Happy Day!

Hello! I have had today pretty much to myself, and I have to admit that I really really enjoy days like this, they are so chilled!

I got up fairly late and made a faaab breakfast to enjoy outside in the sun. My staple is oatabix which I love, but it was nice to have something a little different this morning that was just as filling.
I had:

• One banana
• Three chopped dates
• Handful of grapes
• Handful or raspberries
• One 'Shape Delights' chocolate & hazelnut yoghurt

This had more calories in it that my breakfasts usually do (just under 450) but it was worth it, and they were good, healthy calories!! After years of obsessing over calories when I was younger, it's so nice to be at a stage now where I'm not scared of eating high calorie meals when I know they're 'good' calories. Also, I absolutely adore dates - they taste like caramel sweets or something and feel like such a treat (they contain a lot of fibre, potassium and iron too... even better)!

 

I didn't really feel like properly working out today... but found myself messing around attempting handstands in my garden for a good half an hour which surely counts as some form of exercise?! I'm still not very good at them, but just keep practicing with the washing line poles, haha! It feels like it's giving my body such a good stretch though, so I'm not too fussed that I can't yet handstand unsupported.

 

 

I also did my usual 20 or so minutes of yoga which is always nice and relaxing. Even when I don't feel up to it, I force myself to and end up feeling much much better for it... it really is magic haha.

 

I'm really excited about dinner tonight... we're having homemade burgers and making garlic potato wedges - woohoo! I'll also be going for a hillwalk this evening with my boyfriend which I'm really looking forward to, I'm hoping for a pretty sunset. Ah happy days!
I hope everybody else is in as good a mood as I am today. Thanks for reading! x



Day trip to Stirling

Hello!
The past few days I've had some extended family staying with me and my parents which has been nice, and has given us an excuse to be tourists in our own country for a wee while. On Thursday we took a trip to Stirling, a small city not too far from Edinburgh, where we climbed the Wallace Monument (all 246 narrow, winding, claustrophobia inducing steps of it).

Although I've been to the monument before when I was younger, I appreciated this feat of architecture much more this time, it really is quite a spectacular building with an interesting history (it was built to commemorate the life of Scottish hero William Wallace - you may know him best from the Mel Gibson film 'Braveheart', haha).

 As well as the building itself being of great interest, I found it really worth the climb to see the fantastic views from the top of the monument! It was a pretty clear day too which was a bonus. The Alloa hills looked amazing! I'm such a sucker for a pretty Scottish landscape, must be in my blood.

 

Another reason I enjoyed this trip was because Stirling as a place is becoming increasingly relevant to me as - in short - I will be living there in just over a month!! I will be leaving home (scary scary) and moving into the halls of residence at the University of Stirling and aaaaaah I'm honestly so excited about it. I will be studying Retail Marketing which probably seems awfully dull to many people but it's something I've always taken an interest in. I picked my optional modules yesterday and I just can't wait to get started, haha.  In the picture below this (in the furthest background) you can see the white buildings that I think are the halls I will be in! Yay! It was really nice to see the university from this perspective, and to see how lovely the city itself looks as well as how much greenery there is around it. It seems rather tranquil, which is never a bad thing.

 

Sorry this post is a bit dull, but I will no doubt be mentioning my transition to university a lot more in the next few weeks as my time to depart is coming ever closer! I hope everyone has had a fabulous weekend.

                                   Iona x

 

New tablet!

Hello all,
I've spent the best part of today marvelling at my most recent purchase - a Microsoft Surface 2 tablet! I got it mainly for going to university in September, but I'm so excited about some of the features on it (including the insanely cool painting app haha). The camera quality on the front and main camera is a lot better than on any other device I've used in the past so I'm really looking forward to taking some good pictures for this blog!

Of course I had to test out the camera, so took a couple of pictures of an outfit... I cut out my face because I'm actually wearing no makeup other than the lipstick for the pictures, and I thought it'd be best to save you from that disturbing sight haha!

 

Everything seems to look better on a semi-good camera, yay! Anyway, if you like this outfit you can hype it on my Lookbook here or vote for it on Chictopia here ! I hope you're  having a brilliant day,       

Iona x

Manicure With A Twist

Hello, 

as I'm currently on my Summer holiday I have a lot of time to spare, so in turn have spent a lot more time testing out nail art than I usually would! The design that this post is about was surprisingly really, really simple to do and only requires a relatively steady hand. 

This works best with fairly long nails for the 'french tips' aspect of it. You'll need a pale pink coloured nail varnish and one other colour (it was an obvious choice for me...had to be mint...). If you have a nail art pen this works best as with a normal sized brush, the tips could get fiddly. 

I used a Model's Own Nail Art Pen.

Method

1. File nails down to a square shape 
2. Paint nails a pale pink and leave to dry (may require two coats, depending on how opaque you want it to look)!
3. Using the thin brush section of a nail art pen, carefully go over the naturally white nail tips 
4. Use a clear top coat to ensure they don't chip too soon!

Once you've mastered the method you could try this with any colour combination - I might try it again soon but swap the French pink for a brighter colour!  

I hope you're all enjoying your weekend, 

                                                             Iona x

Super Simple Breakfast Smoothie

Hello!
I'm really excited to share with you my first food-related blog post.
Recently I've been trying to stay as committed to healthy eating as I possibly can. Obviously, it's never going to be easy but it definitely does improve my overall mood when I do it right! At the same time though, I'm being careful not to get angry at myself when I go off track - I've had far too much experience with doing that in the past and it only leads to very negative places!

I do think it's very important to find a balance between eating well, and knowing when it's okay to eat pizza and cake. Life is too short to get too hung up about it!

That all said, I started off my day in a healthy and incredibly tasty manner with a breakfast smoothie.

You should probably know before I go any further...I'm not really one for using measurements when making smoothies. I kind of just chuck everything in and hope for the best! As of yet, it has never led to any disasters so I think it's okay, haha.



I made enough for a couple of small glasses (or one large one really), using:

• 1 small kiwi
• 6 wedges of fresh pineapple
• Handful of cherries (5/6)
• 150ml sweetened soya milk 

I used soya milk purely because I don't drink dairy milk, (though it would work just as well with any kind of milk) but because it's sweetened, it does give the smoothie a lovely sweet taste.  

There's not really a method to it...basically if you have a blender, put it in and blend it until it's smooth, haha!
Just to make it a little more interesting, after pouring it into my cup I added:

• Handful of sunflower seeds
• Handful of dried cranberries

This is relatively low-calorie (slightly higher if using dairy milk), so could accompany toast/cereal or whatever else you may enjoy for breakfast...it also makes a great healthy snack at any time of the day!

Please let me know what you think of this post or this recipe if you decide to try it! It would be much appreciated to get some feedback as this is not something I'm used to writing about, so I'd like to know if there's any point continuing!

Thanks for reading, 

                              Iona x

IMPORTANT/EXCITING NOTICE

Hello all,
as you may have noticed, I have come to neglect my fashion blog over the past few months (...maybe even years...). To be 100% honest, my interests have changed a lot since I first decided to create a blog way back in 2011, so I think now it's time that I altered my blog to cater to my current lifestyle!

I'm really excited to begin regularly blogging again, however my focus will be less upon just fashion and more upon my life in general which may include such things as: fitness, nail art, recipes, just little rants and rambles and of course still some outfit posts!

If you haven't noticed, I've already changed my blog title to Mint, Minimalism & Me , and my URL to http://mintminimalismandme.blogspot.co.uk/ (quite a mouthful, haha)! I'm still working on changing other elements of the layout etc, so please bear with me in this period of transition!

I'm looking forward to keeping you all updated on what is going in my life and I really hope you will enjoy the new direction that my blog will be taking!

Have a wonderful day,
                                        Iona x

Ten things that I have learnt in 2013

1. Stop stressing over school. Work no harder than you feel comfortable with and keep it in perspective - it’s really not that important.

2. Take every opportunity to be outside when it’s sunny if you live in a place where it rarely is.

3. Don’t build the foundations of happiness on another person. Don’t let them become the reason for recovery. Set down te roots on your own so you can learn to be content that way instead of pinning it all on someone else. It’s not fair on you or on them and will inevitably end in regression back to a not-so-good place.

4. Everything is temporary. Anger and frustration and sadness and pain will eventually pass, don’t make rash decisions when in such a state.

5. Try to respect yourself. Even if you feel worthless, don’t take actions in an attempt to prove it. It will only make your situation worse.

6. Don’t take everything people say at face value. Whether it’s intentional or not, people play mind games and being open to understanding them is a step towards protecting yourself from being drawn into them.

7. Question everything but don’t make unfair judgments. Question your own thought mechanisms too.

8. Try not to let the negativity of those around you become your own. Separate yourself from unnecessary negative energy where possible, and hold sacred the things that inspire positivity within you.

9. Trust what your body is telling you - it's usually right.

10. Remember that you’re entitled to your own opinions and thoughts and feelings. They’re as valid as anybody else’s and just as valuable.

Happy (almost) New Year everybody. :-)