Resolutions - update!

It's CRAZY to think we are halfway through the year, like where is this year even going?! I am super excited it's summer( well....almost summer in Manchester...) and all the plans that I have!! 
I thought I would update you on my resolutions and how I've been getting on - you can read my resolutions post here. 
1) interiors - I'm even more obsessed with interiors and moving and getting new furniture now than I was at new years. This cannot be good! Apart from my hat wall I haven't done too much to my room sadly BUT I am going to be carbooting like mad this summer so hopefully I'll shift a lot of the stuff that I have lying around. I've also found the desk that I want from Made so it's just a matter of saving up and waiting for the right time! 
2) Getting back to hot yoga and salsa, I couldn't massively afford to do both with Thailand and then saving for a car and a trip home however the place I do hot yoga had a two month deal I couldn't refuse so I have around another 3 weeks there and I am going to aim to go 1-2 times a month and try to save to go more! 
3) get toned - so... if you had read my latest fitness post  you would know I've made really great headway with my weightloss! I've toned up quite a lot although there is still some fat on top of it I've managed to shrink quite a bit of fat down! I'm really pleased with how I've got on and can't wait to see what the next 6 months brings for this! 
4) Sort my money - I was doing really well with this...for like...2 weeks? ha! Then an impromptu trip to Thailand happened that I had like...3 months to save for, so that kinda destroyed all progess and made things a little worse. But with lots of hard work I will have halved all the damage by July which for 4 months work I think is pretty impressive! 
5) start some art collections and start selling, I've definitely been working a lot on my art these past months. I've been focusing on colourstudies and how colours can work together and also practising my drawings - you can see in my sketchbook here! I've got a few ideas for prints so I'm hoping to get a good quality printer in August and I'll start selling prints! Eek! 
6) Build my blogs - I'm getting there, the blog kinda got put on the sideline sadly while everything was going on but I'm trying to be better with my planning and I have at least 10 outfits planned for my style blog- so I'm estimating around 6-8 weeks worth of content! aah! I also got over 200 followers on bloglovin' which was something I felt I was never going to get to! I definitely need to get better at planning and also try to participate in chats a bit more! 
7) Lastly I'll go onto getting a car! - EEEK. I'm getting it in July, I've worked hard to get my money in a good place that I can afford the car as it's gonna be like 50 times more expensive than my bike but I'm really excited and also really nervous at driving such a large thing. I'm gonna have to get some more refresher lessons again as I'm convinced I've forgotten how to drive! 
How have you been getting on? 

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5 things... 22.05.16

Oh my god, these posts were supposed to be weekly and I've already failed! I promise to try and do better, I need to find the time to sit and think of some fresh new idea's for the blog and posts I can write, I'm really falling behind and it is massively down to poor planning on my part! I also need to work on more than just scheduling tweets for my shop! But before I go on and on about this lets talk about 5 things this week! 1. This week I completed BBG 1.0!!! I can't beleive it! 12 weeks and pretraining and I'm done! I didn't properly do LISS or my HIIT workouts really in the last few weeks but it's so lovely when the girls at work comment and say they can tell I've lost weight and I can fit into clothes I've never fit into before! I'm redoing the plan doubling the weights and adding in some running as I've signed up to do a half marathon. I'm giving myself a goal of running 5k in 25 minutes by september! I honestly couldn't rate this plan enough and if I work more on my eating as well I'm hoping to shed the rest of me and tone up! I'll be doing a post on this in the next few days so keep an eye out! 2. I've started to properly sketch again, I did a sketch of Sansa which now looks like poop and I was quite disappointed. I want to find a sketching style that suits me so I attemped another drawing of Jon Snow ( I'm so inspired by GoT at the moment with it being back!) and I'm so pleased with it! My style needs a lot of work but it's come out really well! So more sketching and hopefully I'll get some kind of style down!  I'm hoping to get a few prints made to sell in the future and start adding art prints to my shop!  3. I had my first sale last week! I've been working so hard on my shop and promoting items, it hasn't been easy working 8-6s everyday plus the gym and yoga after work, I only have a few hours at night to get anything done but I have managed to try and promote it whilst creating new works! So getting my first sale was just an amazing feeling and made me feel like all this hard work will pay off! hopefully I'll get a few more before I start doing stalls in July! 
4. I'm feeling really rundown this week, I haven't really been on top of my diet and I think that everything has just all built up, I felt a bit ill last week and during the week, it's really hard to describe usually when I'm ill it's all at once but this is like a dull ache over time. I haven't really been properly ill since going veg/mostly veg now. Hopefully I'll be alright soon! 5. I've found my wedding dress guys. I'm not even lying. I'm obsessed with needle and thread, embroidered clothes is something I really want to get going this year and I've just become OBSESSED with it all. Just need to find me a boyfriend now.. hahahahahaaaaa. oh god. I've also found a house I want which is like horrendously out of a price range I could ever afford. - Dream big right?!? aha. 
Hope you're all well!  Keep up to date with my latest posts by following me! :)
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Kayla Itsines BBG - Pre training

Left is now and right is at the beginning of jan! 
I've been itching to write this post all month, although I was a little nervous about posting my actual progress picture....I was like NAH, be proud of what I've achieved - so there ya go! Back in end of November I bit the bullet and bought Kayla's Bikini body guide. I chose this particular plan because a lot of fitness plans you end up paying for a nutritional guide and I didn't want that - I don't want to be told what to eat! Plus I had bought loads of new healthy cookbooks and wanted to be able to use them but I knew I needed some kind of guidance for my fitness and I thought getting a plan I could stick to meant I wouldn't be aimlessly going to the gym and getting nowhere like I had been. 
I want to point out that during december I knew this was coming so...obviously I ate everything and anything - I wish I was joking! I started January really bloated with low energy, I felt uncomfortable in a lot of my clothes, even my leggings! Being a small person a lot of people don't think I have any weight to loose because in a way I am a lot naturally smaller than people, but I really do and maybe I'm okay at hiding it.
I've found the plan really easy to stick to, guaranteed I haven't really taken my LISS seriously this month but I will go into that in a sec. The plan essentially gets you to do 2-3 circuit/resistance sessions a week and then 2-3 LISS sessions. LISS is kinda the opposite to HIIT where you are fat burning with intervals, LISS is keeping your heart at a steady pace for 35-45 minutes this could be anything from a walk/jog outside to a swimming session, you can kind of do what you want for LISS and a lot of people choose to do something towards another goal like running though it is recommended you stick to something more like 35 minutes at the same pace on a treadmill or crosstrainer. For my LISS I decided to do yoga/ hot yoga and bouldering for the first month and then next month I'm going to step it up by starting running again - I'm sure you agree it's just too cold for that right now! But I have been walking to work for 20-25 minutes there and same back again so in a small way that's my LISS too. 
The circuits are really easy to follow and I find it quite easy to motivate myself through them - I do all of this at home in my bedroom. So lets say we have legs and cardio circuit - you will have two circuits to do and in each circuit you have 4 exercises to do. For example 15 squats, 24 lunges, 24 step ups and 50 skipping....something like that you just do as many as you can in the 7 minutes and when you do the circuit just repeat, so once you've done your 15 squats you go on to do your 24 lunges. You can take your time doing each circuit sometimes I need a quick breather and some water and then you jump straight back into it. Once your first 7 minutes is up you get a 30 second break and then you do 7 minutes of circuit 2, you then have a 90 second break and then you do 7 minutes of circuit 1, 30 second break and then 7 minutes of circuit 2 and you are DONE - make sure you stretch because you will be DYING the next day if you don't. I had to waddle for 3 days after my very first legs session, the struggle was real. When I struggle I think oh...only 7 more squats to go and thats done, then right another 24 lunges when it gets hard I stop and think of how many I have left and count that, next thing you've done two circuits then you only have one left, its only 7 minutes... that's kinda how I think and get myself through it! 
You will need some equipement if you are at home but you can get a little creative, the plan is really adaptable. So I already had dumbbells but instead of a medecine ball I used a Kettlebell I had and instead of a step up I've been using a trunk I have! I'm using the minimum weights required for the plan so when I've completed the BBG I will repeat it using double the weights. There is also a great community of girls doing the plan, I'm part of a fb group and they are all real supportive on instagram.  
Most importantly, how has this affected me? Well, I felt a change after 2 weeks and not just in my appearance. A lot of girls said they noticed a chance after 8 weeks - everyone is different. Sometimes the change is there and you don't notice. I'm not really weighing myself at any point because my weight isn't my goal and it can be very de motivational. I'm going on how my clothes feel and inches lost. I know for a fact I've lost an inch or two on my inner thigh - which I am buzzzinn about. I can also feel that my stomach has shrunk quite a bit and my back fat is melting! I also feel stronger, I really struggled with lunges at first having to pause a few times and now I can bang out 12 on each leg with weights. It's also making me really motivated throughout my life to work towards achieving all my goals.
I really can't wait to see where I am at the end of the plan! I've got a holiday to Thailand at the end of March which is really motivating me to keep working, I've really been trying to cut out as much sugar as I can and eating better so I am really feeling it!  -I'll update in another month on how I am getting on!
Are you guys on the plan? what did you think? How are your healthy goals going?
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The running playlist - Pt 1

Here's some of the songs I've got on my running playlist to help get me through:  1. Secaina Hudson - I ain't with you.  2. Disclosure - Holding on 3. Lunchmoney Lewis - Bills  4. Ella Eyre - Together 5. Petite Meller - Baby Love 6. Jimmy Napes - Keep you to myself 7. Gorgon city - Imagination 8. Klyne - paralyzed 9. Flume & Chet Faker -Drop the game 10. Rudimental (Ft Will Heard) - I will for love 11. Prides - Messiah  What are your favourite songs to run to?  Ciao x Keep up to date with my latest posts by following me! :)
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Personal - Resolutions update

Every year I am guilty of writing a big list of resolutions and then never doing them, this year has been completely different, I've finally stepped up and worked hard to achieve some of  my short-term goals. I thought as it's mid-year it may be nice to do a little update on my progress, you can read my resolution post here. 1) Tone up - after christmas, me operation and then a serious amount of overtime I just completely put my health to the side. It's a lame excuse because you can always make time but for me things can be all or nothing and I just wasn't able to fully dedicate to this. I did do my best to do some fitness and started bouldering and doing the occasional HIIT working but I've recently researched nutrition ( see my post here about amelia freer's book) and I've invested in quite a few cookbooks, my bikes back so it's all systems go health wise from now! I also want to get back to hot yoga once a week and bouldering at least once a week -I've just ordered some snazzy new climbing shoes. To help I've started a new healthy instagram creatively called: @healthy_lauzb if you want to see what I'm up to fitness wise! 2) Start my clothing line - I made a decision in march to put this on the back burner because march until now has just been ridiculously busy, it was a tough decision but I felt like I was going to rush what I wanted to make for the sake of starting the brand. I've decided to spend more time designing products and making them to get a proper collection together and make sure everything is 100% something I want to put out there. I'm hoping to aim to get at least a small shop open at the end of the year with the brand fully starting the beginning of next year so it's only a slight push back. ( I hope) 3) go somewhere new, I've been really fortunate to cross off two places I've always wanted to go to - Malta and Croatia! I wish I could go to many more places but sadly I've already used up all my holidays! booo 4) sort out my money problems, I'm so happy and proud to say, I have pretty much done this and it's A LOT sooner than expected. All debt is gone (well the overdraft is nearly gone!) and it feels amazing to have money in my account that I can use to treat myself and not have to spend each month living to the last penny. I'm much smarter with my money as well so I want to keep building my savings now. I didn't think I would see the day I was more excited to save than to spend! 5) start painting properly, I'm really excited about this, after deciding to put my brand aside I decided to use the time to re-learn oil painting and to sketch and start creating work. I've opened a new art account to transfer funds to buy paints and I am going to start practising, sketching and hopefully this month or next month start two large paintings. If they turn out okay I want to get prints made and set up an art shop! I'm selling on my etsy to help fund my art  6) My second blog - Guarateed this blog did not start off the way I wanted. I did a few posts and really struggled for a few months to get posts out. I'll admit I really have left this blog but honestly I do want to get this going again, problem is I've sold a lot of my wardrobe so I don't have many clothes or money for new ones but I promise slowly but surely I will get some posts up!  6b) be more blog social, I'm happy to say this has been done and I really want to keep it up! I really try to participate in blogger chats and I have been to a few meet ups now and met so many lovely people! So here's to meeting more of you and seeing you all again! I always try to  take time to go through my bloglovin and read your posts and try to comment. I've tried to tweet a few times and I really want to do more of this!  7) get a new tattoo, due to all the events that have been happening I hadn't been able to do this but I have been able to book in with an amazing artist in november, I've been waiting patiently for her books to open and I'm so excited for the new ink!  8) be happy. This year although it has been tough and life continues to test me I do feel so much happier and positive in myself and with life. I know once I move house and get an art room set up for my and my mate to continously create and my own kitchen to get creative in I am going to be even happier!  Another two resolutions I didn't put was learning to drive a car, I love my bike - I do and I will keep using it but to go to like Ikea or to see my grandparents and friends more regular I really wanted a car because a 60 minute drive on my bike really hurts my butt sometimes! Aha, hopefully in august I will be getting my first car which I am beyond excited for! The other was to get back into my youtube channel, I made my self the resolution to make 15 videos at least this year and I have A LOT of idea's that have been waiting to happen.  These first 6 months have been mental, from working 60+ hours overtime at work, whilst learning to drive, sew, holidays and all sorts it's been crazy busy but I am in such a great place. I've had some amazing opportunities and I have got some massive big plans coming up! How have you all been getting on? Ciao x Keep up to date with my latest posts by following me! :)
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Review: eat nourish glow - Amelia Freer

Picture taken from Google.


This year I really wanted to get my healthy eating in order and improve my health and fitness, which you may have caught glimpses of.... although I haven't yet got my own kitchen to fully be able to do this. I decided in order to prepare myself I needed further education on nutrition and some more healthy recipes in my life!

This is about not treating your body like a dust-bin and listening to yourself and what works for you so that you can feel great. Naturally if you are going to fill your body with the right things you are also going to loose weight - added bonus! She explains what to have in your cupboards, how to start cutting out those bad things like gluten and dairy, explains the good fats and why we need to reduce sugar as much as we can. 

This book is jam-packed with tips and Amelia has a really great way of explaining nutrition to you, like a friend talking to you. Initially when I opened it and saw how small the recipe section was, I was a little disappointed but after reading the book I was pleasantly surprised to find recipes throughout the chapters! Whilst some of this I did know ( especially after reading - I quit sugar) I still found this book really valuable and educational and I feel really inspired to start my healthy journey.

I have created a new instagram to help me on my journey: healthy_lauzb - I'll be posting a lot of recipes and progress, there is soemthing about logging it for the world to see that helps with motivation! :)  .... This is most likely going to start end of May when I'm back!

Ciao x

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Fitness - Bouldering

One of my new hobbies to help with toning and building muscle is bouldering. If you don't know what that is ( I didn't at first) it's basically rock climbing without any ropes. Before you panic, you don't climb that high up so it is still safe to jump down from a certain height! Bouldering requires strength, balance and flexibility ( some of the foot placements are tiny!); you have to wear particular shoes to help you use the tip of your feet to balance on some of the rocks. Bouldering also makes you use your mind a lot, figuring out where to put your feet, how to twist or position yourself and ultimately how to get to the top. Essentially each climb is a route to the top where you touch both hands to the top rock and then you get yourself back down. Most routes are not a simple straight up and down - they are all like little puzzles for you to solve. You have foot swaps, using the wall alone for balance, climbing in the ' cave' ( like climbing upside down on a roof) climbing sideways, on an incline - there are tones of possibilities! If you are in Manchester you should absolutely check out Rock over climbing where I go. They change up a route/colour every week so you can't ever get bored. At the moment I am still on the easiest routes which there are purple with black dots and the orange ones but I am testing myself by doing some on the incline. It can seem quite hard and daunting at first watching everyone climb up with ease and men hanging around with one arm but after a few weeks I feel a lot stronger. I try to push myself on some inclines to give myself a challenge and now watching the other climbers just inspires me to get to their level. Bouldering is a great activity to start in a group and so far everyone we have met is lovely and willing to help you figure out a route if your stuck. Being a shortie I have struggled to get to the top of some routes and struggled to do others as it's hard to reach some of the rocks - cue some serious height envy. I think once I have more confidence I can take a 'leap of faith' and trust myself to get to those hard to reach places. My only downside is there is some seriously painful hands after a session as mine haven't built up any hardness so my hands are so sore after an hour or two - make sure you have some good hand cream at the ready! Have any of you tried bouldering or rock climbing?  ciao x Keep up to date with my latest posts by following me! :)
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Fitness: MIC Fit DVD Review.

I'm not ashamed to say I am a big MIC fan, don't ask why, there is something about watching ridiculously rich posh people that I just love. When I saw a fitness DVD was coming out I joked to my mate about buying it, I didn't really take it seriously but I kept going back and looking at it as I did want a new fitness DVD and this did have 4 workouts I genuinely wanted to do. I read the reviews all saying it was surprisingly good and decided to bite the bullet!  Yes, they do have slightly cheesy intro's but what is MIC without it? All the workouts are surprisingly really good and not all that easy. I find myself doing the easier workouts and still struggling - I'm going to defend myself here because I hadn't been to the gym for 3 months prior due to being ill with chronic sinusitis for what felt like all the time.  The DVD has 4 workouts: HIIT & Tabatta which are both excellent fat burners and great cardio. I had become slightly obsessed with HIIT workouts after seeing them constantly mentioned on @thebodycoach 's instagram and how doing it 3 times a week seemed to help so well with weightloss. It also has a Pilates & a yoga workout for toning. So a perfect little balance for a beach body.  I think I may have jumped head first into this DVD because I decided it would be a GREAT idea to start with the HIIT class not thinking how hard it was going to be,,,. it was really hard. I did the easier option, I took a few more breaks then I should have and I could barely walk down the stairs after. My thighs felt like they had been punched for days, which tells me it was super effective.  The Tabatta class was surprising, I wasn't sure what to expect because I only knew Tabatta was doing an exercise for 4 minutes. You do a fair bit to help tone before and after and literally only do 4 minutes of heavy cardio. THE WORST 4 MINUTES OF YOUR LIFE. I kid, it wasn't that bad but considering I can run for four minutes I struggled! I faired much better at the yoga and pilates classes which isn't surprising as I do tend to do more of this anyway.  Overall the coaches are really good and so are the workouts, it's easy and clear to follow. I actually really rate this DVD and would recommend it to anyone debating a fitness DVD and they want a little bit of a mix and a challenge.  Have you tried it? What do you do for fitness?  Ciao x Keep up to date with my latest posts by following me! :)
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Fitness: The beginnings.

Fitness is a really big thing for me and I wanted to put more fitness posts in my blog this year, I'm going to be doing recipes for sure but I'm not sure what else to include? What would you guys like to see? Maybe my favourite instagrammers? Youtube videos? What I have tried? Tips? I thought I would do this post with just a few little things I have been doing to kickstart my fitness for this year. Ultimately I said in my resolutions post I want to have a toned body but I also want to become a lot more flexible, you know like crazy yoga poses flexible.  I've been quite ill for a few months with sinusitis which means that I am really not up for going to the gym at the moment. If I feel up to it I try and to a mini workout at home with a kettlebell or weights but mostly this month the few things I have been doing:  1- Drink green tea twice a day, usually I drink one when I get to work and after lunch 2- Drink more water, I also like to infuse my water for additonal benefits! You can read a little more about that here. Drink water is probably an obvious one but I drink enough at work and as soon as I get home I don't drink anything.  3. Trying to eat better, I won't lie, I've still eaten many a pizza but I'm trying to eat meat and veg mostly. Snacking on carrots and hummus and eating granola for breakfast.   It seems to have worked because I have definitely dropped off what I put on a christmas! I may do like a monthly update, with recipes in between and tips and tricks and all that jazz. What do you think? Ciao x PS. Check out my favourite Missguided Active pics here Keep up to date with my latest posts by following me! :)
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