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Hi everyone, happy Friday! Chuffed to bits its the weekend! My weekend started a bit early this week as today we were all out of the office on a team building day. More on that in a mo, first yesterdays eats.

I did 30 minutes of Davina top fit before tucking into a tasty breakfast of my last slice of soda bread spread with vegan pure cream ‘cheese’ and dark cherry jam, 2 oranges and a mug of Starbucks VIA.

Loved the cream cheese and jam combo.

Lunch was some of my Veggie Chilli on top of some steamed spring greens and two small pears.

I had a business meeting in Newcastle before I went to my yoga class so my eats for the rest of the day were pretty random and unpictured. I inhaled a little bag of mixed dried fruit and nuts before my meeting, plus two of the three apples I had with me. After the meeting I ate the other apple plus my nakd berry bar which I had been saving for post yoga. Still feeling like I could eat a horse I went to Waitrose and bought a small pack of sweet potato falafel with hummus and a bag of apples. I ate another 2 apples plus another 2 after yoga! That’s 7 apples! I guess there are plenty of worse things I could have ate in my hunger. Luckily I didn’t end up with tummy ache.

This morning I hit the gym for a HIIT session (10 minutes of intervals on cross trainer, step machine, bike and rower) followed by some abs and core on the stability ball and some upper body free weights. Breakfast was a delicious Chocolate Cherry Green Monster containing spring greens, black kale with stems removed, chocolate Sun Warrior protein powder, soy milk, last of my matcha green tea powder, maca powder, ground flax and nut mix and xanthan and guar gums. I topped it off with some dried strawberries and flaked almonds.

Just heavenly!

I think I may have mentioned before, but I work for a small charity in County Durham that works to support the voluntary / community sector in our area. We are only a small team and once a year or so we think its a great idea to have a team building day. We all met at Vennels Cafe in Durham for tea and cake. I had a slice of sultana tea cake with butter and a green tea with fresh lemon.

The cake was really gorgeous. We then went off for a long walk around Durham by the river. We must have covered about 4 – 5 miles in all, stopping for another cup of tea, and to take some photos on the way back into town:

Our beautiful Cathedral

We then went for lunch at Oldfields which is one of my all time favourite restaurants. They value themselves on using local produce. I started with some sunflower seed bread:

Then had some Onion Soup with a cheese toasted crouton:

My main was Pan Haggerty with mature cheddar and leeks (like a potato bake) accompanied by some roasted root vegetables and clap shot (mashed carrot and swede)

Desert was a beautiful Bramley and Stem Ginger Fool with Shortbread biscuit.

I also enjoyed a small glass of red wine. The whole meal was just fabulous and amazingly delicious, have I mentioned that I love my job? We spent the rest of the afternoon doing some personality profiling tests. Apparently I’m Spatial Visual, Intra Personal and a Theorist!

That meal really filled me up and left me a little bloated so I’ve just been drinking green tea, miso soup with fresh ginger and later I think I may snack on, yes you guessed it – apples!

My Riverford organic veg box arrived earlier too:

Carrots, beetroot, giant sweet potato, aubergine, savoy cabbage, peppers, mushrooms, apples, pears, kiwi.

All the produce looks amazing, I can’t wait to have a bit of a cook up over the weekend. I have several late night meetings over the coming weeks so I’m thinking big batches of soup and curries that can be frozen and defrosted when needed.

Yesterday I also ended up making another couple of unexpected purchases! After keeping my eyes open for more of my favourite cinnamon and hazelnut coffee which I’d found at TK Maxx I’d decided to order some off the website to put away for Christmas (as detailed in my gift guide). Low and behold I went into TK Maxx and saw loads of bloody bags of the stuff (all under half the price I paid on the website). Typical! I bought more cinnamon and hazelnut, french vanilla and chocolate. I can’t wait to try these out.

I also ended up succumbing to the lure of the 20% off deals in the shops and bought this dress from Warehouse.

To be honest this picture doesn’t do it justice. I’m thinking dressed up with some killer heels, bear legs and a clutch bag for going out, or dressed down with opaque tights, boots and a big chunky wool scarf for day. I bought it with the thought that I could just take it back if I changed my mind but I have fallen in love with it! I have another silk dress that I bought from Warehouse about 7 years ago (as worn in this post) and it has worn so well I think this could be a good long term wardrobe item. Does anyone else find their will power disappear when discounts are being offered?

Do you ever have team building days at work? What do you usually do? I had such a great day I feel very lucky to work for such a great organisation.

I have a crazy busy weekend ahead so I’m going to enjoy some chill time this evening and try and catch up on some blogs. Hope you all have a great weekend!