Monthly Archives: September 2011

Just Keep Singing

Posted in General, Learning by

Hey lovelies, sorry I didn’t post yesterday!

I was so exhausted when I got back at 10pm that I went straight to bed and couldn’t find the energy to post, I hope you’ll be able to forgive me :-P

Breakfast was the only meal I got a picture of yesterday so I’ll give you two:

Weetabix (as per usual), blueberries and cinnamon. The perfect breakfast for an early start :-)

Yesterday we had nine hours of singing, I was exhausted!

To be honest, I still am.

I can barely walk and my neck doesn’t want to support my head…

And we have about five more hours of recording this afternoon!

Oh well, it is really good fun even if it is one of the most tiring activities I’ve ever done.

This evening I plan on busting out a bit of this:

Nothing makes me sweat like one of Jillian’s workouts!

Having said that, I might be just too exhausted, we shall have to see…

Hope you’re all having a good weekend :-)

Sophie x

Fitness Friday + A Vocal Workout

Posted in Cooking, Food, Fun by

Right, this is to everyone who reads, follows or comments:

I need your help.

After a week on holiday I feel sluggish and lazy.

This is where you come in.

I need motivation and lots of it!

So here is this weeks plan (make sure you all hold me to it):

Friday – 2 Mile Cycle + Upper Body Strength Workout
Saturday – 2 Mile Cycle (Out most of the day)
Sunday – 2 Mile Cycle + 30 Day Shred
Monday – 30 Day Shred + Full Body Stretching Session
Tuesday – Ab Workout (I’m out most of the day again so it has to be quick)
Wednesday – Lower Body Strength Workout
Thursday – 3 Mile Cycle + 30 Day Shred

I really hope I can manage to get at least 5 of these days done as planned!

And why a vocal workout you ask?

Well tonight and throughout the rest of the weekend my choir is recording a CD and so it’s going to be one massive workout, in its own way.

My diaphragm is going to be super tired by Sunday evening!

I love singing, it’s not something I’ve discussed on the blog much but I’ve been singing in choirs since I was seven years old and I passed my Grade 8 exam this year :-)

Lunch today was particularly yummy: bagel topped with caramelized onion, garlic and chilli with melted emmental.

Right well I’d best be off, got lots of singing to prepare for!

Hope you’re all having a good Friday :-)

Sophie

September, Why Are You So Cold??

Posted in Food, General by

You would never know it was only the beginning of September, today was sooo cold!

Waking up this morning I didn’t want to get out of bed, I ended up staying tucked up in my duvet sorting through emails and blogging with my kitty curled up next to me.

Poppy totally persuaded me not to leave my bed till about 10am :-P

Anyway let me tell you, it felt ridiculously good to eat my lovely weetabix for breakfast this morning.

In fact I went all out with my weetabix mush this morning: weetabix soaked till soft, mixed with raw oats and topped with greek yogurt and blueberries. Delish!

All enjoyed, as you can see, with a glass of orange juice and the newly arrived issue of Women’s Fitness. I love that magazine :-)

It was also nice to have lunch with my mum again, leftovers from last night:

This time served with naan bread and mango chutney. Just as tasty as last night :-)

The afternoon was spent unpacking, reorganising things and sorting through my mail.

(My room is still pretty messy though!)

Snackage consisting of a honey topped bagel, raspberries and a glass of chocolate milk, just what I needed to fuel a quick session with the weights. It’s been a while so I wanted to take it easy!

Tonight was spent babysitting my absolute favourite children to babysit. It was just the two younger kids and they are just the sweetest. It’s always fun to look after them and their mum is one of the nicest people I know so we ended up chatting for over half an hour after she got back.

Do any of you babysit? If you do, ever had to look after any awful children?

Love you all :-)

Sophie x

Welcome To Ibiza! – Holiday Recap

Posted in Fun, General by

Hello bloggies!

I hope you’re all having a good week so far :-)

It’s time for my Ibiza recap and I’ve got a couple of gorgeous photos to share with you all.

But first I want to say that it’s important that you remember that this was not a cultural holiday, it was not for sightseeing and it was not for exploring.

It was for RELAXING.

Something I really needed after 2 months of holiday :-P

Well actually I kind of did need to relax, although I’ve been on holiday for a long time most of it was spent stressing about whether I’d got into uni and then what I would do if I hadn’t!

Anyway first things first.

Look at the absolutely stunning view which greeted us from our balcony:

Isn’t it beautiful? The hotel was set in this private little cove with its own beach and every morning when I woke up this view would just make me smile :-)

The weather was gorgeous the entire week we were there, always around 30°C at midday. I even managed a (small) tan!

A snapshot of the hotel at night. It was built up the rock on one side of the valley with the restaurant at the top and the bars and pools at the bottom. We must have walked up and down hundreds of steps a day!

One of the best bits of the holiday was the entertainment every night. The entertainment reps were hilarious as well as brilliant at languages (the main guy spoke at least 4 fluently) and the shows were great. On our last night there was an African acrobatics troupe which was amazing.

Another of the best bits was definitely the pool:

But the absolute best thing about this holiday?

Spending seven days with this guy:

I can’t explain how happy it made me feel just to be able to spend all that time with Tom.

When I leave for uni in just under a fortnight I’m barely going to see him for twelve long weeks so this week has been a real blessing.

All in all, it was a wonderful week and the perfect way to end this summer :-)

(By the way I’m sorry about the lack of food photos, we kept the camera in the safe most of the time and it was too complicated to bother taking it up each time we ate!)

I hope you’ve enjoyed that and thanks for all your lovely messages whilst I was away :-)

Good to see you liked all the guest posts. I want to say another massive thank you to all the lovely ladies who wrote one for me, you’re all amazing!

Sophie x

What I [Wish I] Ate Wednesday No.7

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It is so good to be back in the world of blogging!

I am so glad I started blogging, it’s really become a part of my life, I feel almost a little empty when I can’t get online to join in with this amazing community.

Writing a blog has reinforced how much I love to write and although my posts have mostly been short so far but I plan on exploring different post formats and developing my “voice” over the next couple of months.

Today is a Wednesday and you probably know by now that this means it’s time to join the lovely Jenn over at Peas and Crayons for another WIAW party! I love this girl so much for starting this, it’s so much fun :-)


For those of you who are interested (hopefully everybody reading, otherwise, what are you reading for?!) Ibiza was fantastic. It was wonderful to have a holiday with Tom, it really gave us the opportunity grow even closer and just being able to enjoy his company for a solid week was amazing :-)

The weather was gorgeous, the scenery stunning, the food pretty tasty and the people friendly.

Come back tomorrow for a proper recap :-)

Today has been a long day…

Up at 7am to get ready, finish packing and grab a quick croissant for breakfast.

Coach departs from the hotel at 9am. Half hour transfer to the airport.

Check in. Passport control. Wait in stiff chairs. Glare at the overpriced airport food.

Board plane at 11am. Try to get comfortable in stiff seats. Again.

Read. Eat Pringles. Read some more. Try to take a nap on Tom’s shoulder. Stare out of the window watching the clouds.

Land at about 1pm English time.

Passport control. Baggage collection.Get picked up at the airport.

Home by 4pm. Finally.

Coming home after a long journey always feels good doesn’t it? Even though I already miss the fantastic weather and beautiful Ibiza scenery I love being back at home. It’s where I feel happiest I think.

Sorry if that was a depressing read. I’m just not the biggest fan of travelling via airplane. I completely understand that airport security is really important but there is no getting over the fact that it really makes the whole traveling process much longer.

Unfortunately because I was traveling today I’ve not managed to really take many photos of my food so it’s a bit of a rubbish WIAW but I do really love it so I just had to join in anyway!

As much as I love croissants, here’s what I wish I’d eaten for breakfast this morning:

I can’t wait for my weetabix tomorrow morning. Does that make me a little bit sad?

In terms of what I wish I’d eaten today it certainly wouldn’t be Pringles for lunch.

Don’t look at me like that, I sure wasn’t going to pay £6 for a sandwich!

I wish I’d had something refreshing like this:

How gorgeous does that look?

Dinner was the only proper meal I had and it was delicious.

Aubergine and green bean curry.

I do love home cooked meals. Thank you Maman :-)

Anyway I’m all blogged out for tonight, I want to get some shut-eye.

It’s good to be back though!

What’s your least favourite way to travel? Do you enjoy journeys?

Sophie x

Guest Post: Isabelle from Cheesymiteapples

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Well this marks the end of my guest posts with, last but by no means least, the fabulous Isabelle :-) . Take it away girl!

Hey Guys! I’m Isabelle and you can find me at a little blog called Cheesymiteapples :-)

First off I just wanted to say thanks to Sophie for giving me the opportunity to write up a guest post.

When I was deciding what to write about it was kind of a no brainer for me. I live and breathe running! I know some people don’t understand why you would put your body through the type of rigorous training that I do sometimes. When I give it all I have in a race, finding out I ran PB alleviates all this physical pain. It makes me think I can do better and I’ll keep going until I can’t do any better. That’s the thing about distance running you have to be really passionate about running and improving if you are going to put yourself through that kind of pain, over and over again.

Every day whether it be during a training session or a race I strive to deliver my best performance and I also have a lot of fun along the way.

Some Principles and Tips I stick to are:

  • Run more and for Longer. A super long run provides the basis for building the aerobic capacity required to race a 5k well. Having the blood pumped through the working muscles for such long periods has more affect on aerobic fitness than any other workout.
  • Anaerobic Threshold Run of at least 20mins at least once per week. This is running at a pace just below where the production of lactic acid rapidly increases and allows the runner to continue running reasonably comfortably but at high aerobic speed for over an hour. Doing this improves the athlete’s ability to concentrate when fatigued which can be very important in the latter stages of a 5k race.
  • Run Hills Hard Once Per Week. Running hard up hills is very effective for improving running mechanics.
  • Enjoy Your Running! The most important thing of all is to enjoy and look forward to all the training sessions. So get out there and find a running group that inspires you to run.

Live it Love it Run it!

Some of my Healthy Edibles that Fuel me along the Way:

  Thanks Again to Sophie!

Are you a runner? If not what exercise do you prefer?

So I hope you’ve enjoyed all of these wonderful guest posts, thank you so much to all of the lovely bloggers who wrote them for me :-)

I’ve missed you all but I’ll be back tomorrow evening!!

Sophie x

Guest Post: Leigh from Peanut Butter Nutter

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Hey hey hey, only 2 days till I’m back with you all! Today’s guest post is from the lovely Leigh :-) . I love this girl, her blog is 100% real and she’s always there for a chat! Hope you enjoy her post, it has some brilliant advice.

Hello! I’m Leigh, and I blog over at peanutbutternutter about food, exercise, border collies and my life as a student dietitian. I am about to enter my second year of university, and as Sophie is about to start her first year I wanted to share some tips with all of you about to take that step! Last year I moved 4 hours away from home and lived with 20 complete strangers, it was so scary at first, but it turned out to be the best year of my life. Here are some things that I learned.

Don’t be shy, everyone is in the same boat. Everyone will say this to you, but it really is true. No one knows anyone, and everyone wants to be friends. After my parents had helped my move in and left I lay on my bed absolutely terrified to go and talk to anyone. I took some deep breaths and put on my big girl pants, and within half an hour we were all talking like we’d known each other for years.

Use the internet to meet people before you go. All uni’s have facebook groups where you can meet other people from your course and even find the people you’ll be living with. It really makes meeting in real life a lot easier if you can introduce yourself and already feel like you know someone.

Be yourself. You will meet so many different kinds of people at university, there’s no better time than now to be true to yourself. So take up the hobbies that you enjoy, listen to the music you love, and eat the food you want to. Anything goes in university!

Budget sensibly. I saw people blow their loans in the first week on dresses and then live off 8 pence curry for the rest of the term. It is tempting to blow your loan in fresher’s week, but you’ll have a much better time of it if you’re not completely skint the rest of the term.

Be prepared to dress up. Seriously, don’t even fight it. It’s not an option.

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Eat healthily, but indulge too. I was terrified of gaining weight from drinking and late night take-aways, but I actually eat better now than I ever did at home. Often we’ll make a homemade pizza on the nights we go out and eat the leftovers when we get home. This is more for money saving reasons, but it usually tastes better than a greasy take-away too. Sometimes though we will all go out for pizza, and that’s fine too. University really helped me loosen up with my eating habits and made me realise that it’s ok to eat a take away here and there, and that unplanned meals out are fun, but also to eat well because uni is exhausting and being ill is the last thing you need!

Ask for help if you need it. Universities have so much support in place, if you’re struggling with a deadline, money or your health there are people there to help you – it’s their job! So please don’t be scared to ask for help before it all gets to be too much.

Have lots of fun! Uni is ace, and if everything doesn’t fall in to place straight away it will, just give it some time. Good luck to all of you who are off to new schools this autumn!

If you’ve already been to University what was your experience like? Any good tips to share?

Thanks for the awesome post Leigh :-)

Sophie x