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I feel like I’ve been saying this every Sunday for the last few weeks, but this weekend has been fabulous!

Iced Vanilla Soy Latte at Starbucks, so good on a hot day!

This weekend has been filled with some of my favourite things: sunshine, seeing my family, coffee, shopping, running and baking!

I started my weekend with an 8 mile run, the farthest I’ve ran in a long time. It was tough, I have to say I have a new found respect for how difficult running is. I’ve said a few times that I’m no longer going out and giving it my all because I don’t want to overly stress my body, but even though I’m taking it easy I am so much slower than I thought I would be. I’m not worrying about it though, I just want to train injury and stress free for the Great North Run and I have a good few months left to improve!

After my very early run (I was out the door at 6.30!) I ate a quick breakfast of overnight oats with chia seeds which I mixed with frozen blueberries and topped with half a banana (ate the other half before my run), tahini and maple syrup:

Extremely delicious! I got ready and we hit the town for some shopping, it was so lovely to be able to go out in shorts and a sleeveless top!

OOTD No 1: Floaty pink vest top: H&M, tan leather bag: Mango, gold chain necklaces: Warehouse, pink diamante bracelet: Accessorize, denim shorts: Mango, gold sandals: Next

We had a great time in Newcastle, I had an iced cherry green tea from Pumphrey’s as well as the coffee shown above. I also did rather a lot of shopping. I just couldn’t help myself, I really do need to get my budget back in check! Here’s some of the goodies:

Salad spinner, new smoothie bowl and giant tea cup – all from Clas Ohlson

Bright coral clutch bag: New Look, basic white tee: New Look, Gold long chain necklace with beads: Warehouse, white, purple and stripy racer back vests: H&M, Stila Acai Crush Lip and Cheek Stain: Boots, Essie Coral Nail Polish: Boots, statement necklace: New Look, pink printed scarf: Mango

The amazing necklace from New Look was reduced from £12 to £5 and I love my statement necklaces! I was really happy with everything I got. I was desperate for a new salad spinner as my old one was broken and I love that its pink! I also bought myself a new dress. Last night it was my Auntie and Uncles Ruby Wedding Anniversary Party so I got dolled up!

OOTD No 2: blue dress: Mango, necklace: New Look, Bag (as shown above): New Look, hot pink diamante bracelet: Accessorize, bird ring: Primark, Nude Court Shoes (with giant heel!): New Look

New nail polish, and its yet to chip!

Haha, I am well tall in those shoes! That dress was a surprise buy for me, I thought I would have gone for something floral but I really liked this when I tried it on in Mango. It was reasonably priced (£29.99) and flattering on my figure (the back also goes down in a v with an exposed zip fastening). I had a lovely night catching up with my Dad’s side of the family including seeing a lot of my Dad’s cousins that I hadn’t seen in years!

This morning I was so happy to be able to enjoy a relaxed breakfast. I started with a bowl of Dorset Cereal High Fibre Flakes with an apple and rice milk:

Then followed it up with a Cherry, Vanilla and Sea Salt Smoothie:

Other eats over the weekend have included:

Socca pizza (made with chopped basil) topped with tomato sauce, roasted veggies and Tesco Free From Mild Cheese

Baked tempeh (marinated in balsamic vinegar and soy sauce) with roasted sweet potato, pepper, courgette and red onion

Smoothie made with mixed frozen berries and cocoa powder topped with peanut flour sauce and Kashi Honey and Almond Crunch  

Salad with cos lettuce, red oak lettuce, cucumber, carrot, beetroot, sharon fruit, Raw Health cracker and balsamic dressing

Salad with cos lettuce, red oak lettuce, carrot, red pepper, beetroot, tempeh and tahini dressing (with added fresh parsley)

Last but not least, a giant fresh green juice made with cucumber, celery, parsley, ginger, lemon plus ice:

So refreshing! I did say at the start of the post that I have been baking but I’m saving that one for tomorrow! If you follow me on Twitter, Instagram or Tumblr you may have seen a sneak preview :-)

How have you been spending your weekend? If you like dresses, what’s your usual favourite style? What’s some of your favourite ways to spend a sunny weekend?

This weekend has been such a good one!

Loving my new floral top plus a side of Twinnings Earl Grey and Green tea blend

After what had been an odd week for me, I came home on Friday, treated myself to a hot bath and then made a simple but gorgeous dinner:

I made a quick omelette with two farm eggs and filled it with almond butter and black cherry jam alongside a baked sweet potato with more almond butter and some roasted broccoli. The omelette with the sweet jam was especially good. For dessert I had a huge bowl of fresh strawberries topped with some of my home made strawberry coconut ice cream:

I was up very early yesterday as me and my best friend were off to the Spa! I’ll be blogging a full review of that very soon as it was courtesy of Groupon but I have to say it was fabulous. Before I set off I had a light breakfast of papaya, soy yoghurt and Kashi Go Lean Crunch:

After our Spa experience we decided to walk across the river into town for an early lunch. It was a beautiful sunny day and the view of the Bridges across the Tyne was stunning:

We went to The Settle Down Cafe in Newcastle, I hadn’t been in ages but it didn’t disappoint!

I love it’s relaxed atmosphere and it always has some vegan options, they even had a vegan cake on the menu! We both had a falafel, salsa and rocket toasted sandwich on seeded bread and I had a side bowl of the different salads including a slaw, broccoli, spinach and sesame and chickpea:

I keep forgetting how good falafel is with salsa! After that we had a look around town and a then walked back to the car over the river. It was so good to spend time with Claire, I love her to bits!

For dinner just fancied something light and tasty and what I made turned out extremely well, I even surprised myself with this one! I wasn’t planning on it being a recipe but its too good not too!

Roasted Vegetable and Lentil Salad with Tahini Dressing (makes 1 serving, vegan)

• 3 small beetroot
• 1 red onion
• 1/2 medium butternut squash
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1/4 cup of dry green lentils (or half a tin of ready cooked green lentils)
• 1/4 cup of fresh flat leaf parsley, finely chopped

For the tahini dressing (this will make 4 servings):

• 1/4 cup of tahini
• 1/4 cup of apple cider vinegar
• 2 tbsp of tamari or soy sauce
• 1 clove of garlic, minced
• Water to thin

Pre heat the oven to 200c. Cut the beetroot into bite size pieces, chop the red onion into wedges and peel and chop the butternut squash. Add all veg to a baking pan along with the cloves of garlic left whole. Toss in a little oil and salt and bake for 30 – 40 minutes until tender. While the veg is roasting cook the lentils in boiling water until tender (if using dry lentils). To make the tahini dressing combine all ingredients in a food processor, adding water until it reaches the consistency of single cream. Once the veg is roasted remove the garlic and squeeze the flesh out of the skin and into the lentils. Add the roasted veg and parsley (reserving some for garnish) and mix well. Serve drizzled with the tahini dressing:

The colours in this dish are beautiful! I served mine with some steamed asparagus. So simple, so healthy and tastes amazing. It would also work well with goats cheese and balsamic vinegar instead of the tahini if your not a fan.

This morning I was up bright and early for my weekend run. I did 7 miles in 1hr 9 so pretty slow (for me) but I keep on reminding myself I don’t have to be Speedy Gonzales and I still have plenty of time to improve before the Great North Run in September. When I got home I made a Butternut Cherry Bomb smoothie using beet greens instead of spinach and topped it with a few frozen cherries, roasted almonds, dried mango and maple syrup:

One of my fave smoothie combos for sure! Today I’ve also enjoyed a wonderful hydrating Vita Coco Coconut water and Berry slushie:

I just blended up a small carton of coconut water, a handful of mixed frozen berries, some crushed ice and a couple of drops of stevia. So yum! For lunch I had a giant salad with romaine, cucumber, carrot, sauerkraut and basil tofu…

…and for snacks the usual green juice (with cucumber, celery, lemon and parsley) and two fresh figs with soy yoghurt, tahini and thyme honey:

I will never get sick of figs, tahini and honey! Oh and I’ve also been indulging in one of my favourite treats:

Montezuma’s Dark Chocolate Buttons and pretzels, I’m actually planning a special recipe based on this combo very soon!

Have you had a good weekend so far? I had such a great time enjoying my home town of Newcastle Upon Tyne. Technically I was born in Gateshead and now live in Durham but for some reason Newcastle is where my heart is :-) I have worked and did live in Newcastle for a short time and just wished I’d appreciated it more back then, although it has changed a lot over the last few years and become a more modern city. I love the market, the shops, bars, cafe’s and places like the Tyneside Cinema. I have so many good memories! Do you live in or near your home town and do you like it? If you do, what is it about your home town that you love so much?