Elisa... who?!

Well, hello!

I cannot believe my last post is from Feb 2011!

I don't even know where to start from...

RANT ALERT ;)

So much has changed in this year and a half: I don't live in Italy anymore, I moved to Ireland a little over a year ago, it was something that I wanted to do for the longest time. This changed so many things for me. Of course I had to look for a house, a job, I have different friends and... I went back to school. Oh yes, I just finished my first year of my 3-year long Naturopathic Nutrition course.

I honestly couldn't be more happy about this course and although it's hard to work full-time and study on top of that, I know it'll be worth it.

Needless to say that all of these changes took a toll on me. This past year has been far from easy but I am finally starting to settle down.

I feel like I've changed a lot, I've grown stronger in some aspects of my life but I am not as strong as I used to be in others.

I gained something like 10kg (around 22lbs), ironic, isn't it? I start studying Nutrition and I gain all of this weight.

I got really upset for months but now I feel like I need to do something about it, I need my old self back.

I just need to realize that going through some changes is not easy and slip ups happen but you can always get back on track as long as you don't give up on yourself.

So... I made a calendar last week to challenge myself to start exercising again, go back to my healthy eating and drinking more water.

Of course I will keep you all updated on how I am doing.

For now I am just starting week 2.

Week 1 was great I have to say. I stayed on track with my eating for the whole week, drank my water and worked out 5 day out of 7. I have to say I am pretty happy with that!

Week 2 though is proving to be a lot more challenging. All the excitement of starting a new journey is dying off and I need to stay more focused. Yesterday I had a terrible day as far eating and today it's proving to be hard too. I'm starting to realize that this usually happens when I have a lot of time on my hands.

So this is exactly what I will work on this week!

Starting weight was 72.3 kg (159.4 lbs). At the end of week 1 I was 71.2kg (157 lbs) but after yesterday's mess I was 71.8 kg (158.3 lbs). Well, I guess it's a work in progress, right?

I also took before pics (terrifying!) but I will share them with you at the end of this challenge.

Wow, this was a long rant, I don't even know if it made sense! ;)

Anyway, I am really happy that I finally took the time to update this blog and I'll update you guys weekly with my progress, I most certainly need to be accountable and I think this is a great way to do it!

Well, for now I wish you all a lovely and I will see you very soon!

And remember to never give up on yourself!

Love,

Elisa

Sick!

Hello everyone!

I've been away for a week and I apologise. Unfortunately I had the flu and I was in bed delirious most of the time :(

But now I am back, with still a little bit of sore throat but that will get better soon with lots of water and orange juice (I got lots of oranges to use up :D)

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I'm also planning on doing a 28-day challenge recap very soon, so check back for that.

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I'll leave you with a pic from "surprise Valentine's day"





Most fab pineapple-coconut drink I've ever had!





I was actually going to be in Milan to visit my dad on the 14th so my boyfriend decided to surprise me a few days before with a fluffy stuffed heart stuffed with my favourite chocolates (don't worry I've eaten just 2, the rest I am going to share... I think ;P) and taking me out to dinner.

The plan was to go to my favourite restaurant but when my boyfriend called to make a reservation he found out that it was closed and the same happened with a couple of other restaurant that I love... I mean, what's up with that!

So we decided to go out anyways and see what was open and go from there. We wanted to get out of our town and ended up going to Loano, a very nice nearby town on the coast. As soon as we got there, as it was a little too early for dinner, we decided to look for a place to have drinks first. I could not believe it but 90% of the little cafes were actually gelaterie! Imagine that, eating gelato in the freezing cold, right before dinner! Not going to happen!

Eventually we found a very nice place called Gipsy (too bad it doesn't have a website!), on the beach, with nice music, candles and all that jazz where we could finally have our drinks: bingo!

I got 1 2 drinks (made with fresh pineapple juice and fresh coconut... I was in love!). Lucky while we were there we realized they also served dinner on the 1st floor, which was even nicer, had very comfy wicker chairs (hope I'm saying it right) and overlooking the beach! Wow!

The restaurant made mainly fish but surprisingly they also had a lot of vegetarian dishes (since the chef's wife is vegetarian). I took the veggie lasagna which was to die for (no kidding, I'm still thinking about it!), a nice warm salad with feta cheese and we split a cheesecake (that was the only thing that wasn't that good out of all we ordered). Sorry guys, no pics everything was so good that I completely forgot about my camera taking pics with my phone (the camera is still broken). We definitely splurged coz it was so good but I don't feel guilty one bit, life is also about splurging every once in a while!

All in all our evening went way better than we actually anticipated it. The restaurant turned out to be even better than my favourite one! Plus I was really surprised by the whole thing and you can see that as I was wearing jeans and a top and I was completely makeup-less! lol

Isn't it really nice when life surprises you like that!

A story to me means a plot where there is some surprise. Because that is how life is - full of surprises.

Isaac Bashevis Singer

Love,

Elisa

Camera Fail

Good afternoon everyone!

I'm doing pretty well today but yesterday was just one of those days...

I started my morning with a really nice breakfast: coffee with my breakfast soy bread. Such a delish!

I made some small changes this time, as always (I can never stick to a recipe, even if it's my own). In this case I soon found out I didn't have enough soy flour so I used 90g of that and for the remaining flour I used whole wheat. For the pureed fruit I used mostly bananas (I think it was 280g) and a little bit of apple. Chopped the rest of the apple and mixed it to the batter.

Yummy! The chopped apple made the bread really moist.

Proceeded enjoying my morning and the absolutely stunning weather. Doesn't the sun make you feel instantly better?

I took advantege of the day and took a few pics. There were signs of spring everywere...

Those two are loving the warmer weather...

This guy was particularly happy... in case you couldn't tell...

I then made myself a lovely freshly squeezed orange juice with one red and one orange orange ;P

<3 the contrast!

A nice glassFULL :D

And some hummus.

First time trying it, I have to say I was pleasently pleased.

But then bang! My camera crushed. Brand new camera broken in less than 2 months!!! I'm so clumsy, it's not even funny. So now I'll have to take it back to the shop to see if it can be fixed, lets hope so! That will take a while though since I have to find the time to go to Milan.

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On another note, I've given my body a 2-day break from exercise since I felt very sore all over but I can't wait to working out tomorrow again. Still don't know what I'm going to do though. I'd love to go for a run but it's freezing today and it looks like it's going to rain any minute (I've been freezing my butt off at work!). Let's hope tomorrow gets better! I might just do some HIIT at home.

Have a lovely day everyone!

Love,

Elisa