I'm Moving To WordPress!!!

Hey guys,

You may have guessed by the title but I am moving my blog over to wordpress.  I just wanted to post this short post here to let you all know that you can now find me at BrittanieDe-ann.com

I have made the decision to do this purely because wordpress looks much more professional and gives me so many option and I can do much more than I can here.  I am so excited to move over there and have so many ideas.  I hope you will come over and follow me as I won't be posting here any more.. 

Thankyou for the support xx

Sydney Eats

Hello, my loves!

Long time no see, or should I say talk?  I apologise for my long absence. I have neglected my little blog and have been finding it hard to get back into the rhythm of posting again, however after going to Sydney a few weeks back I have at least two blog posts that I have been wanting to share with you.  So as you may have guessed by the title I want to chat to you about the places we ate at while in Sydney. As you can imagine we ate out a fair bit while on holiday and I wanted to tell you about a couple of them.  Also, if you would like to see a peak into our Sydney trip, I vlogged a bit of it so you can check it out on my Youtube Channel. 

Okay, so lets start with Monday lunch. We flew into Sydney around 10am Monday morning and by the time we got away from the airport and Sage, (Julian's wonderful Aunt) had showed us the most beautiful parts of Sydney it was definitely time to get some lunch.  We had been up since 4am after all.  She took us to this gorgeous little cafe in Double Bay called About Life and it's nothing like I had ever seen before.  Keep in mind I come from a tiny little town compared to Sydney so I haven't experienced much.  This cafe actually doubled as a superfoods supermarket and was filled with healthy food and gorgeous architecture.  

The food was delicious and they had so many vegetarian, gluten free and vegan options.  However a little pricey as you could assume. Also, they had drinks that I didn't even think could be a thing like the Choc Beet Latte which is a blend of cacao, chai, spices and beetroot steamed with coconut milk.  Weird right?  This cafe had a lovely atmosphere to it, super chill vibes.  The only downfall was the attitude of the lady that served us and the fact that they had no avocado even though there were in a store with plenty to spare.  Unfortunately the smashed avocado was the dish Julian wanted so he was quite upset when he found out they weren't willing to use one from the store. Aside from that devastating fact the lunch was rather delicious!

Fast forward a few hours and a good hour nap later and it was finally time for dinner!  We decided to shout dinner for Sage as she was being so kind as to let us stay at her house.  She took us to this beautiful little vegetarian place in Glebe called Badde Manors and I was honestly surprised at how cute and quaint it was.  It had so many vegetarian options, Julian didn't know which one to pick but to be honest it was one of the best meals I had on the trip. I do love me some vegetarian food!  My meal was delicious, I ordered the Eggplant and Ricotta Layered Schnitzel with mash and I can honestly tell you, I didn't miss the meat portion at all.  Also, it was super cheap sitting at only $18, I mean what? The only problem I had with this gorgeous place was that the chairs were so uncomfortable for me and the table was tiny but that seemed to be a recurring problem with anywhere that we went in Sydney. The ambiance of Badde Manors was so loud and crowded but it really added to the vibe, unfortunately we did go out for dinner the night before a public holiday so everyone was out, probably adding to the cramped feeling. Although it felt fun, if that makes sense?  Also, can I just say that the lady who served us was super lovely and was super quick to clear our plates and make sure we were having a good time, so thank you to that wonderful lady!

I am so excited to tell you about this next gorgeous cafe.  It was my favourite cafe from the trip and if I lived in Sydney near Glebe I think I would be a regular customer.  Well Co. is the name of this next cafe, as you may have seen from the picture.  The overall feel of this cafe was just lovely, it had beautiful artwork all over the walls, the view from the balcony upstairs is just so gorgeous and the decor was to die for.  

The food was also beyond delicious, I ordered the Eggs Benny and it was cooked to perfection.  They also had avocado which made Julian very happy. Hot chocolates are always my go to drink I get and no joke, these hot chocolates were the best I have ever had, and I have also been told that the coffee is so good too, so if you are a coffee drinker on the daily, I highly recommend Well Co.  Unfortunately we did go on a public holiday so it was 10% extra on the bill, but generally on a day to day basis the meals sit at a normal price, the Egg Benny was $16 which isn't too bad for Sydney, however I wouldn't get it every day. 

Again, the only thing I can actually complain about was the size of the table and the uncomfortable chairs, however they did have more comfortable options in different areas that I probably would have gravitated towards if I was a regular.  The service was so lovely and quick, we had our drinks in less than 10mins and our food was out not long after, which was so surprising but wonderful.  I highly recommend Well Co. if you want a cute cafe to frequent weekly, it seems like the perfect place to just go relax and zone out or maybe catch up on some reading out on the balcony.  

Tuesday night we went out for dinner on the harbour of Circular Quay at a little restaurant called East Bank Cafe, Bar & Pizzeria. It was so beautiful and felt so romantic.  This was the only 'restaurant' we went to on our trip and I wasn't disappointed.  Unfortunately again we went on the public holiday so it was fairly expensive but that didn't stop us from having a good time.  It was fairly cold being just on the water however they had heaters going which made it super cosy and warm, perfect atmosphere.  The food here was again, so damn delicious.  Julian had the Gnocchi and said that it was cooked to absolute perfection which was lovely, one of my favourite things was the simply fact that they gave the cheese topping in a separate dish so we could add it ourselves and I thought that was just so great. I will say this was the one place which had super comfy chairs and I really found myself appreciating them.  Also the lady that served us was the nicest person and I really think that makes or breaks a restaurant or cafe, I really enjoyed our dinner here and would definitely go back on any future Sydney trips.   

Last but not least on the Thursday night we went out to dinner with Julian's cousins and I can honestly say it was one of the best times I had on the trip.  Although I felt very anxious being around his cousins for the first time I felt very comfortable and accepted.  We went to this cute little Chinese place in Five Dock called Simply the Best and it was simply the best.  The owner was a lovely yet hilarious little Chinese man who was super helpful and made it feel so fun. I tried a selection of new dishes that I hadn't tried before and each one was better than the last.  I would have to say the duck and the lemon chicken were my favourite. It was just the nicest night I've had in a longtime. 

Anyway guys, I didn't realise this was going to end up so long.  I even took out a couple of places to try and make it a bit smaller. However, I hope you enjoyed it.  I really enjoyed going to each of these places.  Let me know if you have been to any of the above places and what you thought or if you have any recommendations for when we go to Sydney next time.  I hope you are all having a lovely week! 

Until Next Time

BrittanieDe-Anne xoxo 

Attempting Valentines Day Desserts

Hello my Loves!

How are you today? I hope you had a fantastic Valentines Day, whether you were celebrating with your significant other or just having some much needed alone time.  Julian and I don't often celebrate Valentines day, purely because it can get so expensive, however I did try out these two desserts and made a cute dinner for us on Monday night instead.  Today I just wanted to show you these gorgeous desserts and tell you my thoughts, I'm not going to go through how I made them however I will link the original posts that I used.  Although Valentines Day is over you can still use these desserts for anniversary dinners or just to have something cute and delicious! 

Okay, so this first dessert tastes just as good as it looks! It was so delicious! These are called Deep Dish Red Velvet Cookies for two. Honest to god, these were so simple and so quick to make, basically you mix the wet ingredients together, the dry ingredients together, then mix those together.  Add the chocolate chips leave that mixture in the fridge to chill for about an hour then bake them in the oven in a baking dish with some hot water for 15 to 20 minutes, take them out and top with Vanilla Ice-cream! So Easy!! They were so super yummy too but do note they are very sweet, so if you don't have a big sweet tooth you might not like them.  If you follow this off the link that I gave just know that in the method it doesn't actually tell you when to add in the dry ingredients so I just decided to add it just before the chocolate chips.. Also note that when you bake it in the oven place it in a baking dish with some hot water in it, it helps to bake evenly.  I definitely will be using this recipe again, I loved how simple it was! I put them into bake as we sat down to eat our dinner and they finished just as I was taking out plates to the sink, how good is that? I can't praise these highly enough, I really thoroughly enjoyed them! 

 The second dessert that I made was these Red Velvet Cupcakes in a Jar, and yes it is an actual coincidence that both the desserts I made were red velvet.  Although, I really like red velvet so maybe I just gravitated towards those? Who knows? These were a little more time consuming. However, I did cut the time down a bit by using packet mix red velvet cupcakes instead of making them from scratch. Lazy, I know.. But I really didn't have that much time to play with so anything I could do to cut down the time I did.  Anyway, basically for these you make up a bunch of red velvet cupcakes, and some cream cheese frosting them layer that in a jar. Simple right?? I used glasses instead of jars because I didn't have any jars to use, but it turned out just fine  There was probably more than needed because the glasses were a bit big but the cupcake and the frosting really complimented each other well! Also, you may want to note that not only do you get these gorgeous desserts but you also get at least 6 more cupcakes left over with plenty of frosting to spare! So win win! 

What do you think guys? Would you try these desserts? Do you have a massive sweet tooth? Let me know which one looks most appealing to you? If I had to choose I think I would have to go with the cookies in a dish! They were just so god damn delish! Hope you enjoyed this post and your Valentines day and I will talk to you again very soon!!

Until Next Time

BrittanieDe-ann xoxo

My 2017 Workout | Piit28, Blogilates & Swimming

How are you today my lovelies?

Just a heads up, I didn't realise this was going to be so long, but once I started I couldn't stop. Enjoy xx

I have spent January so far, sorting out my workout routine for 2017 and I wanted to share with you what I have been doing and what I plan to do in the coming months.  Now, before I start I know a lot of you are going to have opinions on what I should and should not be doing but I just want to say that I really do appreciate your input but this is just as much a mental and emotional journey as it is a physical one for me right now. So, although I appreciate any advice you give me, only I know what I can handle physically and emotionally.  So thank you in advance but this is my workout plan. 

For starters I want to talk about a book. A book? You ask.. Yes a book. For Christmas I received what I think to be one of the best books I have ever read, it is titled 

Holistic Nutrition 

Eat well, train smart and be kind to your body.

By Kate Callaghan

This book has taught me so much and I have only scraped the surface of what it has to offer.  It touches on everything from how your hormones should work, to how to manage stress and how to be kind to your mind and body.  I highly recommend this book to every woman ever, and even some men.  It is fully tailored toward women and I keep finding little things inside the book that make me understand my body a little more and help me to minimize my stress levels cause god knows I stress myself out too much.  Because of this book I have changed up my workout from what I was doing last year.  Although toward the end of last year I wasn't really doing much at all. 

So to start off, although I love PIIT28 and wholeheartedly stand behind it and how effective it is, I haven't yet started this as a workout this year and I don't intend to for a few months yet.  As of right now I have decided to move back into doing Bogilates.  I am however still a PIIT28 Ambassador and would highly recommend it to anyone who is willing and ready to take on the challenge.  It's intense and gives results so if you are interested you can read my review here and buy the program here. Goodluck!

Now as I said I have decided to start with Blogilates which is basically the same workout moves as PIIT28 just not as intense. I like to do at least three different body part workouts a night so for example I would do (a form of) squats, crunches and cobra push ups to work my thighs, core and arms and that's just a minimum.  When I'm feeling pumped I usually do between five and seven different moves resulting in a 30 minute or more workout but I have some days where I'm fine with just doing three. I intend to continue doing these for at least two months and each week upping the intensity and quantity so that each week I am gradually getting stronger prepping me to get back into PIIT28. 

I also have been swimming lately which I am loving so much.  I have added this in as my Tuesday workout, I get up at 5.30m and am at the pool by 6am.  I actually go with my Boss which is part of the fun, I really have been loving the different feel I get when I go swimming and I know how beneficial it can be.  As of right now we do 16*50m laps which doesn't seem like much to some but considering we started at 6*50m laps I think we are doing well. I get such an elated feeling when I leave the pool, I feel so accomplished.  I am however still learning how to breathe properly when swimming, its a hard battle in my head to breathe at all when my mouth is so close to water. haha but I'm getting better. I want to keep swimming in my workout schedule for as long as I can, I really love it and it makes me so happy even if it's not doing heaps toward my weightloss, its helping my stress levels. 

I also like to let myself have a rest day at this stage in my workouts, I don't want to punish myself for feeling tired and/or exhausted so each week I allow myself at least one rest day but no more than two.  Each week I like to set myself little goals to reach by the end of the week. Those could range from doing an extra set of a move to spending ten minutes meditating.  Oh yes I have also started trying to meditate and do some much needed yoga.  You could say I have a well rounded list of things I do for exercise at the moment.  Along with exercise though, Julian and I have also started a meal plan which we have been following lately.  

If you would like to see a post about the meal plan and how we have organised our meals and our diet for that matter, let me know. As for now I think I have covered just about everything, if there is anything you would like to know leave it in the comments.  I would like to leave you with a question, if possible?  How many of you also watch YouTube?

I hope you are all doing well xx

Until Next Time 

BrittanieDe-Ann xoxo

Goodbye 2016, Hello 2017

 Hey guys, 

 I hope you all had an absolutely fantastic Christmas with your family or friends or even if you decided to celebrate it by yourself and if you don't celebrate Christmas I hope you have just had a lovely week.  I really wanted to write a blog post kind of fare welling the year of 2016 because I feel like for a lot of people it hasn't been a good year.  For me personally, I have had a fairly good year.  I have had a lot of personal achievements that I am quite proud of. I started my YouTube Channel, I have grown my blog and facebook page and I have spent another wonderful year with my partner who even on my darkest days has made me feel beautiful.  Along side those achievements though I have also had a few bad times, although nothing that I couldn't handle. I don't like to dwell on the negative so I want to just move on to my goals for 2017.

I have such high aspirations for 2017, I am so excited to enter the new year and I have a really good feeling about how the year will turn out.  I want to try and focus solely on the positives this year.  I often find myself dwelling on the negative so that is one thing I hope to change. 

 Shall we jump into my goals and plans for 2017.  I have quite a few that I hope to achieve.  Firstly, I hope to further this blog, I love writing on here and I am hoping to set up a system so that I am posting weekly again! I have so many ideas to post about and I hope that you will all enjoy them as much as I enjoy talking about them! If you have anything you would like me to post about I would love to hear your suggestion.  Along with this wonderful blog I want to grow my YouTube community, I'm not quite sure how I'm going to do it yet (If you haven't subscribed already, I'd love for you to pop over and check it out! Leave a comment so I know you were there xx)? I hope to continue making quality content on my YouTube channel and hope that I could even better my content. I would like to vlog more and in August I hope to travel to New Zealand with Julian for a few weeks and see all it has to offer.  I am so excited for this trip as it will be my first time travelling and I can't even begin to explain to you how much I want to travel. If you have any recommendations on where we should visits let me know in the comments! 

I also have very personal goals which I am so motivated to work on.  I say it every year, but this year I really, truly do want to be comfortable in my own skin, at the moment that means working on losing a bit of weight because I am not very happy with my body right now. But I know I have the potential to put the work in and achieve the results I desire.  I don't want to chat about this too much because I plan to write a blog on my workout plan for 2017, so that will be coming in the near future!
I also want to work on loving myself regardless of my weight, I find it so frustrating that I can't seem to change my mindset from 'you will be beautiful one day' to 'you are beautiful.' I just can't seem to accept that I don't have to be 'skinny' to be beautiful and that's what I want to work on this year! So wish me luck!

Guys, I'm not going to bore you any more but if you do have any suggestions for this blog or for any videos you might want to see on my YouTube channel, do let me know because I would love to hear your suggestions! If you aren't following my blog it would mean the world to me if you would join my online family and share it with all your friends! I hope you enjoyed this post and if all goes well I will see you again next week! xx

Until Next Time
BrittanieDe-Ann xoxo