Easter Weekend and a new home

With the sun shining, the none existent snow and blue skies you would think that spring had arrived here in the Lake District. Technically it has but the fact that I am still wearing my penguin mittens and bobble hat everyday makes the long spring afternoons feel a million miles away. Fingers crossed that April brings us temperatures above 2c!

I've had a very busy few days as this weekend was moving in day for me. Finally my boyfriend Matt has landed himself a job on the better side of the country (sorry you Eastern readers) and after nine long months of a long distance relationship we will finally be living in the same place. To make me even happier we have the most gorgeous apartment in town with spectacular views over the river.

So far so good with the moving in process; we even managed to construct a bed together with no arguments! Although our own bed which he constructed without my supervision did collapse at 6 in the morning with us both on it, so one minor mishap! We had our first visitors yesterday and our second lot today, I think our location makes us very popular for those wanting to visit the lakes… how convenient of us! We currently don't have all the furniture we need so expect a lot of interior design inspired posts coming up. I may even film a flat tour once everything is out of boxes and looks a bit more like home.

I hope you all have a lovely weekend with your family and treat yourself to some chocolate eggs! What are your plans for the weekend? 

Goodbye Google Reader| Where else can you find me

 

I assume you all know already that Google Reader is no more come July, so whether you use it to read blogs currently or not I’m sure it will have a huge impact on some people’s blogging. The major worry for many bloggers is that Google Friend Connect (GFC) may also disappear as a consequence. So before we all loose touch with each other how about we connect on different platforms and adapt to new ways to catching up with our favourite blogs. I have demonstrated below the other social media platforms that I am alive and well on, if you would like to follow me. I obviously don’t want to loose contact with you so please, please, please leave your social media links in a comment below and I will follow you all… lets share the love!

Bloglovin’

Bloglovin’ has had a very busy day as bloggers scramble to add their favourite blogs asap. I have seen such a huge increase over today that my blog has become number 33 in the Up and Coming Personal blogs… made my day! It seems to be the platform of choice for many.

Follow me here.

 

Twitter

Twitter is actually one of my favourite platform for reading blog posts, as it is instant and I am always on it. Yes you have to click through to a persons blog and everything isn’t in one place, but I very often favour peoples tweets then go through them at a later date to check out their recent posts.

Follow me here.

 

YouTube

Not so much of a blog following platform but still a social media platform. I am very new to YouTube and am slowly but surely working on it, so if you fancy checking out my videos and subscribing then go ahead.

Subscribe to my channel here.

 

Pinterest

A very different and interesting platform. I could spend hours looking at all the pretty and inspirational picture on Pinterest. It is great for fitness motivation also. I really need to work on my boards but plan on doing so soon.

Follow me here.

 

Hello Cotton

This is a relatively new platform for me, and rivals Bloglovin’ It allows you to follow your favourite blogs all in one place, but is a bit more magazine like than Bloglovin’, which appeals to many.

Follow me here.

 

She Said Beauty

A completely new platform for me, I literally signed up a few minutes ago, so I’m unsure to what it is like, but first impressions are good. Like Hello cotton is is a bit more magazine like with different sections etc. I also allows you to add all your social media widgets which i like

Follow me here.

 

Google+

This again is completely new to me, I have played around with it in the past but I find it quite hard to navigate and am a bit unsure of it. This is the platform that Google wans us to all start using but its yet to take off in the way that they had hoped.

Add me to your circle here.

 

Which one is your favourite platform for keeping in touch? Please leave your social media links in the box below and I will follow you all on all of the sites. I need to make sure that I do not loose touch with my favourite bloggers!

The Days Gone By| Feb to March

It feels like forever since I wrote one of these posts, so I thought I would let you all know what I’ve been up to over the past month.

 

Valentine's Dinner- As you will know from my Valentines Day post, this year Matt and I decided to stay in and have an evening to ourselves. To make it special I cooked dinner (seems I never cook), and I’m happy to say I never gave him food poisoning so I would say it was a success.

Hart of Dixie- I am a little bit obsessed with this programme, and I know a few of you are also. If you loved Rachel Bilson in the OC you will love her even more in this…She is my girl crush!

Ebaying- I have been going mad on ebay this past month. I have so far sold about 40 items of clothing and made about £200. I think the people at the Post Office are sick of the sight of me, but it's great to get rid of my fat clothes and get some money for some new ones!

Theme Hospital- After seeing all the talk of the relaunch of SimCity, it had me wishing that Theme Hospital would be relauched also. So after a long search online I found out how to get the game to work on newer operating systems. You can see more info here if you are interested.

My New Apartment- Matt and I have signed for a new apartment and I am so so so excited! We will finally be living together again after 9 months of long distance, and we will be living in a building I have had my heart set on so I couldn’t be happier! Expect lots of posts about interiors, furniture and pictures of my new apartment in the coming months!

Confused.com- This past week, thanks to my blogger friend Jamie, who writes the Zombie Fitness Blog, I was featured on Confused.com. The article was about their top fitness tips from favourite fitness bloggers, so I was honoured to be featured.

Personal Fitspiration- As I was sorting through my pictures on my laptop this past week (blogger problems) I came across some bikini pictures of me from 5 years ago and was amazed at my flat stomach! I think I’m going to print out the picture and put it by my treadmill as some fitspiration!

Matts Birthday- My boy turned 27 last week so we were obviously out celebrating. We went for some food and plenty of drinks in Leeds last weekend, and I definitely paid for it the next day!

Hangover Breakfast- The second hangover of the month, this time from meeting up with my friend whom I moved to France with. We haven’t met up in about 6 months, so we went out for a few quiet drinks in Jesmond, Newcastle, which turned into playing drunken darts at my friends house till 2 in the morning. It is safe to say I was very thankful for this breakfast in the morning.

Fitness Clothes Haul- I finally went and bought some new workout clothes! My road running trainers are a little tired and have given me a sore foot this past week, so I went and bought these gorgeous new pink ones, along with new leggings and bras!

Mothers Day Afternoon Tea- As today is Mothers Day I have spent the day with my gorgeous Mother Bar. We went for a run on the fells this morning, had some laugh when trying to complete some hill sprints, and treated ourselves with homemade afternoon tea.

Froggy’s- The pond in my mum’s garden is currently home to hundreds of little frogs! We went up this afternoon to watch them all.

 

Do you love Hart of Dixie as much as I do? Have you ever made money from Ebay? What have you been up to over the past month? Anything exciting?

Happy Birthday, Dear Blog| One Year Old

 

  

2888 friends and supporters, 1829 Comments, 365 days, 177 blog posts and 1 Blog Award final later my blog and I have arrived at our first ever birthday!

A year has passed since I started Outside Beauty Inside Health and I could not have foreseen how much it would change my life. This time last year I yearned for somewhere to express myself, so I sat and started typing on my first ever blog post, not knowing that it would soon become my full time hobby and passion. I was at first unsure about putting myself out there; there is something quite vulnerable about sharing your life on the internet, but deep down I knew I wanted to share my thoughts with the world. So thank god I had the courage to take the plunge, and a year ago I sat alone on a rainy November afternoon and wrote my first blog post.

I could not have imagined the incredible amount of support, love, community and readership it has gained! This year I have seen some of the kindest and most generous behaviour from a group of people who I have never met before, many who I now count as friends. I love to see how far my blog has grown and developed in the past year; I have been able to connect and collaborate with other talented bloggers and brands, been a finalist in the Cosmo blog Awards, and gained a job all because of the time, dedication and effort I put into my little corner of the internet.

However many opportunities I have gained, it will not replace the genuine love I now have for blogging. I enjoy every aspect of it; thinking of ideas and features, buying and trying new products, taking pictures and editing photos, tapping away at my keyboard and seeing my thoughts come together in a blog post, interacting with others on social media and reading others blogs.

Overall I love being able to inspire, entertain and encourage others with my ramblings. I can’t imagine my blogging life without all of you! You are all so wonderful and inspiring and I love interacting with you all. So thank you everyone for listening (well mostly reading) to my ramblings, thank you for your overwhelming support! I can’t wait for many more blogging years to come!

So to celebrate my one year blog birthday I wanted to share with you the favourite posts of both myself and my some of my loved ones.

You- Fitness Friday- A New Fitness Favourite- Many of you have commented how much you enjoy my Fitness Friday posts, and this post is the all time most popular on my blog. I love that these posts inspire you to try something new and hopefully to become more healthy!

Mum- Fitness Friday- Row Row Row Your Boat- Mum and I both had such a laugh trying this new fitness regime out. The pictures are pretty funny too! I’m looking forward to trying it again next spring.

Steve- Think Pink- Breast Cancer Awareness- This one is a favourite of many of my family members because of how important and personal it is to us all. I hope you took the time to read it!

Matt- Five Years- This is my boyfriend’s favourite post, probably because it is dedicated to him!

Mine- What A Week- Cosmo Blog Awards- This is my favourite post, short and sweet, but one of the highlights of my year. Every time I see it I remember how shocked and immensely happy I was to be a finalist in the Cosmopolitan Blog Awards. It’s when I finally accepted that my blog was more than a silly little hobby but something to be proud of and something to finally share with my family and friends, rather than keep a secret.

I would love to know what your favourite post of mine over the past year was? What is your favourite thing about blogging? How long have you been blogging for?

The Days Gone By| An Instagram Catchup

 

I hadn’t actually realised how long it had been since I’ve done an Instagram post, so I thought I would give you a little catch up on the happenings in my life.

1- During the middle of October my gorgeous man took me for a romantic trip to Edinburgh for our 5 year anniversary. The highlight was definitely the trip to the zoo to visit the Pandas! I have always wanted to see them, and was completely overwhelmed when I did. You can see more about my trip here.

2- This was my look for Halloween this year. I don’t often take part in Halloween but I enjoyed dressing up for a change. I did a post on the evening here.

3- I have recently started a Festive Flat Tum Fitness Challenge for myself, and for any others who want to take part; you can find all the details here. There is myself and a few others taking part, so feel free to take charge of your body and feel and look amazing for Christmas by giving it a go.

4- I have already ruined one of my Christmas surprises by begging for Michael Buble tickets, so my boyfriend had to let on that he had already bought some for me. I am beyond excited for this and can’t believe I have to wait another 8 months for it.

5-We have recently started Cake Day at my work place, and this week was my turn. We had a Brownie off between myself and another member of staff. It was very close as to who was the winner but I think I just nipped it in the bud.

6- This past weekend I finally visited Quayside market. I have lived in Newcastle for 5 years and never had the chance as I always worked at the weekend. I was pleasantly surprised and found an amazing store; No Bones, which makes amazing dog treats at super cheap prices! Perfect Christmas presents for your four legged friend.

7- I have been running most days for around 3 months now and even though I’m not the fastest I am really enjoying it and am still lapping everyone who is sitting on the couch! I have definitely noticed a difference in my waist line, skin and confidence since I started back, and am aiming to run for 30mins each day as well as doing an additional toning/strength exercise each day.

8- For bonfire night I visited my family in Carlisle and we went to Carlisle Firework display which is really impressive, I think around 35000 people watch it so there is always a great atmosphere.

9- A healthy dinner made my Master Chef of a boyfriend. It’s one of my favourite salads and is very easy to make, it's a mixture of tomato, spring onion, shallots, and chorizo, with a vinegar dressing.

10- An outfit of the day from when I went for lunch with my girls this past Saturday. I miss them a lot, so it’s great to spend some quality time with them catching up and eating good food.

11- I also visited Fenwicks Christmas Window this past weekend; always a highlight of the year for me! It was very busy with people queuing half way down the high-street to see it, quite understandable as there is something magical about it and it’s always impressive.

12- Wearing my poppy with pride on Remembrance Sunday. I very nearly ran into a remembrance parade today, but managed to stop just in time of ruining it for everyone.. now that would of been beyond embarrassing!

If you don’t want to miss anything on my Instagram you can follow me at Cat_Storey.

What have you been busying yourself with these past few weeks? What have been your highlights? Are you getting ready and excited for Christmas?

The Days Gone By| A Week In Pictures

A little update for you all. To be honest I have not been up to much recently, as I have been pretty much tied to Kendal as I am dog sitting for my mum while she is honeymooning in Hawaii… so jealous! So apart from the weekends when my boy comes down to visit, I have been keeping the company of two very lively and sometimes annoying dogs and working hard at work. However despite the lack of excitement in my life these past few weeks I have still taken plenty of pictures.. blogging problems.

• Walk with a view- Last Sunday I dragged my man on a nice long walk with the dogs, the view is the view from the top of the hill I run up, it over looks all of Kendal and across to Oxenholme. I am really enjoying the change in weather, yes the rain sucks, but it rains all year here in Lake District anyway. Its the crisp cold days I am loving.
• Clean brushes mean a clean face- I admit, I am not great with washing my makeup brushes, yes beauty blogger cardinal sin. However last weekend I bought some baby shampoo and spent a good hour washing all my brushes, and the difference in them is amazing! I must keep this up as my makeup looks so much better after applying it with clean brushes.
• Are you breast aware? My Breast Cancer post this past week has received some great feedback. I wasn’t sure on whether to publish it at first as I did not want to offend or lecture anyone, but as it is something close to my heart, and something that is affecting my family right this moment I wanted to talk about it and am glad I have after all your lovely comments. I hope I have helped some of you be more breast aware.
• Drinking green, eating clean- After over indulging both before and after my mums wedding, I haven't been feeling too great so decided to embark on a bit of a detox to kick start my healthy eating regime. You may have seen the post below that talks about it. I essentially have been eating and drinking homemade smoothies and soups and having a healthy dinner, very simple, but effective.
• Autumn television- Oh yes, oh yes oh yes! Gossip Girl is back! I am totally obsessed with this programme! I am so sad it is the last season, I won’t know what to do with myself.
• Puppy cuddles- Pretty self explanatory!
• Wednesday is treat day- This has to be one of the highlights of my week. I came home form work on Wednesday to this scone and note from my lovely neighbour who has been helping me look after the dogs while I am at work. She attends Weight-Watchers with my mum on a Wednesday morning, so after the meeting they always go for coffee and a treat, and this week she brought me a treat… how lovely!
• Cani-x- As I have restarted my healthy living regime again, I have been out on the fells running with my dogs again. It proves a bit more difficult to run down hills when its muddy, I find I slip a lot more and the dogs attached to me pulling like crazy really don’t help. It’s all still fun (until they pull me over).
• Luscious lashes- I had temporary lash inserts applied over two weeks ago, and they are still surviving! Yes there are some gaps but this picture was taken just before I went to bed, so you can see I can still get away without wearing any mascara. A blog post will be coming up.
• Domestic Goddess- Baking at the weekend is something I love to do, I just have to try and not eat all my batch at once. This week I made peanut butter and chocolate squares
• Christmas Presents- I am already buying Christmas presents! Firstly I want to be organised and spread the cost, but secondly it’s because I’m already excited! I am a little Christmas crazy!
• Christmas Chocolates- Again as I am Christmas crazy these were purchased and soon consumed by me and my man this weekend… whoops. Back to the smoothies tomorrow!

What has been the highlight of your week? Have you had a quiet one like me? Have you started Christmas shopping yet?