April: Meals. Miles, Books and Looks

Looking back through my photos for April, I can't believe the Pumpkin Carnival was at the start of the month as it feels like it was such a long time ago now.  We also celebrated a friends 60th birthday, helped with the running of our big Lions Club fundraiser, attended a city bike ride workshop (in the rain!) and finished up the month with a great day of running and yoga at Wanderlust 108.

Meals

Meals took a bit of a nose dive this month and there were a little too many purchased meals and take outs.  There were a few home cooked meals in there though and here are some of them:



// Meals

1) Vegan pancakes with slices plum, cooked sliced apple, and maple syrup.
2) Vegan lentil and barley stew - I made a big batch and froze the leftovers.
3) This is supposed to be enchiladas.  I wrapped vege chilli in tortillas and covered with enchilada sauce and smoked cheese - it was really tasty anyway :)
4) Smoked fish pie with parsnip, carrot and kumara.

// Ginger loaf and pumpkin muffin mix

For the Lions Club fundraiser I made the pumpkin chocolate chip muffins again and I also made a banana loaf with some of the bananas I had frozen.  Both Kane and I love home baking so to soften the blow of giving all these tasty treats away, I made our favourite ginger loaf.  It's very much like the McVities Jamaica Ginger Loaf that is popular back in the old country.

Miles: 22.6km

Running has felt a little uninspired this month and most of my runs have been about 4km and half-hearted.  I'm feeling the motivation creeping back in though and I'm looking forward to a nice morning run tomorrow.

I went to 2 yoga classes and I've started doing sun salutations in the mornings.  I also did 6 strength training sessions and I really noticed the difference in my yoga.

Books

I read two books this month as well the non-fiction book The Truth About Style by Stacy London.

I finished Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell at the start of the month and I really loved this book, and it got me interested in the music that it references.  I found a couple of Spotify playlists and I made one of my own from these.

Towards the end of the month I finished Uglies by Scott Westerfeld.  The story itself is fine and it was a quick read but I found myself thinking about some of the ideas it brings up, especially the unplugged back to nature versus high tech urban life, long after the book was finished.


// Images from Good Reads

Looks

I have one "look" and the rest are life snapshots :)  My look are these red pants I got from Esprit last month! I am getting braver :)

Life looks are: Kane and I at the start of the 5k at Wanderlust 108 - that was such a good day; Me playing in the crunchy leaves I swept up on the driveway; Kane and I looking a bit soggy after biking in the rain during the city ride workshop - quick drying pants and a rain coat might have been better than jeans and a hoodie though!

// Life