Friday Five: SUMMERTIME!

This Friday's five are brought to you courtesy of the heavenly weather we've been having recently. It. Is. Gorgeous. Waking up in the morning to clear blue skies and sunlight streaming in the windows is just perfect - even if it does lead to some hot and sweaty early-morning runs! So without further ado, here are five things I've been loving, liking and frequenting this week. 

1. Summer evening picnics in the park

I just couldn't stand another evening of just heading home after work, so when I left the office yesterday I headed to the local park - there's one about 15 minutes from where I work. I packed a picnic (tuna pasta salad and strawberries - so good!) and a towel to lie on and just lay in the sun reading for a couple of hours. It was perfect. 

 Note: This picture was taken about three seconds before I scrubbed all that makeup off with a facewipe. I am not a fan of wearing makeup any time I'm likely to be hot, it just feels too heavy on my face. 

2. Nakd Apple Pie bars

I rave about Nakd bars all the time, but there's one particular flavour I've been buying boxes of in Tesco and it's the nicest thing ever - the Apple Pie flavour. These are all kinds of awesome. They're lovely and chewy with a great texture, and what's better, they have cinnamon in them. I might have to buy myself some cinnamon and start putting it on everything because these remind me how much cinnamon makes life better. You HAVE to try these.

3. My new planner

Confession: I'm obsessed with planners. I keep a planner all year round (usually an academic year one that splits in the middle of the year instead of in January - it's just easier to have one whole college year kept together) and I write everything and anything in it. Every day I do a to-do list, plus I'll add in grocery lists, appointments, things I'm doing with friends, training plans, wish-lists, events... everything. And because I have the attention span of a goldfish, I need it to be pretty and exciting or I'll just get bored of it, so my planner is also covered in stickers and doodles and post-it notes and all kinds of madness. Never let me loose in a stationery shop, you will regret it. (I might do a post sometime on how to stay organised with a planner because mine is a lifesaver.)

This week marked the last one in my trusty 2013-14 planner, so I picked up this cute new one from Easons for a tenner and I love it. It doesn't have quite as many cool features as my old one (which had a very convenient plastic pocket at the back for stickers) but it's really bright and colourful and has heaps of space inside. Love.

4. Momentum Jewelry

I showed you guys my Momentum Jewelry purchases the other day, and I absolutely adore them. The wrap bracelet is super comfy and I love looking down at my wrist to see my message, and running with my FootNote on my shoe makes me feel really motivated even if I can't see it all the time. I've been poking through their site and I'm kind of tempted to order more...

5. Sprinting

Bit of a weird one, I know! Lately I've been trying to finish up some of my runs by doing a few sprints. I'll finish whatever distance I wanted to do for the day and start walking, but in the walk I'll throw in a few blasts of all-out sprinting. I actually love it! I used to love sprints in school, although I wasn't the fastest (but not the slowest either! I'm not so bad), and I'd kind of forgotten how fun and freeing it is to just go as fast as possible. This is one new addition that will definitely be sticking around in future runs!