Still truckin'

Despite a strong start at the beginning of the year, my weightloss came to a bit of a stall in April and I found myself losing and gaining the damn 5lbs over and over again.

 It was hard and my motivation has not been forthcoming but i have finally pushed through and seem to be back on track.

January (200lbs) to May (173.6lbs)

 I posted this progress picture on my facebook the other day and I can't believe how much my body has changed in a matter of months.

May in Norway is a crazy time with public holidays left, right and centre which is great as it means lots of breaks from working and lots of time to chill out but it also means lots of sitting inside watching TV (seeing as its still raining rivers in Bergen) or lots of drinking/party time.

so my main goal for this month is to enjoy the parties and celebrations on the long weekend, which includes the Norwegian national day, my dear friend Katharines birthday, my 25th birthday, and then the party for my birthday. and then get back down to business seeing as my holiday is now only 38 days away!!!!

Tuesday Loseday

Now that the Holiday season here and there is a lovely layer of snow covering the ground i really find myself falling off the diet wagon more often then i should.

Afterall,

 this is the season to bake sweet treats, eat with friends and generally be Merry!

and my motivation to go for a walk outside has been lacking.

who want's to go and walk in the snow for an hour when their boyfriends mum can show them how to make donuts fried in Lard! (they are actually delicious!)

BUT

(and it is a big but to go with my big butt!)

New Years eve is fast approaching which means New Years resolutions are right behind, 

and i have decided to get a head start on mine and try and reign in my sweet tooth for the holiday (sort of)

Using inspiration from a bunch of different blogs and websites i have decided to try a new method
6 days on 1 day off


This way i stick to healthy eating 6 days a week and then allow myself one day a week to do some Christmas baking and indulging
not that i intend to spend the whole day gorging
 i just want to allow myself a little freedom to do what i love
Bake and Eat!

I also started the Walk to Run program on Nike+
which gives me a motivation to go out in the snow everyday and also sets me reasonable goals each day.

If any of you ladies are looking for a similar program and want to join up
 i would love a blog running buddy!!

sorry for the wordy post, i promise further Tuesday Loseday's
 (oh yes i plan to make this a regular thing)
will be more interesting.
and lastly because i love this pin and should have it printed out and hung on my wall

Source: fromflabbytofit.tumblr.com via Selina on Pinterest

Chocolate Gingerbread Muffins

So on sunday night i decided enough was enough i had to get my not so little arse back on track and plan myself a week of healthy eating and exercise..

cut to late Monday evening, exhausted from work and experiencing a hardcore sugar craving, 

so i said what any self respecting person would...

Fuck Ze Diet!!

and rummaged through my cupboards untill i found the ingredients for something sweet and satisfying which in this case was a muffin mix and some gingerbread spices

and lo the Chocolate Gingerbread Muffin was born! and gosh darnit it they were deeelicious!

I feel like giving the recipe is a little redundant seeing as i made them from a packet mix and just added some extras but what the hell i might as well...

You will need:

• 1 packet of muffin mix (or whip up your favourite basic muffin recipe if you have the time and patience)
• gingerbread spices, i used a pre mixed spice mixture but i did a bit of searching on the ol'googleator and found this
• Cocoa powder
• brown sugar

How i did it:

1. Make up the muffin mix according to instructions, seeing as i was kinda breaking my diet and felt a little guilty i used natural oil in place of melted butter.

2. add in two teaspoon of spice mix. now i know you might be like whaaat that is a lot of spice but i really wanted these muffins to be warm and inviting and i love that deep spice flavour

3. add in a tea spoon of cocoa powder

4. mix all together and divide into muffin cases, sprinkle a little brown sugar on top and bake in the oven according to instructions

5. gobble down accompanied by a hot chocolate because let's face it we clearly aren't on a diet at this point ;)

The result: winter ready bliss

Hope you guys enjoyed ;)

oh how Pinteresting - all that glitters edition

As always(ish) i am linking up with the wonderful Michelle from The Vintage Apple for her Oh How Pinteresting Link up

Now that the Holiday Season is upon us i have a sudden urge to make everything glittery so today's link up is dedicated to all that glitters (and needs to be in my life)

Source: calypsostbarth.com via Leslie on Pinterest

Infinity scarf + sequins = perfect for a casual night out with friends celebrating the holiday season without going too far over the top! simple and subtle can be sparkly too!

Source: humfashion.com via Blythe on Pinterest

I recently got a similar one to this and have been wearing it over a neutral pink with looks super pretty and all the little girls at my work are waaay jealous ;) so mission accomplished!

Source: Uploaded by user via Kinsey on Pinterest

only one word is truely needed for these! DIVINE! and if i could i would wear them everyday even to work. then the little girls would worship me i am sure!

Source: blogs.babble.com via Carolyn on Pinterest

Super cute! i really need to find one of these to go with my little black dress for our works julebord!

are you ladies in that glittery festive mood yet??

Taking baby steps to get back on track

I haven't blogged about my weightloss efforts for a while, to be fair i haven't blogged about much for a while, but that is not the point.

After losing a whole STONE thats 14lbs in a matter of weeks, i went away for a glorious holiday in Morocco and ate a lot of Junk food, instead of getting back on track when i got home i continued eating badly.

 I am not sure if it was because i was out of the habit, or because the days started getting darker and i started craving crabs or if it was because i was having a shitty time at work and frankly couldn't care less about anything let alone eating healthy. Whatever it was it set me back this morning the scale read 184 and let me tell you i was not happy at all! 

My goal for Christmas seems so far away

BUT

I cannot give up! ¨

I just can't so i have decided to take some baby steps to get me back into the old habits.

 i have resisted the junk food this morning and i am getting myself ready for a long day of cleaning the apartment before a nice long walk as the sun sets.

I have also decided to try this challenge i saw on pinterest.

Source: downtownn.tumblr.com via Selina on Pinterest

It looks like it could be fun to try and not too hard, i have already done day one! 

I am also going to use the hand weights i bought recently to get some toning in, because my jiggles are getting jiggles!
top that with some healthy eating and more important meal planning all beautifully planned in my even more beautiful Erin Condren planner!

So ladies what are your techniques to lose some of the jiggles before Christmas??

Shop News & Mrs. Monologues Giveaway Extravaganza!

Guys i am super excited because i am working on a lot of new cute things for my etsy store

Haven't visited my etsy store yet!? well why the hells not it's awesome and affordable (and as of  Monday will have a BUNCH of new things in it!

also i made it a cute new banner and button which despite how simple it looks took me a loooong ass time to complete!

ANNNND if that wasn't good enough a quick heads up to let you know that i will be participating in Mrs Monologues Christmas Extravaganza, so one of you lucky bisnitches could win something i made for FREE! 

go check out her blog to find out what the deelio is!

Marrakech Part 1- The Hotel

Before i start this post i have to confess a deep dark secret of mine, i am hoping it won't change your opinion of me but it needs to be said.... up untill the age of 20 (3 years ago) i had never stayed in a hotel!!! nope never, not even a shitty b&b style one. as my family were more the hippy festival camping type i have stayed in far more tents than i would like but hotels not so much. However since my hotel cherry was broken in Paris a few years ago (i am completely aware of how wrong that sounds) I have managed to stay in a grand total of 5! and enjoyed most of them.

The hotel in Morocco was by far the best, in fact i am not sure i can definitely call it a hotel as it is actually a riad
  "A riad (Arabic: رياض‎) is a traditional Moroccan house or palace with an interior garden or courtyard"
It has apparently become very popular for tourists to stay in riads while in morocco because you get a better sense of the hospitality, which is so true! for the best part of the holiday the only people who were staying at our riad (Riad Villa Wenge) were the people in the wedding party, so we had the run of the place.

When we first arrived at the riad, we were all pretty hot and bothered as the taxi was unable to drive us too close to the riad itself so we had to cross the big open squared market Jeema el faa, and then navigate our way (with the help of a guide) through the small alleys of the souks narrowly avoiding being hit by speeding scooters every 5 seconds , honestly when we reached the door of the riad i did not have high hopes. But once we were inside and the door closed the noise just melted away.

We were shown to our rooms, Tor Petter and I got Chambre Alu which i assumed would be all silver and metal but much to my delight was very pink!

we were on the second floor of the riad so when we stepped out of our doors in the morning if we looked up we could see the beautiful clear blue skies and feel the warm sun (it was around 27C at 6am most days)

and when we looked down we could see the courtyard and usually breakfast being served up

Obvs this wasn't taken in the morning and the quality is a bit crappy but i like all the lit up candles!

Upstairs on the roof was probably my favourite part of the hotel and i spent many hours relaxing up there, it was crazy how peaceful and quiet it was when it was situated in such a noisy and busy area.

I was quite sad to leave this little slice of heaven, although i can't say i miss being almost run down by maniacs on scooters every time i left the front door- but more about that another time.

When you go on holiday where do you like to stay?