Candlebar Leeds

I was away for work recently; 4 days of training down in Leicester with a 6 hour train journey home on the Friday night... I know, ouch! However I managed to split that up; half on the Friday and half on Sunday thanks to a couple days in Leeds.

 

I jumped off the train and headed to my Dad's flat to meet him and dump my stuff. We had an hour to kill before mum arrived so we decided there was no better way to pass time than with a cheeky Mojito...or two... at the Sky Lounge. (you may remember it from my last visit)

 

Needless to say the hour flew by and we headed to the station to meet mum before heading for what Dad says is the 'best pizza' so of course I was pretty excited.

 

Candlebar wasn't too busy when we arrived; I headed up to the bar to order. It is a bar after all so you place your order and pay, grab your drinks and then your food is brought over to you. I always like this idea as you don't feel under any pressure to get up and leave when your bill is settled at the end of a meal, which can be the case in certain restaurants.

 

Since we were already ahead with the cocktails we went for a nice bottle of  Malbec and waited rather impatiently for our food; and much to my delight our little appetiser arrived after a few minutes. 

 

You really can't go wrong with some fresh bread, oil and balsamic! A great appetiser before the main event if you ask me.

 

We didn't have too long to wait before the friendly waitress brought over the calzone for Dad and Pizzas for Mum and I. 9/10 times I order pizza it will have chicken on it and this was no exception, the combination of chicken, prosciutto, spinach and tomato was awesome.

 

 I think this brought about the first bout of silence of the evening; they really were great pizzas. I couldnt quite finish mine but I definitely made a good attempt at it.

 

We had to sit a little while nursing the last of our wine to give our poor bellies a bit of a break before even attempting to move.

 

With the last of the fading light we took the 'long way round' the canal to head back to the flat. Just like last time my stop in Leeds was off to a great start.

Two months to go!

I'm already bursting with excitement! In a couple of months my Dad turns 50!

Right I know you're thinking 'why does that make Emma excited?' ...well we're all going away to St Maarten to celebrate!

Pools, Beaches, Sun and of course Happy hour with amazing cocktails (although truth be told I think its sipping them with your toes in the sand that makes them so great)

Oh and of course all 6 of us will actually get to spend time together (yes Ellie I'm including you in this)

This may explain my recent surge in motivation for the gym! 

We've been to St Maarten before and absolutely loved it but that was back in 2008 and I don't know why but I just think this time round it will be even better!

Finally got a haircut I like!

I wouldn't normally post about a haircut but I think I need to make an exception today!

First thing you need to know is I absolutely hate going to the hairdresser, I've never gotten over the damage that was done to my hair when I was in high school.

Ok so my hairdresser at the time only spoke French/German and Luxembourgish (puts us to shame really) her English however was about as good as my French so it created a bit of a language barrier to say the least so everytime I sat down for my 100euro haircut I had to put all my faith in her....well it was not great.

I ended up with what I call Mushroom hair; it was like I had 2 completely different sections of hair. One really long layer that had been thinned out to the max, then one other much shorter layer where all the volume was - I hated it!

The worst part was my hair grows so slowly!

So there you go the reason for my complete lack of faith in hairdressers. Even over the last couple of years I've struggled to find a hairdresser who can deal with my hair. So I was very pleasantly surprised on Thursday when I finally walked into the hairdresser and the lovely Stacey did exactly what I wanted (just a trim/tidy up).

The next time I need my hair done I won't hesitate to pop into Eden  - might even get a little bit of colouring done, but we'll see!

Joli

Got a quick coffee fix for you today at a cute wee store. As you pass the little row of cottages on the main road through Longniddry you come to what appears to be a little wooden hut, that has had a few  purposes in recent years. This one is relatively new, its been turned into a little gift store and coffee shop.

Its quite a small but its adorable, there are various little trinkets, gifts and cards dotted around the room so as you sit and sip on your coffee you can admire them and pick out your next present for someone.

I picked up a little gift and the cutest card for me friends new baby, I hope she like it!

 

Its too bad it wasn't quite as warm as the weather has been this week as they have this little terrace area outside that would be lovely on a summers day!

The coffee was pretty good - I need to go back soon to sample their little lunch menu and maybe a cake or two as they looked pretty good.

Relaxing after a long day

After a long day at work sometimes there is nothing for it other than a little bit of 'me time'. It's important to treat yourself every now and again; in fact its Sunday and laziness is almost a requirement so light your favourite candle, get the bath running and pop on a face mask.

Fill the bath with your favourite bath salts or bubbles and hop in.

Don't forget your juice, popcorn and Netflix!

Once your fingers are very wrinkly its time to get out and lather yourself in your favourite body lotion, stick on your PJs and put your feet up.

To finish off a relaxing evening I grab my Repose cream and settle in with a book and a cosy blanket.

What do you like to do after a long day at work?

My recent lack of motivation

For the past month or so I've seriously been lacking motivation for pretty much everything from work to keeping fit. It's been awful, such a vicious circle as you'll probably know.

I'm not 100% sure what caused it but all I really wanted to do was eat crap and sit on my butt. I managed to get myself into the pool at least once a week but they gym was just out of the question. This only made things worse, the more lethargic I felt the less I wanted to work out or eat well.

I seem to be turning the corner now though; I've been in the pool 3 times this week, done some yoga and actually been productive again during the day. Woohoo!

I guess sometimes you just have to give yourself a break and get back into the swing of things when you're ready.

 Leggings | Sports bra | Top (similar)

Why am I telling you this you might wonder...well I have a plan to try to look after myself a bit better and maybe if I share it with you I will last longer! So I took a couple of snaps of my essential gym items to share with you.

ipod

The iPod is essential,  I'm too easily distracted so my phone stays in my locker for the duration of my work out, but of course music is key so you can't beat the wee iPod shuffle to store your favourite gym playlist.

Goggles

The plan going forward is to swim twice a week, hit the gym twice and do the necessary yoga to stretch off.

I'll review my plans in a month or so and see how things are going.