Happy New Year everyone!!

It’s the start of a brand new year and the chance to start afresh and set new goals! As I’m sitting here watching Sherlock Holmes and finishing off the last bits of chocolate in our house I’m looking forward to the year ahead and there’s definitely some goals I want to focus on, number one being- get fit!

I’m normally quite a healthy eater but I do have an absolutely huge sweet tooth and simply, as this blog shows, love food but this Christmas, as most of the population does, I have definitely indulged myself and now is the time to start eating well again.

My goals for 2014 are:

Healthy eating and a good fitness plan!

Exercise is really important to me, I always love the feeling afterwards but struggle sometimes to get the motivation to get up and start it! Yesterday after eating a huge meal out and desert I thought right I need to get off my butt and do something so started dancing around my room and today I have no idea what I’ve done to my leg but it feels like I’ve pulled a muscle! Therefore sensible eating and exercise for 2014 is definitely in order! I’m quite tempted to give the 5.2 diet a go but I don’t know how I would manage on 500 calories a day! I might try it on Monday and will document it to see how I get on! I still believe that everything in moderation is key to being healthy.

Read more

I studied English and American Literature with Film at university and absolutely love reading but never seem to do it enough! I was very much against the kindle to begin with as I do love having a book in my hand but my brother was very sweet and bought me a kindle and in all honesty I love it. In fact I’ve been getting a bit too carried away with Amazon’s one click button and may have purchased a few too many books than I need. It’s getting the time sometimes or letting my mind relax enough to sit down and read a book but I think learning and reading is so important so I will try and dedicate more time to this in 2014. I found an amazing website dedicated to Women’s fiction readers and writers called Novelicious so I will be checking that out for recommendations too!

Guitar

I’ve had my guitar for a year now and still only know how to play four chords so some more practicing is needed! In six months’ time you might just find me doing some open mic sessions, watch this space- ok let’s make that 12 months!

Food

I’ve been working on a really fun food project this past month with Tastemade, whose mission is to connect the world through food.  The project involves using their app to film reviews of restaurants and food places around London. I’ve completed five so far and have 15 to go so January is going to be a busy month. My first few were terrible as one of the places I went to was Gaucho which was so dark I couldn’t see a thing. If I’d been a bit more creative and patient from the beginning I probably could have made a better video but practice makes perfect so I’m sure the next videos will be better! I will post a link to them soon!

I also want to do lots more cooking, not just baking but learn how to cook more savory dishes from scratch. This isn’t always easy when working late but I will just have to try and make time or start doing more cooking events!

And finally…

Writing

I hope to make many more blog entries, visit some exciting places, hopefully some abroad, and document them here on TeaandTakes.

Anything can happen this year so let’s look forward to it and make it the best one yet!