My Summer Mission

As its the summer holidays for me I chose this time to achieve something I have wanted to do for a while. I want to lose a stone (or more if I can). 

I am one of these people who has never been happy with her body and always compares themselves to someone else. I see people in shops, on the street or wherever I go and think I wish I looked like her. 

At the end of last term at work I was fed up of people seeing me as podgy or plump or telling me that I needed to diet. I have been going to 3 Zumba classes a week for the last 2 years and have improved my fitness massively. Unfortunately I still love cake, chocolate and desserts. Yum :)

My idea of heaven: sadly a stupid amount of calories.

So for the last month I have been calorie counting and exercising most days. I have been using an app on my iPhone called Fat Secret (admittedly not the most positive name for a dieting app) and have stuck to it quite consistently for the last 31 days. 

It is a great app as I can find specific brands and supermarkets to log exactly what I have eaten. I have become slightly obsessed with weighing out all of my food so I can be accurate but I am so happy to see the results of my determination. 

Since the 4th July I have lost a total of 9 pounds and am only 5 pounds away from my first goal. It hasn't been easy and some days I have lacked the motivation to go swimming or to Zumba but have stuck to it and am starting to see the physical differences. 

People I haven't seen for a while can see the difference. 

I am writing this blog post to give other people who want to make this change a bit of inspiration. I have never found it easy to lose weight and have always been the biggest one in any of my groups of friends. Next year I am going to be a bridesmaid for one of my best friends and I am determined to look back at photos and not think… Eugh I look awful but look at them and think I look pretty. I will not be the fat bridesmaid. 

I will keep you updated on my progress and how I have achieved it as well as any recipes I may use which are low calorie meals. 

I have just come back from my first run since May and am feeling the determination and willpower to make this happen. 

When I walk into work in September I want people to see the difference and see a skinner version of the person who finished work in May. 

 I hope you have all had fantastic weekends. 

Lots of love

Christina

xx

Day 9, 10 and 11 of 100 Happy Days

This week has been the last week of my Easter holidays so I am  bit delayed with posting on my Blog. Sorry :)

Day 9 of 100 Happy Days was about being able to do something that I don't always get the time to do. As a teacher term time is manic and therefore by the time I get home from work I am ready to eat and then sleep. This holiday I have made time to do something I enjoy, reading.  I only started this book a couple of days ago and managed to finish it already. 

It was a really good book which made it hard for me to put it down. I would definitely recommend it. 

This week I have also been to visit my Nan who is 101 in 2 weeks time. She looks forward to seeing my and my siblings as well as her 2 great grandchildren. My Nan is a very strong lady as so many times we thought she was too ill to fight back. I love visiting my Nan and hearing all of the stories about her and her 9 siblings. This week I went in with my Sister and my Niece and the highlight of my day was seeing my Nan look so well and happy whilst playing with my Niece. 

Day 10 of 100 Happy Days - My Nan looking happy and well at the age of 101 (nearly). 

Day 11 of 100 Happy Days saw the last proper day of my holidays. My sister works the start of the week so even though I'm not working on Monday she will be at work. To celebrate we went shopping (oops new shoes may have been purchased) and we bought some lovely cakes for an afternoon tea. My holidays are all about spending time with my sister, niece and nephew. So what better way to end the holidays than to have afternoon tea with my 3 favourite people :)

Day 11 of 100 Happy Days - A Perfect End to the holidays :)

I hope you have had a good week and remember….

Love and Hugs 

Christina

xx

Day 7 and 8 of 100 Happy Days - Family Time

I have had a lovely couple of days with my family and this has been what has made me happy. Day 6 was also about family time but I have had the chance to spend some time with my parents and brother over the last 2 days which has been perfect. 

As it was Bank Holiday Monday it was a perfect opportunity for me to sit and relax after what can only be described as a very busy couple of weeks. My brother does not live at home anymore and comes to visit us when he can and came to spend the bank holiday with us. 

My Mum cooked a delicious Roast Lamb and we sat and watched a film together. It was lovely not having to rush off anywhere and being able to sit and enjoy a good film with good company. 

We watched the Hunger Games which I have seen before and have already planned to watch the next one together soon. 

Day 7 of 100 Happy Days - Chill out time with my Family. 

As I come from a family of teachers and a lot of my friends are all linked to schools soon we share the same holidays. I have an extra couple of days before going back to work so my Dad and I took this opportunity to go out for lunch. We went to a lovely Italian close by and had delicious food. 

It was nice to spend some quality time with my Dad as we are very close and we talked about my plans for the future and what I need to do to get to where I want to be. 

So many people I know or see on the news are losing people so close to them and I feel so lucky to be able to do these sorts of things with my Dad. 

Day 8 of 100 Happy Days - Lunch with my Dad

The past couple of days have reminded me to enjoy all the time you can with people you care abut as you never know what is around the corner. 

Love and Hugs

Christina

xx

Lovely weekend - Day 5 and 6 of 100 Happy Days :)

This weekend I ventured down to Bournemouth with 2 of my friends from home to visit one of my closest friends who moved to the seaside about 6 months ago. 

I really miss her a lot and miss being able to pop round for a cup of tea but its nice to be able to go to the seaside and make a weekend of it. 

We left early Saturday morning and arrived in Bournemouth at around lunchtime. We were supposed to be visiting the beach but the clouds appeared and shopping seemed more appealing. 

After a lovely lunch and some shopping (trying on some bridesmaids dresses) we got ready to go out for some food and cocktails. 

It was a good night out with friends and we had some very funny moments and lots of laughing. 

Day 5 of 100 Happy days was definitely time with good friends. 

Sunday was Easter which meant, besides eating chocolate, it was family time :)

I love spending time with my family and it was a perfect way to round off a good weekend. My niece can make anyone smile and seeing her and my nephew running around the garden searching for eggs from the Easter Bunny was a very happy moment. 

Day 6 of 100 Happy Days was family time. 

One of my best friends who I am doing 100 Happy Days with sent me this lovely quote which I think is something which I need to always remember. 

I hope you have had a lovely Easter Weekend.

Love and Hugs

Christina

xx

Cupcake recipe :)

I am a very keen baker and have been either too busy or not in the mood to bake for a long time now. As part of my 100 Happy days I have decided I must do more of the things I love, which is why I decided to bake for my friends that I was spending my weekend with. 

This is my foolproof recipe which I use for Victoria Sponge Cake, Chocolate Victoria Sponge Cake, Chocolate Cupcakes or Vanilla Cupcakes just by altering a few ingredients. 

Ingredients for sponge

225g Butter

225g Caster Sugar

4 Medium Eggs (lightly whisked)

225g Self Raising Flour

a few drops of Vanilla Essence

(If you want to create chocolate cupcakes use 175g of self raising flour and 50g of Cocoa Powder)

Ingredients for Buttercream

225g Butter

500g Icing Sugar

1 tablespoon milk

a few drops of Vanilla Essence

Instructions

1. Pre heat oven to 180 degrees

2. Beat the butter and sugar together in a bowl (I use my Kitchen Aid)

3. Gradually add in the lightly beaten eggs and mix. 

4. Sieve the flour in to the bowl and mix all the ingredients together. 

5. Add the Vanilla Essence and mix ingredients together until you have a smooth mixture. 

6. Split into 12 baking cases and place in the middle of the oven. 

Once the cakes are done (use a cocktail stick or skewer to check, the stick should come out clean when poked into the middle of the cakes) place them on a cooling rack. 

Instructions for Buttercream

1. Cut the butter into small cubes and mix them until smooth. 

2. Sieve half of the icing sugar into the bowl with the butter and mix lightly. 

3. Add the other half of the icing sugar and mix. 

4. Mix in the Vanilla Essence and milk and mix until a smooth consistency. 

To decorate my cupcakes I used small flower decorations, glitter and some pearlised sugar balls. I used a Wilton nozzle and piping bag.

This recipe is easy to follow and produces good cakes each time I use it. You can choose which ever decorations you wish to create fantastic cupcakes for friends, family or all for yourself :)

I hope you enjoyed this blog post and give the recipe a go. 

Love and Hugs

Christina

xx

Day 3 and 4 of 100 Happy Days

What a beautiful sunny day yesterday was!

It was perfect weather for sitting out in a lovely beer garden eating yummy food, drinking wine and having a good catch up with a good friend. 

This made me extremely happy and was just what I needed to keep me in a  positive mood.  Day 3 of 100 Happy Days - lunch with a good friend, wine and gossiping. 

Day 4 has been a lovely relaxing day where I have done what I love to do… shop! I was looking for the perfect outfit for a night out on the weekend and have settled for a new blazer which was a bargain in Peacocks (expect pictures from a blog post on the weekend). 

Today has also seen me do something I love which I haven't done in a very long time… BAKE! 

I love to bake, I love decorating cupcakes with all sorts of different decorations and decided I would bake for my friends. I am going to do a separate blog post on the perfect cupcake recipe but here is picture to represent Day 4 of 100 Happy days - Baking!

Love and Hugs

Christina

xx

Autograph Make-Up

I am a girl who loves shopping. I love buying new clothes, make-up and shoes (I own over 150 pairs of shoes) and pretty much any type of shopping will make me happy. 

Today I went to the local shops with my Mum and Sister and had a look in the Beauty section of Marks and Spencers. They currently have a 20% off sale so I thought it would be rude not to have a look. As I was walking through this section this lovely eye shadow palette caught my eye. 

I am a massive fan of the Urban Decay Naked Palettes but have managed to persuade myself I really do not need the Naked 3 palette. I saw this palette and it immediately reminded me of the Naked Palette I had wanted for so long and was just half the price. 

After doing a few swatches I decided it had to be purchased, especially with the money off. It has a wide range of colours which I could create a number of different looks with. 

Colours top to bottom - 

Charcoal, Gunmetal, Deep Purple, Petrol, Kingfisher, Latte, Bronze, Rose, Dusky Pink, Sand, Pale Pink, Silver. 

I am really excited to try this!

I also purchased a lovely Highlighter from the same range. 

I can't wait to use this highlighter as it is very pigmented but not too glittery so should add some great highlighting to my cheek bones and bridge of my nose. 

Be sure to go and check out the Marks and Spencers Beauty section. 

Love and Hugs

Christina

xx

Day 2 of 100 Happy Days

Day 2 has been another good day :)

I have spent a lovely day with my 5 year old nephew, 18 month old niece and my sister. I come from a family of teachers and therefore school holidays mean spending some of the time in one of the many schools we work in. Today was the turn of my sisters school, which means I just do as I am told :)

 I have loved cuddles, giggles and funny moments with my favourite people today which has made me stop and think just how lucky I am to have such wonderful people in my life. 

So todays 'Happy' moments have been a lovely Garden centre afternoon treat with my favourite people and searching the local streets for some scarecrows made by my sisters school (similar to the Gromit trail, just not as well planned). 

Yes that is Spongebob driving a camper van (one of the Scarecrows?! on the search). 

I have wonderful family and that is what has made me happy today. 

Love and Hugs

Christina

xx

Day 1 of 100 Happy Days

So Day 1 has gone well and I am feeling super positive. 

Today's happiness has been begin very productive. I have wanted to start a blog for a while after reading so many other ones (mainly beauty blogs) and thought when better to do it than today. 

This blog is going to be a way for me to vent about my life and show what an ordinary person goes through in their daily life. Recently I have struggled slightly with being 'on my own' as it is often described (i.e. single) but have decided I need to embrace this part of my life. I intend to live my life, have adventures and not sit and watch my life go by. 

Today I have enjoyed the sunshine with a delicious Costa, had my car washed and begun my blog. 

So Day 1 of '100 days of Happiness' has been a Costa in the sunshine, a wonderful clean car and starting my blog. Happy Times!

What will Day 2 have in store for me?

Love and Hugs

Christina 

xx

Fresh Start :)

So it's a gorgeous day outside and this is my first ever blog post :)

I have decided to give blogging a go. My blog will be a mixture of shopping related posts, stories about my life as a teacher and the general day to day life I live.

This morning I woke up in a positive mood and have started 100 days of happiness. Myself and a friend need to appreciate the good things we have in our lives and this seems to be the best way to do it.

Today is the start of the rest of my life.

Look out for a blog post or photo each day sharing what has made me 'Happy' each day for the next 100.

Love and Hugs

Christina

xx