Life happens. So do rainbows.

The BF and I arrived home nearly three weeks ago. We’re getting to that point where it’s like we were never gone. It happens, right?

Since we stepped back onto Australian soil I have attempted to write two new posts only to leave them unfinished. I have looked at my blog only those two times and I guess part of me has wondered if I would come back to this little corner of the Internet. There is a lot going on. Work. Study. Life. It all gets in the way of me waxing lyrical over here.

Thing is though, despite all that’s going on, I often find myself thinking that I want to write about this or that. Show a photo or two…

Speaking of which, here is the rainbow I saw on the way to work today. I may have nearly crashed attempting to get the best photo of it. Thankfully no police officers happened to see that!

So, I guess I have decided that I won’t be retiring from my Internet rumblings just yet.

Then I suppose I should fill you in on what’s been happening. I was a European Gypsy for 6 weeks. It was brilliant. I relaxed all of my eating and indulged in every pizza, gelato, Nutella, pastry… you name it, I ate it. And it was spectacular.

This was possibly the best lemon tart I have ever eaten.

There are so many photos it’s kind of bonkers. So rather than go on a photo overdose I will simply point you to my Instagram feed that was over flowing with sights and food and selfies.

A few times I’ve found myself browsing through the photos I took, it already feels like so long ago. Sad. But that just means it’s time to plan the next one!

What’s been happening since we got back? Well, I started a Whole30 on July 2. Two weeks in and I am feeling pretty darn good. Honestly, I can’t really see much of a difference, but I see myself everyday, so I guess it’s difficult to judge.

This week I’ve had to make some additional tweaks because I was pretty much od-ing on eggs and my belly was less than pleased about it. Whoops. I should have known really having had to cutout eggs for 8 weeks a couple of years ago. It’s all good though, I’m just working around it.

A habit that I have gotten into is cataloging (for want of a better word) my day. I started while we were away so I could remember what we did- it’s easy for everything to blur together.

(there’s that rainbow again…) This is how my Thursday looked. I ate my first Medjool date. Oh dear. I don’t think I’ll be able to keep them in the house too often, they’re delicious!

That’s it for now. Tomorrow is Friday. Good news.

February wrap + March goals

The BF discovered this amazing sugar, dairy and gluten free chocolate in a local supermarket- thank you Piedimontes! The nuts one was perfectly nutty, the goji and coconut one however was like cherry ripe, but with chunky of cherry (goji) and flakes or thick coconut nestled into the super dark chocolate, I could have eaten a bucket of it. AND look how cute the packaging is, and inside these gorgeous little boxes the chocolate was wrapped in really cute paper too. Definitely a highlight of the month. Not a highlight but something that happened regularly… reading my biology textbook and diligently taking notes. This is the cutest honey packaging I’ve ever seen. I didn’t buy it but couldn’t resist taking a photo. Food wise, my month can probably be summed up by protein pancakes (this one was a pancake fail and turned into a scramble, still tasted good). My go-to breakfast.

So I thought that I would have a little look back and February and see how I did with my goals. They were:
1. Euro Adventure research. This month I would like to book our Barcelona accommodation and look into camper van rental in France Our Barcelona hostel was booked on Tuesday night AND we’ve decided on a van.
2. Run! Run! Run! I achieved my 100 by Vday, which was awesome, but since then I have slacked off a bit.
3. Take more photos. I have made a point of taking photos everyday, not all of them are works of art but I like the habit of it.
4. Create a study nook and stay on top of school work. Well this was probably my least successful goal. I did my best to stay on top of my work, and am feeling pretty good about it so far, however I failed to create a nook and as a result the kitchen table and couch are still my study areas. Whoops.
5. Keep it lean and green. I think I have done pretty well in this department overall. I’ve made healthy food choices and have only slipped up a couple of times- who can say no to popcorn I ask you!?

During February I have also taken up swimming, which I am thoroughly enjoying, have taken on a lot more responsibility at work, which is daunting but satisfying  and I have kept up my posts in this little corner of the internet, which makes me exceedingly happy.

For the month ahead- MARCH, how on earth did that happen?- my goals are:

1. Serious saving. With the euro adventure now less than 3 months away I really need to knuckle down with the saving. So for the month of March I will not buy anything that is not food or otherwise essential (essential does NOT include cute glitter nail polish, jeans, ballet flats etc).

2. Run. This one deserves to be on again because I got a bit lax. The couch to 10k app is back on my phone and I am looking forward to having more structure to push me forward.

3. Experiment with sugar/dairy/gluten free chocolate. Inspired by the amazing chocolate up the top of this post and then seeing a recipe for homemade SF, DF, GF chocolate on instagram, and with Easter fast approaching this is the perfect time to play!

4. Do a little bit of study everyday. In theory this will help me to be all over my readings and lectures. We shall see if it happens.

5. (still) Keep it lean and green.

6. Pay attention  Sometimes it feel that at the rate time is moving I will be sitting in a nursing home in the blink of an eye, so this month I would also like to pay more attention to what’s happening around me and smell the roses if you will.

Ok March, bring it.

February goals

2013 is going to be my year of goals. I am always thinking about what I would like to do but they never end up being written down, so naturally I forget them. I am a list maker.

So, along with my goals for the year I am also going to give myself some monthly goals. They may not be huge, they may not be impressive, but they will be mine- excuse the corniness of that sentence.

Things I want to do in February:

1. Euro Adventure research. This month I would like to book our Barcelona accommodation and look into camper van rental in France.

2. Run! Run! Run! In order to achieve the ‘run a 10k’ goal I can’t slack off. The Tone It Up 100 by Vday challenge has been particularly helpful in this department (I am currently at ).

3. Take more photos.

4. Create a study nook (the kitchen table does not count) and stay on top of school work

5. Keep it lean and green

February… let’s do this.

Small Block

In my area there are more cafes than you can poke a stick at. From my front door I can walk to three in less time than it will take for me to wait for the coffee or chai once I am there. You could probably go out to breakfast everyday for a month and not have to go to the same place twice. Melbourne is a cafe town. Having said that, every Saturday morning the BF and I find ourselves sitting in the same establishment- we are creatures of habit if nothing else.

We’ve tried others, ventured into Degraves, South of the river and elsewhere in search of poached eggs and soy chais. But whenever we have strayed from this humble little cafe we find ourselves disappointed. So every week we return. And every week we are rewarded with a delicious breakfast that will keep you going well into the afternoon. Perfect poached eggs with bacon and a hashbrown for him. Huevos racheros for me.

So. Freakin’. Good. That’s all.

Small Block
130 Lygon St, Brunswick East
(03) 9381 2244