Wondering what all this #projectsparkle stuff is about?  Click here for the details!

37. have a girly shopping day

Last Friday my friend and I spent the day in London which next to no set plans.  It was amazing.  So amazing that I pretty much totally forgot to photograph just about everything we did.  As a blogger I should probably apologise but I refuse to because it is just a sign of how much fun we were having and I refuse to apologise for living in the moment.

We went to Bill’s restaurant in Soho for breakfast, the location was perfect for a trip to Illamasqua’s Beak Street store and the interior was spacious and rustic with free wi-fi too if you fancied a working lunch.  The service was only so so but the food was delicious, we had the normal and the vegetarian breakfasts with a side of bubble and squeak.  The vegetarian breakfast was really pretty special, toast with hummus, guacumole, poached egg, tomatoes, mushrooms and chilli sauce!!

Then we popped into Illamasqua so I could grab one of the amazing I’mPerfection nail varnishes.  Unfortunately it was quite busy in there and there was only one lady working so we didn’t stop long.  Although I had heard a few good things about their nail varnish rain drops, well in person this has the most beautiful pieces of shimmer like…drops of water!  I had to have it.  Will try to post some pictures once I have applied it.

Whilst discussing ‘things to do’ we had wanted to have a bit of a pampering but the Lush spa was going to take a big chunk out of our day which seems a waste of girl time and when I phoned Liz Earle they were fully booked.  But they very kindly offered us appointments on the shop floor for a skincare consultation.  It was lovely and I can’t truly express how friendly, kind and interesting the girls were!  We didn’t purchase anything there and then but I have been religiously removing my makeup before bed since the appointment and also having ago with some facial oils to try to deal with dehydrated areas.  Once I’ve used up some of my existing supply I think I will try their moisturiser and possibly the face mask.  Very tempted to book in for a facial too as my skin was so soft and smooth after the consultation!!

Quick trip into Harvey Nicholl’s in Knightsbridge led us to discover the amazing new foundation by Armani called Maestro Fusion.  We both fell in love with it and came away with a purchase {colour number 5}!  The MUA’s were so friendly which was very welcome after the Lancome lady decided to not even acknowledge our presence which was a shame as I was there to purchase!  I also tried an Armani serum which I loved was was going to splurge on but there is some confusion about which I tried so for now I’m having ago with a tester from Origins.

By now we needed refreshments which came in the form of a bubbleolgy tea – an experience I am in no rush to repeat.  It made me gagg on those horrible ball things #yuck!!  However, the bottle of bubbles which followed went down much better and helped facilitate a huge dose of chat and laughter, day dreaming and people watching.  A little piece of goats cheese and beetroot tart and a side of chips were also ordered for refueling.

Unfortunately the day was drawing close to an end and so we had a disappointing nosy in TKMaxx in Kensington and a quick trip around Wholefoods before having to go our separate ways.  Why is it days like this one always go so quickly!?!

Wondering what all this #projectsparkle stuff is about?  Click here for the details!

34. catch up with a friend, baby-free

Last Friday my sister and I dropped William at nursery and then had a day just the two of us.  I really love hanging out with Hannah and don’t want our relationship to become to focused on William.  We watched back to back episodes of Nashville {which I am addicted to, so good!  May have been listening to the soundtrack constantly since…} and had slutty brownies and tea for breakfast.  Finally we forced each other to get ready and enjoyed a pub lunch with some drinkies before I had an appointment at NJW’s new salon to have some much needed layers out through my hair – my curls are thanking me!

Why is it I never like how other people blowdry my hair?
Hannah loved it but it all felt a bit 90’s big hair-esque for me.
But I love the layers that she has put in, it can be tricking getting my curly hair the layer it needs without losing length.

I wrote a menu plan, ordered all the food and was raring to go when William got a fever and generally felt horrendous with a mixture of a horrible cough, 2 teeth cutting through and conjuctivitis.  Needless to say my weekend didn’t go to plan.  Then late on Sunday night I got hit by a sickness bug and what followed was the total wiped out of all my plans and good intentions for the week!

So here is the menu plan that we totally didn’t follow…

Sunday:  chicken gyros
Monday:  omelette {with ham, peas, onion and cheese?}
Tuesday:  lasagne
Wednesday:  sausage and mash
Thursday: thai chicken curry
Friday: fish and chips
Saturday:  meatballs and pasta

Wondering what all this #projectsparkle stuff is about?  Click here for the details!

43. buy a new mascara

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I might be kinda cheating this week as I bought this a few weeks ago but you know what, that’s how life goes sometimes.  Ain’t no rules about how #projectsparkle happens, it’s just a goal with some random tasks that I think will help me get there!

Night time skincare is not my strength.  I am terrible at remembering to take my make-up off.  I have regularly bought products that I think will help me get into a better habit with it but it has just never worked out.  Going back to work this became a bit of an issue because the mascara I was using was a total beast to remove!!  Even with an oil based cleanser and a gel cleanser afterwards I still looked panda eyed which isn’t a great look for the office.

Cue a return to a trusty favourite, Clinque!

Now hold on a moment, don’t eyeroll and walk off
I don’t like Clinque products either
No really, I don’t own any of their skincare – they throw lanolin in everything!

However, their mascaras are brilliant!

Honestly, brilliant!!

So I chose the Lash Power mascara {£16} because it doesn’t smudge, not even after a night’s sleep.  But it washes off easily with just with hot water and not a panda eye in sight!  Perfect for this time-short gal!  I am wearing it in the picture below:

{sorry about the quality, no flashy cameras here – just me, my iphone and I}

As you can see it isn’t going to give you a ‘false lash effect’ but it gives me a nice balance of length and volume without too much effort or faffing.  As well as saving me at least 4 minutes of panda eye scrubbing – just enough time to make myself a travel mug of coffee so I count that as a major win!

love Amy x

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Here are a few eats from this week.  I am particularly proud of the roast chicken, it feels like a grown-up thing to be able to cook!  As well as the fact that I’m amazed I managed it as I have a fear of birds and can be funny about cooking meat.

Despite avoiding menu planning and being totally unable to get my head around it, I think we’ve got a rough plan.  The upside to having a well stocked freezer is that we can get away with planning at least a few meals the night before.  However, I still did a quick online shop ordering in the things we need to make what have become our staples.  Overnight oat and yoghurt jars, vegan muffins, salad for crudités and some fruit which normally starts at a place of pink lady apples and bananas.

This week

Breakfasts: I sound like a broken record but oat and yoghurt jars, banana and nut butter wraps and porridge sometimes at the weekend with William are really the foundation of my morning.  Alongside coffee obviously.  The protein pancake I tried didn’t work out so well, I think it was the protein powder I used so I might try tweaking that at the weekend.

Snacks: again the frozen protein bars and protein brownies along with the vegan muffins I now religiously make every Sunday night are key.  Not having to think about it and automatically thinking ‘it’s 3pm = snacktime’ takes away any choosing or thinking about less nutritious options.

Dinners:

1. mince with savoury scones {a Granny freezer meal}
2. pasta with pesto, smoked bacon and veggies
3. fish with mash, carrots and broccoli {we keep avoiding this meal, not big fish fans}
4. thai chicken curry
5. chicken noodle soup
6. chicken gyros

I also want to start substituting white rice for brown where possible
but it never seems to be cooked enough.  Any tips?

love Amy x

Wondering what all this #projectsparkle stuff is about?  Click here for the details!

27. buy a sports bra

I know that this sounds like a ridiculously easy item on my list but it was a big deal.

My boobs are not small and / or pert!  Not having a good sports bra was an easy excuse to use when avoiding going running.  But deep down I really wanted to get back into running.  Sometimes what you want long-term gets overlooked by fear, avoidance and embarrassment.  This is totally what was holding me back from getting out there again.

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I had the trainers, I had baggy t-shirts, I had cheap and cheerful joggers {although I’m pleased to say I’ve been able to fit my bootie into my running tights} and with my return to work and beginning to work from home 2 days a week I have the daylight hours to be able to.  Which meant the only excuse I had left was a lack of sports bra.

Just before getting pregnant I had spotted a sports bra on the Sweatshop website which looked really intriguing…enter the Sportjock sports bras.  Something I particularly liked about them was they didn’t take a ‘one bra fits all’ approach and the ‘target size’ is clearly listed in the description.  There are:

{Action sport bra – cups A, B and C}

{Super sport bra – C, D, DD, E and F}

{Front zip sports bra – DD through to G}

Because of my…assets…I went for the front zip sports bra.  I also ordered the Panache sports bra as a friend recommended it and was going to go with that but as soon as I put the Sportjock on it was love.  It is made of super soft material and is so comfortable I can’t quite put it into words.  Rather than feeling like I was wedged in a child’s t-shirt or floating around in a cave ready to jiggle about I felt like someone had wrapped me in a blanket and snuggled me on  the sofa!  Then came the jogging on the spot test…still comfort and no ping-pong motion.

The bra is designed more like a crop-top in terms of the cut which also means the weight and impact of my assets {cough cough} are spread across my back and the dreaded ‘straps that have dug in’ grooves don’t happen.  I did wonder how I would find the front zip but there are three hook and eyes which I fasten first, then pop ‘the girls’ into place and zip up.  Also as it does up at the front and the material is so soft I don’t have to do the “struggling to fasten my super tight ‘so the girls can’t go anywhere’ sports bra dance” which I am sure can only be a good thing for the planet!

Honestly it is love, I could babble on but the proof is in the pudding – I didn’t want to take it off after my run and will be ordering a second very shortly! As I am currently wearing around a 38H bra I ordered the large but think I will probably move done to a medium once I have lost a little weight across my back.

Until the end of February Sweatshop are offering
15% off new season clothing and shoes with discount code FFTNEE

{I made these vegan muffins and they were a major hit!}

{Had a go at making bircher muesli based loosely on this recipe.
William absolutely loved it and I used an old peanut butter jar
to take a serving into work each morning for my breakfast.}

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A few people asked me what Gyros’ are.  Stupidly I didn’t photograph them.
Tho mainly because Mark and I were too busy sticking our faces into them.
They were so good!!!
Here is the recipe we used.

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Something I didn’t really mention last week is that I am particularly interested in monitoring our food waste.  Previously I have felt like we threw away a lot of fresh food that had gone unnoticed and spoiled.  This week we have had to throw away some almond milk {trying, and failing, to get used to it in my coffee}, 2 mini pots of hummus {why are there so many ways to spell this simple chickpea delight!?!} and possibly a packet of fresh coriander but I’m hoping it might last until Tuesday to use in the chicken noodle soup.

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This week

Breakfast

1. bircher muesli
2. wrap
3. porridge
4. green smoothie

Snack

1. protein chocolate
2. crudites and hummus
3. muffin
4. rice crackers, nut butter and fruit

Dinner

1. fish, mash potato, peas and carrots
2. bacon and creamy avocado pasta
3. burgers, chips and salad
4. chicken noodle soup {trying this recipe}
5. poached egg, ham and toast
6. jacket potato with cheese, beans and sausages
7. shepherd’s pie {last night, a freezer meal courtesy of my Gran!}

love Amy x

Wondering what all this #projectsparkle stuff is about?  Click here for the details!

14. start menu planning

You might have read my blogpost over the weekend with details of my first week’s menu plan.  I have to admit I really enjoyed the process and am excited to see how this week pans out.  I thought you might like a bit of waffle about how I approached it.

Book a date with yourself

I looked at my schedule and decided when I could do this on a regular basis so it becomes a habit I can keep up.  For me I realised I could have a quick look through the cupboards and freezer on a Thursday {a work from home day} which would give me chance to do some planning that evening and on my commute on Friday morning then pull together an online shop during my lunch break.

Make it an occasion

Ok so hear me out, if you don’t have much ‘free’ time which I guess includes me given I’m working full-time, have William, am trying to get back into running and generally keep the house ticking over, then any time you get to sit down quietly for half an hour is a time to treasure!  So I made myself a hot drink, lit my favourite candle and popped a bit of music on.

What is your style?

Some people plan breakfast, lunch and dinner, others just plan dinner.  A lot of people seem to assign meals to specific days and so I assumed that was how it had to be.  Honestly, I think it is one of the major reasons menu planning hasn’t worked for me in the past.  We often are like ‘oh I really fancy xxx tomorrow’.  Which made me realise that a better plan for us is to choose the dishes and shop for them but assign which day is what on Sunday night/as we go.  As I’m trying to get a bit healthier and back to being dairy free {it just doesn’t agree with me} I decided to focus on breakfast, snack {for the 3pm slump} and dinner.

The nitty gritty what went down during my candlelit quiet time?

First up I opened up a double pager in my new notebook.  The left page was for menu planning and notes, with the right page being for a shopping list.  I thought of a few recipes I had seen recently that I fancied trying or a favourite dish and popped them down on the planner.  Then I made a detailed shopping list, don’t try to skip any of this otherwise you will go wrong in the week.  Go and double check whether you have enough mixed herbs, is your cinnamon still in date and do you have plain or self-raising flour in the cupboard!  I also took a moment to look at the list as a whole and check there was a good balance of quick and easy vs. prep ahead of time options, are there a range of proteins and carbs or is it all pasta?

Don’t forget to add in any non-food items that you need to your shopping list or the everyday bits like butter, milk and bread, washing tablets, toilet rolls and teabags!

For added geeky points…

Then I took it to a whole new level of geeky and decided to do a freezer inventory!  Our freezer is actually in the garage as we have the tiniest galley kitchen ever.  Like ever ever!  The problem with this is that I often forget what is in there but regularly pick-up reduced meat etc and pop it in on the way home {we use the back entrance, infact the frontdoor is rarely opened.  Random but true!}.  So the freezer gets fuller and fuller and is an untapped resource.

It only took a few minutes to go through each drawer and note down what is there and how many portions.  Then I wrote it up neatly in my trusty menu planning notebook!  I popped the items under the categories Meat, Fish, Vegetables and Other.  The plan is that as we use things I can cross them off the list and equally as I buy things pop them down on the list.  Hopefully this will mean next week when I menu plan I can use what we already have in the freezer as a base to work from to help keeps costs down.

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Reading that back it sounds quite long winded but it really wasn’t, I promise!  Having the detailed shopping list was brilliant as I always normally forget things which means I end up wasting time doing multiple trips.  I have planned around 2 weeks worth of breakfasts and snacks so I can make some things up and freeze them in preparation for lazy days or ‘running low’ ends of weeks.

love Amy x

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If you were sat with me right now I’d tell you I am tired.  I feel as if I haven’t stopped all weekend and that my to-do list is no where near complete.  Last week Mark was working late alot and I was in the office 5 days a week.  I really think hope that working from home 2 days a week will take the pressure off the weekends a little, just being able to keep ontop of washing and put clean clothes away without having to dash to do it between naps or with a little ‘helper’.

If you were sat with me right now I’d tell you it is 00:26am and I am still awake.  I couldn’t sleep.  You know when you lie there and no matter how heavy your eyelids feel they just. won’t. shut.  Hence a little blogging, a quick cup of green tea and ‘going to bed’ attempt #2.

If you were sat with me right now I’d tell you I am wondering if there are any good reasons to not go to a predominately vegan diet.  I don’t like thinking about how meat gets from the field to my plate and I know I couldn’t be involved in the process directly.  So it feels a bit hypocritical to eat the meat if I wouldn’t be happy to prep it.  I’ve always been kinda freaked out when I think about eggs…then dairy doesn’t like me very much so I am supposed to avoid it anyway.  Not sure I want to commit to a 100% vegan diet but most of my food, most of the days could be a good fit.

If you were sat with me right now I’d tell you that my new food processer {but I should have ordered this one, so mad with myself right now!} looks amazing.  Though making a purchase like this and being excited about it is a sign I am rapidly heading toward domesticated territory.

If you were sat with me right now I’d tell you how this blogpost has really stirred something within me which I’ve been trying to ignore for a while.  How I really need to take some time to think on it, open my heart and listen but that I don’t feel quite ready to yet.

If you were sat with me right now I’d tell you how amazed I am about how delicious the vegan blueberry muffins that I’ve made look.  That I’m excited to try them tomorrow and how mashing the bananas reminded me of my blonde mix up when I last made banana bread.

If you were sat with me right now I’d tell you I think I owe someone an apology, for something I did months ago. I acted harshly because of my own issues. But that I am not a significant person in their life and so I doubt they even remember what I did. Which makes me worry I will look foolish if I bring it up…

If you were sat with me right now I’d tell you that recently I have been loving youtube, again.  I remember when I lived in Wanstead I used to watch youtube videos all the time and regularly made Mark lie in bed and watch them with me.  But for the longest time I just haven’t been feeling it, no idea why but I just wasn’t in the groove.  Current favourites are trulyjess {especially as she has commited to daily vlogs for 2013}, toneitup and sjconfessions.  Probably reflecting my ‘getting healthy’ #projectsparkle mindset…

Any youtuber recommendations? 

love Amy x

Morning everyone!  Happy Saturday!  Hope you’re having a nice weekend and enjoying some time with family and friends despite of the snow.

With going back to work full-time the only way we won’t end up surviving on takeaway or cereal is a little bit of organisation and planning.  I don’t like menu planning to be too prescriptive and I don’t want to be constrained by what the menu plan says we’re meant to eat.  So instead I want to plan ~4 breakfasts and snacks and 5-6 dinners.  Eventually I want to add in lunch but where I work it’s quite easy to get a good lunch.  However, breakfasts are potential danger zones, it is too easy to grab a latte and a pastry!

Breakfast:

1. nut butter and fruit wrap
2. muffin and fruit
3. oats in a jar
4. porridge

Snacks:

1. protein bars
2. brownies
3. rice crackers with nut butter and fruit
4. crudités and hummus

Dinner:

1. chicken noodle soup
2. gyros and wedges
3. avocado pasta with smoked bacon
4. chilli and rice
5. fish fingers and waffles

love Amy x