I Wish I Had A Pole In My Basement...

I started pole dancing! Haha, yeah you read that right. I decided to add some flavour to my otherwise drab engineering life, while getting a decent workout. Today was my first class and it was such fun! I'm not sure whether to write that it's not as easy as it looks or it's not as difficult as it looks. Let me explain; standing in front of the pole and doing a couple of twirls that look relatively sexy is okay, even trying to pull yourself up is okay. But actually lifting yourself up and spinning around with little to no momentum is much more difficult than it looks! Sasha, the instructor (not her real name) makes it looks so damn easy and fluid! I felt like a bit of a klutz sometimes but for a first timer I think I was okay! Can't wait till I'm at least intermediate, my best friend thinks this is Rihanna's negative influence on my life **singing, strippers going up and down that pole!** I beg to differ.. There's also so much focus on the core which I love! Stronger core = stronger body!

Haha, I feel like I've been obsessed with fitness lately! Ah well, it can't be a bad thing, can it? Oh side note, I'm almost through with my recovery week on Insanity. Next week marks the beginning of month 2 updates coming soon.

Can't wait till my next class (All the way next week! Womp womp. I wish I had a pole in my basement so I could practice again tomorrow! But I don't even have a basement hmmm) and also to see if I feel the burn in my arms when I wake up tomorrow morning. It would be the good type of burn, maybe I'd finally get some of that upper body strength I so desire and tone my arms as well. It's a 6 week course so I'd see if I've learnt any cool new tricks to show you in pictures by then! :) Hmmm, on second thought this could be the best thing I'm currently doing with my time, that way it wouldn't be a complete joke when I say "If this whole engineering thing doesn't work out I'm going to be a stripper!" Haha. I'm sure my parents wouldn't approve of this statement! Hopefully they don't see it. *adjusts halo*

Bye people,
Reni :) x

Fit February: Smoothie Challenge Update

Wow, there’s so much on my mind to blog about but I have no idea where to start! The next few days might be “post heavy” but hopefully it would make up for my slightly sporadic posts. Anyways I thought I’d come and brag about how well my smoothie challenge is going. So far I’ve only missed 2 days and that was out of pure laziness to go and restock on fruit and stuff. Also I tried the green smoothies, they are actually soo delicious! It’s kinda weird how great they taste! Although I can’t say that I’m fully over the colour… It still looks and feels weird to me!

Omg, I was so excited! I actually got people to join me on the challenge as well, it’s been really fun swapping recipes and comparing notes all this while. I’d share some recipes and photos at the end but before that, the one question I get asked the most is how I keep the fruit from going bad. Bad fruit is such a downer in smoothie land, it just kills the taste and everything else. Have you ever seen expired avocado? Gross! So anyways what I do is, I ‘prep’ my fruit. I freeze all the stuff that goes off the quickest which for me is my berries, so I chop up the strawberries and freeze them before putting them in a bag, I do the same to the blueberries and raspberries too, without the chopping. Oh yeah, you have to freeze them on a tray of some sort first so they don’t end up sticking together in clumps during the freezing process.

         

Smoothie Prep :) Strawberries, blueberries and raspberries 

After Freezing

I don't pre-prep the actual recipes I want to make because I love the flexibility of just throwing some things in the blender and watching the magic happen but the process would be the same if you wanted to but in the bags instead of having just one fruit, you'd have your mixes ready to throw in, this is also more efective in terms of time! I know it looks long but fruit freezes pretty quickly. I don’t usually freeze my bananas and other fruit, partly because I can’t be bothered most times and also because the more frozen things you use, the thicker your smoothie would be and I don’t like them too thick. Before I put up the pictures of my smoothies I think I should add a little disclaimer here: “I’m really not the most creative person out there, don’t judge my photos!” Haha. Also half the time I take these I’m about to be late for class. Lecturers that start teaching at 9 on the dot are just awful. Everyone knows about the 5-minute contingency rule! Geez! So anyways here are a couple of recipes for any interested parties. Interestingly enough, I realised I don’t really know how much of each fruit I put in the smoothies but I would try and do a rough guide. Most times I just feel it, adding more of the stuff I know I like.

Recipes:
1. Berries and Bananas:

This was the only smoothie I had tried before I started the challenge, made it for my bf and he really liked it! Added a bit of cranberry juice to his for sweetness though.

1 banana, 5-6 strawberries, handful of raspberries, water/cranberry juice.

2. "Brown" Green Smoothie:

First ever green smoothie, I decided to use my then favourite recipe of bananas and berries and just add the spinach and hope for the best! The blueberries and the spinach ended up fighting for colour and so it looked a bit more brown :s. It tasted quite nice though! Also bananas are excellent for covering up the taste of spinach. Trust me when I say you cannot taste it AT ALL. I promise!

1 banana, handful of frozen blueberries, 4-5 strawberries, handful of spinach, water

3. Tropical Smoothie:

So I saw this recipe on Instagram and decided to go crazy with it! So many different types of fruit! It tasted nice but I prefer having less fruit in my smoothies so I can actually taste them (the more fruit you add, the less of the individual tastes there are). Also I read, if you blend the greens first, it eliminates the chances of getting random leafy bits in your drink. (I used the wrong cup image here but can't find the right one! Your drink might turn out less green!).

Water, 1 banana, handful of blueberries, handful of raspberries, 4 strawberries, 1/2 a mango, some pineapple, handful of spinach.

4. Pear and Banana:

This smoothie turned out so bright I almost didn't drink it! But it's been my favourite so far and the only recipe I've actually repeated! Note: Peel the skin of the pears first! I tried one with the apples and left the skin on and it had the most disgusting texture to it, bits of unblended apple skin floating everywhere in the glass. Yuck!

1 pear, 1 banana, 2 handfuls of spinach, apple juice/water.

5. Kiwi Delight:

I don't particularly like this one. I thought kiwis would do great in smoothies but the seeds make them really annoying to drink and they're also a bit too sharp! I can't deal.

1 kiwi, 1/2 a banana, handful of blueberries, 2 tbsps greek yoghurt, 1 tbsp honey.

So there you have it! Hope some of you join me for the rest of the challenge, or at least try one of the recipes! Leave a comment below if you decide to :)

Ttfn,

Reni x

People Appreciation Day!

“Babe can you imagine this boy! He didn’t even get me the Brazilian hair or anything. All I ended up getting were flowers; I’m so pissed off. Who has time for flowers that are going to die by tomorrow? What about some jewelry? NOTHING. He’s so annoying.” This is going to be some variation of the conversation that about 70% of girls worldwide would be having with their best friend on this special day of love! I’m not cynical or anything, quite the contrary actually; I’m the soppiest, sappiest romantic on the planet. I love the thought of cards with beautiful poetry written in it, and a bracelet I’d wear for the rest of our relationship as some sort of token of our love, even flowers that he claims are nowhere near as beautiful as me. The full works! After all it’s only Valentine’s Day once a year! Why shouldn’t I be spoilt as hell and treated like a princess?

The answer is quite simple actually, because it’s just a day! Like any other day. It’s just a Thursday, and while society has ingrained it in our minds to be a “day of love” the truth is lots of couples end up fighting because they place way too much emphasis on making it ‘perfect’. Especially the girls! One of my male friends once said to me that he never vals anyone because the pressure is too much; by the time she compares your own ‘small, heartfelt’ gift to the sparkles and champagne that Bolanle is flaunting on Instagram or that Fikayo is showcasing on Facebook you feel like you might as well have not done anything in the first place. But nothing is perfect; love is about loving an imperfect person perfectly right? Or so we all claim when we are feeling sentimental, so what’s the fuss? Let your ‘imperfect’ partner be themselves perfectly and if you know your guy is not the romantic type then don’t expect him to suddenly flip and turn into your Majid Michel and be all lovey-dovey, accept whatever he decides to get you with grace and genuinely love it because you know it’s bigger than the gifts and cards.

This is not to say that guys have an excuse not to try oh! All of una busy “losing your phone” “falling ill” and other various excuses to drop off the face of the earth on top Vals day.” Una well done! God has seen you! Would it really take that much effort to let your girl know she’s special? Saka swine! Girl, if your man has mysteriously ‘disappeared’ sad to say but I doubt he was ever really yours. To all the REAL dudes out there who make an effort every day and also today, God go make you bigger! Even if your girl forgets to say it everyday, she loves and appreciates you J well I hope she does anyways. Lol.

I think every day should be Valentine’s Day, the world would be such a happy place and there would be far less pressure. Maybe we should rename it People Appreciation Day and just remind all the people all around us that we love them. Why restrict it? After all, sharing is caring. Haha.  To the people in love, I hope you have an amazing day with your significant others. To those angry or upset with the ones they love, heck you might as well forgive them. And to the people on Team Single #foreveralone #singleawarenessday #phuckyolove then don’t be bitter. Valentine’s Day isn’t only for the lovers out there! Remember it’s peoples’s appreciation day! I’d even be your Val if you want to go that far! As long as you send me those Loubs by midnight, hehe.

Lots of love,

Reni x

P.S: This post got featured on another website, Dindindara. You can check out the post and website here. 

More Than Just Chickens: Super Eagles Victorious

This weekend has been one of epic proportions in my life, both personally and in the media. I wouldn’t even know where to start describing to you the awesomeness! And the decision on what to focus on the most is unthinkably difficult!

1. I started writing a new series, a la Staying Single. (Yay!)

      2. Nigeria beat Burkina Faso.

      3. Rihanna sounded AMAZING at the grammy’s.

      4. I learnt some difficult life lessons about insecurities.

          5. Nigeria won the AFCON

      6. Rihanna and Chris Brown… **sigh**

          7. Nigeria carried GOLD in the African Cup of Nations!!!!

I’m sure you can already tell what this post is going to be most focused on! When I first found out the news of our victory, I thought it was a lie. Surely someone was playing a cruel trick on my heart. You see I have never been one of those people that believe that nothing good comes out of Nigeria, and that we are a country with corruption so deep into the fabric of our nation that we have begun to rip at the seams. No no, not to say that the above is not true, but I have always been a proud Nigerian. Supporting quietly, wishing and praying but never truly believing that we could come together as a nation and achieve something truly phenomenal. I think this has something to do with being an Arsenal supporter, haven gotten my hopes up so many times only for Arsenal to fail me, imbibed in me a certain attitude towards football and the teams I supported; Don’t scream too loudly when you score or else when Ghana or Man-U win those supporters would never let you hear the end of it. Well guess what, today I am screaming and it’s never felt so good!

This will never not be funny! Lol.

A lot of people have at some point accused the Nigerian football team, the Super Eagles, of being no more than mere chickens. Yesterday they finally proved us all wrong. The Super Eagles gave me even more reason to be a proud Nigerian! They allowed us in their own way to regain our titles as the GIANTS of Africa! Not Mali, Not Burkina Faso, Not Ghana. N’tooo. #phuckyoteam, #phuckyocountry #phuckyooil, #therecanonlybeone! I can only imagine what the atmosphere would have been like when we won yesterday. Scores of women and children dancing in the street singing and clapping “When Jesus’ says yes! Nobody can say no!”  And many other chants of victory, grown men celebrating, wrecking havoc on the streets. Just a massive street party, owambe style! I’m so sad I wasn’t at home; enough uncles would have felt the need to dash me cash just because and Likwid would have been so live! One can only hope that this year would continue to be a year of victory for Nigeria and Nigerians everywhere.

I don’t believe I’ve ever written a post specifically dedicated to my country so thank you Super Eagles for granting me this opportunity and for allowing me bragging rights for the next 2 years! UP Naija!

I hope the prostitutes association are ready to make good on their promise. Smh.

Reni x

Never A Right Time To Say Goodbye

Hey beautiful people… Okay so I feel I owe you all an explanation as to why I’ve been MIA especially as I promised to never leave you again… Well I didn’t really leave but I’m sorry I allowed you to think I did. Basically, what happened was… I moved. No not house, or school or church. I moved blogs… :s Goodness this is harder than I thought. I’ve been staring at it forever now wondering how on earth to post it! It’s a really big moment for me on this side of the screen…

Okay to cut this potentially very lengthy story short I started a new blog. It’s something I’ve been thinking of for a while. I toyed with the idea numerous times in my mind, slept on it, chewed it over everything but I finally made the big decision! I decided to start a whole new blog because I feel that two things have happened. 1. I’m slowly outgrowing my baby! (This blog) 2. I like to feel organised and putting personal things on here just really didn’t sit well with me. So one weekend I made the decision and started up this new blog I speak of; this blog is a lot more personal (pictures and everything) and is basically about my journey to a healthier me with lots more random things thrown in the mix.

Through Hell and High Waters is NOT going to be discontinued though! It’s just going to get a lot more focused. So basically it would have all my short stories, poetry and series (Of which there is a new one in the pipelines, whoop!). As well as my more religious posts. I apologise to all my readers for this sudden change of direction but like I said, you can still find me floating about in the blogosphere!

I guess this is a good time to introduce you to my new blog… Lilac Tinted Views I wouldn’t say much else about it in the hope that you’re curios enough to click the link and check it out! Hehe. Okay and if you’re really not that curious well.. Still click the LINK! You might like it more than this one! There are a few posts up for you to feast your eyes on so far!

I hope you like it, it likes you already! Lol.

Love,

Body like Beyonce: Fit February Smoothie Challenge.

So last weekend Beyonce really kicked up a storm in the media! From her mind blowingly epic performance at the Super Bowl half-time show to the announcement of her world tour! She’s really caused a ruckus! If I was to begin writing about all the reasons why she is epic I don’t think I’d ever stop! She’s like, the epitome of ‘woman’ or something! Second only to my mother in my eyes! Lol. But seriously though, Beyonce is just one of those people that you either love to love or love to hate, but either way you still love her! And to all those Kelly and Michelle fans I just have a few things to say to you. 1. I love Kelly too but seriously, you cannot deny the force that is KING BEY! 2. May you never be a Michelle to anybody in this life! (Check out this awful but somehow hilarious website!).

Anyways, one thing I’ve always wanted from Beyonce is her gaddem body!

EPIC performance! <3 <3 <3

I don’t know how she does it! And while she may not be the best role model for healthy eating and all, her body is always in perfect form when she needs it to be! As I mentioned in my last post I fell off the Insanity and clean eating bandwagon but I’m picking myself right back up and continuing from where I left off! Even though the week has already started I’m going to try and come up with some meal prep ideas and the like to keep me from over eating and eating the wrong thing! One thing I’ve learnt so far is that it’s not only about the calories; it’s about where they come from. So eating 2000 calories of lean meat, complex carbs and ‘good’ fats is going to do a lot more for your body than just 1000 calories from sugary and salty snacks. To motivate myself further I’ve decided to start a challenge for the remainder of February. Welcome to my Fit February Smoothie challenge!

At least one smoothie a day, everyday for the rest of February. Smoothie are a great source of nutrients and contain a lot, if not all of our recommended 5-a-day while also being delicious! If anyone is anything like me you probably hate greens! I’m not sure if it has more to do with the colour or the taste but foods like spinach and kale just make me think “Ew, ew, ew, NAS-TAY!” but that’s why I’ve had to modify the challenge a little bit, at least 2 of the smoothies every week MUST contain some leafy greens for their added benefits of iron and other nutrients. Ugh, I’m regretting adding this clause already, lol.

My very first smoothie of the month is one of my favourites, Strawberry and Banana! I got the recipe as a workout reward ages ago when I used to use the Nike Training Club app. The recipe is below and although I didn’t have any pineapple at the time it still tasted yummy!

4 or 5 strawberries

Handful of raspberries

1 banana

3-4 fresh pineapple slices

4 oz orange juice

Ice cubes.

And the instruction is to throw everything in the blender and blend until smooth.

Couple of the ingredients I included today, forgot to take a picture before I actually made the smoothie!

Mmmmmm, nice cup of strawberry and banana smoothie after a cold and wet day!

P.S: If you don’t have a very powerful blender I would suggest crushing the ice first! (I use some freezer bags, a hammer and a couple of dishcloths lol.) Also if you don't like bananas another "thick" fruit like mangos can be used instead, just try out with different things.

Does anyone have any fun recipes I could try out? This might be the longest shortest month of the year ever!

Reni x

Cheating Foodie

I’ve been cheating… On Insanity that is! After successfully completing the first three weeks as well! I was a bit disappointed but it didn’t happen entirely by choice! After Friday’s workout I noticed some pain in my right leg around my knee and knew that it wasn’t a sign of a good workout.  I figured it's probably from all the jumping and squatting especially in the plyometric workouts. For those who don’t know me I get really paranoid about certain things and damaging my knee is no different! I already know I have weak knees, the kind that hurt from sitting in one position for too long (Hello aisle seats and extra leg room on the plane!) I also can’t stand in one position for too long, especially in heels! (One of the reasons med school was just never for me! Not that they wear heels to med school… You catch my drift… lol) I got one of those knee brace things to wear during my workout and that seemed to help but by the next day the pain hadn’t gone away and to be honest I was too scared of doing permanent damage to try again! (In case you’re wondering I’m really not that tall. Taller than average for a girl I guess but still only 5’9”.)

Well apart from cheating on Insanity, I’ve also been cheating on my ‘clean’ diet. Four days in a row of Chinese food cannot be good for anyone! Although the one I had on Friday night was particularly delicious! It was at Princess Garden of Mayfair, London for one of my best friends 21^st birthday, the food there was soo good! Although as usual the waitresses were snappy and tried to rush us. Poor women, everyone knows you cannot rush Nigerians; we do things at our own time to our own taste. We are done when and only when WE decide to be done! Some of the other staff were lovely though; especially the guy who wouldn’t stop topping up everyone’s wine glass, he was determined to show us a good time! LOL. It was a really great evening with a chilled house party to end it all. OMG I got introduced to the best cherry liqueur ever! Does anyone know where I can get some??!! (Any brand! I’m desperate).

As of today though my knee feels a lot better and I’ve looked up some stretches to add to the end of my workouts to strengthen that area so I’m jumping back on the Insanity wagon, and heck no I’m not starting again! I’d rather die! LOL. I’d start from the beginning of Week 4 and hopefully by my next fit test in about 2 weeks there’d be even more improvement! Wish me luck guys… Also, I found one partner! Anyone else care to join us?? Leave a comment below!

Outfit of Friday Night

With love,

Reni x