Noom launch event

Thursday, September 04, 2014

So today was really exciting for me. I'm still kinda trying to assemble my thoughts about everything, but hopefully it'll all start flowing in my head as I write this!

My day started as early as 5am today. The event was scheduled to start at 8.30, so I needed to be ready and out of the flat by 5.45. I must admit, I feel sorry for the people who do this five times a week. I don't think I could do this kind of commuting for longer periods of time, it must be so draining to sit on the train for three hours a day on top of working full days!

Saying that, an odd day like this was quite refreshing in a way. It was quiet, the sun hadn't come up yet, the air was really fresh and it was just slightly foggy. One day I will get up that early on my day off and go for a walk with my camera! The train route passes lots of pastures full of cows and horses, and the fog just made the entire scenery so beautiful. That is definitely something worth taking pictures of.

As I knew that the event would have a breakfast buffet, I didn't actually eat anything at home. I really wish I had taken something with me, though. I was absolutely starving by the time I got to Oxford Street haha! The event was held in the Debenhams Bistro, such a pretty little venue. It was really cozy and welcoming, it really made me feel like I was just going to go meet up with a bunch of friends.

I'm quite a typical introvert, so this event did honestly frighten me a little bit. I'm not a conversation starter and being surrounded by people I don't know is always quite a big thing for me, but my wonderful Noomily (Noom family ;)) was so welcoming and made me feel so relaxed right from the beginning. It was also so great to actually meet people in person I have been emailing for quite some time, nice to actually place a face on the name!

Now, I'm not allowed to talk about the main bit of the event yet, but I'll make sure you guys get informed about it when it's time! ;)

All the food was absolutely delicious. The Juicery provided us with amazing fruit & veg smoothies, and I actually ended up having two haha! I had London Greens (spinach, cucumber, pear, lemon, basil and coconut water) and Sunset (banana, blueberry, acai, pomegranate and coconut water), and I can't pick a favourite out of the two! These smoothies were such a great example of healthy food tasting great without any of the chemicals and nasty stuff a lot of big companies put in their "healthy" smoothies.

I was a bit worried that my lactose intolerance would get in the way of enjoying everything that was on offer. I mentioned it in passing to the Noom girls and to my surprise I was given a dairy free mousse made out of coconut milk! It was such a nice little treat for me, lactose intolerance is really rare in the UK so I really wasn't expecting it! I could barely finish half of the mousse though, it doesn't look like a lot of food but it was very filling and rich. That and two smoothies was plenty to keep me going for several hours. :)

I also got the pleasure of meeting TheModelFoodie author Bailee today (check out her blog, it's amazing for dinner ideas!). Her contribution to our wonderful breakfast were goji berry breakfast bars, and oh my goodness they were the best thing ever! I will post the recipe soon, once I've had the chance to make a batch myself! :) All natural ingredients, very tasty and most of all - good for you. Goji berries are packed with all the good nutrients your body needs, and Bailee also added some extra protein powder in there to really bump up the nutritional values.

Some of you might get all suspicious of these beauties, but trust me, they taste like carrot cake! So if you're into that kinda thing, you will love these babies even more. Maybe I could fool some of my friends by turning these bars into a cake and just tell them that it's carrot.. Hah.

And just because being spoilt with good food wasn't enough, we also had the very lovely Jenni Falconer present to talk about the new A&W XPG fitness wear collection. Unfortunately I didn't get the chance to chat to her personally (too many interesting people to talk to!!), but I managed to get a really good look at the new collection. It's all really affordable prices, cute details and fantastic fabric. I also really like the overall colour scheme, might have to do a bit of online shopping soon.. ;)

I feel so grateful and honoured, I truly do. I never thought I'd be invited to such an event when I started my blog in 2013. I got to talk to so many interesting people, share ideas and experiences, eat amazing food and just chill! As we were leaving we also got small goodie bags, courtesy of both Debenhams and Noom.

I was going to wait until I got home to start rummaging through my bag, but I just couldn't resist the temptation and the goji berry bar didn't even make it out of London! Seriously, these things are addictive.

The full contents of the bag: goji berry breakfast bar, a shirt from the XPG collection, a Noom shirt, a fantastic phone holder for exercise (this was such a great surprise, I've had one before that was too tight for me so stopped using it) and a face mask by Sanctuary Spa. I shall let the pictures do all the talking. :)