Relaxing weekend with Arbonne and Lush.

'Ello Explorers...

With all this explorin', eatin' and enjoyin' there comes a time you need a rest too. And one weekend in November I was faced with a weekend in my diary with absolutely nothing booked in it, so I made it my mission to not book in anything to committing and enjoy a rest, perhaps even a lazy one.

Some people may consider a lazy day one where they would stay in bed all day, some may get a little movement and get up but stay in their pyjamas, fact is everyone has their own lazy level. 

This is something that I am not very good at. To me staying in bed until 12.00 or 1.00 pm means you've missed out on two very valuable meals and a girls gotta eat. 

I tired to remember the last time I stayed in bed all day, or spent the whole day inside. I'm pretty sure it was all the way back in April, six months ago, when I was in hospital with a broken femur and waiting surgery. I was only there for three days and when resting at home I would spend time in the garden or beg someone to take me out on a trip, although it was very painful to be moving around, the fresh air did me good. There is no end of the freshest sea air in clean Cornwall.

So back to my 'rest full weekend':

I began Saturday with a 9.00am wake up to go and meet my friend at the gym for a full body, heart pumping workout. Ok, not starting off very rest full at all. But it gave me energy and helped me to feel good for the remainder of the day.

I showered, got on some nice clothes and went for a mooch around The Range, to get more accessories for my room. This set me up for the rest of the day to finish painting my room, complete making accessories and clean it to be placed back to normal.

I will write a post soon on what my room has turned out like. 

Sunday

I didn't get up until 11.30am, that's a lie. I got up at 9.00am, got a mug of green tea, then went back to bed and watched 'Life Story' until 11.30am There is something about Sir David Attenborough, he's just a legend. Imagine if he was your relative, he would tell the best stories. 

I also:

• Cooked up some snacks and prepared food for the week ahead.
• Researched upcoming event and adventures.
• Walked down to the village square to watch the Remembrance day parade. 

After a truly delicious roast dinner that evening I ran my bath and prepared for my pampering night in. 

I ran my bath using one of my favourite Lush products 'Candy Mountain'. This Bubbley Bath Bomb smells like bubble gums and leaves glitter EVERYWHERE I love it! This is where the girl comes out in me. It's part of the Christmas range and is really the only time of year I shop there. The other similar products called 'Snow Fairy' come in shower gels, soaps, moisturisers. I just love them all. 

I was here to relax, yes, but also to give my self a bit of a facial. I have always had problem with my skin. Clogged pores, random spots and spouts of dry skin, quickly followed my oily skin. Nothing has really sorted the problem, working on pool side and a life guard and sweating whilst teaching fitness classes only made my skin worse. Until I found Arbonne. This botanically based and Swiss formulated product range has worked magic and my now clear skin has given me confidence and allows me to enjoy skin care. 

I began with cleansing using the Arbonne RE9 cleanser. This anti aging product prepares the skin for your regime. The citrus smell helps to make you skin feel refreshed and clean, while its silky texture whisks away the impurities of the day and make up, without stripping skin of essential moisture. Did you know, Skin decreases in thickness by 6% every ten years and looses its ability to hold moisture? This little beauty helps to slow down that process and even reverse it.

With damp skin I followed cleaning with an ex foliating scrub. The Arbonne FC5 Exfoliating New Cell Scrub has Jojoba beads that gently massage the skin to leave it smooth and polished with a radiant glow. I wish I knew about this years ago, you can use the FC5 range from the age of twelve, I could of had lovely skin for years. Naturally derived cells from kiwis, strawberries, carrots, mangos and pumpkins stay whole until the moment it hits your skin and WOW, the smell when that happens is like landing on a dessert island for a few minutes.

I'll now relax for a few minutes allowing my face to dry naturally before applying the next stage. A mask. 

The FC5 Hydrating Mask isn't usually advised to be used after or before the New Cell Scrub if you have sensitive skin, but I find it works for me really well. It replenishes moisture to maintain a youthful look, meaning it is for dry skin, it leaves it feeling so soft and smooth. Leaving it on for five minutes leaves you back on that dessert island for a little holiday, before a blast back to reality. I use a tip my grandmother always told me, to rinse with cold, fresh water. She says it tightens your skins and prevents wrinkles, so I'm rolling with that.

As I was about to get in bed I finished off with applying a night cream which I use every night. Just to keep my skin hydrated and feeling flexible. 

All of the products are dermatologist tested, botanically based, vegan certified and knowing that helps me feel at ease that I can only be doing my skin and body good by using it. After all, your skin is the biggest organ and so what ever you place on it, will go straight to your digestive system. I don't put chemicals in my mouth, so why put them on your skin?

My weekend was coming to an end and I planned to finish it in a relaxing way. I got in my onsie, made myself a hot chocolate and put the Lego Movie on. Settling down in my fresh, clean room, with my fresh clean body and chilled out, I felt relaxed.

So, I did quite a lot of things with my weekend, but didn't have to stick to time slots, I rested my body and gave my self a little pamper. This was a perfect little 'Lazy weekend' to suit me and I think it is important for everyone to fit one of these into their life every now and again.

If you would like to know more about Arbonne and how to purchase products email me: beckyu.arbonne@gmail.com. I can help you find products to suit you.

Eat...Cooking with Sam

Cooking with Sam.

Last weekend I went to help one of my good friends prepare food for the week ahead.

She is a Fitness Instructor and teaches many classes a week. But has always ate whatever she wanted.

For the month of October, she decided to eat clean and see what happened.

Here's how our evening went:

APPLE SLICES:

Get some apples, carefully slices them finely. Then place on a lined baking tray. Place in the oven at around 150*C and turn after 20 minutes or until golden. Please keep checking they're not burning.

 Roasted Chick Peas: 
For the easy option use tins of chick peas The harder version would be to use dried and follow the instructions on the packet.
You will need:
-2 tins of chick peas.
-2 table spoons of Extra Virgin Olive Oil
-1/2 tsp of paprika
-1/2 tsp of cumin
-1/2 tsp of salt.

Method: Place all ingredients on to a baking tray and mix up. Put them in the over at 150*C for around 30 minutes, shaking regularly.

Seeded Nutty Flap Jacks:

We made this up on the night with the ingredients we had, but used:

-1 Banana

-1 pot of Honey

Nuts

Dried Fruit

Enough oat to make a flap jack consistency.

All the ingredients went in to a pot on the cooker to combine together. Then on to a lined baking tray and placed in the oven until golden brown,

Bean and Quinoa Burgers:

These are one of my favourites which I wrote about last week. Take a look HERE

Chocolate Muffins:

Ingredients:

-1 ¾ cup of Oats

-3 Egg whites
-3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
-1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
-1 tsp. Vanilla extract
-1/2 cup Plain Greek yogurt (or regular plain low fat yogurt)
-1/2 tsp. cream of tartar (or 2 tsp. vinegar)
-1 ½ tsp. Baking powder
-1 ½ tsp. Baking soda
-1/4 tsp. Salt
-1 cup Hot water
-1/2 cup Baking stevia OR 1 cup sweetener of choice that measures like sugar
-1/2 cup Semi-sweet chocolate chips

Method:

In a blender or food processor, mix all of the ingredients together, except for the chocolate chips. Blend until oats are ground and the mixture is smooth. Place mixture in a bowl and gently stir in ½ of the chocolate chips (set the rest aside). Scoop mixture into prepared and lined muffin tins. Place muffin tins in the oven for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, remove muffins from the oven (but don’t shut the oven off), and distribute the other half of the chocolate chips on top of each muffin. Place the muffins back into the oven for an additional 2-5 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. *Note: you could skip this step and put all the chocolate chips into the batter at once and bake the muffins for 12-15 minutes straight. Cool muffins before removing from pan.

Chocolate Quark:

Serves 1:

-1 tbs of Quark

-1/2 tbs of Cocoa Powder

-1/4 tbs of Honey

Method:

Put it all in a bowl and stir. Then eat!

She has found that the muffins and quark help to sort the sugar cravings and the snacks help her to staty away from the convenience foods. 

Why don't you give it a go too.