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Sunday Weights …


That actually happened on Monday… I’m much better at squats, I can actually feel it working out my bum, especially when I stand back up. Finally!!! I’m also getting better at another move where you hold a dumbbell in each hand, you balance on one leg and then lean forward and stick the free leg out off the floor to balance and bend the other to 90 degrees, like a lunge, I then slowly come back to upright I do 10 on each leg and two sets. It works your obliques, core, bum and legs and I find my arms as well because of holding the dumbbells.

Give it a go and let me know if you had problems balancing because I so did!

Thanks for Reading xx


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What I Wore … 30th April 2014


Umm why is it the end of April already!!! To see the month out I’m in all black wearing my Asos black jeans, my Topshop boots and an Oasis top I got for £10 in the sale, love Oasis’ sales!! And I am loving their Tropical Forest collection the playsuit is so cool!

For hair and makeup I back combed the back of my crown and put on the ol’ trusty Show off lipstick from Topshop because I am feeling really confident I can pull it off lately. I am loving the sunshine we have been getting and was it really misty for anyone else this morning?

Thanks for Reading xx







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Sing to Me …. Kanye


I am love, love, loving Kanye’s Black Skinhead. I know I know where have I been!? It’s a great, upbeat, angry song and I love running to it! I love the intro (starts at 0.32) and then the drums kick in and the panting… my favourite couple lines are towards the end starting ‘come on homies what happened’ etc 

Does anyone else have favourite workout song of the moment?

Thanks for Reading xx


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Easter Treats


 So I have finally got around to sitting down and writing up what I made for Easter weekend. We celebrated it with a big meal at my boyfriends parents and I was put in charge of dessert after the last gathering had a little dessert disaster at the end, it makes me feel a bit queasy even now. I went with something big as it had to feed 7 people, four of which are actually bottomless pits. It is amazing how much they can eat and it just goes nowhere! They are the exception to the moment on the lips lifetime on the hips saying, it is very frustrating. 
I have been wanting to do a carrot cake for ages so I picked that as my staple dessert, also cream cheese frosting is a massive hit with all of them and me as I’ve found one that just uses caster sugar and so isn’t too sweet. Then as a little extra and because I got given a cupcake corer for my birthday by my boyfriends mum, I was truly spoilt on my birthday it was incredible, I went with a seriously Easter themed cupcake with lime sponge, ganache/truffle filling and the speckled Easter eggs on top.


For the carrot cake I used this recipe and nearly had a melt down when the oil completely separated from the mixture it was pretty scary having a ball of batter floating in a pool of oil however seeing as there was nothing else I could do I kept mixing and eventually, eventually it came together, but it took a while and I really don’t think it needs that much oil it was very moist maybe a mix of oil and yoghurt instead. After that it was plain sailing, I divided it into three cases and they each took around 35-40 minutes at 160 degree I then left them over night to cool as I did it last thing in the evening. 
It had just about come together at this point!!


The next morning I made the frosting using this recipe I have found, I think it tastes much better with 55g of sugar and 1 tsp of vanilla essence. Heat the butter in the microwave to make it really, really, really soft, possibly even a bit melted around the edges, usually 30 seconds in the microwave, roughly in 10s increments. Then add the sugar and beat vigorously and add the cream cheese cold straight out of the fridge and beat again. This is THE best way to get a smooth frosting. 
I have to confess I am a terrible froster I fall to pieces at the sides, I never make enough and I never leave myself enough time but I am going to work on it and have found this great blog article on pinterest that I think will help. So after stacking with frosting in between I attempted to frost the outside and this is my result. Isn’t it massive!




For the cupcakes I used this basic vanilla cupcake recipe from bbc good food then added lime zest and a little bit of muscovado sugar (40g out of the 110g sugar) I used this recipe for the chocolate filling but tweaked it a little, I used 100g dark chocolate with 20g milk chocolate, 100ml of cream and 20g of butter. I've also used it properly for a xmas present to my dad and he loved them! 
Once cooked and cooled I used the cupcake corer to dig out a hole in the middle and spooned my filling into a freezer bag then cut off a little bit of one corner and squeezed the chocolate through into each hole. You get a much tidier finish and it is a lot quicker to squeeze it out rather than spoon. Then I stuck on my eggs! 
These were so much fun and I loved how they turned out and they all got eaten even with that massive carrot cake looming over them so I was a very happy bunny.





This is the test set I made as I completely forgot to take a pic of the real ones

Did any of you do some baking over our four day weekend?

Thanks for Reading xx


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Swimming!!


I sooooo nearly talked myself out of swimming this week but did finally force myself to go on Friday and managed to do 40 minutes hard swimming with 10 minutes warm up and down. I also read in Stylist that 45 minutes of breastroke will burn off an Easter egg so just four more sessions to go… I used to have to drink milk when I got back home to help my muscles cope and so that I could walk properly the next day but I don’t have to any more so I must be improving slightly!

Any one else over indulge at Easter, which I think may officially become my favourite holiday, because I sure did!

Thanks for Reading xx


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What I Wore … 29th April 2014


I had to wear jeans today I feel like I haven’t worn my high waisted Asos jeans in ages! Had you noticed? : ) I wore my black ones today and added a bit of colour with an old Topshop jumper which I love because of the knitted bobble pattern and bow tie at the back then my Topshop boots and an asos basic vest underneath. I was boiling in my parker today AND I didn’t even bring my scarf today! Spring!!!

For hair I did the trusty old side plait which, no joke, I can do in just over a minute now! Hope everyone got in to work okay or enjoyed working from home today!

Thanks for Reading xx





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What I Wore … 28th April 2014


I went with an easy throw on look today because I am crazy tired in the mornings again now and I don’t. Know. Why! But I don’t like it! So I went with an old casual smart T-shirt dress from Asos which I love and still get compliments on. Tights from M&S and my New Look boots they’re too comfy and rain proof I can’t leave the house without them now.

For hair and makeup I brushed my hair and used batiste on the roots and just put on mascara, again too tired to trust myself with eye liner, it’s just not worth the mess.

Anyone else suffer in the mornings?

Thanks for Reading xx




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What I Wore … 26th April 2014


 I have to be honest I had already forgotten about the new jeans I got from Asos but I spied them this Saturday tucked away on my shelves and decided it was just the right weather for their first outing. I wore them with a thin Diesel sweater which I thought I was never going to wear again and had moved off to my wardrobe of ‘why did I buy this???’ items but it was actually really comfy and was perfect for the windy but sunny weather and totally went with the jeans and boots so I’m glad I keep things in that wardrobe instead of throwing them, I might have to venture back in again sometime soon. I also had on a basic vest from Asos which I am still loving and my New Look suede boots.

For hair and makeup I went with the colourful Show off lipstick from Topshop and just washed my hair and let it dry on the walk to the tube.

Thanks for Reading xx



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What I Wore … 25th April 2014


We have dress down Fridays at work, not that you can really tell I’m not expected to dress up for any of the other days but I took this Friday as an opportunity to wear a shortish dress from New Look I paired it with my oversized blazer from Zara as I wanted pockets and wore tights and my New look Suede boots, I promise I stop wearing these soon! I also chucked on a belt I haven’t worn in ages it has a beaded Aztec pattern around the back, I want to say it’s from Urban Outfitters but I really have no idea.

For hair and makeup I left my hair plain and put on mascara and Rimmel with Kate Moss lipstick which I am loving with the muted colours I’m wearing.

Thanks for Reading xx





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Brownie Cupcakes!


I really fancied a chocolate fix and thought the best way to deal with that would be to make some brownies but I had also come across some sweet cupcake cases from Dr Oetker in the supermarket so I came up with the plan for cupcake brownies! I know, I am a total genius you don’t need to say it…

I used a Hummingbird recipe for the brownies from their book which is pretty much the only bakery book I have bought because I am a massive BBC Good Food fan as you may have been able to tell? I also added in some orange zest and chocolate chips which pretty much melted instantly so they were a bit pointless but the white chocolate added a nice swirl on some. The recipe was really easy to follow and quick to do, it made 24 cupcakes and I cooked them for 20 minutes.

For the frosting I kept with the orange theme and added orange zest and juice to plain vanilla butter icing and did a piped splodge on top of each cupcake. I then garnished them with a piece of dried orange from my bag of mixed dried fruit.

The brownies only came out of their cases cleanly once they had thoroughly cooled so I would suggest making them the day before they need serving and with it making 24 its fine if a couple going missing, the chef should always get to eat a bake good warm out the oven!

Loved these brownies, the recipe book and getting to do some quick and easy piping so this is something I will definitely repeat in the future.

Let me know if you give it a go!

Thanks for Reading xx

All my ingredients laid out! Getting started!!

Dr Oetker cupcake cases


Melting butter and chocolate in a Bain marie

Adding my orange zest to get chocolate and orange brownies

What the mixture looks like after adding sugar

Action flour shot!

You can see how smooth its gotten this is the last egg!

Chocolate chips!!!!

Finished batter

It easily made 24 cupcakes

Where the white chocolate has melted and swirled 


Adding a little zest into the butter icing

Halfway through mixing in my icing sugar

Adding orange juice to get the icing light


Just out the oven


Piping ready!

Chef share with some whipped cream because they were too hot for icing

All Done!



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Run Run Running!!!


I have finally forced myself to go running on my own! I have been saying for weeks that I will go for a run when I’m at mine because I still live at home and a couple of years ago my parents got a treadmill because of my dads cholesterol and he was pretty much the only one who used it but last night I got myself on there plugged my headphones in and tried to find some good running music, a bit tricky, and got moving!

I have learnt one thing from the experience and that is to never ever eat a whole dinner and then run an hour later I had a stitch the whole time! It was not cool! But it did show me that I can preserve not matter how hard and hopeless it feels at the start. I managed 20 minutes running after a 5 minutes quick walking warm up and then I rewarded myself with a long hot shower! Well done me!

Anyone else lack a bit of motivation when it comes to running?

Thanks for Reading xx

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What I Wore … 24th April 2014


I felt like being a bit smarter at work today than yesterday so I’ve put on my grey tube skirt that my mum made for me, she stitched the ends of a piece of fabric together and sowed on some elastic at the top, so easy for her I would have made it look a mess! But its pretty cold in our office so I had to pair it with a jumper and I maybe shouldn’t have gone so baggy if I wanted to keep up the smart look I put on my peach COS jumper with an Asos high neck vest underneath, my new New Look boots and my Pull and Bear necklace.

For hair and makeup I washed my hair last night so just brushed it this morning and put on mascara. Done!

Thanks for Reading xx





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