Tuesday 9 February 2016

City Break

"London 2016"


I have walked over 18 miles, eaten at many restaurants, scoffed lots of cake and chocolate and visited the top attractions London has to offer! 

James and I stayed at The Danubius Hotel Regents Park. It was gorgeous, great welcome from the staff as we arrived early (by 3 hours) on the Friday but the room was ready for us. Room 630! Not a great view to be honest, overlooking the train track and the backs of other buildings but we weren't staying at the hotel for the views just to get our heads down and chill in the evenings. 

Over the weekend we visited Madame Tussaud's! We had vouchers off the internet for 2 for 1 which was a lovely start to the weekend! We bought our tickets and were sent straight in, no waiting for hours in queues in the cold. We were both amazed at the wax characters, some were identical some not so... Have to admit that the Star Wars section was the best! James was in his oils.

Met up with friends on the Saturday, headed straight for the Sightseeing boat trip which we had booked! This was incredible, just seeing the actual size on London and the buildings surrounding us. Seeing these buildings on TV you wouldn't believe the size until seen in person, The Shard! Wow! 

Afternoon cake was needed, so of course we went to Choccywoccydooda in Soho! If you haven't been before, you need to go! Get a table booked upstairs and enjoy the chocolate milkshake, I choose the chocolate brownie, being a chocoholic I thought I would manage but it was too much! 

The four of us decided it was time to get ourselves onto the London Eye, it was all lit up and London looked gorgeous. Again, we didn't queue and we had two for one tickets for this too! Fabulous views for half hour with great company, what more could I of asked for. 

I was saving space for our evening meal at BBQ Bodeans in Tower Hill, this is also highly recommend! They don't take bookings but an hour wait was great for us as we had lots of catching up to do over a few beers! We had sharing platters which were out of this world, bbq chicken with bbq ribs, pulled pork, sweet potato fries, coleslaw and beef burnt ends. My mouth is watering at the thought of it! 

Saved the best for last! Our trip to Oxford Street on the Sunday morning, over an hour spent in Lush! Plenty of Oxford Street Exclusives were bought, James treated me to these, that's his way of buying Xbox Time! I will upload some photos this evening :) 


toni x

Monday 1 February 2016

Hello February

"We love you!"


I honestly can't believe how quick February has come around! Felt like only yesterday we were booking our training tickets for London and now it is this week we depart. City Break is well deserved after the stress of January, time to put work behind us for a long weekend away.

Following weekend is the weekend of loooooove! So may treat each other to a take away and a couple of hours of Netflix on the Sunday evening. This will be our first valentines together, safe to say I am very much looking forward to what James has in store for us! :)


Quick SW update! 
I am down 6.5 lbs since when I started on 16th January. Onward and downwards, I need to be bikini ready for our all inclusive week in Tenerife in June! If that doesn't motivate me I don't know what will. My target is to lose 2 stone by time we leave and to get back into shape, so I am on my way.

I have been following plan, making meals in advance, prepping for the working week. This weekend in London, I will be eating out and having a few drinks but hopefully with all the walking around over the weekend I will be burning a lot of calories too! 

Have a fantastic month all :)

toni x


Thursday 28 January 2016

January 2016

"If you are reading this, you survived too!"


It's Thursday 28th January 2016!! What a great start to 2016 it has been! I have survived and so have you. It's been a long month, I have trained every week, changed my bad habits, been very good with Slimming World by following plan strictly. Feeling much better in myself.

Pay Day tomorrow too! Then weigh day Saturday morning, I am excited!

We are heading off to London in February, hotel and train tickets are all booked! First City Break together and we can't contain the excitement. Countdown is on. Plans so far; London Eye, Madame Tussaud's, Visit friends and drink the night away with cocktails and great company.

Just a short note for today, but I will back this week with hopefully some great news to share with you all. 

toni x




Wednesday 20 January 2016

Slimming World Recipes 

"Help yourselves"


Last night I thought I would cook some more batch food for the last half of the week. So after nosing through the Slimming World Facebook Group which I am a member of, I saw someone had posted a curry using the Mayflower Boxed Curry Powders! Bare in mind, this was 9pm on a Tuesday night, but as I was wide awake I thought I would get it cooked up ready! 

Ingredients
  • Mayflower Medium Curry Powder
  • Diced Turkey Breast
  • Button Mushrooms
  • Baby Corn
  • Cauliflower/Broccoli
  • Carrots
  • 460ml of Water
  • Fry Light
  • Basmati Rice

Method

Spray a frying pan with fry light, place over medium heat. Add diced turkey breast to pan and cook until cooked right through. Add basmati rice to pan of boiling water, I choose to steam the vegetables above the rice but you can fry these off or boil them.  

Remove the Turkey from the pan once cooked, put aside while making the sauce.

Add the water to the pan along with 1/3 of the Mayflower Curry Powder. Whisk over low/medium heat until sauce thickens. Simmer for 2 minutes.

Add Turkey and steamed vegetables back into the pan, mix with the sauce and simmer for another 2 minutes. Serve hot with fluffy white basmati rice. 

I made three portions out of the above ingredients, 4 syns per portion! Enjoy :)


toni x



 




Monday 18 January 2016

Week 1 

"Smashed It!"


All week I have been excited for weigh day, I was eating the extra fruit, drinking more water and upping my body magic round the office with a big clean in the week. 

It paid off! 5lbs off on the 16th January! What a great start to the New Year!

I have stuck to the plan religiously, using my Syns when I needed a treat, some days I have them left over but wasn't using them just for the sake of it. Making meals from scratch, dropping the Mayonnaise as I used to smoother my food with it. Drinking less milk and eating less cheese. 

This week my aim is for a 2lb loss to get my half stone award. To start me off, last night I made a cottage pie with a sweet potato mash topping which will last me until Wednesday, but knowing I have food ready for me when I get home from the gym or work makes this 10 times easier to stick to it and follow my plan. 


Cottage Pie (Syn Free & Serves 4)
Extra lean beef mince, onions, mushrooms, carrots, cauliflower & broccoli cooked with mixed dry herbs, Worcester sauce, oxo cubes, finally topped with sweet potato mash and black pepper!

Thursday 14 January 2016

It's nearly the weekend!

"TBT"


Good Morning fellow bloggers! So the past few days I have been focusing a lot on my health and happiness. I have attended the gym for classes, watched what I have been eating and created a lot of fresh tasty meals following my Slimming World plan. I am feeling very positive for this Saturday's weigh in, followed by 9am Bootcamp at the Energie Gym, bare in mind I haven't been for over a year. Safe to say my muscles and body are aching at the thought.

Earlier on this month, James and I booked a week all inclusive in Tenerife for the three of us so I am determined to get back in shape and back on the right track with my health. My target is to feel comfortable in my body again, I'm not setting target by the figure on the scales as we all know along with the exercise and walking my body shop will change and muscle mass will increase. 

Here is a photo I found of myself from 2013/2014 time, when I was training once maybe twice daily, I was focused and disciplined. I felt good when I was dressed up and ready to hit the tiles! I need that attitude back again, I need to fit back into this dress. My goals are set, just need to keep it up. 



Friday 8 January 2016

Croeso!

Take a look around, Enjoy!


I have been contemplating starting a blog since last summer, it has only taken me 7 months to finally get started. I am not obsessed with make up products, followers, clothing etc but I am slightly obsessed with redecorating the home. If I am online shopping, 9 out of 10 times I am purchasing new tea towels or heart shape pepper pots for the kitchen!

Instagram is where it all started for me. I followed one lass from London, who had some followers with same interests as me. So as we all do I had a stalk at her living room, kitchen, then her mothers friends bathroom design. I knew I needed to start browsing for bargains and ideas on DIY for the home. 

Hopefully you will learn from my tips on my blog, and any ideas you may have please share.

Any questions or if just to say Hello, fire away :)!

Toni Leanne x


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