Last Minute Xmas Buys!

I am so awful for Running around Christmas week panic buying gifts and 9 time out of 10 I end up buying absolute over priced muck.

So this year, I went for a look see around town and online, without anyone in particular in  mind which really took the pressure off and here's what I found!

The Galway Player book Shift and Drift €10 and I'll hand it to him it's pretty hilarious 

Joanne Larby "The Make up Fairy" her book Fairy Tales is €19.95

Galway United Season tickets ranging from €60-€150 

Bodyfirst Nutrition  Protein bar selection box. €14.95 and you can chose which flavors for each bar! NOM! 

Red Herring Men's watch - €45 and available in Debenhams Galway now

I go to Million Dollar Secrets on market street and they have a great all year offer of €50 for Gel nails and HD Brows so a voucher for there wouldn't go to waste!

In the xmas market there's a stall in eyre sq selling Mi Moneda inspired necklaces, it's €30 looks legit and you get 2 "coins" - winning!

Freddy Jeans <3 <3   The Wonderbra of the Jeans world

The Pia Angels Denise and Leah have the shop fully stocked, I got a pair of snakeskin freddys and can't wait to get more denims but SIZE UP! They are very small fitting!

Inglot Make Up Voucher for €30 is my favorite thing ever. 30 beans gets you a make up application and then you can spend it back on products, the bonus being products aren't that expensive at all and are really good quality! And the girls are great at what they do!

Just downstairs is Cara Pharmacy. I'd generally go there as they always seem to have mega deals on, when it comes to tan- they are literally half price for the NKD skin tan I normally use. They have a huge selection of high street make up too- NYX and Sleek, I couldn't get the Stila primer anywhere but because they do it in their Sligo store I got it delivered to the Galway shop.

Aaaaanyyyywaaays they've got some really decent Xmas offers and ideas!  

My fav perfume at the minute is the Paco Rabanne Olympia and it's down to 70 from 90 and that's the perfume and the body lotion (which actually smells exactly like the perfume and lasts on your skin for hours)

Paco Rabanne 1 million for the mens set is only €50....that is an absolute steal!

Cara's own brand Make up brushes , I love these, I got mine a few months ago and love them. If you're a little bit messy like me the fact that they're pink makes them so easy find! and they're only €29.50

The Glam Glow Youth Mud is the most amazing face mask I've ever used, and everyones skin needs some TLC over the winter!

But having a flick through the Cara Christmas Guide they have a really cool section where you can design you're own hamper!

Instead of buying a ready made hamper you can decide your budget and make your own.

I love how personal that makes it!

So that's my random list of Xmas pressies! Hope it helps some one of you guys!

Lift like a girl- week 2

I'm still alive.

I haven't turned into the Hulk.

I am a Princess.

lol jk....sort of!

I feel great!

I don't weigh myself, obviously Max weighs me each week to keep an eye on my progress in terms of my bodyfat. But I used to obsess over what I weighed and it would drive me crazy that I was the same weight as celebs in magazines but looked nothing like them so instead I rely on progress  pics and how I fit in my clothes. No drastic change but I don't feel like I'm bursting out of my clothes! 

well apart from my butt......however that's a different story!

One thing I'm flat out at are BLOCK PULLS!

wtf are block pulls I hear you say...Well in a nutshell they are the greatest mindflip of all time!!!! 

This is the cycle I've been working off for the last 2 weeks. Designed to basically trick your body into lifting heavier.

It's a deadlift on stilts!

So the aim of the game is to start week 1 on a block and 25kg plate, week 2 a block and a 15kg plate, week 3 a block and then week 4 is straight off the ground.

All the while increasing how heavy you're lifting and at the end a new PB! Taa-Daah!

Another lift I've been learning is the Power Clean.

An Olympic lift that helps me engage my core, check out my facebook page for a video of me practicing the Power Clean technique.

So far what I've learned is technique is so important, if I make a mistake at 20kg- not the end of the world. 120kg = possible death. 

   

What I'm enjoying the most- the absolute banter, lack of burpees and that sense of satisfaction I felt last Friday knowing I'd beat myself from the previous one.

What I'm enjoying the least- Boy farts, broken nails and maths. I genuinely nearly had a nosebleed trying to work out what weights to put on the bar.

Luckily the good outweighs the bad! (and I think I've found a solution to the nail problem....2 out of 3 aint bad!)

Today is the end of week 2- I have my toughest day on a Friday- Block Pulls, Bench and Power Cleans. I'm off to get a spray tan as I have my Irish Tv and PIA xmas parties this weekend.

On a final note, I was on Molly in the Morning on Galway Bay FM last week and Molly the scut reckons no way on earth can girls lift anything! 

So as a little tester next week after the breakfast show we're going to have a "Lift off" and see what happens! and it's being recorded for the sheer buzz of it all!

Anywho i'll leave ye with that and I'll be back to let ye know how my spray tan survived!

Lift like a Girl- Week 1

I've been training at Maximum Results  now for the last year, under the Iron Fist of Shane "Pain" Coughlan. Bless his Under Armour he's had a tough job.

A month in Thailand, a week to Marbella (where we were on bff terms with the local kebab shop owners- Mustaf&Omar), Longitude, Raceweek, Electric picnic and just life in general- trying to get me into anyways decent shape was a challenge because unfortunately I put on weight thinking about over indulging.  However when I came crying to him with 3 weeks to my final shoot as Miss Sunday World- he did just that.

I have no real lack of motivation to get to the gym, I enjoy it. Not in one of those "Oooh look at me I love the gym, woo yeah Gains" kind of way. But in the "I'm stressed off my toosh right now, let's just eat pic n mix and cry or go be in so much pain I'll forget whats going on" kind of way. I work 3 Jobs, 3 very different Jobs and my days can change in an instant. Which I love. But it takes its toll, so to get in an hour training and having the lols and forget whats turning me into an "anti-christ"(not my words btw) is a no brainer!

Now my problem is I LOVE TREATS! All the time. Throw in a hangover and I don't have food prepped, I'll literally eat treats until I'm the size of poppin fresh. I'm talking Take away, pic n mix, crisps, chocolate, you name it. Now there is nothing wrong with treats, everyone deserves them otherwise whats the point but where im trying to go with this is that when I fall off the bandwagon that's me gone and then I'm back to sq1 all over again trying to lose weight as opposed to maintaining it-which is just no fun.

BUT when I have a goal, it's a mix of determination and (APPARENTLY) stubbornness that gets me on the straight and narrow....a little bit. Which is how I ended up in "The Other Room". The room all the banging of bars&weights and deathly howls comes from. The room where Max "Pain" Lauth lives... The Powerlifters room!!

So instead of taking it handy we've just thrown me straight into it and I'm competing in the IDFPA National Single Lifts 2016 at the end of January. I'm 1 week in and I'm lovin' it!

(don't worry I don't know what most of this means)

So day 1 we Max tested me in Squat (65kg), Bench (40kg) and Deadlift (110kg)

and then this determined what my programme would be for week. Max also told me about all the knots I have and proceeded to start to get rid of them, which was the worst experience of my life....for 10 minutes...now I feel fricking epic mofo! At the end of week 1 I was up 5kg on my Max Deadlift and I felt like the greatest Meathead of all time!!!! I joke, I genuinely was so chuffed with my life walking (slowly) out of Maximum Results. 

 

So for the next 2 months I'm going to document my life and keep ye all entertained. I'm going to be as shallow as doing blog posts on how I manage my extensions to my fake tan and gel nails at the gym and then going straight to work for IrishTV (or whatever!) to videos of my training, diet and just the general Tom Foolery that goes on, just for anyone a little bit scared of the idea of lifting heavy things and shouting.

For an added bit of pressure I'll have weekly progress pics taken by Sean McCormack so I can't strategically angle myself to look good. 

This will not be full of inspirational quotes and a view through Rose Tinted Glasses...So I mean if not for me anyways it'll be a laugh for yourself!

Peace Out!

#itwbn hits up 56 Central

Last Friday night....yeah we danced on tabletops and we took too many shots think we kissed but I forgot....

lol! close enough but we did go to 56 Central for a jam packed evening of delicious food from their evening menu. I'm all about supporting local and the dream about living in Galway is Galweigians love to help each other out. So to walk into 56 Central knowing that 90% of their produce is from Galway and the West of Ireland just makes your meal that bit more enjoyable.

Collerans mince beef burger on Jeremy Les Petit Doucher mini brioche buns with ballymaloe relish

56 Central homemade gluten free bread 56 central baked ham from Castlemine butcher Lizzi's piccalilli

Sausage sliders made from Castlemaine Meat with Loughrea honey and The Lodge Barna's Prosecco and Tarragon Mustard

56 Central Cuinneog buttermilk Chicken

Spicy Potato Bravas

Galway Goat Farm Goatscheese with beetroot piccalilli and garnishes

Mini fish cakes tartare and caper made with Alis Fish Market Fish 

Naturally Gluten Free Nacho canapés from Blanco Nino (Little Ass Buritto) 

Sweet selection from Sugar & Spice -

Mini mint areo, mini oreo, carmel, mini brownie & mallows 

Tough job having to try EVERYTHING but I powered thru. 

Mini Nachos

I never order chicken when I'm eating out because I always figure I can make it myself at home but holy shmoly The 56 Central Cuinneog buttermilk Chicken was the absolute bomb diggity! Melt in your mouth spicey yummyness.

I may have eaten my chicken without taking a picture...so this was robbed from howtobefed

(Thaaaaaanks!!)

On arrival we were all treated to glasses of elderflower prosecco, but it didn't stop there, on each of our personalized place settings was individual bottles for everyone. Go on Gill, that was a winner for me anyhow!!

 Some positive vibes thrown in for good measure 

Attention to detail at 56 is second to none, The Theme of the heart flow thru the restaurant, connecting everyone and everything together to the pillows with pictures of blackrock and the long walk

even our desert platters (which didn't last too long on my table!) had 56 written in......chocolate!

The atmosphere at 56 was so warm and the #itwbn crew are all so welcoming. Ruth my long time bestie of The Beauty Kemple just got back from Thailand so we had a great catch up

and we may have got caught out taking a few selfies 

with full bellies and a little bit merry we skipped on over to Garavans to try our hand at some whiskey tasting. the most educated drinking I've ever done and Niamh, with the patience of a saint, talked us thru all 12 whiskeys and had a little pop quiz for us at the end. I'll be giving more than just a hot toddy a try in future.

Really trying to figure it out here with Yummy Mummy and The Beauty Kemple

Ruth and Kiki <3

as you might see I enjoy a bit of snapchat add me on foxylaura1

Such a great night, really looking forward to the next meet up and my next outing in 56 Central and Garavans. 

until later skater...

toodlepip

Raceweek Ready

Oh heeeey guys!

Right so I've pretty much fallen off the face of the Social Media Earth..I'll get to that but for now we are less than a week away from the greatest week of the year... GALWAY RACEWEEK!!!!!

Raceweek is by no means for the faint hearted, so in order to maximize your enjoyment I suggest starting your prep Asap!

get exfoliating.
I use a homemade scrub of brown sugar and baby oil with exfoliating gloves, I have super sensitive skin and this works wonders!

TAN! My favourite at the Minute has to be NKD skin by Vita Liberata
It's absolutely fool proof and is currently on offer in Cara Pharmacy Galway for 13.75
It comes in both a liquid and Moose and both are brill but the moose is a little easier to deal with.

BROWS!!!! I cannot stress enough how much brows make a difference to your life!
Get your ass into Million Dollar Secret asap!
All the girls in there are great and there really is no need to be scared.

You wont come out looking like this

More like this! We all get our brows done in MDS(All the visible brows anyways!!)....and the girls are Ginger as flip- which can be tricky...and they look awesome!

NAILS! If you're not going for gels then Sally Hanson do a great Gel Polish that you wont have to worry about chipping. And while we're talking about my glory god Sally don't forget Sally Hansen Gel Tan <3

Make Up!

Needs to last all day and night in the most unpredictable weather!

Getting it done is such a treat that everyone deserves!

Ally McGinn will be working from Yourells Hair Salon for that week and I'd trust her with my life!

Orla Hurney is also another ridiculously talented MUA who is a pro team member at  Inglot Galway (upstairs at cara galway) They'll book up fast so get onto them ASAP!

Denise and Leah in Pia Galway literally have you sorted outfitwise! and with their summer sale in full swing you're bound to find something to suit you!

Headpieces! Mary White IS THE DREAM!

ESSENTIALS!!

nurofen gel.rub it into the balls of your feet before putting on heels or Deep Freeze if they're really killing you for some sweet relief!

Lash glue, powder, bronzer lippy and a small hairbrush! Shallow as it sounds they'll keep you topped up AND probably make you few extra friends!

The most essential part to enjoying your day at the races is a decent brekkie and a pre race drink ;) 

I'm all about An Pucan aka The Pooks!

Right beside the buses to the course, yummy food, prosecco on tap, their own beer #swagger , sound staff and the most unbelievable Garden Area of all time #dreamliving

Enjoy yourself and I'll see you at the track!

A 21st Century Fox

Laura Fox

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