Oh yea... That's hot you say?!

This week's nail colour of choice is OPI's "That's Hot! Pink" With a China Glaze silver shatter over the top!

I really like the OPI nail range, and when I saw this little mini brights collection on sale in my local Salon Services I couldn't resist. The bottles are so small and cute and the colours just pop out at you!

I already had the OPI silver shatter in my basket, but the assistant on the till mentioned that she thought the china glaze one looked better on your nails, so I swapped them over. I think they look lovely...

I also promised yesterday that I would update you on how my hair went last night... well I was really pleased with the results.
Check out my before and after...



New Hair Colour... with my goofy before face :S

 It's nothing to drastically different to be fair, but I'm really fussy with my hair, I like very thin strands for my highlights and as close to the roots as possible so I get my money's worth and don't need to go back to the hirdressers too often!
So my new hairdresser officially gets my seal of approval that much I have even offered to help her design her leaflets & price list!

So time to get get creative! :D

Running on the back burner!

My Running seems to have been put on the back burner for now. After my 10k at the start of the month I have only been out a handful of times and most have been under the 5k mark.

My Run Kepper stats show that I haven’t even managed to hit the 5 mile mark for this whole week!! It just shows how much I’ve been taking it easy! To be fair both my runs have been with other people (my sister & friend Stuart) and been more about just getting out and going for a wee jog than trying to kill myself breaking some personal record!

I haven't even been exercising much in other ways either, both my usual Body Combat classes and the horrid kettlebells have been dropped off my schedule over the last week! I had good intentions and booked into them both as well as a new class called viper circuits, but I just haven't had the motivation to make myself do anything after work at all this week. I think it's the drastic change in the weather that's dashing my oomphness!

On the plus side I'm happy about missing out on exercising tonight... As I'm getting my hair done instead! :) I've been putting off doing my hair for a while, trying to leave it as late as possible, as I go on holiday next weekend. So I'm glad I won't have big dark roots for holiday, but it's been hard leaving it for over two months!
I'm also trying out a new hair dresser and I'll admit I'm rather nervous! I hope she's good! I had a nightmare last night that she messed it up and my hair was all falling out!

I'll take a before and after pic and upload it later on!

Glasgow Harvest

Isn't the "twitter-verse” wonderful!?!

I came across a blog that’s all about my local areas through someone on twitter last Friday.

The Precious East is all about the life of Jolene and her family living in the east end of Glasgow and all the great activities they find to do to keep themselves entertained! I’ve grown up in the East all my life and I’m ashamed to admit the Jolene has found more stuff to do in the few years she has stayed here than I ever have! I guess you just need to be looking for the adventure!

Well I went for a little adventure on Saturday thanks to Jolene’s blog!

A wee five minute walk from my house is some allotments and on Saturday it was their Harvest celebration.

It was a nice day weather wise, so was great to get out about for some fresh air.

We had a wee walk round the opened allotments looking to see what everyone has been growing! I really need to get the hang off growing things, it seems so cool to be able to grow your own food in your back garden!

First time I've seen Corn on the actual plant.
Never thought it would be in Glasgow!

Nice pair eh? ;)

I got to try some lovely home-made carrot cake and even got a recipe for vegan leek & potato soup, along with a nice sample! I can’t wait to try and make it myself, soup is always so easy to make and tastes so good for the effort required to make it!

There was lots of how to sessions teaching the basics on gardening, which I would have attended if I was by myself but there was a group of us and we had my little 9 month nephew with us so we left after a bit to come home for a nappy change & some pureed veg for the wee one!


Look who practically followed us home after we fed it some bananas!

I will be trying to keep up with the things that are going on in my area in future, it's a great excuse to be get out and about doing something different!

Do you make the most of your local area?

Kettlebell Hell!!

I have so far done two kettlebell classes, class number three is awaiting me tonight.

If you don't know what kettlebell's are this YouTube video will give you a little bit of an insight into what kind of moves you can be expected to do in a kettlebell fitness class.

This class is supposed to be really good for toning and calorie burning all at once! While you're doing the class you can really feel it working! It gives you jelly legs, burning muscles and gets your heart rate up, but the time when you feel it the most is the next day! Walking up and down stairs is a killer, trying to get up from a chair was a struggle not to mention twisting to the side and feeling how sore your oblique's are, OMG! 

4KG & 2KG Kettlebells

I made a mistake the first week and used the 4KG kettlebell throughout the full class and from someone who doesn't do any weights, that was extremely hard! This week I used both a 4KG and a small 2KG, which meant I could do some of the hard moves a little easier, but more importantly safer, without putting too much stress on my lower back and other joints!
I know that having a good all round varied exercise routine is key to getting fitter and keeping more motivated! Adding this new kettlebell class to my routine is just another way of helping me get a more all round varied approach to exercise.
Please spare a thought for me tonight knowing I'll be kettlebelling my little heart out!

On a side note... I just thought I'd share this link to some naughty vegetables with you from the people over at the Organic Authority.
I actually laughed out loud at the chilli that has the number one spot!! :D

Weekend Fashion buys

It's coming into the colder months and I've been struggling to top off my outfits with the jackets I have in my wardrobe! I have a few proper winter jackets for when the really cold weather hits but I've been thinking that a nice black jacket for the transition between autumn and winter that will go with most outfits would be perfect.
I have been looking for a while and couldn't see anything that I really liked! But this weekend I found 2 that I couldn't pick between!! 
Just like busses, eh?


Easy answer was... buy both!


So I came home with a big smile on my face with two big bags! :D


Here are my new buys...

 Abandon Amilia Jacket, USC

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I have been thinking of getting a jacket of this style since last year, but by the time I got round to looking for one it was far too cold to get a lightweight jacket and I ended up buying a nice trendy ski jacket instead, which I wore all the time it was so cold here last winter.

My next buy was also from USC (which is strange, as it's a shop I hardly ever go into) I figured this would be a nice funky topper for the little summer dresses that I've been wearing, instead of putting them to the back of the wardrobe till next year! It's a bit different to most leather jackets as part of the arms are a stretchy cord style, which gives a different look to it. It also feels a bit more comfortable and less rigid in the sleeves that other leather jackets I've had.




Abandon Biker Jacket



I'm officially skint now, and doubt I'll be buying anymore clothes for this month!
Just counting down the days to payday as I've found a new shoe website that I'm looking forward to finding some bargains on! Check it out www.shoeaholics.com

Cold, Windy & Miserable Sunday!

I find that the weather has a direct link to the amount of get up and go I have! My ability to do something productive dwindles as the colder and wetter the weather becomes! I'm pretty sure it’s not just me! Please tell me the cold rain put’s a dampener (bad pun, I know!) on your day too!?

To help me get motivated this week I treated myself to a nice new pair of running shoes! As a little well done for completing my first 10k last Sunday!

How could I not when the guy’s at Run For It gave everyone who took park in the Great Scottish Run a 15% discount! I mean it would just be rude not to!

I’ve been running in a neutral pair of Asics for the last 9 months and they have felt fine for me so I thought I would be getting another neutral shoe, but they fitted me out a pair of Brooks Adrenalines support trainers. They said I have a pretty flat foot, with a low arch and I over-pronate so I had to get a support shoe to help with this. I also left with a size 4.5, even through I thought I was a size 3! I've been wearing a size and a half smaller than I should have for my running shoes! Oops! Glad I eventually went and got professional advice!





They also showed me a new way of tying up my laces so my trainers would feel more 
secure on my feet. Here’s a breakdown of how I do it if you’re interested!

I did a couple of miles on the “dreadmill” on Tuesday in the gym and they felt fine.  So on Thursday I took them out and about and did 3 miles with my friend round Strathclyde County Park. They felt good for the first 2 miles, but after the 3rd I stopped to walk a bit as my shins were hurting a little! Maybe they need broken into slowly, so my legs get used to something stopping them from moving the way they want to when running! 


Check out my break down of my run. I was taking my time and going pretty slowly.

Any tips on how to keep motivated during the cold winter months?

10K Done and Dusted!!

Great Scottish Run 2011 Tshirt & Bib

My first official 10K was a blast! Woohoo!

When I started running at the start of the year I thought it would be a bit of a breeze, I mean I know lots of people who go running all the time and if they could do it then why couldn’t I?

Well a wee jog round the block trying to do 1 mile and thinking I might be sick afterwards soon changed my mind! It was a slow process and it was hard to keep myself motivated to go out running a couple of times a week and try and improve on my time or mileage!

BUT... on Sunday when I crossed the finish line 1 hour, 5 minutes and 54 seconds after I crossed the start line, I felt so elated.  All the hard work was worth it! I really did want to cry... or be sick; actually it was more a mix of both! But the pride I felt overcame all my feelings and there was only one word to describe me... CHUFFED!!

 

Official Chip Time



I was finished... I actually did it! :D



The race itself was amazing, everyone was extremely cheerful and the people all along the course cheering you on were amazing! I’m slightly disappointed that the next run I go on will be just me on my wee lonesome and no one about to cheer, clap , give me water, play the bagpipes, bang on their drums or even to shout out my bib number on their karaoke machine as I run by their house!!  



Me & Ryan at the start line



I had a wee running partner for the first half of the race, but Ryan is much faster than me and I tried to tell him to run on ahead to get a good time! His response was “we started together, we’ll finish together” which was really chivalrous of him! But I knew I was holding him back, so I stopped to walk, telling him to keep going  saying I would catch up, but I knew full well I’d never catch him.



He finished 5 minutes ahead of me. :D

This is how the breakdown of my pace looked on my run keeper app once I had finished!

I can remember that only a couple of months ago I was struggling to get my pace under 11 minutes per mile and that was only doing about 4 miles! So I was really happy to keep it under the 11mins per mile mark for most of the race, even though I really didn’t think I was going all that fast!