Update, and a Pasta Disasta!

I have a couple of new posts coming soon, but they’re just not quite ready for the world yet, but to give you a hint of what’s coming:

I ran a 5k race!

Yesterday Ange and I ran our first 5k race. It was at the Olympic Park in Stratford, and it was the first time I’ve ever run 5k. I ran it in just under 40 minutes – I honestly probably could have walked it faster, but I ran the whole thing without stopping which was my goal.

It was absolutely fantastic (although I of course felt awful during the race!). I would highly, highly recommend anyone attempting the Couch to 5k program to sign up for one- it was such a great motivator, and although running 5k in and of itself is a massive achievement, it felt fantastic to have that acknowledged by having an actual finish line to run over!

Have a picture of a very sweaty Ange and myself after the race. Next stop, 10k!!!

 

Dublin for Valentine’s Day (Aw)

The weekend of the 12th/13th/14th of Feb, R and I went to Dublin! Yes, I’m aware this makes two years in a row we’ve been away for Valentine’s Day – we were in Oxford last year – but it’s a coincidence, I swear!

Underthings!

I have been mildly obsessed with making my own underwear/bra’s for a good month now. I entirely blame Madalynne, everything she makes just looks so amazing!

Paris – Summer 2014!

When I was planning to come to the UK in 2014, I didn’t really know what would happen. I had been told time and time again I needed to be prepared for failure, I needed to be prepared to give up and come home. Well, I wasn’t going to do that before I did two things, or more accurately, went to two sporting events: Wimbledon (which you can read about here), and Le Tour De France.

Weekly Meal Planning

R and I do a weekly shop on Sunday mornings, and try to get the majority of the week’s food then – partly because planning meals for the week in advance is cheaper, partly because I like getting home from work and knowing what I have to cook and that all the ingredients are there. It’s just so much easier than going to the supermarket on the way home, having to decide what we’re going to eat, not knowing what we have at home, dealing with the after work crowds etc. Plus, it means we can plan to try new things, and we can manage the cooking fairly.

A Long Weekend in Copenhagen

Up front warning: Copenhagen is extremely photogenic, this is a fairly photo-heavy write up!

Post-Positano, there was talk about going away again soonish – in the new year. Initially we talked about Spain, or Greece, but it would still be not-warm (my visa is up early May, so really no where would have proper beach weather while I was still in the UK). At work one day I had a look at flights to colder areas in late January. I wanted to go in winter to give myself a better chance of seeing snow. I’ve only seen snow twice in my life – a light flurry in Prague last Easter, and during the great snow storm of 2011 in Wellington – where I still only saw light flurries, as the real snow happened up in the suburbs, which were inaccessible due to icy roads. So all my family got snow, but I was stuck in the city. I saw flights to Copenhagen for £37.50 return, messaged the others, and within two hours flights and leave were all booked.

Quick Update/Daily Make Up

I’m in the middle of writing a post about Copenhagen this past weekend – which was totally amazing, I’m struggling to choose which photos should go it – so have a quick selfie instead! Super proud that I’ve managed to do my hair and makeup almost every day this year – I only missed two days when I was sick, and it all would have ended up coming off on tissues anyway, so it totally shouldn’t count. I end up doing my hair like this a lot – kind of half up half down, and I think I’ll keep growing it out for a while.

This is my basic work make-up – moisturiser, BB Cream across the top of my cheeks, on chin, down nose, up and out in a blended fan over forehead. I don’t like wearing a full face of foundation if I can help it! Light brown eye shadow on the lids, dark brown over the eyebrows (I have a proper eyebrow kit that I love, but it’s a bit too much for work). Liquid eyeliner (the only type that stays on for me) on the top lid – as thin as I can go (often not all that thin!). Then different lipsticks dependant on what I’m wearing – this is my favourite red lipstick. It matches my new op-shop red cardi yay!

Copenhagen should be up by the end of the week – I don’t want to leave it too long, what with going to Dublin in a couple of week! It’s a busy start to the year!

Freezing In Early December – Berlin

In April, on our way home from Prague, R and I were talking about where else we’d like to go. R mentioned that he’d always wanted to go to Berlin – to the point where friends back home had actually assumed he was moving to Berlin, not London. Even though he’s now been in the UK 10 years (!) he had never got to Berlin. I decided taking him to Berlin would be the perfect birthday present – his birthday was a fair way away mind, this was April and our birthdays are early December (yes, we have very close birthdays, but I once dated a boy for 6 months who had the same birthday as me, so 6 days is perfectly reasonable).

Couch to 5K – Look Mum, I’m a runner!

I have always detested running. Until recently, I think the most running I’ve done in my life was the dreaded beep test in High School. In September, some kind of switch just flipped for me, and I was raring to go for the Couch to 5k program. I’m sure you’ve heard someone talk about this in the last couple of years, it’s responsible for thousands of people – my mum included – becoming runners. You know, that friend who comes to the pub, and tells you how fantastic they felt after their 35 minute run this morning. Yeah, the one you roll your eyes at (not judging, I did too). Running can’t make you feel that good, can it?

Well, get the eye roll ready, because I’m about to become that friend: it really does.