A Foodie New Beginning

Being healthy is pretty much on everyones mind in january, whether it is a new years resolution (although I'm not a big fan of those) or simply eating too much over the holidays (big fan of that!).
Now, I am not generally a person who eats a lot of rubbish, I have phases where I eat pasta almost every day which is partly because I'm probably lazy sometimes and cannot be bothered thinking about what to cook after a long day at uni. but also partly because sometimes I just fancy the same thing for a few days in a row.

Since I started university and moved out this has been getting worse, I'm still eat relatively balanced and I cook for myself which I know is something many students don't manage to do, but still I wanted to try and introduce a bit more freshness into my daily diet, you know, to gain all those vitamins you need so desperately when trying to study.
I spoke to my mum while I was home over christmas and after I told her what I usually eat, she suggested to have a salad with my meals more often, as it is easy to prepare and there are so many different varieties, Im also a big salad lover. I had though about this before but living by myself kind of made me think that making a main meal and a side dish just for myself would kind of be a waste. However, I came to realise that this really isnt true and definitely doesnt require much more time than just making one meal.

I have since started to have a salad pretty much every day which not only makes me feel better because I know that it is beneficial to my health but is also a great way to create some nice recipes. its often those simple things that make you feel a lot better about yourself and this has definitely helped me.

Some of my favourite ingredients for my salads are: lettuce (naturally), tomatoes, avocados, cucumber, goat's cheese, mushrooms

As you can see, good food was a part of my life even during revision, which I think is one of the most important times to eat healthily as your brain needs all the energy it can get.

Magdalena.

Blogging On A Budget

Lets face it, we're all skint.
Christmas has been and gone, leaving us all with less money then we would like.  But there are still blogs, and still many posts to write, so its the time of year we need a little cheaper inspiration.  Last year I discovered voucher based websites, offering discounted events, treatments, meals and even holidays for a fraction of what they normally retail at, and I have used these to aide some of the subjects of past blog posts without spending all the money I may have normally had to have spent to have the same experience.

Who's Hobby Is It Anyway?

Having a newly focused attitude each year is something I enjoy working up to and planning.  The last few years have had quite a few big changes thrown in for me - 2010 I first moved in with my best friend, 2011 we took the attitude of "why wait?" and got married.  January 2012 we decided we'd be ready to buy a house, and by April we were moving in with our first mortgage.  Last year we wanted to expand our family, but not in the kids way since we've both fulfilled our desires on that front, so we bought a couple of pugs, happily knowing that now our team is complete.  That makes this year unusual, in that the focus I choose won't be a single massive event.

Pastel Decorating Inspiration

The new year is the perfect time to redecorate and with my partner and I finally moving in together this month, not only am I excited for this new phase in our lives, but I'm also thrilled at the idea of a fresh slate as far as decorating goes. In my last place, I was very limited as to how much I could decorate, as I had just moved out of home and buying all the furniture and other jazz you need to set yourself up with left my decorating budget more than a little sparse! This time around though, all the big stuff is taken care of and I'll finally be able to spend any extra money I have on making my new house a home. Now, I know pastels and florals aren't everyone's cup of tea, but I thought I would share with you all today my pastel decorating inspiration in case you have redecorating on your mind this new year as well.

 Loving the mid century coffee table and "lamp" in this picture!

 I love hanging plates! Praying my landlord doesn't mind a few holes in the wall!

 Insertpastel pink  KitchenAid Mixer here and you have my dream kitchen paraphernalia.

 Mid century style furniture and pastels are a winning combination in my opinion!

What I would do for a pink lounge!

 Thinking this very well could be my dining room if I get some cute mismatching chairs from op shops!

What do you think? Have these pictures got you all inspired to redecorate this New Years? I love how things like a simple throw, nice cushions and a bunch of flowers complete the looks above. Do you have any renter-friendly tips to help me bring colour into my new home? Any suggestions would be welcome right now, so I'd love for you to leave some below :)

Cheers to New Beginnings

I hope that you’re excited to read this post because I cannot express with words how excited I am to push publish on this post. I might actually wee myself. Some realness for you there.

So our theme this month is new beginnings.

That can a mean lot of things and it can be quite daunting if you think about it. It’s a lot of pressure. Like when I was at school and I opened a new exercise book to start writing in it. Talk about expectations. You look at the page and it’s all clean and new and unmarked and you feel like you can do anything and be anything with this new page. I mean c’mon, it’s yours to do what you want with.

Even though you know two weeks later the book will resemble a natural disaster zone and will probably be a food diary simply by the stains on the pages.