Change is hard but worth it - Focusing on Health and Fitness

It's never too late to make changes in you life, I say this all the time to people and I've only recently
started taking my own advice. I think that no matter the reason, if you're not happy only YOU can make the changes. You may have noticed I have been absent on YouTube and my blog posts have become sparse over the past couple of months. I've made some big colossal changes in my life recently and I'm beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel now. I walked out of a long relationship, left an amazing job and moved. While I had my reasons it doesn't make it any easier but I'm glad I had the strength to realise that I wasn't happy and that I had to start doing things differently. 

I've been focusing a lot on myself, which might sound selfish but I have to put myself first now. Health and fitness has taken over my life at the moment. I've developed a real thirst for it. I'm excited about the opportunities that await for me and I've all sorts of plans for what I want to accomplish. For now anyway I've been focusing on getting fit and feeling great. I wanted to share some of the activities I've been doing with you in the hope that it might encourage even just one person to get up, get out there and start making the changes they want too.

Zumba Classes

Zumba is great if you go on your own or with a group of friends. Zumba is a dance fitness programme, I know what you're thinking but don't worry because I can't dance to save my life and I really enjoy it. I like that it has variety, in any given class I can find myself doing salsa, martial arts, belly dance moves, squats and lunges. The music is great and most instructors make the classes really fun and enjoyable. You don't feel like you're at the gym anyway!

TRX Suspension Training Classes

Now what the hell is TRX Suspension Training you might be thinking to yourself! I didn't have a clue up until two weeks ago. I had never heard of it before. It stands for Total body Resistance Exercise and involves preforming a number of body weight exercises while holding or placing your feet onto ropes. Now, when it comes to trying new things the first time is always the hardest but it gets better. My arms and legs were in bits the day after the first time but it was worth it. I keep telling myself that, ha!

Bum, Tums and Thighs Classes

Tone, tone tone! I'm not actually interested in focusing much on weight loss. I'm a curvy girl and I always will be but there are a few areas I would like to not jiggle so much and that's why I do bum, tums and thighs classes. The class combines standing and floor aerobic exercises with the use of weights and a step. It can be a shock to the system and I look a bit of a fool when trying to co-ordinate myself on the step but I feel great afterwards and feel like I get a full body workout. 

Spinning Classes

I am quite lucky that my brother is a professional gym instructor and he calls me occasionally  daily, yes daily to go to his classes! I couldn't ask for any more encouragement really! After I went to his first spinning class I didn't want to talk to him for at least a week, it was the first class I went too and it made me realise how unfit I was and spurred me on to try all the other classes. I did one of his classes last week and felt bloomin marvellous afterwards! "PICK UP YOUR RESISTANCE" he would shout, and I didn't even want to hit him once! Success. I always thought spinning was for the really physically fit people but I've seen people of all shapes, sizes and ages in my gym doing the spinning classes.

Indoor Climbing

I've only had the chance so far to try this once but boy I can't wait to go again. I went along to Awesome Walls in Dublin not knowing what to expect and honestly a little nervous! I was going with someone who has done climbing many times but I was more worried about looking like a fool and was worried that I wouldn't be able to do it at all. How wrong was I! Again with the spinning I was so surprised to see people of all shapes and sizes, even children as young as six climbing. If you are not a fan of gyms and love to try something different I could not recommend this enough. I didn't have to worry about heights because they have walls of all different heights to start you off. I didn't have to worry about safety because they have equipment you can hire and the most amazing, friendly, helpful experienced staff you could ever meet to guide you if you need help. 

I said before, I'm not on a mission to lose a tonne of weight, I want to tone up, wake up with a spring in my step and have the energy to follow my dreams. At first it was hard but now it's so much easier and I'm....eh...enjoying it. Gah I must be going mad! I've received lots of lovely messages over on YouTube about when I'll be returning to making videos again and that won't be for another while I'm afraid but I will be back. 

Do you do anything that I haven't mentioned above that you think I would enjoy doing. I really want to try everything! I hope this isn't just a phase and that I can adopt this fitness buzz as a new way of living. Wish me luck girls.

Love,

Sarah

Twitter * Facebook * Instagram * Youtube

Date Night Prep - My go to products

Whether I'm meeting someone special or going out on a girls night I like to go through a little preparation ritual that involves the products above which I will go through shortly. Firstly I would like to express my jealousy at how men and women differ when getting ready for dates and nights out. Having three brothers has given me a great insight into the male preparation ritual. It mainly consists of a trip to the barbers, and the three S's! Shirt, shower and shave. If only us women had it so easy, aye!

Step 1, Hair: Who doesn't want shiny, healthy looking hair?! I know I do, so I use the Hair Doctor, hair and scalp mask from Lush. I apply this liberally to my hair about 30 minutes before I hop into the shower. This is my favourite hair mask from Lush, I repurchase it every time I go in, I really should try something else for a change but I'm happy with this one for now. Amongst the ingredients it contains Irish moss seaweed, coconut oil and almond oil so you can bet your bottom dollar you will be left with lovely shiny locks. It also contains peppermint which certainly wakes me up as I'm applying it.

Step 2, Face: While my hair mask is in and my hair is out of the way I like to apply a deep cleansing and exfoliating face mask and leave it on for 10-15 minutes before I shower. I'm currently using the Raspberry exfoliating Mud therapy Mask from Superdrug. This was given to me in a beauty swap from the UK by my lovely friend Steph. I am in absolute love with it and I hope I can find it in the only Superdrug store that I know of in Dublin here. It contains raspberry seeds and apricot kernels which is how it delivers a gentle exfoliation. The mask is clay based and leaves my skin feeling so much softer and looking a little radiant if I do say so myself!

 Step 3, Body: After washing the hair mask out and removing my face mask it's time to Scrub a-dub-dub! Every single day our body produces waste and the build up of old skin cells can make your skin look dull. The best way to improve the look of your skin is to exfoliate regularly. I am currently using the Sugar Crush body scrub by Soap & Glory. I got this in one of Boots S&G gifts sets at Christmas from my big bro. It contains brown sugar which does all the work for you, sweet lime to invigorate the senses, almond oil and macadamia grains which leave your skin feeling softer and smoother than ever.

Step 4, Lock it in: After you have scrubbed,  buffed and treated yourself you want to lock in all your hard work. I use Human+Kind all in one body oil. I love this because it's suitable for your face, body and hair and suitable for all skin types. It gets to work the moment you apply it and locks in moisture keeping your skin hydrated and feeling so super soft.

Step 5, Hands & Nails: Final step before you can begin to worry about what to wear and make-up! You're Almost there! I like to give my hands and nails a good bit of TLC. Usually before painting my nails I will steep them in warm water for a few minutes but because I've been in the shower I don't need to do this. I love the Lemon Cuticle balm from Pixy, it smells absolutely divine and also reminds me of one of my favourite desserts, lemon drizzle cake! The packaging is so cute and can fit nicely into my every-day handbag when needed. Their Coconut Hand Cream also smells amazing and you only need smalls amounts again to get your hands looking, feeling and smelling irresistible!

There you have it, and men wonder why we take so long to get ready! If only they knew what we got up too! I would love you to share your ritual with me in the comments below. Do you enjoy pampering yourself at home? I certainly enjoy the results!

Lots of Love,

Sarah

Twitter * Facebook * Instagram * Youtube

Easter Treats from LUSH - The Carrot

Lush have done it again! I love that they always come up with new and exciting products to suit the time of year and upcoming celebrations. It's a pity that the weather has not caught up to speed with that fact that it's Easter and the sun should be shining! This bubble bar is an oldie but a goodie! 

The carrot, a re-usable bubble bar is just one of the lovely treats from the egg-ceptional Easter range this year from Lush. To answer the "Does it smell like carrots" question I'm sure you are all pondering, no it does not. phew, glad we got that out of the way. Lush have come up with a lovely fragrance using buchu, lemon and bergamot which give off a lovely fruity smell...not what you would expect from a carrot right!

If you're not interested in the full bath bomb experience then these bubble bars will make an egg-cellent (okay I'll stop now!) substitute. I would get a good four uses out of this bubble bar and at €6.25 a bar that makes for egg-traordinary (I lied) value. I've heard of friends getting more uses from it but I like LOTS of bubbles and tend to go a bit mad. 

How to use: The way I always recommend to use the bubble bars is to hold it under the running tap, this will produce more magnificent bubbles compared to swishing it around in the bath. when finished I  like to let it dry and then store what's left of the bubble bar in a small plastic sandwich bag.

I did an aul video on YouTube last year called Lush Extravaganza where I showed all the products from Lush I had used over a period of four months and one of those products was the Cinders Bath bomb which a lot of you said couldn't use because the colour reminded you of......well pee! That didn't effect my thoughts on the product but I suppose for some of you it might be a negative. You won't have that problem with The Carrot Bubble bar, the more you use the more orange it becomes.

That's all folks, I would highly recommend you get your behind into Lush and try out the Easter treats before they are sold out. Lush has always been a favourite store of mine, I always get excited when I go in because I never know what I'm going to find. Let me know below if you have tried any of the Easter range and would you be interested in trying The Carrot bubble bar.

Love,

Sarah