That Kind of Energy

Image from http://watchpeoplejump.files.wordpress.com/2011/02/banana.jpeg

Being a vegetarian I lack in certain vitamins and minerals that enable people to function. So getting sick and tired (literally) of always feeling tired, and also sick of the comments people make like "Your always tired because you don't do anything to keep your brain going" "you have nothing better to do than sleep" or my favorite... "It's because you don't have a job". I never believed them, and I knew this regular lethargic feeling had to be down to something else. Even if it is because i'm a vegetarian, i want to know how to help this. 

My boyfriend mentioned that i should eat bananas as they are high in energy, so armed with this information I decided to do a little more research into high energy foods. Now I realize where i have been going wrong. 

My current diet consists of white pasta, white pasta, cheese, more white pasta, white rice and Qworn. But apart from the Qworn this is where i have been going wrong for so long. 

So if you are in a similar position or want to know how to gain more energy just through eating, then you need to fill up on these beauty's (Veggie version): 

• Dairy Products (milk and yogurt)
• Eggs
• Nuts
• Mushrooms
• Whole Grains
• Water
• Beans
• Sunflower Seeds
• Spinach
• Banana 
• Wholemeal Rice (Brown Rice)
• Oats
• Wholemeal Bread
• Wholemeal Pasta
• Qworn (for protein) 

And less of energy depleting foods such as: 

• Full fat dairy products
• White Rice
• White Bread
• White Pasta
• Pastries
• Sugary Drinks
• Cakes
• Biscuits  

Menu Example 

Breakfast:

• Porridge 
• Granola Yogurt
• Eggs on wholemeal Bread 

Snack:

• Banana 
• Yogurt 
• Whole Grain snack bar

Lunch:

• Beans and Cheese on wholemeal toast
• Banana on wholemeal toast
• Eggs on wholemeal bread
• Tomato soup with wholemeal bread
• Wholemeal pasta salad 

Snack: 

• Banana 
• Yogurt
• Whole Grain snack bar

Dinner:

• Wholemeal Mushroom Pasta
• Qworn Spag Bol with Wholemeal pasta
• Jacket Potato with Cheese and Beans
• Veggie Qworn curry with Brown Rice 

Please note i'm not a personal trainer or dietitian in any way, so if you use this as a meal guide you hold full responsibility. 

Banana's about Banana's!! Some rather interesting facts about the ol' Narna !! Have a look http://organicjar.com/2009/1240/ 

Things are finally falling into place.

I have got a job! I went for an interview two weeks back and I got called in for a second interview yesterday to say that I got it. Sweeeettt... This is really going to help me and Louis out financially especially with having the bedsit. 

The job is a receptionist at quite a famous spa, so with the gel nails booked in for next Wednesday I am ready to get my Receptionist ONNN :)

Since the move to Ledbury I haven't quite felt entirely settled, and i always felt like i was placed into Louis' life rather than sharing a life together. So now with this opportunity I can finally make a life for myself, and get that fresh start feeling properly. 

Living above the pub is fun, and there is always people around. Last night me and Louis made Christmas biscuits which our flat mates (if that's the real name) enjoyed, as did Louis! He couldn't stop eating the dough and stunk of cinnamon for the rest of the night. 

The perks of living above a pub- when you wake up to find Reindeer in your garden

Me and Louis being to lazy to cook so we just eat downstairs in the pub... Naughty

Our first home Key :)

We didn't have a mixing bowl for the Christmas biscuits, so we had to use a saucepan

For those that are considering making that step and moving in together- Just do it ! It will either work or it won't, and no amount of prep will get yourself ready. Take the plunge... Take the plunge. 

No More Prep!

Moving day came a lot sooner for both Louis and I, as we got kicked out of his Dad's house. No it's not what you think- Louis wasn't the reason, in fact it was me! 

I was sick of being treated like a slave by his Dad, so I decided it was time to stick up for myself. I was very polite about it, yet made sure I got my point across, resulting in us both getting kicked out (Louis backed me up).

So with no time to prepare, a car full of our belongings and nowhere to go, we had to think... We drove to Louis' work to let them know and they offered us a room above the pub. This is when it hit us that this was it now, we are GROWN UPS :P

I LOVE it. Honestly I love living on our own and I love our little room. It’s a shared kitchen and bathroom (shared with myself, Louis and two other blokes), and this morning I have spent it cleaning and scrubbing everything! But it is looking a lot better and I am pleased with my hard work. 

Our room is called 'The Pod' and this sign is on our wall

Our Room after I got my hands on it

The Shared Kitchen

The Shared toilet (Picture taken after I bleached the shit out of it)

The Shared Bathroom

Preparing For The Big World On Our Own. Post #5

NOT FOR THE FAINT HEARTED 

With the move getting closer, I thought that we would need to start considering money saving techniques. So being a fully qualified beauty therapist, I decided to let the wax meet my pubic hair! I figured if I home waxed then this would save on razors. How very clever of me right? 

Now this is the part I should probably mention that I only got trained in 'bikini waxing' and not 'Intimate waxing'- intimate waxing is anything from the pubic bone to the very sensitive skin underneath. I will also add here that the wax you use on your legs is a different consistency to the wax that you need to use on your privates. The wax you need to use on your bits is designed specifically for those areas, to enable a comfortable, SAFE and injure free, hairless pamper. I only have wax suitable for legs. 

Being me. I asked myself, 'what’s the worst that could happen?’ But again being me. I learnt the hard way. 

So here's how it went...I parted my legs so that I was straddling a magnifying mirror for maximum visibility. Mirror in place, I then realized that my body was creating a shadow on my fanny, making it difficult to aim the wax in the correct destination. Taking extra precaution in this risky demonstration, I employed a lamp and angled it to illuminate my Pum! I then went through my mental check list:

1. Tested the angle in which the hair grows - CHECK

2. Legs parted wide enough so I don't end up gluing my fanny closed for life - Now this is pretty serious, and after considering the lifelong implications I adjusted accordingly and balanced on my tip toes to get a wider spread. - CHECK

3. Enough Lighting - CHECK 

4. Wax is at the correct temperature - CHECK 

5. Prepared for the agony - CHECK 

Here goes... using one hand, I dipped the spatula into the warm wax ready for application. With the other hand I used this to move my other parts out of the way and pulled my skin taught. In one smooth swooping motion, I created a thin covering of wax on the outside of my right lip. Sticking down the strip and praying for mercy, I tore the strip off with such force, and the pressure from ripping one way and pulling hard in the opposite direction, actually tore my fanny! 

Within seconds it started to drip with blood onto my laminate floor and my legs started to tremble. It was probably the most painful thing that my fanny has ever endured, and has slightly put me off child birth! It wasn't the wax that pulled my skin off which was my initial thought, but it was the stretching and tugging that caused my delicate skin to literally tear the size of 5cm! It was like an opened wound and stung like a bitch. 

For those who would like to know where it tore here is a diagram (might I add this fanny does not belong to me) 

Where I have drawn the blue line this is where my skin tore. 

There are definitely cut backs to make when moving into your first home, but cutting your vagina doesn't have to be one. That's one painful lesson learnt well. 

Preparing For The Big World On Our Own. Post #4

I had a really nice family orientated evening tonight. Starting with a visit to my Aunties and ending up having an awesome Sunday roast with my Auntie, my Cousins and Phoebe- My cousins 9 Month old baby. 

This is cheeky Phoebe eating her Narna 

I have just read the next chapter from 'Men are From Mars and Women are from Venus' and here is what I think will come in handy to know when me and Louis move out. 

Men go to their caves and Women talk

1. To feel better Men need to go into their caves to solve problems alone
2. If I am stressed or need a rant call a friend. Louis will just try and offer solutions and this is not what I need. If I want to talk to Louis then just tell him I need him to listen
3. Let him take as much time in his cave as he needs- don't pester him (even if his way of releasing the tension from the day is into a computer game)

That Christmassey Feeling. Post #2

Just a few more days to go before the 1st of December- this is when the real Christmas stuff begins. But I thought I would just give Louis a few more tasters of what is to come in the following month. So here are a few more of my festive treats to Louis- hoping that he would get that Christmassey feeling... 

I brought this cute Shabby Chic Garland and hung it on his window to go with the window snowflakes 

I had this made for us and he really liked it and said that we could put it on the tree every year  

I personally love a Mince pie with hot Custard but he wasn't impressed as he doesn't like them. But he did make this one for me so that kind of counts ;)

Preparing For The Big World On Our Own. Post #3

Today I left Louis at his on his own and came back to my mums for a visit, in the hope that Louis will do his chores accordingly and doesn't get us kicked out in the next few days!

But just in case his mind would slip on a few things I made him mini notes on a few household objects, like the washing basket, his computer screen and the towel rail... Like so  

I am also currently re-reading 'Men are from Mars and Women are from Venus'. Since the quick move in with Louis- I am learning new things about my boyfriend that I didn't recognize before the move, and I am struggling with some situations with regards to the difference in  Men and Woman. I think it will be very good prep and I should defiantly have a better understanding of Men before we move into a place of our own. So here are some notes I took from the first chapter of the book. 

1. When I need a rant, let him know that I just want him to listen

2. Afterwards thank him for listening and tell him how much you appreciate it 

3. Offering help to a man can make him feel in-competent, weak and un-loved. Just keep quiet and appreciate in your heart what they are doing, and trust that they can do it.

4. When a man feels like a woman is not trying to improve him then he is more likely to ask for her feedback and advise. But only give when asked

5. Praise him for what he has done, rather than criticize what he hasn't done. 

5. A man wants to make improvements when he feels he is being approached as the solution to a problem rather than as the problem itself. 

We have about 5 months before the house we are currently in gets sold then it's just us, alone, all grown up. Scaryyyyy!!

Preparing For The Big World On Our Own. Post #2

We are homeless! Well not far off.
We are currently living with Louis' Dad but they are not getting on too well and defiantly have different standards of cleanliness when it comes to the house. Well to be honest i think we all have different standards of cleanliness compared to Louis. 

Hygienically speaking he gets a 10 out of 10 and showers about 8 times a day- slight over-exaggeration. He is so up there in the scales of personal hygiene that he even gets on my case about showering. Its not that I don't, but sometimes I want to stay in my pj's all day, leave my hair in a mess and not brush my teeth. FEEL THE FUR! FEEL THE FUR! (on my teeth, not anywhere else :|)  

But when it comes to the house he leaves clothes every where and just fails to do his allocated jobs, which his Dad really doesn't appreciate and doesn't take lightly. 

So at the moment my daily routine consists of watching Louis like a hawk making sure that he picks up after himself, so that we actually have a roof over our heads. I'm going back to mine for a few days as of Sunday so lets just hope that Louis gets the point by then, or I will come back to both mine and his stuff on the front drive.

That's the annoying thing about moving in with your boyfriend to their parents house, he fucks up and we both get kicked out. Bloody Terrific! 

That Christmassey Feeling. Post #1

Louis is currently at work, and like a little EARLY elf on a mission to spread the Christmas spirit I have ordered these cute little window snowflakes! Plus I have bought some mini Yankee Christmas candles to make the room feel all cosy! I think he will love them and hopefully they will make him feel a little Christmassey. But if these don't give him that feeling then I have a lot more up my sleeve!

Preparing For The Big World On Our Own. Post #1

Plan: To stay at Louis' parents house until we have saved up enough money to then move into our own place. 

With the plan in our heads we then decided that we should probably start preparing ourselves for living without parents. So we decided we would start with cooking. Here are some pictures of what we have cooked so far... 

Veggie Curry 

Veggie Fajita's (that's Louis) 

Veggie Spag Bol

Homemade Pizza (bought the base)

Veggie Bangers and Mash

My New Life

Lately I have struggled to write and for a long time I couldn’t quite put my finger on why this was. I have more time on my hands with being un-employed, I am the happiest I have been in a long time and at least one thing happens a day where I think 'I should probably write about that'. But it just wasn’t happening. Then it hit me- I realized that I didn’t want to write about past events, catching people up with what happened with my Summer and my EX, and that actually, I don’t want to force myself to walk my stubborn feet along that long road called memory lane. No. I want to write about my new life, and where I am at now. So yes there will be a gap in this blog, but you know what I don’t care. So here is my New and now...

I have a new boyfriend called Louis, except that he isn’t actually that new to me as we used to be together when we was 15. He was my first love and when we broke up after 6 months I was left mopping around like a lost puppy for a good few months after. The thing is, he lives far away and at 15 and 16 years old the long 3-4 hour train journeys where proving to be a struggle and costly, so the distance got the better of us and he broke it off.

A few months ago I saw on his facebook that he was single and as was I, so feeling a bit confident I thought I would give him a text. It read something like this.
"What you doing?"
It couldn’t have been a more romantic conversation starter ;). But luckily he replied and after some chatting we met up. It went really well and even though 4 years had past nothing had really changed between us and our feelings came flooding back.

So now we are back together and to fix the long distance it made since to move into his parent’s house with him. I have spent a lot of time with boys before but living with them is really something else, and sometimes it proves to be very INTERESTING.

The other night I woke to a strange feeling of being alone and when I looked to the side of me it seemed that Louis had disappeared. It was half 4 in the morning and I knew he came to bed when I did hours before, so I went on a search for him. I walked across the landing and opened his bedroom door (we sleep in the spare room- double bed) to find my night time wanderer of a boyfriend sitting at his computer, bolt upright-yet fast asleep, with porn playing on the monitor and his knob in his hand. I softly spoke out his name and he woke startled, then looked down at his hand wrapped around his knob with the same look of confusion as I had when I first entered the room. I took his hand (the vacant one) and lead him sleepily back to bed. If that’s not love I don’t know what is.

So other than the random disappearing acts in the middle of the night, the constant pile of washing left on the bathroom floor, waking up to the smell of fart, remnants of baki sprinkled over my belongings, scraping his skids of the toilet bowl, driving like James Bond to drop him off at work when he sleeps through the alarm and sitting on his piss when he "forgets” to lift the seat- I love my new life. Even as gross as it can be living with a boy it is one of the best and most fun things I have ever done, and you actually begin to love them for being so gross!

When we was a couple before we didn't end up spending Christmas day together and each spent it with our own families. It wasn’t a very fun Christmas as I really wanted to be with Louis the whole day. With Christmas coming up again we were so excited that we get to spend it together. So in the morning we will be with his mum, for Christmas lunch we will be spending it with his dad and then we will drive to mine to spend the rest of the afternoon and night with my family. Three Christmas' in one day!

After a recent conversation Louis admitted that he hadn't felt 'Christmassy' in a long time so this year I am making it my mission to bring back that excitement of Christmas into his life. Plus I love Christmas so it should be pretty easy :)

Miss Havisham's House

21/08/12

Location: Budapest, Hungary

We got to Budapest late afternoon and we were starving! Not so much Kei as I brought two sandwiches thinking they were vegetarian but wasn’t, so Kei ended up having both. I hadn’t eaten for a long time and was on the verge of being moody. This is a difficult time for all of us, but for me, it’s very risky as the tiniest thing could cause me to explode with anything from anger, tears or frustration. It’s anyone’s guess.

So then we got lost. We got lost because the hostel directions were so poor and ended up walking up and down the same streets over and over, in the dark and carrying our backpacks through the exhausting humidity. When we finally reached our hostel it was down an eerie side street of the main road. It looked like something from a movie, but this time not in a good way. It looked like the kind of place were killings happen, and when we stepped through the rusty iron gate into the hostel, I then realised that I actually felt safer if I was back out on the street.

Once through the iron gate in front of us was this huge, wide, old concrete staircase (which I was convinced had blood spots on the steps). The tiles were coming up from the floor and falling off the walls. It was pretty dark inside and to give you all a clear picture on what it looked like, then just imagine Miss Havishams house. Behind the awaiting staircase is a wall made up of small little smashed through windows. Not that they would let much light in as behind the windows was just another concrete wall.

I would like to say that something really spooky happened, or that once we walked up the decrepit staircase awaiting us was a pool of vampires ready for their meal. Us. But that didn’t happen and as soon as we reached the top of the stairs it was actually really modern and quite nice. What a boring ending ay?

Two Things I have Learnt About the English

21st August 2012
Location: Prague
I am currently in the dining section of the train as I couldn’t find enough space to breath, let alone write in the train cabin filled with five other people. The train is quite warm but I’m grateful for the lack of aircon- that stuffs horrible. It’s probably more likely to make you ill than sticking your tongue up a flu infested dustbin man’s nose. I’m not saying there's anything wrong with dustbin men, just that they have to rummage around in everyone else’s germs. Kind of like a shopping bag full of infection.
Prague was the best place we have visited so far! Last night, after dinner, we bumped into (not literally) our 'night before friends'. I like to call them that, as one night of meeting doesn’t mean you are true friends, just that everyone is kind of your friend after a few drinks and chatting. They invited us to go along with them to get some wine and sit by one of the many river banks. It was so picturesque with the night sky, the lit up bridges in the background and the sound of an acoustic guitar. It felt like something out of a movie, but obviously some of that giddy feeling was also coming from Mr Sauvignon Blanc himself ;). We all sat round listening to the guitar, absorbing our surroundings and talking about not only our own countries, but our opinion on everyone else’s.
I think this is probably one of the best things about travelling for me, is that you could be sitting down with a group of people, and nearly each individual person is from a different country. It’s brilliant. Our company last night consisted of people from England, France, Miami, Poland, Israel, Canada and Spain.
So there we all were each talking about different things about each other’s countries. The conversation was flowing as were the drinks. By this point I had drank a bottle of wine, and when I do drink, that filter from mind to mouth starts to disintegrate. As I felt more comfortable around these people I started to swear a lot. Not in an alarming manor just throw the odd one in here and there- or in every fucking sentence. not only that but I also have a habit of having many voices- by this I mean I put on many accents and characters during my day to day life, I suppose to spice things up a little. Actually I’m not quite sure why I do it. So being around all these different countries my brain was getting rather excited picking up all these new ways of saying different words, and all these new accents. They started to drown my mouth and I couldn’t hold them back anymore. With every person I spoke to I adopted there accent and spoke back to them in a similar way (but obviously a worse version). It was extremely embarrassing for both me and Kei but I just couldn’t stop, it was like someone had pulled the plug. Our 'night before friends' didn’t seem to notice, or they were just too polite/offended to mention.
Although come to think of it, the guy from Israel did actually make a comment, and considering I was the only English girl at the gathering, I think I can comfortably say it was aimed at me.
He Said "I don't really like English girls, they swear too much and get drunk to easily."
Haha the whole thing is pretty funny now though.
Ok so the actual point of this post was to let you all know that I have found out two important facts about English people, and I feel the need to enlighten you all. So here goes:
1. We are arrogant as fuck in the sense that we don't bother to learn other languages but our own.
2. Our knowledge on other countries is poor. This is either because we are on a rather small island of our own so we maybe feel less connected, or that we are just arrogant as fuck.
Oh and not forgetting...
3. English girls swear too much and get drunk to easily.
Thank you all for reading.

Who Regurgitated the Sardines?

18-08-2012
On the Train from Berlin to Prague

This train is crazy! It’s similar to the ones in Harry Potter with the little cabins - You know where Harry brags to the trolley lady "We'll buy the lot". So with all the cabins on one side and a narrow isle on the other this is the full works of the train. I'm not complaining about the layout of the train, as it looks rather classy, but it’s just that we don’t have a reservation. So we are just standing in the isle, with about 100 more none 'Reservees'. We are rammed and are constantly on the lookout for the smallest space just to stretch out a finger or toe. I have people to the side of me, people to the back of me (which I was sure was just a window, but no, apparently someone could squeeze in, using the space that the arch of my back had created), and people in my face. I have had boyfriends in the past that didn’t even get this close to me. I would say like sardines, but even they have more room than us in that comfy little tin of theirs. I am almost sure that if you opened a can of sardines that looked like how we do now, you would defiantly send it back and demand not only a refund but an explanation as to who regurgitated it before putting it back in the tin!

There’s a baby, including its pushchair, and they also didn’t make a reservation (well the parents didn’t, I’m not sure Babies are that advanced), not only did they not make a reservation but both Mum, Dad, the baby, and the fricking pushchair are occupying someone else’s RESERVED seat. Shit is going down.

The Isle is getting more crowded and it looks like two lanes of traffic, each going in opposite directions and merging into one. The people that haven’t made seat reservations are either blocking the isle or sitting in a reserved seat. The people that have made reservations are trying to squeeze, barge and shove their way through the crowd to get to their paid for seat- which in turn means they are also joining the masses in helping to block the isle. Once they have found their allocated seat they either sit down looking calm and smug like "Ha! Well I have my seat", or they do the opposite and start kicking off with the non-'Reservees' and try to claim back what’s rightfully theirs.

Kei's started to panic due to claustrophobia, but I on the other hand are actually quite enjoying myself- making friends that kind of thing, you know.

Right Kei's going for it! He leaves me with all the luggage and skilfully surfs through the now less busy crowd in search of spare seats so that we can sit for the remainder 4 hours of the journey (possibly less than 4 hours now I’m not sure how long we have been in this pickle).

He's back and we are in luck, now all we need to do is plough through three more carriages of this to get to some seats then eat. I’m starving! All that friendship making makes you hungry.

The Traveller's Toes.

17.08.2012
Location: Berlin, Germany

By the time we made our way up to bed it was about half one in the morning, so already we was pretty exhausted- especially after all the travelling. We opened the door to our room and that’s when it hit us. I had never experienced anything like it. It was the pure, rotten stench of feet that entirely engulfed the room that we were supposed to be resting our tired heads in.

Before I left home I prepared myself for the worst- spiders, theft, un-cleanliness, bed bugs, and getting beaten up. You know the normal stuff. But never had I imagined that I would encounter feet this smelly- I wasn’t even aware that feet could smell THAT bad! No words can truly describe the rawrity stench of those feet, but I think if you can imagine the smell of the remains of gnawed away flesh left out in the rain for 8 years, mixed with smoked cheese, then I think you will be able to sympathise.

When I breathed in I could feel the stinky waves of disgustingness eating away at my brain tissue. That was enough! The stench had got the better of me, and it was time to take action. After convincing myself and Kei that the toxicity coming from those toes was giving me brain damage, and after trying to get to sleep with a cheese and onion Pringle pot over my nose (even that couldn’t mask my senses, and that’s some pretty cheesy stuff),then we complained to reception.

Reception explained that there wasn’t much we could do about the man’s feet, as he would probably wake up when seeing a Rasta man and a 19 year old girl at the end of his bed, giving his feet a good scrub. The Receptionist did suggest that we bagged the cuprite’s shoes (that were also stinking out the room), as this would maybe make it slightly bearable. Bag in hand we marched back up to the room.

Bagging the trainers managed to contain some of the deathly aroma, and after performing a bit of ventilation door swinging, the room was just about bearable to sleep in. Either that or the smell knocked us unconscious I can’t remember?

To be honest I think everyone was thankful to us that night and possible even the stench producer himself.

The Train Conductor With a Gun.

16.08.2012

Our First Interrail Experience
(For those that don't know what this is- Google it, then do it because it's awesome)(Seriously Awesome)

We are now on the second train which should be straight to Berlin from Amsterdam. I am waiting a bit anxiously in my seat- firstly because I am quite an anxious person and secondly because we aren’t 100 per cent sure on how to use our passes. I have been through the guide book a fair few times hoping that by the fourth I will have found something in there that my brain failed to receive before, but no, nothing. The guide book scares me.

Just crossed over into Germany and the train staff just casually strolled on the train with a GUN. As you do. Kei said that they are immigration control but I’m not convinced- especially considering they haven’t even ask for our passports or even our tickets for that matter and we have been on the train for 2 and a half hours. Kei is talking about how slightly different Germany looks to England. Slightly?! Our fricking train conductors do not hold us at gun point!

Ok so we are not actually held at gun point, but if the armed staff decide to start fishing through our bags, find this piece of writing, be massively offended that I called them immigration control (well Kei did but I think one of the 3 year relationship rules is that you should want to take a bullet for your partner, so I will, naturally). Then I will obviously get my brains blown out. Then with just Kei left they will find out that we jumped a poor little innocent tram back to ‘Weed-vile’ earlier on in the day, and then the "immigration control" will be sure to unite Kei's brains with mine on the frickin window.

I’m just going to stop writing before I give them any more ammunition.