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Monday 24 April 2017

Strawberry & White Chocolate Loaf Cake

If you're after a healthy recipe, you're in the wrong place. If you're after a cheeky weekend treat to bake on a Saturday afternoon, then listen up!



Makes around 12 servings depending on how hungry you are...

Ingredients:

110g Butter
250g Self Raising Flour
220g Caster Sugar
1tsp Vanilla Extract
2 Eggs
125ml Milk
1/2 Teaspoon Salt
20g Freeze Dried Strawberries
100g White Chocolate
(Approx 272 calories per slice)

1. Pre-heat oven at 180 and grease a loaf tin, or any sort of tin you wish to use.

2) Cream together the butter and the sugar until smooth.

3) Whisk in the eggs and the vanilla extract, along with the milk.

4) Then, add your flour and salt.

5) Carefully stir in your strawberries and your white chocolate, but save a little for melting on top (I saved three squares).

6) Bake in the oven for around 35 minutes, but this will depend on your oven and the tin you use, so keep an eye!

7) Once the cake is cooled, melt the leftover chocolate and drizzle over the top (makes your cake look 10x more professional!).




Let me know if you guys recreate this, it genuinely is so nice, but if you love strawberries I'd definitely say to add a couple extra grams.


Friday 21 April 2017

I Don't Know What To Do With My Life...



I'm guessing the title of this post is pretty self explanatory, right? As you may have predicted by the seemingly "send help, I am struggling life decision" topic, yes, I am struggling to decide what to do once I graduate. There are some questions I am continuously asking myself regarding life after graduation, so I thought I would share in hopes that someone else feels the same.

What job should I get?
Well, truth be told, all the jobs I am genuinely interested in don't seem to exist, or if they do, I don't have enough experience. Like, what is that all about? A job advertised on a graduate site but they want you to have 5 years experience in a similar role...ok then. I don't believe that graduates, or even young people in general for that matter, are given enough guidance on what to do once they finish their studies. If you, like me, aren't studying a degree which leads to a specific job, it can be very daunting and almost impossible to investigate every job opportunity and find that one that is perfect for you.

Where am I going to live?
I do not want to rent anywhere, and obviously as a student with a £27,000 debt purely in tuition fees, I cannot afford to buy a house. On the other hand, moving back in with my parents seems almost impossible. Don't get me wrong, I adore my family, but once you have spent three years living independently, with your friends, it can be a struggle to imagine living back at home where you are going to be expected to do chores and tell your parents what you are doing all the time. It's just not for me, but I know its a situation I will, like most other graduates, find myself in for a few years (unless I win the lottery...someone rig it for me?!)

How am I ever going to buy a house?
If I get an average job, earning around £22,000 a year, after tax is taken off I am really not looking at a huge income, meaning that with my student debt taken into account, any mortgage I apply for is likely to be fairly small. In the area I grew up in, a small flat costs around £220,000, which is insane considering what that would buy you up north. The housing prospects for young people is pretty depressing if you ask me.

How am I ever going to be able to travel the world?
All I dream of doing is travelling. I have an extensive list of places I want to visit, and I fear that once I am in a full time job, travelling is just going to be impossible. Saying this, I also cannot afford to travel before I get a full time job. What is the solution?!

How will I ever afford a Chanel Handbag?
I am half kidding about this one, but seriously, if you are saving for a house, and trying to live a fairly social life, how the hell am I supposed to treat myself to the material things I want?



Currently, I am just spending any spare time I have searching for jobs which sound super interesting, and although they may not be my 'dream job', or something I want to do for the rest of my life, it's making me feel a little more secure knowing that I have applied for jobs, and that there are some interesting jobs out there. I'm also extensively investigating how much each trip I want to do will cost me, so I can work out where I can go in the Summer, and which places I can tick off my bucket list in the near future. 

I guess this post was a little bit of a life update, and a little bit of a rant. But I would love to know if any of you are in the same position as me? What you are doing to overcome this, or if you aren't in my position any longer and have overcome this in the past, how?!


Monday 17 April 2017

Feeling Peachy with Puma

Hi guys, I hope you're all enjoying your Easter weekend! 
This is not a wordy post, I just wanted to share some outfit photos of my current favourite daytime outfit. This top was an absolute bargain and I love the fishnet sleeves on it. I never normally go for peachy colours either, so this is something different for me, I'd love to know what you think!












Top: ASOS - £21.00
Jeans: New Look - £29.99 (similar)
Trainers: Nike - £70.00
Jacket: H&M - £19.99

Apologies, I still haven't found an aesthetically appealing colourful building wall to photograph against, I'm a bad blogger.

Friday 7 April 2017

Updated Health & Fitness Goals...

Prepare for some awkward self-timed photos.


I've been solidly going to the gym for a good couple of years now, and although my main goal is still the same: to be happy in my body, I have added in a handful of new goals which I am striving towards.


To do ten unassisted pull-ups. I am slowly decreasing my weight on the assisted pull-up machine, so I know I am getting closer to my goal. It's not one I expect to reach this side of summer, but I know I will be hella proud once I achieve this.

Squat 80KGs. Bearing in mind I can only squat around 35-40kgs on a good day, this goal is one I am anticipating to take the longest. I actually have pretty weak knees so squats are a challenge for me anyway, and this goal is one I will have to be extremely careful with. I am currently slowly trying to add on an extra 5kgs every other leg/bum day, so hopefully I will reach my goal with no injuries to show for it.

Run 5km, without stopping, might I add. I am not much of a runner, as I mentioned I have quite weak knees so running for too long does tend to upset them a little. However, since I did the Race For Life two years ago I have really been inspired to run a little more. My fitness is definitely increasing through my HIIT classes that I attend, so I am hoping that soon I will be able to run 5km without stopping every half a km to breathe!

Start Boxing. I don't know if this would really be classed as a goal, but I really want to start boxing as it is such an amazing way to keep fit. I don't mean the whole literal fighting in a ring type thing, but more boxing with a trainer. It's possibly something I will have to take up when I move back home, as Colchester doesn't have much to offer in terms of boxing, but I am determined to start incorporating it into my routine.


Overall, my goals are now much more focussed on what I can achieve in terms of my strength and my fitness, rather than aesthetics. Yes, it is still hugely important to me to feel body confident, but honestly, knowing I am getting stronger is making me ten times happier than I would be having abs (not to say I don't want abs...). I urge all my fellow gym enthusiasts to set yourself a handful of new goals which aren't related to how you look, but more about how you feel or your strength. We all spend far too much time obsessing about what we want to look like, but creating strong bodies and minds is just as important.


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