What a beautiful day it has been! The sun has been shining and I’m feeling full of the joys of spring :-)
I was at the gym first thing for a speedy 45 minute workout – 10 minutes of HIITs on the bike, rowing machine and step machine followed by 15 minutes of abs and core exercises.
Breakfast was a fabulous green smoothie containing a whole 200g bag of spinach mix, frozen banana, 2 kiwis, frozen peach slices, vanilla sun warrior, hemp seeds, desiccated coconut, spirulina, maca, ground flax, water and the gums. I topped it with a coconut flour sauce swirl, rude health granola and more desiccated coconut and hemp seeds:
I had this bowl plus about another quarter bowl full it was that big! Really enjoying the hemp seeds – they add a lovely crunch and are so nutritious. This also kept me way fuller than yesterday’s cereal bowl. I’ve learned my lesson ;-)
Lunch was a bowl of barley miso and ginger soup, 6 nori wraps with cheesy avocado (1 small avocado mashed + juice of half a lemon + nutritional yeast flakes) carrot and cucumber, leftover carrot and cucumber, 2 delicious Clearspring sesame and tamari rice cakes and two plums:
Love nori wraps, especially with that easy cheesy filling!
Mid afternoon I snacked on last nights leftover tofu yoghurt with pomegranate seeds:
Dinner was some of my Thai Green Soya Bean Curry with mung bean noodles and steamed kale with ginger and shoyu:
I love mixing in noodles with Thai Green Curry, makes a nice change from rice!
Dessert was some Lindt Dark Chocolate with Sea Salt:
Still probably the best chocolate ever!
I really feel like Spring is beginning to kick in now. I love this time of year hearing the birds singing again, seeing the plants growing and the days getting longer. I like to freshen up things around the flat, not so much a spring clean, more of a de clutter – putting thick winter clothes away, changing cushions and things to be more spring like and sorting through my kitchen cupboards to see what’s past its best, what needs to be chucked out or used up and so on.
I have a couple of days off at the end of next week that I have put to one side to get everything done. I had been planning a trip to the Vitality Show with my best friend but we are both a little tight on funds so decided to give it a miss :-(
I can’t wait to make some budget friendly changes around the flat to bring the spring indoors. I plan on finding some new floral and patterned cushion covers for my living room. I saw these designs in Tesco of all places and love them:
Tesco Appliqué floral cushion, £10
Tesco Birds Appliqué cushion £9
I also want to change the patterned paper I have in my screen in the living room (this hides my gym equipment):
I’ve seen these beautiful papers in Paperchase (I snapped a pic of these on my phone) which will look fab:
I also want to change the pictures we have in these frames with something new, perhaps with some photographs I have taken myself:
I’m loving this new plant I bought last week for my bathroom and want to buy another one for my living room. Nothing says spring like yellow daffodils:
I also need to do a re stock of my kitchen cupboards with more tinned beans and nuts and other store cupboard items that have ran out. I think this time of year is good for checking the use buy dates on baking powders and flours and other store cupboard type ingredients. Nothing worse than getting the urge to bake and seeing that your flour is out of date!
Something else I fancy doing is ramping up the amount of raw foods I eat. I’m getting lots of cravings for green smoothies, big salads, raw wraps and so on. The benefits of eating more raw food are well described here. I never imagined in a million years I would actually crave greens! If I do eat more raw I will make a conscious effort to make sure that I’m getting the calories I need – no more apple binges! In fact today I feel like I’ve eaten really well, I feel satisfied in every way. That green smoothie really did set me up for the rest of the day!
So glad the weekend is here – I have a lovely relaxed one planned – off to town with James in the morning, then to visit to my parents and sis, I also have my best friend coming over and of course my weekend run and cooking session. Have you got plans for the weekend?
Do you have a spring clean? Do you mark the new season in any way? I love to bring the spring indoors with little plants and bright accessories!
Hope you have a great weekend!
{ 19 comments… read them below or add one }
I love those cushions – they are so pretty :)
I was just thinking this afternoon that I need some nori wraps in my life, but forgot to buy any :( Will have to pop out over the weekend
Wow, adding kiwis to a green monster really does make it uber-green. Too bad kiwis are about the one fruit I don’t like, because they’d save my smoothies from being such a sludgy colour most of the time.
I don’t have any formal method of celebrating spring but I do love to get out and about and just sit amongst the emerging flowers if I can. Waldridge Fell is so pretty at this time of year. My cat Minnie has a habit of knocking over or trying to chew plants and flowers so the outdoors tends to stay outdoors ;)
Such a shame about the Vitality show: I’m in the same position as you in that I would have loved to go (I say that every year!) but just couldn’t afford it.
I see that your stylishness extends to interior design! It’s really obvious that you have BA in Art now that I see how well you think visually in all aspects of your life. I have an obsession with flower pictures and gave our living room a rose theme (my parents were kind enough to let me design it) so I’m obviously a big fan of those prints.
I’m doing a sponsored exercise-a-thon thing for four hours tomorrow at the gym in fancy dress for (belated!) Comic Relief as they couldn’t get the studio space today. Then on Sunday I’m seeing a blog friend from the US! Really exciting, but I hope I don’t bore her to death!
Hope your week-end is enjoyable too :D
xxx
Work work work : (
Enjoy ya weekend x x x
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Very positive and inspiring post Laura!
Today did feel very spring-y and joyful with the bright sunshine throughout. I had a good private latin & ballroom class with my fiance in the mornin, work went by quickly and now it’s the weekend. I’m going to two bridal gown shops tomorrow with my bridesmaid. She lives 6 hours away in Weston-Super-Mare, so i am very excited for her visit and to catch up.
Uv made me think to have a bit of a spring clean myself and therefore welcome the season in!
Have a good weekend hun x
i usually do a summer clean!! by then classes are over so i have time! okay i must try this sea salt choc- everyone raves about it!
I love a good clear out! :)
I also love the daffodils!
I made your cheesy butternut sauce tonight for tea, it was FAB!! Even the hubbie loved it!!
It’s good to hear that you learnt from before about eating enough throughout the day to stop the random binges and that you’re aware that if you eat more raw foods you need to be conscious that you’re eating enough. You have such a positive frame of mind :)
Your eats look as yummy as ever! You really do inspire me with them!!
I did a big clear out of the cupboards when I moved here in September. My mum was SO relieved to have her cupboard space back because I can be a bit of a hoarder! :P I’ll be having another clear out when I move out of student halls in June..
This weekend I have a lot of work to do :( But part of it involves photographing people for a ‘street style’ shoot for a magazine we’re creating so gives me an excuse to go out shopping whilst I’m doing that!
That lunch looks amazing, I don’t even like miso soup but I want that plate!
There’s nothing like a good clear out to welcome a new season. I always feel more clear headed after throwing out a few unwanted things too.
I’m not working this weekend so I’m planning to spend it with the family, relaxing, cooking, reading and hopefully a run. The weather looks lovely…SPRING IS HERE!
Love the look of your spring clean stuff!! Sadly I’m not much of a clean person! :P
And Lindt Sea Salt is the BEST!!! :D
P.S. About the calories thing, the sports nutritionist that I saw said that the easiest way to get enough ‘healthy’ calories is just to eat a LOT of calorie-dense foods, like nuts, nut butters and dried fruit. So I literally go through all this stuff every day, and it’s really working for me!! Hope that helps:)
I know, hasn’t the weather been gorgeous??
Glad you’re enjoying hemp seeds, love them (:
I wanted to go to the vitality show too, but am also giving it a miss :(
I know exactly what you mean about wanting to eat more raw! Feels so so good (:
xxxx
Gosh your thai green curry looks amazing! I just found out I won two tickets to the Vitality Show and I’m really excited to go. I’m hoping to snag lots of freebies ;)
Your food always look so pretty. And I love those patterns you are considering! I’m also in the mood to brighten up my house a little.
Something about the brighter days gives me the maddest urges to clean and de-clutter. Still waiting for my motivation to kick in right now.
Your nori wraps look delicious, I’m going to have to try those.
Sarah – I love nori wraps, so glad I got them in my life!
Jessica – caught up with your blog – sounds like your sponsored events went well!
Tam – hope work goes ok :-)
Zoe – your dance class sounds fab and your weekend sounds like so much fun with the wedding planning – congratulations!
Carrie – you would love that chocolate!
Maria – me too!
Ash – seriously you have no idea how happy it makes me when someone has made one of my recipes and enjoyed it! :-)
Nicky – your photo shoot sounds like a lot of fun! Thanks for that comment, I really feel like I’m in a better place eats wise at the moment :-)
Laura – haha, it was a lovely lunch!
Jemma – your so right, it clears your head at the same time doesn’t it!
Emma – thanks for that tip, I’m definitely happy to pile on the nut butter and dried fruits!
Lana – I think theres just something about the spring like weather that makes me crave raw clean veggies! Love the hemp seeds!
Bronagh – hope you have an amazing time!
Leashie loo – thanks!
Daisychain – I’m sure the motivation will come! The nori wraps are fab!
I think I’m going to give my flat a face-lift after I finish school for the year…those pillows made me want new ones!