A freebie from a recent stay at a Crowne Plaza hotel. You roll the ‘breathe in’ solution onto your pulse points before going to sleep. The blend of Frankincense and Eucalyptus smells heady and delicious and I’m convinced that I’m sleeping better as a result. The Deep Sleep Heavenly Candle and Perfect Eyes Recovery Cream from the same range have gone straight onto my wishlist!
2. Ipod Shuffle
This is so tiny that I often forget I’m still wearing it (and am then reminded when the headphone wires get caught on a door handle!). I use this for workouts, whilst I’m cooking or doing the housework, then plug it into my car sound system when I’m driving. The only problem is that there is no screen, so if you want to listen to a particular song(s) you have to skip through until you find it. I get around this by creating playlists.
3. Audiobooks
I always have at least one book on my Ipod. I joined Audible.co.uk and get a credit for 1 book every month, but I often get through 2 or 3 books in that time. I purchase a lot of books through Audible’s flash sales which offer 2 for 1’s or discounts.
I have found that listening to an audiobook really helped me when I first started running again, as it gave me something else to concentrate on other than my breathing. I am more motivated to go out running when I’m halfway through a really good audiobook as I want to know what happens next in the story!
My sister first introduced me to Yankee Candles. Now I adore them. My all time favourites are Lemon Lavender, Vanilla Lime and Fresh Cut Roses. If I’m feeling particularly decadent, I light one in each room, so that as I walk through I catch the wafts of each scent. Heavenly.
5. Handheld weights
Winter has kicked in. It’s dark when I wake up and dark when I get home from work and the roads by me are not well lit, so I’m not running at the moment. Instead I’m supplementing my gym workouts with an extra weights session each morning when I wake up.
I’m focusing on squats, lunges, crunches and add in some bicep and tricep moves too when I have the time; all based on the moves and technique that I’ve learned at BodyPump (link HERE for previous post). Today I bought a pair of 3kg dumbbells to give me a bit more of a challenge, as I only had 1.25kg weights beforehand. At the gym when I use a barbell I squat with 7.5kg on each end, but working out at home with handheld weights feels quite different, so I’m working up slowly and learning as I go along.
Squats really are one of the most evil and yet effective workout moves that you can put yourself through!
6. My cosy pj bottoms.
Elastic waistband + super
soft fleece + festive pattern = ultimate comfort. Is it too early for
festive pj’s? Not in this household!
7. Cuddles with cats
Naturally. Cats never go out of fashion 😉
