Categories
Adulthood

Health and Lifestyle: tips from an amateur

I am no health ambassador and no way am I claiming to be one, especially having just consumed a cheeseburger followed by a Crunchie chocolate bar – delicious! However, recently I have been trying to lose a bit of weight as well as making myself healthier all round, so here are a few tips that I have found useful.

Black coffee

At home I have always drank black coffee, but at work and while out I often treat myself to a flat white or – even worse – a cappuccino. I never thought much about the difference that a splash of milk would make until the other day while at a train station and with a few minutes to spare I bought myself a brew. Looking at the menu, I was gobsmacked to see that a flat white has almost 200 calories in it whereas a black coffee has just 1.

I’m not one to calorie count, but this was an easy change to make to my diet and has definitely contributed to my shaping up (as I am yet to attend boot camp or anything of the sort since I started).

A few nights off the drink

This one was more for my overall health benefits as opposed to solely losing weight. I mean, just change wine for gin and tonic if that’s your goal!

Since I started ‘being good’ I have made Monday and Tuesday nights alcohol free and stuck to water, or if I felt extravagant, then Hot Chocolate. After a hard days work I admit that a glass of wine is oh so tempting, but once I got into the routine which happened quicker than I thought it would, I actually didn’t mind.

But boy do I look forward to Wednesday evenings and my first drink of the week!

Yoga

I started attending a Yoga class three weeks ago and aside from the many physical health benefits that it has upon my body, the thing I notice the most is how much it relaxes my mind.

Starting at 6:15pm, there isn’t time to settle at home before forcing ourselves to go and we never regret the decision (even if it gets more difficult to drag ourselves down the road each week).

Yoga empties my mind of the to-do lists, the stresses and worries, the future plans and everything in between. As well as stretching my body throughout, strengthening it and releasing tension, I leave every yoga class feeling totally refreshed, relaxed and (it being on a Wednesday) EXTREMELY ready for a cold glass of Sav.

Choosing to walk

Another subtle change I have made to my lifestyle recently is ditching the car where possible and choosing to walk from place to place. Luckily my work is walking distance from my house, as are many places that I socialise at. Rather than noticing the time and jumping in my Ford Focus, I simply walk faster and feel better for it.

I walk daily with my friend anyway and love it, but by doing that extra bit it makes all the difference to my well-being.

Plenty of water

Drinking plenty of water is another key to good health and losing weight. I have a one litre bottle that I carry with me at all times and I try to drink at least two of these daily.

By doing this, when I remember to do it properly, I notice that I’m hungry less frequently, I feel more energized and rarely get the headaches that I would if I were drinking more coffee, fizzy drinks or Ribena, for example.

Therefore…

It’s not always about taking drastic measures and trying extreme dieting alongside silly amounts of exercise. Of course that helps, but I have seen good changes (and received day-making comments) from the subtle changes I have made.

As with everything in life it’s all down to choice, and I realise fully that I am no expert at this healthy living lark, but these are some of the choices I have made and they have all contributed to a continuing big difference to me.

Categories
Review

Ricky Gervais – After Life: Review

“Happiness is amazing. It’s so amazing it doesn’t matter if it’s yours or not.”

If anybody reading this hasn’t joined the hype about Ricky Gervais’ new Netflix Original series, After Life, then stop what you’re doing immediately and watch all six episodes in one sitting. I say this because that is exactly what you will do, it’s what I did and it’s what all the people I have spoken to about the series did themselves. It is so good.

The quote above is one of many profound words uttered by life-hating Tony, played by Gervais himself, who has recently lost his wife to breast cancer and is generally hating everything about this wonderful thing we call living.

Working for a local newspaper, he shows an intern the ropes on how boring his job as an amateur journalist is when he writes stories on uninteresting and, in his opinion, not news worthy events. From a young lad who can play two recorders at once through his nostrils to a man who has a stain in his house that he believes looks like Kenneth Branagh, Tony sees his career as nonsense and feels that there is no point in anything.

His daily situation worsens with his father in a care home suffering badly from Alzheimer’s disease and his nephew getting bullied at school so he regularly hooks up with the local crack head to numb the pain before planning to end it altogether.

Of course, you’re now thinking why on earth am I recommending this series to you because it sounds extremely depressing. Trust me, it’s not.

Aside from the negatives, After Life is filled with amazing moments that make you smile and hilarious comments that will have you laughing continuously throughout.

It is a series that shows the importance of dogs, the amazing things that they can do and how good they make us feel.

It is a series that shows how much death can teach us about life and how loved ones live on in one way or another. Whether it’s through material that they leave behind (in Tony’s case this is in the form of videos from his wife used for guidance) or the way we can still speak to them at the graveside shown through the character Ann.

It is a series that makes the mundane laughable, but also hits you with an injection of reality in the different paths that people take in life and how many struggle to cope.

It is a series that will have you laughing, being gobsmacked at certain lines spoken and crying real tears through the emotional aspects.

It covers all bases of life and it is definitely worth your time.

It is a series that shows reality: the good, the bad and the bloody hilarious.

For now though, I will leave things on a high with another wonderful quote from the brilliant show:

“If the kindest souls were rewarded with the longest lives, dogs would outlive us all”

How true is that? Enjoy!

Categories
Adulthood

These things make me happy, and happiness makes life good.

Dogs greeting me with so much enthusiasm no matter how long it’s been since I last saw them, this makes me smile.

A sunny day when the world seems brighter no matter what I’m thinking inside nor how many mundane tasks or irritating people I must encounter during the day. It is always a good day when it’s sunny.

Friends who make me laugh, make me feel loved and give me a sense of feeling complete. Without them I would never be happy.

People who are just up for a laugh. Never taking life too seriously, never reading too much into things just laughing in the moment and usually not at much.

A glass of wine outside is one of the best things in this world. Whether I’m in Italy, Spain or my garden at home I always enjoy a cold glass of the good stuff more when I am consuming it outdoors.

Walking freely in pretty landscapes brings a smile to my face and fills me with glee right to my insides. I love to appreciate what is right on my doorstep and I am so lucky to have such a beautiful countryside surrounding me so the closer to home, the happier I am.

Learning new things gives me an extra buzz of happiness. Whether it’s learning how to cook a new dish or learning something interesting that I didn’t know about a person who means something to me – filling my days with newness is always a good thing.

Flowers (and plants) are also something that I love and make me smile. It is in fact a proven thing that having greenery in your work environment enhances the good vibes but I don’t need science to tell me that it does. My desk isn’t complete if my pot isn’t filled with pretty flowers or a plant of some sort.

All things sweet. From a chocolate, to ice cream, to sugary sweets to a jug of Pimms. I have a sweet tooth and with these things life is good.

Choosing to walk rather than drive from place to place.

A substantial snack when my Hanger is getting the better of me. (Yes, Hanger, not hunger)

A glug of water and appreciating that I have access to this.

Clean and tidy spaces.

Candles in my room and my lamp on while reading in bed.

A cheeky pint on my way home when I hadn’t planned to. (Things are always better when they’re spontaneous)

Listening to the rain but not being outside in it.

Books.

Positive people and enthusiasm.

The sea. Oh the sea makes me as cheerful as I’ll ever be. Being by the sea is so freeing and carefree. Come rain or shine give me a beach, sea breeze and good company and I’m there.

As the weather tries to eek out winter and prolong the springtime, I felt it appropriate to write a post about all things good in life. These things make me happy, and happiness makes life good.

Categories
Recommendations Review

A place to visit: Darcie & May Green, London

Picture this: it’s a Sunday, it’s raining, you’re severely hungover and you’re in London with some good friends. What else is there to do other than drink yourselves silly somewhere and eat lots too? Well, Darcie & May is certainly a fantastic place to begin or stay, whatever you feel like.

This is exactly what myself and a few friends did over the weekend and I’m still smiling about it as well as wincing at the cut on my knee – a result of a drunken fall in the middle of a station platform.

After waking up more hungover than expected having consumed far too much and mixed all sorts of alcoholic beverages the afternoon into the night before, my friend and I felt a McDonald’s was the only way forward. As fat as we knew this sounded seeing as we had a brunch to attend at Darcie & May Green later that morning, we ventured out in the rain to the closest McDonald’s we could find.

On arrival, we almost cried. All we could see were boards and no sign of life until we moved around the corner to see that the counters were running and people in similar situations as our own were queuing up to get their very own Sausage and Egg Mcmuffin. Relieved didn’t cover it.

Onwards and upwards and feeling slightly better in ouselves, we went back out in the rainy Sunday London morning and headed to the canal in search of our brunch venue. After a risky ride on the tube where all (four now) of us were trying desperately hard not to vomit by staring at the tube map which was the only thing that remained still, we arrived at the colourful boat on the canal (pictured above).

As we weren’t able to book between 12-3 we headed inside to discover that the situation was as we’d expected with it being such a miserable day and had to wait an hour until we could get a table for the six (now) of us. This didn’t matter though, the other half of the boat was a bar – perfect!

Though it was a bit of a squish, we crammed into the small bar and sipped happily on cokes due to our still rather hungover states and inability to face alcohol just yet. It wasn’t long however until we were sat at our table in the restaurant side of the Darcie & May with The Bondi breakfast and an already empty bottle of Prosecco. Bottoms up, refill please!

Yes, for just £39.50 per person, we got a main dish, a sweet and an unlimited supply of Prosecco. What could possibly go wrong?

Being an Aussie themed restaurant, Darcie & May serves the best of the recent popular foods such as salmon and poached eggs on charcoal bread, avocado on toast and The Bondi which consisted of quality sausages and bacon, mushrooms, avocado, charcoal bread and a spiced tomato sauce which was delicious. The sweet we all opted for was banana bread, mascarpone and fruit and it too was incredible. Though there was a selection to choose from that would satisfy all taste buds.

Five hours later, six bottles of prosecco down and a little wobbly, I headed for the train. All going well (ish) – if you don’t count getting lost on route to the tube station, falling asleep on the man next to me and a phone battery of 1% – I was almost on home turf when I fell at the station platform. Not just a minor, subtle fall that I could shake off, no, a whopping great splat on the ground in front of many passers by and a huge bruised, swollen and cut knee. Oops.

At least I won’t forget about our great time on the Darcie & May any time soon.