Can you believe we are into the second week of January and as I said in my last post on tackling New Years Resolutions, I'm trying to be more mindful and conscious every day and keeping lists to small do-able ones to work through. These were some things I wanted to tackle by the end of my vacation and yay, I ticked these ones off this week, including planting a veggie garden, sprucing up my dining room chairs, starting a new yoga regime and getting into cooking!
You may think cooking? big deal, but paging through recipe books was as far as my interest went and as I’ve been fortunate enough to have a hubby who loves to cook, I’ve happily refrained from anything more than making salads.
My change of tune is largely attributed to my friend Cheryl Stevens who is the most amazing cook, creating wholesome healthy foods and snacks; check out her Instagram here; I am no shakes on her, but she has inspired me to eat healthier and to start cooking! Having my son to stay for the past few weeks has me thinking about consuming dairy as he is vegan. Living a vegan way of life is not for the fainthearted as you have to read every single ingredient on packaging and really be conscious about what you eat. Although it's been a huge eye opener on what goes into my body, I won't be taking on the whole vegan way of life just yet, but small steps, replacing butter and milk with coconut or almond milk and using coconut oil for just about everything, and no, I still go out for regular cuppaccinos!
Cooking has been fun, but baking is more so! I decided to start bringing healthy snacks to work and went with date balls as they are so easy peasy adn healthy too! My son found a recipe on The Pretty Blog and boy, are they delish! I added ground almonds to the mixture for a crunchy texture.
Yummi sugar-free date balls
Despite being in the midst of a hectic water shortage, I planted a veggie and herb garden. It's right outside our kitchen door for easy access, using grey water as well as filling bottles from the mountainside. We have access to two water points in St James and one scrappy one off Boyes Drive, where water runs straight into the sea, so until someone comes up with an initiative to capture the water, I join the queue to fill up bottles for my garden. So far they're looking good, don’t you think?
Another item on my list was to give my dining room chairs a makeover; while I was away housesitting husband did the job for me so no before pics but here is what they look like now- a lick of white paint and covered in a grey linen. I would like to change them for something different, but for now they are fab!
My son Chris has also put me into a good morning routine of practicing yoga. My only form of exercise is walking and swimming and although I've joined gyms oodles of times only to fail dismally at keeping up, I decided it was easier to do something for home before heading out to work. I have yet to see how this works out as I'm off to my day job tomorrow, so I shall report back, but in the meantime... Chris also gave me a Fitbit type of gadget from work; I was part of a study they did and I got to keep the gadget, a fab incentive to monitor my heartbeat and steps. It's not as great as a GARMIN ( hubby got one for his birthday form son and I'm a wee bit jellies at all the stats it offers you, but the one I have is perfect for what I am needing!) I've exhausted myself writing about this all, so I shall make myself a rooibos tea and go and chill for the rest of the afternoon as tomorrow, it's back to reality!
Let me know if you have done any exciting things relating to New Year's resolutions, big or small that you would like to share?
Happy day and happy week!
Cath