The Week Edit #6

THIS WEEK IN PHOTOS:

The Valentine's Great Gatsby themed locomotion dinner, here with my 'Valentine' (Natalie) and my college son (Alex)//Pyjama Party 'A Different Nail Enamel' by Clinique, you knew I had to get Clinique in here somewhere// The locomotion dinner after party at the Cross Keys in Yarm was a very eventful night, read my post on Valentine's Eve below// teaching a sprinter to run a 5k is never easy, but I'm getting far better, today I did a PB (for a treadmill) of just over 26 minutes, a very proud moment// I cannot get enough of the Olympics, I was in the library watching it on my iPad//


THIS WEEK'S POSTS:

RITA ORA FOR RIMMEL LONDON//ME #1//ME #2//BEYONCÉ'S RISE//FITNESS THURSDAY #5 YOGA//HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY//VALENTINE'S EVE//

THIS WEEK I'M LOVING:

It has been quite a busy week, with Valentine's day and formal dinners, assignments and far too little running for my liking, but I have been enjoying having a week (4 days) off running. Today I attempted a 5k and was really pleased with a new PB on a treadmill of under 27 minutes (so hopefully much less on road!). But mainly my favourite part about this week was seeing the second years out on Friday night, all together, just like in our fresher's week, we don't get chance to go out as much (or maybe that is just granny Ruth over here) so its always really nice to see everyone, especially when the club you end up in is playing some immense tunes. Also just as an add on Clean Bandit have released "heart on fire" on Soundcloud here so check that out I'm loving it. Ok just one more thing I'm loving, can't believe I forgot this but how amazing has the Olympics been? I cannot get enough of it, I was on the treadmill earlier watching the x-country 10km mens relay, it took nearly an hour and 45 minutes and was amazing, It honestly made me run faster seeing how hard they were working made me increase my km/h!

NEXT WEEK:

More Olympics, I really can'y get enough, tonight sees the 2-man bobsled, featuring GBR and JAM (yes that is Jamaica! how exciting, cue Cool Runnings on repeat and a lot of kissing lucky eggs!) GBR also have a great team, they won gold in 1964, can they do it again? There is also the figure skating with a GBR team who won bronze at the world Champs at the end of last year, so hopefully they can do really well again. I have two days off this week from Uni (thank you very much!) however that is going to involve a lot of work and then a night out in Newcastle on Thursday should finish the week in style (Love a bit of the Newc) 

Have an incredible week, 

RHS x

Valentine's Eve

*subtly reaches for phone in order to remember the events of last night* 

Valentine's eve? Valentine's day eve? wasn't sure what to call this post, last night, Yarm, BeerSoc, Locomotion formal dinner. Anyway. 

Last night saw the last Locomotion dinner (a formal dinner held at Stephenson College, Durham Uni) of the academic year (sobs quietly) followed by a big night out in Yarm (organised by the very organised BeerSoc) 

Ah the locomotion, on Valentine's day, there were a lot of couples, however the singles definitely dominated the field. Standard antics followed the meal, including a poem about roses are red and taking your date to the waterside, cheap skate? was that how that went? Very poetic. Followed by typical photo taking, boys handing out the flowers from the tables to their respective others etc etc

The night moved to Central, for speed dating and ball room dancing (to Spanish music and the Killers, but who's judging?!), the speed dating consisted of people who knew each other having a chin wag (does anyone know what that means?) and the ball room dancing, people attempting to look very classy, the majority of the time it did look really cute, but by this time I was half a bottle of wine down (which I was sharing!) 

I then received a flower(s) from a rather intoxicated, line-out-themed nek-nomination rugby boy (I'll let those of you who know him guess who that is), a change of shoes, a few "we like to drink with so and so" and downing of drinks, running to the taxi, forgetting my blazer, sitting in the front with the taxi man and taking "taxi man selfies", miscalculating how many people were on the bus and somehow ending up in Yarm, with a few opera singing moments on the way. 

Yarm has the be the cutest place ever, after Durham and a few others (York etc etc), however the cobbles are not made for platform-ed stilettos, nevertheless, we made it to the George and Dragon to be greeted by the BeerSoc exec, who after being complimented were very pleased with their organisational skills, which they should be! A raspberry flavoured sambuca later (Blogger always edits sambuca to "samba" why?!) and we were well away to having a good night. The place was crawling with second years, which was really nice as we haven't all been out at the same time in ages. 

Osbourne's for cocktails and dancing to 70's and 80's classics, getting in the way of couple's lovely night out, mingling with Yarm-ers, we ended up in the Keys, with our wristbands like we were some kind of celeb pushing through the queue, or just like on Miss Congeniality when she walks into Starbucks to order her office's coffees and uses here FBI badge to push everyone out the way - it was like that, but better, ish, almost. 

For half an hour, we owned the dance floor. It was R&B night and there were some serious shapes being pulled. Stephenson college had made their mark on the dance floor, only to be made sweaty and frizzy-haired (just me then) by Yarm-ers cramping our style, nevertheless, we stuck to the lit-up trippy dance floor and danced to some incredible, black, bass thumping tunes. Maybe I was in a world of my own but I was having a great time. 

Now, I am not a big fan of Beyoncé's new album (don't judge!) but when Drunk in Love came on, oh my gosh, if you had a significant other you were grinding away like Jay-Zed's and Beyoncé's grammy performance was U-rated, if you were single, there were some serious hip shaking, Beyoncé on the beach style dancing, the bass was to die for. 

It is very fair to say, I wasn't near tipsy at all, but I learnt last night to just enjoy yourself and it was so worth it! - I was dancing to Beyoncé's new album, there was clearly some letting-go. 

What we didn't realise till we were inundated with Yarm-ers was that we were in a traffic-light party! I know, there were people running round (including bouncers) with green "single" stickers on them. I only managed to grab this "taken" sticker for blog-worthy evidence. 

By 1am, due to the heat in that club, my feet had just about given up on me, so we hobbled (ok, I), to a taxi and ate food back at our flat. yum yum. 

All in all, a great night (which you know is true when you wake up at 9am still buzzing off the night before). Newcastle on Thursday could be another one of last night all over again, that would be incredible. 

Whatever you did last night I hope you had a great time and have a great weekend. 

RHS x 

Happy Valentine's Day!

I thought I'd be the last person to wish anyone a Happy Valentine's Day, but I can only imagine it is actually a really lovely day (like any other) in which to show someone how much you care aww. 

So, as my nod towards the big V day, I thought I'd share some of my favourite love songs. Now that might sound a bit wet, however my childhood and into my teenage and now into my adult (gulp) life my parents always play Steve Wright's Sunday Love Songs, in every room of the house, the bedroom, the living room, the kitchen everywhere. Some were really soppy like a bit o' Whitney, but I'm talking the ones that you could get up and shake a few pounds off to! (and some others which are just pure classics)

I hope you enjoy and have a great day, whatever you do. 

"Isn't She Lovely" - Stevie Wonder

"You To Me Are Everything" - The Real Thing 

"At Last" - Etta James

"Lets Get It On" - Marvin Gaye 

"I'll Make Love To You" - Boyz II Men

"Rather Be" - Clean Bandit featuring Jess Glynne 

"National Anthem" - Lana Del Rey 

"Valentine" - Jessie Ware & Sampha 

"All Of Me" - John Legend

"Love On Top" - Beyoncé 

My list could literally go on and on, ok, I know I promised get up and dance, but some were just too irresistible. I'm quite impressed I managed to compile that without looking at iTunes. 

Enjoy your day!

RHS x

Fitness Thursday #5 Yoga

Ahh, a week off training (if you discount the 5k run two days ago) but still ahh for no sprint sessions and no puled muscles. However, I do a few Yoga poses before I go to bed just to make sure I don't lose form and so I work off those last few chocolates I just ate (and to increase my flexibility which is definitely my weak point, I blame it on short-muscled sprinters, I'm jealous of all you long-muscled dancers)

I used to practise Yoga quite a lot when I was in secondary school but didn't have time for it through sixth form but I still used some of the poses after I went to the gym to relax, stretch and de stress my muscles. Here are a few of my favourite stretches and some poses which target deeper muscles. All of these have come from FIT SUGAR YOGA which is full of poses, routines and targeted Yoga practise so check that out too!

 Downward facing dog: Ahh the classic Yoga pose to stretch out your tired legs and back and arms etc etc try to touch your heels to the floor, if this is too hard place your elbows and forearms on the floor for a modified version. Hold this pose for as long as you need, and breatheeee. 

Eagle: this Yoga pose is really good for thigh strength, the photo isn't very clear so I'll fully explain this one. Stand on your left leg and wrap your right leg over your left thigh and bring your toes to the inside of your left legs' calf. Squat down and find your balance. Wrap your arms over each other (right over left to start with) and bring hands together. Balance and hold

Camel: Please be careful with this one, especially if you have back problems, however it is much easier than it looks (begin and end with child's pose (below) to stretch your back).

Kneel on the floor and bend back and grab your right heel with your right hand, stretch your left hand up/back/sideways, which ever is comfortable, come back up and switch sides, when you are ready, place both hands on the respective heels and hold and breathe 

Upward facing dog: lie on the floor, as if about to do a plank, then inhale and push up with your hands using strong arms and lift your legs off the floor, balancing on the top of your feet, round your back and look up, neck back, hold for several breaths 

Butterfly: my favourite post-run stretch to de-stress groin and inner thighs (and back!), bring feet together, as close to you as you can, lean forward and push elbows into thighs to push them closer to the floor 

Wide legged forward bend C: I don't know where the C comes from, some Yoga guru I suspect, this is a really relaxing pose to work the legs and shoulders. Stand with legs wide and bring hands together behind your back. Keeping legs straight (don't bend your knees) bend at the hip and fall as low as you can go

Child's pose: Ok, maybe this is my favourite (I always remember a Yoga instructor telling the class to complete a Warrior sequence and end like this, I just went straight to this saying I was over stretched and needed to just lie there, like a child ahh). Sit on your feet, with knees apart, bend at your hips and stretch hands forwards as far as they will go and hold for hmm about 20 minutes ish




I do all of these Yoga poses before I go to bed, or at least the latter two to relax, never go straight into Yoga, make sure your breathing is correct and don't over stretch as this can cause injury. 

I also came across this video on Popsugar a few days ago and it is a 10 minute Yoga sequence by JENNIFER ANNISTON'S YOGA INSTRUCTOR (I know) its called the "Get Happy and Toned" Yoga sequence, watch it and go with it and you will know what I mean when during the sequence I ended up high fiving myself. But this is a really warm, happy, heart-opening Yoga sequence that will de-stress you in 10 minutes!

Enjoy and relax
RHS x

Beyoncé's Rise

Loath, like or love her, she's pretty incredible and she's launching her third fragrance "Rise" after her first two fragrances Heat and Pulse. 

This is supposed to be a blend of fruit and musk, lots of musk (supposedly "the sexy scent", although when ever I think of musk I think of stale water, if you know what scent that is). 

This time Bey has gone for a gold bottled number and an add that is very hair flipping, sultry looks loaded and covered in gold, as Bey talks about your "rise" to "stir things up". 

The perfume is currently only available at Superdrug online, more than likely to be available in other drug/department stores in the near future if Bey has anything to do with it (which she probably doesn't, not in the UK anyway!)

Here is the advert for her new perfume (no guest appearance from Jay-Zed or Blue Ivy unfortunately)

RHS x

ME #2

1. I always blow into gloves before I put them on to warm them up 
2. Pecan nuts are my favourite type of nut 
3. If I have my hair in a ribbon its either a day of thinking of something is wrong because I never wear my hair up in a pony tail 
4. My hair is naturally very afro-esque 
5. I once woke up with a dead spider in my hand, that i'd crushed, it was huge 
6. I do an awful impression of anything and everything
7. I passed my driving test in May 2012 first time
8. It took me two attempts to bass my theory 
9. I used to go with my dad to his U15 football matches just to watch the boys play football, that got boring when I turned 17 
10. I would send my children to single-sex schools, maybe not if they're a boy 
11. I once slipped a disk in my neck doing a forward roll in gymnastics
12. I used to make forts out of the sofa cushions and put all my toy animals in there and teach them maths 
13. I was at my parent's wedding, I was 5, it was in Jersey
14. I once had a sleepover where I put a chair and a camera in the spare room so people could record what they thought - like Big Brother
15. I love spontaneity - surprise me!
16. Christmas is incredible, I love Christmas, mainly because its my birthday then Christmas than New Year. Christmas
17. I used to eat chalk (no word of a lie, I used to love that delicacy) 
18. I'm really really good at pulling my hamstrings, although I'm getting better
19. I can click my jaw, constantly 
20. I'm double jointed in my shoulders 
21. I was born with black eyes, with the white part too, but just one big pupil I guess
22. I once told people at Primary school I could speed skate  - at 7. 
23. Coco Mademoiselle is now incorporated into my blood stream 
24. I have a weird obsession with muscly backs 
25. I have grade 2 Flute 
26. Prawn cocktail flavoured crisps are the bees' knees
27. Sun bathing is the cats pyjama's (but I get really sweaty - but its all the fat leaving me so its fine)
28. I can't eat chips, they really scare me 
29. Takeaways after a night out scare me even more unless I have had over 4 sambucas 
30. I have huge quads, maybe too big 
31. I have only ever been camping once (when I cycled a long way) and that is the last time, its horrific 
32. Team sports aren't my fave, although I love playing netball
33. I once dissected a rat (it smelt like olives and its intestines were disgusting, as was its brain) 
34. When I finish a run I imagine I'm winning a race 
35. My spikes are my most prized pair of shoes - I don't wear them enough 
36. I don't like apples because when I had a brace they got stuck 
37. courgettes over cucumbers any day 
38. I could drink orange juice by the gallon - are oranges orange because of orange? haha 
39. Wednesday night is Pizza night! until Dominos did two for Tuesday and I started eating healthy, Wednesday night is baked potato night!
40. Girls at my sixth form and secondary school hid notes in their tights during exams and would go to the toilet to read them 
41. I'm the biggest believer in karma - something minorly (why is majorly a word but minorly isn't?) bad happens to me if I think the slightest nastiest thought 
42. I used to have three hamsters called Boris, Gizmo and Harry 
43. I don't mind injections but I hate giving blood 
44. My parents think I'm going to become a diplomat and have thought that since I was 5 
45. I used to hate making conversations, I spoke to people when they really really needed to know something, other than that I stayed quiet - I know! 
46. I have never had a goldfish, although if I did I'd call it Orange, or Jasper or Squid ink 
47. I once went to the gym and pretended to be on the phone to my "coach" - I was 16 
48. Child's pose is my favourite yoga pose, and reverse plank as it is a "heart opener" 
49. Last year in Uni halls I cleaned my bathroom twice a week, if not more - OCD
50. I believe in fate and I believe that I have the bestest group of friends and family I could wish for, occasionally. Most of the time I just pretend to like them. Only Joking!

Love ya!

RHSx 

ME #1

1. I live in Holbrook, Derbyshire (with 47 sheep)
2. Ruth Hannah Smith (hence the RHS, incase you were wondering) 
3. 14th December 1993
4. I have been to five schools since turning 4 (16 years ago, cray-zee)
5. I don't eat lamb (not because of the sheep, because it tastes like plastic)
6. My favourite fruit is banana (with lashings, I mean a tablespoon of peanut butter)
7. I love to run (a lot, occasionally, sometimes, in lycra)
8. I am unbelievably organised (you should see my desk right now and my calendar) 
9. I will only drink bottled water when at Uni (theres just something in the water in Stockotn) 
10. My favourite film of all time is Love Actually (and The Holliday, and Notting Hill etc etc) 
11. I am an only child (not a lonely child as Sarah once thought it was, she's one of three) 
12. My aim in life is to achieve a Masters degree, just to get the same qualifications as my father 
13. My obsession for Clinique is frankly unwordable (which isn't even a word... see) 
14. I can't drink caffeine 
15. I don't drink milk, it makes me rather ill, but I will always partake in chocolate 
16. I can rap the words to "Make me proud" by Drake (Don't ask me sober though)
17. I always try and have breakfast in bed (a new thing, I wake up 20 minutes earlier to relax!)
18. I wear glasses to read (+0.5 - is it even worth it?)
19. I am the area champion in Derbyshire for the 800m 4 years running 
20. I have never broken a bone (apart from my nose, but that is not a bone) 
21. Myself, my mother, my grandmother and my great-grandmother all went to all-girls schools 
22. I have never smoked, or taken drugs, you will find me with a bottle of rose occasionally however
23. I have never had anything pierced, ever, anywhere, never will. 
24. My day always begins with solid porridge, keep it in the microwave for 5 minutes, with half the normal amount of milk. Bon Apetit! 
25. My favourite animals are cats, British Blues to be certain, although I love my rabbit Lady Gaga lots
26. I was in New York for my 15th birthday 
27. My biggest fear is illness 
28. My favourite holiday is to the west coast of France, Cognac, La Rochelle area 
29. My lucky number is 4 as it is the only number where the number of letters are the same as the number itself 
30. Are oranges orange because of orange or is orange orange because of oranges? 
31. I love scars, in fact don't get me started
32. Most used nicknames are Ruthie and Rufus (and now Rutilda from my supervisor at work)
33. I support Derby County, have done since I was born, with my dad taking me to the Baseball ground, then the opening of Pride Park
34. Harry Potter over Twilight all the way 
35. I can play the piano (a bit, when I feel like it)
36. My favourite composer is Beethoven, then probably Einaudi
37. My favourite actress EVER is Kiera Knightly, how is anyone that gorgeous? 
38. My favourite actor is Hugh Grant 
39. My favourite boys names are Elliott and George, maybe Morgan too 
40. I love the name Felicity for a girl 
41. I'm not superstitious as I never know what it means when you see a Black Cat and after all my Uncle Stevie Wonder said "superstition aint the way" 
42. I once cycled from London to Derby for Sport Relief and fell off and got bursitis in my shoulder, of which I still have the scars on my elbow from, nearly two years later. 
43. I often sleep talk 
44. As a 5 year old I always wanted a red Porsche boxter - I had one for my Barbie dolls
45. I have never owned a horse 
46. I have driven through Luxembourg in an hour
47. I would rather have fingers for toes than toes for fingers 
48. I am pretty amazing at risottos - ask me to make you one sometime
49. I laugh at everything, or I see the funny/happy side of everything. Every cloud!



I tan like there is no tomorrow

50. My greatest weakness is worrying. I worry about everything. Hence no.49! 



the fam



Ahh Stephenson College, DU



I'm a cat