Monday Motivation

Happy Monday lovers!

I hope you are all well and have a lovely weekend.

By now I can imagine that you’re all in the festive mood and have been for some time. Well until last week for me it didn’t quite feel like Christmas time at all.

Spending the build up to crimbo in Lisbon has been a great experience as I have managed to escape the madness and decorations on steroids that I became accustomed to whilst living in the UK and despite working in customer service for one of the UK biggest online fashion retailers, I have also managed to keep my sanity.  

However, today I am flying home for to spend the Christmas with my family and I have to say that the little elf that lives inside of me is ready to come out and play!

Image sourced form pinterest.com

For me Christmas isn’t about a religious celebration (because I’m not really a conventional religious person.) Christmas is about a time that you spend with the people you love the most, to eat, drink and be merry. But most importantly to celebrate and show appreciation for one another.

When it comes to family , yes we may want to kill each other at times and we may not always see eye to eye but… it’s Christmas “... the most wonderful time of the year” so put aside your differences, break out the board games, pop some bubbly and enjoy and be present in the moment of Crimbo!

Have an amazing Christmas lovebugs! I hope that Father Christmas brings you everything that you asked for.

Love Sara. xxx

Monday Motivation

Image sourced from www.forthedream.tumblr.com

This can happen to the best of us at times. Losing myself is a place that I feel like I visit too often these days, but in my moments of clarity I remember that when I feel like I’ve lost the girl that I used to be, or am unsure of who I am or what I want these days, I remember that it’s ok to have these feelings because I am just shedding the skin of what is no longer needed, taking what I have learned and what I’m still learning, and am evolving into the person I’m supposed to be for the next chapter of my life.

Yes feeling like you are losing yourself on the regular can be, scary, frustrating, lonely and bloody awful, but the key to losing yourself from time to time is making sure that all of those good ass friends and family that love you as much as the air they breathe are by your side physically, emotionally or in my case virtually, to remind you how bloody awesome, talented, beautiful and loved you are in those moments when you don’t know how to remind yourself! And with that... you will never truly lose yourself all the way because these magnificent lovers we call family and friends will never let you!

Have a great week love bugs and remember, it’s normal and fine to lose your shit from time to time... just don’t lose it forever! 

Love Sara. xxx

The People You Meet Along The Way...

One of the most exciting things about travelling or moving somewhere new is the people you meet. Some may be a little strange, some even creepy, like the boys that wait like vultures for the foreign girls to come to town so they can offer strong helping hand because of course, every female with a passport and the desire to travel is a brainless damsel in distress! But aside from the creeps, dickheads and weirdos there are some genuinely amazing people from all over the world waiting to meet you!

Since I’ve been in Lisbon I’ve met so many people from so many different places that I’ve lost track. But then there are always the ones that stick with you, like the bubbly landlord who gave me the best welcome ever on my first day. I’d barley even checked in and before I knew it we out the door and on our way to an art exhibition, a fresh juice bar and an outdoor book fair. We talked about the how amazing life, yoga and the universe are and of course boys... duh! But what was even more amazing is that 2 weeks prior leaving the UK I’d started to think about how difficult it was going to be and how lonely I would be in my first few days when I arrived, but as soon as I met my landlord all those feelings disappeared. We talked about so many things that without realising it, we were helping each other make sense of our current life situations, so we decided there and then while chowing down on some sort of green veg chocolate cake (I swear is was scrumptious), that we would write a book titled, ‘Everything happens for a reason’. And just like that a new friendship was born.

Then there’s the lovely enthusiastic Brazilian lady I met at a language exchange. We agreed to meet one afternoon to practice our language skills and I am so glad that we did because she reminded me of how excited and in love with Lisbon I was the first time I visited which helped me to remember what brought me back. It wasn’t long before I felt like I’d been reconnected with a long lost friend and again, that was the beginning of a new inspiring friendship.

When I had my weeks of weakness of feeling homesick I met an amazing group of people who have no idea how much they cheered me up! From that group of people I met a lovely free spirited, kite surfing French girl. It had almost been a month since we’d initially met but randomly one day I was on Facebook and saw her name pop up, so I took it as a sign and said hi. Little did I know she was leaving the next day so we spontaneously met up for the afternoon and as we began talking we realised that we had a lot in common. We talked about how much we love Lisbon, our travelling experiences and some of the things that we want from life. And just like that, in one afternoon, I went from being in limbo about what to do next with my life, to feeling like I had found the next piece to my puzzle!

And then there’s the 67 year old American lady who is just dying for me to meet her cat, Squeak! This fiery lady left home at the age of 18, found herself some European loving and hasn’t looked back since.

When we first met, I asked her where she was from, she replied “now that’s an interesting question”, to which she gave an interesting answer. I suppose when you’ve travelled and lived in as many places as she has it can become a bit difficult to say that you’re from one specific country, town or city, when your life has been shaped by so many different places.

After sitting next to this lady at an outdoor documentary movie while she decided to become a personal quirky commentator, mainly commentating on how shite she thought the documentary was, I knew I liked her. 

On the train back into the city we talked and talked and I realised that this woman has the most amazing spirit and I loved being around her because she honestly reminds me of what life is all about! Despite going against what society told her she should be as an 18 year old girl in the 70’s, she had the balls to go against the grain and follow her heart which has taken her on so many memorable adventures.

For me there is nothing like meeting a complete stranger and discovering you have a connection with them, even if it’s just for a moment or it lasts an entire lifetime. I live for moments like these because these random people I meet from all over the world have helped and continue to help shape the person I am and the person I will become!

Although most of us were raised on a strict ‘Stranger Danger’ policy, I highly recommend you trust your gut combined with weirdo raider and get to know a stranger every once in a while, you never know what will happen.

Love Sara. xxx

Finding a New Path

Can you believe that my first month in Lisbon has already gone?

So how did it go? – Well to be completely honest the first 2 weeks were pretty bad as I experienced the worst homesickness I’ve ever experienced in my life. I’ve always been one to get homesick but this time it felt like it was never going end which made it even worse. Immediately I stated making plans for my return home to England and how I would just carry on with my life as it was. For a while this was comforting but then after returning home for a week for a family event and spending time talking really openly with my family and two besties about what I was feeling, I began to remember all the reasons why I made the choice to move to Lisbon and give myself a break and live life in a new place for a while.

Taking myself out of my comfort zone and starting over the way I did was such huge thing to do and I clearly underestimated the impact that it would have on me, as I had gone from having a super busy job, friends, family, and social life, to having no job, plenty of time and just me myself and I to keep myself company. But as awful as those few weeks were, I got over them (thank God) and was able to start putting things into perspective, like the fact I am living the my favourite city in the world with endless possibilities!

Now a full month in I can say that moving here for the summer (or maybe longer who knows) was definitely the right thing for me to do because although I change my mind as often as Rihanna changes her hair, being here and having time alone has given me the chance to start thinking more about what I want from this new blank chapter of life, what’s most important and how I can achieve it. And yes, it’s likely that I will change my mind a gazillion times before I get to the place that I’m supposed to be, but I’m happy to say that this is a start, and for the first time in a while, I think I may be on the path that was designed just for me.

Love Sara. xx

F.R.I.E.N.D.S Do we Really Need Them .... Hell Yes!!

Last week was a very trying week and my friends simply were my saviour.

Sometimes in life you need to be told about yourself, not in a nasty way but simply because you’re being too hard on yourself and sometime you need someone to talk to help you make sense of the things in your life that you just can’t figure out alone.

You should know something about me that I have only really discovered in the past year… I am an utter control freak and being the control freak that I am is currently ruining my life! Ok that was a little dramatic… It’s not ruining my life it’s just making my life harder than what it needs to be.

You see my problem is this, I know the beauty of living in the moment because I spent the better part of 2013 doing just that, but I also have this thing that I do which is called being overly ambitious. This is not a bad thing, but this usually leads to me setting my sights on something that I want to be or do, working my arse off to get it and then once I have it, not exploring it and then setting my sights on the next big thing. In short this means that I live a lot in the future which equals major anxiety. This is something that I am working on and at times I’m better at it than others. However for the past few weeks I have been failing miserably and this is where the help and support of good friends come in.

Over the Christmas my good amiga came home from uni and we had a blast! So much of a blast I didn’t realise how much I’d missed having a friend around who gets me in every way possible and best of all, is as honest as f*@#! Some people hate that, but I love it! It sets the real apart from the fake and there is nothing better that having friends that call it like they see it and believe me, that is exactly what she did.

To put it simply, my dear friend verbally shook some sense into me and helped me to remember that there is nothing wrong with having ambition and goals in life, but sometimes I just need to give myself a flipping break and acknowledge all of the great things I have already achieved and be proud of them. She also reminded me to live in the moment and to stop spending so much time worrying and trying to control the things in life that ultimately, I have no control over.

All in all, having great friends in life is a must! And I mean real friends, one’s like my good mate that I’ve just spent the last 400 odd words talking about. Friends that never judge you, friend that will still be your friend regardless of the choices you make so long as you remain true to yourself whilst making them, friends that will not only just listen to your problems, but friends who are down to help you find solutions to your problems even if means telling you to get your head out of your arse, but above all, friends that you can be your complete and utter self with and have a good old fashioned laugh about everything and nothing all at the same time!

 

Image sourced from http://easy-safe-weightloss.blogspot.it/

Value you friends lovebugs… good ones are hard to find.

 

Love Sara (A little Lady with a Kick Ass friend called Arti!). xxx

The Rum Kitchen

A while ago I read a blog post by The Londoner about this spot in London called ‘The Rum Kitchen’, so naturally it became one of my missions in life to see what this place was all about.

 

Image sourced from Google

Recently I've become a bit of a foodie, which means that I can be a bit of a brat and a snob when it comes to where I eat and the service that is provided, but don't be fooled, this doesn’t mean that I don’t love a back street food-shack, these shacks are usually my favorite places to eat, but if I’m going to eat in these places the food has to be past of point orgasmic and the service has to be beyond friendly, I'm talking ‘Cheers’, a place where everybody knows your name kind of friendly. But as much as I love my little budget restaurants and takeaways I also love a bit of posh nosh where I can get dressed up and sip on something kind of fancy in a fancy kind of glass. However there is one style of food and restaurant that I have always had serious issues with and that is Caribbean restaurants and takeaways. So sad, yet so true, I always find a reason to complain whenever I go to one,
a) because the Caribbean food that my dad cooks at home is always better.
b) the service is despicable and on top of that most of the time the dish that you ask for on the menu ….. is rarely available on the day you happen to order it.
And
c) if the food you order is available you’re in a for a wait and a half!

So when I read about The Rum Kitchen I was surprised by my curiosity because usually as soon as I know it's Caribbean food any hope of me going usually goes straight out the window, but perhaps it was the word ‘Rum’ in the title that tickled my taste buds.

Last weekend I made plans with two of my besties to try out this place called this place they call the ‘Rum Kitchen’ and after a stroll through Portobello Road Market we finally made it where we were greeted by two friendly waitresses. As it was 1pm we were given the Brunch menu. I went for the VegMash option while my besties chose the Grilled Makerel. The Veg mash for me was a great option as I wanted something tasty and filling to hold me for the afternoon, the portion size looked small but it was actually the right amount. My amigas also said that the Makerel was a good option and they would definitely recommend it.

For the Rum we went with the Strange Fruit and the RumiPunch Cocktails which were delish to say the least. If you like a kick to your cocktail and like your rum to be upfront with its intentions I would definitely recommend Strange Fruit, but if you love a silent creeper whose rum intentions are disguised by the sweet tastes of tropical fruits, Rumi Punch is for you.

If you’d rather make a night of it you could start off in The Rum Kitchen with a full meal or snacks and then make you way down to ‘The Rum Cellar’ and dance the night away with cocktail glass in hand and good vibes until 2am.

Overall I really enjoyed my experience at The Rum Kitchen, the food was good the service was way above average and on top of that with the sun shining, my besties by my side and reggae playing in the background it was hard for me not to feel like I was having my own little special slice of the Caribbean right here in the UK.    

If you’re in the Notting Hill area and looking for something to do and something good to eat I would absolutely give The Rum Kitchen a go.

Love Sara (A skinny gal who sure loves to eat!). xxxx

Monday Motivation

Happy Monday Lovers!

It’s been a while since I’ve posted a Monday Motivation, in fact, it’s been a while since I’ve posted anything! I have been so busy recently as I’ve started new job, but I won’t complain as change is good.

Anyhow recently I feel like I’ve just about had time to sleep, never mind blog or spend quality time with family and friends. So as my birthday was on Saturday I used this as the perfect opportunity to have all the people that I love and value the most around a huge table with great food, great drink and as always great laughs.

It was a simple birthday but the prefect birthday, as I was reminded of how much I loved everyone sat at that table and how important my family and friends are to me.

I am truly blessed to have so many magnificent, loving and supportive people in my world and I know that I wouldn’t be the person who I am without them all!

Value those you love the most, let them know you love them and always remember this, it’s not the quantity of people that you sit around the table with, it’s the quality.

 

Image sourced from Google

 

Have a great week Lovebugs!