Monthly Archives: August 2011

What I Ate Wednesday No.6

Posted in Food, General by

It’s that time of the week again!

Welcome to another WIAW party hosted of course by the fabulous Jenn over at Peas and Crayons :-)


Today was a pretty productive day, my favourite kind!

Thanks for all the lovely comments yesterday by the way, I love this community :-)

Breakfast was my typical favourite:

Weetabix mush with lots of juicy fresh raspberries and a sprinkle of flaked almonds.

I’ve probably already said this but breakfast is definitely my favourite meal of the day. I think it’s a mixture of several things.

  • I love those first moments of a new day, when you have time to prepare your plan of action for the day and just take a few moments to relax before everything kicks off.
  • I just love breakfast food. Smoothies, weetabix (yes it gets a category of its own), oats, cereal, toast. All of it.
  • You’re always hungry for breakfast. I often find for my other meals that I almost eat out of habit and I’m not that hungry but leave it an hour after waking up and I’d be starving so it’s always a rewarding meal!

Lunch was enjoyed in town with Tom and it differed a bit from my usual fare.

An apple and cinnamon crepe :-) . I don’t usually enjoy eating sweet things for my meals but it was really really tasty! I’m pleased with myself for being able to move past my issues and just enjoy it.

Why was today productive?

Well two reasons: I completely sorted through my wardrobe and chest of drawers (i.e. my closet), getting rid of loads of clothes (off to the charity shop) and I set up my new laptop (with some help). Very happy to be using a laptop that works properly! The hard drive was very nearly full and it would just freeze constantly. Nightmare.

Dinner was a first for us but really tasty:

Pea fritters served with roasted summer veggies. They might sound/look a bit odd but they were actually super yummy! Definitely something to try again.

All in all a rather tasty WIAW and don’t be fooled, there was much un-pictured snacking in the form of another coconut biscuit, several handfuls of cereal and some rice crackers!

Love you all and don’t forget I’m looking for guest posts and still have a couple of spaces if anyone’s interested :-)

Sophie x

Just One Of Those Rainy Days

Posted in General by

Well today started off well but kind of went downhill from there.

I woke up fairly early (early for the holidays, as in 8am) because I had a trip into town planned with my lovely Maman :-)

It was a pretty successful trip, I got what I went for (you’ll have to wait a while to find out, I don’t want to elaborate until I have a photo!) as well as some really cute pumps from Office (I’ll put a picture up tomorrow, I forgot to take one today).

Luckily for us, but unfortunately for the rest of the day, it started raining heavily almost the moment we got home. There’s just something about grey, cold and wet weather that makes you feel a little depressed isn’t there?

Lunch perked me up a bit though:

More avocado but this time on bagel! Even better :-)
In case you’re wondering, all I do is mash up the avocado in a bowl, add a little crushed garlic, some lemon juice, a teeny bit of olive oil and some chilli powder and it’s good to go!

Another reason for my below average mood was that I had a two-hour hospital appointment this afternoon. Something about those sessions just depress me. I don’t know why exactly, whether it’s the fact that I don’t find them very useful or whether it’s just the atmosphere of a pain clinic that does it but either way, I’m glad they’re over!

When I got home I felt like I deserved a little pick-me-up so I blended myself a smoothie of frozen banana, blueberries, raspberries, milk and ice and ate it alongside a coconut and chocolate cake/biscuit :-)

I spent the rest of my afternoon chatting with my sister who I’m really going to miss when I leave for uni next month. We’ve always been quite close and we can always have a good gossip and giggle so it’s going to be strange not living with her anymore!

Dinner was one of my favourite comfort food meals:

Whole-wheat pasta with homemade tomato and basil sauce sprinkled with parmesan. Yummy!

Just what I need after a “down” day.

{ Don’t forget that I’m after guest posts for next week and I would love contributions from anyone who’s interested, just go to this blog post :-) }

What’s your ideal comfort food after a difficult day?

Sophie x

 

Bring On The Second Summer

Posted in Uncategorized by

Hey there bloggies :-)
This is just a quick post to ask for a favour from you lovely people!

Basically… I’m going on holiday next Wednesday to Ibiza and sea, sand and… food. Lots of food :-P

Tom and I have never been on a proper holiday just the two of us and we thought it was high time that we did so we’ve booked a nice all-inclusive hotel for a week.

Pretty excited I have to say!

But back to that favour… I would absolutely love to have some guest posts for the blog to have in amongst the random musings I’ve got scheduled.

So if you’re at all interested (I know it’s a bit short notice) just drop me an email before next Tuesday so that I can schedule them :-)

Have to say I’m pretty excited about this!

Love you all <3

Sophi x

A Pleasant Start To The Week

Posted in Body Image, Food, Learning by

Hello :-)

I hope you’ve all had a good Monday!

I had a rather lovely one.

I spent the day with Tom and we had a lazy morning after staying up quite late.

Why you ask?

Well I’m the world’s biggest scaredy-cat and we watched the Sixth Sense last night which I did think was really good but still kind of freaked me out.

So in order to help me fall asleep Tom spent about an hour explaining various Quantum physics theories like the Double Slit Experiment.

Isn’t he the best/cutest/smartest? :-)

I’m the first to admit that I don’t know much about physics and I’m not naturally gifted when it comes to the subject however it really is fascinating (I don’t care if that makes me a nerd). If you don’t know what it is click on the link, it’s a youtube video which explains it so well that even people like me can understand!

Anyway back to today :-P

Lunch was one of my favourite quick and easy to make lunches:

Avocado mashed together with garlic, lemon and chilli powder spread on toasted baguette. Yummy!

We took a trip into town and enjoyed a good old Starbucks iced skinny vanilla latte and a peach and raspberry muffin.

Today was also a shopping day :-)

It’s been a while since I bought myself anything nice and did a proper round of the shops so it was nice to treat myself.

I bought a jumper dress (it’s actually navy although it looks black in the picture) and a bodycon dress both from Zara. The latter was a bit of a step for me, I usually shy away from dresses like that, especially as I’m somewhat more curvy than the model and so it makes more of a statement. But it felt good to push myself out of my comfort zone and I know that when I pluck up the courage to wear it I’ll feel empowered!

The day was topped off with a bit of Come Dine With Me and then a lovely dinner.

Couscous salad, green beans and wholemeal pita.

Followed by…

Damson crumble served with a dollop of natural yogurt.

Delicious!

Night night world,

Sophie x

A Swans’ Picnic

Posted in Uncategorized by

Lunch today was my fifth restaurant meal of the week (not bad huh) but unfortunately it was hands down the worst.

I’m not often one to really criticise restaurants.

I just like food.

(I am aware of how that sounds!)

I mean I’ll even say McDonald’s is pretty tasty.

However this restaurtant was just awful.
We walk in and there are about 6 waitresses standing around at the entrance but it takes a good two minutes before one actually comes to see us.

Then it was a good five minutes before we were brought a menu.

When it came to ordering drinks she came back with three of them and informed me that they “didn’t do” apple juice. They only had orange. Fine. Not only that though, they didn’t have the drink my mum ordered either. Even though this restaurant has a bar.

Anyway moving on, to be fair to them, the starter wasn’t badly cooked, it just wasn’t my cup of tea.

Smoked chicken with peppers and corn fried rice.

The main was…interesting.

Couscous stuffed mushrooms. Nice idea, only the couscous wasn’t fully cooked. So it was crunchy. Like I said, interesting.

Along with the main courses came roast potatoes and cooked veg. The potatoes were actually quite good. The veg? Well lets just say it seemed to have been in a steamer for the last three hours. The broccoli was brown.

Not great to be completely honest.

The only redeeming factor was the dessert.

Ice cream. Shop bought ice cream.

My mum’s dessert was not the redeeming factor of her meal. The raspberries decorating her summer pudding were mouldy. Seriously.

Luckily we didn’t have to pay for that particular pudding.

Unfortunately we still had to pay for the rest!

Right, I’m over my rant now :-P

The nice thing about the restaurant (yes there is a positive, there always is) is that it’s set right by the river.

It made for a lovely walk after the meal.

What was your worst ever restaurant experience?

Sophie x

Just Another Daily Breakfast

Posted in Food, Photography by

Sometimes I wonder whether I’ll ever get bored with taking photos of my breakfast.

I mean, it rarely varies.

It’s not like I have really imaginative and exciting breakfasts.

Ans there is nearly always weetabix involved.

But for some reason, I still relish those first photographs of the day.

Those small moments where the natural light is practically perfect.

I like to play with the angle. The background. The layout. The balance.

It’s the same old weetabix bowl topped with blueberries and cinnamon.

But somehow I still want to photograph it.

Maybe one day I’ll do a collage of all of the breakfast pictures I’ve ever taken.

I have a feeling it might be rather large…

Do you love your staple breakfast?

I hope everyone is enjoying the end of their weekends :-)

Sophie x

Fitness Friday + A Film Worth Watching

Posted in Family, General by

Hello my lovely bloggies :-)

I’m in a bit of a strange mood today so I might ramble on a bit in this post, just warning you!

The day started off in a fairly way as I was pretty tired from all of the excitement yesterday and to be perfectly honest, couldn’t really find the energy to drag myself out of bed before 9.

I’m preparing to be a student you see :-P

Breakfast was, again, pretty standard but with a slightly unusual addition (at least for me):

Banana :-) And there is a weetabix under there by the way, it’s just concealed by the liberal sprinkling of toppings.

Want to hear something exciting?

I got a new laptop today!

I’m still blogging from the old one and will be for the next few days because it needs to be set up but I’m really looking forward to having a laptop that doesn’t require 5 minutes to process each individual thing I do! Not to mention that my photos and camera software have literally filled up the hard drive (which is pathetically small).

Like I said, pretty exciting stuff.

As the title of this post suggests, today is indeed Friday and I want to once more post my workout plan for the following week.

I have to apologise I never got round to posting the details of last weeks like I promised but I really will this week!

Anyway…

Saturday – Leg Pyramid Workout
Sunday – Upper Body Strength Workout
Monday – 3 Mile Cycle (maybe more if I can manage) + Ab Workout
Tuesday – 3 Mile Cycle (I’ve got another hospital appointment) + Lower Body Strength Workout
Wednesday – Upper Body Strength Workout
Thursday – TBA
Friday – Rest Day

Sound good to you guys?

This afternoon the family decided to go see a film, it’s been a while since we went to the cinema together.

The film was Sarah’s Key.

{source}

Stunning but heartbreaking.

Definitely recommend this film as one people just need to watch.

“The events are beyond dispute: 13,000 Jews were herded into the indoor cycle track, the Vélodrome d’Hiver. There they were kept for five nights without food or medicine. Of the 10 toilets, five were sealed and most of the rest blocked. There was one tap. From the “Vel” they were taken to the Drancy, near Pithiviers, then to Beaune-la-Rolande prison camps, and thence to Auschwitz. Only 25 returned.”

{source}

I almost cried from start to finish at the atrocities those poor people experienced.

The emotions, relationships and pain are convincingly portrayed and the young girl, Melusine Mayance, who plays Sarah is sensational.

{source}

Let me know if any of you have seen it and if so, what you thought of it!

Sophie x