Yogaddict!

Well after a number (I'm not revealing how many) of months and some encouragement from my flatmate I've finally started to get back on track with my Yoga.

Image source:  http://www.fanpop.com/spots/yoga/images/1205692/title/yoga-photo

The thing about exercise is that people think you really need to spend so many hours doing it, and that its such a hard slog.  Well yes, sometimes it can be.  But my opinion?  If it is, then you just haven't found the right type of exercise for you!

Is there any reason why it shouldn't be enjoyable as well!  Definitely not!  This is why I like yoga.  I especially like doing it before work in the morning.  You have no idea the difference it makes to your day.  I feel energised, refreshed, my brain works much faster and I become a SuperWoman!

The other thing that really helped me when getting married last year was that even if I just did 10 minutes of exercise a day, it was worth it.  And you know what?  Once I had done 10 minutes I thought "Well that was easy.  I could easily do another 10 minutes."  And so I did. And another.  And another.

Soon enough I had made it a habit.  I did the same with the number of days per week that I would exercise too.  Then before you know it, I was exercising at least 5-6 days a week, and sometimes twice a day.   This along with some small diet changes (again using the same technique) made it seem easy to get myself physically ready for my wedding.

So what is your favourite form of exercise?  Do you prefer to go solo or join a team sport?

Just a quickie with Dr. Oz

Dr. Oz

So... everyone loves Dr. Oz right?


My new favourite thing that he has recommended is Rice Bran Oil.


Apparently used properly it can actually help you loose weight. 


"Loaded with Mono and Poly-unsaturated fats.  It has Gamma Oryzanol which convinces our cells to burn up the sugar in our blood stream rather than storing it on our hips.  It also reduces the absorption of cholesterol" as well as other benefits like Omega 6, Vitamin E & Antioxidants.     


I use it with all my cooking now - even my baking instead of butter and other fats as it has such a lovely flavour.


Have you tried it?  What are your thoughts?  Do you have any great recipe's you would like to share?

Experimenting Eggs

I started a new job not long ago (which I shall tell you more about in another post) and I wanted to do something to make my mark on the place.

Being that it was Easter and all I did a bit of research and came across the Cupcake Project blog which had a fabulous idea - Eggshell Cupcakes.  The best thing is - its so easy!!!

To get the details of this process - check out the link above but in a nutshell (or an eggshell in this case):

Start off with normal eggs and remove the inner yolk and white.  I personally did this by putting a tiny hole in the top (with a needle) and as small a hole as possible in the bottom.  Probably big enough to put the tip of my index finger through.  The thing you really have to watch out for is the inner egg sack - again I used the needle to pick at this and get it out.

Once you have prepared all of your eggs, place them in a large bowl full of salt water (water with salt in it rather than water from the sea).  Leave them like this for around 30 mins, rinse and dry.

Next place them in a muffin tin upside down on a nest of tin foil (to hold the eggs up). Get your prepared cupcake batter (I personally love Nigella's cupcake recipe) and pour it in, up to 3/4 full.

Bake as you would a normal cupcake!

The filling may overflow but don't worry about this.  They are pretty easy to clean up.

My work mates were very impressed once they realised what was inside.

Eggstravaganza!

Some of you may have heard about the Big Egg Hunt around London.  I think it officially closes this weekend however I did my bit when it first opened in order to try and get in as many entries as possible to win The Diamond Jubilee Faberge Egg.

It was quite fun as they were not all that easy to find.  I think I ended up finding just over 30 of them however there were 209 from memory in total.  One thing I did find frustrating though was that I started my egg hunt on the very first day and they hadn't all been set up yet.  Some that had been set up didn't have their details on them and some even moved from the area where I first found them to another area that I searched later on meaning that I could have found way more eggs had they all been where they were meant to be in the first place.  Very annoying.

Lessons learned:  Don't get involved straight away  - wait at least 2-3 days for the organisers to sort themselves out first.  Although really it would be better that if they do this again they actually sort it out so that everything is ready to go on the first day. Then all they have to do on the actual day is reveal the actual plaques rather than do everything from scratch (I am assuming based on the issues I had) on the first few days.

Anyway - rant over and done with - would definitely try again if it happens and fingers crossed that the Jubilee egg is on its way to me soon!

Slacking Slacker

So maybe this blogging business is not so easy after all.  Lucky I don't have too many followers at the moment but hopefully this year I can try to make this more of a regular thing.  Any tips or hints on how to keep one of these going would be very appreciated.

So let's see..... What's been happening since June 2011?  This may at least give me a bit of an excuse as after being stuck in a job with a company that had completely different values to me - an interesting and exciting thing happened!

My husband was head hunted for a job that was going to be touring the UK for six months.  This was a very interesting prospect and a chance of a lifetime in regards to his field of expertise (an Actor) so definitely not a chance to pass up!

'But what about me?' I cry!!  Well actually I didn't say that because my wonderful husband (MWH) had already asked the question of the producer and managed to secure me a job with the tour as well.

So just like that we were packed and heading back to the UK.

My role was helping out in the Wardrobe department as an Assistant.  This involved me working very long crazy hours, washing, ironing and mending costumes as well as dressing the male leads in the show.  The show is Top Hat and although it has to be one of the hardest jobs I've ever done, it was also very enjoyable and I got to make some lovely friends!  One being (well I hope so anyway) the amazing and nicest person I've ever met - Tom Chambers.  Check out this amazing vid where he remakes a famous Fred Astaire scene:

Being people from little New Zealand, way down the other end of the world, you can imagine just being in a production like this was an amazing opportunity but a few other things made it even more special.

But I'm going to leave you hanging till the next post............................