♥

Here’s a delicious smoothie recipe that is one of my favourites and that I whipped up on this quiet Friday night at home! I’ve had a big week, so there’s nothing better than relaxing at home, schmoozing around and making plans for the weekend (Farmers market! Body Balance! Yes!) while indulging in some decadent tasting but fairly healthy snacks!

Ingredients:

1 x banana (preferably frozen if you prefer a thicker ice-cream like consistency, yummo)
1 x cup of frozen blueberries (they also make your skin glow, bonus)
1 x teaspoon of wheatgerm (I keep this in the freezer to maintain it’s freshness)
1.5 x cups of chocolate Vitasoy

Method:

Pop em all in the blender, blend on high for a minute and do the crocodile rock around the kitchen because your DELICIOUS AWESOME SNACK IS READY!

CROCODILE-ROCK-NOW, WHEN YOUR FEET JUST CAN’T KEEP STILL!

Aside from that, Tonight is going to involve lots of organising in the Wellness WA office & replying to e-mails. Very productive.

My gorgeous writer Kelly-Anne had a fantabulous beauty mega-spree this evening so expect to hear all about THAT in the very near future – this is me being jealous, right here.

Be well,

xoxo

There’s a little salon on Preston Point road in Como which is quickly becoming a favourite of mine. It doesn’t look like much on the outside but once you’re inside you are in for a treat!

The salon offers a huge range of services and treatments from the standard waxing and massage to specialist skin treatments including IPL Photorejuventation, Omnilux Light Therapy, Microdermabrasion and Glycolic Peels. They also offer an extensive range of skincare products which include Priori, MD Formulations, Decleor , and the organic Ilcsi and Judith White range. There is a solution for every skin.

I had wanted to try Microdermabrasion for quite a while, so I bit the bullet and made an appointment for a Thursday morning. I arrived 10 minutes early as requested and filled out the necessary forms about my skin, skincare routine and health. All the staff are well trained and educated in skincare and the products that they use.

I was pleasantly surprised by the Microdermabrasion, it has a gentle suction feeling to it and the results are great. It’s best done in a course to get the full benefits. My skin felt smoother, was more even and looked more refreshed. The treatment which includes a facial takes 60mins. The rooms are relaxing and filled with gentle music. My therapist was fantastic, took me through a detailed skin analysis, and explained all the products she was using and why. I got a little hand and foot massage during the facial and walked out of the room feeling like I was walking on air.

This salon is now somewhere that I visit regularly; it fulfills all my skin and beauty needs in once place.

Where
Corner Labouchere Rd., & Preston St, Como

Phone
(08) 9368 0829

Website
http://www.skindeep.net.au

Article by Hannah Lee: “I’ve been interested in health, beauty and fitness for as long as I can remember. I’m a self confessed beauty spa addict who is always on the lookout for new things to try. I’m currently obsessed with microdermabrasion and Omnilux light therapy. I work as a nurse, which allows me to educate people about all things health and wellness, something I’m passionate about!”

Be well,

xoxo

I mentioned in my previous post that I bought a bunch of organic kale for $2.50, the reason being that many of my health loving internet friends tout kale as one of the most important vegetables that you can whiz up into a healthy green smoothie.

I like me some green smoothies so away I went, kale in hand & put about 7 stalks in the blender with some water, apple juice and a banana, which is my usual go-to with spinach instead of kale.

The first thing I noticed was that my blender wasn’t hearty enough to quickly whiz up the kale. It’s a tough critter and took about a minute on high before it started working properly.

Secondly, when all was blended and done… the taste.

Oh dear. Apparently you’re meant to slowly work up to bunches of kale in smoothies, starting out with a couple of leaves at first. It was very bitter and extra apple juice didn’t help. I felt like throwing up due to the intense taste!

Kale smoothie mission = FAIL.

So learn from my mistakes, next time I will do the following:

– Use only a couple stalks of washed, organic kale
– Break it into pieces before blending
– Add some frozen blueberries/blackberries to sweeten it up

Dear kale smoothies,

I can’t stop thinking about you. I know it didn’t work out the first time between us, but I think if we spend a little time apart thinking about what we both want out of the relationship, then maybe we can be together…

Yours hopefully,

Annette

Be well,

xoxo

Image from http://food.libertine.au.com/

Having driven past a few times on previous weekends, seeing signs spouting promises of artisan bread, fresh fruit & vegies, free range eggs and organic produce, I finally woke up early enough to check out The Farmers Market on Manning in Bentley (just across the road from Curtin University) this morning with my mama.

My first time at a farmers market, what glee!

The markets are teeming with activity and everyone there seems relaxed and happy, my kinda place. There are cute little stalls throughout & pups galore (excellent).

Cardboard boxes are the go with no plastic bags to be seen. We try some organic lemon & garlic kalamata olives from a farm in York and end up buying some… so tasty! And at a similar price you’d pay in the supermarket.

Stalls noted include… flower / plants, organic tea, honey, curry puffs (!?!!), organic+vegetarian cheese (this place was going off because they were offering free cheese samples), chutney & sauces, raw juice, fudge, cakes, as well as the fruit, vegies, fresh meat, free range eggs etc.

The prices seemed exceptionally reasonable, I bought a bunch of organic kale for $2.50 & an organic kiwi fruit for $0.80. They will both make an excellent smoothie for me later!

Highlight of the morning would be seeing a tiny Italian boy with a huge loaf of artisan olive & sun-dried tomato bread that was about 1/3 the size of him, nibbling all over it, so cute!

The setting is fantastic, on the green grass under the shady pine trees next to the Aboriginal music college on Manning Road.

I’ll definitely be going back, I want to eat more local & organic foods and this is a wonderful way to support our local industries and farmers.

If you live South of the River, give it a go! I think you’ll enjoy it just as much as I did 🙂

Location

Clontarf Campus
Manning Road
Bentley, Western Australia

Time

8.00am – 1.00pm Saturday

Be well,

xoxo

On a scale of one to ten how typical is it to be inspired to take up dancing again when watching SYTYCD on late night television?!

Regardless of the answer to this question, inspiration has taken hold & me + 1 gorgeous friend are going to be shimmying, floor routine-ing, chair dancing & doing tear drops till our calves fall off! YAY!

Show girl shape up, here we come!

Check out: Sugar Blue Burlesque for more details!

The other great thing to happen Tonight was a salad of EPIC PROPORTIONS!! I’ve recently started getting pretty full-on into delicious salads and am definitely feeling the benefits of it.

Tonights number included such hits as…

♥ Handfuls of baby spinach
♥ Light fetta (with non-animal rennet of course)
♥ Vine ripened tomatoes
♥ Sweetened dried cranberries
♥ Chickpeas
♥ Sesame seeds

Honestly, it sounds so simple but tastes so amazing!

My friend & I have regular “salad dates” once a week, so much healthier than the coffee & cake that most of us go for! Maybe you can try having a salad date too?

It’s fun to go shopping for the ingredients, prepare it together & then sit down in front of a bowl of amazing vitamins & flavour while watching other people exercise! Alternatively you can watch coming-of-age teen comedies which we seem to alternate between.

Please make sure to enter the Safire Competition if you haven’t already and want the chance of winning some sweet goodies!

Be well,

xoxo