Fitness Friday: Motivation and Inspiration

Evening!

I didn't plan anything for this weeks Fitness Friday post so this is an impromptu post written after a long hard week at work and with a full tummy after my tea of poached eggs, beans and mushrooms. It was exactly the comfort food I was looking for and I managed to forgo any toast so it was all in all a healthy meal. I may treat myself to some greek yogurt later too!

I though I'd give a general update and try to inspire myself and hopefully others too to get back on track. Last weekend I had some bad news which left me feeling quite rubbish, not only that but work has been getting me down for a few months and with lots of people off on Easter holidays with their kids I knew it wasn't going to get any easier. I spent the majority of my weekend sleeping as I genuinely couldn't get up, I was 'exhausted' I suppose, physically and mentally. This meant I did the best thing possible; I ate healthily and slept as much as I could whilst forgoing any exercise of any kind. It was the best thing, although I was tired going back to work on Tuesday I managed to survive the day which seemed impossible initially.

I've been getting quite bored with my exercise routine and meals. I am always looking for new things but my serious lack of funds restricts my capability to go out and try rock climbing, canoeing and every other outdoors task that I would just love to try. Even though I need to keep adding distance to my runs I find running so boring and its ten times more of a mental battle with me. I'm so proud when I complete a run but its like climbing Everest to get myself going!

Because of this I have instead started to search online a lot more, reading articles and peoples posts on other fitness and meal ideas. I thought I'd share some of the things I've been reading and what has inspired me to change a few things and get myself back on track. Enjoy!

1) Emily Skye - if you haven't heard of her already then a quick google will show you everything you need to know. She's gorgeous, has the BEST accent and is super friendly, how much do you want to be her?

Her amazing set of abs and arms are what makes me particularly want to be like her. If I could ever get halfway to having a body is beautiful as hers I'd be so happy, which is why i have bought her Ab Shred program when it was on offer a few weeks ago .

I plan on following as much of the meal plan as much as I possibly can and incorporating some of her ab exercises into my routine to blast more ab fat. I'm sure I'll dedicate a whole post to this program soon but in the mean time you can check her out on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and her website itself by searching on Emily Skye. She has the normal shred and a specific ab shred for you to choose from.

2) The Tone It Up girls. Who hasn't heard of these absolutely stunning girls before? Beautiful and lean beach bodies, they're the perfect motivation to get bikini ready and right now they're allowing you to sign up for their Bikini Series for FREE! You can find more information on their site HERE but also you only need to type Tone It Up or KarenaKatrina into the search boxes on instagram, twitter or just about anything to find them. Serious bikini envy!

(I've signed up for their bikini series so you should make sure you get involved too!)

3) Chocolate Covered Katie - a SERIOUSLY amazing healthy dessert blog, Katie is an absolute genius who seems to have converted all of my favourite treats into perfectly acceptable recipes. Why would you EVER consider giving up desserts when you have people like Katie to create healthy versions for you?!

I can see me spending a lot of my weekend on that website! Not only are her recipes amazing but she has also calculated all of the nutritional info for each of them, now you know EXACTLY how many calories and how much your macros are in each serving.

4) Peanut Butter Fingers - It was love at first sight even with the name of the website, any girl that thinks its ok to stick her fingers in a jar of PB for a snack is ultimately my best friend. Written by Julie the blog is designated for general lifestyle, food and fitness and as a writer and a personal trainer (with a gorgeous dog called Sadie) I can see me wanting to experiment with her recipes and her love of Body Pump is almost on par with mine! Though I imagine she lifts a better weight than i do ha. Trust me, you'll get sucked in by her enthusiasm too!

5) Oh She Glows - My last blog link goes to Angela of Oh She Glows. She's a write of a vegan food blog with to die for recipes, Instant Chocolate Chia Pudding anyone?? Not only are they dairy and meat free but most are also free from gluten, soy and processed foods which sounds pretty damn good to me. 

Her photography is pretty epic in itself (I love a good photo and when it's of food it rates highly with me!) but she also has a list of popular recipes if you're overwhelmed by choice. Not to mention she's award winning and has her own cookbook out, I mean how much more inspirational can you get!

So how gorgeous are all of those ladies?? If that doesn't motivate you i do not know what will.

I hope these links have inspired you during a dull and dreary time. The weather here has been rather grey again and suiting my mood, but tomorrow I vow to be back on it and working hard for my weigh in with my trainer in 10 days time (EEK).

I've signed up for a body pump class at 9am and I already know I'll be having pancakes to start my day, after that with these new sites to drool over....who knows?!

Have you tried the Ab Shred or the Tone it Up programs before? Do you have an favourite recipes from Katie, Julie or Angela?

Is there anyone else you can recommend for me to read? I'd love to see some more!

L xxx

Life Update

Hello there!

I hope you enjoyed your bank holiday weekend and stuffed yourself with a considerable amount of chocolate! I've got a few pictures from my life over the last few weeks that i thought I'd share with you.

You might have noticed I've been loving the pancakes recently; absolutely loving them! So many different toppings and ways to make them that can be really healthy considering they feel like such a treat. Yogurt and blueberries are my favourite way to eat them but when I'm extra hungry I have a banana and and peanut butter or apples, cinnamon and walnuts. Whenever I reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeally need a sugary boost I do have to get the Nutella jar out, but I try and save it as a last resort!

I've been running a lot recently and trying to increase my distance. I reached my first 6 mile run in the last few weeks which I was extremely proud of but unfortunately ever since it has all gone to pot! My running buddy hasn't been around much because of work so its been harder doing it on my own and this past weekend I've felt awful and I'm not really sure why. Hopefully after a few days off I can get back into it. The weather certainly helps and running past things like Cardiff castle helps!

These were my Easter treats this year; a white chocolate Lindt bunny and Reese's pieces! I do love peanut butter, me and my brother had a bag of white chocolate and milk chocolate pieces to share between us.. I was like a kid splitting up the bags!

Last Friday me and M went to a Urban Decay event in Cardiff for their secret launch of the electric palette.
I wore this top I bought from Zara last year (and hadn't cut the tags off until now....) as it was so nice and sunny and I felt like being in a bright electric colour myself! It's a gorgeous top and although it's loose and flowy the back is split which is great for hot weather and you can easily wear a vest underneath like i did.

We met up earlier before the event as I had a £10 Cafe Rouge voucher to use up before May so we met there for lunch and in true fashion we ended up ordering the exact same thing! 2 waters and the fishcakes later (which were very yummy by the way!) we legged it over to Tiger Tiger to be early and bought ourselves a few pints, the classy ladies that we are! It was perfect weather for a pint in a beer garden so we decided after the event to go for a 'quick drink' in our favourite bar before going home.

Naturally one turned into three, and after tucking into some very generously sized bar snacks at 10 Feet Tall we managed to consume a Long Island Iced Tea, Zombie and a Cosmopolitan without even batting an eyelid. We do love their cocktails especially as they always seem to be hangover free ones!

I had a pretty quiet Saturday as i had to work but I did watch Frozen with my mum. It was good but I'm afraid the hype had built it up too much for me and i didn't enjoy it as much as I thought. Maybe I'm just a lover of  Disney classics!

On Sunday we were supposed to be going zip lining after buying a Groupon deal:

We were super excited and after driving all the way there we were GUTTED to find that it was too windy for it as it would have been 'terrifying' and not enjoyable. The line is over a quarry so i definitely didn't want to be zooming over that too fast!

For example this was my hair after walking from the cafe to the car....a few gusts as you can see!







I had planned a proper Sunday Funday and me my dad and my brother also had tickets to 'Judgement Day' which was a South Wales derby of rugby teams. It was a double game so was effectively 5 hours of rugby which was a long time but it actually didn't feel like it.





Unluckily for my dad his team lost the first match but the second game was won by our faves so at least it wasn't all doom and gloom. We had a few pints throughout the afternoon and it was a lot of fun, I'd definitely want to go again but I'd wear warmer shoes! My feet were freeeeeeeeeeeeeezing!





So that's what I've been up to recently, I've been quite busy!

What have you been up to? Have you been zip lining? Do you go to sports matches with your family?

Send me your recent life updates to read!

L xxx

My Thoughts on Naked 3

Hey lovelies!

I'm sure we've all seen plenty on Naked 3 since it was released around Christmas time. I was lucky enough to be bought it for my birthday a few weeks ago and I couldn't resist but photograph it (it's SO pretty) and I thought I'd give my views on it too.

You can see M's post here so I will try not to repeat everything that she has already said!

So the outer packaging; a rosy gold theme is probably onto a winner without even trying. Rose gold really has been the metallic of choice over the last few years particularly thanks to Michael Kors watches and Zara handbags. The main reason for this? It suits almost everyone. Some people can't wear golder tones or silvery tones and rose gold seems to cover all bases whilst still being versatile enough to create a soft look or a darker smokey look for night.

The box contains the palette and also a booklet with testers of all four primers on offer from UD.

I'd bought the original primer a few years ago in a Buyapowa deal but in all honesty never really used it. I have seriously been missing out and from now on that primer is surgically attached to my eyelids on day trips and nights out (work doesn't deserve that kind of commitment!). I'm super excited to try the others particularly after being shown them at the UD showcase event we went to; Eden looks like it will be a superstar for nights out.

The packages look like they will contain a tiny amount of product but actually there's a generous sample size inside them so I will look forward to testing them out.

So the palette itself....is it worth the hype?

Here are some close ups of the shades:

Pink has always been an eyeshadow I've avoided if I'm honest. so this end of the palette is a little scary and if I'm honest, offputting. Strange is a colour I love already as I love using a matte light colour for over my lid to give it a good base and lighten the inner corners. Dust and Burnout are shimmery pink and apricot kind of shades which i can see me using to add shimmer in the centre of my eye lids to make them pop. Limit and Nooner which you can just see at the end are matte shades that will be good for day to day base colours. Buzz is one that scares me the most....dusky pink shimmer!
Trick is a lovely coppery glitter shade that I'm looking forward to using on nights out; it will be great with a bit of a tan in the summer months.

Again you can see Trick and Nooner in this photo and the colours here are MUCH more my thing. I'm a bit of a magpie and shimmery colours are what I love. Liar, Factory, Mugshot and Darkside are very welcome additions to my collection and I can see me slowly becoming obsessed with them
Blackheart is one of my absolute faves; a dark black with red glitter in and its perfect for a Saturday night; I needed this colour more than the others and I love how easily it blends for a smokey eye with a difference.

Another bonus with these palettes is the brush that comes with it. This brush is a double ended one specific for Naked 3. It has a larger fluffier brush on one side and then a thinner flat brush for more detailed applications. I really like it, a brush is always a welcome addition to my collection and this one slots in nicely. Lots of use will be had from this!

So....is it worth the £37 price tag?

The shadows work out at around £3.08 each which I'm sure we'll agree is a pretty good price for super pigmentation, a wide variety of shades that compliment most skin tones and long lasting crease free finishes.

The brushes from UD normally cost at least £10 so you're getting a bargain, plus the addition of the primer samples which are probably worth an additional £10 and overall you've got yourself a bargain.

The shades are complimentary for many skin tones and although I've said some aren't my cup of tea and 'scare' me I do think i'll use them as glitter will always be a good look!

I'd say this was a welcome addition to a make up wardrobe; what do you think?

Are you fan of rose gold shades and super pigmentation? What do you think of UD's brushes?

L xxx

Book Review: A Song Of Ice and Fire by George RR Martin

Morning All

Hump day is here already. I love Wednesday's as it's my mega gym day and I always feel strong after it.

I've done a few book review posts now so thought it was about time I shared my current addiction. I'm a huge fan of reading. I love getting lost in a book and this year I seem to have gotten back into reading and finding the time again. (Goodbye reading the metro daily hello books!).

I thought I'd talk about the first 3 books in The Song of Ice and Fire series as I've currently just started the fourth. The first 3 are a Game of Thrones, A Clash of Kings and A Storm of Swords.

I feel I should start by saying if you asked me my preferred reading genre 100% it would be chrime thiller, second to that chick lit and thirdly classics (mainly as I want to read them more lately!). On multiple occasions I was told to watch Game of Thrones. I refused point blank for ages. I would go as far to say I hate Lord of the Rings (I am now determined to read the hobbit!) And I thought Game of Thrones would be alone those lines amd I wasn't interested.  If I watch or read fantasy it's more teen things like Harry Potter,  Twilight and Hunger Games.

In February I was finally persuaded to give it a go and agreed to try watching and reading it. I had already set myself up not to like it as everyone said it was good but a really hard read and complicating as there are lots of characters and it goes between them all. For me I watched two episodes of the first series then started reading the books. I think watching a few episodes first really helped me to have the characters in my head and understand the relationships linking everyone before I got stuck into the book. (One helpful thing is at the back of the books there are character lists and family tree type information).

It's been 9 weeks since I watched the first two episodes and I can honestly say a book has never gripped me so much yet taken me sooooooo long to read. If I love a book it's not unknown for it to take me 2 days to finish it. I'm a fast reader and probably scan read a lot. With A Song of Ice and Fire you can't do that as you'll miss things so I pove that it's got me reading properly again.

For two solid months I've read everyday except for two (I was horrifically hungover!) and I'm still hooked and not bored of it yet. I always want to read more. There are a few characters I don't enjoy so when I have their chapters ( the book is set into chapters where a chapter is a different characters story! Probably should have mentioned that sooner!) I am a bit slower reading them.

The books are long but don't let that put off. They are a great read. From someone who doesn't usually like the fantasy fiction genre I'm hooked.

I will give one bit of advice that was given to me. Don't love any characters George Martin is fond of killing them. It's great for keeping you on your toes and the end if every book has you reaching the next. I've been so gobsmacked sometimes I've text L in disbelief!

Have you read any of the books or watched the tv show? Even if it's not your thing seriously give it a go. But be prepared to lose a good few months to these books!

love M

xxx