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Even though it was bitterly cold this morning the sunshine certainly made it feel like spring is on its way!

I started my day with 5 minutes of yoga / meditation. I’ve been doing this for the last few days and it has been amazing. I just sit in child’s pose and go over the day ahead and try and focus my mind a bit. Then I do a few yoga poses, whatever feels right each morning. This morning I went into down dog, then low lunge, warrior 2, bound side angle pose, chaturanga, up ward facing dog and back into down dog to repeat on the other side. I finished off in child’s pose again and just said a few affirmations. Honestly it makes me feel so much better taking that 5 minutes to start my day.

Breakfast was some quinoa porridge (1/2 cup of quinoa flakes, 1 tsp chia seeds, 1 tbsp of oat bran, 1/2 cup of vanilla rice milk, 1 cup of water and brown rice syrup) with 1 chopped apple, fresh blueberries, pecans and maple syrup:

I also enjoyed a maple walnut coffee, so good!

I’m trying to drink more miso soup so I started lunch with a mug of barley miso then had my salad which contained lettuce, spinach, carrot, sugar snap peas, beets, alfalfa sprouts and a sliced wild garlic tofu fillet:

I also had an orange and more blueberries:

Mid afternoon I snacked on a couple of delicious cookie dough balls:

I then hit the gym and did 30 minutes of HIITs on the cross trainer and step machine followed by my abs and core – almost unbelievably I managed a 2 MINUTE PLANK HOLD! I was buzzing, I’ve met my goal of holding a 2 minute plank already! I then did my 30 minute spin class :-)

Dinner was 2 big mushrooms stuffed with some veggie loaf and baked in the oven. I also had some parsnip chips and steamed greens with braggs, mixed seeds and herbamare seasoning:

Dessert was 2 chopped apples and 3 strawberries topped with a Total strawberry spilt pot yoghurt and some grape nuts:

This was lush! I was worried the strawberry sauce would have been too sweet but it was perfect, especially with the fresh fruit.

Spring wardrobe review

Now that the weather should hopefully start to warm up I’ve been thinking about my wardrobe and what existing clothing and accessories I’ll be trying to get some wear out of as well as what wardrobe updates I’ll be on the look out for. As I’m on a budget I need to make the best use of what I have!

At the moment I’m living in leggings, boots, longer length tops, dresses and cardigans. I’m looking forward to breaking out of my style rut with a couple of new looks. Things that I love that I already own include my neutral colour blazer, my breton stripe tee (I adore breton stripe!), grey converse and my denim shirt dress. Matched up with a few new pieces and I should be set for spring!

 Loafers: Dorothy Perkins £32, Wide leg trousers: Topshop £42, Pointed pumps: ASOS £25, Red ballet t bars: urban outfitters £28, Floral skirt: New Look £21.99, Swallow bird earrings: Republic £4.99

I love wide leg pants as a change to all the skinny jeans and slim leg trousers I’ve been wearing. I also love the floral print skirt for wearing with the striped tee or plain vest tops, tights and cardigans until it gets warmer. I’m desperate for some new shoes and the pointed flats and red shoes have straps across the foot which is great as normal pumps just end up falling off my feet! I quite fancy a pair of cheap loafers too and I’m always looking out for animal themed jewellery like these swallow earrings!

What will you be wearing this spring?

Still buzzing from my 2 minute plank hold :-) Catch you later!

Nude Blazer H&M £24.99

Perfect basic white tee H&M £6.99

Denim Shorts Dorothy Perkins £15

Neon Strawberry Pendant Accessorize £9

Nude Court Shoes New Look £24.99

As I’ve been harping on about recently, I’m really trying to reign in my spending in a big way. I do want to update my wardrobe with a couple of things for spring but I can’t afford to go out and spend a fortune. I’d love a neutral coloured blazer that would go with almost anything – I also love blazers for flattering a curvy figure. I would also like a basic loose fitting white tee for pairing with black trousers and bright accessories for work, or jeans and printed skirts at the weekend. I’m completely obsessed with neon pink right now and I love this cute strawberry pendant – luckily I have an Accessorize gift card from Christmas so I can indulge a little! I also need a new pair of denim shorts as my current pair are getting more than just a little bit snug. It could be that I’m too optimistic about the weather but I’d love to be able to wear those shorts bear legged with ballet pumps and a baggy tee. I’ve been after a pair of nude court shoes for a long time and with all the family parties and weddings I have coming up I know I’d get a lot of wear out of these matching them with any of my various floral printed dresses. I am going to check out EBay and charity shops to see if I can find perhaps a blazer and the shorts, other than that I may have to choose one or two pieces a month to treat myself to.

Here’s a few of my favourite spring looks from my Pinterest Style Board that I’ll be using for inspiration:

1, 2, 3, 4

What’s on your spring fashion wish list? If you could buy just one thing what would it be?

Hi everyone, hope your Friday’s are going well! I thought I’d do a fun little post with a few of my picks of gorgeous Christmas gifts. These are all things I’d have on my wish list and that I think would make amazing presents for female friends and family or just anyone with a sweet tooth ;-)

Foodie Heaven

Check out Hotel Chocolat range of vegan chocolate here. I think these would be a perfect Christmas gift for a vegan chocolate lover:

Classic Smudge Chocolate Spread and Chocolate Yule Log with nuts, both Hotel Chocolat

Of course, you might prefer these lovely chocolaty spreads:

  Justin’s Chocolate Hazelnut Butter and Dark Chocolate Dreams, both – iHerb

 The Raw Chocolate Company – chocolate covered gojis, raisins and mulberries – Goodness Direct

Hazelnut Booja Booja Truffles – Goodness Direct

 Peanut Flour – iHerb

Ok, so I think only people from the healthy living blogisphere would get Peanut Flour as a gift but I know I would love it!

Saf Raw Apple Granola Bites – Planet Organic

Don’t forget – if your planning a little spree on iHerb or Goodness Direct for Christmas check out the discount codes and links in the sponsors section! I’m already planning on making the most of the Goodness Direct offer and will be placing an order soon!

Beauty and pampering

Christmas Tweets Gift Set - Lush

Skin Sparkle Gift Set - Green people

Korres All I Want Gift Set – Hq Hair

 Limited Edition Ginger Treats Gift Set - Origins

Random bits and pieces

Sheer Sparkle Ankle Socks – Urban Outfitters

 Penguin Hot Water Bottle - Topshop

Vintage Camera phone case – Urban Outfitters

  A5 birds journal - Topshop

Spitfire Woody head phones – Urban Outfitters

Recipes Folder – Paperchase

Fluro Yellow Cambridge Satchel - ASOS

Have you started your Christmas shopping? What’s on your wish list this year?

Hello everyone, can’t believe its Monday again already! Today was the first day of my new training plan so I hit the gym first thing to do 20 minutes of cardio intervals followed by my 3 x 3 resistance exercises focusing on legs. Considering the DOMS from yesterdays run had started to kick in I did quite well. I did replace my last set with extra stretching to try and ease my muscles.

Breakfast was oh so delicious! Porridge made with oats, chia seeds and water mixed with a little rice milk and chocolate whey, then topped with some fresh blueberries and a crumbled Apple, Blueberry and Cinnamon Protein Muffin.



Fabulous!

Lunch was a repeat of Saturdays salad, I just enjoyed it so much I had to make it again! It contained little gem lettuce, spinach, beetroot, garden peas, soya nuts, carrot, cucumber, yellow pepper and a sliced goats cheese babybel. I made the same dressing too – lemon juice, garlic infused olive oil and dried oregano.



I followed my salad with some strawberries and raspberries.



Mid afternoon I snacked on some cucumber and red pepper sticks with spicy lentil dip.



I ate my dinner at work as I decided to pull a late one (need that over time cash). I had a bowl of Pea, Broccoli and Mint soup with a wholemeal rice cake.



I picked the hubby up and we went and visited his sister before returning home and attacking this little bowl of chocolate avocado pudding that I whipped up at the weekend.



Having extremely ripe avocado is definitely the trick to getting this so smooth and glossy! I’ve also made a couple more frozen chocolate avocado cups with the rest of the mixture. I also ate this crunchy apple.



I’ve being spending some time today packing and posting my sold ebay items, I can’t believe that I’ve made £50! My mind is already ticking over what I can spend it on. I’m going to try and sort out another few items to list this weekend, I’m going to try and see if I can make £150 by the end of my Big Budget Challenge which I will then use to purchase some of my autumn / winter wish list items. It may seem a bit premature to be thinking of autumn / winter fashion but I’m trying to be more ‘strategic’ with my purchases this year! At the moment I am currently coveting:

Lace up heeled boots, like these from ASOS


Gold pendant like this one from Zoe and Morgan:


I’m also tempted to try out the maxi skirt trend (Warehouse):


Still not 100% sold on this yet though! I would also like to find a blouse / shirt that I can wear tucked into my belted tapered trousers like this vintage one I spotted on ebay:



Fingers crossed I’ll make more ebay money!

Still in shock that its already August! August is one of my favourite months though – its my birthday and my 2nd wedding anniversary! Well I’m going to head off, I see a large mug of Yogi Rose tea in my near future. Hope your weeks got off to a good start! x

Hi everyone, hope you are enjoying your weekend! I thought I’d drop in with a quick post before I leave for Brighton tomorrow. Today has been spent pottering around the house attempting to get myself organised!

I started the day with great 10 mile run. I enjoyed a few of the most gorgeous medjool dates to fuel up (dates = my rocket fuel). I did 10 miles in 1.27 with an average pace of 8.42, considering the crazy DOMS in my butt from yesterdays strength workout I was pretty happy!

Just as I was coming home I met the postman who had a parcel for me:

The folks at iHerb sent me some goodies! Justin’s Chocolate Hazelnut Butter, Kashi Strawberry Fields Cereal and some Bob Red Mills Veggie Soup Mix. Big thanks to iHerb for this, they are a great company, I don’t know what I’d do without them to feed my addictions! Don’t forget you can get $5 off your first order with code AGA105 if you fancy placing an order, the airmail option is quite reasonable and reliable!

Once I’d stretched I made a modified Tutti Fruity green smoothie with red lettuce, kale, spring greens, frozen banana, mango, strawberries and blueberries, coconut water, strawberry hemp protein powder, maca, mesquite, barley grass powder, ground flax and the gums for added thickness. I topped it with some PB&Co Mighty Maple peanut butter sauce, gojis and choc covered sunflower seeds:

Delicious! I’ve been making up a little pot of nut butter sauce using 2-3 tbsp of nut butter (rather than the usual 1 tbsp) mixed with hot water to make sure I’m getting those calories in, especially after runs. I just keep on adding more sauce on top as I eat through the smoothie!

Lunch was a big salad of cos lettuce, red lettuce, carrot, sugar snaps, red onion, cucumber, red pepper and some of that gorgeous sabra hummus watered down a bit into a dressing:

Yum! Today’s eats have been exceptionally high on the greens and veggies, I bought a little more than I needed yesterday, and with me going away they need to be eaten (James won’t eat them unless I cooked them for him!) I decided to make up a super green juice:

Cucumber, celery, broccoli, lemon and ginger, that’s a whole litre of green goodness!

I also made a veggie packed fried rice dish for dinner with leftover brown rice, edamame, broccoli, courgette, red pepper, carrot and sugar snap peas. I added ginger, chilli, shoyu and ume vinegar:

For something so simple this was delish! To use up more greens I made another green smoothie for dessert! This was spinach, cos lettuce, frozen cherries, cocoa powder, ice, water, stevia and peanut flour sauce and freeze dried berries on top:

Lovely, this tasted like a giant bowl of dark chocolate! With all the greens I’ve eaten today I should be full of energy ready for my 4am start in the morning, well that or we’ll be making a lot of toilet stops ;-)

I also spent some time in the kitchen this morning making these beauties to take down to Brighton with me:

Strawberry and Coconut Oaty Buttery Bars! My very own recipe and they taste fab, I had one today (for quality control of course) and they are so lovely – recipe to come!

Well I am now all packed and ready for the 6 hour drive to Brighton in the morning – I’ve packed some foodie bits and pieces, plus lots of magazines to take with me:

Cartons of chocolate and vanilla soy milk, snack bars, nut butter sachets, lemons, Natural Health, Women’s Running, Body Fit, Living Etc and Elle magazines, and yes they cost a bomb but I love my mags!

I love visiting Brighton for all its quirky little shops and great vibe. I’m especially excited to be visiting Brighton as a mostly vegan as they have a wonderful range of veggie friendly eating options, I can’t wait to try them out!

As I said in yesterdays post, I’m going down with my Mam and Dad and James is staying home as he couldn’t take the time off work. Although I’m obviously going to miss him, it is giving me the opportunity for some quality ‘me’ time. I’m planning on a few seaside runs, lots of yoga, a couple of blogger meet ups and even possibly a guided meditation class. I just can’t wait, all I need now is some sunshine :-)

As I did when I visited last year, I have a wish list of things I’d like to get while I’m there:

1. Jewellery, particularly bracelets which I am loving right now! 2. workout gear – I really need to update my workout clothing, especially considering how much time I spend in it! Sweaty Betty looks like it has a good sale on at the mo so I might check that out 3. Scented candles – there’s a shop in Brighton called Abode that sell the loveliest organic plant based scented candles and I’m looking forward to stocking up. 4. I’m due a to upgrade my iPhone 3GS to a iPhone 4 soon and I’d love a Cath Kidson case like this! 5. I will be visiting Bert’s in Brighton which sell a funky range of kitchen ware, I’d really like some new plates etc, will be great for my food photography! 6. Montezuma Chocolate – I love this chocy and there’s a big shop in Brighton so I will be treating myself! 7. I’m desperate for some new shoes, especially flats that actually fit my wide size 8 feet!

I’ll also be stopping by old favourites including Infinity Foods. I’ll probably end up with a few other things as well, I just love the shops in Brighton!

Well I am going to head off to bed ready for my early start in the morning. I’ll probably drop in over the next few days if I have time to say hi :-)

Hope you enjoy the rest of your weekend and have a great week too!