Back in June I was so excited to be invited to join the campaign #ThisGirlCan with Boohoo. I couldn’t wait to visit their Manchester studios to view their Boohoo Fit Range, where we would be pampered and treated to our own photo shoot for this great cause. Having joined the gym back in March I’m always on the look out for new work-out wear and it’s difficult to find good, supportive pieces that are also reasonable too. The gym isn’t necessarily about being a fashion show, however, looking good whilst you sweat gives me a major feel good factor! The #ThisGirlCan campaign wants to tackle the stigma of working out, making sure all girls, of all ages, sizes and capabilities are getting out and doing some sort of sport activity each week & feel good when they do it!
Do you ever have those moments where you just sit there & think “boy, I love my life” kinda times? I seem to going through one of those phases & I so desperately hope that it doesn’t end any time soon.
I spent a lot of time wallowing in self-pity after the wedding last year. I comfort ate, I never exercised so I just ballooned in weight. All that hard work for the wedding was in tatters. Sadly, I’m one of those types of people who never stick anything out. You know the type, the ones who jump on a bandwagon do it twice, maybe three times & then become bored so just give up. Whatever it was becomes a distant memory.
I’ve been determined to keep being positive in 2015. It was one of those so-called “resolutions” that we all make on New Years. So far, so good. Okay, I’m not immune to an odd moan from time to time but generally I feel it am a happier person.
So, what’s making you keep to your promise I hear you all ask? Well I will tell you if you really are keen to know.
At 25 I still haven’t passed my driving test. I am a sad, sorry state of affairs that relies on public transport (sob!) or the taxi of Mr C. Whilst it’s great to be driven around like a lady of leisure I most certainly don’t feel like one. So, after the kind donation of my Nana’s salmon pink corsa (she’s called Mavis don’t you know, so for the purposes of this post you will know who, sorry, what I am referring to!) So, on Sunday Mavis got her first test drive on the open road. No, not just on private land, an actual road with other passing cars tooting along next to me. I can’t tell you how wonderfully frightening it was but I got the taste of freedom (albeit Mr C was in the passenger seat keeping a mindful eye on matters.) I can’t believe, in fact, I hate to believe that I have gone so many years without driving. So, it is now my duty to make sure I pass my test this year & be my person without having to to rely on terrible timetables or my husbands schedule.
Secondly, we
have finally joined a gym. For a mere £25 a month I can swim and gym to my heart’s content. And it’s not just me doing it, Mr C is coming along for the ride too (hey, you see what I did there right?) After being told by the doctors that in order for his back to get better he must swim & gym up to three times a week. Whilst he drives me nuts with his “Come on get a jog on” comments and the “you go first & I will follow” orders, secretly I am super happy that he’s joining me. It means we can both get fit together & it gets us out of the house too. In the meantime I am dropping the lbs (or at least I hope I am!) to a newer, slimmer & more toned me. I can’t wait to see my results in the next few weeks!
Thirdly, I’m just enjoying life. The things I previously disliked would not have even been sniffed at, but now I am learning to just accept things. Those who know me or know of my rambling “about me” I proclaim to dislike cats. Well, for Xmas the father in law bought mother in law a kitty cat much to her delight (& to my horror!) after weeks of squirming when it came near me or tried to touch me I decided to finally pluck up the courage to stroke her. And in return I got a nice little lick on my finger and then a playful claw to it. I exclaimed “You little shit!” I smiled and it actually hugged my arm. According to my mother in law I’m the only person she comes to. So maybe this cat-hating devil lady (yes, that is me) may have thawed over & decided that she may have a little hole in her life that can be filled with some kitty love….
Life is kinda funny right? I have read some truly beautiful posts recently from Megan at Wonderful–You and it made my heart bleed, but all the same empowering. Accepting things in life sounds like a cowards way out but in truth, it’s accepting it & how we deal with circumstances that slowly makes us a better person. I’ve finally come to realise that. I’m a twenty-five year old woman (yes, a woman) and try as I might I have carved my own little life for myself, there is no point trying to change things drastically. Just be a better person, doing things that make you happy with you & who you actually are! I’m finally taking back some of my self-worth & I’m on that path to ”Be the Boss” of my happiness.
You know when it’s your birthday and you unwrap your presents in one of two ways, you’re either a person that’s frantically rips the paper off at mammoth speed to then move on to the next one or you are someone who peels things carefully, savouring each moment. I fall in to the latter category and when my subscription of degustabox lands on my doorstep at the end of the month I can’t wait to carefully to unveil what goodies are inside. October’s was a culinary dream & pretty much everything in the box made me shrill with delight.
Kent’s Kitchen Meal Kits RRP £2.50
Stop what you are doing. Put down your jar of fake curry now. This is what you need to be doing from now on. I say this so strongly because this is what I have just had for my tea. To say it was delicious would be an understatement. The wonderful meal kits from Kent’s Kitchen are an easy 1, 2, 3 step process. Fry your chicken or choice of meat and add the pots one by one and see your meal cooked within 20 minutes or so (don’t forget a tin of coconut milk for the Bengal Curry.) Simple yet so effective. Mr C & I have been leaning towards the curry’s that include a powder recently, it just seems to create so much more flavour and this one has to be one of our favourites that we have tried. Despite it being a Bengal curry it did taste very fragrant like a Thai Curry which is my favourite dish, this is probably why it is such a winner!
Brioche Pasquier Sliced Brioche Loaf RRP £1.69 & Brioche Pasquier Pan au Lait with Choc Chips RRP £1.60
To say I’m not a savoury fiend, would be a downright, total lie. But, when you add chocolate to some scrummy milk bread I cannot resist. Going all continental I have been enjoying a Pan au Lait every morning (& quite possibly every evening but shhhh!) because they are simply to die for. I’ve already had the pleasure to eat these two products in the past so it was only right to be thoroughly thrilled at the prospect of creating one of my signature dishes with Mr C, bread & butter pudding with the sliced brioche. I can’t wait to make it this weekend on a cosy, wintery Sunday afternoon.
I didn’t even get a look in with these when they arrived. They firmly entered Mr C’s mouth and were laid to rest in his stomach. I think it took him T-Minus ten seconds to eat all these so overall I would say that they went down a (sweet) treat!
Solo Marshmallow Creme RRP £1.99
As the biggest fan of ‘’Fluff’’ this made my eyes light up. I’d never tried the toasted marshmallow version so I was excited to get a spoon and dig right in. It was delicious but very rich which meant only 2 spoonfuls would be enough, anymore I’d be in a marshmallow coma with my head over the toilet. I think I’m going to create the delicious fudge recipe with it instead of spooning it like Nutella!
Blue Dragon Sweet Chilli Sauce RRP £1.39
I love, love, love sweet chilli sauce. Especially to dip Thai style vegetable rolls in! However, I’ve gladly sat and doused numerous crisps with the sauce at great measures. It is just too yummy to stop at one or two. Receiving two of these means I will be kept in ‘’Sweet Chilli Heaven’’ for some time.
Special K Cracker Crisps RRP £1.89
I’m on a diet so it disgusts me to think I’d happily sit and quaff on about 5 packets of crisps if I wanted to. So imagine my glee when I found the Special K Cracker Crisps in the box! At 60% less fat these little crisps make it feel less sinful. Although BBQ flavour isn’t exactly my favourite, they were actually really flavoursome which surprised me! At £1.89 it’s at the higher end of what I would want to pay for a family-size bag of crisps, if these were on offer I’d definitely think about getting them for a healthier alternative.
Bear Paws RRP 55p
I can’t say that I was a huge fan of these. Mr C gladly wolfed them down. I’d describe them to taste a little like those strawberry winders all the ‘’cool kids’’ would get in their pack ups at primary school. I never did like them. Whilst I praise the ‘’no added nonsense’’ strapline (which actually lives up to it’s premise – they are made of only apples, pears, strawberries & little sweet potato extract!), the fun aspect of the paw shaped fruit shape for kids is great too, sadly it just wasn’t for me!
Enhance Drinks RRP £2.49
I’m a water fiend & I will drink pints of it a day. I’m also weaning myself off diet coke which has been a task but I’m getting there. I’ve been trying to think of ways to spice up what drinks I have and this has been the perfect answer! I love orange and passion fruit so it’s reminiscent of a J20. At just 1 calorie per drink it means I can have a couple of fruity drinks a day and not feel guilty about it!
What I haven’t tried yet…
Get Buzzing Bars RRP £1.30
I love the aspect of nuts and oats. I love anything like this. I don’t know why I haven’t delved in with this yet but the combination is perfect for me & I have no doubt that I will be dying for more after I’ve tried it. Whilst some may feel the price bracket is a little steep for 1 bar I have seen something similar in our local shop retail at nearly £2! So to me, this is quite the bargain.
Dr Oetker Extra Dark Chocolate RRP £2.49 & Dr Oetker Fine Dark Cocoa Powder RRP £1.89
This coming weekend I’m ready to get my bake on. These babies will feature heavily in the making too. I’m hoping to make my famous chocolate pecan pie. One of Mr C & I’s favourite puddings! Absolutely shockingly bad in the calorie stakes but oh-so finger licking good in the taste stakes. Once I’ve made it I will gladly share the recipe with you all.
So, to round up another fabulous degustabox would be to say that it was fabulous! As I’m not a beauty addict but a huge food lover this is the perfect subscription box for me. With it coming up to Christmas it would also be a great idea to buy a subscription for a loved one too. To help you on your way I have a discount code QCICX which will save you £3!
I’d love to hear from you if you sign up!
Rebecca xxx
C/O degustabox for review purposes. All views are explicitly mine I am not influenced by any other factor.
I was thrilled to bits when Beth from Beauty in Beta offered me that chance to host one of her weekly chats entitled #HealthySelves. The basis revolves around gearing everyone up to getting healthier and fitter through subtle lifestyle changes and hopefully along the way helping each other out through hints and tips, inspiration and pure ‘’egging one another on’’ to get to the results that you want to see.
I’m a firm believer that to get results you have to be in the right frame of mind, so when it came to choosing my topic for the week, #HappySelves seemed an obvious choice for me. I wanted to bring a little joy to the weekly chat (not that it doesn’t have enough joy already!) but I wanted to turn it in to a different direction and make people be happy!
It seemed quite a good choice to go with as some people declared just before the chat, the following statements:
‘’I’m not really feeling happy at the moment but I will try join in guys!’’ etc etc etc.
And by the end we had the following…
I was overwhelmed by your kind words! It was so lovely that everyone was laughing and enjoying themselves and not taking themselves too seriously. Especially when it came to my final requested of sharing a joke to win a #HappySelves care package, which the lovely Becky won! It will be winging its way to you shortly! After the chat, I felt like I had spread what essentially was my plan, to share joy & happiness with a few little quotes along the way! And by the above tweets it certainly worked. So much so, that Beth asked if I wanted to be a regular host of the chat since you had all enjoyed it so much. Of course, I was absolutely stupified that I had had that much of an impact on you all, that I really could not turn down this opportunity!
I’m so pleased that I am on board the #HappySelves team and look forward to chatting away with you. Whilst I don’t declare myself as a self proclaimed life guru, I like to think that finding happiness within yourself and enjoying the good things in life, be it small or large that is when you are healthy!
So when do I start my regular hosting duties, I hear you cry? Well that would be the 3rd November 2014 so put it in your diaries and make sure you are there! I’ll be hosting the first Monday of every month, if you have any questions you’d like me to ask then please feel free to email me queenbeady@hotmail.co.uk and I will try work them in one way or another.
I hope you are just as ‘’happy’’ as I am about being part of this fabulous, solidarity – I can’t wait to see what the future brings!
This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.
You can adjust all of your cookie settings by navigating the tabs on the left hand side.
Strictly Necessary Cookies
Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.
If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again.
You must be logged in to post a comment.