Health Journey

FAJITAS

Published on January 19, 2018March 3, 2025 by simplycarinaxo19 Comments

Good evening beautiful souls,

The other day I made vegan fajitas – it’s one of my favourite easy meals to make and so I thought I’d share my recipe with you – I hope you enjoy!

(serves 4-5 people)

Ingredients:

1 onion
4 garlic cloves
1 red pepper
3 large tomatoes
1 chilli
1 can of kidney beans
Tofu (Instead of meat I use tofu, although I guess you could use vegan mince as well)
Fajita spices
Salad
Wraps

Method:

Chop up your onion, garlic, pepper, chilli and tomatoes
Drain the tofu and cut up, then marinate in the fajita spices. Tofu by itself is rather tasteless I feel, but marinate it in fajita spices and it changes everything.
Fry your onion and garlic in a little olive oil, once a little brown add the peppers and chilli. After 5 mins add the tomatoes and kidney beans
Wash the salad (I used Kale to fill the fajitas, but it is quite coarse so any other salad would work well too)
Fill your wraps (I recently discovered these amazing beetroot and spinach wraps in Tesco – I definitely recommend). Alternatively you can use romaine lettuce as a wrap which makes for a lighter fresh meal.

Now sit down and enjoy!

wp-image--566686388

wp-image-455969069

wp-image-2145304798

NEW YEARS RESOLUTIONS!

Published on January 7, 2018January 7, 2018 by simplycarinaxo8 Comments

Good evening beautiful souls,

It’s that time of year where inspiration is found around every corner and motivation fills my pores driving me to succeed. I don’t know if you enjoy making resolutions, but I personally love this time of year. Although every day can be seen as a new start, there is just something about the new year specifically that fills me with hope, a belief that this will be the year I succeed, that this will be the year I work towards my dreams.

2017 was good to me, although it had it’s bad moments and threw many learning curves my way, when I look back on last year there is so much for me to be grateful for and with this positive mindset I am excited for the year ahead and have made some resolutions I hope to fulfil; here goes:

Turning Vegan – I have reduced my meat and dairy intake in the last year and have felt soo much better for it. I have toyed with the idea of turning vegan for quite some time now, but always put it off making excuses thinking I’d miss certain foods such as eggs (eggs are definitely going to be the hardest part of turning vegan for me) however every time I watch a vegan documentary and am reminded of all it’s benefits and positive impact on our health, the environment and of course animal welfare it fills me with a deep longing to be a part of this movement and thus I decided that this year is my year to make the transition.
My Health & Weightloss – Last year I lost 2 stone and then slowly and annoyingly put 1 stone back on again. I always begin the new year on a high and then bit by bit get comfortable again eventually falling back into old habits. I am hoping that eating a Vegan diet will help me loose some more weight, but I know that the main culprit for me is sugar which I can still eat on a vegan diet of course! What I need to work on this year is curbing my sugar addiction. Now I know diet isn’t everything and thus upping my exercise is another thing I need to work on. Getting into a regular gym routine is back on the menu as well as making myself walk to work again rather than just hoping on the bus – this will also save me some pennies. So all in all, my resolution is to loose 2 more stone this year and keep them off.
Work On My Mental Health – I want to take more time for myself this year to work on myself. I know from previous experience that meditation works well to start my day on the right side of the bed and give me a more peaceful nights rest, so one goal is to start meditating in the mornings and evenings again. Another thing I want to work on is my anxiety, I want to learn to not let it hinder me from fulfilling my dreams.
Re-learn To Play The Cello – For Christmas I got the best surprise present ever, a cello on loan. I haven’t played the cello in over 6 years and so I want to make the most of this opportunity and re-learn how to play the cello maybe even take some lessons and really enjoy being able to make music again
Minimalise – Another big goal for this year is to become less attached to my possessions and slowly de-clutter and minimalise my belongings.
Start Saving – For the past few years I have had a deep urge to travel the world, but never managed to scrape quite enough together for a lengthy trip, so my last goal for this year is to begin a travelling fund!
Make More Time For Friends – Sadly so many of my best friends do not live close by, they are scattered across the UK from London to Edinburgh or even further afield like Germany and France. This means I rarely see them and I miss them greatly so I want to make a conscious effort this year to call more and hopefully actually visit them too.

Well there you have my main resolutions for 2018! I’m excited to start working on all of them and shall update you throughout the year as to how I am getting on! Did any of you make any resolutions for 2018 – I would love to know what goals you are working towards?!

CHRISTMAS WISHLIST!

Published on December 1, 2017December 1, 2017 by simplycarinaxo4 Comments

Hey there beautiful souls,

Now that autumn is slowly transcending into winter and Halloween and bonfire night are well and truly over I can slowly start to get excited for Christmas! I love Christmas, I mean who doesn’t bar the Grinch!?! The last few years I haven’t really had a Christmas wishlist but this year there are actually a few things I really want and I can’t wait to share them with you and look forward to reading your wishlist posts too!

Dinosaur £25 Wilkos – I know I am 24 years old, supposed to be adulting, but I’m sorry this Dino is just way to cute!!! And my childhood dream of having a large cuddly toy has yet to be fullfilled!

Epilator £44.99 Amazon – Anyone else hate shaving? It’s so tedious so I love using my electric shaver to just quickly go over my legs. Admittedly it’s not as clean a shave as using a razor, but does the job if you’re in a hurry. So as my old Philips epilator/shaver decided to give up I would really like a new one for Christmas and this Braun epilator seems a great deal. I’ve shopped around and amaxon definitely has the cheapest deal.

Milk and Honey £6.99 Amazon – This book has been on my wishlist for ages. I keep seeing her words float around instagram and have thus wanted to read her work for a while now.

Turtles all the way Down £7 Amazon – I really enjoyed all of John Green’s other books so I’d love to read his new one. Although I do already have a huge to.read list! Let’s be honest you can never have too many books!

Catan Extension pack £22.73 – this is one of my favourite games, but when my flatmates and I get together there’s often more than four of us so I would love this extension pack so that more of us can play together, because it’s not really a game you can play in teams.

Vikings Seasons 1-4 £34.99 Amazon – I absolutely love this series nand really want to rewatch it. However now that I do not have Amazon prime anymore I thought the best option was to add this series to my collection.

Bamboo Bathtub Caddy £17.99 Amazon – I love a good bath, who doesn’t!!! I go all out and make it a real pamper experience. I get out the wine, the candles a healthy snack and watch an episode of something. However there’s never enough space for everything, so I’ve had my eye on a bath caddy for ages! Hopefully this will be under the Christmas tree!

So here are just a few of the things that are on my wishlist this year. What about you? What’s on your wish lists this year??

Love Carina xo

BEST HALLOWEEN MOVIES

Published on October 28, 2017 by simplycarinaxo6 Comments

Good evening guys,

It’s time for my next blogtober Halloween post! I’ve seen so many people in this past week share their choice of favourite Halloween movies. I’ve enjoyed reading these posts and reminiscing over some of my childhood favourites like The Little Vampire, as well as realising how many movies I haven’t actually seen yet. Thinking of all these great Halloween movies really put me in the mood to snuggle up and have a movie binge night. So I thought I’d share a list of my favourite Halloween movies and add a list of the one’s I have yet to watch too because these are the ones I’ll be working my way through tonight once I’ve crawled under my blanket with a bowl of pumpkin soup in living room by pumpkin light.

Some Favourites

Casper The Friendly Ghost
The Little Vampire
Rocky Horror Picture Show
Sweeny Todd
The Addams Family

To Watch

The Nightmare Before Christmas
Corpse Bride
A Nightmare On Elm Street
Beetlejuice
The Craft
Hocus Pocus

That’s all from me today; do let me know what your all-time favorite Halloween movie is!!!

Love Carina xo

MINI GETAWAY – DESTINATION ALNMOUTH

Published on October 8, 2017September 2, 2024 by simplycarinaxo4 Comments

Good evening beautiful souls,

At the beginning of the week I was away in Alnmouth, a beautiful village on the seafront. It is my dads 50th this November and he’s celebrating early with his brothers, sister, their spouses and his mum who have all flown over from Germany so they can enjoy a weeks holiday together in Alnmouth. I could sadly only visit for three days as I had to work, but I did enjoy three days with my extended family. I took the train up on Monday and on Wednesday we all drove down back to Durham together so the family could see our hometown. Although short it was so lovely in Alnmouth; I am already missing it. Anyway the coastal scenery is just so beautiful there I just had to share some photographs with you.

On Monday we went to Bamburgh a short drive up the coast from Alnmouth, for a lovely walk at the beach, although it was so windy the sand whipped around our legs in a bit of a sandstorm.

The next morning the sun was rising over the beach and I enjoyed my breakfast with a view. The living room window had a lovely window seat looking out onto Alnmouth beach and it was the most peaceful breakfast I have had in a long time – breakfast goals on point!

After breakfast I went for a walk at the beach with my dad which was lovely as the sun continued to shine. The weather was just fab!

Later on in the day we went to the Alnwick Gardens where we had booked to eat lunch in the tree house in which is just so cute and quaint. The food was amazing and we all enjoyed ourselves. I sipped on my favourite Rose Lemonade, had a terrine for starters and pork belly with broccoli and apple mash for mains which was just scrumptious!

After our meal in the tree house I walked to Barter Books in Alnwick. It is one of the cutest bookshops I have ever been to. A large building filled with secondhand books, antiques and first editions. One can really spend half a day here browsing through all the books. If you are ever in Northumberland I totally recommend you take the time to visit this quaint bookshop. There is a little cafe for refreshments and chairs to sit and read in oh and there are some CD’s and DVD’s too, but only a small section. As far as I am aware you can also exchange books, as in if they don’t already have certain books you can trade them.

On Tuesday evening we continued family time and had a lovely night reflecting on the past by looking at old photos which was cute.

Well that sums up my mini getaway in Alnmouth; thanks for reading! Also I’d love to know if you have ever been in Bamburgh, Alnmouth or Alnwick, so please do let me know!

Love Carina xo

AUGUST FAVOURITES

Published on August 30, 2017August 30, 2017 by simplycarinaxo1 Comment

Hey friends,

I love reading monthly favourites posts but have only ever written one so far, so I thought it was high time for another. August has been crazy busy for me, so here’s what I’ve enjoyed this month in between all the craziness!

Tea!

I have been loving the Pukka Cleanse tea this August. It is light in flavour and comforting. Nettle, fennel and peppermint are all great herbs to help settle the stomach, so this tea is great for your stomach when stressed. It is very calming in general, I like to drink it in the evenings when I settle down to read before bed.

My Glasses

Yes, ok, I’ll put it out there straight away – I don’t need glasses, these are fake – please don’t judge me haha! I just like the look of these pale pink geeky glasses. They are a fashion accessory to me and I kinda love them. I had wanted a pair for a while but couldn’t find ones that suited me. I kept browsing Primark’s collection whenever I was there and eventually I found these. They were about £2.50 so a bargain really, I don’t ever spend much on glasses for fear of breaking or loosing them haha.

Music

These four albums have been my most listened to this month.

Step Up is the perfect soundtrack for a productive morning as it makes you want to dance about the house.

Tropical Gypsy by Molotov Jukebox is a good choice for happy vibes. Upbeat somewhat crazy songs that will put a smile on your face and brighten your day. I saw them live at the Lindesfarne festival last year and they were great!

A Creature I Don’t Know by Laura Marling is a more peaceful CD and makes for perfect reading or game playing background music. I also love to listen to Laura Marling when having a relaxed breakfast.

Southpaw – another great soundtrack; this one is great for the gym or exercising because it has dome great paced beats.

My Best Friend’s Wedding

This is more of an event rather than a thing of course, but I couldn’t not mention it, because it has been a favourite this month. It was a beautiful day seeing my best friend get married and I was honoured to be a bridesmaid on her special day!

Game Time

Towards the end of August I had my friend Nadia and her fiance Roland visit me and it was lovely as I hadn’t seen her in four years!!! We spent so much of our time together playing games and it was great fun! I love board games! They are such a great way to spend time together with friends having fun. We played many rounds of Yatzi but I also rediscovered a favourite game of mine which is called Die Siedler Von Catan. If you like games and haven’t heard of this one I recommend you go buy it right now haha (you can buy it in English too, don’t worry). It’s about acquiring building materials and then gaining points by building streets and cities… I love it!

My New Piercing

I used to have the side of my lip pierced but took it out about a year ago because I wanted a change. Looking back on pictures I always missed it though so I decided to get my lip re-pierced, but this time in the middle where I had originally wanted it pierced. At first I wasn’t too keen as it pierced a little too close to my lip for my liking, however I have gotten used to it now and I love it! So glad I got it re-pierced!

Sainsbury Mugs

I bought these mugs in Sainsburys about 2 years ago and they are currently my absolute faves again! I originally resisted buying them but I couldn’t stop thinking about them so I just had to go back and buy them haha! I’m so glad I did! They are a good size easy to hold and nice to drink out of, wether coffee or tea, I have been using them every day this past month!

Vegan Pesto Pitta Pizzas

So quick and easy to make; using a pitta bread as the pizzas base, spread a little vegan pesto on and top with whatever you choose! My favourite toppings with pesto are definitely just some fresh tomatoes and vegan feta style cheese with a bit of seasoning – yummy! Pop in the oven for 10 minutes and you’re good to go – enjoy!

Watermelon

I have been absolutely obsessed with watermelon this month! When you get a good one they are so refreshing and tasty! Definitely my healthy go to snack this August!

I hope you have enjoyed my August favourites post. I think I will try and make monthly favourites a regular post on my blog because I have loved writing this post and sharing my favourites with you!

Love Carina xo

MY GARDEN BEFORE & AFTER

Published on August 16, 2017August 26, 2017 by simplycarinaxo2 Comments

Hello friends,

The other week my parents came over for dinner and brought me a little present. I’d been saying for ages that I needed to de-weed the garden and so they showed up with a little trowel and my own cute gardening gloves! The back garden almost looked like a little wilderness and I couldn’t wait to tidy it up! So on a sunny day off I got my fingers dirty and took out all the weeds!

After a good two hours of gardening, here are the after photos; from a weed infested garden, to a tidier, cleaner looking back yard! Although surprisingly tiring work I enjoyed myself and can now enjoy soaking up the sun again on nice sunny days!

All that is left to do now is the front garden!

Love Carina xo

MOVING HOUSE

Published on May 3, 2017May 3, 2017 by simplycarinaxoLeave a comment

Good Morning my beautiful readers,

I am finally moving house!!!!! Wooo!!! It feels like I have been waiting soo long, well it has been aha 2-3 months! A friend of the family bought the house next to hers to rent out and she said she’d rent it out to me. Well not me alone sadly aha, but at least I finally have an affordable place to live. It is a three bed house and she is renting it out as a two bed, so I will be sharing with someone, not sure who yet, but I don’t have to find the second person luckily.

The house was in good condition but super dated and so she was going to have it partially renovated, however as things started it turned into a full renovation and thus it has of course taken so much longer than expected. Luckily my friend was super easy about crashing at hers for another two months aha for which I am soo grateful!

Anyway, now it’s finally time for me to move in! Yay! The past two days I have been helping clean the house and starting move things into place, there is still a few bit’s and pieces that need to be done, but it’s liveable now. Woo! Once the house is completely done I shall give you a house tour of course!

For now here is a picture of some lavender I bought for the garden which I am also excited to start putting together!

Love Carina xo

WHAT I EAT IN A DAY

Published on March 29, 2017March 29, 2017 by simplycarinaxo2 Comments

Hello my beautiful readers,

Time for another what I eat in a day.

So yesterday, as most Tuesdays, I had a day off and spent all morning working on this blog and planning future posts. For my breakfast I made this yummy smoothie: 1 banana, 10 frozen strawberries, 1 slice of pineapple, 1tbsp of cocoa, 1 tsp of matcha powder, 1 tsp of green boost powder!

At 1.30pm I was still working on my blog whilst catching up on watching YouTube, but paused to make a quick bite of lunch – courgetti spaghetti – yummmm! 1/2 a courgette, a handful of olives, tbsp of green pesto, 1 slice of ham, pepper et voila!

In the afternoon, I went to the gym doing some cardio and some weights. When I got home I cooked some dinner – a tasty green veggie stir fry rice dish! Broccoli, green beans, kale, bean sprouts, onion, garlic, chicken and soy sauce! Twas very yummy and I treated myself to some beer too, a light 2.8% small bottle from Lidl.

After dinner, I ran myself a bath and had another beer and watched some very powerful and interesting documentaries about the meat and dairy industry – I will write a post about these documentaries soon! Well that’s it for today or rather yesterday aha! Hope you enjoyed!

Love Carina xo