Time is flying by

Hello! Was that the weekend? It whizzed by.

I went for a manicure. I decided to go for simple and elegant for my nails. Just a plain French manicure:

Nails

I never get my nails done (I’m so clumsy that there really never seems to be any point) so this was a nice treat. And sitting there and talking to a lovely lady while she did my nails was like therapy! It was great.

And I got my hair cut. I tried to sneakily take a photo (I was quite embarrassed about doing this) but I only managed to get this:

Hairdressers

But I think it looks rather cool! To be honest, I didn’t have much done to my hair. Just a trim. My hair is so long that I usually just forget about it and then have it cut like twice a year, whoops. And it was long past a cut!

On Friday night, I had my close friend over and she brought over some delicious cupcakes:

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And they will be perfect. Delicious and beautiful!

Cupcake

And my little niece, Ellie (who’s going to be my flower girl) enjoyed them too!

Ellie

So I’m very chuffed that they’re sorted (or at least organised!) And we’ve selected our music for the church as well.

Then Sunday my sister and me were on Mission: Find Bridesmaid Dress. And it was Mission Accomplished. We found a beautiful dress that fits her perfectly. It ticks all the boxes. And we got shoes!! *Breathes sigh of relief* Hurrah!

I did however, have a tough run which ended in me feeling extremely sick. The problem was that I got up later than usual (10.30!! But I had gone to bed at 2am as we were out with friends the night before) and had decided to not have breakfast as it was already fairly late. And because it was mid-morning it was quite warm. So as I got into my stride during my run I started to feel a bit sick. When I finished I felt really sick and very faint. Not good. Very stupid. Lesson definitely learnt. On a plus note…I did run a personal best!

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Six miles in less than 50 minutes! Probably the reason I felt so rough after finishing…

And following from a not so good feeling run, I managed to have a porridge-related disaster:

5.08 porridge

It over-flowed!! It looks like something out of a horror film. What a waste Sad smile I got distracted while it was in the microwave. Whoops.

So in all, a very busy weekend! And I thought I’d leave you a picture of my parent’s dog, Lexi:

Sleeping Lexi… and our dog, Alfie, snooderling away. Basically, how I felt Sunday night!

Alfie sleeping

Hope your weekend was good Smile

Summer…what summer??

Woohoo we’re mid-week already. Not that I’m living for the weekends or anything…And predictably it is cold and miserable once again. No surprises there then.

First off, here’s my What I Ate Wednesday (thanks again to Jenn for hosting as always!).

 

Breakfast, I had almond milk porridge but with my added twist of a teaspoon of wheatgrass to turn it a lovely appetising colour of green:

1.08 breakfast

I heard that one of the benefits of wheatgrass was that it helped prevent premature greying of your hair. Now I don’t know how true this benefit is but after my friend (same age as me, 24) told me she’s been finding some grey hairs in her hair I’ve had a mini-panic and been throwing wheatgrass into everything. Silly, I know, but it doesn’t hurt to add it to things (like smoothies and porridge) as you can barely taste anything.

At work I usually eat a tuna salad or I make chilli and take that with me. I won’t post a pic as they’re fairly standard and I’ve posted photos of them before, but I will mention that recently I’ve been adding nutritional yeast as a topping to the chilli and, honestly, it’s divine! I’ve only just come across nutritional yeast so forgive me if I sound like a bit of a newbie when I say, Where have you been all my life?? Yummy.

But anyway, here’s lunch that I had at the weekend:

28.07 lunch

Chicken, onion, yellow bell peppers, courgette, mushrooms and full-fat Philadelphia Cream Cheese with a some Cajun spices to add a kick with steamed broccoli and soya beans. I love this meal soo much. So easy to throw together and just delicious. Really creamy and very filling.

And because it’s Summer Staples WIAW, [though it doesn’t feel like summer] dinner yesterday evening was a lovely colourful salad – at least something looks summery!

30.07 dinner

Feta cheese, haricot beans, cucumber, beetroot, tomatoes, lettuce and a drizzle of balsamic dressing. So fresh and yummy. I’m so into my cheese right now. I’m not a big fan of cheddar at all, but feta, goat’s cheese, edam, mozzarella (not melted) and things like that I adore. You can’t really beat a salad with how easy it is to prepare. Snacks have been a lot of honeydew melon…mmm.

Currently courgettes [zucchinis] are in season in the UK and I can’t get enough of them. I have them in my chilli, stir-fries, random ad hoc meals… and I really want to try that delicious Zucchini-ziki Sauce recipe from Jenn. Definitely a winning summer recipe! And beetroot. I really fancy making a beetroot smoothie – any ideas welcome! Smile

Onto the fitness side of things. Not so good. I woke up Monday morning for my run really not feeling like it. When I stepped outside it was like winter. I wanted to put gloves on it was that nippy. Fairly depressing. Then as soon as I started running I knew the run would be bad. You know when you can just tell? I wanted to give up straight away. My only motivation for continuing was that it would be a waste of the effort of getting up early. I was already up, dressed in my gear and outside, I might as well just get on with it, you know? But I started slowly and didn’t pick up my speed until towards the end.

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I wish I knew what makes me have a good run. Is it what I ate the night before? The amount of sleep I got? I just don’t know. But I was tired and felt my legs were heavy as I was running and I was in a bad mood.

Well, you can’t win them all can you? You’ve got to have a bad run to appreciate the good runs after all!

Here’s my outfit of the day:

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The top is from Oasis, jeans Top Shop and the necklace is from Accessorize. You can’t quite see in the photo but the top is a lovely colour of greeny-blue. And it’s lovely a silky.

Oooh and I attempted yoga for the first time. I was supposed to do it at the weekend, but after getting myself all stressed out I just didn’t feel the urge. So I got up earlier on Tuesday and attempted some of the beginner’s poses I’d found on the Internet: Downward Facing Dog (to begin with I struggled a little bit to understand how I was actually supposed to be positioned), Warrior (love this one), Plank, Fierce pose, Tree pose (another good ‘un), Garland pose (not the most attractive of positions I must admit), and the Boat pose. I hope to get better at doing them, then hold them for longer and then move on to more tricky ones. Baby steps. But not bad for my first crack at it!

Happy WIAW, hope you all had lovely meals Smile

WIAW – #3

Beware, I’m about to have a bit of a rant. Apologies in advance.

It’s so lovely and warm. The sun is shining. It’s amazing. Everyone is so much more happy. I get to work. I AM FREEZING. Apparently there is the need to crank up the air con to MAX and turn it into winter into our office. I look longingly out of the window at the beautiful sunshine and gentle warm breeze swaying the trees. And I’m sat with my cardigan on and jeans shivering. Shivering. I walk out of work in the evening (even at 6pm) and the heat hits me. My car is roasting. And yet I’ve spent 95% of the day shivering. Now I know I don’t have a huge amount of insulation going to provide some benefit against this, but that is not the point. It’s finally summer and I’m still cold.

OK, I’m done. Whew. I feel better now.

Sooo, WIAW. It’s that time of the week where I ‘enlighten’ you the fascinating (mildly interesting?) meals that I’ve had today (well, Tuesday). As always, hosted by Jenn from Peas and Crayons.

 

So for breakfast:

25.07 breakfast

Yep, that is green porridge. I added half a teaspoon of wheatgrass to my oats before cooking them. It didn’t impact the taste at all which was nice. I’m really into my wheatgrass at the moment and want to get it in where I can. I might make a green smoothie sometime this week to take to work and put in the fridge. I’m just concerned that they might think I’m a bit strange with my bright green smoothie…

Does anyone else get worried about what people think of what you eat? I eat quite healthily and get a few comments about my lunch or snacks and it really bothers me. I hate people looking at my food and judging me. I know I shouldn’t care but it makes me nervous eating around other people (except for close family and friends who know me well enough). I hate feeling like I have to justify what I’m eating. There are always the questions about why I eat so healthily and how I don’t need to eat all that salad, I’m skinny enough. I’m not eating it to get skinny I’m eating it to keep healthy and because I enjoy it! I eat rubbish as well but not all the time. I’m very conscious of what I put into my body and I like to feel good about myself.

Anyway, for lunch I had some quorn chilli that I’d made the other night and took some in to work with me [Check me out being a bit more adventurous with meals!]:

24.07 Lunch

This is an appalling photo, sorry. I was trying to take a photo on the sly so my work colleges didn’t think I was crazy. They’re not from the “take a photo of your food” era. This lunch was really yummy. A bit of quorn, a handful of haricot beans, chopped bell pepper, chopped courgette, diced onion, bit of garlic, chilli, mixed herbs and a tin of chopped tomatoes. This made two very yummy portions. Very easy ‘bung it all in a saucepan’ meal.

Dinner was even better:

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Goat’s cheese, chicken, chopped pear, tomatoes, cucumber, lettuce and pecan nuts with a balsamic dressing. I am loving salads at the moment. And I’m loving goat’s cheese. And surprisingly so is Ben. Another win!

Throughout the day I munched on some apples (obviously), a banana, Snack a Jacks (I am literally addicted to these) and a home-made jelly. No pictures as these are fairly dull. Well, maybe one photo:

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Ahh, perfection.

Here’s what I wore (yay summer outfit!):

25.07 outfit

OOTD (outfit of the day): top is from Forever 21, jeans are soo old (from Topshop) and necklace from Accessorize. Can’t remember about the bracelets – probably Accessorize knowing me.

And for my fitness… I did my usual 5miles in the morning. I’m pleased with how it went. It was a nice cool temperature to run:

24.07 Run

Not sure why my Garmin showed a different view today. I only recently jumped on the Garmin band wagon last month so I’m still getting used to it, and to be honest I’m not sure how to navigate through it. I just jab random buttons and hope for the best. I could read the manual. That would be the most sensible approach. But that’s an effort really, isn’t it?

Hope you’re all having a great WIAW. I love noseying (sp?) on people’s meals Smile

Eat outside the box

So we were vaguely tempted with a couple of hours of yesterday. But then it was rudely swiped away and replaced by cold and general cloudiness. *Sighs* well, I’m looking forward to my honeymoon in September…sunny Florida and Colorado. Woohoo!

As it’s Wednesday…

 

Thanks to Jenn for this – honestly I could spend an entire day looking at what everyone eats. It’s fascinating stuff and also gives me loads of inspiration for recipes (and a big dose of food envy!!) I’m still such a newbie and getting into the swing of things. Anyway here’s my what I ate for Tuesday. As usual for me I had lovely hot plain porridge for breakkie:

porridge

As you can see I ran out of almond milk! So, I had to have soya milk today. Not as good but it’ll do *grumble grumble* [love the fact that Tesco is doing an offer on almond milk right now – £1!! What a bargain]. I know it’s boring to have porridge for breakfast all the time but I just love it. I see all these lovely recipes for overnight oats with exciting fruits and nut butters and I think “wow, they look so yummy” but I can’t bear to not have my usual porridge. Sad isn’t it?? Well I’m thinking of maybe taking some overnight oats to work with me and having it for lunch. Is that excessive? Having oats twice in one day…?

For lunch I had my tuna salad which is always so yummy but again I probably need to mix things up a bit. I later had some olives and a banana.

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I’m trying to think (or eat) outside the box. I want simple, healthy food, easy to prepare and cheap to buy – not much, eh? I think I’m just a creature of habit and routine and I find myself getting stuck in these ruts. I know it’s not that difficult to create a salad and vary it up, I’m just being lazy. Well, I’m going to try and think of some different ideas so watch this space.

At least dinner was a bit more interesting. We had a piece of chicken with BBQ marinade and some roasted vegetables. To jazz up the veg I was going to crumble some goat’s cheese on it. However, I was devastated to find my goat’s cheese had gone off! I was so looking forward to it and was so disappointed to find it mouldy. So I had to improvise. I grated a Babel Bell over the veg instead. Not as good but what can you do?! And as always, a mountain of veg on the side…I could have a side of veg with anything really. A meal isn’t complete without it.

Untitled

After dinner I always have two smallish (OK maybe medium-ish) apples. I used to just have one but it was never enough. I literally could eat about six apples a day but I’ve toned it down a bit (fighting off the withdrawal symptoms and shakes). Hence my blog name! I always have at least one apple a day. It’s like a comfort food for me. It’s dependable; you can take it with you wherever you go, it holds up better than a banana in your handbag, and there are so many delicious varieties (though I detest Granny Smiths – too tart for me!) Golden Delicious and Braeburns are my favourite.

Here’s what I wore yesterday:

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(Pretty much all from New Look – love that shop).

Well, I hope you all have a lovely day (and those in the UK don’t have too much rain, booo). I hope to get more exciting with my food soon (pst, I’ve bought a blender!!). There might be some hope for me soon in this blogging world, hehe.

First WIAW

Now I know I’m very new to this but I’m very excited about my first ever What I Ate Wednesday (hosted by Jenn from Peas and Crayons).

So here we go (apologies for the rubbish photography skills and quality – I am clearly very much a newbie in this area!).

For breakfast:

IMG_1796

A bowl of regular Scottish oats with almond milk and a bit of water. Microwaved until at the perfect consistency of just the right amount of stodginess (a very technical and scientific term). I’m a big fan of soya milk (and skimmed milk) and I’ve only just started using almond milk after reading about it on pretty much every blog around. So I jumped on the band wagon and, unsurprisingly, it’s delish!

Very simple but very filling and warming on yet another rubbish British’s summer day (is there any more rain left in the sky?? Because I’m pretty sure we’re all going to drown soon, or live life perpetually feeling slightly damp).

And a nice mug of black coffee after getting into work:

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For lunch:

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I’m a creature of habit and routine so I usually have the same thing for lunch during the week as it’s just so easy, cheap and yummy. Basically, it’s flaked tuna, lettuce, beetroot, cherry tomatoes and some random bits of veg (like broccoli, peas & cauliflower) with a quick spray of Caesar dressing. Some olives on the side and two Babel Bells.

For dinner:

I got in late last night from work so I threw together something easy and healthy for Ben (The Other Half) and me:

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Scrambled egg with tuna (yes, more tuna…whoops) and cherry tomatoes with a portion of soya beans (I meant to buy broad beans but got these by mistake – a nice change actually), Brussels sprouts, artichoke hearts and some left over cucumber that needed eating. Quite a meal! Very yummy. I must confess that Ben didn’t quite get on board with the sheer amount of veg…

I’m really enjoying artichokes at the moment. Going to try and find some recipes to do some interesting things with them because at the moment I’m just throwing them on the plate as a side (though they are damn good like that).

Wednesday was a lot better than Tuesday – but then it didn’t take much considering how bad Tuesday was!