you did make me laugh about that Colleen comment – yes I completely agree.
      AnnaTheApple recently posted…Sometimes weekends need to be like this…My Profile

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  10. Re. the race inequality. There is also a discrepancy in the allocation of prizes for Veterans; men are allocated prizes up to M60, women are only allocated prizes up to F55 (unless I’ve interpreted the entry form incorrectly). Veteran female runners matter too!

    Unfortunately nothing shocks me where Sweaty (overpriced) Betty are concerned!
    Emma recently posted…This Girl Can: VolunteerMy Profile

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