Belated budget challenge

So the lovely Laura has set up a blogger budget challenge and I have (rather belatedly) decided to join in.

big budget buttonbig

I am quite happy with our general grocery budget, but there are a few things I want to improve upon- with Christmas (and a holiday) approaching I would like to be more mindful of my finances.

So here are my aims:

  • Cancel the milkman milk. (Simple- I like an easy one to start with- we got persuaded to sign up to the milkman ages ago, but it has been getting more expensive, and I prefer other milks so we don’t use that much any more. It is getting to the point that we will have to start throwing milk away as it goes out of date before we use it. Plus I don’t think it is organic).
  • Attempt my own almond milk (I am saving this project for half term)- it is my fave non dairy milk but it is expensive.
  • Check my on-line bank once per week (as I pay everything by direct debit I never have to go on for bills or anything).
  • Save money each month towards general, car stuff and holiday fund.
  • Start to buy Christmas presents now- I prefer to spread the cost of things like that over a few months.
  • Make some Christmas gifts instead of buying them all. I always make a Christmas cake for my parents and Andy’s, but I would like to make other gifts for other people too.
  • Look into getting a veg box delivered- I have only looked at one company and at the moment I can’t decide- I think I need to look at various other companies to make an informed decision.
  • Use all my travel sized skincare- I love Clinique skincare for their cleanser, toner, moisturiser and the intensive skin rescue cream (I get super dry skin in the winter) and when you buy them in Boots at bonus time you get freebies! I love mini things, and I love freebies, so together it is very exciting! I save them for when I travel, but I never finish a travel sized one before I get back home, so I have lots of half used ones. So I need to use up all the freebies before I buy new normal sized ones. I am not going to buy any over the next 2 months!
  • These are the main ones I use.
  • And all the travel sized mini freebies that I need to start using up!

That is quite a long list isn’t it?

They are quite random ones (can you see the Christmas theme creeping in too?) but they are what I will be aiming for. Having them on here will help me stick to them too 🙂

Plus a few random things- look at the size of my hummus carrot sandwich!

Wow!

One carrot in a big pile! I am loving my food processor grating the carrot for me- so much quicker! And less mess!

I have been working my way through blog swap items;

Luna nutz over chocolate bar- tasty but I think peppermint stick is still the winner. Yesterday I did a short run- 2 miles (in the crazy wind) in 20 mins- I was super pleased to be that fast! 🙂

Chocolate chip clif bar for some pre-aerobics fuel. Looking forward to that tonight.

Apple crumble porridge (yes still pimping)- chopped garden apple sprinkled with cinnamon, oats, almond milk, raisins, left to soak overnight and then cooked and topped with flaked almonds and more cinnamon. Could have added some almond extract too.

And, look what came in the post!

The pack for the Great South Run! I love it! My name already on the number (which is good as the Cancer Research people sent me “Marie” instead which is not my name!!!! Some very fancy info, a magazine- now I can see why the cost of entry is so high! Less than 2 weeks to go now, how exciting!

Anyone else a big sucker for freebies like me?

Foggy running

Evening all

This was what greeted me this morning.

Right past the fence is a road, then a field, then some big buildings. It was so foggy I could not even see the other side of the road! This was around 9am too- normally the fields are misty but it clears quickly. It was also cold, and I could not decide what to wear for my run. In the end I went for a loose long sleeved top and running tights (first outing of the season!). Half way around the sun came out and it got hot, but only for about 5 mins, then it got cloudy and cold again. Think I played it just right.

The run was good- 8 miles was the plan and I managed it, although I set off too fast- 10.03 per mile for the first 5 miles. Whoops! Paid for it later- went down to 11.30’s for the next 2 (a lot of them are uphill, plus my mp3 ran out of battery so I had nothing to distract me from my breathing!)- the final mile went back to 10.03- think I was glad to be near home! Took me 1hr34, and some of that was stopping to cross roads etc, so I am pretty pleased with that. The plan is next weekend to try 10 miles, and to do some shorter faster (?) ones in between.

My post run snack (well, lunch sort of) was delicious! Sorry for the blurry photo- I had to take it with my left hand as I was pouring with my right!

I made a sort of chai latte! I heated up a carton of almond milk (it was sweetened but I normally have the unsweetened stuff) and then added some Christmas tea (which is from Whitards- black tea with orange and spices- soooo good). The latte was yummy. Plus a peanut toffee clif bar. Mmmm. The nest thing about running in this weather (well, as well as not getting too hot or dehydrated) is coming home to a nice warm drink.

I have also been practising my icing skills.

Yesterday I made some carrot cake cookies- I never usually use boxed mix but I found this in my cupboard(only 7 months past the best before date so must have had it for years!), and one of the suggestions was to add grated carrot. I used my food processor to grate the carrots- even though it took me ages to work out how to add the disk in to the mixer, it was so speedy! Much better than grating by hand, plus I do not have orange fingers!

Mix it all up- yum! I think they soak their raisins or something as they are super squidgy- yum.

And then today I made some cream cheese icing- I used cream cheese, a little honey (brought back from Romania by my parents), and icing sugar.

I have a lot of nozzles and I am not sure if I chose the right one?

Anyway I think the swirl looks nice- when I get some colours I might even attempt some mini carrots!

Also thanks to everyone who has sponsored me– I am nearly at the £200 mark now which is pretty brilliant! If you want to check out the giveaway post, click here. Exciting news is that I have another prize to add, from the lovely people at nuun.

2 more prizes to add! Each prize is a 4 pack of their rehydration tabs (which I use all the time) and a big bottle to mix them in. Cool. 🙂

So if you fancy winning these, or any of the other fab prizes that were donated, then please see my sponsorship post. The minimum amount is £2, and all those are adding up for a very good cause.

Thanks

Cake decorating!!!!!

Hey guys!

I was so excited for today because me and a friend were off to do a cake decorating course at Sweet and Floral (came up on Groupon). It was soooooo much fun!

We learnt how to colour icing using gel colours (sugar flair ones which were all veggie, vegan and gluten free).

We made bows (like the spots? We even learnt how to make spotty icing!)

We learnt how to pipe different designs with butter icing- a rose and a swirly thing;

And made some little doves (that is the swirly icing technique)

Here is the rose underneath some roses made of icing which I also learned how to make!

So pretty! With some edible glitter on there for fun!

We also got to choose our final cake! I went for fondant icing (so I had 2 of each) with some little flowers and butterflies.

And a close up;

I was so excited about this and the course was just brilliant. We all started off with white fondant icing (tescos is the best apparently) and then we had to choose our colours- I used navy and melon colours in varying amounts to make yellow, blue and green.  We got given drinks and cake (and biscuits were available) while we decorated, and they were so good at demonstrating and then coming around to each table to help. I have some great ideas for how to decorate my Christmas cakes this year. Plus, if I get some colours I could go all fancy and make marzipan carrots for the top of carrot cakes! 🙂 Plus we got to take our 4 cakes home in a box!

I have been looking for places that sell the gel icing now, and I found a cake shop in Welwyn which is near to me! Yay!

Other news- I actually screamed (yup, then I realised the windows were open, what will the neighbours think) when I found this freebie in my Ocado shopping!

Piglet of peppermint teapigs tea!!!!!!! How exciting! Yes, I really do scream over 2 teabags. I just love freebies, and mini things, and tea, so all three together= amazing!

I also popped to the shops- I went in to Holland and Barrett to get some cranberries (Christmas cake making starts in half term- one week to go yay). I came out with this. Ahem.

Mint tea, a mixed box of various teas including vanilla strawberry, and blueberry, unsweetened almond milk (to tide me over before I attempt my own in half term), 2 packets of un-sulphared cranberries, Doves wholegrain spelt flour, Maca powder (although I think I actually wanted lucuma?), cherry licorice (to even it out as it was buy one get one half price).

Some desserts made with pea protein!

And some coconut flour! I keep reading about this so when I saw it I went for it. Plus it is gluten free so I can make something for my friend who has coeliacs. Any recipe recommendations will be well received 🙂

I am going to leave you with another cake photo!

Which one do you think looks most impressive? Have you ever made things like that for cakes before? Anything else I should try besides carrots?

PS Holland and Barrett were promoting their loyalty card- seems like a Boots advantage card so worth signing up if you shop there. 🙂

How exercise changes my opinion of my body

I have been noticing this recently. When I go to the gym to do classes, they take place in a studio with mirrors along the main wall, so you can always see yourself in the mirror.

Now I know exercise gear is not the most flattering, but I do not always like catching a glimpse of myself, especially at the beginning. (I used to wear baggy tshirts and baggy tracksuit bottoms, but then I realised that I would rather wear comfy sweat-wicking clothes and not care what I look like so much).

But what I have noticed recently is when I get to the class and I see myself in the mirror, I hone in on the parts I do not like. I see little bumps and bulges (really shown up by the fairly tight clothes I suppose) and I feel a little unhappy about my body. But then, something amazing happens. I start the class- either aerobics or body pump. When I am exercising and I glance at myself, I feel good about my body. During aerobics when we are leaping about, I feel proud that I can keep up with the high intensity cardio, and think about my strong heart and lungs. During body pump I catch sight of my arms or legs, and think about how strong they are getting. But the lumps and bumps also seem to disappear.

I have the opposite of this (almost) when I run. I leave the house looking presentable; hair tied back neatly, feeling good in my vest and capris. Then when I get home and catch sight of myself- hair all coming out, red face, dishevelled clothes, and think “I don’t look like that in my head”.

Do your perceptions of your body change when you exercise?

Now for some random pictures!

After my run (5 miles in the drizzle!) yesterday I cracked open a bar of Conscious chocolate which I won in Rachel’s giveaway– soooo yummy I have not had conscious chocolate in ages.

And before aerobics on Tuesday I tried a bounce bar! Also from Rachel 🙂

I was a little worried as it contained spirulina (remember when I tried it in a smoothie? Anyway it did not go well!)- well this was yummy! The almond taste came through and it tasted a lot like marzipan, but with crunchy nuts on the outside too! It gave me loads of energy for aerobics too- hooray! I wish I had tried one sooner!
Anything you wish you had tried sooner?


WIAW- race day!

Hey all! It is that time of the week again- one more day closer to the weekend! Thanks Jenn for hosting the midweek party.

I chose Sunday as my day, as I was running the Willow 10K.

Breakfast;

A little bowl of porridge with raisins and cinnamon (made with coconut milk)- I don’t like to be too full when I run, but I can’t run that far without anything either so I only used 25g oats I think.

Race drink;

I love the nuun tabs. I find it really hard to drink from the cups of water, plus I don’t want to drink too much before I set off, and I prefer to sip on my way around. So I take this with me on 10K + runs (and have it when I get home usually on shorter runs).

Yay I finished the race and didn’t have to walk!

Post race snack;

Alpro yoghurt and Lizi’s chocolate granola- the bomb! I was starving by this point as I finished the run at 12.10ish, and as we wandered around the shops for a bit got home after 1pm.

Lunch followed soon after;

Fruity bread (from the freezer, not home-made sorry) with pb, plus nectarine and fig. Me and Andy also shared a Graze box;

Copacabana which is milk and dark chocolate buttons and brazil nuts! Yum.

Dinner;

No photo here- we went to Andy’s parents- they always do a buffet style meal so I had 1/2 jacket potato, salad, beetroot, cucumber and some peppers/ tomato/ mozzerella on a tortilla.

And one of these- I baked these for work but also took some around to their house for tea – I had to have one!

Late night snack;

One of the scones I made with some blackcurrant spread and teapigs spiced winter tea. Mmmm.

There we go- a carb-tastic day!

I think the fig was my favourite- I have not had one for ages and they were on offer so I decided to go for it 🙂 Glad I did. Do you like figs? I used to be put off my the skin and only liked dried ones, but I really like the fresh ones now too, especially when baked, mmmm.

PS- I am so touched by the number of people who are donating for Cancer Research UK for my Great South Run- the giveaway is still open so check it out here. Thanks