Manic Monday #94

[Image Source: Pinterest]

Christmas Day flew by at an alarming rate, the day seemed to disappear in the blink of an eye. We had a lovely day celebrating with my family this year, eating way to much food, drinking, watching Christmas TV and playing Taboo!

The past couple of days have been dedicated to Ben's family, our nieces and nephew are all at wonderful ages to relive your Christmas childhood vicariously through their excited eyes. They were all well and truly spoilt rotten and were inundated with mountains of gifts.  
Ben's family don't do things by halves. 

We've had the house to ourselves for a couple of days over Christmas, which has been lovely. It's made the prospect of purchasing our own house much more exciting and fees almost in reach.

Today is the first day where we have no plans, we're now in the post-Christmas clean up phase. I always get to a point where my OCD kicks in and the mess overwhelms me, I then decide I want a clean slate and proceed by having a huge clear out. 

I am, for once, eagerly anticipating January and a fresh start. I'm looking forward to the idea of putting more time and effort in to my little space of the internet and really putting a stamp on it. 

For now, the left over chocolate and biscuits are calling.

I hope you have had a wonderful festive period with friends and family, or whomever you spent it with!

Toodles.

x

Manic Monday #93

 

[Image Source: Wnetrza Zewnetrza]

Welcome to another Manic Monday!

We're nearly at 100, which is quite mad but I still really enjoy writing these posts and I hope you also enjoy reading them still. 

My friends and I had our first (and quite possibly the last) Christmas meal this weekend, the two designated chefs, myself and my friend Adele, may have gone out the night previously and then had to cook the morning after the night before. 

All that aside we actually pulled it off spectacularly; everyone was really pleased with all of the food and enjoyed it immensely.  

We spent the afternoon full with delicious food, watched our chosen festive film of Die Hard - yes, really - eating chocolate, cheese and crackers and generally having a lovely time spent together.

A side note; I say it may be the last, not because it was a disaster and we all hated it, but because some of the friend group are moving away within the next year. 

Now that our Christmas dinner for 10 is out of the way, we're on to planning NYE! As mentioned before, seeing as this quite possible is the last one we'll all be spending together we wanted to plan something a little more exciting; we normally bore out and do a standard house party. 

 My first week of the new job went really well, my manager said he was pleased with everything I'd managed to do last week. I'm learning so much and am trying to retain all of the information given to me, things do sometimes disappear in to the sieve-ether and I  completely forget something that someone has told me. 

 My first week disappeared really quickly, I managed to bag the whole of Christmas off which is so great! My previous boss/uncle was a proper Scrooge and we always got the minimum time off. I love having time off over Christmas as everyone is in such a good mood and I love spending time with my family. 

I'm feeling super festive and am really getting in to the swing of Christmassy goodness!

I hope you all had a lovely weekend and start to your week.

Toodles

x

And, relax...

[Image Source: Tumbleweed]

I feel like I always write these apology posts for not posting regularly, but I think in all honesty I'm apologising to myself for feeling like I'm not keeping up with the standards that I'm setting for myself.

I've come to the decision today that I'm not going to pressure myself too much about my little space of the internet this month, I will still be posting, Manic Mondays are a definite, currently I just don't feel I have the energy to give myself a schedule and stick to it.

Looking back over the past, well, half a year I have aimed to do something consistently every day for a month. It started with Duolingo, since starting that I have been piling on courses, targets, Blogtober, a Digital Marketing Diploma, NaNoWriMo and so on and so forth.

I got to a point earlier this year where I felt I needed to invest my time smartly; I adore being busy and feeling like I'm doing something worthwhile with my time. It was probably partly to do with the fact that I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life, I felt I was getting lost and was also not really enjoying spending time in my own house probably had a knock on effect. 

But now I'm feeling a little more set in my tracks, I feel like I want and need to take a seat, with a massive cup of tea, take a huge sigh and just enjoy the festive period and Christmas. 

Currently I am thoroughly enjoying watching as many Vlogmas uploads as I can, I'm starting to watch festive films on Netflix, am drinking that tea and am generally allowing myself some wind down time.

I may not be here as often over the next few weeks, but I will be around somewhere on the internet!

I generally go to Twitter as my main source of social media, feel free to follow me over there and I have also been trying (and forgetting) to upload a little more regularly to my Instagram! 

If you love cats, flowers and Christmas decorations, then I'm your girl to follow.

 In the New Year I am planning on hotfooting it over to WordPress and setting myself up with a proper domain name. I'll be working through it with my housemate as a case study for his course, so it will probably be a work in progress for some time but I hope the wait will be worth it and will properly set my up for the future.

For now a big toodles!

Fill me in with any festivities you have planned or anything you have been doing, I love hearing from you. 

Toodles, again.

x

Manic Monday #92

[Image Source: vtwonen]

 Hello!

I looked at my calendar today and realised it is TWO WEEKS until Christmas, granted it's not two weeks until Friday, but still, how did that happen?

I suddenly do not feel prepared. I have most of my presents finished but I haven't many gifts for Ben yet and I'm feeling quite panicked now!

For now, lets push Christmas and its all singing, all dancing self to one side for a moment. Blasphemy, I know.

 I started my new job today, I felt very nervous in the morning and it took me forever to get ready as I was fussing around with the perfect 'good impression' outfit. 

Once I got there and made the, what seemed like, mammoth walk to the front desk, signed myself in and met my now manager I felt very much at ease. 

Definitely needn't have worried about the good impression outfit, more people were casual than not. 

I haven't ever started a job where my colleagues made me feel so comfortable on the first day, nobody made me feel like the 'new' person and didn't say anything to make me feel uncomfortable or out of place while finding my way around. 

 I spent most of the day setting up my PC, making sure I had all of the correct and relevant software that I need to do my job and I'm sure there will be much more of that tomorrow. 

For now, I am shattered after my lack of sleep from last night and my information overload today.

I'm off to rejuvenate for more fun tomorrow.

I hope you had a lovely weekend and start to your week. Let me know something fun that you got up too! My weekend consisted of a migraine and then followed by migraine recovery, please let me live vicariously through you!

Toodles.

x   

P.S - I miss the gym, I am hugely getting the gym jitters and feel like I might go crazy if I don't get there sometime this week.

Winter Walks

 Taking a walk today was refreshing, the air was cold and crisp. The wind was fluttering tendrils of my hair around my face as I walked through familiar streets, now noticing the small secrets kept by my home town that always went unnoticed when passing in a car. 

It was quiet and peaceful, listening to the sound of the cars rumbling by, watching people go about their every day business, places to go and people to see. It was probably all that different knowing I didn't have any where that I needed to be. 

Wandering in to the quiet streets you get to hear the sound of the wind swirling around you, you feel the coldness biting at your nose, leaving cheeks pink as you make your way to your destination.

It turned in to a cat spotting adventure, seeing them slinking around on roofs, following me down the street, chirping away at me, sitting on the windowsill of their warm homes, eyes closed in the winter sun. 

I need to dedicate more time to walking and exploring, I take it for granted. 

x

Manic Monday #91

[Image Source: Pinterest]

Let's try that again...!

In my slick blogging style (hah) I might have accidentally posted this post before I'd even written it.

That was just the cherry on the top of the delightful mess that has been today.

I was wondering to myself before writing this 'what on earth am I going to search for an image or quote?'
Without even a search on Pinterest the above imagery proposed itself to me.

And you know what? It's a bloody good fit for how I've been feeling today.
Before I digress, I don't want today's post to be filled with the sycophantic whinging of moi.

I initially started these Monday posts to allow myself to digest everything that went on during the busiest day of my week at my current job. It feels so very strange that today's Manic Monday post is actually my last at said job.

I think I had a true 360 and have (almost) left in the same fashion that I started. It seems almost profound in a way.
5pm tomorrow will feel very strange indeed, I don't think it has hit my yet.

I'm guessing some people are possibly wondering why I'm being so nostalgic about a job, but in all honesty, I love working, I love being busy and putting my energy in to something. It's hard to leave something lightly when I invest so much energy in to being the best that I can be at my job.

But the target past this job is in sight, I'm aiming straight for it. It'll be scary at first, but so worth it in the long run.

I'll leave you before I start citing inspirational quotes.

I hope you had a wonderful start to your week! Let me know if you have anything good coming up that you're looking forward to!

Toodles

X

Manic Monday #90

 [Image Source: Pinterest]

With each passing week I'm finding that I spend more and more time trying to think of a witty opening line than on the content I actually put in these posts. Being witty isn't a natural trait of mine so it can take quite some time and before long I'm just generally digging in to the waffle and digressing which is exactly what I'm doing right at this very moment! 

November is disappearing as quickly as the other months have done this year, I think a nod in NaNoWriMo's direction is needed for the heightened speed of November's passing. I've been investing most of my spare time into writing as much as I can in 30 days, my Moleskine notebook has become my other half and is never out of my sight, she even comes to work with me and keeps me company in dull periods of the day. 

I'm still far behind the 50k word target, but I've done far more than I would have done if I hadn't signed up for NaNoWriMo. I think the fact that I have handwritten 98% of my total so far would probably explain why I am lagging behind slightly. 

Progress is progress.

I'm now entering my last full week at current job, I'm not sure it's sunk in yet that I'm leaving but I know my final day will creep up on me without warning. Working a months notice feels like such a long time at the time of writing the letter, informing colleagues etc but we're charging on through. Today unfortunately fully reaffirmed the reasons that I sought out a new job and why I was so chuffed to be leaving in the first place.
But I'll be in my new job before I know it...meep!

 We visited Ben's sisters family on Sunday and had a lovely day spent with them, our little niece is a bright, sweet girl who is full of life. It's great to see her and to interact with her as well, I love children at this age when they're out of the delicate baby stage!

I'm investing quite sometime in to house hunting now as well, we have a few months left on our lease but I think it's best to keep an eye on what is out there, even if we're not prepared in the slightest, as we might miss a gem. The downside of living in the "third best place to live in the UK" is that property prices are ludicrous and the gems get snapped up quickly by nobby property developers who just rent their properties out. #FirstWorldProblems

When NaNoWriMo is done, I'll be dedicating more time to interiors and finding some unusual DIY ideas to create my desired deconstructed, finished but unfinished household.

On that rather rambling note...

How have you been spending November? Are you wrapping up with as the colder weather rolls in? I missed the snow in my area (gutted), did you have any?!

Toodles.

x

Lessons Learned from Living with Friends

 

Living with 3 boys has been a huge learning experience for me, even if one of them is my beau, I've been thinking about things that I've learned or have noticed since moving in with together. We are moving out at the end of March so our whirlwind year is soon coming to a close.

This post is meant with the lightest of intent and humor will run all the way through my points, I know that text can be oh, so misconstrued. 

1. The washing up left in the dryer will be piled as precariously and as high as the Leaning Tower of Pisa. It just becomes too much of a task to start putting it away when you're worried it might set off an avalanche of cutlery and crockery. 
2. The toilets will always smell like a urinal (if you share with more than one guy) and bleach will become your best friend. 
3. Guys cannot aim. Ever.
4. People have very different sleeping patterns, if you are an early riser and they are a late one, guess who will be losing out on the most sleep? Early risers, put your hands up!
5. You will always be buying the milk and toilet roll. 
6. Guys will soon feel comfortable enough with you living together that they will pee with the door wide open. 
7. You will learn much more than you could have ever imagined about your friends, things you don't even particularly want to know. 
8. Living in a house with feather walls means you can hear everything, a cough, a sneeze, the lot.
9. There will always be someone on hand to make you a tea and some toast if you are horrifically hungover and you all mold in to one being when you're all hungover. 
10. They will eat your food. The swines. They will sometimes ask, but mostly not.

But above all else, you're living with your friends. 

 Which is alright...ha!

Toodles.

x

Empties

I've seem to have been finishing quite a few products off recently and thought I should save them to do my first empties post! We have a mixture of skin care, body care and make-up to get through.

Sanctuary Therapists Facial Oil
My mum palmed off half a bottle of this to me around this time last year, I thought I'd try it again as I'd ran out of my previous cleanser. This oil cleanser definitely isn't the best of my favourite one that I've tried - The Body Shop Camomile Silky Cleanser is still my fave - it doesn't really take off all your make-up that well, I always seemed to be waking up with mascara shadows under my bottom lashes. I'm not a huge fan of the scent, it just smells like cooking oil to me. It does however make my skin feel soft in the mornings. 

Soap and Glory Sugar Crush Body Butter
This. Is. The. Best. Scented. Product. Ever.
Seriously, love this stuff, I would eat it if that were possible.

All over it, always.

Soap and Glory Archery Brow Pencil
The Archery pencil in Blonde Shell is the perfect for my brows, it blends so well with the colour of my brows. I was so pleased that Blonde Shell was the right shade for me as so many other brow products are either too light, too ashy, too red, too dark so on and so forth. It's a shame that S&G haven't invested in more shades for the range and hope they do in future. It's an amazing product and it lasts all day with no issues and the spoolie is really great as well! Bargain price of £9. I have been through about 5 since discovering them...

L'Occitane Pivoine Sublime Mini
L'Occitane recently did a promotion to find the perfect cream for your skin type, there were four to choose from and I was given the Pivoine Sublime to try out. The size was a decent 8ml to see if it was the right cream for your skin. For me, this one was slightly too heavily scented with peony for my skins liking so I definitely don't think it was a great match for me.  

Bourjois Healthy Mix Foundation
This is my favourite foundation that I have come across so far, I've been through a few bottles of this in my time. This is the one that I always go back to and feel comfortable using, it's an old faithful. It blends so well, it lasts all day, the colours available are all great for me, however not so much for the rest of the skin-tone world. 

Caudalie Beauty Elixir
My ultimate "Princess Product". 
I'm always sad when this little bottle of magic comes to an end, because I don't really need it, it doesn't really do anything except for make me wonderful when I spritz it all over my face and smell the delicious scent that Caudalie have created, all that and I can never really justify buying another bottle for either £10 which I have to use sparingly or £32 which is just ridiculous.
Princess Product Problems. 

I hope you enjoyed this! Have you used up anything recently? Were you sad to see something come to an end?

Toodles!

x

Manic Monday #89

 

Hello, welcome to another round of some Manic Monday!

Again it feels like ages since I wrote a Monday post, but also the week flew by again. Time is doing funny things to me at the moment. 

I am so enjoying NaNoWriMo this month, it feels great to give my writing a kick start again, it all seems to be flowing this time round and progress is happening. It's so exciting and gratifying to work on something that you and only you have the power over, it's my imagination coming to life on paper and I find that incredibly liberating. 

I managed to get my hands on the NARS Limited Edition Glossybox this morning, I was lucky enough to get early admission to the sale, which I am grateful for because the early admissions cleared out the stock line! Those waiting for 12pm normal sale time would have missed out which I do think is a little unfair. 

I'm looking forward to it arriving and playing around with some NARS products, I've got a couple of products by NARS but haven't really been able to afford much from the range before.

The weekend disappeared in a whistle of windy gales and horrible events all around the world - my heart goes out to all affected by the senseless attacks by ISIS, not just in Paris, but also every other country that is currently affected by these terrorists.

They are fear mongers who thrive off causing chaos and panic, they don't deserve to walk the face of this earth any longer.

I hope everyone stays as safe as they can. 

 The world seems to be a dark place at the moment, let's work together on putting some light back in to it. 

Toodles.

x

Success

 [Image Source: Pinterest]

Success as a woman is difficult enough with the constant barriers of battling to be taken seriously by men and more surprisingly other women. 

It takes so much more to be a successful woman in this world with misogyny and chauvinism still playing a huge part in every day life.

More recently though it is becoming more and more apparent that a huge number of women are also pitting against successful women when we need nothing more than the support of the women around us. Why make it easier for men to see that other women aren't taking you seriously or are belittling your success because you are a woman?

There is so much pressure on you already as you're excelling in your field, it can be hard to stay focused, especially knowing that as soon as you trip there are men and women alike waiting in the lines to jeer and exclaim they always knew you were a failure. People like this are wasting their own energy in to hoping someone else will fail, does it really benefit them or anyone else in the long run?

Having failures in life are what you need to make you stronger, how can you learn anything if you've never failed or made a mistake? 

Success stories don't give up at the first hurdle or else they wouldn't be successes.

Women need to rally around other women who are defying the odds and are becoming successful in their own rights. 

We need to support one another and prove that we can. 

x

My Top Five Lipsticks

I seem to be a magpie when it comes to lipsticks, I just never seem to have enough, I thought it was about time I took you through my top five picks that I reach for most occasions!

1; Bourjois Rouge Edition in Rose Tweed

This is my number one, go-to, most used, most loved lipsticks. I saw this and just grabbed it. It's a great your lips but better shade for me, the colour is just great. I feel like I look 'put together' when I have this lipstick on. If I'm going out for dinner, this is what I grab. It's creamy, moisturising and is comfortable to wear. I like to wear this with the Rimmel Lip Liner in Eastend Snob and if I'm going all out put a bit of L'Oreal Color Riche Extraordinaire liquid lipstick in Molto Mauve over the top.

2; Revlon Lip Butter in Sorbet

This is more of a daytime, summer colour but I still grab and go all year round. If I'm out and about doing chores on a Saturday and want to add a pop of colour to my make-up look then this is generally the direction that I go in. I'm not usually one for Barbie pinks, but this is quite a flattering shade of pink on my pale skin, it's not incredibly in-yer-face and it's not too blue that it makes me look ill. The longevity time wise isn't great but it does stay put, no need to worry about smudging it all over your face if you do happen to forget you have lipstick on...which I do all the time.

 

3; Revlon Ultra HD Lipstick in Petunia

I picked this up in Toronto - check me out - during my holiday, on a drugstore dash type of spree. I was alone, much damage was done. This was my shining star from that particular shopping spree, it's berry-toned goodness all in one bullet. It does have some slight glitter particles in it, which I'm not overly keen on but I generally flick them off if I can see it sitting on my lips. The formula is lovely and moisturising, it lasts really well, especially when paired with my Topshop lip liner in Deception.

4; Jaclyn Hill in 1975

I know this isn't technically a Jaclyn Hill product but seeing as she had all the input...I'll just call it Jaclyn's. I adore this shade so much, when she first showcased it on YouTube I instantly wanted it. It didn't disappoint when I did manage to get my hands on it. It's a very unusual colour, it's slightly chocolate, slightly red, slightly wine, slight purple, a little burgundy...I wouldn't really know where I'd put it. I grab this when I want something a little more than Rose Tweed, it's matte so it sticks around and it can even survive a dinner.

5; Bite BB Lipstick in Tawny.

I also grabbed this in Canada on my first Sephora experience, Bite is a brand that I'd been wanting to try for some time. I didn't realise this was a BB lip stick when I picked it up, but was glad that I ended up going away with it. It's a brown toned peach colour which is definitely not a shade I would normally pick up, but as it's a BB it's incredibly moisturising as well as sheer which tones down the shade considerably making it a nice addition for every day wear. I tend to put this on before work as the moisture sticks around for a while and isn't too gloopy on the lips. The packaging is chic yet understated, but it also makes you feel like you're carrying something luxe around in your bag. I'd love to try some more of the Bite range!

Let me know what your favourites are! Have you tried any of my mentions before?

Toodles.

x

Manic Monday #88

[Image Source: Pinterest] 

It feels like ages since I've written a Monday post, last week seemed to fly by but it also felt like such a long time ago. 

I've been emersed in trying to catch up with my Digital Marketing course, which finished last Wednesday but I still haven't had chance to catch up properly with the webinars. I plan to get it all done this week. 

On another note I am truly in writing mode again, I'm so pleased that I signed up for NaNoWriMo, it's so gratifying popping in your word count at the end of the day and I'm so enjoying writing again, I feel with the word count updates that I have something to strive for now. I am currently nowhere near my daily word count targets but I am getting better with each day that passes. I think this month will definitely help me make a huge step forward with completing my book. 

I am now back at the gym regularly which feels great, I'm back at that stage where I miss it if I don't go for 2 days on the trot. I don't mind being in this place as I feel great when I'm there and seem to do a much better work-out when I'm ready to go. 

I started Christmas shopping this weekend, I visited a friend down in London and he showed me the delights of Westfield, seeing as I'm leaving a job and starting a new one at the beginning of December my finances will be somewhat limited from the end of November until half way through January so I thought I should be a little bit organised with present buying this year to soften the blow in January. 

Generally, things have been running quite smoothly in Camp Adele...I'm not sure what is happening to me to be honest. Is this what it feels like to be a grown up?

My Pinterest boards are likely to become more interior based over the next few months. Yes, that time is upon us - I have finally bit the massive bullet and have agreed to purchasing a house.

Lord, help me.

Don't get me wrong, I cannot wait to be let loose on my own house for interior reasons, but mortgages scare the cahoonies out of me. 

I hope you are all well, are you trying anything new this month? Have you tried NaNoWriMo before?

Toodles.

x

My Slimming World Journey

  
I have been wanting to write this post for some time now and now seems like that perfect time. 

I joined Slimming World on January 3rd 2013, weighing 12 stone 13 pounds. 

I had decided, along with 2 friends that, I wanted to do something about my weight before Christmas in 2012 and looking back at my pictures of New Years Eve 2012 confirmed it all for me. I was the biggest I had ever been, my face looked bloated in the pictures and my arms looked, to me, absolutely massive. I wore a loose chiffon dress so I hid most of my body as I had, in the months running up to that Christmas, become increasingly unhappy with my body. 

I was edging ever closer to a size 16 on my bottom half and I've never had a big bust so tops weren't too much of an issue for me, but it disheartened me to buy shirts as the arms were always too tight. I desperately didn't want to transition over to the next size up and didn't want to let myself go up to 13 stone.


A pic from New Years eve 2012! (I'm in the red dress)

Whenever I tell people now what I weighed (I would never have done it before), they're always surprised, my weight seemed to distribute quite evenly and I didn't hold weight in a certain place. I have always had hips, a derriere and big thighs - it's just my body shape.

Joining Slimming World has completely changed my life, I know this is the cliche thing to say about these types of plans, but hand on heart I can say this is utterly true. 

My first session was a whirlwind, I didn't really understand what the instructor was talking about, "turn your plate in to thirds, free food, syns, super speed...", I'd picked my target weight and at the end of the session, the newbies had to get weighed for the first time and I was mortified to see 12st 13lb flash up on the scales. 

Seeing that in person spurred me on to do what I could, during your first few weeks they ask you to write a food diary, being fully honest about what you have - if you're not being honest with them, how can they help you? 

I did it with gusto, not having any 'syns' (any treats, basically) and was delighted a week later when I stepped on the scales and saw that I'd lost 5 lbs. 

That's when I thought, this really does work and it works for me, which is one of the most important things, in my opinion. 

Within 4 weeks I had lost a stone and also both of the friends that I had initially joined with, one was struck down with appendicitis, losing around 3 stone while she was in hospital, target fully achieved! The other friend stayed on for a few months and didn't seem to be getting anywhere - honestly I don't think she was committed to it and it wasn't the right time for her.

I was well on my way to my target to even consider giving up because I was now attending weigh-ins on my own, I was fully in the thick of the Slimming World lifestyle change and everyone who attends is generally nice - you're all there for the same reason, so I quickly made new friends to sit with. 

There is so much help and amazing recipes on tap that you couldn't possibly get bored of cooking or eating. I had never eaten so much food and still managed to lose weight with it! 

My instructor, Jess, was and continues to be an amazing inspiration, she's so supportive, very relatable and always knows the right thing to say if you're just having a crap week. She was never critical of any choices I made that may have got in the way of a loss that week and instead will look on to the following week as a fresh start. 

By July of 2013 my weight was still coming off slowly but surely, a pound here, half there and a couple of gains in between. If I had looked between the lines I could have seen my self that I was actually at a plateau with my weight and was going up and down between the same weight for a long time.

I couldn't seem to shift that weight and became quite lax with my eating habits and wasn't exercising as much as I could have been!

 
Thailand 2010
 
It took me to middle of the following year (June 2014) to get to my 2 stone, with the help of a holiday to Tenerife. 
Back during that time I kept telling myself it wasn't a race and that I'd get there when I got there. To be frank I think it took me that long because I had lost my focus, I wasn't being creative with my meals any longer and had started cutting corners.
But I persevered and got myself there in the end. I had a huge sigh of relief when I finally hit that mile stone. 



As I'd hit my 2 stone, I was delighted that I only had 10 pounds to go. Ten pounds!!
Pfft, I thought, I can do that in my sleep. 

It turns out that I couldn't. 
This time my weight very obviously plateaued, I didn't seem to be getting anywhere anymore, I seemed to be putting more and more focus on what I was eating but it didn't seem to be making a difference. 
I was beginning to become a little bit obsessive about it, it was always at the forefront of my mind. Everything I ate I was scrutinising, the exercise I did and was also getting very mild anxiety attacks when I was going to be weighed. 
I became very frustrated with myself, the gap between my current and target weight was teetering ever closer, I was slowly losing weight but I wanted it.

I wanted to feel that feeling of weighing 10 stone. 
10 stone was the weight I instantly settled on as I always had convinced myself when I was younger that 10 stone must be what all the slim girls at school weighed. It was slap bang in the middle the BMI chart for my height so I chose that. 
It's just a personal thing.

There were lots of tears and at this point I had started hating going home after a weigh-in to my family and Ben asking me how I'd done. 
How could I turn around for much longer and say "I maintained" or "I put a pound on"?
I once maintained the same weight for around 4 weeks running and I think my mum thought I was lying to her about it. I wasn't but I can see why she thought I was. 

At this point I had decided that I didn't want Slimming World to take over my whole life and change me as a person, I'm not a preacher - I did this for me. Not to convert the masses. I love going out to dinner and having gravy on my Sunday Lunch and crisps, crisps and more crisps. So I started to mix in a few normal things in with my Slimming World changes always prevalent in my mind so I wouldn't end up putting all my weight back on. 

Moderation and self-restraint is key. For me, at least.

As I was getting closer to the 10 stone mark, it became so difficult, I think I danced around 10 stone 4, 10 stone 3 and 10 stone 2 and a half for what felt like a lifetime. 

I know I have a certain body type and knew that 10 stone was a good marker for me, I don't think my body would let me lose much more than that!

We went to Costa Rica in September of 2014 for 2 weeks, all inclusive.
*gulp*

 I didn't overindulge when we were there but also if I fancied a cocktail at 11 o'clock in the morning as soon as the bar opened, I did feel bad for doing so.
That's normal, right? 
 We also did loads of exercise while we were there, I'm not one to go anywhere and just lay on a lounger for 2 solid weeks, couldn't think of anything more boring to be perfectly honest.
We trekked through jungles, walked across rope bridges, swam in the ocean, walked down the beautiful beaches and all in between. 

 Costa Rica 2014

I returned home after amazing holiday, going to weigh-in the next Thursday with the intent that I'd take my gain on the chin and do all I can to undo the damage done on holiday.

I stepped on the scales, heart in mouth, expecting to see 10st 6/7/8/9lbs - instead it flashed up as I glanced at it and I thought I saw 9st 13lbs.

What?!

I thought I'd seen incorrectly, so looked again and again, even asking the weigh-in squad to confirm what I was seeing.

They told me that it was right and I had managed to surpass my target weight!

I was so surprised that I don't think my glee was apparent to anyone around me, I didn't squeal or jump for joy as I had seen so many others do before me. I couldn't stay to the meeting afterward as I had another commitment but I went to my car and that's where the weird came out. If anyone saw me while I was squealing, giggling and smiling like the Cheshire cat they'd have thought I was nuts.

I was so thrilled to finally reach my target, I honestly never thought I would be able to drop the weight I had and to finally be happy with my body.
I had body confidence issues since hitting puberty and to finally be in a place where I could finally start to embrace my body at the age of 26 felt pretty damn good.

Me at my 27th birthday in August!

  Since hitting my target weight I have only slipped above my target area once and dropped back within it the following week. I don't want to go back to the place where I was before and especially don't want to relive the dark times of my teen years.

I joined the gym in March, to keep my body weight in check and to also start defining my body, I can see definite improvements already, but the bingo wings still need some tackling.I am happier than I have ever been and feel so healthy and energetic that I surprise myself sometimes.

I still regularly attend weigh-ins, as my weight does still fluctuate and I have no idea when I'm putting on or losing, I need to see the numbers flash before my eyes so I know where I am.

If you are having any thoughts about joining a plan like Slimming World, Weight Watchers or any similar I would say that only join for you, and only you. You have to be in the right frame of mind to join, lose the weight and mostly importantly to keep it off. I was so determined and desperately unhappy when I first joined, I think the fact that I regularly think about and look back on how I used to feel before joining Slimming World, definitely helps me to keep the weight off.

I also urge you to be honest with yourself, if you're lying to yourself you are doing yourself more harm than good during the plan. If you have several packets of crisps and a share size chocolate bar, don't beat yourself up and feel guilty, do everything in your power to change what you have done with food and exercise. 

I know this was a long post, but I didn't want to pretend that I joined and the weight fell off within 6 months, because it simply isn't true. My journey, so far, was long and bloody hard work and I have managed to turn everything on it's head, keeping it that way for well over a year now. I know this will be something I will have to maintain throughout my life and I am perfectly happy to do so. 

I hope my views on this help at least one person out!

Be happy, be healthy and make sure you enjoy your life. 

Toodles.

x

Manic Monday #87

[Image Source: Pinterest]

And, breathe...it's November!

Firstly, it's my Dad's birthday so am full to the brim of cake and other goodness! Happy Birthday to my lovely Dad.

I know I probably sound like a broken record, but this year is flying by and is showing no signs of slowing down.

I tried my damndest to post more than regularly throughout October as I wanted to just dive back in at the deep end - I felt like this space of mine was slipping away from me and wanted to give it some well deserved TLC.

I trailed off a little at the end of the month purely down to interview prep and feeling less than all right throughout the whole of last week, but am really pleased with the results of posting regularly throughout October.

I really hope you enjoyed the content as well, as your thoughts and your reading my thoughts really does matter to me! 

The interview prep last week was completely worth it as *insert drumroll* I was verbally offered the position this morning! Hooray! I am waiting for the formalities before informing my boss/uncle (definitely not looking forward to that conversation).

But am so pleased that I am now in a position to potentially hone my skills and knowledge to enable me to set out a career path for myself. I was utterly thrilled when I got the call as I'd spent the morning convincing myself I hadn't got it...

Self deprecators unite!

As I enjoyed writing posts in October I was on the lookout for something to get stuck in to throughout November and I just so happened to read this post over on Jenny's - Sunny Sweet Pea - blog last week! There's even a cute infographic which gives you a breakdown of some stats from NaNoWriMo writers!

It seemed like perfect timing and something I had needed, I signed straight up for National Novel Writing Month - which you can do here - and got stuck in yesterday.

I haven't started a new novel with the idea of finishing it by November 30th but decided to carry on where I left off with my story that I started a while back. 

It is such a great feeling to be inspired and eager to write, I definitely forgot the rush that it gave me to delve in to a new world for a little while. It's even more exciting knowing that I'm the creator of this particular universe. 

I am still partaking in my Digital Marketing course, which is coming to a close this week, so am currently the busiest bee I have been in a long time. I am slightly behind at the moment but plan to fully catch-up tomorrow.

Devil, idle hands and all that. 

Toodles!

x