Let’s Get Physical!

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stay inspired

Yes I am!!

I love making a plan to workout and getting into a routine but the minute I miss a day’s workout, that’s it. Routine done. This happened a couple of months ago. I got the flu, missed a day at the gym and haven’t had the motivation to go back since.

So, now that I’m at home job hunting I figured this would be the perfect time to get back into shape. I don’t want to lose a ton of weight- just tone up, lose the fat and improve my diet.

My brother and friend both got engaged at the weekend (to their respective partners, not each other!), so the up coming nuptials are definitively the motivation I need to get started. No dates have been set but a girl’s got to be ready, right?!

When it comes to working out, I prefer to find a routine and do it at home. With that in mind and ‘joie de vivre’ in hand, I took to my beloved Pinterest for some workout plans.

I came across some ’30 day challenges’ which piqued my interest and I decided to set myself up for these 30 day squat and plank challenges from 30dayfitnesschallenges.com:

30 day squat

30 day plank challenge

Now…I realise the importance of cardio, especially when fat needs to be burned so I’ve used the challenges as a ‘base’ and included jumping jacks to make a sort of HIIT workout which follows this pattern:

50 Jumping Jacks
20 second plank
15 jumping jacks
10 squats
15 jumping jacks
10 squats
15 jumping jacks
10 squats
50 jumping jacks

This is what Day 1 looked like but hopefully you get the gist of what I’m doing. I’ll need to increase the reps in each set for the squats as the days go on but so far, I’m on Day 3 and ‘enjoying’ it. I’m also going for 30 minute to 1 hour walks during the day which helps me relax from the stress of job hunting.

On the healthy eating side of things I’m drinking a lot of shakes, upping my water intake and eating a lot of salads. I’ll dedicate a post to this soon.

If you have any hints and tips to help me they’ll be most welcome!

Oh! …I’m not using scales during the challenge but I will be monitoring my hip and waist measurements (and will maybe use picture updates-for myself 😉 )

Happy exercising xx

A Town Like Alice

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A Town Like Alice

There’s nothing I love more than going to a bookshop and just browsing until I find a book that catches my eye (especially when I’m feeling stressed). This is how I came across ‘A Town Like Alice’ by Nevil Shute.

Very briefly, ‘A Town Like Alice’ follows Jean Paget’s experiences in Malaya during the Japanese invasion of World War II. We see how she overcomes the brutal treatment of her captors and finally settles in the Australian outback after falling in love with Australian prisoner of war Joe Harman.

I’ve kept this summary as brief as possible because I’d love for you to read the book and get to grips with the story yourself. So much lies behind this overview and, for me, the book has a real sense of discovery which I don’t want to spoil.

After I’d turned the final page of ‘A Town Like Alice’, my first thought was: “I feel like I’ve just read two books”. Through the narrative of an English attorney, Shute not only presents us with an experience of war outside of fighting on the front line, he also provides detailed insight into life in the Australian outback; which, in a ‘normal’ situation (for me anyway) you wouldn’t associate with one another.

This is a story of survival, determination, strength and courage. What I love about it is the fact that it’s not just Jean’s story that displays this, Joe Harman’s experiences are just as inspiring. Shute’s writing style really made me feel like I was living the character’s experiences with them.

A great read, this book gets 8.5 out of 10 stars and strong recommendations from me!

Happy reading xx

 

Girl About Town

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After two days of not leaving the house, I was starting to sense a little ‘cabin fever’ setting in so decided that today I’d get up and do something. The question was, what?

Well, I’ve always had a love for photography, the way photographers get angles, lighting, shapes and spaces together and have always wanted to learn how they do what they do. The easy (and after today I realise, sensible) option would have been for me to sign up for a photography course, however, I like a little challenge so decided ages ago that I’d teach myself.

Let me emphasise ages ago because I’ve had many a cussing from my brother (and friends) who gave me his old camera after he upgraded yet whenever he comes round finds it collecting dust on my dresser *side eye*.

So…with all that in mind, I decided to dust off my camera and take myself around London town in full tourist mode. My adventures took me to Covent Garden and the Southbank. I’d like to say I did more but boy was I tired after all that walking- and in my defence I went to Heathrow airport in the morning 🙂

What did I learn today? a) the Kopapa brunch menu is way better than their lunch one (in my opinion). I still recommend it so do go for a bite to eat if you’re in Covent Garden b) I seriously need a crash course on what to do with the camera lol and c) I enjoy having ‘me time’ (I already knew this but I recommend it to everyone. Just have a day, or couple hours to yourself….even dare to switch off your phone. Ok, ok, put it on silent).

I persevered with some shots, even though I thought they’d be awful, and below are some of the better ones that I got. Enjoy:

Westminster

Now you know I got excited when I came across these book stalls on the Southbank. Even more so because it reminded me of Paris! I’m sure someone’s going to tell me they’re there all the time lol

Books

Lastly was the Southbank Skatepark…now, I knew this was there and have always wanted to take pictures of it. I’d heard about it potentially being demolished and today I came across some boys collecting signatures for a petition to keep it open. To find out more you can check out the Long Live Southabank website. I really hope it stays open! It’s such a cool space.

Skate Park

All in all I’ve had a really nice, if tiring day. I may be a serious amateur but I really enjoyed playing around with the camera. There’s lots to learn but I hope you’ll all enjoy watching my progress on this.

Until next time xx

Americanah

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DSCF5813

It would only be right for me to dedicate my first post to the book that inspired me to start this blog- Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.

For those of you that have already read the book, you’ll instantly know why… and for those of you that haven’t, let’s just say blogging plays a big role in the book.

I loved Americanah. It follows the lives of Nigerian students Ifemelu and Obinze who fall in love, end up apart as one moves to America and the other to England, and meet again, as adults- changed by their experiences abroad- back in Nigeria.

Americanah explores race, identity, self perception, politics, love… a whole host of themes that come together beautifully through vivid, descriptive language which, I believe, really draws you into the experiences of each character.

This book took me through emotions from “awww, that’s so sweet”, to “say what?!”, round to “wow!!” and back to laughing out loud on the train (if you’re anything like me, no shame). One thing’s for certain, it gets you thinking.

On a personal note, I found myself relating to and empathising with certain situations because of my own personal experiences, which took me even deeper into the book.

One of the things that’s really stuck with is that, for the first time, I found myself experiencing strong feelings of dislike for a main character. I’ve felt this before but never as strongly as with Americanah. What surprised me even more was the fact that this didn’t put me off reading the book further. I was more drawn to it- probably because I wanted to see if their experiences would change them.

Americanah’s a great book and it gets 9 out of 10 stars from me. I highly recommend it. If you haven’t read it already, add it to your list of books to read in the (very near) future. If you have let me know what you thought about it!

Happy reading xx