A big sleep-in started my birthday with a snoozy bang. I did wake up at 7am to rush into my housemates room and sleepily jibber about birthdays and she made it worthwhile by presenting me with two wonderful prizes!

Carmen Electra: Fit to Strip Vol. 2 (review coming very, I love it!) and STOTT PILATES: Sunrise Workout (also coming soon!). Yay! We’d both been meaning to get some workout DVD’s happening, so now we’ll be busting moves and stretching it out in the comfort of our own home!

After my gift receiving I fell back into bed til 11am and then made my favourite healthy breakfast: Honey porridge with sliced banana!

This stuff is really good for you too as it keeps blood sugar levels even throughout the day, so it’s a perfect brekky.

Backtracking a little… the night before I went to dinner at Galileo Buona Cucina, Shenton Park. Totally in love with this place now!

Bruschetta for starters (possibly the best I’ve ever had), pear nectar (!!!) and one of their signature dishes, artichoke ravioli for mains… such a fantastic birthday dinner!

Urban Spoon rating:

My parents gave me something dorky I’d been wanting for a while, A WATER JUG! I’m going to use this to make my special Iced Green Tea – I make a big batch of this up and drink it throughout the week, I’ve found it really helps with glowing skin so I’m really excited to get back into this!

Back to my day though! I met up with my Mum and had a HUGE salad and detox juice (beetroot, carrot, apple, celery) from Edens Salad Bar in Subiaco, they were both delicious and the juice was enormous! I recommend.

Urban Spoon rating:

As my birthday treat to myself, I bought the latest Good Health magazine and some of the new Lindt Blueberry Intense chocolate – OH MY DELISH! As well as the blueberries, it also has little slivers of almonds, yum.

Another lovely gift I received, from Conor @ Hold the Beef was some Oxfam Unwrapped seeds, I found it really thoughtful and it made me smileeeeeee that my birthday inspired Conor to want to help someone else 😀

Throughout the day I slurped on green tea & rosehip tea to up the wellness quotient, and when it came time to get ready for my party, I used some Akin & Al’chemy prods to “gussy up”.

My locks were treated to [Al’chemy] Rice Aminos & Wheat Protein Intensive Moisture Shampoo and Avocado & Calendula Re-Moisturising Conditioner. These hair heroes are SLS free (a very good thing) and are devoid of many other nasties as well, so are great when you want to give your strands a break from the chemical torture they’re usually subjected to!

Post-shower I spritzed some ‘Cellular Brightening Mist’ on my face, I –LOVE- this stuff! It smells like lavender and feels cool & sparkly on the skin. I haven’t done any comparitive analysis pre and post spritzing but it makes me FEEL like my skin is brighter, so I’m sticking with it!

Seeing all my favourite people in one place that night ended my birthday on a high note, friends are critical to wellbeing and I was so happy that all my besties made it out to celebrate with me.

Love you all. Thanks for reading. Here’s to the next wellness filled year, hope you stick along for the ride!

Be well,

Annette

xoxo

Having heard good reviews & keen for a stomach-rumbling-reducing Sunday morning brunch-date, one of my besties and I made our way down to Crumpet in Vic Park.

When we got there it was PACKED and we were very lucky to snare a table outside as a couple were leaving. Unfortunately their dirty dishes were left there for a good 20 minutes before we had to ask for them to be removed.

There is also no queue system for getting a table and we were told they couldn’t keep track of who got there first, which is understandable but disappointing – perhaps they didn’t realise how popular their little cafe was going to be as there were lots of people turning up only to leave due to no available seating.

So grumpy stuff out of the way! I ordered the ‘Omnomlette‘ ($12) – hands down the best named breakfast food I’ve eaten to date – which was free range eggs, mushrooms, spinach & brie omelette drizzled with EVOO, as well as a decent-sized freshly squeezed orange juice ($6). My counterpart had the Mushies on Toast ($11) & an OJ as well.

It was a hard decision given the many healthy sounding choices, including a vegan brekky (although unfortunately it was more expensive than any of the dishes with meat, which was surprising as it didn’t contain any out of this world ingredients). There were also various smoothies to choose from and some delicious sounding porridge.

My meal was amazing, a perfect breakfast and kept me going through the afternoon of window shopping! My girl thoroughly enjoyed her mushies as well 🙂

Despite the few negatives, I’d definitely return to Crumpet, there are a few really cute cafes opening up in Vic Park, it seems to be turning into the hip new spot!

Location: 8/885 Albany Hwy, Victoria Park

Phone: 9355 0901

Tues – Fri: 7:30 am – 3:00 pm
Sat & Sun:8:00 am – 2:00 pm

I’ve also planned to introduce more free-range eggs into my life, I feel I may not be getting enough protein and this could be a good way to go about it! I’ll keep you posted 🙂

Be well,

xoxo

Gourmet Pie

Once again, the lure of Manna Wholefoods was too great to resist, so I met up with a friend for a lovely Sunday afternoon of delicious food and drink.

It’s excruciatingly difficult to pick anything to eat there, as a vegetarian I’m used to choosing between 1-3 options at any given restaurant, whereas here there are almost TOO MANY choices!

I settled on a Spinach & Potato Pie from the Perth brand Gourmet Cookies & Pies, it was delish. I’ve long been a fan of this brand for healthy pies & also their heat-and-eat lasagne is TO DIE FOR. Also they are 100% vegetarian and pretty healthy, I highly advise you to check them out!

To go with this I fabricated a concoction of blueberry, banana & almond milk (wild, I know) & the staff were happy to make it up for me. Twas very tasty and I will have again!

After leisurely eating, we went back in and I purchased a Coconut Juice w/Blood Orange (like last time!) & some fair trade, organic, decaff green tea…in unbleached tea bags – bit of a mouthful!

All this yummy food combined with some sunshine = a pretty excellent way to wind down the weekend. My friend also brought me home-made pumpkin soup & biscuits. Could I even ask for more?!

After all this, I’m brimming with energy and feel fantastic so I had to jump on the computer and let you all know how good I feel after nourishing my body with such great food!

Okay, I’m done now!!! 🙂

Manna Wholefoods & Cafe

274 South Tce
South Fremantle
WA 6162

Ph (08) 9335 7995

Be well,

Annette

xoxo

♥ !!! ♥

VEGAN WAFFLE PARTY – Three words, all excellent by themselves, together at last in delicious, cruelty-free, fun loving unison!

Add to this that the waffles at this particular party are FREE and you’ve got yourself a sure fire winner of an idea for something to do on Sunday the 16th May! 🙂

Just what is a Vegan Waffle party?

A waffle party is a festive and stomach-filling social event where waffles are served, preferably hot off the iron, with delicious toppings. It can be a relatively simple gathering with just a few friends, or it can be an extravagant production with dozens of guests.

(For more info check out the Waffle Party Site!)

Cruelty Free WA, the gracious hosts of the Perth event

(Following taken from the Perth Global Vegan Waffle Party Facebook Event Page)

We want to show everybody that being vegan is not about sacrifice and denial and there is no need to miss out on the things you enjoy.

Help us celebrate all things vegan by coming along to our vegan waffle party for free waffles hot off the iron and complete with yummy toppings. Everybody is invited, so why not bring along your steadfast meat eating friends and show them how delicious cruelty free food can be.

Not vegan? It doesn’t matter, come along anyway we would love to see you. The Global Vegan Waffle Party is a worldwide event so help us put Australia on the map. This is one time WA won’t be behind the rest of the country when it comes to good veg*n food.

When: Sunday May 16th 11:00am – 3:00pm
Where: Cruelty Free WA
Shop 28A Queen Street, Fremantle
(opposite Myer)

Contact: info@crueltyfreewa.com.au
or phone the store on 9335 7039
Cost: FREE! (So awesome!)

Be well,

Annette

xo

♥

Manna Wholefoods & Cafe is an absolute gem for those of us who are into organic, fair-trade, raw, vegetarian / vegan, healthy or just plain tasty food & groceries.

I was surprised to be informed of the existence of Manna by Conor from Perth food blog Hold The Beef, as it’s the kind of place you’d expect to find in Melbourne, 150% the type of place I’ve been wishing and hoping for and apparently it’s been right under my nose for quite some time!

Tucked down South Terrace, you’d be forgiven for missing it, however the unassuming shop front and few scattered chairs and tables give way to a wonderland of treats once you step through the door.

I spent ages trying to decide what to eat, but finally settled on a scrumptious looking (& tasting) large slice of vegetable pizza ($6) & this lovely drink below…

DELICIOUS – CoCo Coconut Juice w/Blood Orange ($4.34)

Other offerings were raw smoothies, raw salads, spelt vegetarian lasagne, tasty looking sandwiches, organic beef pies & sausage rolls, healthy desserts and a wide range of coffees & juices.

I didn’t have much chance to look around the rest of the shop as my friend wanted to leave, but I did see quite a range of fresh and frozen produce, all labeled organic / conventional which is handy and I will most certainly be back VERY soon to check out their wares and no doubt try some more food & drink!

If you live anywhere in the vicinity of Freo / South of the River I highly, highly recommend checking it out and supporting little businesses who are looking out for your health & wellbeing.

Manna Wholefoods & Cafe

274 South Tce
South Fremantle
WA 6162

Ph: (08) 9335 7995
Fax: (08) 9335 7795
manna@mannawholefoods.com.au

Mon-Fri: 8am-6pm, Sat: 8.30am-5pm, Sun: 10am-4pm

Be well,

Annette

xoxo