Doom And Gloom Has No Place Here

Tube strikes, floods, gales, these have all passed me by this week and I'm grateful for it. It's meant that I haven't wasted energy on being negative but have, instead, had a really wonderful week. My real highlight was going to Nordicana to spend around 5 hours watching amazing Scandi drama and taking part in Q&A sessions with the stars. It was held in an appropriately cold and stark brewery building near Brick Lane but I was warmed by vodka and my down jacket.

Sophia Helin aka Saga from The Bridge

Another highlight was staying up to watch the Superbowl for the first time ever. I think I probably annoyed my OH quite a bit with the incessant questions about the mechanics of the game but hopefully I made up for it a bit by providing some rather nice homemade brownies. There was beer, nachos, popcorn and marshmallow fluff. Doesn't get much better! Apart from that we had both booked Monday off so after an indulgent lie in we went to the zoo. Everyone should take the odd day off work to do stuff like this. It's great for a treat.

Two cute porcupines

I've realised that this is the first in a series of three 4-day work weeks as I have next Friday and the following Monday off as well, not for a valentines jaunt but for the Rock 'n' Roll Carnival du Nice. Tutu's have been bought and all my brightest kit has been sought out in preparation. I've even painted my toenails in festival colours. Let's get the party started!

I had an abundance of energy this week, from Tuesday onwards so I've taken advantage of it and worked out every day. I did Body Combat again but on advice from the instructor, wore gloves this time. It may seem odd as you don't actually hit anything but it encourages you to make a tighter first which activates the arm muscles more. I certainly felt the difference. I followed this up the next day with my first Body Pump class in aaaages. It wasn't the usual instructor but I really liked him. Singing, countdowns and "BOOM"s were all encouraged and the session left my arms feeling so weak I could barely wash my hair. My chest still aches. I snuck in a quick half hour on the cross trainer yesterday and did yoga and core workouts from the NTC app this morning. My local parkrun seems to be going ahead tomorrow so I'll be doing that unless I wuss out and go to the gym instead due to heavy rain. I'm susceptible to cajoling on twitter though so you never know...

Packing up. Glad I removed the heavy weights earlier.

It's also been a good food week. In the process of trying to use up things in my fridge I've made cous cous and falafel salad with olives, cous cous salad with pomegranate seeds, almonds and red onion, butternut squash and sage risotto, amazing veggie burgers, mushroom muffins and kidney bean, carrot and cumin burgers. Nom! I may also have made a lavender and lemon drizzle cake involving swede. Don't knock it 'til you've tried it!

Mushroom Muffins

So yeah I'm full of positivity right now and can't wait to see what next week brings. Soz. What have been your highlights this week? What amazing meals have you stumbled upon in the process of using up leftovers?