Before I begin, let me tell you how I got the inspiration for this post. 

So, I got up at my usual 6am, Mum's already in the shower and I'm hunting around my room for something to wear. My legs are aching from the sprints we did yesterday, but I know I'll be fine once I get moving. I've already checked the workout for the day (strict barbell press, double unders, hang power cleans and air squats) so I'm excited for the next hour and I happily grab my Reebok skipping rope. 

It's raining a little this morning when I get in the car, but it won't matter for this workout. I get to the box in good time and the previous class is just finishing up. I was going to get the foam roller out and tackle my sore legs, but then I spot Sadie the little black Pug. She was crying from lack of attention and there's no way I can resist going over to cuddle her. 

It gets to 6.30am (when class is due to start) and nobody else has shown up. Usually someone comes in later than me, but not today. Our typically small class was just down to me after some cancellations, so I decided to just come back for the mid-day class since there's no fun in doing it by yourself. It wasn't all bad though because I got to chat to my coach and had some more cuddles with Sadie. 

I came home, grabbed a coffee and yogurt, then sat in bed to watch the rest of Fittest On Earth (CrossFit documentary surrounding the games, stream it on Netflix!) I only got more inspired by these athletes and each time I watch this film, I remind myself of why I should train harder. 

Believe me when I say that I know how tough it can be to get out of bed some days. When you're sore and tired already from the week, the last thing you wanna do is go do a max-effort workout. These are some things that I have to remind myself of every once in a while. I hope you find them helpful too!

Doing the things you suck at is the only way you're gonna get better

This is especially true for CrossFit, simply because of how many different movements there are. There are definitely some that I'm confident at: deadlifts, cleans, hand-stand push ups, running etc) but on those days where we focus on a movement that I suck at, I always need that extra mental push to get out the door. It's natural to want to stick to the things you like and are proficient at. But it's not going to help you progress on your fitness journey. That's one of the reasons I love CF, my comfort zone is always being tested. So I've been sticking to a mentality where I look forward to those tougher classes, because it means that in a months time I will be way better at that movement than if I didn't show up to class. I might even start to like doing them more! 

Knowing the difference between being burnt out and muscle soreness

When you're active, the real test in the morning can be getting out of bed and seeing how much your body hurts. Some weeks I'm totally fine. Other times, it's Tuesday and my body is wrecked already. But being someone who runs regularly, I know that when my muscles are sore they need to be stretched out and worked again as part of the healing process. It sounds weird, but it's better for them to get used to the movements, so that you're not sore the next time. Obviously there have been times where I have to step back and listen to my body when it's trying to tell me to rest. But being sore shouldn't be an excuse to skip your training that day, and if you need to just have an active recovery session with some light cardio/lots of stretching. 

What would Katrin Davidsdottir do?

Most of you won't be familiar with this gorgeous lady, but she has been crowned the Fittest Woman On Earth two years in a row (and hopefully go for a third time in 2017!) She's an incredible athlete and always has the perfect mentality for any challenge. Sometimes when I'm training, I'll ask myself what I would do if she was there training with me. Would she put the bar down or would she keep going? It can be a powerful motivator when you imagine your fitness hero is standing beside you. Seems a little weird, but trust me it works. 

I'm definitely not perfect when it comes to early morning training. I'm consistent and I'll always be there ready to go. But there have been mornings when poor Steve has had to drag me out of bed to go train. It's only going to get harder in winter when the cold hits and I'm wearing ten jackets and a beanie into the gym. But hey, no excuses. I truly believe that being active gives you the best quality of life and I'm yet to regret a single workout. 

What are some of the things that motivate you to go exercise? 

Remember why you started!

Steph x. 

Recipe: Simple Oat & Berry Snack Muffins!

The search is over people! I had been hunting for the perfect snack recipe that's great to have before a workout, as an afternoon pick-me-up, or even late at night when I get really hungry but want to avoid the chocolate stash. We all know that struggle, right?

Healthy and reliable snacks can be hard to come by and we don't always have enough time in the day to put something together. But these muffins are super easy to make and you don't need a lot of ingredients. They're protein packed to keep you full as well as give you energy. And did I mention that they taste amazing?

Ingredients: (makes 7-8) 

2 ripe bananas

2 cups rolled oats

1 egg, beaten, 

3/4 cup (60ml) milk

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1 scoop vanilla protein powder

1 cup frozen (or fresh) berries

Preheat oven to 180*c

In a medium sized bowl, mash the bananas then stir in oats. 

Add the egg, milk and vanilla then stir to combine. 

Then add the berries and mix well. 

Spoon the mixture into greased muffin tins, filling right to the brim. 

Bake for 20-25 minutes or until cooked through. 

Leave to cool, then remove from tins and enjoy!

I seriously love this recipe and everyone I've shared it with has become a fan too, which makes me happy! They are budget and kid friendly as well, so it doesn't cost a lot to have healthy snacks ready to go. These are also great for those mornings where you're rushed for breakfast and want to keep your eating on track.

Let me know if you try these, or what some of your healthy snacks are!
Steph x.

Home-Ware Haul #2!

As you'll soon learn, I've still been having a lot of fun picking up bits and pieces each week for my future flat. And since I'm on a budget, I've learned to be savvy with my purchases and haven't spent more than $20 each time I shopped. 

I've found that it pays to do your research on specific items you want. Also, never look past the gems in clearance departments! I'll be showing you some of the things I've found that barely put a dent in my wallet, yet are still super-stylish or practical. I'll be doing a full blog post on budget tips in the future!

I'm still focusing most of my efforts on getting the kitchen set up. I think that's the area I'm looking forward to most in my own flat. There have been a few times lately where I've wanted to cook, or just needed breakfast, but the kitchen was already occupied. You all know how obsessed with food I am, so let me tell you, this girl really needs her own kitchen!

You're gonna have to get used to me rambling on about house-related things, I'm obsessed!

Grey Bath Mat $14

I'm so happy with this! We currently have the yellow version of this one and it's so soft and comfy on your feet that I wanted they grey one for my own bathroom. I managed to get it for half price, so I didn't need to splurge on it. It seems silly, but I'm excited for when I get to finally use this.


Blue Bowls $2.50 each

Not gonna lie, one of the reasons I bought these is because they will look great in food photography! But we did need a few more bowls up our sleeve and I really love the color of these ones. They're a little bigger than your everyday ones, so I can use them for entertaining (or a generous dessert serving...)


3x Blue Bathroom organizers $1 each

I feel like this is something people often forget about when setting up a home. I'm not a fan of mess either, so I thought these will come in real handy. I'll be doing the same for the kitchen cabinets as well.


2 x Wooden Spoons $2 each

Because if there's one thing I have learned, it's that you can never have enough of these!


Set of 3 Stainless Steel Bowls $10

These are just my favorite to bake with and they take up a lot less room that ceramic bowls. I thought this set would be a great starter for my cooking days.

Black and Gold Mountain Print $3

I fell for this print quickly, and as soon as I saw the clearance price I knew I had to have it. These kinds of neutral prints are really great to have for any room. Plus I feel like I want any and all of my future homes to be full of art.


White Ceramic Jar $2

Couldn't pass up this bargain. I'm on Pinterest far too often and a lot of the styled kitchens have simple jars on the counter-top next to wooden chopping boards, and it just looks really cute. I'm not sure what I'll put in here, but it should bring my kitchen together nicely.

Black Wire Basket $6

These are definitely another style trend right now and I have been eyeing them up. They look really cool as fruit bowls, for hand-towels in the bathroom, or for dog toys. Managed to get this one on sale too!


Baking Tray $5

I actually found this one on sale at the supermarket and couldn't pass it up! It's non-stick and will be perfect for almost anything. Some muffin tins for healthy cupcakes will be next on my list.

Palm Tree Print $4

As someone who loves the sight of anything tropical themed, I had to have this one! Not to mention the fact that blue is my favorite color and the whole thing reminds me of Hawaii. Steve and me are off there in a few months, so it might be a nice way of remembering our holiday.



I think I'm doing pretty well so far! There's still lots to get organised, but we have time. I definitely don't think you need to spend a tonne of money on household items, or even have to sacrifice how you want a room to look. There's always a way to make it work.

Let me know if you want me to keep doing these home-ware hauls! I'm sure there will be tonnes more bargains for me to show you.

Do you have any budget decorating tips?
Steph x.

Apps I'm Loving At The Moment!

I'm not usually one to get obsessed with technology, and it's good to have a healthy relationship with your phone these days. But let's be honest here, sometimes we all love a bit of down-time to catch up on social media or in my case, look at puppies on Instagram. When I upgraded my iPhone, there was finally enough room for me to have some apps on there that I had wanted to try. I also found some new ones while browsing the App Store and I wanted to share some of these gems with you!

BookOut 

Guys, I have finally found the app I have needed to get me back into reading!

I stumbled upon this on the app store and it has changed my bookworm life. It's basically like a reading log/companion where you record reading sessions and it tells you how long it will take to read the book, what page you get up to (just in case your bookmark falls out) and you can record your favorite quotes. There's even achievements you can unlock for reading a certain amount of books etc. 

Pinterest

I've stated before how I am addicted to this website, I scroll through it everyday to get ideas and stay inspired. I never put the app on my previous phone because it could never handle loading so many pictures at a time. But with my iPhone 6S and the new-found speed and clarity that came with it, I could now scroll anywhere I want! 

APRIL

I love editing photos on my iPhone while I'm out and about (mainly using the ColorStory app.) One thing I was missing was a way making collages with my edited images. I came across April and downloaded it immediately. It's super-easy to use and can make almost any combination that you would want. It's been really helpful when I make food posts or my 365 Days of Happy Project. Highly recommend!


Do

Does anyone else have a long to-do list in their minds, but you always end up forgetting half of it? That's me for sure! I went hunting for an app to fix that problem (because there's always one) and found a really simple one called Do. You can just type out what you need to remember and just swipe it to cross it out. It also leaves the tasks you've completed recently for you to see, just in case you have to remember.


Star Wars Puzzle Droids 

I've recently started playing Candy Crush, I know, I'm SUPER late to that party. But then on May the 4th, I went on to the app store where they were advertising all of the Star Wars games you could play. Naturally I was drawn to it and found this one among them. It's got all the fun of Candy Crush with the story line of restoring BB-8's memories for him. You can even destroy squares using a blaster!



What are some apps you've been loving? I'd love some recommendations!
Steph x.

What I Eat In A Day #4

Good morning, everyone! 

It's a chilly Tuesday morning here and I got up at 6am for a CrossFit session. We did back squats for nearly an hour (10 reps, 5, 3, 1, 1, 1, 3, 5, 10) and I worked mainly on my form because my recent knee injury has prevented me from doing it properly. It's going to take some practice, but I'm happy to be taking a step in the right direction now.

I've had a nice hot shower, and now I am very ready for some food.

I've been trying to have bigger meals at the start of my day lately, mainly because my work schedule means that I don't get to eat anything again until after 12.30. Which also means I've cut carbs (except my oats. You can't take those from me) and focused on getting a tonne of protein from eggs and other options to keep me full for hours. So far it has worked and it's always good to train my body to do something different.

This morning I am combining two smaller meals for my breakfast. The first one is some muesli (the low-sugar kind) with half a cup of natural Greek yogurt, blueberries, and a little maple syrup. I can't go without my fruit in the morning and this is super-quick to put together.

My second option is vegetarian sausages with fried eggs and I'm also going to add a little barbecue sauce. Simple and tastes great, plus I can make my coffee and muesli while it all cooks. 

I didn't need lunch when I got home from work, so obviously I ate right this morning! 

I've made myself a "deconstructed sushi bowl" with 1/2 cup brown rice, 95g of tuna, celery, green pepper and sesame seeds. I topped it with some dark soy sauce and sweet chili. Yum! I've been having this for my lunch through the last month and I love it.

I've just been on the treadmill in our garage doing a little bit of running. It's hard finding time to get out with my new work schedule, so I gotta fit in some jogging where I can. And now I'm super hungry! I also craving something healthy, so I've made a messy little smoothie bowl.

I added an apple, 1/2 a banana, frozen raspberries and some turmeric/carrot juice I had that's packed with ginger. It blended up nicely, so I topped it with the other half of a banana, fejoa, paleo muesli mix, flax seeds and chia seeds. So much goodness! Plus I love the color.

Dinner tonight is zucchini and haloumi fritters with salmon. We also added a sour cream mix that had a little too much cayenne pepper in it for some heat. I would have added some greens but we don't have any left at the moment. This was delicious! We added buckwheat flour, which has a really nice nutty taste to it.


That was a pretty good day of eating! I've gotten a little off track lately, but I'm feeling good about getting back to being on a healthy plan. I've already got some recipes I'm looking forward to trying!

What's your favorite food been lately?
Steph x.

365 Days of Happiness: April

Hello, Everyone!

I seem to be putting one of these posts together every other week and it scares me how fast 2017 has gone! April turned out to be a better month than I expected and there seems to have been a theme of setting myself up for the future.

For starters, I've stepped up my work schedule and taken on more shifts to help save for my vacation in August. It's been an adjustment working more hours coming from part-time, but it's not all bad and obviously the pay check makes it all worth it.

My CrossFit coach has decided to change our programming and go back to basics more so we can build up our skills. I'm really excited about it because there are so many movements (mainly gymnastics) that I've been dying to try for so long and now I get the chance! It will mean I can progress more and do better in the coming months.

The last future-focus this month has been about moving out of home and into a flat with Steven. It's not going to happen until later in the year for a number of reasons, but we've talked about it a lot this April and I'm really excited about it. Obviously it will be a little scary for me, however, I cannot tell you how much I am looking forward to having my own kitchen to cook in and not worrying about making noise in the morning when I'm making breakfast. You'll see that I've been making some purchases to help start the set up of our first home together and I'm sure May will bring another home-ware haul!

Here's all of the happy things for every day in April:

1. Had the most amazing muesli at Uncommon Cafe topped with a delicious poached pear. 

2. Picnic lunch of falafel Pita Pit at Victoria park with Steven. Love coming here!

3. Was brave enough to do kipping pull-ups during our workout at CrossFit and managed 20 reps. I'm pretty proud of myself. 

4. First run back at the park with Mum and my knee held up great and I kept up fine over the 8km. 

5. Deadlifts and hand stand push-ups were in order for our workout today and I crushed it! Took two minutes off my time in February. 

6. Lost my iPhone 4 somewhere (still haven't found it) but I went on a good plan and replaced it with a 6S! Will be so much better for blogging.

7. Fun Friday night of buying house stuff, eating pizza & pasta, looking at books, and playing UNO with Steven.

8. Finally tried the cute Thai food truck I've wanted to eat at for years. It was as good as I had hoped! And to top off the night, Steven surprised me with a bouquet of flowers <3

9. Went along to check out the Food Show with Melissa and got some really cool stuff. Later on a bunch of us went out for dinner and it was incredible!

10. Burpee workout went down today, then we had a fun backyard session with Steven's sister.

11. Got to catch up on my favorite cooking program. It's the small things sometimes.

12. Back to watching my favorite YouTube family, the Sacconejolys! It's especially lovely with their latest addition Alessia.

13. Fun shopping day with Mum! We bought books, bras, and chocolate.

14. Did a 5km run for time (in the rain) with the CrossFit gang and I did it in 23 minutes! Steve and Me warmed up with some toasted Hot Cross buns. I also got spoiled with Easter chocolates! I'm a lucky gal.

15. Fish and chips + Iron Man 3 = A great Saturday night.

16. Went through Steven's garage together to sort everything out and see what house stuff he already has. It's making me excited thinking about moving in together!

17. Found some home-ware goodies on sale to go towards our future flat. Check this post here to see what I got!

18. We got to practise our Toes-To-Bar at CrossFit this morning and I managed a few reps! Need more practice though.

19. Finally got back to doing double-under skips this morning, thought I had lost them.

20. It's payday so I picked up a plate set and glasses for me and Steven. Can't wait for the day I get to unpack them.

21. Made it back to Pure Cafe Co. for one of their amazing Mexi-bowls.

22. Double date night to see Fate of the Furious movie while we ate popcorn and salted caramel ice cream.

23. Got to watch Steven play Korfball and had a lovely family barbecue by the fire.

24. Cute lunch date then we looked at more house stuff. We found a great clock on sale for our future kitchen.

25. ANZAC day was honored with a hero workout at CrossFit that involved lots of bear crawls and loaded carry walks around the block. But we got to team up which was awesome. Love my CF squad! (including Sadie the Pug and Cooper the golden lab.)

26. Got to try rope climbs this morning and it was so much fun! I feel way more confident about facing them in the Spartan Race.

27. It's been a super-busy this week with work and it's gonna stay that way for a little while longer. But it's all helping me get to Hawaii and it will all be worth it in August!

28. Met up with my favorite girls today! We ate great food, talked about moving homes, boys, and weddings. Sometimes you need a silly girl chat.

29. The CrossFit Football Total weight-lifting competition went down at the box today. I was too run down to compete but I had fun being on photographer duty. Steven came third out of the boys! Very proud girlfriend.

30. Had a spontaneous lunch date with Steven at the Monday Room which I've been dying to try for ages. Mushrooms were on point. 

April went by in a flash, but once again this list has reminded me that it was a really great month. I achieved more than I thought and tried pushing my comfort zone. Don't forget to focus on the little moments that make you happy and find something good no matter how bad things get.

Let me know what made you happy in April :)
Steph x.