Galway Fashion Trail

Being a born and bred Galweigian I know we love a good festival- I grew up on them- we've got The Food Festival, Arts festival, we've had the Volvo Ocean Race, we've even got a quilt festival for christ sake, and that's just the tip of the ice berg. We're also  home to my absolute favorite time of year-

The Galway Races. 

While all completely different, they all share the same theme-

Fashion.

Galway Fashion week is a must for any Galway festival goer and fashionista in general- as the gals and guys from ITWBN well know.

The Irish Fashion Innovation awards were my first look at the week- 3rd year in a row and as per usual they didn't disappoint 

To end the week long event was the Bloggers Breakfast and Galway Fashion Trail.

Having met the guys from Colm Quinn BMW previously, I knew the morning would be great fun.

Breakfast at a car dealership and then they'd drop us back into town to start The Fashion Trail...

 I won't lie I was skeptical as to how it was all going to work- 

It.was.Frickin.awesome.

Bloggers. Breakfast. Bubbles. BMW

does it get any better?

yes it does!

My partner in crime The Beauty Kemple was on hand to act like a toddler with me from the get go!

not exactly what I had in mind when I asked could I have a Mini

After wreaking havoc for a good hour we then proceeded to jump into the biggest fanciest car I've ever been in (or seen) 

and wreak the lovely Eanna's head for the trip to town.

Tunes blaring, myself, Yummy Mummy,Saibh Egan and The Beauty Kemple treating the 7 series like a taxi to town.....at 10 am!!!!!

 #sunroofselfie

Brows on fleek! 

At this point the day was only getting started 

The day was split into shops and paired with Milliners.

 Don’t call me Dear – Galway Milliners

 Willow – Natasha Heaslip

Choice – Caithriona King

 Kilkenny – Andrea Tighe

PIA – Vivianne Martin

 Treasure Chest – Suzie Mahony

 Gosh Shoes – Galway Hat Shop

Colette Latchford – Brid O’Driscoll

Some reeeeaaaaallllyyyyyyy pretty pieces throughout the day but here are my Top 3 Favs

Don't call me Dear- The Style Studio would never be a  place I would normally think to shop for occasion wear. But this was so beautiful I'll definitely be back for a gawk.

This isn't a look I'd usually go for but this Pink tulle skirt just kind of stole my heart.

First time in Willow too and it's such a cutsie little shop with inspirational quotes all over the walls and fab casual and formal wear.

And this!! 

I've never been disappointed by Pia and they certainly put on a show for us but this Pretty Pia Pink dress just stole the show for me!

a few of us snuck off to Garavans bar for a taste of Irish Coffee.

Garavans is tucked right in the middle of shop st and is where I learned how to be a Gin snob AND where to appreciate whiskey- they know their shiz.

yummy mummy, myself and The beauty kemple 

None of this would have been possible without the hard work of the Galway Now Team , everything was thought of and it made it an exciting day for everyone involved!

While the team finished up in the skeff I had to scoot off...for a nap because I was so pooped!

The Galway Food Festival kicked off today and I'm looking forward to hanging with all my ITWBN chums on Easter Sunday as we head for a Whiskey Talk and Taste in the Skeff, 

and I'm just going to leave you with my favorite snap of the day- 

Thank you Saibh for introducing me to the Queen of fashion Mary from The Treasure Chest

Toodles!

Why be moody when you can shake yo booty!

So last week was the final week of my strength cycle before my big strip with Le Cardio!

I was excited- I had a great week- I had a heap of fun swanning around the town in Colm Quinn BMW's for the Galway Now Fashion trail with all my ITWBN pals,

myself and The Beauty Kemple getting a sunroof selfie

One of my very best friends rocked home from Canada....for a flying visit

Classic Tub

Little Miss Scotland came for a visit....and I went Blonde

And then to top it all off on March 18th I pulled 130kg FOUR TIMES of 1 block pull.

Chuffed.with.myself.

So last Monday I was V excited- I get to start training with the absolute Bae that is Ieva!

Now Ieva and Max had a bit of a bet going- and if Ieva won it meant Max had to do our first cardio session with us- now not to sound cocky or anything but having come from being a cardio bunny into powerlifting only a meer 5 months ago I really felt like I had the upper hand. 

So I proceeded to taunt Max all weekend alongside Ieva- I was genuinely excited

  

Literally half way thru the very first round of hell I waned to eat my words and vom!

It was boxing, ropes. tyre flips, kettle bell swings and snap kicks considering the only cardio I've been at for the last 5 months is running out of money this was easily the worst day of my life.

snapchat @foxylaura1

Until Tuesday.

 Off I popped up to The Big Smoke, not really paying attention to what Max had in store in my programme- y'know when you kind of go "Oh I've to do 30.000kg in squats" but it doesn't actually register that you have to lift THIRTY THOUSAND KG.

I broke it down whatever way I want so I chose 35kg 860 times.

Still didn't click. 

I managed to convince my Bf to get involved....

When I realized I had just done 430 squats and was only halfway I actually thought I would die,

But being stubborn really paid off because I couldn't stand the fact B would beat me at my own programme!

I am in Pain.

Moving onto Wednesday it was a blast of HIIT- more squats

and then today was 1000 rep challenge 

Squats, pull ups, thrusters and knee to stands

all with weights.

But tomorrow is PT with Max again and I'm terrified

Pray for Fox.

Although I'm in the worst pain of my life, it dawned on me that we only have 5 weeks to our shoot so it'll be worth it!

plus.

I think my booty is already making the necessary gains.

photo compliments of the certified creep @galwayplayer on snapchat.

5 weeks out from the shoot and 6 weeks out from full power this is gonna be tough as flip.

I'd be bare faced lying if I said I was looking forward to it- I'm not.

I am however all about the l's and b's ahead AND the end result!

#firstworldprobs

Lift like a girl- I think this madness is working

So I've been getting increasingly frustrated and angry lately. 

Getting used to the lack of shit food.

Not drinking.

Not being rich yet.

And not having a total Hot bod.

I was starting to feel like fuck it I don't care.

(i'm hardly dramatic)

That was until I woke up and bodaboom bodabing- are those little baby abs creeping in to say a little hello????

I did say LITTLE. But I was pretty chuffed with it. 'til I ate a fricking omelette and they seemed to just fudge off home again. 

And then I noticed my skin has cleared up loads, no eczema, I don't look like I'm storing food in my hamster cheeks-aka less bloat and my eyes seem a little sparklier!

So I'm into my last 2 weeks of strength cycle before the big strip, which I'd rather not think too much about right now. En ce moment I'm doing very little movement, apart from lifting sthuff....cardio.....

unless........

But another Powerlifting term was thrown at me - Wilkes.

Basically there's a formula that takes into consideration your

Gender

Height

Age 

Lift

and calculates it so that everyone can be measured against each other.

I googled it.

It's real life.

My squat went from 55 to 70 in the last month and I was so close to 50 on my bench HOWEVER being up since 430 that morning and testing at 6 that evening wasn't going to help. Doesn't change the number unfortunately.

Buuuut I'm not too far behind the boys. As in I'm about 3 points behind- Yay!

So in short- The Lift Like a Girl program is making me stronger than the boys!!

I out chef-ed myself then as a treat I made some chocolate protein pancakes smathered in Nutella and Peanut butter

And then we all got a lovely treat in Maximum Results, Max went about getting on board sponsors....so we now have 10% off Galway Tattoos and McGraths Butchers, 5 beans off Muscle Maintenance and my personal fav....20% off Million Dollar Secrets!!!!

Talk about looking after your clients!

Booked my hollibops to Malta this week too so another added incentive....because a photo shoot and a powerlifting competition wasn't enough,

I love pressure!

 if someone could find me these runners that would be awesome....

 snapchat me on foxylaura1

and lastly- so far I've really noticed not mindlessly eating the house over the weekends has been the hardest part but just consciously not eating the pick n mix has helped me loads!

Summers a comin guys!!!!!!!! 

and that's about the most inspirational quote you're gonna get from me 

Toodles