SPRING FORWARD

Renaissance and rebirth, the earth comes back to life, the flowers bloom and the migrated birds come home…

After months of darkness everything begins to get better and brighter - it's spring time! 

It is difficult to write an uplifting spring time post today, as I am sitting in an office in London it is very grey, very drizzly and very cold outside this window. But although it doesn’t feel like time to put away my trusted puffy winter coat, the clocks went forward last weekend and the season has officially changed.

Perhaps as a reflection of these changes around me I too have decided it’s time for a ‘rebirth’. 

Last Friday I officially handed in my one month notice of resignation – that’s right - I took the plunge!

I decided that I have done my year with this company, and while I’ve had some amazing opportunities and learnt SO much, it was time to move on.

For the past week everything has been business as usual, but as April approaches my insides have started to get occasional ‘anxiety butterflies’ and I’m beginning to get both so excited and so terrified.

I decided – I’m moving to New York City! I haven’t figured any thing out just yet, there’s no big plan or system that I’m sticking to. All I know is: I’ll find an apartment in Brooklyn and as of May I’ll be there.

I’m feeling so optimistic about the future, and as a continuation of my 2017 vibes:

"It's never too late to be whoever you want to be. I hope you live a life you're proud of, and if you find you're not, I hope you have the strength to start over"

http://islandgyaldiaries.blogspot.co.uk/2017/01/new-year-movements.html

SPRING WILL BRING:

London cherry blossom

Long days of sunshine

The sun is shining when I wake up for work, and its still shining when I leave the office. This is big news guys. The sadness that is spending your life in darkness is almost over! I feel like a Game of Thrones character – the Long Night is ending!

Spring wardrobe – skirts, dresses, sunglasses!

Ask any Caribbean girl and she will tell you how much she hates wearing clothes all these layers of sweaters, scarves, thermals blah blah blah. 

Spring time in London is a very "in between" season. Leather jackets/trench coats/light outerwear, tights and umbrellas are still essentials. 

CHECK OUT MY WISHLIST PAGE FOR SOME INSPIRATION

Easter treats – Chocolate, Spice bun, carnival

You know you're Jamaican when this pic makes your mouth water - searching google for a photo of bun and cheese makes you realise that bun is not photogenic 

Disclaimer* That Carnival body and chocolate/Easter bun + cheese definitely do NOT go hand in hand.

P.S

Guys, my carnival blog post is ‘bout to be lit. Stay tuned!

Tasmin

x o x o 

EAST LONDON EXPEDITION- ETHOS

This post was written by my friend, Dr. Viva. She's a recently qualified medical doctor and a fellow Jamaican girl in London. 

We normally do fitness adventures together, but honestly on this occasion I was just way too hung over to even leave my house!

She very kindly did a quick review of Ethos Gym in East London. 

Enjoy!

So decided to try a new gym this weekend, ventured east for a change. 

Ethos is a very impressive gym overall, and an interesting concept. They have yoga, TRX, spinning and barre based classes- all with a bit of a twist ("Warrior", "Detox" etc). They also offer nutritional services, general "wellness" services, and a cafe with food and smoothies. They have pay as you go class option (£20 a class), or you can buy a block of classes, or a monthly pass for £120 for 8 classes OR you can go in it through class pass - so quite a few options

The location is great- right in Spitalfields Market which is 5 minutes from Liverpool Street Station. The set up is quite "open" and relaxed, lots of glass and open windows makes it seem bigger than it is 

In terms of the class- I did a ballet barre blast class. I was expecting a chilled but challenging barre class but was pleasantly surprised (I say this in retrospect, at the time I was nursing a hangover and on 3 hours sleep). The class was hard AF. It was classical ballet music, and all ballet technique, but at a faster pace in a warm (hot) room. There was more cardio (think jumping and high speed leg lifts), with resistance bands for added boost. I loved it. I'm a past dancer and it was taught by an excellent and clearly very experienced instructor who I really admired. (She even sent us music and choreography after the class). I sweat more than in a spinning class (alcohol allllll gone) and felt sore but energised and well stretched. 

Overall-  very different and cool gym, with variety of classes (my next one to try will be a TRX personally). 

Peace out east London, for now... 

photos above from google.com/images