I am a great food smuggler :-)

Today has been a really fun Saturday

I always find it funny when I look forward to the weekend thinking I'll get a lie in, and I end up waking up pretty much the same time as I would, on a weekday! After getting up I decided to do a spot of early morning food shopping so I could ensure I had some healthy food for today as I went to the Rewind Festival with my friend and her friends. I had a bit of a conundrum in regards to what to buy for lunch as what food can cope with being in a hot handbag for a few hours and not go off? In the end, I decided to buy a salad with extra ham from Marks and Spencers and just eat it as soon as I got there!

I bought some strawberries from Tescos and had a really nice breakfast with them and a banana :-) I also followed that up with a slice of malt loaf an hour and a half later, so was trying to eat little and often.

I arrived at Rewind at 12:00 and met my friend and her friends in the queue. As we were walking to the gates, I remarked that I didn't have a camping chair to sit on, like them... however I did have some food. Then my friend told me - I wasn't allowed to bring food into the festival and it's one of the conditions.... Whoops! You can tell I'm not a regular festival goer :-) As we got closer to the security... I did indeed see them checking bags. Hrm... I was prepared to have to throw it away, however had recently bought a new handbag for work - one which has 2 main compartments in the middle. A quick readjustment and zipping one of them up, I tried my luck by only showing them one of the compartments... Guess what? It worked! Hurrah! I wandered past the security people feeling rather smug :-)

We wandered through the festival and found a really good place to sit, quite near the middle. We then went to find the toilets - one of my friend's friends had a slightly disability and as such, she bought 'posh toilet' passes - you pay additional money to go to very nice portaloos, rather than the usual type of toilets you get at festivals. Apparently she had bought one for each of us - I said that was cool and thanked her... and asked how much I owed her - £30.... Oh.. My.. God... £30! As I'm quintessentially British and in some ways, a bit of a pushover, I said that was fine... however guess what? I only used the toilet twice.. so that's basically £15 per toilet break.. really, really mental. Next year I think I'll be totally up front and say that I'll just use the normal toilets....

The festival was awesome - The weather was also really great until about 7:30pm when it started raining... However just to sit in the sun, chatting, listening to music.. it was great. I ate my salad and throughout the day, also ate my Nakd bar and some malt loaf so I didn't actually need to buy anything from any food stalls except water and a diet coke :-)

When my friends friends asked if I wanted anything, I politely declined - My friend said 'Imogen is very disciplined when it comes to healthy eating' which I thought was really nice.. I certainly don't feel very disciplined as if I was - I'd be a lot thinner than I currently am, however it felt nice that that's how she sees me.

We listened to Billy Ocean.. Hot Chocolate.. Belinda Carlisle... amongst others - Despite being born in the 80's I was actually surprised how little of their songs I knew! Still, it was great fun and loads of people dressed up in really awesome 80's costumes. I have to say, I've been to a few other types of festival - Reading Festival being the main one and the atmosphere is just so different... Rewind is just so 'relaxed' everyone is so nice and friendly whereas I find certain other festivals quite different - people throwing bottles of urine, glass in the crowds.. It's just not as pleasant and I can't relax as much.

I left before the main act as I'm still kinda getting used to work and felt quite tired, however noone minded. I'm now sat in my PJ's whilst my dinner is being cooked - turkey with baked small potatoes and steamed veg :-)

What really matters to you in life?

Having had time to think about things, I'm working out what's important in my life.

Breakfast: Oats so Simple porridge with a handful of raspberries

Lunch: Jacket potato with beans and salad

Dinner: Roast turkey breast with rosemary roasted new potatoes and steamed carrots and brocoli

Snacks: Noooooo snacks today :-)

Today I've had a lovely time, spending most of it with one of my sisters. She arrived last night and slept over and today we've spent most of our time visiting various antiques shops in Surrey, drinking tea and attempting to go to a National Trust property.

After eating porridge with raspberries for breakfast and washing it down with a nice cup of tea, my sister and I left home and got to our first antiques shop at just after 10:30. The Bourne Mill Antiques Centre is absolutely huge - over 40 rooms of 'things' which you could seriously spend a few hours wandering around if you're majorly into antiques. Thankfully we managed to wander round in just over an hour and as it was nearing lunch time we ordered some lunch in the cafe that's part of the shop as well. If you've read my Blog from a couple of days ago, you'll know I am really trying to refocus my healthy eating after a couple of days of eating crap, therefore I'm hyper-sensitive about what I'm putting into my body, simply because before, if I ate unhealthy things I'd think 'Well, I've failed, so I may as well continue eating unhealthy things' and I'd go back to old habits.

Looking at the menu, there was one thing that looked the most healthy, a good old spud - Rather than have it with bacon and cheese like my darling sister, I opted for beans - Wow.. there were a lot of beans. It was absolutely lovely and listening to my body, I actually didn't finish it all as I felt really full. Once we'd eaten, we headed off to another antiques place nearby - The Packhouse antiques centre (less than 10 minutes drive, Hurrah!). I hadn't been there for a while, however they seem to have redone it and it seems to be a lot bigger and have a lot more things in there - perfect for my sister, as she's really into 'Shabby chic' which is probably as far removed from my taste as you can get, still... we had a nice time chatting as we walked round :-)

Then it was off to the third antique place - The Antiques Warehouse, which is again, less than 10 minutes drive. Unfortunately, despite going to three places with amazing antiques, there was nothing that 'floated my boat'. Probably a good thing as I don't get paid for another week and all of this socialising is certainly denting my bank balance :-( Once done, we planned to go to Clandon House which is a beautiful house in Surrey. What we didn't realise was, a massive fire had completely gutted the house in April 2015, so when we turned up, we couldn't get in. Despite it being closed, we actually managed to find our way into the car park and walk around some of the public footpaths nearby which I really enjoyed as it was a lovely sunny day and despite all the walking around antique shops, I prefer being outside wherever possible.

Poor Clandon House looked really sad with all the cranes and workmen - I really hope it can be restored as it no doubt looked amazing before the fire. 

Spending today with my sister and catching up with life has been lovely - Really, really nice. The difference not being at work has made to my mental state is really profound. Rather than dedicating 50% of my thought process to 'What do I need to do at work tomorrow?' or even, 'Is my Boss really planning on sacking me?' I can devote 100% of my attention to my sister, the beautiful surroundings and just enjoying the lovely weather. I think at the moment, my relationships with family, friends and my Boyfriend are one of the most important things in my life at the moment - looking back in retrospect over the last few months, all of them have been so supportive to me and I really want to strengthen my bonds with all of them.

Equally, I want to continue my healthy eating - not just to change how I look, but also to get my body as ready as possible for being a Mother. In Devon, my Boyfriend and I talked about children again and I think it's pretty clear we're going to start trying to have children in the next few months - even before we buy a house. If it happens, it happens, if it doesn't.. there won't be as much pressure on things.... I would like to eat more healthy simply because I'd like to think I'd be carrying a baby in a more healthy body, which can't be a bad thing, surely?

Dinner was an absolutely amazing BBQ Turkey steak I bought from Sainsburys and I topped it off with some steamed vegetables and roasted baby potatoes. One thing I don't think I've ever mentioned is how I roast my potatoes. Having read the book ' The diet myth' by Tim Spector which details all the different types of oil, I threw away my virgin olive oil and actually use extra virgin olive oil - as 'extra virgin' as you can get. I don't use spray oil, simply because I don't like the taste, however I only use a drop and then toss the potatoes around in a small roasting tray. They taste amazing and they're certainly not dripping in oil :-)

Tomorrow is my most chilled day, I think - I don't have a lot on, so I'm going to see what I can plan once I get up in the morning.... 

There's a lot of love in the air

I'm loving a lot of things in life at the moment.

Breakfast: Fruit salad
Lunch: Raw pepper, tomatoes and cucumber with Houmous
Dinner: ??????
Snack: 2 slices of malt loaf

I loved the small packet of Maltesers I had yesterday - I genuinely savoured them and oddly, I felt really full after eating them which is certainly different to how I used to be. I could easily eat a 'Family sized' bag which was about 4-5 times the size of a normal portion and eat more afterwards, in fact I thought nothing of eating an entire dinner and then 'snacking' on a large Family sized bag an hour or so afterwards. I enjoyed them, I really did. It won't be a daily thing, not even a weekly thing, but if I want another bag next week... then I need to stop feeling so guilty about it.

So yes, I loved the Maltesers yesterday, I also loved my dinner. I haven't had Turkey in any shape or form since Christmas day, however I saw the 'Paprika turkey breast steaks' and thought they sounded OK, so bought a packet. I cooked both last night and gave one to my Boyfriend when he came round as he's on his Atkins-esque diet so can eat meat. I had my steak with baby roast potatoes and a lot of steamed veg. I thought it would taste OK, it tasted better than OK, it tasted absolutely gorgeous. I'm not keen on hot / spicy things, but it wasn't spicy at all, it was very nice and incredibly filling. As Turkey is even more healthy than chicken, I'd certainly recommend trying turkey, especially if it's marinated in something interesting.

I'll definitely be buying more turkey in the near future - I'm not sure it would go in a salad, but there's only one way to find out! So yes... I've currently got a lot of love for turkey as well as Maltesers.

Breakfast this morning was por... aha! No, it wasn't :-) It wasn't my obligatory porridge at all, it was an amazing fruit salad that I made myself after nipping to Sainsburys with my Boyfriend last night. He wanted to get a bulb from Halfords and as we were out and about, I suggested we nip into the supermarket quickly. As I'm working from home today, I decided I wanted something different to porridge, so thought I'd make a fantastic looking fruit salad. It tasted amazing, however I think if I were to eat it every day, I'd be overdosing slightly on fruit sugar and I'm not sure it would fill me up as much as porridge would - Maybe greek yogurt and less fruit would be better? Either way, I still really loved it.

So yes, love for fruit salad as well :-)

I'm loving the fact I only have ONE MORE DAY at work after today and to celebrate I have bought some 'classy' Prosecco, which I plan to drink when I get back from work on Friday. Not the entire bottle mind you, but sitting on my sofa, with a glass of Prosecco and thinking 'That's it... no more, I'm done' after a number of crappy months at work is something I'm really looking forward to doing. So there's certainly love for my life - and I'm really loving the fact I'll be having 4 weeks garden leave starting on Monday!

After eating my breakfast, I decided I'd be productive by straightening my hair and hoovering the house - it's only a small 2 bedroomed house, so hardly a mansion, but I find it hard to relax unless it's tidy and for the last couple of days, I've noticed 'bits' on the floor which annoys me. 

Despite 'working from home' today, there wasn't any work to do at all, apart from reply to a couple of emails, therefore I spent most of it watching Horror Movies and political dramas (SAW, Sinister, BBC Adaptation of 'The House of cards'), waiting to head off to my friends house as she's having a 'Rock Star' party with a few of her work friends and invited me over as well. I'm not overly bothered about the Rock Star part (PC game, I believe.. like Guitar Hero, never played it as prefer things on the Play station!) but it will be nice catching up with her... She's the friend who is divorcing her nasty Husband and is stupidly shagging a married man at the moment.

Lunch was my usual, with raw pepper, tomatoes and cucumber. However unfortunately Sainsburys seems to be out of 'Moroccan topped houmous' which is frustrating, so I decided to opt for the caramelised onion one instead - more fat, sadly, however I actually enjoy this one as opposed to the 'roasted red pepper one', which I find a bit, 'meh'...  I've actually really enjoyed eating less processed food today, so I'm thinking of continuing this next week. 

I'm off to my friends shortly and have absolutely no idea what she's making for dinner tonight - It may be 'finger food', I'm hoping it's not pizza or takeaway. I don't want to be antisocial, however I'm going to bring a couple of slices of malt loaf and a Bakewell tart nakd bar in case it's all total junk, in which case, I could have a small amount, but eat some more healthy options that I'll keep in my handbag... 

I guess I'll find out soon!