My Best Friend's Wedding

As I wasn't able to snapchat one of one of the most important days on my best friends life I decided to write a blogpost with all the details on this very special day for her. 

I asked my BFF if she was ok for me to share this with you all and she was more than happy! 

I would like to start talking about the venue, (pictured above). The wedding took place in the groom's 'holiday home' which is about 40 minutes away from our city. As you can see on picture, it is situated on a dam. (A dam is a body of water confined by a barrier). This dam of water gives an absolutely beautiful view and you can admire it from the pool of the house. So definitely a very romantic and relaxing spot, ideal to tie the knot.

The registration wedding took place inside the house before the ceremony. The ceremony took place  outside in front of a beautiful chapel that is within the house grounds. The reception was in one of the beautiful gardens which was decorated with hundreds of flowers. (see pictures below)

The picture above was taken just a few moments after the civil registration. Doesn't she looks stunning? And you have to check out her shoes! I absolutely love the fact that they weren't the typical white bridal shoes!

After the registration, we all had a little cocktail, champagne, pictures and then we moved to the second part of the day which was the actual ceremony. As the little chapel is tiny,  the chairs were accommodated outside the little chapel just as an outside church!

The bride refused to have the typical red carpet, so they placed original persian rugs all over which gave it such a vintage, classy and elegant touch to the atmosphere. The flowers were so beautiful placed the whole place was vibrant with style. Here is pictures to visually describe it:

The dresses and styles were unreal. I wish I could publish pictures of my favourite dressed but I won't because I don't want to upset anyone who didn't make it in the post. But check out the sister of the bride in that stunning 2 pieces blue dress. And I couldn't leave out the stunning dress of the mother of the groom which it was a dress made specially for her in a Mexican shop where they paint all their dresses by hand. Is such an original concept. This shop is situated in a town called "San Miguel de Allende" so if you ever have the opportunity to go to this magical town make sure you visit this shop.

Then while we waited to go to the reception part for the dinner part we had drinks and canapés in this lounge area where they served shots of tequila and frutal fresh water. How beautiful does it looks? 

They also had special bottles of glassed water with their initials on the bottles in a gold print: How classy? Perfect for the next day to cure our hangover.

Moving on to the third part of the wedding. The party: Dinner, baby mango shots (pictured below), Bacardi, friends and my best friend, the only thing I could have asked for in that night is to have my hubby with me. But apart from that it was an unforgettable night!

Check out the dance floor. It was hand painted hours before the wedding. It is a new concept on weddings on which they paint any design you want on it. It could be the bride and groom initials, or any design you would like. My friend wanted to simulate a persian rug to keep a theme with the persian rugs at the ceremony:

Now have a look at the place itself. The tables were set up in a very original way as they weren't the typical 10 people table. They were all different shapes and sizes, different number of people would fit on each table. They were very carefully planned and accommodated in a way to suit everyone. Also I loved that all the centre pieces were different on each table! check pictures below of my favourite ones:

Then the night came, the music started we were ready to party and thankfully in Mexico speeches aren't a tradition so we didn't have to sit for over an hour begin hungry. lol. So we were all feed and happy. Then the waltz started as they played "mirrors" from Justin Timberlake. (so romantic)

Please have a look of this mini fireworks that came up as the bride and groom were dancing their waltz. -UNREAL-

After the dinner, they served a little dessert. But it was only a sorbet as the bride had planned this table pictured below. It was full of well made, delicious and  very fancy dessert bites such as: coffee cream, mini apple tarts, raspberry and chocolate mini cakes, macaroons, mini carrot cakes, eclairs, etc... Perfect for 

For me, the drinks of the night were this shots called 'baby mangos' and they are very popular in Mexico. The red granules around them is actually a type of sweet-spicy chilli that tastes awesome. They are made with mango juice, vodka and spicy red sauce. (OMG I'm salivating as I write this). I literally drank most of them (LOL).

I can't explain how lucky and blessed I felt to be able to live this day with my best friend. I enjoyed this wedding nearly as much as she did, I know that. I will always be able  to cherish this night with her for the rest of my life!

My girl friend picture above is also one of my best friends, she was my date for the night and I am also very lucky to have her as a friend. We could literally write a book with all the adventures we used to get up to when we were younger. LOVE YOU WITH ALL MY HEART! (As Enrique Iglesias would say: Si te vas yo tambien me voy...)

THE FOLLOWING DAY...

So after all this madness and an unforgettable night the peace and the hangover arrived the next day: How peaceful and tidy the place looks after the big day:

They gave bottles of water with their initials the next day for all the hangover people:

As happy as I look below I was dying. (If you watched my snaps that day you know what I'm talking about)

I want to end this blogpost with a few little stories I shared with the bride:

I meet her in college when I used to give her all the answers to the exams because she never studied once. It was so funny how we matched straight away. How, with looking at each other, we knew what we were thinking about anyone or any situation. 

The first time we actually went out to the club we ended up so drunk I called my mom to tell her I was going to stay at my friends house (her) and when we went into her house she was like: If my  mom asks you who you are tell her you are Ursula Ortuno (another Ursula that used to be with her in school) hahahaha! I was like how the hell am I going to pretend to be another Ursula? So funny. The next day we actually had college as It was a Monday bank holiday when. But we were so hangover we couldn't bother going to college so we got up at 8am and left. But waited until her mom left for work to go back in and sleep all day. (I'm actually in bits laughing writing this remembering that moment)

Anyway. I want to share a few words for her with you all:

Rata: Live every day with your husband as the first day you had as a married couple, find his funniest side, his most loveable side and hang to that thought every day of your life! If things are down, if you feel like you want to throw him out of the window (because you will) bring those good thoughts back to your head!

You know? I'm so happy you united your life with him because now that we are so far from each other at least I know you will never be alone. He will always be by your side! you two are complete together. I cannot imagine one without the other.

My little rat, I will never forget every single moment we have been through together, I would live it all over again. You know I will always have your back and as I said before I would cross the atlantic for you! 

Thanks for letting me be part of that day, one of the most important days on your life. I adore you and wish you a life full of happiness besides the love of your life.

How To Get Back In Track After Falling Off The Wagon

After my holiday to Mexico nearly 2 weeks ago now, my diet and my exercise routine has been so bad. I don't like to talk about this but every now and then I suffer from bad anxiety attacks and It has been about a year since I got my anxiety really bad and last week I was getting very down and so on because begin far away is not easy at all.

So I felt completely off. If you follow me on snapchat you could see most of my meals were good but on top of that it was the full bars of dark chocolate 2 pizzas within 7 days. Some madeira cake my mother in law brought with a lot of caramel sauce ( A special one I brought from Mexico) on top. Also chips, wine and popcorn on Friday night.

I think I put on more weight this week that on my whole 2 weeks at home where I was over eating and drinking too much... But anyway let's forget about that sob by story and lets get back on the game!

What works for me?:

Before going home I was training 6 times a week. I was doing 3 days of heavy weight lifting, 3 days of intense cardio and an abs workout every one of those days. My diet was on point and felt better than ever:

And coming back  to Ireland, there was no way in earth I could go back to that intense training straight away! I have to prepare mentally and slowly get back into it.

First of all I need to write down the things I want to get done in a weekly basis:

1. Drink plenty of water

2. Drink 2 or 3 herbal teas a day

3. Drink vitamin C and my probiotics (yes I constantly forget this even if it is small)

4. Plan my gym routine

5. Don't have a sugary snack before bed

6. Don't eat kids leftover foods in between meals or pick food: As a mother is so easy to give my boys snacks and have a bite or eat the leftover toast. But this calories add up and believe me or not this bad habit is one of the worst habit that sabotages for mothers who want to lose a bit of fat

7. Walk my dog everyday

8. Homemade cheat meal every week. Take away only once a month

But all above to me it is impossible to do at once. I have to take my time to get the motivation and get around do what I have to do. So here is what works for me to get to do all the stuff that is on my list:

1. I start by getting to drink water. I fill up a bottle in the morning but I am under no pressure to finish certain amount just starting to get the habit to fill my bottle every morning. By week two, I'd aim to drink the whole bottle and by week 3 I should be drink in my 2 litres a day

2. For me the herbal teas aren't hard to drink as I am used to have a cup after my lunch with a square of dark chocolate and I cannot go to bed without my chamomile tea as it really helps me relax as it has calming properties. 

3. Taking my supplements, as easy as it sounds, I always forget, and when I remember I'm at the point or either doing something like chopping up veggies or resting and at both points I say to myself: "i'll do it later" or "there is no chance I'm getting up" so for this what it works for me is to set up an alarm on my phone at 11 in the morning and no matter what getting up and taking them!

4. Planing my gym routine really helps me to go and get it done. If you decide to go workout tomorrow but have no plan, then the tomorrow comes and you are like what? What am I doing? and you have no structure of what to do and you either end up giving up and not going or you go and walk a few minutes in the treadmill and maybe step up on a machine or 2 and then go home, you do this half hearted routines, then you weigh yourself and nothing has changed! This is why we need to plan the routine, plan your cardio, your weights, your classes and push yourselves in each one them to see results. This is why I plan, I write them down and then without thinking just go and get it done! Since I came back from Mexico I didn't work out the first week (not bothered, just getting my head around taking up the routine). The second week I went only 3 days. And this week Im aiming to complete 4 days. And from the next week on will go back to my 5-6 day routine. (This is just me loving exercising but 3 days a week is enough to maintain good health and weight)

5.. I think the sugary snacks are so hard for all of us. You know yourself kids are in bed, you haven't had a chance to sit down all day is peace and quiet, you want to chat up with the husband or any other member of your family that is over 12 years old and the first thing the body wants is a nice cup of tea with a treat! Uff the most difficult time of the day to me. What it works for me in this point is to always leave room for a night time snack so either I have some of my healthy treats prepared of have a handful of almonds but always have something! Otherwise you are there going crazy and end up eating more than you should! so plan the snack, have it and enjoy it!

6. Eating the kids leftovers is hard but it is something that once I start I can't stop myself from having a bite of their toast or eating their leftover couscous. Stopping you from picking foods all day can save you A LOT of calories so if you constantly pick at foods through the day and you want to see progress you have to be more conscious of this!

7. Getting into a routine to walk my dog is not very easy but once I do it I keep it up for a while. The weather is a huge factor as there is no way I would walk out in the rain (as a proper Mexican woman I am I prefer 40 degrees than rain, lol) but this is something we should all do for our pets. They need to be walked to keep their weight balanced as much as we do. Pets that are not walked have a lot health issues down the line and if you see the positive way you burn extra calories and you clear your mind with the extra fresh air. If you don't have a pet try to squeeze a few walks a week whenever you can.

8. Homemade cheat meals are just as tasty or tastier than a take away and you have no idea how many calories you save by cooking at home with less oil, with high quality ingredients etc! A homemade burger, made with low fat mince and grilled, has about half the calories of a burger which probably contains cheap high fat meat and is probably deep fried with re-used poor quality oil. So try to get into a habit to cook your own meals and leave space for one or 2 take aways a month.

So, saying all this, do it slowly, do it step by step, don't expect to turn into a healthy freak in 24 hours! 

In my opinion and my personal case takes time, take small steps and have a notebook and a pen at hand all the time. Yes, as silly as it sounds writing down everything is an old tradition used a lot in meditation that is proved to help you plan and move forward with your plans and things you want to get rid of, such as: anxiety, stress, worry, people etc! So use it! Write down your feelings, write down your meals, write how you feel after eating them! This might help you to realise how certain foods make you feel bad, therefore you might not eat them next time! 

Be kind to yourself and do the changes for you! for your health! for how you want to feel! If you do it to look like certain person on Instagram you are just setting yourself up for failure! Get it done for YOU, to avoid doctors, to feel good, to increase bone mass, not to look "skinny".

Hope this helps someone out there who's trying to make positive changes to their lifestyle. If you have any questions you know where to get me!

Love you all, UWalsh

How To Get Back In Track After Falling Off The Wagon

After my holiday to Mexico nearly 2 weeks ago now, my diet and my exercise routine has been so bad. I don't like to talk about this but every now and then I suffer from bad anxiety attacks and It has been about a year since I got my anxiety really bad and last week I was getting very down and so on because begin far away is not easy at all.

So I felt completely off. If you follow me on snapchat you could see most of my meals were good but on top of that it was the full bars of dark chocolate 2 pizzas within 7 days. Some madeira cake my mother in law brought with a lot of caramel sauce ( A special one I brought from Mexico) on top. Also chips, wine and popcorn on Friday night.

I think I put on more weight this week that on my whole 2 weeks at home where I was over eating and drinking too much... But anyway let's forget about that sob by story and lets get back on the game!

What works for me?:

Before going home I was training 6 times a week. I was doing 3 days of heavy weight lifting, 3 days of intense cardio and an abs workout every one of those days. My diet was on point and felt better than ever:

And coming back  to Ireland, there was no way in earth I could go back to that intense training straight away! I have to prepare mentally and slowly get back into it.

First of all I need to write down the things I want to get done in a weekly basis:

1. Drink plenty of water

2. Drink 2 or 3 herbal teas a day

3. Drink vitamin C and my probiotics (yes I constantly forget this even if it is small)

4. Plan my gym routine

5. Don't have a sugary snack before bed

6. Don't eat kids leftover foods in between meals or pick food: As a mother is so easy to give my boys snacks and have a bite or eat the leftover toast. But this calories add up and believe me or not this bad habit is one of the worst habit that sabotages for mothers who want to lose a bit of fat

7. Walk my dog everyday

8. Homemade cheat meal every week. Take away only once a month

But all above to me it is impossible to do at once. I have to take my time to get the motivation and get around do what I have to do. So here is what works for me to get to do all the stuff that is on my list:

1. I start by getting to drink water. I fill up a bottle in the morning but I am under no pressure to finish certain amount just starting to get the habit to fill my bottle every morning. By week two, I'd aim to drink the whole bottle and by week 3 I should be drink in my 2 litres a day

2. For me the herbal teas aren't hard to drink as I am used to have a cup after my lunch with a square of dark chocolate and I cannot go to bed without my chamomile tea as it really helps me relax as it has calming properties. 

3. Taking my supplements, as easy as it sounds, I always forget, and when I remember I'm at the point or either doing something like chopping up veggies or resting and at both points I say to myself: "i'll do it later" or "there is no chance I'm getting up" so for this what it works for me is to set up an alarm on my phone at 11 in the morning and no matter what getting up and taking them!

4. Planing my gym routine really helps me to go and get it done. If you decide to go workout tomorrow but have no plan, then the tomorrow comes and you are like what? What am I doing? and you have no structure of what to do and you either end up giving up and not going or you go and walk a few minutes in the treadmill and maybe step up on a machine or 2 and then go home, you do this half hearted routines, then you weigh yourself and nothing has changed! This is why we need to plan the routine, plan your cardio, your weights, your classes and push yourselves in each one them to see results. This is why I plan, I write them down and then without thinking just go and get it done! Since I came back from Mexico I didn't work out the first week (not bothered, just getting my head around taking up the routine). The second week I went only 3 days. And this week Im aiming to complete 4 days. And from the next week on will go back to my 5-6 day routine. (This is just me loving exercising but 3 days a week is enough to maintain good health and weight)

5.. I think the sugary snacks are so hard for all of us. You know yourself kids are in bed, you haven't had a chance to sit down all day is peace and quiet, you want to chat up with the husband or any other member of your family that is over 12 years old and the first thing the body wants is a nice cup of tea with a treat! Uff the most difficult time of the day to me. What it works for me in this point is to always leave room for a night time snack so either I have some of my healthy treats prepared of have a handful of almonds but always have something! Otherwise you are there going crazy and end up eating more than you should! so plan the snack, have it and enjoy it!

6. Eating the kids leftovers is hard but it is something that once I start I can't stop myself from having a bite of their toast or eating their leftover couscous. Stopping you from picking foods all day can save you A LOT of calories so if you constantly pick at foods through the day and you want to see progress you have to be more conscious of this!

7. Getting into a routine to walk my dog is not very easy but once I do it I keep it up for a while. The weather is a huge factor as there is no way I would walk out in the rain (as a proper Mexican woman I am I prefer 40 degrees than rain, lol) but this is something we should all do for our pets. They need to be walked to keep their weight balanced as much as we do. Pets that are not walked have a lot health issues down the line and if you see the positive way you burn extra calories and you clear your mind with the extra fresh air. If you don't have a pet try to squeeze a few walks a week whenever you can.

8. Homemade cheat meals are just as tasty or tastier than a take away and you have no idea how many calories you save by cooking at home with less oil, with high quality ingredients etc! A homemade burger, made with low fat mince and grilled, has about half the calories of a burger which probably contains cheap high fat meat and is probably deep fried with re-used poor quality oil. So try to get into a habit to cook your own meals and leave space for one or 2 take aways a month.

So, saying all this, do it slowly, do it step by step, don't expect to turn into a healthy freak in 24 hours! 

In my opinion and my personal case takes time, take small steps and have a notebook and a pen at hand all the time. Yes, as silly as it sounds writing down everything is an old tradition used a lot in meditation that is proved to help you plan and move forward with your plans and things you want to get rid of, such as: anxiety, stress, worry, people etc! So use it! Write down your feelings, write down your meals, write how you feel after eating them! This might help you to realise how certain foods make you feel bad, therefore you might not eat them next time! 

Be kind to yourself and do the changes for you! for your health! for how you want to feel! If you do it to look like certain person on Instagram you are just setting yourself up for failure! Get it done for YOU, to avoid doctors, to feel good, to increase bone mass, not to look "skinny".

Hope this helps someone out there who's trying to make positive changes to their lifestyle. If you have any questions you know where to get me!

Love you all, UWalsh

Tone Up Your Arms From Home With These Exercises!

I get ask a lot how can you get  your arms toned if you don't have access to a gym so here are some exercises that you can do from home and will give you results.

This a routine I started with at the gym and I still use a lot, except that now I add a few other machines and bars from the gym but my point is, this routine gave me a great start, great toned arms and strength.

To make this work, you definitely need some dumbbells to lift. You can invest in a few lose dumbbells on which I advise you not to get any dumbbells that are less than 3kg. If you are a very beginner buy 3 and 5 kilos to start with at the very least. If you are a bit more advance you can buy 2 small bars with interchangeable disc to add and take off weight.

Another option you can invest in, is a pair of adjustable weights like the ones in the picture above. You will then have a set from 5 to 25 kilos. The thing is they are expensive and you would have to buy 2. My husband bought them for 75 euros each in Argos and that's because they were on sale but price at the moment are 150 euros. I am pretty sure you can find them cheaper on amazon or eBay. In the mean time here is the link for Argos in case you wanted to check them out:

http://www.argos.ie/

First of all I want you to understand what a superset is because this exercises are more effective if done in supersets.

Supersets:  A superset is performed when two exercises are performed in a row without stopping. When you start doing these for the first time, you will find that your endurance may be a problem, but before long you will learn to love them.

So in the following exercises you will find 6 exercises in total. 3 for biceps and 3 for triceps. You can do them in the order below starting by the first bicep exercise followed by the tricep one then rest. Doing 3 sets of 15 on each. Then you go to the second superset and you the bicep one followed by the tricep one then rest, etc. 

I hope that is clear enough for everyone. If you have any questions please mail me on any of my social media channels and I will get back to you as soon as possible. 

1. Bicep Curl:

2. Tricep Extension:

I actually do this exercise but I do it individually, first one hand then the other one. But this for is also good, so do the one that you feel more comfortable with.

3. Hammer curls:

Make sure you don't confuse this exercise with the bicep curl. The positioning of the hand is different 

4. Tricep Dips:

With the help of a chair dip up and down! is that simple and amazing how a simple chair can help us get some toning in the tricep area.

5. Bicep Lateral Extension

I actually love this exercise I really feel the burn. I do this in the cable machine in the gym. Definitely will make you be sore the next day

6. Tricep kickbacks

This is actually a tough exercise as simple as it looks! make sure you have correct positioning of the arm at all times and that you are doing a correct weight. I only do 7 kilos on this exercise. I find it really tough!

Hope you enjoy this post. If you did, let me know and I can share more exercises ideas for different body parts to do from home that will give you a toned body!