Fitness Fridays: Cafe Pure Cardiff

Hey there!

This week's fitness friday post is a little different as me and M went to a local cafe this week that has been getting so many good reviews. Cafe Pure can be found right next to the Wales Millenium Centre in Cardiff Bay and is dedicated to serving healthy and protein rich foods

First off, apologies for the lack of pictures of the place itself, its a very clean looking white and grey shop/seating area with wheatgrass growing down the middle of the bench tables, how cool!

By the time we finally got there and ordered we were so hungry we couldn't contain ourselves so you should think yourself lucky we have any pictures at all!

The menus are pretty simple, easy to read and set out in sections depending on the time of day and what you're after. It was a hard choice picking a meal knowing we could only have the one, we're going to have to go back and try everything else over the next few months!



Not only is it a super healthy menu with easy ways to customise your meal they've got everything broken down into macro nutrients at the side of each dish, absolutely love this!
Makes it so easy to decide what you want based on what you want to feed your body and not just what you want with your eyes (which by the way was EVERYTHING as we walked through seeing everyone elses food)





It took a little while but as we'd missed the breakfast slot (next time pancakes you are mine!) we settled on a Hot Box and a Power Shake to satisfy our hunger. We were tempted by the absolutely huge and tasty looking salads but as it was horrible weather outside we decided we both needed something warmer instead.

In true style of ourselves we ended up getting the exact same food and shake, although I chose chicken and M had steak.



Once you've ordered you're given a dumbell as your order number to take back to the table, its little things like this that makes the place what it is and everyone was so friendly and helpful there. The staff were all super smiley, beautiful and tanned which just makes us want to spend even longer there, surely the food will make us look like them right?!



Onto our actual meals, this was the power shake:



A whizzed up mix of banana, peanut butter, almond milk, ice and chocolate protein powder.
It was absolutely divine and not a patch on anything I've made myself, I've been dreaming about it ever since and need to get another one soon.
As a firm fan of the definitely not so healthy Ed's Diner shakes I can honestly say I prefer the taste of this one which is better all round really!




M decided to eat hers so fast there was no chance of getting a picture of the steak hot box, but here is the grilled chicken version - I'm much more restrained:



It was super tasty, the teriyaki sauce was the perfect portion for the meal and as a self confessed sauce lover I definitely need to remember the portion size of this as I think it's my downfall!
The homemade slaw was also really good and contained a good mix of seasonal veg.

All in all it was a filling, tasty, healthy meal and both the hot box and the shake came to a total of £9. I think the meal was worth every penny and will certainly be going back for more.

They have tonnes of stuff on their menu I'd like to try including pretty much all of the salads, the steak and eggs, blueberry pancakes and anything else involving peanut butter! They also have wheatgrass shots which I've never tried but will have to just to see what they are like.
For a menu that contains everything i could ever want at decent prices I will certainly be making a return........very soon.


The only downside I can see to this place is the opening hours. Open from 7.30-3 Monday to Friday and 9-1 on a Saturday means that for people like myself I could only ever visit on a Saturday due to my working hours. I'd love to take friend there for a healthy meal during the week and I bet it would make a roaring trade on a Sunday with visitors to the bay especially over the summer. Pretty please Cafe Pure can you extend these hours?!
It is not surprising that this place was very busy when we were then on an average Friday lunchtime, imagine what it could be like in the future.

Have you tried Cafe Pure yet? Are you into healthy meals and reading macro contents?

I need to study this menu and incorporate it into my diet for my training for Tough Mudder, or maybe I'll just move in!

L xxx

NOTD: Barry M Rose Quartz Nail Paint

Good morning!

I've got a quick nails post for you today with a polish that I've had my eyes on for a very long time.

Barry M's Rose Quartz

This beauty has plagued my dreams for a while, I mean rose pink, glitter, and the bargain prices of Barry M, what's not to love!
I'm really not sure why I haven't bought it, I think its a lot of the 'I can buy it when I'm poor' mentality when I should have just bought it anyway.

The polish is as you would expect, extremely glittery and I couldn't stop staring at it. It could be used as a top coat or as a full on disco ball look if you layer it up.

It's a clear polish with tiny bits of glitter polish and also hexagon shaped pieces of larger glitter.

I am allowed to wear nail polish to work but I feel something too outrageous may commented on, so instead I stuck with a simple look for my first attempt at wearing the polish.

I used Essie's Ballet Slippers on all of my nails and applied 2 coats; then I applied 2 coats of the Barry M Rose Quartz to my ring finger for a bit of sparkle!


It applied really easily and was just enough to look girly without being too over the top:

For the weekend I'd apply this ALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL over my nails in multiple layers for an amazing discoball look. The rose quartz colour is super flattering on my skin tone and would be great for fingers or toes, day or night and would especially be good for weddings!

I've had this on my nails all week and it hasn't chipped yet, which in a lab is pretty damn good going!

What do you think of Barry M's polishes? Do you love their range of colours and finishes?

Which would be your No.1 recommendation?

L xxx

Primark Floral Crown and Headband

Hello lovelies!

I posted on the weekend about my trip to Cabot circus in Bristol with my mum and shared a few snaps of what I'd bought. One of those 'few' things was a floral crown and a floral headband from Primark.

I've been lusting after some of these for a little while but having nowhere to wear them to I was a little stumped. However this year me and M are both going to Glastonbury (eek) so i have every excuse I ever needed!

These are the two I chose from the huge range they had there. Both have small pretty flowers to break me into the trend gently, I've never worn anything like this so its a case of one step at a time!

First up is this one, a beautiful coral/pastel coloured head band with a price tag of £3....honestly it was only £3 what a bargain.

I've been playing around with it and it can be worn with your hair up or down, though I expect it will look better with your hair flowing in the wind (only for the first few days then...after that its going to be scraped back!)

It's a decent size and if anything may be a little big, I'll have to make sure I take some kirby grips with me to make sure it's not going to fall off, but it's really comfortable and I can see me wearing it a lot.




The flowers are relatively big (for me) but they're such a gorgeous colour and not too bright that they don't feel as big as they are. This will go with so many outfits over the summer so hopefully i will get lots of use out of it.



My second purchase was this floral crown:




I believe this was either £2.50 or £3.50.....amazing!

And this requires minimal work to look like a fairy princess with a crown, just stick it on top of your head and leave your hair to do the work.



It seems to sit perfectly on my head without falling, sliding or anything, which is a miracle on my hair is it can be quite a chore to get things to stay in place.

I had my hair relatively straight when taking these photos but any kind of hair would look good with this, go crazy as I imagine curlier hair would rock it even better.

What do you think of my floral head gear? Worth the bargain prices? will you be picking some up too?

I wasn't sure about them...but now I've tried some on I'm in love and cannot wait for more festival gear to make its way into my life! I also bought a hat from Primark and I'm hoping I manage to keep it from Glastonbury for Thailand but I'm awful at losing things so I haven't got much high hopes!

L xxx

Life Lately

Hey All

Today I had the intention to share with you my latest holy grail foundation. I think I can finally say I have a foundation I actually love, but as I started writing I just couldn't get my words out and my head today is definitely feeling a life update more.

March for me has been a crazy busy month but a great one. I actually can't believe it's April already where is this year going. I love that it's going fast as it now means in 14 months I'll be a registered biomedical scientist! Eeeek exciting. 

March had stresses with a university practical exam and coursework being handed back. One more piece of coursework and 3 exams and I'm done for the year and can enjoy a very exciting June. 

March also saw L's birthday. We got all glammed up the week before and went for cocktails and the Friday after we enjoyed Cafe Pure (any of welsh readers should try it. It's amazing! ) and Captain America 2. We are both huge superhero/comic film fans and this year brings us lots to want to watch. Captain America 2 didn't disappoint.

My gym regime has definitely had very good weeks and bad a week (around my exam I let the excuses creep in!) I'm really enjoying classes but need to up my running to complete all the things I've signed myself up for. I'm already looking for next years challenge. I've found myself really enjoying my kickboxing fitness. I think I may start looking into doing proper martial arts again.

I've also been trying new things (one of the things on my 101 things!) And me and a friend went to the driving range. It was such a laugh and something we'll definitely be doing again! I've not laughed that much in ages.



Of course there have been starbucks trips and gossips over chai lattes (starbucks when you've given up coffee is a little bit like torture!). I love chilling over a hot drink and catching up with friends.



It's had some downs to and this month I've missed home as some stuff has been going on with both my brothers which made me wish I was nearer to home. I do hate not being there for people I love!







I also got my hair dyed back pink. I'm so happy with it. I love having coloured hair. I feel so much more like me!



Overall March has been awesome. Lots of friends, family and gym time with loads of smiles. Bring in April. I'm ready for gigs, zip wires, bingo and family time!  The downside to April is the guy I'm seeing goes away to Egypt for his job. Luckily it's only for two weeks so I'm taking it as a tester till he goes out for six weeks at a time. I never find easy ha!


I love this saying! I really feel like this is me now!

So fair 2014 has been a good year and I'm ready for that to continue.  Happy Wednesday all!

Love M

xxx