Sweaty Betty takeover at James Dun’s House with Juice Warrior and Infinity Yoga Glasgow

A few weeks ago, I spied Sweaty Betty Glasgow planning a takeover at James Dun’s House at 4 Hanover Street on Friday 27th February. There was going to be free yoga lead by the lovely Colette from Infinity Yoga, cold-pressed juices by Juice Warrior and the possibility to sample the spa treatments, so naturally I picked up the phone and booked myself in. And was it not worth the commute down! The ladies at the salon made everyone feel welcomed the moment you stepped in. The atmosphere at James Dun’s was calming and relaxing – I would love to spend a day getting pampered in the good care of the girls. We spent a little while waiting for the yoga to begin, having arrived a little early, before pushing ourselves in Colette’s yoga flow. Not sure if it was the pigeon with raised hands, or upper bow in my morning class, but my back has been positively sore all day today! Colette runs the Infinity Yoga studio in the Merchant City, a studio offering everything from your usual non-heated Hatha and Yin classes to hot Ashtanga and Bikram-based classes. I’m dying to become a regular, wish the distance (and the train fares) wouldn’t be such an issue or I’d be down in her care all day every day.

After the yoga, with everyone positively relaxed and feeling all cosy and fuzzy, we were offered to sample the treatments available at James Dun’s, and I went for a shoulder and head massage – almost falling asleep in the chair! Any new customer can get a £30 intro to Spa offer, enabling you to book a full one-hour treatment for half price. The attendees were given a Juice Warrior juice (I think I’ve fallen in love with Blood Pact: how can it be so sweet without any fruit in it?!) and a Sweaty Betty tote with some flyers, a run bottle (I have been drooling over one for months now, can’t believe my luck) and some hair toggles. I have been wanting to try toggles since I read a couple of blogs praising them to be a lot better for your hair than your traditional hair ties. I shall let you know how these endure all the Tough Mudder training in due course. All in all, I had an amazing time and could not have thanked the team enough for throwing such a relaxing event to finish off a Friday that had been full of stress and worry on my part. I also slept like a wee baby, not a worry in the world.

Now I just wish I had the money to enjoy the Sweaty Betty online sale without having to starve for a week or two… Maybe next time around!

Trip down to England

Nice little weekend trip down to my aunt’s. Saw my good friend Lotta in Oxford, had a lovely day getting lost in the old university town. Got enough of trains, though. Force me into one and I swear I’m not responsible for my actions haha!

So green

It’s so green outside. Went for a morning stroll, saw some sheep. I just can’t stop loving Scotland.

…and a happy new year

Feeding the ducks

Such a perfect, lazy Sunday. The Finnish Christmas radio started broadcasting so it’s been my childhood favourites over and over again. My English essay is still missing a thousand words or so but I’ve got plenty of time – it’s not due till tomorrow 5pm! And me being up at 7.30am (as usual) I’ll have 700-odd words before lunch which for the record is going to be Jamie Oliver’s tomato soup and fresh gluten-free bread. And in the afternoon I am going to bake some Christmassy cakes. Gluten and lactose free, for sure.

Did my Christmas shopping on Saturday. I am now a hundred pounds (or more!) poorer but I’ve got everything now. Even gift wrapped the first presents yesterday evening – doing all possible to procrastinate as much as possible. Michael’s having a bad effect on me but then on the other hand I’ve never been this relaxed during an exam week. Maybe I’m just growing old and finding the real priorities in life. Liking it a lot anyway.

Also, after 8 and a half months of strict dieting and food control, I am now having a month off. Enjoying whatever I want, whenever I want. I’m hitting the gym for real and cutting off the sugar and so on again in January but now I will just indulge myself (of course, within reasonable limits, you know me) and take the most out of Christmas. ‘Cause it’s my favourite time of the year.

Have we got other Christmas lovers around? x

Hermitage wood

I’m so happy here. I love the people I share the floor with, I love the lecturers, books, my room, even the shabby shower. This is just perfect. I’m never going to leave, not ever again.

Finally packing up

I didn’t mean to make such a dark post about the moving out but of course it had to start pouring when I (finally) had the camera ready! So this is not a sad, I-don’t-want-to-go type of event in my life. Quite the opposite: I’ve been waiting to be able to have a flat of my own since I was 16. Okay, yes you’re right, I’m moving into a hall of residence, not renting a studio – but I’m still going to get my own room and that’s something, a big something. As I’ve been sharing with younger siblings for god knows how long this change is warmly welcomed!

Anyway – everything’s packed now. Flying away early on Thursday morning with mom. FINALLY! Hate to leave the most of my beloved crockery behind but I don’t want to break any of my valuable plates or cups. Sigh. So we’ve got to take only the essentials with us this time. Linen – check, decorative knickknacks – check, cutlery – check. Clothes (most of which are too big for me these days, haha) – check. Documents, travel plans, to-do-list – check.

I’m ready now!

Oh, we went to the theatre with the brilliant darling Susanna last Tuesday. Ryhmäteatteri was doing Peter Pan and dear me, I loved the play! Want to see it again and again and well it’s kinda shame it ended last Saturday. But who doesn’t love JM Barrie, I wonder?

And one last thing before I get back to my knitting. As Series 7 of Doctor Who started on Saturday (Asylum of the Daleks – fantastic, the best series opener ever!) I got inspired by this character Oswin and made a chocolate soufflé today. Now I will not need to bake any more – feeling like a real French domestic goddess.

Last beams of summer

Travelling again – I’m in the middle of Finland this time. Visiting Lotta. It’s all lakes, hills, pine trees and water here in Säynätsalo – lovely. Don’t try to make me spell that name again, by the way.

And yes, I am in the water still wearing jeans.

The perfect pizza

I’m so proud of myself – my first gluten-free mushroom-salmon-wild herb-pizza! It looks so nice (and tastes also!) – I’m afraid I won’t be able to eat it, as I just keep on looking at it with wonder. I haven’t had a pizza for a long, long time. Mostly because restaurants do not have gluten-free options and well, it hasn’t really suited my diet – most pizzas are full of saturated fat and have awfully lot of carbs in them. That’s why I love to cook – you can make healthier choices (choose lighter cheeses, skimmed milk etc) and you know what’s really on your plate.

DIY

Okay, before everyone goes off on a rant about my laziness lack of posts I want to tell you – or even better, make a list of the things I’ve done in the past month or so.

I have made, myself, from scratch

• two jars of bright red, delicious strawberry jam, made of organic handpicked berries (the taste – oh my god, it’s to die for, honestly)
• a pair of woolen mittens
• at least four pairs of woolen socks (these are all for Christmas, except for one pair I wanted to try a wonderful pattern called ‘Japanese garden’ on [Knitted Socks East And West by Judy Summer])
• two gluten-free blueberry pies
• and gluten-free pancakes this afternoon since it really seems that I have coeliac disease after all
• one summer dress which ended up as my new nightie (no, it’s not that nice to wear in public)

And mom made me yoga socks. Could wear these all day.

I started to read Hamlet (Shakespeare) and Wuthering Heights (Brontë) as they are part of my first English module – I have no idea how I’ll ever finish the latter but I’ll do my best. As they say, quitting is not an option. I can’t really get an insurance, my other school books, national student card or anything else ’cause I’m stuck in Finland – whoopee, note the sarcasm – not being able to open a bank account before bloody September. Which is something that is required to do most of the things mentioned. But it’s five short weeks to go and then it’s bye bye my so dear dump and hello university!

I feel like everyone’s dying of this twaddle. Sorry! But yes, in short: I’ve been knitting, watching the olympics, doing some berry and mushroom picking, exercised and went for a nice morning swim today. Oh, and don’t you just love Johnny in Alice In Wonderland?

September, please come quickly… But now, dears, I need to either feed or let the dog outside, she’s making strange whining noises behind me so I’d better be off before something horrendous happens. You know what dogs are capable of.

Happy August my lovelies! xx