Category: Stuff I love!

I tried one of the vegan Bosh slices from Costa- it was fairly nice but I think I can make nicer tiffin at home. Good to have options though.

Last week was a fairly standard week run-wise, with runs on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday morning. I had a meeting before work (a presentation which was a bit nerve wracking) on the Thursday, but knew I would not sleep well anyway so may as well still get up to run. I kept the run to a 5k instead of my usual 4 miles, so I could be in work a little earlier. The bluebells are just about there, although coming to their end now, so of course I took a few photos on some of the runs.

Vegan box arrived, afternoon work essentials and waffles for dinner.

I think the presentation (or worry about it) had really affected my sleep that week, and by Thursday afternoon I had such a stress headache- paracetamol was the only way (oh, and a ginger biscuit) to get through the rest of the day.

On Friday we had waffles for dinner as we had not had them in ages- delicious hummus and avocado, with rocket and sweet chilli sauce. So good.

I then had to do my long run on Saturday morning, as I’d planned to meet my dad and brother for a run on Sunday morning. I really haven’t thought that the Brighton half will go ahead, but it’s getting closer and no cancelation email yet, so really need to go a bit beyond my happy 10 mile weekend runs!

I headed over to Panshanger for 11 miles. I even saw some ducklings- I feel like I’ve seen hardly any this year. It rained on and off, but wasn’t too bad. I was in a t-shirt and a couple of times wished I’d had a long sleeved top on, but of course once the rain stopped it got warm again. One of those days. Once home I had some croissants and fruit, and of course tea.

I had a bit of a rubbish afternoon- I think I was overly tired from the week and from the long run (and then doing all of the cleaning- should probably have saved that for Sunday after the shorter run), but I made the mistake of reading some comments on the parkrun posts- some people are just so horrible. (By now we know that the restart has been delayed, which is so disappointing) I was really getting my hopes up for the 5th June as the restart date, but I think it dawned on me on that day that it would not be coming back due to London having so few permissions.  I find it so frustrating that people can go to pubs, nightclubs, spas and so on, but an activity that is scientifically proven to have such little risk has not been allowed to come back. I really find parkrun helps with stress levels, and going for a run just isn’t the same as being surrounded by a positive community. Anyway, Sunday was another day and I was looking forward to a run with my dad and brother. I had a little warm up first, and then we headed out on a new route (as parkrun had emailed out a challenge, which Dad had then decided to do).

On Saturday night we watched The Sound of Metal, about a drummer in a band who loses his hearing. It was a very engrossing watch, although with the sound switching between what he hears and the rest of the world, I don’t think I could have watched it in a cinema with the surround sound!

It ended up being slightly longer, but who is counting? We ran to the edge of Ellenbrook Fields and back, mostly through fields and countryside- lovely. Afterwards we sat in the garden and were so lucky with the weather as it only rained for a few minutes a couple of times. (From the Monday we would have been allowed indoors, but being in a classroom all week with children that will not be vaccinated means I feel I am taking more risks with things like this so would not be happy to do that just yet).

Gorgeous chocolate orange pot, cold brew fruity tea and Baby Yoda cup cosy is my fave.

Mum gave me some plants (she is always growing things in her greenhouse) so once home and showered I pottered around in the garden for a bit, planting out some of them plus of course the weeding.

We’ve been watching the series Mare of Easttown (I think I mentioned it before)- it’s really so good, but I find it so frustrating that they only release one episode a week! I can’t really get used to that again.

Do you have any races that you are booked to do?

Do you like waffles?

I don’t know about you, but although I love a four day week following a bank holiday weekend, the week actually feels more manic. I think I try to fit in 5 days worth of work into 4 days which just is crazy!

I’d been for a long run on the Monday, and often I would have  rest day after that, but I wasn’t sure that I’d run on Thursday, so I thought I’d stick to my regular Tuesday and Wednesday morning runs.

The light had been particularly beautiful on one of the mornings, so of course I could not resist and had to take some photos.

I had 2 staff meetings plus an additional department one (after school on Tues, Wed and Thurs), but I had to try and leave fairly promptly after it finished on Wednesday as I was off for my first vaccine appointment! The one bonus of getting older!

It was in the centre of town so I drove up after work. The whole thing was excellently organised (well done NHS and all the volunteers)- it felt a bit like a parkrun as the volunteers were all so cheerful. I am not a big fan of needles (I have fainted before and so get a bit panicked)- so when sitting in the hall and waiting my turn I had to try and sit facing ahead, as I could see the 5 injection stations to one side. The actual jab (I hate that word) was fine, but fairly soon after my arm started to get sore. They made me sit around for a bit before I could drive  home, but I was OK. I knew I wouldn’t be home in time for the actual yoga class, but I had said I would aim for the yoga nidra session, and ended up laying in bed while I joined in. The benefits of zoom! I felt OK when I went to bed, but woke up at around 2.30am with horrible chills and sweats and shivers. I also couldn’t lay on my arm (and I usually lay on my left arm to get to sleep, and then move all around once I am asleep). I took some paracetemol and that helped a bit but I didn’t sleep much.  Even a shower didn’t help (I have this if I get a bad cold- things touching the skin just feel uncomfortable). Thursday was a tough day as my teaching assistant was off, so I had to cope with my class on my own. Normally this would be fine, but feeling under the weather (achy stomach, headache etc) is very hard when you are working with little children. The meeting after work was a bit of a high pressured one too, so having to stay for that instead of just going home didn’t help. I was so glad to get home, and sit under a blanket on the sofa (I was so cold and shivery still). I think I managed to stay up until around 8pm, when I went to bed with a hot water bottle and more paracetamol.  Thankfully when I woke up on Friday I felt much better, with just the sore arm remaining.

On Saturday it was pouring with rain- so miserable! I headed out for a gentle run to see how I felt, and I was OK. I think I felt tired from the lack of sleep more than anything. My arm was a bit sore, and hurt when I lifted it over my head, but OK when running.

I used some vegan brioche rolls to make us some French toast for breakfast, and then we spent the morning doing jobs around the house. I also finally booked a haircut- for June! I thought that after the first vaccine does (plus 3 weeks) you have some protection, so I would feel OK going for a haircut. I’ve not been since January 2020, and so it is long overdue.

Once that was done I watched TV in the afternoon (catching up on Taskmaster)- I really needed some chill out time.

I made a vegan battenberg which turned out really well (check out sophie.bullimore on Instagram as she has some brilliant recipes).

On Saturday night we watched The Mitchells vs. the Machines, which was good fun and just what I fancied- nothing heavy going.

On Sunday I went for an 8 mile run, and then had more French toast for breakfast. This fuelled me for hours in the garden. I was given some trees for my birthday which needed planting in the back of our garden.

Before-The mound doesn’t even look that high, but it really was!

However, that bit of the garden needed sorting as it was covered in a pile of earth from when we dug out the pond, plus chippings from when the tree stumps were removed. I had to dig and rake and move a lot of soil.

After- much flatter I hope you’ll agree!

Noodles for dinner- so tasty!

I was pretty shattered after all of that, so treated myself to watching Tangled. Always a good choice. (Andy planted the trees once he had finished watching the Grand Prix).

After all of that hard work, we decided to have our dinner (yummy peanut tofu noodles) in front of the TV in the living room. In the end a productive weekend, but why can’t every weekend be a 3 day one?

Did you have a good bank holiday weekend? What is your favourite easy dinner? (the noodles are a bit of a faff really, but easy to eat in front of the TV) Have you booked anything or started to get back to more “normal” things yet?

The lead up to the glorious 3 day weekend felt very busy- partly because I had a few extra bits to do from work, but also I didn’t want to save any work for the weekend so I had to work quite late into the evenings on most days to make the weekend clear. It is worth it in the end but meant that I got to the weekend more tired than usual.

Matcha to help me wake up in the morning, then zonking out in front of Taskmaster when I got home on Friday evening. I am loving this series- anyone else?

I had my usual morning runs- I’ve got a nice 4 mile route that isn’t too hilly or muddy, so I can be fairly consistent with time and get back with enough time to get sorted before work.

The skies were again amazing on my run- I am pretty much past sunrise time now, heading out in daylight. We managed to save a few of the homemade Pret cookies so enjoyed those in the evenings.

The bluebells are still looking beautiful too, and of course on a couple of days we had a hot cross bun with our pot of tea.

So, onto the weekend. It was my birthday on the Sunday, but I’d had some lovely things sent in the post so it felt like the celebrations lasted all weekend. One of my friends at work has a side business of balloon decorating, so she made me a lovely balloon posy (collection?)- she was at great pains to tell me that it was special recyclable balloon material too- she knows me so well!

Andy’s parents sent me (vegan) afternoon cream tea in the post, and one of my friends sent me a cake card, which opened up to reveal two slices of (vegan) cake. Such a treat.

We had originally hoped to head to Brighton for the weekend, but as only self-catering accommodation was open (no hotels) it was all rather expensive, so we opted to stay at home instead.

It meant I did a (not)parkrun- often Saturday is a walk instead of run day, but as we were going to be busy on Sunday I opted to run then instead- I was so lucky with the weather, as later in the day it got cloudy and rainy, but the morning was beautiful.

Andy had booked us afternoon tea in a local hotel (it’s an old farm that has been converted into hotel rooms, restaurant, farm shop and cafe). We’d walked past it lots as it is on the 20/20 route, but never been to it.

We walked there and back as it’s a couple of miles, and it was again perfect weather.

He’d opted for the vegan option too, and it was delicious. A good selection of sandwiches (being vegan is better than being veggie as no risk of egg sandwiches, or worse, when they give you salmon because they forget that veggies don’t eat fish- it’s happened to me several times…), a vegan sausage roll and a delicious baked tomato filled with artichoke and pecans, plus really fluffy scones and a selection of cakes. The tea menu was long (always good), plus you could have a different type of tea instead of just getting a refill of the same one. Always an extra point in my book- I had an Earl grey one to begin with, then a peppermint tea later on. While we were sat there we realised it was our first meal out since February 2020 when we were in Brighton! In the summer we had a few takeaways but didn’t ever go to a restaurant/café for a meal as it didn’t seem like a good idea.  Here we were sat outside, all very spaced apart and not that many tables so it felt quite relaxing and safe.

Andy had also ordered a birthday cake from Cutter and Squidge- it was an amazing chocolate cake with raspberries on the top. We were both pretty full following the afternoon tea, but managed a tiny slice in the evening while we watched Nomadland. I did enjoy the scenery, and it was a thought provoking film, but on balance I much preferred A Promising Young Woman as my Oscar top film.

New trees and the cute fairy flowerpot from my niece and nephew

Over the weekend we had a few visitors to our garden- luckily in between rain showers. My niece and nephew had chosen this fairy flower pot, and as I had some bedding plants I could put in some flowers straight away. Andy’s parents, my parents and my brother all got me trees (I had asked for them), his brothers gave me a rose plant and the sister in laws gave me a gorgeous hoodie. It did mean we had rather a lot of jobs in the garden to be getting on with.

The weather on Monday was OK first thing, and I went out for a run, but after that it went downhill and wasn’t really weather for planting trees!

Monday breakfast after a run to see the bluebells

 We were hoping that the rain would help to soften the ground a bit to help with the digging for later in the week.

This pic was for Star Wars day which was technically after the Bank Holiday but it matches the Disney theme!

As well as a garden theme, my gifts were Disney-themed! Andy got me this wonderful book filled with information about the holiday celebrations at the Disney parks- I honestly think I am going to cry when I finally get to go to even Disneyland Paris let alone Disney World! Some of my friends got me some Disney socks (Stitch and Baby Yoda) and even a hairbrush with mouse ears!

So, a slightly different birthday weekend, but really enjoyable, and at least better than last year because back then we were not even allowed visitors to the garden.

How have you celebrated things differently this year? Have you seen any good films lately?

I am now having trouble working out the month or the year. In some ways, time seems to drag, but in other ways, March 2020 seems so recent, because so little has changed in day to day life since then. Finding small things to celebrate and make the week different seem even more important and needed.

So, last week was a standard week. 4 mile runs on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday mornings, yoga on Wednesday night and a Sunday morning long run. I also met my dad for a (not)parkrun on Friday after work- we’ve not managed this for a few weeks so that was nice to add in and make the week feel different.

As we had been in town for my mum’s birthday treasure hunt, we had popped into The Pudding Stop (it’s rude not to) as I had seen that their latest cookie cup, the pb&j cup, was vegan! Cue a lot of excitement from me- they do a few vegan goodies (bake at home biscoff cookie dough pudding being the absolute best) but not that many, and of course anything with peanut butter wins! I got out in the garden after work, planting a few more seeds and finishing up some of the weekend jobs. It’s all really coming to life now.

I saw a baby bluetit on my Tuesday morning run. I watched it (from a distance) for a minute- it was on the path as I ran past. I remembered reading that if birds on the ground don’t seem distressed then they probably have a parent nearby, and as I walked away I saw the parent fly down and then they flew off together.

More gorgeous sunrises on Wednesday- it was so frosty and misty and the glow from the sun looked amazing.

As it was National Tea day of course the old tea colour indicator was going around social media. D2 is the correct answer- any paler and where even is the tea, and the darker ones have been brewed for way too long! Bird & Blend also released some Butter Brew tea (black tea with caramel) and I was very pleased that Andy managed to order some for us.

Thursday treated me to more sunrises. My legs felt quite heavy after yoga- we had worked a lot on holding poses (chair pose especially) so they did feel quite sluggish after that. After work I had a doctor’s appointment which I was totally dreading. Andy had to drive me (as I had to take some medication which meant I couldn’t drive) and I was so relieved when it was over as I hadn’t slept well all week. I’d ordered some leggings- Sugar and Sloth (my newfound fave cute shop) had partnered with Lucy Lockett leggings, and they were my treat for the appointment, so they arrived just in time. They are “loungewear” and not “active” leggings, so perfect for wearing with a hoodie when watching TV.

After work on Friday I drove over to my parents and had a (not)parkrun with Dad. I didn’t see my mum as she was having a nap- they’d both had their second vaccine the day before and she was feeling a bit tired (but fine). I had a good catch up with Dad and also we managed one of our fastest times for a while. Not too shabby for the end of a busy week.

Standard not-parkrun Saturday- pancakes, walk, burgers.

We watched A Promising Young Woman ahead of the Oscars, and I really enjoyed it. Andy found the ending very frustrating (but he still really enjoyed it), but I really liked the ending too, and thought it explored so many relevant issues and topics. One to seek out.

My run on Sunday was mostly enjoyable apart from an encounter with an aggressive dog owner as I was running back through the woods. I always stop if I see dogs off their leads, and hope that the owners will call them.  Usually dog owners are great and call their dogs back or put them on leads, but these owners let their dogs race over, run around me, jump up at me while growling and barking. The lady eventually got them to come away and said “ don’t worry they’re fine”. I hate this reply because maybe the dogs are fine but I’m not happy with dogs behaving like this, so I said that to her. Also, if a dog is jumping up at someone, surely they aren’t fine and they surely are not under control.  The guy then shouted at me so aggressively, saying if I didn’t like dogs I shouldn’t be running there. What gives them the right? I do avoid some parks due to the vans full of dog walkers, but these woods are quiet – sometimes I won’t meet anyone else and most dog walkers are good and call their dogs over when they see me. I personally think that if your dog won’t come when you call it then no matter where you are they should be on a lead. Rant over, those people give dog owners a bad name.

I’d made some chocolate almond butter cookies (from the Pret recipe)- I’d not made them for ages and they are so good- they didn’t last that long into the week.

In the afternoon it was lovely weather for pottering around in the garden. Andy had created a new path and the beds next to it needed plants- they have been gradually arriving over the previous week so the time was to plant them out. I even saw a frog in our pond!

How do you take your tea?

 

Yup, snow was falling the whole of my drive into work on Monday morning! Not what you expect at the start of the “summer” term. (Also, why is there no winter term? We have autumn from September to December, spring from January to Easter, and then summer…)

Still loving the hot cross buns!

Back to work meant back to early runs, and some pretty sunrises. I’ve got a loop that I quite like at the moment. It’s 4 miles and mainly across fields and a little bit through some woods- nice and quiet and a good way to set myself up mentally for the busy day ahead. I did the same route on Tuesday and Wednesday, and then a slightly shorter out and back on Thursday as I was slow to get going and a bit achy after yoga on Wednesday evening.

We were baking hot cross buns with the kids at work so I really fancied one when I got home most days!

Once I get back from my early morning run, I’ve got a routine sorted to get ready for work too- a cold drink (water or coconut water), then I make a matcha, cook my porridge and make a tea to take into work, plus a herbal tea to have with my porridge. I then have a shower, and the porridge and tea have cooled enough for me to have them once I’m out.

The yoga class I do isn’t run in the holidays, so this week was the first one back after a 2 week break. It was going to be a gentle awakening, but ended up being pretty strength based at times. During our headstand practise I had one leg up and then briefly managed to push the other leg up before coming out of it. I am not sure if it’s a strength or confidence issue (or both) but I was quite pleased to have managed that, as the only time I’ve got close before has been in an actual class with someone holding my hips to keep me steady.

Work and social media has been full of people flocking to pubs and hairdressers this week. I’m not a pub fan, but I do really need my haircut. I just feel way too nervous about it at the moment. I have one hairdresser that I love (every other hairdresser has given me layers, even though it makes my hair even thicker and I always said I didn’t want layers…)- she totally understands my hair and is fantastic. However, the salon is upstairs in a shopping centre. It has no windows (only windows to the shopping centre), no fresh air, and also there’s now a nail bar in there so it smells chemically anyway. Just the thought of being sat there for over an hour, with the hairdryers blowing the air all around, just doesn’t seem great to me. I think once I have even one dose of the vaccine I might feel a little better about it, but right now I am still being cautious. Hearing our PM tell us that the unlocking is going to cost many lives shows that it just isn’t worth taking the risk at the moment. I could always cut it myself?

As a first week back treat, we ordered some Crosstown doughnuts. We were originally going to get them for Andy’s birthday,  but as I made him a cake it seemed silly to order them then. They did not disappoint- the chai filled one was a particular highlight. As the box contained 6 different ones we split each one, (half with tea in the afternoon, and then half after dinner) over the weekend.

On Saturday I headed out for a run before we had pancakes for breakfast. I had some work to get on with, and then in the afternoon we walked around Panshanger park. The bluebells are popping out more and more.

Peanut butter and blackcurrant jam doughnut was our Saturday afternoon choice

On Sunday it was my mum’s birthday, so after breakfast we met my family for a treasure hunt. We’d completed it several years ago, but it was quite fun hunting for clues. We did get a bit stuck because some of the signs were hidden behind scaffolding, and some of them (we think) had been changed (eg there were clues referring to zones which we think were parking zone signs and they have been updated). Thankfully the weather was sunny as it would not have been so much fun doing it in the rain. They went to meet my sister for a pub lunch after (the rule of 6 meant that we could not go along, although I wasn’t particularly keen on the idea of eating out for lunch anyway)- later in the year we’re going to do something together too as she really wanted to go for afternoon tea somewhere.

Once home I headed off on a run. I could have got up early and run first thing, but I didn’t want to feel rushed. As it happened, it was lucky that I didn’t go first thing, as I looked at a route that starts 2 miles from home. It’s a 4.5 mile loop, so I thought I’d run there, do the loop and run home, to make it 6.5 miles. But when I was half way around I realised that of course I needed to add the other 2 miles on for the run home too. Whoops! I would have been very late! More bluebell sightings too.

TV wise we’ve still been on a doc role. We watched the Framing Britney Spears documentary, which was really sad.  Just the way that photographers feel it is their right to be able to take photos of famous people wherever they are was really uncomfortable to watch. I saw a very sarcastic tweet about Harry and Megan, saying along the lines of “after moving to the USA to avoid publicity, they have now booked onto x number of shows”, but that seems to totally miss the point that if you book onto a TV show, you are choosing to be there. Having a camera shoved in your face at  all hours is just not the same at all, and some of the footage in that doc was just really frightening.

We’re also working our way through This Is a Robbery: The World’s Biggest Art Heist, about loads of art stolen from a museum in Boston. It’s pretty interesting but again just gets crazier as the series goes on.

To escape that briefly we watched the film Thunder Force, which was OK, but I think if you like comic book films or superheroes you might like it more.

Did you have snow or hail last week? Are you fussy about your hairdressers?