Health/Fitness Journey!

I thought what better time to write a big of a update on how my little health/fitness journey is going then while my abs are burning from my workout last night. I want to start doing more of these sorts of posts because it motivates me to do well and be able to write about doing well and also I spend so much time on it and that's why the other parts of my blog have been lacking lately.

I started my journey in December last year, so it's almost been a year.... and let me tell you it's the longest i've ever stuck to a fitness routine.  I've upped my sessions throughout the year with my personal trainer, I now do all my sessions in a group with the PT and I do 4 a week but every session is different.

My current routine -

Monday - Outdoor Kettlebell Training (it's usually abs and legs)

Tuesday - Rest! Wooo!

Wednesday - Outdoor Kettlebell Training (Chest, Upper Body)

Thursday - Fight Club! (Kickboxing, MMA etc)

Friday/Saturday - Rest (I should really do SOMETHING in here though...C25K is my plan!)

Sunday - Heavylifting weights session

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So my downfall... FOOD!... cravings, going out & sometimes general laziness means not so good food choices.

I have really overhauled my diet from what it was and I always try and stick to a diet of no carbs at night (no white carbs anytime of day really), fresh/clean food as much as possible, lean protein, good fats etc. I'm human and sometimes I slip, I do think allowing yourself a cheat once a week is a good idea and something I definitely try and do.

For example, my general daily food is as follows -

Breakfast - Small bowl of Healtheries Apple & Cinnamon Bircher Muesli

Lunch - Chicken/Fish & Salad or Mad Mex Naked Burrito

Dinner - Chicken/Steak/Fish with Salad or Vegetables

Snacks - Nut bars, Almonds, Apples, Green Tea, Cottage Cheese, Corn Thins (during the day only), Natural Yoghurt, Strawberries/Berries, Pickles (call me Snooki), Cheese, Olives, Protein Shakes/Bars

Motivation is the other key, I find that since I have actual sessions I need to go to even if i'm feeling crappy and don't want to (example last night, was hot and gross and I would have been happy to sit on the couch) I will go because I really have no excuse not to.  Also having my boyfriend doing the same sessions with me we motivate each other as well.

My progress so far, I still have a long way to go! I have dropped a size and am a comfortable size 14 at the moment :)

I don't weigh myself too often because I am focusing a lot on building muscle as well, but I randomly stepped on the scales at the gym the other day and noticed i've lost another 4kgs since my last assessment in August. I have an assessment coming up with all my measurements etc so will try and update how I went with that too :)

GOAL - Drop another size by February... I can do it!

I hope you don't mind that i've gone off from the regular beauty reviews for this post but it is something I do dedicate a lot of my time to and where my head is at right now.

Biiiiiirthday

Yesterday I celebrated my 30th birthday...woah thirties!

I started my day with an amazing facial at Northmead Beauty Therapy, it was my first time getting a facial there and my first facial in a few years, loved it! I had a Dermalogica face mapping as part of my facial so left with a few new prods to try out.

Then it was present time! I was very spoilt and one of my gifts is what I'm doing this blog post on, my new iPad!

Later that night it was dinner at Aperitif a restaurant owned by Manu Fieldel and Miguel Meastre, Manu wasn't there but Miguel was and was a charming not to mention quite a good looking host :). I ate my way through tapas and paella and consumed far too much sangria but boy it was good!!!

I had a great day saying goodbye to my twenties and hello to my thirties!

If anyone has any iPad app recommendations please let me know :)

Yummy smelling showertime! Dessert Edition!

I have to make a little confession, I love trying out the brand new scent that comes out in shower gels, soaps etc so I thought i'd do a post on my favourite ones i've tried and this time focusing on Dessert smells!

I always shower at nice so I enjoy going to bed smelling nice and foodie.. oddly it relaxes me!

Also if your on a diet/health kick it's nice to smell these things and not think of the calories :)

Lush It's Raining Men Shower Gel / Honey I Washed The Kids Soap



Sadly It's Raining Men was a limited edition product (MAKE IT PERMANENT LUSH!) but never fear it's just Honey I Washed The Kids in shower gel form. I personally prefer it because I like using shower gel much more then soaps (I'm using it sparingly and I bought the big big bottle).

This smells of Honey and Toffee... it's delicious smelling and best of all it lasts on your skin. I can still smell it in the morning.

You can buy Honey I Washed The Kids from any Lush store, you may also be lucky and be able to get your mitts on It's Raining Men as well!

Lux Shower Gel with Shea Butter & Caramel - $5.49AUD






I think I can safely say everytime Lux bring out a new scent in their shower gel line, i'm onto it! When I saw the caramel one only one thing could describe it... NOMS!

This smells like buttery caramel at it's best and even though I used it a lot in summer I can see this being such a great winter scent.

The addition of the exfoliating beads also make this a fave and eliminate the need for another process come shower time! Yippee! More time to ponder blogging... come on all bloggers ponder their next posts in the shower too right?

Haus of Gloi - Bubbling Scrub in Vice ($3-$8USD)

Hands up who likes Smores? What about coffee? Well if you like Smores and Coffee... head to www.hausofgloi.com and put this in your shopping cart right now. This smells exactly of that! Don't forget to also get the matching lotion.

Of all the scents i've mentioned, this is my most recent aquisition and as soon as I opened the jar to sniff it I knew it was immediately going to be a fave! Not only is the Bubbling Scrub kinda fun but this scent lingers like a good smell (yes good!)

Not only is it lovely to support the smaller online companies but it's the service you get when you do. Everything is perfectly wrapped and you want to always be a customer... I know i'm going back to try more!

I hope you've enjoyed my yummy showertime!

Side note - If you are in Sydney and want to try Smores somewhere a new dessert place has opened in Parramatta called Incas South American Desserts and they do Smores... I've been twice (and I hope my trainer doesn't see this post!)

 

Link Love

Happy Hump Day Y'all!

I'm back with more link lovin' and of course my regular rambling about whatever I want afterward :)

Check out Am I There Yet? for some great reviews and ideas on how to rock tints!

You've Got Face let's us know about her Laser Hair Removal experience and lives to tell the tale :)

Jade Musing raves about Paulas Choice BHA 2% Gel, and reminds me I need to find my samples and give them a go!

Girl With A Curious Nose goes against the grain and admits to liking YSL Babydoll, which I am also a fan of!

Dee aka Miss Prissypants talks Cheap and Cheeful (my favourite subject!)

There are a few giveaways going on at the moment, I think everyone is getting into the Christmas giving spirit :) Here are a few I've noticed this week!

Gilded Nails is having a giveaway, you can win gorgeous Deborah Lippmann polishes!

You've Got Face has a great November giveaway, including nails, neon liners and some gorgeous bracelets with an amazing message.

An Obsession With The Fabulous has a fabulous giveaway! Including a bunch of great items, I'm eyeing that China Glaze polish myself :)

How was Halloween for everyone? It was very uneventful in my house, I'd bought choccies for the Trick or Treaters but no one came. Last year I had kids come a week before Halloween and I had nothing so I knew to be prepared. Now I have 2 bags of chocolate that i'll end up consuming myself!

I've been looking at the celebrity Halloween pictures, I have 2 clear favourites.

Heidi Klum - She & Seal always do amazing costumes, this one is freakishly amazing... you can't even tell it's her!



The other costume I looooooved, was my girl Snooki as the Pickle Queen! If you know me you know I adore Jersey Shore and in particular Snooki (admittedly she has only grown on me in this 2nd season).



Lauren Conrad aka LC as the Twitter bird, girl is cute! I love her style!



How did everyone go in the Melbourne Cup? I only put 1 bet on and went with Shocking... I think he fell asleep on the track!

On the weekend Boyfriend and I went into the city to pick up Metallica tickets for next week (yep, he's counting down like it's xmas) and I said ooooohhh since were here let's check out the new Westfield Sydney. So we did! It was cool but there is still a bit of work to be done. Something weird happened though when we were in Typo (I love that store!) I heard a massive loud crash, and being a sticky beak went and had a look. A phone cover stores cabinets fell in on each other, all glass... There was glass everywhere! Not a good start to opening week but they dealt with it really quickly and efficiently.

Another reason I wanted to go to Westfield Sydney was to try out the new burger place that Justin North has opened up called Charlie & Co. It was so busy, Justin was actually there making the burgers which was cool but we ended up lining up for about 20mins to order and then there was about a 30min wait on the burgers. Lucky I wasn't overly hungry. The burgers were A++++++ sooooooo good! I have a weak spot for a good cheeseburger so I went with the Wagyu Beef burger (with beetroot relish, pickles, cheddar on a brioche) and Boyfriend went with the Federation burger with Angus Beef, Cheddar, Fried Egg, Bacon, Lettuce, Tomato & Onion. We were going to share but once I bit into mine, I couldn't pass up any of it! We also went fancy and had Parmesan & Truffle Chips... There is only one way to describe the food really... NOMS! and pictures... ie food porn





This Saturday we have a Sydney Blogger/Youtuber meet up! I'm looking forward to meeting the girls I haven't met yet and of course seeing the lovely Jade which is always a pleasure :)

I also reached 50 followers this week! It may not seem like a lot to some people, but to me it's amazing! Thank you all so much for following/supporting my little blog. I do all this out of love and the fact I get to meet so many amazing people is just an awesome bonus :)

Visiting Adriano Zumbo Patisserie

I LOOOOOOOOOOVE THE CAKE! If you don't understand what i'm talking about you need to watch the amazing show that is Little Britain, but because I like sharing the love here is a clip... Enjoy and thank me later



The reason for the cake love is that I visited the patisserie of crazy cake man Adriano Zumbo. You may have seen his work on Masterchef where all the little chef wannabes shake in their boots at the mention of his name. His cakes are out of this world, the combinations he comes up with and the look of them just amazes me. Check out his website and have a look for yourself.

On Saturday morning we lined up at around 10.30am at the Balmain store which is the size of a pantry, it's tiny! The line moves quickly though but it's really hard to get a look at all the goodies when there are so many people... I was actually glad that i'm an over-organizer and checked out the website and went with a mental list of what I wanted to get.

I ended up getting the following -

SHABALICIOUS: Caramel crunch, caramel sponge, caramel cheesecake, caramel chew & caramel cream cheese mousse (for the boyfriend)

WHAT A GREAT PEAR OF...: Almond creme, pear vanilla creme patisserie, pate a choux sable, pear gel, almond crunch & almond struesel

CHARLIE'S HOMEMADE GINGER FEAR: Ginger beer gel, ginger pudding soaked in coconut syrup, chocolate ginger foam eggs, ginger crunch, ginger chantilly & passionfruit bavarois

I also picked up 3 Macarons (ON...NOT OON) I ended up getting Chocolate, Cherry Coconut & Raspberry Beetroot... BEST MACARONS EVER... Yep I've said it! The Raspberry Beetroot was amazzzzzzzzzzzzzzzing! I had it for breakfast this morning :)

Now if the descriptions aren't enough, here are some photos to even more delight the senses... grab a napkin because you are probabaly going to drool on your keyboard in 3, 2, 1......

Brownies!

It was my boys birthday on the weekend. He loves caramel but I always seem to make him caramel things. He also loves brownies...so ta dah! I made brownies!


I made these using the recipe from How To Be A Domestic Goddess by Nigella Lawson (my kitchen idol!)

Ingredients, note my Lurpak butter I love this stuff... steps are followed and then mixed all together in my lovely heart shaped mixing bowl looks like this 

After some cooking! This is how they came out

Don't you hate waiting for baked items to cool... I do! This is how they looked after I cut them...yummmm so good! 

                            

Here is the recipe if you wish to give these a go. However I think mine were a tad undercooked so I suggest you keep an eye on the firmness etc. They are perfectly fine now I've got them sitting in the fridge but were a bit of a pain in the ass to cut...hence the messiness in the above picture!

Nigella Lawson Chocolate Brownies from How To Be A Domestic Goddess

375g soft unsalted butter

375g good quality dark chocolate

6 large eggs

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

500g caster sugar

225g plain flour

1 teaspoon salt

300g chopped walnuts (i didn't use this much)

Preheat the oven to 180degrees and line your pan with baking paper.

Melt butter and chocolate together and set aside to cool slightly. In a separate bowl mix together eggs, sugar and vanilla. 

Mix chocolate mixture in with the egg mixture and then mix in the flour, salt and walnuts.

Pour into tin and bake for 25mins (I don't think this is long enough, but that could be my oven so just check it)

YUM!