Happy New Year everyone! Hope the hangovers have passed by now. ;)

I spent my night at home watching Game of Thrones and just relaxing. I was so tired after work that I barely made it until midnight haha! I was all cozy in bed before midnight and my other half actually told me to wait another five minutes before drifting off so he could say happy New Year to me.

My grand plan for today was to recolour my hair. I mean it wasn't looking bad at all, I just fancied a top-up to keep the colour looking fresh. As I wash my hair the colour keeps getting more pastel, which is very cute actually. I've been getting lots of compliments on my hair ever since I got Special Effects as well. :)


The only bad thing about SE is that it takes a lot of prep. The colour stains INSTANTLY so I needed to make sure I was all covered up (including rubbing Vaseline all over my ears and hairline), I had my gloves on, all the towels were far away from me and that I had some makeup remover (really works with SE stains) close by in case I spilled some colour anywhere. As we are renting this flat I don't want to cause any permanent damage..


Once I wrapped my hair in cling film (keeps the heat in and avoids any accidental mess) I actually sat there watching GoT for a good three hours before I washed it off. That's the wonderful thing about this stuff, it can just sit in your hair for as long as you want. Oh and the shade of my hair changes completely depending on the light - out of natural light the shade is more wine red than pink, but in direct daylight it's pretty much bright pink. In love with this stuff, honestly. ♥


As a little promise to myself (not really a resolution, though) I'm going to go back to the "old ways" of my blog - more food photos! I'm going to try and document every single meal this year, hopefully I won't fail too badly at it. ;)

Oh and I've just ordered a really cool looking fitness accessory, more on that when it arrives!

Breakfast: oatmeal and coffee
Lunch: salmon, roasted sweet potato & carrots and lettuce
Dinner: meatballs made with some leftover roast veg, homemade tomato sauce and whole wheat spaghetti

I've NEVER been a Christmas person. It hasn't been a holiday worth celebrating and enjoying, but for the past few years I've allowed myself to get into it a little bit. I don't know if it was just determination to hate the entire holidays (well, I still believe it has lost all its value as an opportunity to spend time with your family) but being surrounded by people who actually enjoy it and get all excited when they get to decorate their houses and get a tree must've rubbed off on me a little.


And the fact that my other half is quite into it has definitely affected it all. Now that we have our own flat, he's really been looking forward to having our very own tree and decorations. We actually went to B&Q a few weeks ago just to get decorations and lights ready, even though we only got the tree a few nights ago.



I must admit, it gives the flat a special atmosphere. I think I will miss it when it's gone! Our Christmas plans are quite open still, I'm working over the holidays apart from Christmas day so I believe we will just get together with the family and relax.

The one thing that always gives me a bit of stress is the whole deal with presents. I'm really not a present person (I always tell people not to get me anything, but they never listen!) so I rarely buy presents for anyone unless I actually see something that feels like the perfect thing to give. I don't want to buy stuff just for the sake of it, it completely goes against my values. 



I'm actually really pleased with the lights I got for the windows. They look good enough to keep on the wall all year round really, they're not exactly screaming "Christmas" all over the place. :)

Now that I'm back to being a redhead, I've done so much research about how to keep my colour last. The few boxes of Garnier Olia I bought washed straight off, so I had to result to buying "specialist" hair colour from Special Effects. It was a very messy process and the colour has stained my finger nails, arms and neck, but oh my the end result is stunning! It's just the perfect mixture of pink and red, couldn't get such a pretty result with high street colours! And the one bottle I got will last me for ages, I only used about a 1/4 of it this time (mixed into some conditioner). Special Effects is a vegetarian colour brand, they use no peroxide or other nasty chemicals so it's perfectly fine to leave the colour in for several hours. Some people have said that they actually wrap it all up in cling film and a towel and have it in their hair overnight! My hair feels really healthy despite the colour being very harsh, couldn't get the same feeling with normal hair colours.

I think I've found the colour I've been searching for all these years! ♥

I had a day off from work on Saturday, and had amazing plans of going to the gym or just for a long walk to stretch my legs a little bit. But what did I do instead? Do my hair. Again. I used a very warm, redish colour a few weeks ago, and I really should learn to just give up on anything red. All the red pigment had washed out ages ago and my hair was left so ugly and messy, I just couldn't keep looking at it anymore!

The 'before' picture! :D

I went for my usual set again - Colour B4 hair colour remover and two packs of Garnier Olia hair colours. I knew the colour would go a lot darker than what the pack shows, so figured that it'd be a wise choice to pick a tone few shades lighter than I was after.

The colour stripping process is quite a lengthy one. I use the one designed for darker hair colours, so I actually need to leave the mix in my hair for an hour. On top of that I have to wash my hair for ten minutes afterwards to get the colour molecules washed off properly. As my hair is getting a bit longer now, they recommend covering your hair with cling film to keep the heat in and speed up the process. I always get really funny looks from my other half when I do this.


As I've been colouring my hair red for years, the red pigment has permanently stained my hair. The end result of the colour remover was a very ginger monstrosity, I'm just very glad I bought the hair colours as well. :D If I didn't like red hair so much, I'd probably get back to my natural colour every time I did this.


There's one thing about Olia that still annoys me - the amount of bottles you get in the packs! The applicator bottle is empty instead of having the developer cream in it already, which just makes the colouring process a little more awkward! I mean, who gets all the cream out of the tube? Why couldn't it just be in the bottle like in every other hair colour you buy?


And ta-dah! The colour does look a bit darker in the picture than it really is, but I'm very happy with the result. :) A nice, even colour without any patches - and changing the overall tone from warm to cold is quite refreshing.


And just to finish this post with a bit of food heaven - amazing Tesco's Finest beef burgers with wholemeal buns, sweet potato chips and fresh salad on the side. This kept me going for the entire hair operation, hah!

Oh I am so happy! Two and a half hours of pampering and my hair looks exactly the way I've wanted it for such a long time now.

It's been very consistently gray for a good few days now and of course today wasn't an exception. I really wanted to walk to the hairdresser's as it's only a 15 minute walk from the house, but I'm really not a fan of walking in the windy weather with an umbrella, it just slows me down because I need to struggle with it every time the wind grabs hold of it. So instead I decided to rely on the trusty public transport.


I go to Lotus Styling whenever I can afford it. The staff is incredibly friendly and professional and you're really looked after! I asked for a cup of coffee while I was waiting for the colour to work and I must say, that must've been the best cup of coffee I've ever had!

I had a three colour treatment - two different mixes of the base (a stronger one to cover my blonde roots) and highlights with a lighter shade - and a trim. I was tempted to go for a bob but then again I've been so patient with my hair so I didn't want to cut it too much. It's all even and healthy again though and that's the main point.


My phone camera (and the cloudy weather) really didn't do wonders for the colour, it's a lot brighter in proper light. :) The highlights are very subtle and blend into the base incredibly well, I didn't want them to stick out like a sore thumb and that's exactly what I got. Instead they just give a fantastic detail to the colour and I'm so in love with it. ♥

I really can't say this enough - taking pictures of my progress has been one of the best things I've done this year. When I feel like I'm hitting a wall on the scales, looking back to last spring really makes me feel happier about myself and my progress. I just keep telling myself that there's absolutely no point giving up, I've come way too far to throw it all away.

And the thought of wearing a bikini next summer does kinda keep me going too. :D


These pictures were taken 2nd April. Such an insane difference, isn't it? Especially the difference in my face and neck, I actually have clear definition now instead of just one straight line from ears to shoulders!


It's funny how I really miss having red hair. It just keeps popping up every few weeks, I either look at old pictures of myself or just see an advert with the most stunning red hair colour. I've actually made myself a promise - I'm going to get my hair done properly at a hairdressers before the end of the year. I've been trimming and colouring my own hair for absolutely ages now, I just can't really afford the luxury of getting my hair done every month or two. I think it's actually been about one and a half years since I've been to my hairdressers. Oh my.


I've already decided what kind of red I'm going for and what to do with the cut, but you'll just have to wait and see. ;)

When I got home from work last night I had three parcels waiting for me in our office; my friend's birthday present (a slightly rude thing so I will not post about it :D), new remotes for our TVs (how exciting, right?) and my brand new Skullcandy headphones!


They're gorgeous! ♥ I've had Skullcandy Lowriders before, but my trusty old ones finally gave up after nearly four years of loyal service. Got some pictures of the old ones here. :) These headphones aren't ridiculously expensive but it does tell you something when they last for years instead of a couple of months like all the other headphones I've bought before.

And I coloured my hair as well last night! It did go a bit darker than I wanted but nevermind, it'll fade in a few washes. :) I do like it though, I didn't feel like having a meltdown last night when I saw the result! :D


As I've made it very clear over the past month, I've really struggled with sticking to good eating habits and exercising enough lately and it did really show on the scales this morning. Didn't lose anything and my measurements weren't that brilliant either, but that's just given me more motivation to stick to this two month plan. I've had to take it easy this week because of my ankle, but it seems to have healed again so it'll be full steam ahead again. ;)

Arms: 30cm (30cm)
Bust: 99m (101cm)
Waist: 72,5cm (73,5cm)
Belly: 90,5cm (91cm)
Thighs: 57cm (57,5cm)
Weight: 72kg (72,6kg)

Well ok maybe not. I just got bored tonight and started messing around with my hair, mainly with my birthday party in mind. Me and my friend decided that we want to have another theme party this year and she suggested rock chick - well that's more than fine by me!

I've already sorted out the clothes, may need a few accessories for it all to make it a bit more colourful, but that can wait for a bit. I'm not a very skilled hair stylist and I barely do my hair at all during the week so I wanted something very simple and that doesn't require hours of hard work and tons of different equipment.

Well, this is what I managed! Also new hair colour, yay. They've finally started selling the exact colour I've been after for aaaaages, a very dark natural red hair colour. I know the pics are a bit dark, but this gives a better idea of what the colour should look like. Not quite as red, but hopefully in a few colours it'll be. :)


And just for comparison, here's a picture I took in April (the pic on the right, the one on the left is from last year). My face has shaped up very nicely since then, I don't look quite as swollen as I did and those weird bumps on my neck have disappeared too. Yay for visible progress! :)

Apologies for the long gap between posts. Real life has it's ways of interfering with things. :)

I've really been able to find some kind of serenity by the sea in the middle of everything that's been going on. I've just automatically gone to the beach instead of somewhere else when I've gone for a walk. It's just so beautiful and quiet over there.


I've had a bit of a hair crisis for a while now. The colour just didn't turn out to be as even as I wanted it when I coloured last time (a month ago?), my fringe ended up being two shades darker than the rest and I had this layer of red mixed in with the brunette. So I had a master plan of buying hair colour stripper and a hair colour a few shades lighter than what I have currently. The stripper worked wonders like it always has before, but unfortunately I didn't have time to add the new colour (and I also ran out of hot water...) before going to the gym. So I went to the gym looking like a carrot!! Was a bit embarrassed, but had no other option than to suck it up and focus on my workout instead of worrying about my hair. :p