Dear Instagram - September '15

September my love,
You are probably my favourite month of all 12. I'm not kidding, I mean it.
Even if this year I wasn't able to decently appreciate your magic, I have to thank you for all the love you always bring to my heart. You always make me feel renovated, stronger and happier.
I hope that next time we meet my life will be completely different from now and I will be able to spend some quality time with you.

Hopefully I will see you next year x

Autumn happiness!

I think my favourite months of the year are August and September. After a delicious beach season (for some) with nights out (not necessarily clubbing), dinners with friends, lunches in family, travelling, fresh clothes and warm sun, cosy season comes by.
And what's not to like about Autumn? No sweat, yet no frost bite. I find it the perfect and most balanced season of the year. (I'm actually much happier during Autumn/Winter that I am in Summer).

22nd September yesterday, Autumn is officially here and what's the best way to welcome it other than listing the best things to look forward for? Here's 7 things I love the most about this season.

The importance of protein

People who work out and have specific goals need to know the effect of different nutrients in their body. Those who exercise need to eat, and eat well - working out and closing your mouth is a huge mistake and it will most probably give you the opposite to a slim, toned and healthy body.

Basic, undeniable and scientifically proven rule: the food is the one that supplies energy to the body and allows us to be active, able to do all our daily tasks and - most basic, still important - survive. The food that gives us energy is the one that contains macro-nutrients. 

1st Birthday Party! (+ giveaway)

Yeaaay! 1 year blogging!

September is one of my favourite months of the year, and it is now even more special.

1 year ago by this time I was writing the first words in this blog. I wasn't sure where this would get to, I just knew how much I wanted to have this place in the Internet, a place of my own. Something that represents me, a place where I could express myself and feel proud of. It would eventually come to the moment when someone else was reading my words, and it felt so great I decided to keep going.

All you bloggers who happen to be reading this words might know as much as me how difficult it is to keep your space going and growing. Some times were difficult, I thought maybe it would come to an end, maybe it wasn't worth it. But it got better, and it's still up!

In the meanwhile both name and theme changed. It started making more sense to me. And the love went on and on and on...

Life update - holidays, health, dreams and plans

As many of you might already know by reading my last posts, this year hasn't been making it easy for me, specially the last 3 or 4 months. Me and Habibi splitting (which is taking forever, let me tell you, we are still sharing the same place!), my job killing me day after day (too much work, no time and no money = not worth it) and basically me losing focus of what I wanted my life to be.

After getting to a breaking point I decided to just throw everything behind my back and do whatever felt closer to my heart's will. So I quit my job, went to see my family for 2 weeks and tried to get my batteries charged.

Also my health last week complicated things a bit. I was diagnosed with Bell's Palsy, which is basically a partial and 'temporary' paralysis of the face. Not easy, but already recovering!

Dear Instagram - August '15

Sweet August,
I was able to go on holidays for 2 weeks and enjoy everything from that delicious sunlight, to the great food, the beautiful places and the warm people. It was like a retreat for the soul.
Being amazed with every single thing and so in peace with myself, I shared a few pictures on Instagram just for you guys. Have a look.

Follow me in Instagram.

Healthy Way to Increase Muscle Size with These Three Supplements (GP)

Proper diet and regular training can do wonders for your body, but if there are more efficient ways of achieving your goals is it wise to ignore them? 

This question has never been easy to answer. Same as men and women all across the world are no longer hunting with bow and arrow, people who are serious about their training are no longer avoiding supplementation.

The truth is, proper supplementation can significantly improve the results of all your hard work and effort. Many people fear it because they are not familiar with it, all they do know about are some stereotypes made before any proper researches took place. However, if used properly supplementation with proteins can be a completely natural and healthy process. Here are three probably most popular supplements out there as well as healthy ways to use them to increase your muscle size.

Dear Instagram - July '15

July, 'what the hell' happened with ya?

This was a particularly difficult month for me, and I wasn't that present in the blogosphere. Twitter and Instagram suffered a lot with that as well.

Anyway I hope that soon everything will get back to normal!

July was like this.

My Instagram over here.

Short and Powerful Training for Busy People (GP)

Guest Post by Mathews McGarry

The pace of modern living often leaves little time for physical exercise.
In addition to being necessary to counterweight hours spent in an office or in front of TV, many people are struggling to find a balance between there social life and the time spent in the gym. This guide will try to explain how anyone can spare not more than 30 minutes for workout anytime, anywhere. 

Dear Instagram - June '15

Bye June!
Hi July! 

How has June been for me? Total madness.
I know this starts to seem like a rule in my life, it has been messy since the year started, specially in the last couple months. But it's true - too many problems, very few solutions.
So just as May, you too didn't see the best of me.
I'm sure better times will come.

Stay with my month of June in pictures.

My Instagram over here.

Life lately (extra messy)

No, nop, not really.
I refuse to believe in how my life just turned into this huge mess in the last couple months.
Seriously, it just became ridiculously unbearable.

Remember me and Habibi splitting?  Yeah, he is still here.
Why? Well, he decided to present himself to Immigration (he has been illegal in the UK since before I met him) as he wants to go back to Tunisia. However, they didn't do anything at all, they just said they couldn't help him. So he came back, and he is now in contact with Refugee Action, an organisation that promises to pay for the ticket back home if he decides to go back. This process takes a bit of time (couple months? more maybe?) as it involves some legal procedures.

Becoming a feminist

I've never considered myself to be a feminist. I am not the kind of person to follow "trends" or to be that much influenced. I usually just react to what a feel. And lately I've been feeling particularly attacked.

That idea of fighting for "equality" of the sexes is a bit ridiculous, at my sight. Women are different from men in several ways, there's no way we can be treated with the demanded equality. And here in between us, let's be completely honest with ourselves and accept that equality between sexes is nothing but a utopia.

Going back to Yoga!

After such a long time (1 year and half already??) I am finally going back to Yoga!
I can't believe it was so long ago when I used to sit in the dark and focus all my energy in myself and actually train my body to its fullest. I can't call it "Yoga" coz I'm not an expert in the subject and I've never had any lessons. Let's call it "my Yoga".

Sitting in the floor, candle lights on, a light inspirational music, ... I would stay in this for ages. I would do my own work out in this environment, focusing in my elasticity and body strength. Very Yoga-inspired, hun?
I would end up feeling so much stronger, inside and out. I loved that feeling of renovation.

Blogging: Authenticity vs Anonymity

I've been thinking about this subject lately and I would like to hear from you guys.

Getting on-line, eventually through a blog, vlog or any other that gives you plenty of exposure, is quite a delicate matter.

When choosing a way to present yourself to others,  you can decide either to build a virtual identity with no real name or details about your personal life, or to turn yourself public and share your life just as it is, in a transparent way.

If the first might lead to some lack of authenticity and - perhaps - empathy from others or make you feel too distant from your public, the second might make them way too close and more difficult for you to control what part of your life comes out public.

Choccywoccydoodah

Did you look at that title?  Really weird, isn't it? Just like the place itself, if you gonna think about how cake/chocolate places usually look like. But let's say "weird" in a very positive way.

Choccywoccydoodah,  who doesn't know the show? I used to watch it with my younger sister back home. Just casually,  but the name was still very familiar to us. "Choccywo... oh, that show where they do insane cake decoration only with chocolate! ",  that's how we knew it.

Well I imagined the store was situated in Brighton, for the pictures they used to pass in the show. However only 2 weeks ago I knew about the existence of a second store,  in London!!
So as an obviously-not-a-chocolate-lover that I am (insert sarcasm right here) of course I had to pay a visit.

The story behind my recent house change

So I recently had to leave my lovely space - which I was loving to call "home" - due to the end of a 7-month contract. Unfortunately I couldn't renovate it as Habibi stopped working and I couldn't afford it all by myself; also our relationship has came to an end, so no point of keeping the place.

Our relationship as recently come to an end, but we are still sharing the same room. Actually we are still sharing everything as normal, only keeping in mind that Habibi is going back to Tunisia at any time.
He wasn't showing any signals of worry about finding a new place, as we had to move in 1 week time. So I was the one under stress trying to find something viable but not too expensive - I'm definitely not in the mood to spend all my money when I see him not worrying about anything and having this amazing do-whatever-I-want lifestyle.

So I finally got this double room which is not too expensive and very close to our last place. I came to view the property and I wasn't very impressed - the kitchen was small and full of dirty dishes, the toilets also didn't get my approval (although they are not dirty, they look old),  the house in general wasn't a palace. The decoration of the room wasn't lovely - red carpet and purple curtains (!!!).
But oh well, this is not a permanent place.
And that's why I picked it - no contract necessary, minimum stay 1 month (not 6 as I usually see), and 2 weeks notice necessary (not 1 month). The fact that my actual situation is so unsure, I need to stay in a place where I'll have the right flexibility to plan and move. I won't be trapped for months and months of contracts in a place I don't want to be. I can easily move out.

The funny part? 
2 days after I finally got the place, I was going home from work just to find out that Habibi had left with his stuff - he went to Immigration.
I was crying so much, my life lost meaning for a bit. I couldn't believe my eyes.
Luckily he went too late and nobody "served" him. He had to come back home.
So we are still together, but he is going next week - for good.
I asked him to stay until my birthday, which is next Friday 5th June.

After that it will be a completely new life.

Dear Instagram - May '15

June has arrived and May haven't seen the best of me.
May was not the month in which I made my presence in Instagram stronger. It was actually a very difficult month for me, full of emotional episodes that you might be aware of if you read my last posts.
So I wasn't really online a lot, even in the blog itself.

Anyway better times will come, and so I hope to become closer to the blog and you guys.
This was my last month in pictures, enjoy!

My Instagram over here.

After 1 year, me and Habibi split

I don't really know how to write this post, but I feel like I have to talk about it. It 's a very deep part of my life at the moment, so there's no way I can keep going without bringing this to the blog.

Me and Habibi have been always on and off, lots of issues going on, and it actually came to an end.
I am crying as I write this post, because I am not sure how I'm going to do through this.

Post update - too many things going on

Hi everyone!

I'm writing to let you know that in the next weeks I will probably fail to update the blog and even the social media as I'm going through a hard time. I'm moving out from my place next Sunday, so I have too many things to worry about; also my relationship with Habibi is seeing an end, although I'm still fighting against it. He is going back to Tunisia, and I can't handle all this pressure and the idea of losing him forever. As illegal, if he goes out from the UK, he won't be able to return in case he regrets leaving me.

Wishlist - Adidas Superstar Supercolor

Please stop, you beauties!

I'm usually not that much of a spender, but for these ones I would definitely spend my last pennies.

Since that day when I was walking down the shopping centre and I happened to look inside Foot Locker's store and saw those colourful Adidas Superstar,  I have been deeply in love. There were 5 or 6 of them from the top to the bottom of the shelves. Pink, yellow, blue, green... I remember seeing a full rainbow in front of me.