Settling down :: Do we have to?

If you're a seasoned W&P reader, you'll know that O and I have moved around a lot over the last few years. We lived in a hotel for a year in Kent, moved into a little flat in Essex, upped sticks and moved into a huge house in the North East and now we dwell in a little bungalow in a seaside town on the west coast of Scotland. 

All this moving left me with a longing to plant some roots and finally settle down. Our move back to Scotland was our bid to do this. We both said that this would be the last move for a while, we wouldn't look for new jobs anywhere else and we would start making a proper life for ourselves here. Now most days, we're both still on board with these vows, but some days (or weeks, like this one), our plans get a little shaky. 

This week I mostly feel like I want to pack up all our things, put it in storage, fill a backpack with clothes and head off on a year long adventure. I know the grass is always greener on the other side and that now we have the life we wanted, I'm now craving something new and different in our lives. Is it just that I haven't given our new life enough of a chance? Don't get me wrong, I love it here. I love our little bungalow (despite it being colder than the North Pole!) and making it "home" with Oscar and I love being back home with my family and our friends. I'm now just left with this "is this it?" feeling. Does settling down mean that we go to work every day and then have two or three holidays a year? I'm not sure if we're both ready for that (don't worry O and I are on the same page here). I love the excitement of moving to a new town, city or country and I'm beginning to think that I'll always have itchy feet (I think I have my Canada adventures to blame for that). Maybe we're just not the settling down type? Or maybe settling down means something different for everyone? I feel completely settled (much more than settled!) with Oscar, so maybe he is my home (smoosh - sorry!) and wherever we go, we take that with us? Does that make sense? Or maybe I just need a holiday!? 

What do you think? Does settling down mean something different to all of us? 

{image source}

5:2

I wasn't sure if I wanted to write a post on this, but a few people have asked how I'm finding 5:2, so here we go! I've tried most diets over the last few years and generally they all work with a little motivation and willpower thrown in. Before starting 5:2 I had been swapping between Weight Watchers and calorie counting via MyFitnessPal. A few of my friends have been waxing lyrical about fasting and had had genuinely amazing results, but the whole idea of fasting just put me off. If you asked O if I could survive on 500 calories, two days of the week he would've laughed in your face. I get hangry after going about three hours without food (no lie!). 

I decided to watch the Horizon special: Eat, Fast and Live Longer with Michael Mosley, which examines the science behind it and the health benefits. I won't ramble on about all that here, but if you're interested, click on the link and have a watch. This documentary really changed my mind on the whole fasting thing. The benefits seemed to outweigh the fear of fasting, so I decided to try it. I was lucky that my friends were there to answer all my questions (there were lots of them!) and let me tell you, it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be! 

So, the skinny (get it?!) of 5:2 is that you fast for two days out of seven. On fast days you're allowed 500 calories (600 for men) and you then eat normally on the remaining five days. I like to stick to my normal calorie allowance (I use MFP to do this) on the non-fasting days, as I'm not so good at eating "normally" hence why I need to lose some weight! But most people I know don't count calories on these days. 

Here's what a regular fast day looks like for me: 

AM :: I drink plenty of fluids. Normally just water, water with lemon or herbal teas. You can drink sugar free squash or fizzy drinks, but I think they tend to make me hungrier. 

PM :: I try to keep most of my calories for dinner. But if I'm feeling really hungry I'll have a low calorie cup-a-soup and a sugar free jelly. For dinner I tend to have some sort of protein (like chicken or fish) and vegetables (a salad, roasted veg or stir-fry are my staples!). I stay away from carbs as they just eat up my calories and don't fill me up. 

Honestly, it's so much easier than I thought. If there's anything I'm really craving I just tell myself that I can eat it tomorrow. I've never been so hungry that I thought I'd have to give up, it's really just mind over matter. I find on the days that I keep busy I hardly even notice that I've not eaten. From a weight loss perspective, it's definitely working. I don't want to tell you how much I've lost yet, but it's a significant amount and I'm so pleased! It doesn't even feel like I'm on a diet, it's that easy. 

Do any of you guys follow 5:2? What do you think of it? I'd love to hear your opinions! :)
{PS This is my 100th post...say what!!??}

{image source}

Hour by hour :: Monday 26th.

6.00am :: I wake up ridiculously early due to having too much coffee the night before. I never learn. O's alarm went off at 5.45am, so I got up and put my cosy penguin socks on to heat my tootsies up! Normally I'm still in *full* sleep mode when O gets up and he wakes me up to say goodbye. He's not used to an awake Lou this early in the morning!

6.30am :: A little early morning blog post publishing from O's PC. I was too lazy to go into the sitting room to fetch my MacBook. Did you see all the penguins in Monday's post?!

10.30am :: Off into town to pick up a parcel. See how you can *almost* see blue sky there?! 

11.00am :: I mooched around town for a while looking for the perfect eyeliner. No such luck, but I did find this ^^ Harry Potter t-shirt in Primark though! A bargain at only £6!

11.30am :: With the heavy parcel in tow, I decided to take my coffee down to the beach to enjoy a little fresh air and sunshine. Little did I know that as soon as I crossed the road leading down to the beach a hail storm would reek havoc with my plan! My coffee almost blew away! Roll on Spring! (Check out those moody clouds^^).

1.30pm :: I came home, wolfed down my lunch and opened the parcel (the fish + slow cooker recipe books). I then got cosy on the sofa and read some of my two favourite books of the moment. This font book is amazing. You can't beat a good font! Can you tell I'm looking for food inspiration with all these recipe books?!

6.30pm :: O and I made chicken enchiladas and I scoffed them all before I remembered to take a photo - sorry! They were pretty spectacular though! I then had a little laptop time along with some good old Netflix action (Pretty Little Liars - much to O's despair!) and made myself some liquorice and peppermint tea. Isn't this mug grand? I got in the Toronto Anthropologie a few years ago and I just rediscovered it at my Mum's the other day. Yay to forgotten mugs!

I kind of forgot to take photos in the evening, but it went pretty much like this :: I finally got around to testing the wifi feature on my DSLR - so so cool! It connects to my iPhone and I can then control the camera from my phone...talk about the ultimate selfie! It also let's you download the photos from the camera straight to your phone (or other device). Blew my mind! O has joined a new ice hockey team, so the rest of the evening was spent looking at ice hockey kit online and then finally getting into bed to discover O had snuck in a hot water bottle and wrapped by pj's around it! That boy is a keeper! <3

That was my Monday, how was yours? I hope it was a lovely one too!

Edinburgh Zoo {during a snow storm!}

We've been meaning to make a trip to Edinburgh Zoo since we moved back to Scotland, but we didn't intend to go when it was -2 degrees and in the middle of a snow storm! O booked the tickets the week before (so we wouldn't have to queue) and when we woke up on that Saturday morning the snow didn't start to fall until we literally walked through the gates! 

We figured we would have a mooch around, see a few of our favourite animals and then go see the pandas at our allocated time. When we went to the desk they said it was so quiet that we could go visit the pandas as many times as we liked! As the zoo was as empty as a graveyard, we pretty much followed the keepers around all day, which was SO interesting! They told us so many things about the animals (esp the Sun Bears aka my new favourite bear!) that we wouldn't have known had we shown ourselves around! As you can probably tell from the penguin heavy photos, we're HUGE penguin fans and we were lucky enough to get to see the penguin parade. This is when they open the gates to the penguin enclosure and let them walk around a little using us as the barrier! Unfortunately for us, most of the penguins were too mesmerised with the falling snow to care about parading around, so we only got to see about four or five of them running about outside! Oh and in case you were wondering, the penguin in the bottom photo with me is Shackleton (as in Ernest), we take him on all of our adventures!

The pandas are pretty awesome too, but they really just sat around and ate bamboo all day (not a bad life!), it's no wonder Tian Tian isn't pregnant yet! I think O's favourite was Darwin's Rhea, mainly because it followed him around and called out to him...a lot! O decided to call him Chris (get it?!?!). On that note, do you know the story behind Darwin and the rheas? Google it, it's hilarious! 

Sunday Mornings #19

Firstly, my apologies for not posting last weekend, I was down South at one of my Bestest's wedding, forgive me. This week has been an odd one. I've been to a wedding and a funeral (three more weddings and we'd have a movie on our hands!), so it's been filled with unbelievable highs and then horribly sad lows. But even the lowest lows were spent celebrating someone's life, so not so bad at all, really. Enough about me, how have *your* weeks been? Have you had any snow? Living so close to the coast we've managed to avoid it so far, but still freezing our behinds off! Here's a little catch up on my week...

+ Seeing one of my bestest friends getting married to the love of her life. Ain't much topping that, is there?!

+ Catching up with one of our friends over dinner (haggis!) and whisky and then slip sliding all the way home on the ice! 

+ O's perfect homemade spag bol served with a cold cold beer. Saturday night bliss!

+ Finding the prettiest little serving tray on sale. For £2. What?! 

+ Having an awesome TV week. Pretty Little Liars, Broadchurch, Big Band Theory and the Musketeers!

+ Making it through the week without breaking my leg on the ice/snow. Unlike my brother, who broke his ankle on it earlier this week! He's now sporting a massive plaster cast which goes all the way from his toes to his knee. Ouch!

+ Buying an almost new zoom lens for our DSLR. We're quickly becoming photography geeks and we've now managed to bag three lenses to go along with our new shiny camera. I fear for our bank balance...

+ Making it through another week of 5:2. I'm loving it so much more than I thought I would. I don't even mind the fast days! I may write a post on this soon...

+ Fitness plans. Next week there may be some yoga and a little swimming. Just need to dig out my swimsuit and yoga mat! 

+ Feeling very proud of one of my bestest of friends when she had to be so so strong this week. She blew my mind and I am so happy to have such strong women like her in my life. 

+ Listening to O making plans for an epic summer BBQ. So far he has grand ideas of building his own smoker and rotisserie. Roll on summer!

Posts I've loved recently...

Rosie's droolworthy three ways with hummus || Sarah's awesome photography tips || For some beautifully written heartbreak check out Tania's "Matters of the Heart" and Charlotte's "I want you with all of me". 

OK, your turn now! Hook me up with all your adventures and stories from this week! :)

Frosty Winter Sunrises {on the beach}.

You'll forgive me for sharing another post of beach photos, won't you? Ah I knew you would! One Sunday morning we woke up *super* early and decided to wrap up and head down to the beach to watch the sunrise. I know, hopeless romantics and all that disgusting stuff! We're so very lucky to live close to a few different beaches and on this particular morning we decided to take ourselves over to South beach in Troon. 

It was so cold that the sand crunched under our feet and we magically managed to have the entire beach to ourselves - when does this ever happen? We walked from one length of the beach to the other, hopping over little streams and clambering over massive tree branches as we went. Before long we were joined by a very jaunty little dog (props if you can spot him in one of the photos ^^) and his owner. We found a little spot to perch and watch the sunrise and before we knew it, the beach was filling up with dog walkers with their morning coffees. It was then we decided to head home for a breakfast of scrambled eggs and smoked salmon with a huge mug of coffee. Bliss. 

Sunday Mornings #18

Is is just me or has this week flown by? I'm not sure why, I've not been overly busy or anything but it's been a speedy one. I have to confess to only having just taken down our Christmas tree yesterday. I know I know, but I think I was just trying to hold on to that last little piece of festiveness before it blows away completely. For me, this week has been a chilled out one. No mad rush back to work or throwing myself into anything. I hope your week's been a grand one. Here's what I loved most about this week...

+ Finally organising my make up and toiletries drawer. It was seriously getting out of hand. Thanks to Ikea's awesome storage solutions I can now find things without having a full blown hunt. It also made me realise that I have far too much make up, so I'm now on a spending ban. Yeah, thanks Ikea!

+ Getting the good old job hunt under way and also trying to sort out my CV. I know there's no worse job in my opinion, but at least it's something I can now tick off my list and stop procrastinating. 

+ Feeling the health kick finally kick in. Too many "kick"s in that sentence, I know. I've being doing 5:2 and honestly, I've never felt better. My clothes were starting to feel overly tight thanks to all that Christmas cheese, but after only a week they're more comfortable already. 

+ O surprising me with tickets for Edinburgh Zoo! I cannot wait to see the penguins and the pandas!

+ Being able to stay inside whilst the wind is blowing a gale outside. Friday was spent on the sofa with a duvet and Netflix.

+ Speaking of good old Netflix, someone introduced me to Pretty Little Liars this week and I'm completely hooked! Many hours have been wasted spent watching it this week. Who the heck is A?!

+ Kiehl's Hand Salve is saving my life this week. My hands get so dry in the winter and this is the only moisturiser that leaves them super soft. 

+ Planning our trip to Canada this summer. I'm so excited and am counting the days til June 22nd! It will have been three years since I've been over and that's the longest since I lived there. I'm having serious Tim Horton's withdrawals. 

Before I forget, check out Rosie's inspirational post on New Year's resolutions.  It's definitely resonated with me this week. #IAmEnough.

How has your week been? 

Woodland Winter Walks

Every year on Boxing Day we like to take ourselves out on a big long walk to blow away all the Christmas Day cobwebs. Oh and to make room for more cheese and chocolate, of course! Last year we went to Beachy Head in the South Downs and the year before that we went to a beach in Kent. This year we decided to explore Galloway Forest Park. 

In case you didn't know, this park is the UK's first Dark Sky park. Scotland has some of the darkest skies around and with so few people living close to Galloway Forest Park, it's the perfect place to do some star gazing. We decided we would do a dry (day time) run first, so we would know where to find the perfect gazing spots. We piled on as many layers as humanly possible and braved the weather. As you can see from the photos, Boxing Day in Scotland was a bleak rainy one, sometimes it was even difficult to see the trees in front of us! Luckily the mist cleared up long enough for us to see the beautiful loch and for me to snap some photos of O (much to his despair).

I can't wait to come back in the evening when the skies are inky black, with a big cosy blanket and a steaming hot chocolate (or a dram of whisky!) and pick out all the constellations I can remember from Astronomy 101 at University!

Her.

I'm coming at you with a slightly different style of post today. A film review! What has become of me?!

"Her" was the first film I watched in 2015. I absolutely loved it. Kinda. I was left feeling a little weirded out by the whole premise and at the same time, an emotional wreck. Let me explain! Just in case you didn't know, Her is about the relationship between Theodore (Joaquin Phoenix) and Samantha (Scarlett Johansson), his OS (operating system). I don't want to enter into any spoiler territory here, but this film is just as heartbreakingly romantic as the real thing. I found Joaquin Phoenix's character to be so like Leonard from The Big Bang Theory...did anyone else find this? And I desperately wanted Samantha to be real! 

The soundtrack is beautifully melancholy and as usual, Arcade Fire nailed it. Director Spike Jonze is quickly becoming one of my faves (please tell me you've seen Where the Wild Things Are??) and although this film left me believing that this could easily be a true story in a few years time, I'm still completely in love with it. 

Have you seen it? If not, what are you waiting for?! Let me know what you think!

{Source}

Sunday Mornings #17

My first post of 2015! Happy New Year lovelies, I hope you had an amazing NYE however you chose to spend it. Where the heck did 2014 go? I know everyone has probably said this, but seriously! In 2014 we somehow managed to live in three very different towns/counties (Essex, Middlesbrough and Ayr), how was this even possible? I can't believe that this time last year we were still living in Essex, it feels like a life time ago now. Anyway, my apologies that my posts have been pretty sparse these last few weeks. I have no excuse except that I've been too busy enjoying myself! ;) I have lots of photos to sort through and many adventures to update you on, but for now let's talk about what made this past week a smashing one...

:: Driving up to the snowy Scottish Highlands. This is one of my favourite places to be. If you manage to get up there either nice and early, or just as the sun is going down it's so serene and seriously atmospheric, all at the same time. We took our new camera out for the day and played photographer for a few hours {the above photo was snapped on my iPhone 6 after I put the camera away}. We stopped at Glencoe, which always feels so haunted and deafeningly quiet. On the drive back down we managed to spot some sweet deer, just before the sun was setting. Such lucky ducks. 

:: Early morning beach walks. On Monday we woke up just before the sunrise and snuck off to the beach for a frosty walk. Is there anything more spectacular than watching the sunrise on the beach? Not for me! 

:: Westmoorland Services. Every time we drive down to Manchester, I always make O stop at this particular services. The farm shop here is the best around and is just a stone's throw away from the Lakes, so the scenery is beautiful. The food is amazing. We had pie and mash, of course and then a take away coffee to see us through the rest of our journey.

:: Five Guys. No visit to Manchester is complete without a trip to the Trafford Centre and a sneaky lunch at Five Guys! Oh the fries...and the raspberry Coke!

:: Spending Hogmanay and New Year's Day with O's family. On Hogmanay we ate take out curry, played Trivial Pursuit and drank cocktails and on New Year's Day we ate tex-mex and played an Egyptian themed murder mystery. Turns out O is a murderer. Who knew?

:: O's Grandad has adopted a little rescue cat. She is the cutest little ginger mog you will ever see! I spent most of the time with her sat on my lap, or being bitten by her for no apparent reason. Now I need a furry animal in my life even more!

:: We also hit up TKMaxx in Manchester and I seriously hit the beauty motherload in there! Got so much Una Brennan and Naobay skincare schnizz for such bargainous prices!

:: After our long drive home on Friday I had the best shower of my life. No exaggeration! You know some days, a nice long hot shower just hits the spot? This was my day. It left me toasty, clean and shiny and ready for a day spent on the sofa. Perfection. 

So tell me, how has your 2015 been so far? I have lots of little goals for this year, which I might share eventually. Some are the usual run of the mill get healthy variety and some are a little more personal. Do you have any goals/resolutions for the coming year?