Today I had my gym induction. Met up with a nice bloke at the gym who showed me the machines and how to get a proper workout. Really enjoyed it, felt a lot fitter than I actually thought that I would. Shows that my home workouts has done me some good for me

He also made me try a power plate, a big plate that you stand on that vibrates that almost vibrates the living daylight out of you. *gosh* That one was intense. I did a sitting squat for 30 seconds while it vibrated and it was tough. A lot tougher than normal squats. But the vibrations felt weird. Don’t think I’ll do those on a regular basis but will probably incorporate them in my routine every now and then for variation. You can of course do a lot of different exercises on a power plate, just as you can on a regular mat – without the vibrations of course…

My favourite was probably the rowing machine. That gave a good cardio workout and whole body workout at the same time.

I have a lot to improve on but I’m still happy with what I managed to accomplish today. Never has the teeny tiny hill to the supermarket felt so long. *haha* I’m already looking forward to my next workout. *yay*

Exercise:

• Rowing machine – 2000 metres – 11 minutes
• Exercise bike – 5000 metres – 12 minutes
• Swimming – 30 minutes

I’m such a happy bunny today! After a three year long absence I’m finally back to my favourite skin care routine. Liz Earle’s Cleanse & Polish is so good. So now when we’re back in the UK again I decided to put in an order for the whole routine and as a bonus I received the exfoliator for free. Another thing I love is that every order is so nicely packed. It comes in a white cardboard box with the products individually wrapped in tissue paper and then all products are once again wrapped in tissue paper. It just feels so nice to open it. Nice that someone took that extra care to prepare my order. Maybe sounds silly but it brightens my day.

As I’ve told you before I’ve joined the gym so I had to get myself a new sports bra. I visited several shops but didn’t find one that I liked. They are so boring, bland and granny:ish. I want something fun and funky. Then I went to JJB and there I found this:

I just love it! Pink fabric and and it has a diamanté pink ribbon too. It’s a limited edition bra where £2 off every sold bra goes to the Breast Cancer Campaign. I’m absolutely positive that this will make my workouts a lot more fun well maybe not but as least I will have a pretty bra . Tomorrow I have a time booked for gym induction so I will try this for real then. Hopefully it will give all the support I wanted, it was marked as “level 4” ie high support so I hope it will give just that.

I’m not starving anymore! *yay* Had to get some blood tests taken today (just a basic health check – cholesterol, iron etc) and my instructions were “no food allowed before tests”. Guess if I were hungry!! And then I had to go to the supermarket and to some grocery shopping too… on an empty stomach. *aaargh* Well, well… all is good now that I’ve had my yoghurt and granola.

The weekend has been really lovely. Yesterday we decided to join the gym we visited a week ago. So we went there and swam a few laps and relaxed in the steam room and the sauna. *bliss* The rest of the was spent in the sofa as I wasn’t feeling too well. So I rested with my new book, Dead until dark. The book, or first book, that True Blood is based upon. An easy and enjoyable read.

Saturday though were a bit more active. We spent the whole day out and about. Walking, shopping, walking, walking, resting at a café, walking, shopping, another café, shopping and more walking. It was a really lovely day when it almost felt like spring was here. Not at all like today – freezing cold and windy.

Todays plans include getting some school work done. Want to finish my assignment in discrete mathematics. I’m also trying to finalize the details around moving our stuff from Sweden to UK. Maybe I’ll throw in some household chores in the mix… and definitely a lot of coffee and more reading.

I felt a bit restless today so I decided to take a walk. It was really beautiful weather today and there were still some snow left on the ground from yesterday. But I’m not too bothered about it, I’m happy to not have to put up with –30 degrees and 4 feet with snow anymore. I tried to map out my walk on Google maps just to show you approximately how I walked.

Jephson Garden walk – show on a larger map

I hadn’t decided where to go when I left the flat but when I reached the pump rooms I decided to visit to Jephson Gardens that’s just on the other side of the road.

This is the pump rooms, it hosts the library and museum amongst other things.

The garden is pretty large with a total area of over 14 acres. I didn’t walk through the whole park as I wanted to save something for me and Mattias to discover together as well. They have a temperate house in the parks that represents plant evolution from 500 million years ago to today. I think that would be quite fun to see. Anyway, back to today’s walk. According to the map above I walked through the lower left part of the garden, so I saw maybe a quarter of it?

I thought this building was really pretty. Such a shame that they have to keep it locked. I wonder why there is a window in the roof. What is up there?

This tunnel takes you all the way under the park. But I don’t see why one should want to miss the beauty of the park…

The tunnel on one side and the bridge on the other. This is the view between them.

The bridge was, for me, pretty scary to cross. I’m sure it was perfectly safe but I didn’t like it. The ground were bevelled and the water beneath the bridge were quite streamy. The bridge itself were really pretty though.

This is the All Saints Church in Leamington Spa. I will definitely pay it a separate visit one day. I love to visit churches. I have high hopes that this one will be pretty inside. There were a sign stating that they have a café, maybe I could drag Mattias along with me for a cuppa?

I can’t wait to see what this place will look like in the spring/summer. I’m sure it will be absolutely amazing!