Recent Things: Teppanyaki, New BFFs & Frustrations!

Happpppppppppppyyyyyyyyyyyyyy Friday!!!!!! I have had a crazy busy week this week so I am so glad that it's Friday and I cannot wait until about 9pm tonight when we're finished with Ignite for the tonight and our weekend actually begins!

Plus my birthday is next week so the birthday cake eating countdown begins!!!

Lots has been happening this week & I have plenty to share, so let's get to it! >>

Recent Obsession: Sierra Bees Lip Gloss. They are so cheap and so good - as well as organic and free from nasties. I literally have 30 of these lip glosses and they're scattered all over the house, bathroom and my handbags/jacket pockets so I always have one on hand. 

My recommendations? The variety 8 pack is the best option to try everything because it's only AU$6.78/US$5 and has cocoa butter, honey, mint burst, pomegranate, mint, she butter and argan oil, tamanu and tea tree, unflavoured and vanilla (my fave!). I also have the tinted lip shimmer pack (same price as the variety pack) which I usually wear when I'm wearing makeup as it adds a little oomph ;) 

Plus, if you use the coupon code OTO868 you get $5-10 off your order! BOOM!

Recent Fun: Teppanyaki!

We went out to a teppanyaki bar on Tuesday for dinner for my Dad and Rob's (Monique's Dad) birthdays and it was so much fun! The chef (who joked his name was Habibi) was hilarious and had us all in stitches. 

Gluten free girl couldn't eat anything (and "Habibi" joked that I hated his food and had a big mac on my way over) but that didn't matter as it was such a fun night anyway.

He threw food at everyone and my silly husband managed to drop the raw egg, splattering it all over the bench top!

This was my second ever time going to a teppanyaki bar (the first was in Louisiana with Jesse the day we were engaged, ha!) and I was wishing I could have eaten some of the food as it all looked so good!

Luckily though, I had my own little taco tuesday feast before we left which Jesse was quite jealous of as he had to forgo his taco tuesday traditions :P 

Recent Deliciousness: This Healthy Protein Pancake Puffs Recipe! I posted the recipe last Saturday as I'd had a crazy week and didn't get two post the recipe as planned on Thursday (same as this week - I have a scrumptious banana blondie recipe for you tomorrow!) and then went on to make them again three times this week. You seriously need to try them ASAP!

Recent BFFs: Meet my new BFF, the R8 by Roll Recovery. I am seriously, ridiculously obsessed with my new "toy". 

The R8 is like the supercharged alternative to a foam roller. It rolls out your muscles, preventing injury and easing muscle pain and it actually works. I have stupidly tight muscles thanks to my blood flow/blood oxygen issues but the R8 actually works for me. 

In fact, my left IT band starting playing up on Tuesday night (more about that later because I've worked out the cause!) and it's now good as gold and I think that's all due to the R8 as usually it takes so much longer for my body to recover!

If you workout and/or use a foam roller, you seriously need one ASAP! It's a bit of an investment, however, I worked out that if it saves me just two physio sessions for IT band/muscle issues it's already paid for itself! I still have my foam roller for my back but no longer use it on my legs!

Recent Projects: I've been playing with food all week as I have been working on a tonne of different recipe development and food photography projects for my KISS Freelance clients. I love when the SIL and KISS worlds collide and I get to do what I'm passionate about!

Recent Articles: Speaking of projects, I've written two articles this week for one of my clients, Kuranda Wholefoods that I think you guys would love!

The first is 11 little known benefits of getting fit which covers a whole bunch of non-physical benefits of getting fit. So many people don't understand just how many great reasons there are for working out - and you shouldn't just be focused on getting those killer abs or fitting into your wedding dress! The second article up on their blog this week is talking about whether quinoa is really all it's cracked up to be. Check out my Is Quinoa Really a Superfood article to find out more about the ancient grain imposter ;) 

Recent Frustrations: The carpet at our church. My wonderful, incredibly helpful husband (no sarcasm) offered to rip up the carpet in our church as our new chairs were being delivered. On Sunday at church Craig asked for some helpers, but of course no one was too keen to help out.

On Tuesday night, I went along with Jesse to the church to help him rip it all up and Peter joined us to help out. But boy ohhhhhhh boy was it hard work. Taking up the carpet itself was super easy but, as we have a church that leaks every time it rains, the under layer was soggy and stuck to the floor like glue and all of the nailed in sections of wood crumbled into a million pieces as soon as you tried to remove them from the floor. 

It was a nightmare and I was absolutely exhausted (and managed to irritate my left IT - after two rounds with the right one previously) but we did as much as we could and then Jesse went back on Wednesday for five hours during the day to get the rest done. 

I seriously have the best husband ever.

Recent Deliciousness: Our Healthy Homemade Honey Vanilla Granola Recipe. I make this once a fortnight as Jesse has it for breakfast every day and it never gets old! 

Recent Health: As I mentioned, I managed to injure my left ITB this week. As I've now done my right ITB twice now as well as my TFL and constant hip pain, I thought I was surely ready be taken out to the paddock and shot as I was falling apart - BUT!!!!!!!!!

I think I figured out what the issue with. I remembered the physio had told me I had perfect form and it was really unusual to see ITB issues in someone who's not a runner and doesn't really do anything to irritate it and then I got to thinking about whether or not I had a mechanical issue in my knee. 

What I came down to was that perhaps it was my ankle not moving properly that was causing my knee to move incorrectly blah blah blah - and then I realised that my orthotics were designed to stabilise my ankle to stop my foot pronating (turning in) and then I had a light bulb moment!

I never experienced any injuries before getting my orthotics, however, afterwards I've had injury after injury after injury - even though my exercise hasn't changed (in fact, I've been doing less because of all the injuries). I put two and two together and realised it was the orthotics causing the problem (though the dodgy chiropractor who sold them to me told me it's my body falling apart) and took them out and WHATTTTT WOULD YOU KNOW, the IT issues and funny pains have stopped completely!

So the expensive orthotics are now going straight in the bin and I'm embracing my flat feet :P 

But tell me, how has your week been?

What food are you loving this week?

And have you ever been recommended something that ended up causing more problems than good?

I'm always the medical mystery. Nausea medication makes me nauseous, anti-bloating treatments made me look like I was nine months pregnant (thanks to food intolerances), orthotics end up doing more damage than good and the flu shot gave me the flu consecutively for 12 months. I think it's safe to say I need to live barefoot in the jungle and eat only plants :P