Category: General ramblings

And relax

Hey peeps

I hope you all had a lovely weekend and you all got out to enjoy the sunshine- it has come just in time!

I was very lucky on Friday (as it was the last day of term)- I was given some beautiful flowers and lots of lovely cards.

(And a badge made by one of the children- so sweet).

Plus some lovely gifts from colleagues- candles, lush bar, baking book and a candle jar for the garden.

It was a bit of a rush as I had to leave right away to get to the wedding on time, but I made it, and it was lovely- an intimate service with immediate family. I was so nervous about doing the reading (even though it was for such a small audience) but it went well thankfully.

Saturday was the busy day (even more so for Andy as he had best man duties to attend to). I ended up pottering around at home all morning, before I got dressed up and headed over to pick up his parents. All the family members had these lovely flowers (although they have wilted a bit now!)- I wore mine on my wrist, and of course all the men had theirs in their button holes.

Officially the service was a blessing (as they were married on Friday) but it was basically a wedding service with readings and hymns etc. The sun came out and I am sure the photos will look lovely. I had plenty of time to catch up with people I met at the hen weekend (in Southwold) as Andy was very busy.

They also had a sweetie bar which was total genius– jars with jelly beans, dolly mixture (remember that?), licorice allsorts, flying saucers. They had the little metal scoops, and stripy bags! I got some jelly beans but hardly ate any so brought the rest home with me!

Of course the inevitable questions kept coming at the two of us (as his brother is a year younger than Andy and they have been together nearly as long as we have). Firstly I find it awkward because really it is nothing to do with anyone else. But also I am not sure of my own thoughts on it! I mean, I know that I would not want a wedding day- every wedding I go to confirms it more. I think people think I am insulting them when I say it, and I am not- I enjoy going to weddings, but I would not want a day like that myself. Andy had to do a speech, and he did so well, but I would have hated to have all the focus on me just for a little bit, let alone a day. Plus they are so expensive- for just one day! Think of what holiday you could have in exchange. And we signed a lot of things when we bought our house- that is a pretty big commitment. And you hear about people who are happy for years, then get married only to split up soon after. Is there something about it that adds more pressure? Who knows.

Anyway, they had a brilliant band (Hula groove) who were fab- I have never been to a wedding before where the dance floor was so consistently packed. The two of them had a wonderful day (which is what counts, after all), and the weather was just the icing on the cake.

We didn’t set an alarm for Sunday morning, and in the end I didn’t get up til 10am (which is so late for me) and headed out for a 9 mile run. It was hard, but I was tired from all the dancing, and probably had not had quite enough to drink on Saturday. I made the mistake of thinking (at mile 6) “hmm, at the Great North Run I won’t quite be half way yet”- whoops. Anyway, overall I enjoyed it although my legs did feel tight. I saw so many runners out too- it must be the sunshine calling them! It took me nearly 2 hours I think (have not plugged in the Garmin yet, and I was too thirsty when I got home to look at it!), but that is OK.

We were going to go to the Waffle house for breakfast, but I got home from my run at 12, so it was too late for that! We watched the Grand Prix (go Button!) and then headed out to see my parents and Andy’s parents, and then went to the Waffle house for dinner instead. It was packed, but that is no surprise. It has so much outdoor seating, and it is right by the water, so it was perfect. I went for a wholemeal waffle topped with veggies, hummus (a massive scoop of it) and sliced avocado, topped with a sweet chilli sauce. It was delish.

Today I have got to wait in for some deliveries, and then do some shopping, and work (and possibly the allotment to tackle the wedding, but that might wait until tomorrow!), but it is nice to have a day to myself now and finally relax into the summer holidays.

After all:

OK that has gone huge! I copied off a friends’ facebook wall 🙂

Catch you later dudes!

Also, married folks- what made you decide on getting married? Has anything changed since you have been married? Just curious.

Freebie!!!

I love a good freebie, I do.

Yup, I decided to go to the run last night. After a cup of tea and a sit down, I was feeling a bit better, and the rain eased off, and then stopped, so I decided I would feel better for going, and could always run very slowly at the back if I felt tired. It was a good run- pretty fast (not as fast last week)- and kudos to the new girl who ran the entire run barefoot. Impressive. Soles of steel.

Yellow is not normally my colour (well, maybe a paler one is OK), but it is a technical t-shirt, and all I had to do was go to 5 runs (well, more because it was not in stock in my size for ages). I think it is a bit hot to wear now, but in the Autumn it will be fab.

I was glad I went- mainly for the t-shirt, but I enjoyed the run too. It is more social than a run by myself, and the fresh air always helps.

Tonight was pump, and I decided to go up a bit for the squats and back track- nearly up to my old personal best. Arms are very shaky now!

Tomorrow is the end of term- woohoo! The benefits of being a teacher 🙂

Any exciting plans for the weekend? Andy’s brother is getting married on Friday, so I have to rush there after work, then the reception is on Saturday, and then Sunday I have a 9 mile run planned (eek). Have a good one.

Soggy

I know, I know, everyone is going on about the weather, but seriously, it is July! JULY!

This is the last week of term, but it does not feel like it at all with all the rain and wet play. We had Sports day (rained off the first date)- the field was wet, and the water soaked through my trainers (why did I take my wellies home on Monday?), and then it rained right at the end, so I spent the rest of the day with sopping wet socks and trousers. Not good.

Last night I made some cookies to keep everyone going:

As I had some cookie mix (and not much time) it was perfect- I used the Oatmeal cookie mix that American Soda sent me, and added in some of the butterscotch chips (which, by the way, taste like butterscotch Angel delight).

It made a lot- 2 big tray-fulls, and they went down well at work.

I have also been getting gifts ready- the fudge is all bagged up now, and I will take it in tomorrow as the last day will be so manic.

I missed the WIAW post again, but I did take a photo of my lunch from the weekend (possibly? Or earlier than that)- crumpets with peanut butter and fresh strawberries (so good), lime curd, and Earl Grey tea.

At the moment I am deciding whether to go to the Sweatshop run tonight. I woke up at 4am this morning with a bad headache, and it would not go away. Since being better I have been trying to steer clear of painkillers (not that I take them loads)- because I must have been on some kind of painkiller for at least 5 months. Anyway, I had to succumb to ibuprophen in the end, and luckily it went, but I have felt a bit groggy today (from the lack of sleep I think), plus after being soggy all day, I feel I have only just warmed up and dried off. It is not raining out there at the moment, and I think that a run in the fresh air might help, but then again if it pours I think I could end up feeling rubbish, and at some points I feel like my headache is on the verge of coming back. So we shall see. Still have not got my t-shirt as they have not had my size in, so that is a good reason to go! Also because we have the wedding on Friday, I can’t go out for a run then (and don’t want to go out in the morning as I want to have time to do my hair and if I run in the morning it gets a wet ponytail), and the Reception is on Saturday so I suppose I could go out then for a short run, but ideally I wanted to wash my hair Friday night and then make it look presentable on Saturday morning, as then it is easier to sort out. Hmm. But then after that I will be on holiday so I can have a run whenever I want. And I don’t want to be unwell for the wedding, or for the last few days of term. Oh it is hard to tell!

How do you decide when to give a workout a miss?

A productive weekend

Hello all

I hope you all had lovely weekends. I managed to fit loads into the 2 days which is the best way I think. After the rainy run on Saturday morning, I needed to go shopping as I have a wedding over 2 days this week, so needed 2 outfits (nightmare- finding one is hard enough!). Andy agreed to go with me, and we treated ourselves to a Starbucks (well my treat for not getting too grumpy in the shops)- we shared a cinnamon roll for a late lunch- mmm. I managed to find some shoes, but no nice dresses. I picked a massive pile of blackcurrants from our garden and made a cheesecake for Sunday.

This is a massive pasta bowl and it is full of currants!

Not sure why it went to red in the picture!

I used a recipe that I had used before, (base of ginger biscuits and butter, middle of light cream cheese and light condensed milk- not sure why either of them are called light but anyway) and for the topping I heated 1/2 cup water, added some agar flakes, and then added the berries. I left it to cool a bit before I put it on the cheesecake, but it set really well. I still have loads of berries left though so I might make some jam or something.

Saturday evening we watched a film and shared some treats we had picked up at the shops- I had a little M&S voucher so we bought some chocolate pretzels, and some giant salted chocolate coated peanuts- yum!

Sunday morning I was up bright and early doing some work, and once I had made some progress I made us some pancakes- Andy requested banana and chocolate, so I put some chocolate chips in the batter (the batter was super easy- 1 egg, 75ml almond milk, 75g wholegrain spelt flour, 40g apple sauce, almond extract, baking powder and bicarb)- and while they were cooking I sliced a massive banana and cooked it in a pan with a tsp spread and a tbs coconut sugar. Yum. The banana was huge but it really cooked down- does not look like much compared to the big pile of pancakes!

I made some fudge (more fudge as end of term gifts for people)- this one was peanut butter fudge with white chocolate and freeze dried strawberries- instead of putting the chocolate as a layer in the middle, I sprinkled on chocolate chips (they melt as the fudge is hot) and then poured some strawberries on.

Then I went shopping again (this time on my own) and found a dress, although now I think I might need something for my hair? That might be a job for tomorrow! I then made the mistake of going to the allotment- my this wet weather has encouraged the weeds! I felt like crying- and what is the deal?? Something has been eating the onions but left all the other weeds that are growing around them- I don’t get it! Anyway, I did about an hour of weeding, but at least once I break up from work I can go up a bit more.

Then we had a lovely chilled out afternoon.evening at Andy’s parents- lots of wedding talk as it is his brother who gets married on Friday (and the Reception on Saturday)- it seems to have come along very quickly.

I was planning on doing some more work when we got home, but (shh) I didn’t because we got in at about half 9.

Today when I got home I went on a run, but again it was hard work. Not as hard work as last Monday’s run, but still my legs were stiff. I am not sure whether it is the longer runs on Saturday that are doing it, or whether I am not moving about enough on Sunday (although I think I was), or something else? Anyway the weather didn’t help- I know I prefer the cooler weather but it was windy and the rain was sideways at times (not too heavy just annoying). I did see some rabbits though 🙂

Right, off to watch The Newsroom- night 🙂

Green brownies and a surprise!

Hey peeps

I hope everyone had a fab week- I am glad that the weekend is finally here.

Earlier in the week I was sent some cake mixes and ingredients to try out, and so I decided to make the walnut brownies to take to work. On the packet there was an option to make them lower in fat, by using apple sauce instead of oil. It was so easy to make them- put apple sauce and egg in a bowl (and a little almond milk to thin because it seemed quite thick) and then pour on the dry ingredients.

Super easy.

I reduced the baking time by about 10 mins because it seemed long compared to most brownies that I make, but I suppose every oven is different.

At work we were having an Eco-day, so I decided that minty green icing was the way to go.

I used the recipe from the mint slices in Sweet vegan, which is pure spread, icing sugar and mint extract. I added the green colouring when I was beating the spread up, before I added in the icing sugar.

You can see the lovely chunks of walnuts in them.

And then sliced them up and put them into coloured cases to match 🙂

All ready for work- and they disappeared pretty quickly (and I was worried that the green colour would put people off).

A bit of running talk:

On Wednesday I went to Sweatshop for a run- it was fantastic! For the last few weeks I have been running with another girl as we seem to have a similar pace. We tend to be near the back, but not last, but we generally can’t see the people at the front by the time we get back. Anyway, this time we managed to keep up- about half a mile in there is a road crossing and we caught them up while they were waiting for the lights to change. We pushed the pace pretty hard (being encouraged by the guys who work there- two of them came on the run and took turns being at the front and back)- and we managed to do the whole route (just over 3 miles) in about 30 minutes- that is so fast, especially for me recently, and we kept the leaders in sight the whole time. I jogged home and luckily got in just before the rain got really hard, but my hamstrings were very sore the next day- a sign I had pushed it I suppose (but in a good way).

What a perfect post-run evening snack of a peanut butter pretzel mojo bar (what a lot of lovely words) and some chocolate almond milk.

It made body pump tough on Thursday! Friday morning I got up early to go on a short run before work- I find this helps me to stop being stiff after body pump, and I could not go after work because we were going into London to see The Sunshine Boys with Danny Devito. I think he is so funny (I love It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia) and I was not disappointed, although you could tell we got the £10 tickets because we were in the very top/back row- it was a long way down!

This morning I decided to not set the alarm, as the last 2 weekends we have had to set it, and I like to wake up naturally (plus we had a late night). I got up at 9am, had half a clif bar and then headed out on a run. The plan was 8 miles, so I had to check on the computer first because I have not done those long routes for ages, but I ended up doing one of my favourite routes- I think the last time I did that was the weekend before I went into hospital so that was a bit strange. Anyway, it was only raining lightly when I left, but after about 4 miles (typical- when I am half way and no chance of cutting it short!) it started to rain very heavily. Luckily I had chosen to wear my tennis visor which helps a little bit (especially with my glasses). I was running along quite a straight road, and as I turned to check before I crossed a side road, I could see another runner coming along behind me. When I stopped to cross the next side road, they had caught up, and stopped beside me at the same time. I did wonder why they were not overtaking me, and had a moment of panic- then I looked and saw that it was Andy! Phew! It was such a surprise because on Friday when we got back we checked the weather, and it is not meant to rain on Sunday, so he was going to go out then (he is a fair-weather runner!) so I was not expecting him to be out in it! I thought he would run on as he is faster, but he stayed with me for the last 3 miles (well at some points he would run on ahead, and then run back a bit to meet me)- it was really nice to have someone to chat to, although because the rain was hard I did keep telling him to go on and meet me at home. A nice surprise anyway 🙂

I was soaked through when I got home, but I managed the 8 miles in 1 hour 35, so not too bad. I got an email from the GNR saying 9 weeks this weekend- crazy!  I was also so cold, but a hot shower, breakfast and a cup of tea has helped. I should not complain because I find running easier when the weather is cooler.

Right, well as it is a rainy Saturday I have some indoor plans- popping to the shops (urgh, I have to go shoe shopping for a wedding next Friday) and then making a cheesecake with the blackcurrants from my garden- we have had a bumper harvest this year!

Have a lovely weekend 🙂