PURE Spa & Leighton Denny

The other weekend I went along to a Leighton Denny event at PURE Spa in Aberdeen. It was organised by Laura and I loved every minute of it! They had laid out a huge spread of amazing food from Giraffe and Yo! Sushi and the nicest mini banana cupcakes I've ever tasted, which was pretty much destroyed by the bloggers (myself included!) when we first arrived and had a bit of a catch up. Unfortunately I didn't get to speak to as many of the girls as I would of liked. Sorry guys, I'm a bit shy/awkward, but it was lovely to see you all anyway!

But we weren't just there for the food, honest! We had a tour around PURE spa which is much bigger than I expected. They have 5 beauty rooms, 6 spa therapy rooms, a manicure bar, pedicure bar, infra-red sauna and rasul. Who knew all of those could even fit in there? The infra-red sauna caught my attention as soon as we were told you can burn up to 800 calories in one session - might have to test that out! I've never had any spa treatments before, mostly due to fear of the unknown, but after seeing all the beautifully decorated, relaxing treatment rooms I might just give it a go.

After admiring the spa we were treated to a bit of a nail masterclass by Nat from Leighton Denny Expert Nails. Before this I'd never even heard of Leighton Denny but Nat's knowledge and passion for the brand has really encouraged me to check them out. He showed us a few of their different products such as the remove & go polish remover, nail buffer and precision corrector - all of which worked amazingly! Nat also showed us what they call colour cocktails (layering different coloured polishes) and some of their best nail art techniques. My favourite was the naked moon manicure which was created by Leighton Denny for Dita von Teese!

We were all treated to a wee consultation with Nat about our nails and how to care for them. Apparently mine are in pretty good shape, but he recommended their crystal nail file to keep them at a better length. I definitely need to invest in this! I'm also thinking I might book into PURE spa for a manicure before my trip to Amsterdam in a few weeks. Thank you so much to Laura for organising the event, to PURE spa for their hospitality (and goodie bags!) and to Nat for being so lovely and teaching this old dog a few tricks.

Christy
xx

The Tippling House

Following on from my last wee blog update, I thought I'd share the rest of our May day weekend. We decided to treat ourselves to a meal at The Tippling House on Aberdeen's Belmont Street. Their dessert menu boasts "PB & J - Peanut butter millionaire shortbread, rhubard jelly & banana ice cream" and seeing as I'm obsessed with peanut butter I was desperate to try it!

Forever 21 dress // Primark shoes & earrings

Last time I was in Glasgow I picked up this dress from Forever 21 and decided it was perfect for a night out with my fave. I wore it with my peace sign earrings from Primark as they matched the gold studs on the dress. In hindsight I should of bought this dress in the smaller size but hey at least there was room for my food baby! I wish I could say that The Tippling House lived up to my hopes but unfortunately not...

We started by ordering drinks - I opted for my usual cosmopolitan (I like to think I'm a Sex & the City girl) but was quite disappointed when it arrived. It tasted fine but was served in what I would call a brandy glass. At £6.95 per cocktail I was expecting the glass to be a little bit bigger than that! Anyway, not a massive deal, like I said it tasted fine so that's all that matters in the end. For his starter Gordon chose the lamb meatloaf which tasted absolutely beautiful!

I chose the woodpigeon for starter and the ribeye steak for my main course. Now it could be my naivety, I've never had woodpigeon before so not sure if it's always served so rare, but I barely touched my starter! It was so rare there was still blood coming from it and was pretty much impossible to even chew. Like I said, maybe I'm naive, but considering I asked for my steak to be "well done", you'd think the waitress might of thought to mention the fact that my starter would still be alive! "Oh you like your steak well done but the woodpigeon is served rare, is that ok or would you like to order something else?" would of done. I'd of been grateful for the tip off and picked something I would actually be able to eat! Oh and even the veg it was served with was solid and inedible!

My steak however was cooked to perfection and I couldn't fault this course! It was served on top of a bed of kale, spinach and shallots, and the most amazing tasting sweet potato hash brown. I asked for the tomato peppercorn sauce, which I wasn't sure of the sound of, but actually really liked!

And then onto pudding. The course I'd been looking forward to. The sole reason we had picked the Tippling House in the 1st place. I was actually excited to try the PB & J! Until the waiter brought the menus back to our table and politely told us they didn't have it. HOLY DEVASTATION. My face must of been a picture. The one thing that could of saved them from eternal damnation in my mind and it was gone! Instead I picked the Chocolate Blondie, hoping that it's white chocolate and fudgey goodness would make up for the PB&J situation. It didn't. Don't get me wrong, it tasted fine, but it was just that. Fine and no more, nothing special. Again I was a bit disappointed in the size - Gordon chose the same and you'd think they'd just sliced one brownie down the middle and given us half each haha.

Overall our experience at The Tippling House was disappointing and I wouldn't rush back any time soon. Last time I was there (just for cocktails) I really liked its unusual ambience & design so it's a real shame that the food didn't quite match up! Have you had a better experience here?

Christy
xx

The Doppler Effect (Formerly Known as The Monochrome Trend)

This time last week I was heading to Aberdeen with Gordon for our May day celebrations. I'm not sure if May day is such a big thing in most places but in Peterhead it seems to be the one bank holiday where everybody has BBQs/parties/events on and for some reason it's always a super sunny beautiful day! I like to think of it as the 1st day of summer, and what better excuse do you need to wear a summery dress and sandals?

New Look dress & necklace // Forever 21 jacket // Zara wedges // Marc by Marc Jacobs sunglasses

I wore the same outfit to Jamie's Italian for the blogger meet up last week, but with thick black tights cause it was bloody freezing! When I 1st bought this dress I wasn't sure if I actually liked it, and Gordon's only comment was "are you going as the doppler effect?" haha! (If you don't watch The Big Bang Theory... what's wrong with you!?) Anyway, once I'd tried it on as a whole outfit I actually really like the dress. I stuck to the monochrome trend by teaming it with my white jacket and black accessories, with a pop of colour from a New Look necklace. Loving the lime green/neon yellow trend at the moment guys!

We were only there for 1 night, honest...

We stayed at the Rox hotel on Market Street, Aberdeen which is a beautifully stylish hidden gem of a hotel! It's absolutely beautiful inside. The white entrance is stunning and the rest of the hotel is just as bright and clean. Our room was perfect and larger than I expected. It was a standard room with a big comfy bed, seating by the window and a large dressing table - with a plug right next to the mirror, big thumbs up from me! It had a separate wardrobe/dressing area which led through to the large bathroom. Plenty room for my 5 pairs of shoes for 1 night too! (I'm not the only one that does that surely?) Before breakfast I used the fitness centre which was small but had everything I needed - treadmill, weights, swiss ball, mats - and seeing as I was the only person using it the size wasn't a problem! We paid £115 for our room, including breakfast, which seemed a little pricey but I guess not bad for such a nice hotel in the heart of the city. It's not somewhere I can afford to stay often but was nice for a wee treat and I'm sure we'll return for a special occasion soon.

How did you celebrate May day?

Christy

xx

Health Kick - Update #3

Well my PT sessions have been cancelled 2 weeks in a row now so I'm feeling pretty down about this whole health kick thing. I don't own a set of scales so I have no idea where my weight etc is at the moment. I've still been trying really hard to eat clean but I get tempted by chocolate and cocktails far too easily! On Friday I went to Jamie's Italian in Aberdeen which was so good, then I spent Sunday and Monday in Aberdeen wining and dining with Gordon, so I've definitely over indulged lately. Anyway I thought I'd just share a few of my favourite meals from the past few weeks...

Porridge with almond milk // Strawberries // Banana // Blackberries // Blueberries // Green tea

Breakfast is always porridge with almond milk and whatever fruit I have in the fridge. My favourite meal of the day!

Cucumber & reduced fat jalapeno houmous // Reece's pieces & mini cups // Golden Delicious apple

Grapefruit, orange & kiwi // Kale chips // Grapes // Pear & blueberries with natural yoghurt

I try to be organised and have snacks already prepared so I can take something healthy to work. I mostly snack on fruit (grapes are easy!) or cucumber dipped in low fat houmous - yum! But when there's chocolate shoved in my face I still can't resist. Especially when it's reece's! Last week I made kale chips which were amazing - I just followed this easy recipe - and I've started having natural yoghurt with fruit too.

Baked sweet potato with cottage cheese & raisins

My lunch is a strange concoction but it tastes so good! Cook a couple of sweet potatoes in the evening and then you can just grab them out the fridge to take to work in the morning. I only take half a potato for lunch so 2 will last me 4 days.

Mushroom rice // Aubergine ratatouilie // Honeycomb Cannelloni from Jamie's Italian

Steak from The Tippling House // Mini Burger platter with sweet potato fries from The Wild Boar // Chicken fajita salad from TGI Friday's

At night I'm still trying to eat some type of meat with vegetables and only a small portion of carbs. Obviously I've failed a few times this week when I've been eating out! We went to TGI's on Monday and I tried to be good by ordering the salad... there's no way that thing is healthy! The biggest plate of food I've ever seen was placed on my table! It was delicious though and probably half the amount of calories as everything else on the menu haha. 

As well as swimming, kettlebells and EPIC, I've still been going to the gym a few times a week. I even used the hotel gym when I stayed over in Aberdeen. Hopefully this will counteract my bad food choices! To be honest I don't feel any different now to when I started, the only thing I've noticed is that my arms are toning up. We're hoping to get our PT sessions back up and running next week so fingers crossed I get good results on his scary scales :|

Any suggestions of healthy, clean meals and snacks I should try this week?

Christy

xx